An update through pictures

Ok so I don't have a ton of time to blog right at the moment but I am going to post a billion pictures for you all to enjoy!

Cute little alleyway with cute little Stefani

Our wonderful host parents Angela and Viviano

View from our window, the lighting was horrible so I'll try and get a better pic later

Another view from our apartment

Pilazzo Publico

Piazza del Campo people just come and hang out everyday it's pretty awesome

Duomo

View from the top of the unfinished part of the Duomo

View over Siena

View of Siena

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Baptistry Ceiling

View from a lookout at San Gimignano

Here at last, here at last!

Ok so this is going to be one of those boring blogposts that people hate because I don't have any pictures yet. However, I promise that there will be pictures soon!

  So we finally made it to Siena and I absolutely love it here! It is so much better than Rome in so many ways. Don't get me wrong Rome is an incredible city where it seems that with every corner you turn you see some bigger and better monument but I love Siena. It has such a medieval feel to it and it is jut absolutely beautiful, and can I just mention that it smells way better than Rome….WAY better.
  We got to Siena on Saturday afternoon and we all stood around at the bus station looking like a group of orphans as we waited for our host families to pick us up. Some people got picked up right away and others of us were shipped off in taxis to brave our new adventure alone. Stefani and I were in that category, and not going to lie it was a little nerve racking. We arrived at our destination which is a good thirty minute walk from the city center and were greeted by a darling old man at the top of a lovely staircase. Well right away it was very apparent that he didn't speak any English, nada, zip, zero, zilch. It was also apparent that he had no intention of helping us get our bags up the stairs. Stefani went first, then myself, then her again, than me again, we managed to do it in four trips luckily, in his defense it was obvious that the man who we found out his name is Viviano had some knee trouble.
   His wife, Angela, arrived a few long, quiet and awkward hours later and we discovered that our last hopes were being destroyed as she didn't speak any English either. That first day was really stressful but I think now we have gotten in the swing of things and can communicate fairly efficiently, at least I think I may be interpreting everything they saw entirely wrong. We have since that first day discovered that they are the sweetest, most patient and loving elderly couple ever. It really does feel like home even though there is a language barrier. I think that we are probably the luckiest students in the study abroad because it really does feel like we are living the Italian experience; we are having to speak Italian as much as possible, our shower is cold with no curtain, and we are going to have to hang our laundry out to dry haha. The view of from our little home is spectacular and I really am glad that we are a ways out of the city because we get to see it in all it's glory every morning and evening.
   It hasn't been all sunshine and daisies though. The first day of classes was really stressful. I was signed up for Italian 201 but I was the only student in the class who had not already taken 201 so after evaluating us by talking some he automatically jumped to the other students level and I spent the first hour and a half of my school experience here in Italy trying to hold back the frustration, the good news is I think I will be able to change classes into repeating 102 instead if I can just get around the add/drop deadline issue at BYU. However, besides that hour and a half things have really been wonderful and I am having so much fun. I promise that pictures will be coming soon!

Awesome things to see…horrible pics

Ok so can I just say that I have seen some of the most amazing pieces of art the last three days? It has truly been incredible but I also have to say that one none of my pictures do any of it justice, and two most of the time you can't even take any pictures! So I am doing one blogpost for the past three days and I'll be inserting quite a few pictures from the internet. On Monday we went to the Vatican Museums and Sistine chapel which is insane, Tuesday we went to the Capitoline Museum which is huge and Stefani and I actually got lost for a good 30 minutes and today we went to the Borghese galleries which were by far my favorite.

The famous giant pinecone at the Vatican, why is it famous I don't know but I do know that Dante mentions it in the Inferno

A women representing winter

A women representing fall, we weren't sure where spring and summer were

Some amazing ceiling, the ceilings are incredible here

Sistine Chapel

Rafael painting

This is Cupid and Psyche Stefani and I did a project on them for our prep course and then we actually saw it, that was pretty awesome. We just had to be lost for a little while before we got there.

This is a statue of Marcus Aurelius it's super important because it's kind of one of the only ones like this left and that's just because the Christians thought it was Constantine so they didn't destroy it.

The following pictures are all of Bernini's work they were all located in the Borghese galleries and were by far some of my favorite pieces I've seen the entire two weeks

This is Bernini's David which I absolutely love as it is the first  one I've really seen where David is in action. 

This is Apollo and Daphne, and is by far my favorite of Bernini's. Daphne is a water nymph who Apollo is chasing after  she isn't interested so she prayers to her father a river god to save her and he turns her into a laurel tree. The laurel tree from that point on is one of Apollo's symbols. If you look close there are roots coming from her toes.

This is also a favorite of mine. This is the kidnapping of Persephone by Herod. It is a really dark piece but the movement and emotion that Bernini created is so amazing. Pictures really don't do any of these justice.

Testing testing 1,2…..can you hear me?

So today we went to church and it was so fun! It was a really small ward but everyone was especially friendly. There were a couple missionaries there who had some headsets that we could listen to as they translated the meeting for us. The only problem is that they kept shorting out and they didn't know when they shorted out so the one missionary would keep talking for like five minutes until someone got his attention to tell him we didn't have a clue what was going on. After that they would usually figure it out and we were able to hear them again for about ten minutes then they would short out again. However, even with not being able to understand what was going on it was an excellent set of meetings!

I look like such a giant here because the ground was sloped but this was the outside of the building

A Cardinal, a crypt, and a sister missionary

So on Saturday we went to St. Peter's basilica and let me tell you it was quite an experience. The pictures that are going to follow will never do St. Peter's justice and it really is just something you have to experience for yourself but I will tell you one thing it is so big and I just can't get over the fact that it took nearly 100 years to build and that people were willing to take on that large of a project. It truly is incredible and every inch of it is like a piece of art. Seeing the Pieta was one of the coolest experiences ever and seeing the expression on Mary's face as she held the body of Christ really seemed like an expression that a real mother would have when going through something like that. I don't know it's hard to describe and it's something you have to see. Stefani and I also snuck down into the grotto where many of the past pope's tombs are held, we didn't really sneak we followed a group down but it was pretty awesome. Probably the highlight of the experience however was when we were walking towards the Pieta and an Australian man came up behind us and asked if we were sister missionaries. Everyone in St. Peters has to be dressed modestly so who knows why he asked but he was there with his family because his daughter had served in Rome and they were back visiting. Seriously the best part of the day.

See the three little white heads, yeah those are the nuns that cut us in line….ironic isn't it?

Pieta

One of the fifty billion ceiling paintings

The Dome

Sorry I didn't feel like flipping it, this is the Cardinal that was sitting behind the roped area

Then he decided to walk around and was shaking peoples hands and such

Over the river and through the woods…and more woods….and another river…and some fields…and a bus station….oh another bus station….ah the ocean!

So can I just say this has been one of the sketchiest journeys I've ever taken. Our little group that enthusiastically decided we were going to go to the ocean was never in any real trouble but we really didn't have any idea where we were going and it seemed like we just kept getting on random ways of transportation to try and find our way to a little town called Sabaudia. We had done some research on line the night before to find a beach first off and this one seemed to have the reputation of a really nice place to go where mostly only locals went and where the water was clean and warm. Well after our metro, train, two buses, and a twenty minute walk journey we finally found the beautiful beach in Sabaudia. It really was incredible and we were able to just enjoy the warm soft sand, and wonderfully clear water. I am not a huge fan of the beach but I absolutely loved this little excursion. Going home was once again a little stressful but we made it there and back without any incident and with Lucy making friends with a nice Italian lady who gave us some candy. It was for sure a worthwhile day.

When the group finally made it

I'm so excited to finally be here!

You have to do a jumping picture when you're at the beach

Look at these two lovely bathing beauties

Strike a pose!

Gotta love the beach

Gladiators, naps, and San Giovanni

So after the long day in Ostia we woke up nice and early to head to the Colosseum and Forum since there was a strike on the original day we were supposed to go. We got off the metro and BAM there's the Colosseum right out the doorway. With every other sight we've been to you have to walk a little ways before you get there but that is most certainly not how the Colosseum is. Not only is the Colosseum right there but there's the triumphal arch of Titus and Constantine and then you get this amazing view of a billion other ancient buildings! It really is incredible. The Colosseum is way bigger than I thought it was going to be and I'm not sure why I had the idea that it was a lot smaller but I will never think that again. Can I just say that Gladiators are crazy? Originally slaves would fight to the death when their master died so their master would have a companion to the underworld but then they decided to make it a sporting event which just seems barbaric to me. For those with weak stomaches don't read this next part but I also learned that they would mop up the blood from the arena and sell it to drink because they believed it would give you extra strength. One that guy just lost so how would that give you strength and two I just can't see how a people who can build such beautiful and amazing structures could be so violent! Blows my mind! The Forum was also crazy with just the size of the area but we weren't able to stay for long.

After the Forum Stefani and I headed home to take a much needed nap to try and shake some left over jet lag that was hanging on. I slept like a rock and woke up totally ready to go out on another adventure. We decided to head to San Giovanni which is the actual Cathedral of Rome. It is a common misconception that St. Peter's is the Cathedral in Rome but it doesn't have the Cathedra or the Bishop's seat. San Giovanni is incredible it is huge and beautiful and glorious and confusingly uncrowded. I thought that because it was the actual Cathedral it would be a big deal for tourists and such but there was hardly anyone there and we got to enjoy the peace and quiet of it undisturbed. It really was a wonderful day and it was nice to have some time where we could go out and explore a little bit on our own. For a girl who has never lived in a big city and who for many years was under the impression that public transportation meant carpooling with a friend I think I'm really getting the hang of traveling around the city in a very efficient way. It helps that Rome's transportation systems are pretty straight forward but when you throw in that everything is written in Italian I think I'm fairing quite nicely!

view from inside the metro station

lower level of the Colosseum

Diedra, Stefani and me in the Colosseum

A small dome in a side chapel in San Giovanni

I am afraid I don't remember exactly who or what this is but the woman on the left is Saint Helena and I know the man in the middle was a Pope if that helps at all.

All roads lead to…more ruins

So on Wednesday we went to this old port town called Ostia. The city that's still there is so incredibly beautiful and quant you just can't keep from sighing about every thirty seconds. We went to the loveliest little church which actually used to be a big deal because the bishop of Ostia would consecrate the Pope so it was pretty neat to see it. The main sights in Ostia however are the castle in Ostia and the ruins of Ostia. We first went to the ruins which I was kind of disappointed with at first and then we just kept walking and then there was a big arena type thing that was still standing and I thought ok cool that's kind of neat but it's really just a smaller version of the Coloseum. However, we kept walking, and walking, and walking and we saw more and more ruins! We took time to just explore and the ruins extended on forever with some of them standing about three stories high! After exploring some we went back to see the castle which is crazy old and used to be a fortress in war time where the Pope would come and hide out. All in all it was a pretty long day but really cool to see everything and to get out of Rome and more into the country/smallish town type area. I promise that there will be more blog posts to come so I can catch you all up on my adventures but until then here are some pictures to tide you over.

There was really old flooring in many of the ruin buildings we saw. Many of them would tell you what the building was used for. This was the floor of one of the bath houses.

Some ruins with really awesome umbrella trees.

More bath flooring

At the bottom of the theater

A cute elephant

Ali and Stormie fell for this dashing young fellow

I myself have more mature tastes