Kony 2012: Everyone Should Take Part

In my opinion, it's truly upsetting to see the negativity some people have towards the Kony 2012 movement. There are those saying people don't really care because this issue has been going on for ten years and everyone just now wants to join the movement. Or those saying we'll just forget about it in a month. I kind of see where you're coming from because there are so many issues in America, too, but you're not helping the situation any. I understand there may be many issues with Invisible Children as a company.. but I don't think that's the point the majority of people are feeling for this. It's not that they necessarily want to help the company. People just want other people to be aware of what goes on every single day.


Trust me, I was there in my high school auditorium freshman year learning about invisible children and buying bracelets to show my support. That's not the point. Don't you understand it's the fact that now, because of the events happening today, because of today's use of social media to spread information in a viral way, people can no longer be ignorant about this issue. Because back in October policy makers decided to help advise the Ugandan army not for reasons of self-defense.. but because it was right. It's not that people didn't care before, they did. It's that now, we have the ability to make our voices heard, we have the ability to make this work. If you want to have some sort of action taken, you must be heard.

And if someone wants to help a cause that's trying to stop one of the world's worst war criminals for murder, sexual slavery, mutilation, rape and abduction, who are you to say it's a dumb idea and that they don't care? Honestly, you might not have taken the time to watch the video. But then again, maybe you have and still choose to be negative.

But if you haven't... please, for all of us, take the time.. your opinions might change.

Stop Kony 2012

One thing I hate about Rome..

The exorbitant amount of people smoking, all the time. I breathe in more second hand smoke than I ever should and I always have a headache.

Gross habit. If you wanna do it, stop blowing it in my face.

Pope Benedict Giving the Benediction

So punny right?

After mass

This morning my whole apartment got up and decided to go to mass at the Vatican. For myself, being Protestant, it was quite an interesting experience. When I go to church I don't have to cover my knees, shoulders and wear closed toed shoes. I understand the idea of respect; however, in my opinion, God sees you every day doesn't he? Anyway, it was pretty neat to hear it all in Italian and a little bit of Latin. Surprisingly, I actually understood some of the sentences he was saying-yay for actually learning something in my Intensive Italian course!

the masses of people

Afterwards we went and waited in St. Peter's square for the Pope to give the benediction. There were so many people there! The Pope even greeted the students from the US! It was all-around a really great experience and if I'm in Rome next Sunday, I'll be going to mass again!

even more people

THE POPE!

Under The Tuscan Sun

Do you ever have those weeks where you're just like geeze louise I need something relaxing and wonderful to balance out all of this negative? Well that was this week-filled with oral presentations in Italian, three midterms and a group presentation on a project that I really had no confidence in.

Me & Jake!

So Thursday after class we all went out together to this new bar with awesome student specials & of course we ended up in LaMaison, with creepy Italians. This time I spoke fluent Italian.. um who would have thought that would ever happen? with a German/Italian man and literally by the end of the night Rachel and I had to sneak our way out of the club. Only to find out Kait rode home on the bus alone because the doors shut while Lauren was trying to get on and that Cecile, Jenny and Kayla got kicked out of a taxi and had to walk home.

Side note: Lauren's boyfriend was in town.. who I happen to know from home because he went to Cardinal Newman

Friday was amazing. We went on a walk around Rome because the weather was absolutely beautiful. Had lunch at Panifico, an amazing bread, pastry and pizza shop. Then we decided to walk to Castel Sant'Angelo to sit out in the sun all afternoon and read a book. It was such a relaxing afternoon to take in the beauty that Rome truly is. It's been a little difficult to completely appreciate it when there's been snow ruining all of our plans.


Tuscany on Saturday was absolutely breathtaking. There is no way to describe the rolling hills and the way you can really feel the Italian culture when you're there. First we went to Montepulciano, a wonderful town where the vineyards create over 65,000 bottles of wine a year. There were breathtaking panoramic views of the Tuscan hillside because this town is literally on top of a massive hill (that surely was fun to walk up). We went to a wine tasting here at the Crociani family's wine cellar. We tried a Rosso wine and then the Nobile wine, which is a highly notable wine of this area. After this we toured the wine cellars under this town that is literally an underground city built by the Etruscans.

Then we left Montepulciano and we went to a farm house to have a delicious four course meal including breads (with the most amazing olive oil I've had yet), meats & cheeses, homemade pasta, cooked meats, salads and then dessert. Each of these dishes were paired with a different wine.

Quite possibly my favorite part of the day was going to the thermal bath spa.This place was top notch, you were given a robe, towel and slippers when you came in the door for the day.  The thermals baths are made from mineral waters underground. I have never felt more relaxed in my life after being in the bath for two hours. When you get out of the baths you can barely walk. Needless to say, I would gladly go back to a thermal bath one day. Not to mention, the view was spectacular.

Florence & Pisa

This past weekend I went on our first overnight API (the program I'm studying abroad through) trip to Florence and Pisa. We left early morning on Thursday and of course I was late and the last person to get to the bus. Not my fault that the bus that normally leaves every 15 minutes on the dot every single day decided to not leave for 35 minutes at 6am Friday morning. I was the only person on the bus... I doubt he cared if I was in a hurry or not.

Anyway we got to Florence around 11:30 and we had free time to get lunch and explore a little. Florence is a lot smaller than you would think. It's kind of shocking how much smaller it is than Rome for it to be such a touristy city. We went to the most awful restaurant in the entire world with the worst waiter in the entire world. Imagine that. You go to Florence expecting the food to be amazing and the first thing you eat is ultimately a piece of bread.. they have no food to accommodate your friend who can't eat gluten.. even after they said they did.. and the waiter just flat out sucked.

Ponte Vecchio Bridge

Then we went on a tour of Florence and saw the ponte vecchio bridge, all these famous sculptures, the Medici family residence, the leather markets, the wild boar that you're supposed to rub his nose for good luck, etc.

After the tour I went shopping in the leather market and got sucked into a store by this somewhat creepy man.. you know he's creepy when he calls himself discount. Well I was officially a pain in the rear end because everything he gave me I kept saying no.. I told him I wanted a black jacket so why he was trying to sell me a brown one I'm not quite sure. Finally, I found a style jacket I liked but problem.. they only have it in brown in my size.. he tried to convince me to get the brown one and failed. So, he decided that since I am a nice polite southern pain in the rear end he would talk to his manager and see if they could make it for me. Yep, my roommates weren't super happy to hear that I got a jacket made overnight for me and I was still charged less than them (factory cost-heck yeah). Blonde hair is a blessing.

sleeping in the hallway

That night we went to dinner at Hard Rock, odd I know.. being in a place where the Italian food is supposed to be amazing. But by golly Hard Rock was absotively positutely amazing. Having BBQ for the first time in two months along with the best margarita I've ever had made this night amazing. Then we went out to a few pubs and a club but I was just so tired that I decided I would go back early.
Side Note: In Italy you only have one hotel key per room and it's a physical key not a key card.
So I asked the nice man at the front desk for 204, he said he didn't have it. I asked if he was sure, he insisted he didn't have it. So I went upstairs and knocked on the door, waited.. then knocked some more, then some more knocking, then some banging then ultimately some kicking. No one wanted to answer the door.. so I tried calling-five times. No answer. I sat down outside the door and contemplated whether I wanted to keep kicking the door. No, not worth it. So I texted Julia and told her I was locked out of my room and I was going to sleep in her room and to find me when she got back..she told me she'd come back now to which my response was.. "k come find me i'm asleep outside 204 on the ground" And the picture to the left is how she found me. As awesome as the typical spring break picture that would be.. don't get your hopes up that's not a drunk passed out picture, it's a "I'm tired and can't get in my room so I guess I'm sleeping here picture.

Saturday we went to a cooking class and learned how to make pasta from scratch. It was absolutely amazing and so time consuming! There is a distinct possibility that it was the best pasta I've had since I've been here. Also, I learned how to make tiramisu so watch out roomies for when I get back to America.. I plan to make you fat with pasta and dessert.

After lunch we went to the museum to see Michelangelo's sculpture of David. You aren't supposed to take pictures but I did because hello you can turn off your flash. The sculpture is absolutely breathtaking. Then we went to a church on top of the hill with an amazing view of Florence.

For dinner, Julia and I went to Il Gatto e La Volpe-best service I've had by an Italian and yummy food. When we walked in there wasn't a table immediately available so they took us to a seat by the bar and brought us each a glass of prosecco. Prosecco is an Italian white wine but its sparkling, so it is like a mix of champagne and wine.  Then we got a bottle of wine for eight euro, that's right folks, some really good wine and only eight euro. We got ribolita, which is a Tuscan soup that is cooked twice. If you ever get a chance to try it, you definitely should. Then we went out for a little bit to a bar and a club.

Sunday morning we left Florence and went to Pisa. I kicked over Pisa with my cowboy boot. The picture is a little awkward i'm not sure what I'm doing with my hands. At lunch I tried this awesome pizza that had ham, artichokes, olives and an egg on it. It was a very interesting combination but it was delicious. I feel like I blog about food a lot.. maybe I'm the next Eat, Pray, Love. I mean I'm planning on going to church in the Vatican on Sunday..that'll be interesting. Back to Pisa-on our way back to the bus a group of probably 20 short little woman came up to us with cardboard boxes. These women are also known as gypsies.. and they suck. They tried to steal from my roommate, Kayla, when she was there last weekend and she ended up backhanding one of them. But my friend Dan got in their faces and made them leave, thank goodness.

On the bus ride back to Rome we watched Tangled-my new favorite movie and if any of you haven't seen it you must watch it. Even all the guys on my trip loved the movie.. they're a group of some great guys. AND THEN we watched Beauty and the Beast! What an amazing ending to a trip away from Rome!

Opera

Ireland, Europe's Version of Southern Hospitality

Dubh Linn Gardens

Ireland was such an amazing place to go. Seriously, I want to move there. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was so unbelievably nice.. it was kind of like being in the South again (no offense to all my Northern friends). Quite a nice change from how rude some of the Romans can be at times.

Probably the main reason Ireland was so great is because I had to plan absolutely none of it  thanks to Bus2Alps! My friend Julia and I booked it as a last minute trip to get away from the bizarre snow in Rome and it couldn't have been any easier. All we had to do was find a cheap flight, courtesy of the oh so lovely Ryan Air and hop on. Friday morning we had a tour of the City of Dublin through New Europe Tours which is a company Bus2Alps uses on the majority of their trips. Robbie was our tour guide and he was seriously the best tour guide I think I've ever had.. and after being here for two months, I've had a lot. He showed us different churches, the Dublin Castle, Dubh Linn gardens, medieval walls, Vicking remains, ha-penny bridge and my favorite, Trinity College. Mainly my favorite because Robbie did a great job and sold me on Ireland and now I want to move there for my MBA. They have a bell tower in the middle of the campus and rumor has it if you walk underneath it and the bells rings, you're a virgin. Needless to say, not a soul walked underneath that bell tower. The library at Trinity was used in Harry Potter.. so you know I was beyond obsessed.. I would just go there to pretend I was studying at Hogwarts (nerdy I know). On the tour Julia and I had our first ever Irish coffees, so yummy and just what we needed on a chilly morning!

Bus2Alps group at Guinness

That afternoon our Bus2Alps leader, Lauren, took us to the Guinness Storehouse and we toured the brewery. By the way guys, if you haven't had Guinness.. you should try it-you'll never drink cheap beer again! The brewery was seven floors and described all the processes in making the beer and on the top floor they have the Gravity bar where you can see all of Dublin. It's a pretty neat view, something I would definitely check out if you get the chance to travel there. That night we went out on the pub crawl. We started at like 4 pubs and eventually we got to O'neills where we ended up staying instead of continuing on the tour because they had an awesome band called the Galway Guards. Of course all of us Bus2Alp-ers (yep, I just created a new word) became friends with the band and hung out with them afterwards. The guy in the band who made all the crazy girls from England move because they kept hitting me while they were attempting to dance, gave me one of their cds.

Us with the band

Saturday we took a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher and Galway. The cliffs are absolutely breathtaking. I also have never experience such a difference in weather in such a short amount of time. It was beautiful and sunny, then ridiculously windy and then we got hailed on.. all within two hours. The pictures describe it better than I can:

This explains the wind..

B-E-A-UTIFUL

Julia proposed.. like in the movie Leap Year hahah

Then we went to Galway and walked around. It's a cute little city and has really nice people. I bought my claddagh ring there. It's a ring that the Irish wear that can either symbolize you're taken or that you're single depending upon which way you turn the heart. Us Americans can't figure out which way to turn ours.. too many complicated relationships?

After we got back to Dublin, Julia and I went out with Lewis, a friend from home, for a few drinks. He showed us around to some of his favorite pubs in Dublin, they were pretty neat. It was SO nice being able to see Lew after not seeing him since summer. So we caught up on everyone we know and just talked about life and whatnot.

Then Lewis had to go home cause he had work in the AM so Julia and I ventured around Dublin by ourselves hopping in and out of different pubs that our Bus2Alps guide recommended for us to go to. It was so nice to have her as a reference since she's traveled there so many times, she really knew her stuff!

Sunday, we went shopping. 

Overall Ireland was great, It made me really excited to go on my next Bus2Alps trip-Island hopping for Spring Break in Greece! If any of you don't have spring break plans yet, you should definitely hop on that trip. They plan everything for you and include all the best attractions in your destination, so you basically don't have to do anything but show up, how nice is that? I'm probably looking forward to the booze cruise the most-lovely beaches and cliff jumping while sipping on Greek beer... but then again there's biking around the beautiful Island of Santorini.. who wouldn't want that?