J-Term Diaries: Lauren Soles

Ciao Again!

     I'm so sorry that I haven't blogged in awhile...we have covered many miles this week!  On Tuesday, we headed over to Pompeii with all of our luggage in tow.  The city of Pompeii was so interesting!  It's just so hard to believe that it used to be such a lively, normal city until 79 A.D. when Mt. Vesuvius (I'm not sure if I spelled that right) erupted and wiped out everything.  We really enjoyed this tour!  After we left Pompeii, we headed to Rome.  It was only about a two hour drive, but we hit some rain along the way.  We got a little worried, but by the time we reached our hotel, the rain was gone :-)  We didn't get there until later in the afternoon so we were on our own until it was time for dinner. 

    Wednesday morning we went to see the Pope!  This was such an awesome experience.  I don't think it was what we all expected...it was actually like a pep rally.  When we were in line for security, there was a high school pep band in line to the left of us and a group of friars in line to the right of us.  We just laughed to ourselves, because it was so random.  When it got closer to the time for the Pope to come out everybody was cheering and standing on their chairs.  All of the cardinals and swiss guards got ready before the Pope made his way onto the stage.  They went through a few scripture readings, and then the Pope blessed each individual group that was there.  So, we jumped up and cheered when he blessed "the students and faculty from Randolph-Macon College and all of their families and friends."  It was very cool!  After the service, we split up for lunch, and then we met back afterwards to tour St. Peter's Basilica.  This was absolutely beautiful, and many of us got in line to rub St. Peter's foot for good luck.  Most of the class also went down to see the tomb of Pope John Paul II, and actually witnessed people crying.  It was a very moving experience.  When we finished up at the Basilica we were on our own until dinner.

    Thursday was packed with lots of touring in Ancient Rome.  Our first stop was the church of San Clemente, which was very cool, because it dated back to the 3rd and 4th centuries.  After this, we toured the famous Colosseum!  We really enjoyed that, and we got to take a class picture right out front :-)  After the Colosseum, we headed over to the Forum which was a lot bigger than I thought it would be.  The classics and history majors loved our tour today!  We saw the Arch of Constantine and the Arch of Titus, and then we headed over to the Pantheon.  We learned that the Pantheon contained the largest concrete dome in the world.  This was also where Raphael was buried.  After the Pantheon, we went to see the Catacombs of San Sebastion.  The catacombs are basically underground Christian cemeteries.  They made sure we stayed together, because the catacombs cover a span of 7 miles and it's very easy to get lost down there.  After this, we were finally done...we were on the tour from 9 to 5, but even though we were all exhausted afterwards, we enjoyed every bit of it! 

    Friday we went to the Vatican Museums, so we got to see the Sistine Chapel.  The Vatican Museums were huge!!  You could spend all day in there looking at everything in there.  After we were done, we were on our own again until dinner.  We come home tomorrow!  I think most of us are ready, but we still only covered a fraction of Italy!  We have had an awesome time!  Our first flight is from Rome to Frankfurt and that leaves at 10:00 a.m. and then we leave Frankfurt around 12:00.  We should be back to Washington around 4:00 p.m. (U.S. time).

    I hope you have enjoyed my blogs, and I'm sorry again that I couldn't do it more often!  Thanks, and we'll see you soon!  For all of the parents and families that are reading, we feel so blessed to have been given this wonderful opportunity...this has been the experience of a lifetime.  We love you!!

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Ciao Ciao!!

     Only three days have passed since I have last written, and we have done so much in that short amount of time!  On Saturday morning, we left Siena and headed to Assisi, which was only about a 2 hour bus ride.  It was just enough time to grab a little cat nap :-)  As we got closer to Assisi, we started to notice it was very mountainous.  Then we heard that buses can't go all the way to our hotel, so we would have to park the bus and carry our luggage the rest of the way.  Times like these remind us just how much we should've packed less.  We actually had to carry our suitcases up an escalator that was outside and built into the mountain.  There were two sets of escalators, and then we had to walk uphill to our hotel...we are definitely getting the exercise needed to burn off all the pasta we've been eating!  Assisi is a very old town, and it was very quiet, but very beautiful.  All the buildings were made out of stone, and we all just really enjoyed it.  When we got to the hotel, we checked in, grabbed some lunch, and then met our tour guide, Marco, downstairs around 2:00.  He was our favorite tour guide yet, because he was incredibly animated.  He made the tour sound like a mystery novel, but he kept us on our toes nonetheless :-)  Our first stop was the church of St. Clare (from the poor clares).  This church was very simple, but so massive in size.  We went downstairs to see her tomb, and she looked just like a wax figure.  The tour guide explained that the wax was put on her in order to preserve her, and make her look as human as possible.  Right outside of this church was a breathtaking view both up the mountain and down the mountain.  However, the fog was terrible, and it was extremely chilly!  After we left here, we made our way to the Basilica of St. Francis.  Along the way, he showed us some of the old "city gates" and he also showed us where St. Francis was supposedly born.  As we made our way up to the basilica, it got foggier and colder!  In the midst of the freezing temperatures, it was totally worth it, because that church was absolutely gorgeous!  There's a lower church and an upper church, as well as his tomb which is on the bottom.  The upper church was a lot lighter and had so many beautiful frescoes all over, but the lower church was just as beautiful, but had a different style about it.  After we left there, we walked around and shopped since Assisi was known for it's extra virgin olive oil.  Later on, we had dinner at the hotel, which was also delicious!

   Sunday morning, we had to make the long trip to Sorrento, which was about five hours by bus.  We stopped to eat lunch and have a bathroom break, and we arrived in Sorrento around 3:00.  We just took it easy and walked around until dinner at the hotel at 7:00.  This was a very laid back day, but travelling can be so draining sometimes! 

   This morning, we made our way around the Amalfi coast.  Our tour guide was Johnny, and he was also very entertaining.  This was such a beautiful drive!!  It was very windy and curvy as we were going down the mountain, but our bus driver was very talented.  The water was so pretty, and it took about two hours for 35 miles, because of how slow we had to go.  When we finally got to the bottom, some of us were excited to put our feet/hands in the Mediterranean.  We ate lunch here, and shopped around, and then we took a different, and much shorter way back to our hotel.  Tonight we have dinner at the hotel again, and then we'll make our way to Pompeii tomorrow.  We are all really excited about that!

I'll write again soon!

Ciao!

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Hello Again!

   We are all safe and sound, but we are definitely excited about the rest of our trip!!  Our first full day in Florence (Wednesday) was full of lots of touring.  First we went to the Santa Maria Novella which was very close to our hotel.  This church was absolutely stunning...we were already off to a great start!  Next we headed over to the infamous Medici Chapel, where we learned more about the bankers of Italy.  This was especially interesting for me, because I read about this Chapel while I researched for my paper and presentation.  After that, we went to the church of San Lorenzo, and the Accademia.  While in the Accademia, we saw the famous "David" by Michelangelo.  We could not believe how big that sculpture was!  I mean we had all heard that it was 18 feet tall, but we never expected it to be so big.  You just have to wonder how Michelangelo did it!  After we finished up there, we all split off and went out to lunch.  The pizza we had for lunch was delicious :-) Then we met back up and went to the Duomo.  It was so BIG!!!  You go in and the first thing you do is look up!  It was so spectacular, and most of the class opted to climb the 430 steps to the top to enjoy the breathtaking views.  This was all the touring we did for Wednesday, so we were free to shop and walk around for a little while before we ate dinner at the hotel.

   Thursday was our last full day in Florence, but there were still many sites to see.  Our first stop of the day was the church of Santa Croce which is where Michelangelo's grave stands.  This church was beautful as well.  After we left there, we walked over to the grand Uffizzi Gallery.  The only miserable part we've encountered is the rain.  It's always raining in Italy!  Anyways, we went over to the Gallery, and we were free to take our time in there, since there are 45 rooms and thousands of paintings and sculptures.  Professor Headrick wanted to make sure we saw the Birth of Venus and Primavera, so we made sure we saw those two pieces of art.  There was so much in that gallery...you could spend all day in there!  After we left there, we were done for the day until it was time for dinner, and we ate at the hotel again. 

Friday morning, we got up early and made the trip to Siena by bus.  It only took us about an hour to get there, and we were so excited because the sun was out!!  It was beautiful out!  When we got to our hotel, we got settled and walked around and ate lunch until it was time for our tour.  First we went into the church of St. Catherine, which had beautiful stained glass windows.  Next we went to the Duomo which was the most magnificent church I have seen yet!  The intricate detail, and bright frescoes were so mesmerizing.  It was definitely my favorite since we've been here in Italy.  Lastly we went to the square and looked at the bell tower and looked around at all the nearby little shops.  The square is where the horse races are held twice a year, but we will miss them because they only occur in July and August.  All that's left for today is dinner, and tomorrow we will leave Siena and head southeast towards Assisi.

I will write again soon!!  We hope you are all doing well, too!

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Ciao!!  I am very sorry that I haven't blogged in almost a week, but our first hotel didn't have any internet access available.  Aside from that, we are absolutely having the time of our lives!!  So far we have covered many miles of Italy by bus, boat, train, and most definitely - by foot!  We certainly all realize the difference between seeing pictures of all these places compared to actually seeing them with our own eyes.  Well, let's get down to the details.  We finally arrived at our hotel in Venice at about 5 pm (Italy time) on Sunday.  After about 24 hours with no sleep and no shower, we made sure we took care of those two problems first :-)  We had a wonderful dinner later on that evening, and I'm not sure how prepared we were for all that food!  The Italians love to eat...and drink wine, too!  In any case, our first dinner in Italy was no disappointment.  Monday was filled with lots of touring around Venice.  We started with the stunning Doge Palace, the antiquity of the Basilica of St. Mark, and of course the spacious St. Mark's Square.  It was really only our first day of sightseeing and we were already in awe!  They were absolutely beautiful, and that was just the beginning!  Next, we toured the islands around Venice in our own private tour boat.  We were so excited it was a pretty day out, so many pictures were taken on the boat.  First we went to Burano where we had a delicious lunch with lots and lots of seafood...it was amazing!  After lunch we walked around for a little while and noticed all of the different colored houses, which is what this island is known for.  We all loved the pink, purple, blue and other bright colored houses!  Next we went to the island of Torcello where we toured a smaller and older church.  Although it was older than many of the other churches we've seen, we liked it just because it was more ancient and different.  We also got to see lots of farm animals on this island - all the girls really enjoyed the baby goats!  After this, we finally made our way to Murano where we saw the hand blown glass.  We saw a demonstration done by the people who worked there, and we just could not believe how they did it.  What we found that's interesting is that no piece of glass is ever the same.  It was all so beautiful, and we definitely toured the gift shops afterwards ;-)  After we left Murano, we went straight back to the hotel, and actually had dinner at the same place as the night before.  As for this morning, we had to be ready to go by 9:00 so we could catch our train.  We took a boat to the train station and caught the 2 hour train to Florence.  We arrived at our hotel at around 2:00, and we went on a very simple walking tour around the city for about an hour or two.  We then had dinner at the hotel, and it was delicious once again!  We are looking forward to our tours around the city tomorrow! 

I will write again soon, and I'm so sorry that you haven't heard from me in a while.  We should have internet service in most of the hotels for the rest of the trip!

Ciao!!

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   It is Wednesday evening, and we have already had three full days of class (and I do mean full days of class).  We meet at 9:30 everyday this week, and we have been finishing up around 3:00 or 3:30.  In just three days, it has already become a learning experience :-).  Through many presentations and tons of diverse topics, we have almost fully immersed ourselves in the history, culture, and religious background of Italy (we still have one more day of presentations to look forward to).  Our vast array of topics have included the lost city of Pompeii, the popular and missed Pope John Paul II, the beauty and architecture of St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, and the Basilica of St. Francis.  We have also explored the ideas of monasticism, the wonders of Vatican City, and the extremely well-known Italian Renaissance.  I especially enjoyed the presentations relating to the Italian Renaissance, because my topic was the Medici Family - the bankers of Florence who took great pride in their state and gave large sums of money to commission the arts.  Therefore, I am also really looking forward to tomorrow's presentations, because we will hear about the life and extraordinary work of Michelangelo, the beautiful Uffizi Gallery, and the grand and magnificent Florence Duomo.  Although it has been very educational to hear from all different aspects of the country, I think it will be so much more memorable and life-changing to see it all up close and personal when we get there.  We are all getting so excited about this trip, and we are also incredibly grateful to be going with two very knowledgeable and personable professors - Professor Andrews and Chaplain Headrick :-)  I will write again soon, but it probably won't be until we get to Venice!!  YAYYY!!!! 

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