I have to admit, it’s been a while since I last blogged. To be honest, I’ve just been too busy to sit down and reflect on what I’ve been up to these past few weeks. It has truly been a whirlwind.
It turns out that we call this year “studying” abroad for a reason… a lot of studying is going on in the villa. First, with midterms (which do still happen, even when you’re living overseas) and now we’ve been hit with a barrage of papers and presentations and in about a week we’ll be preparing for finals!!
In the past two weeks, I have taken four quizzes, made one presentation (mostly in Italian), written two papers and a few journal entries for Great Books and this next week I’m looking forward to 4 papers, one presentation (this one’s longer, but at least it’s in English!) and a lot of studying for final exams. Here at the villa, we take our studies seriously.
That isn’t to say I haven’t been having my share of fun, too. Two weekends ago, I found myself in Venice, home of Carnivale (or Mardi Gras) masks and gondolas galore. Even though it was almost exactly what I expected (with a few more pigeons than I imagined… one flapped me in the back of the head in front of San Marco. Ew.), it was fun to see Venice in real life. I rode in a water taxi. I saw the bridge of sighs. I walked through San Marco as it glittered in candlelight.
The next weekend, I took another day trip to Bologna. Bologna, in case you were curious, is famous because it is home to what the Italians claim is the oldest University in the world. (The French would argue that their University in Paris is older, but I side with the Italians simply because I live here. No one really knows.) It was an Italian college town, and it was so much fun to see some Italians doing the same things we do as American students—except that they do it in a town that’s thousands of year older than our college towns amidst an unbelievable amount of history. Did you know, for example, that there is a leaning tower of Bologna? No one ever talks about that. Forget Pisa; Bologna’s leaning tower is mentioned in Dante’s Inferno. How cool is that?
Last weekend, we got a little bit more adventurous and went all the way to Barcelona, Spain. If you ever have the opportunity to go visit Barcelona, DO IT. I discovered my favorite architect while I was there. Who can believe I even have a favorite architect?! I certainly couldn’t. Antoni Gaudi, though, defined Barcelona for me. He decorated every building with bright mosaics that glitter in the sun and make the city sparkle. Stepping out of the ordinary, he makes Barcelona surreal experience for anyone.
And, as usual, we had to try the local cuisine. I’ll start with the good stuff: tapas are delicious. Even the weird ones. There’s also a market that sells all kinds of fresh goodies—from fish to peppers to fresh fruit juice to candy. I can only speak for the fresh fruit juice and the empanadas (mouthwatering!), but everything else looked delectable, too. Paella, on the other hand, was not one of our favorites. There’s something about looking down at my plate and seeing something staring back at me that has a way of killing my appetite… funny, isn’t it? I did try it, though! That has to count for something. I’m sure paella without whole sea creatures in it would be a different story…
This weekend, as final exams and projects approach, I’ll be kicking back at the villa and studying like crazy. In between writing papers and making Powerpoint presentations, though, I’ll get the chance to explore my home city a little bit more. I’ll see the museums I have yet to visit and finally go inside the Duomo. Maybe I’ll even do a little bit of Christmas shopping. I hope you’re all as excited for the holiday season as I am! For those of you back at Pepperdine, good luck with finals!!!
