And with my last reflection paper submission, my Spring 2016 semester is officially done!! Yay! Now it's time to freak out about Italy!

Well, it looks like there is no rest for the weary, because I have about 2 hours of videos to watch and a short book on Italian culture to read and write about for my pre-departure assignment for my art history class. But at least it will be exciting to learn about!

I suppose I'll give a rundown of our itinerary, since so many people have asked me and I have provided them with lame answers. As soon as we land in Rome on May 11th, we will take a bus to Ostia Antica, where we will visit an archeological site and I will probably be half asleep and have no idea what time it is. That night we will stay in the Ostia Antica Park Hotel and then we will depart the next morning by bus for Florence, where we will stay for six nights in the Hotel Maxim, which is right down the road from the Cathedral, Baptistery and Museo dell' Opera del Duomo (aka, the giant dome in the middle of Florence that I definitely learned in AP Art History but forgot everything about, sorry Mrs. Meatte). Picture for reference...

Brunelleschi's the name, climbing the dome is the game.

After six nights, we will leave Florence and travel by bus to Massa Marittima, which is a small hill town. While we are there, we will stay in a restored monastery for five nights. We will visit two artists, both sculptors, and tour their art gardens and have a sculpting master class. I am so excited for this! Once we leave Massa, we will be Rome bound! We'll stay in Rome in the St. John's University dorm facilities for 28 nights. Apparently for our first dinner in Rome we will be taken to a Chinese restaurant because we'll be sick of pasta and pizza, but I'm not sure if that's possible. We'll see everything: the Colosseum, the Vatican Museums, the Roman Forum, St. Peter's Basilica, and anything else you can think of. We'll also go to the Porta Portese Flea Market, and I'm super excited to buy some Italian trinkets! After 28 nights in Rome, we will have a short excursion to Naples, where we will stay for three nights in the Hotel Toledo. There we will see Pompeii, Oplontis and Herculaneum. After those three nights, we will travel back to Rome, see even more sites, present our reports about certain art pieces in front of the actual art pieces, and before we know it our time in Italy will be over. We'll have a big farewell dinner on the last night, and then we'll be back on a plane heading home. I am so excited, but also pretty nervous. I only have 11 more days!

So that's the general rundown. I'm hoping I'll have time to regularly post on here throughout the trip, but if not, I'll probably be posting millions of pictures on Facebook. Stay tuned!

Dani

Hi friends!

I am a mere thirteen days away from my departure date for my summer study abroad trip to Italy! I will be over there for six weeks, and I will be studying Roman Art and Architecture as well as Art History on Site with twenty-four other students and faculty members from the University of North Florida Department of Art and Design. Throughout our trip, we will visit the port city of Ostia Antica, Florence, Naples, the hill town of Massa Marittima, and of course, Rome. My art history professor has hooked us up with tickets to literally every museum or art site in each city, and I cannot wait to begin this adventure!

Of course, I am also a bit anxious about this trip because it will be my first time out of the country, not to mention the first time away from my family for that amount of time, but I know I will love it once I get there. The 10-hour overnight international flight is scaring me a little, but I have decided that I will pass the time watching movies from a very long list of movies that I still have not seen and my friends have told me I must see. That is, if I'm not able to fall asleep! Oh, and packing is a thing... And foreign currency and international cell phone plans... but it's okay, I still have time for those things.

The idea to start a blog for my trip struck me a couple weeks ago, but of course since I REALLY should be studying for my TESOL final right now, why not create the blog RIGHT NOW? It's finals week and my brain is fried. I am SO looking forward to spending these six weeks taking a break from the busyness of the school year and studying art history, a subject that I have always loved.

Well, that's the intro to my blog. Stay tuned for more posts and follow me on my journey to Italy! I'll have so many pictures and fun things to share. I wish I could take everyone with me!

Ciao! (I really should also learn some basic Italian... This should be fun!)
Dani