Tuesday was the designated day to climb all 551 steps to the top of St. Peter’s Basilica. There was a lot of talk about it and I didn’t think it would be that hard. Boy, was I wrong. The first couple hundred steps were pretty easy, but soon after they started becoming progressively skinnier and the … Continue reading Day 3: Climbing the 551 steps to the top of St. Peter’s Basilica
I awoke at 8:00 AM and headed down to the lobby for breakfast with Chloe and Margaret. I had a croissant covered in powdered sugar and a roll, since I’m a sucker for any type of bread product. After everyone finished up, we took a bit of a hike to the Pontifical Universitas Urbaniana, where … Continue reading The “Wedding Cake”, the Colosseum, and the Forum
Today was the day. The day that Mr. Hesting had warned us that we would be climbing the several hundred steps of St. Peter’s Basilica. I already got winded walking up the stairs to the second floor of my school. Why would I want to exert myself that much? Before this, of course, we had … Continue reading The Climb, Ancient Churches and Castles, and Gnocchi
My Mom and my sister Kyra drove me to Tampa International Airport at 9 AM on June 20th before watching me scan my passport and get my boarding passes for my flight to John F. Kennedy International Airport and then to ROME!! The flight to New York took longer than expected, since it was delayed … Continue reading Rome: A Whole New World
If the interjection “wow” could be transformed into a physical entity, that entity would be us as we stood in the center of ancient Rome: the Forum. In a region where ancient civilization is constantly dug up to this day, this Roman center, filled with areas of worship, marketplaces, gardens and monuments, is clearly the … Continue reading The Forum and the Colosseum
Today was our first official day touring in Rome. We first met our tour guide, Jill, at the “Wedding Cake” building. It turns out that everyone in Rome hates it, surprisingly – it’s too white. I thought that it was a nice building, but when I looked around I could see what local Italians meant. … Continue reading Coliseum: I really have no words to describe it
G’Day, Mate! We’re now on day five of our trip! We arrived in Sydney, Australia at 10 a.m. Today, my roommates and I headed down to the bus to meet up with the rest of our study abroad group. We went sightseeing around Sydney. We stopped and shopped at Bondi Beach. After the beach we … Continue reading We’re in Sydney!
Yesterday was our arrival to the Roman airport and first day of immersion in Rome.Personally, I find this place very fascinating in both its similarities and differences from back home. Seeing the main square with the fountains and St. Peter’s Basilica right behind is an experience I won’t soon forget. (The photo to the right … Continue reading One Day Down in Italy!
The first day of visiting Italy was even more amazing than I thought it would be. Maybe it was the fact that we had been on and off planes for the past 36 hours, but I found it hard to look away from anything. We dropped our things off at the hotel and freshened ourselves … Continue reading Day one of our Study Abroad program in Italy!
Australia/New Zealand student Michael Baldigo shared the following account of the group’s excursion to Kuranda Village and Tjapukai Village: A few of our group chose to “explore Cairns on your own” while the rest decided “to visit Kuranda for an additional fee.” Instead of a train ride up to the Atherton Tablelands, we took a bus and … Continue reading Cairns, Australia: Excursion to Kuranda