Ravenna with Neil
Today started at 6AM after a horrible nights sleep. It’s actually weird because lately I haven’t been sleeping well at all… I think it’s a combo of my cold (surprise surprise that I’m sick) and the fact that I have a lot on my mind. Lately before I fall asleep I spend a lot of time thinking about things that I miss at home and school. I mean, it’s not that I’m homesick it’s just that a lot of things that are important to me aren’t here and the whole “wanting” feeling is starting to weigh on me a little bit.
My solution? I’ve been reminding myself over and over and over WHERE I am and I’ve been keeping myself really busy.
Today, after our walk to school at 7AM we went on a three hour bus ride to Ravenna (a city in Northern Italy). Before we started driving our guides all warned us that we’d be going through the Apennine Mountains and that the roads are twisty and windy; all I could think about was the ride of death in Positano… Luckily I fell asleep about 5 minutes into the ride and didn’t wake up until three hours later when we arrived in Ravenna.
Ravenna, as all cities I’ve visited in Italy (with exception of Napoli), is beautiful. When we got there Marilena, Claire, and I made sure to get in Neil’s tour group since he was so awesome last time he took us around Pisa – god he was so freaking funny. It’s weird though… maybe we got in a lame group today or something cuz Marilena and I were the only ones that would be laughing at his jokes (blue and pink dolphins? What??).
We visited such sites as San Vitale, Galla Placidia, the Orthodox Baptistry, San Apollinare Nuovo, and Dante’s Tomb – it was crazy cuz I totally remember studying about those locations during art history at SCU! Seriously, the various places contained the most incredible, breathtaking, mosaics I have ever seen in my entire life. The walls and ceilings of each building were out of this world. PLUS, the buildings we visited today were built during the 500’s… yea, over 1,500 years ago!!! I’m still freaking out about it.
Then Claire, Marilena, and I grabbed lunch and spent the rest of the evening strolling around the city, lounging in the piazza and soaking up the PERFECT weather (it was about 75 today), talking about boys, shopping… I am proud to say that I exercised some major self control today; at Zara I found a really really really cute brown winter jacket and wore it around the store for about 20 minutes then put. It. Back. On. The. Rack. And. Left. The. Store. AAAHHHHHHHHHH… our latest adventure that we’re working on is a trip to Switzerland; maybe I can get the jacket for that trip…
On the drive home from Ravenna we watched the cheesiest movie I have ever seen. It was called “Don Juan de Marco” and the best thing about it was the fact that Johnny Depp was the lead character (hahaha, I watched the whole thing cuz of him).
Also, this is random but pretty cool, we saw a bunch of people skydiving! We saw them all landing in a field with their parachutes… I know that has nothing to do with Italy BUT how often do you see something like that??? Oh yea, we also saw a flock of a billion birds. I’m not kidding. There were billions!!! Heh… It’s the little things in life. :)
I think that my host family thinks I’m liek a crazy party animal or something because tonight at dinner they were telling us about how today in a pub they saw some men sitting at a table drinking beers and laughing and telling stories and stuff and Susana was like, “Tera, we thought that the tall, strong, blonde, guy drinking the beer was your dad!” Ooooooookaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy… maybe the fact the guy was blonde might make him my dad, but the fact that he was laughing loud and drinking beer isn’t exactly what I’m known for at home. I think that the whole breakingmyfootandstillwantingtogooutatnight thing is what makes them think I’m crazy… who knows?
I called Derek today – ah! I miss my little brother so much! It was about 11AM California time and he was definitely still sleeping; that’s what I like to hear! It sounded like he was loving college; I’m so proud of my little brother! We were on the phone for kinda a while (sorry dad if it turns out to be an expensive call…) but it was worth it cuz we had lots of gossip to exchange!!!
A few days ago I called Doddles too because I hadn’t talked to her since BEFORE I left for Italia (um, over a month ago!). I was excited to get an e-mail from her a few days later.
It’s funny because a lot of people have been saying to me “I know I haven’t talked to you for a while but I read your blog everyday and it feels like I’ve been talking to you.” Makes sense but hey, what about me?!? Everyone knows everything I’VE been up to but I haven’t got a clue as to what everyone else has been up to!!! At least leave me comments or something otherwise I might have to boycott blog-writing and MAKE people call me and e-mail me. :)
My solution? I’ve been reminding myself over and over and over WHERE I am and I’ve been keeping myself really busy.
Today, after our walk to school at 7AM we went on a three hour bus ride to Ravenna (a city in Northern Italy). Before we started driving our guides all warned us that we’d be going through the Apennine Mountains and that the roads are twisty and windy; all I could think about was the ride of death in Positano… Luckily I fell asleep about 5 minutes into the ride and didn’t wake up until three hours later when we arrived in Ravenna.
Ravenna, as all cities I’ve visited in Italy (with exception of Napoli), is beautiful. When we got there Marilena, Claire, and I made sure to get in Neil’s tour group since he was so awesome last time he took us around Pisa – god he was so freaking funny. It’s weird though… maybe we got in a lame group today or something cuz Marilena and I were the only ones that would be laughing at his jokes (blue and pink dolphins? What??).
We visited such sites as San Vitale, Galla Placidia, the Orthodox Baptistry, San Apollinare Nuovo, and Dante’s Tomb – it was crazy cuz I totally remember studying about those locations during art history at SCU! Seriously, the various places contained the most incredible, breathtaking, mosaics I have ever seen in my entire life. The walls and ceilings of each building were out of this world. PLUS, the buildings we visited today were built during the 500’s… yea, over 1,500 years ago!!! I’m still freaking out about it.
Then Claire, Marilena, and I grabbed lunch and spent the rest of the evening strolling around the city, lounging in the piazza and soaking up the PERFECT weather (it was about 75 today), talking about boys, shopping… I am proud to say that I exercised some major self control today; at Zara I found a really really really cute brown winter jacket and wore it around the store for about 20 minutes then put. It. Back. On. The. Rack. And. Left. The. Store. AAAHHHHHHHHHH… our latest adventure that we’re working on is a trip to Switzerland; maybe I can get the jacket for that trip…
On the drive home from Ravenna we watched the cheesiest movie I have ever seen. It was called “Don Juan de Marco” and the best thing about it was the fact that Johnny Depp was the lead character (hahaha, I watched the whole thing cuz of him).
Also, this is random but pretty cool, we saw a bunch of people skydiving! We saw them all landing in a field with their parachutes… I know that has nothing to do with Italy BUT how often do you see something like that??? Oh yea, we also saw a flock of a billion birds. I’m not kidding. There were billions!!! Heh… It’s the little things in life. :)
I think that my host family thinks I’m liek a crazy party animal or something because tonight at dinner they were telling us about how today in a pub they saw some men sitting at a table drinking beers and laughing and telling stories and stuff and Susana was like, “Tera, we thought that the tall, strong, blonde, guy drinking the beer was your dad!” Ooooooookaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy… maybe the fact the guy was blonde might make him my dad, but the fact that he was laughing loud and drinking beer isn’t exactly what I’m known for at home. I think that the whole breakingmyfootandstillwantingtogooutatnight thing is what makes them think I’m crazy… who knows?
I called Derek today – ah! I miss my little brother so much! It was about 11AM California time and he was definitely still sleeping; that’s what I like to hear! It sounded like he was loving college; I’m so proud of my little brother! We were on the phone for kinda a while (sorry dad if it turns out to be an expensive call…) but it was worth it cuz we had lots of gossip to exchange!!!
A few days ago I called Doddles too because I hadn’t talked to her since BEFORE I left for Italia (um, over a month ago!). I was excited to get an e-mail from her a few days later.
It’s funny because a lot of people have been saying to me “I know I haven’t talked to you for a while but I read your blog everyday and it feels like I’ve been talking to you.” Makes sense but hey, what about me?!? Everyone knows everything I’VE been up to but I haven’t got a clue as to what everyone else has been up to!!! At least leave me comments or something otherwise I might have to boycott blog-writing and MAKE people call me and e-mail me. :)
posted by tera a firenze at 12:14 PM
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