Wow. So I really enjoyed today, but my feet are very glad to be without shoes at the moment. Quite an eventful day. Let me de-brief you if you so desire.
After a very short breakfast, Kurt and I (the other HU student at the High School) were met by my cooperating teacher, Mr. Martindale, at the front door of Carronvale House. He took us to school (Larbert High School) this morning to show us around, which was very nice of him to do. We got there, signed in, got security passes which basically gives us free reign of the grounds while we are here, and took a tour around the school. It's HUGE. It is in the shape of the letter "P" and is the second largest high school in all of Scotland. It has around 1850 students from ages 11 - 18. They call this age S1 to S5, so basically grades 6-12. I was completely amazed at the number of different programs that are offered here. I know many of the programs I saw there either are not offered in most public schools, or I just don't hear about them. They have wood work, culinary arts, a morning "Breakfast Club" that offers a 7:30 aerobics class with free breakfast, dance classes, table tennis classes, music classes and tutors of all kinds ranging from piano to oboe to harp, etc., a fairly extensive language arts program offering French, Spanish, German, and hopefully Mandarin Chinese in the near future. There are more but I just can't remember them all at the moment... there was so much to see and learn!
I met about a hundred people today, or so it felt like. I only remember 2 people's names, but I will get better as time goes on and I learn my way about the school. The Humanities department is very large and offers History, Geography, and Religion and Moral Studies (History RMS). There are (I'm guessing) about 20 or so teachers in this department alone and about 150 on the campus itself. Everyone I met was very friendly and courteous. Several were pretty amused that Americans were there as "baby teachers" to get a feel for what life would be like in the school. Others were very excited, since next week after testing and the short holiday are over, the history department will start a unit on United States History, and they want to use me as reference. Yay! Our "quick" tour took about an hour and a half and I almost could never figure out where I was. It all looked the same to me. But I'll get it eventually. At least, I hope I do.
After our "quick" tour and a tea break, Kurt and I headed to the assembly that was going on. A group of Masai Warriors from Kenya had traveled to do a demonstration for the students. Since the location the students were in was very small, each grade had a time that they were designated to attend it, unless you were in isolation. Then you didn't get to go at all. Anyway, the group that just so happened to be there were the S2's (13-14 year olds). After watching them for about 5 minutes, I was SO very glad that I was not a middle school teacher. I honestly don't think I could handle students as rowdy and disrespectful as they were. However, the problem here in the UK is that there are so many rules about how you can and cannot discipline children, even as a parent. There is a law that says that a parent is forbidden to spank their child after age 3. Most children don't need spanking until they're almost 5 (at least in cases I've been a part of), therefore, it serves no benefit to the child. Many of them grow up wrecks and stay that way, making them a nightmare for teachers to handle. Society here does not discipline the growing child and it is such a shame to see the state that the kids are in today here. A lot of them could use a good licking and community service.
One thing I do really like about Larbert (because I don't know if this is the standard for schools all across the UK) is that they do not have Behavioral or Learning Disabilities centers. They are called Learning Support centers, and Behavioral Support centers. Students aren't labeled as a negative when they walk in the door. They are there to get help, yes, but under a more positive atmosphere than someone saying "You have a learning/behavioral disability." Maybe it's just me, but I like the more optimistic approach of the "Support Centers" than the "Disability Centers". It makes it much more likely that a student will walk in the door because they are not seen as a problem that cannot be fixed, rather as a learner who needs a little boost in their educative juices.
After the awesome assembly, we were able to get lunch and then it was time to leave. We had two classes of our own to attend back at Carronvale House and had to be back by 2. Since Mr. Wood was at the school with us for some of the day, he drove us back, but not before we picked up 4 more passengers in a car that only holds 4. Put 3 and 4 together and you have 7 people in one car for 4... we had one ride in the trunk and another laying across laps. We're pretty sure that's against the law... Oh, well. Fun times!
I really enjoyed our History of the Restoration Movement. Yes, it's a Bible class, but it's a HISTORICAL bible class. Yay history! AND it's taught by a Scottish man, Mr. Ferrie. He's pretty awesome. I can't wait until class tomorrow morning!
So far, that's been all the excitement of the day. Tomorrow I will get to be in a classroom, but since the actual high school students are gone out of the country for after-testing holiday, there won't be many classes to attend. But that's ok. It's better to start slow, I suppose.
Now, off to go play Mafia with the gang.
More updates coming later!!
Cheers, everyone!
Aimee
6.02.2008
6.01.2008
Once again I'm overseas. Yay!
Well, I suppose it's time to catch you all up with everything I've been up to since I've been in Scotland. Sorry, but I won't be able to finish with Fall semester before I start this one, so I will just have to complete it another time. More to look forward to, I suppose.
Alright! Onwards and forwards through my 5 weeks in Scotland! Woot!
26 May 2008: Departure Day
Well, this was the day that I had been waiting for for quite a while. I was ready to leave for Scotland to pre-student teach. What an opportunity! My dad and grandmother brought me to the airport and dropped me off. I went through security and sat down at the gate and waited for the plane to arrive. That took two hours, but I was okay with that because it was some good quiet time with my Assessment textbook. I finally got on the plane. I had a seat next to the window, which I was excited about! Found my seat at the back of the plane only to discover that my "window" was covered up with hard plastic. I was not happy. It terrified me because I couldn't see where I was going. Landed in Detroit and I met up with the rest of my group. Well... almost all of them. Mr. Mike Wood, his daughter Emilee, and Josh Mills. They were stuck in Little Rock because of bad weather. The plane they caught to Detroit landed about 10 minutes after we had left Detroit. So, the 7 of us that were there left together for Amsterdam while the stuck 3 had to arrive later.
We boarded the plane to Amsterdam and I settled in for an 8 hour plane ride, certain that I would not get any sleep. Oh, well. At least the food was decent. I watched Juno (for the first time. It was good) and most of AI: Artificial Intelligence. Then I played games on the little TV screen in front of my face. I had to keep myself entertained for a long time... give me a break.
*Look! A sunrise! ...The sun never actually set. It was always light. It was weird
When we landed the next morning (27 May 2008), we were all exhausted. We had to wait two hours for our connecting flight to Edinburgh, so we found our gate and sat and waited. Then onto another plane for Scotland! I sat next to this really nice Dutch man who spoke really good English. They even fed us food on an hour and a half flight. I love Europe :-)
When we landed, we found Jacqueline Dillion, who was one of my teachers last Fall in London. She lives in London and does whatever the Harding International Office tells her to do. So she met us and we got a bus from the airport to our new home for the next month. It was a nice drive. When we had finally unloaded all of our stuff, we took it up to our rooms. I got a shower, then took a nap. At 6 we had dinner and as soon as dinner was over and I had informed people I had made it safely to Scotland, I went to bed. It was about 8:30. I slept like a baby that night. It was so good!
28 May 2008: About the town
I woke up for breakfast (that's right, BREAKFAST!) and was still really tired. Mike and the others still hadn't arrived yet. We all decided to go to Falkirk, which is the town right next to Larbert, where we are. It has a High Street (basically, like Poplar is for Memphis or Race Street is for Searcy) and grocery store. Jacqueline thought it would be nice if we were able to wait on the rest to arrive and then go for lunch and hang out around Falkirk. So we did. The rest of the group arrived soon after breakfast, we loaded up and walked to the bus stop at 11. Ate lunch at The Comma (which was superb, and cheap) and hung out in Falkirk. Funny thing about it though, there's nothing else to do in Falkirk. High Street isn't that long and I'm NOT much of a shopper. So after exploring the high street, I explored a little more of the town. I couldn't leave soon enough. I was ready to get back and get to bed. At 3, we all met up and took the bus back to Carronvale, where I proceeded to take a nap. It was fantastic. For not ever really being a good napper, I was impressed that I could sleep that much during the day time. Dinner that night was good. I got to meet the teacher I will be in the classroom with for the next month. He's really cool. I like him and we had a good get-to-know-ya session. I stayed up a little later that night, about 10, before I crashed again. It's so good to get lots of sleep, especially if you're trying to adjust to a different time zone. Ahh, sleep. I can never get enough of it.
29 May 2008: High rise water ride
This was our first field trip day. Everyone woke up early and had breakfast (it's good every morning) and we left soon after for Falkirk. Caught a bus in Falkirk city center for the Falkirk Wheel. It's this ingenious device that replaces the lock by taking a boat, rotating it on a wheel and either bringing it up or down to the next canal. It's the only one on the world. It took 1000 men to build it. 17.5 million British Pounds were poured into its funding, and 14,868 bolts were used to hold everything together. It was truly fascinating. And it only takes 4 minutes to get to the top, which is about 130 feet in the air. It's also VERY quiet, too. I almost didn't know we were moving. And the view was spectacular! It would have been much better had the metal fence not been so high in the stall, but it was pretty, none-the-less.
After the Wheel, we caught a bus back to Falkirk where I and another proceeded to exchange money and do a little shopping at ASDA (Britain's Wal-Mart. It's the same company). It didn't take us very long. We got back just in time for dinner. Ate dinner and then stayed up entirely too late on the internet. Me and my addictions.... I finally went to bed around 1 in the morning.
30 May 2008: Hunting Royalty
This Friday was one that I had been waiting for since I left Scotland the last time. We were going to Edinburgh! And this time, we were going on a Scavenger Hunt. It was really cool! It took place on the Royal Mile and I walked it about 4 times, up and down, up and down. I was so tired by the end of the day that I fell asleep on the train home. I saw the Elephant House again, I found the Greyfriar's Bobby statue that I had somehow missed the last time, I bought stuff and had a grand time in the rain. We did Edinburgh Castle. It was good to actually have all the time I wanted to explore the castle. It was great! I was so exhausted that I went to bed at 9. *sigh* I had another good nights sleep before another busy day back in Edinburgh.
(Break for dinner)
31 May 2008: Climb every mountain
This was day 2 of 2 in Edinburgh and it started out with a train ride into the Burgh. From the train station, we walked to the Sevens arena. The Sevens are Scotland's Rugby team and we went to a tournament thing there. We saw several teams play from around Europe and other countries. It was quite spectacular. They played short games - 7 minutes each, with 11 instead of 15 players on the field - and a few of the teams were outstanding. Some were surprising in the last few seconds of the game. If there was a tie, it stayed a tie. Good times. I bought a Scotland Rugby jersey to add to my grand collection of 2 rugby jerseys, the other from England. P.S. The Sevens are really very good. They played the Aussies and won! Yay! After we had tired of the 5 or 6 games we watched, we got lunch and proceeded to Princes Street, which I had already traversed the day before. I wanted to go back to the Royal Mile for pending purchases and also to see and climb Arthur's Seat, the mountain-thing that overlooks Edinburgh. I got separated from the group shortly after lunch and continued on my own through Edinburgh. It was actually really nice to be by myself. I could take whatever time I wanted and go anywhere I wanted at my own pace (which is quite a bit faster than everyone else here, unfortunately). It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and there were no clouds in the sky, which guaranteed that there would be no rain. So, I walked down the Royal Mile towards Holyroodhouse and Arthur's Seat, bought a couple of things on the way, and generally enjoyed the sunshine. Then I made my way past Holyrood Park and up to the foot of Arthur's Seat. This time, I was going to take the easy way up. Last time I climbed it, Liz and I made the mistake of going the hard way that takes almost an hour and you walk around THE WHOLE mountain before you can get up to the top. And it was steep. So, I opted to take the chicken way up, which was a lot harder than I remembered... probably because I had only ever come DOWN the easy way, not up. But it was harder than I thought, but the breeze was welcoming as the sweat started pouring down my back because it was so hot. But I finally made it to the top. It was pretty :-) I saw the North Sea bay area that Edinburgh sits in, birds-eye pictures of Holyroodhouse (which, if you didn't know, is the house the Queen and any other royalty stay in when they're in town) and the modern but ugly Parliament building. Got a couple more pictures of Edinburgh Castle along with some of myself on the very windy mountain. *sigh* Hard work always pays off in the end.
I finally decided that I should leave the mountain since it was close to closing time for several shops. I walked back up the Royal Mile and stopped at a Starbucks because I was in the mood for coffee (Starbucks moods don't happen very often). I got the new Dulce du Leche frappachino. It was FANTASTIC!! I wanted to go back to the Elephant house and get a T-shirt, but I forgot... so now I don't have one and it kind of makes me sad. If I get a chance to go back to Edinburgh for whatever reason, I'll make it a point to stop and get one. Oh well. Can't do everything I suppose.
I caught the train back and was the first one of the group. Then I got online and the rest of my evening was spent catching up with friends and family back home. Oh, and then I played Taboo with Courtney, Kelly, Kurt, Megan, Aubrey, Camille, and Josh. Oh, we had so much fun! Then we did Taboo-ish Charades... but you had to act everything out with a partner. It was a hoot! There were things like milking a cow, playing the piano, drinking poison, the long jump, speed dating, and having a baby on the list. Oh, good times and GREAT bonding moments! I definitely think that would be an awesome ice breaker one day in my classroom. Totally awkward, but SOO much fun!
1 June 2008: First Sunday in Scotland
Not much has happened today. We went to Cumbernauld Church of Christ which is about a 30 minute drive away. It's VERY small, but the people are really nice. I actually enjoyed the sermon today. We ate at the Beefeater pub. Um... YUM! It took forever, but I guess that's okay. I got back around 4 and started checking stuff online and starting this post. Then we had dinner of Mac'N'cheese and chips and pork chops and peas. The food here is awesome! We are DEFINITELY NOT starving people. They take such good care of us. Now, I just have supper to look forward to. Yay tea!
Well, that is successfully everything I've done thus far. Tomorrow we spend the first day at school with our teacher. I'm kind of nervous, but also very excited! I will keep you updated about the goings-on here in Scotland. Miss you all! See you when I see you.
Cheers, everyone!
Aimee
P.S. I'll put pictures up when the internet starts working properly again... sorry about that. Some of them are on facebook, though. Check them out if you haven't already!
Alright! Onwards and forwards through my 5 weeks in Scotland! Woot!
26 May 2008: Departure Day
Well, this was the day that I had been waiting for for quite a while. I was ready to leave for Scotland to pre-student teach. What an opportunity! My dad and grandmother brought me to the airport and dropped me off. I went through security and sat down at the gate and waited for the plane to arrive. That took two hours, but I was okay with that because it was some good quiet time with my Assessment textbook. I finally got on the plane. I had a seat next to the window, which I was excited about! Found my seat at the back of the plane only to discover that my "window" was covered up with hard plastic. I was not happy. It terrified me because I couldn't see where I was going. Landed in Detroit and I met up with the rest of my group. Well... almost all of them. Mr. Mike Wood, his daughter Emilee, and Josh Mills. They were stuck in Little Rock because of bad weather. The plane they caught to Detroit landed about 10 minutes after we had left Detroit. So, the 7 of us that were there left together for Amsterdam while the stuck 3 had to arrive later.
We boarded the plane to Amsterdam and I settled in for an 8 hour plane ride, certain that I would not get any sleep. Oh, well. At least the food was decent. I watched Juno (for the first time. It was good) and most of AI: Artificial Intelligence. Then I played games on the little TV screen in front of my face. I had to keep myself entertained for a long time... give me a break.
*Look! A sunrise! ...The sun never actually set. It was always light. It was weird
When we landed the next morning (27 May 2008), we were all exhausted. We had to wait two hours for our connecting flight to Edinburgh, so we found our gate and sat and waited. Then onto another plane for Scotland! I sat next to this really nice Dutch man who spoke really good English. They even fed us food on an hour and a half flight. I love Europe :-)
When we landed, we found Jacqueline Dillion, who was one of my teachers last Fall in London. She lives in London and does whatever the Harding International Office tells her to do. So she met us and we got a bus from the airport to our new home for the next month. It was a nice drive. When we had finally unloaded all of our stuff, we took it up to our rooms. I got a shower, then took a nap. At 6 we had dinner and as soon as dinner was over and I had informed people I had made it safely to Scotland, I went to bed. It was about 8:30. I slept like a baby that night. It was so good!
28 May 2008: About the town
I woke up for breakfast (that's right, BREAKFAST!) and was still really tired. Mike and the others still hadn't arrived yet. We all decided to go to Falkirk, which is the town right next to Larbert, where we are. It has a High Street (basically, like Poplar is for Memphis or Race Street is for Searcy) and grocery store. Jacqueline thought it would be nice if we were able to wait on the rest to arrive and then go for lunch and hang out around Falkirk. So we did. The rest of the group arrived soon after breakfast, we loaded up and walked to the bus stop at 11. Ate lunch at The Comma (which was superb, and cheap) and hung out in Falkirk. Funny thing about it though, there's nothing else to do in Falkirk. High Street isn't that long and I'm NOT much of a shopper. So after exploring the high street, I explored a little more of the town. I couldn't leave soon enough. I was ready to get back and get to bed. At 3, we all met up and took the bus back to Carronvale, where I proceeded to take a nap. It was fantastic. For not ever really being a good napper, I was impressed that I could sleep that much during the day time. Dinner that night was good. I got to meet the teacher I will be in the classroom with for the next month. He's really cool. I like him and we had a good get-to-know-ya session. I stayed up a little later that night, about 10, before I crashed again. It's so good to get lots of sleep, especially if you're trying to adjust to a different time zone. Ahh, sleep. I can never get enough of it.
29 May 2008: High rise water ride
This was our first field trip day. Everyone woke up early and had breakfast (it's good every morning) and we left soon after for Falkirk. Caught a bus in Falkirk city center for the Falkirk Wheel. It's this ingenious device that replaces the lock by taking a boat, rotating it on a wheel and either bringing it up or down to the next canal. It's the only one on the world. It took 1000 men to build it. 17.5 million British Pounds were poured into its funding, and 14,868 bolts were used to hold everything together. It was truly fascinating. And it only takes 4 minutes to get to the top, which is about 130 feet in the air. It's also VERY quiet, too. I almost didn't know we were moving. And the view was spectacular! It would have been much better had the metal fence not been so high in the stall, but it was pretty, none-the-less.
After the Wheel, we caught a bus back to Falkirk where I and another proceeded to exchange money and do a little shopping at ASDA (Britain's Wal-Mart. It's the same company). It didn't take us very long. We got back just in time for dinner. Ate dinner and then stayed up entirely too late on the internet. Me and my addictions.... I finally went to bed around 1 in the morning.
30 May 2008: Hunting Royalty
This Friday was one that I had been waiting for since I left Scotland the last time. We were going to Edinburgh! And this time, we were going on a Scavenger Hunt. It was really cool! It took place on the Royal Mile and I walked it about 4 times, up and down, up and down. I was so tired by the end of the day that I fell asleep on the train home. I saw the Elephant House again, I found the Greyfriar's Bobby statue that I had somehow missed the last time, I bought stuff and had a grand time in the rain. We did Edinburgh Castle. It was good to actually have all the time I wanted to explore the castle. It was great! I was so exhausted that I went to bed at 9. *sigh* I had another good nights sleep before another busy day back in Edinburgh.
(Break for dinner)
31 May 2008: Climb every mountain
This was day 2 of 2 in Edinburgh and it started out with a train ride into the Burgh. From the train station, we walked to the Sevens arena. The Sevens are Scotland's Rugby team and we went to a tournament thing there. We saw several teams play from around Europe and other countries. It was quite spectacular. They played short games - 7 minutes each, with 11 instead of 15 players on the field - and a few of the teams were outstanding. Some were surprising in the last few seconds of the game. If there was a tie, it stayed a tie. Good times. I bought a Scotland Rugby jersey to add to my grand collection of 2 rugby jerseys, the other from England. P.S. The Sevens are really very good. They played the Aussies and won! Yay! After we had tired of the 5 or 6 games we watched, we got lunch and proceeded to Princes Street, which I had already traversed the day before. I wanted to go back to the Royal Mile for pending purchases and also to see and climb Arthur's Seat, the mountain-thing that overlooks Edinburgh. I got separated from the group shortly after lunch and continued on my own through Edinburgh. It was actually really nice to be by myself. I could take whatever time I wanted and go anywhere I wanted at my own pace (which is quite a bit faster than everyone else here, unfortunately). It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and there were no clouds in the sky, which guaranteed that there would be no rain. So, I walked down the Royal Mile towards Holyroodhouse and Arthur's Seat, bought a couple of things on the way, and generally enjoyed the sunshine. Then I made my way past Holyrood Park and up to the foot of Arthur's Seat. This time, I was going to take the easy way up. Last time I climbed it, Liz and I made the mistake of going the hard way that takes almost an hour and you walk around THE WHOLE mountain before you can get up to the top. And it was steep. So, I opted to take the chicken way up, which was a lot harder than I remembered... probably because I had only ever come DOWN the easy way, not up. But it was harder than I thought, but the breeze was welcoming as the sweat started pouring down my back because it was so hot. But I finally made it to the top. It was pretty :-) I saw the North Sea bay area that Edinburgh sits in, birds-eye pictures of Holyroodhouse (which, if you didn't know, is the house the Queen and any other royalty stay in when they're in town) and the modern but ugly Parliament building. Got a couple more pictures of Edinburgh Castle along with some of myself on the very windy mountain. *sigh* Hard work always pays off in the end.
I finally decided that I should leave the mountain since it was close to closing time for several shops. I walked back up the Royal Mile and stopped at a Starbucks because I was in the mood for coffee (Starbucks moods don't happen very often). I got the new Dulce du Leche frappachino. It was FANTASTIC!! I wanted to go back to the Elephant house and get a T-shirt, but I forgot... so now I don't have one and it kind of makes me sad. If I get a chance to go back to Edinburgh for whatever reason, I'll make it a point to stop and get one. Oh well. Can't do everything I suppose.
I caught the train back and was the first one of the group. Then I got online and the rest of my evening was spent catching up with friends and family back home. Oh, and then I played Taboo with Courtney, Kelly, Kurt, Megan, Aubrey, Camille, and Josh. Oh, we had so much fun! Then we did Taboo-ish Charades... but you had to act everything out with a partner. It was a hoot! There were things like milking a cow, playing the piano, drinking poison, the long jump, speed dating, and having a baby on the list. Oh, good times and GREAT bonding moments! I definitely think that would be an awesome ice breaker one day in my classroom. Totally awkward, but SOO much fun!
1 June 2008: First Sunday in Scotland
Not much has happened today. We went to Cumbernauld Church of Christ which is about a 30 minute drive away. It's VERY small, but the people are really nice. I actually enjoyed the sermon today. We ate at the Beefeater pub. Um... YUM! It took forever, but I guess that's okay. I got back around 4 and started checking stuff online and starting this post. Then we had dinner of Mac'N'cheese and chips and pork chops and peas. The food here is awesome! We are DEFINITELY NOT starving people. They take such good care of us. Now, I just have supper to look forward to. Yay tea!
Well, that is successfully everything I've done thus far. Tomorrow we spend the first day at school with our teacher. I'm kind of nervous, but also very excited! I will keep you updated about the goings-on here in Scotland. Miss you all! See you when I see you.
Cheers, everyone!
Aimee
P.S. I'll put pictures up when the internet starts working properly again... sorry about that. Some of them are on facebook, though. Check them out if you haven't already!
5.24.2008
Let's keep Free Traveling!!
Hey, guys. It's been 5 months since I updated this thing. Pathetic, and I'm sorry. I really probably should tell you what happened during the rest of free travel because it was awesome!! So, here I go again. Up for another whirlwind adventure in Italy? I hope so. Let's get started!
03 December 2007:
So, this was one of the days I had been waiting for for a long time. Got up bright and early, sunshine, and Kaity, Jordan and I met up with Ruth and Jill, another girl from the hostel we were in. She had been in Rome a few more days than we had been and wanted to show us around our next location, which we were totally fine with. So, we all boarded the Metro and took it to... whatever stop we went to. It was in Italian, and I think it started with an "O". Whatever. We got off and had to walk a little bit... OK, we had to walk a long way, but that was okay. On the way, met some interesting characters... like the guy who groped one of our own. Not fun, but anyway - that's the italian for ya. Anyway, kept walking and finally happened upon our next location, and it was exciting :-) Check it out:
*Think you can pinpoint this spot?
*How about now? Look familiar yet?
Yep, that's The Vatican!
See the middle window on the top row? That's the Pope's window! He comes out of that window and speaks to the people on Sundays. Unfortunately, I hadn't known that the previous day, otherwise I would have shown up. This is as close to the Pope as I'm probably ever going to get, so look! The window! (and the light was on)
So, we walked around the Vatican for a little bit and then decided we wanted to explore something a little more...colorful. So we went around the back (because that's where you're supposed to go in order to get where we were headed), paid our 8 Euro admission fee and started our walk through many, many little museums. It probably took about 2 hours to get through all of the little museums. Saw some really cool paintings, and statues, like this one: (2)
*I hope you recognize this one at first glance. It's The Thinker statue and it's really small. Maybe 2 feet tall, but no bigger. And to think that I almost missed it!
So, kept walking through the museums, saw a sign (and a line) for this: (Sorry it's blurry)
And walked inside. And this is what it looked like:
Ready for a better picture?
*The world-reknowned painting of The Creation of Adam. Isn't it pretty?!?
Everything is covered in paintings, except the floor. It was breath-taking. I almost cried, but knowing how much of a softie I am, are you really surprised?
Isn't this staircase COOL!! It's the one I had to go down to get out of the Sistine Chapel. I like this picture :-)
After the Chapel, Jill, Ruth, and I went one way, and Kaity and Jordan went their own way. The three of us took the metro to another stop and went to Triton's fountain, built by the Romans (of course) way back before Jesus.
*Me at Triton's Fountain
It's really cool being in a city where a lot of what you see is ancient. It really puts into perspective how young our country is and how NOT old 200 years is. Anyway, got a picture with the fountain and then continued on. Hard to believe, but we forgot to go to St. Paul's Cathedral... makes me a little sad, but I can always go back :-)
So, from Triton's fountain, we walked all the way back to the hostel. We passed this guy. He's real!
Our hostel was clear across the center of Rome and it's not small. On our way, we passed Trevi fountain, again (yay!) and then made our way to the Pantheon. You know, that building in Rome with the big hole in the ceiling?
*But first we took pictures outside with the massive columns. See?
Yeah, that one.
It's pretty cool inside. See? Hole in the ceiling, lots of space, huge and heavy doors, and it's free. That's the best kind of attraction. I don't mean the bottom of my chin...I'm sure people would NOT flock thousands of miles to see that...
After exploring the Pantheon and seeing some really cool old graves, we left the Pantheon (there's only so much you can see) and walked across and down the street to St. Edward II Museum. Ruth and I didn't go in but Jill did. But while Ruth and I were waiting, we saw a Bishop in Hot Pink (no lie)
(like so)
and lots of nuns,
*Look! Nuns!
all following the Bishop to the robe store just down the alley from where we were. We watched them go in, and then we walked to the store and looked in the window. It was actually pretty cool to see up close what the Catholic high-peeps wear with their robes. It was all pretty and you get to pick your colour. Isn't that funny?! Leaves one to wonder why the Bishop picked hot pink...
Moving on! We kept walking and finally I saw the Colosseum again.
Like so... Ain't it purdy?!
It was pretty with the lights shining on it and the sun going down. *sigh* Good times. I like the old stone sphere. Too bad it's falling down...
So, got back to the hostel and waited on Kaity and Jordan. It took them about 2 hours to get back. It was good to sit and relax. Ate dinner and then decided that I wanted to go to bed. The only problem was that we had new visitors in our room that night. There were 2 guys and they were Spanish - like from Spain, not Mexican Spanish-speaking. Spanish-speaking Spaniards... and not attractive. Oh well. So, I was getting ready for bed and one of the guys beckoned me over (it was pitch black) and asked me if I spoke English. I said yes. He asked me about myself (where I was from, why I was in Italy, etc.) He then asked me if I knew of anything to do in the area bar-wise. I, of course, had NO idea since I was not in Rome for the bars. He also asked if I thought he had time to go find one. I said he probably did. Then, he wanted to know what I was doing. I told him I was going to bed (alone, of course) and he said "okay". Then he left. 30 minutes later, he came back and I was lying in bed almost asleep. He came over, poked me (and I could smell alcohol on his breath, so I figured he had found his bar), and wanted to keep talking. He asked me when I was leaving and I told him the next morning. He sounded disappointed but I didn't care. He was a bit creepy...
Then I went to sleep because I couldn't wait for the next train ride.
04 December 2007:
Woke up about 6:30 in the morning, took a shower, and ate breakfast at 7. It was awesome! It was the first time I had had the hostel's breakfast since we had been there. It really got me up and going. Kaity and Jordan woke up and we packed and left for the train station. Sadly, Kaity left her awesome umbrella at one of the cafe's at the station. She was so sad... It was such a cute umbrella. Boarded the train at 10:20 because the time kept getting pushed back (the first of two that day) and headed off to our next exciting location. About 2 hours later, we arrived. Unfortunately, where we wanted to go was NOT near the train station at all. So we walked because we didn't feel like paying for a cab, lugging all of our stuff behind us because we didn't want to pay to have it sit at the train station. Penny-pinchers, aren't we? Yeah, we're college students :-) Anywho, walked, and walked, and, just for kicks, we took a wrong turn and walked some more down cobblestone streets with rolling luggage. Yeah, we got looks, but we were so used to it by then, it didn't really matter. Then, all of the sudden, we saw this:
*Yeah, that's the leaning Tower of Pisa.
*And here's a better one...or few
*Kaity and my's artsy pictures
*Another artsy Pisa pic
Yes, we were in Pisa! for only about 4 hours or so, but long enough to cross it off the list of cities to visit in Europe. Isn't it cool?! Kaity and Jordan decided that they didn't feel like spending the 15 Euros to go to the top of the Tower, so I went alone. Let me tell ya, it's really weird walking up that thing because one second you're walking uphill, and just like that, you're going downhill, over and over and over again. 286 small long steps to the top. Nothing that would put you into cardiac arrest. Got to the top of the Tower and had a look-see around, took some pictures, like these: (pictures)
*The Cathedral and the Baptistry from the Tower
*From the top - pretty!
*One of the huge bells on the top
and continued on up to the very top level. It was pretty and the sun was setting (remember, it took us about an hour or so to get from the train station to the Tower, even though Pisa is VERY small). Then they kicked me off the top because the next group was waiting to come up. I have no idea what the guard told me (because he spoke in Italian), but I'm pretty sure he said something like "You crazy American! Leave because more people are coming up." He didn't look happy at all and I didn't want to anger him even more, so I did what I thought he was telling me to do and got lost. An expensive, short visit, but worth it. Who knows if I'll ever get to see it again.
Then went and walked into some of the surrounding shops and explored the Cathedral that was right there next to the Tower. It was pretty, but a very typical church. Nothing we hadn't seen before. We tried to get into the cool baptistry, but it was closing, so we decided that it was time for us to leave. So, we walked back to the train station... and saw this on the way back:
*This is a hang drum, ladies and gentlemen. (it's a little blurry...sorry)
Look up "Hang Drum" on YouTube and you can listen to it. Links are not working at the moment, sorry
It's cool. I took this picture for Coleman because he wants one. After hearing it, I kind of want one too... Anyone have 2000 Euro you want to bestow upon a poor kid???
It took us forever to find out where we were going, but eventually, because Kaity is smart, we got to the right platform and were boarding the train for our next city. I'll give you a clue - in a picture:
*Take a whack at it.
A) What statue is this?
B) In what city does is this famous statue housed?
Did you get it?
Answers:
A) David by Michaelangelo
B) Florence, Italy
It was dark by the time we got to Florence, so we had to navigate at very strange city in the dark, again lugging all our luggage with us for a long way. It took us a while to find the hostel, and, after asking for directions several times and crossing several really busy streets, we found our next home away from home. It was at the very top of a 7 story building with a 100 year-old elevator that only took passengers down (because it was so old). So we had to walk up about 82 stairs with 30 lbs. of stuff on us. It didn't help that we were exhausted from traveling all day. But the hostel was nice. We met some Australian guys there (oh man, were they CUTE!) and they told us some of the highlights of the city, gave us a map, and circled everything he thought we would be interested in. It was cool. I made myself a cuppa, ate dinner (which consisted of crackers, bread, and nutella) and decided to go to bed. But before that, I had some homework to do for my Environmental Science class, so I finished the class, and then crashed. It was awesome.
05 December 2007:
This was the morning of the glorious shower. The hostel we were staying in was really nice, so there were really nice bathrooms with REALLY hot water. I took the longest shower I had taken all semester. It was FABULOUS! Got ready to go and left the hostel at 9 a.m. to get in everything we wanted to do that day. The first thing we wanted to do was to see the awesomeness that is Michaelangelo. So, we headed over to the Galleria dell Accademia to see the wonderfulness. Jordan decided he didn't want to go in because it was 10 Euros just to get into the door. So Kaity and I went in and studied the statues that Michaelangelo had started and had never completed for the Pope because the Pope had died before they were finished. There were 14 of them and they were all really cool. Then, we turned around and saw the wonderful nakedness of Mike's most famous statue, David. He's perfectly proportioned. It's a feat that no one else has been able to achieve. David is 16 feet tall, and about 8 feet of the ground. It's illegal to take pictures of it, and having cameras ALL around it makes it really hard to attempt... so I didn't get one - of the full statue. I got from the neck down, but I'm happy with that. Then we walked into the next room and saw a painting by Raphael that looked EXACTLY like Daniel Wade (went to high school and college with him). It was scary.
Left there, met up with Jordan, and walked to the Duomo. The Duomo is the largest (as in widest) roof in Italy, if not in the world. I can't remember. It's been 6 months, give me a break. But it looks like this:
*The Duomo
And this time I forgoed the 6.50 Euro to climb to the top. Instead, I walked around and explored the streets of Florence. Happened upon several markets and walked into a few stores and just enjoyed the pretty Florence afternoon. It took about an hour for Kaity and Jordan to get all the way through the ceiling, but afterwards, we met up and kept walking/exploring the city. We happened upon one of the markets I had walked through and just browsed. It was called the San Lorenzo Market. It just happened that it was about lunchtime, so we pulled out our Nutella and crackers and had a feast.... or not. But we did feed the birds with our crumbs and shooed away the gypsies because all they're looking for are rich Americans who feel sorry for them to give them money. Poor college kids have no money, therefore, we ignored her and she went away. That's all you can do for gypsies. Shoo them or ignore them. Continuing...
Left after lunch and just walked around the markets for the rest of the day. Since we're poor, we didn't buy anything, but it was fun to see all the places selling aprons and boxer shorts with David's...um, yeah...plastered on the front. After a while, I found it not so funny. The problem is that it was EVERYWHERE, on every street corner, etc. You can definitely tell the tourist sections from the non-tourist sections...
After we explored that for a while, we went to the Piazza del Republica that was right next to the river. There is a mock statue of David here and we got pictures with it. It was funny. We walked along the river and headed back to the hostel for dinner and some relaxation time. It was much needed, too. By this time, we had almost run out of things to do in Florence. See, Florence is a city about art. And for three people not really that into art, it was hard to find something to do that didn't involve art... So we went back and hung out in the hostel just talking and catching up with blogs and what not. Then, we decided to hit the sheets before our next day.
And, here, I'm going to stop. I think it's long enough. I will catch up another time, when I have time. Maybe after I get back from Scotland, which I leave for on Monday and won't be back until June 30. I'm going to Pre-student teach in Edinburgh for 5 weeks and the head on over to London for 4 days. Yay!
Ciao everyone!
03 December 2007:
So, this was one of the days I had been waiting for for a long time. Got up bright and early, sunshine, and Kaity, Jordan and I met up with Ruth and Jill, another girl from the hostel we were in. She had been in Rome a few more days than we had been and wanted to show us around our next location, which we were totally fine with. So, we all boarded the Metro and took it to... whatever stop we went to. It was in Italian, and I think it started with an "O". Whatever. We got off and had to walk a little bit... OK, we had to walk a long way, but that was okay. On the way, met some interesting characters... like the guy who groped one of our own. Not fun, but anyway - that's the italian for ya. Anyway, kept walking and finally happened upon our next location, and it was exciting :-) Check it out:
*Think you can pinpoint this spot?
*How about now? Look familiar yet?
Yep, that's The Vatican!
See the middle window on the top row? That's the Pope's window! He comes out of that window and speaks to the people on Sundays. Unfortunately, I hadn't known that the previous day, otherwise I would have shown up. This is as close to the Pope as I'm probably ever going to get, so look! The window! (and the light was on)
So, we walked around the Vatican for a little bit and then decided we wanted to explore something a little more...colorful. So we went around the back (because that's where you're supposed to go in order to get where we were headed), paid our 8 Euro admission fee and started our walk through many, many little museums. It probably took about 2 hours to get through all of the little museums. Saw some really cool paintings, and statues, like this one: (2)
*I hope you recognize this one at first glance. It's The Thinker statue and it's really small. Maybe 2 feet tall, but no bigger. And to think that I almost missed it!
So, kept walking through the museums, saw a sign (and a line) for this: (Sorry it's blurry)
And walked inside. And this is what it looked like:
Ready for a better picture?
*The world-reknowned painting of The Creation of Adam. Isn't it pretty?!?
Everything is covered in paintings, except the floor. It was breath-taking. I almost cried, but knowing how much of a softie I am, are you really surprised?
Isn't this staircase COOL!! It's the one I had to go down to get out of the Sistine Chapel. I like this picture :-)
After the Chapel, Jill, Ruth, and I went one way, and Kaity and Jordan went their own way. The three of us took the metro to another stop and went to Triton's fountain, built by the Romans (of course) way back before Jesus.
*Me at Triton's Fountain
It's really cool being in a city where a lot of what you see is ancient. It really puts into perspective how young our country is and how NOT old 200 years is. Anyway, got a picture with the fountain and then continued on. Hard to believe, but we forgot to go to St. Paul's Cathedral... makes me a little sad, but I can always go back :-)
So, from Triton's fountain, we walked all the way back to the hostel. We passed this guy. He's real!
Our hostel was clear across the center of Rome and it's not small. On our way, we passed Trevi fountain, again (yay!) and then made our way to the Pantheon. You know, that building in Rome with the big hole in the ceiling?
*But first we took pictures outside with the massive columns. See?
Yeah, that one.
It's pretty cool inside. See? Hole in the ceiling, lots of space, huge and heavy doors, and it's free. That's the best kind of attraction. I don't mean the bottom of my chin...I'm sure people would NOT flock thousands of miles to see that...
After exploring the Pantheon and seeing some really cool old graves, we left the Pantheon (there's only so much you can see) and walked across and down the street to St. Edward II Museum. Ruth and I didn't go in but Jill did. But while Ruth and I were waiting, we saw a Bishop in Hot Pink (no lie)
(like so)
and lots of nuns,
*Look! Nuns!
all following the Bishop to the robe store just down the alley from where we were. We watched them go in, and then we walked to the store and looked in the window. It was actually pretty cool to see up close what the Catholic high-peeps wear with their robes. It was all pretty and you get to pick your colour. Isn't that funny?! Leaves one to wonder why the Bishop picked hot pink...
Moving on! We kept walking and finally I saw the Colosseum again.
Like so... Ain't it purdy?!
It was pretty with the lights shining on it and the sun going down. *sigh* Good times. I like the old stone sphere. Too bad it's falling down...
So, got back to the hostel and waited on Kaity and Jordan. It took them about 2 hours to get back. It was good to sit and relax. Ate dinner and then decided that I wanted to go to bed. The only problem was that we had new visitors in our room that night. There were 2 guys and they were Spanish - like from Spain, not Mexican Spanish-speaking. Spanish-speaking Spaniards... and not attractive. Oh well. So, I was getting ready for bed and one of the guys beckoned me over (it was pitch black) and asked me if I spoke English. I said yes. He asked me about myself (where I was from, why I was in Italy, etc.) He then asked me if I knew of anything to do in the area bar-wise. I, of course, had NO idea since I was not in Rome for the bars. He also asked if I thought he had time to go find one. I said he probably did. Then, he wanted to know what I was doing. I told him I was going to bed (alone, of course) and he said "okay". Then he left. 30 minutes later, he came back and I was lying in bed almost asleep. He came over, poked me (and I could smell alcohol on his breath, so I figured he had found his bar), and wanted to keep talking. He asked me when I was leaving and I told him the next morning. He sounded disappointed but I didn't care. He was a bit creepy...
Then I went to sleep because I couldn't wait for the next train ride.
04 December 2007:
Woke up about 6:30 in the morning, took a shower, and ate breakfast at 7. It was awesome! It was the first time I had had the hostel's breakfast since we had been there. It really got me up and going. Kaity and Jordan woke up and we packed and left for the train station. Sadly, Kaity left her awesome umbrella at one of the cafe's at the station. She was so sad... It was such a cute umbrella. Boarded the train at 10:20 because the time kept getting pushed back (the first of two that day) and headed off to our next exciting location. About 2 hours later, we arrived. Unfortunately, where we wanted to go was NOT near the train station at all. So we walked because we didn't feel like paying for a cab, lugging all of our stuff behind us because we didn't want to pay to have it sit at the train station. Penny-pinchers, aren't we? Yeah, we're college students :-) Anywho, walked, and walked, and, just for kicks, we took a wrong turn and walked some more down cobblestone streets with rolling luggage. Yeah, we got looks, but we were so used to it by then, it didn't really matter. Then, all of the sudden, we saw this:
*Yeah, that's the leaning Tower of Pisa.
*And here's a better one...or few
*Kaity and my's artsy pictures
*Another artsy Pisa pic
Yes, we were in Pisa! for only about 4 hours or so, but long enough to cross it off the list of cities to visit in Europe. Isn't it cool?! Kaity and Jordan decided that they didn't feel like spending the 15 Euros to go to the top of the Tower, so I went alone. Let me tell ya, it's really weird walking up that thing because one second you're walking uphill, and just like that, you're going downhill, over and over and over again. 286 small long steps to the top. Nothing that would put you into cardiac arrest. Got to the top of the Tower and had a look-see around, took some pictures, like these: (pictures)
*The Cathedral and the Baptistry from the Tower
*From the top - pretty!
*One of the huge bells on the top
and continued on up to the very top level. It was pretty and the sun was setting (remember, it took us about an hour or so to get from the train station to the Tower, even though Pisa is VERY small). Then they kicked me off the top because the next group was waiting to come up. I have no idea what the guard told me (because he spoke in Italian), but I'm pretty sure he said something like "You crazy American! Leave because more people are coming up." He didn't look happy at all and I didn't want to anger him even more, so I did what I thought he was telling me to do and got lost. An expensive, short visit, but worth it. Who knows if I'll ever get to see it again.
Then went and walked into some of the surrounding shops and explored the Cathedral that was right there next to the Tower. It was pretty, but a very typical church. Nothing we hadn't seen before. We tried to get into the cool baptistry, but it was closing, so we decided that it was time for us to leave. So, we walked back to the train station... and saw this on the way back:
*This is a hang drum, ladies and gentlemen. (it's a little blurry...sorry)
Look up "Hang Drum" on YouTube and you can listen to it. Links are not working at the moment, sorry
It's cool. I took this picture for Coleman because he wants one. After hearing it, I kind of want one too... Anyone have 2000 Euro you want to bestow upon a poor kid???
It took us forever to find out where we were going, but eventually, because Kaity is smart, we got to the right platform and were boarding the train for our next city. I'll give you a clue - in a picture:
*Take a whack at it.
A) What statue is this?
B) In what city does is this famous statue housed?
Did you get it?
Answers:
A) David by Michaelangelo
B) Florence, Italy
It was dark by the time we got to Florence, so we had to navigate at very strange city in the dark, again lugging all our luggage with us for a long way. It took us a while to find the hostel, and, after asking for directions several times and crossing several really busy streets, we found our next home away from home. It was at the very top of a 7 story building with a 100 year-old elevator that only took passengers down (because it was so old). So we had to walk up about 82 stairs with 30 lbs. of stuff on us. It didn't help that we were exhausted from traveling all day. But the hostel was nice. We met some Australian guys there (oh man, were they CUTE!) and they told us some of the highlights of the city, gave us a map, and circled everything he thought we would be interested in. It was cool. I made myself a cuppa, ate dinner (which consisted of crackers, bread, and nutella) and decided to go to bed. But before that, I had some homework to do for my Environmental Science class, so I finished the class, and then crashed. It was awesome.
05 December 2007:
This was the morning of the glorious shower. The hostel we were staying in was really nice, so there were really nice bathrooms with REALLY hot water. I took the longest shower I had taken all semester. It was FABULOUS! Got ready to go and left the hostel at 9 a.m. to get in everything we wanted to do that day. The first thing we wanted to do was to see the awesomeness that is Michaelangelo. So, we headed over to the Galleria dell Accademia to see the wonderfulness. Jordan decided he didn't want to go in because it was 10 Euros just to get into the door. So Kaity and I went in and studied the statues that Michaelangelo had started and had never completed for the Pope because the Pope had died before they were finished. There were 14 of them and they were all really cool. Then, we turned around and saw the wonderful nakedness of Mike's most famous statue, David. He's perfectly proportioned. It's a feat that no one else has been able to achieve. David is 16 feet tall, and about 8 feet of the ground. It's illegal to take pictures of it, and having cameras ALL around it makes it really hard to attempt... so I didn't get one - of the full statue. I got from the neck down, but I'm happy with that. Then we walked into the next room and saw a painting by Raphael that looked EXACTLY like Daniel Wade (went to high school and college with him). It was scary.
Left there, met up with Jordan, and walked to the Duomo. The Duomo is the largest (as in widest) roof in Italy, if not in the world. I can't remember. It's been 6 months, give me a break. But it looks like this:
*The Duomo
And this time I forgoed the 6.50 Euro to climb to the top. Instead, I walked around and explored the streets of Florence. Happened upon several markets and walked into a few stores and just enjoyed the pretty Florence afternoon. It took about an hour for Kaity and Jordan to get all the way through the ceiling, but afterwards, we met up and kept walking/exploring the city. We happened upon one of the markets I had walked through and just browsed. It was called the San Lorenzo Market. It just happened that it was about lunchtime, so we pulled out our Nutella and crackers and had a feast.... or not. But we did feed the birds with our crumbs and shooed away the gypsies because all they're looking for are rich Americans who feel sorry for them to give them money. Poor college kids have no money, therefore, we ignored her and she went away. That's all you can do for gypsies. Shoo them or ignore them. Continuing...
Left after lunch and just walked around the markets for the rest of the day. Since we're poor, we didn't buy anything, but it was fun to see all the places selling aprons and boxer shorts with David's...um, yeah...plastered on the front. After a while, I found it not so funny. The problem is that it was EVERYWHERE, on every street corner, etc. You can definitely tell the tourist sections from the non-tourist sections...
After we explored that for a while, we went to the Piazza del Republica that was right next to the river. There is a mock statue of David here and we got pictures with it. It was funny. We walked along the river and headed back to the hostel for dinner and some relaxation time. It was much needed, too. By this time, we had almost run out of things to do in Florence. See, Florence is a city about art. And for three people not really that into art, it was hard to find something to do that didn't involve art... So we went back and hung out in the hostel just talking and catching up with blogs and what not. Then, we decided to hit the sheets before our next day.
And, here, I'm going to stop. I think it's long enough. I will catch up another time, when I have time. Maybe after I get back from Scotland, which I leave for on Monday and won't be back until June 30. I'm going to Pre-student teach in Edinburgh for 5 weeks and the head on over to London for 4 days. Yay!
Ciao everyone!
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