May 10th - Florenzia

A beautiful train ride through the countryside of Italy was the beginning of our day today. It was absolutely breathtaking. The homes and vineyards were exactly like you picture - located on the sides of the beautiful rolling hills covered with gorgeous expanses of wild red flowers, and green pastures. The train took us from Venice to Florence (it's called Florenzia - city of the flower. Isn't that perfect?) Once there, we had time to explore the city on our own before the tour. I bought my first Italian scarf! :)

 We never found out what this building was even though our tour started here, but I liked the spheres out front :) And behind me (I'm blocking the view) there was a carousel. Not sure why, but it's Italy. 

Kelsey and I found a store with a couple of manikins in an interesting form. So of course we mimicked them :)

While wandering around we found this bronze bore that seemed to attract a lot of attention. It seemed as though everyone wanted to rub his nose and have a picture. Twas very strange. Too bad the sign explaining the bore was in Italian. So what did we do about this curious situation? We did as the Florentine's. However, being a bit of a germaphobe, I couldn't get myself to touch it... so I got as close as I could. I know, pathetic.

Another interesting thing about Florence... their signs. Not only one, but multiple signs had figures painted on them.

Our three hour walking tour of the city began as we learned all about the history of the Florentine's and their city. We got to see some incredible architecture, sculptures and art.

Beautiful Roman arches. 

Incredible medieval architecture.
Our tour ended in the Accademia Gallery where we were able to see Michelangelo's David. It truly is an incredible statue. The fake version (below) is right outside of the building above.

That's where it was originally placed but it was moved inside a museum to preserve it (and apparently some crazy guy tried to take a sludge hammer to it and broke David's finger a few years back. People are weird).

This is the real one. You're actually not allowed to take pictures of it... which is why we had to be sneaky and you can barely see him :) haha don't tell anyone.

I always wondered what all the hype was about a statue of a man but I guess you have to see it to understand. It's absolutely beautiful. Carved out of a single block of marble, it's 17 feet tall and has more detail than you can imagine. You can see the veins in his arms and the stress/determination in his face. From behind you can see the sling across his back and the rock in his right hand. It's not just a statue, it is so realistic and almost mesmerizing. It's interesting that his head and hands are intentionally too large in proportion to the rest of his body. It's believed the Michelangelo did this in order to accentuate and draw attention the things he felt were most important. It truly is an incredible statue. 

Have I mentioned how my favorite part about Italy was the attention to detail? Look at the side of this building! Is that not incredible? Hand carved, it extended up the entire height of the building. I was blown away!

Although our time in Florence was short (mostly because my foot hurt pretty bad that day so I had a hard time focusing on the tour...) we were soon on a bus headed to Siena. We enjoyed another incredible drive through the Tuscan countryside. Can you believe we saw castles?? I had no idea there was so much medieval architecture in Italy, I assumed that was all on the western side of Europe. A lot of the drive actually reminded me of the parkway in D.C. same large, dark trees lining the entire road. Except this time the trees would open up to reveal hills of vineyards and Italian villas. 

Italian drivers are absolutely crazy! No designated lanes - they probably wouldn't use them anyways; cars just weave in and out of each other along with scooters who don't care which side of the road they're on. It seems like everyone drives like a teenage boy (one of our tour guys even warned us about them. "They're just weaving everywhere, speeding around corners, flying through the air, jumping out of windows - you never know where they're coming from!" haha she was cute).

After we made it to our hotel we were encouraged to walk to the city center to eat and sketch. We took a beautiful 15 minute walk through the narrow streets of Siena with gorgeous view of the city and castles high upon the hillside. 

Pictures just don't quite capture the beauty of this city...

On our way there we even saw a couple of boys practicing color guard :) This made me so happy

After an uphill hike, we reached the escalators. 6 flights of escalators in order to get to the city! It was the strangest thing. 

Siena is a medieval city and boy did it look like it! Oh my word! I felt as though I should be dressed the part, it was so real! We're going on a walking tour tomorrow and I can't wait! For dinner tonight I had my first authentic Italian pizza!

Yum!

By 9:45 the four of us girls and Yi decided we were exhausted and headed home - in the dark (shh... don't tell my parents. We didn't know how to get a taxi in the middle of a medieval city). I really enjoyed the walk at night though! The Italian buildings and castle facades were absolutely stunning lit up at night. It was hard to stay focused on getting back to the hotel.

Bad news of the day - I lost my camera charger. Of all things to lose on my trip to Italy! I have got to find someone with the same camera or at least a cord of some kind. I could just die...

May 9th - A Day in Venice!

I can't believe that I got to spend an entire day in Venice, Italy! As we rode the last waterbus through the Grand Canal tonight I watched the city from the window and realized that although this was my first, it might also be my last time in the city of Venice. I'm not sad though - I just can't help but think how amazing this experience has been (and who knows, maybe I will make it back some day).

Our day started on the Island of Mirano for a glass-blowing demonstration. It was sooo incredible! Before the demonstration, we were lucky enough to wander around the little shop and be inspired by the incredible work.

Kelsey and I found these beautiful hand-crafted masquerade masks and couldn't help but try them on. I think they gave both of us a strong desire to attend a masquerade ball...

I'm so glad that we actually got the opportunity to watch a glass-blowing demonstration to see the incredible talent that is associated with it. You wouldn't believe the exquisite detail on some of the pieces in the shop and then to witness how those things are actually made - wow!

Just to give you an example of how incredible the talent of glass-blowing really is... This horse took the demonstrator 50 seconds to make. 50 seconds! But apparently he can't do it any slower or the glass will harden too quickly. It was the most interesting thing to watch. The glass it attached to the end of a long stick and then put into the oven which heats it to a liquid form. As soon as it comes out, the blower ever so gently blows a little air into the end of the stick to give the glass a little form and then he uses large tweezers to shape the animal. The glass looks like homemade taffy as it is twisted and manipulated into the shape you see above. Incredible.

After the demonstration, we headed to the Museo Vetrario - a museum dedicated to the history of glass blowing throughout the centuries. It was quite interesting to see what has changed but mostly how much it has stayed the same for hundreds of years.

We were given a little free-time, so Kelsey and I wandered the island a little before we headed back to Venice.

You can never get enough pictures of the wonderful boats everywhere in Italy. 

My absolute favorite part about Italy is the attention to detail. Even this little window all by itself on the corner of a building is absolutely beautiful! Why do we only have rectangular windows in the states? I'm going to change this.

Kelsey and I waiting for the water bus to head back to Venice.

We slowly explored the ins and outs and little shops of Venice with a few other girls. I'm glad our day wasn't just filled with tours and museums - the best part about the little alleyways of Venice is just to explore.

I even found this wonderful little bookstore. It was tiny but loaded with books. Just like you would picture :)

We were looking at another shop when Yi (pronounced "e"), one of the other students, ran up to us and asked if we wanted a ride in a gondola. When we asked him how much he quickly brushed off our question and said he had already paid! He is such a sweetheart. I'm so glad he didn't let me leave Venice without a ride in a famous gondola. 

From left to right: Christina, Kelsey, Kyra, Stephani. We had the nicest gondola driver. He chatted with us a bit, gave us a little history, and even hummed and whistled a little. Perfect.

The water was actually pretty muggy and gross but I still took a picture of it.

Fancy detailing on the gondola.

No, our gondola driver wasn't really cute or anything, but of course Kelsey and I had to take seductive picture with him in the background ;) The romance of the whole gondola experience got to us I guess...

We enjoyed the ride and the relaxation so much that we didn't pay particular attention to the time... bad idea. When we got off we realized that we had five minutes to make it across town for our tour of St. Mark's! We had even been told by our instructors multiple times to not be late for this or we would miss a five hour tour of St. Mark's Basilica and the Doge's Palace. So what did we do? We ran of course - stress fracture and all. Of course it hurt, but I did not come all this way to miss out on anything. I have to admit, there's nothing better for one's self-esteem than being ahead of the entire group even with a limp and having them ask you to slow down ;) Apparently my half-marathon training is working! How many people can say they've run through the streets of Venice? Well I can now ;) The best part? Venice is at sea level and I'm used to running at 4300 feet so catching my breath was a breeze. Not to brag, but I felt sooo good! Especially as I listened to the other girls breathing heavy and wiping sweat of their foreheads for awhile. Woo! Gotta love being in shape!

St. Mark's Basilica and the Doge's Palace were breathtaking! Pictures just don't do it justice!

 This is the Doge's Palace.

And this is St. Mark's Square with the basilica it the back.

This is the inside courtyard of the Doge's Palace. It's so large my camera couldn't capture much but the brilliant white marble everywhere was absolutely gorgeous!

Detail was not overlooked anywhere in this palace with its 24 karat gold ceilings, frescos on EVERY wall, beautiful arches and gilding everywhere...

the scale for everything was enormous!

beautiful vaulting ceilings - this was one of my favorites

and after seeing this incredible coffered ceiling made of 24 karat gold, frescos in every empty space, rich color and exquisite detail in the ceiling, moldings, and walls, Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel didn't quite live up to its fame. (I wish I had a better picture of this incredible ceiling, but of course pictures were not allowed. I had to steal this off the internet. You'll just have to see it in person to really understand).

After this long tour we headed across the water to Saint Georgio's Church. I just can't believe how every single building has so much personality and detail. Nothing in Venice is the same. And everything is so elaborate. 

Instead of wandering around to get an up close look at all the detail of the church, I decided to sit in one of the pews and just take it all in. Again, incredible detailing was given to everything. As I sat there, one of my favorite quotes came to mind, "Be still - and know that I am God." The only problem in this building, I'm not sure how you could "be still". There was so much going on inside that church, such detailed carving, so many paintings and colors everywhere, designs and motifs on the floors, ceilings and walls... I just don't know how you would not be distracted; how you could be still enough to feel the Spirit. But I guess their purpose is to show the infinite power and majesty of the almighty God. I prefer a gentle, loving Father in Heaven...

This may be one of my favorite pictures :) This is the little sitting area you wait in for the water bus. The sun was at just the right angle that if you look closely, our reflection was almost as good as a mirror...

hahaha love this. such fun girls. 

We wandered around Venice a little bit more, realizing this was our last day and trying to soak in as much as we could. We enjoyed a lovely dinner at an outdoor cafe and then decided to take the scenic route home. We quickly hoped on a waterbus, realizing that they must not run as late as we thought and that we may have just caught the last one. We enjoyed the relaxation as the bus slowly made its way around Venice.

I was even able to capture a couple beautiful sunset pictures through the window...

(even Italy has cranes...)
A perfect ending to our stay in Venice. We thought...

About three stops from our desired destination, the driver of the waterbus began ushering everybody off, speaking Italian of course. As we attempted to communicate that we had three more stops to go, he simple shook his head, kept motioning us off, and said something about how this was the last stop... at least that's what we concluded with our incredible Italian deciphering skills. We weren't exactly in the best part of town, walking wasn't really an option, and daylight was slowly drifting away. Panic began to sink in about as quickly as the sun was setting as I flipped through my little Italian book and tried to translate the things flashing across the screen. I concluded that we should just wait 20 or so minutes and another bus would come around the corner. At least I prayed this would be the case.

As we waited we took a picture of our scared faces to document the experience. It's all about the experience, right? This picture was quite difficult to take seeing as I couldn't stop laughing which would then cause the other two to laugh which then would take us awhile to regain our composure only for the giggles to start again.  At least we were enjoying ourselves despite the situation.

Luckily a water bus did eventually show up. We were still in a bit of a bind though... we all had to go to the bathroom quite badly but of course there are no such things are public restrooms in Italy. (you rarely see them and they usually cost money). It was so bad Stephani almost left to find a bush while we waited but we were worried we would miss the next water bus so we decided to stick it out. Only problem, once we caught the water bus we had a 15 minute ride to the actual bus, a 20 minute ride on that, and then a quarter of a mile walk to our hotel. Let's just say it ended up being quite a brisk walk with calls for who got the bathroom first when we got back as the rest of us danced outside the door.

hahaha I love funny experiences like this. They are what make the trip memorable. Our stay in Venice is over but in the morning?? Florence! Ciao Venezia!

May 8th - Arrival in Italy!

We arrived in Venice around 10:30, got situated in our hotel, cleaned up a bit (after 14 hours on a plane you feel pretty gross) and hit the town. There was no way we were going to miss out on a day in Venice just because we were tired - the Tylenol helped a bit last night, but how much quality sleep can you really get on a plane?

This was our first hotel room. It looks like a normal American hotel room, however, look a little closer and you will notice that there are two small beds next to each other to appear as though they are one large bed. Also, those pillows were normal sized, and the bed was exactly as wide as each pillow. That left about 3 inches on either side of my arm when I lied on my back. They were sooo small. Another thing that you cannot tell from this photo, the right hand wall was a mirror (probably in attempt to make the room appear larger) and that painting in the upper right hand corner? It was cut in half and pushed up against the mirror so it reflected in order to make it look like a full painting. hahaha good technique. I thought it was clever.

Venice was everything that I imagined it to be! Every picture I've ever seen of this place is exactly what it is! That never happens - only when you're in Italy. There were nothing but alleyways and water canals, cobblestone walkways, beautiful homes with decaying bright colored stucco, brick showing underneath, and contrasting colored shutters framing every window. Plants were hanging from every window and balcony and vines scaled the walls. As you wind through a maze of alleyways, you randomly happen upon a courtyard with live music, open shop windows, planter boxes with huge shade trees, benches, and people jabbering away in Italian. Clothes lines hung between every building, pigeons were everywhere and everything was just perfect. I wanted to soak in every sound, smell, and sight.

This was my first look at the Grand Canal! Isn't it just perfect??

With water canals instead of roads, this required bridges to be everywhere :) I loved it. And the metal work on every handrail? Gorgeous.

I cannot even explain how much I love alleyways, old brick, arches, and cobblestone!

Really?? Does it get any better than this??

When I said narrow alleyways, this is what I meant. It's a good thing all doors open inside... Before I left my dad said don't go down any alleyways at night - this would mean I would have to stay out of Venice at night! I may not have taken his advice... shhh!

Our first stop in Venice? Gelato. It was pretty good but I'm not a huge ice cream fan. I got pistachio flavor. It ended up being the only gelato I ate the entire trip. We enjoyed it while we watched the boats heading down the canal with a gentle breeze and 75 degree weather. Perfect.

Every shop was lined with hand crafted masquerade masks with exquisite beading, feathers, and detailing. I don't know what they Italians use them for but I wanted one!

For lunch we enjoyed a delicious Italian panini on the steps of some beautiful bridge.

On our very first day in Venice we got to see the most famous bridge in Italy - the Rialto Bridge. Can you believe it was built in the 1500's??

 And guess who just happened to be in Venice riding a gondola down the Grand Canal that day? The Pope. Naturally. (he's the little red guy in the middle of all those security boats) The craze he created was a bit much to me. He seemed more like a celebrity than a man representing Christ - unless that's not his purpose, I don't know. It's not every day you're stuck in a swarm of people in Venice all trying to see the Pope, so I did as the Italians and took a picture. 

After a long day of walking and soaking in the sights, we headed back to the hotel. We were so exhausted I even witnessed one of the students fall asleep standing up on the bus :) I couldn't have asked for a better first day in Italy. 

May 7th - Departure Day!

We left for Italy today! I'm sooo excited! This is my first time out of the country and I've always wanted to go to Europe! Woot! I can't believe this is actually happening... I still think I might be dreaming.

I had my dad give me a blessing before I left - it's been a long time since I've had that experience with him. I hesitate asking him for blessings because they are kind of a last resource in my family, but I figured with a big trip like this out of the country with recent events (the death of Osama Bin Laden) and with my lovely health (the newest concern, a stress fracture in my foot), a blessing seemed like a good idea to give me the strength I needed and to give my parents the reassurance that everything would be okay.

We headed into the office, I sat on the desk chair, mom sat on the floor, and dad was standing behind me. As I watched my dad shut the door to give us a little privacy, I was overcome with emotion - I'm so grateful for the priesthood and that my dad has that authority. I'm grateful for a patient and understanding mom who is by my side through everything. If anyone has seen me shed more tears of frustration over the trials of life, it's her. I can only pray that I'll be like her someday.

The blessing was a powerful one. It was absolutely beautiful. Tears filled my eyes as I was filled with the Spirit assuring me of how much my Heavenly Father cares for me but also how much my parents love and care for me as well. After the blessing I turned to my dad to thank him and give him a hug and he had tears on his cheeks - as did my mom. I couldn't have asked for a better moment right before I left. I love my parents so much. A love like the love my parents have for me is one that must be acquired overtime - I hope to one day show them just as much love and appreciation.

If that testimony of the priesthood this morning wasn't enough, the first article of the Ensign I read on the plane ride was all about the power and importance of the priesthood. It seems as though the Lord knows just what he's doing and just what I need to hear. Maybe one day I'll understand fully why I have to suffer through the physical pain that I do. In a letter from Tanner once he mentioned that I need to pray for the faith to be healed; how does one develop that kind of faith? But how can I focus on things like this when I'm on a plane headed to ITALY?? Oh my goodness I'm sooo blessed? How many people get an experience like this??

When we landed in New York everyone headed to grab something to eat but I was set with my granola bars and rice snacks (that makes me sound like one of those girls that cares about her weight - I do, but not like that. I just can't keep the dollar amounts from adding up in my head of how much I've already spent and how much I'm going to spend in the next two weeks... I know I'll have to spend money, but I don't want to waste it on food!) However, Yi, the one Chinese student on our trip was sweet enough to buy me some food - what a sweetheart! (I hope he doesn't like me :S)

Goal for the trip: Don't let pain in leg get in the way.

Well I'm about to pop a Tylenol PM to help me sleep on this plane - we'll see how it goes. Good night :)

Life Goes On

Wow! Life is just running at full speed and I can barely keep up! I'm back from Italy! It was incredible! I had to keep a journal every day while I was on my trip so I'm just going to repost all of those entires with pictures.  But first I need to catch up with everything else that's going on! Oh my word! Where to start...

A few weeks ago Kendall took me to Davis High's Moonlight Serenade (every year the jazz band, moonlight singers, and dancers put on a show where you can come and dance as well). Kendall and I decided that since the Salsa was popular at the same time as jazz that we would dress the part (Okay, I don't really know if that's true but it was easier to find a salsa dress than a 20's style flapper dress). I'd say we looked pretty hawt ;)

It was absolutely one of the funnest dances I've been to! Kendall is incredibly good at dancing and I'm mediocre at following so we made a pretty okay couple. Apparently other people thought so too. We had a few random people come up to us and ask how long we'd been dancing together, if we were professional or that we should be, and how we learned to dance like that. Truth is, we simply repeated the few moves we did know, whether they fit the beat of the song or not. In my opinion, the magic came from the fact that Kendall and I are both performers (I danced and he was in musical productions) so we know how to perform well whether or not we are good at what we're doing - that, and we were having the time of our lives so I'm sure the big smiles on our faces and in our eyes made us look even better :)

Maybe I miss dancing...

Let's see, what else is new? I'm currently unemployed, or jobless if you want to use the more politically correct term. I probably shouldn't complain about my job too much where other people can read it, but it was awful. I hated the negative, backbiting work environment, the power hungry management, the unseen motto of "faster is better and it better be accurate or else", the ridiculous reasons to get written up, and the feeling of walking on pins and needles every day at work just to not get yelled at rather than do my job right. After a year of that I was done. I really don't think I could have endured it long enough to find another job. I can't handle a negative environment like that. One should not have to pray to be a good employee every day before work and be terrified to walk in afraid of who's going to be yelling and for what reason next. That's ridiculous. So if you have any ideas on leads for a new job... preferable one that give me the same $13 an hour, that would be awesome!

I decided not to take a summer semester. I declared a double major, Interior Design and Technical Sales and decided that if I took summer semesters I could be done by 2013 like intended - but I've finally come to the realization that life does not have to be rushed. Why do I need to be graduated so soon? Yes, it would be wonderful to be done with school before or soon after I get married and especially before kids, but I don't see any reason to burn myself out because of it. Life is meant to be enjoyed, not just endured.

Remember two years ago when I went to California for a school trip and had to use a cane because of a leg injury? Guess what little friend I got to take with me to ITALY?? We may not be friends anymore. I'll just explain real quick how I got a lovely stress fracture in my foot just before my trip. At the beginning of May I was working on a final project for a class. The day it was due, 30 minutes before class, my group was still printing pages and gluing stuff to a board (don't worry, so were all the other groups, as well as the professor). I had to run down to the printing center on campus but was slowed down by heels and a pencil skirt. My solution? Take off the heels, hike the skirt up a little bit, and run - there were about 10 minutes to presentation time at this point. With the first or second step I took I felt a snap in my foot, yelped a little, limped a little, but I was fine and kept going. I was fine the rest of the day, but every time I went running after that it would get worse. I figured this was just a side effect of training for a half marathon and I didn't worry about it too much. Until the Tuesday before I left for Italy... I went on a lovely run with Kendall - it was a pretty easy going run, and I kept making him stop to take breaks for "my back" not wanting to tell him about my foot too. I made it home, and within the next hour I could barely walk my foot hurt so bad. I sat in the office and cried a little bit as I explained to my mom what had happened. I made a doctors appointment for the next day, found out I had a stress fracture, was told to stay off of it completely until my trip, good luck in Italy, and to make another appointment when I got home to see what more damage I had done. Great. I was ecstatic about this news.

It's still healing - I never went back to the doctor... :S It hurts every Wednesday after volleyball but I really am taking it easy. I swear if I take it any easier I'm going to lose my mind. The half marathon will  have to be postponed until it heals completely though...

Well I think that may be all the catching up I can do for now. Oh! Jeremy graduates from high school tomorrow! This blows my mind - what is happening to the life that I've known for so long?? My goodness...

Two weeks...

Two and a half weeks.... two and a half weeks... I can do this. I'm going to make it!

Gah... I don't know if I'm going to make it! I only have 2 and a half weeks of the semester left... actually I take that back. Only 2 weeks (I just looked at a calendar. Wise decision.) But if these next two turn out to be anything like the previous two... I'll never survive. The problem with a project based major? Exactly that. Projects. You can cram for a final exam in one night, but you can't exactly cram creativity and a presentation board into one night. Good thing only 6 of my 7 classes have semester projects. Bahaha! What WAS I thinking??

There is light at the end of this tunnel though! ITALY!!!! (right now I think the light I see may be the light that shows up right before you pass to the other side though...) haha actually I have an even closer trip to look forward to :) Las Vegas! The week after finals I get to spend 3 days in Las Vegas with some friends at a Kitchen and Bath Convention! Woot! And then 9 days after that I'll be on a plane ride to EUROPE! I don't think it has sunk in that I'm actually going to Italy yet. My focus right now is to survive the next two weeks... Speaking of... I gotta go design a rug! Ahhh!

Painting Extravaganza!

On Monday February 21st, my friend Kendall invited me to come down to Provo to help him and his roommate paint their apartment. We first thought to paint something exciting but not to crazy so the next tenants might not make us repaint, however, with Josh as an art major and Kendall as an animation major, that idea soon went out the window as ideas began to flow. We set off to seek inspiration from a graffiti wall, but ended up going on a hike/stroll to Bridal Veil Falls. 

We played in the snow and explored an abandoned building.

We traveled to the DI looking for inspiration... No luck. Until Kendall and I found this:

And so began our adventure...

What do you think? We didn't quite finish it so I'll have to post pictures of the finished product soon. Especially because one of my favorite parts, the kangaroo, is missing. But I'd say it's probably the most exciting painting job I've ever seen. I've never painted a mural before but I am totally inspired to paint one in my next apartment! I'll just have to have Kendall come draw it for me - do you see that beautiful sun?? All I really did was paint inside the lines... Kendall was the one to make it so beautiful. What a fun fun date!