Turkey

It's time again to look into summer travels.  It seems that UNB is offering a summer session in Turkey this year, touring architecture and whatnot around the country.  It may be a worthwhile trip.

Well yesterday was our class 'Vatican Day'. We toured the Vatican Museum (including a section not open to the public), three or four art galleries, a display of old Christian sarcophagi, and we spent about an hour in the Sistine Chapel. That took up most of the day.

In the evening I went out to work on gathering information for my creative writing course. I spent about two hours at the Trevi Fountain and Piazza Navonna (two big tourist attractions), then I headed to Campo del Fiores, which at night is flooded with drunk American students.

Anyway, it nice to be back from our trip to Naples (worst place I've ever been in my life), although the hotel in Pompei was wonderful.

Well, I'd better go, I've got class in a few. Ciao.

Quick Note

Just saying hello, getting back from Naples/Pompei. Laptop battery is dying, so I'll try and update tomorrow.

Finally, an Internet Connection!

Sorry about the long time between posts, the internet connection here is a bit touchy. Also, I can only get a connection outside, so when it rains, no Internets.

Well in the past few days, quite a bit has happened. First off, I've switched my courses around, dropped Romanticism and Revolution (too much revolution, not enough romanticism) , so I've taken a Creative Writing course. This has freed up my schedule as it only meets once a week.

I've spent a day in the Vatican, eaten some amazing food, and seen some great sites.

Anyway, it's getting dark out, so I'd better be off.

Chiao.

First Days in Rome

Sorry it's taken me so long to get this out, they ran us pretty ragged our first day out, and I didn't have time to find a wireless signal.(which I can't get indoors, but I have great reception on the porch) .

After the 15 hours of plane rides and airport waiting I landed at Leonardo Di Vinci airport about 50 minutes outside of Rome, or 30 minutes the way Italians drive. Eight of us piled into a Mercedes minivan and headed into th city, going 130 in a 70 zone. This is perfectly normal driving, we passed four police cruisers on the drive, they did nothing. Inside the city traffic is even worse, lanes are non-existent and parking is unbelievable. It is not unusual(or illegal) to double and triple park, park on side-walks or even in an intersection.

Anyway, once we made it to our lodgings, the Residence Candia a couple of us went to lunch at Pizza i Birra(litt: Pizza & Beer) just down the street. Once everyone arrived Prof. Goud took us on a whirlwind tour of downtown Rome. We saw everything from the Trevi Fountain to the fashion shopping district, in only a few hours.

We finished off the day with a standard Italian supper, at 2000h(which is typical meal time, most ristorante do not open until 1930h). The primo(first course) was a pesto gnocchi(ny-AW-ki), small pasta-like potato dumplings. The second course was Italian veal meatballs, finishing with a desert made primarily of whipped eggnog.

After that, it was time for the sleep.

The second day was not quite as entertaining, but we did do breakfast and visit an out door market. But as it's 2230h in Rome right now and I'm exhausted, I'll leave that for later.