Floating in a Turquoise Sea

Day 62
Spring Break Part 2 1/2

Though I planned to do my entries by hotel stay, today was so fun it gets its own entry. 

I woke up this morning and my first thought was, something is wrong. It turns out that something as actually right:the wind had stopped trying to uproot the palm trees. It looked like it was actually going to be a nice day in St. Paul's today.  While one part of me regretted that I would have to leave since it was nice out, the other part of me was already calculating ahead thinking that if it was nice here then it would also probably be nice 13 km north where I was headed. I checked out looking forward to what lay ahead.

Hopping on a bus I traveled through some beautiful country and reached the Cirkewwa Ferry port. Rather than take to ferry to Gozo, where my next hotel is, I found a ferry to Comino's Blue Lagoon.  Now I had read about this spot and thought, yeah I should check it out. I'm writing today's entry while I'm here and I'm pretty sure I'll be crossing something off my itinerary and coming back in the next couple days. It is absolutely gorgeous. You know how you see travel adds for certain places and they always show this perfectly clear turquoise water? Some part of me always believed that was photoshopped. Not anymore. Though cold, the water is indescribably gorgeous, and the cold never stopped me before. There was only a small bit of sandy beach, but when I was not in the water, I was perfectly content to sit on a rocky ledge and dangle my feet in the water. 

First thing I did after locking down my bag was swim to the opposite side of the lagoon where small deserted beach and a couple of caves beckoned to me.   Rather than climb back to the beach, I Decided that jumping off rocks would be fun, and may or may not have ruined my hat with that decision. Its ok, it was worth it and the mouthful of water I swallowed.  Swimming back (because I realized I left the keys in the lock on my bag, whoops!) I then proceeded to float wherever the gentle current carried me.  Getting out a bit later I found a good crop of rock and did some reading.  Bored, but unwilling to go back in the water, I decided to explore what Comino itself was like. Now perhaps is a good time for Comino facts: the smallest inhabited island of Malta's archipelago (size: less than 1.5 sq miles) Comino is completely carless (read: no real roads, only rocky paths), and the only real habitation comes in the form of the islands 1 hotel. The landscape is a bit rockier than Malta's generally is, but that may be a result of it being in a more natural state than Malta. And the colors of the land and plants complemented perfectly the lagoon they overlooked.

The only down side to today was my ignorance of the sea life that lies in these waters, mainly there are jellyfish hanging out in these crystal waters. I wasn't in the water for half an hour before I got stung. 20 years I have swum in the Pacific Ocean and not been stung by one of these devils.  20 minutes in the Mediterrenean and I'm shouting and cursing like a sailor because I brush against one. The irony is that the jellies here are a bright red in the water, while the ones back home are able to hide in the sand churned waves.

Im not letting this get me down though. Today I got the thing I most looked forward to, swiming the in sea, and I put all my souvenirs thus far to good use (sandals, a towel, and a hat). Now I sit once again with my feet in the water, writing and watching the fish, putting off leaving this small bit of paradise till the last possible ferry back.  

Addiju,

J

NB: After I finished writing the above, I did finally get on the ferry back, and that ferry ride includes a brief tour of the caves that the water has carved out of the rocks on Comino. In these sheltered caves it became painfully obvious that jellyfish not only can be found in the waters of this area, but in fact are numerous here. My research was not exactly thorough, but you'd think tht someone on tripadvisor would have mentioned this detail. Oops. Wish we had done the caves on the way there instead. 

Give Me Books, Fine Weather, and a Little Music

Days 60-61
Spring Break Part 2

Today I packed up and said goodbye to Valletta and Sliema. After a slight mishap in which I had to return to the hotel because I forgot my water bottle (I honestly don't think I could function without it, so it really was necessary that I backtrack and pick it up) I took a lovely coastline bus ride to St. Paul's Bay and checked in to the Dolmen Resort and Spa.

This leg of my break was designated as my do nothing time. The title of this post is all I wanted for these two days. I had no plans to leave the hotel unless it was to find food because I was tired of the hotel's restaurants. 

I got the books and I got the music, but the weather was a bit questionable.  While it was beautifully sunny, the gale force winds put a bit of a damper on any enjoyable time I might have spend outside. In fact, the first night, the wind was so loud against the wall of windows of my room, that I was sure I wasn't getting to sleep.  However, a hot bath and a good meal did wonders to make me forget it.

Though the wind died down a bit the next day, it was still enough to keep me it of the water. Fortunately, this day was my spa day, and I only wanted to spend a little time outside after my hour and half massage. A light stroll around the area in the evening, and I was back on my terrace with my books for a lovely sunset. 

So not much to report on this leg of the trip.  Summed up it comes out to wind, books, music, sea view balcony, massage, sun.  

In other news though: I had a well duh moment when I was trying to find a outlet to charge my iPad. Both here at the Dolman, and in Sliema at the Preluna, the outlets were across the rooms and in no way could you have anything electronic near the bed.  Suddenly I realized that this only applied to European outlets, and than malta seems to be on some other current (the British one maybe?  Those damn Brits, making things so difficult for all the rest of the world. They were here during Malta's formative modern era so messed all kinds of things up. They drive on the wrong side of the road here too.)

Addiju,

J

Live in the Sunshine

Days 58-59

Spring Break Part 1

Merħba! That's 'hello' in Maltese, one of the official languages of Malta (the other is English), where I am spending the next week. 

What's Malta? 

Look at a map of the Mediterranean.  You see Sicily? Look maybe a centimeter south of it (93 km) and there's the archipelago that makes up the Republic of Malta.  You might want to break out a magnifying glass. Malta consists of three main islands: Malta, Gozo, and Comino, along with a bunch of other tiny ones. Ill be hitting up all three over the next week.  But to start, the island of Malta. This island is the main island of the trio. It's about (122 sq km. That is less than one fourth the size of LA). It's got less than half a million inhabitants but receives over 1 million tourists during the summer months. It averages 300 days of sun a year, and the water temperature can reach the high 20s (Celsius that is). 

So you're there for the weather?

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't, but there is a lot more to Malta than that.  Just about every western (and some non-western) civilization that has had any mention in the history books has had an influence on Malta, especially those who hold a special place in their hearts for the sea. It's got some of the oldest temples ever (think Greek), the only Semitic language in the Latin alphabet, beautiful Baroque architecture, and forts from the world wars. 

My break could not have started out any better.  The day after I booked a room at the Astra Hotel, I received a call informing me that they had overbooked, so they were upgrading me to the hotel next door, which just so happened to be a four star hotel that was highly recommended on tripadvisor (which I lived on the week before trying to get everything sorted). 

Anyway, these first two days of my holiday I spent at the Preluna hotel (which is lovely) in Sliema and is right next door to my real destination of Valletta, Malta's capital city. I just wandered around the first day, not doing much of anything but seeing what I could see.  My walks took me to Fort S.t Elmo, the Siege Bell memorial, the Lower Barrakka Gardens, not to mention the promenade along Valletta's Grand Harbor, some rocky tide pools in front of my hotel, and all the major squares and streets in Valletta. 

On Sunday, I started out at church like the good Catholic girl that I am, then proceeded to some pagan temples, like the good Classicist that I am. The temples at Tarxien (about 15 minutes outside of Valletta) were surprising in their location (right in the middle of everything! I'm used to these digs have very clear boundaries that you see a mile away.  But you could walk right by these and never know they're there.) Going back to Valletta and having a quick lunch, I decided to start hitting up museums and the like. Starting out at the War Museum, I learned  about Malta's involvement in the two World Wars (hint: it was very involved). I also found this which I now absolutely must find for myself. 

Nerding Out: EMT style

Then it was to the Palace State Rooms and the Palace Armory Museum. Very interesting, though much more so to Allen, who is traveling with me for now (you remember him from Sicily, right?). He was like a kid in a candy store at both the War Museum and the Armory.  We then found our way to Valletta's signature dome, which, we discovered is not a circular dome, but an ovular one (a first for me I think). 

After dinner each night I returned to my room and took an hour long bath, which is such a luxury but so relaxing that I don't know what I'm going to do if my next hotel doesn't have a bath as well.  You can hear the waves crashing from my room, which is one of my favorite things to fall asleep to. 

The weather was all sun these two days. It really was a spectacular start to my vacation. 

Addiju,

J

Girls Will Be Boys

Day 56

With today being the last real day of classes before spring break (I have Italian tomorrow, but I'm pretending that doesn't count as an academic endeavor), I decided to say, what the hell and actually went out on a Thursday night.

Some of the boys asked if anyone would be interested in heading to a bar and watching the Brazil/Milan soccer/football/calcio game. Turns out I was the only girl interested, but I wasn't letting that get me down.  At the bar, I realized I was not only the only girl interested from my group of friends, but the only girl in rome who wanted to go to this bar and watch sports. Doesn't matter, I had a lot of fun and got really into it and had fun. Plus I got to check watching an Italian soccer game with Italian soccer fans off my list.

Not only was the match we wanted to watch on though, but the March Madness games were also on a couple of screens. I don't follow any one sport or support any one team religiously, but I do like a good game (of anything. I've played enough sports and have enough sporty friends that I know the rules to just about everything, from football and basketball, to squash and curling.

When our game had ended, my boys got ready to leave, but I made them stay and watch the end of the Davidson/Marquette game. If anyone else saw it, you know that it was a game worth seeing the end of.

Ciao

J

Give Me a (Spring) Break

Day 55

Spring Break is coming fast (next week!) and suddenly I realized I have only the sketchiest plans made out.  My plan was this: Malta, beach, sun.  Got my plane ticket there for Saturday.

And that's about as far as I got.

Suddenly it came to me that I should (a) book a ticket home, (b) figure out where exactly I was going to go once I got there, and (c) book hotels so I don't end up sleeping on beaches.  It took me about 20 minutes to figure out my flight to Rome and 2 hours to finalize an itinerary.  Now I've spent the last 5 hours debating the pros and cons of each and every hotel in any area that is compatible with my itinerary. 

Fortunately, Bismar invited me over for a wine party, and things are now moving much more quickly.  I may regret these decisions in the morning, but at least I can blame everyone else in the room as well.

Ciao,
J

Papa's Gonna Preach

Day 54

Rome welcomed its new bishop what I've come to recognize is the typical Roman fashion: by posting a poster on every street corner.

I'm so stealing one of these

Today was the inaugural mass for Pope Francis and St. Peter's square was once again bustling, so naturally I was there bustling right along with everyone else.  This trip to St. Peter's lacked the mad dash that last Wednesday's papal headlines brought, though was equally frenetic for us as we bus hopped when we missed our normal bus to the Vatican.  Once we got there, we squeezed through the cracks, trying to get as close as we possibly could.  All the higher ups must have been praying hard because it not only was not raining, but was actually sunny for the first time in over a week.

Though I missed out on snagging a program for the mass, in some ways it was equally cool to follow along in in my multiple broken languages.  A ton of languages were spoken throughout the mass, and I was proud to be able, if not to fully understand, at least to catch the gist of the second reading in Spanish, the Italian homily, and the Latin prayers (though habit and practice, not my Classical education may have played a part with that last one.)

While I enjoyed the mass as something different yet familiar, I was unfortunately the only Catholic in the group of kids who headed out today.  For them it was all just people talking in languages they didn't fully understand.  That meant that smack dab in the middle of the Our Father they turn to me and say "We're leaving."  I had learned this prayer in Italian the night before, and I don't want to stop in the middle.  I stared at them with wide eyes for a minute before holding up 2 fingers, trying to tell them to wait just until the prayer ended.  They took it to mean peace out.  Finally breaking my concentration on my new Italian skill set, I rush through the remainder in English and turn to leave with them, only to end up almost in the same spot 5 minutes later because the only thing more difficult than getting inside the square is getting out.  Thankfully the delay let me finish the Eucharistic sacrament and receive communion.  (I'll also admit that I didn't try to help them get out.  I knew where the exit was the entire time.  Its okay though, I just prayed with the Pope.)

Ciao,
J

A Walk To Remember, Rome Style

Day 52

Today was the 19th annual Rome Marathon. And I was part of it!

Sort of...

In a way...

Okay, I participated in the 5k 'Fun Run' that was done in conjunction with the marathon...and I walked it.

The course started at the Colosseum and ended on the Caelian hill near the ancient Baths of Trajan.  Starting at the Colosseum was absolutely surreal.  Standing by that ancient structure at 9 am I was simultaneously nonplussed by its presence, and stupefied that I could stand there in running shorts and chucks with a plastic clapper and a balloon in hand.

The course passed a bunch of landmarks such as the Roman Forum, Palazzo Quirinale, Santa Maria Maggiore, and the Baths of Diocletian. (Professor Jan Gadeyne would be so proud.  I always knew exactly where we were and the historical significance of each site.)

I walked the entire race, and not only did I feel like I was moving at a snails pace, I was also disappointed at how quickly it was over.  It was a testament to how much walking I do around here, that I finished the course before I felt I had gone anywhere.

Though the race itself was a cakewalk, getting to the start was anything but.  Due to a minor confusion, I thought I needed to be at the Colosseum at 8 and that the race started at 830.  Turns out, check in was at 830 and the race started at 940.  Whatsmore, the directions of where the 5k-ers were supposed to go was extremely vague.  Due to this, I was wandering on my lonesome through thousands of marathoners with a dazed and confused look on my face.  Finally, I spotted a group of octogenarians with a purposeful look on their face.  Following them, I finally found my way to the 5k start, and miracle upon miracles I found the girls I had sign up with in the first place. 

Lets be honest: I signed up for this mainly to get the free stuff (and was not disappointed.  I got 2 free shirts with my signup, plus 2 free backpacks, a clapper hand toy, unlimited peach and lemon flavored Gatorade, some kind of milk/yogurt power drink, and more at the actual race.)  Do I need any of this stuff? No.  Do I want it? Absolutely.  Although being waved through by centurion guards also was a bonus.

Ciao,
J

Ides Be Careful Today

Day 50

As the day that Caesar was stabbed 23 times 2057 years ago, I thought my wanderings around the city today should have a theme to honor the day.  I started at Santa Maria della Vittoria which houses Bernini's Ecstasy of Saint Teresa.  This achieved two goals in rounding off my week of Bernini (I've now seen every Bernini I've ever studied), and kept with my day's motif, as she is poised to receive an arrow through her heart.  (Though Saint Teresa is obviously much happier with her fate than Caesar).  The day's warning, "don't get stabbed," really came to life..

Our next stop was an ossuary below Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini displaying the bones of Capuchin monks.  A bit more morbid, but I finally put the month I spent learning every bone in the body to use (shout out to Mr. Werner and my Human Anatomy & Physiology class).  But really, those monks did their best to make it pretty.  If you can get past the idea that the designs are made out of coccyx, scapula, and vertebra it is really quite beautiful.  It did make me wonder what you had do do when you were living to get to be kept in one piece or taken apart.

Unfortunately, no one wanted to run to the site of the Theater of Pompey, where Caesar actually got stabbed, and reenact the scene.  "Et tu, brute?," or if you want to go really oldschool, "και τυ τεκνον;" 'Cuz nothing says betrayal like speaking in Greek, thanks Suetonius.

Ciao,
J

Il Papa

Day 49

Okay, I probably should have read up on exactly how the conclave worked before I started making any plans for Friday afternoon.  Because what do you know, but I'm getting ready to head out for dinner when the convent halls erupt with the news that there's a new pope.

One of the benefits to living with nuns: you find out these things the minute they happen.

Grabbing the girls I was supposed to eat with, we ran down the hill in the opposite direction and jump onto the bus to St. Peters right before it pulls out into traffic.  We weren't the only ones running for the Vatican however, and it soon became apparent that there was so much traffic because of the news that it was quicker to get off and walk/run/dodge between cars to get to St. Peter's Square.  We got there with plenty of time, and though we missed the smoke, we were smack dab in the middle of the square when the announcement was made.  Caught the whole thing on video too!  Unfortunately, there is no zoom function on my iPad, and a man dressed in white on a white background doesn't really stand out.

First pope to resign in centuries.
First Jesuit Pope.
First South American pope.
Worth missing a few hours of study time.  Definitely.

Ciao,
J

Wait, They Were Serious About the Study Part of Study Abroad?

Day 48

This week, and specifically today and tomorrow take me right out of the illusion I had created that I was just in Rome to live in Rome for a few months.  Sure I've been going to classes and doing my homework (honestly, I haven't skipped a single one, Mom and Dad), but those have been more along the lines of amusing distractions and historical pep talks about the city I've been wandering through on a daily basis.  Alas midterms are upon me and making me pray to whatever deity that will listen taht I still remember how to study something other than languages.

In this mad rush to reacquaint myself with the format of study guides, I shut myself off so completely from the rest of the world as soon as I returned from the museum yesterday, that it took not only an email from my dad, but also my neighbor barging into my room to realize that the papal conclave had not only convened, but had sent up its first smoke signal.  When this piece of news did break through my study blinders, my neighbor, Christina, and my friend, Sarai, and I all spent the next half hour hanging out of our third floor bedroom windows at 9:30 at night, trying to see what we could see.  Fortunately, our windows face the exact direction of the Vatican.  Unfortunately, it took us half an hour of screaming "Is that it?" "No that's a tree. It's that one!" "No that one's a cloud!" before we realized that any significant view we might have had from the top of the Aventine was blocked by a stand of Italian stone pines. (In our defense, it was a dark and stormy night, and the smoke was black).

Though our search was unsuccessful, it was quite the exciting break from memorizing the order of Roman kings, listing Nero's nefarious deeds, and memorizing every street name that does or ever did exist in Rome.  Hopefully I'll go stake out the Vatican from the Villa Borghese gardens Friday afternoon and something exciting will happen again.

Ciao,
J

If It Ain't Baroque

Day 47

Today I went to the Villa Borghese Gallery.  I've been to the gardens on the Borghese estate several times already, but this was my first excursion into the gallery.  I have been looking forward to this for nearly a month: about that long ago I had some silly idea that I would organize this trip to the Borghese gallery for myself and any of my friends who were free on Tuesday morning.  You are supposed to reserve tickets in advance, and while this should be a simple process of picking up my phone, or clicking a few buttons online, I kept forgetting to do so.  So what should have taken place three weeks ago, instead took place to day.

Totally worth the wait.  When can I go back.

I will always be a Classicist first and foremost, but damn, Bernini can bring tears to my eyes.  Now there is a lot of Bernini's sculpture and architecture all around Rome that you can see any time free of charge, but somehow these works, as spectacular as they are, are barely even a warm up for Pluto and Proserpina, David, and Apollo and Daphne.  And that is just the short list of the sculpture in the Gallery, not to even mention the paintings they've got there.  The movement! The expression!  Why anyone even continued to sculpt after they saw the things Bernini and his contemporaries were popping out is a mystery to me.  After all, if it ain't Baroque don't fix it.

I must have walked abound each sculpture a few dozen times and could have done a few dozen more rounds on each.  Alas, they know there are crazies like me out in the world and so they kick you out two hours after your entrance slot.  They can't stop me from going back again though.

Ciao,
J

You're Not Exploring Rome Until You're Exploring Its Water System

Day 45

Today my Reading Ancient Rome class took a field trip to Licenza, a small town in the hills surrounding Rome.  Ostensibly, this related to our class because we were going to see Horace's Villa (which may or may not actually be Horace's Villa), but that part of the trip didn't come till much later.

Instead, for the first few hours we broke into some old Roman aqueducts.  This was very cool in theory, not so much in practice.  Though I enjoy camping and don't mind getting dirty, everything I own that prepares me for such outings I left back in New York.  As it was, I was undertaking this little hike in chucks and skinny jeans.  First we broke in (literally had to break a locked gate that said DO NOT ENTER), only to find the path we were planning on taking had collapse since the last time our professor ran this little soiree.  Turning back, our next option was to hop the guardrail and clomp through bushes that thought it would be fun to evolve in such a way as to develop needle-like tips at the end of their leaves that prick through jeans.  When we finally got to the aqueduct, it was not so much as stepping though an excavated hole in the wall as spelunking down an air duct that the Romans installed for when they needed to make repairs.  Inside there was head banging, crawling, sliding, tripping, and trying not to look at the bats on the ceiling or the locusts on the walls or the bones on the ground.  That left looking at the back of the person in front of you.  Good thing I was never at the front of the line.

Though at the time I was really regretting not staying back and playing nurse for the girl who got sick, in retrospect it really was a fun and interesting experience.  As long as I don't have to do it ever again.

A more interesting part of the aqueducts was a section that the hermits used to hang out in and the archeologists first discovered.  This area was categorized by graffiti with the earliest date I saw being 1672.  Apparently, though, the boys back then weren't much more mature than they are now because there are phalluses all over those walls.

After a quick lunch at a porchetta stand, we hopped on the bus and went to explore Horace's Villa.  The area wasn't much more than an outline of old stone, but on of the really beautiful parts was the Fons Bandusiae, a waterfall that was running fast from all the recent rain.  Unfortunately, the rain decided to make its comeback at that point and quickly drove us back to the shelter and warmth of the bus.  A final stop at a medieval castle turned mini museum for the preserved frescos from the villa rounded off our trip. 

Though I question why we did some of the things we did today, Professor Inge Weustink's enthusiasm for what we were doing was so cute you had to enjoy it, if only for her sake.  And besides, I was planning on doing laundry tonight anyway.  Might as well get something really dirty first.

Ciao,
J

Sitting in the Morning Sun

Day 44

Today is the first day there has been anything but rain and I took full advantage of it.  After packing up a bag and grabbing a panino at Volpetti's, I headed to the orange grove next to our convent.  Midterms are coming up next week, and I couldn't think of any way I'd rather start studying than sitting in the sun on a ledge overlooking all of Rome with a perfect view of St. Peters.  If I have to pretend I'm studying while I'm here, at least I've got a good view.

Ciao,
J

Delle Donne

Day 43

Happy International Women's Day!

The traditional gift to women, a bright yellow spring of the mimosa flower, were seen all over Rome today and livened up the rain drenched streets.

In honor of this day, there are exhibitions, installations, award ceremonies, readings, and concerts happening all over Rome in honor of and celebrating women.  In addition many of Rome's municipal museums are giving free entry to women throughout the day.  Seems like I chose the right weekend to stop traveling.  (Actually, it has been so long since I have spent a Friday afternoon in Rome, that I don't know what I would have done with myself if this opportunity hadn't presented itself.)

After lunch some girls and I struck out to take advantage of this auspicious opportunity.  We went to the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea.  Though the building itself located on the Villa Borghese and therefore completely Baroque in style, the art inside is anything but classical in influence.  Though you'd be hard pressed to get me to like anything after the Impressionists, it was an interesting change up from the endless Classical, Renaissance, and Baroque art that have made up the last month.

Though I had intended to go to as many museums as possible during the day, by the time we were done at the Galleria Nazionale, I was so wiped that I had to head home with the rest of the girls.  I need to stare at a picture of the Colosseum for a while before I can function again.

Ciao,
J

The Elves and the Shoe: Magic Afoot in Prague

Day 38

This morning I left Prague, but not before it gave me a final surprise.  From the moment I emerged from the subway Friday afternoon, I knew there had to be some sort of magic in the city, and I dare you to disagree after you read this story.

The Problem:
Friday night, I am at a bar with my friends and after a few drinks I suddenly realize that the gold cross necklace I am wearing does not match the rest of my outfit at all.  I take it off and put it in my pocket and forget about it.  When we get home that night, I pat down my pockets and am disappointed to find that it is not there anymore.  Saturday morning I get up and look again, hoping I just missed it the night before.  No such luck.  The necklace was one I had bought in Lourdes several years ago, but I live 20 minutes from the Vatican, so its not like I can't get a similar one with equal significance.

The Conditions:
I brought one pair of pants and one pair of really tight lace up boots with me to Prague.  I wear both of these items all day Saturday.  We spent a good 8 or 9 hours walking around Prague on Saturday.  By the time I took my shoes off when we got back to the hostel I was intimately familiar with every detail of their interior.  Plus I then put them back on and went out to spend another 4 hours dancing in them.

The Conundrum:
This morning I go to put on my boots and nearly scream when my foot touches something inside, as I'm positive something crawled into it in the middle of the night.  I shake out my shoe and what falls out but my gold cross.

What. What? What?

There is no way that necklace was in my boot the whole time.  For one, the laces are so long that I have to loop the strings around my ankles and essentially seal the leather to my calf, so the necklace wasn't sneaking in as it fell out of a pocket.  For that matter, there is no way it was hanging out in some part of my skinny jeans either.  There is also no way that the necklace was in my shoe the whole time, as my feet would certainly have alerted me to that at some point during the previous day.  Finally, I took my shoes off in a completely different part of the room than where I kept my bag and my clothes, so there was no way it tumbled out of something in the middle of the night and landed in my boot, unless the necklace developed legs and walked itself over and in.

As if the look of Prague didn't already convince me there folkloric creatures running around, it went and dropped this on me as well.

Ciao,
J

Praha: Czech Me Out

Days 36-37

If Venice is half fairy-tale and half-tourist trap, Prague somehow manages to be both fully fairy-tale and fully tourist-trap.

Prague is one of those cities that is a fairy-tale during the day with its beautiful and colorful 17th and 18th century architecture, and simply magical at night when all its Gothic spires are lit up against the night sky.

Prague is my first travel experience this semester outside of Italy, and it did not disappoint.  However, so far it is also the most Americanized city I have been too.  In some ways this is great: I don't speak a word of Czech, but just about everyone speaks passable English.  But it also has some down sides: many American brands are present and detract from really experiencing Prague.  For instance: For 100 Czech crowns (about 4 euro, or 5 USD), you can either get 1 grande coffee from Starbucks, OR 1 liter of beer and a full entree at a pub.

Though cold, I did not want to go back to the hostel once we started going.  Every turn revealed colorful apartments, stunning brickwork, and interesting tidbits of history.  Our weekend was cold but bright and sunny and as long as we kept moving the cold didn't offend.  Some highlights of our walking tour included (but were not limited to) Old Town Square (including Tyn Church and the Astronomical Clock), the Jewish Quarter, Prague Castle, Charles Bridge, and Letna Park,

While I had a lot of fun trying things the Czech way, I came to appreciate just how much more fitting it is that I'm spending my semester in Italy: while beer is cheap and great for drinking games, I will never appreciate beer the way I do wine.

As much as I had an amazing experience in Prague, nothing beat landing in Fiumicino and being able to, if not understand, at least pronounce the language written on the signs.  I may only be able to communicate on a basic level, and usually only understand every other word people speak, but Italian is already a comforting language.

Ciao
J

You Can Take the Kids Out of Venice...

Day 31

Today we got back from Venice with just enough time that our professors could hold us accountable for not doing homework.  Just because we had left Venice though, doesn't mean that Venice had left us.

Since Carnevale is one of Venice's most lauded attractions, masks and other paraphernalia are sold all year round.  One of my friends, Bismar, couldn't come with us when we went out in Rome for Carnevale, so he decided to get a mask and cape in Venice and do a little parading of his own around the convent tonight.

Bismar ready to party.

Though we couldn't do much because it was rather late and we both had classes early in the morning, we decided that his costume should be appreciated by all of our friends rather than just the two of us.  We spent the next half hour going from room to room and scaring anyone who would open their door.  Opening your door to a dark hallway and that getup was enough to make most of our friends jump.  Anyone who jumped immediately joined our parade to watch how others would react.  It was great fun, and it would have been a shame to end our weekend with something so mundane as homework.

Ciao
J

Venezia

Days 29-31

This weekend was our school planned and paid for trip to Venice.  Every semester Trinity Rome has a school trip to either Naples/Pompeii (fall) or Venice (spring).  While I hope to Naples/Pompeii later in the semester, I am so glad I got the free trip/tours that go along with the spring semester, as it was a non-negotiable destination for me.

We left early Friday morning to embark on our Venetian adventure.  After a four hour train ride that included some spectacular views of snow covered mountains, we got our first views of Venice's magic as we walked out of the Santa Lucia train station.

We had three days of tours and free time, and every minute was incredible.  It rained and it snowed, but that didn't stop me for spending every free minute walking along the canals.  Thomas Mann said Venice is "half fairy-tale and half-tourist trap".  Both are absolutely true, and I regret neither.  Everything from the green canals to the clichéd gondoliers and their boats; the Ducal Palace, to the souvenir stands wherever you look; St. Marks, to the designed-for-tourists Murano glass shops.  We spent three days there and I could have spent every hour of those days just standing on bridges and looking over the canals, or just going in and out of every shop I passed.  As it was, I did a little bit of everything and therefore did not do nearly enough of anything.

There were some things that I did not to at all (like actually go for a ride on a gondola), and I realized later that I saw only a fraction of what Venice has to offer.  However, I am not disturbed in the least as I simply see the opportunities I missed as an excuse to go back.  And if that is the case, I really cannot complain at all as I am completely ensnared in the magic of Venice.

Ciao
J