Chianti, Tuscany and vacation

Ciao again!

Last week was very intense, with travelling and seeing sights! I received some guests from Finland for 10 days so I had almost the whole week off from studying. During the week I acted as a guide and visited some important sights in Rome, known a little less-known for me. Those coming to Rome for holiday I would gladly recommend the hill of Gianicolo which has an astonishing view of the whole wide city area. Suprisingly enough I came across a villa on Gianicolo owned by the Finnish state in order to teach Roman history and culture to those who are interested - more suprising was the sight of Finnish signs on the wall of the villa which lead to the recognizition of the place.

Apart from Rome I visited the beautiful cities of Firenze and Bologna. Firenze was a little disappointing, not because of the environment but the huge masses of tourists strolling around the city. Bologna was a little more friendlier with its more modern-like atmosphere and a small city center.

And of course, there was the wine of Tuscany...

Last week was mostly spent in restaurants and in the city but I am confident that the next three weeks will be mostly studying and reading for the mid-term exams. Hard studying ahead...

See you soon with the next update!

PS.

Here are some pictures from my last week's journeys. Enjoy!

October heat and experiencing Lazio's countryside

Greetings from a warm Roman October!

So its nearly the half way of October. For me it means that after two weeks I will be at the half way of my exchange. Last week I was mainly trying to relax and cure myself from the long and gritty flu and cough I have had already for almost three weeks. I have to admit that the antibiotics medication has finally paid off and I feel very well now. Apart from a heavy load of studying and spending my time at the university, I have managed to organize a trip to Tivoli where we visited two UNESCO World Heritage sites, Villa Adriana and Villa d’Este. The town itself was very idyllic and traditional Italian small town on a hill – with full of tourists by the way. Villa d’Este was situated in the center of the town and it was very impressive, particularly its garden with numerous fountains and statues, if you are visiting Rome I warmly recommend this site for everyone.

Villa Adriana situated a little further from Tivoli on the way towards Rome. The name of the Villa derives from Roman emperor Hadrian who lived in the second century AD. The villa at that time was the emperor’s countryside residence with huge baths and wide ponds surrounded by numerous statues. It composed mostly of ruins and ponds but the magnitude of the ruins clearly showed that it had been a huge complex almost 2000 years ago. Travel to Tivoli and to the surroundings required a little bit of patience and planning but eventually we managed to see astonishing views and marvellous sights. 

For the first time I also managed to see Saint Peter's cathedral lighted up in the dark October evening, and I was pretty dazzled by that appearance. During all this sightseeing I managed to do little studying as well and even a presentation about the German legal system. 

 

All that said, next weekend I am off to Firenze (I prefer to call it that apart from Florence), so some update about that trip next week!

Ci vediamo!

 

Wine, wine and more wine

Ciao tutti!

Last week was full of activities Roman style - well mostly. On Wednesday me and couple other Erasmus students got very wet during a very hard tropical storm when we were trying to have a peaceful meal at a pizzeria and some beers and whiskies at a very cosy Scottich pub - again. Well all of us became soaking wet but we really had a good time while other Erasmus students were partying on a boat on the river Tiber and getting wet all the time. On that day we also witnessed the very usual strikes conducted by the public transportation...

On Friday we had a very tasty and cheap carbonara dinner in the area called San Lorenzo - little South of Termini. It was a very lively place full of Italian youth "ragazzi". There we just accidently stumbled upon the ESN staff and had a great time with them. Then on Saturday I joined a tour organized by the ESN. The tour concentrated on the lovely hill of Campidoglio (Capitolium) and the Jewish quarter.

On Sunday there was the long waited Marino Wine festival with an actual fountain that had wine instead of water. We all got 750cl of red wine - which wasn't so good actually - but anyway the atmosphere was full of cultural feeling and Italian food and drink.

At the moment I am taking antibiotics in order to get rid of the cold completely which means that I can concentrate more on my studies, so no partying for me for one week. I really think that a small break will be nice.

For Finnish readers, the temperature here at the moment is 25 degrees - a little sarcastic greetings to the far North!

Ci vediamo!