Goodbye Istanbul

I can't believe I haven't posted since I came to Istanbul. Time just went by so fast!

To sum up my Istanbul experience--It is gorgeous, with so much history. The food is honestly the best kind of food I think I have ever had. I liked literally everything I tried there.

The markets and atmosphere seem unreal, they are so pretty. I definitely want to come back someday and do some more exploring here.

But I am excited to come home! I can't believe I have been gone for over a month. Time went by so fast, but it will feel really good to slow down for awhile!

This has been such an amazing trip! I am so glad that I got the opportunity to see and experience all of these incredible things!

Week 3!!!

Time is going by waaaay too fast! I can't believe I only have a week until I am leaving Rome, and headed to Istanbul! yikes!

But maybe it is a good thing, since I have gotten seriously addicted to the coffee and gelato here. Maybe it is time to distance myself from these daily temptations... :)

Today I had a caffe latte freddo (just a cold, creamy latte), which was really good! I don't normally like cold coffee (or milky coffee for that matter), but I did actually like this. We also went out for gelato (our group has been doing this more than I'd like to admit), and I got a chocolate and wine flavor and Nocciola (hazelnut). Nocciola has quickly become one of my favorite flavors, suprisingly.

Our projects and presentations are all coming up next week, so all of us have been trying to work on all of those, while still enjoying Rome. Unfortunately, I have all 3 of my presentations next week--one on monday, and two on wednesday. But I can't complain. They are interesting projects, and not difficult at all. Plus, I am in Rome!

Right now I am working on a novella (a short novel, not a tella novella, which is what Katie thought at first) that my group is writing for our migrations class. My chapter is about a Moroccan immigrant who comes to Italy as a student. We are presenting our project on Monday, which should be interesting... :)

I am also working on a project about Ceramics and blown glass, and how these styles came from the East to Venice, for my Islam in Italian Cities class.

For my art history class, I am working on a paper on the Palazzo Pamphilj and S. Agnese Church. It has been a suprisingly hard topic to find information on, but I am finally starting to get going on it.













Anyway, we got to do some interesting things this week.

On Tuesday we went to the Jewish Ghetto, and toured the Museum and the Great synagogue that was built in 1870, after the unification of Italy.

Tuesday evening we also go to go to an opera! It was really fun! Although it kind of seemed like community theater (only the female singer was really amazing), it was still really fun to see! It was actually outside, in a little square that kind of looked like a school courtyard.

On Wednesday we went to a mosque in Rome. It is one of only two mosques in all of Italy! Although there are unofficial mosques in small builidings throughout Italy, there are only two official mosques in the whole country!








The one we saw was simple, but very pretty! It is getting me excited for the all of the amazing mosques we are going to get to see in Istanbul!













On Wednesday we also went to Santa Maria Trastevere, which is a beautiful little church that I had passed before, and had been wondering about. It is definitely my favorite church we have been to so far. It is small, but very elaborately decorated. And the outside is just so different-looking. It was one of the first churches dedicated to Mary. It has a very interesting painting on the ceiling with Mary and Jesus sitting on a thrown with elaborate crowns. It is just a very different, fascintating little church--tucked in an unexpected corner of normal-looking block.
















I am hoping to get the majority of my projects finished tomorrow and Saturday so that I can enjoy my last week in Rome!

I definitely want to make it to the Porta Portese flea market one last time, as well as get to all the last major things on my to-do list!

Florence!

Saturday was really fun.

We met everyone in the campo at 6:30 in the morning, and then headed to the train station to catch our 7:45 train.

Luckily they had coffee at the station, and yummy pastries. I got a big fluffy donut-like one with yellow custardy stuff in the middle. It was really good.

It was only about an hour train ride, and then immediately after we got there, we headed for the line to see The David. It took probably about an hour for the line to finally move significantly, so I'm glad we got there fairly early!





















The David was definitely bigger than I expected! I'm sure I had heard what size it really was at some point, but it was still so suprising to see in person! It was nothing like I pictured it.

After that we headed to the Duomo, which is so enormous, it is unfathomable. It is so uniquely beautiful. After admiring the outside, we decided we wanted to climb up to the top. It was an amazing view from the top! It was a lot of steep stairs, and it was very cramped and hot on the way up, but it was definitely worth it!














After doing some more exploring, and realizing that pretty much everything else was kind of expensive to get into, we headed to a nearby pizza place to get out of the heat and watch the Argentina vs. Germany game. It was very entertaining watching the Italian owners dramatically yell at the screen as Germany scored goal after goal, and Argentina failed to score any. But a very sad game to watch overall. :(

Overall, a very fun trip to Florence. It is definitely very different than Rome, so it was nice to branch out and see another part of Italy. Personally, I think I like the atmosphere of Rome a little better, but I would defintitely like to spend some more time in Florence at some of the churches and Museums.

Sunday and Monday weren't that eventful, but it was nice to have a couple days to relax. It has been extremely hot here, so we haven't been up to all that much.

Today we checked out the Capuchin Crypt. It was smaller than I expected--the church itself is pretty small--but it was still really cool to see. There are elaborate decorations made out of bones everywhere.

Walking and Gelato

This week went by way too fast!

On Wednesday we went to the market at Piazza Vittorio. One of the classes I am taking focuses on migration to Italy and this market has stalls with different foods and products from all over, so it was very interesting to observe. Although I didn't buy anything at the market, the prices were really reasonable and all the different types of food are especially interesting.





















After that we went to nearby Palazzo Farnese, and then headed up to the museums at Capitoline Hill.










Later that evening we also trekked to the Castel San'Angelo--although it was actually closed by the time we got there. However even the bridge leading up to it and the exterior itself were impressive enough. Hopefully we will have time to go back another day and check out the inside.

























Then, as a reward for all of our walking (and walking, and walking), we got gelato from this wonderful place that makes it all themselves with natural ingredients. They have one kind called Tartufo that is a mix of seven different kinds of chocolate and has brownie chunks in it. It is heavenly.

Our art professor actually manages to add gelato or coffee stops into our day trips because she haggles with the ticket vendors at all of the different museums and convinces them to give her a really good price on tickets (sometimes even free). But we have to stand there angelically while she does this in order to convince them that we will be really good in the museum. Then, with the money we save we can reward ourselves with gelato! What a great philosophy. :D

Tomorrow we are actually going to Florence! We have a free 3 day weekend this weekend so the majority of us are going to Florence. One group is going to stay for several days while the other half is just doing a day trip. I am just doing a day trip, but we are taking the fast train there and back, and we leave at 7:45 in the morning, and the train that comes back doesn't leave until 9:00. So hopefully that will be enough time! I am very excited to see Florence!