Family Visit: Day 5

Ciao Tutti,

Saturday was the last day of my Dad and brother's trip to Italy.  We spent most of the day in Florence and traveled back to Rome in the evening.  We woke up around 8:30 AM and had breakfast in our bed and breakfast's kitchen.  It wasn't bad and consisted of coffee, pastries, and cereal.

After breakfast, we walked to the Accademia and we saw Michelangelo's most famous sculpture, the David.  I was able to point out that David's look changes from confidence to fear depending on how you look at him.  We also saw an exhibit on musical instruments, some medieval art, and half-finished sculptures by Michelangelo which were started for a Pope's tomb, but Michelangelo got fed up with the Pope and stopped working with him.

After, we went to the famous Duomo, but the line was too long to get in.  We did, however, see the famous "Gates of Paradise" of the Baptistry.

Gates of Paradise

Duomo

Then, we walked to a gelateria that is supposed to have the best gelato in Florence, GROM.  It was pretty good.  Afterwards, we walked down to Piazza della Signoria and saw a few famous statues.

Then, we went to the famous Mercato Nuovo where the wild boar or Porcellino resides.  Matt and I rubbed the boar's nose which ensures our return to Florence one day.

Afterwards, we went to see the Ponte Vecchio and take a few pictures.

Then, we grabbed lunch at a restaurant on the other side of the Ponte Vecchio.  After lunch, we went back to Piazza della Signoria and listened to an amazing guitarist.  Then, we went to Piazza della Reppublica to attend an Olive Oil Festival.  We wanted to buy a few bottles of olive oil from Italy for back home, so this was the perfect place for us.  We tried about 15 types of olive oil and picked our favorite.  My Dad bought a bottle for my Mom, my brother bought a bottle for himself, and I bought a bottle for my apartment in Italy.

Then, we headed to the train station to catch our train back to Rome.  We took a taxi back to our hotel and packed our bags.  Then, we took a taxi back to my apartment to drop my bag off and went to our favorite restaurant in Rome, Monte Carlo for the third time.  It was great, as usual, and served as a phenomenal ending to a phenomenal vacation.  Then, we all went back to the hotel and fell asleep.

Ciao,
Michael

London

Ciao Tutti,
I wrote this while I was on the plane back from London. It was not a bad flight - only 1 hour and 55 minutes. It definitely beats the 20 hour bus ride that my fellow travelers on Bus2Alps had back to Rome from Paris!

I arrived in London late on Saturday night and took a taxi to my hostel. The taxi was so cool - a very old looking black car that was not old at all. The ride to my hostel lasted less than five minutes.

My hostel was an old courthouse that was converted into a hostel. It was a very cool concept. I did not, but you could have paid extra for a room inside an old jail cell. The Internet cafe was in an old courtroom that still had all the traditional courtroom furniture. You could literally access the Internet from the judge's stand! Another courtroom was converted into a movie theater. It was really cool!

Computer Lab

I love that quote

My Bed

My Hostel

 On Sunday morning, I woke up early and walked back to Kings Cross Station where the inner nerd in me came out! I found Platform 9 3/4 and took my picture with a cart going through the wall. For those of you who aren't complete dorks like me, Platform 9 3/4 is the entranceway that all the kids take to get onto the Hogwarts Express in all the Harry Potter books.

 

Afterwards, I started to walk back to my hostel when I saw something that made me feel like i was back home in New York - a Starbucks next to a Pret A Manger next to a McDonalds across the street from a KFC and a Subway Sandwich Shop. I went into Pret to grab a breakfast sandwich before heading back to my hostel to meet my Dad's cousin, David.

I love Capitalism

Prior to this Sunday morning I had never met David or his wife, Joan. When I decided to come to London my Dad asked them to give me the grand tour of London, the city they've lived in or around for pretty much their whole lives.

I met up with David first and we walked down to the Covent Gardens - a shopping area that used to be an fruit and vegetable market. It was in the middle of London's theater district, so it was quite a busy place. We then walked down to a Starbucks for a cup of coffee and to wait for Joan to meet up with us.

 When Joan met up with us we headed for a hop-on, hop-off tour bus they arranged for me. Since my time in London was so limited, they felt that was the best way to see London. We saw Big Ben, the House of Parliament, the London Eye, the London Tower, the London Tower Bridge, London Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, Baker Street, Hyde Park, and many other places that I can't remember.

St. Paul's Cathedral

London Tower Bridge

One of the towers on London Tower Bridge

London Tower

Big Ben

The London Eye

A pretty cool picture of Big Ben and the London Eye

There are so many beautiful parks in London

After our bus tour, we took a boat cruise from the London Tower to Big Ben. I took the cliche picture in front of Big Ben and another inside of a Telephone Booth.

David and I in front of the London Eye

David and I in front of Big Ben

Joan and I and a London Phone Booth

 
On our way back to my hostel to get my bags we stopped in an English pub to chst for a bit over a beer, or in my case a soda. After grabbing my bags, David and Joan took me to their house in the suburbs for the night. We went out to another English pub to grab a bite to eat and I tried steak and ale pie. It was really good!


After dinner we went back to Joan and David's house for a cup of tea and some cake. We took a look at some pictures from our family reunion a few years ago which was pretty cool. Then, we all went to bed and I "crashed out" or quickly fell asleep. This morning, David took me for a quick tour of his town - Epsom. It is the home of the world famous Epsom Salts and the well known Epsom Derby. David showed me where the Derby takes place and also took me to a lookout that had extraordinary views of London. The town itself was gorgeous and it had a small downtown area with everything you need.

The Derby Grounds

When we got back to the house, Joan cooked us a full English breakfast with coffee, eggs, mushrooms, pasta, bacon, sausages, and toast. It was great! After breakfast, we drove around the English countryside. We saw a castle, but couldn't go in it because they were filming a movie called "Jack and the Giant Killer." The castle was owned by King Henry VIII - the king that had six wives, beheaded a few of them, and broke England away from the Catholic church because the Pope refused to grant him any additional divorces.  Then, we drove part of the route of the Olympic cycling race next summer. It looks tough! We also drove up Box Hill which is part of the race course and it had awesome views of the English countryside.

View from Box Hill

View from Box Hill

After this, we went to one more English pub to chat before going to Gatwick Airport.  When I arrived at Gatwick, Easyjet's computers had crashed and they had to check everyone in by hand! It was chaos, but the computers were back up after about a half hour. Then, I said bye to David and Joan and sprinted to my gate.

I absolutely loved London. After seeing Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Paris it was very clear why we get along so well with the British. The British are more similar to the US than to any other country in Europe. We have the same ideals and very similar tastes. I felt like I was back home. I would not say I was homesick, but a trip to a city that spoke English and was familiar to me was definitely welcomed! I definitely need to come back to London. There is so much to do and I barely scratched the surface! Next summer? I think yes.

My hosts, Joan and David, were great. It was so nice to meet family members I had never met before and they were so nice and welcoming. They made my visit to London even more enjoyable than I could have imagined!

I'm back to Rome now where I have three days of classes before heading to Venice this weekend with my school! Not too bad, is it?

I'll update soon. I need to upload pictures once I get back to my apartment and have a decent Internet connection for the first time in 12 days.

Thanks for reading!

Mike

Firenze (A Bit Delayed)

Ciao Tutti!

I have had this entry written and ready to post for a week now, but the internet in my apartment was not working.  I apologize for some of the references which seem a bit late...

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I am sitting on the train on my way back from Florence, but before I get into that let me start with the first week of classes.

I am taking five classes (16 credits) in Rome.  IES requires you take one Italian class and four other classes called "area studies courses".  The area studies courses are anything from art to classes on the European Union.  My schedule went over a lot of revisions over the past week as I was in a few art classes that were over my head, but I'll describe the classes I am currently enrolled in.

"AH/US 230: Roman Architecture and Urban Design" - This is one of the classes I switched in to half way through the week.  I missed the first lecture, but the second class was great.  We started off with a half hour lecture on the history of the Castel Sant'Angelo which was very interesting and informative.  It is amazing that a monument I can see from my apartment was a part of some of the most important events that shaped Rome as it is today.  After our half hour lecture, we actually got to go to the Castel Sant'Angelo and see everything.  It was originally built as a tomb, but was transformed into a fortress because it was ideally situated for battle.  Then, the Pope made it his safe house when the Vatican was attacked.  He actually built a mini-palace within the confines of the fortress!  After the Church lost most of its influence, the Pope did not need a safe house anymore, so the Italian Government turned it into a prison for a period of time.  Now, it is a tourist site with great views of Rome from the top. 

"IR 341: Italy and the European Union" - This class is great!  It is basically an overview of the formation of the European Union from the Post World War II era to the problems that plague the rapidly expanding organization.  I love history, so I cannot wait to learn all about the European Union.  I think this will be very beneficial for me later in life when I am working in Finance.  I will know the basics of how the EU works and will be able to apply it to my job.

"FS 200: From Viewing to Making a Film on Rome" -  I absolutely love this class.  We are going to watch four Italian films that were filmed in Cinecittà (the Italian version of Hollywood).  The films were also filmed on site at Roman locations.  After watching all four films and learning the basics on Italian cinema, we are going to film two scenes from the films we saw on site.  We watch "Bicycle Thief" on Monday - I can't wait.

"CM 330: Memory and Conflict" - This is the other class I switched into.  It is a really interesting class which is taught by the director of my study abroad program.  It is basically about conflict resolution techniques, but uses historical events to put the things we are learning into context.  I would not be surprised if I use the techniques I learn later in life.

This brings me to Florence.  Two of my friends (Sam & McKenzie) and I decided to go to Florence earlier this week.  We left on Thursday night after class.  I found a bullet train from Rome to Florence for only 19 euro.  The train was so comfortable and the ride was so short. 

Picture of the inside of the train.

When we got to Florence, we met up with one of Sam's friends from her home school, Emory.  He took us to our hostel (which was in a great location).  The hostel we stayed at was running a special where you can stay three nights for the price of two, so I paid 28 euro for three nights at a hostel.  The hostel was called "Plus Florence" and probably the nicest hostel I will ever stay at.  It was very clean, had a nightclub downstairs with a restaurant/bar, game room, a pool, a sauna, and a steam room.

On Friday, we woke up early and hit the two big museums in Florence before lunch time.  We wanted to make sure we beat the crowds.  The people I traveled with are studying Art History I school, so I was the beneficiary of a free tour of all the important pieces of art.  We went to the Academia first and saw Michelangelo's "David".  It was absolutely amazing.  After the Academia, we went to the Uffizi.  This museum was huge!  We were in it for three hours!

After the Uffizi, we met up with some of Sam's friends from Emory who were studying in Florence and a few people from our program in Rome.  We had a quick bite to eat and then five of us headed over to the Ponte Vecchio.  They all bought leather jackets, I decided not to get one because I'm hoping to get a suit while I'm over here instead.

Over the past two days, we went to all the major churches in Florence - the Duomo, Santa Croce, San Lorenzo, and Santa Maria Novella. 

Here are some pictures from our trip to Florence.

The one thing that really surprised me about Florence was how small it is.  We walked everywhere we needed to go and were never walking for more than a half hour at a time.  Florence was a beautiful city, but I am happy I'm studying in Rome.  As a Finance major, I do not appreciate art as much as I should.  Now that I have seen everything I wanted to see, I am happy to be looking at the beautiful Tuscan countryside out of the window of my train back to Rome.

On another note, I planned our trip to Florence around THON.  I made sure the hostel had wifi and made sure our train would have me back in Rome to watch the final four hours of THON.  I may be 3,000 miles away, but I have been thinking about THON a great deal this weekend.  A lot of my friends are dancing and it kills me that I can't be there to support them.  Watching the THON Webcast makes me feel like I'm there and I lit a candle in the Duomo FTK!   I look forward to watching Family Hour from my room and, like all other Penn Staters, will go crazy when the total is raised tonight at approximately 10:00 PM my time.  

Always FTK,

Mike