Well, I've been home for a couple weeks now... so I guess it's (finally) time to upload some pictures?
This is Moses, my new favorite prophet. He guided me to my hostel. He also has horns, thanks to an interesting translation of Exodus back in medieval times.
The Arch of Constantine, as viewed from the Colosseum. I tried to sketch it, but people kept asking me to take their picture, so I was mostly unsuccessful.
Pisa! I guess I was feeling a little destructive that day...
Also Pisa, in front of the chapel with my roommate Sam.
Me, my palette, and my art studio! We were super spoiled there--there were only two people per model, so you had a really good view and could get up really close. The typical student-to-model ratio at BYU is 15:1, so this was nice while it lasted.
The Ponte Vecchio bridge in Florence. Funny historical story about this bridge--back at the beginning of the Renaissance, this bridge was where the butchers set up shop. But the Medici family had a church built on the other side of the river, and they didn't want to walk on the streets with all the normal people to reach it from their palace, so they had a giant walkway built from their palace, over the Ponte Vecchio, and all the way up the hill to the church. The thing is, the Medici family didn't like crossing over the bridge in the summer and smelling all the wonderful smells associated with butcher shops, so they banned the butchers from setting up shop on the bridge and gave it to the jewelers and goldsmiths. Today, that's where some of the best (and most expensive) jewelry shops in Florence are, and that's the reason why.
The best gelato ever!!! Mandorla (almond) and fior di latte (or was it fior di panna? I've forgotten already!) from Gelateria Carabe. *Sniff* I miss it so much...
Picnic with the roommates :) That's Alice--we took the portrait painting class together. She's also from Australia, so it was funny sometimes to see how different our English was, like when she'd call breakfast "brekky" or ask "how are you going?" instead of "how's it going?" or "how are you doing?" I spent so much time with her that one time I even slipped up and called our trash can a "bin," which felt really weird.
Bern, Switzerland. Switzerland was really nice, and quiet for some reason, but it was also really chilly. All of the clothing stores closed at 5 pm Saturday night, too, so I couldn't even buy a jacket. Luckily there's plenty of hot chocolate there :)
The Bern Switzerland Temple! I think I've been a little too used to having internet access through my phone everywhere I go--I kept getting off of trains and realizing I had no clue where to go from there :P At Switzerland, all I knew was that I needed to take a regional train from Bern to Zollikoffen and that the temple was less than 5 minutes walking distance from the train stop where (theoretically) I could find the temple hostel nearby. It was almost dark by the time I got to Zollikoffen, which actually worked out really well because the angel Moroni was all lit up. After a few minutes of circling the station, I finally found it and just followed the light. And the hostel was right next door! Happy ending :)
Also Pisa, in front of the chapel with my roommate Sam.
Me, my palette, and my art studio! We were super spoiled there--there were only two people per model, so you had a really good view and could get up really close. The typical student-to-model ratio at BYU is 15:1, so this was nice while it lasted.
The Ponte Vecchio bridge in Florence. Funny historical story about this bridge--back at the beginning of the Renaissance, this bridge was where the butchers set up shop. But the Medici family had a church built on the other side of the river, and they didn't want to walk on the streets with all the normal people to reach it from their palace, so they had a giant walkway built from their palace, over the Ponte Vecchio, and all the way up the hill to the church. The thing is, the Medici family didn't like crossing over the bridge in the summer and smelling all the wonderful smells associated with butcher shops, so they banned the butchers from setting up shop on the bridge and gave it to the jewelers and goldsmiths. Today, that's where some of the best (and most expensive) jewelry shops in Florence are, and that's the reason why.
The best gelato ever!!! Mandorla (almond) and fior di latte (or was it fior di panna? I've forgotten already!) from Gelateria Carabe. *Sniff* I miss it so much...
Picnic with the roommates :) That's Alice--we took the portrait painting class together. She's also from Australia, so it was funny sometimes to see how different our English was, like when she'd call breakfast "brekky" or ask "how are you going?" instead of "how's it going?" or "how are you doing?" I spent so much time with her that one time I even slipped up and called our trash can a "bin," which felt really weird.
Bern, Switzerland. Switzerland was really nice, and quiet for some reason, but it was also really chilly. All of the clothing stores closed at 5 pm Saturday night, too, so I couldn't even buy a jacket. Luckily there's plenty of hot chocolate there :)
The Bern Switzerland Temple! I think I've been a little too used to having internet access through my phone everywhere I go--I kept getting off of trains and realizing I had no clue where to go from there :P At Switzerland, all I knew was that I needed to take a regional train from Bern to Zollikoffen and that the temple was less than 5 minutes walking distance from the train stop where (theoretically) I could find the temple hostel nearby. It was almost dark by the time I got to Zollikoffen, which actually worked out really well because the angel Moroni was all lit up. After a few minutes of circling the station, I finally found it and just followed the light. And the hostel was right next door! Happy ending :)
