Firenze, Italia.

Florence, Italy.

Firenze. D: We hopped on a train to get to Florence from Rome. Most beautiful train I’d been on (at that point in time, anyway..) Lots of quality time with my mp3 player, in any case, and drifting off to sleep. In Florence, we ended up staying at this absolutely brilliant little hostel. The owner was an absolute gem; completely friendly, knowledgeable, full of tips, and we had breakfast in our room each morning. I remember being in a cranky mood which neither of my traveling partners particularly appreciated, especially as I didn’t want to go to any museums. I’m glad that they talked me out of it, however, because the Galleria dell'Accademia was pretty cool. Highlight was definitely David. THE David. He was pretty huge, honestly. I mean, there are lots of replicas of him, and photos, etc, etc, but mainly he is completely gargantuan when you get near to him and look up close. There was a lovely little room full of busts though, which I always really enjoy. Lots of medieval artwork as well. Overall, fine by me and I’m happy that Georgie and Laura made me go in.
Later that evening, we met up with Laura’s friends once more, who had taken a train in from Rome only an hour or so after us. We ate at a lovely little restaurant with delicious food and delicious waiters (;]) I can’t remember what I had exactly, or if I even knew what it actually was, but I do believe that Ruth and I agreed it was absolutely amazing. We parted ways, and it began to drizzle. Then began to actually rain. Georgie and I were sans parapluies. We somehow managed to get lost for at least a halfhour, walking in circles in the rain, stomping angrily or laughing hysterically or pretending knowledge of map-reading… In the end, we made it back to our hostel safely, if a bit soaked.

(Looking displeased about something...)

(And then terrified?)

(nomnomnomnomnom... dinner with Cara and Ruth!)

The following day, we decided to go to the market, buy some bread, meat, and cheese (and a delicious red pesto that Georgie picked out!) and head up to a huge green space on the map. Turns out, the huge green spaces were actually part of this museum + park thing, so we had to pay to enter, and though I was reluctant because I was quite frustrated with having to pay double because of my nationality despite having a full residence visa for France/EU, Georgie and Laura saved the day, as per usual, by being lovely and telling me we should do it. It was compleeeetely worth it. I really enjoyed the Giardino di Boboli.

(Sooooooooo cute!)

(More nomnomnom...)

(View from the garden.)

We ended up getting into one of the museums that exhibited some clothes of days gone by. Interesting, but we mainly went in for the bathrooms… Our lunch was yummy, we enjoyed the nice weather, sunshine, and blue skies, and then… Well, and then… I can’t quite remember. I would like to say maybe we just returned to our hostel to relax for a bit before heading out for dinner and gelato.

(Ponte Vecchio. Super famous.)(In front of the duomo.)

(Santa Maria del Fiore)

(CANNOLI, CANNOLI, CANNOLI. And a pistachio gelato + waffle for Laura.)

Ah! In fact, at some other point in the stay in Florence, we’d been navigating the markets in the morning.

(My market face. ... )

They were really neat, with lots of leather products. The one I specifically remember must’ve been in late afternoon, and I remember a lady selling pressed flower earrings. They were beautiful, but we ended up not buying any. I did, however, buy my first gelato that day.

(Mmm, fragola.)

We had dinner that night and then went out for gelato again.

(Very well mannered at dinner.)

:)

At the Gelateria, we were enjoying our ice cream when a couple came and sat next to us. They were obviously American, and I was so excited I could barely contain myself. It turns out they were with their daughter on a school trip. Got to chatting more, and it turns out they were from New Jersey, their daughter is going to West Chester in the fall, and the woman loved going to the VF outlets in Reading.. So coincidental! The next morning we had breakfast and made our way to the train station to get to Venezia!


(Once more, a bunch of these photos are actually Laura’s, so …credit where credit is due since they’re so beauteous!)

À bientot!

Toujours Apologetique...

Still apologizing, my party people.

I fully want to talk about Florence and Venice, a trip to Paris back in early February, a friend coming to visit for St. Patrick's Day, some school things, future things.. So much, really. It's just hard to get started and hard to find the time when I'm so distracted by other things.

Definitely planning on updates this weekend. I made a short video explaining all of this, but the internet is so terrible it wouldn't even upload. Thus, even if I can't upload photos of places (which is totes exactly what people want on here..) then I'll at least try and recap things in words, just potentially not in my usual, long, rambling manner.

Bisous.

Roma, Italia.

So.

Laura, Georgie, and I have recenly returned from a week-long trip to Italy during our half-term break. (It was really a 'pause pedagogique' meant for studying, but...)


Our first stop? Rome:

Upon arrival, it was drizzley but mild. we set off from the Termini train station to find out hostel. It was a bizarre experience: we found my name on a note taped to the door of the address on the directions from the hostel's info. print out. The note told us to go to the nearby laundromat. Once there, a guy took us to another building and up some stairs to a tiny little apartment called "Rosa's B&B". Funny, considering our hostel was the "Korean Rome" or "Rome Korean" or something. All was well, and the hostel/B&B was fine, really, just... a bit odd to get that sorted.

We got settled and decided to find the tourist information center to acquire a map, but as we were then mapless, we went to the bookstore inside Termini and I studied the map in the back of a tourist guide. We set off and quickly became lost. after some grumpy confusion and walking around, we decided to return to Termini for a snack (McDonald's for the first time in Europe for me) and a map from a Tabacchi. Afterwards, we headed out for a wander, stopped at the Theatre Cafe for a drink, sat at the Trevi Fountain, and stopped in for pizza slices on the way to the Byron Cafe. We shared a bottle of wine and had a good chat before returning to the hostel for sleep.
Trevi Fountain.

Georgie, me, Laura.No idea why I look so displeased. I really enjoyed the fountain. And I really enjoy Georgie's company, too! ;)
With Georgie, this time looking much happier. As it should be..





On our second day, we learned it would be great and sunny, so we immediately walked to the Villa Borghese. It's an old estate that now houses art galleries, but is also a huge, green-y park. It was beautiful, just as Georgie had predicted, and we spent a long time basking in the warm sunshine...

Ferns make me think of dinosaurs...


Following the Villa Borghese, we traversed the city to the Pantheon. On our way, we passed through the Piazza del Popolo where Georgie found a wallet on the ground. After turning it in to the police (and waiting a good 20 minutes for them to finish looking through Laura's passport) we continued on our way, stopping off at the Spanish Steps and finally reaching the Pantheon, which is really an architecturally fascinating building. Grabbed a yummy panino at a small, busy shop run by one man and walked on to the Piazza Navona to see Bernini's Fonata Dei Quattro Fiumi and then to the Vittorio Emanuele II monument, which is huge, starkly clean-looking, and quite impressive. It happens to be located just at the edge of the Roman Forum and Coliseum, but, unluckily, both were closing just at our arrival. We spent time in before going out to dinner again that night.

With Georgie in front of the Pantheon, in our matching outfits.
One of Laura's great panoramic shots. From the Villa Borghese, looking down to Piazza del Popolo.
Spanish Steps.
Piazza Navona: Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi
Vittorio Emanuele II monument


Saturday morning, Laura, Georgie and I set off for the Vatican. we queued for more than a halfhour before entering the museums where we saw some great sculptures, very ornate ceilings, and, of course, the overcrowded Sistine Chapel. We moved on to St. Peter's Basilica, a building which I love for being so overwhelmingly huge and for containing such stunning sculpture, painting, and architecture on the inside.
Vatican Museums.Beautiful ceilings in the museums.
Really awesome lion.
Can't remember who this waaaaas...St. Peter's Basilica.
AHahahahahahahahahaha.
Outside in the Piazza, we then met up with two of Laura's close friends from home: Cara and Ruth. Both are also spending a year abroad, albeit in other countries. We had lunch while listening to some awful 12 year old learning her first song on the violin (or at least that's what it sounded like...) and then split off after agreeing to meet for dinner. Laura, Georgie, and I strolled along the Tiber after a stop off at Castel Sant'Angelo in order to return to the Villa Borghese for the afternoon. Dinner with Ruth and Cara was really great, and we wandered back to the Trevi Fountain.


On our last morning and early afternoon, we went to the Coliseum and Roman Forum together and enjoyed more beautiful weather and the end of our time in Rome!
Roman Forum
Gladiatorrrrrrrrrrrrsssssssssssssss.




So, there you have it. A brief recounting of our adventures in Rome. I've used several photos from Laura, and she's a brilliant photographer, so if any of them seem particularly excellent.... they're hers.

As this is a small selection of the numerous photos of our trip, feel free to check my facebook albums to see the rest!


Next update, coming very soon:
Florence.

Behh, oui, trop longtemps...

Il faisait trop longtemps..

It’s been a while, really. A month, almost.

My b.

So, anyway, as a general update about my schooling here (since my parents are worried that I partypartyparty and traveltraveltravel instead of actually attending classes….)

I’ve changed my schedule around a bit, as two of the courses I’d signed on to take were going to be impossibly difficult. As it stands, I’m taking Persian, a masters course in linguistics, a masters course in literature that focuses on racism in Britain in the 20^th century, and linguistic theory.

Persian is still pretty boring as far as actual class time is concerned, but I’m trying desperately to stay motivated in case I somehow receive a CLS scholarship for this summer. (I’m supposed to find out by “mid-February” which is, in fact, very soon..) Effort, effort. Must find effort!

Language and Space is taught in English by this really great professor. His style of teaching is much, much more American than anyone else I’ve encountered here at Lille III and it’s not only comforting, but very effective for my learning. We get to talk about really interesting things. Posture verbs, motion and manner verbs, and grammatical constraints on them. :D Loads of other things too, I’m sure, but we’re only a few weeks into the semester.

My course about race relations in Britain is potentially my favorite. It’s at 8:30 in the morning on Tuesdays, but the professor is amazing. He’s completely awake, full of energy, and likes to make sly comments. He’s very knowledgeable and the course itself is fascinating. I’ve never learned much of anything about Britain and I know only vaguely about race relations in the US, so it’s really wonderful.

Linguistic Theory is a final year course for French majors who are specializing in linguistics. My professor is compleeeeeeetely boring and lectures the entire 3 hours 9:30-12:30 and then again another hour 2-3. Straight lecturing and reading from a paper, basically. Luckily, it’s been mainly about historical linguistics and language evolution/families/typology which is what I love. It’s not been too difficult, though last week, my professor said a few words in French that I had never heard previously (so I pretended to write them down in my notes while panicking.)

In any case, my courses are really going just fine and I still have loads of free time here.

Well, I mean, not course-time. I mainly waste all my free time, and I’ve been much more social this semester.

But being social updates will have to wait until later, as I am about to go be social again.

Hopefully, à demain!