Be who you want

Today was my first day of my Travel Writing class. During the class we did our first piece of writing which really explains the inner reason I wanted to come to Italy to study abroad. Our topic was on being a stranger. So I decided this blog would be different and I would share with you my first piece of work.

Where I am right now, I am a stranger. I come from a small town and a small school in a place that is comfortable. I come with a preformed background of expectations, a place where everyone speaks English and we have these shopping centers that have everything you need. The majority of people don’t walk around, they drive because it’s faster and most things are owned by big commercial companies. Here where I am right now everything is so different. I am living in a big city where no one knows me, everything is small shops, and no one speaks English. Here I now have the ability to form exactly who I want to be. I don’t know any one meaning no one knows me so, I have the opportunity to completely start over, start a new life and be who I am. I have the choice to put barriers up or let them all down. Every choice I make here has an affect on how I am going to be defined as a person here. Here I am a stranger to not only everyone around me, but to myself. Everyday I am learning something different and surprising myself in more ways than I imagined. Living in this place is hard and challenging but I am learning more about the culture, the people, the city, and my self then I ever could learn about my home. Being a complete stranger to not only the people around me but to myself is something in life I needed in order to find myself.  

Holy Camogli! Cinque Terre

Wow, what a wonderful weekend full of amazing site seeing. First of all I hate the fact that the pictures I show you guys don’t even compare to being here. This blog is going to be a little longer because it is the weekend. I started my weekend at 6am leaving Florence and heading to Camogli (it’s pronounced like canolli with an m). When I first saw this place I thought it was the most beautiful place I ever saw, but it doesn’t even compare to the Cinque Terre (pronounced Chin-kay Terry). At Camogli we laid out on the beach, walked around and got some lunch. It was a beautiful and relaxing spot filled with a lot of tourists. From there we took a boat to a little town that I have no pictures of or remember the name. On this boat ride there was a older lady who lived in Camogli and gave us all a good life lesson. She told us that if you do what you want to do you will be happy, and to never do what people expect of you do what you expect of yourself. This was very meaningful to all of us. We then took the next boat to Portifino which is a town that is only accessible by water. It has recently become a tourist hotspot and where a lot of famous Italian actresses and models are living, making the prices of items very expensive. After that we took another boat which led us to meet our bus, where we went to the hotel. At the hotel we had a meal that literally lasted 2 hours, it was so much food! In Italy, it is impolite to leave food on your dish so we were all shoving the food down our throats. Because this trip was with the school, I had the opportunity to live with these two girls I didn’t know. They were both from long island, and convinced that I have an accent from upstate New York.

The next day we left the hotel to go to the one place I was waiting a month to see Cinque Terre! Cinque Terre is five villages that are only approachable by boat, hiking or a train that runs through the 5 of villages. Each village is unique in its own way and they are all absolutely gorgeous. Neither I nor the pictures can explain the beauty of this place. I had two favorite villages, the first being Monterosso which in Italian means the red mountain, don’t really know what it’s named that because it was all beach, and walking. The view of the water and sand was absolutely amazing. The other place that I think I liked the best was Manarola. This village is where I ended up buying some Wine and Pesto. The Cinque Terre is known for their white wine and pesto sauce. Manarola really stole my heart, I ended up putting my feet in the water which felt refreshing and the site seeing was so awesome. I could have just sat on the rocks all day looking at it, it was like a postcard. Over all I had an amazing weekend. It was actually weird to be in Cinque Terre where I could actually speak English to people and they understood me. My Italian is actually improving and I can have a conversation with others and they understand. Well class starts tomorrow, and I have yet to meet someone who is in the same class, so this should be interesting. Teniamoci in contatto! (Keep in touch!)

Jersey Shore and more...

So due to the lack of internet in my apartment, meaning it is not working at all and someone has to come and fix it here are both today's and yesterday's blog.

May 26

Today was supposed to be relaxing; instead it turned into a very exciting day. We started our day off by trying to get a taxi, apparently 10am is a busy time and there are no taxis that hold 5 people. What we ended up doing was filling the taxi with our entire luggage and squishing in. From there we arrived at the train station by 11, yes it took an hour to find a taxi for a 5 minute ride, Rome is intense. We found our train with a few minutes to settle in. We were all separated throughout the train and I was sitting with all people who didn’t speak any English. This was a huge wake up call and I had a moment where I thought to myself what am I doing here, this is so challenging, and I just wanted to break down because no one understood me and I couldn’t understand them. All I needed was to put my luggage above me but I couldn’t lift it, eventually a guy came over and lifted it for me but it took a while. Then the whole ride to Florence I was thinking how I was going to get the luggage down to get off the train, so I whipped out my Italian dictionary and figured out how to ask for help and thank them. I ended up having a mini conversation and the whole situation was such a learning experience. Once I arrived in Florence we checked in, my apartment is absolutely gorgeous. It has a patio are, kitchen, living room, and bed room. It is kind of a disappointment that there are no students living in this building but there are a lot close by. We then went to go get lunch and as we were sitting outside waiting for the food we saw from afar the boys from Jersey Shore. We then saw them heading our way and they actually ended up being seated to eat right next to us. I probably could have touched Paulie D if I stuck my hand out but the secretly guards asked us nicely to follow what they wanted us to do, and if that gets aired I will definitely end up on the show because all the cameras were facing my way. After that we walked around to find different locations of things, where I ran into Snookie and Jwow. Towards the end of the day we met some really nice guys that are attending LdM, and they are planning on stopping by in the morning to walk to orientation together. Florence is so different from Rome; it is definitely more homey and easier to get around without learning the language. This is posted late because I have no internet in my apartment.

May 27

Today was really boring, I attended the mandatory orientation and met a few people. My neighbor across from me in my apartment is about 50 years old and attending LdM, she has been trying to be my best friend all day which is cute.  I am currently at these boys I met apartment with my friend so I have a connection to the internet, so I could write this blog. After orientation I met my landlord who is very nice, and speak pretty good English. Not much has happened today. I just got back from a welcome dinner for all students, you know you go to college in Florence when you get free wine. Well tomorrow I am off to Cinque Terre for the weekend and I probably won't be able to post until Sunday night (hopefully I have internet by then). Hope you enjoy my blog so far! Ciao! 

"Perhaps, you speak American..."

Buonasera!

Today has been such a blur. We started at about 8am by taking the metro to Vatican City, because it was Wednesday Pope Benedict XVI spoke and did a prayer. Never in my wildest imagination would I think that I would get to witness in person the Pope speaking. From there we left and wen to the Museum and the Sistine chapel, of course we had to stop for some gelato on the way. It was so beautiful and amazing to see all the art work throughout the museum and of course the chapel. After that we went back to the Vatican where we explored the Basilica, and climbed to the top. The view up there was priceless, and the walk up 320 steps was completely worth it. We then went and got lunch where I enjoyed my first pizza in Italy. It was so delicious! The day didn't end there, we got lost walking to the Piazza Navone which was full of people playing music, and selling their pieces of art work. Due to the fact we are all exhausted Marie, ended up getting 30 euro worth of artwork for 20 US dollars because the woman thought US money was worth more. We didn't realize this until after we wer on our way out. For only being here for 2 days I am honestly surprised at how fast I am picking up the languagee and absolutely am in love with the culture. It is about 8:40pm here and I need to go get ready (do my hair with my European straightener I had to buy because mine broke) to go to the bar. Salute!

It's a different world...

Hey all!

So I have absolutely no idea where to begin with this post. I guess I will start with saying the plane ride went well, nothing was lost along the way. The only down side was that I have a maximum of 3 hours asleep which surprisingly got me through today. When I arrived in Rome we had to get a taxi, which was an adventure in a half. People say driving in Boston or New York is bad, I think I had about 15 near death experiences and we almost hit a motorcyclist head on. I guess it was an adventure but we all made it to the hotel in one piece. From there we checked in and decided that we were not wasting a day seeing it was around noon here and it was beautiful out. We then walked forever to the train station and finally have a way to Florence. YAY! After that we took the metro to the Colosseum, and then walked to the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. It was quite a day. I then had my first Italian meal which was pasta and sauce with some type of Italian beer. It was really good and definitely made us feel like part of the culture. The day went by really smoothly, the only thing I surprisingly didn't think would be as big of a problem as it is, is the language barrier. There are a lot of people here that don't speak English at all which definitely creates problems for us as we don't know the area. Well It is about 9:30pm here and we have to get up early to explore tomorrow. Here are some photos to looks at:

One way ticket to Rome...

Ciao!

I am all packed and ready for take off! I can't believe today is the day I am leaving to go to Italy, but I am so excited to begin my adventure. Yes, it is true I currently do not have a plane ticket home, but will be purchasing one sometime next week.  As of right now I am scheduled to land in Rome at 11:20am (5:20am EST). From there I am hoping to check in at the hotel, and then go on a search for a train station. Seeing I need to make it to Florence on Thursday and don't currently have a ticket for the train. Rome is about an hour and half south of Florence by train. I am hoping the language barrier won't get in the way too much when I try and get a ticket. I have also heard about my apartment. I will be living with one girl who is from Keene and have heard it is in a great location about 5 minutes from everything, which sounds wonderful. Well, I am off to the airport shortly and praying everything goes as smoothly as possible. 

Talk to you all soon! 

-Katelyn

Two Weeks

Hey Everyone!
Welcome to my new blog. So I am not leaving for Europe yet, but decided I would make my first post while still in the United States. There is so much that I have to get done before I leave, one being buying a plane ticket back home from Europe. I also need to figure out where I will be staying, and traveling throughout my voyage. I am very excited for my trip, and I hope you enjoy following me throughout my adventure of a lifetime. Please feel free to leave comments as I will love to hear from you all.

-Katelyn