My "three field trips in a row" week ended yesterday with USAC taking us on a day trip to Spoleto and Marmore Waterfalls!
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Yesterday, 9-26-14, My Explorations class joined The Hill Towns class for a field trip to Monte Argentario and a natural reserve known as “Le Oasi Del WWF.” Both classes got to explore the two locations together with the professors alternating to speak and provide lessons. Here's a photo gallery to capture some of the beautiful sites we viewed throughout the day. *The class I am referring to is “Explorations of the Mediterranean and Italian Coastline.” It is a science course. In this class I “will explore the environmental features of the Mediterranean landscape, analyzing the natural as well as the cultural factors which have shaped it throughout its history.” (according to the USAC website course description)
Above is a video that my roommate Keeghan created using videos she took with her GoPro during our field trip to Roma! The final product turned out great and in this video you will get to see many of my family from USAC. Enjoy!
I feel very blessed to say that yesterday, 9-19-14, marks my second time visiting Rome in less than one year! Throughout the semester, USAC provides field trips for us students to attend and Rome marks our second field trip. When I visited my roommate, who studied abroad in Viterbo during the Fall 2013 semester, we spent a couple days in Rome and I was able to see the Colosseum, Spanish Steps, Pantheon, The Trevi Fountain and The Vatican/Sistine Chapel. Yesterday I was able to see many of these same monumental places (minus the Vatican) but my experience was completely different! 1) We had a Guided Tour of the Forum and I got to explore parts I did not see the last time I visited. It was great to learn about the history of it all during the tour with our tour guide Alessandro. 2) The Colosseum is still in construction - as it was when I saw it last November. 3) In my opinion, the saddest part that we did not get to experience in full effect on our walking tour with Simone was The Trevi Fountain. It is under restoration. Tourists can still go and view it but there is no water in the beautiful fountain and construction workers were working on it. This is one of my favorite sites in all of Rome and I'm so grateful that I got to experience its beauty last November. Even though we visited some of the sites I saw less than a year ago, I feel like I understand and learned a lot more about Rome's history than the first time around! Here are a few pictures from the field trip - More on my Facebook in the album: "When in Rome: USAC field trip" Florence marks my first weekend trip/my first time staying in a hostel. Risa accompanied me and we woke up and hit the ground running at 4:30 a.m. Friday morning to catch the earliest train to Florence.
Florence is a beautiful city and one I definitely wouldn't mind going back to visit in the future. Risa and I accomplished a lot in the past two and a half days! Some highlights of the trip:
Lastly, my aunt and uncle are vacationing in Italy for the next two weeks and Florence is the first city they are staying in. My uncle's brother Pat and his wife Carol are traveling with them. We met up with them on Saturday night when they arrived. They took Risa and I out to dinner and even treated us to breakfast, gelato and lunch today. I'm so happy we got to meet up and I got to see some of my family while studying here in Europe! They even brought up some more winter clothes my mom had given them. I'm very thankful to have such a loving family that I got to spend time with this weekend and also for Risa for being my travel buddy and accompanying me on my first weekend trip! Florence you were amazing and I can't wait for my next adventure! |