A Weekend in Italy

Last Friday, I went home with my friend Abby and spent the night in Darsena City, which is housing for international students. We decided to cook with some other students in our program and have our own Italian "apertivo" and dinner. The girls were in charge of bringing appetizers and dessert so we bought some tiramisu flavored "gelato" and decided to make our own bruschette. Guess who made it?I diced "pommodores" and basil leaves all by myself...very impressive for a novice chef.
After a wonderful dinner of pasta, bread, and wine we decided to explore the city a bit and I think we may have found a fascist monument. No one will tell us about it, but the architecture is definitely in the fascist theme...tall with a benevolent looking man watching over some children. The date on it says 1932, so thats my best guess. The only picture I have if it is in the dark, so maybe I'll add one later after I go back during the day.
The next day, we traveled to Bologna. That is a beautiful city! We enjoyed a three hour tour in the rain, sleet, and snow, but it was worth it. Once the snow started, we completely forgot about the freezing cold and just had fun exploring the city. We climbed a tower that is twice as tall as the leaning tower of Pisa, but still leaning. I slipped down a flight of stairs for the amusement of all the Italians waiting at the bottom. Very fun! The group returned to Ferrara that evening and I raced to have dinner with a combination of Americans and my hosts family's teenage daughter and all her friends too. It was fun learning all the Italian slang from them and playing Wii bowling.
The pictures are of the statue of Neptune in the Piazza di Netunno in Bologna and of me and Abby enjoying the snow in Bologna.

Ferrara, Italy

I am officially living in Ferrara, Italy. After an eight hour flight and two train rides with “ciao” and “scusi” being the two Italian words that I knew, this was a major feat to accomplish. Fortunately, Italians are very friendly and willing to help, so toting two fifty pound bags around Italy really wasn’t difficult. At one point, I had and entire troop of train workers bringing my bags up and down the stairs to get to different platforms.
We spent the first three nights in the Hotel Carlton getting acquainted with our fellow American students and exploring our new home city. I got to explore the castle that is located in the center of the city, which was amazing considering that I’m a history major. I was literally running through the castle trying to see everything I could before our tour ended. The dungeons were very cool because you could still see the graffiti from the prisoners they held.
Our group has also discovered the oldest wine bar in the world and it happens to be in Ferrara. The people who work there are very nice and we enjoy going at least once a week to taste the wine and hang out in the calm atmosphere. This picture is of a group of us at the bar.
That's about it so far. Most posts to come soon!

First Days in London

I arrived in London via a direct flight from Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson to London Gatwick on Wednesday, January 7th.  My first few days have been jam-packed with orientation meetings, academic advising sessions, bus tours, and general settling-into-a-new-place activities.  

Yesterday, we decided to get some cheesy touristy photo-ops out of our systems: this picture  is a result of these efforts.  I am on the far left, trying to stay warm.  We actually saw some snow flurries and the weather was absolutely freezing, which is a change from my Holiday Break spent in Atlanta.  

I will be studying abroad in London until mid-April at the IES Center in Bloomsbury.  Our student residence hall (the LRH) is located in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea- or just Chelsea.  We live around the corner from Hugh Grant and Kate Middleton, but more importantly, in a neighborhood brimming with art and culture.  I look forward to exploring it in its entirety and reporting back!

This blog will eventually move away from the basics of my first weeks in London, towards a documentation of the art I encounter.  I want to seek out Banksy and other famous street artists and experience the local galleries.  As an Art History major, I am also itching to spend time at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Gallery (home to several of my favorite paintings by Van Gogh and Rembrandt), and the Tate Modern.  

That's all for now- I'm off to eat some soup and head to bed early, since classes begin tomorrow!

-Katherine