tuscany, then palm sunday with the nuns!

Ciao ciao ciao

Claudia, Mara, and my wall! (I'm the center)
All that's left for me is the sky!

I hope you've all had a great weekend:) Wednesday went well, I worked some more on my fresco and it's almost finished! I'm planning on finishing it up either Monday or Wednesday of this week so I can do touch-ups before our art exhibition at the end of the month. On Thursday, I worked in the art studio aaaaallllllllllllllll dayyyyyyy. I printed lots of pictures to prepare for our exam (pretty much a portfolio and an artist statement) and worked a little bit on my portrait for painting.

I headed home to wash up before dinner, then took a bus with Debbie and Ashley over to Le Fate for a roomie dinner. It was so great to hangout with all of my roommates again. I feel like it's been so long since we've all hungout because we've had lots of visitors and traveling the past month or so. The bus ride took FOREVER because of all the traffic coming in for holy week and the Beatification of John  Paul that is right afterwards. Plus the bus driver got a little lost due to all the traffic. It was okay, because we caught up with each other and got serenaded by an Australian tour group dinner every Disney song imaginable..that was fine with me!

the roomsters spa-ing it out

Le Fate has an awesome student menu - 10 euro for bruschetta, homemade pesto gnocchi, a pitcher of wine, and dessert. Yum yum yum. We had some great conversations (figuring out how to make pancakes here in Rome, finding Chex for puppy chow ... looks like we're missing American food!) It was wonderful wonderful.

Friday was our Tuscany overnight with API (the program I'm studying through)! We had to leave our apartment at 6:15 in the morning. AH. Too early. After 3 hours on the bus and a nice watching of Tangled later, we arrived at the Thermal Baths at Fontverde Spa. It was definitely my favorite part of the trip. There were huge pools of thermal water with mineral in them that were sooooo good for your body. You could sit under a waterfall and it would massage your legs/back/neck..whatever you put under the fall. Soooo lovely. It was the most relaxing thing ever. And my skin is STILL so soft from it!! We were only supposed to stay in for 15 - 30 minutes, but I was in waaay longer than that. Afterwards I took a nice hot shower, had a fruit smoothie, and drank some of the thermal water from a fountain. It helps cure liver problems and helps with digestion. Sam and I hung out a lot and caught up which was gooood!

BEST BREAD EVER

After the spa, we headed to our hotel in Chianciano Terme, a small town in Tuscany. There wasn't too much there, it was just a good place to chill out. We dropped our stuff off really quick, then got back on the bus for a local product and wine tasting at Fattoria Pulcini (a famous winery in Tuscany). We were all really hungry and the local food was INCREDIBLE. They had this amazing home made raisin bread that had cinnamon sugar melted on top - kind of like Panera's cinnamon crunch bagel but WAY BETTER. I probably ate a whole loaf of it all together haha. I asked about buying some so I could freeze it and bring it home for you all to try, but they said they made it as a special occasion for our group and didn't sell it. Dangit. The wine was great, and I bought a couple bottles to take home to remind me of my lovely Italian life:)

just being a vampire

We took a mini tour of the winery, then left for Montepulciano. This is where they filmed the part of New Moon that's in Italy (the Twilight vampire series that's so popular)!! They book says it's in Volterra, but the actual filming was done in Montepulciano. We looked around an underground cellar there in the little city, then wandered aimlessly around until we met at the meeting point when it was time to go. The meeting point was conveniently where the main part of Twilight was filmed, so we took some silly vampire pictures in front of the door haha.

It was sooooo cold, so once everyone (finally) made it to the meeting point, we hurried back onto the bus and went back to the hotel for dinner. We had some traditional Tuscania pasta (called Pici), chicken, and salad. It was pretty good, not my favorite meal but definitely worth it because it was free! For desert we got some sort of almondy cake/pudding thing.

kaylie turning tara into a vampire

After dinner we had a little bit of free time before an optional viewing of "Under the Tuscan Sun". There was nothing else to do in Chianciano Term plus we were exhausted from being up since the break of dawn, so Debbie (my roommate in the hotel) and I headed to the movie early to get good seats. OH I forgot to tell you! Our hotel hadn't changed decor since the 1970s. It was so funny. It was like a time machine back to the 70s hahaha. Interestingggg. Anyways, we got front row seats for the movie, which was really cool to see because it was filmed in lots of places we'd visited! Rome, Florence, Montepulciano, etc. I can't wait to go home and re-watch all the Italian movies so I can say "I've been there!!" and know EXACTLY where they are!

After the movie we passed out for the night. We had to be up early to pack up and head to Siena for a few hours. It was about an hour away, so I sat with Ashley and we talked and reminisced about how our time in Rome has flown by. I can't believe there's less than 3 weeks until I will be home! So crazy. In Siena we had a guided tour and then freetime. I really loved this city. It was so quaint and cute and really stone-y...they had all kinds of cool stones all around haha. The buildings were made so differently than in Rome! Kaylie pointed out that every city is so exciting to visit because they're all SO DIFFERENT. True dat.

the roomies minus tara!

At the end of the tour, we went to a little family-run restaurant that API recommended for lunch. It was realllyyyy yummy! We had a big group for lunch - Kaylie, Debbie, Ashley, Tara, me, Katie, Sam, and Kate. We all tried some homemade pasta. I tried ravioli with butter and sage sauce. Mmmmm. We had a few hours to kill and Sam and I had seen a cute looking piercing place while we were on the tour. I've been thinking about getting my nose pierced (don't worry parents - it actually comes out without leaving a mark, unlike tattoos!). We thought we'd wander over and just see what the prices were and if it was a sterile place. Our idea caused quite the excitement at the lunch table...by the end of lunch we'd convinced 3 of my 4 roommates to get something pierced too! Now, only to re-find the shop. Putting all our brains together, we somehow made our way back to the store without getting lost. Insanity! It was meant to be! Until we walked up to the door and it had closed 10 minutes earlier. Oh well, it's a sign I suppose.

"New Moon" tower

Excitement gone, we walked back across Siena to our meeting point to head home. The trip was loooong, but it was okay because we watched Ice Age and then BEAUTY AND THE BEAST!!!!! (Guess which one I was more excited about?) It had been sooo long since I'd seen Beauty and the Beast, so I was absolutely ecstatic to watch it. It ended perfectly, just as we were pulling into Rome. Now I'll have those songs stuck in my head for weeks! Since we got home around 7 it was still light out so we walked the 30 minutes home. It was so great to be all together again, it just made me so happy! Saturday night I did a lot of research for my big paper due in Art History and went to bed early so I could be productive on Sunday. And boy, was I!

Saturday night when I got home, I had an email from our nun friends that we went to dinner with when Dave, Becky, and my mom were here. They told me that they found an extra ticket to Palm Sunday for me! Yay! The only condition: I'd have to be at their house at 7:45 the next morning. Yikes. I decided it was totally worth it and a once in a lifetime experience, so I finished researching for the night and went to bed. I woke up early early to do a little yoga and meditation, then scrambled to make it to the nuns' house on time. I got there at 7:45am exactly and called them to let them know I was there. They were running a little behind, so they buzzed me in and let me sit and listen as they did their morning prayers. It was really special to see the sisters praying together for such a special day. Palm Sunday is the beginning of the Holy Week for them, so it was a big day!

After the prayers, we headed out. They just finished renovating their apartment so they apologized for the mess (I didn't notice any) and told me about all their visiting sisters that were coming in for Holy Week as we headed to St. Peter's Square. There were SOOOO many people there! I love Palm Sunday. It's definitely my favorite Christian holiday beside Christmas (of course:)!!). People were selling palm leaves on the street, but the sisters hurried me along to the back entrance of the Vatican so we could sneak through the crowd. The Swiss Guards just smiled as we walked by, no questions asked. How cool! I met one of the Vatican policemen who was super nice (though only spoke Italian), then we made our way to our seats.

On the way, a tiny little old nun came up to the sisters and greeted them. They talked to her in Italian, then introduced me as their American friend. She lit up like a lightbulb and gave me a big hug and kiss, and said something in Italian with lots of emotion. I thanked her and smiled big, then we continued on our way. Sister Raphaella told me that she said, "Take your bright smile back to the United States youth there, they need that light". It was really touching. Sisters Raphaella and Judith told me that she was an extremely high up nun who was very enlightened and known for being kind and big hearted. I was really happy I met her today.

so many people in the square!!

Our seats were incredible - up on top of the steps of St. Peter's about 9 rows back. We could see everything! It was still early (about 8:15 when we found our seats), and the square was already filling up quickly. The front half of the square had seats that required tickets and the back half was left open for people to pass by and watch if they pleased (but no seats). As the service went on, the back half continued to fill up until there was almost no room at all! It was a long mass, about 3 hours in total - ending at 12:15 - but we got there at 8:15 so it was a very long morning! I got a lot of sun, so now I'll have a funky looking tan for Greece this weekend. Oh well, at least Greece will fix it! It was really cool to see the Pope so up close, and especially to attend the service with the sisters. They answered all my questions (I was clueless since I'm not Catholic) and gave me a booklet in English that I could follow along with all the readings to. Definitely a worthwhile and unforgettable experience.

crowds out the wazoo

After the Palm Sunday mass, I headed straight to the library at school to WRITE MY PAPER. My goal was to finish all my research and write the entire paper today (dream big, right?). One of my friends from the class, Kate, was there, so we sat together and researched away. I had done a lot the night before, so I was pretty set. After a little over 4 hours I had finished the paper, bibliography, and image sheet! YAY!! That was the last schoolwork I had before exams (well, besides art stuff but that's fun for me!)!! Now I just had to get through my art history exam, but that's in 2 and a half weeks so I had time to kill. Perfecto.

So it was a very successful weekend! Tonight I'm going to work on my painting a little bit (I brought it home so I could get more done), and tomorrow my goal is to try and finish up my fresco before yoga. I don't have to plan yoga since I'm just using last week's lesson plan, so that's good! I hope they like the class - I'm really excited about it.

Well, that's all for now! I MISS YOU ALL LOTS AND LOTS. Can't believe I'll be home sooner than soon!

Love love love and light :)