Subiaco

Ciao all!

Well, the weekend has come to an end, and soon it will be time to start another school week! On Saturday, I hung out with a friend and watched a couple of movies. We watched the new Miyazaki film, The Secret Life of Arietta, a cartoon from Studio Ghibli and Midnight in Paris, with Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams, which is  Woody Allen's latest picture. Both were entertaining. The first movie was about a "borrower" family who were all the size of one's thumb. It didn't have as much action as his other films, but it was more sentimental and emotional than many of the others. As for Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen's character is in the city of love with his fiance, who is very prestigious and snotty. He finds himself alone in Paris and midnight and goes back in time, meeting various famous faces, such as Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, Ernest Hemingway, Scott Fitzgerald to name a few.

After getting a few groceries, I headed back to my apartment and relaxed the rest of the night. The next morning, I took the metro to school and walked to school where I got on a bus to go to Subiaco with about a dozen other students. The town is about an hour North I think of Rome and is home to many famous monasteries. We also got a nice lunch with the tour, having a three course meal with fresh bread. Besides visiting two monasteries (St. Benedict was one of them), we went on a little nature hike since we were up in the mountains. It was very beautiful and the weather was pretty nice.

Going home, I decided to try taking the bus- bad idea! I waited half an hour for it, and by the time it came, I got to one stop, and then the bus broke down. I was not happy! I walked a little further to go to the metro station, and found out I just missed the train! After waiting, I finally made it back to my apartment in about 90 minutes. I am very jealous of those who are ten minutes away from the school walking distance!

Tomorrow, I don't have my Michelangelo class, so I will get to sleep in a little and go to my next class at 3. I also will be seeing a Beethoven Symphony at the Auditorium which is right by my apartment!

I thought I'd add a little something fun: ten things I miss most about the states!

10. The Convenience of Having a Car - after dealing with public transportation tonight, I really wanted to get home quickly and safely. I know sometimes you just gotta roll with the punches, but they suck nevertheless.

9. Mexican Food - Here you don't run into much Mexican food, so no tacos or quesadillas for this chica.

8. TV - I really didn't know how much TV I watched until I was away from home. I even miss hulu - it's hard to stream shows here and takes hours to load.

7. Music - It's weird not having music classes or being able to sing or play any instruments often. After having played music for so long, it's odd to take such a hiatus from it.

6. Studio Art - It's also weird to be taking only art history classes and no studio art. I miss working with my hands :(

5. The Dollar - The dollar is a lovely thing; I never realized how cheap things are in the states until I went to Europe.

4. Chicken - This meat is hard to find here in Italy! The deli meat tastes different here as well. I miss chicken!

3. American Candy - Besides twix and kit kat bars (which are both 2 of my favorites, but still), there aren't many of the same candy bars here. Sometimes a girl just craves chocolate. However, Europe has a few good candy bars, such as Bueno Bars, which are chocolate wafers filled with hazelnut.

2. Friends from home and school - I really miss the people from home. Although I don't see my friends from home often, it's nice to know they're at a closer distance. I also miss people at Bradley- I am happy to have one more year left there!

1. My Family - It's definitely tough being away from them, especially after having six weeks at home for winter break. I miss watching late night tv with my mom and getting mexican food and going on the occasional walk with my dad. I also miss my cousins and aunts and uncles I would hang out with. It's weird no longer seeing them daily or even monthly.

Anyways, if any of you want to come visit me, and can afford it (ha), please do.

Miss you all!

Love from Caroline

 I think this is the Abbey of St. Scholastica?

 A statue in the courtyard of the monastery

 A villa of Nero's.

 A little chapel outside the monastery.

 At St. Benedict Monastery

Fresco inside the Monastery