Italy - Student Style (Part I - Firenze)

First thing you should know: it is very difficult to be a student and a tourist at the same time. Having no money has the ability to prevent one from participating to the full extent of what a place has to offer, but it also allows one to be creative and find alternatives, and hey, pictures are free, right!?!
So for our half-term break, Phoebe and I headed off to Italy from the 13th to the 22nd.
We had a very bad start. Our essays and reports were due on the 13th, but our flight was leaving from Birmingham at 6:50am on that very day, so we had to be done on the Thursday. Side point, but a very important one: MY ASSIGNMENTS WERE THE FIRST ONES IN! I know that's mind-blowing enough for you all, but wait, there's more to come.
So Phoebe was going mad trying to finish her stuff on time, finally handed it in and ran home to pack in half an hour - Mad was going to drive us to Banbury (still Thursday night). I was going mad trying to fit all my junk in one backpack while trying to come to terms with the fact that we only had our flights and the first hostel booked! Diving in blind...We made it to Banbury on time to catch our bus to Birmingham (thanks Mad!) and then found a comfy spot (haha joke) in the airport to sleep for about 4 hours. Around 4am we stopped pretending to sleep and went to check-in then we flew out at 6:50am on the o-so-high-class Ryanair.
Dun dun duh da duh da da! We made it to Italy ahead of schedule!
We landed in Pisa at the Galileo Galilei airport and then went to look around for a train to take us to Florence. The train ride was uneventful until the dude came to check our tickets. "Bonjourno!" we said hello, it seemed like we could all be friends. But then..."Problemo". Sarah and Phoebe the exhausted student travellers had forgotten to validate their tickets! Big Problemo. It would have been great if we had known we had too. So we got a fine...Italy was not my friend so far.
It didn't get better either. We left the train station and wandered a bit when we got to Florence. Wandering is bad if you don't have a map and you are in an unfamilar city in an unfamiliar country. So it took us ages to find the train station back so we could find our hostel, which we still couldn't because Florence has black (residential) and red (commercial) numbers and we needed to find a commercial/residential building. When we finally found it, no one was there so we had to call and then wait, wait, wait till the owner came. We were the only people in the 'hostel' which was really just a bunch of rooms. But that was ok because honestly, we went to sleep right away (3:30pm) and got up the next morning at 9. It's a vacation, right?
We spent day 2 at the Gallerie delgi Uffizi looking at incredible works of art - Botticelli's, Michelangelo's, Raphael's, van der Weyden's, Rembrandt's...you know...those guys. I loved it, what a fantastic, ancient place!
Then we went to the Ponte Vecchio which is an enclosed bridge that has shops growing off the sides of all colours, it's incredible to see! It also has the Vasari corridor on top which was used by the Medicis, whom I love.
And then we got Pizza! Totally allowed...we were in Italy! O, then we got Gelato to celebrate Valentine's Day and sat in the Piazza de Signoria to watch all the lovey-dovey couples. How sweet.
When we got sick of valentine's mush, (o, and we were freezing to death) we headed back to our hostel and found that there were four new guests. So I decided to have a chat with the two also staying in our room and low and behold! They go to DORDT! Cherylyn and Jamie were on break from the SPICE Programme to the Netherlands (I was toally going to go on that programme!). What are they odds that we would end up in the same country/city/hostel? Totally a God thing...I'll be honest, I feel better in bigger groups of people! I'm bad at one on one. We also met Amber and Jess from Dordt and Calvin respectively who were also on the SPICE Programme and kindof travelling with the other two. Wow.
So we spent the next day - Phoebe, Me, Jamie, and Cherylyn- touring the Academia Gallery (home of Michelangelo's David), took some photos, which may not have been 100% legal...saw the Medici-Riccardi Palace, crossed the Ponte Vecchio to check out the Pitti Palace, met up with Jess and Amber, and went to the Piazza de Michelangelo. There was a great view of the city from there and we followed some nuns to a church where we got a free organ concert and the chance to look at some incredible architecture and artwork! Then we attempted to find Fort Belvedere by climbing this never-ending hill only to find that it was closed so we headed back into the city to find the Brancacchi Chapel, home of the finest Massachio paintings. On the way we found this fantastic outdoor market, a gigantic incredible church and finally the church with the Brancacchi Chapel where we sat through a Mass before checking it out. Wow.
Day three we were up early to check out Il Duomo, the Florence cathedral with Brunelleschi's architectural wonder - the Dome. It was closed. So we came back later and climed all 463 steps up to the dome. That was very cool, but I am mildly claustrophobic so it was an adventure...we got a great view of the city and the mountains in the distance...just chilling on the dome that revoltionised architecture during the Renaissance...
Then Phoebe and I caught the train to Venice!
Florence was amazing...dirty and noisy, but the amount of history and culture that is there everywhere is astounding! Recommended.

"We haven't seen snow like this since...2009!?!?"

This past week, the dwellers of the United Kingdom, the rainy frontier, learned what it is to be eskimos, and gained immense respect for Canadians.
(The picture shows snowy Charlbury)
Monday= 'snow storm' by British standards - London shut down, here in the Cotswolds we had about 4 centimetres of snow (school is not cancelled).
Tuesday= 'snow storm' with freezing rain (every other school is closed except Oxford...probably).
Wednesday= more snow but not a lot of accumulation (still no snow day! cruelty at its meanest).
Thursday=fantastic day. We started off by being woken up around 7:30am by Ben who was hollering about the amount of snow outside. There was actually a huge amount by British standards – like 4 inches! By 8, Ben was out sledging (sledding) already! Phoebe and I were REALLY hoping for a snow day. No luck. But we were in charge of leading chapel because Reverend Mike was out of town. So we showed up early at the church to toss something together! Last minute? Not us. We started with Roses and Thorns, then Jesus, Lover of my Soul, a devotional by Syd about rest in weakness, prayer, and How Deep the Father’s Love for Us. All in all, I think it went really well. Then we took our time getting to the train station- a bunch of our group got into a serious snowball fight with some of the local kids (most schools were closed) –I think we started it-, assuming that the train would be abominably late. It was not. We RAN. But this time, we made it. As we rode along and tried to catch our breath, we saw piles of people sledging down the hills in towns along the track. Happy snow day everyone else. Blast.
We got to Oxford about and hour and a half before lunch so I went to the Upper Rad Cam to do some more work on Margaret Cavendish. Essays due Friday the 13th! Blech.
Lunch at RPC was soooo delicious! Some kind of delicious creamy vegetable soup (no chunks) with noodles and big meat balls! With fresh bread on the side! And dessert! Sherry Trifle. Sherry Trifle, Sherry Trifle. Whipped cream (so much better here), custard, and jello with Sherry. It was yummy. And to top it all off, we had a gigantic snowball fight with our fellow students here. It lasted super long and everyone got SOAKED! What a hoot! When it was all over, there was no snow left in the quad - the ground was bare, the trees and bushes were stripped, and the poor snowman was sacrificed for the cause.
In fact, everywhere you went in Oxford or Charlbury, people threw snowballs at you! So you threw snowballs right back...what a great day!
It took a long time for my feet to get nice and warm again! I almost caught my death like poor Prince Albert!, my feet were wet aaaaaaall day – should have worn my Wellies!
Friday= Soooo much potential for a snow day, but instead, our instructor John took the train to us in Chralbury and we had a super short intensive lecture. How depressing. But our co-op lunch, prepared by Phoebe's group, was delicious! Afterwards, Carolyn, Melissa, Chloe and I decided to go sledging rather than study for our exam the next day. (Oh, I should not have said that!) So we found this ancient sled in the basement of Chloe and Melissa's house and christened it 'the family heirloom'. It took us a bit to find the hill...we ended up meeting Laura, Kev and Ben on the way and had a brief snowball war...everyone against Ben. Eventually getting to the hill, we were anxious to try out the family heirloom. Chloe volunteered to do the test run. No luck, what a terrible sled! Haha...it was soo rusty! But we were determined so we pulled the sled down the hill ourselves! By this time, the people around us were paying attention to our ridiulousness and everyone was just having a jolly good time laughing at us! It was really funny! We found this manky piece of insulation at the bottom of the hill and decided to test its aerodynamics...much more success with this one! Melissa had a good run to. Me, not so much. I was about 4x the length of the insulation and probably broke my shoulder from the impact of diving onto it. I think I made it about 10ft down the hill. All in all, it was glorious fun.
Saturday= Exam #1 on Early Modern Life Writings. I think it went fairly well.
Sunday= Sunday lunch. Yum, thank you Sue!
Monday= Exam #2 on Early Modern Art and Architecture. I think it went fairly well.
Now everything is a blur - just write papers. How odious.
Friday the 13th= ITALY!

Sights and Sounds of Oxford

So yesterday we took a walking tour of Oxford to check out the art and architecture. Of course, this place in ancient and the first college we visited, Balliol College, was opened in 1263...you know...basically yesterday. It is a beautiful place, lovely quads, gardens, and Mediaeval Architecture.
Stop 2: Exeter College. This is where J.R.R. Tolkein went to school and there is a bronze bust of him on the way to the chapel. It was estbalished in 1314, but the oldest part left, Palmer's Tower, was built in 1432. And the chapel. Wow. Google it or something because it is absolutely gorgeous!
Stop 3: Brasenose College, established in 1509. It got it's peculiar name from a statue that lost it's nose - 'Brazen' 'Nose' = 'Brasenose. And you thought everyone here was a genius...
Stop 4: University Church of St. Mary's. Pretty sure every chuch here is named St. Mary's. Well here in Oxford, there has been a church on this site since the 1100's. Dang.
Stop 5: Magdalen College (remember to pronouce it "Modlin"). Established in 1453 and C.S. Lewis and Lewis Carroll both attended here. It has the tower with the famous dreamy spires and it's right along the river. It's absolutely beautiful and there is a deer park with live deer - duh. Still cool. And there is a gigantic tree out back that apparently inspired Carroll's rabbit hole for Alice in Wonderland. And Addison's Walk - wow.
Stop 6: New College - coooool place! First of all, 'new' in this instance means nothing. It was established in 1379 - maybe that was new once upon a time. There is an ancient Roman wall that runs through the campus as well which is fantastic and then there is a great mound on the quad that was said to be a burial ground during the Black Plague. If you're ever in the area, you should go up to the mound and clap. Sounds retarded, but the strangest thing happens - when you clap, the sound echoes as a squeak. It's so bizarre! In the chapel there is a very strange statue to Lot's wife turning back and turning into salt. And in the quad between the cloisters has this great old tree that was used in Harry Potter - where Draco turns into the weasel. I touched it! Haha! The cloisters were also in the film - they were pretty freaky though, dark, with creepy statues.
Stop 7: Keble College: what a wierd looking school! It's a Victorian structure, red/yellow/blue brick instead of the gorgeous stone that all the other schools are made of. One thing that is cool is that in the chapel, there is a painting by Holman Hunt called 'The Light of the World' and it is just gorgeous. It's the original. Sweet deal.
So that was our tour...Now you can imagine what I see everyday!

And I thought I was busy BEFORE!

Friends, (we are reading George Fox - the man who started the Quaker movement and he called everyone 'Friend'- I think that's nice...and I can apply my learning;))
I am busy. But I'm still having FUN! Let me tell you...
This past week has been great, the weather - not soo good, but people say the third week is always the worst – for homesickness, for all kinds of stuff – like the honeymoon is over. I will admit, Week 3 has been...unique. First of all, I missed the train Monday morning so I stayed in Charlbury all day and read John Bunyan’s Grace Abounding for the Chief of Sinners and drank tea- loads of tea. The weather was dreary all week and I had a never-ending headache. Then on Tuesday my group had a meeting to plan our meal for Friday so we decided to have it at the pub. Wednesday we went to another pub for the quiz (second place this week), and Thursday we went to the Eagle and Child again because Phoebs and Em hadn’t been there yet. Then that night we went to Mad’s house to make our food for our Friday Co-op meal – chicken pot pie. And then on Friday we had our last Art and Architecture class with Glena :(and then we ate our delicious Chicken Pot Pie!
Friday afternoon, Chloe, Phoebe and I caught the train to Oxford to go to our first football (soccer) practice (called 'training' here)! We had to get some boots (cleats) but I was able to borrow some, Phoebs brought hers, and Chloe bought some - she has teensy feet! I don't know if I mentioned this already, but we joined the Regent's Park/Balliol College club football team. It was so great! The girls on the team are super and skilled so it looks like it will be a good season, and we Canadians could contribute - they were really happy we came out! So that was encouraging. Then when we trained it back to Charlbury, we ended up in the same coach as Sue's eldest son, Sean - it was pretty funny because Phoebe and I thought he looked familiar and he had seen pictures of us so we all sort of knew eachother - it was a bit awkward, the whole 'are you who I think you might be' but we got over that quick - he's a hoot just like the rest of the family. That night Phoebe and I went over to watch Blackadder II with Chloe. O my word. What a FUNNY show! You all must watch it!
SATURDAY! Good things always happen on Saturday...so far.
This time we went to Stratford-on-Avon: the Birthplace of the Bard (Shakespeare)!
We saw Anne Hathaway's cottage, Hall's Croft (where his daughter and her husband lived), Nash's House and New Place (the site of Shakespeare's house - it was destroyed by a history/English student hater) and then the birthplace itself. It was actually pretty incredible to see exactly where the great man was born -and all the signatures of famous people who had been there...in the 18th century...
One of our favourite things is...SCONES! so we stopped at a little tea shop and I had some Stratford tea (delicious) and a big delicious scone with strawberry preserve and clotted cream. Stop drooling;)
We also saw St. Mary's church where Shakespeare is buried - cool, but shrine-ish.
On Saturday night, Phoebe and I went to the 1st Annual Charlbury Beerfest with Sue and Dave. One icon of British culture is bitter beer and that was being replaced by international lagers, so some concerned British citizens instituted CAMRA which is basically the campaign to reinstate REAL ales. How nice. So that was pretty cool.
On Sunday, we had a fellow Regent's Park student preach (it is part ministerial school) and then we headed off to Sunday lunches hosted by members of the Charlbury community. Emily MacIssac and I went to the Lethbridge's house (yes, that city in Alberta is named after their ancestor- I'm famous by association) and had a lovely time - we had lamb, veggies, roast potatoes and Queen's Pudding for dessert! Life kinda rocks over here!
And then Monday, IT SNOWED!
The poor Brits didn't know what to do! London had it bad and the whole city shut down! It's actually still snowing...how bizarre!
Well I could use a snow day! We've got our first exam this Saturday and the next one on Monday! Blech.