Feb 20th, 2011

Luis, two girls from CHID program, and I went to Athens, Greece for the weekend. All four of us were very excited for this trip because Greece is our dream country to visit in Europe and finally we made it! Getting off from the plane we were exited at the airport, we saw very clear blue skies with chunks of white clouds. My first impression on Greece was “I’m home” which is Indonesia and not only me but also other people thought that they were home, too. Of course, not all parts of the Athens look alike to how my home looks, but there is a similarity which reminds me of home such as nothing antique but simple square buildings of shops and markets alongside the streets and several brand shops and famous café that I saw in Indonesia but not in Rome. People in Greece are very friendly and most of them speak English very well so we had no problem at communicating and asking them a direction. In addition, because of their friendliness and fluent English with charming sales technique, I ended up buying a lot of souvenirs which I usually don’t do. In addition, unlike people in Rome, people in Greece wear very casually and some of them remind me of my grandmother back home.

As expected, Greece was all about white and blue. I was impressed how city looks so white and think that it is very beautiful when I saw it from the top of Acropolis. Again, being as a student in Greece is very beneficial or can save money or spend more money on food and other stuffs because all the museums or main tour sights are free for student. Therefore, we did not spend any money to enter the Acropolis and museums but spent on foods which are gyro, Greek style of pastries, and Greek traditional dishes and souvenirs. While we were in Greece, the weather of Athens was mostly rainy and little bit of sunshine but the good thing was it was not that cold and luckily when we got to visit the acropolis, which is the main sights to see and visit, it was very sunny. After this trip, I thought that it would be better to visit Greece during the summer but Greece was already beautiful itself no matter the weather. By the way, we were planning to go to island for day trip but when we asked people in Greece to recommend which island we should go, and none of them recommended instead asking us “why do you want to go to island? It’s very cold” We decided not to go because we heard there is an 80% chance of rain the following day which we planned to visit any island near Athens. So we ended up exploring Athens more and had lots of Greek foods, especially gyro for 2 euro.

So today (Feb 20, 2011), we got up at 7:30 in the morning, check out, take a cap to the airport, and finally flew back in Rome, home sweet home. By the way, it was hard to say good-bye to Athens, Greece. When I think of my trip in Greece, five things popped up! They are rain, wind, gyro, dogs sleeping in the middle of street, and souvenir shopping. We got back in Rome Center around 2:00pm and as soon as I got home, I unpacked my stuffs and get ready to go to church (Korean Church) at Via Venezia. When service was done, I went to my favorite salad place near Piazza Navona and got chicken salad and ate in my cozy room looking at pictures that I took in Greece and recalled the memories in Athens. Lastly, this trip was full of excitement, experiences, and unforgettable memories J

Monday Feb 21st

Today we had Shara Wasserman, a guest speaker from Temple University come speak to our class. She brought up a lot of interesting issues concerning contemporary Italy and the current Italian society. There were a lot statistics discussed that illustrated Italy’s dire state. One such interesting statistic talked about how only twelve percent of males finish university. Her talk brought a lot of attention to the fact that a great deal must be done in order to solve the crisis going on in Italy.

We then moved into working on our art piece to describe our personal views about Italy. We could draw from our own personal views on Italy, the stories from Multicultural Literature in Italy or depict our own personal frame of reference. Such examples include Brenda’s portrait of herself with the phrase “see past my shades, I dare you” written and depictions of both the Mexican and American flags. In this drawing she was representing the way she saw herself. In Germaine’s drawing, she depicted an eyes with different figures representing the way she saw Italy. In her eye, there was a Vespa, a man praying and a cappuccino. This was a very different way of portraying her views of herself and Italy. An even different way of drawing could be seen by looking at Jenny’s drawing. In her drawing, she depicted the “light beer and peanuts” story that we read about in Multicultural Literature in Italy. There was a young girl confused with her identity with half of her hair straight, half her skin dark and lettering surrounding her portrait. These are all very different representations of illustrating views about Italy and ourselves. After this activity, we had a low key afternoon where we could catch up on things and later individual check ins. In the end, this was a day where we were able to discuss our own personal findings on Italy in a new way as well as hear a new voice and views from Shara. 

Saturday- Feb 19th: A Day in Palermo, Sicily

Today (Saturday) Germaine and I had the entire day to explore Sicily. Sicily is home to high towering mountains and gorgeous beaches. A top tourist attraction of the island is Mount Etna which is the island’s towering volcano. Our hostel was in the center of Palermo, which was one of the largest cities on the island. We wanted to try and stay out of the city as much as possible and see the surrounding small villages but kept Palermo as our base. Our original plan for Saturday was to rent Vespas and explore the island’s small costal towns. We ended up sleeping in a little and then we headed out to rent our Vespas. After getting lost we finally found the place to rent the scooters but by then the place was closed for the afternoon. Instead we decided to wander around and find an open scooter place and make a reservation for Sunday. After three long hours of wandering the city and constantly asking people for places, we decided that our dream of renting Vespas on Sicily might not come true. Most of the places were either closed since it was the afternoon or did not offer rentals during the winter months. The language barrier also made it difficult since many did not understand what we were looking for. After giving up on our quest, we decided to walk along the marina and the park overlooking the Mediterranean. The views were absolutely gorgeous. After the temperature started to drop and the whipping winds from the water started to increase, we decided to head back to our hostel in town and get ready for dinner.

The night before we found that it was very hard to find restaurants in Palermo. We decided to just wander and hopefully we would just run into one. After walking around we took a turn down a small dark alleyway where we smelled what we thought was delicious burgers. The end of the alleyway opened up into a large square that was bustling with people and had outside restaurants galore. Most were offering drinks and kebabs that smelled amazing. We finally settled upon a restaurant off the square that opened up into an alleyway. No one spoke English but we were able to point to other’s food. We ordered a kebab sandwich, kebab platter and fries. The entire meal was absolutely amazing. It was incredible to have food that differed from the pizza and pasta I am so accustomed to eating back in Rome. After enjoying my meal and people watching Sicilians in the square, we headed home. Overall, even though we were not able to fulfill our original plans of renting Vespas, our day turned out to be very successful.

Friday 18th Ny.lon Club!

Today I spent most of my time staying inside while the sunshine beamed through my bedroom window. My eyes are glued to my computer running through the second series of Gossip Girl, typing up my Rione Assignment, and focusing on my research question. I woke up feeling a lot better than yesterday - which was the worst day of my life, it felt like at least, thanks to my multiple trips to the bathroom vomiting. I had taken the wrong medication which made me quite ill. But today was a brand new day and I intended to keep it low-key. I tried my best to adjust myself to my regular eating habits - but it was a ultimate fail because my intake all day was about half of a your regular meal. 

I was anxious to go to this Ny.lon Bar/Club because they were hosting an event that had free appetizers. I received an email online from ShopLondon that was Italian- that was a little difficult. Even after my Google Translation, it was still hard to figure out exactly where this club was. My mission to find this place was an interesting one and I was accompanied by 2 girls from the other program. We were lost for about 20 minutes and ran into some creepy italian men. We finally arrived to the Ny.lon Bar and realized coming 30 minutes after the scheduled time - is still too early! I guess for a moment I forgot I was in Italy. (reference to the fact that italians are ALWAYS late). After being there for a couple of hours - I made the conclusion it was a good night. For 13 euros - I had two glasses of red wine and delicious appetizers. I also bought a dress from the same boutique (ShopLondon) that were at Rising Love the night Manka wore her red mini skirt & I had my thigh high boots. It’s ironic how all three of my blogs - I end up going to a cool event and buying a dress from this boutique. I guess it was meant to be! It was a lovely night out on the town and made me appreciate the creativity/young arts of the Italian youth. Other stands that were at this club had vintage jewelry and this young artist created custom-made shirts for you on the spot! Anything you wanted on the shirt (that had a great fit!) - she can make it! Oh how I love Italy!! 

The Email: 

Buongiorno a Tutti,
Volevo ricordarvi l'appuntamento di questa sera al NY.LON CLUB di trastevere, a pochi passi da piazza Trilussa, precisamente in Via del politeama, 12 per una aperitivo all'insegna della moda, dove troverete il nostro stand Shop In London con tutti gli ultimi modelli.

Dalle 21 verranno servite dallo chef Valerio Montecchiani, oltre al classico ricercatissimo aperitivo, le varie ROMANISSIME sfumature che la pasta può assumere carbonara, amatriciana, cacio e pepe...

Ingresso Libero
Vi Aspettiamo
Dalle ore 19:30 alle 2:00

Buon Shop in London

p.s. verifica la disponibilità del tuo modello preferito sul nostro sito www.shopinlondon.it

Today Margret took us to the Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, and Santa Maria Sopa Minerva. Today, Piazza Novana is a beautiful square filled with shops, venders, bars and fountains. However, in the day of the Roman empire, in place or present day Piazza Navona, was an enormous stadium built for 30,000 fans to watch gladiator battles, executions, and Greek style athletic events. Greek style events were performed naked, making things especially interesting!

In Piazza Navona there are two main attractions: the Fountain of Four Rivers and Church of St. Agnese. St. Agnese church is named after a 12 year old girl and a martyr of Christianity. The king wanted Agnese to marry his son but she refused. Her refusal infuriated him and he began to plan her execution. However, Agnese was a virgin and virgins could not be executed. Therefore, he dragged her to the brothels to be raped. As the story is told, her beauty blinded the men at the brothel and she was not raped. He then tried to burn Agnese at the stake and the flames parted, never touching her body. Finally, he beheaded her. Her bones buried in the catacombs and her skull in the church in Piazza Navona. The church was built in the 1700s.

The Fountain of Four Rivers is another site to see in Piazza Navona. This fountain was designed by Bernini and built in the 1600s. The fountain was constructed to represent the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. There are four men on the fountain depicting the four largest rivers – one from each of the four major land masses of the world. The four rivers are the Ganges River (india), the Nile River (Africa), the Danube River (Europe), and the Rio della Platta (Americas). The statue representing the Americas has a pile of silver under him (South America is popular for their silver) and his arm is up as if he is protecting his face from something. It is speculated that he is hiding his face because of the ugly church in front of him but in fact, the church was built after the fountain. There is also a horse representing the Americas and a lion representing Asia. The statue representing the Ganges River is holding an oar to symbolize the navigability of the river. The stature representing the Nile River has a cloth over his head because no one at that time knew the river's origin. The statue representing the Danube River was touching the Papacy.

After Piazza Navona we walked over the the Pantheon. Most of us had been here before but this time was special because all of our questions about the building were answered. The Pantheon was built in 138AD by the architect Hadrian; he actually rebuilt the building built by Marcus Agrippa. It was customary to rebuilt destroyed buildings in the same place and orientation they had been built on previously. Hadrian was especially respectful to the original architect by maintaining many of the aspects of the original building and leaving the inscription of Marcus Agrippa intact. Hadrian did however want to surprise visitors of the Pantheon. So, he constructed a gigantic dome for the roof. The dome was hidden until the building was opened after ten years of construction. He kept it hidden by installing stairs at the front of the building so the pediment covered the top of the dome.

 The use of the Pantheon is unknown but is thought to be a place where all of the Gods could be worshiped. Another thought is that the Pantheon was a building where emperors could become deified and worshiped. When an emperor was deified a statue was erected of them and put in the Pantheon. These statues are no longer in the Pantheon but have been moved to museums.

Margret told us stories about climbing the dome years ago with her class when she was studying abroad in college. She had pictures of her and her classmates on top of the Pantheon and they were so cool! Margret is such an amazing tour guide, teacher, and person.

Our last stop was at Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. This is translated to say St. Mary on top of Minerva. Outside of the church is the smallest obelisk in Rome; the smallest of the 11 obelisk in Rome. This obelisk was taken from Egypt and has an elephant as a base with the obelisk supported on its back. The elephant represents a strong mind and the obelisk represents knowledge. The message to be gained from this statue is that it takes a strong mind to know true knowledge.

Today was great, of course, every day with Margret is great! I really enjoyed our time with her and look forward to our next excursion together!

February 15

Today Margret took us to the Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, and Santa Maria Sopa Minerva. Today, Piazza Novana is a beautiful square filled with shops, venders, bars and fountains. However, in the day of the Roman empire, in place or present day Piazza Navona, was an enormous stadium built for 30,000 fans to watch gladiator battles, executions, and Greek style athletic events. Greek style events were performed naked, making things especially interesting!

In Piazza Navona there are two main attractions: the Fountain of Four Rivers and Church of St. Agnese. St. Agnese church is named after a 12 year old girl and a martyr of Christianity. The king wanted Agnese to marry his son but she refused. Her refusal infuriated him and he began to plan her execution. However, Agnese was a virgin and virgins could not be executed. Therefore, he dragged her to the brothels to be raped. As the story is told, her beauty blinded the men at the brothel and she was not raped. He then tried to burn Agnese at the stake and the flames parted, never touching her body. Finally, he beheaded her. Her bones buried in the catacombs and her skull in the church in Piazza Navona. The church was built in the 1700s.

The Fountain of Four Rivers is another site to see in Piazza Navona. This fountain was designed by Bernini and built in the 1600s. The fountain was constructed to represent the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. There are four men on the fountain depicting the four largest rivers – one from each of the four major land masses of the world. The four rivers are the Ganges River (india), the Nile River (Africa), the Danube River (Europe), and the Rio della Platta (Americas). The statue representing the Americas has a pile of silver under him (South America is popular for their silver) and his arm is up as if he is protecting his face from something. It is speculated that he is hiding his face because of the ugly church in front of him but in fact, the church was built after the fountain. There is also a horse representing the Americas and a lion representing Asia. The statue representing the Ganges River is holding an oar to symbolize the navigability of the river. The stature representing the Nile River has a cloth over his head because no one at that time knew the river's origin. The statue representing the Danube River was touching the Papacy.

After Piazza Navona we walked over the the Pantheon. Most of us had been here before but this time was special because all of our questions about the building were answered. The Pantheon was built in 138AD by the architect Hadrian; he actually rebuilt the building built by Marcus Agrippa. It was customary to rebuilt destroyed buildings in the same place and orientation they had been built on previously. Hadrian was especially respectful to the original architect by maintaining many of the aspects of the original building and leaving the inscription of Marcus Agrippa intact. Hadrian did however want to surprise visitors of the Pantheon. So, he constructed a gigantic dome for the roof. The dome was hidden until the building was opened after ten years of construction. He kept it hidden by installing stairs at the front of the building so the pediment covered the top of the dome.

The use of the Pantheon is unknown but is thought to be a place where all of the Gods could be worshiped. Another thought is that the Pantheon was a building where emperors could become deified and worshiped. When an emperor was deified a statue was erected of them and put in the Pantheon. These statues are no longer in the Pantheon but have been moved to museums.

Margret told us stories about climbing the dome years ago with her class when she was studying abroad in college. She had pictures of her and her classmates on top of the Pantheon and they were so cool! Margret is such an amazing tour guide, teacher, and person.

Our last stop was at Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. This is translated to say St. Mary on top of Minerva. Outside of the church is the smallest obelisk in Rome; the smallest of the 11 obelisk in Rome. This obelisk was taken from Egypt and has an elephant as a base with the obelisk supported on its back. The elephant represents a strong mind and the obelisk represents knowledge. The message to be gained from this statue is that it takes a strong mind to know true knowledge.

Today was great, of course, every day with Margret is great! I really enjoyed our time with her and look forward to our next excursion together!

February 16

Brenda and I have had quite the day. We woke up extra early to trek to the Rome center in order to shower before class today. Language class was interesting, we learned the seasons in Italian, months, days of the week, and articles.  Laura, Aurora, and I went for a caffe on the break.  After class, Brenda and I received exciting news.  We got a new apartment! After we went through the monsoon to get our tickets for the soccer game, we went to see the new apartment with Stephanie.  Unfortunately the landlord told us we would only have one key for the evening. After seeing the apartment Brenda and I went back to our apartment to start packing half our things so we could move a little before the SOCCER GAME! We each packed a suitcase and headed on our way. Once we got there our key didn't work.  It was pouring and we were so tired that we decided to go see the landlord. We got our other set of keys, and were on our way to pick up Marissa (make a quick stop to Despar) and are now about to leave for the game!! Woo hoo!