November 30, 2011

November 30, 2011

Wow, can you believe tomorrow is already the first day of December?! Where has the time gone? I woke up this morning around 8:30, got ready and had breakfast. I decided to straighten my hair for the opera tonight so, while I was doing that, I watched yesterday’s episode of Glee. Then I headed into school around 10:00, dropped of my backpack at school and decided to take a little bit of a walk because I was not really in the mood to sit still quite yet and I didn’t want to be all restless at the opera. I walked down to Santa Croce where the Christmas market was setting up so it was fun to see a little sneak peak of it—it opened this afternoon after I was there. After that I walked up and down the streets, taking in all the Christmas decorations and even seeing them set up the tree in front of the Duomo! After about an hour I headed back to school to get a little bit of work done and have lunch before class.

I had my LAST Dante class (we only have the final left!) at 1:00 and it was so weird when Katy did her wrap up of the semester speech at the end of class. I mean, we still have the final left but that was our last real class. It’s pretty crazy to think we’re already coming up to finals week and, at the end of that, we go home. I was not too sad for the class to be over, though, because it has been a lot of work and I need a little more time to get everything done. After Dante I caught the bus home. When I got home I watched yesterday’s episode of Parenthood (I am into too many TV shows right now!) and then got to work on some homework. I still didn’t have any motivation but I sat down and did two-thirds of my Dante final project so that was certainly rewarding. I have been researching for it for a while but lacked motivation to just do the actual writing. So now I am hoping to finish up the last third tomorrow and be completely done with one of my final projects!

Daniela prepared me an early dinner around 6:30 so I could eat before the opera tonight and not have to miss out on dinner. I am lucky because none of the kids in drawing had time to come home so they had to miss dinner and had to pay for their own (although some parents packed their kids bag dinners). For dinner I had the usual eating without the parents dinner, but it was wonderful :) Pesto, caprese salad, bread, cauliflower (something new!), and clementines. After dinner I got all dressed up in my new dress I got a few weeks ago and headed out around 7:30. The Opera didn’t start until 8:30 but I didn’t want the bus to be late and then miss it or something like that!

The opera—La Boheme—was absolutely fantastic! It was so much fun to get to go see a performance and such a wonderful one at that! The singing was beautiful, the set was spectacular, and we all had such a great time. A wonderful night at the theatre :) It lasted about three hours and we headed home around 11:30. When I got home, I finished up my blog post and am now heading to bed because I am exhausted.

All my love,

Kari

Andrea and me :)

 The best host parents in the world!

Daniela and me :)

November 29, 2011

November 29, 2011

This morning I slept in until about 8:30, got ready, had a leisurely breakfast and headed off to school around 10:00. I decided to walk to school today since it was so beautiful out and it was just lovely. I had Weaving the Tale at 11:00 and we talked about the most recent book we read, Artemisia. We got let out after only an hour so I had my lunch with everyone and started on a little bit of homework before I had Medici at 2:00. However, Kate came in around 1:00 to tell us that Medici had to be cancelled today for some reason and we were going to reschedule it for Friday. So I grabbed the bus home so I could try to be a little more productive before I came back to school at 5:00. I got some research done for my Dante final project but had a little bit of trouble motivating myself as I had planned on being in class then, not working on homework. However every little bit counts so I was productive.

At 4:00 I headed back out, walking to school again and, this time, I got to watch the beautiful sunset. At 5:00 a professor from the NYU program in Florence gave a guest lecture on women writers from Florence and the topics of some of the books she has written (one of which we have been reading parts of for Weaving the Tale). She was very interesting to listen to and to talk to afterward and I was actually happy to sit and listen to her lecture :) After the lecture we had a little reception with wine, cheese and a few other snacks and we were able to talk to her. She had talked in her lecture about some of the scripts for sacred representations (early theatre in the Church) at the time so I talked to her about that and got some citations that I will definitely look into (but not until I get home…I have far too much to do at the moment). After the reception, I headed home.

I got home around 6:30 and worked on some more research for my projects until dinnertime. For dinner this evening we started out with spaghetti with a yummy tomato sauce. We followed that with delicious meatballs and salad, and finished off the meal with clementines. I am definitely cherishing all the food but especially the time with Daniela and Andrea. I don’t even want to begin to think about how much I am going to miss them. It’s going to be hard to say goodbye. But hopefully I’ll be able to come back and visit someday!

Can you believe that tomorrow is the last day of November?! I mean, it’s 60 degrees and sunny here so I certainly cannot. It is so crazy that I come home so soon. Granted I have a lot going on before then, but it still is really creeping up on me. Tomorrow I don’t have class until 1:00, which is nice and then we are going to the opera—to La Boheme—tomorrow night so I am beyond excited for that! It is sure to be quite a lovely day. As for tonight I think I will do just a little bit more research before stretching and then relaxing while talking to friends or watching a TV episode before going to bed earlyish. I hope your November is coming to a wonderful close!

All my love,

Kari

P.S. I am going to do my best to post my blog tomorrow night after the opera but, depending how late it is (and it could get pretty late), I may not be able to post it until Thursday. Knowing me I will get it posted but don’t worry if it waits until the next day. 

November 28, 2011

November 28, 2011

This morning I slept in until 9:00 and had a delicious breakfast of pumpkin bread and fruit salad :) I decided to do a little homework before going into school because I didn’t have class today until 3:00. So I worked on homework for a couple of hours and then rewarded myself by watching an episode of Parenthood. After that, I made myself some lunch and then headed into school. When I got to school I decided to do some work-study because I had planned on doing it in the morning but then realized there was a class in the classroom where we work so figured I couldn’t do it. I worked for about an hour and a half and then it was just about time for class. We had Dante class from 3:00-4:30, which was same as always. Like I said, I am kind of ready to be done with this book. I mean, I have finished the readings but it’s just kind of overwhelming at this point to have spent the whole semester on one book. Only one more day of Dante class though and then the final so I should be fine ;)

After class I took the bus home. First I watched the last episode of Parenthood I needed to watch in order to be caught up with the season and then I worked on some homework until it was time for dinner. I am still having a lot of trouble motivating myself but I’m pushing through it and thankfully I have a week before things start being due. And I’m a lot further on my work than most of the other students so I am really not worried. I am just overwhelmed by everything right now, I guess, but it will all get done in time. I worked on homework right up until dinner.

For dinner this evening we started with a pumpkin, barley soup that was so warm and absolutely delicious! For our main dish we had salad and “cheeseburgers,” which were wonderful as well. We finished off with some apple pie (they really do spoil us), dessert wine and leftover pumpkin bread…so yummy :)

Well I guess it was another pretty uneventful day to blog about. I feel like Mondays always seem like a let-down day to blog because I had something exciting over the weekend, complete with photos and everything and then it gets to Monday and I went to class, did homework and that’s all. Oh well, sorry Monday posts are boring! I hope you all are having more exciting days than I had! Things should start getting a little more exciting in the next few days, though, so I am not worried at all. Now that dinner is over I think we’re going to do some laundry (woo!), change the sheets on our beds (woo!) and then try to get a little more homework done (woo!); sounds fun, right? :)

All my love,

Kari

November 27, 2011

November 27, 2011

This morning I woke up at 8:30, got ready and then Franzi and I headed into town to experience the Florence Marathon. The bus didn’t go all the way into town because of the route but we just walked most of the way, which was actually nice after being cooped up most of the day yesterday doing homework. On our way to Santa Croce we found an antique market that was a lot of fun and we looked around there for a while. After that we walked the rest of the way to Santa Croce where the finish line was. It was pretty crazy there but a lot of fun. There was so much excitement and it was especially fun after having gone to the half marathon a few weeks ago. We got to see the first three men and the first three women, which was really exciting! After that we’d been there for about two hours so we decided to head home. We walked part of the way, I got a yellow balloon, and then we caught the bus home. Thankfully it was running again because we didn’t quite want to walk all the way home.

When we got home we started on the pumpkin bread. Tonight Franzi and I are making American breakfast for dinner for our family and we decided to get a head start on the pumpkin bread because it needed time to cool. We listened to Christmas music while singing along as we baked. While we were waiting for it to bake, I colored some pictures in my Christmas coloring book and then, after an hour, we took it out and it looked pretty good so hopefully it will be. After that Franzi headed out to meet a friend and I watched another episode of Parenthood. We started back up with our cooking around 7:00.

We started with the hash browns. I had never made them from scratch before so it was kind of fun and actually very easy. After that we made a fruit salad with apples, bananas and clementines. Following that I made French toast while Franzi made scrambled eggs with sausage and cheese. It took us a little bit longer than we thought it might so we ended up eating around 8:15 but it was so lovely. We sat down to French toast and syrup, scrambled eggs, pumpkin bread, fruit salad, hash browns, orange juice and milk. We even had a candle on the table! Daniela and Andrea were so excited and they wanted to know exactly what everything was. As if dinner weren’t already wonderful, the table was set so that we could watch Il Mago di Oz (The Wizard of Oz) while we ate. It was so much fun to watching in Italian, especially at the end of our trip when we can actually understand it. And Andrea had put on the English subtitles so we could see how all of our favorite lines were translated. And the songs were all the originals, in English so we were happy about that. Andrea and Daniela absolutely loved the meal and they neither could stop talking about the pumpkin bread (thanks, Mom!) Also, Andrea put so much syrup on his French toast and loved it so much that he even tried it on his fruit salad…he reminded me of you guys, Dad and Grandpa Gunard ;)

Once we were so full we couldn’t eat anything else, we paused the movie for a few minutes to clean up and push aside the table so we could sit on the couch to watch the rest of the movie. They kept trying to tell us that they would clean up but we had made such a mess in the kitchen that we wouldn’t let them do it without us. With all of us working together it certainly didn’t take long. We still had a loaf and a half of pumpkin bread left, which we were very excited about because now we can have it for breakfast and lunches! Once we were all cleaned up, we started up the movie again. It is already pretty late so I decided to finish up my blog while we were watching. We still have about an hour left of the movie so I will probably head to bed pretty soon after it is over. It has really been such a wonderful family night :) Just the perfect way to end the weekend! I hope you have all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and been able to spend lots of time with loved ones.

All my love,

Kari

 The first place runner! 26 miles in 2 hours and 9 minutes!

 The finish line of the Florence Marathon in Piazza Santa Croce

 The beautiful Duomo

 My Marathon balloon!

 Making pumpkin bread!

 Fresh out of the oven!

 We made a bit of a mess...

 Making hash browns

 Still making hash browns

 Eggs and french toast in progress

 The finished product :)

 Andrea getting excited for dinner!

 Daniella too!

 Our dinnertime entertainment :)

 LET'S EAT!

 Such excitement! 

Delicious :)

November 26, 2011

November 26, 2011

This morning I slept in until about 9:30, which was just lovely. I had breakfast and started in on my homework around 10:30. I didn’t have much motivation but I really wanted to finish up a rough draft of my final paper for my Medici class by the end of the weekend so I wouldn’t be quite as stressed out with all of my final papers, projects and tests in these last couple of weeks.  I worked straight through until 3:00, taking a little bit of a break for a small lunch around 1:00. At 3:00 I decided I needed another break because my legs were cramped from sitting and my eyes were starting to go cross-eyed from staring at books and my computer screen for such a long time. It was a lovely day—about sixty and sunny again—and I took a lovely walk through the parks by our house and through a few neighborhoods nearby. After about an hour I headed back and finished up the first draft of my paper. It’s by no means ready to turn in yet but I feel such a weight off my shoulders now that I have one draft finished.

After finishing my draft I decided to give myself the rest of the evening off because I finished my first draft already this evening when I had planned on giving myself until tomorrow night. I decided to find a movie to watch online because I am feeling just a tad bit under the weather but hopefully I’ll be fine if I rest up a bit this weekend.  Daniela and Andrea were out for dinner this evening so Franzi and I decided to eat at 7:30 because we were getting hungry and dinner was already ready. We had what we usually have when they’re out, which I cannot complain about at all because I really love it. We started off with pesto, followed by bread and meat for Franzi and caprese salad for me along with garbanzo beans for the two of us. Then we finished off with clementines. Very delicious however we did miss having them at home. We have so few dinners left all together that we get sad when someone is missing from any of them.

After dinner I still could not bring myself to do any more homework as I had beyond reached my quota for the day so I decided to start watching this season of Parenthood. I hadn’t really watched it before and I really like it! Hopefully I won’t get too sucked in but TV shows are nice little breaks, which I will probably need over the next two weeks. Well, I guess today is not at all interesting to read about so I will wrap it up there. I hope you are all having relaxing, fun weekends!

All my love,

Kari

I guess you could say I had my work cut out for me today

November 25, 2011

November 25, 2011

This morning I slept in until 9:00, got ready and headed into town around 10:00. I had an hour before my meeting with my Dante group so I went to the ATM and then to buy a few more scarves. Now I think I am officially done with all my gift buying! My Dante group met at 11:00 to talk about our reflectories because we had not been able to get together for about a month because we were so busy. Thankfully it only took about an hour and I was able to go home around 12:30. When I got home I made myself a little lunch (I was still full from all of that food yesterday) and then got to work on my homework. First I finished up the readings in Paradiso along with my reflectories so I am officially done reading The Divine Comedy! After that I started in on the final “worksheet” for Dante. I had a little trouble motivating myself to work today but thankfully, even though I procrastinated in between, watching an episode of Modern Family and talking to a few friends who were already awake in the states due to Black Friday, I had finished all but one question by about 4:00. I did not understand that one question so I emailed my professor and decided to finish it up later tonight after I got my answer.

Because I needed a break and had almost finished everything I wanted to do today (minus that one question), I finally let myself go into the living room and play with Marco and Massimo who had been over for about an hour. It was so hard to continue writing my paper while I heard their giggles through the door but I pushed through it. However I was very happy to get to play with them for the next few hours because I hadn’t seen them in such a long time! Marco learned to crawl this week so he was zooming all over the place but he still loves to cuddle up with me. Daniela always comments, “He really loves you” because he really won’t sit in anyone else’s lap for an extended period of time. I also played Roman soldiers with Massimo because Andrea and Daniela had gotten him a Roman soldier costume when they were in Rome a few weeks ago. It was a lot of fun :) It was a much-needed break and I ended up playing with them and watching them while Andrea and Daniela got some work done for about two and a half hours!

Once they went home it was almost time for dinner but my professor had emailed me back so I decided to try to answer at least part of it before we ate. I did just that and, right when I had finished the first half of the question, it was time for dinner. For dinner this evening we started with ravioli filled with cheese and covered in a cheese sauce that was absolutely delicious. I could have had five servings of it and been completely okay with it :) For our main dish we had “pizza pockets” with mozzarella and mushrooms along with fried artichoke that was very good as well. We finished off with that fruit (that I still don’t know the name of) that tastes like pumpkin and apricot, which is sweet and yummy.

After dinner I finished up the second part of the question so I officially finished the “worksheet!” It isn’t due until next Thursday so it sure feels good to be done with it. However I have so much other homework that I probably won’t even notice. Now that I have checked everything off my list for the day, I am going to stretch, watch a TV episode or two and then head to bed early because I’m pretty tired from playing with the boys. Tomorrow I don’t have anything going all day so I will definitely sleep in before spending the rest of the day working on my Medici final paper. Hopefully I will have a little more motivation tomorrow! I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you’re having a relaxing day off :)

All my love,

Kari

 Roman Soldier Massimo

 Massimo the Roman and Andrea the Viking?

 Me and Marco :) Sorry it's blurry but it's still so cute!

November 24, 2011- HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

November 24, 2011

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I am so very thankful for all of you and hope you have an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving, surrounded by loved ones :) I started out my morning bright and early, waking up a little after 6:00 to meet our group at the station at 7:45. We took a private bus to a Medician villa first to kind of take the place of the classes they cancelled for Thanksgiving today. The villa was absolutely stunning and it was actually fun to learn about it ;) After about an hour there, we headed to the vineyard/olive oil mill where we would spend the rest of our day out.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day—about 60 degrees and sunny—which made the trip even more wonderful. First we had a tour of the wine cellars and of the olive oil press, learning how they make their wine and olive oil. That was really fun and they had some wine saved down there from the 1920s! After our tour, we had a little time to play Frisbee and relax in the sunshine on the terrace of the villa while we waited for lunchtime. We definitely needed a little time to relax in the midst of our final projects, tests and papers so today was just what we needed. Around 12:30 we gathered in the courtyard for some Rosè wine tasting and bread with olive oil.

Around 1:00 we headed into the porch-like area for our harvest (Thanksgiving) lunch. The tables were so beautifully set, with four different glasses, menus for the meal rolled up with raffia, flowers in the center…just lovely. We started off with a bottle of wine to go with our appetizer that was good but not my favorite of the meal. For our appetizer we had crostini with white beans, olive oil and kale, which was absolutely delicious. We followed that with my very favorite wine of the meal, along with penne pasta with broccoli/pesto sauce, that was also delicious. For our main meal we had olive oil mashed potatoes (to die for), beef (not for me), a selection of incredible cheeses, salads, and garbanzo beans with oil. Oh and there was another new type of wine that was a tad bitter for my taste. At that point we didn’t think we could eat anything else but we somehow managed to squeeze in the apple tortes that came next, which were so yummy and reminded us of apple pie! We also had a dessert wine, which I really didn’t like…dessert wine is just too sweet for me. We had an absolutely wonderful meal with wonderful company :)

After our meal, we had coffee outside and then headed home on the bus, taking in the beautiful Tuscan countryside on the way. We arrived home a little before 5:00 and we all headed home. At 6:00 I got to Skype with my Dad’s whole side of the family who were all over for Thanksgiving! It was so much fun to be able to “be with them” on Thanksgiving and to see them all :) It was a little crazy with so many people Skyping at once but definitely worth it. The highlight of the Skype conversation was when my host parents, Daniela and Andrea, joined in and got to meet everyone. It was so wonderful to be able to introduce them to my parents and Sonja, as well as the rest of the family! It was their first time Skyping and they really loved meeting everyone. It was so much fun to be able to translate for everyone and it was so much fun for me to see them all finally “meet.” I am so thankful for my family :)

After Skyping it was about time for dinner, which Franzi and I certainly weren’t ready for because we were still full from lunch. However we had a delicious meal, nonetheless. We started off with delicious pasta with gorgonzola cheese, nutmeg and a few other things that really made it taste like the holidays. For our main dish we had beans and “cheeseburgers,” which filled us up to the point of explosion. However, we couldn’t be too full because Daniela had gone out and gotten us a blackberry “pie” so we would be sure to have pie on Thanksgiving…we sure have the best host parents ever :)

Now that dinner is over I am about ready to go to bed but it is only 8:30. Franzi and I have decided to put aside the homework and all of the final stuff until tomorrow and watch A Christmas Story on my computer tonight in honor of Thanksgiving and the commencement of the Christmas season tomorrow! I certainly will have a lot to do this weekend so we figured it would be nice to continue the relaxing day and finish it off with a fun movie. Today I am so thankful for my family, my friends and this incredible opportunity to live in Florence. As we are down to just two weeks I am starting to realize just how hard it is going to be to leave this place. I will never forget a single moment and will be thankful for my time here for the rest of my life. I thank you all for taking the time out of your busy lives to read my blog and for your prayers as I have traveled across the world. I love you all so very much and cannot even begin to tell you just how thankful I am for you.

All my love and then some,

Kari

 Me and Willi in a room full of grapes!

 Our group!!

 Appetizer

 Favorite wine of the day

 First course

 Second course (I had garbanzo beans, salad and cheese in place of the meat)

 Dessert

 My table :)

 Such an incredible view!

A beautiful Thanksgiving in the Tuscan countryside

November 23, 2011

November 23, 2011

This morning I got to sleep in a bit before getting ready, having breakfast, and heading into school for my Dante class at 10:00. Dante was nothing special, although it was nice to get some of the meaning of the cantos we read cleared up. A lot of us are finding Paradiso is pretty difficult to read and understand the meaning behind so we need all the help we can get. After that I headed out into the city just to walk around a little bit and look at all the Christmas decorations that are going up. Don’t worry, I didn’t go too far and for very long so I didn’t hurt my foot. It is fun to walk around though because you see all the storefronts being changed into winter wonderlands and lights going up all around. It’s beginning to look [somewhat] like Christmas! After that I headed home because my Weaving the Tale class was cancelled because my professor had a migraine and didn’t think she could make it through two classes. We felt bad that she wasn’t feeling well but we were happy to have a free afternoon!

Once I got home I spent a few hours reading through books for my Medici final paper. It was really boring though and I was not motivated at all so I was happy to Skype for a while after a lot of boring research. After Skyping, I did some more homework until it was time for dinner. Tonight was pizza night so we started off with my favorite bread rolls with cheese and salami! We followed that with salad and delicious margherita pizza and finished off with clementines. I love pizza nights because it makes the whole apartment smell absolutely wonderful!

Tomorrow morning we are leaving for our little Thanksgiving outing at 7:50 in the morning so I’d better get to bed fairly early tonight. We are going to a Medici villa, having a short tour there and then heading to a wine/olive farm where we’ll have a tour of the cellars and olive oil press before having a Tuscan lunch that they will prepare featuring wine and olive oil that they made. I am really looking forward to it and glad we’re at least doing something for Thanksgiving and not letting it pass by unnoticed. Then, when I get home, I get to Skype with my extended family who will all be over at our house for Thanksgiving so that is sure to be quite the event :) Well, I should be going so I can try to get to bed early. Happy Thanksgiving preparations!

All my love,

Kari

My ADORABLE Advent Calendar from my family :)

November 22, 2011 (100th BLOG POST!)

November 22, 2011

This morning I woke up pretty early so I could be on site for my Weaving the Tale class by 8:30. We met, once again, at Palazzo Davanzati where we met about a month ago. Today we looked at a painting depicting the story of Chaste Susanna. Denali gave an oral presentation on the painting and then we compared it to some of the other artwork in the room. After we were done with that presentation we headed to a coffee shop where we had an oral presentation and discussion on the Biblical story of Susanna and the Lucrezia Tornabuoni retelling. After class I took the bus home.

When I got home I worked on homework for a couple hours and headed back into school around 1:00. Today is Ellie’s birthday so we had a little party for her with yummy pastries. Then, at 2:00, our Medici class met at the Galleria dell’ Academia. It was really exciting because we got to talk about the David. I have seen him before but never really learned a lot about the history so it was very interesting. It really is quite an incredible work of art. It’s really fun to be around all the other people in the museum as well because I love hearing the gasps as they round the corner and see him there at the end of the corridor. After spending most of our time talking about the David, we looked at a few other works of art and then had a little break. After our break we met back up in the classroom for an hour-long in-class session of our Medici class. Then, around 5:15, I took the bus home.

When I got home I worked on homework for a little while and then watched the newest episode of How I Met Your Mother while coloring in my Christmas stained glass coloring book that I got from my family in the mail today :) After that I set up the AWESOME 3D gingerbread house Advent calendar that I also got in the mail from them today. It is the CUTEST Advent calendar ever! My host parents think it is just the best :)

For dinner this evening we started out with spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce that was absolutely delicious and really warmed me up. It was pretty cold today with a very brisk wind so I definitely needed a little something to warm me up. For our main dish we had omelets, which was just perfect because I had been craving them all day and, lo and behold, Daniela made omelets! In addition, we had cooked zucchini and Swiss cheese, which were both delicious as well. We finished off with apples and clementines. It was a wonderful dinner and we had wonderful conversation, as always. Oh and we even had wine this evening! I think I am appreciating it more now that were leaving so soon. I sure am going to miss my host parents.

I have had quite a bit of a headache all day so I am probably going to lay low tonight. I might watch another TV episode or two and then turn in early. Tomorrow I get to sleep in, which is nice but Thursday morning we leave for our Thanksgiving field trip at 7:50 so I won’t get a whole lot of sleep tomorrow night. Plus another wave of sickness is hitting and I certainly don’t want to get sick in my last three weeks here. Pray that I stay healthy! I hope all is well with all of you :)

All my love,

Kari

November 21, 2011

November 21, 2011

This morning I slept in until 9:30, which was wonderful! Then I got ready, had breakfast and worked on homework for a few hours. I headed out of the house around 11:45, took the bus into town and got some lunch at the Mercato Centrale. After that I ran a couple of errands before meeting my Dante class at 1:30 at Santa Croce. We worked our readings for the day into some of the different paintings in the chapels in the church as well as looked at Dante’s tomb. However we found out that he is not actually buried in his tomb there because he died in another town and Florence was never able to get his relics back from there. Anyway, I did my last presentation today, which was nice to get out of the way. And it was nice to be inside because it was cloudy and a lot chillier today than it has been. After Dante class I walked back to the station with Tyler and we found that it’s beginning to look a little more like Christmas in Florence! They hung a lot of Christmas lights over the weekend and a lot of stores are starting to put up their own Christmas decorations! When we got back to the station I caught the bus home.

I got home around 4:15 and got to Skype my Grandparents at 4:30. It was so wonderful to be able to talk to them after two weeks and tell them all about my adventures. After that I worked on homework for a little bit and then watched a couple short episodes of Modern Family until it was time for dinner. It was so nice to be back eating dinner with our whole family again after not having done so since Wednesday night. We started out with linguini with a butter and cheese sauce that is one of my very favorites! After that we had absolutely incredible meatballs with beans—I don’t know what the seasoning was but they were absolutely delicious! We finished off with clementines, which were yummy and sweet as usual. We had lovely conversation, as usual, and Andrea told us that Daniela was accepted into the House of Dante Circle of Artists, which is a really big deal so that was really exciting to hear! Our Host Mom is famous!

Now that dinner is over I am going to try to get a little bit of homework done before going to sleep early. I have class tomorrow morning at 8:30 so I’d better get to sleep fairly early. However, before that, I’ll get some homework done, stretch and maybe read a chapter in my book for fun. It’s a little hard to get motivated to go to class again but I’ll have to find it somewhere because we only have three more weeks…how crazy is that?! Well, I’d better get everything done so I can get to bed. A domani!

All my love,

Kari

November 20, 2011

November 20, 2011

This morning I woke up around 8:00, got ready, packed up and we brought our luggage down to storage. After that we went to breakfast, which was once again delicious. After breakfast a big group of us headed out into the city to find the big Sunday market. We each picked a buddy because it was so huge and there were so many people, we didn’t want anyone getting lost. My buddy was Becca and we had fun exploring and looking through everything. It was more of a flea market but there were some arts and crafts. When we got tired of looking (we walked for an hour and weren’t anywhere near through the whole thing) we wandered back toward the river. We walked along the river for a while and then we headed toward the Spanish Steps. On our way, we walked past the Pantheon again, got one last gelato from Giolitti, and made one more wish in the Trevi Fountain. From there we wandered the rest of the way to the Spanish Steps. They were very crowded but beautiful. We have had such beautiful weather and everything is more beautiful in the sunshine!

After that we started back toward the hotel. We picked up crepes for lunch on our way, which were delicious and also, of course, made a quick trip to the Rome Disney Store! Then, at 2:00, we met our group, got our luggage and headed to the bus. We then drove to Villa Borghese, which took about fifteen minutes because it is on a beautiful hill, kind of above Rome. We were not allowed to bring anything into the museum so I wasn’t able to take photos of the beautiful Villa and gardens, but that’s okay. The Galleria Borghese was beautiful and I really enjoyed it. The sculptures were stunning and I could have looked at them for hours. After a tour through, we had some free time to walk through the garden and the park, which were so beautiful and quiet. After that we got back on the bus and headed home to Florence.

On the bus ride home, Jodie had the bus driver play The Gladiator for us—too funny that we just watched it last night! We were excited through because we would finally get to see the end! AND it made the bus ride go by a lot more quickly, which was great considering it was about three and a half hours. It really was quite a good movie, although very sad, as well. Angela, our guide on Friday, said it was the most historically accurate of the movies she’s seen about the period, so it was good in that respect as well! We all really loved the movie and it was so cool to see after having just been to Rome.

We arrived home in Florence around 8:30 and caught the bus home. When we got home, Daniela met us with a delicious meal of pesto, caprese salad, bread, cheese and pastries. We were very hungry by 9:00, when we ate so it was even more delicious! After dinner I unpacked and then typed up all my blogs from the weekend. Now that I have finished that up, I will post them and then I am off to bed. It has been a wonderful but exhausting weekend. Thankfully I get to sleep in tomorrow! I hope you all had a beautiful weekend and are at least kind of enjoying the snow (for those of you who have it).

All my love,

Kari

 Giolitti!

The Spanish Steps

November 19, 2011

November 19, 2011

This morning I woke up around 8:15, got ready and headed down to breakfast around 8:45. I had another delicious and filling breakfast before heading out for the day. All three tours were optional but I ended up going on all of them (Nikki, Ellie and I were the only three to do so). We met Jodie in the hotel lobby at 9:30 and the ten of us students plus her headed across the river to Villa Farnese. It was an absolutely beautiful villa, dedicated to love and entertainment so all of the artwork was fun, bright and playful. After about an hour and a half there, we power-walked across town to Capitoline Hill where Jodie and Gail led us through the Capitoline Museum, filled with artifacts found through the excavation of Rome as well as the foundation of the Temple of Jupiter itself. It was a very interesting museum and, once again, nice to have such a small group. It is just so incredible to me that there are entire cities beneath our feet that are just waiting to be discovered. There is layer upon layer of history down there that may never be brought to light because of the modern buildings on top. There was a special exhibit in the museum of sketches and drawings by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, which was also very interesting.

When our time there was done we walked back to the hotel to rest our feet. I was still pretty full from breakfast but I ate the sandwich I had made at breakfast for lunch and got a delicious crepe at a little place around the corner from our hotel. At 3:00, we met Gail in the lobby and we walked to San Clemente (once again there were only about ten of us). The site was really quite incredible, not only because there is a beautiful church, but mostly because, upon excavating beneath, they found three other churches from different time periods below—one right on top of the other. To make it even cooler, you can actually go down underground to each level of the churches—20 meters under today’s street level. So that was very interesting and very cool!

After that Ellie, Nikki and I walked part of the way back with Gail and then veered off to go back to the gelateria where we went yesterday. It was crazy busy! This time I got cinnamon, caramel and some flavor that was delicious but I can’t remember the name. We finished up our gelato and then headed back to the hotel. Nikki had a meeting with Jodie about her final paper so I rested my feet, lay in bed and did some reading. Then I met her and Becca and we got incredible pizza from the “forno” across the street from our hotel. After our quick dinner we hung out in the lobby for a while with some other friends. Then we decided to find a grocery store to get some treats and have a girls’ night in since we were so exhausted. We got some cookies, chocolate and wine and headed back to our room. We flipped through channels on the TV but weren’t finding anything. Right then Becca (a different one…there are four in our program) came in and asked if we wanted to watch The Gladiator with them. So about ten of us snuggled together on the two beds, pushed together, and watched. We didn’t end up watching all the way to the end, however, because most of us fell asleep about half way through. So we decided to turn it off and head to bed around 11:30. I fell asleep the minute I hit the pillow. 

The Roman Forum from the Capitoline Museum

November 18, 2011

November 18, 2011

This morning I woke up at about 7:30, got ready and we headed down to breakfast around 8:00. It was lovely to have a real breakfast again filled with croissants, fruit, cheese, yogurt and granola. We met as a group at 9:00 and walked over to the Capitoline Hill where we met our tour guide, Angela from England, who was just wonderful. We started out walking through some of the ruins of the forum, making our way over to the Coliseum. When we got there we got to go to the third level—a special thing that almost no one gets to do! It had an incredible view and was very cool. We were supposed to go underneath as well but, because of the flooding, we were unable to do so. It was fun to be back at the Coliseum and I, of course, learned many interesting and fun things I didn’t know before.

After our time there we had about an hour break to grab some lunch. I went with a group of people and we found a cute little place where you could buy pizza by the slice and it was cheap and delicious. We met back with our group and guide at 1:00 and headed into the ruins and the forum. Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and a lot of fun so we had a good time even though our feet really hurt by that point. After the tour we all headed back to the hotel because we needed a bit of a rest. My feet were in a lot of pain so it felt good to be able to lie in bed and read for an hour. Then, at 4:30, we met Jodie and Gail in the lobby for an optional walking tour. There were about fifteen of us who chose to join. We started at Santa Maria Sopra Minerva where the two Medici popes are buried as well as Fra Angelico. We also looked at a chapel frescoed by Filipino Lippi and a marble statue of the Risen Christ by Michelangelo. After that we headed across the street to the Pantheon. Last time I went there, we didn’t really talk much about it so it was fun to learn more about it.

From there we were treated to gelato from Rome’s most famous gelateria, Giolitti. It was definitely the best gelato I have ever had and we got such big portions for so cheap (even though they paid for us anyway). I had caramel, cream and some sort of toffee and almond flavor that was very yummy. We finished up there and, realizing that we were close to the Trevi Fountain, I headed over there with a few others. It really is so beautiful, especially at night. We made wishes on pennies, took photos, took it all in and then decided to wander back. We admired all the Christmas lights and decorations and loved being a part of all the people out and about. We eventually ended up back at the hotel where we made a quick stop before heading out to dinner.

We ate at a cute little restaurant with big, delicious portions. I had linguine al pesto, which was wonderful and very filling. We spent quite a while at dinner and then headed back to the hotel. Back in our room, exhausted, we got ready for bed, read for a bit and then went to bed around 10:45. We felt so lame but we couldn’t move and could barely keep our eyes open :P

 Me at the Coliseum 

 Me, (Denali), and Anica eating gelato!

Me, Tiela and Leah at the Trevi Fountain (OLES!)

November 17, 2011

November 17, 2011

This morning we got up at 6:00, got ready, finished packing and caught the bus into town around 7:20. We met our group at the station at 7:50 and our train departed for Rome at 8:10. We took a fast train so it was really nice and, of course, fast. It only took about an hour and a half, unlike the four hours it takes by bus. We arrived in Rome around 9:45 and had vans bring us to the hotel. We got our rooms and had about 45 minutes to settle in and eat our box lunches that our host parents packed for us. Our rooms are nice and Becca, Nikki and my beds are all pushed together so it’s almost like last weekend :)

We met back up with our group in the lobby at 11:30 and walked to the Vatican. It was an absolutely beautiful day—sunshine and warm! When we got there we toured St. Peter’s and it was fun to be back and see it again after a few years! After that we headed around the basilica to a special side entrance for our special tour of the mausoleum, which is a difficult tour to get. Our tour guide was a second year seminary student from Oklahoma and was fantastic! He really reminded me of Elder Price’s character for the musical, The Book of Mormon. He was very animated and told great stories. When he told the story of Peter’s bones being found, we were on the edge of our seats. As part of the tour we even got to see the bones of St. Peter. It was a wonderful tour and I’m so glad Jodie brought us.

After our tour, we headed over to the Vatican Museums. When there we could walk around with Jodie or Gail or wander around by ourselves, but I chose to go with Jodie, which was wonderful. We walked around for about two hours, in a group of about eight, focusing especially on Raphael and, of course, the Sistine Chapel. It was really quite spectacular, even the second time around; and, of course, more interesting with Jodie who knows absolutely everything. We were still in the chapel around 5:45, right before it closed when, all of a sudden, they turned on all the lights to illuminate it. Jodie was so excited because apparently they never do that and she’d never seen them do it. Then we saw why—the coach who led Italy to their World Cup victory had walked in with a group of nicely dressed people. All the museum guards/curators had their pictures taken with him and were very excited :) Then they even let them take photos. Since we were the only others remaining in the chapel, they disregarded us so we got to snap a few photos as well!

After that we headed out and headed home. Erin, Katie, Leah and I decided to have an “early” dinner (6:30) at a place both Jodie and Gail recommended. It was a cute place and we had delicious (and inexpensive) food. I had a huge, delicious plate of gnocchi and shared chocolate mousse with Leah. We had a lovely time but headed back to the hotel around 7:30 because Leah and Katie were very tired. I got back to find Nikki and Becca getting ready to head out for dinner with a group and decided to join them. We ended up going to the same restaurant, which I was totally fine with, and I just got a cup of tea. We had a lot of fun :) After that we headed back to the hotel because we were all so exhausted. Nikki, Becca and I got ready for bed, watched some TV and then read before going to bed around 10:30. We will be so well rested for tomorrow, which will be another very busy day!

 Me, Willi, Katie, Leah, Franzi and Erin

 Willi and me on the terrace at the Vatican Museums

 Inside St. Peter's with Becca

 The Vatican

November 16, 2011

November 16, 2011

This morning I got to sleep in until 9:00 before heading into school for my Dante class at 10:45. We have officially started Paradiso but I am about ready to be done with the Divine Comedy because it’s honestly getting a little repetitive. Not to mention I’m not completely in agreement with Dante’s view of Heaven…BUT it’s interesting to read nonetheless and we only have two more weeks of it. After Dante I ate my lunch in the classroom as usual and headed to my Italian class early to do a little more review before our final. It was a pretty bittersweet day in Italian because we were all pretty okay with the fact that the class itself was finishing up but realized how much we were going to miss Umberto and all the silly things we did in class together. But there wasn’t much time to think about it because we had to take the final. Guess what? I GOT 100% ON MY FINAL! I cannot even believe it but I am so happy :) I mean, I studied hard and knew I had a pretty good handle on the language but had no idea I would do that well! Anyway, I left class very happy.

After our final, our Italian professors threw a little party for us in one of the classrooms. Umberto made tiramisu that was to die for and the other three professors made chocolate and vanilla cakes. They cut everything into smaller pieces and gave us some of each on our plates, along with cookies and different sparkling juices. Umberto also brought his Italian music CDs that my class has grown to love and played them while we all talked and reminisced about our time together over the past two and a half months. It was so much fun and it’s hard to believe it’s over. However it is nice to know that we will still see our professors around as we still have our other classes in the same building.

After our party, I headed to my Weaving the Tale class. A lot of the students in our class were pretty wiped out from studying and taking the final so it was definitely hard to focus, especially after our little party. We had an oral presentation and talked about the story of Judith but then, an hour into class (half an hour before it was over), our professor let us go because we just were having trouble taking things in and she had a lot of grading to do before Rome tomorrow so she figured it was the best option. After class, my friend Tiela trimmed my bangs in the bathroom, which was very nice because my bangs had been getting so long and they were always getting in my eyes. I was going to try to wait until I got home but I just couldn’t wait any longer so I am very glad she cut them.

After that, I decided to go into a little vintage store that I pass almost every day and have always wanted to go in. So I finally went in and absolutely loved everything in the store! I found a cute little tunic dress that has a rope belt that you tie and really loved it. It is navy blue with gold stars and I decided it would be perfect for going to the opera in a couple weeks as well as for opening nights for shows :) So I bought it and am very happy with it! After that, I caught the bus home. When I got home I Skyped for a little bit, packed for Rome and finished up some homework so I wouldn’t have anything pressing that I needed to do over the weekend in Rome.

We ate dinner at 7:30 this evening because Andrea had a work call at 8:00. It was kind of nice because it meant we were done earlier, which makes it a little easier to go to bed earlier, which is nice because we have to get up really early tomorrow morning. For dinner we started with pasta and broccoli that was very good and followed that with fennel parmesan and a soy burger for me and chicken for Franzi and Daniela. We finished off with clementines. It was a lovely dinner with, as usual, wonderful and very funny conversation.

I am going to try to be in bed by 10:00 because we have to be up around 6:00 tomorrow morning so I’d better wrap this up. I wanted to watch yesterday’s episode of Glee before bed so, once I am all finished up with the other things I need to do before bed, I will treat myself to that. I am glad to be caught up with Glee because it really is a fun season so far and would have been pretty difficult to catch up when I got home. I also watched the latest episode of How I Met Your Mother last night before bed, as well as the first episode of this season of Modern Family…and I still want to start watching Parenthood! So many good TV shows…thank goodness for WIFI :) Anyway, I will not have wifi in Rome so as usual I will bring a journal, write an entry each night and then post them all when I get back on Sunday night. I hope you all have an absolutely wonderful end to your week and weekend and I will talk to you all again on Sunday!

All my love,

Kari

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KELSEY!!!

My Italian class :)

Umberto's Homemade Tiramisu! 

November 15, 2011

November 15, 2011

This morning I had to wake up pretty early so I could get ready, catch the bus into town and then walk to Palazzo Vecchio where we were meeting for my Weaving the Tale class. It was very cold outside this morning and none of us were really prepared for it because it had not been this cold yet (or maybe we just hadn’t been out so early in the morning—class was at 8:30). Anyway, before we held our second half of class in the Uffizi, we had to stand outside and listen to an oral presentation on Donatello’s Judith for about an hour…all of our toes were numb by the end of it but we survived. Finally we got to go into the Uffizi where we had another oral presentation on a depiction of Judith by Botticelli. It was much warmer inside and they had space heaters everywhere so we finally warmed up. Then the last part of class was held in the Uffizi café where Katy treated us all to tea and coffee (probably to make up for making us stand outside in the cold for such a long time), which was lovely.

After class, I took the bus home because I had some time between then and my Italian class. Last night after dinner I was pretty out of it and not able to focus on homework so I decided to start a movie. I was very sad that I was not able to see Crazy Stupid Love when it came out, right before I came to Italy so I decided to see if I could find it for free online. And, amazingly enough, I found an incredible website (that actually works in Italy) where you can watch any movie or TV show you ever dreamed of for free! Anyway, I watched part of that movie last night and, since I still needed a bit of warming up and a break, I finished it up this morning and really loved it :) After that, I had some lunch, did a little bit of homework and headed back into school.

It was hard to believe that today was our last Italian class as tomorrow we just take the final and then have a little party afterward. It will definitely be nice to have more free time but I am going to miss Umberto a lot. Thankfully we will still be around the building for our other classes so we will see him but it’s still weird to think of life here without Italian class. I mean we’ve been taking Italian class since day one of the program so it will be much different without it. Anyway, we spent most of class reviewing for the final and then a little bit of time singing along to our favorite Italian songs from the semester :)

After Italian, we headed over to Palazzo Strozzi to see an exhibit about beauty and money in Florence, mainly art. I had not yet been to Palazzo Strozzi and it was absolutely gorgeous—perhaps my favorite palace in Florence (or at least the one I would most like to live in). As part of the exhibit they had a little computer game simulation thing where, when you scanned your ticket in each room, it gave you a situation and a title as a merchant in Florence and had you perform trades and other things. If, by the end, you had made 5% profit or more, you got a discount in the gift shop (what a marketing ploy…) Anyway, Nikki and I did it together and made a 10% profit so felt very good about ourselves :P We did enjoy the artwork of the exhibit as well, don’t worry!

After Medici, we headed back over to school for a quick Rome orientation. We got our schedule for the weekend, signed up for roommates for the hotel (I am rooming with Becca and Nikki), signed up for tours and museum visits and just talked about Rome. I am very excited! After that, Jodie [finally] handed back our Medici midterms and I got an A on mine so I am very happy :) After our orientation, I headed home. Once I got home, I worked on homework until it was time for dinner.

For dinner this evening we started with penne pasta with tomato sauce that was warm and delicious on such a cold day. For our main dish we had a bean, tomato and sausage dish that was also very warm and very yummy! Daniela offered to make me something else if I didn’t want sausage but I am very glad I had it because it was quite delicious. We finished off the meal with clementines as usual. We also had fun conversations, as we so often do, which made it an even better meal :)

Now that dinner is over, I have a little more homework I need to do tomorrow before I can stretch and maybe watch a short episode of a TV show before I go to bed. I don’t have class until 10:45 tomorrow so I will be able to sleep in, which is so very nice. I hope you are all staying warm and having a lovely week!

All my love,

Kari 

Palazzo Strozzi

November 14, 2011

November 14, 2011

This morning I got to sleep in before going in for work-study at 10:00. I worked in the library for a while and also got to help out getting schedules and per diems together for Rome this weekend. I worked for a couple hours and then had lunch in the classroom with everyone else. Today in Italian we spent the whole time reviewing for our final, which is on Wednesday. I can’t believe that it’s already our last week of Italian…I knew it was coming but it’s weird that it is actually here and that it will all be over in two days. We had a fun class though, even though it was spent doing worksheets :) After Italian, I headed over to Palazzo Medici for my Dante class. We spent the first half of class in the indoor courtyard discussing what we had read for the day. When our reservation time came, we went upstairs to the Chapel of the Magi, which is one of my favorite places in all of Florence, as small as it is. You are only allowed to be in there seven minutes (who knows why seven…), which is so not enough time but it was nice to be back, nonetheless. After our time in there, we spent some time back in the courtyard discussing its connections to the Divine Comedy. After Dante, I picked up a few things at the supermarket and then caught the bus home.

Once I got home, I Skyped for a little bit and then finished up my homework for tomorrow. I also tried to work ahead a little bit because tomorrow is a pretty busy day and then we leave for Rome on Thursday morning so I probably won’t get a whole lot done this weekend. But hopefully, if I set aside chunks of time and really set my mind to it, my final projects, papers, presentations and studying won’t take me forever. I am sure they won’t be bad once I just sit down and start on them. After doing homework for a while, I wrote a few postcards from Riva del Garda and then it was time for dinner.

For dinner this evening we started out with a delicious soup that was orange so I think it was some sort of squash with barley in it—whatever it was it was warm and perfect for a cold November night. For our main dish, we had “cheeseburgers,” polenta, fennel, bread and olive oil. We finished off with apples and clementines. It was a lovely dinner and very satisfying :)

Well I guess I didn’t have a whole lot to write about today but I had plenty to write about this past weekend so hopefully you don’t mind too much. Plus I am going to Rome for four days this weekend so you will have plenty more to read on Sunday evening. Well for now I’d better get back to my homework and then do my best to get to bed fairly early as I have to get up early tomorrow for class. Hope you had a good start to your week!

All my love,

Kari