We're in Rome!

We made it! Finally. But we have also been here for almost three weeks now. The internet sitch sort of sucks. My friend Jenn said that Italian internet is the worst, like, anywhere. So here is the low down on what we've done and where we've been! 

London: 3 days total. (the first of which we had been up for like 35 hours straight, ah!)

Wednesday: We walked around downtown London, our hotel was in Kensington (where Princess Diana lived) so we walked around there too! Then came back, got our hotel room, and showered to go out again. We met some people from the AIFS Prague trip and hung out with them, went to a pub called the Captain's Cabin, and spent the night walking all around downtown London.

Thursday: We went on a bus tour to all the touristy places that were really fun to see! Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, the London Bridge, etc...soo fun to see everything. Then that night we saw The Phantom of the Opera! At Her Majesty's Theater, which is where it opened originally and has been playing ever since. That was probably one of the coolest things I've ever done. This is us in Trafalgar Square!

Friday: woke up early and flew to Rome, then bussed to Florence! Long day.

FLORENCE! (Or Firenze, as the Italians call it :D )

This is the insane Duomo!! My jaw literally dropped when this came into view for the first time upon arrival in the city. The Florentines have a saying, that wherever they live in Florence, it has to be in view of the Duomo. It's beautiful. 

I can't even remember all the amazing things we did. We stayed at a FOUR STAR hotel! It was called the Anglo-American (ha ha go figure) and it was really nice! They had awesome Italian four course meals for us every single night for dinner and typical italian breakfasts in the morning (ham, cheese, yogurt, fruit, etc.). We had Italian class all day everyday (with Marco and Anna as professors! and I got an A!), but then went on excursions after class! some of them were:

The Uffizi Gallery (where all the Renaissance art is housed, including Ghirlandaio who was Michelangelo's painting teacher, and of course Botticelli's works, along with Da Vinci and a lot of other amazing artists of the High Renaissance. This is where my art history class came in handy. I could actually ask our AH professor some educated questions! ha ha.)  This is Botticelli's Birth of Venus.

The Academia Gallery (Where Michelangelo's David is! This statue is awe-inspiring. Michelangelo was so extremely talented it blows my mind. His sculptures are like none I have ever seen. The detail of the David is incredible. Every vein, piece of hair, nail, is all carved perfectly. From MARBLE!) This is a replica of the David that they put outside in one of the Piazzas because the original was getting ruined outside. This doesn't really do the original justice at all. It looks so much bigger inside the Academia!

Wine tasting in Chianti! The home of the Chianti Classico wine (which makes me think of you, Dad! It's what he always orders when we're out to dinner). It was at Palazzo Vichiomaggio (or something like that ha ha) but it was probably some of the best wine I've tasted! And it was at the top of a hill in Tuscany surrounded by vineyards. What a view. The tour was quick, but we had appertifs and four different kinds of wine. I want to go back to Tuscany when it's sunnier outside, but it was gorgeous nonetheless.

Siena! Another beautiful town that is very hilly and colorful. However, it was pouring rain..so all we really saw was the inside of the pub we went to for an espresso! But it was fun to hang out with our directors and at least we got an idea of what it looked like! 

Pisa...with the infamous Leaning Tower. This was a really funny excursion. First of all, from the bus stop to the area where the tower is, it is covered with Africans illegally selling knock-off purses to every single woman that walks by. "Lady, lady, scuse me, you like this one?" No joke. Every single one of them asks if you like their purses ha ha. Second, the market on the way is spotted with one store after another of EXACTLY the same stuff! I don't understand how they make money when they all have the same things! We had fun shopping and taking the usual touristy pictures where it looks like you're holding the tower up. ha ha 

Medici Palace! It's huge!! And the home of the famous Medici family that ruled over Florence for centuries. Some of the Medicis were really good rulers that all the Florentines loved, but once the corrupt ones took over, they were kicked out of power. and now, there are no blood relatives from the Medici family left at all. Our art history professor told us not to fall for that pick up line ha ha. That's this one!

And of course, we had lots of GELATO! mmm the stuff never gets old ha ha. 

We also went on our excursion to Venice! I have so many pictures from Venice, I don't know where to begin. I'll have to do another blog on Venice later on this week. 

But now were in Rome! We have only been here for four days, but classes started yesterday! So far I've had history of the Italian Mafia and History of Western Philosophy. I have Italian Cinema and Italian left! I'll update more about Rome once we do more! But the beauty that Italy holds is incredible. There are no words to describe it. America has absolutely nothing that is comparable to this country. I am SO happy that I picked Rome. Florence was beautiful, but it was very crowded with tourists and everyone spoke english. In Rome, I feel like I have to try to speak the language more, and there are more Italians than tourists. So I'm so excited for the next three months. 

Ciao For Now!

Amy