I'm in love with Istanbul

Ciao!

I haven't written in a long time. There is a lot to talk about, for this post though I am going to focus on the best trip I have ever taken, Istanbul! I really don't think I can put into words how much I love Istanbul and Turkey as a whole. It will be very hard to explain the depth of the culture and the experience I had there. Well, here goes...

I have to say I was a little nervous to go to Istanbul in the first place. I had received a lot of mixed reactions and warnings about the city and the government but after going there I don't have a single regret. Turkey is a wonderful country with a very rich culture. Istanbul itself has so much to offer a visitor. First, the people are an extremely accepting group, in love with their country. They rave about it and are so happy to have tourists walking the streets soaking up all the city has to offer. The people want to talk and learn about different places and about how much they love their homeland. It's wonderful to hear such passion. I could rave about how I felt so welcome in their country, but I won't. I'll just say the Turkish people exceeded my expectations of hospitality.

I'm already doing a poor job of explaining why I love Istanbul so much...I can't do it justice. Honestly, I need to suggest that everyone try to travel to Turkey in their lifetime. No one would regret it.

My favorite part about Istanbul was the Grand Bazaar. Yes, partly because I spent my life savings on souvenirs, but also because it was a great place to experience Turkish culture. On the bright side the Turkish Lira is not strong, especially in comparison to the Euro. The exchange rate is about two Lire to every one Euro. Good deal. The Grand Bazaar does not have fixed prices, I bargained my heart out. Even better deal. I bought a lot of stuff, including a lamp. Yes, I bought a lamp and I am super excited about putting it in my room next year. It may even become the main attraction in my apartment. We'll see...

The items sold at the Bazaar ranged from T-shirts and scarves to expensive rugs and hand painted pottery. Beautiful, beautiful souvenirs, which I already know I want to keep all to myself. Too bad I have to give some of them as gifts...

After the Bazaar my friends and I went to the Blue Mosque. It is called the Blue Mosque because inside the mosaics are predominantly blue. It's a beautiful place. In order to enter we needed to take off our shoes and put scarves on our heads. I felt so spiritual in the Mosque, a strange calm came over me and I felt so peaceful. I really can't describe it more than that. It was an experience I won't soon forget.

The second night we were there we debated about things to do. We finally decided to have a bakery crawl. Best decision I've ever made. Seriously. These bakeries have the best sweets I have ever tasted...In my life. I had tea and cake, and baklava, and more cake, then some cake with cream and fruit, it was delicious.

The last really exciting thing I think I can put into words is this: ASIA AND EUROPE in the SAME DAY! Turkey is 2/3 Asian and 1/3 European. I have been to both parts, I flew into the Asian part and stayed in the European part. Yes, two continents in the same trip. Oh ciao! I love my life.

The weather as it pertains to Calcio

Ciao regazzi!

Midterms are coming up next week, something I am really not looking forward too. I think they should be illegal to have while studying abroad. They are significantly cutting in to the time I would be spending outside in the beautiful weather. Although I only have two midterms they are both historical and definitely not a strength of mine. Next week is definitely going to be rough...

High points of next week include:

CALCIO!

Cappuccini

Cornetti

The beginning of Spring Break!

My Family!

and Sydney!

Enough of a look ahead though, what's happened since I posted last?

The weather in Rome has been beautiful. I'm definitely not used to 60 degree Februarys, coming from Chicago. It's a nice change, one of the best things about being abroad. I try to be outside everyday, either reading, napping, talking with my friends or exploring the city.

The downfall to the weather here is that it rains quite a bit. Mostly in the mornings or evenings which is nice in some respects but inconvenient in one big way: Calcio. Calcio is played at night and the first four games have fallen on rainy nights, leading to wet shoes, colds and worst of all, cancelled games.

Last Wednesday was a sunny, breezy, 65 degree day. I sat outside without a jacket, bought and iced cappuccino, and went for a walk. I went inside for dinner (in the basement) for half an hour, went back upstairs to change for calcio only to find raindrops on the windows from the downpour happening outside. Needless to say I was disappointed but my spirits were lifted when, as time passed, people started heading to the fields. No announcement came about a cancellation...so the games were on! It was a great night. I had a lot fun. My team lost to Navy Blue, but no matter, we still enjoyed ourselves.

Well, I need to ciao now. I have midterms to study for, I'm shooting for A's! Cross your fingers per favore, I think I need all the luck I can get.

Weekdays are harder than weekends

Hi!

The weekdays seem to last longer then all the days of the weekend combined. Weekdays are full of repetitive actions, go to class, sit in Rinaldo's and work on homework, eat Mensa, and go to sleep. It takes a toll on me. I hardly ever step foot outside the J-Force on weekdays, especially these last few weeks because the rain has been non-stop. I look forward to little trips to the market and the tabacchi's because they are a chance to breathe fresh air.

Weekends are very different. Rain or shine, I will not let myself stay indoors. I will take advantage of every minute of my weekends whether I am traveling or staying in Rome. There will always be an adventure waiting on my doorstep or in this case outside the gates of the JFRC. I don't know what is in store for me this weekend. Maybe an Italian movie at a theater downtown, or a Gelarteria crawl? Whatever it is, fun is in store.

This week was full of ups and downs. I'm trying very hard to look at the positives, sometimes though, I fail miserably and fall into a downward spiral of tears and fears. Thank God for Marriam and Katherine. I don't know what I would do if they weren't hear to provide hugs and ears to listen to my highs and lows. They put things into perspective for me and pick me up when I can't seem to see how to get up on my own. I love them so much.

Calcio was cancelled this week due to rain. I never knew how much the little activities I look forward to affect my outlook on my days. When I found out Calcio was cancelled on Wednesday night I was mess. It was something I had been looking forward to since the previous Wednesday. Calcio is a chance to get out some energy, aggression, and have fun. Its cancellation was a huge bummer. I got over it...eventually. But I dwelled on it for the rest of that night. The rain seems to ruin a lot of things here. It's something I need to get over and embrace somehow. I can't stop the rain so I should learn to love it. Maybe I'll just dance in it...

Last night I had a great time with some really good friends at a bar in Monte Mario, Maes. I had a drink, a Cinderella, that I'm not even sure was alcoholic. It tasted purely of pineapple and oranges and happiness. We played National Geographic Memory at the bar. I enjoyed every minute of the night and it helped that I won the game! My competitive side made an appearance and Katherine and I especially, had a few minor tiffs but all is well now. I thought she was going to pull off the win, she was on a roll towards the end of the game!

Today, I felt the sun shine and a positive attitude from the minute I jumped off my top bunk for my early class. This weekend will be fun. This next week will fly by. My parents, my sister and Sydney and her mom will be here TWO weeks from today! Something to look forward to, and that's what I need!

Ciao, all!

Don't have Picnics in Pisa

Last weekend was a whole different adventure in a completely different place. It was a great adventure and Florence has been my favorite place in Italy thus far. I still have many places to go, and the upcoming weeks have a lot in store for me.

But, I want to talk about last weekend...

The trip starts with me waking up at the crack of dawn, which really was only 7 AM but honestly, I need all the sleep I can get. It was necessary to get up so early because the chances of getting lost en route to the train station are great, I mean, it's me...I have no directional abilities. On the bright side we needed the extra hour we gave ourselves at the train station because it took us forever to find our train. Pathetic. Once we figured it out we found our seats and enjoyed an hour train ride to Florence!

(Warning: This paragraph is rather intense. Read as if I am speaking very fast. My thoughts are flustered but I'm speaking my mind. Ok, enjoy...it will be interesting. It's also a tangent. Beware.) The train ride was a very interesting experience for me. I sat across from a couple who had kids in high school. I chatted with them about studying abroad in Rome, and the opportunity Loyola offers with their campus in Monte Mario. They were so excited about everything and kept whispering to each other about how it is such a great opportunity. It really made me think. I know this is an awesome opportunity and I want to take advantage of my time in Rome. I have to thank my parents for letting me take advantage of this opportunity and being so supportive of me through the times when I'm enjoying myself here and the times when I skype them in tears because I want to come home. I have so many mixed emotions, I can't keep track of them. Overall, I love Rome but I also love home. Here, I'm out of my element, I feel it everyday. It's good for me though. I need this. I need to be pushed to my limits and out of my comfort zone. I need to be happy and sad and mad and glad and most of all I need to be challenged. I need to miss you, and I need to cry, and laugh, and fake being happy when I'm sad, and then I need to be truly happy like I am most of the time. It's good, it's really good. Because I need to know I can do this, for myself. And I'll be back in two months and it will go by fast, and I will be so happy, and most of all I'll be so ecstatic to see home and my family and my love and my friends and my pets and Chicago. So there. This is good. Yes it is.

I had the best waffles ever in Florence, and finally got some Mexican food! This put me in such a good mood for the weekend, I swear, nothing could get me down. Not even the five boring hours I spent in Pisa in Sunday. I could definitely have lived without this "adventure," but it definitely did not make the weekend any less fun. Although I still have not decided if the leaning tower was worth the agony I went through during this day. I will say this one time only: I will never have a picnic in Pisa again! For those of you who are not aware, my worst fear is birds. Birds are flying monsters. While enjoying (or not enjoying) my sandwich on the marble steps near the leaning tower a congregation of ravenous pigeons surrounded the area I was eating in. They landed on my backpack. I screamed, ran away, and the only dialogue that came out of my mouth for the next ten minutes was, "Katherine! Katherine, Katherine!! Get them! Stop them!! Help, help help!! Katherine! Make them go away!!" There were pictures taken of me by other tourists, and I'm pretty sure Marriam peed her pants while watching the show I put on.

Don't have picnics in Pisa.

Calcio

For those of you who don't know what Calcio means, it is Italian for Soccer. Last week the Rome Center (from now on referred to as the JFRC or J Force) started weekly, Wednesday night Calcio matches. Each person who wanted to play was assigned to a team based on their skill level. I am now a member of the Light Blue team (or as we refer to ourselves, LB)! Sadly, LB is 0-2 after the first two weeks of play. The games were both very close, 5-3, 5-4, but nevertheless they are still losses. But, no matter if we win or lose I think Calcio will always be fun! Thanks to my twin (Marriam!) and Joe for cheering all the teams on this week! I loved all the creative and sometimes embarrassing cheers!

Last night's matches were filled with injuries. Some guys took some pretty hard hits to the balls, a girl got a concussion after an attempt to steal the ball resulted in a collision, and Katherine and I both pulled our Hamstring muscles. We were two peas in a pod last night, limping around, whining, and icing our legs. My leg is feeling a little better this morning. At least I'm no longer limping around the J Force with people awkwardly staring at me.

Today is Thursday and the last day of classes for the week! I'm off to Florence for weekend, I'll be back Sunday night! Happy Valentine's Day everybody! Look for a new post next week!

Rome Sick: Chapter 2

Rome is an amazing city. I want to start by saying that. But I have this passion for Spain that I can't seem to shake. I will forever be awed and in love with Spanish culture and the country itself. I went to Barcelona last weekend. I had a great time. It was an experience I won't soon forget. So much happened, so many emotions flowed into and out of my head. Overall, I feel that it is best described as a learning experience.

Lesson One: When you go to a new city, bring a map... especially when you arrive in the dead of night. The flight we took into Barcelona took off on a Thursday night at 9:30 p.m.. The flight was an hour and fifteen minutes, we arrived at Girona airport at 11:00. Upon arrival we realize that this airport is not in Barcelona but about an hour outside the city. A taxi into Barcelona from the airport is 150 euro. A taxi was definitely not an option, I'm on a very limited budget. This is when the first problem of the weekend occurs...how are we going to get to Barcelona? We wander around the airport for a while, and luck is on our side, I guess. We find a bus that will take us into Barcelona for 21 euro round trip. After an hour of broken sleep and Snow Patrol playing on repeat we arrive in Barcelona at 12:30. This is where a map would come in handy. We have no idea where our hostel is, much less where the bus station we are currently at is located within the city. So we wander...for two hours. I am mad and ready to jump into the next taxi that drives by. We walked onto a highway, into a ghetto past prostitutes, and into construction zones. Finally we used our last resort, Katherine's iPhone. It probably cost her a lot of money, but we found our hostel and walked there looking like zombies. We bought a map the next day.

Lesson Two: Everything costs money...even blankets. It's three in the morning by the time my head hits the pillow. A blanket costs two euro and Katherine, Marriam and I decide to rough it and save the money. Roughing it did not last long. At around 3:30 I woke up freezing to find Katherine and Marriam shivering under their coats they are using as blankets. I get up and buy the three of us blankets and slept like a baby until 10. Europe is expensive.

Lesson Three: Travel in small groups when possible. I love every single girl I went on this trip with. Know that before reading this paragraph. I am not a girl person. I have girls that I love to death and are my best friends, but I can not handle large groups of girls for long periods of time. I go crazy. I learned to hold my tongue and go with the flow this weekend...that's for sure.

I did a lot of things while I was in Barcelona. My favorite adventure was the Picasso Museum. It is the most interesting place I have been in a long time. I could sit in that museum for hours and stare at his paintings. They take my breath away. My favorite room in the museum is the room(s) dedicated to Picasso's interpretations of Velazquez's painting, Las Meninas or in English, The Maids of Honor. His paintings are amazing and thought consuming. I might be in love with them.

The trip was so fun but during my time there I realized that I missed Rome, or at least my room in Rome. My room is warm, my bed is comfy, and I don't have to play for food here. We started to say that we were Rome sick, although I really am HOME sick. We also realized that we have started chapter two. We all like it here, and it was a huge surprise to find that I actually missed it...still not as much as I miss home, but it's something.

It has been a few days since I wrote last. Things are getting pretty busy here. The days really wear me out. No matter how much sleep I get I always seem to be tired, tired and hungry. In Italy there never seems to be a minute where I am not thinking about food, gelato, cornetti, pizza, I want it all. The first few days mensa (our cafeteria) was horrible but it is getting better (or I am just getting used to it). Everyday the menu includes pasta, pasta, pasta, meat, vegetables, salad, fruit, desert. The thing is we can only have fruit or desert, one kind of vegetable, one kind of meat, and all the pasta we can eat. I'm not going to complain about it, I'm just going to say that I should be able to have yogurt and desert! Not one or the other.

This weekend was a busy weekend! Thursday night some of my friends and I headed out to a wine bar in Campo di Fiori. It was a lot of fun, we dressed up (I wore my new high heels!), and went out on the town! Friday I went back in Roma and wandered around Trastevere for the day. I have been doing so much walking! My legs are exhausted at the end of everyday. Although I am looking forward to having awesome looking legs by the end of this semester!

On Saturday I went to Hadrian's Villa. It was a cool site to see. The ruins are awesome.

The rest of the weekend I spent planning trips with my friends to go to Barcelona and Florence! I can't wait for the weekends I will be traveling! It is definitely something to look forward to! When I think in terms of the weekends and making checkpoints of the weekends I will be traveling to other countries my time here doesn't seem quite as long.

I've been here for about a week and a half. I've cried twice, and the rest of the time I have been having a really great time. I definitely am homesick for everyone still in the States, but it helps immensely to have some really great friends here. They are definitely people I can talk to when I'm sad, happy, lonely, scared, whatever emotion I might be feeling, they will be the people that will make my time in Roma the best it can be! It also really helps to skype with people at home. Although it doesn't always work even the little glimpses of their faces brighten my day. The messages I get from everyone also help me to feel like I'm not totally missing things going on with them.

The top three things I miss the most from home...

1. My family, friends, boyfriend, pets, etc. (In no particular order)

2. Toilet seats (They really don't have toilet seats here, easier for boys, much harder for girls.)

3. Mexican food (I was told I would miss this but I did not think I will miss it this much this soon!)

This week should bring some interesting things! I will be writing again after Barcelona! Stay tuned...

Ciao for now amici!