Dia dhuit, friends!
That means "hello" in Gaelic--you wanna know why I used that phrase? Because I'm in IRELAND!!! Indeed, we landed last night at Dublin International Airport and stayed at the Four Courts Hostel--which, by the way, is a pretty darn good deal with free internet, free breakfast, clean beds, friendly staff, etc. I wish they'd had this place in Fox Glacier, New Zealand, last summer. Worst hostel experience of my life. Well no, there was that one hostel in Auckland...anyway, I'm here in Ireland for the first, but hopefully not last time in my life! My primary goal on the agenda today is to tour Trinity College and see the Book of Kells, the most famous illuminated manuscript in the world, dating back to the 9th century....I've basically spent half my life dreaming of Trinity and seeing the Book, so who cares about the 13 euro entrance fee!
However, what's possibly even more important about today is that I get to see Meagan Drone and Megan Reece again!! They're here in Dublin studying abroad with St. Mary's College, and are my very, very good friends from the piccolo section of the Notre Dame marching band. I'll be spending the weekend with them, and even join in on an SMC-organized daytrip to the Rock of Cashel and various other historic sites in the Irish countryside tomorrow. Apparently, the Rock of Cashel is reputed to be the site of the conversion of the King of Munster by St. Patrick himself in the 5th century AD.
WOW. The Book of Kells *and* castles *and* important religious sites?? This is exactly why I came to Ireland :)
Well, my internet time here at Four Courts is almost up, so I'll have to end this blog post. I realize I never wrote anything about Venice, but in reality, no words can describe Venice during Carnevale!! You just have to experience the wonder for yourself :)
Slan agat, and saol fada chugat (goodbye, and a good life to you),
Laura
domenica 14 febbraio 2010
venerdì 12 febbraio 2010
La nevica a Roma!?!
Oh Dio! I know I said my next post wouldn't be up until Sunday, but certain events occurred today that must be shared with you all!
First of all, it snowed today in Rome. Seriously, there was snow EVERYWHERE. It fell in huge clumps, totally covered cars and sidewalks, and generally turned the whole of Rome during rush hour into one slushy, snowy mess; the daily raucous cacophony of car and bus horns added to the chaotic atmosphere. Needless to say, I had the time of my life trying to preserve my dignity as I walked the slippery sidewalks to Ciampi's piano store and to John Cabot. I had a lovely conversation with an Italian woman on the bus about how incredible the snowfall was (in Italian!) and how she had never seen snow like this in the city before. Apparently Rome hasn't had a single snowfall in over twenty years!?!? That's nuts. By the way, if you're tired of me getting excited about talking in Italian with people here, you're just going to have to deal with it because it seriously is so thrilling to talk in a language completely different from your own! I mean, that's exactly why I came to Rome--to meet her people, learn the language, and come to function positively in a totally foreign place that's thousands of miles away from my dearest friends, family, and university. So far, I think I'm being pretty successful :)
Second, I will officially be running the Rome Marathon on March 21, 2010. Yep, you heard me--in one month Laura Jane Taylor will run 26 grueling miles through the most famous sights in Rome, starting and ending at the Colosseum. Perhaps training for said marathon will counteract the effects of all the amazing food we've been having! :)
Ah it is now almost time for Chrissy's sure-to-be-amazing eggplant parmesan dinner! Complete with a caprese salad appetizer, yumm :D After dinner, my roommates and I are going up to another girls' room to celebrate the survival of our first full month in Rome with all the rest of the ND students. I can't believe we've been here a MONTH already--are there seriously just three of these left?? Time really does fly when you're in the most beautiful city in the world.
Tomorrow will certainly be an adventure--our bus to Venice leaves at 8am from Termini Station, and we've got a six-hour bus ride ahead of us until we reach the "City of Water." We should arrive around 3pm if all goes well, and our bus will depart Venice at 1am--that leaves us ten hours to experience as much of Venice and Carnevale as possible!! Goodnight friends, and I'll be back on Sunday!
Vi amo!
*~*Laura*~*
First of all, it snowed today in Rome. Seriously, there was snow EVERYWHERE. It fell in huge clumps, totally covered cars and sidewalks, and generally turned the whole of Rome during rush hour into one slushy, snowy mess; the daily raucous cacophony of car and bus horns added to the chaotic atmosphere. Needless to say, I had the time of my life trying to preserve my dignity as I walked the slippery sidewalks to Ciampi's piano store and to John Cabot. I had a lovely conversation with an Italian woman on the bus about how incredible the snowfall was (in Italian!) and how she had never seen snow like this in the city before. Apparently Rome hasn't had a single snowfall in over twenty years!?!? That's nuts. By the way, if you're tired of me getting excited about talking in Italian with people here, you're just going to have to deal with it because it seriously is so thrilling to talk in a language completely different from your own! I mean, that's exactly why I came to Rome--to meet her people, learn the language, and come to function positively in a totally foreign place that's thousands of miles away from my dearest friends, family, and university. So far, I think I'm being pretty successful :)
Second, I will officially be running the Rome Marathon on March 21, 2010. Yep, you heard me--in one month Laura Jane Taylor will run 26 grueling miles through the most famous sights in Rome, starting and ending at the Colosseum. Perhaps training for said marathon will counteract the effects of all the amazing food we've been having! :)
Ah it is now almost time for Chrissy's sure-to-be-amazing eggplant parmesan dinner! Complete with a caprese salad appetizer, yumm :D After dinner, my roommates and I are going up to another girls' room to celebrate the survival of our first full month in Rome with all the rest of the ND students. I can't believe we've been here a MONTH already--are there seriously just three of these left?? Time really does fly when you're in the most beautiful city in the world.
Tomorrow will certainly be an adventure--our bus to Venice leaves at 8am from Termini Station, and we've got a six-hour bus ride ahead of us until we reach the "City of Water." We should arrive around 3pm if all goes well, and our bus will depart Venice at 1am--that leaves us ten hours to experience as much of Venice and Carnevale as possible!! Goodnight friends, and I'll be back on Sunday!
Vi amo!
*~*Laura*~*
giovedì 11 febbraio 2010
E' notte, e non ho niente da fare
Buona sera amici,
It's Thursday night and I am embarrassed to say that I have nothing to do except update my blog, because I finished most of my homework for Tuesday (excluding a two page paper for Italian...that can be pushed off 'til later, of course). I guess I could have gone out to the bars or discoteca with people, but somehow, all I ever want to do at night is be a homebody in my Notre Dame sweatshirt and flannel pajamas and read or talk to friends from back home. I was already boring enough back at school--you'd think that living in Europe would be a transformative experience and I'd become a raging partier thriving on the Roman social scene...but no, I've become even MORE dull, if that's possible. I guess I shouldn't bemoan this unfortunate character trait of mine, because no one reads blogs to hear such things--I'm sure you all want to hear more about my crazy experiences with Italian men, right? Well, I can definitely oblige, if that's what you're interested in ;)
So, the day before yesterday a group of us ND kids had to make an hour and a half long journey out to the central police station/immigration office here in Rome as part of our continuing nightmare with the permesso di soggiorno. Note: the police station was definitely NOT central. We had to take two metros *and* a bus. And, there was a squalid Gypsy camp literally right outside the electric fence that wrapped around the police compound--note: Gypsies do NOT live in the middle of town. They reside in cramped, inhospitable camps on the outskirts of the city, and spend their days avoiding police raids....uh-oh, I'm about to go on a tangent, so watch out:
Before coming to Europe, I possessed a more romantic notion of Gypsies--you know, the whole handsome dark-skinned men and beautiful women, colorful clothes, wild violin music notion--but now, seeing how they live and work as beggars and swindlers, I have to say my attitude has changed drastically. Actually, my attitude towards a lot of things in life has shifted, and I feel like I'm having to struggle to retain whatever shreds of naivete I have left. I guess that's what happens when you go abroad...you see what the world is really like--you experience the squalor and injustice of the poor who fight every day just to survive, the corruptness of government, the plight of the immigrant, the horrific apathy of the middle and higher classes...ah, it's so much to think about all the time. I just saw a lot at the immigration office I wasn't expecting to see, and it made me treasure my American citizenship all the more.
Ahhhh enough of such depressing stuff--on to the Italian men, which I know you're probably very curious about! Okay, so while we were waiting in line to fill out paperwork for the permesso, there were these two youngish soldiers in uniform who would pace around the room and shamelessly flirt with the girls in our group, paying particular attention to the blondes, who did their best to not draw attention to themselves (great idea!!), and one idiotic redhead stupid enough to make eye contact with them. Well, one soldier kept coming over to me, teasing me about either not reading like everyone else (I was tired of reading about the intricacies of British foreign policy in the 1880s, okay?), or generally just trying to find out more personal information, which, of course, I was very cautious about! Anyway, it was my turn to fill out the first round of paperwork, and I had to tell the bureaucrat at the desk my cell phone number...thinking myself particularly witty, I conducted the whole conversation in Italiano. However, Mr. Soldier was conveniently within earshot, although I wasn't really paying attention at the time....I go to the next room for the fingerprinting and my phone buzzes...it's a text from an unknown Italian number: "Ciao! You are so pretty....sorry for my English!"
I just about died of laughter. Italian men are RIDICULOUS. The bureaucrat taking my fingerprints explained in Italian that it was because I'm a redhead; however, I just think it was because I'm a girl, period. Also, this same bureaucrat was shocked when I told him I was a theology major--actually, his face registered a slight horror when this happened. I asked him what was wrong, and he was like, "Are you going to become a sister??? You can't do that!! You are too pretty to be wasted on the Church!!"
Again, I couldn't help it--I burst out laughing. Guys in America are totally not like this at all!! Just today, as my friends and I were walking back to our apartment from school, two men in a tiny little car started honking the horn wildly, and the passenger exuberantly blew us a multitude of kisses as they passed by. Stuff like that does NOT happen at home!! It's so funny, and I guess the reason it's so amusing to me is because I know that it's completely harmless. Well, it's harmless when I'm with a group of Notre Dame students in the daytime, at least....
Alas, that's about it for my exciting tales of Italy since my last post! My roommates and I are going on a daytrip to Venice this Saturday for the centuries-old festival of Carnevale, which is going to be INCREDIBLE!!! My family and I went to Venice quite a few times when we lived in Germany back in the '90s, and I can't wait to return to the city as an older, hopefully slightly wiser individual. Look for an update on Sunday, when I will regale you with tales of La Serenissima, the most romantic city in the world! :)
Vi amo,
Laura
It's Thursday night and I am embarrassed to say that I have nothing to do except update my blog, because I finished most of my homework for Tuesday (excluding a two page paper for Italian...that can be pushed off 'til later, of course). I guess I could have gone out to the bars or discoteca with people, but somehow, all I ever want to do at night is be a homebody in my Notre Dame sweatshirt and flannel pajamas and read or talk to friends from back home. I was already boring enough back at school--you'd think that living in Europe would be a transformative experience and I'd become a raging partier thriving on the Roman social scene...but no, I've become even MORE dull, if that's possible. I guess I shouldn't bemoan this unfortunate character trait of mine, because no one reads blogs to hear such things--I'm sure you all want to hear more about my crazy experiences with Italian men, right? Well, I can definitely oblige, if that's what you're interested in ;)
So, the day before yesterday a group of us ND kids had to make an hour and a half long journey out to the central police station/immigration office here in Rome as part of our continuing nightmare with the permesso di soggiorno. Note: the police station was definitely NOT central. We had to take two metros *and* a bus. And, there was a squalid Gypsy camp literally right outside the electric fence that wrapped around the police compound--note: Gypsies do NOT live in the middle of town. They reside in cramped, inhospitable camps on the outskirts of the city, and spend their days avoiding police raids....uh-oh, I'm about to go on a tangent, so watch out:
Before coming to Europe, I possessed a more romantic notion of Gypsies--you know, the whole handsome dark-skinned men and beautiful women, colorful clothes, wild violin music notion--but now, seeing how they live and work as beggars and swindlers, I have to say my attitude has changed drastically. Actually, my attitude towards a lot of things in life has shifted, and I feel like I'm having to struggle to retain whatever shreds of naivete I have left. I guess that's what happens when you go abroad...you see what the world is really like--you experience the squalor and injustice of the poor who fight every day just to survive, the corruptness of government, the plight of the immigrant, the horrific apathy of the middle and higher classes...ah, it's so much to think about all the time. I just saw a lot at the immigration office I wasn't expecting to see, and it made me treasure my American citizenship all the more.
Ahhhh enough of such depressing stuff--on to the Italian men, which I know you're probably very curious about! Okay, so while we were waiting in line to fill out paperwork for the permesso, there were these two youngish soldiers in uniform who would pace around the room and shamelessly flirt with the girls in our group, paying particular attention to the blondes, who did their best to not draw attention to themselves (great idea!!), and one idiotic redhead stupid enough to make eye contact with them. Well, one soldier kept coming over to me, teasing me about either not reading like everyone else (I was tired of reading about the intricacies of British foreign policy in the 1880s, okay?), or generally just trying to find out more personal information, which, of course, I was very cautious about! Anyway, it was my turn to fill out the first round of paperwork, and I had to tell the bureaucrat at the desk my cell phone number...thinking myself particularly witty, I conducted the whole conversation in Italiano. However, Mr. Soldier was conveniently within earshot, although I wasn't really paying attention at the time....I go to the next room for the fingerprinting and my phone buzzes...it's a text from an unknown Italian number: "Ciao! You are so pretty....sorry for my English!"
I just about died of laughter. Italian men are RIDICULOUS. The bureaucrat taking my fingerprints explained in Italian that it was because I'm a redhead; however, I just think it was because I'm a girl, period. Also, this same bureaucrat was shocked when I told him I was a theology major--actually, his face registered a slight horror when this happened. I asked him what was wrong, and he was like, "Are you going to become a sister??? You can't do that!! You are too pretty to be wasted on the Church!!"
Again, I couldn't help it--I burst out laughing. Guys in America are totally not like this at all!! Just today, as my friends and I were walking back to our apartment from school, two men in a tiny little car started honking the horn wildly, and the passenger exuberantly blew us a multitude of kisses as they passed by. Stuff like that does NOT happen at home!! It's so funny, and I guess the reason it's so amusing to me is because I know that it's completely harmless. Well, it's harmless when I'm with a group of Notre Dame students in the daytime, at least....
Alas, that's about it for my exciting tales of Italy since my last post! My roommates and I are going on a daytrip to Venice this Saturday for the centuries-old festival of Carnevale, which is going to be INCREDIBLE!!! My family and I went to Venice quite a few times when we lived in Germany back in the '90s, and I can't wait to return to the city as an older, hopefully slightly wiser individual. Look for an update on Sunday, when I will regale you with tales of La Serenissima, the most romantic city in the world! :)
Vi amo,
Laura
venerdì 5 febbraio 2010
Return of the Prodigal Blogger?
Ciao tutti!
I have officially realized that I am a horrendous blogger, as it has been at least 25 days since my first post. This is obviously a sign of my woeful commitment issues. As for life here in Roma, if you think a ton happened in just the first three days of the semester, the next three weeks have been full of even more excitement, weekend trips, and amazing sights! If I explained everything in minute detail (like I desperately want to), this blog would probably swell to beyond novel-length; so, I'll just recap things in a nutshell to get you all caught up on my whirlwind romance with the Eternal City :)
Here's a summary of my schedule for Monday-Thursdays. No Friday classes=extra day for TRAVELING :D
Monday Class Schedule
-5.15PM: Philosophy of Art and Beauty
yep, you read that correctly--my first and only class on Mondays is at 5.15 in the afternoon. oh, it's sweet not being a freshman with 8.30AM classes every single day anymore.
Tuesday/Thursday Class Schedule
-9AM: History of Modern Europe II: The Age of Imperialism (aka AP US History from a European perspective)
-10.30AM: Italian Conversation and Composition. I thank Alessia and Patrizio daily for giving us more than we could handle back in the days of Intensive classes, because this one is just the same. *sigh*
-2.15PM: Public International Law. My professor is a Harvard Law grad, therefore, there are hundreds of pages of reserved reading, intense debates, and general tossing around of esoteric political theories left and right (although I prefer to think of it as more of an avalanche). In spite of these things, however, this class is causing me to seriously consider a career path in international law, and it makes me wish I were a political science major....because then I'd actually have some idea of what's going on in this class.
Wednesday Class Schedule
-1.30 to 4PM: Politics and Power in Roman Architecture from Augustus to Mussolini. This class involves walking around the Circus Maximus, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, as well as a million other awesome Roman monuments and churches spanning from ancient/medieval/Renaissance/Baroque Rome to Fascist Rome in 1945. It's blissful!!
-Again, 5.15PM: Philosophy of Art and Beauty
**Each day ends with an hour-long walk with friends back to Medaglie d'Oro, where we prepare exquisite roommate dinners, often paired with our staple dessert: nutella and biscotti**
***Another sidenote: at the end of our third week here, our room of 7 is currently on its 11th, yes, 11th jar of nutella. And this one is dangerously close to being empty***
As for weekend trips, I've been to Florence, Lake Como, and Milan. The second weekend here we spent in Milan and Lake Como. Now, Milan isn't exactly what it's cracked up to be, although the Duomo is absolutely magnificent, and the Teatro della Scala really is as fantastic as it appears in pictures. Lake Como, on the other hand, was a breath of fresh air after the frenetic pace of city life we had been so used to over the past couple weeks!
The day after getting back from Milan, I experienced a windfall of epic proportions--only it had nothing to do with money. Oh no, it was something wayyy more important than that. Silvio Ciampi, the eloquent, grandfatherly owner of Ciampi's Pianoforti down by the Piazza Risorgimento (basically next-door to the Vatican), granted me permission to use the pianos in his store to practice on! And, he gave me the key to his store so I can go practice whenever I want. I was floored, to say the least! I mean, you'd never hear of that happening in America, and this man didn't even know me. And yet, he was completely trusting....there are very good reasons why I favor the Italian people over Americans sometimes. They're so much more expressive, they're quick to argue, absolutely ridiculous, incredibly kind, and although a lot of Americans get frustrated with the Italian lifestyle, which seems to have no direction....it makes perfect sense to me. :)
The next weekend trip was to Florence (Firenze, in Italian). This city was the home of the great Medici family, who ushered in the glorious Italian Renaissance by attracting artists like Alberti, Brunelleschi, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Donatello, Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi. It is the domain of the magnificent Duomo, Santa Maria del Fiore, the city of Michelangelo's David, and the famous Uffizi Gallery...we went to Latin Mass in the Duomo, climbed to the Piazzale Michelangelo, the highest point in the city, window-shopped on the Ponte Vecchio at night, and had the most amazing dinner at a thoroughly Italian neighborhood restaurant called Il Latini....
Anyway, my goal for this post was to have it up before I left for my Philosophy of Art and Beauty class, so here you go!!! Hopefully I can overcome these commitment issues and start posting on a somewhat regular basis....
Vi amo,
Laura
I have officially realized that I am a horrendous blogger, as it has been at least 25 days since my first post. This is obviously a sign of my woeful commitment issues. As for life here in Roma, if you think a ton happened in just the first three days of the semester, the next three weeks have been full of even more excitement, weekend trips, and amazing sights! If I explained everything in minute detail (like I desperately want to), this blog would probably swell to beyond novel-length; so, I'll just recap things in a nutshell to get you all caught up on my whirlwind romance with the Eternal City :)
Here's a summary of my schedule for Monday-Thursdays. No Friday classes=extra day for TRAVELING :D
Monday Class Schedule
-5.15PM: Philosophy of Art and Beauty
yep, you read that correctly--my first and only class on Mondays is at 5.15 in the afternoon. oh, it's sweet not being a freshman with 8.30AM classes every single day anymore.
Tuesday/Thursday Class Schedule
-9AM: History of Modern Europe II: The Age of Imperialism (aka AP US History from a European perspective)
-10.30AM: Italian Conversation and Composition. I thank Alessia and Patrizio daily for giving us more than we could handle back in the days of Intensive classes, because this one is just the same. *sigh*
-2.15PM: Public International Law. My professor is a Harvard Law grad, therefore, there are hundreds of pages of reserved reading, intense debates, and general tossing around of esoteric political theories left and right (although I prefer to think of it as more of an avalanche). In spite of these things, however, this class is causing me to seriously consider a career path in international law, and it makes me wish I were a political science major....because then I'd actually have some idea of what's going on in this class.
Wednesday Class Schedule
-1.30 to 4PM: Politics and Power in Roman Architecture from Augustus to Mussolini. This class involves walking around the Circus Maximus, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, as well as a million other awesome Roman monuments and churches spanning from ancient/medieval/Renaissance/Baroque Rome to Fascist Rome in 1945. It's blissful!!
-Again, 5.15PM: Philosophy of Art and Beauty
**Each day ends with an hour-long walk with friends back to Medaglie d'Oro, where we prepare exquisite roommate dinners, often paired with our staple dessert: nutella and biscotti**
***Another sidenote: at the end of our third week here, our room of 7 is currently on its 11th, yes, 11th jar of nutella. And this one is dangerously close to being empty***
As for weekend trips, I've been to Florence, Lake Como, and Milan. The second weekend here we spent in Milan and Lake Como. Now, Milan isn't exactly what it's cracked up to be, although the Duomo is absolutely magnificent, and the Teatro della Scala really is as fantastic as it appears in pictures. Lake Como, on the other hand, was a breath of fresh air after the frenetic pace of city life we had been so used to over the past couple weeks!
The day after getting back from Milan, I experienced a windfall of epic proportions--only it had nothing to do with money. Oh no, it was something wayyy more important than that. Silvio Ciampi, the eloquent, grandfatherly owner of Ciampi's Pianoforti down by the Piazza Risorgimento (basically next-door to the Vatican), granted me permission to use the pianos in his store to practice on! And, he gave me the key to his store so I can go practice whenever I want. I was floored, to say the least! I mean, you'd never hear of that happening in America, and this man didn't even know me. And yet, he was completely trusting....there are very good reasons why I favor the Italian people over Americans sometimes. They're so much more expressive, they're quick to argue, absolutely ridiculous, incredibly kind, and although a lot of Americans get frustrated with the Italian lifestyle, which seems to have no direction....it makes perfect sense to me. :)
The next weekend trip was to Florence (Firenze, in Italian). This city was the home of the great Medici family, who ushered in the glorious Italian Renaissance by attracting artists like Alberti, Brunelleschi, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Donatello, Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi. It is the domain of the magnificent Duomo, Santa Maria del Fiore, the city of Michelangelo's David, and the famous Uffizi Gallery...we went to Latin Mass in the Duomo, climbed to the Piazzale Michelangelo, the highest point in the city, window-shopped on the Ponte Vecchio at night, and had the most amazing dinner at a thoroughly Italian neighborhood restaurant called Il Latini....
Anyway, my goal for this post was to have it up before I left for my Philosophy of Art and Beauty class, so here you go!!! Hopefully I can overcome these commitment issues and start posting on a somewhat regular basis....
Vi amo,
Laura
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