"...Rome. I will cherish my visit here in memory as long as I live. "- Audrey Hepburn in "Roman Holiday"

Before I left for my study abroad, several people who had studied abroad recommended traveling alone, if only for a bit. After my brief adventure in Frankfurt, I was not scared at the prospect, and when all of my would-be travel buddies had (albeit legitimate) excuses not to join me on my Roman holiday, I decided to go on my own.

I have been dreaming about going to Rome since I took art history in high school and fell in love with Bernini and Michelangelo. That love has only grown in subsequent art history classes and I was determined to get back there and see everything, companion or none. Plus, according to people who have previously studied abroad, traveling alone is a great experience.

I got in early on Thursday, and after a lovely lunch (I ate a million carbs during this trip!) I went to the Vatican. I had booked an absolutely fabulous small group tour, that lasted over three hours, and covered every inch of the Vatican possible. It was INCREDIBLE!!! Plus, I had just finished reading The Thorn Birds (which I highly recommend, BTW), so it was really cool to see where so much of the book is set (sadly I did not find Ralph de Bricassart).




Laocoön and His Sons. Backstory for this sculpture: the Pope wanted this old sculpture moved to the Vatican, but Laocoön's arm had been knocked off. So, the Pope called in all the artists who were working in the Vatican at the time, including Michelangelo, Raphael, Bellini, Titian, and a bunch of others (10 in total) and asked them to sketch how the arm should have been. 9 of the ten said the arm would have been extended out (as it is in many later reproductions). Michelangelo said it was bent back. Majority ruled, and a fake arm was put in, extended out. In the early twentieth century some guy went to a flea market in Rome and found this cool ruin that turns out to be Laocoön's arm- exactly the way Michelangelo said it would have been. So they hacked the old one off and put the original back on, and Michelangelo was vindicated some 400 years later.



Afterwards I went to the Trevi fountain, and ate dinner at a café overlooking the fountain at sunset (pretty darn awesome). My hotel room was quite nice, and since I had gotten about an hour of sleep the night before, I loved getting to crash early. Friday morning I was off to Galleria Borghese bright and early, to see the Bernini sculptures, which were even more magnificent than I could have imagined. It was absolutely breathtaking and such a dream come true to see David and Apollo and Daphne and his other works. The Caravaggio, Ruebens, and Titian works were also wonderful.


Sistine Chapel Ceiling


The Last Judgement

(there's tons more pictures, but blogger is being super slow, so I'm not uploading too many right now, but there are lots of facebook)


I took an “Open Tour” which went around Rome and stopped at all the major sites. I saw the Pantheon, the Coliseum, the Forum, Palatine Hill, did a bit of shopping, and just explored the city. The people were all so friendly and nice, even if we could barely communicate (a nice change from the Parisians I encountered during my last excursion).




Pluto and Proserpina by Bernini


Inside the Pantheon


Largo di Torre Argentina, where it is believed that Caesar was killed

I had booked the trip back during my blissfully ignorant days when I thought this last exam would not be as much work, and I would not be crazy stressed. I only realized how horribly wrong I was when it was too late to change anything. But, in the end, I was really glad to have gone. It was so nice to get away and have some time away from the books and stress. I enjoyed traveling alone, and getting to think and reflect on everything and go at my own pace. In spite of the awful sunburn I returned with (OW OW OW!!) I am so glad I did this. It was a great couple of days, but now, sadly, I must hit the books one last time!

".....waking up to say 'Bonjour!'"-Beauty and the Beast

First of all, Happy Mother’s Day to my wonderful Mom and my lovely mom friends! You ladies are the best (especially my mom).

Psych exams are over!!! How did they go? They went. That’s all that matters. I just have two anthropology exams left, and then I’m free to enjoy London until 4 June.

To celebrate being done with the most difficult portion of my exams, I went to Paris yesterday. One of my very good friends from New York was in town so I wanted to meet up with her, if only for a bit.

Since she did not get in until the afternoon, I spent the morning at Chateaux de Versailles. In tenth grade I took AP European History, and though the class was pure torture, I left with a dream of going to see the famous Versailles. Taking AP Art History two years later only made this hope grow stronger, and so getting to go was truly a dream come true.

Since I was in Versailles by myself, I took the same approach I took in Germany to make pictures more personal. However, Mr. Chick fell in love with a duck in Greece and he stayed behind to start a strange hybrid family with her (I unpacked my suitcase and he wasn’t there. I have no idea what happened to him). So, I replaced him with Flame, the Gay Lion.


















This painting of Lafayette was very special for me, because during my First Year at Smith, I took a class called Reenacting the Past, in which we "reenacted" the French Revolution, and I was Lafayette.











After Versailles, I met up with my friend and her mom. We were all quite hungry, so we had a rather early lunch at a little brasserie. It was delicious!! The French may be snotty (as I experienced many times throughout the day) but they can certainly cook and do amazing things with a duck.

Once we were well stuffed, my friend and I took one of the tour buses around the city. We had a very limited amount of time, she was jet-lagged, it was raining, and I was in a t-shirt, so this was really the best way to see the sites quickly










Maybe I’m strange, but Paris isn’t a place I dream of spending lots of time in. It’s beautiful, but I have been the Louvre before, and I have seen Napolean’s tomb, and I don’t feel like I am depriving myself too much by not spending more time there. I am much more excited about my upcoming trip to Rome (that is going to be FABULOUS!!). . So I think this wonderful day in Paris with a wonderful friend was just what I needed.