TRAVELOGUE.jesswrites.com

I spent the entire past weekend in Rome. Tuesday was Italy’s liberty day so we got it off from school. We had a really good time visiting all of our favorite places in the city. We ate way too much gelato, went to Villa Borghese for a boat ride, got cappuccino at Rome’s number one rated coffee house, took pictures of the Collosseum at night, and went to one of the Roman beaches for a day.

I have to keep myself busy here because I’m starting to get kind of antsy in Rome… I wouldn’t go as far as saying that I’m homesick… just ready to be done. I’m very excited to travel around for the last two weeks with Nikki and Emily. We have so much great stuff planned and it’s going to be the trip of a lifetime. However, Rome is getting so jam packed with tourists now that everything is starting to get on my nerves. I’m going to miss my roommates so much once we leave, though. They have become some of my closest friends.

But anyways, the beach was pretty cool. We didn’t get the sunniest day for it… but it was really warm so it was still nice to lay in the sand. We had to pay 5 euro to get into this beach complex thing, but it was worth it because it had beach volleyball courts, a pool, food, bathrooms, etc. Kind of like a resort except without a hotel.

Also, this weekend a watermane broke on our block. We had no water for more than a day and it was pretty inconvienent. We couldn’t flush our toilets, take showers, brush our teeth without bottled water, cook, was dishes, etc. We were all pretty patient about it though. I think we have gotten used to Italy being inconvenient so things like that don’t phase as much anymore. Luckily it was fixed before Tuesday, though, because they wouldn’t have worked on a holiday!

Ok, well I have class in a few minutes so I’m going to run. We’re hopefully going to go to Tivoli Gardens tomorrow and if we do, I’ll have new pictures to post.

Love to all,

jess

Verena and her family invited me to spend Easter weekend with their family in Germany. I was very happy for the opportunity to see them all again. I was also very glad to be out of Rome for the weekend, because as you can imagine… Rome is quite a popular destination for Easter–particularly the Vatican area where I live.

On Friday afternoon I felt to Hannover (nearly missing my flight because of all the traffic in Rome) and arrived there around 6:00 pm. Verena and her dad were at the airport to meet me. We went straight back to their house where dinner was waiting for us. It was so nice to eat German food after 3 months of nothing but pizza and pasta. And Verena’s mom is an amazing cook. After dinner I went out with Verena to a little music bar along with Mira and her boyfriend, Mira’s brother Toby, and Felix—Verena’s boyfriend. They all spoke pretty good English, which I was thankful for. We were there for a couple of hours before we left and went to Felix’s house to play a couple video games. The game was completely in German, but it was like a gameshow of recognizing music so I could play too… (most of the songs were American anyway.) Funny times.

The next morning the whole family at e breakfast together and then Verena had to leave for work. The rest of us went into Brenswick to go shopping. I didn’t have much money or space in my backpack, so I didn’t buy anything. But it was nice to walk around the city and the mall because it was such a different atmosphere compared to the cities in Italy. I don’t know why, but I was pretty exhausted by the time we got back to the house so I took a nap before dinner. When I woke up, Verena was back from work and we sat down at the table for some cake and tea. Not to much later, we had a huge salmon dinner which was one of the best meals I’ve had in months. I was still tired and really didn’t feel like going out anywhere, but Verena wanted to go play pool with some of her friends for a little while so I went. None of the people we met up with spoke any English so I just kind of sat there most of the time. We didn’t stay long though, and I got to go to bed early. (more…)

Katie, Lauren, Amanda, and I had an amazing weekend in southern Italy. Amanda went with her mom and stayed in a nice hotel, so we didn’t see as much of her. But the other three of us stayed in a little cabin at a camp ground in Sorrento. The campground had a beautiful view of the city. Sorrento is a very cute, charming town on the coast. There is great food, beautiful views, and easy access to other places on the coast of southern Italy. We spent the first day (Friday) walking around the town. Katie and Lauren got their hair cut. We checked into the campground, and then later met up with Amanda and her mom for a delcious dinner at one of the best restaurants I’ve been to in Italy.

On Saturday we got up very early and took a trip to the island of Capri which was sponsored by our campground. The boat picked us up at 8:30 am, gave us a tour from the boat around Capri, and then dropped us off at a small marina to explore the island for 6 hours. The boat ride was really fun because we got to see the island from the water. As soon as we were dropped off we went to this little cabana-like smoothie place and soaked up the sun in lounge chairs. It was fabulous. Then we took a bus into the city centre to explore the shops, grab some lunch, and take pictures at the lookout point. After a few hours of that, we went right back to the marina and ordered cocktails from the smoothie place and layed out for another 2 hours. That was my favorite place on the island. We got back to our campground around 6:00… took a nap… and then went into Sorrento for dinner. We went back to the same restaurant because it was so yummy the night before. They waiters liked us so much that they gave us free dessert!

The morning after that (Sunday) we got up early again to check out and then take a bus to the Amalfi Coast. It took an hour and a half to get there, but it was the most incredible bus ride of my life. The views were absolutely amazing. You will see in my pictures when I post them. The water was so blue. We were literally driving up and down a mountain and very close the the edge of the cliffs. It was a bit nerve-wracking, but so beautiful that I didn’t mind. I gave me digital camera a workout. Once we got to Amalfi, we went straight to the beach and layed ou in the sun for 3 hours. I got really tan… I would have stayed out even longer, but Katie and Lauren were getting burnt. We went to lunch and had wonderful Capri Salad at a restaraunt right on the beach. Afterwards, we went walking around the town and browsed through shops. Of course, since it was so hot, we got gelato and then sat on the stairs at the duomo while we ate it. I was a wonderful day at the beach. We didn’t want to leave at all. But at 4:00, we caught a bus back to Sorrento, got on a train to Naples, and then caught another train back to Rome.

Southern Italy is by far my favorite place that I’ve been to since I’ve been here. The towns were just so quaint and charming, that it was impossible not to love them. Capri and Amalfi reminded me a lot of the Greek Islands… maybe even prettier, actually. But either way, I’m very glad we were able to go down there. That was my last trip in Italy. After I go to Germany this weekend, I will be in Rome for an entire month before I come back home.

Much love to all,

Jess

I’ve had the most amazing week and I think it has a lot to do with the hot sunny weather. I already wrote about the zoo, and the trip to Ostia Antica. Then on Wednesday night Amanda and I were suppose to meet in Piazza del Popolo to do night time photography with our class. But Amanda read that we were suppose to meet there at 20:00 and thought 10:00… and we were two hours too late when we got there. But while we were looking for our class, we did see the President of Arabia strolling through the piazza. Then we were passing by a movie theater and just decided to go see the Constant Gardener since it was starting at 10:30… we didn’t end up getting home until almost 2:00 am because there weren’t any buses running that late and we had to walk home most of the way. But it wasn’t fine because it was a nice night. I had class the next day, and then we all went out that night which was really fun. I like going out in Rome.

On Friday morning Amanda and I slept in late, got up and worked out, and then I randomly decided that I really wanted a haircut. Amanda refused to cut it for me so we walked over to a little salon near our apartment and I got it cut there. The hairstylist didn’t understand any English so when I said I wanted him to cut off about 4 inches, but not to cut my layers because I was trying to grow them out… he didn’t understand and instead cut all of my hair 4 inches, including my layers… so so much for growing them out because now they are shorter than ever. BUT, it looks good so I’m not worried about it. It’s nice to have shorter hair for the warm weather. Later that evening I went to the Pantheon to meet a lady from Grand Valley, Nikki, and Jaci for a dinner that was meant to check up on us. It was nice… I always like a free meal, too. Afterwards I went to Liza’s to meet up with the rest of my roommates for Liza’s 21st birthday celebrations. We were there for a couple hours before we ventured out and walked all over the entire city… like 5 miles. We went to several different bars and clubs and met tons of people from JCU… it was such a fun night. I met a guy from Mt. Pleasant who goes to my school and we talked for a long time about Michigan sports.

Saturday morning I woke everyone up so we could go on a picnic in Villa Borghese!! We bought tons of bread, cheese, and snacks, and went to the park wearing skirts and flip flops. I love Villa Borghese because it’s so pretty and relaxing, and we got a beautiful day for our picnic. We met up with Lauren and Lauren when we got there, and we all ate and layed out for about 4 hours. It was so nice. I took lots of pictures and video. When we got back to our apartment it was starting to get dark, and we all just stayed in and watched movies for the rest of the night.

On Sunday afternoon after sleeping in really late, Amanda and I went to the Trevi Fountain to take pictures, and then went and sat on the Spanish Steps for a couple hours to do homework and read. We met some people there and they told us that it was the one year anniversary of John Paul II’s death and that there was a huge memorial with at least 100,000 people going on at St. Peters in the Vatican. We weren’t actually going to go until we took a run bus home and ended up at the Vatican anyway… and the ceremony was going to be starting in 20 minutes, so we just stayed. It ended up being a great experience. There were thousands of people and everyone was given a colored candle… which were all lit and looked gorgeous because the whole Vatican was filled with colored lights. A choir sang beautiful songs in Italian, there were several speakers (and I understood a lot of what they were saying) and then the Pope came out and spoke and blessed the people. The service was broadcasting on TV all over the world, so maybe some of you saw parts of it? I’m so glad we ended up going.

Now it’s Monday, and I’ve been sitting outside in the sun for the past three hours and I’m fried. Well… more browned to a crisp. Either way, it’s gorgeous out and I’m trying to spend as much time outside as possible.

There’s some new pictures up. Check them out if you want!
Love til later,
Jess