i got some time

HELLO.
I cannot believe it's already the middle of April. Tomorrow night (at 3 AM) I am finally going on the Paris trip I booked in JANUARY with Claire. We both booked it so long ago we forgot it was going out of Luton. I don't know how I feel about this upcoming trip - I have been to Paris before and remember how huge it was. We don't even have a guidebook and neither speaks French, but something tells me we will be okay. Luckily, I employed the resources I have to help me plan some sort of trip - thanks parents, sister, and friends - but we shall see how things pan out.

This is going to be another long entry with a bunch of pictures. JUST a warning.

Let me begin. Classes here ended March 26 for me. That in itself, being a fact, just proves how surreal this entire experience has been for me. Time rolls on, and I began my travels.
I went to Italy. AND I WISH I NEVER LEFT! Ha, it was so cool. I really liked it. I had quite the experience - came into Rome on Thursday night, met up with Beth and we went to Orvieto, her small mountain town (see her blog on mine for more info). By the time I actually got into her apt, it was pretty late, so we went out with her friends from her program. It was fun. Friday (March 27) we went to Florence and stayed the night. I was absolutely amazed to see Florence, and would like to go back. She was a perfect tour guide and I was quite happy to see the David and the Rape of the Sabines in person. I have never been the hugest fan of sculpture - I mean I always have admired the likeness to humanity, but in terms of its aesthetics I have a hard time appreciating it as much something like Starry Night. That completely changed when viewing this stuff in person. It is so amazing to me that these artists could look at such a block of marble and envision and then fulfill such AMAZING creations, especially given the fact that lasers and other technological advances that might make cutting into a slab of marble slightly less intimidating were not even fathomable yet. I realize this is quite the simple truth I am articulating, but I guess I just had to see the stuff to appreciate it. I was really glad for ART IN THE VISUAL WORLD with Mrs. G from Shore Reg, taken in like Spring of 2004 or something, because I remembered a lot more than I thought I would about sculpture. So anyway, we saw the David, went back to our hostel and then went to the Duomo. Amazing. I didn't get to see the inside of it because we were a little late, but that was fine with me, although I hope to see it one day. Then we went to Ponte Vecchio at night, had a strange experience with some Italian locals who thought I was German and then went to this cafe where apparently James Joyce and Ernestmore Hemingway used to sip their espresso. It was so literary and dorky, but me and Beth being Lit nerds had a lot of fun there. Afterwards we went out to a truly nice Italian dinner. The food, company and conversation were perfect. No one here knows me half as well as Beth does, and it was nice to legitimately talk about everything with someone who doesn't need my life explained for every story to make sense.

Ponte Vecchio by night.

The famous Espresso Cafe.

Art History Forever. <3>

Arizona BFFs in Florence

More Rape of the Sabines

Duomo through the Gate. I thought it was a cool picture.

Outside of the Duomo

A Florentine alleyway

Saturday (3/28), we took a train from Florence to Rome. It was long and early, but SO WORTH IT. Beth, being the Rome all-star, took me to all the sights we could cram in one day. We started out at the Spanish steps, then the Trevi fountain, then the Pantheon, Colesseum, and ended up at St. Peter's Basilica but the line was so long that I couldn't go in. Still, that's a hell of a lot for an afternoon. We had to get back to Orvieto rather early because Beth needed to register for classes. We went out to dinner there with her roommate and it was fun.

Arizona BFFs in front of Spanish Steps.

Meet me in front of the Spanish steps!

The Trevi Fountain according to Christy Campbell

Could not help but notice the clash in Architecture on our walk from Trevi to the Pantheon

THE PANTHEON.

Outside the Pantheon.

A quick stop on the way to the Colesseum to be a tourist in front of the Forum Romanum. Ms. Blasi would be so proud.
There it is. The Colesseum, chilling in the middle of the street.

In person.

Inside.

A cool perspective.

Sunday, I went on a field trip with the program to this town called Todi. It's similar to Orvieto, but it had this awesome church that we went in. By far, though, the best part was when the leader of the program took us to the house she grew up in, where her and her mother (who spoke no English, at least from what I could deduct) prepared a true Italian lunch. It was OUTSTANDING. We started out with omelettes, then had four different kinds of pizza, a meat dish, and potatoes I think. Then for dessert two amazing Nutella creations, and then espresso that was not as bitter as the rest of Italy's. It was so perfect, and free. I was happy to be there.

After the huge lunch we saw the church and went back to Orvieto. Unfortunately Beth and her roommate had tests so they studied while I basically rested - I had been on four train rides and six bus rides since getting into Italy. That's how the whole trip was, but that's how it had to be.

A view of Todi

Outside the cool Church.

Monday, while Beth and Jenn tested I walked around Orvieto then took the train into Rome so I could see St. Peter's basilica. Talk about outstanding. The pictures I took didn't really do it the justice, and I can't really say much except you need to see it. I do not consider myself a fundamentally formally religious person, but this place was SO outstanding, SO intimidating, it really put the fear of God into you. It was nice to experience something so humbling alone. After that, I met up with Alex! We basically went out for gelato and then she showed me her school. It was interesting to see her life in the city whereas Beth's is so in the country. It was also good to see her because that following Friday she was coming into London! So we basically finalized those plans right up and hung out, then she put me on the bus back to Roma Termini for my final stay in Orvieto. We had a true Italian pizza dinner, then I left at 6 am to get to my flight on time, and all I can say is that I was left wanting more. I definitely plan to go back.

Orvieto's impressive Duomo.

Inside Orvieto's awesome Duomo

A view of Orvieto.

An Orvietan alleyway...this is what Italy is to me

Outside St. Peter's.. I made it to Rome just fine!

Inside the Basilica.

A little blurry, but you get the picture.

FEAR OF GOD.

A professor at my school named Steve Orlen wrote a poem called "Roma Termini", and we had this like panel discussion of it in one of my classes last Spring. I am going to post the poem here:

ROMA TERMINI
The woman she looks like was a woman I’d been crazily in love with
Forty years ago, who hadn’t loved me, but once was tempted enough
Or kind enough or cruel enough to kiss me in front of her door
With a passion that has lasted all these years, and at the end, Someday,
Maybe, is what she said. Her umbrella, yellow. Her lipstick, bright red,
Gleaming. Not a year has been added to her years. Too late. Too late.

Now you, who believe you have outgrown the juvenilia of your dreams,
Observe this man. He stands by himself on a station platform
Still waiting for his kiss, overwhelmed by the small damages
Our histories do to us, how memory retards us with its generous gifts,
Then, when it most matters, takes them back. I guarantee
That what will devastate you is what you have surpassed.

So many things about this poem stuck out to me when I was here. Obviously I've been thinking about the past, the reflection, etc it's a huge theme with me, and although I am not a man waiting for a kiss I can't help but agree with what he says about memory. I can't believe so much has happened in the past two weeks.

Okay. So then I came back to London on Tuesday, and hung out with Casey. It was the G20 Summit in London when I came back, so things were kind of on scary lockdown, but it is good that they are so paranoid because Obama needs to be protected. It was strange to be in the same country as my President, but oddly comforting as I walked past Buckingham Palace against some orders and realized the Queen and him were hangin out. I read later that he gave her a preloaded iPod as a gift with a bunch of American songs. This is who I voted for.

On Thursday night, Kelly arrived from Seville into London. I didn't meet up with her and Aaron until Friday, and we hung out until Alex arrived. We went to this fun student bar and met some of Aaron's friends. Alex came in at about 2 AM. Saturday, we started out with some sightseeing stuff and managed to get a lot done! I had to register for classes which was kind of a disaster but worked out just fine, and the rest of the group saw Big Ben, Parliament, etc because it's so close to my dorm. Saturday night we did a traditional English pub crawl FOR WHICH I got a free t-shirtSunday, we had a picnic in St. James' park and then went to Notting Hill. It was nice, I hadn't been there since January and forgot how nice London can be in the Spring. That night I made everyone dinner and we boarded the twelve hour bus from London to Amsterdam to visit Mariel at midnight. The bus ride.. almost inexplicable how weird it was, but I was excited to go through French customs because I heard they were particularly annoying. We crossed the channel around 3 am and were settled into our hostel by 11 am. I would never recommend doing that, but it was an experience. The time with Mariel was well spent. Unfortunately I kind of spaced on taking pictures, but there is a good one of our whole group at an Ethiopian restaurant. Speaking of which - we were so cultured in our eating on this trip. Ethiopian food is amazing, which we all kind of noticed was an oxymoron as it is the 'hungriest' country on Earth. But they bring you out this huge platter and then you each get a pancake and eat with your hands. The spices were unlike anything I have ever had before, somewhere between the familiar coriander of red curry and thai food. The level of spiciness was perfect. ENOUGH ABOUT FOOD...we didn't really get to do much sightseeing in Amsterdam, which I didn't really care about since I had been there before but I felt bad for the others. It was still a good trip. We bussed back all day Thursday, with a quick stop in Brussels that was worth noting. Once back in London, we did some more touristy stuff - I took the group to Camden market and Aaron took us to the Somerset house, which had an awesome group of paintings. I was throughly surprised/impressed that such great art was right under my nose, and free. It kind of made up for the fact that we were such lazy peeps in Amsterdam. Friday night we went out for a good English night out, which means a lot of money spent but a lot of fun had too. More pictures to come...

Re-visiting Abbey Road with the group meant some new Graffiti. Cool!

Ethiopian food in Amsterdam with the group

This was our weird EuroLines bus back from Amsterdam to London. It had a tiger on it. 'On A Mission'...RAWR.

The girls left today and it's been a quiet day for me, but I really needed it.. It was really nice to see my friends from home and I was happy they came to visit, it made me appreciate London a bit more as well, but I am going to Paris in about 24 hours and haven't slept much in the past 11 days. Tonight I watched Notting Hill, and it was insane to see the movie after actually BEING all those places.

Tomorrow is Easter and my friends and I are going to mass at Westminster Cathedral and then making a huge brunch. Then it's off to Paris!

Hope all is well! I love and miss you all.