In the Land of the Fleur-De-Lis

Do I even have to say this week was spectacular? I mean, it's Italy guys...

After my classes on Monday, I went with a group of students to a local bookstore to buy a monthly metro pass. It will let me ride all the buses and subways for all of February! Rome's public transportation system is utilized by many, but a lot of travelers don't pay for tickets. Most don't get caught, but I know I'll feel fine every time I ride now that I have a monthly pass. I don't have to buy or validate individual tickets anymore!

On Tuesday, I had my Roman Catholicism class on-site, meaning my class goes to a specific site in Rome instead of sitting in a classroom. During class, we walked the ancient pilgrimage route of the early Christians to St. Peter's tomb (aka the current St. Peter's Basilica). It was really cool to be learning about something while also being able to experience it too. 

After walking around inside St. Peter's for a bit, a few friends and I grabbed paninis (and gelato) before heading back to campus. 

Wednesday night was the community Mass of the Holy Spirit, which was held at Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola. It was pouring rain outside so I got pretty wet and then had to sit inside of the freezing church for mass. Once it was over, I was excited to be heading to a nice restaurant so I could warm up. I ended up sitting at the faculty table with a few of my friends; it turned out to be a fantastic meal and good company!

Thursday morning I had a writing intensive class on-site. We started at the Theater of Marcellus and then headed up an enormous staircase to Santa Maria in Ara Coeli. We took in the beauty of the church before each writing a short fictional story with the church in mind. We continued class by walking through more of Rome: we passed Trajan's column, entered another church (mainly to escape the rain for a while), and ended at Campo di Fiori. My teacher doesn't like us taking pictures because technically we're in class, so no pictures from those adventures.

On Friday morning, I left campus with Katie, Audra, and Barb for Florence (Firenze in Italian)! It was raining like crazy (pretty much like all the previous days) so we got a little wet waiting for the bus. We made it to the train station in time to watch our super cool high-speed bullet train pull in. The ride to Florence was pretty short, only an hour and 30 minutes! After arriving and checking into our hostel, we explored our neighborhood a bit and then went to the Accademia Museum primarily to see Michelangelo's "David." It was pretty spectacular, and HUGE! Originally, Michelangelo was commissioned to sculpt the piece for the top of the Duomo in Florence. However, it ended up being displayed at a much lower level and eventually moved into the Accademia. Even though photography wasn't really allowed, I was able to secretly snag a picture!

Our next stop was the Duomo. The outside was breathtaking; the work that was done on it is so intricate. 

The inside was a sharp contrast to the outside. It was surprisingly bare, but the inside of the dome was very beautiful. 

We walked around for a bit more before going back to the hostel for a break. It had a breathtaking view of the Duomo!

 We decided to go to dinner at Mostodolce, a pub right below our hostel that brews its own beer and makes delicious pizza in a wood-burning oven. It had a pretty cool atmosphere and was filled with local Italians.

We went to Pisa on Saturday morning. After a short train ride and walk through town, we entered a square and there was the Leaning Tower right in front of our eyes. It was actually a lot larger and taller than I thought. And it really was leaning! My inner science-nerd-self got a little too into examining the ground it was built on... Anyways, we took the typical touristy pictures holding up the Tower.

OMG It's falling on me!

We also peeked into the church right by the tower. It was really pretty and had a beautiful navy and gold ceiling as well as a hand-carved pulpit.

 After spending our fair share of time by the tower, we headed down the main street towards a restaurant for lunch. There were a bunch of cute shops and buildings with adorable ivy-filled balconies. I had some amazing artichoke-filled ravioli for my meal. Yum!

Back in Florence, we did a little shopping (I got a lovely leather wallet for my grandmother!) and visited the Ponte Vecchio and the Piazzale Michelangelo for some beautiful views!

It was quite a hike to the top...

We made it to Piazzale Michelangelo! Look at that view!

We had dinner at a quaint neighborhood restaurant with Katie's friend who had been studying in Florence since August. I had pesto gnocchi; delicious! After dinner, Katie, Audra, and I ventured out to see what was happening as far as nightlife was concerned. We ended up following a huge mob of people down a bunch of streets to a huge piazza where hundreds of people were just hanging out or going from club to club. We went into an Irish pub that happened to be filled with Italians singing karaoke in the basement. It was a really cool atmosphere. Katie (who is in an acapella group) even got up the courage (with a lot of prodding) to sing Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball." It was so funny because a bunch of the Italians got really into it, but others seemed like they had never even heard it before. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures from that pub. Oh well!

Sunday morning we slept in a bit and got breakfast at a local cafe. I had a yummy hazelnut and nutella crepe. Then we walked down the street and did some shopping (and haggling too!) at the street markets. I got a super cute purse as well as the perfect gift for my pink-loving and uber-girly roommate back at Creighton! The best part is that I got the price dropped for both of them by claiming I only had a certain amount of cash on me, haha! We went back to Mostodolce for lunch before catching the train back to Rome. 

When we were on the metro heading back to campus, we witnessed firsthand how the children of Italian gypsies are able to pickpocket so successfully. It's almost like a mob scene, with kids running around on the subway and causing a huge commotion. One tourist was pickpocketed, but luckily the kids gave her back her stolen camera. Basically whenever there seems to be a bunch of kids running around and bumping into people, I'll be tightly holding my purse. 

It was such a great weekend, but it feels so good to be back home at JFRC. Our resident life assistants told us JForce would start to feel like home, especially after weekend trips, and I can totally attest to the truth of it! 

This week, I'll be going to the Vatican for a Papal Audience; I'm so excited to see Pope Francis!!

Arrivederci,

Gina