"We float like two lovers in a painting by Chagall"

Lazy Sunday. Ashley and I spent the morning in Storico Centro around the Campo dei Fiori market. We came home, I planned out tomorrow's yoga class, and relaxed for a little while.

Ara Pacis

It was such a beautiful day, so I decided to head across the river to the Chagall exhibit at the Museo dell'Ara Pacis. I walked to the museum following directions I'd found online, and realized that we were only about a 7 minute walk from Piazza del Popolo! Neato! I love figuring out where everything is in relation to other places - it makes Rome seem a lot smaller than I initially thought. There was a big protest going on at the Piazza with people everywhere. I kept walking down the river and got to the museum in a few minutes. The line was out the door, but I didn't mind. I waited in like for about 15 minutes and eventually made it inside. The Ara Pacis is actually a famous Arch of Peace that Augustus commissioned, and it's the main attraction of the museum. We learned about it in art history last week, so it was cool to see it in person! I was able to walk all around it and even inside of it.

Marc Chagall
"Adam and Eve"

After checking out the arch, I headed downstairs to the Chagall special exhibition. It was called "Chagall: Il Mondo Sotto Sopra" (The Upside Down World of Chagall). That was definitely the highlight of my day. I spent a couple hours walking around and enjoying the beautiful pieces of art. I listened to The Weepies the whole time on my ipod, which added a really component to the experience. I chose them because of their song "A Painting By Chagall" haha ... of course. It was a really amazing experience, and I'm so happy I decided to go. Here's a link to the Weepies' song, it's definitely worth a listen: Painting By Chagall

Cannolis!
Plain, pistaccio, and choc chip:)

By the time I left it was getting dark out, so I started wandering around Rome, slowly making my way back to the apartment. Ashley had told me about a really good Cannoli place that was sort of near our house, and I had looked it up and it was kind of near the museum too. I forgot the directions, though, so I decided to just go another time. As I was making my way home, I passed by a little pastery store and looked up - it was the Cannoli place! Coincidence? I think not. I went in and picked out 5 amazing looking cannolis, one for everyone in the apartment as a little Valentine's Day treat:)

I love walking around Rome at Twilight, because it's so calm (which is a nice change), and the low lights bring out the most incredible parts of the architecture. So I slowly meandered back to the apartment, taking a few different roads than my usual path to discover everything that I could.

Tonight I'm leaving you with a quote that I'm teaching the yoga class on tomorrow. It's from one of my favorite books that I'm sure I've told the majority of you about at some point: The Alchemist by Paul Coelho. Brett recommended it to me in the fall, and I'm re-reading it now because it's just that amazing..

"When each day is the same as the next, it's because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day the sun rises."

Notice those moments, and be grateful for them! Love and light, Happy Valentine's Day to all of you. Know that you're loved:)

Il Dona da Scoprire

Today was a beautiful day, I couldn't think of a better way to spend it. I woke up nice and early, made a yummy breakfast of eggs with toast and peach jam, then met Sam for a yoga-filled adventure. After the yoga class with Alba on Thursday, she mentioned an Anusara workshop that was all day Saturday and Sunday. Sam had told me about it before class, and after the amazing practice that night I HAD to do it. We took the metro a few stops down and made our way to the workshop.

We had no idea what to expect. We knew it was at the YWCA, that is was an Anusara yoga workshop, and that Marc Holzman was running it (check out his website: http://guerillayogi.com/aboutguerilla.html). And honestly, I knew close to nothing about Marc Holzman so that doesn't really count towards the "what to expect" list. We were excited to see what it would be like! The workshop was all day Saturday and Sunday with 2 sessions each day (3 hours in the morning, 3 hours in the afternoon), so Sam and I decided to just play it by ear today, plan on doing just the morning session, and if we were IN LOVE with the workshop we'd stay for the afternoon perhaps.

After getting a tiiiiny bit lost (we found it after asking directions. twice. it's fine, it was literally right in front of us the whole time), we made it to the YWCA. We walked in welcomed by friendly ciao's and buen giorno's, followed by being asked a bunch of questions. In Italian. Sam and I stared blankly back, until one lady said "Oh! Hi! Americano? Alba told us her two American friends were coming!" And from there it was a breeze. We signed in, found a nice spot on the floor, and observed the excitement around us.

The room filled up quickly! There were tons of people there, I'm terrible at guessing numbers but it was probably 50? Or so? Let's just say it was a fairly large yoga room and my mat was about 6 inches from the people on either side of me. Quite the squeeze! Almost everyone was Italian..we heard a few English speakers, but not many. Marc was from California so he taught the class in English with an Italian translator. It was really cool to be in a class like this, where when he told a joke to lighten the mood Sam and I would laugh and the rest of the class wouldn't respond until a few seconds later, after it had been translated. Very cool. This also meant that we held the poses for MUCH LONGER (about twice as long) as we would in a normal class, since it took twice as long for him to communicate to everyone what to do. In other words, I'm going to be veeeery sore tomorrow:)

The workshop was called Il Dono da Scoprire: Vivere una Vita Piena di Valore e Significato. Translates to "The Gift to Discover: Living a Life Full of Value and Significance". He based it off of a book by Stephen Cope called Yoga and the Quest for the True Self. It was a really wonderful topic, that book is definitely on my TO-READ list now. In a nutshell, it was basically about how everyone has a unique gift or talent that they must first search for and then practice their gift in order to live a full and happy life.   The first session we worked on backbends mostly, and did a lot of partner yoga which was fun. Alba helped Sam and I out a lot which was great to have her advice and support along the way too! At one point we were all in a high lunge, and since we were all so close together he cued us to hold hands with the people next to us to help with balance and strength. It was so cool that everyone in the room was both supporting and being supported by each other ... just a really neat concept. Yay yoga!

After the first session, we were SO OUT OF IT. Backbends induce the Vata dosha, which is associated with air, among other things. After you do lots of backbends, you tend to feel very spacey and out of it, almost like you're floating around instead of walking. It's hard to explain - when I get home I'll teach a back-bending class and you'll understand:) Sam and I were trying to figure out if we wanted to stay for the second half, but we were so out of it that we decided it would be impossible to make a decision before having a nice hearty lunch. We walked down the street to a little cafe to try and re-ground ourselves with a little soup and pasta.

We had a great lunch, talking about the morning session, meditation and yoga experiences, and just life in general. It was lovely:) When we looked at our clocks again we realized it was almost time to head back to the YWCA for the second session! Although lunch didn't help too much to ground us back to earth, we were much more energized and strong after eating and decided to do the second session. We floated back to the studio to prepare for the afternoon session of hip-openers and arm-balances. Hooray!

There were even MORE people there in the afternoon! This time, I was about 1 or 2 inches from the mats on either side of me. This practice was much more relaxed and fun, because we tried really challenging postures including Eka Pada Galavasana (flying pigeon), Eka Pada Koundinyasana (one-legged arm balance), Bakasana (crow), Adho Mukha Vrksasana (handstand), etc. Crazy. But crazy amazing, of course. Once again, we used partners (sometimes more than one) to get into everything. And once again - I'm definitely going to be sore tomorrow. Looks like I'll be doing a more restorative morning yoga instead of my usual practice..

Sam and I with Marc Holzman, the instructor

We talked to Marc a little after the practice, said goodbye to our newfound yogis and yoginis (some of whom teach in Rome so we may try out their classes!), and headed home. We were so zenned out at this point, all I wanted was my bed. I had planned on going out tonight, but that was completely out of the picture after the intense (physically and mentally) day of yoga yoga yoga. I loved it. It felt so good to be in a community with such positive energy and support and love again. YAY YAY YAY. I'm actually really excited because Marc lives in Paris now, so I'm thinking about going to one of his classes next weekend when I'm there! He gave me his schedule, so I'll see if Jada and I are up to it once the time comes.

Even though I was tired, I decided to head to Storico Centro with the roomies for a yummy dinner near the Pantheon. And by near the Pantheon, I mean AT the Pantheon. It was such a stereotypical Italian dinner. We literally sat outside in the Piazza just feet away from the Pantheon, ate pasta with wine, and were serenaded by a little quartet of Italian men. So. Precious. After dinner we headed to the Trevi Fountain to (finally) throw in our coins. We'd been saving this moment until we'd collected enough small change to throw in 3 coins each. In the Roman tradition, each coin represents for a different wish. FIRST: Wish that you'll return to Rome again in this lifetime. SECOND: Wish to bring about change in some aspect of your life. THIRD: Wish to find true love.

I threw in all three (it's tradition, how can you not?), but I KNOW I'm coming back to Rome at some point, so I'm not too worried about wish numero uno. And as for the other two, life is all about change and I'm so happy and grateful for everything about my life.. I don't think I have anything to worry about at all:)

Developing Pictures YIPPEE

Friday we had classes. Doesn't sound fun, but it's the only Friday we have classes all semester because it's a make-up day for the Monday after Easter Sunday SO that means I had photography! I was really excited to see my negatives that I processed last week, since they'd be dry now. I had a lot to do today - I had to finish processing/developing the rest of my role that was ripped last class, and then print my pictures ah! I hope I'm using the right lingo, my professor doesn't speak much English so I never know exactly what we're doing... At least I know the process if I don't get all the words right. I guess that's all that matters? Perhaps?

I began with the roll that I still needed to do all the chemical stuff to. By using the developer and fixer, you bring the image out in the negatives and then fix it so that it can be viewed in normal light without being exposed. Serafino helped me with my roll since I had to do everything in the dark room. Usually you leave a few of the first frames blank so that you can pull them out of the roll without exposing any pictures. Unfortunetly, since I ripped the film, if I pulled any of it out then it would expose my pictures and they'd all be lost. Boo. I was up for the challenge, though.

first developed picture!!!
HOORAYHOORAY

Luckily we got it on the spiral in the dark with no problem! We developed everything, and it turned out wonderfully. I only lost one picture! Hooray hooray mission accomplished! Now I let those negatives dry and I'll be able to print them on Monday. My negatives that I developed last week were ready to print, but we ran out of big paper to make contact sheets (print little mini pictures of the frames to figure out the lighting times, which pictures you wanted to develop, etc.), so Serafino told us to just practice by choosing a picture we liked from the negative and print it. All of my roll was from Prague, so I was STOKED to see how they'd turn out. One that I was most excited about was a statue we'd seen in front of a church (the church that was so familiar to me - I think I posted about it ). I chose one of the frames I took of that and headed into the dark room.

It's a fun class because Serafino explains everything, but it's hard to understand completely because he goes through it so quickly with not the best English. This makes it exciting though, because everyone remembers different things from the instructions he gives us. So we help eachother out, and try and figure out the process on our own. He'll answer questions if we ask, but learning from experience is way more fun:)

I was in the dark room with Meera and Anna, so we all helped each other figure out how to print them. It was a success! I LOVE MY PHOTO. I took a picture of it with my digital camera and posted it on here, so it's not the exact look of the picture in real life but it's close enough! I can't wait to develop the rest on Monday. Yay only 3 more days!!!

Yoga in Roma

Last night I went to my first Italian yoga class in Rome. Sam had found a studio that was a bit of a walk, but she'd been to a couple classes and said that they were amazing, so I decided to try it out. I was really excited to be IN a class again. After doing a personal practice for so long I was ready for some guidance, challenge, and inspiration.

I met Sam at Castel Sant'Angelo and we headed to the studio. She had figured out the bus system from Piazza Cavour, so we rode around the city catching up on eachother's week and comparing how our meditation and yoga practices were going Rome. It's so nice to have a yoga friend to exchange yoga experiences with:) We got to the studio a few minutes early and waited for everyone to arrive. Alba, the instructor, arrived a few minutes after us. She is an incredible person, I could tell that I would love her right away! She's an older woman with a great energy. Alba teaches on Tuesdays at JCU (that's how Sam met her), and was so excited to hear that I was the Monday teacher.

picture credit: Jada Zajur :)
Om Namah Shivaya

It was an incredible practice. There were 6 other people besides Sam and me, so Alba taught the entire class in Italian. It was really cool, because even though I couldn't understand what she was saying I sort of KNEW what she was saying. Being Italian, she used her hands so much and got sooo into the explanations that it was easy to pick up on. At the same time, the energy in the room was just so great..the class seemed to come so naturally to me. Alba teaches Anusara Yoga, a school of yoga focused on "celebration of the heart" that looks for the good in all people and all things. So lovely.

A moment I will never forget is at the beginning of the class, we were all sitting with our eyes closed. I didn't know what Alba was saying (because it was all in Italian), but I figured it was something along the lines of focusing on the breath, bringing the attention inward...how classes usually begin. After a few minutes of this, the Italian stopped and we sat in silent meditation. Out of nowhere, I heard a whisper right in front of me, "Feel your breath, go deeper. Find your higher self, connect with it. Open your heart, fill yourself with light, shine out." I felt so alive, so one with myself and the universe, it was magical (Courtney, you might be the only one who gets this:) ). Her focus on each individual was amazing, it made me feel the way you're supposed to feel after yoga - that you're a little bit closer to discovering that divine light inside of you! My lovely yogis and yoginis at home,  I hope you're still finding this in yourselves and in the world every day!

artsy fartsy

Ciao ciao. Another week come and gone! I'm excited to stay in Rome this weekend to have some downtime, and to explore some more. I feel like I know the city fairly well (especially Trastevere, Prati, and Storico Centro), but there is still sooo much more to see, it's incredible.

This week of classes was amazing. I LOVE SCHOOL IN ITALY. Last night Zach asked me which class was my favorite and I honestly couldn't answer. It's a tie between all of them! (Even my reading-obsessed honors class). Monday in photography we started the developing process for the rolls we took over the week. I took all of my pictures in Prague, so I was extremely excited to see how they turned out. He warned us that out of the 10 students developing, probably 3 of us would have a problem/mess up in some way. Of course, I was one of those students.

We had practiced not looking while putting the rolls onto spirals since it'd be pitch black in the darkroom, and I was an expert at it...before the REAL thing happened. When he shut us in the darkroom to do it forrealzz he left us with "don't worry you will probably break it somehow, it's your first time. okay ciao!" and closed the door behind him. We were on our own.

I started out winding it up on the spool (that you then put in a light proof thingy and do the chemicals outside from there, so this was the only dark room thing we had to do today), but before I knew it I felt it coming off the spool somehow. Trying to fix it in the pitch black without touching the film (so it won't scratch) is literally impossible. As I was forcing it back onto the spool, the negative ripped! So I ended up just tearing it where the rip was, winding that half back into the roll, and put the spiral half in the light-proof container. It ended up being okay because Serafino (the professor) said I could just develop the other half next week.

ancient theater remains on the side
of random apartment buildings!
(for my on-site class Tuesday)

The next step was adding all the chemicals (developer, rinse, water, rinse, fixer, rinse) in an intensely timed and concise manner. Serafino scared us all right before we started by yelling "STOP! ... ta da da dada dunn." We stared, completely confused. "That is what I do before exciting things happen," he told us. Ooooh okay. Love him. Once we started, he was freaking out making sure that we were all mixing/shaking/turning the containers in the right way. It was fun! My pictures seemed to come out well, they're drying this week then Friday we have class (to make up for the Monday after Easter), so I'll probably develop the second half then. WOO I LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY!

Ashley made her mom's recipe of baked mac&cheese for dinner. IT WAS SO GREAT OH MY GOODNESS I MISSED MAC&CHEESE. Debbie, Kaylie, and I downed it. I can't wait for the next time she makes it!:)

Tuesday my on-site class met at Largo Argentina, which was good because I knew how to get there (it's where our hotel was the first couple days - right by the cat sanctuary!). We walked around a little with the professor explaining all the buildings. It was cool because I hadn't even realized there was ancient theaters and buildings all around me when I'd been here the first few days, I'd just focused on the usual toursit attractions. But literally sticking out of the walls were thousands of years old remains! So cool. We headed to the Pantheon and learned some more cool stuff about it, took a bunch of pictures, then had a coffee break. Me and my friends Julie and Ginny tried out the Italian version of doughnuts - "la bamba". It was so good - we nicknamed it "la BOMBa" because it was the booooommmmbbbb. Quite the jokesters..

class pic outside the Pantheon

sun shining through
the oculus inside
the Pantheon - so gorgeous

We walked around some more and looked at some tombs, Augustus' Arch of Peace, and ended up around the Spanish Steps/ Piazza del Popolo. It was crazy, I didn't realize those locations were so close together! I had been to all of them separetly, so it was cool to figure out where they were in realation to each other. That's probably one of my favorite parts of the class - it's really helping me to get a hold on the city of Rome. We ended class there and I walked back towards campus with Ginny and Julie. We grabbed some pizza to go, and sat outside Piazza Trilussa to eat it up. Yummyy. I did my usual point-and-pick method of choosing a rando pizza to try and find something new. It was a success once again. I had some sort of cauliflower, spinach, and sausage pizza. Neato.

figuring out placement
aka finger painting?

Painting in the afternoon was interesting because our professor never showed up! Apparently he had cancelled his morning sketchbook class, so we figured he was just out of town or sick for the day. We all stayed in class and painted a little bit. Since I painted my original layer last week, I started my still life! It was soo fun to paint again.

first stage of the still life..

I began with the background (table and fabric hanging on the wall), then decided it was probably best to get all the dimensions right for the objects before I put more paint on the canvas. Since he wasn't there to teach us the legit way to do it, I just drew on the canvas with my finger! The oil paint from the background was still wet, so it worked nicely. I kind of liked it how it looked after I finished - very ambiguous (my new favorite word) and abstract. But I figured that wouldn't fly, so I started adding paint. It was much easier than I was expecting, probably because of the 6 hours a week drawing class I took last spring semester at UM. I was surprised at how much I remembered about perspective and figuring out dimensions. I was very proud of myself! I didn't get too much done, but at least I have some shapes started. Next week I'll work on colors!

Came home earlier than usual, watched Black Swan (SO CREEPY/CRAZY/AH), Glee (YAY!), and skyped lots. It was a nice afternoon:)

Wednesday I had my honors class in the morning. I complain so much about the reading, but I'm actually (semi) happy that I'm doing so much work for this class because it's definitely paying off. I'm learning so much about the artist's personality, influences, and style. Today we focused on Correggio. I looove his work. The class is centered around Northern Italian Art, which isn't as famous as art from Venice, Rome, or Florence, but it's still beautiful and has it's own unique style. It's pretty cool to be learning about something new, too, and not just the famous artists of that time.

gorgeous fresco. hopefully mine will
turn out SOMETHING like these...

For fresco painting we were meeting at the Museo Nazionale Roma to check out old school frescos to get some ideas for our own frescos. It was really cool to see these frescos from sooooo long ago that are still (fairly) intact! It's crazy how the pigment bonds with the wall since it's done on fresh mortar, so it literally stays on FOREVER. That's why the Sistine Chapel, tons of churches, etc. etc. etc. still have works of art from forever ago. So cool. I got some great ideas for my own frescos! We start painting in 2 weeks AH!

Lazy afternoon hanging out in the apartment with Debbie. My plan is to take a nap - I'm exhausted from the week. Also on the schedule: get some honors reading done, watch last night's gLee, and perhaps make it out to Aperitivo (Italian version of happy hour, plus really cheap all you can eat food). I'm trying to restrain from spending as best I can since I just booked 2 major travels last night - Morocco spring break with Jada (and maybe Raphi), and Greece for Easter weekend with the roomies for Kaylie's 21st! SO EXCITING. But I am so happy to be in Rome this weekend. I've missed my home sweet Rome :)

Living in a fairytale - PRAGUE

Hello hello! It's been an insanely wonderfully amazing weekend here in my crazy European life. Thursday was a day to rest, get some homework done, and pack up for my trip! Friday morning Ashley and I started our travels at the break of dawn towards the lovely city of Prague, Czech Republic.

view from the airplane.
snow? what?

And I'm not kidding when I say the break of dawn. I woke up at 4:55am, grabbed my stuff, and was out the door just after 5. Ashley and I took the metro to Termini (the main terminal), then grabbed a train to Fuimicino airport from there - a 30 minute express train that takes you right where you need to be. So convenient! Got to our plane just in time. I slept the whole way (mind you, the sun's rising as we're taking off), and when I opened my eyes as we were approaching Prague there was snow. Everywhere. It was so beautiful, but I wasn't expecting snow to be covering the ground!! Should have brought my boots...It was a beautiful view even from the plane, though. Cute little buildings on cliffs covered in snow, I was in love already.

We got off the plane and could see our breath (AH)! Followed the convenient and easy directions to our hostel (via bus, metro, then tram - the public transportation in Prague is awesome!), and settled in our dorm room there. We stayed at Little Town Hostel..highlyyyy recommended for anyone thinking about traveling to Prague. It was super affordable but also really nice - clean, friendly, and free linens/towels! Plus it's the perfect location. Perfecto.

our tour starting in Old Town Square.
Wait...are we in Disneyworld?

We wandered around the city before our free tour at 2, and got a nice Czech lunch at a little cafe near our hostel. It was sooo yummy I got Czech sausage with veggies and Ashley went for their specialty - goulash soup. And of course, I had to try their famous drink in Prague: hot wine. Oh. My. Goodness. I've found my home. We left our great meal and headed across the Charles Bridge to meet up with the free tour group that we'd heard about. It was great! The tour guide was hilarious, and took us all around. It's a really awesome program that they have - the company offers tours all throughout Europe for free because they think that everyone (no matter their budget) deserves to learn as much as they can about where they're visiting. Pretty sweeeeet.

can we stay forever?

It was absolutely FREEZING that day, but soo beautiful. We walked by the last place that Mozart played in ever, the famous astrological clock, Old Town Square, Wenceslas Square, a bunch of churches, etc. etc. etc. SO PRETTY. Half way through the tour we had a break at "Bohemia Bagels," which was a really cute bagel/sandwhich/coffee shop. My toes were completely numb (bad decision only bringing TOMS when snow is melting on the ground AH notwaterproofohno), so it was nice to get warmed up. Ashley and I left the tour after the bagel stop because the final stops were the castle and the Charles Bridge, which were both only a 2-5 minute walk from our hostel. We headed back to our place to shower and get ready for a night out on the town!

astrological clock

Our tour guide told us about a bar crawl throughout Prague that seemed legit (and cheap), so we signed up. The plan was to meet at 8:15 under the bell tower in the Old Town Square. It was still really chilly out, so we headed over dressed warmly from head to toe! We met up with the group and walked to the first bar - where we had unlimited drinks for the first couple hours before starting the actual crawl. It was so neat! The bar was inside of an old church, with tapestry hanging on the walls, a HUGE statue of a random face, hookah, foozeball and ping pong tables, and a hopping dance floor in the middle. Ashley and I were the first ones there (hey - we had to get our moneys-worth!), so we sat down and had a few drinks. People started to wander in and sit around us, until eventually there was about 20 of us sitting in a big circle in this old church-turned-bar. We met people from Brazil, Kuwait, Germany, Switzerland, London, and sooo many other places! It was so neat interacting with all these different people. Everyone was so nice.

me and ashley with the rando head..

After a couple hours at the first bar, we headed out for the crawl. The second place we went was so fun - a big dance floor with good music! We met some more people there (one in particular, a certain "Antonio" who we got a picture with haha - new bff!) and chatted it up with everyone. We learned some interesting facts about Prague that night, perhaps I'll save those for another day... :) After the second or third bar Ashley and I decided that we had enough - this city is crazy! We stumbled walked home, and made it safely back, not before grabbing a pint of Ben&Jerry's to split before bed. Prague is beautiful at night by the way! It was so cool crossing the Charles Bridge and seeing everything all lit up. I LOVE IT HERE.

Lennon Wall

We woke up early, reading for an exciting day of site-seeing around this beautiful city. I haven't even explained it yet to you ah! Simply put: Prague = Fairytale. Prague = Disney movie. Prague = incredible. I never want to leave. "It's a Small World After All" was stuck in my head all day because I literally felt like I was inside the ride - everything's so colorful and decorated and beautiful! AH! One of my favorite cities ever for sure. Definitely a must-visit destination...put it at the top of your list. ReadyGO.

Ashley and I decided to grab Bohemia Bagels for breakfast because it was soooo good the day before. It's so weird to not really drink coffee here - I've traded coffee in for hot wine! Fine by me. Anyway, we got breakfast then headed out. It was such a beautiful day, not as cold as we'd expected. Everyone told us we came the perfect weekend. All the snow had melted by the time we headed out on Saturday, and it was probably 45 or 50 degrees (we were expecting 20s!).

dancing building

First destination: The John Lennon Wall. It reminded me of Juliet's wall in Verona - everyone just wrote quotes about love, Beatles quotes, etc. all over it. Check out the pics! After that we made our way to the Fred and Ginger "Dancing Building", which was really cool looking. The architecture here is so neat! Since the country has changed powers/rulers/names/whatevs 8 times (at least) in the past century, there's so many influences and styles. I love it.

Ash and I heard of a "Beer Garden," so we decided to scope it out. Apparently "beer garden" doesn't mean what it sounds like. We walked FOREVER to try and find it and when we did it was just a park haha. It was a gorgeous view though! We were worn out, so we took a bus back to Mala Strana (where our hostel was - near Old Town) and looked for a place to get a pick-me-up. We walked up this big hill towards the famous Prague Castle and wandered into the CUTEST little coffee shop. It was so homey and cutely decorated. I got a hot wine (duh) and tried the goulash soup. Not my fav. Definitely not as good as Camp Mont Shenandoah goulash! :) So I opted for some banana bread/chocolate instead. Ashley got hot wine and a hot dog. Yum.

Made our way even further up the never ending hill and eventually made it to the Prague Castle! It was sooo big and pretty and colorful OH MY! I was glad that I brought my new manual camera thingy that my professor gave me, I think I got some great pictures with it. I'm so excited to develop my pictures from this trip on Monday in class! This part of Prague was just a 10 minute walk (or less) and it seemed like a whole new place. It's crazy how different the sections of Prague are! (Old Town and Mala Strana are my favorite). We walked inside the castle and the stained glass was absolutely incredible. It was soo many colors. It was weird because it was colder inside the castle than outside - I don't really get it. Oh well.

Charles Bridge

We were feeling pretty good, although our feet were tired from all the walking, but we still had a few destinations we wanted to check out before calling it a day. By this time we'd been walking around the city for about 6 hours or so. Luckily the last 3 things we wanted to find were all really close to eachother, so that made it easy.

We stopped by the "crawling babies" statues then the "peeing men" statues (which was actually pretty funny - they spell out famous Prague quotes in the water beneath them. Interesting...), and ended up on the Charles bridge right around sunset. It was so beautiful. It's neat because the statues and art here are so different than in Rome. They use bronze instead of marble, so it has a more Gothic feel than Classical or Renaissance. I loved it! Even the little putti (the chubby angel babies) looked different. Putti are my favorite :)

interesting statues in prague..

We went back to the hostel after hours and hours of wandering Prague and were ready for a rest. It was funny - a few girls staying in our dorm at the hostel go to our same school in Rome! They were here with a big group of people, so we got home and there were tons of people in the room. They headed out soon enough and Ashley and I got some rest.

We woke up around 7:30 and walked to Old Town Square for dinner. We found a classic Czech cuisine restaurant and settled in for a great dinner! It was so good. I know I say that a lot, but everything is so new and exciting and wonderfully great! I ordered the chef specialty - duck with cabbage in some special sauce or something. I figured I'd try a classic Czech dish. It was great! Ashley went with a chicken steak with mango sauce and pears. Yumyumyummm. We split a cheese cake with fresh berries than were on our way. It's SO cheap in Prague. We had a big full course dinner with specialties of the house for 15 euro. That's legit.

We were tired from our long day (and night before), so we spent the night wandering through Prague and trying out some Prague-specialty cookies. They have the craziest statues here (I mean, hence the crawling babies and peeing men). At one point we were walking down this smaller alley-ish street (it's safe here, don't worry), and it was dark out, probably around 10 or 11. I glanced up and saw a man HANGING from a pole. I freaked out. I screamed and made Ashley look up - what do we do???!!! Ashley laughed and said "Oh yeah I've seen that" and kept casually walking down the street. I was completely freaking out until Ashley finally explained that she'd read about that STATUE online. WHYYY would you make a statue like that?? I need to look up the history behind that. There has to be a reason it's there - other than to freak out tourists.

view from the airplane of the alps!

Today we headed home to Rome. It was a longgg day. Tram, Metro, Bus to the airport, then 2 hour plane ride, then express train to Termini in Rome, then metro to our stop. Sighhh. It was so nice to be back! I got in a good solid looooong yoga session that was much needed. My body was craving some strengthening and stretching - next trip I need to pack less clothes so I have room to bring my mat! Somehow it was one of my more flexible days which was surprising since it'd been a couple days. I guess I was craving yoga so bad my body would do anything to make it happen haha. Who knows!

Anyway...I'm obviously exhausted hence the rambling and rambling BUT it was the perfect weekend in Prague. I am SO happy that I went! What a wonderful experience:) Now another week of classes and adventures! Here I come, world.

Ciao! Much love! :)

i love my weekends starting on wednesdays

Another week of classes has come and gone. It's been a pretty busy week! Monday I woke up early for yoga-time (I had missed it so much over the weekend), then headed to the market to get some new fresh fruit and veggies. I forgot how much I LOVE the market. This time I went alone but ran into Tara on the way there - she was headed back after her early morning market excursion. I decided to try the fresh market bread this go round, so I got a huge loaf of fresh Italian bread for 3 euro. Yes. Then headed to the fresh fruit/veggies stand and stocked up. My favorite purchase: the strawberries. Literally the best strawberries ever - and I love strawberries so that's saying a lot (Brett don't make fun of me, at least it isn't coffee this time).

Came home, made a fresh sandwhich with my new tomatoes, lettuce, and bread, then headed to JCU for my first time teaching yoga in Rome. The class is really short, on Mondays from 1:15 - 2:05. It's hard because I'm used to teaching for over an hour! But I have class at 2:15 so it's a little baby class. There was a great turnout, about 7 or 8 girls. My friend Lo, who went on the Veneto trip with me last weekend, tried out yoga for the first time! :)

Roma Atearna class at the Capitoline Museum

I finished up yoga then had photography. I adore this class. The professor is just so awesome. He gave me a sick camera that I get to use the whole semester! He said it was one of his nicest ones and to be careful. Hopefully I can make it through without hurting it! I'm SO excited to take it to Prague this weekend to test it out. We spent the class learning how to develop film, which was sweet. It's way more specific and chemically than I expected (if that's an adjective..). I love it though! I can't wait to get started!! Our professor is just so passionate about photography, you can tell by the way he talks about it. He gets so happy and excited haha. Yay photo! Monday night consisted of trying to get through my reading for my honors class. BOO.

For my on-site class on Tuesday we met at Capitoline Hill. We explored the Capitoline Museum and learned about sooo many cool things. I was just in awe. Museums are my favorite. I couldn't believe this was my class - walking around a museum in Rome looking at thousands and thousands of years in history. Wow. Here's a picture from one of the frescoed rooms we went into, and a class picture on top of the Capitoline Museum building. This view was incredible - you could see the Spanish Steps, Pantheon, St. Peter's Basilica, Villa Borghese, and so many more exciting things. It was nice to see the location of everything because it helped me orient myself to the different places - I'd seen them all separately but was still a little confused on where they were in relation with each other. Visitors beware: that's a definite stop when I'm taking you around!

My class! / classroom!

As we were walking through the museum, I looked over and saw the Leonardo da Vinci painting that I was supposed to write a paper on for my honors class - perfect! So after class I went back to the museum (luckily I didn't have to buy another ticket to get back in) and observed and took notes on "Il Musico". It was incredible. So surreal to see such a famous artist's work right there in front of me. It was really cool because even though I've been complaining about all my reading for that class, I could really pick out lots of his techniques and could understand the painting on a deeper level because of all that I knew about him. I think I know everything there is to know about Leonardo now.

Headed back towards campus for some lunch and to make my way towards painting. I had some time to spare, so I mozied back towards school, wandering in and out of churches to check out the gorgeous art and statues. Every church is like a mini museum, it's awesome. Grabbed a slice of pizza to go and headed to painting. Painting was interesting, we worked on colors some more, set up our still lifes, and sketched out our still life pictures. We start painting next week! I stayed after class to do a layer of background paint. Apparently it was supposed to be a dull color to decrease the light value, but I accidently made a bright blue. My professor made fun of me and tried to help me fix it with not much success. He said it would be okay, so I painted the under-layer then headed home.

The plan for the night was to go to the ice bar (since last time failed), but I still had so much reading and writing to do for my honors class. SO I got into ultimate study mode and worked for 2 or 3 hours straight. When I took a break to make dinner, Kaylie forced me back to my bed to finish studying and made my dinner for me so I could go with them! It was a great dinner, by the way:) I (finally) finished everything, so it was time to celebrate! Tara, Kaylie, Debbie, and I headed out to find the ice bar. It was a nice night, a little chilly but not too bad. I should have brought gloves though! We finally found the bar after a little lost-ness.

crazy ice bar capes!

It was so cool!! We got these huge harry-potter-esque robes that were supposed to keep us warm. The rule was that you could stay in as long as you want but once you left the cold room you weren't allowed in again. BRR! It was -5 degrees celcius ah! Luckily, we quickly realized that the bathrooms were not made of ice (thank heavens) and were in a warmer part of the building so that was a good escape when our fingers were too cold! Everything was made of ice, the cups, tables, drinks, walls, seats..so crazy. It was really fun, though!

Tara inside the igloo

Woke up early today with way less than a sufficient amount of sleep. I had my long honors art history class but it was actually really cool. Honestly, all the work sucks, but I'm learning a lot. It's so in-depth that it's sticking in my brain, which is good! After lots of coffe at the coffee vending machine (35 cents for a capuccino yesss) and some "pocket coffees" (these little chocolates we found that are filled with a shot of expresso. SO GOOD), I made it through the 3 hour class. I had a little break so I grabbed lunch then headed to fresco painting!

On the way to class I was walking, deep in thought, not really looking around at all. I semi-noticed someone passing me and saying "Ciaooo" - I thought it was another annoying Italian boy catcalling so I ignored them. Since they didn't get a response the unknown man said "Hello? Ciao? Kelsey?" I turned around and looked up - my photography professor was standing there looking at me like I was crazy! I felt so bad that I didn't respond at first, so I said, "Oh, ciao, me dispiace! Bueno sera!" So he laughed at me and went on his way. I love my art professors here.

The goal was to finish our first layer of the wall, which I already did since mine had a head start from the beginning. Mara, the girl who's wall was on the other side of mine, had finished hers, too, so we helped Claudia (who still had a ways to go). With the 3 of us working together, we finished here wall so quickly! So we measured out our walls, cleaned up, then learned about the rest of the fresco process. It was so cool, I can't wait to start painting! Our teacher kept calling the 3 of us the "superstars" because we were so speedy haha. Working together definitely was more efficient than doing it alone - it took me 2 hours to do 1/2 my wall and we finished Claudia's whole wall in an hour. Yesss.

SO this is the general fresco-making instructions: After this layer, there's another one that you put on that's thinner and made with finer sand and more lime. When that is semi-dry you put the final limeyest and finest layer on top of THAT, then you paint really quick before the wall dries. You have to paint on a wet wall so that the paint absorbs into the plaster-like substance. That's why some frescos still exist from thousands of years ago! Dry-fresco painting doesn't last nearly as long because the paint is on the surface, not actually bonded with the wall.

Debbie and I walked home from fresco, stopped by the international food store for peanut butter. THEY DON'T HAVE PEANUT BUTTER HERE EXCEPT IN THIS STORE. Not okay. I'm asking my dad and India to bring me a huge jug of JIF pb when they come visit. This is not a joke.

Read a little bit this evening, tried to get ahead on my work before my weekend away with Ashley. Exciting news! I have another visitor coming to Rome! Zach booked his flight this morning yay!! I can't believe people are coming to visit so soon. I also can't believe I've already been here a month. Time is going by so quickly already ah!! slowdownplease.