Pictures from Tarocchi and Milano

Here are some pictures from my weekend! The internet here is SO slow so I don't really feel like putting up anymore haha. But the first three are from the Tarocchi Garden and are actually inside the house of the creator of the garden, she lived there while she was working on it. The rest are from Milan. ENJOY!

Head of the shower

Shower

Living room of the house

First Prada Store

The Duomo in Milan

Fun chair at the Furniture Fair

(it was super soft and comfortable)

Sittin in the cute chair
(I look ridiculous)

Cool set up at the furniture fair

Teatro De La Scala
(kind of lame)

Roma, Tarrochi, e Milano

So this past week I had a field trip to Rome for my survey of art class, a field trip to the Tarrochi Garden for my italian gardens class, and a trip to Milan. Okay so survey of art had a lecture class on monday which I missed because I was flying back from Oslo that day, but it turns out that almost everybody didn't go besides 3 people. (good job USAC for scheduling class the day after Easter break) Anyways so none of us knew our teacher, so we are taken to this American Academy of Art in Rome and of course our teacher is not there yet. So we have to wait and when she finally does get there she doesn't introduce herself to us at all, she just starts talking to the guy that is going to take us to his studio. So we go in there and he tells us about the project he is working on that got him into the academy and our teacher(still don't know her name btw) keeps asking the same questions over and over and then tells us to ask questions but we have no idea why we are here and what we are supposed to ask about...no one was in class on monday duh! So we go into another studio and there are pictures all over the walls so its obvious this guy is a photographer. Our teacher straight up asks him what his line of work is....seriously?! You can't tell? He looked at her like she was retarded! It was hilarious! After that we went to this Italian students studio and showed us this weird project she was working on that didn't look like art to me. Anyways after that we walked into this room with this big wooden structure that yet again just looked like a random thing not art. After that we left and me, Cassie, and Rachal went to the Hard Rock Cafe and got dinner. Friday we had a field trip to the Tarrochi Garden for our gardens class. The garden was cool, it is based on the 21 tarot cards and in class our teacher had given us each a card to research and see if we could find it in the garden. Mine was pretty obvious it was one of the bigger sculptures. I will have to post pics of it when I get a chance. Then saturday me and Rachal flew to Milan from Rome the flight was supposed to be an hour and 15 minutes and ended up only taking about 55 minutes. That day we checked into our hostel and then went to see the duomo in Milan, it is really pretty but there were so many people in the piazza because it was a national holiday, their liberation day when they were freed from the Nazi's and so they were celebrating that and had a parade and tons of people and some guy talking over a loudspeaker. Too crowded for my taste! So we walked along the expensive street with the first Prada store ever, got dinner, and then went to bed early. Sunday we went to the International Furniture Fair they have in Milan every year. It was really cool to see all the furniture they have but kind of overwhelming at the same time because there was so much to see! After we had had enough of the fair we went back to the duomo piazza and saw the La Scala Opera House, which was kind of lame. We couldn't go in because you need tickets to see a show and those are expensive! Oh and it basically rained the entire time we were there except for the day we got there! So that was really fun! NOT! Monday we got up and headed got breakfast and then made our way back to the airport kind of early because there was a mall across the street from it. I ended up buying a really cute purse there and Rachal got a dress! Then we went to the airport and had to wait a while before it was our flight. When we got to Rome it was pouring and windy! And the rain has not stopped since! I never thought I would say I was sick of the rain but I am! Overall the weekend was okay, not the best one I have ever had, Milan was a little bit of a disapointment I thought it was going to be cooler than it was but oh well the Furniture Fair was great!

Pictures from Beito, Oslo and Copenhagen

As promised here are some of my pictures from my trip. The internet here is awful and it has literally taken me all day to put these all up here!

Cross Country skiing for the first time

(this is after I fell)

The Oppegaard Family

(Helle, Peter, Erik, Simon, Ingrid, and Susannah)

The cabin in Beito

Norweigans LOVE trolls

(these were in front of all the tourist shops)

On the ferry to Copenhagen

(still in Oslo)

The Little Mermaid

Fairy Tale Church

(this reminds me of Snow White for some reason)

Doors to the church

Nyhavn

(my favorite spot in Copenhagen)

Orange Stand!

(Arrested Development, banana stand, this reminded me of it)

Famous statue in Frogner Park
Out for drinks, Kaja, Me, Ingrid

(I tried non alcholic wine, it was weird)

Old school Norweigans were short!

The Stave Church in the Folk Museum

(Kaja, Ingrid, Me)

Check out the old guy!

(Viking Ship Museum)

Viking Ship!

Canon at the Fortress

(me, Ingrid, Kaja)

Opera House in Oslo
Kaja, Ingrid and Me on the roof of the Opera House
Norweigan National Costume!

(They wear it on May 17th)
Flying over the Alps on the way back to Italy!

"It was shipped all the way from Norweiga"

If you know where that quote is from you are awesome!

Anyways for Easter Break I went to Norway to visit my old FES(Foreign Exchange Student), it was my favorite trip so far! I got to stay with Ingrid and her family which was so nice! They picked me up from the airport saturday night and we drove straight to their cabin in Beito, it took about 3 hours to get there. I met the rest of the family that I hadn't yet, (they came to visit while Ingrid lived with me and my family). Anyways I met Ingrid's older brother and girlfriend Susannah, and their grandmother. The next morning was Easter and they had a scrumptious breakfast(bacon and eggs) and then we headed out for our skiing adventure. That is right I went cross country skiing for the first time ever! And I was amazing! haha just kidding! I fell within the first 10 minutes and couldn't get up by myself because I had skiis attached to my feet, so Ingrid's dad helped me and then guided me along for awhile, then I tried it on my own again and didn't fall the rest of the time. We skiied to a spot where we could have a little fire and make sausages with loompa, which are small tortillas basically, it was very good! After our little pinic in the freezing cold snow, we skiied back to the street where we had to walk back to the cabin. We had Easter dinner, which Erik and Susannah made, and it was lamb and vegetables! Then that night I taught the whole family how to play Scum, so we played a few rounds and then went to bed. Monday we drove back to Oslo and I met two of Ingrid's friends that night. Tuesday I got a mini tour of Oslo, and saw the castle for the royalty of Norway. Then we got on a ferry to go to Copenhagen that night at 5 and got there the next morning at 9:30. My first experience sleeping on a ship was good so I think I could do a cruise! Copenhagen is probably my favorite city right now, it was clean, colorful, and had great weather! The little mermaid statue is there and was first on my list to see! Then we saw a few churches and new harbor which was my favorite part, and probably the most colorful part as well. We did a little shopping as well and then started to head back to the ferry when we realized we were walking in the right direction on the wrong side of the water, so we started to run back and then Ingrid's mom ran ahead of us to look for a taxi, Ingrid spotted one and put her vocal chords to good use! So me and her had to run to the cab, we made it in time though! We were back in Oslo by 9:30 Thursday morning. Ingrid got sick that day so we took it easy and both had naps, watched La Vita e Bella(great movie!) and then I met all of their neighbors that night at dinner and went to Frogner park with one of their neighbors who is an architect and designed the visitors center for the park. The park is basically just full of naked statues haha! Anyways friday I ventured to Oslo by myself to see a movie, I got to see He's Just Not That Into You, I loved it! I thought it was really cute! And I found american candy in Oslo which was awesome! Twizzlers and Reeses Pieces( two of my faves). That night Ingrid and me and a bunch of her friends went out to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, which is delicious as always, and for dessert I got cheesecake! The Rome Hard Rock doesn't have this dessert option! Saturday was museum day! We went to the Folk Museum and the Viking Ship Museum and then grabbed a quick lunch in Oslo and did a little shopping. That night after dinner with their family I made cookies for everybody! I didn't realize how much I missed baking until I actually had the chance to do it again! I have the recipe for chocolate chip memorized and just had to convert cups to different measurements so I acutally did a lot of guessing, but they turned out pretty good, not as good at home but still pretty good! Anyways sunday we went to Oslo again and saw this fortress overlooking the sea and it still has the old canons there too! And we went to the new opera house in Olso because you can walk on the roof and it is also on the sea. After that we drove back to Baerum which is a suburb of Oslo and where Ingrid's family lives to go to a modern art museum. That night me and Ingrid just hung out and watched movies and then early this morning her dad drove me to the airport! It was so nice of them to let me stay and not let me pay for anything(believe me I tried too numerous times). It was great being in a family setting again especially for Easter!

Two Months Left.....

So I realized today that I officially have 2 months left in Europe! Crazy to think I have been here this long! It has gone by slow at times and fast most of the time! I have to say that I am excited to go home because there are a lot of things I miss! Well here is the rest of the things I have planned and you can look forward to reading about! First off today I went to Tarquinia which is a city about an hour away from Viterbo, it is by the coast and has Etruscan ruins there. It was cool but kind of creepy at the same time. You had to go down in these tombs and it was kind of dark and then press a button for the tomb to light up so you could see it. It was a nice little afternoon trip though. Saturday I am flying to Norway to meet up with my friend Ingrid and her family that live there! I am so excited! I am there until the 20th! The last weekend of this month I have a trip planned to Milan, which I am hoping to "accidentally" run into a good friend of mine there! The first weekend in May I am going to Sicily and it will actually be good weather to go to the beaches! Then after Sicily I have finals and then me and Cassie are off on our adventure of traveling around Europe!

Here are the cities we are going to:

Berlin

Krakow

Prague

Vienna

Interlaken

Zurich

Versailles

Munich

So I am thinking it is going to go by pretty fast once saturday gets here! These past two weeks have gone pretty slow! Well I look forward to telling you about all these places I am going and I know that I am such a lucky girl for being able to have this incredible experience!

P.S. We are still having aftershocks from the earthquake and it is scary! I just felt one! That is one thing I miss a lot about Arizona! NO NATURAL DISASTERS!!!

Earthquake

Last night at about 3:30 in the morning I woke up to my dorm building shaking. I thought I was dreaming and faintly remember thinking the word earthquake but wasn't sure what was really happening. I looked at my phone and read the time and thought I don't have to get a up for another 4 hours. When I woke up this morning a few of my friends in class asked if I had felt the earthquake last night and then I knew I had not been dreaming. This is the first time I have ever witnessed a natural disaster or been directly affected by it. It happened in L'Aquila Italy which is about 90 miles southwest of Viterbo. There was a lot of damage done to that area of Italy and the death toll keeps rising as the day goes on. There are about 1500 injured and 150 dead at this point and could continue to rise as the hours go on. I am very lucky to have just felt the earthquake slightly and not been in the actual damage of it. Keep your prayers and your thoughts on the people of L'Aquila and the surrounding areas.