Italy!

Ciao tutti!
I got back this week from my trip to Italy. I went to the Cinque Terre, which is a national park with 5 old Italian villages built on the Atlantic Ocean in Northern Italy. Then I spent a little less than a day in Rome. Lindsey is studying in Italy right now and she met up with me in Rome and then we caught a train and headed out to the Cinque Terre.
Well I have to start out by saying that Cinque Terre is probably one of the most beautiful amazing places that I have ever seen in the world. I absolutely loved everything about it. They are five small villages, Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso, all five are connected by a hiking trail that is about 5 miles long (there are also trains). We stayed in Vernazza, which was my favorite of the five. Our hotel was this great little place in the main square of the town. Our room was very simple and clean with a private bathroom (with a big shower by European standards!). We had this amazing ocean view room that opened up right into the bay and main square, the location just couldn't have been any better!
Our first day we stopped for breakfast at the "Blue Marlin" and returned everyday to have breakfast on the patio, with the same server every morning, we saw the same people, cats, and dogs stroll by every morning going about their business.
After breakfast we hit the trail and took the first three legs that day (the easiest part of the hike) stopping in every town for a glass of wine (or two) and to explore what each town had to offer. The first day we started in Riomaggiore shopped around had some gelato, wine and by far the best mozzarella caprese I have ever had. Next was Manarola, we hiked there on the Via dell' Amore (path of love). The path is covered in graffiti, names of couples, poems and there is one spot covered in locks from couples. More vino in Manarola some pics and then we hiked to Corniglia. The walk to Corniglia involved some 382 stairs! Once in Corniglia we took Rick Steve's advice and stopped in "Il Pirun Enoteca" this great wine bar. We were the only ones there at the time and the owner was great to us. A Pirun is a typical traditional bottle to drink wine from (check out my pics!) and he just left it on our table full of wine and let us help ourselves. He was great and the wine was great! We headed back and called it a day after a great dinner at a little restaurant where I had a typical pasta of the region "trofie" with pesto (this area is famous for its pesto) accompanied by a glass of the Cinque Terre white wine, and finally a combination of cheeses served with honey and marmalade for dessert.
The next day we returned to the "Blue Marlin" for my rice quiche and cappuccino. Then we hiked from Vernazza to Monterosso the hardest leg of the hike. This part took about an hour and a half and was all up and down hill. At times the trail was only about a foot and half wide, with one side being a cliff and the other a pretty steep drop down 30 feet to the ocean. We had to have climbed at least another 300 stairs. But it was beautiful. The entire path is covered in wildflowers, I couldn't believe the colors and variety (the wild Cala Lilies were gorgeous). The views of the tiny towns across the water were amazing. Monterosso is a bit larger and the most resort like of the five. We had some pesto lasagna there that was amazing with bruschetta and focaccia sandwiches and of course more wine all outside right on the ocean (another Cinque Terre white and Moscato -for Shauna!).
Our last night we had dinner at the Belforte, which is this restaurant in an old watch tower that hangs over the ocean. We got the last table out on the water and I had more pesto, anchovies in lemon and olive oil (that surprisingly I didn't hate!) and I tried a fresh mussel (for Rich)!
The next day we went to Rome, we didn't get there until about 4:00 because its a 4 hour train ride from Cinque Terre and with the train schedule we couldn't get there earlier. The day was good, I saw the Colloseum, Forum (only outside, as it was closed), The Vatican (also closed), The Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain (loved it!). For dinner we ate at this great pizza place Lindsey knew of and had a buffalo mozzarella pizza with fresh tomatoes and basil.
So now I am back here in Spain, back to work and missing Cinque Terre. I am currently trying to figure out how I can get back there!
I have to mention how great the people were. I didn't have much time in Rome, but in Cinque Terre, everyone was great! Everyone was smiling and seemed so happy. One day we were sitting outside for breakfast and the fruit vendor was carrying a flat of strawberries to his store and stopped to hand Lindsey and I each a strawberry. I loved seeing the same people from Vernazza everyday and they were all so nice. We did also meet a lot of Americans and had conversations with people from all over, couples traveling for business or pleasure to students studying abroad all over Europe and even two guys from Turkey who were hitchhiking across Europe and stopped to film some of them with their camera and then we hiked the trail with them a bit. I loved the atmosphere of Cinque Terre and the people played a big role in that.
Next weekend is a 4 day holiday weekend (5 for me) and I will be off to Barcelona! I will take plenty more pictures and update so keep checking back!

Check out my Pictures here!

*Also as a side note for anyone who read my last entry, NO ONE even asked to look at my passport or visa!!!
(LOL sorry about the NOVEL)

Spanish Red Tape!

Wow! So yesterday my banking was cut off because I didn't have some identification number. So I could not withdraw any money and I was supposed to go to Italy today! So I spent this morning in numerous government buildings and offices trying to find out exactly what I needed to do. I came to find that I had been waiting in the wrong office for an hour and applied for the wrong thing, which as it turns out I'm pretty sure that I still will need, anyways my Visa had expired and the woman at one office ended up forcing something through for me, and finally I'm legal!!! But I just wanted to comment on what a process it was! It was "take this to the bank and pay your bill, then come back here with your paid bank receipt and you can take these papers to have photocopied which need to be returned signed and dated". What a nightmare, but its all over and I'm off to Italy! Finally! At one point today I thought not only am I never making it to Italy, or getting my money out of the bank, I may be kicked out of the country right there on the spot! Thank God its all over and I'm off to Italy, everyone have a great weekend!!!

Pueblos de Soria

Hello all! This past weekend I visited a few pueblos or villages of Soria with a teacher from the department and two other American assistants, Bailey and Kim. We started out in Vinuesa, a small village located next to this reservoir that was built to hold water for the entire area. Before the reservoir existed there was a small village in this valley that had been abandoned and then the valley was just filled with water. When driving by you could see the church tower and further down the remains of a roman foot bridge barely above water. The way of life and traditions there are a bit different than here in Soria because they are surrounded by pine forest and have a different variety of wildlife. The villages were like a ghost town on Sunday afternoon. No one was out and the bars and restaurants were empty. It was a really cool experience though. Vinuesa was the largest of the three villages we were in and the population there is a little over 1000. We visited a museum in the area that was about the pine forests in the area. The museum covered everything from the traditional housing to the wildlife of the area, which includes Golden Eagles, hawks, vultures, owls, otters, badgers and much more. The museum had a featured area on the festivals of the area that are centered on the pine trees. It was a great Sunday afternoon. I took some pics and the like is posted below.

Check out my Pics here!
-Once youre there the newest album is Vinuesa

Hope Everyone has a wonderful week! I am off to Italy on Thursday and I will post and update pics when I return!!!

Besos!

Bodies Exhibit!

Hola a todos! Last Friday I went to Madrid with the third year biology students to see the Bodies exhibit there. They are real human bodies that after death have been preserved through plastification. The exhibit covers everything from the skin to bones. Each system of the body is represented in it's own section. The first thing I saw was plastified skin, which looked just like leather. It had been fully removed from the body in a whole piece. One of the most impressive parts of the exhibit was the circulatory system. They had removed all tissue around the veins and arteries from the lungs, an entire leg and the skull. It was so amazing to see the many veins and even the tiniest capillaries in the form of lungs.
My favorite part of the exhibit was the fetal development. There were fetuses that had died along with the mother before birth, plastified and on display. The development section began at 5 weeks with a tiny fetus and then continued to progress until birth. The coolest thing was that the skeletal system had been highlighted for easy viewing as it developed. It was amazing to be able to see exactly how everything forms in fetuses with real examples. I was amazed at how everything in the body fit together and worked in perfect balance. There were entire bodies that were plastified and put into common positions, with basketballs and footballs, so the muscles were easily viewed with the nervous system also in place.
There were several examples of disease represented in the exhibit. There were two sets of lungs next to each other, healthy lungs and a smoker's lungs to demonstrate exactly what smoking does to the lungs. Next to the smoker's lungs was a large clear plastic box with a whole in the top full of cigarette packs for those that felt compelled to quit then and there. There was the body of an obese woman and she was cut into three vertical cross sections in order to show how the body stores excess fat.
Overall I was very impressed with the exhibit. It did a great job of demonstrating how the body works together. I would recommend this exhibit very strongly to everyone. I was amazed at how perfectly preserved everything was and how well it demonstrates how the body works, as well as what it needs to continue to function properly. The exhibit is in Cincinnati right now and I really would suggest going to see it if you can, it really is impressive! I have posted the link below for anyone interested in the exhibit.

The Bodies Exhibit

Besos!