counting down the days...

Amidst my procrastinating...
I realized just how little time I have left in Italy.

As of right now I have approx. 14 days and 20 hours (give or take the time change on the flight), before I touch down at O'Hare airport on the 18th of this month. What that means is that I have been in Italy for more then 95 days now!! Wow, where did the time go?! (Is it possible for time to go straight to your gut? Because if so that’s exactly where mine has gone, if you know what I mean?!? Well okay, maybe it wasn’t the time itself but more the carbs I ate during that time!) 

Allora, back to my main point…

Lately I have noticed myself blurting out this report to anyone who cares to here it, “There’s (X) number of days until I get home!!” Do I love Italy? Do I love traveling? Do I love Italians and am I abundantly grateful for the opportunities I have been given this year? ABSOLUTELY I am! But am I also ready to come home and see my family and friends, and to be apart of the communities at ISU and Fuel again? You bet cha! I really miss those good ole 50-minute classes at ISU! 

I cannot believe that I am already almost a junior in college. Time is flying by SOOO quickly, why on earth would I want to count down the days till my next big move? Why is it that I can’t just bask in the moment and love every minute of who I am, where I am, and who I am with right in this very second? Does counting down the days make the next exciting chapter of my life any more exciting or make it come any quicker? No, but what it does do is distract me from all the great things happening in this current place and time. 

I would be lying if I told you that I wasn’t overjoyed to come back to ISU and to join the Fuel House mission this spring.  I can’t wait for it to be January 1^st  but I still have 14 more days here in Italy. I need to take advantage of every last day here because who knows if I’ll ever come back, or “when” ill comeback I should say. Many people could never dream of having an opportunity like this and I feel ashamed to say that there have been moments when I have taken it for granted. So i am making it my goal to soak up as much European culture as I can in these last few weeks! This semester is something I will never forget and it has certainly made me appreciate many things in life. (look out for my "New Years" blog: coming soon!) I am thankful to God for protecting me along my journey and for opening up new doors in my life. I am thankful to my family for their support and encouragement and I am thankful to my friends for being excited for me and for looking forward to my return home. I am thankful for the people I have met throughout this semester along the way and for the teachers here who are so loving and compassionate.  I have SOOO many wonderful things to look forward to in the next few months, and the next few years even! As hard as it will be to leave this place, I am thankful to be going home. I can not wait to see what more the Lord has in store for my life and the lives of people i come into contact with this next semester!
Leaving this place will be the definition of “bitter sweet”.

I’ll leave you with this statement…
Time sure does fly when your having fun!

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Field Trip to Pompeii

Sorry for the length of this blog entry but trust me its worth the time and patients to read!;-)

 Last weekend I visited Pompeii, Sorrento and the Island of Capri with LDM (Lorenzo de Medici) We loaded the bus bright and early at 5:30am on Saturday and took off for Pompeii closer to 5:45am. Cruising along the highway we passed a few gas stations, which I hadn't even notice existed before then. Once we were out of the city, the first few minutes of the drive sort of made me feel like I was back in the states, but then we'd pass a goofy looking semi truck and id remember where I was.

After an uncomfortable few hours of sleeping upright on the bus, we stopped at our first rest stop. Rest stops in Italy are called AutoGrills and take my word for it, THEY ARE A NIGHTMARE! I'll explain more about Italian rest stops in another Blog entitled Auto"hell". If your interested in the full story just read that, it's a good story especially if you ever plan to travel around Europe in your life time!
So aside from the ridiculous rest stops the field trip was great!

Saturday we visited the ancient city of Pompeii. It was a surreal and fascinating experience to see the devastation Vesuvius caused so many years ago.

That afternoon we drove to our little hotel in Sorrento called Hotel Michelangelo and the evening consisted of complementary dinner, cheap table wine, tasting the famous Lemonchello (lemon liquor, NASTY stuff!!) and watching fireworks by the shore with a small group of girls. 

 Sunday morning we loaded the ferry for Capri Island (case number two, feeling like herded cattle!). Looking back at Sorrento from the boat was cool to see, but hard to capture in a picture.

We arrived at the blue cave expecting to wait just a few minuets in line. We waited over an hour for our turn and honestly, I didn’t mind it one bit! I was relaxing on a boat, in the beautiful blue waters of the Mediterranean, soaking up the warm sun, while most everyone else one the boat was either; impatient, seasick or hungover from the night before! The main reason we had to wait so long for our turn was again some impatient Italian who cut us in line. We couldn’t understand what he was yelling but we were certain that he was extremely, impatient and rude. Lol Our boat captain blared a siren over the loud speaker impatiently to get someone’s attention and the first rowboat finally pulled up alongside our boat. In groups of three we disappeared into the Grotta Azzurra (Blue Cave) only after coughing up another 11.50 euro for the entrance fee that is. 

To get in to the 60meter-long, 25 meter-wide cavity, you had to be taken in one of the small rowboats by an experienced rower. The opening is so narrow, that you have to lie on the bottom of the boat when you enter and if the waters are to ruff they will close down the entrance of the cave all together. We got lucky and were the last group aloud inside that morning. Jumping out of the little rowboat to swim inside the cave was an extra tip of 5 euro or so depending on how much you had in your wallet. After hearing about the jellyfish my friends swam with earlier I kept my 5 Euros and decided not to risk it! 

The cliffs of Capri towering into the sky were breathtaking and I didn’t think water could get any clearer or more blue then in Hawaii, but I was wrong! I was fascinated by the house on the highest and farthest peak of the cliff that has to be one of the most valuable properties in the world.

 look closely at the picture, above the sea cave entrance you'll see a house!

We passed under the arch of love to hug or kiss our friends + loved ones as tradition calls

Capri was a beautiful little town but a very expensive one!

I rod the cable car to Ana Capri and paid way too much for some ravioli and bread at a fancy pansy restaurant. Then I found the famous geltaoria Lucca recommended and treated myself to some chocolate gelato on a cone. Mmm that stuff NEVER gets old! After dessert we stopped in the little shoemaker store and a few people bought custom hand made sandals! I took a little nap on the stone beach before meeting Lucca at the boat to leave, and then it was back on the ferry to meet the bus in Sorrento.

All in all it was a great weekend and I am glad I got to experience Pompeii, Sorrento and Capri. Who knows were will my next adventure take me!

THE QUESTION OF THE DAY IS...

Do you know what the highest tobacco-consuming nation in the world is?

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OK stop...

What was your guess?
I guessed Italy, because sometimes i feel like literally EVERYONE HERE SMOKES!
But apparently, to my astonishment, Europe doesn't even make the top three.
If lighting up before, after, during and around a meal is THIS common here, I can't image what it's like in Japan!! I am very lucky to live in America where I can enjoy a smoke free meal or even walking out doors without breathing someone elses second hand smoke! Id say ive taken that law and a few other laws for granted.

Now that I have spoke my piece, I shall go back to writing happy, cheery notes about how much I love Florence! Because it's for real AWESOME here! :)

Oh yea I almost forgot... GO AMERICA!

Easy Button?

The other day Jessica and I went on a hunt for school supplies! Apparently this is quite tricky in Florence. There are no Office Depots, OfficeMax or Staples here! Where is that “easy button” when you need it!? We wandered into a cute stationary boutique and bought a few over priced pads of paper. We decided to head back to the apartment, when I noticed a little shop across the street that had an entire back wall of pens and highlighters! So after wasting 4 Euros in the first store, we found just what we needed. I even got an error correct pen, but it apparently doesn’t even work. I wonder what the return policy is here in Italia? So now I have a weird looking folder, some paper, a few pens, a pack of post-its and a broken error correction thingy and I am ready for class! I can’t believe I actually have to go to class in a few hours! I am excited to meet new people and experience even more Italian culture!

Above & Beyond Florence

 Its seems to be a typical morning ritual to swing open our green shutters, take a breath of morning air and people watch for a few moments, before doing anything else. I looked up and down the streets like every other morning this week and noticed a large number of white tents set up in the Piazzo di Santissima Anauziata. My roommate and I had the entire day to ourselves, so we decide to go looking for the Statue of David since it meant walking through the Piazzo to get there. We didn’t quite find The David, but walking through the Artisan Fair we had our first interaction with Gypsies.We witnessed one gypsy with a mouth full of grapes running from a fruit vender. It felt like we were in the middle of the Hunchback of Notre Dome Disney Movie!  After wandering the streets near our apartment we came back for lunch. What we did next I wish everyone could experience at some point in their lives!

My roommate and I decided to tour the Duomo, which is only down the street from our apartment. We forked over another 8 euro and climbed the 465 steps to get to the top of Brunelleschi’s cupola overlooking all of Florence and Tuscany! Breathtaking, magnificent, vast and detailed are just a few words I would use to describe the view. The climb to the top was somewhat challenging at times. I wasn’t sure how narrow the walkways were going to get or how much higher the incline of the steps could possibly go.

Eventually we made it to the top, but that was the easy part apparently. Getting back down meant you had to leave the same way you came up! The more people that climbed up the ladder, the less people were able to leave the roof top.

The line seemed like it would NEVER stop and I personally was starting to questioning how much 70 or more tourists, stuffed full of Italian bread and pasta could weight? So me, being the outspoken American leader, politely asked the people at the bottom of the stairs to wait so a few people could climb down. At that point I wished I could speak 5 different languages but I just stuck to basic American lingo! “Stop please, wait one moment, uhh, thank you!” It was quite entertaining and it got the job done! 

When we finally made it down the 465 steps, we headed toward our apartment, but only after stopping for gelato on the way! Feeling rather adventurous I decided to try something a little different then my normal flavor of gelato. I had chocolate gelato on a croissant from a little cafe in the Duomo Plazza. And let me tell you what, it’s a must have! While the gelato here is extremely good, i would have to say that climbing to the top of the Duomo has been the best part of my study abroad experience so far!

     

chocolate triangle of goodness

So the plan tonight was to go eat at a place called the clubhouse, which is where LDM was providing free dinner for all the new students! Needless to say none of our friends answered their cell phones and we didn’t have an address to the place where we were supposed to meet, so we never found our way to the clubhouse. Two hungry and slightly frustrated girls decided to indulge in a sugary treat for dinner! J Berg had a delicious canoli and I had a chocolaty triangle of goodness! It was some sort of powered pastry with a pudding like substance in the middle. It was a scrumptious end of day treat! 

After polishing off our dinner/desserts we wandered across the Plazza del Duomo to the Baptistery of San Giovanni. I was hesitant to fork over another 4 Euros to go inside, but the minute I stepped in and looked up It took my breath away! “ This was SO worth 4 Euros to see jess”. I whispered when we stepped in farther. The Baptistery is the oldest building in the square and for centuries believed to have been a pagan temple converted to Christian use. The inside of the dome illustrates Biblical stories, which the believer is invited to ponder so he may live his faith to the fullest. 

Overhead is a 13^th-century mosaic of the dome; the giant figure of Christ and under Christ’s feet the dead rising from their graves. This place was truly a breathtaking and reverent sight. After 10-20 minuets of gawking over the beautiful gold mosaic dome we left satisfied with how the night had turned out.