So my time here for 2009 is coming to an end. I go home on Monday the 21st! I could not be more excited :)
I had originally considered (wayyyy back to last year) about not coming home for Christmas. I was thinking that it might be too hard to leave all of my friends and family, JUST get used to life in France, go home for Christmas, and then have to do it all again. And yes it might be hard to leave everyone again, but the time i'm going to have over this Christmas with my friends and family is going to DEFINITELY make it all worth it!
Life in Lyon over the past few weeks has been pretty tame in comparison to Exam time at McMaster. As an International student, I get treated a little differently, so instead of doing some exams like the french students, I had to do written assignments instead. So out of 9 classes, I only needed to write 3 exams during the actual exam period. I had one oral presentation in 20th century lit this past monday, one french to english translation written exam this past wednesday, and then i will have one english to french translation written exam when I get back to france in January. Luckily though it turns out this exam isn't until January 12th, so I get to spend almost 3 full weeks at home!
As I had a lot of time to prepare for my exams, I feel they went pretty well! And now that they're over for December, I have lots of time to just relax, hang out with my friends before we go our separate ways for Christmas, and of course.... PACK!
The only bad thing about the french schoool system and having exams both before and after christmas is that i'm going to have to study over the break, as well as write a 10 page essay :( which is too bad, but could be so much worse!!
I have so many plans to see as many people as I can over the break, and it's going to be so hectic, but definitely fantastic, and I absolutely cannot wait to get home!! I'm pretty much only packing presents to bring home, and then on the way back to France will pretty much just be food!
It's been SNOWING in Lyon!! Something we've been told is pretty rare around here. But over the last week, it's snowed 3 or 4 times! And on Thursday night, some actually stayed on the ground for a few hours!! It really made me think of home.
So it's farewell Lyon for 2009, see you in 2010!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Roma, Italia :)
Ciao Bella!
One of my key Italian phrases, as well as Buongiorno! And that's about it.
This weekend was a weekend of firsts. It was the first time we'd flown anywhere to visit, the first time we'd stayed in a hostel, and the first time we'd gone to a country where we had NO idea about the language.
Ps. It was just Virginia and I on this particular excursion :)
I've never felt better about my french speaking abilities than when we came back from Rome. In Rome, if someone started talking to me in Italian, I felt like an idiot tourist. I was so relieved to come back to France and to be able to understand everyone around me!
Although in Rome, being such a tourist city, most people either spoke English or French. I was also pretty proud to be able to offer two languages of communication.
The Hostel we stayed at, was a really nice one! (not that i have a lot of Hostel experience, but it was much nicer than what I was imagining). It was called the Yellow hostel, and it was all English speaking. We checked in right when we got there friday morning (although our rooms weren't ready until later), and we could leave our backpacks in their luggage room which was very helpful. As we found out later, the room itself was actually pretty nice! Our floor and room was "the Godfather" themed, so we had some paintings on the wall. The room had three bunkbeds with storage cages underneath them, where we left all of our stuff we didn't need throughout the days (I had brought a padlock). The beds were comfortable, and there were clean washrooms and showers right around the corner. The staff was really friendly and helpful. They had laptops available for rent, and the first 30 minutes per day was free! The Yellow also had it's own bar with pretty cheap drinks for those that were interested. All in all, a very excellent first hostel experience!
Now for the actual trip details! So we dropped our stuff at the Hostel and set out for the day! It was about 1030am by the time we got everything figured out. Friday was supposed to be rainy all day, with Saturday being beautiful, so we decided to save the Colosseum until Saturday. Friday we started out with the Vatican. We took the metro all the way to the Vatican, where we went in some of the (not surprisingly) very religious tourist shops. We stepped into St. Peter's Square, and it was absolutely beautiful. There was an absolutely gigantic lineup to actually get into the Basilica, but we overheard it didn't take very long, so we pulled out our lunch, and did some waiting. It didn't take very long, but long enough for it to start raining pretty hard.
Once inside, we saw the tombs of the popes, and of course the Basilica itself. In retrospect, we shouldn't have seen it first, because after seeing St Peter's Basilica, all other churches paled in comparison. It was the most beautiful church I have ever seen. It was absolutely gigantic, with HUGE, beautifully decorated ceilings, paintings and sculptures everywhere. I am always in awe for how these beautiful structures could possibly be erected at the time they were. Amazing. here's some pictures to describe the beauty better.
Our next destination was the Piazza del Popolo, but on the way we found a lot of interesting things. The Castel Saint Angelo, Piazza del Tribunali, and lots of other things. Perhaps the BEST thing we found along the way was a Gelateria! Gelato has got to be my favourite thing in Rome. We ended up getting Gelato Friday AND Saturday! Friday i got chocolate and raspberry, and then Saturday i got lemon, chocolate with rum! It was all soo delicious!
At the Pizza del Popolo we walked up to a lookout where we could see a ton of Rome. It was beautiful :) From there we went to the Spanish Steps, and the Tinita dei Monti. The Spanish steps are apparantly the longest and widest steps in Europe.
From there we decided to make our way home, actually get into our rooms at the Hostel, and go for dinner. On the way (in the rain again :( ) We saw the Fontana del Tritone, San Carlo Quattro Fontane, the Repubblica, and the Santa Maria degli Angeli. The Santa Maria Degli Angeli was pretty amazing, it looked completely in ruins from the outside, very unspectacular, but the inside was beautiful!
Somewhere between the Fountain and the Repubblica was where i lost the button for my camera. Unfortunately it's pretty difficult to take pictures without this button. It's possible, but I have to use a bobby pin, and it takes about 5 minutes to actually take a picture. My camera has had a pretty good life though, I suppose I was due for a new one soon anyways. At least this happened in December, not September!
For dinner with the two American girls from our room, we went across the street to a little pizzaria cafe. We had some genuine Italian pizza which was pretty delicious :) After that, virginia and I went back to our room, and exhausted, were both asleep just after 9am. It was a long first day in Rome!
Day 2
Day 2 we woke at a much more reasonable hour, and were on the road again by 9am! Today was a big day, as we were going to see the Colosseum! On the way there, we saw the Santa Maria Maggiore and San Pietro in Vincoli (both Basilica's, where the second is most known for the statue of Moses by Michelangelo), and the ruins of Domus Aurea. Unfortunately we were quickly distracted by our first glimpse of the Colosseum!
The Colosseum was absolutely breathtaking, and gigantic! We wandered all the way around it, and then bought a ticket to go inside. It was really neat to see, and you could even imagine what it could have looked like when it was first built.
It really is amazing to imagine just HOW this magnificent structure could have been built all of these thousands of years ago. They must have had secret machines we just don't know about :P. It could seat up to 50 000 spectators! And they actually did use it to watch the gladiators. Parts of it were recreated to give visitors and idea of what it could have looked like.
This (other than the Gelato) was my favourite part of the whole trip :)
Next we moved onto the Piazza Campidoglio or Capitol hill. I thought this building was particularly majestic, with all of it's stairs, and statues before you even get into the building! Here's a picture that will explain better :)
Next was off to the Trevi Fountain. On the way we encountered the Quirinale. This is the official residence of the Italian President! It was very well guarded.
The Trevi Fountain was hidden amongst many little touristy streets. It is a spectacular fountain! This was also the busiest place in all of Rome. There were TONS of people squished into this square to see the Trevi Fountain. Here Virginia and I (well virginia actually, because mine was broken...)took lots of pictures, and we both made wishes and threw pennies into the fountain :)
After the Trevi fountain we continued through the touristy streets to the Tempio Adriano (temple of Hadrian in english), on the way to the Pantheon.
The Pantheon was beautiful. It was in the middle of a square (sorry, Piazza). We took a ton of pictures, and went inside, where there were beautiful paintings and sculptures. The Pantheon was built as a temple for the Roman Gods. Here we got our Gelato for the day, sat on the fountain, and just took in the sight of the Pantheon.
After the Pantheon, we decided that we had seen all that we specifically wanted to see, so for the rest of the day, we just wandered where we felt like, did some christmas shopping, and of course, saw more sights!
We went to the Piazza Navona where we found Rome's Christmas Market, and some entertaining street performers. My favourite was the old man who danced with finger puppets, and had apparently been coming to that square since 1909!
We also found the Cat ruins. Rome has this weird thing with cats. They're on the postcards with the famous monuments, and apparently, tons of cats live in these ruins, that are now called the "cat ruins".
Another highlight of the trip was dinner that night. We ended up at this really cute restaurant that we had come across earlier that day as well. It was called Pastarito! It was adorable and strictly Italian. Virginia and I got these GIGANTIC plates of pasta, and it was soooo delicious :) Somehow we managed to eat it all, but I don't know how.
After dinner we decided to take one last look at the Colosseum, it was lit up for the night. It was still just as gorgeous :)
After the Colosseum, we wandered through the many tourist shops on the main street on our way back to the Hostel. Our last day in Rome.
Click on the Title for More Rome Pictures!
P.S. I had too many pictures so I had to make two albums! Day one is linked through the title, but here it is again just in case.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=20835&id=1642740063&l=4e2546ccb4
And Day two:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=20912&id=1642740063&l=6f22d3443c
One of my key Italian phrases, as well as Buongiorno! And that's about it.
This weekend was a weekend of firsts. It was the first time we'd flown anywhere to visit, the first time we'd stayed in a hostel, and the first time we'd gone to a country where we had NO idea about the language.
Ps. It was just Virginia and I on this particular excursion :)
I've never felt better about my french speaking abilities than when we came back from Rome. In Rome, if someone started talking to me in Italian, I felt like an idiot tourist. I was so relieved to come back to France and to be able to understand everyone around me!
Although in Rome, being such a tourist city, most people either spoke English or French. I was also pretty proud to be able to offer two languages of communication.
The Hostel we stayed at, was a really nice one! (not that i have a lot of Hostel experience, but it was much nicer than what I was imagining). It was called the Yellow hostel, and it was all English speaking. We checked in right when we got there friday morning (although our rooms weren't ready until later), and we could leave our backpacks in their luggage room which was very helpful. As we found out later, the room itself was actually pretty nice! Our floor and room was "the Godfather" themed, so we had some paintings on the wall. The room had three bunkbeds with storage cages underneath them, where we left all of our stuff we didn't need throughout the days (I had brought a padlock). The beds were comfortable, and there were clean washrooms and showers right around the corner. The staff was really friendly and helpful. They had laptops available for rent, and the first 30 minutes per day was free! The Yellow also had it's own bar with pretty cheap drinks for those that were interested. All in all, a very excellent first hostel experience!
Now for the actual trip details! So we dropped our stuff at the Hostel and set out for the day! It was about 1030am by the time we got everything figured out. Friday was supposed to be rainy all day, with Saturday being beautiful, so we decided to save the Colosseum until Saturday. Friday we started out with the Vatican. We took the metro all the way to the Vatican, where we went in some of the (not surprisingly) very religious tourist shops. We stepped into St. Peter's Square, and it was absolutely beautiful. There was an absolutely gigantic lineup to actually get into the Basilica, but we overheard it didn't take very long, so we pulled out our lunch, and did some waiting. It didn't take very long, but long enough for it to start raining pretty hard.
Once inside, we saw the tombs of the popes, and of course the Basilica itself. In retrospect, we shouldn't have seen it first, because after seeing St Peter's Basilica, all other churches paled in comparison. It was the most beautiful church I have ever seen. It was absolutely gigantic, with HUGE, beautifully decorated ceilings, paintings and sculptures everywhere. I am always in awe for how these beautiful structures could possibly be erected at the time they were. Amazing. here's some pictures to describe the beauty better.
Our next destination was the Piazza del Popolo, but on the way we found a lot of interesting things. The Castel Saint Angelo, Piazza del Tribunali, and lots of other things. Perhaps the BEST thing we found along the way was a Gelateria! Gelato has got to be my favourite thing in Rome. We ended up getting Gelato Friday AND Saturday! Friday i got chocolate and raspberry, and then Saturday i got lemon, chocolate with rum! It was all soo delicious!
At the Pizza del Popolo we walked up to a lookout where we could see a ton of Rome. It was beautiful :) From there we went to the Spanish Steps, and the Tinita dei Monti. The Spanish steps are apparantly the longest and widest steps in Europe.
From there we decided to make our way home, actually get into our rooms at the Hostel, and go for dinner. On the way (in the rain again :( ) We saw the Fontana del Tritone, San Carlo Quattro Fontane, the Repubblica, and the Santa Maria degli Angeli. The Santa Maria Degli Angeli was pretty amazing, it looked completely in ruins from the outside, very unspectacular, but the inside was beautiful!
Somewhere between the Fountain and the Repubblica was where i lost the button for my camera. Unfortunately it's pretty difficult to take pictures without this button. It's possible, but I have to use a bobby pin, and it takes about 5 minutes to actually take a picture. My camera has had a pretty good life though, I suppose I was due for a new one soon anyways. At least this happened in December, not September!
For dinner with the two American girls from our room, we went across the street to a little pizzaria cafe. We had some genuine Italian pizza which was pretty delicious :) After that, virginia and I went back to our room, and exhausted, were both asleep just after 9am. It was a long first day in Rome!
Day 2
Day 2 we woke at a much more reasonable hour, and were on the road again by 9am! Today was a big day, as we were going to see the Colosseum! On the way there, we saw the Santa Maria Maggiore and San Pietro in Vincoli (both Basilica's, where the second is most known for the statue of Moses by Michelangelo), and the ruins of Domus Aurea. Unfortunately we were quickly distracted by our first glimpse of the Colosseum!
The Colosseum was absolutely breathtaking, and gigantic! We wandered all the way around it, and then bought a ticket to go inside. It was really neat to see, and you could even imagine what it could have looked like when it was first built.
It really is amazing to imagine just HOW this magnificent structure could have been built all of these thousands of years ago. They must have had secret machines we just don't know about :P. It could seat up to 50 000 spectators! And they actually did use it to watch the gladiators. Parts of it were recreated to give visitors and idea of what it could have looked like.
This (other than the Gelato) was my favourite part of the whole trip :)
Next we moved onto the Piazza Campidoglio or Capitol hill. I thought this building was particularly majestic, with all of it's stairs, and statues before you even get into the building! Here's a picture that will explain better :)
Next was off to the Trevi Fountain. On the way we encountered the Quirinale. This is the official residence of the Italian President! It was very well guarded.
The Trevi Fountain was hidden amongst many little touristy streets. It is a spectacular fountain! This was also the busiest place in all of Rome. There were TONS of people squished into this square to see the Trevi Fountain. Here Virginia and I (well virginia actually, because mine was broken...)took lots of pictures, and we both made wishes and threw pennies into the fountain :)
After the Trevi fountain we continued through the touristy streets to the Tempio Adriano (temple of Hadrian in english), on the way to the Pantheon.
The Pantheon was beautiful. It was in the middle of a square (sorry, Piazza). We took a ton of pictures, and went inside, where there were beautiful paintings and sculptures. The Pantheon was built as a temple for the Roman Gods. Here we got our Gelato for the day, sat on the fountain, and just took in the sight of the Pantheon.
After the Pantheon, we decided that we had seen all that we specifically wanted to see, so for the rest of the day, we just wandered where we felt like, did some christmas shopping, and of course, saw more sights!
We went to the Piazza Navona where we found Rome's Christmas Market, and some entertaining street performers. My favourite was the old man who danced with finger puppets, and had apparently been coming to that square since 1909!
We also found the Cat ruins. Rome has this weird thing with cats. They're on the postcards with the famous monuments, and apparently, tons of cats live in these ruins, that are now called the "cat ruins".
Another highlight of the trip was dinner that night. We ended up at this really cute restaurant that we had come across earlier that day as well. It was called Pastarito! It was adorable and strictly Italian. Virginia and I got these GIGANTIC plates of pasta, and it was soooo delicious :) Somehow we managed to eat it all, but I don't know how.
After dinner we decided to take one last look at the Colosseum, it was lit up for the night. It was still just as gorgeous :)
After the Colosseum, we wandered through the many tourist shops on the main street on our way back to the Hostel. Our last day in Rome.
Click on the Title for More Rome Pictures!
P.S. I had too many pictures so I had to make two albums! Day one is linked through the title, but here it is again just in case.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=20835&id=1642740063&l=4e2546ccb4
And Day two:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=20912&id=1642740063&l=6f22d3443c
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