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!

More Adventures from Week 1

After being able to adjust to life in Rome, most of us at the Rome Center set off for some great adventures around the city.  Since both of my classes here usually take place on site, I’m usually downtown a lot.  For Art History this first week we spent time at both the Forums and the Colosseum.  The Forums were the main gathering area of Rome.  Many think that this place was reserved for politics, but it truly was a center for exchanges, commerce, religion, politics, and social interactions.  There were lots of temples, market places, and the Senate where the heads of government would convene.  There is also the triumphal arc through which the victorious Roman Army would return home, Julius Ceasar’s grave, and the spot where Romulus murdered his brother Remus (where Rome gets its name).   

 

The Roman Forums

The column on the left is where all measurement of distance are based from. Cool!

The Colosseum was just as cool the second time we visited.  I again heard incredible stories of how this monument could hold about 80,000 people and would be evacuated in less than 15 minutes.  Lets just say that AT&T Park can’t quite do that…  To celebrate the opening of the Colosseum, they had games every day for over 100 days in a row.  Everything from animals fighting animals, gladiators fighting gladiators, and animals against gladiators.  They even had an elevator system to lift the animals from their cages below the arena up to where the stage was.  Pretty incredible stuff.   

In photography we spent time at Piazza Navonna taking pictures of the fountain, tourists, and street artists.  A lot of the small streets off the piazza had great authentic shops and people.  

After class some of us attended the Welcome Mass at St. Ignatius Church in Rome.  The church itself was gorgeous and I immediately felt at home knowing I was with the Jesuits.  After Mass everyone met up for a wonderful dinner at a close by restaurant.  The food was outstanding.  The highlight was probably the pear filled ravioli with carrot sauce on the side.  Simple amazing.  The cheese stuffed tomatoes drizzled with pesto was a close second. 

 Delicious food!

Also during the first week we Americans at the JFRC celebrated the 4^th of July! After a week of pizza and pasta (make that 7 weeks for me!) we were all craving burgers.  So we headed down to Rome to an Irish Pub, “The Abbey”, and found some American food.  I had a bacon burger, and Budweisers.  Baseball was on the big screens and we all felt at home.  Afterwards we quickly jumped back into Roman life with a bit of Fridgedarium gelato.  I had a red berry sorbet that they dipped in white chocolate.  SO GOOD!!! 

Happy 4th!

After such a great first week we were all looking forward to a nice four-day weekend to enjoy without classes.  We had a day trip on Friday to Naples and Herculaneum, and then after that a group of us were headed to Ischia!

Italia vs. Spain

As many of you probably heard, Italy played Spain in the Eurocup final.  There was no better place to watch the game than from Italy's capital, Rome. Kristin and I headed down with a few friends and met up with Carl.  We then headed to Circo Massimo, Circus Maximus, where all the action was going to be taking place. It was really a cool location from which to watch the game because this is where the Romans used to have their chariot races.  Standing on that same ground with thousands of Romans to watch this game was truly impressive.  They had multiple big screens up and tens of thousands of people poured out to watch the game.  

 Circo Massimo two hours before the game

We bought ourselves some ITALIA shirts, a few flags so that we'd be in spirit and fit in. Some nice girls added some facepaint and the ensemble was complete.  We made our way as close to the screens as possible.  Even though it was hard for us short people (me in particular) to see the screen, we had a blast.  When the Italian national anthem played, the place went crazy! Red and green smoke, sparklers, shouts, and even tears. There were a few brave spanish cupporters who congregated together.  There were some rude gestures made towards them whem their anthem played.

 

 

ITALIA

Sadly Italy was crushed 4-0 by Spain. With 5 minutes left we began to make our way towards the exit hoping to avoid any drunk angry Italians.  On our way out Spain scored the two last goals and we were glad we chose to make out way out.  It took a while since there were so many people, but we finally were out on the street.  We only saw one fight break out but we were able to avoid any "danger".  We grabbed pizza before getting Carl a cab back to the apartment and we headed home.  We did get some nice words of appreciation from Italians for keeping our Italy gear on.

Matt, Connor, Carl, Abby and Kristin

Now, remember that couple we took a picture on at the top of the Florence Duomo? When in a bar after the game, Carl went to go grab something from the bartender and ran back saying "it's them, it's the American couple!!!". At first we were super confused, but finally realized it was the same couple from Florence! Of course we went over to say hi and talk to them.  It was really funny to run into them in such an unlikely place.  Then were taking with an Australia couple who were friendly as well (they'll come into play soon enough).

ROMA!

After 14 days of traveling all around Europe, I was very excited to arrive at the JFRC (John Felice Rome Center) and unpack my suitcase. Kristin and I took a cab from the train station, checked in here at school, then took some time to hang out with the other students. In the afternoon we took a walking tour of the neighborhood so we could see where the grocery stores, ATMS, and most importantly gelato shops, are located.  We were welcomed by the staff with a wonderful outdoor barbeque in the evening... lots of great pastas, veggies, and prosecco.

After the barbeque a bunch of us headed downtown Rome to grab some drinks, see the city, and meet one another. We went to a bar across the street from the Colosseum... we had the absolute best view! 

 Our view from the bar!

On our second day, the JFRC took us to our "orientation".  We all drove out to this castle where the owners run a winery, and also produce their own cheeses.  We took a tour of their caves, tasted the wine and cheese, and bought some products. What's really cool about their winery is that in the process of digging out their cave, they found a bone from a mammoth! It was on display and has influenced their label! 

 The castle and the huge bone

We then sat down to a four-course meal.  All the food and wine was delicious.  We had toast with different spreads, pasta, steak and potatoes, and then coffee and cookies. We all passed out on the bus ride home... total food coma!

Monday Kristin and I headed downtown to meet Dad and Carl.  We spent some time in the Colosseum, grabbed some lunch, and headed to the Vatican. The colosseum was really really cool, but etremely hot. We had a guide who explained some of the details of the building that remains. It was really crazy to try and imagine 80,000 people fitting into the colosseum to watch the game.  

 The colosseum

The Arc of Constantine, built after Constantine eliminated the religious persecution of Jews

We had tickets for the museum, and spent the entire afternoon in there.  We some amazing art, everything from statues, sculptures, intricately painted ceilings, and of course the Sistine Chapel.  It was really fun to see pieces that I've studied.  This sculpture, Lacoon, was one of my favorite both during my visit and when I studied it freshman year of college in my Honors course.  And Rafael's painting "School of Athens" was one of my favorite in World History 1 freshman year of high school :)  It was lots of fun. And of course, the Sistine Chapel was amazing.

Some of my favorite pieces from the Vatican museum

After the museum we walked around the neighborhood, had our favorite Italian gelato thus far, and then checked out the St. Peter's Basilica. Being in that space was incredibly moving and powerful. 

Classes started the next day.  I am taking Art History and Digital Photography. My Art History professor is a pretty incredible woman. I'm sure I'll have a post all about her... but she once gave an impromptu tour to Bill Clinton in Greece after he walked right by on of the most important democratic artifacts.  Yeah, she's awesome. For both classes we spend a bunch of time downtown on site at various monuments and museums.  

To say the least, the start of my first week in Rome has been fantastic!!

FI-PI-LI

We had a few days to spend in Firenze, our last stop before Kristin and I head to Rome! During our day in the city we wandered and saw the main historic sites, like the Duomo and the Ponte Vecchio.  It's actually an old wooden bridge that used to house inhabitants, but the kind at one point decided to turn all the houses into gold workshops.  It's mostly touristy now...

Sadly we didn't get tickets to go to the Uffizi in time, since the reservations fill up way in advance, so we had to be satisfied with the replicas out in the square. They were still pretty impressive! 

The Uffizi

We checked out the Duomo, but neither of Kristin nor I planned in advance, and we couldn't go in since our knees and shoulders weren't covered.  We did climb to the top, and on our way up we got to see the whole interior! The view from the top was super beautiful since it was a clear day.  We took a picture of an American couple at the top, they were really nice.  This detail may seem unimportant, but remember it, it will become relevant soon!!

The Duomo and the view fro the top

On our way home we grabbed some great gelato and did our best to stay cool.  That evening we found a really good restaurant right down the street that was also broadcasting the Italy-Germany soccer game.  It was definitely the determining factor for our choice.  I had melon and prosciutto, homemade amaretto ravioli, and cannoli. Italy won the soccer game and the night was a success!

The next day we rented a car and headed to the coast.   Driving, or at least navigating a car through Italy, was pretty darned nerve-wracking.  

 Roadside View

We made a quick stop in Pisa so that we could check out the leaning toward.  It was pretty cool how much it was leaning, but also not as big as it had always seemed.  We had a good time walking around Pisa, but we didn't linger since we were all excited to get to the water. 

PISA!

We eventually made it to the beach town of Fiumaretta. We spent the whole afternoon lounging on a beautiful beach on lounge chairs and under umbrellas.  The water felt super refreshing and we swam lots! We had to sprint to get to the water since it was so hot and burned our feet, haha.  We also had great views of the nearby mountain ranges.  

The beach :)

On our way home we stopped in a little hillside town called San Miniato to grab some dinner.  We had great views of the plains below.  We all had pizzas and headed back to Florence on the FI-PI-LI (the freeway between Florence, Pisa, and Livorno) so that Kristin and I could pack our bags and head to Rome the next day.