Pope Francis

So last night my friend Kendall came running into our room to tell us that there is white smoke at the Vatican! As you know I happened to be at the Vatican the day that the last pope resigned. So I was so excited to be here for this experience -- full circle! We all jumped out of bed and ran to the metro. We ran into some classmates as we were waiting for the subway. The metro was PACKED. As soon as we got off at the stop closest to the Vatican everyone ran off the subway. We were all running smack in the middle of the streets to get there before the new pope debuted himself. It was so thrilling!!! We made it with just enough time and had so much fun cheering with the crowd. People from every country were there to watch! It was incredible! Here are some pictures :)

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/14/17301544-the-popes-to-do-list-7-challenges-facing-francis-as-he-starts-his-new-job?lite

Course Field Study

Amsterdam

I loved Amsterdam! We stayed in a hotel that was a little bit out of the center because it was cheaper but it actually ended up being great because we learned how to use the tram! The city is absolutely beautiful. It is really quaint and all of the streets are along canals with bridges connecting the streets together. We visited the Anne Frank House. It was very moving and an incredible experience. We went to the Heineken museum, which was really fun. The museum gave you two free drink tickets with your entrance ticket to the museum and instead of getting Heineken beer we got pepsi! We tried to go to the Van Gogh museum but it was under construction :/ We went to the "I AMSTERDAM" letters to be extra touristy too. We also went to the red light district one night. So freaky. The best food I tasted there was the pancake I had at the Pancake Bakery. I got a sugar pancake with vanilla ice cream on top - amazing. We went back the next day and I got a "savory" pancake with bacon, cheese, and onions. YUM! The last night we were there we went out with my Dutch family friend Maurice who lives near Amsterdam. He took us to a bar that was mainly Dutch people. We had such a great time! It was also really fun to see Maurice. All in all an amazing weekend! Check out these pictures :) 

Brussels

Last weekend we went to Brussels. It was such a gorgeous city and the food was AMAZING. Within our first hour in  Brussels we walked right into a protest. I am not sure exactly what the protest was for. We asked someone on the street and he told us it was about taxes. Our first meal we had in Brussels was really yummy. I got a quiche with bacon and some other really tasty ingredients. I also loved the Belgian waffles. We tried a Belgian waffle from a street vendor and after we tried one, we had seven more waffles that day between all of us. So yummy! We also had a ton of chocolates! We heard that Belgium is known for its thousands of kinds of beer so we went to a beer bar called Delirium. I tried a flower tasting beer and it was pretty good! For dinner we went to Chez Leon - a famous restaurant in Brussels. It was recommended to us by a Belgian woman we met on the plane ride there. I got french fries and spaghetti with mussels and mushrooms! Here are some pictures :)

Budapest, Hungary

This past weekend we went to Budapest, Hungary. The city was so beautiful! We stayed at the Wombat Hostel -- I highly recommend it. It was very clean and had a really friendly atmosphere. There was a lounge and bar on the main floor so we were able to socialize with other people from Australia, New Zealand and Canada! We started off our first meal with a traditional Hungarian lunch. I got goulash soup and chicken with paprika. It was definitely outside of my comfort zone but I really liked it! Then we headed to the Banksy exhibit in the nearby museum that featured Hungarian street artists and a documentary about the famous street artist -- Banksy. After that we went to a famous wine bar that we had heard about to kill time before we went to the circus. The circus was so fun! But it smelled DISGUSTING. After we got home we contained our clothes in a bag until we could wash them. For dinner went to a sushi restaurant called Nobu. I had never eaten there before but my friends say that its the best sushi so we tried it and it was really really good. I got a salmon avocado roll and a spicy tuna roll. The next day we went on a free walking tour. The tour guide was really entertaining and we learned a lot about the history and context of Budapest. We also got to see a lot more of the city than we had planned to. We went all the way up to the government buildings and even saw the remnants of buildings that had been demolished in World War II. The free tour company was also offering a tour on the history of Judaism and a tour on the history of Communism but we only had so much time so we went on the general tour. On our last day it was really nice weather so we just walked around and went to an outdoor market. We tried one of the famous Hungarian desserts but I can't recall the name of it. Here are pictures of everything!

The Pope Resigned and We Were There!

I am taking a class called "At Home In Rome: Modern Life in the Eternal City" and every week we meet at a different spot in Rome and our teacher lectures as we walk around. So yesterday our meeting spot was in front of the Vatican. Of course, we were late. The group left without us and we missed class because we were unable to reach our teacher and classmates to find out where they were walking to. So as I am frantically trying to get in touch with someone from our class, my friend Liv is starting to notice the countless number of news crews in St. Peter's Square. I was so anxious about missing class that I didn't even care to ask what was happening. Finally, we gave up on trying to find our class and Liv asked someone what had happened -- the pope resigned! The pope resigned and we were standing in the middle of history in the making -- and I was worried about missing class! Liv made me see how incredible this was and I stopped stressing enough to walk around and embrace being a part of history. I was even interviewed by EuroNews! (But I hope they don't air my interview because I was all over the place and giddy and probably sounded like a complete ditz :/ So now the process of finding a new pope begins and we are here for it! Such a cool time to be in Rome. 

Firenze!

This past weekend we went to Florence! We stayed with people we knew from U of M, so it was great to have them show us around and everything. The first night we went to dinner at this restaurant that I cannot remember the name of. But it was really good we got a pasta sampler and a steak sampler to split :) Then we went to a few bars and ended up at a club. Florence is a really popular place to study abroad and also very small so we ran into so many people that we knew, which was really fun. The people we stayed with insisted that we stay up to watch the sun rise from Piazza Michelangelo and it was totally worth it! We went back to the apartment and put on a few more layers so we wouldn't get too cold. Finally, we headed to the Piazza and it was the most beautiful view I have ever seen! It almost looked fake! We saw the entire city of Florence as the sun was rising over it. Molto bella! After that we went back home and napped for a few hours. Once we woke up, we were insistent on going to the Diner. Florence is more Americanized than where we are living in Rome, and we were so excited to go to an American diner :) I got eggs over medium, toast, french fries, bacon and an ice coffee. Absolute heaven! We spent the rest of the day walking around Florence and saw all the must sees -- i.e. the Duomo. The second night we went out to a club for our friend's 21st birthday. It was so fun! I was so tired from staying awake the night before to see the sunrise, but forced myself to wake up and I am so happy that I did. We left ourselves just enough time on Sunday morning to go to the American Diner one more time before we left :) The train to and from Florence was so easy! I definitely hope we go back.

Piazza Michelangelo

The Duomo

The Vatican

Today we went to Vatican city! Kendall's mom found us the most amazing tour guide named Angelo. The tour was two hours long but felt like ten minutes. Angelo explained all of the history behind everything we saw. As a history major, it was much easier for me to appreciate all of the artwork I saw today knowing the history behind it. Angelo told us about Michelangelo's life story and about all of his contributions to the Vatican city, which was so interesting to listen to. Here are some of the pictures I took today. We didn't get to take any pictures in the Sistine Chapel :(

St. Peter's Church

Entrance to the Vatican Museums

At the end of the tour we went to lunch with our tour guide, Angelo. He is taking us around to all of the other major historical sites next week. We were supposed to go today but it started raining :( After lunch we ran through the rain to get to the metro and successfully took the subway to Termini, then transferred to the blue line, then took the bus right to the front of our building. We are starting to get the hang of things!