Pictures from S.Italy

The internet here is soo bad so its gona take a while to put pictures up...

project 1

thats so Czech!!

2/9 Prague:
Nikki, Erin & I left for prague at around 8am. we took the tram to the train to the airport. we got to prague in the 1 -ish and were greeted by the cutest old man with a sign reading "mr.tumey". we piled into his jetta and were on our way to our apartment for the weekend. once at the apartment we were greeted by a another man, martin...probably our age & not bad to look at... he took us up to the apratment and showed us everything & even made the extra bed for us. the apartment was in the new part of prague & was the nicest ikea furnished place i've been to so far! the bathroom floors were heated! SO Czech! apparently back in the day, the people werent able to read so instead of addresses they called the houses by what was around the area. so the apratment we were staying in was known as the "White raddish".

nikki and i set out for food and a bankomat while erin rested a little. we found tons of cute little gift shops and tiny resturants and pubs, all looked soo good! we go back get erin and eat. i didnt know what i ordered at the time, but it was apparently duck..which was realllly good! then after we ate we explored. we walked everywhere, we saw the castle, churches, old jewish town, charles bridge, and sooo much more! it started gettin dark so we decided to head back and rest up for dinner. we got back around 8ish, watched tv and fell asleep until 12. we got up and decided it was too late for dinner so we wanted dessert. we walked around until we found some place to get dessert... we picked the best place! i had a forrest brownie, erin had carrott cake and nikki had some coffee drink with amareto or something, i dont know. we ate then walked around some more, then eventually went home. oh best part of the nigt: random kid comes up to us & asks erin "can i smoke?" (he was trying to ask for a light) and erin goes "NO" & we walk away... ok well we thought it was hilarious!
the next morning we woke up and were out the door by around 9. we went to breakfast at this cute little hotel on our side of the bridge. nikki and me had pancakes with carmel and fruit...sooo delicious!! we walked to the castel, went in the cathedral, walked around. took tons of pictures. then we went to a modern art museum, it was nice, except for the creepy white statues with flourescent lights... kinda weird. next we met FRED & GINGER!!! yay! it was soo amazing! except the people of prague dont like it because they do not think its fits in, which is understandable but it was awesome! after that we went to one of pragues most known brewerys. we had a traditional czech beer, it was really good, it didnt even taste like beer. we also ate there, i had some traditional czech sausage & dumplings. the food was amazing! then we walked to see the clock. we went into a few little shops and then got a car tour of prague. we did the 30min tour of jewish town, area near fred and ginger, charles bridge, and more. our driver was the best! he was soo nice & cute & funny! we saw a ferrari & all these people were staring at it, we drive by & our driver yells "my car is better!". we finished the tour & walked around more then headed home and showered and got ready to go out to dinner. it was only around 10 and all the resturants near us stopped serving dinner... so we ended up going to Jo's bar...best idea ever! since we already did the traditional czech meals we decided to go mexican! we had nachos & quesidillas! we stayed for a while after dinner and had a few drinks and just hung out, and then headed home. great last nite to a perfect weekend!
the next morning we got up and had to be out by 11. we wrote martin a thank you note, in the little czech we found in erins travel book and on nikkis totally czech map! then we went out to get ice cream and spend the rest of our czech money. ice cream is the best breakfast! then our same cute little old man driver picked us up at 11am & we went back home.
prague was the best weekend trip ever! it was so Czech!

only words i remember:
dobry den (hello)
prosim (please)
pivo (beer)
klic (key)
tam (push)

-yea we met Fred & Ginger too

-me & nikki with our new friends @ the modern art museum

souther italy trip

1/25- Napoli
We got in around 11:30 and went to the hotel by taxi. we had the CRAZIEST most awesome driver ever! we were last to leave but we definatly beat the other cabs to the hotel! after unloading our stuff we went out and sketched and walked around. We went to the Spanish Quarter ad drew sections of the side streets. we met two men who had pictures with clinton and the mayor. Then we saw the Galleria and sketched. the Galleria was beautiful. After sketching Erin & i went shopping!! after the best day of shopping, we headed back to get ready for dinner... thats when a group of little pre-teens CAME AT US & smashed an egg on erin's head!! it somehow ended up hitting me eye and got all over our jackets.... at the time it wasnt very funny but now we can laugh at it. we eventually made our way to the hotel and showered and made it to dinner.

1 /26
Got up early, had free amazing breakfast at the hotel, then walked around and sketched in a church. then we shopped more, and saw ancient ruins being dug up. then at 6:30pm we left for the overnight boat to Sisily.







1/27 Palermo
around 6:30-7am we docked in Palermo. we hiked from the dock to hotel joli. we left our bags in one of the rooms and got on a bus to Monreale. there we went to Santa Maria Navona and sketched. we also saw the cloisters and sketched some more. we walked around and bought postcards for 5cents. i also saw a lizard. then we headed back to the hotel.


1/28
got up early for breakfast and then set out to sketch. we went to fountains, churches, and more. on the way to Piazza Garibaldi, erin joey spiro connie & me got lost and ended up in Villa Guilia which is where the sea and a park are. spiro and i decided to take a closer look... thast when we got seperated. we got lost and decided to find it on our way alone. we ended up in Piazza Gulius Cesare, which is 20min from where we needed to be. we were told to just go back to the hotel, but spiro and i decided we had to find our way to the site! we asked everyone we saw for directions, we even flagged down cops and asked them for a ride.. they said no. we finally made it to P.Garibaldi with 10min left of class (we run more than half of the way there!). then some of us headed back over to Villa Gulia, which was actually 5min from us. at night some of us went out to look for dinner. we found a "cool spot" apparently, and there was a concert going on. we got back to the hotel with our dinner (cheese, wine, bread, and desserts).

1/29
we went to a greek temple at Segesta and sketched and took pictures. then we went to Erice, this cute little town. we walked around a lot and took pictures and sketched some more.

1/30
got up early for breakfast..good & free! i walked to Duomo with chris,ev & will after everyone told me i couldnt find it alone! i prob couldnt but watever... so we sketched in the Duomo. and for lunch we met dave at the market for cow spleen sandwiches... they looked gross but actually tasted good. we walked around after that and shopped and then took an hr long bus ride to Cefalu. Cefalu is this beautiful little town on the water. we got free dolci and cappucino from a bakery. we shopped a little and went to the resturant in the hotel for dinner.. it was soo good..swordfish and yummy dessert and other good stuff. then we watched rescue me and went to bed.

1/31
got up gto breakfast, met in groups. lauren, dan,marco, and me are group one which is geology of Cefalu...fun stuff.... so we decided to climb the mountain and geology it up. we couldnt find a trail so we climbed the actual rocks to the top.. it was soo fun! we saw a castle and other cool ruins on the mountain. we took tons of pictures. then we went to a good place for dinner..came back & watched more rescue me.

2/1
got up-breakfast- then set out to sketch & take pictures. we got our studio space and brainstormed ideas for the project.

2/2
did breakfast then studio then talked with Dario and learned about Cefalu. spiro, marco, and me ate lunch by the water. the we sketched some more. went to the hoetl and changed for dinner with the mayor... amazing dinne.. but the mayor didnt show...

it was a great trip

Jan 11 till 15th

thursday the 11th we went to Villa Giulia to sketch. We got to the site by bus, whicih was more like the size of a mini van. We sketched and took pictures. On the way home, we decided to walk instead of take the bus, the fact that there wasnt any more room on the bus also helped our decision. That night Nikki fern came over and her, erin & me had girls night out!! We ate at pizzaria bufetto again then went around to differnt clubs/bars.

friday the 12th was our 1st friday in ROMA! its definatly nice to have fridays off. we woke up and went to studio to work on our sketches. asked dave to dinner, went to trestevere instead

sat the 13th- we went SALDI-ING!!! Saldi is the term for sales in the stores. then we went to studio and sketched. then went out
sunday- had studio, sketched piazza navona. had dinner with dave, then back to studio
moday-went to and sketched santa maria. then had sketchbook review.

ROMA: day 1 until today

Getting to the airport and on the plane to germany was easy. Spiro and me were lucky and got exit isle seating, and Erin had to sit in the back next to some man. We landed in Germany and had no idea what to do. We followed some people and ended up in the german version of customs. Then we had to take a scary little staircase down to find out terminal. Once in the actual airport it was so easy to find where we needed to be. While we waited, Spiro found interesting newspapers, sitting on one of the tables,that wouldnt be allowed in USA airports. We got on our little plane and headed to Roma! Once we landed we went to baggage claim, where we waited and waited and waited for one of Erin's bags to come... little did we know the bag we were waiting for had passed us a million times! We were so excited to be in Rome, but once we saw our driver wasnt there waiting for us, we got a little angry. Thankfully this energetic little Italian man was happy to help us. We follow him with our luggage (6 LARGE bags and 4 carry ons) to his little mercades... he was persistant that they would fit..and to our supraise he made it happen. As he took us to to our apartment he started telling and pointing out everything to us... he was like our personal tourguide.
After we got to our apartment and settled as much as we could, Marco, Erin and I went to get cell phones from vodafone. I couldnt activate my fone b/c i didnt have ID but I bought it.. I ended up going bak 3 times to FINALLY activate it. That night we all went to dinner at this pizza place called Pizzaria de Baffetto... it was the best pizza ever! After dinner a couple of us went to a bar Fluid with Dave and his wife. It was nice, the bar sat on smooth rocks held together by wire mesh.

The next day (jan 6th) we had our "emersion day"... we met with Daniella and she explained the program and then took us around and showed us different stores and buildings and ways to get around. After that finsihed we all taken out to eat at this cute little family run ristorante! The food was AMAZING! especially the dessert..it was a cake/ cream kinda thing..i dont know exactly but it was great! After dinner we walked home and we passed a club and we were passed flyers that said "RAP, R&B & Black music".. we thought it was going to be weird but we eventually decided to check it out. Good thing we did b/c this was the most interesting club.. the place was this old space that had been carved into kinda like a cave.. i dont remember what it was used for before but it was cool.

Jan 7th- John and I went out & explored Rome by ourselves since the rest of out roomies were sleeping. We were trying to go to the vodafone store (which is near the Pantheon) to activate my fone but we somehow ended up at the Vatican and then at the Colosseum. (The Pantheon is somewhere in between both of those sites). We finally ended up at the store and it was closed so we went back to the apt... it was empty so we decided to go out and take pictures. This time we wanted to go to the Pantheon so we took a map and we found it on our 1st try! Along the way we stoped to take pistures of interesting buildings, churches and anything we thought was picture worthy. Then that night the football game was playing so we all went to this pub called the Abbey and watched the game. The pub was cute and was full of americans and italans. Marco, Dan & I got bored and went for gelato... oh man the best ice cream in the WORLD!

Jan 8th we started class. We had studio & got the projects and program introduced to us.

Jan 9th- We started Italian class, its fun b/c its a conversation class more than anything else, which is gooooood. then we had our field trip class, we went to the Pantheon. We took pictures for 30min and then we sketched. We came bak to studio and did a little research on the Pantheon to help with our sketches.

Jan 10 (today)- We had studio from 1- 5. We went to Campidoglio ( near the Colloseum and St Peters). We took pictures and sketched. Then at 5 we had a social with other study abroad kids. And now im studio finishing this and my sketches.