Guten Tag, Deutschland!!

*Last weekend, il fine settimana scorsa*

See pics here: Click!

We woke up early once again this past weekend in order to get to the airport in time for our flight to Germania. The flight took about an hour and a half which still amazes me. You can get to a totally different country in less than two hours!! Living in Europe is fantastic. We flew over the Swiss Alps and the view was incredible. As we descended into the clouds we couldn’t see anything for awhile and then all of the sudden the clouds cleared and we looked out the window to see that we were only a few feet from the runway!! It fascinates me how pilots can fly like that. Our first view of Germany was a grey runway surrounded by big black pine trees. It was really cool to note the difference between this landscape and that of Italy. Spain’s landscape was relatively similar to what we had grown accustomed to, palm trees and sunny skies. Germany, however, was the complete opposite. It was snowing and although Cait and Christina were happy about this, I was not so thrilled. We stepped off the plane and headed towards the Frankfurt Hahn airport.

Once we got inside and made our way to the bus ticket desk I became even more aware of the fact that we were now in Germany…away from everything I was used to. The signs and advertisements were all in German (obviously) and I could not even begin to understand what they said. In Italy, France (when we went a few years ago) and even Spain I could get the gist of the language because they are all so similar, being romance languages. German is nothing like any of these languages, however, the longer you look at it you can start to see some similarities between it and English, which is cool. You can tell it’s had an influence over our language. So we purchased tickets for a shuttle bus that would take us to Frankfurt International Airport, since that was where we needed to catch our train to Rothenburg, met up with two other Loyola students who were headed somewhere else (don’t ask me where) but taking the same bus and sat down to wait for the shuttle. One of the students bought us “Berlins” (I think that was the name), little powdered donuts with jam in the middle, they were very good and a very good start to our German food education!

The shuttle bus took about an hour and a half and although it might seem like an inconvenience, for those of us who have never been to Germany it was a very nice way to get to see the German countryside. It really is a beautiful country. We drove through huge green fields with cows, horses and sheep. Saw farmers walking up and down their plots with their big dogs running happily ahead of them, and many, many little clusters of beautiful colorful cottages and high steepled churches. We even drove along the outskirts of the Black Forest! How cool is that!?

Once we arrived to the Frankfurt International Airport we scurried to find the train so we could make our way to Rothenburg (it’s a HUGE airport so I’m really impressed at how fast we found the station). Luckily we only had to wait about 15 min. for the train and then we were off to the lovely little town of Rothenburg!! The trip took about 2 hours with 4 transfers onto different trains. The trains in Germany are like clockwork, they arrive at the exact time they are supposed to and leave at the exact time they’re supposed to. It blew my mind. Again, it was nice to be able to relax and see the beautiful landscape. Once we finally reached Rothenburg, at about 6:30, it was sleeting and freezing (ok, it was like 40 degrees, but that’s cold to us Mediterranean woman!!). I would just like to say how proud I am of us for being able to navigate throughout the countryside of Germany knowing only a few phrases of the language (we made sure to know the important ones like “thank you” so as to not be rude; always attempt to learn a little bit of the language before you go to a foreign country, it just makes people more willing to help you, especially in Europe). We found our hotel, after a lot of map reading, and checked in. We were told where to go and I have to say that walking up the steps to our room was hilarious. Our hotel was in a little cottage that seemed like it had been built in medieval times (and probably was!), the staircase was tiny! I felt like I had to duck and I’m not exactly the tallest person on the peninsula if you know what I mean! (Italy is a peninsula…) We got to our room, opened the door and were so relieved to see a cute little room with three tiny beds. The place was adorable, like everything else in Rothenburg. Once we had settled in we went out in search of a restaurant. Most of the restaurants in little villages like this one are in the first floor of hotels and most are very very good. The first one we went to was called Brӓustüfle…I think…and it was tiny! When we went in there were 2 tables of Japanese people and a table of young Irish boys and of course us Americans (although we like to call ourselves American/Italians now); 4 tables in all and the place looked packed. It was almost strange to see that diverse of a crowd in such a small little village, but it was very cool. The owners were adorable and we had a delicious meal of wurst (sausage, pronounced “verst”), schnitzel (breaded meat mmm), kraut and herb potatoes…along with plenty of beer, of course J…we had to, it brings out the flavor of the food. Speaking of the food, it was amazing. The kraut is nothing like what we have in the States, the cabbage is cooked in coriander and other spices and tastes great. The bartender liked us a lot and gave all three of us a shot of amaretto, because we’re Italian, of course! The food was the perfect antidote to the cold winter night and we all flopped into our tiny beds warm, full and slightly drunk. It was a great start to our German adventures.

The next morning we got ready for a day of shopping around Rothenburg. Our first priority was to find a bakery/café to get some coffee and breakfast. We found a cute one called Bӓckerei Striffler which had a large assortment of pastries and an Italian espresso machine, marvelous. I had a cappuccino (you can take the girl out of Italy…) and another form of a “Berlin”, a jam filled donut, along with a poppyseed pastry (hey, when in Germany, and when freezing, you need to eat a lot! Bend to the cultural norms!). We then went around to all the little shops and bought souvenirs and trinkets. The Christmas shop was very impressive, and is apparently what the thing in Chicago is modeled after (Rothenburg is called the Christmas town because of its huge festivities around that time of year and all their little Christmas shops, they just love that holiday year round). We checked out the coo-coo clocks, which are so intricate and beautiful, but very expensive, same goes for the Steins. Later, we came across a wood engraving shop owned by an old man who painted and engraved everything he made by hand. Lunch was another meal of wurst, kraut and beer (seriously couldn’t get enough of it, my kind of food) and the afternoon was filled with more shopping and Schneeballen. Schneeballs are big, round, fried cookies dipped in an assortment of toppings like powdered sugar, cinnamon or chocolate, and can also have a delicious filling. That night we skipped dinner, we had a lot for lunch, and went to a big bar outside the town walls and had a few nice dark brews to cap off our final night in Germany.

The next morning we got up early and reluctantly made our way back to the train station. Since the station was locked (I honestly don’t think it’s ever open) we went into a little café next to the tracks and had some coffee. There was a group of older men in their drinking beer, it was a little past nine in the morning, they instantly got my nod of approval. So back to Frankfurt we went, it began snowing again on the way, and then we set off towards Italy. When we arrived into the Ciampino airport it was late so the trains weren’t operating (ohhh Italy) and it was pouring down rain, by the time we got home to the JFRC we were all soaked. We ordered €4 margherita pizzas and changed into our PJs. Ahh home sweet home.

Da Roma, con amore.

BARCELOONNNAA!!!!

*Friday, February 11*

Sooo last Friday morning we woke up at 4:30 again and headed to Campino to catch our 8 am flight to BARCELONA!!!! We made it to the airport rather smoothly but we weren’t allowed to board the plane until about 9…a good hour after the plane was supposed to take off. And that was still considered on time. God I love this country, nothing is ever on time in Italy. The whole flight was like being at a zoo, people kept getting up and walking around and downing dozens of little bottles of wine. Take-off and landing were the only times people sat down and even then the stewardesses had trouble getting people to sit. When the plane landed everyone of course applauded…twice actually, once when we landed and then again when the plane had stopped moving. Europe is hilarious.

When we arrived in Barcelona we had to figure out the public transportation system in order to get to our hostel. Once you get used to it, it’s very easy and it’s much better (and by that I mean much more reliable) than Italy’s PT. So we arrived at our hostel around noon and the place is great. Since there were 8 of us we had a room to ourselves and everything was surprisingly very clean. We locked our stuff up in the little lockers they gave us and went to look for some lunch. We stopped at this little café near the hostel and immediately spotted the differences between Spain and Italy. When we walked into the restaurant the owners weren’t immediately put off by our group size but very accommodating. They pulled three little tables together and even though they could tell we were English speakers the little Spanish woman talked to us in Spanish (with a Cataluña dialect of course) and we could actually understand her! It was great. I ordered a tuna sandwich which tasted extremely fresh, it was probably canned but I psyched myself into believing that the tuna was straight out of the sea (hey we’re in SPAIN!!). So after a nice pick-me-up we went shopping around town. Barcelona has a lot more American companies than Rome, they have Starbucks, KFC, and DUNKIN DONUTS. I love it.

We went to a ton of little boutiques with very cute clothes, some were extremely expensive and others not so bad so we didn’t feel too guilty looking around. On our way back to our hostel we ran into some very drunk English boys who said they were having a “stag-do” (bachelor party) or something and asked us to join them in their celebration. We thought that could be fun so we gave them one of our numbers so we could keep in contact.  We had decided to get Paella that night for dinner and so we went on a hunt (odyssey is probably a better word) for a good restaurant. The seafood was amazing. Complete with mussels, clams and HUGE prawns, absolutely delicious.

The next day we got up early and began our self-guided tour of Barcelona. First, we headed to the Gaudi Casa which was very cool; it’s a building with mosaics build into the façade and very curvy architecture like most of Gaudi’s designs. The colors around Barcelona are unbelievable; everything is filled with color, from the buildings to the food and all the markets, everything here is stunning. The people are great too. On the train we saw a woman get pick-pocketed (it’s very common here so you have to be really careful), the thief was trying to jump into our car just as the doors were closing but a man standing near the door literally shoved her back onto the platform where a security guard grabbed her. It was amazing, everyone applauded the man, it was quite a show!

After we saw the amazing Gaudi casa we went in search for hot chocolate and churros for breakfast, we went to this little café and I swear have never eaten anything so good for breakfast before. The churros were so fresh they were glistening with oil, it was beautiful J .We dipped them into the hot chocolate…please just go and get it, it’s heavenly.

After breakfast we went to the Sagrada Familia Basilica, which, to me, looks like dripping wax but it’s very cool and very famous. After we got our fill and plenty of pictures of the church we split up and Christina, Catlin and I went shopping while everyone else headed for the Picasso museum (we didn’t want to spend the money). I bought a very cute dress and belt and Cait got a very cute top. It was a very successful day! We went back to the hostel for a bit of rest and a few minutes later everyone came to re-group. Emily, Sienna, Cait and I decided to go out that night so we met up with the Brits at a place called the Joker Bar on the pier. The bar was playing a great collection of Beach Boys, Michael Jackson and Rihanna and we all had a great time. We got back to the hostel at about 2 and had to leave at 3:45 to make it to the airport for our 6 am flight. I love Barcelona.

Da Roma, con amore.

a brief summary of Pisa and Florence...

*Friday February 4*

Last, last weekend…sorry I’ve been slackin’…

Our alarm clock went off at 4:25 this morning. We got up, threw clothes on and headed downstairs to meet everyone in the lobby at 4:50. The Porter called two taxis for us (we couldn’t get a 6-person cab that early) and a few minutes later we were off to Termini Station. We found our train without a problem, got seats together and set off for Pisa at 6:13 on the dot. Everything went rather smoothly (for Italy I mean) and the car we were in was pretty empty. Throughout the train ride we had a beautiful view of the Italian landscape; mountains, the sea, and many fabulous ancient homes scattered about. I had signed us all up for sack lunches on Wednesday night; this is a really nice option Mensa (our dining hall) gives us. You pick your bagged lunch up on Thursday night, since we have Fridays off, and you can take it with you on your trips! It’s a very good way to save a few bucks, so we all ate those on the train as a makeshift breakfast/lunch, (it consisted of an Italian bologna sandwich (which is a shit ton better than American bologna, no offence) an apple, blood red orange juice, a cheese sandwich (for the veggies at school, we just took the cheese off and put it on the bologna sandie) and an apricot tart, it was a splendid little meal!) and in about 4 hours we arrived in the quaint little town of Pisa. We walked out of the Pisa Centrale train station and realized that we were completely unprepared. We had no map and no idea which direction to head in, but we had a good 3 hours until our train left for Florence and so decided to make the best of it! We found a map a few minutes of out the train station and began our trek to the other side of the city (where the tower is located), which took about 15 to 20 min tops. When we told people that we were going to Pisa before Florence almost everyone told us to just skip it, there was nothing to see except for the Tower, and that’s swarming with tourists. Well, this is what I have to say to those people: we had a FREAKIN BLAST in Pisa, it was the cutest little city I have ever seen. Totally worth the trip!!

When we finally got to the Tower we, of course, had to take that picture, you know that one that every tourist takes when they are in Pisa, the one where you’re holding up the tower. We had a blast trying to get these pictures and with a group of 6 it took a lot longer than we thought it would. It was so funny to see everyone hanging around that tower. We thought it would be an American tourist thing but tons of people from all over the world were trying to get the same picture. It was hilarious, everyone was laughing and doing the same pose with their hands in the air trying to hold a building that is, in reality, about a football field away. The whole experience was quite amusing.

Our train to Florence left Pisa around 1:30 in the afternoon and got in around 3. We decided to head to the hotel first so we could put all of our stuff down but since I had COMPLETELY forgot to bring our printed conformation information (I know, I’m an idiot, completely worthless) we had no idea where our hotel was…but thankfully we did know its name and found someone who could look up the address for us. The women who googled it for us said that it was a long way away, in fact her exact words were “It’s in another district completely. Not even in Florence!!” So we started freaking out…a lot (I would like to take this time and let it be known that I did not book the hotel). However, after looking at a map and chatting to a few Loyola students we had run into we decided that it wasn’t too far away. When we got into the cab we told the driver the name of the hotel and he knew exactly where it was…so no worries :)!! It was about a 20 min walk from downtown Florence, totally do-able for 6 Romans.

Needless to say, the hotel was amazing, it was a 2 bedroom apartment with 5 beds and it even had a kitchen! It was fabulous and was only 18 Euro for each of us! A very good find! That night we went out for pizza and beer at a local place, it was great stuff. We woke up early the next morning and made breakfast in our little kitchen! We had nutella, bread and eggs (breakfast of champions!!) it was so nice to have a real breakfast. We then walked downtown went shopping for a bit at the awesome markets and then met up with Father Al at the Duomo. He gave us a nice little tour of the churches and streets of Florence, it’s a great place to visit and has amazing architecture. We went through the Santa Croce Cathedral which houses the tombs of some of Italy’s best, including Galileo, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, and Dante…among others. The leather shop connected to this church was amazing as well, although extremely expensive. I would recommend this tour to everyone who goes to Florence.

Because our train left at 7 we had to eat an early dinner (we had pizza again because nothing else was open…most restaurants close for a siesta after lunch from like 4-7:30). We then got on our train and headed back to Rome. It was sad to leave but felt nice to be back in Rome.

Da Roma, con amore. 

Guess where I went!!

VIVA PAPA!!

*February 2, 2011*

So when Loyola Chicago gets the day off for snow, Loyola Roma gets the day off to see the Pope. How ironic.

Today we all went to the Papal Audience at the Vaticano and were able to see the Pope!! (pics are on my Flickr). It was very cool and there were a TON of people from all over the world, however, the Brazilians were by far the loudest and proudest (everyone kept yelling "VIVA PAPA!!!"). The Cardinal who spoke your language would call out your group (we, of course, were John Felice students from Loyola University Chicago) and then you would stand and cheer, and the Pope would wave (cool!). For almost all of the European groups people would burst out in song, it was great, they sounded so legit. The French sung softly and French-like (you know what I mean), the Germans did a folk song in Amish looking outfits, the Italians waved little red flags and the Polish chanted proudly, but the Brazilians acted like they were at a soccer match, they were crazy! Waving their huge green flag back and forth, one guy was actually running back and forth with it, and not just chanting but screaming and pumping their fists. It was fantastic! So then it was our turn. Loyola was called, we all stood up and cheered (we had no song, no chants, no flags, just lazy Americans, but neither did the British, go figure). And then while Team Brazil was doing their cheering, for the fourth time (at that point I don’t even think we were still on Brazil, I think it was Germany or something) a little Brazilian boy took that opportunity, while everyone was distracted by the cheering, to run up to the Pope. We were all like “Oh my GOD!” and freaking out but thankfully the Swiss Guards didn’t impale him, like we were expecting…we over-dramatize everything (more of that to come later)…they didn’t even flinch. The Pope just threw out his arms in welcome, blessed and kissed the boy, and it was amazing. We all wanted to cry. Bravo little boy, Bravo!! So that’s all that really happened there…

*On-Site Class Number Two (took place on: Feb. 1^st)*

So on Tuesday morning we, Caitlin, Spencer and I, were on our way to our second on-site class (writing Rome) and we got into ANOTHER hot mess. First of all let me further explain the public transit situation over here. Here’s the scoop: when you want to get on a bus, you wait (could be 5 min, could be a lifetime) and then you get on when it arrives, pretty simple. You scan your bus ticket (they cost €1, equivy to about $1.40) inside the bus when you get on, there’s a little yellow box at the front and back to do this. Now, let me make it clear that this is all on the honor system; the driver, unlike in Chicago, doesn’t make sure you do it, he just drives. There are people who work for the bus system (ATAC) who will occasionally get on the bus and check that you’ve scanned your card (I have yet to see one do this on a bus, and probably just jinxed myself), there’s a €50 (nearly $70) fine on the spot if you haven’t stamped your card and if you don’t have the money the worker will take you directly to an ATM and the fine goes up to €100, and if you can’t pay for it at all you get taken ‘downtown’. I’m not really sure what happens then and I never want to find out. This system goes for the train as well.   

So back to Tuesday morning. We all get on the 990 bus to head to the train station and on the way we pick up two more students from our class. We make it to the train station just fine and are soo confident that we’re actually going to be early this time; I even start planning on getting breakfast at the caffé we’re supposed to meet at. Now, at the train station downtown there is a place where you have to scan your card in order to get into the station, they do not have this system at the stop down the street (don’t ask me why, the govt could save big time on the wages they have to pay the ATAC checkers…but it's good for employment I suppose). So we get down to the tracks and there is a scanner on the wall, and we decide not to scan our tickets (don’t ask me why, to save a Euro I guess). We get on the train, it’s nice, we even get seats. Everything is going great; we are comfy, on-time, early even! When we are about 3 stops away from where we need to get off to switch trains an ATAC worker steps into our car, turns right and starts checking tickets. I swear my heart has never beat so fast before in my life. I just turn to Caitlin who has turned white and whisper “oh my God, what do we do!?!”. Now, because we are sitting on the left of the door (and the lady had gone right) we decided to get off at the next stop …if we could. We could, but the girls who we had met up with had sat to the right, so at that point it was every man for themselves, we couldn’t reach them. The train started to slow down at Saint Peter’s station and I’m telling you, if that train would have been going any slower it would have been going backwards. I was freaking out. Well folks, it stopped, we ran out, stamped our cards and had to wait for the next train to come, which was delayed by 30 min. While waiting we kept talking about how sure we were that the other girls had gotten taken ‘downtown’, I even think the phrase ‘taken to the gallows’ was thrown out there at one point (over-dramatize everything).

We found out later that the ATAC woman had just told the two girls where to stamp their cards in the future because she took them for dumb tourists who didn’t know any differently. We were five minutes late to class and I was sans a cornetto. What did I learn? Leave campus even earlier next time so if you have to run from the law at least you will have time to get breakfast later.

Da Roma, con amore.