Austria

Hello hello! It's midterm week! Today was art history, which I love. I think it went well. Anyways, enough of the boring stuff. Pausa primavera (spring break) starts Thursday and I still don't have a plan. I am going to tour around Italy and then fly to Spain and spend a few days there. I am doing this on my own. YES, you heard me. Hopefully I don't get rolled when I'm walking in the street by myself... 

Well I went to Austria a couple weeks ago. First was Vienna, which was a blast! It's a beautiful city for sure. And they have this amazing museum called the Belvedere that I had never heard of. If you ever go to Vienna, hit up the Belvedere! I only wish I had more time there. I saw this there...

Anybody know what it is? The artist's Austrian. Oh and they day before I went to a museum in Florence and saw this...

Good weekend, good weekend. Pretty solid. 

I went on the trip with other students through a tour business called Bus2Alps. I was nervous about going without knowing anyone, but I made friends super fast and I'm so glad I went. The weekend was so full of STUFF, it was crazy. I loved it. Here are some of the pictures I took:

 Vienna, Hapsburg Palace

 Vienna, St Stephen's

the famous Sacher Torte

 we went on a Schnaps tour... =)

 The whole group outside Schonbrunn Palace

Salzburg, St. Sebastian. I always think it's interesting to see how artists portray St. Sebastian, who was tied to a post and shot with arrows, and has been depicted that way ever since. 

 Salzburg

 We went on a Sound of Music tour! Me in the beautiful, foggy mountains of Salzburg

 The cathedral where Maria and Captain von Trapp were married in the movie, The Sound of Music.

 The back of the house with the frozen-over lake where the kids tipped the boat. 

 Where Maria sang, "I Have Confidence!"

 Some of us in front of the gazebo where all the magic happens =)

And we went to an Austrian beer hall with amazing food and beer. It was probably my favorite part of the trip! 

While on my trip to Austria, I found out that my Aunt Jane, one of my mom's sisters, died. It's really hard for me to grasp the situation being so far away. I've been having so much fun in Europe and to have something like this happen just doesn't seem to fit into my list of possibilities. But it did happen. And I'm not there to comfort my mom or my cousins or my grandma or my siblings or anyone. If any of my family is reading this, know that I think about you guys all the time and I miss you a ton. I will miss Jane always laughing and playing with her grandkids, or whipping up something awesome in the kitchen. 

I decided a long time ago that as long as I'm here, I'm going to make the most of every single second and have as many experiences and as much fun as I can. It's my way of making my family proud and accomplishing something for myself. After learning about Jane's death, I'm not going to take anything for granted here. Maybe I'm crazy for going off on my own and spending a ton of money on travel, but I'm not scared, and I'm going to live it up. 

Pisa

Hello,

It's Thursday night of the third week of school and I am very tired. But I have been wanting to make a new post about what I've been up to. School has been going really well. I like my teachers and they like me, and I think everyone's kinda surprised that I can draw. I like surprising people! Before I left, people asked me if my classes were going to be in English, and I didn't even know! Now I can tell you that the answer is yes and no. My classes are filled with people from all over the world, so there are a lot of languages flying around in class, but usually my teachers will explain in Italian and then explain again in English. But this isn't always so: my illustration teacher knows about ten English words. It's really entertaining to try to talk to each other! She's amazingly talented though, and you can learn just by observing her. In one of my classes, I am the only American. I am not looking forward to this because almost the entire lesson was Italian and then my teacher gave me the gist of it at the end. I felt like I was missing out. But I am taking a Printing on Textiles class with a woman who moved to Italy from Wisconsin, so it's really nice to talk to her =)

Homework has been fairly mild so far, and hopefully it will stay that way because I have lots of trips planned. I am going to Vienna & Salzburg in a few weeks, Scotland in March, Munich and the Amalfi Coast in April, and hopefully England for spring break. CAN NOT WAIT.

A few weeks ago, I went with a bunch of friends to Pisa. We saw the Duomo (cathedral), Baptistery, Campanile (bell tower), and Campo Santo. Of course everyone has heard of the famous leaning tower of Pisa. I was really surprised how much it leaned! It was the last of the building to be built and it leans because of weak subsoil and poor foundation. The building was left unfinished for a century and then the upper floors were built with one side taller than the other to compensate for the lean. Of course we all took the standard tourist pictures:

The Duomo was absolutely beautiful. The pictures don't nearly do it justice. Every inch of the space is embellished and filled with history. I don't know a lot about it, other than construction began in 1093 and in 1595 there was a fire that destroyed much of the medieval art. Possibly the most famous piece of art in the duomo is the pulpit, designed by Giovanni Pisano. There is also a very beautiful mosaic over the apse completed by Cimabue that I really love. 

The Baptistery is the largest in Italy. The Campo Santo was amazing. It means 'Holy Field' and it is a huge cemetery build on sacred soil. It contains a huge number of sarcophagi, sculptures, and wall frescoes. In WWII, the roof and many of the sculptures and frescoes were destroyed by a bomb. The whole thing was stunning, truly! And there was a small shrine with bones and other relics, which reminded me of the one in Carey. I love shrines!

Until next time!