Deruta and Assisi!

Last Thursday was one of my favorite field trips yet! We went to Deruta, which is know for their hand-painted pottery. It was so beautiful! And such a cute little town...

After visiting the town, we went to a pottery factory and watched how they make the pottery! This business sells to Saks, Neiman Marcus, Brombergs, etc. It was so neat to see the process of how the pottery was made. And there was a really cute worker so that helped too! :) We got to see everything from the molding of the clay, to the painting, to the glazing. Everything was great until I went to take an "artsy" picture in the room that has all the samples for buyers and KNOCKED OVER four plates. I just stood there in shock. My purse bumped up against them but luckily nothing broke! After that I was a little freaked out. Oops!

We then went to the town of Assisi, which was so beautiful! The weather was beyond perfect and the town was so cute. We were given a tour of St. Francesco (St. Francis) Church by a MONK! How cool is that?! He was from Pennsylvania and very knowledgeable. He gave the best tour we've received yet. It was like he was giving the gospel as he was giving the tour which was really cool. I could have listened to him for hours. The artwork in St. Francesco is all connecting by comparing Francis's life to Christ's life. Pictures weren't allowed in the church but here's some of the outside and of the town.

SCV

Tuesday was suppose to downpour so our field trip got changed to go to the Vatican City. It's a lot like Washington D.C. It's its own city state, has its own flag, monetary system, etc. This is where the famous St. Peter Square is located. One of our teachers, Susanna, gave us a tour of the Vatican museum. I could listen to her for hours. She is so knowledgeable about art history and has the most soothing voice. St. Peter Church was my favorite and so beautiful. We also got to see the Sistine Chapel, which to be honest I wasn't that impressed with. I feel like it's one of those things that when you see it, it's not near as good as what everyone builds it up to be. Although, the Last Judgement piece that Michelangelo painted is very moving. You aren't allowed to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel, so I was unable to take one of the Last Judgement. It was such a beautiful day in Rome! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from that day....

The dome of St. Peter

A tapestry of the Last Supper

Paul didn't want to crucified like Jesus, so he was crucified upside down.

A dome a lot like the Pantheon.

Prominent Italian families have a crest. This is the Chigi's crest in the Vatican. (Chigi Palace is where I'm staying)

Beautiful ceiling...

St. Peter's Square

Rubbing St. Peter's foot for good luck...

The alter in St. Peter

Jess and I eating candy at the train station after a long day...

A guy that painted a painting for the Chigi Palace and he was on The Sopranos!

One of our precious teachers, Francesco. One of the best dressed men...

Interlaken!

This past weekend we went to Interlaken, Switzerland, which was so beautiful! The weekend started off a little rough though...Jessica and I didn't wake up until 10 minutes before we had to leave for the airport. I'm not sure if my alarm didn't go off or if I turned it off in my sleep or what, but to say the least we were freaking out. Thank goodness we had packed the night before and just had to throw our toiletries in the bag! Then traffic on the way to the airport was awful but luckily we made it on time! We flew Baboo and honestly I was kind of scared by the name of the airline. So I was expecting a tiny plan and that wasn't nice at all, but to my surprise it was wonderful!! When we got on they gave us Evian water, then a vegetable kabob with chicken, then a miniature sandwich with cream cheese, and lastly a tiramisu dessert. Then they brought around coffee, tea and chocolates. We were all in heaven! If you ever have the chance to fly Baboo, I highly recommend it!

We made it to Interlaken safely and then when we got to the hostel we had to get ready for night sledding. On our way up the mountain, the instructors had to get out and put chains on the wheels. So by that point I'm already freaking out. Then we get to the top and kiddingly I ask an instructor "so, do we really sled in the dark" and he responds "why yes". I just about backed out at that point. You see, when I thought about night sledding I thought about a time when I went tubing with Kate and Mckenna in North Carolina and the slope was LIT UP. But Timmy wasn't kidding. They give us flashing red lights to put on our backs! Do they really think they're going to be able to find me with a tiny red light?! The praying definitely started at this point because clearly there was no turning back now. To my surprise, it was actually the greatest experience! It was like a curvy trail we went down and it gave you a great adrenaline rush. I am definitely glad I did it! Afterwards a restaurant served us Swiss cheese fondue and a Swedish dish that is hash-browns with a fried egg on top. YUM!

The next day Jessica and I slept in which was so nice. Then we just walked downtown and explored Interlaken. Saturday night we went to a chocolate show that was very interesting and got to buy delicious truffles! The trip went by so fast but we had such a good time! Here's some pictures!...

Timeless

Here is my blog post I did for the Auburn website about our journeys last week if you're interested!

We went to Ostia Antica, Etruscean Tombs, Montecassino Abbey and Pompeii. The weather was not so good for Ostia Antica or the tombs but we toughed it out. It was suppose to rain the day we went the Abbey and Pompeii but the Lord gave us some sunshine for a lot of the day. It so interesting to go to these historic places and see into the minds of the people back then. As you will read on my Auburn blog, it really opened my eyes that just because it was another period of time doesn't mean they were any less smart than we are today.

I thought we were going to die on the way to the Montecassino Abbey. It was on top of the biggest mountain I have ever seen and Marco (what I've named the bus driver) was just going a little too fast for my liking. So I was in the very back praying the whole way up there! It was like it the tiniest gust of wind blew, the bus could have been knocked off the side of the mountain. But we made it safely, thank you Jesus! When we got there I was expecting to see Monks just everywhere. That was definitely not the case. Those little guys were no where to be found! So I kept asking the tour guide their whereabouts and all she would say was that they were in a specific area. So we got to the Abbey (the church) and Tommy, our faculty member who is here with us, said Meaghan there's a monk! So I turned to look as fast as I could and the little man was like a flash of lightning. He was just this blurred image that darted across the church. I was very disappointed. But don't get disheartened because I saw one in the gift shop that sold chocolate the monks "supposedly" make - even though it has a picture of the coliseum on it. My trip was then complete and the chocolate was wonderful!

Pompeii was beautiful and so much bigger than I had expected! They had so many thermal baths which is like our sauna today. They loved those things! It was so neat to be in these places that are so old and historical! Here are some extra pictures...

Jess and I at Montecassino...the wind was a little crazy!

A beautiful cross from Montecassino's view...

In the Abbey, a whole chapel was made from mosaics....

Lauren and I...

The entrance road of Pompeii. The white specks you see could be seen at night, so they used them as night reflectors.

A human body that was found in the ash after Mount Vesuvius erupted...

A Chinese man with a mullet! Definitely made the trip!

True or False....

Pasta and tomatoes were created in Italy?

FALSE!

Pasta was created in Japan. Shocker, I know!

Tomatoes were created in South America and shipped to Italy!

hejdå!

Off to Switzerland for the weekend! :)

Fashion Week (Fall2010) Part II

More favorites from Fashion Week...

3.1 Phillip Lim

Tory Burch

Milly

Nanette Lepore

Mulberry

Sophie Theallet

Vera Wang

Tibi

Marc by Marc Jacobs

p.s. I had another internship interview with Ralph Lauren yesterday and I think it went really well! Please keep me in your prayers!