yeeeah, sorry about the lack of contactery. I've found the lack of internet has caused me blogging suckery.
So i suppose the biggest thing to update on is fall break! which was marvlous. So for starters, as is characteristic of Italy, there was a strike. we got an email the night before we were supposed to go saying that there was a general public worker strike, which means that there is no predictablity about what will be running and what won't. So the school suggested you either change flights or go to the area of your airport the night before and stay in a hotel nearby...both of which myself and my travel buddies (kelly and rachel) could not afford. so we decided it was the best plan to take a really early bus the day of our flight to pisa (where we had to fly out of). so at the ripe hour of 6:40 in the morning we were on our way. (eeeeewwwww). now, our flight was not actually until 8pm...so we had some time to kill.
we, of course, decided to do the regular pisa tower/cathedral/baptisry stuff...which took about two hours. fun fact:there is nothing else to do in pisa. we ended up eating and sitting for the rest of the day. the only other noteworthy thing was the discovery of Dragoon beer. delicious.
From Pisa we headed to Barcelona....or should i say Girona...the silly silly city outside of Barcelona that our flight arrived in/we were staying in.
We got in late so we knocked out in anticipation of waking up early to get into Barcelona proper the next morning.
Barcelona....was magnificent. We were sort of on a Gaudi quest. We saw the Casa Mila...and our favorite La Segrada Familia.if you have never seen pictures of the Segrada Familia you should look it up. its the most incredible place. after months of going into beautiful old churches it was very strange to go into a much more modern space that was for the same purpose. the two things that stuck out to me were the sculpture, which varried in style, but was all very stylized and surprisingly potent, and the light.
Unfortunately we only had one day in Barcelona, and then we headed off to madrid.
In madrid we had the great fortune of staying with Benito, Josefa and Fernando's papa. He was incredibly generous to let us stay, and we happened to get in on the same day Fernando was passing through. He was able to help us out with maps and suggestions and general laughery. Twas lovely. We had a longer time in madrid so we were able to do things at a slightly more relaxed pace. The highlights were El Prado, the Riena Sofia, and catching up with friends who were styudying there. all three of us have freinds who we got to see. In my case my roommate and good friend alex was there!
I got to see El Grecco....the best painter ever (YEAH I SAID IT)...once again. which pleased my heart stringss.
AHHH, I have to go to class. but malta.
so malta was quite interesting. it was the most different looking place i've been so far. the landscape and houses were totally different from all the other european places i've seen. our (not so clean) hotel was right on the water...which was the most gorgeous bluey green color. yes, yes we did swim. it was marvelous. after all the toury walking seeing we had done before we were pretty mellow in malta. we mostly just walked around our area and explored.
when we came back we were all happy to see florence once again.
its strange to come back to a foreign city and feel like you've arrived at home. (not home home....but you know).
well its off to the Spanish Chapel for me! I'll try and update more frequently! eek!
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