First Phone Call!

 Today I started my classes online and on campus.  I am taking cross culture psychology on campus and art history and communications online.  This ensures I will have a lot of free time.  I am really looking forward to exploring this city to the fullest. Tomorrow I am planning on going out and finding camera shops.  Today I also recieved my first phone call from Kris and Jill.  It was really exciting for me because since I have been here I haven't been able to talk to any one except my roommate on Skype.  Now I just hope my parents will get a calling card so I can talk to them.  Well it's off to bed for me it has been a relaxing day.

Duomo

Today was a really fun day! We had Italian class in the morning then for lunch we ate at the cafe Penny Lane you know like the Beatles song. After lunch Elenora took us to the market where they had street vendors selling clothes and food. There were so many things I wanted to buy but held myself back. After the market Jen, Ambar, and I decided to go to Duomo, a beautiful church, we saw it the other day but it was raining so the colors in the stained glass were not very pretty. When we got there we toured inside it is sooo beautiful. All of the stained glass windows and the paintings on the walls. I was in awe. After looking at the inside we wanted to climb to the top of the building to see the city. So we walked around the back of the building and payed 5 Euros to walk up to the top...not fun. I thought I was going to die we walked up so many flights of stairs, I can't believe we payed to walk up that many stairs, but we decided it was cheaper than going to the gym :) When we reached the top we could see the whole city and the moutains that surround Milan. It was such a beautiful sight. After walking around on the roof for a while we decided we needed some gelato it was delicious! By the end of our gelato we were so tired we started to walk back to our apt and on the way I found a beautiful dark purple scarf that I bought and I am so exited to wear. All in all today was a fun day! I am falling in love with this city!

Milano!

Milano Italy what a beautiful place, and to think I will be living here for three more months is just crazy to me. I love this city. On the first day that we arrived I was not so sure how I felt about it...but I was also very sick from the plane ride and traveling. When we first arrived in Milan we were greeted by Eleonora and Sanda leaders of our trip. When we took our luggage out to the bus I realized it was a Mercedes-Benz. I was thinking to myself, WOW a Mercedes! But then soon after realized that the Mercedes is to Italy what the Ford is to America...Everyone has one and they are very common. I also saw a few fords and chevys..but not to many. Everything here is so small. When I say that I mean that the buildings are smaller the cars are smaller and the showers are much smaller. I never realized how big things in America were until I moved here, or how many things we have that we dont need. Like big SUV's we don't need those. They have smart cars and very tiny cars that are the length of my arms from fingertip to fingertip, and they can get buy no problem with them. Anyways this is such a beautiful city and I am already learning so much about the culture and language it is so wonderful I am looking forward to the next few months in this beautiful country!

My class

I just found out my class is stuck in Chicago. I hope all of you get home safely keep us posted.

Seventh Day... 03/30/08

This morning I woke up at 5 to go out and photograph the lower 9th. The sunlight in the morning down there is amazing! While we were photographing the Military Police were following us. They watched us like hawks. While we were walking we came across this home that was nicknamed by us the band-aid house because it had band-aids painted on it. The entire back half of the house was ripped off and you could see inside. No one has touched it since the storm. There are still dishes in the cupboards and toys on the floor. It was the saddest thing I saw the entire trip. When we were done we headed back to the hotel to pick everyone up. When we walked into the airport we found out our flight was delayed an hour so we sat around and talked about our experiences over the past week. I got really bored so I pulled out my camera and started taking pictures of this woman who had a bright pink shirt that said famous.... hopefully I made her feel like it with the camera :). When we arrived at DFW we found that we missed our connector flight and were going to have to find a way to get us all on. Well the plane that was leaving at the moment had five seats left I was one of the five. My other classmates have to wait it out. When we got off the plane in Minneapolis we were told that our classmates will have to fly to Arkansas tonight and stay until morning where they will fly to Chicago and then finally back home. I hope all goes well and they have safe flights! Well that’s all for me I'm so tired and need to get some sleep before the first day of the quarter tomorrow. Good Luck Class!

Sixth Day 03/29/08

This morning we woke up at 7am, loaded up the van, and headed out to the Honey Swamp tour. Where we toured the bayous and swamps. While on the boat we saw a large alligator and our tour guide fed him marshmallows. It was really fun watching his mouth come out of the water and watching him chew. After our tour we loaded up the van and drove back into town to meet up with the people from parkway partners. After they explained what they wanted then we went over to a small market store that had Chinese food. It was the best Chinese I have ever had. When we finished we headed back over to the tree planting where we photographed. I mainly photographed two girls that were around my age. They were fun to talk to. As I walked around I found a young child watching from a doorway and another young boy playing basketball as he watched them plant trees in his neighborhood, and it made me really happy to know these kids will grow up with the trees and have them around to play under and around. After we left we headed over to the lower 9th Ward. It was just a huge open area with steps and foundations. There were only a few houses left around. It's sad knowing the area was once a neighborhood. When we got back we all went out for dinner. It was so much fun you could tell we all had a special bond from this trip. We laughed and played silly games. It made me feel like I was really a part of something. A few of us headed back to the hotel but on the way we got a call from Rich he told us we needed to walk down Bourbon St. just to experience it. So we walked back and as soon as we hit Bourbon I had a huge smile on my face it was amazing. With all the people in costumes and beads. I was amazed. I'm glad we went back. After we walked a couple of blocks we headed back because we had to get up early in the morning.

Fifth Day 03/28/2008

\Waking up at 8:15am this morning I felt well rested and ready to go. We walked down to a cemetery and took photos. As we were taking photo I felt as if I were sweating off 20lbs. It was so humid and hot. After the cemetery we went to Audoban Park where we walked around under the huge trees. They were gorgeous. We also had a picnic in the park. It was very relaxing. When we were done eating Brian, Steph, and I went for a walk around the neighborhood to photograph homes. When we arrived back at the park our group was walking over to see the birds and ducks. After watching them for a while we were given the assignment to shoot a 5x5, 5 architecture and 5 strangers. So we walked around and photographed architecture. After walking for a while we headed back to the hotel where we had the rest of the night off. Brian and I decided to relax in the pool for a while and then go shopping for souvenirs. After we spent a ton of money we met up at the hotel and headed out to Juan's Flying Burrito. We had the most delicious flying burrito ever! In all I had a relaxing day we didn’t over work ourselves and were able to have more freedom. I'm very much looking forward to tomorrow!