GL Blog Week 4

I am typing this blog as we take the train from Florence back to Castel Gandalfo. Once again, I had an unforgettable weekend. We arrived Friday morning and walked around the city the entire day. Florence was nothing like Venice. It was more comparable to Rome in my opinion. We had one super fun when we found a disco on saturday night! It was awesomeFlorence had one beautiful church.  It was very unique, just like all the other churches we have seen here. We actually got the opportunity to attend mass Sunday morning. The inside walls were very simple. But, it had a dome that had beautiful portraits above the altar. The mass was in Latin, so I didn't understand one word that was said; however, I did get to collect the offerings for the church during the offertory hymn. It doesn't sound very fun, but it was pretty memorable for me. After mass Sunday, I had about 300 euro in my wallet. When we got to the train station, about three hours later, it was all gone. No, I was not pick pocketed. I spent about 200 on souvenirs and about 100 on myself. Nobody tell my mom! Nonetheless, it was a spectacular weekend. 

We actually had quite a bit going on last week. We had a midterm paper due and an Italian test. It stressed me out a little bit, but the Italian test turned out to be super easy.  Our paper was for SOC 490 regarding universal health care. I feel like I have strong view points on the matter, so ill find out in the near future if I did good on that. We had two student led tours this past week on Monday on Tuesday. Guess what we saw? If you're guess is beautiful churches then you are spot on. I apologize that I have no clue what the majority of these churches are called, but that is mainly because I see one and walk straight inside and explore. So at least I have tons of pictures! Thursday we had class in Rome and visited the museum of the mind. By the way, having class in Rome is awesome! Anyway, museum of the mind had a lot of history behind it. They had some neat little illusions for us to try, and I enjoy doing those little eye joke things, so I enjoyed those parts. 

I really connected with Muriel Spark's journal entry in The Smiles Of Rome.  I felt like it was a journal that a tourist like myself would have composed. If I could use one sentence to sum up the trip so far it would have something to do with the fact that everywhere I walk in Rome I find a majestic piece of work, whether it is a statue of some sort, a fountain, or a church. Spark writes something very similar in her opening paragraph. "I think what attracted me most was the immediate touch of antiquity on everyday life. If you live in central Rome you only to walk down the street and you come to a fountain by Bernini in which children are playing or a Michelangelo embassy or some fine fifteenth-century building with today's washing hanging out."  I think this an excellent quote. Not only do I think can relate to this quote, but I believe plenty of my classmates would agree as well.

I really feel like this trip is coming to an end, but we still have a long time left, which is what I want. I get sad to think that a month from now I will be sitting at my house with nothing to do. I have made friendships that will last a lifetime with all the students on this trip. I love everyone and I feel like we have become more uniform the last week or so. It's like one big friendship, and it doesn't get much better than that. Looking forward to the last few weeks!

Ciao Bella Gente!!