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??