Adventures of a teenage author...

This is Marta, author of the Darkwoods series and of Marta's Blog. I created this blog specifically for blogging about my 2015 study abroad adventures in Europe, but it's becoming the blog for all my travels. I hope you enjoy all the pictures and stories!

Friday, January 23, 2015

Dublin!

Sorry about my extended absence from the web, but last Sunday I came down with some kind of cold, and it got worse until today, when it finally started getting better. I did celebrate my birthday Tuesday by going on the Ghost Bus tour - probably part of the reason my cold got worse - which I will post about later.

Anyway, I'm staying at the YWCA on Baggot Street, which is conveniently close to St. Stephen's Square, Grafton Street, O'Connell Street (where all the tours leave from), and a healthy collection of pubs, shops, and restaurants. The weather has been decidedly chilly and a tad bit wet, but nothing that's prevented me from exploring the city so far.

Staying at the Y has given me the opportunity to meet many students from many different countries, including Germany, Spain, and Brazil. Most of them aren't staying as long as I am, and I suspect more will be arriving for summer term as May gets closer.

So, in short, it's been a fun experience staying in Dublin, and I'm sure it's going to continue to be exciting!

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Before You Go to Italy...

Italy is by far and away one of the best places to visit! But before you go, here's a list of things I experienced that I didn't hear about in any guidebooks:

1. Never order more food than you can eat

I'm not sure you'll be able to help it, because Italian restaurants have big servings, but it's best to eat everything on your plate. One girl in our group ordered a sandwich, which turned out to be too much for her, but when she asked if she could have a box to take it back with her, it offended the restaurant owner. At pizzerias you can take pizza back and it doesn't offend them - at least, we didn't offend anyone when we had leftover pizza - but in some of the nicer restaurants, it's only polite to eat everything.

2. No, everyone does not speak English

I remember hearing in America that, no matter where you go in Europe, everyone speaks English, and that does not apply to Italy. In one restaurant, they gave us English menus but the waitress had to have an Italian menu with her so she could understand what we were ordering. Other places, they had to write down the amount for dinner so we knew how much we had to pay - and this was in the historical, probably-very-touristy part of Orvieto. There were plenty of places where they spoke English, but just as often as not we were in places where no one spoke enough English for us to easily communicate with. After all, English isn't their language - Italian is. 

3. Even if they don't speak English, they will know you're American

You don't even have to open your mouth to be identified as an American in Italy. Enough said.

4. Italy is a beautifully hospitable country

In America, we eat to keep going. We eat in the car, we eat quickly, and we eat anything as long as it's cheap. Not so in Italy - restaurants only open for dinner at around 7:30, and when you make a reservation, you can keep the table you reserve until the restaurant closes. Italians love to savor dinnertime as a social event; in the restaurants, they don't bring you the bill quickly and try to hurry you on your way. They take pride in their hospitality, and they treat their guests very, very well - even if they don't speak English.

We stayed in a hotel that is advertised as a 3-star hotel, and frankly, it would put most American 5-star hotels to shame. With a small staff - I only remember seeing four staff members - they laid out a scrumptious, even lavish breakfast every morning, made reservations for us at restaurants, and generally treated all their guests better than most expensive hotels do in America. Americans tend to award stars based on glass fountains and the size of rooms, but the service in a 3-star Italian hotel far outstripped any service in an American 5-star hotel.

5. Waiting in line in Italy is not the same as waiting in line in America

I found this out for myself several times: cutting in line is more acceptable in Italy than in America. In Florence I was in line for gelato and had to check my phone; when I looked up, a grown woman had just crowded right in front of me. At the Epiphany nativity in Orvieto, everyone was crowding their way through with no regard to who was there first. At the airport, even, when waiting in line to check in, somebody just plopped his stuff down right in front of one of the professors. I think in America, cutting in line is one of the few offenses we take seriously, but it didn't seem that way in Italy.

6. Go to Orvieto

And set aside at least three days to explore it. I've been there twice, and I haven't seen everything the city has to offer. It is the loveliest, most interesting, most under-advertised city you can ever stay in. I'm not sure what else I can say on the matter - Orvieto defies words. For that matter, it defies pictures. Simply put, if you are going to Italy and you can only go to one city, go to Orvieto. For that matter, if you can only go to one foreign city, go to Orvieto. You will not be disappointed. Orvieto is magic.

7. You will not want to leave

Be it Orvieto, Florence, Assisi, or Rome (or Venice, for that matter) you will not want to leave Italy. It is a unique and beautiful country that no one can ever adequately describe. I've heard hundreds of comments on Michelangelo, the Coliseum, the Pantheon, the leather market, the Cathedral of St. Francis, and so on, and so forth, but there is something about Italy that no description can ever fully capture.

Last Day in Orvieto

The last day in Orvieto, we began with classwork, and then spent the rest of the day exploring.

We went to the Pozzo de San Patrizio, or the Well of Saint Patrick. This was constructed on the instructions of Pope Clement when he fled the Vatican to avoid the forces of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles. The best way to describe it is like a tower underground:






There was a gorgeous view from the outside entrance:





After the well, we went for gelato at our favorite place. One of the guys tried on Dr. Moldenhauer's hat:



For dinner that night, we went to an underground restaurant that used to be part of the caves under Orvieto:




The food was delicious.

Bye-bye, Orvieto! I hope to come back someday!



Friday, January 16, 2015

Day 8 - The Vatican: St. Peter's Basilica

Remember when I said there wasn't a word to describe how big the cathedral in Florence was? St. Peter's is bigger. It is also, historically, far more historically important: it's the church that started the Reformation. In order to pay for its construction, the Pope allowed for the sale of indulgences, which led to one little German monk named Martin Luther posting 95 Theses on the church door of Wittenberg, and the rest is history.

Pictures (which, by the way, don't even come close to capturing how beautiful the chapel is):




Views from the top of the cupola - breathtaking


















Helena, Constantine's mother






For dinner that night, we went to a nice restaurant, and I decided to get a little adventurous. The pasta dish I ordered translated into "swallows' nests with pecorino and warm honey." I ordered them, and they turned out to be little cup-shaped pasta filled with cheese and honey. They were so good, I plan to have them again if I'm ever back in Italy!




Day 8 - The Vatican: the Museum

Two parts to this, because we went to two amazing chapels in Vatican.

The first one was a large complex that included a mind-blowing museum, a couple of smaller chapels, and the Sistine Chapel. It is against the rules to take pictures of the Sistine, but in the lesser chapels and the museums, it was a picture free-for-all. I overheard a tour guide say that if you dedicated just one minute to looking at every artifact in the museum, you would be there for twelve years. It included an Egyptian section, an Etruscan section, a hall dedicated to Greek and Roman statues, a tapestry hall, and, my favorite, the Hall of Maps. The artifacts were well-preserved, and you could get a really good look at some of them, especially the Egyptian artifacts.

Pictures:











This was my favorite item - it's an envelope!