Conclusions on 3 months abroad (an attempt)

Happy four days until Christmas! (I have got to start getting myself in the spirit and I cant believe that Christmas is only a few days away, when I get home I am going to immerse myself in a pool of Christmas everything. Music, snow, cold weather, lights, ornaments, cookies, and wrapping paper. It needs to happen)....

Well after 22 hours of traveling yesterday (beginning at 6:00am) which included a flight that was delayed by about an hour and a half, a miscommunication about a flight that I was supposed to get on after missing my first connection, walking between terminals 1 and 3 at the Toronto airport last night at least ten times, making my way to a hotel in Toronto (which was so lavish, two huge beds that were so comfy, soft pillows, and that perfect hotel room smell that I love) to take a much-needed-travelers-shower, watch Home Alone 2 and indulge in the most beautiful buffet breakfast the next morning, then back to the airport to attempt to check into my United Flight to Chicago at 9:55 only to find out I wasn't anywhere in the system, then put on another flight at 4:59 to Chicago, made my way to customs (the most dreaded part of retuning to the US) only to have lovely Canadian customs take away my two coveted bottles of wine, I am now I am finally sitting at gate A15 with a Starbucks(!) and four hours to spare before I make the final stretch in this rather eventful and drawn out return to my homeland.  

Finals week came and went and Thursday came and went all to quickly. Thursday our last day in Rome was spent walking around, using every last bit of our Pascucci money even if it meant buying 14 candy bars (one can never have too many Snickers or M&Ms right?), going to the Jesus Steps (La Scala Sancta) where we kneeled up the 28 steps which led up to Pilots quarters and were the steps that Jesus was said to have ascended and descended during His Passion and which was a very reflective and righteously uncomfortable experience, walking through Christmas Markets (Austria's are still better), getting gelato at 3:00pm, Colleen and I sitting on our wall and reflecting over the past three months, getting gelato at 4:30pm, going to our last dinner and enjoying our last plate of Penne alla Vodka, walking to the Vatican to bask one last time in its nightly radiant and mystical appearance, and than going to get gelato at Fridge for the third time of the day at 10:30. All of the girls in the group met up at Fridge and we got gelato, took a group picture and we said goodbye. It was very sad...people were probably wondering what 30 girls were doing crying and hugging while eating gelato, for crying and gelato don't seem to mix very well.  

And then at 5:30am on Friday our alarms woke us one last time from our slumbers in room 416  of our albergo home. We got out of bed, got ready, packed our last things and opened the windows to gaze out at Rome one last time. And at 6:30 we were on the taxi to FCO for the last time. And that was it. It has come to an end. I cannot believe it. My study abroad experience in Rome is done, complete, finito and I could not have asked for a better, more life altering, challenging, thrilling and enriching past three months in the heart Rome and four European countries. 

I have been sitting here for the past ten minutes figuring out where to go from here because it is impossible to "wrap up" a three month experience abroad but I will try to leave you with a few more words of conclusion.  

First things first. These are just a few of the things I am going to miss after living in Rome for 90 days: going to sleep and waking up to the constant but rhythmic hum of noise outside our hotel window, clean sheets and made beds every day, living in a hotel, asking for key 416 every day, disregarding traffic lights when crossing the street (who pays attention to those anyways), lovely Pascucci money that always manages to flutter to the ground in my hasty attempt to pull out money for my orange juice and cornetto every morning, massive churches on every corner that you can just walk into and sit down and pray in, Fanta (European Fanta is not American Fanta), stopping in at a cafe and ordering a  cappuccino that I swig down in 2 minutes, gelato, nightly walks that are only complete after a stop for gelato at Fridge, finding cute scarves in basically any store, European fashion, 2 euro coins, 1 euro coins, wine, sexy wine, unlimited wine, pasta (specifically Penne alla Vodka), salad (aka leaves with oil and salt on them), the wonderful waiters from the restaurant next door, the fact that a 30 minute walk someplace is totally reasonable, sitting on our wall on Largo Argentina and people watching, actually not caring about classes, not studying, listening to Italian's interact, casually walking by famous monuments every day, studying in Rome, living in Rome... 

Being abroad and away from America and the American way of life for three months has made me realize that I have developed a bond, an everlasting connection with Rome and Europe. There is something in me that makes me feel like I belong there now, that I know their way of life, I know the people and am accustomed to their way of life and that when I return it will be like reconnecting to an old friend who you respect and know so much about yet still have lots to discover. The people that I interacted with, the history that I was taught and learned to appreciate so much (most of it), the exquisite food that I ate every day, the infinite amount of walking that we so naturally did, the different cultures of the European countries, the lifestyle of the Italians, and the personality of Rome are all things and experiences that I will remember but will fade as time goes on, however the feelings that these experience created and placed within me will always remain and it is these feelings that will enable my study abroad experience in Rome to always be with me and will influence how I see the world and how I interact with people and impact my future as a now more globally aware and international student. These memories may fade, but pictures will remain and the feelings will remain and so I am most eager to see (in about a month or two) how my experience abroad has really impacted me. How will it affect how I view situations, how I interact with different people, my approach to situations and my approach to how I want to carry out and plan my future. That my friends is what I am most anticipating in the effects and impact of my study abroad experience.

Here I have to give a shout out to my fellow Saint Mary's girls who made my abroad experience just so wonderfully full of life, adventurous, hilarious, intellectual and loving. 34 girls on the trip total. I probably really knew only about five or so of the girls coming in and by the end I was able to give each girl a hug and feel completely appreciative of the way that she personally impacted my time in Rome (small or large). The smaller group of girls that I became close to are some of the greatest girls that I have had the joy of meeting. Each one so different from the other but each genuinely kind and caring for her fellow friends. We all spent so much time together (basically the whole of 90 days together for we were always with one another in class, eating, traveling, sleeping, studying, eating gelato, shopping you name it and Smick was likely by my side) and we all probably saw the best and the worst of each other but I honestly left Rome knowing that those friendships I built are some of the best and lasting friendships that I will forever cherish. There is something about traveling and seeing the world with friends that adda a closer connection and a tighter knit feeling than say just going to school or living with them at a campus in the US. So to all of the SMC Rome Fall 2013 girls, you are incredible and all individually fantastic in your own way, and to my little wolf pack y'all are the best and I love you so very much and I cant wait to see how we take on SMC South Bend together. 

Finally, the ability to study abroad is only possible with the help and sacrifice of so many people and so I am continually and eternally grateful to those people, my family, family friends, and professors back at Saint Mary's South Bend, as well at Saint Mary's friends of mine who get to put up with my 24/7 ranting and raving about Europe (sorry not sorry) ;) 

In the words of a fellow Rome Smick, upon returning to the States one should be broke, exhausted and happy and boy is she right. I should probably put out a jar to begin collecting coins for my next trip to Europe....that is after I pay back my parents from all the money they lent me because I spent all of mine on gelato :) 

Complete immersion into the USA begins in about five hours and so the affects of reverse culture shock will begin settling in and I am eager to see how I will handle it! 

I am fully anticipating my acclimation back into life in Indiana and life back with my family and in a few short weeks life back at Saint Mary's in South Bend. It will be challenging at times but I know I will also find comfort in a lot for there were quite a few things I did miss about home that I will never 100% fess up to but yes, US I did miss some things about you.

One thing is for sure, I cant wait to crack open a Diet Coke, Coke Zero is not Diet Coke don't let anybody tell you otherwise. I also cant wait for butter on my free bread, unlimited win..I mean water at restaurants, and the concept of take out or to-go cause to-go or "porta via" in Rome is not something people do. People do not get pizza and veg in front of their TV's at home in Rome and so I will do that just because I missed doing that. Also mom when I give you a weird look when you tell me we are driving to the store please excuse me. I almost forget what its like to sit in a car, let alone DRIVE.  

As soon as I get home and sleep and unpack my life I am turning on Christmas mode and am gonna let Christmas distract me from my depression and Rome withdrawal. Pretty sure I will be fine until mid February and than real struggle is going to hit and I am going to have to find some way to cope... but until than I will have plenty of distractions to keep me sane.

I want to thank you all so very much for reading my blog and following my adventures for three months, y'all are all troopers because I always manage to write way to much. I hope you have enjoyed reading as much as I have recalling all of my adventures and I hope that if you are a student reading this that you are making your four year plan or how ever many year plan right now and are making room to study abroad :D

I wish everybody a peaceful, relaxing and joyous Christmas and may 2014 bring new opportunities and  times for growth and exploration in your lives. 

Maybe I will be back in a couple of years with my adventures in Europe part #2 so do not stray too far if you wanna keep in touch. Until then, happy traveling where ever life is taking you and happy living because life is wonderful indeed. 

BUON NATALE and a happy 2014! 

Andree 

Last stop, Barcelona!

Hello my faithful followers!

Welp finals week (more like weekend?) officially began yesterday and I have never felt so unmotivated to study than I have during these past couple of days so its been a real struggle. Ever since we got back from our weekend away we have been so busy with classes, eating gelato, and trying to prepare ourselves for what is to come December 20^th……

A week later and I was finally able to sneak in some time to type up a quick recap of our final weekend traveling in Europe!

For our last traveling weekend, a group of about 14ish girls decided to go to Barcelona! We arrived at the perfect hour of 10:00am on a sunny and pleasantly cool day in Barcelona. We hopped on the train from the airport and took it into downtown Barcelona and made the walk to our hostel!  As usual we found our hostel only after stopping to look at maps and street names 10 different times...but we made it as we always do and dropped our stuff in our rooms (Kate, Colleen, and I got upgraded to a private room, man we have been treated so well at all of the hostels we have stayed at). Before we began our intial exploration of Barcelona we had to stop at the complementary coffee/hot chocolate/cappunino/latte machine that was available for unlimited drinks all day. Probably chugged down a good three cups of hazelnut coffee in the 10 minutes that we were standing there…Oh our hostel, named Casa Gracia was also actually perfect. I am basically going to refer to it as a hotel because it was a hotel by all of my standards, actually even better than a hotel. First off it was decorated for Christmas, one golden star from Andree right off the bat, a huge Christmas tree in the lounge area in that was lit with lights and ornaments and tinsel. The tree was in this lounge area which actually resembled a mix between a cute study, sunroom and living room. It had mirrors along one wall in a room with huge pillows and bean bags and in the other room a vintage bicycle and two couches that were in front of a beautiful bay window that overlooked the street, and in the final room (the study) there was a built in bookcase with chairs and a little ladder propped up on the bookshelf, it was oh so darling and adorable…. ok so now that I have you basically situated in this hostel I can move on.

The lounge area in the hostel

So basically we spent all of our day Friday wandering around Barcelona, finding food first because that is priority, watching little children run around in a park kicking a soccer ball like with the confidence of David Beckham, and more walking around. We went to the HUGE fruit and candy market that was impossible to stop and look at things in because people were just everywhere and there was no room or time for stopping! We did manage to get a fresh fruit smoothie that was wonderful! After the market we walked along a middle strip that had different stands selling things and we made our way to the pier/dock at the very end of the long road where we took pictures with the thousands of seagulls and marveled at the view of the water and the boats as the sun set. We ended up walking down the pier and around (basically in a big circle) but it was very lovely. Barcelona is a pretty big city (bigger than I thought) but it is not like Rome at all (which was a nice change in pace). In Barcelona, you actually do have to STOP at red lights and wait at crosswalks, yea we don’t do that in Rome, apparently if you cross on a red you can get fined? Oops… Barcelona is also very clean, I like clean cities. Even though it is big it is way more spread out and less noisy in my opinion. The city was decorated very nicely with little Christmas light chandeliers and one hotel even had huge light lanterns on the side that lit up the whole front of the hotel. Later that evening around 7 we made a long 30ish minute walk to the side of town that has the famous Magic Fountains. Some girls that went to Barcelona a week prior told us we had to go to the fountain show so here we were! We got there around 7:30 and waited until 8 when we thought it was supposed to start. Welllll of course with the luck that we always seem to have it was a special constitution day and so the show wasn’t starting until 9:30. Welp it was cold and we weren’t gonna wait so we left. We made some friends with two guys from London that we talked to for a while and that we later saw on the metro on the way back but then they told us to get on the wrong train. NOT COOL DUDES. Anyways we made our way back to our hostel for dinner around 9pm and after that we were so tired that we called it a night. We didn’t even go get crepes or gelato (why would we get gelato in Barcelona anyways?) we were that tired!

Just some candy at the markets :)

We woke up on Saturday around 7:30 (that is usually our set time for waking up on traveling weekends, early enough to get the most out of our day but not TOO early cause we do like our sleep) and right away planned that we were going to go on a bike tour. I, being a second timer with European bike tours (my first one was in Florence) was all for the idea because I think that bike tours are the most effective way to spend limited time in a city that you have never been too. You get to see many places, see a lot of the city, and hear about some history of the city while riding a bike, getting exercise and having fun with your friends and trying not to run over every person/dog/baby that walks in your path. So yeah they are basically perfect. We met our bike tour guide at 11 and the six of us Smicks and about four other bike tourists began our ride through the city! We saw many different things on our tour and covered a large perimeter of the city in about 3.5 hours. We went into parks and past cathedrals, and made a pit stop at La Sagrada Familia! La Sagrada Familia is a church designed by Antoni Gaudi that has been under construction since 1882 and is predicted to be done sometime in the next 13 years, although our tour guide told us (and I think she is spot on) that she doesn’t think it will be done nearly in that time, maybe not even in our lifetime because of how much they still need to build and the fact that the incomplete, not finished aspect is what draws people to see this colossal church in the center of Barcelona and as long as people keep coming to see it the church gets funds from the tickets and they can keep building for as long as they desire! The weather for our bike tour was perfect, not a cloud in the sky, and about 58 degrees. The last route of our tour was along the beach…ahhh it was so nice however at one of the stops that we stopped at apparently my bike’s front tire got a hole in it and it went flat, and when I say flat I mean completely FLAT. I suppose I could have told the tour guide but I just rode the remaining twenty minutes on a flat tire. Lets just say I got my exercise for the day!

Andree love from Barcelona

La Sagrada Familia 

After our wonderful bike tour Kate, Colleen, and I walked back down to the water and we found a nice restaurant that our tour guide suggested along the water where there was a whole long strip of bars and restaurants. We got a table outside and enjoyed a fantastic meal of Sangria (with Olives as an appetizer), salmon (the best I have ever had in my entire life) potatoes, asparagus and for dessert cheesecake with raspberry sauce. So delicious. So savory. So expensive. But we felt like we needed to treat ourselves to a nice dinner, plus we were in Barcelona so why not! After dinner we walked out to a pier and watched the sunset and then headed back to our hostel. We took about a half hour power nap because we were drained and felt like doing nothing but we knew we could not go to sleep at 8pm on Saturday while we were in Barcelona. So we took our nap, got some more hot chocolate and coffee and headed back out. We went down to the metro station and waited for the metro to take us back to the Magic Fountains. Most of the girls that came with us were at an Imagine Dragons concert that evening (they all had a wonderful time) so while they were rockin' out to "Radioactive" we were watching the fountains dance to songs like "Domino" as the lights under the water changed colors and mist sprayed our faces. Colleen, Kate and I danced and took pictures and made cliché hearts with our arms. It was great. After the fountain show we went to a little shopping mall that was about 5 minutes from the fountains and walked around in it for a little while before heading back to the hostel.

Love at the Magic Fountains! 

Sunday was here before we knew it and we gathered our stuff and headed out for the last bit of exploring. For the first part of the morning we headed back to La Sagrada Familia to see inside it. It was magnificent and the architecture and stain glass windows were beyond incredible. We spent a while looking around and taking pictures and then a few of us made our way to Park Guell (famous for the Lizard). Unfortunately you have to pay to see the Lizard so once we made it up to the park (tons of steps and a few escalator rides later) we just sat on a bench for a goof half hour and enjoyed the city view of Barcelona that stretched just in front of us with the water in plain sight. We had no energy left in us, no snacks and that “our weekend of traveling is ending and we have to go back to Rome” feeling so we were pretty lazy as we made our way to the metro station and hopped on the train to head to the airport. 

We were back in Rome just in time for mass to welcome in the second week of Advent. After mass we got gelato and headed back to our albergo home. That was it, and Barcelona was a wrap. Greece, Switzerland, Austria, Barcelona, and cities in Italy on the weekends while living in Rome during the week and attending class in the city and living in the city. Who woulda thunk a 20 year old college student would have been able to do all that?! Traveling has been an experience in its own. It has been exilerating, annoying, exhausting, worldly, challenging, rewarding, expensive, cheap, clean, dirty, beautiful and incredibly fantastic. Although my traveling though Europe has come to an end for now it is only predicted to be on halt for a short time period (I need to refill my wallet and learn some more things, eh and maybe get a degree before I embark on another European adventure after graduation).

Last week Monday through Thursday: classes, gelato, some shopping for our wonderful people back home....

During Advent a group of us have been participating in something called "Advent Angels" (its like Secret Santa but during Advent) and so Thursday night we all went to Miscellena, a fav restaurant among Saint Mary’s girls, to celebrate the end of our little Advent activity. We exchanged gifts, talked, ate and enjoyed Sexy Wine. Lovely evening with some rather lovely girls.

Friday night, Colleen and I went to see the Nutcracker at the Opera House here in Rome. Initially we wanted to see a professional ballet but it turned out it was a school of dance that put on the ballet but it was actually very good. Family and friends mostly made up the audience in the relatively small theater but I was happy we were able to go and see The Nutcracker and support the arts here in Rome! Brava to all the dancers!  

Well folks, it is Sunday night here. Actually it should probably be more like a Tuesday that’s what it felt like to me. A final yesterday and a final today plus lots of successful procrastination walking around Rome doing last minute shopping. Never the less I have three more days of finals to get through, or to not get through, because I don’t want to leave, and one day where I have nothing planned but to spend and devote all my time to Rome and then, my time here comes to an end.

From now until I embark on my journey home to the States on Friday morning I do not think I will have time to write to you all so my next post will likely be coming from me on an 8 hour United Flight way up somewhere in the sky…..

Buonanotte!

Andree 

These are a few of my favorite things: Weekends in Rome and Austria

Andree has finally found time to sit down and blog about her past two weeks! Sorry for the delay in posting last week just flew by and I never had the time or felt motivated enough to blog so now I am gonna repay you and tell you everything and more you would ever want to know about these past two weeks. Its a long one, just warning you!

Rewind to last weekend...

Last weekend after much deliberation and back and forth about where and if we wanted to travel my friends and I decided it would be in our best interest and our bank accounts best interest to stay here and enjoy our city that we have been living in for the past two months. It took a while to accept the fact that yes indeed there is much of Rome that we have not yet seen but it takes a while to get off of our traveling highs after coming off of wonderful weekends in Switzerland and various other countries. Also before last weekend, since I have been here every Saturday has been filled with either day trips with lectures and tours or traveling and so we decided that we should spend some time with Rome and explore some more of its not so touristy attractions. Here are some of the highlights of our weekend in our home city Roma..

Thursday morning after I was done with class two friends and I went on an adventure to try and find the keyhole to the Vatican! This is not your typical tourist destination (at least I dont think so ) because the only way we were able to find it was by spotting two women who were looking through it holding cameras but other than that is it unmarked and so easy to miss. This keyhole is one of Rome's hidden treasures and a treasure it is indeed. The hole you look through is little and placed in the middle of a large door that leads to a garden. When you look through the hole you can see the Vatican is plain sight perfectly outlined by the bushes that seemed to be trimmed just to frame around the Vatican. Of course no iPhone or camera could capture the secret view but that is the purpose of a hidden treasure right? 

Thursday night (or should I say morning) after we had dinner and went out to a nearby bar me and three others decided it would be a perfect night to stay up late and go to the Trevi Fountain at 3am. One must understand that to visit the Trevi Fountain and be completely alone with you and the splendor that lies in front of you, you must go sometime between 3 and 5am. We decided that this was something that we needed to do before we left so at 3am we headed over in the slight drizzle. It was totally worth everything. We took pictures and enjoyed listening to the grand sound of the water as it filled the whole area..there was only one police car (to watch for crazy people that have tendencies to dive in) and one lone man in sight. We had the Trevi to ourselves for about twenty minutes and for that twenty minutes the Trevi was much more than a tourist attraction, it was a historically significant part of Rome, calming and mystical. Its not typical for a tourist visiting Rome to say they are going to stay up and visit the Trevi at 3am so one of the advantages of living here for three months is that we are able to visit these signifiant parts of Rome's history and experience it in its undisturbed, most compelling state.  

Colleen and I visit the Trevi at 3am

On Friday morning after sleeping in a bit we made our way to the Vatican and waited in line for Saint Peter's Basilica. After about a half hour we made it inside and I was taken back by how totally overwhelming the inside of the basilica was. It was magnificent and delicate and the space seemed to stretch infinitely. Saint Peter's Basilica is so huge that I found it hard to be able to take it all in at once, the statue like the famous La Pieta that was placed behind a glass wall and illuminated by lights and the different mosaics that lined the walls as well as the side sections and divisions of the basilica made it seem more like a museum than a church. I am often drawn to the intimacy of churches and the unity that it has although small and I just did not feel that intimacy with the Vatican but it was a great visit and I am glad we went to see it. After the basilica we went up to the cupola (or the dome) at the very top of the Vatican. To get up there we had to climb an endless set of spiral staircases and we got to experience a sort of fun house effect as the walls slanted inwards the farther up the dome we got. Once we got to the top and caught our breath we enjoyed the views of Saint Peter's Basilica and Rome. The day was gloomy and overcast and the rain held out for us for most of the day so we lucked out. Our visit to Vatican City was very successful!

View of Saint Peter's Square from the top of the Dome

After our long morning we decided to stop at a nearby caffe/bookstore that is on the road on our way back to the hotel that we take multiple times a week. This was the first time that we actually went into this cafe and we have been back multiple times since. For all of you South Benders reading this who remember Lula's Cafe, well this cafe was kind of similar to that in terms of atmosphere and unique/antique feel to it. This cafe is also not your typical tourist sit down spot and so we felt very proud that we happened this place, must attest to the simple fact that we are no longer tourists :) Two months into our time here and we are beginning to stray away from the typical hangouts, now we have experience and can compare and look for different more out of the way cafes and things to do. Sure sign that we are apart of Rome and we have found our place here in this city. In the evening four of us treated ourselves to Miscellanea, the restaurant that serves four courses plus unlimited white and red wine and their famous "Sexy wine" for dessert. Needless to say we spent three hours there with wonderful conversation and wine.... the wine just kept coming so what we were supposed to do, stare at it!? It was a good night indeed.

Saturday was admitingly probably our least productive day for many reasons (see when we stay here in Rome we vow to be productive and see places and get out and experience the city and not stay in our rooms all day, we are pretty good about it usually but Saturday not particularly). It was rainy all day and we were all tired and didn't feel like doing much so we took a little walk around and went to the Jewish Ghetto but it was Saturday and everything was closed (duh) then we ended up back at the hotel. Nothing else significant happened that day.

Sunday we went to the Vatican for mass because it was the last Sunday of the Year of Faith (last Sunday in ordinary time) and also because they brought out the bones of Saint Peter, something that has never been done before. The presentation of the bones was definitely less of a show than we thought and we were kinda confused as to why they didn't make a bigger deal out of it but we saw them through the video screens in their special little box displayed up on the altar and so that was pretty nifty. We also got to see Pope Francis make his round on his Pope Mobile after mass which is always a treat (its our favorite part we just don't admit it). It was my third mass at the Vatican and third time seeing the pope whisk by as he smiles from ear to ear and waves at all the people and children hanging on the railings. I took no pictures the whole time I was there. Yes, no pictures therefore no longer a tourist.  Later that day we made a trip to Castel Sant'Angelo which long ago was the emperor Hadrian's mausoleum and later served as a fortress for the Pope but now it is a museum and is the spot for one of the best views of the city. We looked through the museum for a little while but spent most of our time at the top overlooking Rome and Vatican City as the sun set. We probably spent a good half hour just gazing over the edge marveling at the city, it was pretty great.

View of the Vatican from Castel Sant'Angelo

Sunday even ended with our dinner at Abbey theater and we were back in our hotel ready to begin another week of class. With the weekend wrapping up we were fully aware that November was coming to an end and that we only had three more weekends left in Rome. Cue constant talk about how we cannot believe we have only four weeks left and how we don't know how we are going to leave and go back to South Bend and school at Saint Mary's (even thought we love SB Saint Mary's) and how are biggest concern is how nobody back at school is going to understand us and our Roman/Italian ways of doing things or talking about things....the struggle of us study abroad students.

Successful weekend in Rome if I do say so myself. 

Now a novel about this past weekend...

Ok so now that I have caught you up on last weekend I can tell you about my all too wonderful weekend in the land of Austria aka the land of cider, Christmas, Sound of Music, cold air, music and another place that I will be returning to on my "I miss everything about Europe" trip after I graduate.

Since this weekend was Thanksgiving weekend in the States the Rome Program was generous enough to give us Thursday and Friday off from classes so we took advantage and planned a long weekend trip to Austria. On Thursday morning me and ten other girls flew from Rome FCO (the airport where it all began for me) to Vienna, Austria! The flight to Vienna was very lovely. We flew with AirBerlin on the Niki flight and November 28th happened to be the 10th anniversary of the first Niki flight and so us passengers got to have chocolate mousse and drinks and we all received a certificate that said "thanks for flying with us on our 10th anniversary", we love free things. Thank you Niki! Once we landed in Vienna we literally spent five minutes running from one of the airport to the other (without looking to culturally unacceptable because apparently Austrians are much more calm and less hurried than Italians so of course we looked just like we shouldn't have running through that airport). Culturally acceptable or not we had a train to catch in t minus 45 minutes and to get to that train we needed to take a taxi which could take anywhere from 20 to that terrible 45 minute number. We hopped on our taxi and told the driver we were in a hurry. Every red light was our worst enemy and at one point I swear one of us was going to jump up in that drivers seat and step on that accelerator but thank you to the heavens above we made our train. WE MADE OUR TRAIN with three minutes to spare... and we only made our train because it was delayed by five minutes. I have never hopped off a taxi, read a train schedule screen and hopped on a train car faster than we did that day. I will never be annoyed about a delay in transportation again. Once we were in our seats and once the train started rolling we were able to breath, take off all our layers that we wore (Austria is cold and it was snowing when we arrived... yes snowing and I wasn't even able dance with joy like I usually do because we were in sucha hurry) and smile because we were on our way to Salzburg, Austria and life was darn good.

In honor of it being Thanksgiving we all pulled out our grocery store/airport snacks which included cookies, juice boxes (another free item from flight Niki), popcorn, Pringles and pretzels. A lunch of champs! The train ride was about three hours and around 18:00 we arrived in Salzburg! Once off the train and through the station we were off to find our hostel.

We found it with no difficulty (thanks to one of the girls who was so prepared and had printed off a map before hand, we are smart travelers) and found our rooms and dropped our stuff off before we were headed out to experience the best of Salzburg, the Christmas Markets! All of us were bundled in the warmest things that we brought abroad with us. For me that included the long sleeve shirt I was wearing, a scarf, my NorthFace (which my mom does not approve of as a good winter coat), and some wimpy gloves. It was cold yes but I am from South Bend and so I could manage. We walked down towards the main shopping area and were immediately welcomed by an abundance of Christmas spirit. There were Christmas lights strung above the street and lining the street all the way down and a different feeling to the mood in this town, this was a town that knew how to handle the Christmas season. Up until this point I was real disappointed by the lack of holiday spirit in Europe (Rome specifically) so this trip to Austria rekindled in me the hope that there are places in Europe that do have Christmas spirit. Thumbs up Austria! We made our way across the bridge and to the main square where the Christkindl-Markt (Christmas Markets) were set up. It was aahhhhmazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The whole square was filled with small booths and tents that were lit up from the array of Christmas lights that were strung above all of the stations. These booths sold everything Christmas from wreaths and ornaments and decorations to mangers and stuffed animals, slippers and hats, suspenders and toys. For food they had authentic Austrian specialities including huge soft pretzels and brats, baked potatoes and fries and more greasy fried food sprinkled with powered sugar that will appeal to anybody that is human. The smell in the air was of cinnamon and spiced wine, of cider and sugar and maple syrup. The sounds were of Christmas music, constant laughter, conversation, and the clinking of cider mugs and wine glasses. The Christmas Markets set the town of Salzburg in a bubble of light where people flocked from all over and it was unbelievable. The market area was a globe of happiness and frivolity for the holiday season for times with family and friends and of buying gifts and eating the best kinda  food you can find and once you left the markets that happiness stayed with you as you made your trek home..... obviously the Christmas Markets were the highlight of that night. For dinner we found a nice quiet Austrian restaurant and we ate our "Thanksgiving meal" of sausage and dumplings, it was delicious.

Christmas Markets in Salzburg!

We got up early on Friday morning and after a hearty hostel breakfast we headed up to the castle in Salzburg which has incredible views and an Advent market. Oh yeah thats right we are in Advent after all folks...kinda forget about that with the Christmas Markets taking control oops. Up in the castle we walked around the Advent markets and got some of the famous hot spiced wine in souvenir mugs and tried some delicious breads and dips that were set out to sample. There was also a significant amount of snow up in the areas surrounding the castle and so we had an impromptu snowball fight with this random dude who started it by chucking a snow ball at one of us and we also built a little snowman. Maybe a little childish but I miss snow so much so I thought it was perfectly acceptable. We walked over to the side of the ledge and looked out at the land before us which once again was too beautiful for words. Calm and crisp, white snowy mountains and a little town that stretched out before us. As if our day wasn't perfect enough already we still had The Sound of Music tour to look forward to at 2 and so we headed back down towards the town to our meeting place for our tour!

SOUND OF MUSIC TOUR!

This tour was the main attraction for many of us planning this trip to Austria (this was before we knew about the Christmas markets in Austria) so we were all so excited and had been preparing by watching the movie late at night in our rooms. Such dedication :) Our tour was given by an older man who was very nice but had an odd sense of humor, he gave a very good tour and he even wore a hat that reminded me exactly of Captain von Trapp, I appreciated that. For the tour we rode in a Sound of Music motor bus that took us to a variety of different locations where scenes from the movie were shot and then we took about a half hour tour through the country side where we got to stop for an incredible photo shoot of a winter paradise. During the tour through the grey wintery countryside the bus played The Sound of Music soundtrack and some of us sang along as the bus tooled along and we thought of our favorite things. It was perfect. Some of the locations and places that we saw from the movie were the Nonnberg Abbey, the two different locations that were used for scenes at the Von Trapp family mansion (the yellow mansion was only used for front of house scenes every other scene that was shot in the back yard/porch area was a totally different house), we also saw the lake that the famous canoe tipping scene was filmed which they had to film twice and the second time Gretel almost drowned, the all too famous "16 going on 17" gazebo which was only used for outside scenes (the inside scenes were shot on set in Hollywood...totally disappointing!), and St. Michaels the church where the wedding scene was shot (so so beautiful and mystical). St. Michael's church was located in a small town called Mondsee about a half hour from Salzburg so we got to spend a good hour there looking in the church and walking around the town and at the shops. We got apple strudel and sat by one of the many fire pits that were situated all around in the little market area. The stop in Mondsee ended our four hour tour and we were back in Salzburg in the evening. Apparently the Sound of Music is not a popular movie with the Austrians because the movie was only released in German 17 years ago so those Austrians just do not appreciate the movie as much as we all do! Of course after the tour we headed back to the Christmas market and bought some Christmas gifts and ate some wonderfully delicious Christmas Market food for dinner. The day couldn't have been better.  

 Winter paradise and friends

Colleen and I in front of the gazebo

Saturday we really didn't have much planned so we got up and headed to the Mirabell Gardens, the site of many of the scenes in The Sound of Music. The tour didn't take us to this location so we wanted to see it on our own. We spent a good hour in these gardens reenacting different scenes from the movie including the "Do-Re-Mi" fountain, stairs and ivy walkway scenes and we found two statues that were in the movie and totally did an awesome reenactment of that scene as well. We shot lotsa pictures and took tons of VideoStars to make everybody jealous of our obviously fantastic acting and impersonating abilities. After the gardens we walked around Salzburg for about an hour and visited the home of Mozart! Around noon we headed to the train station and hopped on our train which took us back to Vienna. The train ride was actually very wonderful. The early afternoon sun was shining though the windows, we had Pitch Perfect playing on an iPad and the beautiful Austrian scenery was passing us by as we rested and as others blogged about their trip so far. Train rides are much more enjoyable than flights because you can actually see the scenery and environments that pass and change as you move from countryside to city and from city to town. At this point in the trip I was tired and the train put me in such a relaxed sleepy state which was not good because as soon as we were off the train in Vienna we had to walk about a half hour to our second hostel and it was cold and the city was huge and I had a big backpack to carry and I was just tired. Traveling is tiring folks and traveling requires attention, millions of different kinds of transportation and constant environment changing and stimulation everywhere....WHEW.

SMICKS reenact the "Do-Re-Mi" stair scene

Well we successfully made it to our hostel after a lot of walking (but pssh walking is second nature for us Roma people now so it was no biggie really). Our hostel was huge but it was wonderful. They had a cute lounge area with computers and couches and pillows and they played Christmas music and were very welcoming. After putting our stuff in our rooms we consulted the large ever helpful info board that posted everything a youth at a hostel could want to know about the surrounding area and things to do. None of us really planned ahead of time things to do in Vienna because we were only gonna be in Vienna for a short amount of time but we knew we wanted to try and do something cultural like seeing a ballet or a concert or something of that nature. Well what four of us ended up doing was so spontaneous but so perfect and will forever go down in my memory as a proud study abroad moment. 

We walked to the Opera House in Vienna which was really close to the hostel and waited in line for standing room only tickets to Mozart's Magic Flute opera. After about 45 minutes the five of us each had a ticket to Mozart's Opera in Vienna and we each spent three euro on our ticket. THREE EURO for an opera in Austria. Please applaud while I take a bow. We were so psyched and shocked that we actually were able to get these tickets. The opera started at 7 and we had about an hour to find some quick food from a vendor on the street and that we did. Fries and Bosna (brat with cumin and onions, spicy mustard and cilantro) that we scarfed down in about 15 minutes. The following events were pretty funny to say the least. The five of us walked into the Opera House in our traveling clothes (aka jeans, boots and NorthFace jackets) and smelling fantastically of onions and brats and of students that have been staying at hostels for the past two nights. We tried to collect ourselves a little but the situation was just too funny and so we proceeded to walk towards the usher to ask how to get to our section. Meanwhile ladies in their mint colored and black evening gowns with fur coats passed, and young teenagers in classy black dresses, heels and red lipstick posed with their friends for photos. This night was evidently very special for most of the people attending and they showed it, but heck it was even more special for us because we planned to see this opera in like 20 minutes and got in for three euro each.

We made it up to our section of the Opera House and were pleasantly surrounded by people that were more on our level, students and people wearing jeans. Whew. The standing room only section was actually already full by the time we got there and so we got to stand behind the people in the very last row. The opera started and we listened and it was magnificent. We couldn't very well see anything but really listening was all I cared about at that point. Actually just being able to see inside the Opera House was enough for me to be satisfied with my three euro spending. We weren't planning on staying through the whole opera but we did. Three and a half hours. After intermission we were able to actually go up to the railing because some of the people left and so we were able to read the little screens in front of us that had the opera in english and the spot had a slightly better view of the stage. I didn't understand what was going on the opera but I was just in awe the whole time. The voices, the costumes, the Opera House, and the people I was surrounded by made the experience so memorable.

View of the inside of the Opera House

Sunday morning we ate breakfast, checked out of our hostel and a few of us decided to go to the cemetery where Beethoven and Mozart's graves are. It was on the way to the airport so it was perfect. We hopped off at the proper location and walked around the perimeter of the huge cemetery and walked for about ten minutes in the cemetery before coming to the neighborhood of composer graves. Beethoven, Mozart, and Strauss were among the graves that we saw and it only seemed fitting to put a cap on our musical adventures in Vienna by visiting the graves of these famous composers. On our way out of the grave we walked through the oldest part of the cemetery and spotted graves that dated back to 1834. Shrubs and ivy were overgrown on these graves and the writing was illegible on most of them. Ravens flew in and out of the trees and the grass that we plodded through was overgrown. If the day was October 31st I would have been pretty spooked but it was very cool to wander through such a huge and historically significant cemetery. We got on the train and said good bye to Austria as we headed to the airport. Waiting at the airport for our flight back to Rome is always the hardest part of our weekend travels. We always fall in love with the countries that we visit and the countries we have visited are always so different from Rome and so it is difficult to prepare ourselves for returning to Rome. But we do it each time, and it takes a while but once we are back in Rome we are happy once we get food in our stomaches, take a nice warm shower and climb into our wonderfully familiar albergo home beds and breathe a huge sigh of thanks for another safe and successful traveling weekend.

Austria was such a wonderful, fully packed trip that provided many exceptional experiences and feelings. I am coming back for yeah Salzburg and Vienna.

Well it just turned 2am here in Rome (it took me two evenings to write this blog because I had too much to tell you all). Today was a normal Monday. Class, a little bit of paper writing and studying, eating with the group and a gelato run at 10:00 (we stopped at the Christmas markets that have been setup in Piazza Navona and they are disappointing. Its like I stepped into a Six Flags or a 4H fair ground surrounded by fair games and large stuffed animals in the middle of Piazza Navona, I couldn't believe it. I wont be going back, nope not gonna happen). Rome has its share of Christmas lights up and in a few shops and restaurants there are subtle references to the approaching holiday season but its not soaking in. I am listening to Christmas music as I write this blog but thats about as close to the Christmas spirit that I am gonna get here in Rome. It's ok, this is Rome and Christmas is just a totally different thing in the States so I do what I can to survive without Christmas stimulation for the rest of my time here. I here that South Bend will most likely be greeting me with plenty of white stuff and cold weather to instantly put me in the Christmas mood so I am looking forward to that.

Today is Tuesday December 3rd. I leave Rome December 20th. That means I have 18 days left with Rome (actually more like 16 because I am traveling for the last time this weekend). That means only 16 more evening gelato stops, 16 more nights in my albergo home, 16 more Pascucci cornetti, 16 more days to see the Pantheon and the Trevi, 16 more days to indulge in Italian food that my body loves and hates at the same time, 16 more days of euros, 16 more walks around the city, and 16 more days to show my unconditional, perpetual love for this city that has shown me more about life and myself then I ever thought possible.

This school week brings a lot of studying and beginning the preparation for finals (ha finals right) and a trip to the cinema to see La Ragazza di Fuoco (Catching Fire) on Wednesday! On Friday we leave for the last of our abroad travels for Barcelona!

Have I mentioned how incredibly blessed I am? I have but I need to mention it over and over. 

Happy December! Enjoy your week :)

Andreina

Swiss Chocolate, Swiss Trains, Swiss Hiking OH MY!

Bonjour (guess where I was this weekend?), 

Back from another weekend trip outside of Italy feelin happy and tired, accomplished and cultured (as is common after traveling). I should be studying for Theology but I think listening to music and blogging take #1 priority right now. 

Our long weekend trip spent in Switzerland ended with us not wanting to come back to Rome. Yes. Not. Wanting. To. Come. Back. To. Rome. I know that sounds really pathetic and bad, but our trip to Switz was perfect. It was perfect, it was much needed, and it was rejuvenating and we just knew that as soon as we were back in good ole Rome,  the wonderfully hectic Rome life would slap us in the face and wake us from our Swiss dreams....

(Disclaimer: We adore Rome of course but it takes a while to adjust back to a city like Rome after three days in the land of Switzerland) 

So on Friday morning I flew from Rome FCO to Geneva, Switzerland accompained by Colleen and two of our other friends whom Colleen and I have become close with while abroad (new friends are always great to travel with). We landed in Geneva and we were welcomed in by a family friend of Colleen's whose house we would be staying at. Little did we know that this lady, Mrs. Wulf, would be the most amazing hostess, incredible cook, generous and accommodating woman that we could have asked for. She took us to her cute apartment (it was basically a house) that was in Tannay, Switerland and we dropped our stuff off and had some tea and coffee. If I needed any reminder that I was in Switzerland all I had to do was consult the kitchen wall in the Wulf's house which had a HUGE Swiss clock ticking away. It was so very Swiss and so very perfect. 

Bundled in our NorthFace jackets, gloves, and boots we headed out the door for an afternoon of touring around downtown Geneva with Mrs. Wulf as our tour guide. The weather was rather chilly, very windy, and cloudy but it was refreshing. We weren't breathing in the smells of a large very compact city like Rome but instead were able to enjoy the brisk, clean air of Geneva. We went to the Flower Clock and climbed two towers from which we got to view Geneva and the surrounding areas.  For lunch Mrs. Wulf took us to a very well known French restaurant that served all you can eat steak with this incredible sauce, and french fries. We also had some very good red wine that comlemneted the red wine perfectly. Look at me, talking about what wines go with what food...Oh la la I feel so well versed. The meat was so perfectly cooked and the fries so tasteful and crunchy, I even had a couple bites of my first Creme Brulee for dessert. After our meal we walked around downtown Geneva some more, went into multiple chocolate shops, and marveled at the clothing and fancy designer shops that were everywhere along the streets and went into a cute little shop with little interior home decorations. We walked to a park where they had large chess games and an ice skating rink and saw the famous Founders wall. We impersonated them and I think we make some pretty good Founders if I do say so myself. Before we headed back to the house on the train we made a pit stop in a Starbucks. Oh my, I had mix feeling about stepping foot and encountering that long lost lover of mine. That oh so familiar smell of Starbucks coffee, but the knowledge that Starbucks coffee now has so much to meet as far as my European coffee standards go was very sad.... nevertheless I got a Cafe Mocha and they even spelled my name right....kinda...André is close enough, they even included the accent...but Andrée is a French name so it was kinda expected.

Rachel, me, Colleen and Clare at the flower clock

View of Geneva from the top of a tower we climbed

In the evening we all thoroughly enjoyed a famous Swiss meal that was home cooked by Mrs. Wulf. Melted cheese over potatoes, pickles and onions. Yes yum. Macaroons for dessert. More tasty than I imagined they would be with flavors like coffee, hazelnut, lemon, and raspberry. We also had some bubbly white wine at dinner, oh we were being treated so well. After dinner the four of us gravitated towards the living room with a huge comfy couch, pillows and a TV. Living in a hotel is very nice yes but I miss houses, especially couches and comfortable pillows. Also I miss the feeling of being able to just relax and recline while watching a movie with the family. So thats what we did while watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding. We were all on could nine.... 

So happy and so comfy 

The next morning after a very hearty breakfast Colleen and I ventured out to the train station in the next town to take on a day of hiking though the vineyards of Switzerland! First things first. Swiss trains are amazing and Swiss train schedules are complicated as heck. If the schedule says 12:47 than you better bet that the train is leaving at 12:47:00 on the dot. And it will arrive in the next town at 12:53 ON THE DOT. I was just so amazed.... Rome has not left much faith in me as far as times for buses and trains. Its ok Rome, for what you lack in punctuality you make up for in other areas. Colleen and I made it to the town of Lutry where we began our hike. Our vineyard hike exceeded our expectations. It was a three hour hike of adventuresome exploring, rerouting, panting and climbing, photo ops, and lots of stopping and gazing in awe of the scene and land that stretched all around us. We walked up and down little paths, along streams up steep slopes around bends, through towns, in and out of vineyards and through tunnels. For most of the duration of the hike we were relying on small little yellow signs that pointed us in the direction of the next town or the next path we were supposed to take and that worked for about 2/3 of our hike. At about hour 2 and 15 minutes we kind of lost track of our yellow signs but we knew we were supposed to end up in a little town called Cully. Well a large sign pointed "up" to Cully but our little sheet of directions told us it was "down". I don't know why but we chose to follow the sign and headed up the hill.... at this point we were kinda close to giving up and saying "eh we got this far this is good enough right" but we ventured up a little further and boy am I glad we did so because I am pretty sure a little European angle was watching over us and decided to direct us up the hill to a happy little haven we found. A self serve wine shop. We had no idea what it was but at this point we knew we wanted wine and so we were going in. I was expecting somebody to come out and help us but nobody did. Instead we entered the little shop and discovered it was all do it your self. We were so excited. However Colleen and Andree do not have much wine experience and so we simply  chose a bottle of white wine that was 11,50 francs and went with it. It was perfect to us. We filled out our form, put it in the box and slipped our money in the money box. Happy hikers with a bottle of wine that we deserved. Thank you Europe for being so trust worthy of your inhabitants. If only you could teach America a little about this idea....

Colleen in the self serve wine shop

Ok so we were determined to make it to Cully and we finally did after we asked a women where exactly we were and she told us to go down through the vineyards to the small town of Cully. So that we did, we winded in and out of the rows of vineyards and made it to our destination! A thing about French people... they are very modest when it comes to admitting that they do in fact speak english. Multiple times Colleen and I had to ask people directions and we always ask if they speak english and their response is always "a little" to which they are then able to understand completely everything we ask and point us in the next direction. When I tell people I speak "a little" italian. I mean a little, un po, and you arnt gonna get much out of me except for a blank stare, maybe a couple words, if you start asking me questions so those French people are pretty modest if I do say so myself.... 

We walked down to the pier in Cully and found a bench that was right near the water. We opened our backpack and untwisted our screw top wine bottle (they were really thinking about hikers like us with the screw tops weren't they?), opened our goldfish, carmel corn and Swiss chocolate and we had a little picnic. It was pretty cold at this point and cloudy, (we definitely could not see the mountains) but we were in the best mood and ready to enjoy the next hour of wine drinking and munching. Another thing. Swiss chocolate. Oh my. Creamy, dense, rich, and perfectly soft with a taste that lingers in your mouth and a heavenly sensation when it fills your stomach. Swiss chocolate and Swiss wine on a pier in Cully Switz. TO LIFE!

Two happy girls hiking through vineyards in Switzerland

We walked up to the train station after about an hour, shivering but loving life and waited for the next train to take us back to Tannay. Our tickets technically only allowed us to go to Nyon but us being expert Swiss train riders and schedule readers by this point figured out if we took the train that came at 5:41 on platform 9 instead of the train that came at 5:33 from platform 8 we could get closer to our destination and we could walk home instead of having to be picked up. So we took the train from platform 9 and 30 minutes later we were walking up the street to the Wulf residence. A day of Swiss hiking, map reading, train schedule confusion, train hopping and eventual Swiss train system navigation and epiphany and then walking back through a town that we only saw once in the daylight and making it safely home by 6:30pm. A golden star day for the expert student travelers. 

Our faces at the sight of a Swiss train schedule...

After a wonderful Wulf meal of chicken, potatoes, corn, broccli, and bread with wine and ice cream for dessert I climbed into bed so so so happy and so utterly pleased with our successful adventures though Switzerland. 

Today we went to mass at a Catholic Church in Geneva and us four girls got to bring up the gifts at mass. Second time for Colleen and I. Once in Rome and once in Switzerland. Where will we be next? Another high five between Colleen and I after we sat back down in our seats. 2:00pm came all too quickly and we were dropped off at the "Kiss and Fly" section as it is so adorably called at the Geneva airport. We went through security and purchased the necessary bars of Swiss chocolate to take home with us. I bought 6 bars. We boarded our EasyJet flight and headed back home. 

Switzerland was a real treat. We were so warmly accepted into a home, taken care of, fed incredible meals, and we got to expereince so much Swiss culture in only two and a half days. And we loved it so much we didnt even want to come back to Rome?! That's a statement right there. I will return Switzerland no worries...

On our flight back Colleen and I mapped out the course of our post SMC graduation trip we are going to take through Europe. I love traveling now. Traveling is valuable in an infinite amount of ways as is evident through my blog posts and my travels will not stop after my abroad experience is over.

Four days of class this week and than hopefully a trip to Milan this upcoming weekend! So much Europe, so little time.... well that's all for now, I should probably sleep when I am given the opportunity :)

Hugs and happiness from the wanna-be Italian, wanna-be Swiss girl,

Andrée