ROMA takes on UDINESE

Experiencing a soccer game in Europe is not quite like that of anywhere else! Choosing to go to an awesome match up between Roma #6 and Udinese #4 (or 5), we loaded up on Roma gear and headed to the stadium amidst tons of other decked out fans. The entire area surrounding the stadium was just pulsing with the energy of the fans! I go to Penn State, home of the best fan section, and I was absolutely blown away by the Curva Sud (aka the 'South Curve' section filled with crazy fans). I can’t even express how amazed I was with the entire experience. I’m quite positive that I didn’t stop smiling from the second we passed through the first of three security gates, (well technically 5 after all our attempts at finding the right gate…) into the stadium. Its funny because despite all the security, there were flags larger than I am tall, and tons of fireworks/smoke bombs that made it into the stadium with the crowd.  Those huge flags never once stopped waving from the second they went up and added much to the atmosphere. Fans also repeatedly lit smoke bombs and threw fireworks onto the field- apparently this is a common occurrence because there were firefighters decked out in their gear who were constantly chasing and snuffing the fires out. The cheers from the crowd were constant throughout the game, but they literally went wild each time Roma scored!  One thing Kelly had pointed out when we were there was that we were the only ones yelling “woooo” like Americans always do at sporting events… apparently the Italian just cheer, yell, and sing songs at the games. It definitely was entertaining to try and fit in, but it was pretty impossible considering everyone else around us knew Italian cheers and songs. Winning 3-1 the Roma fans went crazy at the last goal in the last few moments of the game. It was absolutely a night that I will remember for a long time!  

Marj, Melisa, Kelly and I outside the stadium

Totti jerseys!! He's the Roma captain and scored the second goal of the game

Flags and smoke bombs

The group with the crazy and highly entertaining fan behind us

Smoke bombs near the field

Final score- GOOO ROMA!!!!

Will, me, Kelly, Marj, Melissa and Dave with all our Roma gear

Vatican Holy Days

I can’t say that I’ve ever been required to get a ‘ticket’ to go to Mass before coming to Italy. For both Palm Sunday and Easter people who want to attend Mass at the Vatican have to send a request for tickets weeks in advance. Luckily a big group of us were able to get tickets for both days.

            Palm Sunday was the first time I went to Mass at the Vatican and it was quite the experience! The altar was set up outside and thousands of people crowded into the square. It was interesting because at home palms are always give out to the congregation, but when we went to the Vatican we were given olive branches (and in Marj’s case basically a whole tree because hers was so big!). Later they passed around huge palm branches (at least 5’ long) and people tore off strips, but not everyone received those. We arrived early enough to get a seat, which was nice because we were there for so many hours. We arrived there an hour early because of the crowds, then the procession of palms with the Pope took another 45 minutes, and after that Mass itself was 2 hours long! We left the house at 8am and only arrived home five hours later at 1pm. Despite Mass being long, it was nice to celebrate Mass with the Pope. When he was leaving the Pope-mobile went right past our seats so we got to see him up close.

             

All of the Priests and Deacons in white that helped to distribute Communion

The Pope leaving in his Pope-mobile

 The following weekend we went to Easter Mass, but did not get there early enough to beat the crowds. We stood in a long line to go through security and ended up having to stand. Luckily we ended up right at the back of the main aisle so we had an unimpeded view the whole time! One thing that is different about Mass here is how there is no line that forms for Communion- it is literally a free-for-all! I actually got claustrophobic in the crowd because we were packed in like sardines. Also different is that because the crowd is so big, and it could be hard to find a Priest at communion time, an attendant stands near the Priest with a large yellow and white umbrella- sort of like a way-finding device. It definitely was entertaining to see the dispersion of all the matching umbrellas the first time we saw it at Palm Sunday. 

The Pope at the outdoor altar

View from our spot

The crowd to my left

The crowd to my right

The Pope giving his blessing in different languages from the balcony

Visiting the Giancolo Hill after Mass- absolutely gorgeous day despite forecasts of rain

Easter Dinner with Mike, Kelly, Melissa, Dave, Marj and LJ

Le Vacanze di Primavera: Barcelona (Days 10,11,12,13 &14)

I absolutely loved Barcelona! Slowing down the sightseeing pace, hanging out at the beach and experiencing the Spanish culture all contributed to my love of Barcelona. With 10 of us meeting up again after having been in various cities, we had a great time together.

Beach!

The whole crew- Dave, Melissa, Mike, Will, Me, Alicia, Kelly, Marj, Dan and LJ

Russian Red concert at Palau de la Musica Catalana (Photo taken by Kelly)

Our hostel was in the perfect location. It was along the shopping district (dangerous for the wallet!) and close to just about everything. We could easily walk to the beach and also to the various Gaudi architecture sights. The hostel itself was quite interesting. The five of us girls shared one room. Just like the website said, we had a shower in our room… literally. It was not separated in any way, no wall, nothing. It simply had a curtain around part of it and the other half was clear glass… definitely made for an interesting time. (There was also a communal shower in the hallway too).

I had the opportunity to try a lot of the Spanish foods for the first time. We had tapas, paella and Sangria while in Barcelona. Tapas are basically appetizers or bite-sized snacks, which can be served hot or cold, and paella is basically a mix of rice, veggies and meat with seasonings. Unfortunately it was hard to enjoy our one meal, because at one of the restaurants our waiter brought us a larger amount of Sangria than we ordered without us knowing- that is until we got the bill and it was 30 dollars extra! We knew that he intentionally ripped us off because he had repeated our order to us correctly after taking it and then when we asked about the bill, he pretended like he spoke barely any English. Kelly and I were quite angry with the way they thought they could just pull one over on us- probably because we were American and young girls. We asked for the manager and argued until he agreed to our original order. It was interesting to see the bartender’s reaction because he was very nice to us unlike the rest of the staff. He basically implied that this happens often. It is just tough not being used to quantities expressed in liters instead of gallons or glasses.

I really enjoyed seeing all of the Gaudi architecture that we had studied in various classes back home at PSU. We spent one morning just seeing a few of his works. We toured Casa Mila and it was a lot of fun to go up to the roof and actually experience the varying levels. There was also a great exhibit on his work in the attic level.  We also went to Sagrada Familia church. It is over 100 years old and still in construction!! The interior was just absolutely amazing and nothing like I had ever seen. Even if someone wouldn’t like the architecture style, they’d have to respect the level of craft and detail in the construction!

Casa Amatller and Casa Batllo

Casa Mila

Rooftop of Casa Mila

Me, Melissa, Alicia, Kelly and Marj

Sagrada Familia

Transept of Church

Amazing ceiling!!

We also spent a morning at Gaudi’s Park Guell. It was interesting because the park was originally meant to be a self-sufficient urban development, but it failed so the city took it over. Today it is a park visited by many people who value it highly.  The mosaics of the dragon and other sculptural pieces are so gorgeous and brightly colored.

Famous mosaic

Kelly, me, Melissa and Mike in the park

We loved exploring the city and discovering the different parts of it. One sunny afternoon was spent exploring the Olympic Park area and Castel de Montjuic. 

Castel de Montjuic- we were up so high that we were basically in the low-lying clouds

The clouds passed over us and left a gorgeous view from the castle walls

Melissa and I on the edge of the castle walls with Barcelona in the background

Cable car we took down the hill from the castle

The nightlife of Barcelona is something that I don’t know that I will ever understand. The clubs didn’t start getting crowded until close to 3am! Back home, most bars are already closed by 2am! In Rome they are often open until 5am, but they are crowded way sooner than 3am. The last night we went to Razzmatazz, which is a huge warehouse that is literally five different clubs in one building. Each room had a different type of music and was large enough to be its own club. It was definitely a cool experience to be in a club that large.

Overall, I had a great time on spring break and absolutely loved Venice and Barcelona. The other cities were a lot of fun too and had some awesome things to see and experience. As a whole, the group had a great time traveling together and we have so many memories that we will look back upon fondly!

Le Vacanze di Primavera: Paris (Days 6,7,8&9)

Landing at the Paris airport at 11:30 at night, just the three of us girls, I was a little nervous about us getting to our apartment. We have always been told that the Parisian are mean and that as a whole, the city is very unfriendly to Americans. As the three of us were standing in the taxi area and blindly staring at the sign with the explanation of different taxis (of course in French with no English translation), we had no idea what to do. After a minute, a lady who was waiting with what looked like her friends or family saw our struggle and came over. She asked us first in French and then in English if we needed help. As a random act of kindness, she told us where to go and what kind of taxi to get into. With her information, we set out on our way to the apartment. This was the first individual of many to disprove the French stereotype over the next four days!

            Not even more than five minutes later, we ran into our next issue…  While on our way to the apartment we found out that the man we were supposed to contact when we arrived did not have a reservation for us! Considering at this point it was after midnight, we were in a foreign city, had no internet access to look up other places to stay, and didn’t speak a word of French, the situation didn’t look very promising! Luckily the crisis was averted when he contacted us again and said he did have an open room for the nights we needed. The only catch was that we would have to spend 2 nights in one room and then move to a different room for the remaining time. Although small, the apartments were really nice and perfect for the week.

            Despite never finding a map of the city, (ironically, until the day we left Paris), we found our way around the city perfectly fine. The first day we went on a walking tour of the city and to get to the meeting point, we took 3 different metro trains! I have to say that by the end of the trip we were pretty proud that we could get anywhere in the city without speaking any French or owning a map.

            We decided to go on the Sanderman’s walking tour of Paris and I’m so glad that we did! It was a great way to orient ourselves with the city, find out the history of the city and hear short stories that we wouldn’t have known otherwise. My favorite story was about the first “Facebook.” King Henry IV was known to have lavish parties. For the inauguration of the stone bridge he had constructed, he had an artist sketch all of his guests at the party. Waking up he realized that most of the guests weren’t shown in their best light having all drank too much. Instead of showing around the images, he decided to have a sculptor take the hilarious images and creates faces to line the bridges. Our tour guide pointed out how these hilarious ‘faces’ were ‘posted’ to a ‘public wall’ for all to see how much fun the King and his guests had at the party.  Another interesting fact we learned was that croissants aren’t actually French- they’re Italian!

Notre Dame and Seine River

Our Scottish tour guide Naomi wearing her "wellies"

Pont Neuf- first "Facebook"

Bridge of Locks- watch out for those combination locks...

Louve and Tuileries Garden

            I think one of the things I loved most about Paris was the food! Not that it was necessarily that amazing, but for the first time there were things other than pasta or pizza on the menu! Things like meat, potatoes, French fries (!!), and even Heinz ketchup were so refreshing to have after subsisting on Italian food for 2.5 months. Sure Italian food is really good, but the French menus were a nice reminder of home. Also, the fresh baguettes that we bought every morning at the local patisserie were sooo delicious!

            I wasn’t very impressed with Paris as a whole, probably because it reminded me a lot of New York with the wide avenues and also because the architecture varied little from building to building. We also wore ourselves out with sightseeing for eight to twelve hours a day each day. I feel that I would like Paris a lot more if I got to go back at some point and see some of the non-touristy spots.I did however really enjoy climbing Notre Dame and the area around the Pompidou!

Notre Dame

Gargoyle and view of Paris from Notre Dame

Pompidou Center

We saw the real Moulin Rouge on our bar tour!

            One of my favorite things was the Louve. I can only look at art for so long, but I definitely appreciated walking through the museum. It was exciting to see how many cities and landmarks I could recognize in paintings before attempting to read the French captions. The sheer number of things I recognized by sight and name revealed how much I have truly learned and seen this semester! The room of paintings of Venetian festivals was definitely one of my favorites. Having learned many stories about Paris on our walk the first day, it was exciting to happen upon a painting and recognize it. This happened a few times such as with the paintings of the rape of the Sabine women and also the coronation of Napoleon. The experience of the museum was also made better by the fact that we got in for free as architecture students, and our tour guide had pointed out a gate where there is never a line. Other tourists probably stood in the line for over an hour at the main entrance, but we walked in with no one ahead of us at the ticket office!

Louve

Classic tourist shot

Painter inside the Louve

Mona Lisa- its impossible to get close because of all the other tourists!

Napping on the lawn of the Louve/Tuileries exhausted after seeing the Louve

            For our last day in Paris we headed out to Versailles, which is about a 30-minute train ride outside the city. The main palace was very impressive in size and décor, but my favorite was definitely the gardens and other buildings on the property. The Grand Trianon, one of the other homes on the property, was very elaborate yet simple and pleasing in plan. Marie Antoinette’s area was very pretty and it even had its own zoo. I swear the pig there is the fattest little thing I have ever seen! His belly dragged on the ground as he walked!

Palace of Versailles

Chapel within the palace

One of thousands of chandeliers hanging in the palace

Hall of Mirrors

Versailles Gardens

Hall of the Grand Trianon

Marie Antoinette's house on the grounds

Chubby pig!!

End of the day at Versailles

            We had booked our tickets for the Eiffel tower for the evening of our last night in Paris. Seeing the city all lit up at night was definitely a great way to end the trip!