March 28.

2:00 am (on 29th)
Today was our free day.
IT started out with a goodbye to our lovely new friends and travel buddies from the other school. Their flight left early this morning. After hugging them goodbye and eating breakfast, we headed out to the Musee d'Orsay. Such a beautiful building and great museum. We were only there a few hours, like seriously only 2. I wish we could have has stayed longer, there is so much to see! We saw a temporary exhibit on "l'angle de bizzar.' They were beautiful and strange and dark. After walking through there I went to the Van Gogh room and saw his paintings, then ran up the stairs to the fifth floor to see Monets and Edgar Degas. The building is so beautiful and I want to just go sit in the center for ages. There is a beautiful clock and the whole structure is gorgeous. There is an awesome little model of it next to a glass floor that looks down on a model city of Paris. I wish we were aloud to take pictures inside.
Then we left to go to the Pompidou. I ate some delicious Onion Soup for lunch, then we took the metro to near the Pompidou. On the way I stopped and got a picture in front of Nicholas Flamel's house, which is only two blocks away. I am happy I saw it.

The Pompidou is a really cool place. Its a neat building with all the pipes outside and modern and contemporary art inside. It is suck a different feel and look from the d'orsay and the louvre. Though they are all art museums, they have very different atmospheres and feel, as they should. I feel they very well reflect the type of art that is on display.  I think having architecture that  relates to it purpose is important.
In the Pompidou there is a floor for 1940s to now, and one for 1905-1940s. I liked the latter better, it was full of really thought provoking and cool things. Defiantly want to spend more time here as well.
There was a recording of 2,000 people sining bicycle built for two, and a computer sining it. There was a room with lots of colors and shapes that were different depending on your perspective from where you where standing.

There were lots of awesome models of buildings, a cool sculpture made of tiny metal plates.

My favorite was a room with lots of toys and things on spinning plates with lights on them, making dancing shadows on the wall.
After the Pompidou we went to a restaurant to eat a type of pizza from northern France. IT was really thin but good. Dessert was basically the same thing but with chocolate and apples instead of meat and mushrooms.
When we were done with dinner some people headed to the hotel, while Ashley, APril, Sienna, Jonny, Kaelyn, and I all headed to the Eiffel tower. It was so cold! We all put on all the layers we could, stood in line, and went all the way to the top.
It's so amazing to be able to look out on the city of Paris at night, all lit up and sparkling. I miss it already. So much. I can't wait to go back.

Wednesday 27-

12:46 am (on 28th)

Jour Nombre deux à Paris.

Today we got up, had a croissant, yogurt, and toast, and at 8 headed out and got on a bus that took us on a site-seeing tour of the city. We drove around the whole city as a lovely Parisian woman told us all about what we were seeing and about Paris. I was tired so it was hard to keep awake but I did. We got off for a few minuets to use the bathroom and take pictures of the tour Eiffel.

 We got back on and went to the Louvre. Oh my gosh the Louvre! What a fantastic place. I could spend weeks in there and still never see everything! Jonny, Kaelyn, Abraham, Kristina, Michael, and me, decided to stay with Professor Carpenter and walk around listening to everything Carpenter was saying about art. He is our art history professor after all. It was so great!

(people taking pictures of the Mona Lisa)


I saw the Mona Lisa and Nike, and lots of paintings and sculptures. We found a painting that looked like Michael Cera.

Out of everything we say though, I am most happy that I saw two Vermeers! 'The Lacemaker' and 'The Astronomer.' I was so happy. He is my favorite painter and the astronomer is one of my 3 favorites of his.

Then we kind of split up, I went down at looked at statues and then walked through Napoleons Apartments. We met back up and walked to the steps of the Opera house to meet up with the rest of the group. We then all took the metro to Montmartre where we walked up all the stairs and then looked at all the view of Paris. We ate dinner at a cute little restaurant with a red canopy and for dessert I had my first ever creme brûlée! It was soooo good. We walked around a little more before coming back to the hotel.

(The view from Atop Montmartre) 

March 26, 2013. Paris

11:57 pm

Day one in Paris.

I awoke on the night train speeding through the French countryside. We ate the breakfasts that Eva, our tour director, had packed for us the night before, and talked. The train had been stuck for a while at one of its stops so it ran a little late. We reached the train station and got off and took a bus to the hotel. We dumped our stuff, used the bathroom and walked down the street to get food. We took the metro down to the island in the center of the city, and we saw Notre Dame. 

We split up and Professor Carpenter walked us around and talked about the Notre Dame. I've been here before so I convinced a group of us then went up to the tower, It was so beautiful. It was super cold but totally worth it. Just as breath taking as I remember. 

We all meet up again and had dinner at a nice little restaurant in the latin quarter. It was really good and they served tarte tatin for desert!

After dinner most people went back to the hotel but me, Michael, Abraham, and Kristina decided to stay and adventure. The kids from the other group were all staying out too, so we all went to the Eiffel Tower to see it all light up at night. We watched the light show, it was so freezing cold but once again worth it. 

We've only been here one day but already I am completely reminded of why I loved this city so much. It's so great to finally be here again. It calls back memories and feelings, reviving the love for this city that had been dwindling down in the back of my mind. I can't even express the feeling inside me. 

March 25 - Florence, Italy. Day 3 of PUCart eurotrip

3:04 am.
Today was a fun day! We got up and took the bus north 3 hours to Firenze(Florence), spending the time talking with the other students on the trip. I miss my friends back home, but these guys are cool and I'm happy for the chance to get to know them. We got to Florence and went on another guided tour, this time of the Duomo and Florence. Our tour guide was my favorite of the trip. A super smart funny Florentine man with a nice hat and an awesome scarf and coat. The city of Florence is beautiful. I like it much better than Rome. The shop lined small cobblestone streets is one of my favorite things about Europe. Walking them with friends laughing and talking is the best thing and I'm sure I will remember it.

We saw lots of statues and really cool churches and a bridge. At the end of the tour we got to go to a leather factory and got a demonstration.

Then we split up and me, Michael, Abraham, Kristina, Jonny, and Kaelyn walked around, looked at stores,  and got pizza and gelato. It was so much fun. Then we got on the bus to go to the train station for the night train.

We hung out in the station and then got on the train to Paris.
The compartments on a night train are small but I like them. I'm sitting on the top bunk writing this. After getting settled in we talked for a while and then Michael and I went to the dinning car to play cards. We got some people from the other group to play with us for a while which was nice, then Jonny and Kaelyn came over after they left and the four of us talked for a few hours. This is what I love. Talking to people in the middle of the night for a few hours about anything and everything.

March 24

4:39
Today began early(isn) at 8:15 as we headed to the colosseum. The colosseum is huge and beautiful, and packed with tourists and tour groups. I liked being able to see it, even though, like the day before, it was rushed through and quick. I wish we could have looked longer. I've never considered myself a tourist, and this trip has conformed that for me. I don't care about seeing all the sights. I want to sit and look at people. See them. Listen to them.

In the afternoon we went to Di Ostea Antica, the ruins of an ancient delta town. It was breathtakingly beautiful. I liked it a lot and probably for the same reason I like cemeteries and abandoned buildings- I like old sad things and the stories they hold. Like- hundreds of years ago people lived here. They lived in these buildings. I sat down for a while and just listened. It's quite and you can hear the wind and the birds and its just-its beautiful. It's so beautiful. Even with the bright orange fences, rails and evidence of modern life, if you can look past that, and imagine what it used to be like. This used to be a town, we are sitting in the ruins of a civilization, there were people here, just living their daily lives. And watching as the earth reclaim what was once belonged to it, as the buildings start to crumble but still stand as a monument to those people that built them and lived in them, and worked in them and slept, ate, went to the bathroom in them. Its just- its really aw-inspiring and thought inspiring. There is so much to see and I could spend days here and never fully comprehend its beauty and majesty, and the magic here and the stories it could tell. 

8:54
I keep thinking about those runs and how I wish we had more time here to sit and look, our second and last Rome is over. Tomorrow will be in Florence and we are just back at the hotel and the wifi isn't working. I want to be out walking around the town, but I guess I'll save my night life adventures for the next time I'm here. ;)
I just keep wishing there was more time, more time. Always in need of more time.

March 23 2013,

9:50
Today was our first actual/full day in Rome. We had the morning to relax and try to use the wifi, and in the afternoon we went to the Vatican City and saw the Vatican museum, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peters Basilica.

Then we got back in the bus and went into the city center and saw the fountain with neptune (threw a coin in!) and the Pantheon, which I learned is a temple to all the Gods, marking them as equals, and is 2 feet larger than the dome of St. Peters.

(the Dome of the Pantheon)

We had a pizza dinner that was good and got to know the other group a little. Now we are back at the hotel getting ready for the colosseum tomorrow.

(Inside the Vatican museum)

(the Dome of St. Peters)

The Vatican city/Chapel/Basilica are so huge! Standing inside St. Peters makes me feel so small. There is even a mummified Pope that you can see.

They are really into the Pope here. We went to the Vatican city gift store, I didn't buy anything but it was cool to look at all the rosaries.
We went to a market this morning and that was cool to see and spend time looking around and buying cheese.

So much so much done and seen today, we went so fast, I would like more time to just sit and observe people. I don't like this past passed run-through to look at things just for a moment. I can't even remember the names of most of the things we saw.

I like windows. I've noticed walking and driving around this city that looking up at the apartments and seeing in for just a few minutes is like getting just a brief bit of someones like and story. Kind of like how people say 'eyes are the windows to the soul,' what if windows are like the eyes of a story?

March 21st-22nd (Day one of PUCArt Eurotrip)-Thoughts from Above.

Today is March 21 or 22, it's about 8:30 in the morning in Rome. I though, have not yet reached Rome. I am sitting in an airplane somewhere high above about the east coast of the United States I believe. We are a few hours into the flight. AS I move through the air at 563 miles per hour, it is apparent to me just how much technology and the internet is apart of my life. I've known that, but it's still weird. I do not have internet and I do not like it. It is only day one. The ground shakes under my feet as the Arctic Monkeys play in my ear. This trip is going to be great.

-
After a short layover in Zurich we boarded a smaller plane to take us to Rome. As we took off I looked out at all these pretty buildings, these cute little Swiss houses nestled between trees and mountains, tiny towns covered with snow high up in the Alps, I am reminded, as I often am, that people live there. Like, actually live. They wake up. They go to school. They eat. They talk. They go to sleep. It's not just a place to take pictures of or go visit, it's their HOME. It seams ego-centric, because it is, and as much as I try not to be I am. We all are, we live our lives, know the people we know, go about where we live, do what we do. It's so easy to forget that there are over 7 Billion people out there, all thinking the same thing. all living different lives and knowing different people and placed. How is it that we can all live such lives, so similar, yet so different? There are numerous experiences and cultures and languages. How can anyone stand to never leave their corner of the world? I don't mean those who can't afford it because I know how expensive travel is, but those who don't even try. Taking a year of school far away, or finding a job on a different continent.
From the sky the world looks like a patchwork quilt, sewn together with rivers of tarmac, all across countries, connecting them together. Connecting us. We are earth. We are a patchwork quilt littered with bright blinking lights strewn together like constellations in the night sky. Beautiful tiny blinking lights. It's so easy to forget that behind those lights there are people. People who will turn them off when the sun rises.
We are landing already, it was a short flight. We get closer and the lights turn into cars and houses and street lights. People. life. I am reminded again that people live here. This time the here is Rome. It makes me wonder how I can keep forgetting, it is so easy to. And it gives me this feeling just like every time I'm driving alone down the freeway and suddenly the hunk of metal speeding beside me has a person in it. A person with a life. A person with a story. and I wonder what story.
The wheels have touched down and now we are at the gate. It is time to go, and I'm reminded that I have a story. We all do, and sometimes I get so wrapped up in trying to find a story I forget that I have one. And even with 7 billion other out there, Do I have the audacity to say I care, and to tell my story. I will.
I have found my center, and I hope I do not lose it again. Pack light, pack often, sleep in as many beds as I can, listen to as many stories as I can, and know people.

-
10:36  March 22, We are all checked in. We have wifi as well. We all went out as a group and got some pizza and gelato. The pizza was delicious! We saw some young hoodlums steal a bunch of vegetables from a delivery guy.Welcome to Rome. Now for a little reading and them time for sleep! It's Friday nights and I've slept 5 hours since Wednesday.