Hello blog,
Sadly this will have to be my last post since I will be leaving Roma in three days and there is still so much to be done! I can't believe it is this time already. The semester flew by but I have learned so much. Honestly my life has been like a dream this past months! I hope this loving life feeling lasts when I go home to Huntington Beach this upcoming week and realize that I won't be traveling to another country by the time the weekend hits or going to Secret Bakery to take home a fresh cannoli. But life has to move on, as hard as that may seem. Truly, I've had an Eat, Pray, Love type of year...from Spain for three weeks this past summer for World Youth Day to Oxford, England to have my butt kicked by the workload and a chance to see tons of celebrities to Roma, Italy where magic and travel has created my obsession with the world, people, and adventurous new experiences. This semester I have bought leather boots in Florence, saw the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam, skied for the first time in Switzerland, went to the baths in Budapest, rode a camel and slept in the Sahara Desert in Tunisia, ate pizza in Naples, went on a gondola ride in Venice, ate waffles in Belgium, walked along the Berlin Wall in Berlin, and of course, fell in love in Rome.
These past weeks went so fast that I haven't had time to write about my travels to Belgium and Berlin! So two weekends ago I went to Belgium, one of the most beautiful countries in the world by the way. I went with my friend Nicole and we met her cousin there who is studying in Germany right now. It is true what they say, Belgium really does have amazing waffles, chocolate, beer, and fries. Oh, I also ate horse there :) There's something new. We started in Brussels and ended with Bruges. Brussels was a bigger city than I expected. I loved going around to all the chocolate shops and waffle houses, indulging in everything sweet. I ate four waffles, two things of fries, a couple of chocolate candies, and oh yes, the horse, rabbit, and duck dinner we had the first night. In Brussels we also went to the EU headquarters which was awesome to see since I've seen the UN headquarters in New York as well. We saw the Atomium as well.
In Bruges (I still have to see the movie) we went to the Chocolate Museum, saw the windmills, ate more waffles, saw the beautiful houses, and walked around through flower fields and over rivers. Bruges has got to be one of the prettiest little cities ever.
Then this past weekend, I had my final for theatre class which was a play "The Frogs" in which I played a slave and a frog. It went over better than I thought it would. Anyway, the next day I went to Berlin, Germany where I met up with my friend Angie! We did a lot in a day. We found Starbucks (gulity) and then a free tour. On this tour we saw the Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust Memorial, the site of Hitler's Bunker, old propaganda art, oldest Nazi building, site of the Nazi book burnings, and part of the Berlin Wall. After the tour we went to the East Side Gallery where the Berlin Wall is painted with different pictures and quotes and graffiti. Such an awesome thing to see! That night we went to a club and stayed there until almost 5am. The next morning we almost missed our flight home because our alarms didn't go off. Angie just happened to wake up at nine and our flight boarded at 9:50. We ran through the airport to get on the plane. Hahaha now its funny.
Last Thursday was our banquet and now I must write an eight page paper and study for my test. Almost done! Just an Italian test after that...and I fly to Chicago on Saturday, staying there a day and checking out the city before making it back to HB! Finally ate at the Eat, Pray, Love restaurant last night! Good times!
Thank you for reading! Keep posted about my other blog Good Gone Girl!
Ciao for now! Rome will will meet again!
-Ilyse :)
Wednesday 25 April 2012
Sunday 1 April 2012
Dear Blog,
So much has happened lately! Now I feel like I have a strong grasp of Italy. These past three weekends I traveled to Assisi, Pompeii, Naples, and Venice. Of course, I also saw quite a bit of Rome. I finally went back to the Trevi Fountain, drank wine while walking around Piazza Novana, rode on a Vespa, went to the Vatican Museum, climbed to the top of the Vatican where you can see the entire city, and ate at some of the best restaurants in Rome!
I went with some friends to this restaurant called Fluid which they have this deal called Aperitivo where you can get as much food as you want, buffet style, and a cocktail of your choice. The other place we went was called L'Archetto and there I had this lobster pasta that was creamy and just plain delicious!
The night before St. Patty's Day is when I went on my Vespa ride with Lorenzo. First we went to the Chocolate Bar where they serve shots in chocolate cups complete with whip cream and sprinkles. After we rode the vespa around we went to The Abbey, an Irish pub right next to Fridgidarium, the best gelato place in Rome in my opinion. The next day, St. Patty's, we rode around on bikes in Villa Borghese, a beautiful heart-shaped park with stunning views of the entire city. Of course, we got more gelato later and I tried the pear and cheese flavor and I thought it was actually pretty good. Then I finally got a cannoli from the Secret Bakery.
In Theology class these past two weeks we visited a lot of graves in churches around the city, such as the tombs of St. Ignatius and St. Xavier. In my writing class we saw the tombs of Percy Shelley, Gregory Corso, John Keats, and Joseph Severn. Then the Assisi trip fell on that same weekend where we saw the tomb of St. Francis.
Besides all the historic sties, Abby, Angie, and I went to a Roma Calcio game and we won! Then the next week Angie, N'Jameh, Cherrell, and I went salsa dancing with Angie's family friend whose name is Gianluca. Yes, it's true.
Besides all night, Assisi was a beautiful little city overlooking the sea. The cathedral that houses St. Francis' remains was my favorite part of the entire trip. Well, that and the incredible amounts of food we all consumed throughout the day. The next day I went to Pompeii and Naples, in the region Campania. They are two very different cities. Pompeii met its awful fate in 74 A.D. when Mount Vesuvius erupted and covered the whole population in a deadly layer of ash. You could see the dead, frozen bodies on display around the ruins of the city.
Naples, on the other hand, is very much alive, but very filthy. Probably the dirtiest city I have ever seen. There are piles of burned trash in the street and graffiti everywhere, even in public places like the train station. We all were pretty flabbergasted. However, we didn't come to Naples to gawk at the buildings, although the buildings would be pretty if they were clean. No, we came for the pizza because we had heard it was the best ever. Let em tell you that it is definitely one of the best pizzas I have eaten. I got the pizza with pomodoro and bull mozzarella. On top of that we got a Nutella pizza and wine to go with it. One of my best meals here by far!
Finally, this weekend was Venice and it wins the prettiest city I have seen in Italy so far, including Rome. People describe it was a fairy-tale city and they are too right. The canals shimmer in the light and there are hundreds of gondolas waiting around to taking tourists around. They aren't really that expensive if you go with six people, the limit. We went on a gondola ride on Saturday and it was magical. :) I just wish the gondola guy would have sang to us. I matched the man because I had bought a striped Venezia shirt the day before. Besides the ride, we shopped around the island, watched outdoor music concertos, drank bellinis and spitzs at the Westin Hotel, after running out of this expensive restaurant called Harry's, an old favorite of Hemingway. We also went over to Murana, another island within Venice where they specialize in glassmaking. That's where I bought an orange glass vespa ring, another green swirly ring, earrings, and a necklace. Too much cute stuff!
Anyway, right now I have a rehearsal for Vagina Monologues which we will perform on Tuesday night! I will be performing the "Vagina Workshop" monologue! Wish me luck!
So much has happened lately! Now I feel like I have a strong grasp of Italy. These past three weekends I traveled to Assisi, Pompeii, Naples, and Venice. Of course, I also saw quite a bit of Rome. I finally went back to the Trevi Fountain, drank wine while walking around Piazza Novana, rode on a Vespa, went to the Vatican Museum, climbed to the top of the Vatican where you can see the entire city, and ate at some of the best restaurants in Rome!
I went with some friends to this restaurant called Fluid which they have this deal called Aperitivo where you can get as much food as you want, buffet style, and a cocktail of your choice. The other place we went was called L'Archetto and there I had this lobster pasta that was creamy and just plain delicious!
The night before St. Patty's Day is when I went on my Vespa ride with Lorenzo. First we went to the Chocolate Bar where they serve shots in chocolate cups complete with whip cream and sprinkles. After we rode the vespa around we went to The Abbey, an Irish pub right next to Fridgidarium, the best gelato place in Rome in my opinion. The next day, St. Patty's, we rode around on bikes in Villa Borghese, a beautiful heart-shaped park with stunning views of the entire city. Of course, we got more gelato later and I tried the pear and cheese flavor and I thought it was actually pretty good. Then I finally got a cannoli from the Secret Bakery.
In Theology class these past two weeks we visited a lot of graves in churches around the city, such as the tombs of St. Ignatius and St. Xavier. In my writing class we saw the tombs of Percy Shelley, Gregory Corso, John Keats, and Joseph Severn. Then the Assisi trip fell on that same weekend where we saw the tomb of St. Francis.
Besides all the historic sties, Abby, Angie, and I went to a Roma Calcio game and we won! Then the next week Angie, N'Jameh, Cherrell, and I went salsa dancing with Angie's family friend whose name is Gianluca. Yes, it's true.
Besides all night, Assisi was a beautiful little city overlooking the sea. The cathedral that houses St. Francis' remains was my favorite part of the entire trip. Well, that and the incredible amounts of food we all consumed throughout the day. The next day I went to Pompeii and Naples, in the region Campania. They are two very different cities. Pompeii met its awful fate in 74 A.D. when Mount Vesuvius erupted and covered the whole population in a deadly layer of ash. You could see the dead, frozen bodies on display around the ruins of the city.
Naples, on the other hand, is very much alive, but very filthy. Probably the dirtiest city I have ever seen. There are piles of burned trash in the street and graffiti everywhere, even in public places like the train station. We all were pretty flabbergasted. However, we didn't come to Naples to gawk at the buildings, although the buildings would be pretty if they were clean. No, we came for the pizza because we had heard it was the best ever. Let em tell you that it is definitely one of the best pizzas I have eaten. I got the pizza with pomodoro and bull mozzarella. On top of that we got a Nutella pizza and wine to go with it. One of my best meals here by far!
Finally, this weekend was Venice and it wins the prettiest city I have seen in Italy so far, including Rome. People describe it was a fairy-tale city and they are too right. The canals shimmer in the light and there are hundreds of gondolas waiting around to taking tourists around. They aren't really that expensive if you go with six people, the limit. We went on a gondola ride on Saturday and it was magical. :) I just wish the gondola guy would have sang to us. I matched the man because I had bought a striped Venezia shirt the day before. Besides the ride, we shopped around the island, watched outdoor music concertos, drank bellinis and spitzs at the Westin Hotel, after running out of this expensive restaurant called Harry's, an old favorite of Hemingway. We also went over to Murana, another island within Venice where they specialize in glassmaking. That's where I bought an orange glass vespa ring, another green swirly ring, earrings, and a necklace. Too much cute stuff!
Anyway, right now I have a rehearsal for Vagina Monologues which we will perform on Tuesday night! I will be performing the "Vagina Workshop" monologue! Wish me luck!
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