Hello all, tis me the mighty traveler,

I have ventured across the oceans and flown over continents, but the time has come for my journey to end. Like every story begins, we had a suspenseful start as some of our crew members carried the wearies of flying in a huge metal container, while others endured annoying passenger partners on our big flight here. But we survived.

Then our travels took us all over Rome with some pit-stops to Florence and Frascati. We encountered the glo…rious battle fields of decorated gladiators and psychotic emperors. We saw the most fascinating ceremonies for religious people in the current and ancient days. We climbed a billion steps; and let me tell you, I’m not exaggerating. Finally we tasted the food of the gods, as it was not like our genetically modified specimens back home.

I do have to say I loved coming here and I may have found a new city to love, but it’s time to go home. My loud family and hyper dog are waiting for me, so I say good night one final time in the city where civilization started it all. So good night world. I’ll see you on the other side.

From Rome, Daniella

Well as every day starts, I woke up. Today was no exception to my 5 o’clock inner alarm but this time I decided to actually get up. You know. Move the muscles and old bones. So I was the only person down for breakfast and I enjoyed my croissant and yogurt.

Then I came back to my room and dabbled on the internet so I could actually catch up on what I’ve been missing. Soon enough it was time to go to the lobby and start the day. We started at the Vatican again and actually toured the place instead of just climbing it. We were reminded of how exceedingly deceptive the church is to the human eye. You see, we visually see a smaller version of what’s actually huge. From the ground it looks normal size, but in reality it the biggest building ever, and it can never be recreated. So that was pretty cool. Then, we went to the Museum and saw the building that was pretty much an impenetrable force. It wasn’t massive but it had a good advantage point for aiming and killing the enemy. I learned that the guards there used anything as ammo such as statues, statues heads, and anything thing else just lying around. They would literally chuck full statues at the enemy to spear and crush them. How cool?

After everything we had the whole day to ourselves, so here I am recollecting the days and working on projects.

Till next time, Daniella

So before I start, today is my friend’s birthday and sadly I wasn’t home to celebrate it with her so I’ll just say HAPPY BIRTHDAY on here.

Now to start the day. I again woke up around 5 and just listened to the outside world rise as well. Then I got ready and went to breakfast. It’s become pretty routine for me to get a croissant and yogurt. It’s very good and super for trying to wake up for the day.

After eating, I headed in the lobby and gathered with the group to journey on our official last day of class. So it was kind of exciting to of accomplished a whole week in Italy.

In class we discussed the religion of Zoroastrianism. No it’s not the religion worshiping Zorro, the mighty Spanish hero, but that would be pretty cool. Instead it is a faith founded by a man called Zoroaster. The god they worship is called Ahura Mazda, and an interesting fact, the car brand Mazda’s are named after this god. So that pretty fascinating. The symbol of this god is fire to represent the celestial fire. There are 7 steps included in this religion that sort of tell us this mundane tale of how we came to be and how we are to live. 1. Alone. Meaning that there was nothing.

2. The Amesh Spentas who are kind of like archangels. They represent and enforce cosmic order.

3. Then twin sons were born: Angra Mainyu and Spenta Mainyu. Angra represented the sinister side as he was a liar and trickster, and Spenta represented the holy side as he was a holy spirit. Both of the twins had free will, which meant they could do anything unlike the angels. So obviously this caused some disturbance in the heavenly planes.

4. Earth was created to be like a time out room for the twins and their free will. Then humanity was created as we got a physical body, a soul, and a mind (which meant that we had free will).

5. Is death, as we all die at some point.

6. The apocalypse will happen and all those who are good will be resurrected.

Finally, 7. Resurrection. All those who were faithful were brought back to life.

So that’s what we learned about in world religions, and for international relations we discussed Multinational corporations like Coke, Apple, and Microsoft.  We talked about some good and some bad sides to this. The good being that jobs created, but the bad side to that is that its cheap labor. Also cultures lose their identity when big companies just place their stores around every corner. So we mostly talked about the bad side, I admit, but it was interesting to listen in on.

After class, we went to the Vatican museum, and let me tell you, this place was HUGE. Our tour guide said it would take around 12 years to look at everything for a single minute. AAAHHH. That’s incredible. So we mostly skipped a lot of things, but it was amazing just to look at the sculptures and paintings. Pictures can only say so many words, but these painting on the ceiling and walls told a thousand stories, and my camera could only grasp a paragraph of one page.

We walked all around and also had dinner there too. It was a very sophisticated buffet where they mostly served cheese, bread, and a little bit of pork. Obviously I grabbed everything I could eat and it was delicious. Funny thing I’ve noticed here is the water glasses. They’re very small compared to back at home. They’re like little cups you’d give to children, but they’re only for water, and every other cup is big. So I had go get up a couple of time to get water. Since this place was outside, there were pigeons all around and some even jumped on the tables to get food. The waiters and staff we clearly annoyed with this because they had such a classy set up and for it to be contaminated by pigeon feet was devastating. They didn’t come to tables with people at it, but the empty ones with food still left is when they invaded. It was fun to watch but sad for the workers.

After dinner we continued our tour and then went to the Sistine chapel. Sadly I couldn’t take any pictures but it was very mesmerizing. I just can’t tell you enough how huge and magnificent it was with all the paintings.

After that it was gift shop time then back to the hotel. So here I am. Writing this again before bed and waiting to crash for the night.

So till next time, Daniella

As every day starts, I had to wake up. Though, this day was a little harder to get away from dream land. I actually had a weird dream and my mom was just like “Don’t wake up. Don’t wake up. DON’T WAKE UP!” because you know, I was in trouble in this dream with her, and she didn’t want me to escape my punishment, but I kind of woke up with a smile as I slipped away from her. Sorry again mom. Even in my head I’m always in trouble. So after having this inner battle within my head, I woke up and got ready for breakfast. Again it was good and very helpful for starting the day.

Today we had to present our model UN in the class and that was interesting. I did a resolution for immigration. Now I am totally for immigration, but it seems like Italy isn’t really. I was representing Italy, and as you can assume, that caused some internal issues… again. I think I did a pretty good job. I just said that visa cards should be more personal and security should be a little more secure. Also adding in (probably what most people hated about my resolution) was that we should pay immigrants as they get deported back to their homeland, so they would want to stay there and not come back. Now before all of you start tearing me to shreds, this is a hypothetical scenario that was used in the classroom only for a participation grade. Obviously there has to be a more “in thought” process, but when I was writing it, I couldn’t really think of a way to satisfy immigrants and an entire country. Plus from watching like boarder patrol on Nat geo, I get kind of sympathetic when the enforcements capture people and send them back. It’s like they came here for a reason and America is literally built on immigrants. So with the whole paying thing, it would give people an incentive to stay where they are. With the downside to this people would obviously use and abuse the system to get money all the time as they crossed the border and then probably try to intentionally get caught, so I guess it has to be more like a onetime deal for each person.

So that’s what we did in international relations. Just experiencing how and what the united nation has to go through for solving world problems. And honestly, most of the problems aren’t even resolved yet, so it was kind of eye opening to physically experience that. I mean you hear about it and you’re just like “oh well”, but when you just cannot agree on something, its jaw dropping to know how this is actually going on in real life.

Also today during class, the hugest thunder storm came rolling in. and let me tell you; I was in heaven. I love it when storms come through because the sounds are just amazing, like I could live in a storm and be happy all the time. I’m not about the sunshine life, and that’s one of the reasons why I hate Florida. I’m more for the gloomy, cloudy weather that makes you want to stay inside. Oh man. That’s my jazz. So we got to listen to nature’s most beautiful symphony as the lightening flared and the thunder protested…. In a way it kind of symbolized our UN today…. And it also rained hard. So that was awesome.

After class we went to lunch and then free time. This is where I have decided to write most of it so I can go to bed at a decent time. Surprisingly I’ve been waking up around 5ish in the morning and I just like to lie there looking out the window as Rome slowly wakes up. Another fact, when I wake up, it’s completely silent. Like almost post-apocalyptic silent as it seems all humanity has been wiped off the face of the earth. But after like 20 minutes, I hear the low rumble of trucks and people rolling down the street until around 7 when everybody is up and running. Then it’s like mass chaos on the streets.

After free time we traveled to the Jewish ghetto and went to a museum where enormous amounts of historical artifacts are stored and displayed for Jewish culture. We got to go in a synagogue, and let me tell you. They are beautiful. The guys had to wear a Yamaka in respect to the Jewish tradition but the ladies didn’t. Sadly we couldn’t take any pictures of this place but just trust me when I say it was beautiful.

After the tour of the museum and synagogues, we went around and learned all about buildings and everyday life when it seemed unbearable. We traveled over a bridge that literally separated cultures as one side was wealthy and considerably clean and the other side was washed down and spoke a completely different dialect. With the buildings I learned that the higher you go up the poorer you were. As compared to now-a-days, where the higher you go up, you eventually reach the richest person in the building as they lounge in their pent house pool.

After walking around it was getting around dinner time, and there were reservations for this quaint little pizza place that supposedly sold the best pizza…. It was the only thing they sold by the way. I got this heavenly pizza that had like sprinkled pepper and gooey cheese of many sorts on it. It was pretty good. Then our tour guide got us this calzone that was filled with Nutella and coated with coco and sugar powder. It was good, but insanely messy.

After stuffing our faces, we went down to the river we crossed before, and there was a festival going on. I believe it was called the River Festival; how unique. It was really cool because in America festivals are gross and dirty but here it was very orderly and modern. There were tents all aligned along the river side where you could eat and watch the America vs Germany game, or you could buy clothes and what not. It was cute, but none of us bought anything. But I did get some cool pictures. So I’m happy.

After just walking we ended up back at our hotel and now it’s bed time, so my day is officially over.

Till next time, Daniella

Ps: I’m writing these over the course of the day, so it may seem, like I’m in the afternoon at one moment and then midnight the next. So that’s all.

Today was quite the exciting one.

To start of the morning, I’m just lying there perfectly content in dream land when I hear the loudest banging on a door possibly created… or so I thought. Immediately I jump out of bed with complete alertness like some burglar is trying to get in. Fortunately it was just the wake-up call for an early morning to see the one and only man who can bless an entire crowd within 5 seconds; the Pope.

So before that I had to have breakfast. Doing so, I got yogurt and other goods to start my day. Now it’s time to go. I think we were supposed to leave the building a little earlier than we did, because of anticipating how big the crowd was going to be, but what’s done is done.

Heading out the door, we were met with a huge crowd who were all rushing to go to the Pope’s service just as us. Now, this part was particularly hard for me. So you know how in America if you’re within 2 feet of someone you don’t really enter their bubble space. Well here, everybody’s just all up in everything. I have a very specific problem when it comes to this because, you see, I’m not too fond of people, so when there is a ginormous crowd of people all heading in the same direction, we all get a little up close and personal. My immediate reaction is to say I’m sorry to every human being I touch accidentally on the shoulder or bump into, but I had to be tougher than that. You see, here in Italy, you don’t say you’re sorry and you’re not being rude, it’s just this common understanding that “oh physical contact. Whatever”. So we pressed on into the Vatican with tons of other people as well. I had to cut some people and do things I would never do in America, but hey, what can I say, I made it to the Pope’s service.

After getting in we stood for a good thirty minutes before the service actually started to have some action. But the problem was, it was just announcements, and shout outs, that were translated in like fifty different languages just so everyone could be satisfied and know what’s going on. So after, let’s say an hour? Hour and a half, the screens plastered to the surrounding columns went on. Then we saw the Pope… on the screen…. Kissing children. It was cool and all, but after the twentieth child I was over that. So I sat on the floor waiting for the real action. *Side note, one of the children who got kissed and blessed by the Pope was staying in the same hotel as us, so that was pretty cool. Finally after like three hours, he made his way down to the people.

It was actually the first cloudy day, to what I heard, in a long time for Italy. And it started to sprinkle here and there, but nothing major like torrential down pour or anything. Funny thing is, is that when the slightest rain drop fell from the sky, everybody in the crowd pulled out their ponchos and umbrellas like they were going to melt with the slightest touch of water on their skin. Us Floridians were like, “no big deal, we’ll stand in the rain, like the dedicated people we are.” Anyways, the service actually started to pick up when the Pope arrived. And when he comes, he comes in style.

He cruised down the aisle ways like a rock star in a car… standing up. He kissed even more babies and waved his hand in celebration a lot. Funny story, all the children were being brought to him by security guards, so all you see are these kids flying it the air as security holds them to the Pope. I don’t know about you, but to me it was just weird how some people would willingly hand over their child to security for the Pope. I know he’s the man and all, but still, I’d want to make sure my kid was safe before handing them over. Anyhow, I got a video of him cruising by, and that was pretty amazing.

He then, went up to the alter, read some lines, and we had to hear those lines in all fifty languages as well, and then the service was done. He blesses all of us, our family, our sacred items, and the ill in his speech, so all of you at home, did you feel a certain presence at like 5ish this morning? You did? Well that was the Pope blessing you. You’re welcome.

Oh and thanks Ms. Stark for suggesting this event. It was awesome.

After that we were done, and by now it was lunch time.

After lunch we went on a little tour to the US Wmbassy. It was really nice to be back on US soil for an hour again. It was like a little piece of home.

While going there we got to meet the foreign affair officer. She was pretty cool and has a very interesting job. Now this isn’t necessarily my field of interest, but just listening to her talk was amazing. She was very vibrant and passionate about what she does along with all the other people there, and it seemed like a really cozy environment. Another fun fact, everybody there looked like they were 25. They were young and changing the world. How awesome?!

After the Embassy, we got to see some more ancient ruins. One in particular that I liked was seeing Nero’s theme park. Nero was this crazy superstar back in the roman days, who burned an entire town for his pleasure and continued to relish in the glowing light from the blazing flames as he sang and played his instruments.

He also had this chariot racing track which was huge. So that was all cool as well.

Again I’m pretty worn down from this whole Rome thing, so with tired eyes, I say good-bye.

Till next time, Daniella.

Today was quite the hike around the neighborhood. But before sore legs and aching feet I woke up, went to eat and started the day. We went to class in the morning and discussed a lot.

Today in class for international relations we talked about military and terrorism. Mainly terrorism. It was quite interesting as Mr. Hesting was explaining how terrorists feel. I think it’s important to say that we don’t honestly and perfectly know why terrorists do what they do, but I feel like we can get some sort of idea when looking into the events they caused. Mr. Hesting was explaining how terrorism isn’t necessarily meant to cause immediate damage but rather a long-term emotional scar.

For instance, September 11th in the U.S.. We all know what happened physically, but what about mentally? The fall of the twin towers increased our security, but took away some of our freedom, and this was the plan the terrorist had. We no longer trust each other, let alone other countries. We are constantly in a state of “what if?” that’s almost to the point of paranoia. We act on “what could” rather than “what had”. We have increased military, which is sucking up all our rainy day finds, which could’ve helped restore bridges and schools. Along with all this we have lost our title as “free” and in its place we have gained the phrase “at least we’re safe”. Connecting this to today’s Italy tour, I thought about how many soldiers you actually see on the sidewalk. Today just taking tours there was one building in particular which had soldiers armed with military weapons. Also I guess the police would be something to consider, because they protect the people from danger.

On another interesting topic, for world religions we talked about Buddhism. The founder was Siddhartha who was born from his mother’s side. HA! I bet you didn’t see that one coming! Well apparently she had a dream one night where a white elephant entered her side and the next morning when she woke up, she was pregnant. When Siddhartha was born he came out from his mother’s side, which meant he was born with compassion and wisdom because he was closer to the heart than any other baby. After birth he spoke immediately, but not too long after, his mother died and Siddhartha was left with his dad, who was ruler of a small area. His father shielded him from the outside world until one day Siddhartha asked to go outside. There he saw an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and a monk. He had never seen any old people before because his dad constantly wore makeup and fired anybody over the age of 25. So all this was new and life-changing. When he saw the monk he knew he wanted to be like him, so he ran away from home to study. Traveling all over India for answers, he was left dissatisfied, till one day when he said, “You know what, I’m going to sit under this tree until I am enlightened.” And soon enough he became the Buddha.

So we talked about that and then reincarnation. Interesting trivial knowledge, some consider reincarnation to be the reason why some are vegetarians, because one could come back as a goat and you wouldn’t want to take the chance of eating your great aunt. Another thing from reincarnation, I learned that we are like candles. Since Buddhism doesn’t believe we have souls, we reincarnate with our minds, and how Ms. Stark just told it made a lot of sense as to how we reincarnate with our minds. So when reincarnated we are like candles. One is lit and another is waiting to be lit. We use the fire from the previous candle to light the new one, but we are not transferring the flame. We are simply igniting a new one. So the heat from the previous candle touches the new candles wick and this combusts into a flame, thus lighting a new candle. I don’t know if you got it, but to me it makes perfect sense. To relate to this Italy trip, we can compare Siddhartha to Jesus. Jesus was born by a virgin mother just like Siddhartha. In older text about Jesus, he too spoke to support Mary when others turned against her. And finally just like Jesus, Siddhartha became godlike.

After class we got about a 1 1/2 hour break and I mostly worked on my journal before the trip so I could at least go to bed at a recommend time tonight. As my journaling time ended the mighty walk was set in motion. Walking, there was discussion about the other group who are staying in the same hotel as us, and we were trying to guess where they’re from. Someone said the group included British people and then joked that they were the main root for the ruckus we heard the night before. As they were joking, a kind-looking gentleman who seemed to be from the region of India and his wife were just laughing and then said “Oh, so the British are the ones who create the trouble huh?” And immediately I start laughing hysterically…. in my head and just watched the whole thing play out. It was a fun social experience that could not have gone better.

After that we went on our first metro experience. It was very similar if not exactly like the subways in America. So not too exciting for me but maybe for others who haven’t had the pleasure of riding one in New York. You know? Since we live in Florida. After that we looked at so many fabulous statues and the most glorious water fountain known to man. The only sad thing was that everything was under construction or restoration, so we didn’t get to see the full view.

After admiring the art we went to the Pantheon which was amazing! There was going to be an opera concert or something but we were like “nah” let’s go get some gelato. I got pistachio and vanilla. It was good. Sorry mom – I indulged in myself a little. After gelato we went to another church with another magnificent water fountain with very symbolic people on it. We don’t go inside the church but just seeing the outside was enough. This area was very cool in particular because everywhere there were artists who were undiscovered so there were just bountiful amounts of people who had stands just full of gorgeous paintings.

Then after paintings and statues we got to enjoy the authenticity of watching a soccer game. It was incredibly fascinating because instead of yelling or complaining, people were just happy to be watching and gave their full attention to the game. The only noise they made was when Italy did something good and with all the fouls there was not one person yelling in defiance. Though it’s in my nature to want to yell at the ref about some call, I restrained myself in the name of Italy. Then after the game it was a final journey on the metro and finally dinner time. As you can safely assume after dinner it was back to bed.

So till next time, Daniella

Hello world. It is June 23, 2014 and currently it is bed time. We had an interesting day today as well as yesterday.

Yesterday we arrived around 10ish. After stepping over the plane door threshold we were greeted with a long line to customs. It took about an hour just to have someone lady stamp a mark in my passport and then rush in the next. When that was over we were so welcomingly greeted to what seemed to look like New York shoved in a small area trying to leave just as us. After counting heads and trying to stay together in the massive crowd we met our tour guide Josh and got on this coach travel bus type to take us to the hotel.

Afterwards, we went to lunch then to the Vatican. It was literally right down the block. After exploring the grounds we went inside to climb to the top. It was a total of 320 steps just to get to the dome then what seemed to be another billion steps to get all the way to the tippy top. After climbing we were face to face with the city of Rome and the lovely Vatican. When we finally reached the bottoms we talked a little about the cities ins and outs; basically what to do and what not to do, and by the time we started moving the sun was setting and it was dinner time. We went to this little restaurant where we got some authentic fried goods and the choice of pizza or pasta, or anything else but at your own risk. As we finished dinner we were released to the bedrooms where we could rest our little eyes for the night.

During our trip to the Vatican, we encountered things that pertain to our studies. For International Relations we experienced the obvious touristy view, along with observation. I find this a little surprising but since the Vatican is technically their own country we crossed a border going there. One would suspect that the border would be a tad bit hard to get through. Well it wasn’t. As we entered the Vatican we got to see a Swiss guard who is dressed like a jester and has to stand by the “official” door for what to me seems like forever. Another thing to see is all the different cultures who came just to see and learn as I did. Surprisingly there are a lot of Asian and Indian ethnicities who travel and reside here.

As for World Religions, almost 90% of what our tour guide is saying relates to this. As it is obvious, the Vatican represents this whole religion called Catholicism, but as I stated earlier, there are a lot of different ethnicities who bring different religion. All day we learned about Rome and how and why the church was built. It’s actually pretty interesting. Then as we neared the end of our journey, we got to sit in on mass IN THE VATICAN. I’m not one to say that I’m super spiritual, but I could feel and see the religion flowing through the service. Though everything was in Italian, I think people all over the world would feel some empowering emotion as the choir sang and people fell to their knees in prayer.

Now to today.

So in the wee hours of the morning, my mind seemed to want to wake up at 5 but my body was like no. So I went back to sleep and woke up around 7ish. Then down to breakfast. They served these delicious croissants with this cream in the middle and it was amazing. After that and some time we went to class which is a hop-skip-and away. We talked about conditional, liminal, and unconditional parts of religion and life, and then magic. Then for International Relations, we just talked about foreign policies. After that we went to lunch.

After lunch we got some down time and then it was travel time. We went to the Colosseum and saw the magnificent stadium where gladiators once fought glorious battles. But before that we got to see the ruins of Rome and the foundation that supported such a mighty city. I really want to talk about everything but I’m kind of exhausted so I’ll just sum it up. It was amazing….

To relate to International Relations, we learned a lot about how society worked back when Rome once was the center of the universe. Again we saw a ton of tourism with a ton of ethnicities and a ton of culture all swarming in one place at one time.

As for World Religion, we learned about the good ol’ days when psychotic emperors ruled the world and how Rome was ruthless towards others. The romans were forceful as they rejected Christianity to the fullest extent and captured Judaism in their cold hands.

So to end on a tired note, I say goodnight

Till next time, Daniella