Bologna, Più Firenze, I Miei Esami, e L’Opera

View of Bologna from il Torre Asinelli

Adelyn, Amy, and I at our pizza lunch

My great pesto pasta from Zà Zà

      Well it is officially my Spring Break, and I am off to Spain tomorrow morning! I am starting in Barcelona for the weekend, then I go to Granada for a couple days, and the rest of the trip will be in Seville. I am traveling with three other girls: Andi, Taryn, and Melissa. I also have a few friends studying in all three cities, so I can’t wait to see them! It’s going to be a great time!

      Before I leave, I figured I’d give an update on my past week in Italy. I’ll start with last weekend, and my second trip to Bologna. I decided to go back to Bologna because my friend Adelyn is studying there and she invited me as well as my friend Amy (who is studying on a different program in Florence) to come for the night last Thursday. Both girls were in my Italian class last semester in Madison, and it was really nice to see them! My friend Andi came along too, it was a very fun group to be with.  It was interesting to get a glimpse of what the Bologna study abroad program is like. It is a fully integrated program, so everything is in Italian because the students are studying at the actual university. We met up with a group of Adelyn’s friends in her program to go to some Bologna bars. The atmosphere is very different from Florence because Bologna is 1/5 University students. Also, it is not nearly as touristy as Florence, so it had a more authentic Italian feel to it.  I really enjoyed the nightlife there, and being able to speak more Italian. The next day the four of us went to explore Bologna and Adelyn brought us to one of her favorite pizza places. It was indeed, delicious! I got a white pizza with mushrooms, basil, and proscuitto. We then went to climb one of Bologna’s famous Two Towers- Il Torre Asinelli.  It was a lot of stairs, but the view at the top of worth it. It was a beautiful day in Italy, so it was great to be outside too. We headed back to Florence that night. It was a very enjoyable short trip.

       I spent the next day in Florence, because it was great weather again! Probably, the nicest day I’ve had in Italy so far. I even wore my light jacket for the first time! Andi and I went into the city and headed to the food market. We ate a lot of free samples and bought a ton of dried fruit. We wandered into some other shops, and found one with some more free tastings. We tried an assortment of spreads, meats soaked in wine, and a dessert wine. I ended up buying this great sundried tomato, olive, bruschetta spread.  We spent the rest of the day shopping and eating gelato. That night we headed back into the city to go to dinner with a group at a restaurant called Zà Zà. We all split an appetizer of meats and cheese and ordered wine too. For my entrée I had fettuccine with homemade pesto. It was awesome. After dinner, we went to some bars and went dancing at the club Twice. It was another fun night!

  After my fun weekend, I really had to buckle down on Sunday because this week was midterm week. I had three exams: Italian, film, and Nietzsche. I also had a paper due for Italian, so it was a busy week.  And in the midst of all the studying, I went to the Opera on Tuesday night. It was a nice study break. We saw the opera, Manson Leacaut, at the Teatro Communale. The theater was absolutely beautiful, and the show was great too. I was very excited because I understood most of the Italian! It was helpful that there were subtitles that I could read in Italian. It was great to follow the whole show in another language. I felt like my Italian classes and even all my voice lessons really helped.

Now that my busy week is over I am so pumped to head off to Spain tomorrow! I will be back in Italy on March 5th, so I will update again then. Miss and love you all at home.

Tanti Baci!

-Laura

Il Teatro Communale

Melissa, Andi, and I at the Opera

Il Mio Viaggio a Roma

Il Colosseo di Roma

La Cappella Sistina

On the exit steps of the Vatican

This past weekend I took a trip with my whole program to Rome. We spent three days and two nights there. We set off very early at 7 am on Thursday morning by bus. We arrived late morning, put our stuff down at our hotel, and immediately headed to the Vatican Museum. It was a gorgeous day out, 60s and sunny, so it was a very pleasant to walk around. Right away I noticed how different Rome is compared to Florence, mainly because it is such a big city. The cars are bigger, streets are bigger, and it just seems to have a busier life-style. Although it’s amazing that mixed into that big city atmosphere there are also so many incredible cultural and historical aspects too.  When we arrived at the Vatican we were allowed to go off and explore it on our own. I went with a couple other girls from my program, Andrea and Amy, and began in a lovely garden right outside of the building. Then we headed into the museum, and I was in awe immediately. It was just room after room of absolutely incredible art. From the ceilings to the floor, every room was covered with artwork.  I still can’t get over how the ceilings in these rooms. They have these elaborate frescos that cover the entire ceiling, my neck was in pain from looking up so much!

After wandering for a while, we made it to the famous Sistine Chapel. I have been learning about the Chapel and many of the frescos in it in my Renaissance Art class, so it was very exciting to see the Chapel up close. I was completely overwhelmed when I walked in. The detail that Michelangelo put into every image in that room is unbelievable, even when its rights in front of you. The room was packed with other tourists, and security guards were constantly yelling “No Foto”, so it was somewhat chaotic. But even in the midst of all that chaos I felt myself get lost in the artwork. I had to sit down, and just try to take it all in.  We continued through the rest of the Vatican, and headed back outside. I met up with a couple other girls, Andi and Melissa, and we headed to one of Rome’s famous plaza, Piazza Navona. The plaza included pretty fountains, restaurants, and an art fair. It had a very exciting atmosphere to it. We then headed to the famous Pantheon. It was very exciting to go inside of it. It included some beautiful memorials and paintings.

            After walking around so much I was in dire need of some espresso. We stopped at a little bar; I got two espresso shots, and talked with the barista a bit. I asked her where a good gelateria was and she directed us to one called Blue Ice. We met up with a few other people from the program and all went to get gelato. And luckily the barista was correct and the gelato was great! I got white chocolate and hazelnut. Yum.  Our group then headed to a bar called Prime for apertivo. We got a couple drinks and then received free appetizers, which ended up being our dinner. They had pasta, rice dishes, chicken, little sandwiches of proscuitto and cheese, and salad. Later than night we went out in Rome and went to a discoteca called Mood. We got these fun carnivale masks at the door and then explored the club. There were a bunch of different rooms, a bar, and dancing. It was a really fun night! It was great to go out with people from my program that I haven’t hung out with much outside of class yet. We danced until about 2:30 am and went back to our hotel to get some sleep before another long day in Rome.

            We started the next morning at the Roman Forum. This was my favorite part of the entire trip. Some of the most important structures of ancient Rome lie in the Forum.  The area is filled with Roman ruins and was very exciting to see up close.  There are ancient temples, churches, government buildings, and archeological fragments.  It is crazy that the remains an ancient empire can still be visible for us today. The next place we headed was equally exciting as the Forum… the Colosseum. We headed in and walked around the whole structure. At this point in the day the sun was just coming out and it made the Coliseum look even more incredible.

            After an exciting morning a group of us headed to lunch for some Roman pizza. We found a great place after I asked a police officer for a suggestion. I ordered wine and a veggie pizza that had artichokes, red peppers, and basil. It was probably the best pizza I’ve had yet. I got an espresso to get ready for the rest of our day, and Andi, Melissa, and I headed off to find the famous Trevi Fountain. I had just watched La Dolce Vita in my Italian Cinema class, so it was awesome to see the Fountain in person. It was stunning! We then headed with a larger group to the Spanish Steps. I thought about the movie Roman Holiday the whole time we were there. After the Steps we went to another famous Roman plaza called Piazza del Popolo. It had another beautiful fountain and lots of people in it.  We finally headed back to our hotel after seeing all the main Roman tourist attractions. After resting and showering, I headed to dinner.

A group of four of us went and found an adorable restaurant. We ordered wine and a foccacia of proscuito, cheese, and tomato to start. I later ordered a smoked salmon, gorgonzola, and apple salad. Everything was great. But I think the best part of the dinner was how long it was. We sat for about 3 hours! It was really nice to just relax, eat great food, and enjoy one another’s company.  After our dinner we met Andi’s friend who is studying abroad in Rome. We met her and a group of her friends in Piazza Nuvona, and headed to some bars. It was really fun being out on a Friday night in Rome. The streets were packed outside the bars because you can bring your drinks outside and hang out in the street.  It was another good night, and it was fun to meet some other study abroad students.

            Saturday morning we had a little bit of free time before out last tour. I went back to the Trevi Fountain with a group of girls, because I had forgotten to throw a coin in the day before.  We then walked up the Spanish Steps and headed to another side of the city. The area was less touristy which was a nice change from the previous two days.  We saw two famous churches, La Basilica di San Maria degli Angeli e Martiri and La Basilica di San Maria Maggiore. We got some more Blue Ice gelato before going on our final program tour of La Villa Borghese. The Villa was used by the Borghese family for their private art collection, which is an incredible collection. My favorite part of the collection was all the sculptures. Many of them were of mythological stories. The detail in them was unbelievable, and absolutely amazing to see. It was a great way to end our time in Rome. I was exhausted and slept most of the bus-ride home.

            Rome was better than I had imagined it would be. It was great to see a different city in Italy, and see such a historic place. I am hoping to go to a couple other Tuscan towns this coming weekend, and spend some more time in Florence. Next week I have midterms, so it’ll be a busy next week and a half. And then it’s our Spring Break already! I will be heading to Spain (Barcelona, Granada, and Seville) for 9 days. I am so excited!

Miss and love everyone at home.

Tanti Baci,

Laura

Il Foro Romano

Inside the Colosseum

My Veggie Pizza

La Fontana di Trevi

My Weekend in Belgium… Waffles, Beer, and Lots of Chocolate!

Belgian Waffles

Most of the group hanging out near the Grand Place

Chocopolis! 

This weekend I took my first trip outside of Italy and went to Belgium! I traveled with a group of seven other people from my program to the cities of Brussels and Bruges. We left Italy and took a train to the Pisa Airport on Friday morning, and then I took my second international flight to Brussels. It was a beautiful day in Italy when we left, it was sunny and in the 60s. But unfortunately when we arrived in Brussels it was in the high 40s, dark, and misting. Although, we weren’t going to let the gloomy weather get us down. After all, Brussels does not pride itself on being on beautiful city.  Instead it actually prides itself on being ugly, at least that’s what the Brussels map we received at our hostel said. Goofy, but I guess when you’re known a city known for chocolate, waffles, and beer, ugliness doesn’t really matter.

We checked into our hostel and then went out to explore the city. The first things we saw were a plethora of chocolate shops and pubs. And shortly after that we saw lots of waffle stands! I couldn’t resist and bought a Belgian waffle immediately, it had strawberries and powdered sugar on top. It was great! We continued on to look at some of the more historical aspects of the city. We found the city’s stock exchange and right in front of it was a huge protest! The protest was for the EU to start taking action in Egypt. There were a ton of Belgian TV and radio stations there, so it was really exciting to catch a glimpse of the protest especially since Brussels is the capital of the EU.  We continued wandering and found Brussels’ famous central square called the Grand Place.  It is surrounded by the Brussels town hall, some large towers, historical buildings, and of course…pubs. It looked stunning at night because all the surrounding building were lit up. (Yes, there was something beautiful about ugly old Brussels.) We headed to some chocolate shops after the Grand Place. My favorite shop was one called Chocopolis, mainly because of its fabulous name and the free delicious samples we got. After all our wandering we decided to take the rest of the night to enjoy Brussels’ nightlife. We went to a bunch of different pubs, ordered their famous fries, and talked to some locals. Everyone was very friendly, and a lot of people knew English, which was nice.  And I ended the night by seeing my friend Claire who’s studying abroad in Seville for the semester. She was with a friend for the weekend in Brussels too, so it was great to see a familiar face from Madison.

            The next day we headed out of Brussels and into the town of Bruges.  Even though it was another dark, misty day out, as soon as we hopped off the train I was overwhelmed by the loveliness of Bruges. The town is filled with cobblestone streets, lots of little shops, horse-drawn carriages, a canal, swans, plazas and more. It was picturesque to say the least. One of the best things about the town was all of its chocolate shops. There was even more chocolate in Bruges than in Brussels! Practically every other store was a chocolate shop, so of course we went into just about every one. My favorite shop there was called Chocolatier Dumon. I bought an assortment of white, milk, and dark chocolate. It is by far the best chocolate I’ve ever had, it is melty, sweet, and incredible!  After all that chocolate we headed to a café for lunch (suggested by the chocolate shop owners), which was called de Medici.  Their suggestion was perfect, it was an adorable cafe with an awesome menu. I ordered a smoked salmon brie and honey panini, it was delicious. We headed to see some of Bruges’ towers and churches after lunch. We saw Michelangelo’s famous Madonna and Child in the Church of Our Lady, which is the only Michelangelo piece to leave Italy during his lifetime. We also saw Bruges’ famous Bell Tower, which is featured throughout the movie In Bruges. 

      We headed back to Brussels in time for dinner, and were able to meet up with Claire again.  We ended the night at Delirium Café, a highly acclaimed Brussels bar with over 2000 beers from all over the world. Delirium beer is said to be one of the best of those 2000, so I tried it, and it definitely met its reputation. We headed back to our next hostel, which was actually a hotel. It was really nice to have a real bed and a private bathroom after staying in the hostel the night before.  Although, sadly we couldn’t enjoy it for too long because we had to leave at 7 am to head back to the Brussels airport and catch our flight back to Italy.

      Overall, I really enjoyed Belgium. It was a nice change of pace from Italy. It had a super friendly atmosphere, wasn’t too touristy, and of course had absolutely amazing chocolate! It was a very successful first trip outside of Italy.

     Next weekend I have a program trip to Rome. So another weekend of traveling, but I’m excited to be staying in Italy. I missed all the pasta and beautiful scenery this weekend. It feels good to be back.

Hope you’re all staying warm back in the states!

Mi mancate e tanti baci!

-Laura

Dumon Chocolate in Bruges

The Canal in Bruges

The girls at Delirium in Brussels