Gelatto (and art of course)

So, I am continuing to do amazing things here in Rome! I have now seen Michelangelo's Moses, and the most amazing Bernini statues in the Borghese Villa, as well as some of Carravagio's best works. It has been fabulous! I have also been in many churches, and I have seen the ruins of a Roman gym. There was also this pyramid that is some general's tomb that was fun to go to, because who would have guessed - a pyramid in Rome? I didn't get to take pictures in the Borghese Villa, but I have others :) I am also thoroughly enjoying the food as well - it is awesome. I love the spaghetti, pizza, panini, and especially chocolate chip gelatto! Mmm. I can't find any italian creme sodas, apparently those aren't actually italian, and I had some really good fruit pizza as well (from a store that has been open since 1760!), but I still liked my mom's better :) And last night, me and some of the girls went on a run to St. Peter's. It was gorgeous at night, and so much fun to nonchalantly just say, "yeah I went on a jog to St. Peter's" because at what other time in my life will I ever be able to do that?! It is so great! I will be sad to leave Rome in a few days. I feel like I live here, and it is blissful :)

Exceeds Expectations

I've heard so much about the Sistine chapel, for so many years, I wondered if, after all the hype, is it as good as they say?
So today (as my parents will be very un-happy to hear) I got separated from the group when we were at St. Peter's. I wasn't sure where they were going because my professor switched up the schedule a little bit, and so in an attempt to find them, I went to the Vatican Museum by myself and saw the Sistine Chapel. And I'm kind of glad that it turned out that way, because it was such an amazing experience. And really, I was very safe in a chapel with like priests and guards every five feet protecting the sanctity of the chapel and all the art in it.
But the ceiling in the Sistine chapel that is so famous made me cry when I got to it - being there was spiritual. What the pictures never show is that there is a bronze statue of Christ on the cross at one end of the room, and to me that made the whole thing meaningful. There was the entire story of humanity on the ceiling and walls, with all the figures moving and interacting and not paying attention to Christ at all, while he just hung there with the weight of it all on just him, so much smaller but so significant. Everything important depended on what he did. Even the fate of the thousands of people swarming around me as I stood there and took it all in. It was beautiful. If anyone gets a chance to actually go there, believe me, there is a good reason for all the hype. :)
p.s. i would love to put pics up with this post, but the computer is being lame. they won't let you take picutres of the ceiling that i am talking about anyway. more next time hopefully!

Buongiorno!

So, now I'm in Italy, in Roma!  It is so amazing here - every corner you turn, some ridiculously amazing ancient site pops into view out of nowhere.  I have seen so many cool things already, and I still have about six weeks.  Time is flying by, and there is so much to see and do.  It is so hard to make myself take a break to even write this.  And to speed things up, pictures are worth a thousand words, so I am going to try to include a few that are self-explanatory. Ciao!

Athens!!

We went to the Acropolis, and had so many adventures besides :) I am having so much fun! I already have a totally awesome sunburn, and a henna tatoo (on my finger - its hard core, I will put up a picture later). I've eaten so pretty weird greek food that I don't really know what it was, as well as a gyro, gelato and greek salad. There are so many weird people here as well and I have so much fun people watching - and interacting :) It is absolutely amazing how many conversations you can have without speaking. And greek is weird, I can't read it at all. But that is cool. And I still forget that when I walk up to someone and start talking, there is a very high chance they have almost no idea what i'm saying :) This is so cool!

Always and Forever

I can come up with a song that fits any theme and any occasion.  So this might become a regular occurrence in my posts that I reference lyrics, and tonight, I would just like to join in Kip's refrain of "I love technology, but not as much as you, you see.  Always and forever.  Always and forever" (from the funniest movie of all time - Napoleon Dynamite -for those of you who didn't stay after the credits rolled and watched the bonus/additional ending).  

The connection between the song and my life currently is that I feel like I am going to DIE without my technology as I head off to Europe!  I am scared, because I can already feel the withdrawals coming on.  I've been told that missionaries that have been out over a year still hallucinate that their cell phone is ringing sometimes.  They should do psychological studies on this, because obviously we have all been classically conditioned to need our technology.  The stimulus is the technology, giving us positive outcomes, in the form of contact with someone that we like,  whenever we pay attention to the inanimate objects.  I personally check my email at least seven times a day.  I am completely addicted!  And lets not even begin to discuss my attachment to my phone.  It is my clock for pity's sake, and I wake up to it and check the time approximately thirty times a day without including all the times I flip it open to text or talk to someone.

I need a 12 step recovery program, but as of tomorrow, this whole going out of the country thing is forcing me to go cold turkey.  And its going to be painful.  But on a happier note, I am pretty sure that the bliss of traveling will definitely soften the blow.  Now if you will excuse me, I need to go find an alarm clock that functions only as an alarm clock, and dig my watch out of moth balls :)  

Lemming

I have resisted creating a blog for some time now.  But,  as Queen would say "another one bites the dust".  And although I am not sure whether or not they intended that to be a reference to death, to me it means the same thing as "just bite the bullet and get it over with" but in a past tense, third person kind of way :)  As to the association with dying, creating this blog will probably kill any misconstrued, but much appreciated reputation I might have of being normal, interesting, or coherent :)  So there you go.  And if not, it will at least reveal my obsessive over-use of smiley faces and commas :)

I gave in to creating a blog for the sole purpose of documenting my upcoming trip to europe, which should help make my posts at least slightly interesting by nature of the subject matter alone, and if not, at least there should be some amazing pictures!

I am leaving on April 30th at 6:00 am from Las Vegas, and I am so excited!!! I won't be back home until June 24th, which is marvelous :)  The program I am going with is the Spring Art History Study Abroad officially.  We are going to five countries in the following order: Greece, Italy, Spain, France and England.  We will be visiting tons of museums and historical sites during the trip, but we do have many half-days to ourselves.  So if anyone has any suggestions as to how I should spend that time, I would love to hear it!

Now, I need to get studying, as I am in the middle of finals, but as the creation of this blog makes obvious, I am having a really hard time keeping the daydreams at bay.  Wish me luck! :)