Di Vivere Deliberatamente

To Live Deliberately

Why is it that when we break away from the familiar we realize just how blessed we are? I am riding on the bus from Munich to Salzburg right now and as I stare out the windows at the green landscape, cobblestone town and beautiful snow capped mountains I can’t avoid this feeling of awe and gratitude. I am discovering just how incredible the world is and just how fortunate we all are to live here.

Each little trip I take rivals the one before it. Munich is no exception. The German city was rich with history, culture and most prominently, bier. I was entertained at the Hofbrau house, intrigued at the Deutche Museum, speechless at the former headquarters of the Third Reich, aching at Dachau, and charmed at Ludwig II’s summer palace. In short, Munich was/is incredible.

Upon our arrival, we managed to find an authentic German restaurant. We drank our liters of weisbier and nommed on our Bavarian sausages. We chose to sit outside and listen to the German music and enjoy the pleasant weather. Our servers were dressed in traditional Bavarian attire. Good start to a good trip.

The first full day in Munich involved a city bus tour. My favorite part of the tour was when we went to the former headquarters of the Third Reich. It was here that Hitler spoke from the balcony to his followers, held major operations for the Nazi party and began to transform Germany into a structured state of torture. I could not believe I was walking the same halls that Hitler walked less than a century ago. The more I learn about Hitler’s rule, the more disgusted I feel. Human sympathy is an immense power. I’ve experienced strong feelings of pain and remorse for those who were in Europe during Hitler’s rise to power until the end of WWII. I just cannot imagine all the propaganda, fear and brutality that was experienced in the country during that time. Munich, being a central part of the Nazi operations, brought everything I’ve ever learned about the Nuremburg laws and WWII into a different light. The brutality of what happened between the time Hitler became chancellor to the time the concentration camps were liberated is unfathomable. My heart hurts just thinking about it. It’s animalistic, yet only the mind of a mad man could conjure the twisted concept of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.

The balcony from which Hitler spoke in Munich

We stopped by the Hofbrau House to grab some beers and lunch. All the servers were in their traditional garb and loud, live Bavarian music was blaring. It was a good time. I noticed a guy sitting by himself and offered him a seat at our table so he wouldn’t be alone. Turns out the guy was from Georgia and just graduated from UGA last year. He even knew a few folks from my hometown. Small world right? He was southern to the bone, and to be honest, it was nice to talk to someone with a little Tara twang. I can now classify the southern gentlemen as its own breed. You won’t find manners like that anywhere but the South.

Ryan...

Our fellow UGA amico Jason Bourne, I mean Robert.

Back to the fixation on Nazi Germany… I suppose I should inform you that I just completed a course on the history of the Holocaust; therefore it was only appropriate to weave a visit to Dachau into our trip to Germany. We loaded the bus and toured Dachau. I’ve been to the Dachau concentration camp once before on a family Euro trip, but I was only 11 years old so I don’t think I understood the severity of the setting. This time, my trip to Dachau made me sick to my stomach. I couldn’t even watch the video the whole way through. It pained me to see so much human suffering and hurt. The emaciated figures and sunken-eyed prisoners in the video were haunting. I was so glad that I had taken the course on the Holocaust prior to this visit. This go-around I knew more history prior to the implementation of the concentration camps and WWII that helped me better understand my visit to Dachau. Despite the knowledge I’ve attained about the Third Reich, Hitler, Krystallnacht, etc., the one fact that I had trouble accepting was that Dachau was in use just 70 years ago. That’s unbelievable. My grandparents were alive during WWII. There were people walking the streets in Munich that probably listened to Hitler’s speeches in person or were Brownshirts or Stormtroopers themselves. That’s insane.

Gas chamber at Dachau

"Work Makes You Free"

How about some levity? Something else insane—The Deutche Museum. It reminded me of a bigger, better, and more history-based Fernbank Museum. Everyone went out the night before and didn’t get in until 6:30 a.m. Therefore only 4 of us met Martin in the lobby to go to the museum at 9:00a.m. Saturday morning. Man, it was worth it. We saw exhibits on glass blowing, textiles, aerospace, photos/film, aircrafts, boats, old agricultural machinery, etc. My dad would’ve loved it. We spent nearly four hours wandering the museum. We could have stayed even longer if our legs would’ve allowed us. However, we needed to grab some lunch and rejuvenate before we continued our day so Martin took us girls to lunch. We had traditional German food and wine. He then took us out for dessert. Martin paid for it all! He spoiled us. I guess that was our reward for not being hung over in Germany like the rest of the group. I told you it was worth it!

Southern roots

Part of the exhibit on toys from the past

Cecy flying a simulated airplane

This pottery exhibit made me think of my brother, Drew. He makes beautiful pottery like this. This photo is my way of nagging him to sell his pottery. He can make stuff just like this! Talented.

Glass blowing exhibit

We got to watch glass figurines like these being blown

Girls day out with Martin

On one of our city tours we were able to see the Nymphenburg Palace. Belissima! Our tour guide was the most eccentric character I’ve ever met (and with my having been to Thespian Conference, that is saying a lot). He was wonderful! He livened up the 8a.m. tour for sure. He must’ve downed 7 cups of coffee before the trip—a man after my own heart. For some reason he picked me out of the group and called me his “sweet golden apfel strudel” during the entire trip. I was the group guinea pig and he used me for every example or story about the royalty in the Bavaria. Some people wouldn’t have enjoyed being picked on, but I liked it because it meant I got to see everything first! I always got the best view of the rooms and could hear every fact the tour guide, Michael, spit out. It was an interesting tour.

The Nymphenburg Palace

Jared being one of our tour guide, Michael's props during the tour. Cuteeee.

I forgot to mention our living arrangements during the Munich trip. We stayed in a Marriott with breakfast included. For poor, hungry college kids, this was a king’s dream! The Marriott might as well have been the Ritz. It was the nicest place we have stayed at to date. Fifty times nicer than our residence and it can’t even compare to the hostels we’ve booked… The breakfast was a huge selection of “real” food. I say “real” because this place had sausages, scrambled eggs, fruit, potatoes, and omelets. Everywhere else we’ve been, the locals only serve/eat pastries and croissants. It’s been carbolicious and its getting old. So it goes without saying that not a single person in the group missed breakfast while we were in the Marriott. In fact, everyone got there at least an hour early so they could utilize the buffet style accommodations. Can you blame us? In our minds, if food is free, we will eat enough for a small country. We even would lug our backpacks to breakfast and discreetly stow away rolls and fruit for our lunch and dinners! One day I hope I will have the luxury of not having to “steal” from breakfast buffets in order to have food. Hah, until then, I’ve got plenty of apples, bananas and hard rolls in my backpack if you’d like one.

Another awesome feature of the hotel was the indoor pool. We spent a portion of every night hanging out in the hot tub. It was great bonding time and a good way to unwind. We were most definitely the obnoxious Americans who took over the territory, but we were having so much fun, there was no chance we were going to move out and pipe down. The girls used the steam room and sauna a good bit while we were at the hotel. It was so relaxing! …. That is until we found out Bavarians love to walk around all naturale. I can only imagine how squeamish and uncomfortable we all looked as we ducked out of the sauna when the nudists came in. It didn’t even phase them. Everyone walked around naked like it was nothing out of the ordinary. For them, I suppose it wasn’t, but for the Americans, we have now been scarred for life.

Although every bit of the Munich trip was awesome, my favorite part of Munich is the English Gardens. It is huge park that has been dedicated to people for relaxation and enjoyment. It is miles long and Cecy, Lisa and I decided to walk the entire park all the way to Marian Plaza. It had to have been close to seven miles, but we hardly noticed because it was so cool. Bicyclists, musicians, picnics, couples, frisbees, children, friends, bier, horse carriages, etc. were spread out over the green gardens and everyone seemed to be having such a good time. We walked through right as the sun was beginning to set. I could’ve painted a picture it seemed so perfect.

One of the many improptu bands that set up in the English Gardens

Brandon and Jackson

I don’t know if it is because I’ve had a four-hour bus ride of introspection, or if it is just because I’m growing up, but I can’t quit thinking about how lucky we all are to be on this adventure. Every bit of my experience thus far has been a growing process. I’ve never felt more grateful. Why did I have to come to Europe with a group of strangers in order to grow so much? Why couldn’t it have happened at home? I can’t help but allude to Henry David Thoreau’s Walden—

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life…”

Okay so maybe I really didn’t live on the bare essentials and camp out in the woods, but I did set out on this adventure seeking to “suck out all the marrow of life.” I wanted to learn about the world, life, myself, society, my ambitions, these friends around me, etc. And to be honest, this experience has taught me more than I signed up for. I may be getting sappy because I’m sad this trip is coming to an end. However, I know that even after I return home, I will still be learning from this experience. For me, I like to think of this trip as the Marriott breakfast buffet—the gift that keeps on giving and an experience for which I am forever thankful.

…Ciao!

Il luogo Unico nel suo Genere: Venezia

The Only Place of its Kind: Venice

In domes of dim and ancient gold,

In cloisters, where the lightning plays,

Where gleam the gorgeous saints of old

In aisles of jade and chrysoprase.

-Herbert Asquith "Venice"

...Ciao!

Buda, Buda, Buda, Buda Rockin' Everywhere!

Library of Parliament on Pest

When was the last time you experienced an entirely sincere smile? You know, the kind that can only be generated by a sense of absolute contentment?

It was one of those weekends. I don’t think a minute passed by where I was not smiling. Without exaggeration, this past weekend was one of the most blissful weekends of my life.

I went to Budapest, Hungary. Jared, Kristin and I missed two buses to the train station Thursday night. This delayed us 2 full hours, but surprisingly, it didn’t faze us. Once on the train to Brescia, we had to make a switch about an hour en route. This didn’t dampen our spirits either. Once our second train arrived in Bergamo, Italy, we walked close to two miles to Jackson and Ryan’s hotel they had booked. We woke up at 6am and caught a taxi to the Bergamo aeroporto and took Ryanair flight into Budapest. From there we caught a taxi to our hostel. It took trains, planes and automobiles, but we made it to our final destination and let me assure you, it was worth every bit of the hassle.

I’ll back track and explain myself. Our flight was out of Bergamo, which is just outside of Milan. We didn’t exactly put forth our best effort when researching the detail of our trip. You see, our flight out of Bergamo was at 8:15 am. Bergamo is about 2 hours away from Verona by train. The unexpected news—No trains left Verona for Milan/Bergamo until 7am. This complicated our process. So on Wednesday night, we made this realization (we’re in college, we sometimes don’t think things through) and immediately began to brainstorm how we were going to make it work while spending the least amount of money. I’m broke FYI. That’s when Ryan and Jackson came into the picture. They had a flight out of Bergamo booked for Friday too. They were headed to Barcelona. Anyway, they also booked a cheap hotel in Bergamo since their flight was so early. CHEAP being the operative word. We sketchily walked 2 miles in a foreign city at 11pm lugging our suitcases. After about an hour of navigating street signs, we arrived at the sketchiest hotel I have ever seen. Ryan and Jackson snuck us in the back door and we crashed on the floor. No pillow. No blanket. No shower curtain. No working toilet. Just Jared, Jackson, Ryan, Kristin and I packed into a small hotel room in Bergamo, Italy. It was all part of the experience and coincidentally, the best 5-hour rest I’ve ever had.

Our "quaint" Hotel Post. This is the front of the building by the way. Nothing says "Welcome!" like quality graffiti!

When we arrived in Budapest, we met Lynnie at the airport. She had flown in from France to meet us. Lynnie is Jared’s girlfriend who goes to KU. We had our hostel arrange our transportation and we showed up at Boomerang Hostel around 11:00.

So naturally, as spontaneous (or stupid) college kids, we explored! We had no plans, no knowledge of the crazy Hungarian language, no idea of where Budapest actually is, no clue what attractions are there…We literally just picked a place on the map and said, “Andiamo!”

We started walking and asked locals where we should go. The Hungarians were some of the nicest people I have encountered while abroad. Everyone knew English and seemed to be thrilled when we said we were from America. We felt like celebrities. Over the weekend we saw the cathedral, crossed the bridge to the castle, saw the Fisherman’s Bastian, the library of parliament, the cave church and enjoyed the most to-die-for Hungarian goulash. We even hiked to the top of Budapest and looked over the Danube River and the entire town. I love Budapest.

The highpoints of the trip cannot be highlighted. Why? Because the entire weekend was one of the highlights of my life.

Budapest was originally two separate places: Buda and Pest. Don’t feel badly, it was news to me too. Anyway, the Danube River separated the two and eventually they were merged into what we know as Budapest. The term “Pest” meant furnace or cave. This is pretty interesting because if I understood correctly, the cave church we went to was one of the reasons behind the name of the town. It is a church that was built in a cave in Budapest in 1926. Despite seeing the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica, cave church was one of the neatest churches I’ve been in. Chiseled rock formed an exterior entrance to the church and the low ceilings and textured floor and walls made me feel like I was in a movie or something. It was unreal. There were hardly any ornate decorations or add-ons. It was simply rock walls, tunnels and crosses here and there. I think there was one stained-glass window. Conceptually speaking, the church was meant to show/embody the greatness of God’s natural creation here on earth. What better way to emphasize this than to build a church literally within the earth? The church served as a refuge during WWII and was shut down a few years later by communist secret police. It was reopened for use about 20 years ago and run by Hungarian Paulite monks. They hold mass there to this very day. How cool would it be to attend mass in a church that is inside a cave?

Exterior of Cave Church

Cave Church Sanctuary

So clearly our daytime was full of exploration of the city and history, but you just can’t experience a foreign city without checking out the nightlife. So that is exactly what we did. Side note—we met this guy, Michael, in Verona. He is part of the Erasmus study abroad program and he happened to be in Budapest that weekend with his group—Michael let us know about a pub crawl happening that night so we decided to stop by and check it out. Hungarian bars are nothing like bars in America, or Italy. There was really neat graffiti all over the walls, a DJ playing house music and lots of little rooms with couches and chairs for small group mingling I guess. So mingle we did. We met some Italians! Funny how while we were in Hungary, we felt like these Italian guys were a slice of home sweet home! We realized we have grown more accustomed to Italy than we thought. So we all immediately bonded and went out with them to a couple of bars and met up with some Erasmus kids from Boston, Massachusetts. They were studying in Milano. It is truly a small world. The night was a lot of fun. We made new friends and got to see what kids our age do for fun in Budapest.

Our Italian Amicos from Milano- Antonio Guissepe and Sabian with Jared

I found Waldo in Budapest!

Nightlife is exciting, but this blog post would be nothing if I failed to mention the Hungarian food. We made it a point of the trip to eat local, Hungarian food at all meals. We were “success—full”! We ate delicious goulash and some sort of pasta thing. We had no idea what the Hungarian menus said so we closed our eyes and pointed. Whatever our finger landed on, we ate. Our little decision-making game never failed us. On our last night we went to a neat restaurant where there was live Hungarian music. The specialty on the menu was your choice of raw meat on a hot stone plate that you got to cook yourself and enjoy. I enjoyed every last bite! To my surprise the Hungarian wines were better than any I had ever tasted in Italy. Budapest is unlike the rest.

Delicious Hungarian Goulash

Chicken served on our hot stone plate

Our Hungarian musical performer who charmed us with a little John Denver while we dined

I dropped a couple thousand forints while in Budapest. Forint is the Hungarian currency. Don’t worry Dad, one thousand forints is close to $10 U.S. dollars. It took us a while to get used to this new currency, that’s for sure. We were in shock for a solid five minutes when we got our bill at dinner one night for 4,000 HUF. As broke college students, it’s hard for us to pay for something with two digits before the decimal point. So four digit numbers were close to incomprehensible. However we felt like millionaires! Budapest is the best.

We woke up Sunday morning to catch a cab at 4:30am to the airport. It was early, but once again, nothing could bring us down while in Budapest. We caught our taxi, plane, trains and bus and made it safely back to Verona before noon.

Budapest is an incredible place. It is absolutely charming, beautiful and interesting. It was great to see that part of Western Europe. However, I think the real reasoning behind the perfect weekend getaway had to do with the people I was with. Jared, Kristin, Lynnie and I made the perfect team. We took our time. We enjoyed the present. We harnessed our inner spontaneity and all agreed the most important part of the trip for us was to explore the city and culture. It wasn’t about meeting cute boys, going out until the wee hours or seeing just how loud and obnoxious we could be as American tourists. We were all on the same page and no one could find any reason to complain about anything. Budapest brought out the best in us. It’s crazy how something so random can cause such impact. This past weekend is one to be savored.

I’m still smiling and I’ve been home for a couple hours now. Budapest was bliss. I’m not sure another weekend can top it.

Lynnie with her Budapest bird

View of the Danube River

Near the Fisherman's Bastion

Matthias Church (the coolest tiled roof)

Budapest :)

P.S.- Thanks to Kristin for the pictures!

Have a great week!

…Ciao!

Vita Aggiornamento

Life Updates

-The glass is now officially 2/3 full-- our Renaissance/Counter-reformation Art and History class came to an end. To celebrate it’s coming to a close, Tony decided to give us a final essay exam where we traced the artistic, philosophical and political transitions in Florence and Rome from the Middle Ages to the Counter Reformation. Three hours and a cramped hand later, I whipped out a pretty decent in-class essay. I still can’t decide if it’s fair to give a 3-hour time limit when you’re instructed to write an essay over a period of 1,000+ years. Time waits for no man, and apparently, neither does Tony.

-Since Tony’s class is now over, we’ve started the second block of classes. This includes a course on German politics/the Holocaust and another on Global Contemporary Issues. The German politics/Holocaust instructor is from UGA and I really enjoy his class. The Global Issues teacher is from Rome, Italy originally. He has an incredibly stacked resume. He’s fluent in several languages and has done work with the United Nations. He’s impressive. To go along with his incredibly stacked resume, he has an incredibly thick accent. I’m not sure if it’s more of an Italian accent or a French accent. Sometimes he sounds German to me. Regardless of its derivative, the language of the professor is foreign, even when he is speaking “English.” He’s really energetic though and he’s very knowledgeable. I would love to find out more about his career and background, but for now I’ve just got to hone in on what he’s trying to communicate. #Saywhat?

-I took a day trip to Milan to see Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” this past weekend. It was extremely interesting and worth the hassle. I had to make a reservation to see the fresco because they only allow groups of 25 at a time to enter the exhibit. I had to book the ticket 2 weeks in advance. The voyage to Milan was more complicated than I had expected. Since it was a Sunday, the normal bus that I would take to the train station wasn’t running. Therefore, I had to take a bus that was headed for Trento then looped around back towards Verona’s airport. Did I mention I caught the bus around 8 am? Verona is essentially a ghost town at that hour on a Sunday. Anyway, I got to Milano and went straight to the exhibit. It was fascinating to see Da Vinci’s work so large and up close. He used a “dry” technique when doing this fresco. Because of his use of this technique and several damaging historical events, “The Last Supper” has required a lot of restoration. The colors of the paints were nowhere near as vibrant as those found in the Sistine Chapel. Da Vinci depicted the initial shock of the disciples when Jesus spoke, “Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me…” He captured each disciple’s personality and specific reactions through not only the facial expressions, but also the hand gestures. The hands intrigued me. Even Da Vinci’s depiction of Jesus Christ’s hands in the painting caught my eye. In the painting He has one hand upward and one cast downward. I wonder if this is any sort of allusion to the Mosaic in the Florence Baptistry of “Christ the Judge” in which Christ is seen doing the same hand gesture. I think the fresco was particularly neat to me because it depicted a religious scene I have heard so much about throughout life. I was so intrigued. The fresco was stunning.

-I gave Ryan a hair cut yesterday. Perhaps I could make a living cutting hair…

-In other news, Fat February has officially come to an end. No more eating whatever I please and drinking useless calories of divine wine. We’ve now entered Modest March. Time to “think thin” again with portion control. Gelato, however, deserves an exception.

-I hate to resort to talking about the weather, but the weather in Verona has been thawesome! I went from wearing a pea coat, scarf and gloves to wearing shorts and soaking up sun on the back balcony. My excitement with the wardrobe change up may be misleading. I said the weather was thawsome. That means in the mid 50s. But as a Southern gal, I’ll do anything to wish warmer weather upon us! I’ve really enjoyed the sunshine.

-We ran into John in Rome! Crazy huh? I was walking by Capitoline Hill and I heard, "Angie?" from behind me. It was John! What're the odds?

-By the way, I booked a weekend trip to Budapest!!!!! I’m excited to say the least. I had to ditch the idea of going to Greece. It was just not a smart move economically, so I made other plans to go to Budapest. I wasn’t considering the idea until Jared called me earlier this week: “Let’s go to Budapest!” I guess it didn’t take much convincing. So I talked Kristin into going and we’re meeting Lynnie over there too. It’s going to be so neat to get to see a different side of Europe.

-Just to clear up confusion—I’ve been without internet connection for quite some time now. That means I’m way behind on the blog. I’ve got so much to spill about Florence and Rome that it may take a while. I’ll keep posting as I can. They may be a little out of order. I send my apologies!

Happy Wednesday!

…Ciao!

Ho trovato Firenze. Ho trovato l'amore.

I have found Florence. I have found love.

Florence, Italy is to great works of art, as Athens, Georgia is to college bars. Art is everywhere. In this single city lies the majority of the work of some of the greatest Renaissance artists of all time—Michelangelo, Botticelli, Donatello, Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, and Vasari etc. etc. I pretty much had one reaction during the entire trip: Awe.

But let me start at the beginning (I warned you already, I’m bad about jumping the gun). We took a four-hour bus ride to Florence. The landscape we passed seemed all too picturesque. Think unlimited green farmland and hillsides. I felt like I was watching a movie as I looked out the window. It was that captivating. Little did I know what beauty I had yet to encounter.

When we arrived in Florence we checked in to Hotel Donatello (only appropriate right?), which is located about a 10-minute walk away from the Baptistry. The hotel was more of a bed & breakfast and was really quaint. Kat and I were fortunate enough to get a room with a balcony. I love the distinct charm European bed & breakfasts provide. After checking in, Martin showed us the route to town and as we turned the corner and took sight of the beautiful Santa Maria del Fiore, Giotto’s campanile and the Romanesque Baptistry I couldn’t hold back my amazement.

The Baptistry

Giotto's Bell Tower

Santa Maria del Fiore

My pictures hardly do the architectural detail the justice it deserves. I guess my main enchantment wasn’t only due to the beauty of the Baptistry, but more so to the fact that I was actually seeing the building itself, in real life. There, right before me, was the building that housed the mosaic of Christ the Judge. There, before my eyes, were the Doors of Paradise that Ghiberti so intricately designed after competing for the right to create the masterpiece against Brunelleschi. These masterpieces were no longer just photographs in textbooks, but actual buildings surrounded by casual everyday life. It was like time had preserved these buildings and despite our evolving world, the great works of art remained absolutely intact and unaltered. It was surreal. Bellissima.

Left: Ghiberti's Doors of Paradise (model) Right: Florence's duomo

"Traveling is the ruin of all happiness! There's no looking at a building after seeing Italy."

-Fanny Burney

Alongside the incredible architecture and artwork, Florence is also known for its appeal to tourists, Americans in particular. In Verona I walk the streets and am forced to use my broken Italian to communicate. In Florence, I did not encounter a single storeowner, bystander or server who was unable to speak English. There were a lot of Americans in the city. How do I know this? We stick out. We’re undeniable. The stereotypes are absolutely true. We talk loudly, we wear loud colors, and we whip out our cameras to take pictures of peculiar things (pigeons, peace signs, McDonalds restaurants, etc.). We’re far from subtle, but street vendors and local businesses thrive off such easy prey. Florence’s economy revolves around tourism, so locals are more than happy to please guests and speak fluent English.

One place where I felt especially targeted was while walking through the street leather markets. Florence is known for selling fine Italian leather goods and they have purses, wallets, belts, jackets and briefcases lining the market tables and racks. After haggling with a vendor I am proud to say I am now the owner of a beautiful genuine Italian leather jacket!! I talked his selling price down a couple hundred dollars! So far it has been my only real purchase on this trip and probably the best buy I will make. It’s been worth every last euro so far. I love it!

The nightlife in Florence was more familiar to our group than the nightlife in Verona. Although Verona’s night scene is incredible, it’s also very international. Florence has a much more Americanized bar scene. In fact, as we were heading out one night, we met up with some guys who are U.S. Rangers. They had spent a little time at Fort Benning which is a few minutes from where I lived/interned this past summer. Small world huh? Anyway, they showed us to a local bar where the walls were lined with graffiti. It wasn’t just any graffiti though. The interior of the building was covered with mascots and symbols of American colleges and universities. Tons of college kids had visited this spot over the years and left their mark on the walls. We couldn’t find UGA anywhere so I decided I’d do the honors. I sharpied the Georgia “G” on the wall with our ever so southern saying, “Go Dawgs! Sic ‘em!” We all signed the wall that night. I know Florence left it’s mark on me, but now it’s kind of cool to be able to say, I left my mark on Florence. My “artwork” now is on display in the same location as the great works of Michelangelo and Donatello. Hah.

My international commemoration to the Bulldawg nation

Our first night out in Florence

I loved Florence. Of course the art was my initial attraction, but as time went on, I found myself loving every element it offered. We were fortunate enough to tour the Academia, Uffizi, San Lorenzo, and Santa Croce. I spent an entire day wandering the city by myself. I was on my own exploring for nearly 6 hours and I still wish I could’ve seen more.

Italy, my friend, you continue to outdo yourself.

…Ciao!