Sunday, May 31, 2009
Comments
I think I fixed the problem with the comments. Now everyone should be able to leave one if they would like to. :-)
Weekend Update Part 1
Alrighty, here is the long awaited weekend update. I think it will have to only be part one because I need to go to bed soon since I have class tomorrow, but we shall see how far I get.
So, the weekend started on Thursday night. Actually, for some people it started on Wednesday night, as the birthday girl's celebration began at midnight. I did not partake in that celebration as we had class Thursday morning and, after all, we are here for school. So Thursday night we called a couple of cabs up to the Villa, as 9 (4 guys and 5 girls) of us were going out. Sadly, only 8 people can fit into 2 cabs. However, with some cajoling and begging and pleading, the drivers let us in. So we sped down into Florence to a bar that Dani, one of the guys in the program, had heard about from some friends. It was alright, nothing too exciting. In fact, it was an English pub, which wasn't exactly what we were looking for in terms of entertainment. We did get a visit from a guy selling hats through the window, so that was fun, but not enough to entice us to stay. So we moved on to Twice, which we weren't sure if it was pronounced the English way or Italian way, which would be like "Twee-che." We found out it was pronounced the English way by the weird looks we got when pronouncing it the Italian way. In any case, Twice was a dance club, and we had a lot of fun. One could say we had too much fun as we did not leave until about 2am. This meant that we had to find cabs to get us back to the Villa as it was too late for public transportation, and in addition to that, the buses were on strike that day. So we meandered and made our way to the Duomo, where we figured there would be cabs. We tried calling to get a couple to pick us up, but no cabs were to be had. So we finally flagged one down, but we ran intot he problem of 9 people again. So, the other four girls piled in and I waited with the guys for another cab to show up. Luckily, this happened within about 10 minutes. Funnily enough, the other cab got lost and ended up following us up to the Villa once we were in the hills of Fiesole. Needless to say, we did not get a whole lot of sleep that night. In fact, it was about 4 am when I last checked my phone for the time. It was fun though, and I am happy I can now say that I have experienced the night life in Florence.
The next day was our planned trip to Siena. There were 7 of us who went. We met at about 11, caught the 1130 bus down the hill, went to Florence For Fun to book our tickets for the Wine Tasting on Sunday (more on that later), and then headed on over to the bus station. I have done his many a time, the bus from Florence to Siena or the opposite, so it was kind of fun to lead everyone and know exactly what to do. There are two buses to Siena: the Direct which takes longer and goes through more cities, and the Rapid, which goes straight from Florence to Siena. We took the Direct one because it was leaving earlier than the rapid one, but man, did it take forever, about an hour and 40 minutes. However, it still got us there before the Rapid bus, so yay.
Arriving in Siena was like a great big welcome home. Stepping into Piazza Gramschi it was almost like I never left...at least until I looked around. There were some changes I noticed immediately. The first being that the Jolly Hotel is no longer the Jolly Hotel, but the Hotel Excelsior or something. Also, my favorite pizza by the slice store to stop at as we rushed to catch our bus to our weekend destination is no longer there. It was a sad realization. However, as we walked toward the Piazza del Campo, it mattered less and less as the memories came flooding back: where I bought my sunglasses, where I had class, where we stopped for panini's, the Palio, the Contrade, all that is so uniquely Siena. It was fabulous. And telling everyone what was what, and what the flags meant, and some of the history was awesome. I remembered my way around and got us to the Campo pretty quickly. From there was a quick break to look around and use the facilities, and then it was onward and upward, climding La Torre del Mangia. Now I have done this twice before, but the views never get old. And it is amazing to share the view and city I lvoe with the new friends I am making, especially when I see them falling in love with the city as well.
So before I continue, I should mention who these people are. Everyone knows of Lee Catherine and Andrew, my friends from before the trip. Then there is Pat, who Andrew and I met on the plane on the way over here. Also in our group was Olivia, a New Zealander, Dani, a guy who is only 20 and still an undergrad, and Briana, who is a PhD student and has hip problems and so walks with the help of a cane of sorts. I was impressed with Briana because she climbed everything we climbed, and did it with an extremely positive attitude. I think she was paying for it later when she wasn't feeling well, but she says it was worth it.
Anyway, after our time climbing the numerous steps and enjoying the views and taking lots of amazing pictures, we made our way back down the Tower and enjoyed some gelato as our reward. At this point, Dani left us to hang out with some people he met up in the Tower and to hang out in the Piazza. The rest of us headed over to the Duomo, where we bought 10 euro tickets to see the Cathedral, Baptistry, Crypts, and to climb the Double Arches. Olivia left us here to wander the city, while the rest of us went in and explored the Duomo. The Crypts were new for me, so that was nice, and climbing the Arches was fun as well. I had to kind of cajole everyone who was still with me, and tell them that it would be worth it and different from the Tower climb a coupke hours earlier. They caved, followed me up, and were suitibly impressed. We were able to hear the drums from a parade of one of the Contrade as well, which was amazing and definitely took me back to when I lived there and the parades happened every week. We took more pictures before finally climbing down and heading back to the Piazza del Campo to meet up with everyone who had dispersed earlier. Then we slowly made our way back to the bus stop, winding our way through the streets, stopping for some panini's and sweets. Finally we got on our bus, the Direct which is not so direct again, and made our way home. This was an extremely loud bus, which sadly made it impossible to sleep.
So we arrived back in Florence at about 9pm, and were all starving. Dani decided to leave the 6 of us to go party with the people he had met in Siena, and the rest of us decided to stop in a ristorante on the way to our bus back up to Fiesole. So we stopped in the first place that looked good and ended up having a fabulous dinner at about 930/10pm. After much vino and talk and amazing food, we made our way back up to the Villa, catching an 1130 bus, getting us home at about midnight.
All in all, it was a great day with lots of old memories coming back, and new one being formed. The group of people I went with were all very relaxed and it was easy to enjoy the day. I was told I was a good tour guide, which is nice to hear, and I was happy to be able to do it. So much has stayed the same in Siena, which was nice to see. I was afraid it would be entirely different and make me sad. Instead it lived up to my expectations. Olivia even came up to me the next day and told me how much she loved the city and that it was probably her favorite Italian city now, which made me very happy to hear. :-) I guess Siena is a city I will never tire of visiting...which is not such a bad thing all things considered.
So it is now midnight, and I have class in the morning, so I will try to update you all on Pisa and the wine tasting tomorrow. Buona Notte!
So, the weekend started on Thursday night. Actually, for some people it started on Wednesday night, as the birthday girl's celebration began at midnight. I did not partake in that celebration as we had class Thursday morning and, after all, we are here for school. So Thursday night we called a couple of cabs up to the Villa, as 9 (4 guys and 5 girls) of us were going out. Sadly, only 8 people can fit into 2 cabs. However, with some cajoling and begging and pleading, the drivers let us in. So we sped down into Florence to a bar that Dani, one of the guys in the program, had heard about from some friends. It was alright, nothing too exciting. In fact, it was an English pub, which wasn't exactly what we were looking for in terms of entertainment. We did get a visit from a guy selling hats through the window, so that was fun, but not enough to entice us to stay. So we moved on to Twice, which we weren't sure if it was pronounced the English way or Italian way, which would be like "Twee-che." We found out it was pronounced the English way by the weird looks we got when pronouncing it the Italian way. In any case, Twice was a dance club, and we had a lot of fun. One could say we had too much fun as we did not leave until about 2am. This meant that we had to find cabs to get us back to the Villa as it was too late for public transportation, and in addition to that, the buses were on strike that day. So we meandered and made our way to the Duomo, where we figured there would be cabs. We tried calling to get a couple to pick us up, but no cabs were to be had. So we finally flagged one down, but we ran intot he problem of 9 people again. So, the other four girls piled in and I waited with the guys for another cab to show up. Luckily, this happened within about 10 minutes. Funnily enough, the other cab got lost and ended up following us up to the Villa once we were in the hills of Fiesole. Needless to say, we did not get a whole lot of sleep that night. In fact, it was about 4 am when I last checked my phone for the time. It was fun though, and I am happy I can now say that I have experienced the night life in Florence.
The next day was our planned trip to Siena. There were 7 of us who went. We met at about 11, caught the 1130 bus down the hill, went to Florence For Fun to book our tickets for the Wine Tasting on Sunday (more on that later), and then headed on over to the bus station. I have done his many a time, the bus from Florence to Siena or the opposite, so it was kind of fun to lead everyone and know exactly what to do. There are two buses to Siena: the Direct which takes longer and goes through more cities, and the Rapid, which goes straight from Florence to Siena. We took the Direct one because it was leaving earlier than the rapid one, but man, did it take forever, about an hour and 40 minutes. However, it still got us there before the Rapid bus, so yay.
Arriving in Siena was like a great big welcome home. Stepping into Piazza Gramschi it was almost like I never left...at least until I looked around. There were some changes I noticed immediately. The first being that the Jolly Hotel is no longer the Jolly Hotel, but the Hotel Excelsior or something. Also, my favorite pizza by the slice store to stop at as we rushed to catch our bus to our weekend destination is no longer there. It was a sad realization. However, as we walked toward the Piazza del Campo, it mattered less and less as the memories came flooding back: where I bought my sunglasses, where I had class, where we stopped for panini's, the Palio, the Contrade, all that is so uniquely Siena. It was fabulous. And telling everyone what was what, and what the flags meant, and some of the history was awesome. I remembered my way around and got us to the Campo pretty quickly. From there was a quick break to look around and use the facilities, and then it was onward and upward, climding La Torre del Mangia. Now I have done this twice before, but the views never get old. And it is amazing to share the view and city I lvoe with the new friends I am making, especially when I see them falling in love with the city as well.
So before I continue, I should mention who these people are. Everyone knows of Lee Catherine and Andrew, my friends from before the trip. Then there is Pat, who Andrew and I met on the plane on the way over here. Also in our group was Olivia, a New Zealander, Dani, a guy who is only 20 and still an undergrad, and Briana, who is a PhD student and has hip problems and so walks with the help of a cane of sorts. I was impressed with Briana because she climbed everything we climbed, and did it with an extremely positive attitude. I think she was paying for it later when she wasn't feeling well, but she says it was worth it.
Anyway, after our time climbing the numerous steps and enjoying the views and taking lots of amazing pictures, we made our way back down the Tower and enjoyed some gelato as our reward. At this point, Dani left us to hang out with some people he met up in the Tower and to hang out in the Piazza. The rest of us headed over to the Duomo, where we bought 10 euro tickets to see the Cathedral, Baptistry, Crypts, and to climb the Double Arches. Olivia left us here to wander the city, while the rest of us went in and explored the Duomo. The Crypts were new for me, so that was nice, and climbing the Arches was fun as well. I had to kind of cajole everyone who was still with me, and tell them that it would be worth it and different from the Tower climb a coupke hours earlier. They caved, followed me up, and were suitibly impressed. We were able to hear the drums from a parade of one of the Contrade as well, which was amazing and definitely took me back to when I lived there and the parades happened every week. We took more pictures before finally climbing down and heading back to the Piazza del Campo to meet up with everyone who had dispersed earlier. Then we slowly made our way back to the bus stop, winding our way through the streets, stopping for some panini's and sweets. Finally we got on our bus, the Direct which is not so direct again, and made our way home. This was an extremely loud bus, which sadly made it impossible to sleep.
So we arrived back in Florence at about 9pm, and were all starving. Dani decided to leave the 6 of us to go party with the people he had met in Siena, and the rest of us decided to stop in a ristorante on the way to our bus back up to Fiesole. So we stopped in the first place that looked good and ended up having a fabulous dinner at about 930/10pm. After much vino and talk and amazing food, we made our way back up to the Villa, catching an 1130 bus, getting us home at about midnight.
All in all, it was a great day with lots of old memories coming back, and new one being formed. The group of people I went with were all very relaxed and it was easy to enjoy the day. I was told I was a good tour guide, which is nice to hear, and I was happy to be able to do it. So much has stayed the same in Siena, which was nice to see. I was afraid it would be entirely different and make me sad. Instead it lived up to my expectations. Olivia even came up to me the next day and told me how much she loved the city and that it was probably her favorite Italian city now, which made me very happy to hear. :-) I guess Siena is a city I will never tire of visiting...which is not such a bad thing all things considered.
So it is now midnight, and I have class in the morning, so I will try to update you all on Pisa and the wine tasting tomorrow. Buona Notte!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Weekend Madness
So I am alive and well, just very, very busy. Thursday night we went into Florence to celebrate someone's birthday, meaning we didn't get to bed til 4am. Then yesterday was Siena, which was as amazing as I remembered and had hoped. Today we are off to Pisa and then to wander Florence. Tomorrow is a wine tasting tour starting at 8am( three wineries, tasting brunello wine, yum). I promise to write more and upload some pictures, but I just wanted to give you a sketch of what I am up to and let you know I am alive and well in Toscana. :-)
Ciao!
Ciao!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Class and Celebration
Today we had class in the morning followed by class in the afternoon. Our morning class was a carryover of yesterday, talking about the relationship between international law and domestic law, and then we ended the morning session with a lecture on torture. This was an interesting and disheartening class. However, it was also fascinating. This is why it didn't bother me as much that we went 45 minutes over class time and 15 minutes into our lunch time. It just meant we started our afternoon class, on Human Rights, a half hour later. For the academic fact of the day, I learned that the United Nations charter is the first document to mention Human Rights as a norm/privilege, and this was written in 1949.
I was on scullery duty today at lunch. Sadly, the other person who was on with me was unaware that she was supposed to be helping me. On top of that, she is handicapped and can't carry plates or anything, so Im not sure why she is on the schedule to begin with. In any case, it wasn't too bad. I do need to go check when I am on the schedule next, and hopefully this time there will be someone with me.
Tonight we are going into Florence as it is one of the girls' birthday. She just turned 24 so we are going to celebrate. The villa baked a cheesecake/pie thingy and had a candle and everything for her at lunch, which was very sweet of the staff. I originally wasn't going to go into Florence with everyone, but I realized Im in Florence and I should take advantage of the location and get out and do things I wouldn't normally do. Plus, I like (almost) everyone in the program, so hanging out by myslef in the Villa while they are out in Florence is kind of silly.
Tomorrow we are going into Siena and I am pretty excited about that. It will be fun to see my old stomping grounds and see how much I remember. I want to climb the tower, wander aimlessly, get some gelato from my favorite gelateria, relax in the Piazza del Campo, see the Duomo, and just enjoy myself. There are a bunch of us going tomorrow, so I may be the unofficial tour guide. I hope I remember enough and don't say the wrong things, lol. We shall see how it goes. I will be sure to take lots of pictures as always, and I will let you know when I post them. :-)
Time to travel and Happy Weekend!
I was on scullery duty today at lunch. Sadly, the other person who was on with me was unaware that she was supposed to be helping me. On top of that, she is handicapped and can't carry plates or anything, so Im not sure why she is on the schedule to begin with. In any case, it wasn't too bad. I do need to go check when I am on the schedule next, and hopefully this time there will be someone with me.
Tonight we are going into Florence as it is one of the girls' birthday. She just turned 24 so we are going to celebrate. The villa baked a cheesecake/pie thingy and had a candle and everything for her at lunch, which was very sweet of the staff. I originally wasn't going to go into Florence with everyone, but I realized Im in Florence and I should take advantage of the location and get out and do things I wouldn't normally do. Plus, I like (almost) everyone in the program, so hanging out by myslef in the Villa while they are out in Florence is kind of silly.
Tomorrow we are going into Siena and I am pretty excited about that. It will be fun to see my old stomping grounds and see how much I remember. I want to climb the tower, wander aimlessly, get some gelato from my favorite gelateria, relax in the Piazza del Campo, see the Duomo, and just enjoy myself. There are a bunch of us going tomorrow, so I may be the unofficial tour guide. I hope I remember enough and don't say the wrong things, lol. We shall see how it goes. I will be sure to take lots of pictures as always, and I will let you know when I post them. :-)
Time to travel and Happy Weekend!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
More Photos
Here are the pictures from today:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mroth01/Firenze#
If you go back to the first album you can see pictures of my room. :-)
http://picasaweb.google.com/mroth01/Firenze#
If you go back to the first album you can see pictures of my room. :-)
A Day of Knowledge and Fun
So today was another fun day at the Villa.
I woke up at about 8 to the sounds of birds chirping and the smell of jasmine coming through my window. I decided to check my computer, and mom was on! It was about 1115pm her time, so we were able to talk while I got ready for my day, which was very nice. After that, we went down to breakfast and then to class.
Class was interesting today, and I feel that I learned quite a bit. On this note, to spice things up I have decided to do a little academic fact of the day. This proves that I am going to class and learning, and I get to share little tidbits of what I am learning, so yay. Today one thing I learned was the difference between a treaty and a convention. A treaty is generally bilateral, and a convention is multilateral. So conventions are often called treaties when in fact, they are technically not. However, they are just as binding, regardless as to the name, as long as Congress ratifies them. So there is our nugget of knowledge for the day.
Class actually went long today. We are supposed to be done at 1130 so those on scul duty can go help set up. What is scul duty one might ask? Scullery, or scul, involves helping to set up lunch (or dinner), clear plates if there are 2 courses, refill the bread baskets and water pitchers, and clean up at the end. We are all on the schedule to pitch in (I am on scul for lunch tomorrow). Since we got out at about 1205, and lunch is supposed to start at 12, it was already set up when we arrived. So, those on scul got a break. After lunch we had some free time, then we went down to Florence.
In Florence, we had a history professor give us a guided tour. It was interesting because he was sharing information that was new to me, and that was bringing back old memories and knowledge that has been stored in the back of my mind for three years now. But I did learn more and just generally had a good time being back in the city. After our tour we had about an hour or so to hang out before the bus back up to Fiesole, so Andrew, Lee Catherine, Pat, Kel, Briana, and myself got some gelato (yum!) and made our way back to the Piazza della Signorina, where the Palazzo Vecchio is and where the (fake) statue of the David stands. We took some fun pictures and wandered back to the bus stop. Our bus back to town was hot, crowded, and smelly, but it was an adventure.
We got back late from Florence, so those on scul duty got a free pass again. Dinner was fabulous as always. Thinking back, it isnt just the food that makes the meals so good here. There are 12 students in the program, all but two who are in grad school, and then there is the "den mother" who makes sure we do scullery duty and keeps the place running smoothly for the students, and Dr. Joyner, one of the professors, at every meal. We start dinner at 7 and end up sitting and chatting long after we are all done eating. It is just relaxing and fun. Since there are so few of us, we are getting to know each other pretty well and while I wouldnt say there are no cliques, there isnt really a divide or anything, so its nice.
I think we have figured out where we are traveling. This weekend we are going to explore Tuscany with a group of students. I am super excited to see Siena again. :-) Next weekend we are going to Cinque Terre. While I have been there before, we didn't get to hike all of the cities, and I think we are going to try to see Genoa for a day as well. The following weekend is after the program ends, and we are going to go up to Venice for a couple days, and then come back to Villa, pick up our bags, and then continue south to the Almalfi coast. There, we will go to Napoli, Pompeii, Capri, and maybe Sorrento. Then, its back up to Rome and to the US of A. Quite the crazy month. We shall see if it all works out as planned, as plans have a tendency to change without notice.
I suppose thats it for tonight. I will be uploading my pictures from today some time tonight, so keep an eye out for that.
Love to you all!
I woke up at about 8 to the sounds of birds chirping and the smell of jasmine coming through my window. I decided to check my computer, and mom was on! It was about 1115pm her time, so we were able to talk while I got ready for my day, which was very nice. After that, we went down to breakfast and then to class.
Class was interesting today, and I feel that I learned quite a bit. On this note, to spice things up I have decided to do a little academic fact of the day. This proves that I am going to class and learning, and I get to share little tidbits of what I am learning, so yay. Today one thing I learned was the difference between a treaty and a convention. A treaty is generally bilateral, and a convention is multilateral. So conventions are often called treaties when in fact, they are technically not. However, they are just as binding, regardless as to the name, as long as Congress ratifies them. So there is our nugget of knowledge for the day.
Class actually went long today. We are supposed to be done at 1130 so those on scul duty can go help set up. What is scul duty one might ask? Scullery, or scul, involves helping to set up lunch (or dinner), clear plates if there are 2 courses, refill the bread baskets and water pitchers, and clean up at the end. We are all on the schedule to pitch in (I am on scul for lunch tomorrow). Since we got out at about 1205, and lunch is supposed to start at 12, it was already set up when we arrived. So, those on scul got a break. After lunch we had some free time, then we went down to Florence.
In Florence, we had a history professor give us a guided tour. It was interesting because he was sharing information that was new to me, and that was bringing back old memories and knowledge that has been stored in the back of my mind for three years now. But I did learn more and just generally had a good time being back in the city. After our tour we had about an hour or so to hang out before the bus back up to Fiesole, so Andrew, Lee Catherine, Pat, Kel, Briana, and myself got some gelato (yum!) and made our way back to the Piazza della Signorina, where the Palazzo Vecchio is and where the (fake) statue of the David stands. We took some fun pictures and wandered back to the bus stop. Our bus back to town was hot, crowded, and smelly, but it was an adventure.
We got back late from Florence, so those on scul duty got a free pass again. Dinner was fabulous as always. Thinking back, it isnt just the food that makes the meals so good here. There are 12 students in the program, all but two who are in grad school, and then there is the "den mother" who makes sure we do scullery duty and keeps the place running smoothly for the students, and Dr. Joyner, one of the professors, at every meal. We start dinner at 7 and end up sitting and chatting long after we are all done eating. It is just relaxing and fun. Since there are so few of us, we are getting to know each other pretty well and while I wouldnt say there are no cliques, there isnt really a divide or anything, so its nice.
I think we have figured out where we are traveling. This weekend we are going to explore Tuscany with a group of students. I am super excited to see Siena again. :-) Next weekend we are going to Cinque Terre. While I have been there before, we didn't get to hike all of the cities, and I think we are going to try to see Genoa for a day as well. The following weekend is after the program ends, and we are going to go up to Venice for a couple days, and then come back to Villa, pick up our bags, and then continue south to the Almalfi coast. There, we will go to Napoli, Pompeii, Capri, and maybe Sorrento. Then, its back up to Rome and to the US of A. Quite the crazy month. We shall see if it all works out as planned, as plans have a tendency to change without notice.
I suppose thats it for tonight. I will be uploading my pictures from today some time tonight, so keep an eye out for that.
Love to you all!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
First Full Day At The Villa
So today was my first full day in Fiesole. I woke up as charmed as I was when I went to sleep.
I woke up many times throughout the morning, but got out of bed at 830am. the view was just as good as I remembered. :-) I went down to breakfast, and then off to class at about 945. We had an introduction to the course and to international law, and then we had a break for lunch. Lunch is the main meal here, and it was two courses of goodness. If anyone was worried about me eating, don't. It was delicious and I ate more than I should have. After lunch we had more class until 3, followed by a free afternoon. Lee Catherine (who arrived during luch today), Andrew, Pat (who we met on the plane yesterday) and Aaron (who is from Indiana) and I went up to the city center to check it out. and when I say "up," I really mean up. It is up a realllllly steep hill. I think I worked off the gelato I ate there, as well as my lunch from earlier in the day. It was that steep. The city is quaint, kind of reminding me of Siena a bit. Siena is a bit more Medieval, but Fiesole was cute and charming.
So something I learned today, since I am here for school and all, has to do with international law (big surprise, i know). In the Constitution of the United States, there is a "supremacy" clause, which basically states that treaties and statutes are the supreme law of the land. In other words, though many people don't believe in international law, treaties are one of the main sources of international law and they are held on equal ground with statutes that are created by our own legislature. I don't know why I never knew that, but I didn't. So, now everyone (who didn't know that before) knows.
We have dinner in about an hour, so I am going to work on catching up with the news from the States until then, and work on some reading after dinner. So until tomorrow, ciao!
(and ps...I took pictures of my room and will probably be loading them tomorrow after our tour of Florence when I have more pictures to add)
I woke up many times throughout the morning, but got out of bed at 830am. the view was just as good as I remembered. :-) I went down to breakfast, and then off to class at about 945. We had an introduction to the course and to international law, and then we had a break for lunch. Lunch is the main meal here, and it was two courses of goodness. If anyone was worried about me eating, don't. It was delicious and I ate more than I should have. After lunch we had more class until 3, followed by a free afternoon. Lee Catherine (who arrived during luch today), Andrew, Pat (who we met on the plane yesterday) and Aaron (who is from Indiana) and I went up to the city center to check it out. and when I say "up," I really mean up. It is up a realllllly steep hill. I think I worked off the gelato I ate there, as well as my lunch from earlier in the day. It was that steep. The city is quaint, kind of reminding me of Siena a bit. Siena is a bit more Medieval, but Fiesole was cute and charming.
So something I learned today, since I am here for school and all, has to do with international law (big surprise, i know). In the Constitution of the United States, there is a "supremacy" clause, which basically states that treaties and statutes are the supreme law of the land. In other words, though many people don't believe in international law, treaties are one of the main sources of international law and they are held on equal ground with statutes that are created by our own legislature. I don't know why I never knew that, but I didn't. So, now everyone (who didn't know that before) knows.
We have dinner in about an hour, so I am going to work on catching up with the news from the States until then, and work on some reading after dinner. So until tomorrow, ciao!
(and ps...I took pictures of my room and will probably be loading them tomorrow after our tour of Florence when I have more pictures to add)
Monday, May 25, 2009
An Adventure With Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
So I am now sitting in my amazing room at the Villa in Fiesole, Italy.
The day of travel started yesterday I guess? My friend Andrew flew on the same flight as I did, so his girlfriend kindly picked me up on their way to Dulles at about 3 for our 6pm flight. It was a bit rainy in DC, but nothing to be too concerned about. We boarded at about 530, and Andrew and I were on different sides of the plane, so we went our separate ways as we boarded. I was in the second to last row, which was nice because I had space to my right as I was in the aisle and instead of there being 5 people in my row, there were only 4. Sadly, there was also no room for my carry-on because there was only room for three peoples carry-ons for some reason. Honestly, I think the girls I was sitting next to just didnt want to put any of their stuff in the overhead compartments or squish anything. In any case, it was lucky I had the aisle because I had a place for my feet to go since my bag was not under the seat in front of me.
As for the flight itself, it was pretty uneventful. I did my reading for Tuesday and Wednesday (over 100 pages) and watched an episode of How I Met Your Mother that United so nicely provided. Dinner was a salad, roll, and brownie because they ran out of chicken and the pasta looked quite nasty. The flight was about 8 hours, not too bad. We had a tailwind of about 100 mph for most of the time we were over the Atlantic, and ended up arriving around 30 min earlier than scheduled. I didnt sleep more than a half hour, partly because I was doing my reading, partly because I wasn't tired, and partly because I have a difficult time sleeping on planes. Then there was the fact that every time I started to nod off we hit a particularly rough patch of turbulence. This trip in particular we had quite a bit of turbulence. It was fun and added to the adventure of it all, though i have to admit at times it was a bit more scary than exciting.
Now this wouldnt be a true Adventure without some mishaps. Lee Catherine was planning on taking a different flight from Reagan to JFK, and from JFK to Rome. She was going to land about 3 hours later than me, and we were going to meet and then journey to the Villa together. Well, she found out that her flight was delayed by an hour at about 2pm DC time. So she told me she would text me to let me know if she made her connection in JFK, and we would keep our fingers crossed that we would meet up in Rome. Sadly, we did not cross our toes as well, and her flight out of DC was delayed til 9, meaning she missed her connection. So, she will be arriving tomorrow and continuing the adventure on her own from FCO to the Villa. I sent her some information on how to get here, so hopefully that helps.
Now back to my story. As Andrew was sitting in his seat, about halfway through the flight his seatmate pulls out a stack of papers to read. Turns out, his name is Pat and he is going to the Villa too. So, we all met up after the flight, went through customs (easy peasy), picked up our luggage, and meandered toward the Leonardo da Vinci express that takes you from FCO, which is outside of Rome, to the Termini station, where we caught our train to Florence (Firenze). The guy selling the tickets at Termini was a jerk, but that just added to the adventure, and we figured it all out.
So we, Andrew, Pat, and myself, are on the train to Florence, and all of us are tired since none of us slept on the flight, but no one wants to sleep and miss our stop. It must have been hilarious waching us all nod off and then jerk awake. We found our stop though, lugged our luggage to a taxi, and began the 15 minute ride out of Florence and into the hills of Fiesole. The Villa is up a windy road with amazing views of the city down below. It is absolutely breathtaking. I had fellow students help me drag my luggage up the steps and into my cozy room I will be sharing with Charlotte and Lee Catherine. We have a view of the front gardens and the city of Florence. We also have our own bathroom, woohoo!
One of the staff came to our room, gave us a fan, and welcomed us to come down and eat some lunch, so I had some salami, strawberries, bread, salad, and an apple. Quite delicious. Then Andrew, Charlotte, and I wanered around the Villa taking pictures and enjoying the beautiful day.
Some sad news is that my Italian phone is not working. I have tried multiple plugs and it just wont charge or turn on. So, while it was a great idea, it just didnt pan out. We will just have to communicate through the blog and email and my American phone if need be.
Its funny, but it all still seems kind of surreal that I am here. I don't think it really hit me until we got in the cab at the train station and were winding our way through Florence. At that point, you can't really deny that you are here. Then, the Villa itself is so amazing that it just goes back to being surreal. We shall see how it all feels tomorrow when I wake up.
In any case, it has been a nice welcome back to Italia.
I will post pictures right after I finish with the entry, so enjoy and please leave comments :-)
Hours in Transit: 8 on plane, 2.5 on train, .3 in a taxi
The day of travel started yesterday I guess? My friend Andrew flew on the same flight as I did, so his girlfriend kindly picked me up on their way to Dulles at about 3 for our 6pm flight. It was a bit rainy in DC, but nothing to be too concerned about. We boarded at about 530, and Andrew and I were on different sides of the plane, so we went our separate ways as we boarded. I was in the second to last row, which was nice because I had space to my right as I was in the aisle and instead of there being 5 people in my row, there were only 4. Sadly, there was also no room for my carry-on because there was only room for three peoples carry-ons for some reason. Honestly, I think the girls I was sitting next to just didnt want to put any of their stuff in the overhead compartments or squish anything. In any case, it was lucky I had the aisle because I had a place for my feet to go since my bag was not under the seat in front of me.
As for the flight itself, it was pretty uneventful. I did my reading for Tuesday and Wednesday (over 100 pages) and watched an episode of How I Met Your Mother that United so nicely provided. Dinner was a salad, roll, and brownie because they ran out of chicken and the pasta looked quite nasty. The flight was about 8 hours, not too bad. We had a tailwind of about 100 mph for most of the time we were over the Atlantic, and ended up arriving around 30 min earlier than scheduled. I didnt sleep more than a half hour, partly because I was doing my reading, partly because I wasn't tired, and partly because I have a difficult time sleeping on planes. Then there was the fact that every time I started to nod off we hit a particularly rough patch of turbulence. This trip in particular we had quite a bit of turbulence. It was fun and added to the adventure of it all, though i have to admit at times it was a bit more scary than exciting.
Now this wouldnt be a true Adventure without some mishaps. Lee Catherine was planning on taking a different flight from Reagan to JFK, and from JFK to Rome. She was going to land about 3 hours later than me, and we were going to meet and then journey to the Villa together. Well, she found out that her flight was delayed by an hour at about 2pm DC time. So she told me she would text me to let me know if she made her connection in JFK, and we would keep our fingers crossed that we would meet up in Rome. Sadly, we did not cross our toes as well, and her flight out of DC was delayed til 9, meaning she missed her connection. So, she will be arriving tomorrow and continuing the adventure on her own from FCO to the Villa. I sent her some information on how to get here, so hopefully that helps.
Now back to my story. As Andrew was sitting in his seat, about halfway through the flight his seatmate pulls out a stack of papers to read. Turns out, his name is Pat and he is going to the Villa too. So, we all met up after the flight, went through customs (easy peasy), picked up our luggage, and meandered toward the Leonardo da Vinci express that takes you from FCO, which is outside of Rome, to the Termini station, where we caught our train to Florence (Firenze). The guy selling the tickets at Termini was a jerk, but that just added to the adventure, and we figured it all out.
So we, Andrew, Pat, and myself, are on the train to Florence, and all of us are tired since none of us slept on the flight, but no one wants to sleep and miss our stop. It must have been hilarious waching us all nod off and then jerk awake. We found our stop though, lugged our luggage to a taxi, and began the 15 minute ride out of Florence and into the hills of Fiesole. The Villa is up a windy road with amazing views of the city down below. It is absolutely breathtaking. I had fellow students help me drag my luggage up the steps and into my cozy room I will be sharing with Charlotte and Lee Catherine. We have a view of the front gardens and the city of Florence. We also have our own bathroom, woohoo!
One of the staff came to our room, gave us a fan, and welcomed us to come down and eat some lunch, so I had some salami, strawberries, bread, salad, and an apple. Quite delicious. Then Andrew, Charlotte, and I wanered around the Villa taking pictures and enjoying the beautiful day.
Some sad news is that my Italian phone is not working. I have tried multiple plugs and it just wont charge or turn on. So, while it was a great idea, it just didnt pan out. We will just have to communicate through the blog and email and my American phone if need be.
Its funny, but it all still seems kind of surreal that I am here. I don't think it really hit me until we got in the cab at the train station and were winding our way through Florence. At that point, you can't really deny that you are here. Then, the Villa itself is so amazing that it just goes back to being surreal. We shall see how it all feels tomorrow when I wake up.
In any case, it has been a nice welcome back to Italia.
I will post pictures right after I finish with the entry, so enjoy and please leave comments :-)
Hours in Transit: 8 on plane, 2.5 on train, .3 in a taxi
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Last Day In The States
So I spent today packing, picking up some last minute items from CVS where I spent too much money as per usual, having my reading rebound at Kinkos, and watching the two movies I had from Netflix.
Now to address my full day in reverse order.
The two movies were "The Terminal" and "Sense and Sensibility." I enjoyed them both, and now my account is on hold so I don't have to pay for it while I am not using it. Gotta love Netflix.
As for the reading, the professors posted all of the reading online, and recommended we print it out at home and bring it with us since there is only one printer at The Villa. So, I printed it all out, took it to Kinkos to be bound, and am now the proud owner of four huge readers. Sadly, they added two more articles this past week, so I could either leave the two new ones out or have Kinkos add them to the books. I chose to have Kinkos put them in so I don't lose anything. It will make it easier to deal with, but man, there is a ton of reading.
CVS was necessary for face wash and sunscreen, among other things. I ended up spending more than I wanted, but I figure I will use everything, and whether I use in DC or Italy doesn't really matter. The main thing is that I don't want to run out of anything there and then have to find the equivalent of what I use. So I have full bottles of everything and will probably come back with extra, but oh well.
I have packed one big suitcase, with all of my clothes and toiletries, one carry-on with my readers, extra fun books, and electrical stuff, and then the carry-on for under my seat with my reader for the first week, some pleasure reading, my computer, and some snacks. Lee Catherine also has two carry-ons and one bag to check. However, her back is much smaller than mine, and I am wondering if I over packed. I also don't really have room to bring stuff back, and I remember the fiasco last time where I ended up buying a bag off the street, and I really do not want to do that again (remember that Dad? quite the adventure). So, I may be going through my bag again tonight or tomorrow morning to purge some stuff. The big issue is I don't want to be too casual for class, and I want to make sure to have stuff to wear for dinners and such, but I feel like the weekends will be much more casual. Sigh, so much to take into consideration. And the big question...drum roll please...what stuffed animal do I bring? I like to bring one to sleep with that goes in my luggage, and then I bring one on the plane to act as my pillow. The one I was going to bring might be too big, unless I move some stuff around, which I might do. Luckily I don't leave until 3, so that gives me the whole morning to ponder and change things.
Hours Until I Leave For Italy: 19 (about)
Now to address my full day in reverse order.
The two movies were "The Terminal" and "Sense and Sensibility." I enjoyed them both, and now my account is on hold so I don't have to pay for it while I am not using it. Gotta love Netflix.
As for the reading, the professors posted all of the reading online, and recommended we print it out at home and bring it with us since there is only one printer at The Villa. So, I printed it all out, took it to Kinkos to be bound, and am now the proud owner of four huge readers. Sadly, they added two more articles this past week, so I could either leave the two new ones out or have Kinkos add them to the books. I chose to have Kinkos put them in so I don't lose anything. It will make it easier to deal with, but man, there is a ton of reading.
CVS was necessary for face wash and sunscreen, among other things. I ended up spending more than I wanted, but I figure I will use everything, and whether I use in DC or Italy doesn't really matter. The main thing is that I don't want to run out of anything there and then have to find the equivalent of what I use. So I have full bottles of everything and will probably come back with extra, but oh well.
I have packed one big suitcase, with all of my clothes and toiletries, one carry-on with my readers, extra fun books, and electrical stuff, and then the carry-on for under my seat with my reader for the first week, some pleasure reading, my computer, and some snacks. Lee Catherine also has two carry-ons and one bag to check. However, her back is much smaller than mine, and I am wondering if I over packed. I also don't really have room to bring stuff back, and I remember the fiasco last time where I ended up buying a bag off the street, and I really do not want to do that again (remember that Dad? quite the adventure). So, I may be going through my bag again tonight or tomorrow morning to purge some stuff. The big issue is I don't want to be too casual for class, and I want to make sure to have stuff to wear for dinners and such, but I feel like the weekends will be much more casual. Sigh, so much to take into consideration. And the big question...drum roll please...what stuffed animal do I bring? I like to bring one to sleep with that goes in my luggage, and then I bring one on the plane to act as my pillow. The one I was going to bring might be too big, unless I move some stuff around, which I might do. Luckily I don't leave until 3, so that gives me the whole morning to ponder and change things.
Hours Until I Leave For Italy: 19 (about)
Monday, May 18, 2009
One Week
Hard to believe, but in a week I will be in Italy. It still doesn't seem quite real to me, probably because I am no where near ready to go. I am also still caught up in my internship, which ends on Friday. :-( My plan is to work on laundry tonight, and to begin setting aside things I know I want to take with me. I also have to pull out my summer stuff, which is stored under my bed at the moment, as it is still too cold here to wear it. I have a feeling this is going to be quite a long process.
I made plans to meet with Andrew this week, a fellow American University student going on the trip who is also on my flight. I think we will work on the logistics of getting to the airport and all that fun stuff. I also picked up a travel book for my time in the South of Italy after the program ends, and that is exciting, but still in an out there kind of way.
Anyway, the point of this was just to say wow, its coming up realllly soon, and yet it still doesn't seem real.
Countdown Until I Leave for Italy: 6 days
I made plans to meet with Andrew this week, a fellow American University student going on the trip who is also on my flight. I think we will work on the logistics of getting to the airport and all that fun stuff. I also picked up a travel book for my time in the South of Italy after the program ends, and that is exciting, but still in an out there kind of way.
Anyway, the point of this was just to say wow, its coming up realllly soon, and yet it still doesn't seem real.
Countdown Until I Leave for Italy: 6 days
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Villa le Balze
And just to make everyone jealous, here is where I will be living...
Not too shabby, right?
Countdown til I leave for Italia: 10 Days
Restless Feet
Last time I went abroad I sent out email updates to friends and family, whether they wanted them or not. This time I figured I would try something new: blogging. I will still email responses and such, but for normal, every day updates, I think this will be the way to go. You can check it out if you want, or completely ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist. I will have my computer with me the whole time I believe, so there will be no need to run to an Internet cafe or worry about time limits. Hopefully this means I can post fairly regularly and bore everyone with random and inconsequential updates.
Lets hope this works :-)
Countdown for when I leave for Italia: 10 days!
Lets hope this works :-)
Countdown for when I leave for Italia: 10 days!
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