Here is what's new!

Today is going to be a busy week (as usual), but I am going to be proactive with my time. I have lots of little errands I need to run, and I want to get everything done before I leave for Dublin, Ireland (which the planned GU trip for our Spring break). I also have a huge Operations test right after my vacation to Malta, so I want to study ahead of time so I don't have to stress as much.

I ended up getting my philosophy of art test back today- and unfortunately I did not do as well as I had wanted, but what can you do?! I got a B- on the test, which isn't horrible but I would like a better overall grade. He said that he would read my drafts for my future essays so that I can improve my grade. I sure hope so!






I am a little bit more confident about how I did on my finance test, because I compared some answers with some friends after the test, and it looks like I made a couple errors, but nothing drastic. Oh man, why do I have to worry about school while I am abroad?

Soo... on a more positive note, I am currently planning a trip to San Francisco to visit my friend Georgina. The tentative dates are May 11-18 or 20th, and I just talked to my good friend Hayley and she said she was interested in going as well, so hopefully she can get the time off of work. I can't wait! I want to go in May because my two nannying jobs start the following month, so I don't want to take any more additional time off of work because I am incredibly low on cash at this point.

I am very glad to have my two jobs firmly established though. I am going to work for the girls again (Olivia, Stella, and Ava) on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays for the whole day and then Thursdays and Fridays I will work with Owen and Will for the whole day as well. I am so excited! I love working with kids. I was hoping to get an internship, which is still a possibility, but most internships are unpaid and I definitely need to make some money this summer. I can always do an internship in Spokane while I am in school. It will be stressful, but I want to make sure I get some experience with my major before I embark on a full time job out of college.



Well, that's pretty much it for me today. I have Italian Conversation class next, lunch, a little break, and then a 3 hour management and organization class. After class, Georgina and I are going to work out. We are trying to work out at least 3-4 days a week, and its great to have a buddy to work out with so we can keep each other accountable.

Ciao!

Updates

Today I am going to a Soup Kitchen! I signed up once a week at 11:40 for the rest of the semester. I couldn't be more excited! I will post about my experience later...

I have to start packing for Paris today and then Cierra and I are leaving tomorrow afternoon after lunch. We leave out of Pisa so we will have to take the train or bus first, and then we are off! I come back later in the evening on Sunday and then I have a test in Management and Organization the next day. Chris comes around 1:00 on Monday, so hopefully he will be pretty jet lagged because I have to study for another test in Principles of Finance on Tuesday. Should be a busy, but amazing week!


I hope all is well with everyone!

Ciao!

PS- I have attached various pictures I have taken around Florence. Enjoy :)

The concept of being "alone"

This is a very odd and rare weekend for me because I am here, practically alone in Florence. Yes, yes, there are people here staying for the weekend but none of my close friends. You might think that this is the perfect time to "branch" out and meet new people but I am hesitating doing this. Why? Keep reading...

All my friends know me as a very outgoing and extroverted person. However, people who do not know me often think I am somewhat shy and reserved. What gives? Although I am always down for meeting new people and being social, I often am scared to make that "first move." I have been forced especially to do that here in Europe having not come with any good friends. Although I have met some amazing people, I have noticed that I haven't "bonded" with a lot of my peers here for whatever reason. That is, until a couple weeks ago...

It always seems that people come into your life when you least expect it. One primary example is my current boyfriend, Chris, who pretty much just "popped" into my life just weeks before I left for school. Although we knew that it seemed crazy to jump into anything serious, we knew after our first date that something just "clicked." I think this is the same for potential good friends as well... something just "clicks" and there is a certain moment when you think "Wow, I think we could become good friends..." This past semester I was almost fighting to find these "close friends" that I could have a connection with. However, something didn't feel right and I was pushing it thinking something was wrong with me. I think that I had the wrong perception because friendships evolve naturally and cannot be forced. I have a lot of friends here in Florence, but the good friends are far and few. I am lucky to say I bonded with my past room mate, Lillian, who is now back in school in Texas. Also, I have bonded to a certain extent with Cierra, Emma, and Annie. They are all amazing girls that I have spent lots of time with, and for that I am grateful.

Going off my thoughts from above, a couple weeks ago I met Georgina (who I went to Brugges with) on Christmas tour. She was one of two new students who attended the tour. I could never do that; going into something where you know you'll know absolutely NO one. I give her props for that for sure. We bonded immediately, and although we have had our ups and downs already, we have established a close friendship that I perceive will last. Soon after the trip ended and I was situated back in Florence, I met Jessie, who is one of the sweetest persons I have ever met. Immediately we got along great and soon enough Georgina, myself and Kristin (who was visiting last weekend) hung out for almost the entire weekend. I am lucky enough to say I think I have found two new potentially great friends! I am definitely glad I have stuck it out for the year, because I would never have guessed the things in store for me to come. I am still in wonder...

Now back to the concept of being "alone". Sadly enough, I pretty much am "alone" this weekend. Annie and Emma are off in Rome visiting a friend, Cierra is spending this weekend with her boyfriend who has been here for two weeks, and my new friends Georgina and Jessie are on their opening tour in Rome with the rest of the new Spring students. Although I know a few people staying here for the weekend, none of them have followed through with hanging out. I have done the efforts- texted, facebooked, and called a few of them asking if they want to go to dinner. I only heard a response from two people. One friend said he would call me when he finalized dinner plans... its 7:00 and I haven't heard from him. Another person when asked what they are doing for dinner simply responded, "I don't know..." with no follow through as to what I was doing. If you were to ask me 6 months ago what an evening like this would do to me I would probably be devastated and in tears because I felt I had no friends. Over dramatic? You bet, but as a very social person mixed with sensitivity... I often can't help but over analyze the fact that these so called "friends" decided not to answer or follow through with plans personally. I constantly make the effort to hang out with new people, but unfortunately I find that more often than not, they rarely show true interest in hanging out or getting to know me for whatever reason. Florence is not the first time for this kind of trouble for me. In High school I experienced a similar hard time being apart of the cheer squad, and again my freshman year of College, trying to fit in and almost forcing friendships with the girls on my floor.

What is the point to all my rambling? The point is I think I am finally becoming at peace with myself... just being alone and taking time to reflect on the week, things on my mind; or as I say "whateves!" This is a vast improvement for me because I am definitely not the introverted type like my mom, and I almost loathe being by myself. I feel restless and agitated and, well, I feel like a loser to be honest. Although I have made efforts to hang with friends tonight, I have chosen that I will not get hung up on the idea that if the don't call me back or contact me in some way, that I won't take it to heart. People are mainly just concerned with themselves, and because they are not good friends of mine, what obligation do they have to me? Depressing sounding, I know, but I have learned that real friendships come naturally and if they aren't meant to be, they just aren't meant to be.

I think I am going to spend the evening watching some sex and the city episodes, and perhaps start homework (although I doubt it because I forgot to take my adderall today and its the weekend, come on... haha)

Ciao Ragazzi!

A few of the pictures taken above are from last week on my visits to Perugia, Assisi, and Sienna. I thought they were all very peaceful and serene..enjoy!

Daily frustrations

Tomorrow I am leaving for Bosnia and Croatia and will not be back until later Sunday evening. If you guys want to reach me, you can always call my international phone, otherwise I am assuming I will not have any internet access.

Today has been pretty frustrating because when I went to check my mail today I noticed that the package that was supposed to have my replacement battery for my International phone was stolen. I am so pissed! Attached to the empty package was a note in Italian saying that the package was empty and they did not give any instructions with what to do otherwise. Federica (a GIF member) called the post office and talked to some staff member in Italian who she claimed was an absolute idiot because she said there was no one to blame and that the post office is not at fault. Federica then asked what the procedure was to report stolen items and the lady did not even know. So anyways... I am going in a bit to talk to Federica again and she is going to help me figure out what to do with the package and perhaps get another replacement battery. I don't mind waiting for right now, but for Russia (my Christmas trip) I will definitely need an international phone. The phones they sell here only work for Italy. BUMMER

Well that's about all that going on right now. I am going to go shopping for some warm things for winter with Cierra. She is going to get a winter jacket and perhaps I can find some heavy snowy weather socks for Russia. It is going to be so cold!

CIAO!

What's going on in my life

On Wednesday at 1:40, the Gonzaga group and I are going to go to Bosnia and Croatia for the weekend. I am very excited- and I have no idea what to expect!

Right now I am on a small break during my World Economics Class. I am a bit worried for our final because he is just going to give us a couple key words and we are supposed to just write about 3-5 pages in class about the topics. It is very general and not specific at all, which drives me nuts. I want to be able to prepare, and he is not narrowing down the topics or keywords at all. OH well. I guess I will just ramble about world issues and hopefully get a good grade.

I can't believe that the semester is almost over! It has definitely flown by so quickly. It has been a very dramatic semester with lots of tribulations and trials, but I think the positives outweigh the negatives. It has been hard adjusting thus far, but I am finally finding my place here in Florence. I am glad that I decided to stay for the rest of the year.

Today, Chelsea, Lillian (the current roomie), and Emma planned out our flight to London which we are going to take the weekend before finals. Sounds like a crazy thing to do, but I think I have a handle on exactly what I need to study. Luckily one of my finals (for Phil) is just a paper that I will turn in so I will not have an actual test to study for. My friend Chelsea has a friend studying abroad in London so we are going to visit her while we are there as well. We are still figuring out the hostel situation- but I am stoked for our trip! We will be leaving on the 11th of December and getting back on the 14th during the evening. Yay! :-D

In today's edition of the "Ciao" we received a link to a newspaper article that a current Gonzaga student published. Her name is Kaitlyn Warter and she actually contacted me on facebook and asked me to give my opinion on a few matters regarding the study abroad program. Here is the link for the article: (make sure to see my quote!).

OK, so another random thing going on in my life; our room smells like rotten brocolli. I wish I was joking- but it seriously reaks. Apparently because our toliet gets rid of most of the water every time we flush, it is directly connected to the basement sewage where food particles are commonly found. This creates an unbearble, pungent smell of either mushrooms or brocolli. All I know is whenever I smell it, I want to puke.

So another thing you might not know is that Lillian and I have volunteered to help out with the annual GIF Christmas party. We are going to be in charge with the decorations and the music. I can't wait! The party is going to be held on December 9th in the evening and it includes a nice meal with an apertivo and a four-course meal located in a beautiful, Christmas-y Villa. It will be a "last hurah" for many of the semester-only students and I love Christmas so I am sure that it will be a very fun and festive occasion as well :). The tickets are generally 40 euro, but Gonzaga is going to pay half of the ticket for us students, so we only have to pay 20 euro. The proceeds of the event are going to a charity called Soup Kitchen and Casa Famiglia; and a lot of the money that is raised comes from raffle ticket prizes that are donated by parents. A few gifts that have been donated are gift baskets, money towards a weekend trip, or museum tour visits.

Well that's about all that's new going on in my life. I am so happy Chris and I are back together. Hopefully he will still be able to visit in February. That would be amazing!

Ciao!

Onto Roma!

Hey everyone...

As you know I recently broke up with my boyfriend, but things are looking more hopeful by the day. I think we just needed a week or so off just to think over things and decide what we really want to do. This morning we talked for about half an hour and clarified somethings going on, and we thought it was best to sleep on it for a day or two and come to a final decision. If you want more details, feel free to ask me. I am just in a very happy place at this point, and I am hoping for the best.

Yesterday, the Intro to Florence group and I went to the San Marco Museum which is an old convent that was funded by Cosimo il Vecchio. He hired Fra Angelico to paint most of the frescoes inside the convent, and they are absoloutely beautiful! This was definitely one of my favorite tours. My parents liked visiting it too when they were here.

So tomorrow I am going to Roma for the weekend! I am stoked! I am going with the Gonzaga group. Unlike all the other weekend trips so far, this one is a small group of us, about 40 people I believe. I am excited to see the Colasseum as well as the Sistine Chapel. I am going to be looking out for Michelangelo's Angels in the Sistine chapel (they are so cute!). Here is a picture of them to your left.

I am very glad to be done with school this week. It wasn't a particularly hard week of school or anything, but since I am been so emotionally drained with stress, I am really looking forward to a fun filled weekend.

Well thats about all I have for now. I am going to go and eat lunch in about an hour at the pensione, and then I will probably start packing.

Arrivederci Ragazzi!

When one door closes, another opens

As cliche as my blog title sounds, it really is words to live by. I believe that everything does happen for a reason and even though I seem to be in an unbearable, painful state, I know that it will lead to something better in the end. I just have to be patient and open to whatever is in my future.

So many of my friends and family have come to my aid during this difficult time. I have a great support system, and I am so thankful for that.

A few days ago I was actually considering going home at the end of the semester. Things were getting to such a point that I didn't see myself staying here and pushing on through. After thinking about it for a few days, I realized that I am in Europe for a reason and there is a greater purpose that is meant to be discovered. Although I am not sure what that is right now, I am sure I will look back on this time in my life as a period of growth and maturity. At least that is the hope...

and for all my friends: "Friends are like four leaf clovers; hard to find and lucky to have"

Things just keep getting harder...

This weekend has been great for the most part, but it has been filled with sad emotions.

As most of your probably know by now, I broke up with the boyfriend a few days ago. It was very hard on me, and I am still very depressed about it, but deep down I know it was the best decision for both of us. If you want to know details about what happened, I would be happy to share, I just don't think it is appropriate to talk about on this setting.

With that said, I have just not been up for blogging lately. I have been so down that I have nothing really to say except how sad I have been. I had a great weekend for the most part because Martha and Tara visited and stayed in my pensione. We went shopping yesterday, and I showed them a lot of the pretty churches around Florence. We also had delicious meals together as well. My favorite new restaurant in all of Florence is called Club Paradiso, which is located on the other side of the arno about 3 bridges down. It is quite the schlep as I like to call it, but it was so worth it.

The meal consisted of 4 dishes for just a set price of 15 euro. Wine bottles were only 5 euro each as well. I had bruchetta, tortellini with spinach and ricotta, roast chicken, and roast potatoes. I was so stuffed by the end of the meal! We met some local Italians too at the restaurant. This place is extremely authentic and there were no tourists at all so we knew it was legit. I would definitely recommend it for all those who are visiting or my fellow students abroad.

Well I will post later when I feel up for it. A big shout out to my friends and family who have been amazing to me the past few days. I don't know how I could survive without your love and support!

A wrap up of my parents weekend and current news

Things have settled down into their normal rhythym again after my parents have left. The end of the semester is already coming so quickly, I can't believe it!

I thought that I might talk about a few of the things me and my parents did that I didn't have a chance to in previous posts. On Saturday night me and my parents went to the most fabulous Restaurant called "Osteria del Cinghiale Bianco". They are famous for their wild boar dishes. This restaurant was raved about by my cousin Carolyn, who visited Florence not too long ago with her boyfriend Mitch after they both graduated law school. She said to make sure to go there while I was over here, and so I thought it would be a perfect place to take my parents. We ended up getting two of the dishes she recommended; my dad got the spaghetti with tomato wild boar sauce which was absoloutely amazing. I was a bit skeptical about trying it at first (just because its boar haha) but it tasted just slightly different than ground beef. My mom got the ricotta and spinach dumplings with a butter sauce. Those were also very tasty. I ended up getting a pesto pasta which was out of this world. It had a very strong basil flavor which I love.

On Sunday morning before Lucca my parents and I went to the Bargello museum which has a lot of famous sculptures. A few of them were done by the great Michelangelo himself! Unfortunately I was not able to take pictures except inside the courtyard, so feel free to check those out on facebook.

Today I am going to be spending the day pretty much just catching up from the past week and maybe taking a nap and working out. Nothing too exciting. My friend Martha is visiting this weekend from Amsterdam with her friend she met on her studying abroad trip named Tara. I am so excited to see her! She is spending a few days in other parts of Italy before Florence, so she will take a train from Pisa this Friday and will be at my pensione around 1:15. The plan is to go to lunch and who knows what else from there. Technically I am supposed to have classes this Friday to make up for one of the days we will be gone on the Thanksgiving Bosnia and Crotia trip however a lot of teachers are just canceling class. My philosophy teacher pretty much canceled class on Friday, as well as my marketing teacher. My econ professor does not seem even aware that we are supposed to have class on Friday so I am pretty sure he will just not show up. That only leaves Italian and Intro to Florence. Doesn't sound like too bad of a make up day, huh? And that way I can spend the rest of the afternoon freely with Martha and Tara. (Let's hope I don't have to go to Econ!) :) To your left is a picture of me and Martha taken last year.

Also for those that know what is going on with my Grandfather-- he is getting very weak and sick, so my family and I could definitely use your prayers with this whole situation. He has lived a great life but its very sad to watch him go. This is hard time for all of us.

Last few days with parents

Today marks the last day of my parents' visit. It will be sad to see them go, but it has been so nice to have them hear the past ten days. We have definitely taken advantage of Florence to the extreme- we have toured almost every museum and we have visited the important landmarks and churches. I think my mom might even come over again next semester if she can. That would be awesome!

We were not able to go to the restaurant we originally wanted to go to called La Toscana, but we ended up finding a nice little trattoria in the San Lorenzo area. I had a dish called "Quattro Formaggio Gnocchi" and my dad had an Italian Sausage dish with kidney beans. It was really good! My mom just had a classic Italian salad. It was a lovely way to conclude their visit.

Overall today has been a pretty low key day; I was able to sleep in until almost eleven, and then my parents met me at my pensione and my dad showed me how to burn all my pictures onto cds. He says it is very important to back up all my pictures on cds in case my computer breaks, or whatever else that could go wrong with it. Good thinking dad ;). After my dad showed me how to do that, we all walked over to the Piazza della Repubblica and stopped at a local sandwich shop/ristorante and me and my dad each got a delicious sandwich. Mine was prosciutto cotto which is cooked ham and it had mozzerella and olive oil and basil. My dad got a proscuitto crudo (which is raw ham meat) wrap with similiar ingredients and his was warmed up. Then me and my mom went our seperate ways to go on a little shopping adventure. I ended up getting some nice perfume at Coin, which is known as the "Macy's" of Florence. I had never heard of it until today- it was definitely a huge department store! I also got a cute white wintery hat. After looking around some more, I ended up getting another 5 euro pashmina scarf (they are the best) and a few more accessories. I would say it was a successful shopping day for sure :). My mom was able to get her last minute gifts to take back home.


Yesterday my parents and I went to the famous little town of Lucca. It was a nice break from the loud and noisy Florence atmosphere. It was significantly smaller than Florence, but it had a lot of nice little restaurants and shops. After we got off the 2 hour train ride, we ran into my friend Brian and his dad who were spending the day in the city as well. I invited them to lunch, and we embarked on a cute little Italian restaurant and had some authentic food. My mom and I split a thin crust pizza with tomato sauce and mozzerella and salami. Amongst the five of us we split some vino rosso (which is red wine). It was pretty tasty!

In addition to Lucca's good shopping tastes, and I was told from a few friends to make sure to rent some bikes and take them up to the path that lines the walls of the city. Lucca is surrounded by walls on all sides of the city; the trail is about 2.5 km around and it kind of reminded me of Seattle's 'Green-lake' for all those who have been there. My parents and I ended up renting a few bikes for an hour and we had a great time just exploring the city and going around the trail. Lucca has a lot more trees than Florence, so the changing of the leaves was absoloutely gorgeous.

Well I am in the midst of preparing for my minimum wage presentation... fun fun! I'll post later :)

Buonasera!

A tour to Piazza della Signoria, Davanzati Palace, Orsanmichele, and Dante's area

Today me and the Intro to Florence group went to the Piazza Della Signoria, which is located near the fake statue of David, and the Uffizi Museum. We learned a little background of the Piazza while we stood in the center of it. We learned that all Ghibelline tower houses were destroyed after their defeat in 1267. It was created by Arnolfo di Cambio, and it was originally built to house the Signoria or government of Priors (Priori). We are currently learning about all these people and the history of the government in class. Next we ventured to the Signoria's Loggia. This project was traditionally attributed to Andrea Orcagna.

We then walked over to the Palazzo Davanzati, which was currently under restoration, so the entrance view was waived. It smelled like rubber cement in the whole building because they are cleaning the wood to depose of termites. Yuck! I thought the mini tour of this Palace was very interesting though. The palace contained all its original furniture and artwork. The second story consisted of a main room with holes in the floor to watch the customers entering the shop downstairs. It also housed a portable safe with a very elaborate lock (see picture). We learned about how to tell which era the furniture came in based on the wood structure and colors. Pretty cool :) Like for example, the bed in the picture above is in the Baroque period because you can see the transition to using gold which means it was done in the 16th century.


Next we ventured onto Orsanmichele which initially had a small church in this area built during the Lombard period (c. 700). The interior of this church was gorgeous- one can tell that this was not born a church since there is no central nave like the other churches in Florence. (see picture). The exterior was awesome too; during the first twenty years of the 15th century the 7 major guilds and 7 of the 14 minor guilds decorated the exterior niches of Orsanmichele with statues of their patron saints. Here is a picture of a sculpture I took outside the church.

Towards the end of the tour we went to the Palazzo dell'Arte della Lana. The Lana Guilt or "Arte della Lana" was one of the wealthiest of the 7 major guilds. Lastly we went to Dante's Neighborhood. We saw the Torre della Castagna, or Chestnut Tower. It was the meeting place of Guild directors (Priors) to judge and deliberate on the most difficult problems in the guild corporations. See picture on your left :) Just down the street was the Santa Margherita dei Cerchi, which was Beatrice's Portinari's parish church. Beatrice was Dante's long lost love-- as learnt in class. He always had a spiritual kind of love for her, but back then marriages were prearranged and they both ended up marrying other people, although he always truly loved her. It made me sad to think that marriages a lot of times were not out of love. I am glad things are not the same anymore! Apparently marriages were prearranged until the early 20th century. Yeesh!

That pretty much concludes the tour for the day in a nutshell. I hope you enjoyed some of the history (thanks to my notes and handout from my Professor Carrara). The rest of the day will probably be spent catching up on homework and emails and such. I got my web cam to work, so I got to see Chris for the first time since I have left for Europe. It was very nice!

Midterms are over! woohoo!

I couldn't be happier that the weekend is finally here. Midterms always really stress me up, so its very relieving that they are over and I'll (hopefully) have less heavy of a load of schoolwork for awhile. Timing couldn't be more perfect for my parents visit. They wanted to come after midterms so that I would have time to tour all of Florence with them! (good call mom and dad!). They are leaving for the airport around 11:30 (their time). By the time they switch flights from Amsterdam to Florence and take a taxi from the airport, they will probably get to the hotel around 2:00 pm my time. What a long day for them! I bet they will be very jet lagged. I definitely was when we flew into Germany a couple months ago. Hopefully they will have enough energy to go out to dinner! Me, Annie, Lillian (and her mom), and my parents are all planning on going out to eat a nice, Italian dinner on Halloween! What am I doing after? No idea! Like I said... Halloween is not really popular here. It was so funny though, because two of my fellow peers dressed up for the occasion today at school. My friend Kelly dressed up as Santa Claus (or Babbo Natale in Italiano) and my friend Ryan dressed up as Michael Phelps. How creative! I didn't bring any costumes... haha oh well!

I am pretty hungry right now!! We are having our last prepared meal of the weak until Monday. I wonder what it's going to be! Lillian and her mom are going to a sit-up meal for lunch and then we are going to San Lorenzo where the open market shopping is, where Lillian's mom is going to get some cheap Christmas gifts for friends/family back home. I have been to San Lorenzo lots of times, but it never gets old! It really displays the typical Florentine atmosphere. After that, we might go to the Bozart (sp) Gardens that Florence is famous for. Hopefully the weather holds up because it has been so random lately! One minute it will be downpour, lightening/thundering and then the next it will be super sunny. Reminds me of Seattle except less muggy/warm.

I will post all about my adventures with my parents come tomorrow and the rest of the weekend!

The picture above is of me and Lillian!
Also I attached a picture of the well-known San Lorenzo church and it also shows part of the open air market that I am going to today! As we learned in my Intro to Florence class, it is the first Cathedral in Florence. :0)Also I researched some extra info about the church from Wikepedia: The Basilica di San Lorenzo (Basilica of St Lawrence) is one of the largest churches of Florence, Italy, situated at the centre of the city’s main market district, and the burial place of all the principal members of the Medici family from Cosimo il Vecchio to Cosimo III. It is one of several churches that claim to be the oldest in Florence; when it was consecrated in 393[1] it stood outside the city walls. For three hundred years it was the city's cathedral before the official seat of the bishop was transferred to Santa Reparata. San Lorenzo was also the parish church of the Medici family. In 1419, Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici offered to finance a new church to replace the eleventh-century Romanesque rebuilding. Filippo Brunelleschi, the leading Renaissance architect of the first half of the fifteenth century, was commissioned to design it, but the building, with alterations, was not completed until after his death. The church is part of a larger monastic complex that contains other important architectural works: the Old Sacristy by Brunelleschi; the Laurentian Library by Michelangelo; the New Sacristy based on Michelangelo's designs; and the Medici Chapels by Matteo Nigetti.

A visit to the Restoration Workshop in Firenze

Today me and my Intro to Florence group went to see the restoration site of several famous Florentine works. We got to see the original door of the bapistry of the Duomo and also the statue of Jeremiah by Donatello (see picture). It was really interesting! According to Thinkquest.com, many of Donatello's masterpieces are located in Florence. Some of these masterpieces include: St. Peter, St. Mark, Zuccone, St. George and the Dragon, St. John the Evangelist, Magdalen, and Angel with Tambourine. Other pieces considered to be some of his finest work are: Herod's Feast, St. Louis of Toulouse, St. Peter, St. Anthony, an equestrian statue called Gattamelata, and Jeremiah. A lot of his sculptures were Renaissance breakthroughs. David, for one, was the first nude statue of the Renaissance, and the equestrian statue, Gattamelata, was considered to be one of the best proportioned sculptures ever. In Donatello's Gothic style he used expressive ugliness to give the statue a life of its own. He used a powerful realism that gives his statues a distinct look.


It is going to be weird not really celebrating Halloween this year! Americans definitely decorate wayore than the Florentines. In America there is usually lots of carved pumpkins outside and decorations in stores and houses. In Florence you are lucky to see any decorations in any of the stores! I have noticed that there is some decorations in more touristy shops, but that's about it. My mom is going to be bringing me some Halloween candy though, so I am pretty stoked about that. One thing I really do is miss carving pumpkins! That is always a family tradition in the Maher family-- and my dad always cooks the seeds and salts them. So yummy! I wonder if me and my parents are going to do anything special for Halloween. Lillian's mom is here until Sunday, so we were thinking of having a family dinner on Friday or Saturday night. That should be pretty fun!

In the Ciao (our daily Gonzaga email newsletter), we heard the annoucement that we can actually choose our room mates for the Christmas tour. I am pretty excited about this, because usually they randomly assign us. But hey, it has its benefits too! Thats how I got to know my current room mate, Lillian! ANYways, so me and my friend Cierra are going to room together in our first location, Copenhagen, and then perhaps mix it up for Sweden. In St. Petersburg, there are four person rooms so I think we are going to try to room with a couple of our other friends too. We will see! I am really looking forward to the Christmas tour, but it is going to be so cold!

Well I really do not have much to talk about at this point. My life this week has been consumed with studying and preparing for midterms. I am still very tired, but I am relieved that after tomorrow I will have a nice, long weekend to relax! I think I might check out the new gym that is located in the basement of our school. I heard it is pretty nice, so we will see. I hope my foot is ok to use on the elliptical... hmm.

Ciao ragazzi!

A not so pleasant sleep...

Only one more midterm to go! I love the feeling of relief that I get after I finish a hard midterm. It's almost like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulder!

Here's the dealio: I haven't been getting very much sleep lately. Because I had my two hardest finals today, I was up until past 2 AM last night and got up super early around 7 am to get ready for class. Needless to say I am so exhausted.

Speaking of exhaustion, my slumber has been a little "off" too. My room mate Lillian has been telling me that the past few weeks I have been talking a lot in my sleep. Strange, huh? I know I haven't been getting much sleep lately, but also it has been taking me a lot longer to fall asleep than it normally does, for whatever reason. I have been tossing and turning, and I think it is due to anxiety and stress. I love Florence, but lots of things are going on and it is taking a toll on me mentally and physically.

I did have to laugh though-- Lillian told me this morning that I woke her up in the middle of the night and said, "Look! (as I pointed to the wall) Look at that pretty artwork!" And she looked at me and said, "What artwork? What are you talking about?" and (apparently) I smiled and then responded, "Oh... never mind..." and then I rolled over and went back to sleep. How bizzare! When she told me about it this morning I cracked up. I remember we were talking but I didn't realize I was sleeping until she said, "what artwork?" My bf and my friend Cierra said that talking in your sleep is often a sign of stress. Who knew? It makes sense though-- I am not really getting into my deep REM cycles with everything on my mind; not to mention I have been getting on average 5-6 hours of sleep at night or less.... I know its horrible but I have really early classes and my pensione is so loud at night (everyone goes out all the time). Its all about a period of transition...

We had one of my favorite dinners today at the pensione! 85 Cavour (one of the other pensiones that is owned by Giuseppe as well) came over and we had a little "party". It was buffet style, and there was even music playing in the background. The food consisted of herbed potatoes, chips, bruchetta, beans, kiwi, pineapple, goat cheese slices, Sangria, various sodas, tomato sauce pasta, and the main dish was the grilled chicken burritos with rice and black beans. It was so good! We have never had anything like it before- I guess Karin and Giuseppe wanted to give us a little reward for all our hard studying this week!
Well that is the most interesting thing I have to talk about today. My two midterms went pretty well today. We will have to see though!

Arrivederci!

PS! This picture was taken at a store in Southern Tuscany where I got some amazing cheese for my parents to take home! So yummy!

Brunch at Angels

I had the most amazing Breakfast today! It was at Angels, which is located in a really nice hotel in Florence. They are famous for their "American style" Breakfast, and I have been craving an omelet for a long time, so I thought I would give it a shot. A huge group of Gonzaga students went, but me, Cierra, Katie, and Annie sat together at a small table. I got a cafe latte with amazing foam, a Florentine omelet, and hash browns. Before the main course there was a long table with various yogurts, milk, chocolate banana bread muffins, and fresh cut fruit. It was all included in the cover charge so that was nice.

All of us got the same omelet- it was called the Florentine and it had cheese, sweet peppers, spinach, artichoke, and onions. It was so good!

One thing I have noticed about restaurants and stores in general is that prices are pretty set and even. In the U.S lots of things are marked $7.99, $4.99, $9.99, etc but in Europe everything is usually an exact price like 8 euro. This makes it way easier to have exact change. Even at the supermercato the items all come out to a nice, even number. I think a lot of it has to do with the tax in America, because this makes everything to be a weird price such as $6.39, etc. I think the tax must be included here, or everything is duty free. I'm not quite sure. It is definitely an interesting observation that I just noticed.

On the way back from brunch, a cute dress that was displayed outside a little store caught my eye. It is strapless, black and white with flowers, and has a cute little bow in front. I tried it on and it fits perfectly! I will have to take a picture or something with me in it so you guys can see it. I can't wait to wear it!

Anyways, I better get back to studying. Tomorrow I have my econ midterm, which entails writing for a solid three hours about global economy issues. Its going to be a blast! Not...

Its just a few days until my parents are coming! Woo hoo!

The picture above was taken last week in Sorrento.

Studying, studying, and what? Chinese food?

It feels so nice to sleep in for a change! I was going to go to Assisi today with some friends for the day, but I think it is a blessing in disguise that we all decided not to go and sleep in instead. I got to sleep in until 11- when does that happen? Haha. Anyways, it was amazing! :-D

I feel very refreshed, like I am ready to conquer a new day. I think I am going to be pretty productive and continue to study diligently so I can be well prepared for my midterms next week.

Yesterday I had my first Chinese food since I left for Europe. It is nothing like the states-- but it was really good. I love Italian food but I was definitely craving something different. I ended up getting some chicken chow mein kinda thing, and some hot and sour soup. I liked the chow mein (it was rice noodles, some chicken with steamed veggies)but the hot and sour soup was a bit funky. My favorite hot and sour soup is at Chen's Village, so its hard to measure up to that. I think I am even going to go there again for lunch today! It is great take out food-- perfect to bring back and study. I think i'm going to get potstickers. Yum...

Other than that, I do not have much else to say. Thanks for all the support for those that have been keeping up with my blog. Things have been pretty rough for me the past week or so, but I am hanging in there. I am very grateful to have this experience being abroad and I am excited to see where this year continues to take me.

Well I am going to be busy studying-- feel free to distract me with a skype phone call or whatever else! Also, if you want to be penpals (like the old days!) let me know. I love getting snail mail. :-D

Miss you guys!

PS! The picture up there is of a cool plant that I took in Southern Tuscany. I love the color-- it's almost like seafoam.

An update on my life!

Today has been a much better day than yesterday so things are looking hopeful. I have many people who have been great listening ears and the support from family and friends from here in Florence and back home is great. Thanks so much :)

My mother ended up writing a complaint letter to Dean Burke and forwarding it to two of the study abroad staff members back in Spokane. I am going to be speaking with Shelley (student life Dean) in about an hour so we will see how that goes. I have talked to most of the staff here in Florence on numerous occasions and they are well aware of my problems-- the question is what now? What is the exact plan of action that they plan to implement? This is what I should be finding out momentarily...

Next week is midterms and I am beginning to feel very overwhelmed emotionally (from everything going on) and mentally (with school work). It will be hard to focus on studying for midterms and writing papers in the midst of everything else going on. I hope I can remained focus and be able to "push through" this hard period. I know I will, its just a matter of time. My boyfriend Chris keeps telling me to smile and stay positive and know that all hard periods lead to something greater and amazing in the end... how profound!

As far as the foot situation is concerned-- I scheduled an appointment with the doc tomorrow so we will see what he says. Perhaps I'll need an x-ray, perhaps its merely just tendinitis and simple inflammatory meds will do. I will keep you updated :)

So I just found out that my cousin Julie and her family (husband and three kids) are going to visit on November 3rd and me and my parents are going to have dinner with them somewhere in Florence! I am so excited! I have never met her kids (my second cousins) just seen them in pictures. They are pretty cute! I am hopefully going to visit Julie in France (where she is from) on the weekend of Jan 30th and me and my friend Cierra are going to tour around her area and then go skiing in the Swiss Alps! How fun!

What else is new?! Chris (bf) is going to be visiting for a week sometime next semester. We were thinking he wouldn't be able to get time off because he has not worked for his company for a year yet. Also, with the current economic condition and him being a crucial element to his work, it was looking unlikely that he would have time/money to make it down here. ANYWHO, he was able to convince his bosses to let him have a week off so he is thinking about coming down sometime in January or February. W00hoo!

Another brighter note-- (anything helps!) I got a 100% on my Italian quiz! I also got a B on my journal entries for Introduction to Florence, but now I know what I did wrong (I guess I didn't explain enough historical information about my tours, etc and I could work on being more accurate about incorporating historical information). Its all about a learning experience, right?

Anyways, I probably should go but continue to pray for my grandfather as he is still very sick :(

Love you all!

Note: The picture of the waterfall was taken on my hike in Almafi. I decided to post it with this blog entry because my cousin Carolyn suggested that when I am dealing with times of hardship it often helps to look at beautiful pictures that provoke fond memories. Thanks Carolyn! :)

Lillians Complaint List, funny!

The following document is an official complaint list that my roommate Lillian is sending to the Dean of Gonzaga. I do not think she could have written this any better! I almost cracked up on a few of her points but we really are frustrated! She gave me permission to post this on my blog, because sometimes its interesting seeing a different point of view besides my own. I hope they fix up the problems around here! Haha enjoy the letter, its pretty funny!

From Lillian my current roommate:

On my medical forms, I explicitly stated that I was severely allergic to mold, and yet I was placed in a room filled with mold. It affected my health and eventually I was relocated, but now I am in a room that is constantly filled with cigarette smoke. I have asthma and cannot live with cigarette smoke. The smoke is blowing in through the windows. When we complained, they gave us a fan to blow the air back out, which is not effective.

· At first, we were given one desk for the two of us. When we complained, we were brought another desk with two drawers, but of which do not have handles. I have to pile everything on top of my desk rather than use the drawers.

· The cleaning of the rooms is inconsistent. My room has not been cleaned in over 3 days. My trash is overflowing, I’ve run out of toilet paper, the sheets have not been changed and there is dust piling up on the floor.

· In my first room, the main doors were French doors and one of them would fall off the hinges whenever we tried to open it. The bathroom door would not close, so there was no privacy. The toilet would barely even flush toilet paper, let alone anything else. When we took a shower, the water would leak all over the floor, which is a safety hazard.

· When we asked to be provided with hangers, we were given children’s hangers, which were not large enough to fit our clothing. We ended up having to buy our own hangers just so weren’t living out of our suitcases any longer.

· In our bathroom, there is one towel rack and no place to put the toilet paper. That would be fine if the entire floor of our bathroom wasn’t the drain for the shower. Our entire roll of toilet paper gets ruined every time one of us takes a shower. Then we have to both squeeze our towels onto one rack, which is a breeding ground for mold growth, which is a medical problem for me. It also is unhealthy for anyone to be living with mold.

· I don’t have class until 9:35. By the time I get to breakfast, all of the food is gone. When I ask if there is more food, I am told I need to wake up with everyone else at 7 in order to get food. I don’t think that is reasonable to ask of me.

· We don’t have internet in our pensione, which means that I either have to walk all the way to school to be able to use the internet to call home, or I have to pay for expensive phone calls. As a student, I need internet to do research, to stay in touch with professors, and get in contact with my peers who are in other pensioni.

· I go to a university other than Gonzaga and we base study abroad programs off recommendations. If our current living situation does not get improved or if those who have worse pensioni than other GU students don’t get partial reimbursements for the difference in living conditions, I will definitely be giving the GIF program a bad review. I don’t feel at home here in my room. There are constantly things I need fixed that just aren’t getting done. If we all had rooms with balconies that overlook the Duomo, TVs in our rooms, and consistent internet, that would be a different story. The unequal living conditions are unacceptable and unfair. We are all paying thousands of dollars to be here and it is not acceptable for some people to have luxurious rooms while others have to get sick from mold or shower over their toilet. I do believe that the difference in living conditions needs to be reimbursed to the parents who are giving so much to this program. We deserve better than we are getting. I will not recommend this program if things don’t change.