Italia di Familia: Part 2

Wow, its been a while. Finally I have all this figured out and have so much to update on.  We’ll start where I left off – Venice. Now, Venice is quite beautiful. Its odd because they basically use the rivers at streets. I probably saw maybe five cars the whole day we were there. We started off the day by catching a water taxi from the train station to a part of town Jim stayed at when he was there last. There is a beautiful bridge where I snapped way too many pictures of the canals. From there, we headed into the streets, walking and wondering. There were so many shops. Eventually we stumbled onto the main square where there is a tall bell tower that has collapsed multiple times, a large palace, and one of the coolest cathedrals I have ever had the pleasure of going into. We went into the cathedral first, and it was truly spectacular. There were mosaics everywhere, but, unfortunately, no pictures were allowed. The most unusual thing about the church: the floors. The floors waved. Literally. There was about a one to two foot difference between the heights of the floors due to the water filled ground below. To say the least, it made me rather uncomfortable and worried about the strength of the structure. But is beauty outweighed that, and I continued to stare all around me at its beauty.

After the Cathedral we headed next door to the dopo’s palace. The Dopo of Venice was basically like a super elaborate mayor…I think. His palace was remarkable (again, no pictures allowed inside). There were massive paintings and golden crests. Oh, and a fireplace in every room, because that’s clearly essential to life. It was quite interesting to see it all.

After we jumped on the water taxi to visit one of the islands of Venice. When we got there, we realized that the church we wanted to go to was actually closed. We walked to another church, which was alright, but stood incomparable to the previous one. We then headed back to the mainland to catch a train back to Bologna.

The next day it was off to Verona…also known as the day of unlucky. We decided to sleep in since we were all tired, meaning we missed the earlier train we had planned to catch. This change put us about 2 hours behind schedule. We arrived in Verona only to find out that our car rental wouldn’t be available for another 2 hours because the place was closed for lunch for 2 hours. The panic began. My parents had organized a surprise trip to a winery and we had to be there by 3, which wasn’t looking possible with the current circumstances. We walked down the street, found a place to eat, and I got onto the internet on my phone to find the number of the winery. Luckily, we got it all arranged, picked up our car, and made it to the winery (after getting a little lost, but we made it). The winery was rather interesting. We learned all about the process of the local wines, saw the machines and barrels in which they are kept, and tried three very different forms of their wine. Afterwards we took a drive to one of Europe’s largest lakes, Lake Gardi. It was rather beautiful, and very gigantic.

We returned to Verona where we took a quite tour of the city, heading straight to the city centre. Honestly, it kind of felt like Disney world. It was almost too cutesy and picturesque. In Verona, though, there is Italy’s most intact Coliseum. We didn’t have time to go in, but the outside was quite astonishing.

After all of that, we hopped back on the train and arrived in Milan around midnight. We finally got to our lovely airport hotel around 2 am to get about 3 hours of sleep before it was time to head to the airport to catch our flight to Athens. Not so lovely, but when travelling, one has to go with the flow.

Your Northern Italy Expert,
Jessica

Italia di Familia: Part 1

Friday I woke up at 8:35, jumped out of my bed, and immediately called a cab. I had exactly 20 minutes to get ready and get to the train station before my train left. Right as I finished, the cab pulled up, and I jumped in. I ran into the train station, but I as I ran to the stairs that lead to my platform, I watched my train pull away. So I had to buy another train ticket and wait another half hour and hope that didn't make me too late to my flight. Luckily for my, my flight was running about a half an hour late, so I even had time to grab some lunch (though expensive) in the airport. I found my seat, put on my eye mask, and went to sleep for I had not gotten much sleep the night before between nerves and yells in my accommodation. A few hour later, my plane landed and I was in Milan, Italy. Finally, the month adventure across Europe was about to begin. My parents had a few hours left in their tour, so I took a bus into the city and went first to the Duomo Milano. It was a rather beautiful church, though kind of dark. I walked around a bit more, finally giving in to the temptation of delicious gelato. I got rasberry (I think) and chocolate.

I then met up with the parents at McDonalds (classy meeting spot, I know) and we headed to the train to catch a ride to Bologna. We walked to our hotel and pretty much passed out from our day of traveling. The next morning, we began walking around, starting in the Piazza Maggiore. We first went into the church in the Piazza, which, unfortunately, has restoration work on the entire exterior currently. We then walked around, exploring the city and the very tiny streets throughout. We ran into another church (its not very difficult, they are everywhere), that was smaller, but still gorgeous. Eventually we wound up in the market, where there were tons of fresh veggies, fruits, meats, cheeses, flowers, and fish. They all looked amazing. We then ran into a little restaurant where we shared some bruschetta and then I got some tortelloni with butter and ragu sauce with a nice glass of white wine.

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We then went up the Due Torri, which is a large tower where we could see all of the city. There were so many steps and my parents definitely got a bit tired. The view from the top was quite spectacular. Afterwards we shared some pastries we had gotten before, which had lemon and chocolate fillings. So yummy. Afterwards, we headed off to another church.

The church we ran into was called St. Stephen's and the oldest part of it was from the 300s A.D., making it an extraordinary old church. It was rather large, housing multiple parts, all built in different time periods. Each time period had its own style. In the oldest part, there were some clear structural problems, and I started using my new statics skills to understand the forces causing those problems. After the church, we went shopping (more like window shopping because Italy is expensive). For dinner, we went to a nearby restaurant where I had some gnocchi (a pasta made of potato that is kind of like a dumpling) in pesto sauce. So far, that's the best thing I've had the joy of eating.

The next day was museum day. We began at an old museum that had some old artifacts, fossils, species, books, and medical and science tools. It was an odd, but rather interesting assortment. The museum was also housed in an old palace, so all the ceilings had some beautiful friezes. We then headed to the art museum, where we saw a large variety of medieval architecture.

 It was then time for some lunch. We hit up a place that has seating along one of Bologna's only remaining exposed canals for some delicious sandwiches. After walking around a bit more, we headed towards a patissiere, where we each got something delectable. That night, we went out for a nice meal where I enjoyed a delicious pizza with mozzarella cheese and cherry tomatoes. Gelato came after, though I honestly couldn't tell you what type I got.

Unfortunately, Blogger is being silly and won't let me upload any pictures, so Venice, where we went today, will just have to wait until a later time.

Arrivederci,
Jessica

P.S. All the Italian I've been practicing has come into no use. Someone starts talking to me and I freak out and freeze up. Not helpful.

EUROPA

I feel exactly how I did 2 months ago all over again. In 5 days and 12 hours I will be yet again boarding a plane off to another country all by myself. This time I'm headed off to meet my parents in Italy to begin my crazy month off. I land in Milan and have a few hours to kill by myself before my parents are done with a tour they are taking. My mom suggested looking at the Duomo there (which is a cathedral), so I'm going to explore a building (surprise, surprise). Once I meet up with them, we are off to take the train to Bologna, Italy, where we will be staying for a few days. I'm excited to get to know an Italian city. We're then off to Venice for a day, then back to Milan to catch a flight to Athens, Greece. I'm so excited to see Athens, even in spite of the current financial and political situation there. Its going to be amazing to visit the Acropolis, along with everything else Athens has to offer. We will then be flying back to Milan, where I leave my parents for them to return back to the states. I fly to Rome, then, to meet up with my friends Quinn and Santiago. From Rome, we will be taking a day trip to Siena on our way to Florence. We then travel to Nice, France, where I hope its nice enough to enjoy some quality beach time. From Nice we got to Barcelona, then Madrid, and finish Spain in Valencia. We take a bus back to Barcelona so we can travel to Munich, Germany. Because buying a bus pass called Europass was our cheapest option, we will be traveling by coach the entire month. This means I will be sitting on a bus for literally 24 hours from Barcelona to Munich. After Munich, its off to Prague in the Czech Republic. After Prague, we're off to our last stop in Berlin. We then take another fun twelve hour bus ride to London from Berlin, eventually catching a bus to Leeds from London. I'm pretty positive I'm not going to want to ride a bus for a VERY long time after April is over.
I've spent so long planning April with my friends, but it still doesn't seem like its real. It seems like a fairy tale that I will actually be backpacking across Europe for an entire month, really being able to explore so many different cultures and experience so many new things (especially food). I'm so excited, but so incredibly nervous for what is to come. I whipped the backpack out today to begin laying out what I need to bring, whether it be clothes to wear or swap with my parents, study materials (because I actually do have finals and tests when I get back), toiletries, or some entertainment. I think my mind is even more blown over this concept than it was when I first came over here. I will literally be living out of a single backpack for an entire month. Its going to be an adventure, and I am so excited to experience it.
Now, because I will be traveling so much (new place just about every 2 or 3 days), I have a nifty new element to my blog. On the right sidebar, you will notice a new addition. This beauty if Google Latitude, which, just be logging into the internet, will let you know what city I'm in. I will try and update my blog as much as I can while off on this epic adventure, but I'm not quite sure where and when I'll get internet. Hopefully it'll be more than less, but this way, even if I'm on a terrible connection or don't have too much time to update the good old blog, it possible to know where in the world I am. So get excited (and prepared to be extraordinarily jealous).

The Soon-to-be Backpacker Across Europe,
Jessica

ROCKin It Out

Not too many updates. Mostly because I have been trapped in studio for the past week finishing up my project, which is quite wonderful if I do say so myself. Here are some glorious pictures:

My partner, Staci, and I created Rockreaction, a climbing center. Its basically like if the city museum and a rocking climbing were to fall and love and have it baby, this would be their baby. This is the front of our project. Yes, those are two different types of clay kneaded together, then thinned out, and glued to wire mesh that I had sculpted. My fingers do not thank me.

 Here are our drawings for our project with our big model. Kinda wonderful, I know.

 

Here is the interior of our building. The left corner is the interior rock wall, and the back side is where the city-museum-esque activites go down. 

So that's basically what I've been up to in the past 42098235082451 hours. On Friday while in studio, I did find out Jason Mraz was coming to KU for a surprise concert 10 minutes before the concert started. It was pretty damn awesome, if I do say so myself. 

In terms of England/Europe stuff, the only update I have is on my potential spring break plans. As it stands right now, my parents will be coming up during my 1st week or so, meet me in Milan, Italy, and we will go to Bologna, Italy. In case you don't know where that is, here's a map: Bologna, Italy Map. From there we'll fly to Athens, Greece, spend about two days there, and then go back to Bologna. From Bologna, we can go just about anywhere in Italy where we want via train. Hopefully after my parents depart, I'll meet up with some people and go to Spain and Portugal via train. On the way back from places like Barcelona and Madrid, I can hit some other places in Europe since I'll be on the train. I will make a stop in Paris, no matter what. Its too beautiful not to see.

Finally, I have 7, yes 7, days left at KU before I won't return for another 8 months. Honestly, I still have the mindset I'm coming back next semester and every time I remember I'm not, I get butterflies and extraordinarily nervous. 40 days I'm in the St. Louis airport leaving the US for 5 months. Now my stomach is churning up a storm. Wonderful. I'm wondering if its actually going to hit me I'm leaving for so long, or if I'm going to step off the plane on the 19th and say to myself, "Oh, so this is real." I'm starting to really think the latter. Which I kind of wish wasn't so true. There's nothing I can do about it, I guess. Well, off to dinner and my last C++ project of fun (really, I just LOOOOOVE C++.......).

Now Officially A Professional Clay Rock Builder,

Jessica