hello again everybody! i can't believe that it
really is one more day of classes until our fall break. we're half-way
done with the semester. it's been flying by so quickly. more shows we've
seen: julius ceaser, the tempest, and the knight of the burning pestle
(which sucked). i think that's all.
anyway, the last time i wrote you, i
believe i was headed off to paris within the next couple of
days...yeah...that was amazing. paris had a little bit of a smell to it,
and definitely rained on us the first day, but it was beautiful.
everything about it was breathtaking. we saw the louvre (which was huge),
notre dame (which was huge), eiffel tower (which was also HUGE), opera
garnier (huge), arc de triumph (huge), and the sacre coeur (great view).
first off, we had a rough time trying to get to the station at 3am without
the tube running and it raining. so that was fun. then, the chunnel ride
was a good time - the only way to travel! so many little things happened
that day, like feeding pigeons - LOTS o pigeons, a nap we needed at our
hotel that first night that ended up being a good 2-3 hours instead of 45
minutes...etc. the best part of the night, though, was the trip to the
moulin rouge. our hotel was about a 5-10 min. walk. drew and i went to go
see the show. it was amazing! we ended up sitting so close that literally
i could touch the stage! and the half bottle of champagne was very tasty.
the second day, we did some more sight-seeing and headed off to disneyland
resort paris! what a good weekend :) it was so much fun to be in great
company and see things i grew up with and experience them in a totally
different atmosphere - france! we stayed at the sante fe resort which was
like an old western drive-in movie. after the first day in the park, we
came back home to some line-dancing and karokee! great times indeed! the
next day, we spent all in disney and rode so many rides. my favorite ride
was by far the space mountain mission 2. and for those of you who don't
know what ride this is, it's not at disneyworld yet, but it should be - it
was a-ma-zing! then, that night, we went to the disney village and ate at
a place called king ludwig's which is a bavarian style restaurant. really
good food! then on the next day, we did some more shows, a few more rides
and then took off back to central paris where we did some shopping and
sight-seeing before heading back home. then we began our next week of
classes, which was fairly busy. then, it was time to leave for rome!
probably my favorite so far. i thought paris' attractions were huge...
rome doesn't even have to do anything - it
was all made for them! there are roman ruins everywhere, and the sight of
the colusseum when we first got out of the metro was a sight to behold.
pretty breath-taking. the hostel was a different story, but aside from the
rickety elevator that only could hold two people at a time and the dirty
bathrooms, it served its purpose (and cheaply, too!). also on the first
full day, we saw things like the pantheon, roman forum, trevi fountain,
monument di victoria and emmanuel ii, king triton fountain, piazza de
espagne and piazza de novano, the spanish steps, and for my fellow
spartans, i was able to see the church built for st. ignatius and the
jesuits (and the next day was able to see another church and see where he
was buried - quite an experience. p.s. that magis word was everywhere)
yes, it was a lot. we pretty much walked everywhere we went - all over the
city. by the end of the trip, we had walked the entire city east of the
river. it was so pretty. italy is everything you ever think of italy to be
- all the sterotypical, cliche, cartoons, stories, books, pictures that
you see ---that's what it looks like. i'll say that some of rome was
fairly dirty, but it was still beautiful. it made me really excited for
florence, which people say is italy's most beautiful city. then that
night, we had dinner at an outside cafe right next to the colusseum -
quite a beautiful site. the second day was mostly devoted to the vatican
and vatican city. we started off with a couple of random roman ruins and
another piazza (de poppolo), did a little bit of shopping, but then went
to the vatican, which is enormous. it could eat the new cathedral as a
snack. there's all kinds of beautiful art in there as well (like
michaelangelo's piety). i was able to see john paul ii's tomb. it was
almost scary how new it looked. seeing all kinds of old graves and
whatnot, especially in london, you never see any tombs or crypts that are
that clean. then we also did the vatican museums, which i described as a
mix between the louvre and buckingham palace. all kinds of roman busts,
tapestries, statues, paintings, maps, etc...the list goes on and on. but
it eventually arrives at the sistine chapel, where we saw the famous work
of michaelangelo. it's been overwhelming and amazing to be seeing all that
we are seeing. so, after the vatican, we went and saw a castle and the
angel bridge and then headed back for the bus to the airport. and then, we
arrived back home around 11pm monday night.
since then, it's been pretty intense work
for classes. two papers due this week along with some memorized
shakespeare and group projects. today, we watched a movie called stage
beauty, which i recommend, and took a tour of the bbc television center.
interesting indeed.
in other news, my hostel is booked and all
systems are go for dublin. i leave friday morning! eeek! it really is
unbelievable how much i've been doing and seeing. i can't wait though.
then, the second part of my fall break, i am planning on taking some day
trips to places around great britain. i'm going to play it by ear, so
we'll see what happens. okay, i think that's pretty much it in a nutshell
(a big nutshell). i wish you all the best and hope your semester has been
as grand as ever.
