Susnset in Florence and Fun with Friends

Cinque Terre

This past weekend we went to Cinque Terre, which is 5 towns (hence the name) on the West coast of Italy. We only spent Saturday there becuase we couldnt find anywhere to stay. It is defintely a place I would love to go back to some day. It is absolutely gorgeous, as you can see from the pictures! You can hike between all the towns, but I choose to go the beach all day. The beach as lots of rocks and pebbles, so it is quite painful getting in and out of the water. The water is really deep right after you get in, so we learned real quick that once you got to a certain point in on the shore you just dove in to avoid anymore pain. Getting out is a different story. We were probably entertaining to the locals! The sun was very intense and hot, so after being the sun for a while jumping in the water was very refreashing becuase it was so cold. It wasn't freezing though. A nice break from the hot water back home.
It is the second week of class and already time for mid-term. I have to right a paper on "Primavera" by Botticelli, so that what I am going to be doing tomorrow. I dont have class tomorrow because we are going to the Uffizi Gallery tonight (the famous meseum here in Florence). There is a lot of renaissance art there. I am really excited!
The others pictures are of some moutains we saw on our train ride back to Florence and the night time pictures are of Florence taken from a piazza that I went to last night with some friends.

Pictures from Como

The first picture is from Milan. We had a lay over here on the train and we didn't want to go far, so we ate at McDonalds!

Como

Sorry it has been so long, but between finding the time and actually being able to long in has kept me from posting. Last weekend my roommates Robin, Anna, Rachel, Meredith, and I went to Como, Italy, which sits on Lake Como. Como is in northern Italy very close to the Swiss-Italian border. It is absolutely beautiful there. I would love to got back someday. It was nice to get away from all the crazy tourist here in Florence. We took an hour ferry boat ride around the lake where we stayed. Again, it was gorgeous! The lake is huge. You can take a ferry to the opposite side, which would take 5+ hours and you would end up in Switzerland. There is a villa in another city, that was 2 hours from where we were, where they shot the wedding scene of Anikin and Padme and they also shot some scenes in Casino Royale. I don't know which ones, since I haven't seen it. We wanted to go to this villa, but it was to far away to make it back in time for our train.
Class started on Monday. I am taking Renaissance Art in Florence and Italian Regional cooking. The art history class is really cool, because we walk around the city and actually go and see what we are talking about. So far we gone to the Duomo, the bapistry, and the museum to the Duomo. While we walking through the museum we entered this one room and there stood Donatello's Mary Magdalen!! I had no idea that it was there. Its one of my favorites pieces of art. Today we went to Santa Croce (a famous church here in Florence), which is beautiful. The cool about this church, is that Michaelangelo is buried there. There are other "graves" and monuments for other famous people, such as Galileo. My cooking class is only on Monday nights. It is lots on fun cause after we are done we get to eat! The chef who is the instructor is hilarious. I helped cooked the dessert, so maybe when I get back I can impress yall with my skills..haha!

oh yea....Happy Fourth of July!!!

Pictures

The First Set: Trevi Foutain, Spanish Steps, Colosseum, Peter and Paul's jail cell
The ones with the last post: School of Athens (Vatican Museum), Petà (St. Peter's), Dumo of St. Peter's, the altar in St. Peter's, St. Peter's Basilica

Florence...

We made it to Florence! This is only the second day and I absolutely love it here! It's a lot more laid back than Rome! Our apartment is right near the school, the river, and everything else you could possibly need. Its HUGE! We have 5 rooms that sleeps 2 people, so there are 10 of us in the apartment. We have a kitchen, dinning area, den, 4 bathrooms and 3 showers. Sleeping last night wasn't the best since Italians like to stay out all night and out bedroom window looks out over the street. It will have to be something to get use to.

Ciao From Rome

Sorry it has been so long, but Rome has kept us very busy and in return we have been very tired. Monday we went to the Vatican City and saw the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peters. We also ealked across a bridge that had angels on it that were sculpted by Michaelangelo and each one was holding a piece of the crusifixtion. Monday night we saw the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and Panthenon. We also had our fist taste of gelato. Yesterday, we did ancient Rome. We saw the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Capitol Hill, Peter and Pauls jail cell, and the colosseum. Last night we went to a piazza and had dinner and more gelta, which had nutella in it.Very delious. Sorry it there are any spelling mistakes, but the computer is it Italian and itsnt very helpful. We are leaving for Florence today, so hopefully I will be able to post pictures soon.

Foggy Day in London Town...

Well we made to London! Our flight doesn't leave for another 3 hours, so we have lots of time to kill. The flight over was long and with not much sleep. But thats ok because the sunrise was amazing. When we got over London we weren't able to see the city becuase of all the clouds. That was a real bummer, but we are looking foward to flight from here to Rome!!
Ciao!

Travel Update

Here are a few pictures from Guatemala. The boy I am with in the pictures is who I fell in love with 2 years ago and it was the biggest blessings to get to go back and see him. I loved being able to go back to a place that I had been before. I am looking forward to more visits to Casa and it possibly being a permanent place for me one day...in a year and a half (still praying about it). There is tons more stories to tell about my time there and not enough space to type it all.

It is now time for next adventure...ITALY! I can't begin to explain how excited I am. This has always been a dream of mine, so you can imagine yourself how it feels when a dream comes true! I have 9 days left and tons more to do, well at least that's how I feel. Robin and I have meet for hours and accomplish nothing, although when we meet its all work and little play! Next week is going to be packing week for sure!!! I hope to keep this updates as possible while I am there so that yall will know what I am up to. I can't wait to see what God is going to show me while I am there. This is my first trip out of the country that isn't a mission trip so the trip has a different feel to it already. I know that this opportunity is a gift and I can't wait to experience it!!

Guatemala

Last Wednesday I found out that I will be going to Guatemala with my college ministry back home! I went 2 years ago and had an awesome expereince! I am so excited that I will get to go back. I am looking foward to seeing the children that I meet 2 years ago, especially Moises (the boy who stole my heart)! We will be at a children's home called Casa Para Ninos. It is similar to the ministry that we were with in Honduras, except that Casa is like an orphange. However, most of the children at Casa are not orphanges. The children are placed there by the courts becuase of abusive situations, their parents are unable or don't want to take of them, or the children come there voluntarily becuase they know that they will get 3 meals a day, an education, clothes, and a place to stay. While we are there we will do any kind of labor or maintainence work that needs to be done around the campus and we may have the opportunity to go into a community a build a pastor's home (there maybe more concrete in my future). I think that through the Honduras mission trip and now Guatemala, God is preparing my heart for missions. I can't wait to see where He leads me. Please pray for our team while we are there (May 12-18)!

Preparation

In a little over a month I am going to Honduras with a team from Grace Campus. I am really excited and looking forward to the plans that God has laid out for me. I don't know many people on the team yet, only those that I knew before. I am eager to meet them and make new friends. I can't wait to share this journey with them. While we are there we will be at a private school helping with maintenance and interacting with students who live there. These students are chosen each year to attend this school, because the Honduran government only pays for education through the 5th or 6th grade. This school allows the students to continue their education, however each student has to reapply each year. The students who are in desperate need to attend are the ones that do.
For this summer I am planning to study abroad in Florence, Italy. I will be going with a groups of girls from Auburn. I finally meet with an adviser from the Study Abroad office on Friday and got a better feeling of what I needed to be doing to get all my paperwork in order. Going to Europe has been a dream for so long now, that I can't believe that it is actually happening. I get so excited just thinking about it. I am looking forward to learning about a new culture and gaining a new prospective on life and the world around me. God created this Earth for us and I want so much to see and learn all about it. I know that some how he will use this passion inside me to bring praise to his name. What an exciting gift to have!!