Part 2: Last European Vacation- Prague

Early in the morning on Friday, the 26th, my parents and I left to go to Prague. Prague was one of the places that I really wanted to visit while in Europe because I've heard a lot of great things about it and it is part of my family heritage. (I also wanted to go to Ireland to honor the Irish in me but was told by an Irish man at my hostel in Munich that this time of the year wasn't a good time to go up there.) My mom really wanted to go since her father is from there, and between the two of us, we were able to convince my dad that we should go.

On our first day in Prague we just simply walked around to see what was in the area, but first we stopped by a great Czech restaurant to eat lunch. For lunch I had a beef broth, chicken, potatoes, bread dumplings, and a Czech beer. SOO tasty! The bread dumplings tasted pretty similiar to my Baba's (grandma) dumplings so I was in heaven. My family and I enjoyed this restaurant so much that we went back for a second time the following day. Night quickly fell upon us as we were walking around the city and before we knew it we were ready to head back to the hotel due to the coldness. For dinner, we decided to eat at our hotel because they were offering a special at their French cuisine restaurant. We'd be able to order as many options as we wanted individually from a selected menu and have house drinks for 990 CZK, or about $50 for each person. At the time my parents and I did not fully understand the conversion rate (I understood more than them, of course). I was in heaven, and by the end, we got a good deal out of it. I think I went through 3 starters, 2 soups, 4 entrees, 1 dessert, and 4 glasses of various wine. Before you react, it is crucial to know that the portions were smaller than normal. I was able to order the food in any order that I wanted and as many times as I wanted. It may have been the best food I've had during my whole time in Europe. To top off our night, my parents got our room upgraded to a suite for free because they thought there wouldn't be enough room for all 3 of us to sleep comfortably in our smaller-than-normal double bed room. (All the beds in Europe are small so a double size bed is really just like a little wider than a twin). It was very helpful that my dad has special points with his frequent use of Sheraton hotels for business!

On Saturday we took a private tour to see the sights of Prague. We visited the Prague Castle (and other buildings within the complex like St. Vitus Catheral), Charles Bridge, Old Town Square, and Wenceslaus Square. The mosaic stained glass windows at St. Vitus are beautiful! They are the best that I've seen while over here. It was really cool to see where St. Wenceslaus is buried since that is the Catholic church I was brought up in throughout my childhood. On Sunday, my mom and I did what we know best; we shopped. We made a lot of souvenir purchases; it was a little hard to pack them all into our luggages. Possibly the most exiciting part about our Sunday was getting a white chocolate mocha at Starbucks. Rome doesn't seem to have any (not that I have found), and they were everywhere in Prague. I was overly excited to drink it and made me ache for America a little more.

Overall, Prague is a beautiful town. I'm curious to know if I would enjoy it more during nice weather. It was quite cold the whole time we were there. We even got to see their first snow fall of the season, which typically doesn't happen until January. I also think I would have enjoyed it more if I had gone at the beginning of my travels. At this point I am just simply burnt out. Everything looks the same and means the same thing. It is a place that I definitely want to visit again, though.

I'm counting down the days until I leave to go back to America. Only 19 to go! I'm excited and ready to be back. But at the exact same time I'm sad to be leaving such a great place. Wandering around in Omaha or Ames just isn't the same as wandering around in Rome. :-) This semester went by quickly, and I know that next semester, my last semester of college, will go by just as quickly. My plan for after college is to obtain an interior design related job. I'm open to moving anywhere at the moment, so you should talk to your friends and see if they'd be able to help me out! :-) Getting a "big girl job" will be an exciting chapter in my life, so needless to say, I'm really looking forward to it. Until then, I'll just continue to enjoy and embrace these last college moments that are flying before me.

Part 1: Parents in Rome

First off, I would like to apologize for the lack of blogging that I've been doing. I've had a busy past few weeks, but now it should be smooth coasting until the end of my time here in Rome. All I have left is to complete 2 projects for my mixed media studio and one last step to my semester long retail design studio project.

On the 20th my parents arrived in Rome. It was nice to see some new faces that I could actually communicate with here in Rome! While they were here, I gave them a basic tour of the city and showed them the tourist spots. The plan for the week was for them to tour the city on their own during the day while I attended class; at night time we would meet up for dinner. It worked out well for them to basically discover Rome on their own since I had my art history final to study for and a critique for my studio project in the middle of the week.

On Tuesday night, I surprised my dad by taking him and my mom to a soccer game (AS Roma vs. Munich Bayern)! The process to obtain these tickets wasn't like in the US. I had to go to a small office a week before to purchase them and convince them to sell me them even though my whole party wasn't present. Then, on each ticket they write down the ticketholder's birthday and male tickets cost more than female tickets. We ended up getting seats in the AS Roma fan section. My friend, who also went with her boyfriend, and I thought that the office had given us bad seats because they were higher up in the bowl of the stadium, but little did we know, they were actually fantastic seats!

It was relativaly easy to make our way to our section and seats. Once we were in our seats, there was no room to move because of the amount of people packed into the area. The AS Roma's fan section is unlike any other that I have seen before. They consistently cheered loudly throughout the whole match, jumping from one chant to the next with AS Roma scarves and flags swaying in the air. I was a little worried about how my mom would react to the crazy European scene, but she handled it quite well. Her one question she had for me was "Kelly, is marijuana legal here?" Yep, it sure is, and you could smell it everywhere. We were lucky enough to see AS Roma score a goal and the crowd's reaction to it. They go ballistic-- everyone screams and jumps on top of each other for an extended amount of time. Some people in the stands like of fireworks and different flares; there are also some smokebombs with the AS Roma colors. After being down 2-0 at halftime, AS Roma came back to win the game 3-2 with a penalty kick in the last 5 minutes. It was a fantastic atmosphere to be a part of and is unparallel to any sporting event in the United States. (Thanks Katie for the photos!)

On Thursday, for Thanksgiving, we went to see the necropolis underneath St. Peter's Basilica. I had booked tickets for us a few months ago to give us something special to do on Thanksgiving. Only about 200 people can go through the necropolis a day and is very hard to book during high tourist season. Down there we were able to see the excavations done below the church. Before St. Peter's existed the area was a giant cementary. We could see the different family tombs enriched with decorations of carvings, frescos, and mosaics. At the end of the tour, we were shown where St. Peter was buried, which is directly 3 layers below the high altar of St. Peter's Basilica. His bones have been moved throughout time and are currently placed in the same spot where the were found in the excavations, in a wall. Overall, it was a cool experience, but at this point, seeing one saint's bones seems just about the same as the next and crypts are all about the same, too. Don't get me wrong; it is very honorable and humbling seeing the bodies of various saints but to me, they are all equal and one isn't any more significant than the next.

Instead of participating in Black Friday shopping (since it doesn't exist in Europe, obviously), my mother and I went shopping after seeing the necropolis. I found 2 dresses and a skirt. It was the one time I've splurged this whole time in Europe, and I plan to do it again before I leave! :-) We ended our Thanksgiving day with a homecooked meal that I prepared. I made Italian chicken and dumplings. Sounds close to a typical Thanksgiving meal, right? Okay, so maybe it wasn't a normal Thanksgiving meal but it was very good! My parents were quite shocked to see me cooking and cleaning up after myself. I guess I'm not a kid anymore. Ha.

Italian Traveller

This past week I went to Milan, Venice, and Verona, Italy for a school field trip. It was six fun packed days of travel! But before I left for the field trip I got to celebrate Halloween here in Rome!

I've been known to come up with some pretty clever costumes for my sorority's house parties, but being in Rome threw quite the spin into my costume creativity. Halloween is only celebrated a little in Rome. I'd say it's currently at 1/3 of the American celebration. I saw kids dressed up as witches and devils but nothing too extensive. On Halloween defeat set in with no Hobby Lobby to run to to create a costume; I opted to go out that night as a cowgirl to the American bars. A mere 3 hours before the time we were going to head out an idea popped into my head to be pasta for Halloween! A hot glue gun was immediately pulled out and I grabbed noodles from the kitchen to create my costume. I stringed pasta noodles together to create a belt, bracelets, and a necklace. Additionally, I sewed tomatoes, onions, and garlic onto my necklace. For my headpiece, I cooked some spaghetti noodles. As those were cooking, I glued some noncooked spaghetti noodles onto a base. After the ball of noodles I cooked were cool and dry, I was able to glue them onto the base. My headpiece didn't last all night, but it was cute when it did!

Our first stop on the North Field Trip was to Milan. There I had the chance to see an opera, see showrooms, window shop, tour the Triennale, and tour some famous designers' studios! I loved seeing Castiglioni's studio. His daughter gave us a tour of it, and it seemed like he fun light hearted guy. I would have loved to meet him. Another highlight of my time in Milan was finding FALL! I've missed seeing the trees turn into their pretty fall colors; I don't see that in Rome because there aren't many trees near where I live, nor parks. Plus there is a lot of pollution in Rome. Blah. I managed to not buy anything in Milan. I figured it'd be best to return one day when I'd really be able to take advantage of the shopping around. :-)

The next stop was Venice. It didn't take long before I was in love with this town. Everything is so quiant, and it was nice to not see one car or bus. Sure, there are boats but it's easy to find yourself in an area without any. Here we learned the process of glass blowing and visited the Biennale. I also took a gondola ride with 5 other gals. It was SO peaceful! On the last night in town our class had a group dinner filled with Venitian food. That means I ate crawfish, squid, snails, scallops, and shrimp among many others. I've been working on my transition into liking seafood, and I think this dinner really helped! Infact, tonight I was craving some seafood. Here are two fansinating facts about Venice:

1. There are 495 gondolas in Venice. And I rode on one of them!
2. About 90% of the jobs in Venice are tourist related.

Our field trip officially ended in Venice, but Katie and I went continued our travels in Verona for another day. I was already quite tired from our adventures and could have easily been done without seeing Verona. My excitement for Verona stemmed from wanting to see Juliet's balcony. Katie and I recently watched Letters to Juliet prepare ourselves. Watching the movie before going led to disappoint, though, because they've recently renovated the brick walls where letters were once placed. Now, if they catch you trying to leave a letter you're fined 1,000 Euro! In a mere 10 minutes, my purpose for my visit in Verona was over. We spent the rest of the day touring the city-- churches, bridges, towers, etc. At this point in my European journey, a lot of these things look the same. We did manage to spend a lot of time in Castelvecchio. It's pretty nifty to say that I've toured a castle! All in all, after some hotel and transportation problems (to our hotel and to Rome), I was happy to return to Rome.

Now, I'm trying to focus on completing a lot of projects before Thanksgiving rolls around. My parents are coming to visit on the 20th. We're going to Prague on the 25th! I'm very excited to see them and for that trip, too!

Art History in Vatican City

My apologies for not posting in the past few weeks. Homework took control of my life for a little bit, but now most of the stuff has been turned in! We are now over the half way mark, and I've determined that my assignments can move to the back burner a little bit allowing some more time for extra fun. I currently have A's in all my classes-- that includes a 100% on my Made in Italy test, which was possibly my first 100% in college! It only took until senior year. :-)

On Wednesday we had a review day for our interior studio. The project was to redesign a museum into a lighting showroom. We had to develop an 'atmosphere' or concept in photos and then carry out that idea through our design. I toyed the idea around of creating an oversized lamp object to become part of the two story structure of my face. I see it as a light-hearted, interactive design. As I was nearing the final stages of completing this project my computer got attacked with a virus this past Friday. The virus wouldn't allow me to open any of my programs and use them. It definitely created a major hiccup in the completion of my project. So, on Saturday and Sunday I worked at school on their computers. On Monday, the IT guy that comes in every other day was able to remove it manually. However, I discovered later that all my licenses to use programs like Adobe Photoshop and Revit were removed; thus, I still can't use the important programs on my computer. I'm hoping to get that solved tomorrow. Anyways, my critique went over quite well and now I just have to make some minor adjustments for Monday's due date.

This past Friday I went on a night tour of the Vatican Museum with my art history instructor. She had put in the time and effort to take us along this tour outside of class time because it didn't fit in with our schedule well. The majority of the class ended up passing up their typical Friday night to attend this tour together. I think that really shows how much we LOVE our art history instructor. She spoils us with baked goods almost every week! Oh right, and the information that she shares about the pieces of art are very enticing, too. She can definitely speak about art very well to keep the average person's attention (non-design people). Touring the Vatican Museum at night provided a nice ambiance and made for a great evening. Unfortunately, I couldn't take pictures of the Sistine Chapel but I did get one of Raphael's The School of Athens, which displays a bunch of different philsophers like Plato and Aristotle in the center.

Do you notice how in the fresco the guy in the front and in purple stands out different from the rest of the figures? That's the philosopher Heraclitus. Heraclitus wasn't looked highly upon because he never finished a writing, was grumpy, and always kind of kept to himself. Raphael included him because he's actually giving a tribute to Michelangelo. At the same time when Raphael was painting his frescos in this room, Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel. One night Raphael went into the Sistine Chapel to spy on Michelangelo's work, which was a big no-no. Raphael wanted to show that he, too, can paint like Michelangelo so he placed this figure by using that technique and show homage to Michelangelo's work in the Sistine. Raphael also included his portrait as a face peeking out behind people on the lowe right side of the painting. I could go on and on about this piece and Raphael, but I'll resist.

Today for Art History we visited St. Peter's Basilica. It was my second time being inside of it and still was quite remarkable to see. Some quick fun facts about it are:

• La Pieta is not placed in its original location and before 1972 you were able to physically touch it and admire it up close.
  
• Mary is shown as a young woman in La Pieta and not at the right age she would have been at the time (near 50 years old). She is also displayed in a much larger proportion than Christ to help emphasize his fragility.





• In the crossing, there are 4 large statues of saints completed by 4 different artists. Three of them appear to be cohesive while the last one done by Bernini appears to be softer looking. Upon closer examination one can see that he left his statue unfinished, without a polish placed over it.


• St. Peter's Basilica is 10 stories tall along the nave and 15 stories tall in the dome area, but there is still a sense of closeness due to the same materials and colors being used on all parts of the interior.

Things are now quite regular here. I have to remind myself that I'll be going home soon and I need to bask in as much as possible! On Tuesday we leave for our North Field Trip. We'll be staying in Milan for two nights and in Venice for another two. On Saturday Katie and I are extending our trip by going to Verona (the location of Romeo and Juliet). The weather is chilly here now with being in the low 60s. Next week might finally be the time where I'll have to start wearing a jacket. I've been okay in sweaters so far. I can't complain-- it's much better than the weather that is happening back in the Midwest. :-)

Happy Halloween! This is a picture of real children's bones and other human bones around it as decoration. Over 4000 friar bodies were placed in this crypt known as "The Bone Church". It was eerie but cool!

What do I want to do before I leave Rome?

Have you ever watched the show on MTV called "The Buried Life"? It's a TV show about 4 guys traveling across America to complete their list of 100 things they want to do before they die. For every item that they complete on their list, they help a stranger out with something that they want to do before they die. I love the show because it combines comedy and emotion in almost every episode. Their show has inspired me to create a list of things that I'd like to do before I leave Rome/Italy/Europe. In no particular order...

1. Learn how to make 10 different sauces for pasta. (I believe I'm up to 7.)
2. Visit Prague.
3. See the Pope.
4. Give money/food to the homeless man that I see nearly everyday twice-a-day on my walk to/from studio.
5. Leave a mark and/or message on something somewhere in Rome.
6. Become Facebook friends with Simona and Raphael. They're the people that work at my gelato place.
7. Get "swept off my feet" by an authentic Italian guy.
8. Find and purchase all my Christmas gifts.
9. Visit the Catacombs.
10. People watch on the metro for an extended period of time (without having a destination to travel to).
11. Make at least one over-the-top purchase on an article of clothing.
12. Finish my projects early (aka not have an all-nighter).
13. Start to establish where I want to look for a job and what type of job.
14. See rain come through the hole of the Pantheon's ceiling.
15. Get free gelato from the Frigidarium. With all the income that they're getting from me, I think I deserve it.
16. Attend an European football/soccer game. My family will disown me if I don't.

I talk about my weekends and travel experiences a lot in my entries, so you might be wondering how is my life in Rome is actually going. I've found that I have a lot of down time. If I'm not in class, then I'm at my apartment occupying my time by finding meaningless stuff on the internet. Typically in Ames, I go from class to work to sorority activities to club activities and then do homework for x amount of hours before bed. I'm jut not used to having so much extra time.

Classes are going well. In my mixed media class I am working on an altered book. Basically it is an artistic scrapbook about our time in Italy. I made my cover to look like a really worn out book and it is pretty cool! In my studio class we are currently redesigning a current historic museum space into a lighting showroom. We just presented ideas/atmospheres to our instructors today and soon will be putting them into Revit! I'm really excited to work with my idea; it is a bit extreme (like utopia architecture) but I think it'll come together nicely in the end. I've already mentioned that I love my art history class. Seeing what is being taught about in person is 100 times better than slides. And then my fourth and last class I have is Made in Italy; it's just a typical lecture class...nothing too exciting.

My time is Europe is just about half way over. This coming Monday will mark two months of being overseas. I've become real settled here in Rome, and I feel like I've lived here for much longer. I am just now starting to discover the things that I truly love about the area that I live in. There's a gorgeous giant fountain (2-3 stories tall) in the building complex next to my apartment. Via Governo Vecchio is my favorite street to walk along. It's quaint and filled with great shops and famous tourist attractions (only the hardcore tourists, the ones that have done research, come along here). The buildings all boast a lot of lively character. As much as I hate the 74 steps that I climb up and down every time I leave my apartment, I secretly love them since it is a situation that I'll probably never encounter again after leaving Rome.

I can't believe my time here is nearly half over; it has flown by. I imagine the next half will go by just as quickly. I do already think about what life will be like when I return back to the States. So much has changed and is changing at home and in Ames; it'll be interesting to see how things pan out. Oh, and let's not forget the fact that next semester will be my last semester in college! I can't believe how quickly that is approaching. As a child and teen, graduating from college always seemed so far away. Now that it is approaching, it seems like just yesterday I was that teen thinking about how long it'd be until I was out in the "real world".

Oh life. It's always an adventure full of successes and failures. And to think, at any one moment it can be over. I've really started to notice this with all of the deaths that have been occuring at ISU. So I have to ask you... What do you want to do before you die?

Cinque Terre-ific

When Katie and I travelled before heading to Rome, we used a Eurail pass to get around. Because of the type of pass we bought, we had 6 travel days to use within 2 months. During our pre-school travelling, we only ended up using 4 days so we had 2 left to use. Since time is winding down now in our 2 month limit, we figured it'd be best to use them. Thus, we decided on making two day trips-- one to Cinque Terre and one to Florence next weekend.

Cinque Terre stands for 5 towns and is located along the coast more north than Rome. It's attraction to tourists is the ability to hike between the 5 little towns. They offer different trails with some being more rigorous than others. We opted to take the scenic trail along the coast line.

The hike between the first town and the second was a quick and painless one. It merely lasted 20 minutes and had a paved sidewalk throughout. I was anticipating on this "hike" being a little more authentic than just walking along a paved sidewalk. So at this point I was a little bummed. I was also bummed that the second to third town hike was currently closed off due to a possibility of a landslide. Bummer. So this part of the hike turned into a crammed train ride and within being at Cinque Terre for 45 minutes, we were already at the third town.

Lucky for me, the hike between the third and fourth town was more authentic. There were steep inclines, narrow paths, crossing over little streams, branches in the way, etc. I loved every minute of it. I got to see spectacular views, reflect the situations I've been encountering, and get a great workout. (My legs are still sore 2 days later.) At the fourth town, Katie and I took a break for lunch. I opted to get a pesto lasagna since Cinque Terre is known for their pesto. It was decent; I think the restaurant was more of a tourist trap with overpriced items for what they distributed. Oh well... you win some and you lose some.

At this point Katie wanted to be done with hiking, but I wanted to continue since it was what we came here to do. Plus, I really wanted to make it to the last town for the thought of accomplishment. We decided to part ways, and I would continue to hike, turn around half way and meet her back in the fourth town. This part of the hike ended up giving me the best view yet on the trail so I'm glad I went! When I neared the time of when I'd have to turn around and make my way back, I really wanted to keep going and make it to the last town. I had already gotten about half way there. I would have cut it close with time though, and I didn't want to worry Katie, so I made my way back knowing that the fifth town will have to wait until another time.

While in Cinque Terre, I did notice one odd thing. I heard more American English in Cinque Terre than I've heard during the rest of my time here. Had I not known better, I would have thought I was in city in the United States with tourists from other countries coming there. It was a bit bothersome to hear so much; it made my head hurt. Cinque Terre is definitely an American tourist attraction.

I do recommend going. We saw people of all ages and sizes there! Therefore, anyone can complete it! Quite a few women were complaining to their husbands though about the trek and had to make frequent stops. Rather comical. MANY MANY uneven stairs, but the views and workout make it all worth it in the end.

This coming Saturday we're going to head to Florence for the day. On Sunday there are 6 people being canonized (becoming saints) in the Catholic church so I'm going to go scope out the Vatican City and hope to view the ceremony for that.

Katie DeSchepper, not Katie Ledin

To all my SK sistas:

It seems there has been some confusion regarding my blog posts. When I mention "Katie", I am talking about my roommate Katie DeSchepper, not Katie Ledin. Unfortunately, Katie Ledin lives quite a distance away from me and is another studio room so we don't constantly see each other. Katie Ledin, Lisa, and I are lucky enough to have our art history class together, so it is always great to see their faces there and chit chat about Sigma Kappa stuff. No worries, I keep them updated on things.

We miss you all! Best of luck with initiation and homecoming!