So sorry I haven’t written in a while! As most of you know, our internet has been shady but it has made it good to enjoy more time with the ladies and to just hang out or be quiet. 

We spent last week in Milan for the Interior Design students. It was definitely my least favorite city, but we still had lots of fun as a group. We visited lots of design stores, hearing about fashion, etc… not exactly my forte. Our group was also exhausted and hitting the point of wanting to leave so we were just ready to be back in Ariccia.

We had a long weekend for Easter break, so five of us went to Florence until Sunday morning. We had already been there for a week (when Rob was here!!) but decided to go back because we loved it so much. Since we had already seen all the churches and museums, we enjoyed just hanging out in front of the Duomo, eating Coffee Crunch gelato twice a day and eating at all the fun restaurants. 

We tried to make it back to the Vatican for the Easter service, but the odds were against us. We’ve had a stomach flu going around so 2 of the girls were struggling with that, it was raining in Rome and we were absolutely exhausted. Needless to say, we ended up heading back to Ariccia to rest and get settled back in.

This week has been full of preparing for our final exam, writing our capstone paper and getting ready to come home! So weird! But I’m so ready! It’s obviously bittersweet, and as much as I want to come home at this point, I’m still enjoying this second home to the fullest! We’ve eaten at all our fun favorite Ariccian restaurants, including “cheap pizza” where I eat an entire Funghi pizza by myself and 3 Musketeers where I always get the Cacio e Pepe pasta (Salt and Pepper). 

Hopefully the weekend will be restful and just enjoying our sweet little home here. Next week is hectic, but more on that later!

As soon as we returned from Spring Break, we moved into our palace! Sounds ridiculous but it’s true. We had been staying in a hotel in Ariccia before the break while the Chigi palace was preparing our incredible new “apartment/dorm”, I guess you could call it. Imagine a Real World episode and the places they stay. We are nestled into the basement of the Chigi Palace, which is an honor in itself. The museum has so many million dollar relics and paintings that the fact that they let use live, cook, shower, etc… under all of it is wonderful.

The highlight for me has been having a kitchen. Our group plans out different meals, splits up the price, make weekly trips to the grocery store (up a MASSIVE hill!) and cook almost every night. Of course we have to pay visits to our favorite Ariccia restaurants every now and then, but being able to cook has been so helpful. It saves the money and has been fun just to hang out and add a new aspect to our group dynamics.

There are still a few kinks being worked out. There is no internet or landline. We were told we would get it the first week we got back from break, but that hasn’t happened yet and we’ve been informed it probably won’t happen before we come home. As much as a pain as it has been, our group has had all that time we usually would spend online getting to hang out, cook for each other, give massages and play card games. We’ve gotten a lot closer in the past 2 weeks than the first half of the trip combined! I’ve loved it! And the palace is in the center of Ariccia so we can literally roll out and have the Irish pub across the street, the local fraschetta a stone’s throw away and just a 2 minute walk to the best gelato place in the world. Not a bad setup. Sooo I can’t complain about the internet And we can get it in random spots if we sit outside the palace. Let’s just hope it’s not raining or the old Italian men aren’t smoking their cigars…

This past week we’ve had random field trips and some class but mostly just preparing for our week-long class trip to Milan then Easter break. We visited caves in Frassassi that were incredible! I’m not sure it was worth the 4 hour drive there and back for a 1 hour visit to a cave on a rainy day, but still, a neat sight to see.

We went to the World Food Program headquarters in Rome on Thursday. It’s the largest humanitarian organization in the world (I won’t even get into all the statistics and logistics, but it is absolutely mindblowing the amount of people they feed every day). We met with people from all over the world, talking about their role in the program and how everything works. We are holding a European Hunger Summit our last week here where our group is in charge of registration, handing out food, etc… to some big time names that have donated money! Pretty cool… Auburn is the first and only (as of now) university to unite with the WFP to spread awareness and recruit volunteers.

I was blown away at such a massive organization giving so much to the world without having a Christian (much less religious) standpoint. I’m not ignorant- I know people still have hearts even if they don’t have a relationship with Christ, but their motivation is so strong to save the world. I journaled about our visit when I got home and was amazed how God works even in people that don’t know they are being used. God still has ways to reach his children, love on them, even through people who may not personally know the Lord themselves. It would be incredible to be part of an organization like that. Being able to work with these people from 80 countries around the world, travel to feed those who have absolutely no food, and having a voice exposing the real reason human nature is motivated to help these people. Anyways, there’s my theological thoughts for the day

We’re heading to Milan on Monday to Thursday as a class- going, going, going meeting with designers, fashion trend-setters, seeing “The Last Supper”. Thursday through Saturday, me and 6 other girls are going back to Florence. We LOVED it there and sadly it rained most of our field trip week so we decided we would go back now that it’s warm and sunny- eat more Coffee Crunch gelato We’ll be back in Rome for Easter- going to the Vatican City to see the pope! More on all of these adventures later…

 

Eiffel Tower at night

St. Patty's Day!

 

Exhausted and napping in Hyde Park

Spring Break was such a whirlwind traveling to 3 different countries, BUT we had a blast! Six of us went to Paris, Dublin and London- me, Rachel, Frances, Bailey, Emily and Raley. We spent 2 days in Paris, 2 days in Dublin for St. Patty’s Day and 4 days in London. We never had issues with our flights, except for one delay from Paris to Dublin, but we made it everywhere we needed to be without extra fees or hassles. Our hostels were great- some kind of gross but none that felt unsafe or sketchy.

PARIS:

Paris was incredible! Honestly I had heard it was dirty and the people were snobby, but we had a blast. It was beautiful and everyone we met was so helpful. Saturday:

• Early departure at 5 a.m. 
• French baguette lunch by the Siene River 
• Much needed nap in St. Christopher’s Hostel
• Baguettes and brie under the Eiffel Tower for dinner
• Raley’s friend, Amanda, was studying in Paris so we hung out with her Parisian friends as they toured us around town

Sunday: 

•  La Chaise Cemetery
• James Morrison, Oscar Wylde and Chopin are buried there 
• Notre Dame 
• Walked along Siene River, passing Muse di Orsay and the Louvre 
• Laid under the Eiffel Tower while the sun set 
• Arch di Triomphe and Champs Elysees for shopping and savory ham, cheese and egg crepes! (DELICIOUS!) 

DUBLIN:

Monday:

• Another 5 a.m. departure 
• Enjoyed walking along quaint streets with Irish pubs on every corner 
• Fish and Chips for dinner 
• Irish pub and meeting locals the rest of the night 

Tuesday- ST. PATRICK’S DAY!!

• Family breakfast in our cute apartment. We picked up bagels and eggs at the grocery and had a little homemade meal 
• St. Patty’s Day parade with lots of bands, dancers, fun music… it felt like Game Day in Auburn times 1000
• St. John’s pub- best pub in Ireland! It was in Temple Bar District, had lots of dancing and fun people. We met up with the other group that had been in Dublin the whole week. We stayed there from 2-11 and thankfully my sweet friend here appreciates sleep like I do so we called it an early night. I’m not sure why that’s not the norm?! Dance and sing all day then go to bed at night- isn’t that how we were made? 

LONDON:

Exhausted at this point so the first day, after traveling, we just rested and got to be quiet for a while. We planned to see the Girl Talk concert Wednesday night, but when we got there realized it had been sold out for 2 weeks! OOPS! So we went to the Big Chill bar for some Mexican food J The name is what drew us in- we were ready for chillin…

Thursday: After 9 hours of sleep (most we’ve gotten all week!) we were ready to go!!

• Walk through Hyde Park (where Finding Neverland is filmed- absolutely GORGEOUS!) 
• Buckingham Palace and changing of the guards
• Fish and Chips lunch- the restaurant seemed like an old man’s club or something. I should’ve had my cigar and sports jacket… 
• London Eye, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey 
• Shopped at Piccadilly Circus and SOHO- imagine the European Times Square 
• Falafels for dinner at “Just Falafs”- get it? Haha “Just for laughs”… 
• After 12 hours of walking, we stumbled upon a movie theater- as much as we didn’t think it was right to see a movie while traveling in Europe, we couldn’t resist a cheap movie night and to put our feet up. So we saw “He’s Just Not That Into You”. Totally worth every cent to sit back and watch a girly movie! 

Friday:

• National Gallery- holds Monet and Van Gogh
• National Portrait Gallery- amazing photos taken of celebrities over the years
• Kensington High Street for shopping
• Royal Albert Hall 
• Subway for dinner- at this point we needed some familiar foods! 

Saturday: Spent the entire day in Notting Hill! My favorite day of spring break by far!! Imagine the movie Notting Hill- it’s just as quaint and precious as the movie makes it out to be.

• Walked through the park where Hugh and Julia are laying in the end.
• Portabella Road, which is an antique market with unique trinkets and jewelry. The food market had food from all over the world- stuff I have never seen before. I didn’t want to leave! We had so much fun just tooming around, especially after a long week. 
• PB&J picnic we ate in this beautiful little park that might have been private. We potentially could’ve been kicked out, but still, a fun picnic.
• Again, Subway for dinner in Hyde Park… 3rd times a charm and off to bed for our 5:30 a.m. departure! 

The week was wonderful and the girls were so great. But I will say I’ve never been so thankful to get back to our small little town of Ariccia where everyone is so sweet and caring. We were all craving our cheap little pizza place so our whole group of 19 went to dinner as soon as we got back. As much as I loved traveling around, I learned that I’m more of a homebody than I thought. Whether it’s home or just being settled, I like having my nest and a place to escape. Good ole Ariccia.

This week we thankfully had a chance to catch up on rest by having class and two laid back field trips after our week in Florence and before Spring Break starts. Tuesday we went to the Vatican City. It was absolutely breath-taking and incredible to see so much theological history in one place. 

• Walk through Vatican Museum to see Raffaelo’s “School of Athens” among other things
• Sitting in the Sistine Chapel with a craned neck taking in Michelangelo’s ceiling
• St. Peter’s Basilica- the most beautiful church I’ve ever stepped into

There is so much I could say about what we learned about Catholicism, the church, St. Peter, etc… but it was sensory overload.

Today we traveled to Ninfa Gardens where we toured a BEAUTIFUL garden that used to be a Roman town, now abandoned. Because it’s blocked by mountains, it has a micro-climate where exotic plants and trees can be grown. It also has some ancient ruins left from the old town. 

After the garden tour we visited another vineyard for some wine tasting and another delicious feast. These wine tasting/feasting days are my favorite!! We get spoiled. The view and our meal overlooks the most beautiful countryside while we sip on wine and eat the best Italian food I’ve ever had- indescribable food actually.

We leave tomorrow for Spring Break where six of us are traveling to Paris, Dublin and London. Get ready for some good blogging to come!

In St. Peter's Square

 

With Maria in the beautiful Ninfa Gardens

 

In front of the Arch of Constantine and the Coliseum

 

 

Rob and I overlooking the Ponte Vecchio in Florence

There is way too much that happened before Rob got here for me to even get into, but hopefully looking through pictures will do it some justice. The Friday he came, Feb 27, our class took a field trip to Deruta and Assisi. We visited a ceramic factory and went to the church of St. Frances of Assisi– AMAZING!!! Absolutely gorgeous and amazing to see the life of St. Frances!

 

But, more on the week with Rob! He was here for 10 days! Thankfully our class had a week-long field trip planned for Florence so he got to see a lot of Italy. 

We spent last weekend in Ariccia:

• Walking around Genzano on a beautifully sunny Saturday
• Spending all of Sunday inside because of rain. It worked out perfectly though because we were able to work on some wedding stuff! 
• The hotel staff did a little “engagement cake/party” for us after dinner Sunday night

Our class left for Siena on Monday morning through Tuesday afternoon. We got to visit a winery where the family that owned the vineyard cooked us a massive feast! It was incredible! And the view of Tuscany was absolutely breath-taking. Meantime, Rob made it from Ariccia to Florence all by himself! Not that I didn’t think he could, but not speaking any Italian and never having been in the country, I was extremely impressed. He had to get his tickets, catch 2 trains and get to his hostel. 

Here are a few highlights from our time in Florence (Tuesday night-Thursday night):

• Watching the sunset from a park overlooking all of Florence
• Touring the Duomo, Academia (where “David” by Michelangelo is!) and churches while it POURED outside
• Eating the best Mexican dinner I’ve ever had in my life (In Italy… go figure…)
• Visited the Uffizi Gallery then had the rest of the afternoon on our own
• We took Eurostar back to Ariccia and our cab driver took us all around Rome at night- absolutely beautiful!

Friday-Sunday we stayed in Rome. We saw everything you would possibly want to see in Rome. Here are some main things:

• Friday we started at the Trevi Fountain where we had extremely cheap but delicious fold-over pizza and gelato
• Next, the Coliseum and Roman Forum. We spent a lot of time here, but it was amazing just to sit and enjoy it. 
• A romantic outdoor dinner having a special on their homemade lasagna Love a good deal on good food
• Saturday we walked from the Spanish Steps to the Pantheon then on to Campo di’Fiore. 
• Campo di’Fiore is one of my (and now Rob’s) favorite places in Rome- an open market with fresh fruits and veggies, free samples, dried fruit, etc… We did lots of shopping! The “campo” also has the best panini’s in all of Italy! where we had lunch.
• Then Vatican City to tour St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. AMAZING!! (More on that later because my class is going as a field trip tomorrow!)

Sad he had to leave EARLY Sunday morning, but we were both exhausted and ready to settle back down. LOTS happened in a 10 day span… Rob flew to Italy, we got engaged, LOTS of sightseeing, lots of emotions but all made this past week absolutely INCREDIBLE!! 

Now preparing for Spring Break… CRAZY!!

 

Finally!!!!!

First of all, is this really my life?! Rob flew to Italy to PROPOSE!!! He is the most incredible, thoughtful and impressive person I know! So, here’s the story…

 

Our class was on a field trip Friday, February 27, to Deruta and Assisi (which I will talk about later because it was my favorite field trip to date!). We were gone all day and were driving back to Ariccia, when Dr. B (our teacher here) announces to the bus that we need to stop by the church to meet Francesco (another teacher here). Of course I have no clue what’s going on, but everyone else knew so they were all for it. It’s about 7:00 so it’s dark out but the church is absolutely gorgeous at night- all lit up. We walk out of the bus, I’m not paying any attention at all, except to notice all the girls whipping out their cameras. All of a sudden I look in front of me and ROB is standing there! First reaction, “what the crap are you doing here?!”. Second reaction, BAWLING! I couldn’t stop crying so we were just standing there while he hugged me and tried to calm me down. 

Then, he drops to his knee. Tells me he couldn’t go three months without seeing me and couldn’t stand spending the rest of his life without me either. All of this while pulling out the most gorgeous engagement ring I have ever seen, which holds the diamond from mom’s wedding ring that dad gave Rob.

Of course I said YES! And continued in absolute shock for the rest of the night. 

I’m thankful the girls were there because they got a lot of great pictures! But we were able to have our moment while they snapped the shots from far away. 

After getting my bearings straight, we had our engagement dinner at a quaint restaurant in Ariccia called “La Rupe”. It overlooks the city of Ariccia, piano player in the background, Romanella sparkling wine and a massive pizza Although Ariccia isn’t known for high class dining, the food is delicious everywhere and the atmosphere is perfect for a romantic night. 

I can’t even begin to explain all that went into getting Rob here. He’ll have to start his own blog about that… But the Lord’s hand was all over this trip! From the very beginning, the Lord orchestrated every last detail.

Words cannot describe what has just happened to both Rob and I this past weekend, but we are ecstatic to see what the Lord has planned and excited for guidance and provision over this engagement and marriage. 

He will be here for 10 days (until March 8) so we are going to Florence for the week with our class then Rome next weekend. We will not have internet access most of the time but I will update when we return! Thank you for sharing in this wonderful experience with us!

Today the 4 HDFS (Human Development) students did our Independent Studies activity. We were placed in a local high school here in Ariccia and split into groups of 2 and spoke to 4 different classes each. We were asked to talk about American teenage culture and ask them about Italian teenage culture. It was amazing to see how different their schooling system is and hanging out with the students was so fun! They loved having Americans in their school. Here are a few things I found interesting:

• They pick what kind of high school they want to go to by the time their 13. The one we visited was a language school with mostly girls. Boys generally go to engineering or science schools.
• There is no drinking or smoking age. Amazing that they can walk into any store or restaurant and no one will think twice about giving them alcohol when they’re 10 years old.
• They LOVE American music. We did some dancing in their classroom
• The teachers are really laid back. We were free to talk about whatever we wanted and just joked around with the teachers and students the whole time.
• There are no cliques. Everyone is friends. There are not social groups- no popular girls, jocks, nerds. I know that sounds straight from “Mean Girls”, but it’s amazing to me that they all hang out together and don’t somehow form stereotypes or exclusive groups.

I learned a lot about myself this morning too. Since we’ve been here we’ve mostly been taking in information, receiving rather than giving. I definitely have learned that I enjoy leading a conversation or sharing things about myself, my culture, my family, whatever… I’ve obviously loved learning so much since we’ve been here, but it was nice to not sit in a classroom and be quiet, but rather stand in the front and share our experiences.

This morning also confirmed my love for my major. Even if I’m still unsure of exactly where it might take me, I absolutely love understanding and relating to people. I loved learning about a new culture and asking constant questions back and forth for an hour. I especially loved being with the adolescent girls. Needless to say, whatever I end up doing, I’m thankful I know the 4 years at Auburn in HDFS has been worthwhile.

Today we took a field trip to the town of Bracciano to visit an ancient castle- more formally known for the castle where TomKat (Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes) got married. haha. We got a kick out of that. We’re still researching why they chose this particular castle, but who knows with those two. Scientology maybe?

After Bracciano we drove to a small town called Montefaciano. We thought there would be more to do there, but we ended up enjoying a long, relaxed, delicious (as always) lunch overlooking the town. I got the fettuccine capresi. I always mention what I eat because quite frankly, I want to remember later! And this was certainly a meal I won’t be able to recreate when I get home. 

The last town we visited is called Civita di Bagnoregio. It used to be connected to another town until an earthquake ripped it of its perimeter. Now it’s free standing with only a long bridge to connect it to any civilization. There are 15 people that live there, all over the age of 85. No groceries, all home-grown food. No restaurants. If you need a weekend getaway to be quiet with no distractions, this is your place! I’m amazed that anyone lives there at all.

We spent most of the day driving, but sometimes that’s my favorite part. We drove through beautiful country sides and small, quaint towns. We see a lot of Italy through our bus rides. Cinzia always gives a little “tour” when we’re passing something important. The rides usually involve some kind of karaoke. Today Celine Dion was our artist of choice –Please picture this for a second please.

I miss you all. Days like today are tiring and coming back to the hotel is always welcome. So, I’m off to bed to prepare for another day of classes tomorrow. I’m updating Shutterfly (there’s a link on the sidebar of this blog) tonight/tomorrow so check it out if you want!

 

The group touring Pompei with Mt. Vesuvius in the background

Since my last entry, we’ve learned a lot and experienced so much! 

 

On Friday morning, we had a 6 am bus waiting to take us to Mt. Vesuvius and the city of Pompei. We were supposed to climb Mt. Vesuvius, but sadly too much snow kept us from being allowed to hike. It was a let down, but we made up for it! We still got a great tour of Pompei. Pompei was the city that was destroyed and buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. They have excavated most of the city and it’s incredible how much of it has been preserved! Original marble floors, original frescos… it’s just neat to see how well made all of it was so long ago that it still lasted through a volcanic eruption. 

We ate lunch at a pizza place in Naples- the city in Italy known for their thick-crusted, homemade dough pizzas! I got a caprese pizza- tomatoes, mozzarella and basil on a cheese pizza. Don’t worry, I’m writing these down to make them at home. From there we visited an abbey overlooking Naples- some of the most beautiful paintings of the birth, life and death of Christ! Sadly I couldn’t take pictures inside…

Now the fun part! If it could get better… While majority of the group went for a spa weekend in Ischia, 6 of us stayed in Sorrento for a relaxing weekend. 

• We rented a bungalow for super cheap-with a kitchen! We made dinner and breakfast for each other. 
• Slept in late and woke to the crashing waves of the Mediterranean. 
• Walked around the quaint town where free limoncello was offered at every corner.
• Gelato out of this world, called “X-Factor” if that gives any clue as to how extreme it was (Chocolate and Peanut Butter gelato with Pay Day and caramelized almonds mixed in). 
• Walked through the maze of cobblestone alleys and finally came upon the sea! It was so glorious!! We finally took our coats off (it was thankfully THAT warm!) and just sat at the marina for hours. 

The beauty of the weekend was relaxing, being in a smaller group of girls, which allowed us to get to know each other on a more personal level, and save some money even though we were in paradise. These are the times when I have to pinch myself…

This one might be short and sweet, mainly because I have a full-on sinus infection and need to get to sleep. But I wanted to reflect a minute on the week so far before more things start happening! Tuesday we were able to visit Ostia Antica and the Etruscan tombs. A long day of visiting “cities of death” but still pretty intriguing when you consider the technology it took for these people to carry on a civilization during those times. Pretty amazing to also think about how much society/civilizations has evolved. What in the world caused humans to go from carrying water from a well, into a boiling pot in order to take a semi-warm shower to being upset when our water is freezing and complaining to the hotel staff? (yes, I did that and realized how “ugly American” that was of me…). Anyways, neat day of seeing some ancient ruins. We had a FANTASTIC lunch break that day though where we stopped at the beach for panini’s. We got them “porta via” (to go) and sat on the pebbled beach overlooking the Mediterranean with our shoes off and our North Faces on. It was a sweet surprise to come upon the ocean that day

We’re also trying to soak up our time with the hotel and the staff. We’re moving into the palace (where we take classes, we’re building dorms in the basement– they’re going to be amazing!) after Spring Break. But we will surely miss the free breakfasts, free unlimited cappuccino’s (has been my main consumption of dairy by far!… close tie to the mozzarella), daily Italian lessons from Walter the bellman, getting our sheets and towels changed everyday… we’re pretty spoiled here actually. 

Here’s a little blurb from an email my friend Emily got from her friend that was here last Spring that summed up some of my goals here:

• Heres the thing about Italy and being in a large group. Feel free to take time to yourself, and dont feel like you always have to be with the group. Every morning I used to go up onto the roof and sit and process (which I highly recommend). I learned soo much from being over there! 
• Don’t eat at the restaurant down stairs too much, go out and explore the town. Everyone will help you bc Italians are so nice. 
• The restaurant nuzzled into the chigi palace is really good, and the lady is so great. She loved us. Also, there are some great places in Genzano to eat, so if you feel like taking a bus ride, its really fun. 
• Watch the country side while your driving, dont sleep through it all, italy is so beautiful! Listen when the guides or Dr. B are talking on trips, that dr b’s #1 pet peeve.
• Always eat a whole pizza by yourself, they are so good! You always have time to work it off when you get home- you’re only in italy for a little while!!!!!!!!!

I thought those were some good words of wisdom… And I daily carry with myself Jonathan’s reminder:

• Morning caffe
• Afternoon gelato
• Evening vino