The last few weeks have been incredible busy for me and a bit hard. Coming to the middle of my semester here I am beginning to feel very torn. Part of me feels at home here and takes comfort in all the wonderful things around me everyday and another part of me just wants to be at my real home. I have found it so difficult to explain to people in MN what it is like to feel as though you do not belong in either place and how lost a person can feel in this false reality I am calling home until May. Needless to say I am SO excited for my parents to come visit in Tminus two weeks!! Until then I will continue to take comfort in the beautiful weather, incredible views, and breathtaking sites I see and walk by everyday in this AMAZING city!!
I am also taking comfort in all the crazy people I meet here! A couple weeks ago a bunch of us went out to a bar/club and i had a 27 year old man tell me I was in his dreams. Flattering sure, but that was pretty much all the man could say to me being that he literally spoke NO English! It was a good effort though on his part. haha
I have been on two trips since I last wrote! I went to Berlin, Germany about two weeks ago and while it was soooo cold and sooo snowy it was an incredible trip! I cannot even begin to explain the impact that city had on me and my view of all the history that occured there. Me and the 4 girls I went with hit all the major sites: Brandenburg Gate that separates East and West Berlin, part of the Berlin Wall, the site of the Burning of the Books, the Holocaust Memorial, the hotel where Michael Jackson held his baby out over the railing, the Jewish Museum, and Sachsenhausen concentration camp. I didnt really know what to expect before I got to Berlin. The city was incredible and way more industrial that I even imagined. It was so interesting how much history the city had around every corner, yet it still felt so brand new! All the girls I went with loved the city so much that they want to move there some day but I just dont think I feel the same. As much as I loved how alive and how big the city was, I went through so many different emotions while I was there that I just do not think I could live that history every day. But it was most definitely worse seeing!
The other trip I went on was to Pompeii with my program! I probably would never have planned a trip to Pompeii myself but it was actually really fun and interesting to see. I had no idea that in the pictures you see of the city that the molds of people are really actually people! Of course its just a mold of their bones because everything else was either burned off by the ash or gone by now. The Professor that took us around the city is the Archeology prof at my school and for some reason he seemed to be particularly interested in showing us every fresco ever made in Pompeii...cool idea but see one fresco and you've seen them all. Nothing there to look at. So after a while of following him around some of us decided to go at the city on our own! It turned out to be a good idea because I got to see the ampatheater, the garden of thieves (aka more dead people molds), and the brothel house. Thank God I didnt wait to go to the Brothel house with the prof because this poor old man would have felt so awkward there with all of us i bet! In the little house were four rooms with stone beds and near the ceiling were frescos depiciting something of a "menu" for the men of Pompeii to choose from! We stayed in a little town outside of Pompeii, just on the other side of Mount Vesuvius and sat right on the side of a mountain. It was so beautiful! The best part was that I had my first Pepperoni Pizza in Italy there and it was soooooo good!!!
The weather has been 60's and oh so sunny everyday and I am LOVING it! Jealous much?! haha I do not know how I will ever be able to get through another Minnesota winter again! Tomorrow is the end of Midterms week and I am off to Amsterdam for the weekend, rest up Sunday, and then Im going to the Amalfi Coast of Italy, Sorrento and the island of Capri! These cities are literally straight out of a painting they look so incredible! I am crossing my fingers for good weather and hopefully a little tan!! Yay for Spring Break!!
The little island in the middle of Rome
Photography picture (my prof was impressed!)
My favorite place in Rome!
Site of the burning of the books
Checkpoint Charlie
The Berlin Wall
Holocaust Memorial
Entrance to Sachsenhausen Concentration camp
Brandenburg Gate
Out to dinner for some Schnitzel and other German foods!
Steph, Katelynn & I in Berlin!
Mount Visuvius
Dinner with the girls
Mount Visuvius
The ampatheater in Pompeii
the city steets
Yep, these are my friends... :)
Val and I...oh and the dead guy in the back!
That is a real person...so weird.
