Yeia sou!

Now that I am safely back home in Rome, I can give a thorough description of my adventures in Rhodes. Since there are so many, I will only mention my absolute favorites.

I have to start off with my favorite topic, food. I would have to say my favorite dish of the week was the first night I was in Rhodes. We went to the restaurant called "Jason Inn" and the dish I had was called Chicken Souvlaki. Chicken souvlaki is pretty much a chicken kabob but had a seasoning that I had never tasted before. The chicken was cooked well and it had a faint hint of something sweet but spicy at the end, almost like cinnamon. My plate also had fried potatoes, carrots sautéed in butter that melted right when I bit into them, flavorful rice and fresh salad. The girls I traveled with (Maeg, Jessica, and Claire) and I managed to get thirty percent off of our meal and complimentary refreshment drinks! I started to fall in love with Greece that very moment. One thing about the island of Rhodes is that the Greeks LOVE California girls. Its very rare that people from the United States travel to Rhodes because it is so far away, but it is the perfect get away for Italians. Every time we told people we were from California the Greeks' eyes would get as big as saucers and assure us it was their dream to travel to California. The locals in Rhodes for the most part were very hospitable, generous people who wanted nothing more than to just sit down and have a conversation with us.

Secondly, I have to talk about my favorite city. Lindos by far takes the cake. I talked about it a little in my previous blog but a small description doesn't do it justice. Lindos is a little town pressed up against a hill consisting of nothing but lovely white buildings and houses. The city overlooks a harbor of white sand and clear, turquoise water. This is where I had my first hand experience living as a Greek, riding my donkey all the way to the top of Lindos. I rode my little donkey Georgio (pronounced as Your-go in Greek) up the cobble stone streets of Lindos overlooking the Aegean Sea. What more could I ask for?

Fortunately, I was able to do something just as exciting the following day. I went parasailing for the first time. My friends and I had been eyeing our fellow tourists parasailing day to day and we decided to finally go ask a few questions about it. After speaking with the man who signed people up, it sounded like parasailing was a bit pricey. We also only had three people who wanted to go which is a difficult number to accomodate to go all at once. After walking away and thinking about it for a little I decided this was really something I would like to do. After talking to Mauricio(the man in charge) for a little he was able to let all three of us go at once for a good price. He also mentioned that if I come back next summer I would be able to work for him and his company to rent out parasailing and jet skiis to tourists. So mom if I'm not in the states next summer, you'll know exactly where I am :) Anyway, we continued on our parasailing adventure. If you haven't heard of parasailing before, it is almost like skydiving but after you are closer to land and have already pulled your parachute. You are harnessed into a parachute and a speedboat pulls you as the wind lifts you to a decent height. It all happened very quickly, all the sudden there was a boat to pick us all up, we were harnessed in, and up up and away we went. The view was breathtaking, you could see the beautiful, clear Aegean Sea underneath my dangling toes and the entire west side of the entire island. To say the least, a sight I will never forget.

Just to top this incredible day off, after we went parasailing we all laid out on the beach and I suddenly spotted something very familiar. A big white volleyball. A few of the locals were playing by the water, and being the true Mascari that I am(I'll give credit to my dad for this one) I walked over and asked if I could play. More excited than I expected the locals George and Michael warmly welcomed me to play with them. My friend Maeg who was also at the beach with me saw us and also joined in. We had a good game going for about an hour, which definitely made my day.

Overall, the Rhodes island trip was a success. Fun activities, good food and great company. The island was one of the most naturally beautiful places I have seen in a long time. It was nice to experience a different culture, but I have to say my favorite place is still by far Roma. Although Rhodes was very relaxing to visit, I found myself missing the craziness of Rome.

Tomorrow I start my first official day of my semester. I have my Italian language course at 9 am and Ancient Roman Civilization from 11:30 - 1:30. I'm looking forward to beginning all of my classes and meeting my new professors. I will blog an update later this week about my classes and as they say in in Greece yeia sou! (pronounced YA-sue meaning hello and goodbye!)

A day in Lindos, Grecian style

First off I'm on a computer that costs a whole euro for just 20 minutes of internet, therefore my posts will unfortunately be a bit short, but to the point. Today is my fourth full day in Greece. I love the island and the beaches are absolutely gorgeous. Today we traveled to the city called Lindos and I did something I can safely say was a first for me, I rode a donkey. We only paid 5 euro to ride all the way up the mountain along the side of a hill over looking the ocean on a donkey! I was laughing the entire time thinking to myself, am I literally on a Greek island riding a donkey?? Our days have consisted of a lot of beach trips, a little bit of hiking, a lot of walking around cities, and a lot of eating and meeting the locals. Tomorrow we will probably embark on another adventure to a different part of the island. We might go to a place called the seven springs and hike a little bit. Yesterday we went to a beach called Kalithea which had a beautiful cove. The cove had rocks jetting out all over with a ton of chairs and umbrellas along all the rocks. Kalithea also had a little restaurant right on the beach and we ordered a few appetizers(one including calamari that was amazing)and drinks and watched the sunset. Although I have loved every second of our Rhodes adventure, being away from Rome has made me miss the city more than I expected. It will be nice to go back to the wonderful city of pasta and wine, but for now I will continue to enjoy the sunny blissfulness of Rhodes.

Rodos!

Rhodes has been amazing so far! Yesterday we went to the beach and had pita bread and hummus for a snack afterwards. Last night we went to Rhodes town and looked around at all of the shops. We ate at a little hole in the wall place that had gyros for 2 euro. It was my first time having a gyro and I can safely say it was the best Greek food I've ever had in my life. It has chicken, onion, tomatoe, french fries and a type of garlic cream sauce all wrapped in warm pita bread like a wrap. Today we went back to Rhodes town and shopped a little then found a little cove and swam in the water for a few hours. Tomorrow we are leaving for Faliraki which apparently has the best beaches on the island. We want to go snorkeling or to Lindos after we check into our hostel. Lindos has some of the island's ruins which would be really fun to see. The hotel owner at the hotel we are currently staying at mentioned that there are donkeys people can ride up the hill to the city of Lindos, might have to check that one out!! Overall, Rhodes has had gorgeous water, scrumptious food and welcoming people. Tomorrow shall be another part of our adventure that I'm looking forward to!

Its all Greek to me!

Yesterday I took my Italian language final for the course I have been enrolled in for the past three weeks. Although the exam was a little difficult, I now have a break from school for a week!! I will be leaving for Greece tomorrow morning at 10:15 am! The island I will be going to is called Rhodes(in Greek it is called Rodos). I'm going with two of my apartment mates and another girl in the program, I figured four was a good travel number :) For the first half of the week we will be staying in Rhodes Town which is located on the northern tip of the island. Transport to other parts of the island is very accessible in Rhodes Town so we are planning on traveling to different cities in the island like Lindos which contains a lot of the island's ruins. We are also planning on hiking Mt Attavyros which is a challenging 2-3 hr climb to the island's highest point (1215 m)!

For the second half of our stay in Rhodes we will be staying in Faliraki. Faliraki is a very popular area in Rhodes because of the beautiful beaches. There are seven different beaches located in Faliraki. I've been researching the best spots to snorkel in Rhodes and we hopefully will find a good deal to rent gear and explore the blue, clear Aegean Sea.

I will be gone for a full week and returning next Sunday. I believe both places we are staying at have internet so hopefully I will be able to upload some pictures and update my blog while I am in Greece. I can't wait to explore Rhodes and begin yet another adventure!

In the Footsteps of Michelangelo

Yesterday I finally made my way to the Sistine Chapel (Capella Sistina in Italian). I knew the Vatican Museum(which contains the Sistine Chapel) was going to be ornate, but I did not expect to see such an extravagant collection of art. It took around three hours to make my way from the beginning of the Museum to the actual Sistine Chapel. I couldn't possibly list all of the galleries or art pieces I saw inside of the Vatican Museum but I will mention some of my favorites.

One of the galleries inside of the Vatican Museum is called Museo Pio-Clementino wich contains Greek and Roman sculptures. I recently took a Greek Mythology class at UCSB so it was really exciting to recognize some of the Greek God sculptures and know the stories about them. The first Greek sculpture I recognized was of Athena with her famous helmet and aegis (a cape worn in ancient times to display the protection provided by a high religious authority).

Another gallery that stood out to me was the gallery of maps. The gallery of maps consists of topographical maps of Italy. It remains the world's largest pictorial geographical study. The gallery has an enormous ceiling covered with paintings of maps. The walls were covered in individual painted maps ranging around twenty by twenty feet in dimension.

Out of all of the galleries I went into, my absolute favorite were the Raphael Rooms. I have fallen in love with every Raphael painting I have seen, whether it is inside the Vatican Church or inside the Vatican Museum. The "School of Athens" was much more enormous than I imagined, the painting covered an entire wall. To imagine the time and dedication it took to complete such a masterpiece is amazing to me.

After three miraculous hours of seeing famous works of art, I entered the Sistine Chapel. Uncontrollably I felt myself take in a gasp of air. My head immediately fell back as I starred wide-eyed at the ceiling. Every corner of the chapel was completely covered in artwork. The "Last Judgement" which I had seen numerous times in my text book and in brochures was right in front of me. It was surreal to be standing where Michelangelo had once been. I starred, starred, and starred some more. I couldn't get enough of the artwork surrounding me.


Needless to say, the Vatican Museum did not fail to impress me. My first time going through the Vatican Museum will be a memory I will never forget. After our visit to the Vatican Museum, the group of friends I was with and I went to our favorite gelateria called Old Bridge. We all sat down in a park eating our gelato, silent with amazement from the artwork we had just seen. It is refreshing to be surrounded with people who appreciate and respect the artwork in Rome just as much as I do. Artwork is something that is timeless. To think I was able to see paintings that were created hundreds of years ago is baffling. I plan on returning back to the Vatican Museum throughout my stay in Rome because I simply could not fully appreciate everything in one trip. Once again, another experience that influenced me greatly. Living in Rome has been nothing short of extraordinary, I can't wait for what else the city has to offer.

La Dolce Vita!

Amalfi Coast was even better than I expected! However, the trip getting there was a bit of an adventure. Jessica, Maeg, Claire, Jasmine and I left on the 3:30 train to Salerno Friday afternoon. From Salerno the plan was to take a bus straight to Amalfi. Unfortunately in Italy, nothing ever goes exactly according to the plan you have. Halfway through our train ride, the train was making one of many stops when I started to realize the train was stopping for a little longer compared to the previous stops. Gradually, all of the Italians' conversations started to get louder and louder. Their hands were flying up in the air with exasperation and a few started to get off of the train. It was then that I decided I should try to start asking questions. In broken English, a nice Italian lady next to me informed that the train was "wrecked." (English translation: the train was "broken down.") After a twenty minute wait on the train, all of the Italians started to once again board the train and luckily it started to work again and we continued on our way. (Not too sure if the train was actually fixed or if the conductor just didn't want to deal with the mob of angry Italians) After the four and a half hour train ride(which was supposed to be three) we arrived in Salerno and found our bus to Amalfi Coast. When we reached Amalfi we gave our Hostel address to a local store owner and asked how far away it was. The store owner (Maria) told us this hostel was a 150 Euro cab ride away. Obviously not an option for our budget, Maria (whom I now call Saint Maria because she was an absolute blessing) called up a friend of hers and told us to go to "Bar S'Rita" and there we would find an apartment complex nearby that would have people out in front waiting for us. I'm not sure how we found the right stop but we managed to make it right to where Maria told us to go. The apartment complex was extremely nice and the owner charged us probably half of what he should've. Grazie Maria!

Saturday morning we all made our way to Amalfi. The people were nice, the water was amazing, and the food was delicious. We spent the whole day laying out, swimming, eating and walking around. We returned to Maria's store and told her husband to make sure and give her many thanks. I had been looking for a hat for a few weeks and Maria's store just happened to have just the perfect selection. Nonetheless, whenever I wear that hat I will remember our dear friend Maria and how helpful she was.

For lunch, we found a little hole in the wall place that had fried seafood and vegetables that ended up being my favorite food of the trip. That night we headed back to Salerno(where the train station is) and stayed the night in a Hostel. Salerno is a very interesting city. Travelers usually just stay there for the night in between journeys and its population mainly consists of locals. We found a pizzeria and ordered a pesto pizza, potato-sausage pizza and finally my absolute favorite, the nutella pizza. If you've never had nutella, either go to the store right now and buy some or come to Italy because they put it on pretty much everything. Its simply delicious. After we had our pizzas we walked to the harbor where they had an open air market and walked down every row looking at everything and talked to a few of the locals.

This morning we headed back to Rome and a strange feeling overcame me as we pulled up to the Rome Termini. I felt like I was finally home. Two and half weeks ago I arrived in Rome with wide eyes to this huge bustling city. Now its honking Italian taxi cab drivers, shuffling groups of people and smell of fresh pasta stroke up an overwhelming feeling of finally being home.

Amalfi!

Tomorrow after school a group of friends and I will be leaving for a weekend trip to Amalfi Coast! Amalfi is a beach city located on the coast south of Rome. Apparently it is a gorgeous beach city and a lot of the locals in Rome travel there for summer vacation. Our train leaves tomorrow around four o'clock and we wont be returning until Sunday late afternoon. The five of us are staying in a hostel together in Amalfi. My first time staying in a hostel should be interesting! Below I posted a picture I found online of what the city looks like, but hopefully I'll have some better pictures after my stay. I have my ticket printed, bag packed, and camera charged! Amalfi Coast here we come!

Running with the Chariots

This morning I had my first Italian exam which consisted of a two hour written test and an oral exam. Between the two, I preferred the oral exam. We were instructed to find a partner in the class and create a scene within 20 minutes then memorize ten sentences spoken in fluent Italian each. Luckily, I have one of my good friends in my class. The conversation was more fun than work. Our conversation consisted of visiting monuments, eating different types of food(obviously my favorite topic of discussion) and meeting up later to go dancing! Now I just have to start holding entire conversations with the locals! After class, my friends and I went to Circus Maximus and played frisbee for two hours! The Circus Maximus(Circo Massimo) was constructed in Ancient Rome as a chariot racing stadium and mass entertainment venue. It was able to accomodate at least 150,000 people. To think I was running around playing frisbee with some friends where Ancient Rome's mass form of entertainment used to be was unbelievable.

My first break during my semester is coming up in a week and half. Three of my good friends and I decided we're going to Greece for the whole week break!! We booked the flight a few days ago and booked our reservations for hostels today. We are going to the island called Rhodos in Greece. I can't wait to see the beautiful Mediterranean Sea!

A wonderful way to start a Sunday morning

This morning I went to my first Catholic Mass in Rome. I went to the church called Basilica di Maria in Trastevere. This church was built by Pope Julius I in 313 dedicated to Virgin Mary. The whole mass was in Italian and every alter was completely filled with people. Even though I couldn't fully understand everything, the music was beautiful and listening to a mass in a different language was really interesting. The ceiling stood out the most for me, it was outlined in gold with compliments of red and green. The rest of my day has consisted of Italian language homework with my apartment mate Jessica at a local cafe along with a cappuccino freddo. Yesterday five of us went to the Galleria Borghese located in Villa Borghese, which is the central park of Rome. My friends and I packed some brie cheese, bread and grapes for a little picnic in the Villa Borghese before we went to the gallery. We had to make reservations to go inside the Galleria Borghese three days in advance. They only allow 200 people at a time in the gallery and have very strict rules. We all had to check in our purses at the entrance and cameras were not aloud inside. I was able to see some amazing sculptures. My two favorite sculptures were "Apollo and Daphne" and "Persephone" both sculpted by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. It was incredible to see how detailed the statues were. I was able to see the soft expression of Daphne as she was slowly transforming into a tree. Her toes were intertwined with roots and the top of her fingertips were transforming into leaves. The fabric wrapped around Apollo was swirling in the breeze and looked as soft as a sheet. It was truly the work of a genius, Bernini was an amazing artist. On our walk back from the gallery we stopped by a bakery full of pastries and I had my first canolli in Rome! Simply a perfect, relaxing day!