This past weekend I went to Rome with Clarice to visit Anna and Janine and take in the sites. It was so much fun. I had a great time. Clarice I flew in Friday night. We stayed at a cheap hostel, in a long narrow room with 8 other beds. Kindof sketch and ghetto, but it was all other students there, and we only had to be there at night, we just needed beds to sleep on. Saturday morning we got up early and met Janine and Anna outside a metro stop. Then they gave us a very comprensive tour of the city. First we went to St. Peter’s. It was awesome seeing it, because I have learned out it in art history so many times. It was fun being able to point out all the things I’ve had to memorize over the past couple years. Then we went to the forum, which was the heart of the Roman city. It has the most Roman ruins. It was so awesome, I think that was my favorite part of our trip. I had flashbacks to those two years of Latin I took in high school. The forum had all kinds of ruins like two triumphal arches and some temples. I can’t remember the names of everything that was there. It was crazy walking were ancient Romans once did. The highlight of the forum is of course the colloseum. Unfortunately it was closed so we couldn’t go in. But it was great seeing it in person. I still can’t believe I’ve seen it. We ate lunch at a favorite resturant of Janine and Anna’s, that has 100 different kinds of pasta! I got a pretty traditional kind, with basil, tomatos, and cheese. It was good! Next we went to the Pantheon, an ancient Roman temple that has a huge dome, which was a great innovation at the time. We also saw the Trevi fountain. The tradition here is to make a wish and throw in three coins over your left shoulder. That’s what the video of me on facebook is, it’s on Clarice’s profile. We also saw Trajan’s column, another famous monument. For dinner we got some brick oven pizza. Italian pizza doesn’t have tomato sauce on it. I got sausage, mushroom, and cheese. That night we went out to an Irish pub and just did some more catching up. It was great haning out with Anna and Janine! The next morning we met up for breakfast at a little café. Oh I forgot to mention, Italian pasteries are delicous! On Saturday I got a cannoli, one of my favorite pasteries. Sunday for breakfast I got another yummy pastery and a cappachino. Both were wonderful! After breakfast we walked around an open air market for a bit. Then Clarice and I headed on over to the airport. The ride home was beautiful. We didn’t seen anything on the way in because it was nighttime. However when we flew out I saw the Mediterranean for the first time, and the Alps! The Alps were gorgeous, we took some pictures of them. One of those pictures is currently my desktop background. Okay I only mentioned food a couple times in this blog, hehe
Friday, October 19, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Bel-gee-um
Finally a post that'so not all abut food, lol. Well it's been awhile since I updated this, and I'm a bit behind. But it's midterm time, so I'm just going to post a summary of my Belgium trip. I put Bel-gee-um as my title b/c I took German last semester, and I learned that that's how you say Belgium in German.
So I went to Belgium on a study trip for my Renaissance Art History class. We went to Ghent, Brussels, and Brugge. We saw a lot of art of course. Much of it I have studied many a time, so it was great seeing it in person. One of the most famous pieces of art we saw was the Ghent altarpiece. It was huge, seven by thirteen feet, and filled up the whole room. The colors of it were brilliant, jewel like I would say. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take pictures of it. We spent the most time in Brugge. Brugge is beautiful. It was a major trade center of the Renaissance. After the Renaissance their economy fell apart, so the city looks the same as it did then. I felt like I was walking onto a movie set or into Disneyland. We got to take a boat ride on the canal, it was so beautiful. We really lucked out with the weather, it was gorgeous fall day. We had a little bit of free time, and I bought some yummy chocolate and a Belgium waffle. My class was a nice group of people, so I had fun hanging out with them and getting to know some new people.
It was weird going to another country where the primary language wasn't English or French. That was a first for me. It was a bit jarring when I got out of the train and the signs were in Dutch. However, apparently Belgium people know like five languages. Everyone knew English, which always seems to be the case! I'm so used to avoiding using English, since French people don't seem to like it when you speak English, and I felt rude speaking English. But the Belgians didn't seem to mind. On Saturday night in Brugge I went out to dinner with some people from my class and out waiter spoke British English! That was funny. Like I said I took German last semester, and I noticed some similar words, like the words for street. I don't think they're too different.
Our way back to Paris was a bit hectic. The plan was to take a train to Brussels, then switch onto another train to get to Paris. When we got on our first train there was no sitting room left, so we had to sit in the aisle on the floor for about an hour! Then it turned out that that train was too slow, and we missed our other train to Paris! There was only one other train left going to Paris that night. My teacher talked to the train people, and they told us there were 19 spots left on the last train, and our class had 20 people in it! Luckily they let us get on. Then they opened up what we think was some emergency seating in the back of the train, and we all got seats. That was a major relief. I was happy to be back in Paris after all that craziness. My teacher was really intense, and she was the fastest walker I'd ever seen! If you didn't keep up she didn't hesitate to leave you behind. So that was a bit stressful. But it was really fun seeing some new cities.
So I went to Belgium on a study trip for my Renaissance Art History class. We went to Ghent, Brussels, and Brugge. We saw a lot of art of course. Much of it I have studied many a time, so it was great seeing it in person. One of the most famous pieces of art we saw was the Ghent altarpiece. It was huge, seven by thirteen feet, and filled up the whole room. The colors of it were brilliant, jewel like I would say. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take pictures of it. We spent the most time in Brugge. Brugge is beautiful. It was a major trade center of the Renaissance. After the Renaissance their economy fell apart, so the city looks the same as it did then. I felt like I was walking onto a movie set or into Disneyland. We got to take a boat ride on the canal, it was so beautiful. We really lucked out with the weather, it was gorgeous fall day. We had a little bit of free time, and I bought some yummy chocolate and a Belgium waffle. My class was a nice group of people, so I had fun hanging out with them and getting to know some new people.
It was weird going to another country where the primary language wasn't English or French. That was a first for me. It was a bit jarring when I got out of the train and the signs were in Dutch. However, apparently Belgium people know like five languages. Everyone knew English, which always seems to be the case! I'm so used to avoiding using English, since French people don't seem to like it when you speak English, and I felt rude speaking English. But the Belgians didn't seem to mind. On Saturday night in Brugge I went out to dinner with some people from my class and out waiter spoke British English! That was funny. Like I said I took German last semester, and I noticed some similar words, like the words for street. I don't think they're too different.
Our way back to Paris was a bit hectic. The plan was to take a train to Brussels, then switch onto another train to get to Paris. When we got on our first train there was no sitting room left, so we had to sit in the aisle on the floor for about an hour! Then it turned out that that train was too slow, and we missed our other train to Paris! There was only one other train left going to Paris that night. My teacher talked to the train people, and they told us there were 19 spots left on the last train, and our class had 20 people in it! Luckily they let us get on. Then they opened up what we think was some emergency seating in the back of the train, and we all got seats. That was a major relief. I was happy to be back in Paris after all that craziness. My teacher was really intense, and she was the fastest walker I'd ever seen! If you didn't keep up she didn't hesitate to leave you behind. So that was a bit stressful. But it was really fun seeing some new cities.
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