Fall Break- Finally!

There's a phrase that I'm very fond of when it comes to describing my life, primarily for it's accuracy in communicating how my life unfolds, and it is flying by the seat of my pants.  There is very rarely any moment in my life when I am not "flying by the seat of my pants," and sometimes quite literally.  This has especially been true for my time abroad.

When Fall Break finally came around, I was so ready to get out and do some slower paced traveling in which every moment did not have some scheduled activity, get away from school, and eat something other than pasta for a little while.  Mid Terms are never what can be called fun and with Kara's visit and my traveling the two previous weekends, most of my studying had been done, yep, you guessed it, by the seat of my pants.  On top of studying, I had yet to book anything for Fall Break.  Sure, I said I was going to Dublin and Granada, but had I bought the tickets or booked hostels?  Nope.  So that had to be done too, and while my apartmentmates thought I was nuts putting it off and had had their breaks booked for weeks, this actually worked to my advantage.  Flights really are cheaper if you wait until a much closer date to departure to buy them.  Mid Terms all went smoothly and successfully, even Italian where our teacher has taught us roughly nothing.  With that, I was more than ready to begin break.

My break started Saturday morning with a day trip to Perugia for a chocolate festival that is held annually and is one of the largest chocolate festivals in the world.  Perugia is also home to the university that Amanda Knox attended, for those of you familiar with her case here in Italy.  I found it rather amusing that the tour guides found it fitting to point that out to us.  Despite that little glitch, Perugia is a beautiful city.  The valley that it is in is so wonderful and it was the perfect day.  Our only task was to wander around and find all the booths with free samples.  One of the booths was located in the old fort and in addition to the chocolate booths, there were meat, cheese and wine vendors.  Guess what I came home with?  I'll give you a hint- it wasn't chocolate.  That night, Anne and I treated ourselves to a dinner of sausage, cheese and wine.  I'm easily satisfied, what can I say?

The next morning I was up at an hour that should be illegal to be out of bed and at the train station to catch the very first train of the day, just to make sure I didn't repeat the Prague mess.  I was at the airport an hour early and no matter who I asked or where I looked, no one could tell me where my flight was.  I finally found an information desk and asked if he knew.  He proceeded to tell me that I was at the WRONG AIRPORT. And sure enough, there it was, printed right on my ticket.  He said my only chance of getting there in time, which was slim, was a taxi and a lot of euros.  So, 100 euros later, I found myself in a taxi praying to St. Christopher with all of my might that I will make this stupid plane.  St. Chris was on my side that day and I made the flight.

Ireland.  Of all the places I have ever wanted to visit, Ireland is easily in the top five.  Part of my family is Irish (my brothers have the give-away red hair and I hate them for it), Irish accents are possibility one of God's personal gifts to me, and something about those green hills just fascinates me.  The longer I was there, the more I realized that I needed to come back someday for a more extended period.  While I love Florence dearly, there was a small part of me that was wishing that I had picked Dublin as a study abroad destination. No regrets, but this was a great indicator of just how much I loved Dublin.

I spent the first two days of my time there just wandering around taking in what Dublin had to offer, and there's quite a bit.  I visited the castle several times, once on my own, once for a tour, and once to try to see the church on the grounds.  Turns out that it isn't the chapel that's open on Wednesdays, but the tax revenue museum that's beneath the chapel.  Now that was simply fascinating.  The history of the castle is quite interesting.  It has the last Viking tower in Dublin and has been used in some fashion or another all throughout Dublin's history, the good and the bad.  On the tour, we were shown some of the state rooms for the King's regent and the rare visits the King made to Ireland.  These rooms will soon be used as the capital of the EU within the next six months.  We were also shown the excavations of the original fort which was mostly lost in a fire.  Some of the walls as you come in the entrance of the grounds have bayonet marks from the Easter Week uprising.  The castle is there in every part of Irish history.

The tower and the chapel

Another major site that I spent a significant amount of time at was St. Patrick's Cathedral.  It is built on the site that St. Patrick reputedly baptized some of the first believers.  The Cathedral is a great place to spend several hours and brush up on all things Jonathan Swift, who was a rector there for many years and did most of his famous works while serving as rector.  I saw the Cathedral my first night there and decided to return the next morning for Mass.  Despite this being the site where St. Patrick converted hundreds to Catholicism, this is not a Catholic cathedral, which I found out the hard way the next morning.  I was, however, very nicely invited to attend the service for the Church of Ireland, which I stayed for most of, then panicked when it came time for their communion and I bolted.  I went to breakfast instead and had the most delicious chicken, lettuce, corn and egg sandwich, homemade potato chips, pumpkin soup and toast EVER and made up for that little misadventure.  

Another highlight was exploring Phoenix Park.  It's a gorgeous huge park, one of the largest in Europe.  The President lives on the grounds as well as the American ambassador.  There is also a zoo which I decided to visit one afternoon.  I haven't been to a zoo in forever and it was so nice!!  It was a little chilly and I grabbed a hot chocolate and wandered around for a few hours.  I encountered a peacock in the girls bathroom which was quite interesting, but I think we got along all right.  This zoo also had the largest herd of giraffes I had ever seen and I was ecstatic.  I have a strange love for most savanna animals, but especially giraffes and elephants.  I spent longer than I should have making faces at the giraffes, mainly because they would make faces back.  Did I mention I'm easily entertained?  The elephant enclosure was my other favorite.  When I walked in, it was just me and one of the elephants was right there.   He even noticed that I was standing there, falling in love with him, and he tapped the glass where I was.  I think he just wanted me to go away while he was eating, but I was persistent.  I don't think I won him over, but at least he acknowledged me.  Hee..  : )

Of course, no visit to Ireland is complete without going to Trinity College and seeing the Book of Kells.  I want my children to go to Trinity College.  I loved it that much.  If I couldn't go there, then someone I love should.  It's a beautiful, not to mention prestigious, school and gets to brag that it's the home of the Book of Kells.  I love old books and seeing this was wonderful.  The detail is, well, detailed.  I can't imagine just how much time it took and I can't imagine doing it all by hand.  It's very impressive and the Irish are very protective of it.  Not that I can blame them.  

A large part of my time was spent simply exploring the city via a tourist bus.  It took you around to all the major sites and you could hit up everything pretty quickly and efficiently.  It also showed me a lot of interesting things in Dublin that I would not have found on my own.  

I also decided that I could not leave Dublin without going to the National Leprechaun Museum.  I mean, who gets to say they've done that?!  It was quite interesting and I found it very amusing.  I also couldn't resist getting my brothers' souvenirs there.  They will soon be walking advertisements for the Leprechaun Museum, as if their red hair and very Irish names don't do that already.  That'll teach them for calling me short all the time..  

My other "couldn't pass up" moment was going to dinner at a place called The Church.  It is exactly what it sounds like- a converted church that is associated with a lot of famous Irish men and women.  It still has the stain glass windows and the organ.  It may be blasphemy, but I had the best garlic bread of my life there (and I'm living in ITALY, for Pete's sake), so it can't possibly be all bad.  

In honor of the approach of Halloween, I decided to go on a ghost bus tour while I was there.  I normally don't do scary, but I just couldn't resist.  They're pretty into Halloween in Ireland (they are the originators of Halloween) and it's my favorite holiday.  Luckily the tour was more for entertainment than scares and told some popular ghost stories and showed us some places where hauntings known to happen in Dublin.  I even learned the tactics of a famous grave robber, in case my day job doesn't work out.  

One of the big things I did while I was in Dublin was sign up for the Celtic Tour, which took you around the Boyne Valley and showed off some of the major historic sites in the area.  We went to the Hill of Tara, which is where all the kings of Ireland used to come together to choose a high king and make decisions regarding governing.  It is also where St. Patrick was essentially allowed to start preaching.  I, however, had to start this tour off Samantha-style.  My shoes were pretty worthless in protecting me from the dew and I was soaked ten minutes into it.  Given that my shoes were completely soaked, I had no traction and found myself on my butt very quickly and my camera covered in mud.  Luckily it managed to survive the rest of the time in Ireland.  

From there we moved on to Trim Castle, which is most famously known for it's association with the movie, Braveheart.  The opening scene was filmed there, which is kinda funny because the movie takes place in Scotland.  Details..  The castle, however was very cool.  This is what I typically think of when I think castle and it was a very neat visit.  

From there we went to Loughcrew, which had a lot of interesting features.  First, it had a giant hill which from the top it was rumored that you could see a third of Ireland.  Second, it had a cool passage tomb at the top of the hill which would have held the ashes of significant Celts, until they were removed when visitors were allowed into the tomb.  You can see the original cravings and brag that you were in a structure that is over 5,000 years old and still standing.  Third, it has a permanent Mass rock.  When the Catholics were persecuted, they used Mass rocks to signal where the Mass was going to be held.  These were normally portable seeing as it wasn't safe to have Mass in the same spot for more than a couple of weeks, but because the hill is so huge, they could see any approaching attackers and get away in time.  I would just hate to have to go up that crazy hill once a week.  Fourth, Loughcrew is the home of St. Oliver's family home and home parish.  At least what's left of them.  The Catholic persecution wasn't very kind to these buildings, but they're still there to see.    Fifth, Loughcrew had lunch.  Thank goodness.  

 The big hill

 Carvings 

 Inside the Passage Tomb

 Persecution Altar

 Mass Rock/ Altar

 Entrance to the Passage Tomb

 St. Oliver's Church

After Loughcrew, we went to see the "Jumping Church."  The folklore behind it is that some monks were honored and buried in the walls of the church.  An excommunicated man was buried in the church (who knows how that happened..).  The disgruntled monks moved the wall four feet overnight, leaving the excommunicated man on the outside of the church.  While the folklore is more intriguing, the gale winds and the church sinking into itself is really to blame.  

Monasterboice was next.  This was an ancient monastery that was known as center of higher learning during the Dark Ages.  While the rest of Europe was destroying religious and education establishments, Ireland was flourishing- the land of scholars and saints it was called.  However, enter Henry VIII and this, too, was destroyed.  It's heartbreaking.  However, a huge Celtic cross still stands and is one of the largest remaining examples of Irish religious art.  What's interesting is that Pope Benedict does not recognize it as a Christian symbol because it has, God forbid, Celtic symbols on it.  The Irish like to brag that they are the only example of religious conversion without any bloodshed and much of that is due to the incorporation of Celtic art and symbols.  I hate to take a side here, but I think I'm with the Irish.  

Our final stop was St. Peter's Church to see the shrine of St. Oliver.  St. Oliver was responsible for a great deal of resistance to the Catholic persecution.  He was finally caught after starting schools and continuing to preach.  The Irish refused to convict him, even after the jury had been bribed, he was so well loved.  He was finally taken to England and convicted under trumped up charges of treason.  He was then hung, drawn, and quartered.  If you don't know what that is, don't look it up.  People scare me.  Just to ensure that he was dead and to deter others, they burned his head.  However, followers and friends of his managed to gain possession of his head and it is venerated in this church.  The church itself is very beautiful and also possesses a piece of the true cross.  While looking at a burned head isn't typically my cup of tea, it was worth the visit.  

When I returned after the tour, I went to Food, Fairies and Folktales.  It was basically a night of traditional Irish music, folk tales, food traditions and history over a three course traditional Irish meal at Dublin's oldest pub, The Brazen Head, established in 1198.  It was wonderful.  I simply adored every moment of it, except making myself drink a whole glass of Guinness, but the Gormleys would be proud.  My first full beer was an Irish one.  If that's not luck of the Irish, I don't know what is.  The evening at Food, Fairies, and Folktales was a great way to end my day.

I left the following day, but had a little time to explore before I left.  I went to see Dublina, a recreation of Viking and medieval Dublin, which honestly was a little creepy.  It had way too many wax figures making noises at random to enjoy by myself.   A good way to learn history, but a little scary.  Dublina connected to Christ Church Cathedral, so I went to visit that.  It was a pretty church, but I will never understand the Anglicans.  They had a gift store and coffee shop in the crypt.  I was a little weirded out.  Not to mention that they started a prayer service while there were tourists milling around.  Thank God I'm Catholic!

When it came time to leave, I highly considered cancelling my flight to Granada and staying the rest of the week, but I knew I wanted to see Spain as well, so I followed through with the original plan.  However, you are all invited to come visit me anytime in Ireland when I move there permanently.  The first pint of Guinness is on me.  : )

Cheers to the little bit, or lot o'bit, of Irish in all of us,

Samantha

"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Czech Republic"

I'm beginning to wonder if I'm really cut out for traveling.  Looking back, I have yet to have a smooth traveling experience.  Anywhere.  I'm missing flights, or sleeping in airports, or pack to much, or not enough, or I just seem to forget how to keep my own two legs underneath me, or, on a really good day, all of the above.  It makes the whole endeavor so exhausting and usually all I want to go is find something hard to bang my head against.

Anyway, after Kara's time in Florence, she headed to Prague to see Allison and I set out to join them late Thursday night.  After catching the train, I made it to the airport and made it to the airport check in only to be informed that my flight left 30 minutes ago.  And my confirmation said that my flight was not supposed to leave for another 30 minutes.  I was bluntly told by the WONDERFUL man at the desk, that no, they could refund my flight or find another one for me for some dumb policy reason or another and the next flight that airline even offered to Prague was not until Saturday afternoon which would have been a really pointless move on my part.  It was late enough in the evening that everything was closed so there was no other airline to talk to about flights, so I was left with a choice: give up the weekend in Prague or camp out in the airport and hope to goodness that there is another option.

I had been able to get in touch with Allison and Kara and alert them to my situation and asked them to get in touch with my Mom and give her updates.  Upon deciding that I would camp-out in the airport, we decided that we would leave out that update (Sorry, Mom).  And I camped out.  For the record, backpacks don't actually make good pillows and there is no such thing as retaining body heat on marble floors.  Five o'clock finally rolled around and I made sure I was the first person at the ticket window.  They had a relatively cheap flight that left that day- at three in the afternoon.  I still had another ten hours to wait.  I hope my grandchildren realize how much patience it took to procure these stories for them.  I'll leave it at that.

When I finally landed, I encountered another first.  This was first time to be on my own in a country where I didn't have any familiarity with the language.  I didn't even know how to say 'yes' in Czech.  Heck, I couldn't even pronounce the language if I tried.  By some minor miracle, I made it to the correct bus and found the correct stop where Allison and Kara found me and presented me a lovely flower to make up for my oh so exciting trip.  I cannot even begin to explain my relief and exhaustion.

Does the bottle look familiar?  

After dinner, we went to go see the Prague Castle at night.  Castles, I've learned, are actually compounds made up of different administration buildings for the government.  There's a surprising lack of fairy tales castles hanging around in Europe.  Bummer.  The spires you can see throughout the city at the castle are actually the church spires from the church within the compound.  It's beautiful, especially at night, though it's a shame we couldn't go see the inside of the church and even more of a shame that I forgot the battery to my camera, which I had left in Allison's apartment.

Prague Castle

Since I had arrived, Allison had been going on about a surprise that she had planned for Kara and I.  After seeing the castle, Allison took us to the Lennon Wall.  When the Communist government was still in place, students would come to this wall outside of the government headquarters and paint Beatles lyrics and other words and images of peace on the wall.  Each day the wall would be painted white again and each night, the students would return and graffiti the wall.  The government finally let the wall be and people still come to it and leave behind their own words of hope.  Naturally, we all went nuts.  I made sure to cover all my bases and leave behind something for all the different things I care about- the Rockhurst "R," my family name, OLOG, the name of the camp I work at, I.H.S., a A.L.A.M. and a ladybug for my sorority, and the word 'joy.'  We spent quite a bit of time there and ended up in a few passerby's pictures because of our work.  Who knows how long what we left behind will last until it is covered by someone else's work, but a little piece of each of our hearts are there on that wall, joined with so many others.  Just as it should be.

From there, we went to a local bar to try the local cider that is very popular for the time of year.  We didn't stay long, but enjoyed taking notes of the differences of this bar and bars back home.  I honestly feel that Europeans got the bar scene right and we could take some good cues from them.  The fact that the bar is calm enough for people to bring their dogs in while they enjoy a drink says it all.

Kara had to leave the following morning, so we said our good-byes early and we escorted her to the bus stop to head home.  Once Kara was safely on, Allison and I set out to see the city.  We started on the main city square.  Prague's beauty cannot be described.  It's just quaint and lovely and you feel at home immediately.  It was considerably cooler than Florence, but the chilly fall weather just seemed to add to the experience.

While wandering around the city center, we stumbled across an art exhibit.  While I had no idea what was going on, Allison immediately knew who it was and what it was all about.  I found it a little strange to be honest.  One of the pieces we found was an aquarium that held the body of Saddam Hussein with the noose around his neck.  I was a little freaked.  I think of the Communist regime has really left the Czechs scarred.  Yikes.

We then made our way up to a major church that has a nice overlook of the city.  It was simply stunning there.

We made our intentions clear that we simply wanted to sit and be and take in the day, but that wasn't in the cards.  We received a call a few minutes after reaching the top of the hill from Kara's mother.  Her flight had unexpectedly been cancelled and she would not be leaving until tomorrow morning.  We did a quick tour of the park there and peeked into the church and I saw another wedding (I've bumped into a lot of wedding parties during my time in Europe.  I think I'm on number eleven.) then we headed down the hill to catch a tram to meet Kara.

Kara had been so ready to get back to school as much as she loved Europe.  We decided that the evening should just be a chill girls' night.  We cuddled up on the futon and attempted to watch some Grey's Anatomy and then went to dinner and feasted on some wonderful Czech food.  The Czechs are very hearty eaters and I found them to be diners after my own heart.  It was wonderful to have this last delicious and wonderful meal together.

Kara and I both left the following morning and, thankfully, everything going home went smoothly.  I was going to panic otherwise.  I had midterms that upcoming week and those could not be missed.

Though I may not be the best traveler, or really even a good traveler, I hope that I never stop traveling.  I've seen so many wonderful things and learned so much about the world.  Each history is so complex and so rich.  Each group of people I have encountered take such pride in all that they stand for and where they have come from.  It's crazy to think that I ignored it all so easily before.  After seeing and feeling and experiencing all the I have, I have no choice but to step out of my comfort zone, but that's the only way I've ever gotten anywhere.  And leaving behind that comfort zone sure does feel good, even if it means a night on the airport floor.

Hoping that you can step out of your comfort zone without sleeping on an airport floor,
Sam

** Credit for this post's title goes to Karen Gormley

Meeting David

For those of you that might not be aware, Florence has a very famous resident.  Michelangelo's famous sculpture of the Old Testament shepherd boy, giant slayer turned king is probably one of the most acclaimed pieces of art in the world.  One of the first things almost everyone told me when I informed them that I would be studying in Florence was how impressive David was and that I had to go see him for myself.  Each person said the same thing about David- you just don't really understand how impressive he is until you meet him in person.  Sure, there are several nice replicas in different parts of the city and you can see how much the Italians, especially the Florentines, value and appreciate him because he is simply everywhere- little figurines, calendars, key chains, magnets, dishware, clothing, even other pieces of art bear his image, or at least part of it (if you follow what I mean..).  

David is simply in the heart of everyone who meets him.  David was created during a rather tumultuous period in Florence's history.  The Medici, the ruling family of the city-state, had been exiled and Florence was faced with powerful rivals on all sides.  To the people of Florence, he came to be seen as a protector and stood for the defense of their civil liberties as the independent city-state of the Florentine Republic.  He was originally placed in the Piazza della Signoria, where the seat of civic government was and was faced toward Rome.

We were told a story upon arriving in Florence about David during WWII.  When the Americans were given the order to bomb all the major cities in Italy, the pilot in charge could not bear to bomb the city center of Florence because he knew that this was the home of David, as well as many other pieces of timeless and priceless works of art.  How accurate this story actually is is up for debate, but it can not be disputed that David really is the protector of the Florentines and they are incredibly fond of him.

Here is where I have to make a terrible confession.  My program had given each of us a museum pass at the beginning of the semester that allowed us access to every museum in Florence for free and I had only used it once.  To go to the Boboli gardens.  When Kara came to visit Florence, I knew that I couldn't let her go without seeing David.  Not to mention I needed to see him as well.  That and I knew it would be a little pathetic to send Kara back to the States with nothing to talk about or show for her time in Florence other than the obscene amounts of delicious food we had managed to put away during her stay.

So, on her final full day in Florence, Kara and I made our way to the Accademia.  We had gone later than planned, but this turned out to be in our favor.  With only an hour and a half left until closing and the sun beginning to set, most of the tourists had cleared out and we experienced no wait or issue getting in.  The museum itself is rather small and has an interesting mix of the old and the new.  We didn't get to see all of the museum during our time there, but that was OK with us.

When we entered, we thought of poking around and trying to see everything, but you could hear all the noise from the other room and knew exactly where David was without a doubt.  David is at the end of the corridor with other pieces leading up to him.  You can tell he is impressive from a distance, but you have to be close to get the full effect.

Kara and I made our way to him after looking at the pieces leading up to him and joined the crowd of admirers.  And that's all you can do really, just admire.  It was exactly what everyone had said.  You can talk about David all you want, but seeing is believing.  Words don't do him justice.  You forget that he is made out of marble with no modern tools or conveniences and when you do remember that this is David's reality, your mind is blown all over again.  The details are simply amazing.  You can see the veins in his arms and neck.  David is intense.  He is ready to do battle with whatever may come his way and will stand his ground. His glare is still pointed toward Rome, funny enough.  Taking pictures of him are not allowed and for something this special, I'll go along with the rules.  My pictures wouldn't do him justice anyway.

There is a bench near David and Kara and I simply sat there for a significant period of time and just stared.  Then we would talk about him for a little while, half of the words said being, "Wow.  ...  Wow."  And then we would go back to staring.  We stuck with this routine until they started to begin to flush people out of the museum.  We cast one last look and Kara snapped a few secret pictures and we made our way out.  We peeked into another part of the museum very quickly, but after that, you're ruined for life.  Leaving was bittersweet- we were so happy to have met David and so sad that we had to leave our new friend so soon.

So, moral of the story: put this on your bucket list.  David is simply too wonderful to pass up and you can't leave with a greater appreciation of how beautiful the human body has been created and how capable human efforts and creativity are at celebrating our beauty.  Go.  Don't ask questions.  Just book the next flight to Rome, catch the train to Florence, and get your butt to the Accademia.  You won't regret it.  I'll even let you crash on my couch.  ; P

See you in a few hours for your visit to meet David,
Sam

Rome Again, Roam Again, Jiggity Jig

Sorry, everyone.  It’s been awhile, I know.  Time has gotten away from me.  I just can’t believe that the semester and my time here is already half way gone.  That’s scary to think about. 

Now I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m blogging about Rome again or why I went back to Rome again.  I’m in Europe for only a short while, as was just discussed, and shouldn’t I take advantage of the time to see as much as possible?  Normally, I would agree with you, but I think I went back to Rome for a VERY worthwhile reason- one of my favorite people in the whole world, Kara Anne Miller, was in ROME!!  Kara is one of my dearest friends from Rockhurst and was brave enough to live with me all last year and has lived to tell the tale.  She decided to come to Europe to see me and another friend, Allison, who is studying abroad in Prague.  Kara flew into Rome to see the Eternal City and then would go to Florence to hang with me for a little while then go to Prague to see Allison in her natural habitat. 

Kara got to Rome first and I joined her as quickly as I could catch a train after my last class.  Allison, in all manners Allison, showed up considerably later than we expected to see her.  Right as we were about to reach the verge of panic and had started contacting her mother because, of course, she had lost her phone the previous weekend at Oktober Fest (not that I can judge too harshly because I also lost my phone the same weekend in Croatia), a very confused desk manager came to tell us that someone said they were supposed to be staying in a two person room where two people were already staying.  Once we got that mess sorted out, we were all together and it had been too long.  We basically spent a considerable amount of the night talking and catching up with each other. 

The next morning we set out to explore with no real objectives in mind, but I should probably take a moment to explain the dynamics of the group.  I, obviously, had been to Rome and seen all the major highlights, so I was more eager to show Allison and Kara my life in Italy and try to hit up the not-so-common spots.  Allison is, by all terms of the definition, a nerd.  She studied LATIN (of all ridiculous subjects) all four years of high school and did an independent study of Latin at Rockhurst.  She is a Theology and Literature major and with an Art History minor.  The city of Rome was to be Allison’s candy store for the weekend.  This girl’s enthusiasm for Rome could not be contained and Kara and I would greatly feel the impact of that.  Then there was Kara, who we have to remember just came from a week of mid-terms and was battling a case of jet lag.  While Kara was excited to see the city, she mainly cared about just being with me and Allison.  So with this diverse dynamic, we set out. 

We stopped at the first major church we came to and explored.  It was nice to be exploring a church with people who just got it and appreciated it as much as I did.  That had not really been my previous experience.  We explored a lot of churches over the course of the weekend, so I’ll spare you the details because after awhile they all start running together and they are ALL simply astounding. 

From there we headed to the Colosseum, Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill.  It’s not every day that you get roam around the ruins of one of history’s most prominent societies and if I had a dollar for every time Allison asked one of us to take a picture of her with some significant something or rather, I would have a considerable start for student loan payments.  There are so many cool things to see and you just can’t fully wrap your head around the fact that you’re actually where you are.  We saw the Senate and Allison ensured that we saw every point of significance. 

After lunch we just happened to stumble across the Church of St. Ignatius.  What else is more perfect for three lovely Jesuit ladies such as ourselves!?  This was probably our favorite church of the visit.  All the artwork was ridiculously lifelike.  To the point that all the figures looked like they could be real their dimensions were so good.  The one by the window had all our jaws on the floor.  It looks like the man’s fingers actually extend into the open space in front of the window.  We were flabbergasted.  No other way to put it. 

Look closely at the fingers of the man with the extended arm- CRAZY.

The church also had this weird model of other churches.  We had no idea what it represented or what it was used for, but we were entirely transfixed by it.  Our guess is that is symbolizes all the places in the world that the Jesuits have churches or communities.  Oklahoma was even on there!  We could be wrong, but that’s the hypothesis. 

The Pantheon was next and Allison and I allowed ourselves an Angels and Demons geek out moment.  I can’t really tell you why I like the Pantheon so much.  I just do.  I think I like the history of it and its uniqueness.  If you ever get the chance to go, do. 

On our way to the Piazza Navona, we found an empty church.  I had a calendar once that gave pieces of advice for every day of the year.  One of the pieces of advice that it gave was to pray in an empty, ancient cathedral.  And we did just that.  I don’t know if it classifies as ancient and technically it wasn’t empty considering there were three of us and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t actually a cathedral, but we’re going to count it. 

While strategizing for the following day, we were looking up the Vatican and saw that during the months of September and October, the Vatican is open until 11pm on Fridays.  It was a Friday and we made the impulsive decision to go.  We raced there as fast as we could and made it before the final entrance time.  For an hour and a half, we had the whole Vatican to ourselves.  It was glorious.  We could not get over ourselves the entire time that we were there.  This was really the experience of a lifetime.  We didn’t have to fight with a single person to see anything, it wasn’t ridiculously hot, and I could actually hear myself think.  This really is the way to see the Vatican.

The following day we returned to the Vatican and begrudgingly had to share it with half the population of Rome.  We saw some different parts of the museums, but the real highlight was going up in the dome of the cathedral.  We walked up 510 steps and got to see the top of the inside on the dome which was amazing and we went to the very top of the building and could see all of Rome from our perch.  It was wonderful.  St. Peter’s is easily the biggest structure in Rome and the city is at your feet.  To the greater glory of God, my friends. 

Once we were back on the ground, we found a side altar having adoration in the Basilica, so we popped in for a few minutes and stayed for the benediction.  I haven’t done anything like that in quite a while and it felt so perfect to do so with two good friends and in St. Peter’s Basilica.  Our exploration lasted long enough that we decided that we would just stick around for Mass, and so we did.  I can now brag about going to Mass at the Vatican in St. Peter’s.  If only the Pope had been the one doing the Mass, then the moment would have been completely made. 

I also got to creep on the Swiss Guard, so no complaints there!

That evening, all the museums in Rome were going to be open late and be free to the public.  We saw this as a perfect opportunity to continue to see the city and not spend a whole wad of cash.  However, everyone else had the exact same idea.  It was an absolute mad house.  The first museum we had wanted to go to had a line that went all the way down to a major street in the city.  We gave up on that conquest very quickly.  We stopped in a park to come up with a plan of attack and while Allison and I were battling out where we wanted to go and how we would get there, we had left Kara behind in the normal world while Allison and I had entered  the world of full out nerdy-ness.  I often give my Mom crap when we go on vacation for taking us on death marches of the place we visit rather than vacation.  This, unfortunately, had been the case in Rome and Kara was the one feeling the brunt of it, especially in her jet-lagged state.  When I finally left nerd world and returned to the normal world and turned to Kara to see what she thought of the plan we had come up with, I saw the most venom filled face I have ever seen from Kara Miller, even after many, many nights of me depriving her of sleep due to snoring or my inability to shut up.  She then flashed me a forced, painful and cheeky smile to cover her exhaustion.  I was laughing before I could stop myself and every time I looked at Kara the rest of the night, I would start laughing again.  Kara was a good enough sport and saw the humor in the situation as well and we would both collapse into laughter at random moments, much to Allison’s confusion. 

We finally found a museum that looked like it would be interesting and when we got there, the crowd was manageable.  It had a cool display of Roman history being projected on the walls outside of the museum, so what sat outside there for a little while and enjoyed the evening and let Allison try to be artsy with the camera. 

Allison's handiwork.

The museum we had picked out was simple but pretty dang cool.  We didn’t realize it but the museum was home to the altar of peace that Octavian built when he had finished his conquest of Egypt to symbolize the end of war and establish an era of peace.  It was pretty impressive and had a unique history of its own.  It had been moved several times and Mussolini had tried to do something with it, but didn’t get around to it in time, thankfully.  They had a live guitarist playing creating a very desirable and soothing atmosphere.  We wandered about for a little while and called it a night.

The following morning we started at the Piazza de Popolo.  It was pretty calm by Roman standards and the day was very nice.  There was a look out above the Piazza and we decided to go up and had a great view of the city.  The view reminded me of a scene from one of my favorite movies, Return to Me.  I might have to do a little research and see if that was where they filmed it.  We would have stayed up there all day if we hadn’t been motivated to go see other things.  We also had a mission to find a gelato place that had been recommended to us.  You can’t neglect your duty to gelato. 

The recommended gelato place was located on Tiber Island.  The day was so beautiful and being along the river was very relaxing after our whirlwind dash through all the major sites in Rome.  We stayed there for a little while longer than we expected and went back to the gelato shop for a second helping.  What can I say- When in Rome! 

From there we went to see the Mouth of Truth which supposedly can tell if you are faithful to your significant other or not.  If you are unfaithful and you stick your hand in, it will bite down.  There’s a fun little piece of culture for you.  The church connected to it is also worth a visit. Next to the church is the Circus Maximus and we let Allison have her fun there before we headed to the hostel for a little R&R. 

We had been trying to go see the city at night, but were too tired to actually make to each of the sites at the end of the day.  We knew this was our last shot and we were going to make it worth the wait.  I was forced to “dress up” and we treated ourselves to a dinner that consisted of something other than pizza. 

This night will go down in our personal history books as one of those nights that nothing can ever tarnish.  As Kara likes to quote, this night, “we were infinite.”  We started at the Spanish steps and started our photo shoot for the evening as well as a bottle of Limoncella that Allison’s friend insisted that she should not leave the city without trying.  While I can’t say a whole lot about the quality of the Limoncella, I will say that everything after was perfect.  We wandered from the Spanish steps to a gelato shop to the Trevi fountain.  The Trevi fountain is a must see at night.  It’s just a lovely as it is in the day time without the crazy crowds.  We simply sat and soaked it all in.  And we talked.  We talked about anything and everything.  We cried.  We said good-bye to all those things we’ve left behind as we begin our lives as young adults.  We laughed.  We remembered all those treasured moments that hold us together and relished the moment we were currently creating.  We celebrated.  We acknowledged all the struggles we had faced and all the potential our futures held.  We were infinite. 

When we finally moved from the Trevi fountain, we found the Piazza della Repubblica.  We got some nice shots there and made our way home for the evening, each of us on cloud nine. 

Or on tree stumps..

The next morning our only goals and priorities were to check out, find food, and make sure we all caught our trains on time.  After a quick lunch and a recap of the previous evening over a shared Kinder bar, we said our good-byes.  It was sad to see Rome come to an end, but we would see each other the following weekend in Prague, and after our Roman weekend, we had great things to look forward to.  

Enjoy the day!
Samantha

Croatia- A Place So Wonderful I Can't Even Think of a Clever Title

Oh wow.  Croatia, the land of my daydreams.  I'm going to be honest for a moment though.  Croatia was never on my radar.  Never.  I couldn't tell you anything about this country before I went and I still couldn't tell you much.  I do know that this is definitely a contender for my favorite happening abroad thus far.  I was introduced to the idea of Croatia by my roommate, Anne.  She walked into the living room one night soon after we had moved to Florence and asked if anyone was interested in visiting Croatia for a weekend.  I humored her and was interested in the idea, but felt that I should give preference to places, like Spain and Ireland, that I have been itching to visit since I developed my love of travel.  After listening to the schpeel, Anne showed up a picture of the major waterfall at Krka National Park.  Talk about a deal-breaker, we were all on our laptops booking the trip before Anne could even finished her sentence.

So the last Thursday in September we made our way through the rain to the train station and anxiously waited the for the start of our Croatia adventure.  And waited.  And waited.  Our bus was coming from Rome and must have forgotten the correct time, showing up and an hour and a half late.  When we finally made it on to the bus, the pickings were slim and got stuck in the very back.  We had a long nine hours ahead of us.  Little did we know..  The rest of the drive was marked by 15 minute cigarette stops for the drivers every two hours and a whopping 45 minute stop at the border because the drivers didn't have their paperwork.  It was good times.

Once we finally made it to Split, we had signed up to go white-water rafting and immediately jumped into that.  We were bused to the Cetina River near Omis, Croatia, a very cool pirate town.  But really it was.  And they actually use 'ahoy' as a greeting there.  Life MADE.  Anyway, once we got to the river, we climbed into wet suits and met our guide.  My apartmentmates and I had to met two other students on the bus and formed a rafting group with Erin and Nathan.  Struggling into with a wet suit with someone you've just met is a great bonding experience and we were all pumped.  I thought being in a wet suit was going to be an unpleasant experience, but I found that I really liked them!  It made me feel super legit and ready for anything.  Honestly, I felt like Katniss Everdeen in it and I love any opportunity that makes me feel like a Class A bad ass.

Pirate Town of Omis.  You can see the old fort on the far right side.

I volunteer as tribute!

I have always wanted to go white water rafting and what's cooler than to get to say that I did in Europe?!  The river was beautiful and the water was irresistible.  We jumped in at the first opportunity.  And, good grief, was the water cold.  It's that shocking kind of cold where the only you can do is choke out laughter that makes you sounds like a demented toddler and flap your arms around pointlessly.  But it was great.  I don't know what we've done wrong in America, but the water is just ridiculously clear and clean.  The current is just strong enough to push you around but not so strong that swimming is a pain.  Once our guide fished us out of the water, we started rafting for real.  We were taught the proper strokes and commands and we pretty much beasted it.  Our guide said that we were on Class 2 rapids and in one spot Class 3.  Nothing too intense but we were still easily the best boat.  The Class 3 rapid was easily my favorite.  It was steepest and the quickest.  Our guide said that we had to sit to go down it and in the process got absolutely soaked.  Nothing better!

At the bottom of the rapid there was a waterfall that we could steer the raft under.  We were told that the water was clean enough that we could drink it straight from the waterfall.  You've never seen a group of college students so excited about a drink of water before.  We each took a turn drinking and it might as well have been the fountain of youth.  We were bursting with excitement and joy.  

After enjoying the waterfall, we were shown a cliff jumping spot.  Pretty perfect that I found a cliff to jump off of in Europe.  : )  How can you say no to a great adrenaline rush?  

We finally came to the end of the journey and enjoyed a wonderful lunch along the river.  From there we headed back to the hostel to get ready for the Pub Crawl that was going on later that evening.

Now for those of you that have had anything to do with me that involves alcohol, I'm not really big in the party scene.  Generally I tend to avoid it, and when I do partake, it's usually as a chaperone figure.  Rest assured, some things never change.  We met some interesting people- Andy and Kevin from Germany, Sam from Australia, and Iris from Croatia- and had some memorable moments, but as most chaperone evenings go, they end early.  We called it quits before reaching the final pub and attempted to catch some z's.

Anne, myself, and Erin- my fellow chaperones supreme!

The following morning we went with the tour group on an island hopping outing along the Dalmatian Coast.  Basically, I spent the day on a boat enjoying the sunshine and watching the waves.  It was bliss.  Watching the water rises and fall and catch the light is one of the most relaxing things I've done, probably ever.  It's mesmerizing.  It gives you some quite time for reflection and to soak in just what a wonderful moment you're currently dwelling in.  And it's all your's.  

We made our first stop and got the chance to poke around a town for a little while.  We found a swimming cove and took the opportunity to put photographic genius to work.  I'll spare you my work for now.  I don't want to overwhelm you.  : P  We then returned to the boat for lunch.  We passed the time simply sipping on wine and throwing our scraps to the seagulls following the boat.  Our guide then said that we would spending a few hours at a private beach, but to get to it, we had to jump off the boat and swim out.  Did I mention that I really like jumping off things?  

After enjoying the beach for a few hours we headed back and cleaned up for the evening festivities.  We we bused to dinner in a neighboring town and I ordered shrimp after hearing that Croatia has sublime seafood.  I was not, however, expecting THIS.  

They were staring at me all during dinner because, yes, they still had eyes.

Afterward, we pretty much had a free evening at our disposal and since we had missed the last bar on the pub crawl, we decided to get check it out.  It was right on the beach and a great mix of American and Croatian music.  We enjoyed the dance floor for a little while then decided to head out to the beach.  We had had enough foresight to wear our swimsuits under our clothes for a MIDNIGHT SWIM.  : D  Or really more like 2am..  Details..

Words cannot express how much I loved this.  Sure, I almost had a moment of slight panic as I ran past the others who didn't want to go to the deep water as they asked, "How can you go out there?!  What about sharks??" and scenes of a shark attack played in my head, but pure adrenaline had taken over at that point and I yelled back, "Oh well!"  You could still hear the music from the club playing over the water and we had a dance party, right there, in the middle of the Adriatic Sea at night in Croatia.  Life was grand.  

Not a great picture, but here's the proof, kids!

Our final day in Croatia was spent in Krka National Park.  Remember the picture Anne showed that I mentioned at the beginning of the post?  Yeah, I got to see that.  The park is ridiculous pretty.  You walk along a wooden path that takes you over all these pools and streams and mini waterfalls.  You finally make your way down to the big falls and there it is, The Big One.  You stand there and appreciate it for a few moments and then you charge the water.  I'm pretty sure I spent more time in a swimsuit that weekend than I did the entire duration of the summer, and that is perfectly fine with me.  Into the water we went, yet again, and enjoyed our final few hours in Croatia.  We finally separated from our beloved H2O and enjoyed a wonderful lunch then headed to the bus.  

And that was my weekend!  Definitely no regrets.  I had no idea what to expect from this weekend and I could not have asked for better.  It was so refreshing to reconnect with Mother Nature for a little while and send the summer off in style.  I made some new friends and chartered some unfamiliar waters.  No complaints from this girl.

Go get your feet wet today!

Sam

I'll Start with an Apology, Then Tell You about Assisi

SORRY!!  It's been so long, I know, but life doesn't seem to know how to hold still here.  I'm almost halfway through my time here and my mind is cannot comprehend it at all.  I just really cannot believe it.

Anyway, now that I have air my apologies for the ultimate procrastination, I'll tell you about my trip to Assisi!  To give you a little indicator of this trip, I'll let the nickname of the city do it for me.  Assisi is called the City of Peace.  I could see why.

Assisi is, of course, famously known for its most famous residents, St. Francis and St. Clare.  You know you're in for a pretty solid day when you're hanging out with the likes of those two.

Assisi is simply just beautiful.  The city is divided into two different parts.  The older part of the city is built on a hill while the newer part is down in the valley.  The historic part of the city still clings to much of its medieval history.  The city is still surrounded by the city wall that was used to protect from invaders in the days of the Roman Empire and there are part of the city in which you can see the original Roman road.  Assisi has adapted quite well to modern times while preserving to much of its history.

Upon arriving, we were shown the general views from the city.  The valley is quite beautiful and the weather was entirely perfect.  I could see why you might want to spend your entire life in Assisi and use your life to glorify God.  There's a lot to glorify!

We then made our way to the Basilica of St. Clare.  St. Clare is interred  in the crypt of the Basilica and you are able to go down and see her resting spot.  At one point, her body was claimed as incorrupt by the Church, but now you can just see her relics over the spot where her body is kept.  It's pretty cool to be that close to St. Clare, but what I really appreciated was the reverence that was present.  I've seen a lot of churches since coming to Italy and usually the rule about silence in churches is completely disregarded.  People were actually coming here to spend some time in prayer.  I just really appreciated the intention and gesture.

From the Basilica we moved to the Assisi Cathedral, taking original Roman roads, as our guide LOVED to point out.  This is the church at which both St. Francis and St. Clare were baptized.  There must be something in the water.  Literally.  Another interesting water feature inside the church was that is housed an original Roman well.  Now I'm convinced- it's the water.  The outside of the church was also very interesting.  The facade has a lot of old Christian symbols that aren't always used today.  Many, according to our guide, are adapted from the Romans.  It cannot be impressed upon me enough just how old this church is- it's just a little over a hundred years shy of its 1,000th birthday.  If only walls could talk..

Next we wandered to an older part of the city and we were shown where the Assisi coliseum once stood.  It is now someone's garden.  Go figure, right?  Some baths (for laundry) were also close by and if you looked closely enough, you could still see the crests of the ruling that we responsible for the creation of the baths.  There was also a Roman bar-be-que grill is hanging around.  No big deal.

During our guided wandering, we were taken to the Piazza del Comune and shown the Temple of Minerva, or today, known as the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.  This is one of few standing temples.  The original columns still stand.  The inside has been completely changed, but the point is here that the temple still stands!  I loved it.

Outside of the church was probably one of my favorite things I saw on the trip.  Assisi was hosting an art exhibition and to advertise the exhibit, they put one of the statues right outside the church in the piazza.  It was of a pregnant woman.  On her stomach was an etching of the world.  Our guide mentioned that she lights up at night and I can only imagine how awesome she looked at night.

From there our guide showed us his favorite views of the city.  He took us to a balcony tucked away are we were able to see most of the valley as well as a great view of the Basilica of St. Francis.  Made sure to get my model shot in for the day then we geared up to make our way down to St. Francis' Basilica.

The Basilica of St. Francis is absolutely breathtaking.  There is the Upper Church and the Lower Church.  In the Lower Church you can find the remains of St. Francis.  The art inside both of the churches is astounding. I would have liked to have spent some more time there, but hunger and a full bladder were making other demands.  I would also attempt to describe to you what being in the Basilica was like, but I don't have that much command over words.  No detail is overlooked.  There is so much grandeur, but not in an overwhelming fashion.  And even with all the people there, its still so calm.  The City of Peace lives up to its name.

The rest of my afternoon was simply wandering around and picking out souvenirs.  While I can't send a little peace of the city to my loved ones, I can send all my best intentions.  And you most certainly have them, my friend.

Pace e Bene,
Sam