Milan Duomo

Unfortunately, when we were in Bologna I caught the SRU Plague that everyone seemed to be getting and that put quite the damper on the rest of my trip. I able to really explore Bologna or Milan but I did get to see the cool things that we did as a class together. The Milan Duomo was my favorite cathedral that we’ve gone to all trip and I was surprised that it seemed kind of downplayed compared to the other churches that we visited. I loved the spire walk, which was when we got to climb on top of the Duomo and explore sections of the marbled roof. I was super glad that I took my polaroid and was able to snap a few pics. The inside of the church was huge and incredibly beautiful even though it wasn’t all frescoed like the churches we’d seen in Florence and Rome. The pillars the lined the church were magnificent and smooth and all of the windows were filled with beautiful stained glass. The Milan Duomo really reminded me of the church that my parents made me go to when I was little.  On either sides of the aisle were candles lined up that people could light for offerings. I really liked that there were so many candles because in each church that we’ve visited I’ve lit two candles wherever there are candles to be lit. When I was little and went to church with my family my grandmothers would give me a few dollars to go light candles for other people in my family that had passed away. I’m not a religious person, but since my grandmothers have passed away I knew how much it would mean to them to have candles lit in their memory, especially candles all over Italy. ​

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Poppi Castles

Nestled in between the Apennine Mountains in Tuscany, there’s a quiet little town known as Poppi. One of the distinctive features of this hidden treasure is the medieval castle that towers over the town from the top of the hill. Poppi was a refreshing change of pace from the busy life of Florence and Rome where the streets were crowded with tourists and scammers shoving selfie sticks in your face. We were only in Poppi one night and we stayed in a convent during our stay. I’m not going to lie, past negative experiences left me kind of freaked out to stay in a convent but it was the cleanest place we’d stayed in all trip, the sisters were very kind to us, and they had breakfast laid out for us is the morning. But anyways, back to the castles. We got to tour two of them as a class, Castello Romena and Castello di Poppi. Both of the castles were originally owned by the Guidi family who apparently owned many castles in the area back in the day. The Poppi castle was in much better shape than the Castello Romena and it contained one of the coolest rooms I’d ever been in. The library of the castle has a collection of 25,000 books; some dating back as early as the 11th century. In addition to already being the coolest library in existence, they even have a first edition copy of Dante’s Inferno which only adds to the coolness factor. The castle has been kept in great condition so besides the library you can climb on up to the bell tower or descend into the tower where prisoners were kept. We peeked through a little hole and saw a skeleton that scared me at first glance because I wasn’t expecting it. I don’t know if it was a real skeleton or not, but if it was real can you imagine how cool that would have been?! Dante was actually inspired by the castles’ prisoner towers when he wrote his layers of hell for Inferno. Poppi might not have been one of the craziest places we’ve been to but it for sure was incredibly nice to visit.

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Finding Yourself in Firenze

​ If there’s anything that Florence has taught me in the past week is to be extremely open minded. Most importantly out of this is NOT EVERYONE SPEAKS ENGLISH.  There will be times when you find yourself lost and no one will be able to help you. This could be physically lost roaming around the city or metaphorically lost in the language barrier. You have to learn how to 1.) not panic and 2.) go with the flow.  The language barrier is larger than what I originally thought it was going to be and the consequences of this barrier varies. For example, I still have no idea what was in the sandwich I ordered for lunch yesterday because I didn’t know what it translated to in English (it was really good though) and I also accidentally bought Wasabi Green Apple potato chips from the store when I thought they were going to be avocado flavored (surprisingly not bad, the apple really compliments the wasabi). However, there might also be instances when you realizes after 10 minutes that you’re in the wrong restaurant and the entire class is somewhere else so you run around the Duomo trying to get directions but no one knows what you’re saying. Taking a breather and trying not to stress out is key because stressing or panicking doesn’t get you very far. The one night at dinner some of us made friends with native Florentines and our conversation was kind of funny. For the most part we could understand each other but there were also quite a few “Non so cosa stai dicendo!”s thrown in there. It was fun though because we learned quite a few Italian words just by talking to them and we taught them some English words too. We laughed at each other when we got words wrong and we weren’t embarassed when we messed up Italian words back because that’s a part of learning a new language. If I were to say one thing, it’s that I wish I would have came here knowing more Italian. I can get by, especially in restaurants or in the store,  but to have an actual normal conversation was rough and we had to speak in mostly English. So while you’re in Florence, my advice to you is to try some foods that you might not know what they are, have a conversation with some of the Florentines, and don’t be afraid to get a little lost. You’ll see the best the city has to offer when you don’t have your face stuck in a map or google translate.​

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First Night in Florence

My first night in Florence is something I’ll never forget. Not only was the city absolutely breath-taking, and the magnitude of the Duomo unforgettable, but at night on the way back there was some action in the Piazza dell Repubblica.  While strolling back to the apartment after dinner at Giannino’s Ristorante, we noticed a large group of people and heard lively music coming from the Piazza dell Repubblica. There were multiple people in costume wearing Zorro masks and holding signs, so we went to investigate. I thought it was a parade of some sort because the music was so upbeat and since we couldn’t understand what everyone was saying we walked into the crowd to see for ourselves just what was going on. We were dancing to the music when we looked up and saw multiple communist flags. The first thought that we had was “Oh God did we just accidentally join a communist rally?” Everyone in my group looked at each other and realized that we needed to get out of there pronto. As soon as we escaped the crowd we passed a line of police officers in riot gear that were headed into the piazza. Upon seeing the officers we quickly got across the Ponte Vecchio where the only crowds were around the street musicians. We were so relieved to be in a place where we felt safe and the one performer’s beautiful singing brought a sense of peace to us so we stayed to watch some of the groups set. We didn’t understand what they were singing, but we didn’t need to we appreciated the music and danced to it in the street anyways.

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When in Rome….

Going abroad, whether it’s your first time or something you’ve done before, can be a culture shock to anyone. Meals, customs, and signs of respect can be different across the globe. There was a lot that was weird to me as an American being in Italy for the first time. The weirdest thing to me though was the breakfast that was served in the hotel – there wasn’t many things that Americans would consider breakfast. There were a few bowls that had cereal options or fruit and there was a tray of pastries, but what threw me off the most was the bowl of pickles and the meat and cheese plates. I’d never considered eating a pickle for breakfast until I came here. Where were the pancakes and waffles?! I did get adventurous the one day and eat some turkey, swiss cheese and pickles for breakfast, but for the most part I stuck to yogurt and a bowl of fresh peaches. The food for lunch and dinner were more “normal” to an American and were incredibly delicious. There was one thing that really upset me when I was in Rome and I really noticed it in the Vatican when we were touring the Sistine Chapel. I am not a religious person, but I understand that many people go to the Vatican for religious pilgrimages and sacred reasons. I understand that it’s also a tourist attraction but the blatant disrespect that many people had in the Chapel blew me away. Upon entering the Chapel we were told to be silent and not take any pictures. I can kind of understand taking a picture or two as long as there is no flash photography, but it was incredibly noisy. The loudspeaker continuously asked the crowd to be silent, but many people either ignored it or mocked the instructions. I thought that this was extremely disrespectful to the people that went to the Chapel for religious reasons. I wondered how many people simply wanted to pray in the Chapel but were unable to because of the lack of space or noise. I think that many of the people were ignorant as to how their actions might make someone feel that holds the Sistine Chapel in high regards. That’s the biggest thing I think people need to be conscious of when they are in public places is how their actions affect the people around them, especially when they are in places where the culture is not their own.

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