Tying Up All the Loose Ends...

It's hard to believe that this semester is already over, I could swear it was just last week that I was unpacking my bags! Father time was extra sneaky these past few months... He needs to start slowing it down a bit. Yet, of course it can only be expected- the best of times are always the ones to pass in the blink of an eye. And that's exactly what this experience has been- the absolute best experience I have had, and probably the only one like it that I ever will! When else in my life will I get the chance to be in a new country every weekend for a month straight? Probably... never. In fact, from reading my blog posts, it probably seems that I've done much less of the "study" and much more of the "abroad" part of studying abroad while I've been here. Which I wouldn't completely disagree with. However, I did in fact learn a lot while I have been here as well, so my final post will be about everything I have actually done in school during my wonderful semester abroad!

My favorite picture of the Arno River!

One of the best parts about studying in Italy is that it has so much history to it- no matter what city you are in there is a story behind it. This made the classes that I took here even more interesting because we weren’t just reading from a textbook- we actually got to see all of the things we were learning about! I loved this. The teacher inside of me jumped at the opportunities to relate things we read about in class to the real thing. Brace yourself for the cliché, but it really does make learning so much more fun! If only I would be able to take my future fourth graders on a field trip to Rome as well… Maybe a sign I should consider a teaching job here in Italy someday?? J

Anyways… One of my classes, Art of Florence, was an art history class. We went to see new artworks during nearly every class meeting. It still blows my mind how much incredible artwork this city has to offer! Although I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m a huge fan of museums, I’m so glad I took this class because I feel it really helped me to appreciate Florence for all it has to offer and made me open my eyes a little wider and look around as I walked through the city. We went to visit the Academia, Uffizi Gallery, Bargello Museum, Pitti Palace, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, LOTS of churches and basilicas, and so, so much more. To be honest, I probably wouldn’t have even ended up going to see half as many of these places in the city had I not been in a class that took me there… which would have been such a shame!! So, I’m very glad I was motivated by the class to truly appreciate the Italian Renaissance surrounding me that I would have otherwise missed out on. 

ROME

Our class in front of the Colosseum!

Another one of my classes I took was Ancient Rome- and about a month ago, to Rome we went! Although I’ve been there once before, it was completely different this time around because we focused on seeing everything from during the times of the Roman Empire. I love learning about history, especially ancient history, and it was even better getting to see everything we learned about in person! The first day we were there, we went to see mostly everything in and around the Forum- Trajan’s column, Arch of Constantine, Via Sacra, the Temple of Vesta, Temple of Julius Caesar and the Palatine Hill, and so much more... and of course the Colosseum, which is absolutely fascinating to learn about and see. I'm so glad I got to visit Rome again with my class, too, because, since we were with our professor, it was like having our own personal tour guide for the weekend to take us to see everything and tell us more about the buildings and everything else we saw. It made the trip so much more interesting to be able to ask questions right away and learn on the spot! During some free time that we had afterwards, our class went together to the Trevi Fountain together then to an apperitivo across the river that was so good! Gahh I'm going to miss to apperitivo now back at home in America! 

Temple of Vesta

Trajan's Column

Making a wish at the Trevi Fountain! 

Looking up at the roof in the Pantheon

Our second day in the city it was pouring rain, which normally I would have been against except that it actually ended up being really good timing, because it started raining right when we were visiting the Pantheon! I think the Pantheon is my favorite building we went to visit, and for some reason it was even better to see the rain coming down through the middle of the building… really spectacular! Hadrian really knew what he was doing building it- absolutely gorgeous. The rest of the second day (besides trying to hide from the rain in caffès and churches) we saw the Ara Pacis museum, Mausoleum of Augustus, the Romulean huts, Piazza Colonna, the House of Augustus, and I'm sure there was also more that I'm forgetting... There was just so much to see! Before we left I went to see the Mouth of Truth with some friends from class (any Audrey Hepburn fans out there?) before battling the crazy Roman transportation systems and making our way back home to Firenze. 

Front of the Pantheon!

Mouth of Truth

Rainy day in Roma

POPULONIA

Our class digging on site!

Sorting pottery!

My other favorite class that I took during the semester was archaeology. It was such a unique opportunity to take a class like that because where else other than Italy would be a better place to learn about it? For that class, we had two professors; my Ancient Rome professor taught this one as well and gave us the historical perspective, and our other professor is an actual archaeologist so she taught us how it’s done.  In fact, the first field trip we went on for this class was back in October to Populonia on an actual dig! It was so cool. Populonia is an ancient Etruscan city right near the water where my professor's site is, so we were digging alongside her, her colleagues and some of her other Italian students. We spent most of the first day digging, then the second day we cleaned and sorted everything we found. One of our classmates even found a perfectly preserved coin! Not nearly as cool as the chunks of roof tile I found though ;) Though the digging was fun, the best part of the trip was actually at night when we all had a cook out outside of our hotel- our professor, her fiancee, and some of her colleagues made everybody a TON of food (and there was plenty of wine!) and we all had the best time hanging out together and with the other Italian students that were there. We all stayed outside for hours talking with the other students talking and eating. I love Italian barbecues! :)

Getting down and dirty!

Our professor showing us the ropes

Our class on the move!

POMPEII

One of the many preserved bodies

The other main field trip we went on for this class was just the other weekend to… Pompeii! But of course- the holy grail of archaeological destinations! It was truly amazing to see in person. Even though this is a place we’ve all learned about and known of since elementary school, you really don’t get a true understanding of the city until you walk down the same streets the people from that time used to walk down every day. The entire city really is frozen in time- I couldn’t get over how perfect even the mosaics and marbles looked from nearly 2,000 years ago.  And the people! That was definitely the most amazing and touching part of being there, was to see the people perfectly preserved exactly as they were during their last moments.  Just looking at some of their facial expressions of those poor people better describes the horror of that day than any textbook reading could do...

So incredible

Garden of the Fugitives

Inside one of the bathhouses! 

After an exciting confrontation at the train station with some macho Napoleon ticket validation checkers (good thing our professors know how to handle the stubborn Italian men!) and a pizza stop (obviously), we spent the first day visiting the archaeological museum to see all of the items uncovered from the city. Some of the stuff was amazingly well preserved- better than most of what we had in our apartment, even! The most interesting section of the museum though was the “secret closet”, which is the room where all of the phallic symbols from the city are kept. It was so interesting! Before taking the class, I would have never known Pompeii was so known for it’s… creative decorations. But no worries, it’s all in the name of fertility and warding off evil! The second day is when we went to explore the actual city. It was amazing getting to see everything we had studied- the bathhouses, laundries, brothels, Pompeiian houses, theaters, restaurants... everything was so perfectly preserved! Our classes had some terrible luck with weather though, because it was raining the entire time we were walking around this city, too. Although it was still actually pretty cool because we were then able to see how even the draining systems and water collection systems still worked today!

One of the restaurants along the street...
Look how perfect it still looks!

We may have snuck past a few gates to visit some areas
"in restoration"...

The original brick oven bakery!

Some marks still in the stone from cart wheels

Walking along the streets

Our rockstar professors!

All the girls in our class!

So, as you can see I did actually get to do some learning in the spare time from my travels :) However, I have to say that being able to visit new countries and meet new people was a learning experience in itself. And I'm also pretty proud of myself- now I can officially say I kept up with my goal of documenting every place I visited while abroad! Hopefully you all enjoyed being able to follow me on here and stay up to date with what I was up to on the other side of the globe. I know for myself I will be so glad I can come back on here to revisit my amazing experiences abroad anytime I am missing my second home in Florence. 

I'm so thankful for everything I was able to experience abroad. Never in a million years did I imagine I would be able to travel to as many different countries and see as many places as I did. I absolutely loved my time in Florence; all of my classes, teachers, the people I met, the places I travelled to, and the city itself. I am now back in the states, and though I am glad to be home, a piece of my heart will always be in Florence, and I am already looking forward to going back to visit. It has only been a day that I have been back and I already miss walking through the city, passing the Duomo every day. I now have to resist the urge to say "buongiorno"and "grazie" to people, and though I often times had no idea what the people around me were saying, I will miss hearing people speak Italian each day around me. I will miss getting my daily Caffè Latte across the street from school, and walking through the marketplaces set up on the weekends with different Italian goods. And I will really miss all of the new friends I have made abroad- I loved everybody in my program, and not seeing them every day will be tough. However, I am now so thankful I have so many wonderful friends I can visit across the country now and so many wonderful memories to stay with me forever! I've decided it's not goodbye forever, to the city or the people I have met, because I know I will be back again to visit, and we will always stay in touch. So instead it's just "a dopo", or see you later, because I know that I will! These last few pictures that I'll post are from the last few weeks I had and some of my favorite pictures being in the city... enjoy!

Last cooking class with Mrs. F!

Watching the sunrise at Piazzele Michelangelo

Walking around with Kelsey enjoying
all the Christmas decorations!

Leaving our mark at Gusta Pizza

Last night out :(

Last day of Italian class! Amiamo Serena!

Gonna miss my daily from Caffè Amerini!

Enjoying a night along the Arno

Night at the Opera- Turnadot 

And that's all! Hope you have all enjoyed following my blog this semester... but for now I'm blogging out! And it's on to the next adventure... :) Arrivederci Firenze! I'll see you again soon!