Jayhawk

Well, I have been home for a week now and conquered my jet lag and reverse culture shock of coming home. Now the annoying part for all those around me has set in: the stories. When I first came home people kept asking me "what was your favorite part about Italy or France? What was your favorite place? What did you do?" I didn't really know how to answer them. I still don't. But now stories from different places come out in conversations. Unfortunately, most people won't hear these but those of you reading this blog will hear them thousands of times and become horribly annoyed with them! Lucky you!

So whenever one of these stories pops into my mind, I'll post them so you can read them. This way I'll know which stories I've told!

Here's my story for today:

Mom and I went to Price Chopper and bought Cherry Coke Zero (my favorite). I decided I wanted one when we were home, but Mom said that it wasn't a good idea because it wouldn't be cold. That reminded me of my plane ride home.
We finally took off from Paris heading to Chicago, and my heart started aching. I had been so excited about going home earlier, but now I was sad that I was leaving Paris. Then the flight attendant came by with drinks. "Would you like something to drink?" She asked with what looked like a genuine smile. That was one thing that pretty much NO ONE in Europe did: smile. I have truly missed people being truly kind to each other and that saying "the customer is always right." While it is annoying to always be nice to people when you are working, it is soooooooo nice that we do. I've really missed it.
Then, the MOST exciting thing happened. The flight attendant gave me a REAL Diet Coke NOT a Coca-Cola Light (while they are good, the Lights just are not Diet Coke). That was when I decided I was okay with going home.

Rock Chalk

The major reason that I do not want to go home: I'm afraid that I'll wake up and it will all be a dream. Someone will just say, "You hit  your head on the steering wheel when that idiot rear-ended you and you had a concussion." I'll be in Kansas and they'll tell me it was all a dream.  At least my reality will be in color.

There is a GREAT youtube video that makes all my friends and I here laugh until we cry.  It's called David after the dentist.  This poor 9-year-old boy had to get his teeth pullled and put on pain medicine.  He's a little loopy.  Our favorite line by far is when he says, "Is this real life?" We've had several moments while we were here when we've busted out that quote.  That's what I feel like these last three months have been: me questioning reality.

I'm know that I have learned so much since I was over here and I'm sure some of it won't even hit me until later. But don't care. I'm just glad I was brave enough to come.

I can't wait to see you all and hope that I don't sit next to another crazy person on this flight!!

If I am Dorothy, can I just tap my heels three times and be home?

Hail to Old KU

A few random stories for you:

Le Musee de l'Orangerie is a museum right near the Louvre that houses the massive Water Lilies by Monet (2 rooms where the walls are covered by them!). We had a site visit there with my art history class. While my teacher went into the Museum to buy our tickets, everyone else was forced to wait outside.  We were all just standing by the door, when the security guard told us that we needed to go further away from the door. We ended up being forced about 20 yards away by a wall.  My Western Civilization professor, Nan, has "never been so offended." Because there was a good view of Place de Concorde from where we were standing, I whipped out my camera and snapped a quick picture.  Our teacher came out and said she had the tickets so we could go inside. On the way in, the security guard (the same one that forced to stand by a wall which I haven't been told to do since 1st grade) asked if he could see my camera. 'Darn it,' I thought 'is he actually going to take my camera away? I won't take any pictures in the museum!! I know how to turn the flash off too!' I reluctantly handed him my baby (AKA my camera).

"May I give you some advice?" He said, "hold your camera like this when you take vertical shots. It makes it easier to adjust the camera." Then he handed my camera back to me. "Merci," I replied completely taken aback. I went through security and found out that you can even use your flash! Jerry (my professor) told me he was standing behind me and that he had never seen anything more odd in all of his travels. A security guard giving photography advice.

I was reluctant to listen to the advice at first because he took my camera! No one does that, but in all honesty, the security guard was completely right. If I remember nothing else that I've learned while over here, I can say that I received a free photography lesson!

P.S. Nan and Jerry invited me and three other students to dinner last night.  Nan is a retired professor of education philosophy: Jerry is an attorney. If our massive family dinners and just our every night dinners has taught me, it is how to properly have a conversation/argument with an attorney. For that I would like to thank everyone in my family! You're the best!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

So I am deviating a little from my song because I think Mom's birthday deserves it. :) I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving because I did too for the most part. We basically celebrated Thanksgiving on Wednesday because that was the only day that we could make a reservation for 13 people at a restaurant that had Thanksgiving food. We at Joe Allen's Restaurant. It was great!!! We had a choice of what appetizer, what entree, what desert, and it came with wine. However, it is now the most expensive meal I have ever paid for, but it was worth it! For my appetizer I decided I should try foie gras. I've never had it and because I knew that a delicious entree was coming after it, I thought, 'Why not?' It was pretty good, until my wonderful professor Jerry told me the abuse the animals go through to make it.  I gave the rest to my other professor Nan in exchange for one of her crab cakes which were also quite delicious. For my entree, I (of course) picked the turkey. It came with dark and light meat, a pile of green beans, what I am pretty sure was 2 sweet potatoes cut up, and an ice cream scoop of stuffing. Soooooo good.  I had pumpkin pie for desert and tried some of my friends brownie with ice cream- in the middle of the brownie I swear it morphed into fudge.

Yesterday, on the real Thanksgiving, it was a beautiful day so my friends and I did some homework in the park on our roof (you read that right, there is a park on our roof). Then we did some extra credit for a class and went to Jim Morrison's grave. I guess it is a tradition that you have a beer at his grave. That cemetery was very creepy and not nearly as peaceful as the American Cemetery. I did find a Burkhardt though! After being lost for about a half an hour we finally found Jim's grave. The guy standing next to us was drinking whiskey but we were still weary about whether drinking was disrespectful. So between the three of us, we just had one beer. From there we went to the Musee d'Orsay because it was free. I had already gone with Morgan, but our Art History Teacher was going to be there for questions so I went back. I didn't stay too long because I started not to feel too well (excitement from the Holidays I guess) and I wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to my family.

I hope you are having a great birthday Mom!

Our Alma Mater

I know it has been a LOOONNNNGGG time since I've written and for that, I am truly sorry.  Good news is that I found a few more verses to the song so I can keep writing (hopefully more frequently). I have now traveled to 2 places since I last wrote.  First off, MORGAN CAME! That was extremely exciting to me. We went to Prague and had a real adventure. Morgan had planned out all the logistics: she knew how to get to the place we stayed and what we should do. I will be uploading the photos shortly and will have to add commentary because you might think I'm a horrible photographer.  Also, Morgan's pictures are far more fun to look at because you have the privilege of feasting your eyes on the two of us more often.  That trip was exactly what I needed after the stress of the break. I LOVED it, especially because there were a multitude of beagles!!  Morgan and I also got to see the ballet at the old opera house with my class. It was gorgeous! She had the pleasure of meeting Brittany (my art history teacher) when no one else has.  Here are all the other things we did: went to Place de Concorde, the Louvre gardens, Notre Dame, Bastille, Musee d'Orsay, the Eiffel tower, Sacre Couer, Montmartre cemetery, Moulin Rouge, and my favorite restaurant, Chartier. That does not include the things Morgan did while I was in class!

This weekend my class went to Normandy and Britany.  In preparation for seeing Omaha Beach in Normandy, I had to present information about WWII and the Landing.  I asked Grandma what she remembers from WWII and presented it to the class. My teacher LOVED it. I got an A- thanks Grandma! Actually going to Omaha Beach was surreal. It's so peaceful now that it's hard to imagine.  France gave the U.S. the beach out of thanks so that we could have a cemetery and memorial. All the crosses are facing west, towards home.

No wonder I am exhausted. What two weeks I've had!

Hail to thee

I'm finally starting to feel better in Paris. I slept all day yesterday and went to class today although I am still some what in a fog.  Today, we went on our first site visit in Paris for Art History.  Now as Paris is a much bigger city that Florence, we received metro cards as part of program so we can go to our site visits more easily.  Paris's metro is no exception to the metro rule: strange people ride it.  Today we went to Saint Denis Basilique, the first gothic church in all of Europe and thus the world. It also home to King Louis XIV, AKA the Sun King, and Marie Antoinette and her idiot husband Louis XVI.  I saw all of their tombs plus King Charlemagne which I didn't know was there. But I digress, the point of this blog entry is to talk about what I saw on the subway.  Or I should say, what I shielded my eyes from. On the way back to our dorms, a group of us got on a subway car where we had to stand. One stop into our journey, my friend Clint mutters under his breath, "oh my God. There's a rat in that guy's hood." Yup, the guy I was standing right next to, had a pet rat in the hood of his sweat shirt. None of us knew what to do. My two guy friends start laughing under their breath while I try to scramble as far away as possible (a mere 2 feet). Then my other friend goes on to say, "That's just not sanitary. I mean this train lurks. What if it just falls out?" I do not want to know! I just want to make sure it doesn't fall out on me!! After another stop, I managed to get further away so that I could relax and laugh about it too.  I found especially obnoxious when his girlfriend started to pet the rat when it was still in his hood. Oh dear. Paris a beacoup de surprise! 

Snapfish: Groups

And the Blue

Happy Halloween!! 

I was able to fight off Hayden's germs but unfortunately I was not able to fight off my friend Emily's.  I'm currently in Amsterdam.  Monday night to Thursday night I was in England, first in Brighton and then in London. It was so wonderful when I got to England and at the airport, a nice man asked me if I would like any help with my bags.  Just a stranger, but he genuinely wanted to see if I needed any help. It made me soooo happy! In Italy, they NEVER offered with stuff like that! I only spent a few hours in London, but I still saw Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, the Globe Theater, The Tower Bridge, and the Tower of London. They were running a half marathon the day I was in London and when I was in Venice, there was a marathon! I think God is trying to tell me to start running again. I bought a new battery for my camera so I will have pictures from Amsterdam that I can post up later. I hope Hayden is feeling better and that Stacy finally saw a specialist! Cheer on those Jayhawks for me and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

Crimson

I'm about to run out of words! I suppose I'll just have to start the fight song.

I had a wonderful time in Florence and in Rome with Stacy and Hayden! It was exactly what I needed to get over my depression of leaving Florence. I know if you throw a coin in the Trevi Fountain it means that you will come back to Rome, but does that apply to Florence too? Maybe that's why we rub the boar's nose.  My separation anxiety is slowly alleviating but I still miss the Duomo. I am having a wonderful time in Venice but every so often there is something I want to say or laugh about (I've had a few great jokes to tell) but there is no one to tell them too. The train ride here was nice, but once again my luck of sitting next to random people comes with me.  Fortunately, he wasn't next to me but one row down and he was talking INCREDIBLY LOUD (even for me!) on his phone.  There was a U.S. Army Soldier and another British man sitting near me and the first time he did it we all just looked at each other; what is this guy doing? When he got off, the British man told me he envied my earphones (eventhough they did no good to block him out) and the soldier said he would pay someone money to break that guy's phone. Besides that, easy travels! I looked around some churches yesterday and just roamed around- it was actually quite enjoyable. But my camera is running out of battery!!! I forgot to pack my charger! I'm hoping my friend Emily will let me use her camera in England and then I can get a disposable in Amsterdam. I am currently taking full advantage of my free breakfast at my hotel.  They have cereal but they do not have oatmeal.  I should go do some last exploring before the hotel pushes me out- I don't think the morning deskman likes me much. Hopefully all goes well today too!

Ever Onward

Ever onward indeed. I suppose it is about time, but I am now truly homesick.  As much as I love everyone in my class, it is about time for all of us to have our space which does not help either.

On a happier note, yesterday I took the train down to Perugia for Chocolate Festival 2009. It was DELICIOUS!!! I have never seen so much chocolate! Unfortunately, there were not nearly as many free sample as I would have liked. I had a chocolate covered banana and I saw, but did not buy, chocolate Kababs! It was comprised of sweet bread with chocolate shavings, some strawberry syrup and whipped cream. I purchased some great dark chocolate with hazelnuts in it. One thing I have noticed about Italians (or maybe Europeans) is that they love Hazelnut chocolate. It's very curious, I really do not like hazelnuts, but when you put them in combination with chocolate it is nothing short of pure heaven!  At the festival, you could purchase a 5 euro card that got you free samples.  Well, I did not collect all of the samples I could, but let me tell you about the ones I did.  First, with the purchase of the card, I was awarded some carbonated fruit juice in a mini can. Not too bad I guess.  The second one was far and away the best!! It was warmed dark chocolate- it was far too rich to be normal hot chocolate.  IT WAS SOOOO GOOD!!! Especially since it has gotten quite chilly here and the government apparently decides when to turn on the heat.  The third free thing I got, was get this... a pencil! I want chocolate not a pencil!! My roommates and I were very discouraged by this and didn't look for anymore free "chocolate" until we came by another stand on the card, Limmi.  I thought it was lemonade, nope! It is a bottle of lemon juice- the kind you cook with.  So very strange.

Now that I'm sure you are all craving chocolate I'll tell you that I did pick up some chocolate bars that I will send home the Hayden and Stacy for you all. =) I miss you all!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MORGAN!

Lift the Chorus

I am in love with Italy! Rome is absolutely amazing. Freya (our wonderful tour guide) exhausted with all the information she gave us each day but all of it was so interesting.  She is Australian who just recently married an Italian but is still very much an Australian. Whenever we needed to move she would say something like, "let's move on everyone" with her arm dramatically out-stretched.  She is extremely passionate and gets me very excited about everything that we see.  It was so surreal seeing all of these structures and works of art that I have been reading and learning about since I was in Mrs. Davis's class in 2nd grade!! It was amazing.  Saturday we went to the Vatican in the rain, however by the time we had gotten out of St. Peter's Basilica the sun was out.  Freya started laughing on her microphone (yes we are one of those obnoxious groups with ear pieces) and told us that a priest told her it was a miracle. =)

After seeing the Sistine Chapel (so awesome and so crowded!) most people went back to the hotel to take a quick nap. I tried, but I was too excited to sleep. I walked to the Piazza Navona to get stamps and another miracle happened! A family walks up to me and starts speaking in Italian. Then I heard "inglese?" I responded "si!" The girls came up to me and asked if I was from Rome. I said no and they asked if I was British. "Sure." I love being American but it's nice to know that I've done an ok job of blending. =)

P.S. ROCK CHALK!!! I saw a man with a Jayhawk hat on in the Colisseum. Thanks for the score update Mom!

The Blue

First off, sorry it's been so long. Between the visits, reading, my midterm, my presentation, and going to Sardinia, I have had no time! I cannot believe that I am over half way through my time in Florence, so I'm choosing not to think about it.  I did wake up Saturday in Sardinia and realize it had been a week since I posted anything, but I did not have access to a computer.

Secondly, I have been told that I never talk abou ut school.  I am taking Western Civilization in 6 weeks in Florence.  Since I have gotten here I have read Genesis, Exodus, Plato's The Apology and The Republic, Aristotle's Politics, Seneca's Letters on Stoicism, Matthew and the First Letter to the Corinthians in the New Testament, and now Saint Augustine's Confessions. I have only used Spark Notes once, because I did not follow Augustine's train of thought.

Thirdly, the things I miss. In the U.S. waiters and sales people at least PRETEND that they like you. Here, they roll their eyes and try to pull a fast one on you (count your change). This is why when anyone is friendly to us, we automatically buy something from them even if we can get it cheaper somewhere else.  Another thing I miss is a nicely cut lawn or just any kind of grass! I went to the American Cemetery from WWII that is just outside of Florence and it just made me happy.

Lastly, what I have learned.  Seneca believes that no matter where you go, you take home with you.  Kansas definitely followed me.  I'm just as crazy here as I am at home.  Also, today I went into a store just down my street and my roommate went to try on a sweater.  I talked to the shop owner (who was nice so I'm going back) and found that I understood her Italian. She spoke simply and I couldn't respond in Italian, but I knew what she said. Who knew?

P.S. Did I mention the mosquitos are on steroids here??

Towering Toward

I'm so happy. I have been fighting withdrawal from Jayhawk football, but last night I went to a Florence Football match.  I know now how people feel when they attend Allen Fieldhouse for the first time.  From now on, I will be nicer to those who just do not understand. The locals know exactly what cheer to say when and the only lines we dumb tourists could pick  up was  "Oh Firenze! Oh Firenze!"  My friends tried to question my knowledge on soccer- they felt dumb when I was right.  We were going to the Liverpool game, but they have banned all Americans from that game.  There is too much anger towards Liverpool right now and the people in charge were afraid Italians wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the British and American accents.  These rivalries make the KU v. MU American football game look tame (so I've heard). Our housing person, Daniella, told us that she was happy we went to the game we did because riots occur quite frequently.  I bought a scarf and put on a purple shirt so that I would blend in.  We had a TON of fun and Florence beat the undefeated Genoa team 2-0!  Go Firenze!

I find it very coincidental that I am writing this now and my roommate has just informed that the KU football and basketball team are in a feud that is on ESPN. Come on boys, we'll probably need Tyshawn's thumb in a month here. Way to represent the Jayhawks! If I were in Lawrence, I'd smack them all.

I'm going to call my family's hotel in Rome in a few minutes. They'll be here tomorrow!! I'm making it a rule now, that if you come visit me, you are bringing me chocolate or anti-itch cream. Whichever.

Alma Mater

The Owls won! Hoot Hoot! I had a required Excursion to Sienna on Friday (I love that I have to travel for class). First off, it was absolutely gorgeous. It is up on top of the Tuscan hills and reminds me of KU's campus with its steep inclines.  But what I like most about Sienna, is its rivaling neighborhoods.  There are 17 distinct neighborhoods each with its own symbol.  Sienna is smaller than Florence and Florence in comparison to Rome is tiny! How there can be 17 neighborhoods is beyond me.  None of these neighborhoods matter until July and August when 2 horse races take place in honor of the Virgin Mary (they dedicated their city to her in the 1200s (?) after they prayed to her to save them from the upcoming Florentine attack and Sienna beat the Florentines). This race is purely for the citizens of Sienna, not for tourism. The Owls won this year! I bought a scarf and took tons of pictures of their flags that they were allowed to keep up since they are the champs. I also went to San Gimignano where I ate the World's Best Gelato. I had date gelato and was actually extremely tasty. I'm working on getting pictures up right now!

One more tip: Bring anti-itch cream. There are mosquitos here, but these mosquitos are evil!

Our Noble

A minor vent:

I am in Florence. A beautiful city known to be the capital of the Renaissance and all the art and culture that includes. An art history teacher would kill to teach a semester here. Maybe not. Tuesday was our first art history class where we visited the Baptistery of Florence and a museum dedicated to the art that once stood on the Florentine Basilica (AKA the Dome or Duomo) and we had to waste 20 minutes of the 90 minutes so our teacher could get tickets and the receipt so she could be reimbursed. Then today, we were supposed to go inside the Town Hall where all the Renaissance history was allowed to happen.  Once again, no tickets purchased, only this time, ticket sales had stopped since the museum closed in an hour.  However, pre-purchased tickets were still allowed in. Are you kidding me????? I have never taken an art history class and I could do a better job.

And now, for a few tips on protecting yourself against pick-pocketing: (1) when at a restaurant, do not put your purse on the back of your chair or on the table; keep it in your lap (much harder to swipe). (2) If using a small backpack, place it on your front. It's quite the fashion in Florence. (3) If there is anyone suspicious around, grab the zipper so that no one sneaky unzips it to steal whatever they can get their hands on. (4) In Florence, if  you see anyone with a painted white face, hold on to that purse and get away is fast as possible- gypsies!

Fact of the Day: The Noble Medici family pretty much funded the Renaissance. A rivaling family tried to stab to death 2 Medicis during Easter services inside the Duomo.

Stands

It has been a crazy few days! My entire class plus our professor and another teacher went to Fiesole (pronounced FEE-uh-SOLE-lay) which is the edge of Florence on top of a hill. It gives a beautiful view of Florence and I got to ride the city bus! Very full. There is also a Franciscan monastery that we visited. There was a place that you give a few cents and light a candle for someone. I thought about lighting one for Grandpa; however, I remembered that it was a Catholic church and thought he would like it better if I didn't. Yesterday was the first day of class and we were assigned a TON of reading, but I like the teachers.  It also rained for the first time yesterday, but it was ok because we had so much reading to do.  I went to the grocery store also and the cashier asked me something in Italian! She legitimately thought I knew Italian! Normally, cashiers and such can spot tourists (especially Americans) from a mile away and either speak to you in English or if, they don't know English, not at all. She thought I was all smart until she saw the completely blank look on my face and just shook her head. I'm pretty sure she was asking me if I wanted a bag.

My neighbors do like to talk a lot. I really wish I could speak Italian so I could now what they were saying!

To View

My roommates and I went exploring yesterday. It's pretty amazing that I can randomly come across works of art. We found the "fake" David and the other statues that surround it.  The real David has been moved inside into a room that was made just to shelter the statue. (I read that in a travel book).  We also walked across the Pointe Vecchio bridge and checked out some markets.  We met up with the other people in our group and had dinner (at a Mexican restaurant- I thought it was weird too).  But the waiter gave us free drinks which was so nice to find something free! However, I have found through my adventures some tips for future travelers.

1.) Actively avoid puddles! I stepped in one while wearing sandals and then looked left and saw a horse drawn carriage 5 ft away. I was not happy.

2.) That brings me to #2.  Get the sanitizer spray. You will come across many strange things and swine flu is in Italy. Always sanitize to keep from getting sick with so many other tourists around.

3.) Assume everything (building, statue, person) is Catholic.  You feel like an idiot when you ask.

4.) Carry water! There are NO water fountains anywhere! And water can be about 3 euros if you try to buy it around tourist attractions.

5.) That brings me to #5 Everything is cheaper away from tourist attractions.  Walk 5 minutes in another direction and I guarantee you'll save 2 euros on just about anything.

6.) If anyone tries to hug you immediately shove them off and know that a gypsy may have just robbed you.  One of our leaders saw it happen to a tourist.

Love you all and I'm uploading pictures now!

Glorious

We had a 3 hour orientation yesterday.  Everything we learned was very important,  but one item stood out.  Mostly, because it meant already my roommates and I had messed up.  The first day we got here, the five of us were determined not to take a nap, but just chug on through the day until it was a reasonable bed time.  By 2:30, we were drastically losing energy so we decided to sit down at a little pizzeria by our apartment. We came in and asked the waiter, Max, if we could sit down. He showed us a table and we asked how he was and made small talk.  Then he kept coming back and talking to us.  His English wasn't very good and only 1 person had ever taken an Italian class. We never could follow what he was saying.  Well, according to our orientation, when entering any kind of store you keep conversation with the sales person or waiter to a minimum. That means only saying "ciao" and that's it. And no Italian smiles unless they are flirting with that person. We believe Max may have the wrong idea.  We need to find a new pizzeria.

New Tab

The Golden Valleys

Hello everyone! I'm all settled into my apartment (which the building it is in is 400 years old!) and am now educated on how to use the Italian appliances.  I have 4 other roommates.  We have 3 bedrooms and 2 baths which is very nice. I'm sharing my room, but I get along very well with my roommate. I'll upload pictures as soon as I can. We found the Duomo yesterday and also had a very traditional Italian meal nearby that our program paid for.  After getting a good nights sleep last night and eating our left over pizza this morning, I'm ready to take on Florence!

Far Above

I believe at this point I have been up for 24 hours with 2 half hour naps. I made to Chicago sitting next to a woman from the International House of Prayer [yes IHOP and bare with me, I haven't quite figured out this keyboard yet] who is in charge of praying for the pregnant women, women becoming pregnant and those adopting. I would have taken her over the mail order bride I sat next to for 8 hours to Frankfurt with her medical 'viles' in the overhead compartment. Made it to Frankfurt and finally to Florence. Love my apartment. Can't really function right now so that's it! All very surreal right now.

KU Undergrad

This is my first posting and I'm hoping that it works! I packed up everything yesterday. Unfortunately my suitcase weighs about 70 lbs- I guess I'm going to have to pay extra to get on the air plane. It would weigh 20 lbs less if I didn't have so many textbooks  to bring, but that's an other tangent that I won't bore anyone with again. 26 hours until take off!

KU Undergrad