Spring Break 2010: Paris and Barcelona

Over my spring break from school my friend, Randi, and I traveled to Paris, France and Barcelona, Spain. We spent 4 days in each city and saw and did too many things to post on this blog. We saw the Mona Lisa and many other paintings in the Louve Museum, The Eiffel Tower, The Notre Dame cathedral, and ate crepes and croissants in Paris.

In Barcelona we relaxed on the beach, we ate paella (which is a typical rice dish), saw a Flamenco dancing show, and saw beautiful and interesting buildings. These are just some of the major things that we did but we also just walked around a lot and explored. I like seeing how people live in other places, not just the big monuments, although the Eiffel tower was pretty amazing!

Spring Break: Paris

Eiffel Tower at night all lit up!

A man drawing a girl in Paris.

Spring Break 2010: Paris

Inside of the Notre Dame Cathedral

Notre Dame from the outside

Outdoor market in Paris that sold everything! Including fresh seafood.

Me, my friend Randi, and Clementine, the 2 year old daughter of the family we stayed with in Paris.

Family trip to Assisi, Italy

Our Family: Maggie, Martina (8), Mamma Gianna, me, Ellie, Katie, Babbo Paolo, Sara.

The church of Saint Francis

Town and country. Beautiful!

The amazing restaurant where we ate lunch! The meat was grilled on this huge grill fueled by logs about 3 feet long! I got spaghetti and chicken! yum!

On Sunday, March 14, 2010, our family piled into the car and drove about an hour to the town of Assisi which is on a hill overlooking the countryside. Assisi is known for its quaint feel and as being the home of St. Francis founder of the Franciscan monk order. We saw many beautiful churches and cute little streets too small for cars to drive down. We ate lunch and walked around and just had the most beautiful and relaxing day.

How a Volcano in Iceland is impacting me

Dear friends,

I am sure that by now you have heard about the volcano erupting in Iceland. Growing up in New Hampshire I didn't think a volcano would ever have a direct effect on my life. Well this one does. The interesting thing is that I have not directly seen any ash or noticed a big dark cloud of ash moving over Italy...but it has managed to interrupt my plans and the plans of my friends and thousands of other people around the world.

The volcano's effects on me and the people around me.

1. My friend Emilie, who also goes to Keene State College, couldn't come visit me from Dublin, Ireland this past weekend.

2. Emilie's friend, Rheanna, who was planning on meeting her here in Florence was without communication and came to Florence expecting to see Emilie but saw me instead when I met her at the train station. I had never met her before so it was nice to make a new friend and show Rheanna around Florence. However, now Rheanna is trying to get back to Paris, where she is studying abroad for the semester and she isn't sure how she will be able to get back because her flight has been canceled.

3. My roommate, Katie, was planning on going to Dublin, Ireland with her friends this weekend and couldn't because of the ash cloud. I was glad to have more company this weekend with her around but I know she was a little disappointed that she couldn't go.

4. My mom was planning on coming to visit me here in Florence this week because it is April vacation for her and she doesn't work. This would have been her first trip to Europe in about 30 years. We were both really excited to see each other and now we have to wait 4 more weeks until I come home to see each other.

5. My housemate, Paige, one of the other girls living with the same host family, was planning on having her parents and her grandparents come visit her and now they cannot come because of the ash. They were all going to travel around Italy for 2 weeks...

6. Another one of my friends is waiting until the end of the week to find out if her parents will be able to come over and see her.

Who knew that a volcano would have such a direct effect on myself and the people around me. But it isn't just the people I know who are being affected, it is thousands of people who had their flights canceled and who are now stuck in some place that isn't exactly where they were intending to be. The reason that this cloud of volcanic ash is so disruptive is because the ash has tiny particles of glass that could get into the engines of the airplanes and clog them but also scratch the windshields of the airplanes so that nothing can be seen.

This cloud of ash is moving south from Iceland to all over the rest of Europe, right now from France to Sweden to Russia. It is like a veil slowly being pulled over all of Europe and it is now headed toward Italy. It wont harm me physically because this is a cloud that is high in the air, but it is disrupting more and more flights and travelers' plans. All airports in Germany, and many other countries, were closed because no flights could take off or land safely. The Airlines are losing an estimated 200 million dollars a day because of this ash cloud. WOW!

Is this volcano affecting you? It is interesting to think about things that are far away that you would never think about...but this volcano, which I didn't know existed before Friday April 16, has affected my life in many ways and I am sure it is affecting people the most who live near it in Iceland.

Mask Painting Workshop

On Friday March 12th I went to a Carnival Mask painting workshop at a professional mask painter's workshop. There were several students from my school that went with me and one of our advisors. We got to choose a mask and then paint it with a base coat of paint. I chose black. Then I brushed gold paint on my mask and hand painted the rest with a brush and a small pointed tube of gold paint. It took me about an hour and a half to finish painting and for my mask to dry. There were many other masks hanging on the walls of the workshop so it was easy to get inspiration but difficult to choose a design at first.

Dear Friends

My dear friends,

I wanted to let you know that I have not forgotten about you, but I have been very busy this week because I had my midterm exams. I did well, I think, and am glad to have them finished. Apart from studying all week I have been preparing for my spring break trip. My friend from school, Randi Brown, and I are going to travel to Paris, France and Barcelona, Spain and stay in each place for 4 nights. I am very excited but also nervous! She and I are in art class together and are excited to see many artsy things and practice our drawing skills.

When I come back I will have pictures to put up of a Mask Painting workshop I attended where I got to go to a professional mask maker's studio shop and paint my own Carnevale mask! I also have many things to tell you about my wonderful day with my host family in Assisi, Italy. It was one of the most beautiful places and we had the most relaxing sunny days. : )

I am going to be in Paris from March 19-March 23 and then in Barcelona from March 23-March 27.

Night time in Venice

Photos taken by my friend, JJ Prior.

Venice Trip #2

I went to the beautiful island of Murano about 15 minutes, by water bus, away from the main city of Venice. The island is famous for its glass work. There are many glass blowing workshops and stores all around the island. Fun Fact: The reason there are so many glasshouses on this one island is because the city of Venice was worried, in the 1500s, about the city burning down so they ordered all of the glass makers to move their workshops to the island of Murano.

This is one of the many glass stores. I am looking at this amazing spiderweb made out of glass!!! I don't know how it hasn't broken yet because the web strands are so thin! This is definitely a "do not touch" kind of store.

This is the piazza, square, San Marco (named after the church that was built on the square). The symbol of Venice is a lion, for strength and courage. If you had a city what would you have your symbol be?

Venice Trip #2

This is a mosaic. Mosaics are pictures that are made up of small stones and pieces of glass. This is an up close picture of a mosaic that is decorating the outside of the San Marco church. The inside is covered with mosaics from the walls all the way up to the ceiling. Can you imagine putting all those stones and glass in place one by one? It must have taken so long!

Here is a mosaic from far away...you can see the different colors being used and shading in the people's robes, that is all done using small pieces of glass! I think it is amazing that from far away it looks like a painting but when you get up close you can see all the little pieces. So cool!

When it is high tide the main square, San Marco, floods and these planks are used so people can still get around. Some people wear rain boots and just walk right through the water. If only I had brought mine...

This is the Grand Canal in Venice which is the main street in Venice. When a supermarket has a delivery the products are brought to the store on a boat, not with a big truck. Instead of buses they use water busses which is a boat that makes stops all around the city.

In Italy, there are only a few things for breakfast like rolls, fruit, or little sandwiches. They do not eat pancakes, waffles, bacon, eggs, and home fries for breakfast. That is one thing that I really miss about home, the big breakfasts and pancakes! I usually eat a roll or 3 with Nutella, which is a chocolaty nut spread that people put on everything here! It is kind of like how we use peanut butter, except I like it better!

Yummy food and a beautiful city!

This is the really yummy spaghetti that I love to eat! The pasta here is so good! No mater what kind it is or what kind of sauce it has on it. So pasta is my favorite food here in Italy. However, my host mother made some pan cooked chicken last week that was slightly breaded and cooked with lemons! It was the most delicious chicken I have ever had. The food that I eat in America is similar to what I eat here, but everything is more fresh and rich in Italy. I also really really like Gelato, which is ice cream that is smoother than ice cream back home. I usually get chocolate and vanilla. I will get a picture soon of a gelato shop.

This is a picture of me ON TOP of the dome of the Duomo...I had to hike up many stairs, 436 I think. The view was amazing and I had fun seeing all the places I have visited in the city.

"In fair Verona where we lay our scene..."

Later that night, Martina, fell asleep after we ate dinner at a family friend's house. It was a long day for us all. : )

These notes on the wall are all love notes that couples have written and stuck to this wall that leads to Juliet's balcony. The notes on the wall are supposed to represent everlasting love. I just thought it was interesting to see so many pieces of paper stuck to one wall.

Pretty heart lights that lead the way down the street and to the Valentine's market where people were singing, dancing, selling strawberries and chocolate! Yum!

This is a amphitheatre that we saw when we first got to Verona. It looked similar to the Colosseum in Rome but this one was much smaller.

After visiting Venice we went to Verona which is about 2 hours away from Venice. Verona is where Shakespeare set his play "Romeo and Juliet" and because we went to visit the day before Valentine's Day there were hearts and chocolate everywhere!

Venice Carnevale February 13

On Saturday February 13, my host family and 9 of us students went to Venice which is about 2 hours away from Florence. I saw so many amazing things! People in costumes, boats, yummy looking food and high-tide flooding! It was a crazy and exciting day. Venice is a city that was built upon water, so although there are roads for people to walk, there are no cars. The main way to travel is on foot or on the canals which are the main streets of Venice. People usually get around their city by boat. These boats are called Gondolas and they are fancy boats that are just for fun rides/tours around the canals.

There were not as many people in costume as in Viareggio, but here the costumes were much more extravagant. I am not sure how this lady fit down some of the streets! Many more people were wearing masks here, even people who weren't in costume wore masks.

This is my host father, Paolo, and his 8 year-old daughter, Martina.

These are some pretty ladies I saw that were having fun taking pictures and they asked me to be in a few too!

In the morning it was high tide so much of the main square, San Marco, was flooded, and even some of the shops were inaccessible! This is a main walkway where many shops and a few restaurants are. It was difficult to get around the city with the flooding and with so many people all around.

The streets of Florence.

There are always many people out and about Florence, walking, talking getting lunch or gelato. This is the square right next to the Duomo that I walk through everyday on my way to class.

Many people in Florence dress nice, all the time. This man looks like he is on his way to work. In the background there is a souvenir stand selling bags, and toys and other trinkets. There are people with small stands set up like this everywhere all over the city. You can barter for an item you want...There aren't always price tags on items and even if there are you can still ask for a lower price, sometimes they will sell you items for less than the price tag if you are stubborn enough. It is kind of like a game. I usually buy things in stores, but I do often stop to look at items that the street vendors are selling.

This is the Piazza Della Repubblica, it used to be the old Roman forum, or government center, during the time when the Romans controlled Florence about 1,500 years ago. I walk under this arch on my way to class. A Piazza is a square or open space where there are usually resturants and shops and sometimes large fairs are held here.

One thing I really like about walking around Florence is seeing many different buildings and big old wooden doors, like this one. This is the door to an apartment building. I wish my front door looked like this!

Viareggio Carnevale! Sunday February 7th 2010

This is a picture of one of the parade floats. The flowers and butterflies all moved. There is also a man in the middle of the float being the center part of the white butterfly, can you see him?

This is a family that dressed up as skunks! The baby skunk was about 2 years old and kept throwing confetti at us.

This is my housemate, Paige, who was dressed up as Sandy from Greese. She is modeling all of the confetti that was just thrown on her, again. People also sprayed us with silly string and shaving cream-like foam.

Here we are! These are my housemates (the other students staying with this one family) and our host father, Paolo. From left to right we have Paige, Lyndsey, Sara, Me, and Maggie. It is fun having many people living in one house because I never get lonely and it makes family outings much more fun!

So many places were selling these masks! Everywhere! There were big masks that could cover your whole face and little masks that just covered your eyes. Masks are typical of Carnevale season.

Carnevale in Viareggio, Italy

I was able to go up on a ferris wheel to get the picture of the whole street. Can you see the ocean in the background?

These are some pictures from my trip with my host Family to a beach town called Viareggio, which is about an hour West of Florence. There were many people there and it reminded me a little of The Keene Pumpkin Festival with all of the costumes and yummy food! But then there were these amazing parade floats! I have never seen such impressive floats before. They all had moving parts, music playing and people dancing on them! It was such a fun day! There were also many people dressed up like this cutie who was wearing some fuzzy costume. It was fun to see many families dressed alike, I saw a family of bees, a skunk family, ladybugs, dalmatians and many more costumes, but unlike Halloween these costumes weren't scary, mostly cute and funny. Our whole family dressed up. I was a Renaissance lady, my host father, Paolo, was a clown, my 12 year-old host sister, Catarina, was a disco dancer, and my 8 year-old host sister Martina was a Spanish dancer. The other students who lived in the house dressed up as Michael Jackson, Sandy from Greese, Tinkerbell, and a little girl. We had so much fun!

The Duomo

This is a picture of the Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore (or as we call it "The Duomo") the biggest church in Florence. The Duomo took 170 years to build!!! The dome of the cathedral is the biggest brick dome ever built and was the largest dome in the world until modern times. The whole building is covered in marble and statues. I walk by the Duomo everyday on my way to class and sometimes I sit on the steps in front of it and eat my lunch. I wish that a picture could do this building justice, but you will all just have to come see it for yourselves someday.

Gelato!

These pictures were taken when our host father, Paolo, brought us to get Gelato (ice cream) after dinner at the Piazzale Michelangelo. Gelato comes in many different flavors and there are little gelato shops everywhere in Florence. I love Gelato! The top picture is of me, Paolo, and some of the other students staying at the same house. Can you find me?

Fiesole

The picture to the left is of a little church at the very top of the hill. Inside the church there are all these artifacts from China and Egypt brought back by the Fiesole missionaries.The picture on the right is a view of the town of Fiesole. We heard the bell ringing all throughout the town and it was so pretty.