wrapping up

Things have been a bit hectic as my semester wraps up. I am now done with my finals! Since I hadn't yet made it there, on Saturday I took a day trip to Florence. Above is a picture of the Duomo. The trip wasn't so smooth. We had to take a really long train, and then I ate one of the most disgusting sandwiches I have ever tasted (microwaved bread and lettuce is not tasty). After the nasty sandwich experience, we found out we couldn't see the David which was a big disappointment. I did go to the Uffizi Gallery and saw the Birth of Venus and some other great artwork so the trip was worth it in the end for sure.

Last weekend was my trip to Tunis, which was really fun. I am really glad I got to go to a non-European country while I was here and experience the culture. I can't believe now I can say I've been to Africa! Here is a picture of the sunset in Sidi Bou Said, kind of a tourist town. All the buildings are white with blue shutters, it was very beautiful.


I can't believe the semester is already over! As a whole, it went by so fast. I leave for the US on Sunday. I have been excited to come home for so long now, but at this point it will be sad to leave. In the next few days I will be eating tons of pizza and pasta, that's for sure.

Budapest

I am a little behind, so I'll catch up a little with this post.

After a lovely birthday in Rome, I left for Budapest 2 weekends ago for a class field trip. It was a really cool experience, although there were some rough patches since I really don't like the professor who teaches the class. Basically, there were a couple times when students were late he insisted on leaving without them. One time, 6 people were late before we were leaving for the airport (which we had to take public transportation to get to- a tram, subway, and bus all the way to the edge of Budapest). Luckily, both times my friend and I argued with him and the people caught up and didn't get left behind!

Even though he was really annoying, I had a great time. The first day we walked around a little, saw a really cool church, St Matthias church, and then went to the baths in this cool old hotel- the Gellert Hotel. I didn't bring my camera in because I didn't want it to get wet so I will get a picture off the internet. It was kind of weird because none of us really knew the locker room protocol, or that we had to rent towels and so there was a lot of yelling from the intimidating Hungarian locker room attendants, but once we got to the baths it was very relaxing. After that, we went to a restaurant near our hotel (which was on the edge of the neighborhood that looks so beat up that Hollywood directors film WW II Berlin scenes there) and ate some delicious Hungarian food. It was really nice to get a huge portion since Roman portion sizes are so small, and it was pretty cheap, probably around 7 or 8 USD. The Hungarian Forint is much more favorable than the Euro.

The next day we went to a market to look at some handicrafts and I got some delicious strudel. Then we went to the Terror House, which a museum that they setup in this house on the main avenue in Budapest which the fascists and later communists used for torture. It is really a multimedia experience which shows all the destruction Hungary has been through, and was kind of depressing but very unusual and interesting. We had a Hungarian professor give the tour which was very helpful, and then he led us on a walking tour of the main avenue, Andrassy. We ended up in Hero's square which is to commemorate the Magyars who founded the country. After the class split up for the night, my friend and I went in the Museum of Fine Arts, which is right next to the square, because we had some time to kill before going to the opera. The museum was relatively small, but we only saw the permanent collection (which was free! they don't do that much in Rome) They had some pretty famous artists represented so it was very enjoyable.

After that, we went to the opera to see Othello. My friend and I got tickets online before we got there, so they were really cheap seats up in the balcony. I thought we wouldn't be able to see at all since the tickets were only $6 but we could see everything perfectly. The opera house was beautiful too. It was my first opera, luckily I knew the story of Othello, because my Italian certainly wasn't good enough to understand the singing and the Hungarian subtitles were no use at all.

The next day, we went to visit the Great Synagogue which was a really ornate church-like building and saw the holocaust memorial. Then we went back to the St. Matthias church and saw the castle. After that we left for the airport, which was difficult considering my professor was trying to explain the trip, trying to pronounce all the Hungarian stops we had to get off at. Luckily we made it back alive.

The next day, my dad and uncle came to visit until Thanksgiving, and I think they had a great time.

Now I am getting ready for my trip to Tunis this weekend. This trip is for another class taught by the same professor that tried to leave people behind. Luckily, another professor who is very knowledgeable about Tunisia is coming and I think she has planned it very well, still I will be extra careful to stick with the group!

I haven't uploaded pictures from Budapest yet but I will have them up soon

Pictures

I put up my pictures on a site that I think will be easier for everyone to access. I have all my Venice and Paris pictures up as well as ones from Rome. Let me know if you have trouble getting to the site.

http://s101.photobucket.com/albums/m62/nicknack_05/

This weekend I went to Venice and the trip went very smoothly. We did most of the usual tourist things like going to Piazza San Marco and we took the water bus to the Island of Murano where all the glass blowers are. The first day we were there we basically walked around the whole day. The next day we went to Murano, and on our way back we discovered this big contemporary art exhibition was going on. It turns out it was the Biennale, which is a famous art event that is held in Venice. There was this complex with all these pavillions, each for a different country. There was art on display from all over the world. Then there were also mini-exhibitions with free entrance scattered around the city, like we walked past a church with all these weird baroque instruments on display.

Since Venice is on the ocean, we ate a delicious seafood dinner. I had pasta with scallops and it was probably the best thing I've eaten in Italy. There were also these weird giant cookies everywhere that were in the shape of horses and covered in wrapped candies. I think they must be holiday cookies because I asked other friends who went to Venice if they saw them, but they hadn't.

Before we left, we went to a modern art museum, which was pretty small but had some cool art (there was a Klimt painting and some Metisse sketches) As we were trying to find it, which was not easy since Venice is like one big maze, we kept seeing all these people running around through the narrow streets dodging tourists. It turns out, there was some kind of orienteering competition. All these people were running full speed while trying to figure out maps of Venice. It seemed like it must have been the most frustrating thing ever.

Overall, I had a great time. Our cheap hotel was pretty crappy, but at least relatively clean and in a pretty good location. They screwed up our reservation and had to put us in the "annex" of Albergo Antico Capon, but they were very friendly and helpful so it worked out.

Now I am preparing for my next adventure- on Friday I leave for Budapest with my European History class. It should be really fun. My friend and I are going to the Opera for 400 Hungarian Farints (6 USD). Also, we are going to a famous hotel with natural spring water hot baths that are supposed to be healing. I am excited.

Here are some pictures from Venice:
The grand canal.
Sorry it's sideways- this the obligatory picture of a gondola
The Rialto bridge
The yellow building is the annex of Albergo Hotel Antico Capon, where I stayed
An orienteering runner trying to navigate Venice.

going to venice

This weekend I'll be visiting Venice, hopefully the weather won't be too dreary and I'll get some nice pictures to post next week!

paris pictures

Here's where you can see all my many pictures from my trip to Paris. Let me know if it doesn't work.

http://brynmawr.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017305&page=1&id=10301726

http://brynmawr.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017306&id=10301726

http://brynmawr.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017303&id=10301726

Paris!

I just got back from Paris, and it was truly an amazing trip. I certainly didn't see it all, but I saw a bunch of the major sites and did a lot of aimless wandering, it was a great experience.


I stayed in a place called "Mary's Hotel" and it was actually very nice. The room was really clean and the people were really friendly and helpful. The room was of course very small:


After walking across basically the whole city to get to the hotel, I went with a friend to Notre Dame and then we got falafel sandwiches in the Latin Quarter. After that, we went to Montmartre, a neighborhood that is up on a big hill. At the top of the hill is the Sacre Coeur, a big church. It was all lit up and there was a band outside playing for visitors. It was freezing, so we went into a cafe to warm up and I got some chocolat chaud (hot chocolate :) ) I made it an early night since I had to get up so early for my plane. I took the Metro back to the hotel, it is so efficient and my hotel was right next to a stop, it worked out nicely. Here's a picture of Notre Dame:

The next day I was going to go to the Louvre, but it is closed on Tuesdays. Instead, I just walked around with my friend and saw some of the sites. We went to the Luxembourg Gardens and the Pantheon and then ate lunch (I had delicious onion soup since it was so cold). Here is a shot of a fountain in the Luxembourg gardens, it was so picturesque with the leaves changing color.My friend had to go meet another friend, so for the rest of the day I just walked around and did some sketches. I did a drawing of the Seine, which I think came out pretty well, but some of the other ones are not great. And, I did do an obligatory Eiffel Tower drawing. Later on I met another friend from school and we had dinner, it was nice to just be able to meet up in Paris! After that, I took a stroll along the Seine to see Paris by night. They don't call it the City of Light for nothing. Everything is lit up and beautiful. My short walk ended up being pretty long, I saw Notre Dame, and then the Louvre, which both looked amazing at night. Then I decided to walk down the Champs Elysee, by the time I got back to my room I was exhausted. Here is one of the pictures I took at night:

The next day I made it to the Louvre, but I was pretty tired from the day before. It is not easy to navigate the museum, it is so huge and it has the long wings so you have to walk back and forth and up and down stairs. Still, it was pretty cool to see the artwork. They have an array of flemish paintings which I enjoy, there was a nice drawing exhibition, and of course the famous stuff like the Mona Lisa and the Venus De Milo.

When we were done with that, we went to the Eiffel Tower and took the elevator to the top, it was freezing cold and very unpleasant to wait in line, but the view was lovely (although it was a little scary to ride in the elevator) Later that night, we tried to go to a real-life Parisian night club, but we didn't past muster fashion wise :( Nevertheless, it was a complete day.

On Thursday, I did a little more museum going, I saw the Picasso museum and an exhibition in the Grand Palais of Courbet (very enjoyable). We also did a bit of walking around and checking out shops. I think my favorite was climbing to the top of Notre Dame. The gargoyles are really cool, and the view was better than from the Eiffel Tower, in my opinion.

To finish off the trip, we went to see a movie because we were pretty tired and had to get up early for our flight. What better way to end a trip to Paris than to see Rush Hour 3, which takes place in Paris? We smuggled in baguette sandwiches and candy. It was surprisingly entertaining.

For a short trip, I think I accomplished a lot! I had tons of fun, it was just an amazing trip!