Milano, Genoa and Chinqe Terre!

Last Saturday we left Catania on a plane to Milan. We only had a couple hours in Milan, so we took the metro to the Piazza Duomo. It was insane. That might be putting it lightly! That was the day of the Inter Milan and Munich Soccer game...apparently a big one? There were thouands of people wearing black and blue, screaming, dancing, throwing fireworks and smoke bombs and blowing horns. It was nuts!! We toured the Duomo as much as we could with all of the festivities going on and also saw the Galleria. My thoughts of Milan will always be amazing because of the craziness that was taking place in the Piazza Duomo that day!
We got on a train that afternoon to Genoa where we stayed at Clemson university's villa. Genoa was beautiful! We got to the villa just around sunset and the views from the balcony were stunning. I cant wait to post pictures so that you all can see! Our time in Genoa was a bit slower pace than it had been before and it was really nice! Hans gave us a tour of Genoa and we did a bit of drawing and a bit of shopping ;) Genoa wasn't touristy at all and there was a beutiful water front and harbor where Renzo Piano's Aquarium was.
Our second day in Genoa was spent at Chinqe Terre!! Chinqe Terre literaly translates to 5 lands. It basically is 5 small towns located on the Mediterranean sea and connected by hiking trails. Each town is between a quarter mile and 2 miles apart from the next. We started the day in the first town and spent two hours at the beach, which we were all stoked about after the let down from the Syracusa "beach" aka rock! After that several of us took the ferry to the third town where we did some shopping and found a really cool store\gallery of this guy who was trained as a graphc designer and architect but now just lives at Chinque Terre and makes and sells art, amazing. Epicness occured in the third town when we found a bunch of students, like ourselves, jumping off of this huge rock into the water. Of course we had to do it, and it was a blast!! It was maybe 15 or 20 feet tall. I got a bit cut up climbing up, but it was definetly worth it! After that we took the ferry again to the fourth town and had dinner. North Italy is known for its Pesto, so that is what we had! It was delicious. And, fyi, Pesto translates to Basil Sauce in English...i thougt that was kind of funny. We "hiked" (but really just followed a nice paved path along the mountain side) to town number 5. We chilled on this super huge rock for a while before getting on the train to go back to Genoa. Chinque Terre was definetly a highlite of the trip for me. The water was as clear and as blue as the carribbean (although it was much colder) and the views were stunning. Italians definetly get props for painting their buildings beautiful sunset colors to contrast the mountains and the water, every view could have been a painting. What a life that would be to be like the artist that we met.... live in a beatiful place, paint a few pictures, eat some delicious pesto...wow.

Flash Mob

definition of Flash Mob:
A group of people who appear from out of nowhere, to perform predetermined actions, designed to amuse and confuse surrounding people. The group performs these actions for a short amount of time before quickly dispersing. Flash mobs are often organized through email and/or newsgroup postings. *urban dictionary


The most epicness of epicness occurred in Catania on friday night! The night began with a sit down Sicilian dinner with the Italian students. It included a lot of seafood and it was amazing. We had octopus, squid, shrimp, salmon, swordfish, risotto and of course, cannolli! After dinner we went with a few of the Italian students to this thing called flash mob, which I had never heard of. It was the most bizarre/totally fun thing ever! It started at the top of the hill and probably about 2,000 people started dancing and marching and jumping and skipping down the hill all listening to their individual ipods and going crazy! We were the only ones without music but it was still awesome! We just clapped and danced and went crazy and then the entire mob made its way to the Piazza Duomo where we took part in the longest conga line ever!!! There were so many people just dancing everywhere and going crazy! I have a pretty epic video of it but unfortunately I can't upload it yet. After the flash mob we went with the Italian Students took us to a bar. There were so many people on the streets you would have thought it was some sort of festival. The only time I've ever seen that many people out in Starkville is Bulldog bash! The Italian Students said that Catania is like that every night, I swear its like they never sleep!

Here is an image of the Piazza Duomo where I spent probably around 6 hours sketching in Catania, its also where I took part in the EPIC conga line :)

Hello Sunshine!

Well, its been a while because this trip has gone from taking it easy in Europe to 90 miles an hour non stop touring, walking, jumping, dancing?
The past week has flown by and I am doing my best just to remember everything we did! Last...well, around a week ago?? we left rainy Rome for beautiful and sunny Sicilia! We stayed in Catania Sicily, home of Mount Etna, the first legit volcano I've ever seen. (I didnt actually take this picture, its from the internet...) I don't have access to a card reader so for now, these pictures will have to do. That is pretty much what it looked like though, although there was less snow.

So, a couple stories about Catania...
One day we took a trip to Syracusa, Sicily. It was about an hour bus ride from Catania. The landscape was almost desert like, not quite what i was expecting. The University of Catania's Architecture program is based in Syracusa on the ancient island of Ortesia. We were planning on having some time by the sea while we were there but unfortunately the weather turned pretty cold and gross. By this point we were so tired of the weather ruining everything that we didn't let it stop us. Several of us jumped from a 15 foot rock into the Mediterranean! It was absolutely freezing and absolutely crazy but I would do it again in a heart beat! Here is another image from the internet of what the sea looks like there.... (hopefully ill get some jumping pictures up soon)

There is so much more to tell but it will have to wait until tomorrow! For now look up "flash mob" on youtube and i'll tell you my story tomorrow :)

The Swiss Alps and Cheese...Cheezits and Wine!

Hello! Well its been a very long mostly internetless 4 days. Our second day in Basel was amazing. The weather was beautiful and the sun was shining!! (we havent seen it since...) We visited the cathedral in Basel that they call the Munster...sort of an odd name for a church i thought. It was beautiful and the view from of the Rhine was amazing. We went to an Architecture museum...it was...very strange! There was a lot of theoretical stuff, in museum form? Strange videos and charcoal on the walls and a strange lady dancing. One wall had words on it 'peter pan, peter betrayed jesus, peter rabbit, peter rabbit layed easter eggs' yeah....haha.
On Sunday we took a train from Basel to Como Italy. We went straight through the Swiss alps and it was incredible! I have never seen anything so tall and gorgeous! They were snow capped and as picturesque as you can imagine! I guess since its spring time, the snow is melting and there were water falls everywhere, it was just amazing! I will try to get pictures up as soon as I get the chance.
Story time...Getting of the train in Como, i forgot one of my bags. I jumped back on the train where a bunch of old people were just standing in the aisle with their bags between me and my bag...so i leaped over them saying 'skuzi!' (haha, lame) and leaped back over them but the door was closed. Andy and Jason ran down to the conductor and were trying to tell him i was still on the train (insert dramatic music and me panicking) He finally i guess realized that they were speaking English and said 'WHAT?' and they some how got across that i was still on the train and needed to get off. He motioned for me to go the down a few cars and then it was like that scene from Titanic, I am running for my life the way he told me to go, but then there is this old guy pushing me the other way saying no, go this way, and im saying 'NO Get off of me!' as i leap through the cars and finally exit the train.
haha, it was v. dramatic, you know. Maybe I remember it a bit differently than it occured, but i def could have ended up in Milan without my wallet or anything. stranded. haha, that could have been an even more exciting adventure but i am glad that I will not have to find out.
Como was a bit dreary when we got there and a huge storm came through as we were sitting at a table on the sidewalk at a restaurant. Our first meal ended up being frozen pasta and the second was McDonalds. So needless to say, our first day in Italy was not quite what I expected.
The second day, though was better! Our Hostel was really nice, quite like a Hotel room really. We had really good luck with hostels in both Basel and Como, I think it has spoiled me for the rest of the trip because i certainly cant expect the places that Hans has booked to be as nice, haha!
I have realized that I love the way Italians do their shopping, through the window! You can walk along the street and just window shop, seeing everything and the prices. I loved just walking around Como and looking into all of the store windows. Our second day in Como was a monday, and apparently they mean it when they say that things are closed on Mondays. It was even hard to find a place to eat. I cant imagine how they get buisness done or how this is good for their economy, most stores and places of buisness are only open 6 hours a day!
We took a fairy ride around the lake and saw a couple more of the small towns built up into the hills. They were so coloful and fun! We were looking for any signs of George Clooney, but no luck. Later I found out that he is filming a movie in Hawaii. oh well.
That night we had really good pasta at a restaurant in one of the piazzas. It was decently priced and worth it. I was even able to get coke with ice for 2 euro, which i didnt think was too bad! We had some wine in the room and joked that since we couldnt afford cheese, the cheezit snacks that Andy packed would have to do...they sufficed.
We are in Rome now, but more on that another time. The city is calling and i think i should go find out what it is saying! Chiao!

Take a picture of this...

This was today in the beautiful town of Basel! The view of the river and the bridge (1215) was absolutely incredible! The old part of the town that we have explored is really small and has so much character and charm. The streets are tiny and there arent too many people. In fact, we have only met two other americans. There are hardly any cars and you are free to walk through the streets and cross wherever you want (v. different than london!)





Yesterday we took a bus into Germany and went to the Vitra Complex. It is a furniture factory/architectural mecca. We toured (german tour....) a Zaha Hadid fire station (picture <) a Frank Gehry Museum and factory, a Herzog and de Meuron building, a Jean Pouvre pavilion and a Tadao Ando building. It was incredible! The German tour was a bit hard to follow, but the guide did a pretty good job of giving us the basics in English. Vitra itself makes furniture, so we got to sit, touch and photograph many amazing and famous chairs. I got really excited about the Mies furniure! Ive also determined that my house (far in the future) will be the absolute coolest. with the coolest furniture ever!!
Getting to Vitra was an adventure. Turns out our passes didnt work for the bus to Germany and then the driver wanted Euros, which none of us had. It turned out alright in the end after some really awkward exchange of confusing looks and questions.

The last photograph is the Herzog & de Meuron Building (my fav)
















More to come! <3 Amy

More about London...

I felt inspired last night and decided to write a little more about London...

The hostel that we stayed in was in the neighborhood of Victoria and we got to know it quite well. Jason broke his glasses so we walked around and found an optrician, also finding many thrift stores or "charity shops" as they call them. There were alot of old ladies, fruit stands, sketchy groceries and homes in Victoria.

Some of the architecture that we saw...
The Gherkin, Norman Foster and City Hall, also Norman Foster were in "the city." We did the typical architecture field trip-middle of the night-visit and take alot of pictures-trip to these buildings. It was fun :) We also went to the Tate Modern, a Herzog and de Meuron building. There was some fairly decent artwork but unfortunatly some of it was really gross and made me quite nausious really.

I loved loved loved Westminster Abbey! The Lady Chapel, built by Henry II was breathtaking and literaly gave me chills. Scott and myself opened up this trap door in the ground. It had a v. creepy ladder to the cript level, i`m pretty sure we almost encountered some super old skeletal remains. Burried at Westminster are the Bronte sisters (v. cool) Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Vicotira, a couple Marys, and a few guys named Edward, Charles and Richard. Also burried there was Cromwell, who overtook the British government. He was there for two years until the crown was restored and they dug him up, hung him and then dicapitated him. Brutal. Charles Darwin is burried there...we found this quite curious. I wonder how his relations to the church were at that time?

Today we went to Germany but more on those adventures later :)
If you would like a surprise from my travels, please send me your address on facebook!

one more note- pardon my misspellings. I am the worst speller in the world and this computer thinks that everyything i type is misspelled. I think it wants it to be in German ./

MIND THE GAP

Well, i have just spent 3 days in London. I loved it! London is definitely the city for me. I spent an hour in HMV, the music store in Piccadilly circus, they have the best music! Lets see, some highlights....
We flew in on Monday and it took forever to get through customs. After that it then took forever to find Chris, and in the end, we never did. I guess our paths got crossed and we ended up meeting him and Scott at the Hostel. The hostel was pretty cool, a lot of fun people (mostly Aussies). The first night we walked around town and passed by Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar square. It brought back lovely memories of last summer with angie and glor! We (by we i mean scott) invented the most fun game...its called, "finished your drink and try to jump on the lion." If you have been to Trafalgar, you understand. If you have not, the pictures will explain!
I love Trafalgar square, it is definitely my favorite place in London! I also really enjoyed Westminster Abbey. We spent 3 hours in the church and ended up loosing two people from our group... i was convinced they were eaten by the dungeons of the Abbey until they turned up at the Hostel 6 hours later....it was a crazy day, haha.
I definitely made time for topshop and did some serious damage. It was brilliant.
I will definitely miss hearing "this is the Piccadilly line service to cockfosters. MIND THE GAP!"
We have just now arrived in Basel Switzerland and the Hostel is incredible. It is super modern and really nice. Free internet is a ++!! As of now I am really concentrating to post this blog because the swiss keyboard is nothing like the American one and it is v. difficult. Oh, and btw, I saw a British girl text "v. surprising" and I was like, "this is definitely where i belong!"

Pictures to come!

The Official start to the TRAVEL BLOG!

Well, here we "go, go, go again" except...i guess not again? considering i've never had a travel blog before....haha.

Tomorrow we take off from Atlanta to London! I'm very very....stressed. I'm becoming a little more excited but mostly there's just a lot of things to be stressed about. Today I had a list a mile long of errands to do and now I'm trying to cram my entire life into a little bitty back pack (alright...its not so little, but it still won't fit!)

Besides stressing out about packing, I think i've just about figured everything else out...hostels...trains...planes...everything. Well, except for that we don't have a way to get from Basel Switzerland to Rome. I think we're just going to wing it! That what Europe is about right? Getting lost, taking chances...and having a bit of fun along the way.

I'll be posting as often as I can, and hopefully with pictures :) Most of our hostels have wireless so I should be in touch.

Here we go.... ( nsync lyric there...)