TW3LV3

Rise and shine at 6:20 am. I got ready, grabbed the camera, and I was off. I walked to Piazza Adua (near the train station) and met the group of students going on the trip. There were 46 of us. We went to Ravenna. Rewind.



Once everyone arrived to Piazza Adua, we walked five blocks to Piazza Indipendenza, which is actually closer to my apartment than Adua. We boarded the bus and were off on our journey. Within five minutes, I was sleeping. Awakened by Helen's voice on the intercom, I wiped the drool from my hand, and tried to listen. Helen speaks amazingly fast, with only slight room for breaths. Her passion is heard through her words and it is quite obvious that she loves Art History. My hand was tingling from leaning on it, causing it to fall asleep. We were at a rest stop for breakfast. I got a 'ciaocolato' muffin. It was rich, but good. I also ordered an espresso and re-boarded the bus to read a paper that Helen gave us on a brief history of Ravenna. This was wasteful in a sense because about 4 minutes later, she began giving us a verbal reenactment of the entire history of Ravenna. She talked for the remainder of our bus ride, which was around 40 minutes. It's relieving and scary that she knows so much. Relieving in that she is fluent enough to answer any and all questions about the topics, yet scary in that she says so much, it is sometimes tough to take it all in.

We saw many places in Ravenna, and a lot of pictures were taken, which I will try my hardest to caption once I can upload them. I will just list the places in the blog. We started off with the Mausoleum of Theodoric. Later, we saw: Theodoric's palace chapel, Baptistery of the Arians, Neonian/Orthodox Baptistery, and the Museo Arcivescovile.



And then it was time for lunch. We went to this place that serves sandwiches on flat bread. I got, you guessed it, mortadella. With it: mozzerella, pomodoro (tomatos) and mayonnaise. It was very delicious and filling.

And then the tour picked back up. We saw: Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, San Vitale (church), Tomb of Dante, San Francesco (church), and lastly ended with Sant'Apollinare in Classe. (Once I get pictures up and caption them, it will be easier to visualize each destination, rather than me trying to describe each place in the entry).

After the last church, we were able to check out some of the shops to get drinks and use the restroom before the bus ride back to Florence. I got a fragola (strawberry) ice cream cone that was perfect. We departed the church at 5:40. On the bus, I tried to sleep, which didn't happen, because the bus must have hit every bump imaginable. We arrived to Florence a little before 8, and were dropped of at San Marco. After the short hike home, I was finally able to relax. My roommates Vincent and Antonio were in the dining room/kitchen. I shared a Birra Moretti with them, told them of my day, and then ventured back to my room.

I called my grandfather to wish him a happy birthday. He told me about his get together with the family yesterday and how his day was going. They had a cookout and played some games, which sounded fun, and is something that my family and I always do together. I miss it. We discussed my trip, future adventures, and some project ideas for classes. I tried to call home after talking to Papaw. Greg answered but the connection kept cutting out. Luckily he was on gmail so I told him about my day and we discussed some other topics. Mom got on afterwards and we talked about the party and what they've been up to. It's so nice to have an outlet to communicate with them through when it's not possible to call. The fact that everyone can read these entries also helps with keeping everyone up to date with what I do.

And so, after being up for 16 hours, seeing a beautiful city, and speaking to my family, it is time to rest. Goodnight! Buona Notte!