Back in Chicago

So I'm back home in my apartment in Chicago, gearing up for a new semester.  My roommate Chloe who lived with me last semester is off having a grand adventure in Paris, so I am enjoying the perks of living on my own. 

School is going well so far.  All of my classes are interesting so far and all of my extracurriculars are picking up for the semester.  Academically, I am taking an Ecology course, the second semester of Physics, a French course on prose and non-fiction, and also an Honors course entitled Encountering Africa.  I will continue giving a few tours of campus throughout the week, working in my biochem lab and volunteering at Northwestern Memorial Hospital Downtown.  I am also going to be taking an MCAT course in preparation for the big exam that I will take May 30th. 

The weather has finally become season here in that it snowed for the first time this past week.  The temperatures have been VERY chilly, but it's never quite as fun when the ground isn't covered in white.  So all of campus and the surrounding neighborhoods were covered in a few inches of snow.  The lake has begun to freeze over and of course all sidewalks and alleys are sprinkled with rock salt (which I've discovered is a problem for the apartment when it sticks to the bottom of your shoes... gross!). 

Here are a few pictures of campus covered in snow.  I'll post more exciting news (about my new roommate soon!)

Minturno!

For my third weekend in Rome, I joined a big group on an organized trip with the Rome Center to Minturno.  Minturno is a small beach town located half way between Rome and Naples.  It also has thousands of years of history in both the city and the ancient town of Minturnae.

We all took the train down together and an hour and half later arrived at our nice hotel (AC included) located right across the street from the beach! We all dropped our stuff and went right out to the beach.  Since we were with the hotel, we all got lounge seats and umbrellas.  Unfortunately it was super windy, so there was lots of sand blowing around, but it did make playing in the water really fun.  Rather than flat, still water like most European beaches, the waves were almost as big at at Stinson! But we all enjoyed our afternoon, before heading out to dinner.

In the evening we walked along the beach to meet our tour guides who were going to show us a private property that use to be part of the Roman city of Minturno.  We met a fruit seller along the way, tried to buy some fruit, when we offered us all a few peaches and nectarines for free! He was really nice.  The private property was gorgeous with lush gardens and lots of ruins hidden among the bushes.  There were amphoras, baths, walkways, and water canals.

The Ancient Mill

After our tour we walked to dinner where we had a delicious 5-course meal full of seafood.  The appetizer was  all fresh shrimp, clams, calamari, and octopus.  Both pasta dishes included shrimp and calamari before we were served some yummy white fish along side two prawns.  For dessert we had coconut pie covered in white chocolate sauce.  It was one of the best desserts I've had in Italy so far!

Delicious Dinner

The next day we were up early and ready to head to a buffalo mozarella making factory.  We watched the men working with the cheese, forming the cheese balls, and even making braids.  We bought some sandwich making ingredients and had a great lunch that afternoon.

 Braided Buffalo Mozarella

Otherwise we spent the day on the beach (much calmer day) and even rented a pedal boat with a slide on it.  I did some relaxing but also swam a ton! In the evening we drove up the hillside to see the historic area of Minturno, took a tour, and then went to dinner.  The historic area of town was gorgeous and still had many elements for hundreds of years ago.

Here's all the girls from the trip.

 These balconies were actually built when it was popular for women's dresses to be super poofy and this way when they stepped out onto the balcony, the bars wouldn't decrease the size of the dress!

We also had beautiful views of the coastline and the plains below.

The highlights of the fabulous dinner we had were the pasta served in a cute jar, perfectly cooked white fish, and pane cota with berries.

The next day we were up early and made our way to Minturnae, the city that existed before Minturno was established in order to better protect themselves.  This was an entire city of ruins, but we were able to walk around and see exact places like houses, temples, the market place, public bathrooms, and the amphitheater.

Awesome Ruins!

Before catching our train home, we made a stop at Villa Matilde for lunch. This beautiful villa is a lush garden with vineyards all around and beautiful flowers over many of the walls.

We ate lunch outside under a wooden roof, amongst the vineyards.  On our way out we bought some wine and rushed to catch the train.

 The menu

Bread shaped like grapes and veggie pasta!

We just barely made it and were soon enough back to JFRC to relax!

Ballet: Roman Style

After we came back to Rome from our weekend adventure, I spent Monday catching up on some homework and sleep.  The night we walked around our neighborhood and ate dinner at the local Chinese and Japonese restaurant.  After 8 weeks with no sushi, it tasted delicious! 

On Tuesday, my Art History class went to visit the Capitolini Museum.  This is actually the oldest museum in Rome, and has some really great pieces of art.  We saw many scultpures and paitings, as well as an awesome view of the Forums below the museum.  

 The Forum

The Capitoline Venus

From the museum we walked a little bit to see the Pantheon.  Our professor told us that she had a surprise for us.  As we approached, we walked down a side street and stopped in front of a hotel.  She told us to just act normal and follow her.  We walked through the lobby and toward the elevators before a hotel employee approached, asking us what we were doing.  She informed him that we were going to the rooftop bar, and he said he'd have to go check if it was open.  As he walked away, she shoved a few of us into the elevator and sent us to the roof.  We all eventually made it to the top, all giggling of course, and got the most stunning view of the Pantheon.

Pantheon from the Hotel Roof

We did go see the tradition view of the Pantheon, learning about how it was one of the first buildings constructed with concrete. The inside is completely lit with natural light that streams through.

Light coming through the oculus

Later that evening I went back downtown with other JFRC students to watch the ballet "Giselle".  What made this specific ballet so unique was that it was performed outside in Rome's Caracalla Baths.  The ruins of the baths served as a backdrop to the stage... it was really impressive.  We all had a great time watching the beautiful dancers and enjoying the wonderfully warm air. 

Ischia: Our Italian Paradise

After our day spent in Herculaneum and Naples, Kristin, Matt, Connor, Nick and I boarded a ferry that was going to take us to Ischia, a small island off the coast of Naples.  Once we arrived, our hostel host was there to pick us up.  Shaun, who is from New Zealand, was super friendly and led us back to the hostel.  He made us drink up on the rooftop bar which overlooked the beautiful blue sky and sparkling lights of the town below.  We grabbed a late dinner that evening and headed to bed.  

Our beautiful view and beautiful drinks

The next morning I woke up early so that I could get a run in.  The island was a perfect place to go running, with a nice sidewalk all along the water.  The ocean breeze helped keep me slightly cooler than I could have been otherwise.  Getting back up to the hostel was a different story... a huge hill with no breeze was pretty challenging, but I made it. After a delicious breakfast at the hostel, we picked out the beach we wanted to go to, and took a bus there.  We ended up walking a bit farther than we needed to, but it made the beach all the more worthwhile.  It was paradise.  Crystal clear, warm blue water.  

Approaching the beach

 Fresh coconut on the beach

We opted to buy our own umbrella and set up camp on the public beach.  We swam and sun bathed all afternoon.  It was so incredibly relaxing.  And Connor used his newly acquired Italian (from his Italian class) to ward off vendors by yelling "basta" over and over (the vendors are extremely persistent).  It was pretty hilarious.  We grabbed some yummy gelato, walked around the tiny beach side town and eventually made out way back to our town, Casamicciola.  WE stopped for an early dinner since we had skipped lunch.  I had a delicious fresh salad.  The restaurant was super cute, and we sat on a deck over the water below us. 

 More photos form the beach

That evening we went on a tour with the hostel owner Shaun to the island's famed thermal hotsprings.  Included in the tour was our bus tickets and a liter of wine... EACH! We made our way on the bus, and then down a huge hill to the free public hotsprings.  It was pitch black out at 11PM and the water was fabulously warm.  There were some other people there, but it wasn't crowded.  Watching all the stars, chatting, and relaxing in the water was probably one of the highlights of the trip.  With no light pollution, we could see an incredible number of stars that night.  A few hours later we made our way back to the hostel and passed out from exhaustion after a jam packed day full of fun and relaxation.

 The ho tsprings in the day time

We sadly said goodbye to Ischia the next morning...

 The next morning we checked out the town a bit before heading back to Naples on a ferry.  We ate a pizza in Naples, and like last time, it was incredible.  I got one with seafood on it, and I loved it.  We found a train back to Rome, crammed on it, and rode for a few hours.  We were glad we got on at the beginning on the ride because by the end all of the aisles were cramped with people.  We no longer could complain about how close our seats were (especially the boys with long legs). We were sad to leave Ischia, but glad to be back "home in Rome".

Herculaneum and Naples

For our study day trip, JFRC took any student who wanted to come to Herculaneum, an ancient Roman village near Pompeii that was also destroyed by the volcanic explosion.  Herculaneum was preserved just as Pompeii was since the volcanic rocks and lava filled the buildings, supporting them from the inside and enabling them to remain standing, but under the earth. 

 The volcano

When drilling for a well in the past 100 years, a farmer discovered the first portion of Herculaneum, and it quickly became an archeological dig site.  About one fourth of the entire city has been completely uncovered and relatively restored.  The quality of what remains is absolutely incredible.  We had a tour group who showed us all around the town.   

 An intricate mosaic in the process of being cleaned

We walked into homes, saw the bakery, went by the wine shop, checked out he public fountain and bars, along with the pool.   

 The town bar/coffee shop

Each of these places has unique things that were preserved.  The tile floors in some of the houses were extremely intricate.  In the baths, Poseidon, fish, dolphins and octopi were depicted in the tiled floor.   

Many amphoras survived, and we even saw some of the original wooden structures that supported the doorframes of buildings.  

Door frame with illuminated tiles

 It was mind boggling to walk through this town that has been completely excavated and imagine what life must have been like over 2000 years ago.  Or to imagine how people would have acted the same or differently then us when they walked down the same street.  The structures that are still standing give an outline of the city, but it was very fun for me to use my imagination to fill in all of the gaps about the culture, people, and interactions that occurred there.  

 The main road

After our time at Herculaneum, we got back on our bus and took a quick driving tour of Naples, which is very nearby. We walked along the waterfront and had authentic margherita pizza in the birthplace of pizza.  It was fabulous, to say the least.  Everything about it, from the sweet tomato sauce, the right amount of basil, the fresh mozzarella cheese circles, and the perfectly thin yet fluffy crust made it amazing.   

 

Pizza Margherita

We saw a few more parts of Naples, including this beautiful view, before getting on a water ferry to the island of Ischia, our weekend destination!