This is my bloggy thing for the 2017 UofA honors study abroad trip to Rome and London! Me being Martin Niemiec. Check it out, or don't. I can't make you!
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This was touching. I must say that I balked at the idea of spending all that money on a study-abroad, and was half-certain that I wouldn't end up going even as I applied. Then the grants came in out of nowhere, and it was possible. Then it was happening. Then it was over. And I can easily say it was worth every penny, having been most likely the greatest experience of my life. It is not often that one gets the opportunity to learn so much and have so much fun at the same time. I learned so much about Rome, London, myself, the world, and even the United States by not being there. I feel like I can now actually appreciate the breadth of human culture, having almost seen it from one end to the other (well, Western culture, at least). I hope that I can take this broadened perspective and apply it to everything I learn about the world in the future-- even subjects that don't seem related to this experience can benefit from having enriched my perspective: making connections to a vastly larger pool of knowledge. But the fun aspect cannot be overlooked. Sometimes the world can seem full of drudgery, but now I'll always have the knowledge that it's *out there*. I had so many first experiences and special times with special people that I couldn't have had anywhere else. My classmates (rowdy as they were) were such wonderful, lively, and lovely people that they made learning everything that we did twice as meaningful. I am so grateful to Professor White, Melissa, and Arturo for sharing their knowledge and wisdom with us, and for making us do this blog! Because as unforgettable as the experience was, having this blog to come back to and reread will make it even more so. Thank you so much. Martin
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On one of our last days, I decided to do a big ol' tourist jaunt, and you can see here that I visited 221B Baker Street from Sherlock and Abbey Road! I was there by myself so I didn't get an Abbey Road street crossing photo, but I was ok with that because I sympathized with the poor cars just trying to use the road. I also went to Kew gardens, which was lovely! They had a neat treetop catwalk and tooooo many oaks to count. The tray of food you see there is from high tea at the National Portrait Gallery, which was an unforgettable experience! The food was absolutely delicious, and even though we were nowhere near as classy as we should have been, it was fun to pretend. Fantastic way to cap it all off, as well as the Rome-throwback pizza dinner we had at the very end of the trip. We visited Westminster Abbey, which was also a very special and reverent moment, but in a different way-- not because it was a church, but because of the people buried there! It was incredible to kind of "meet" Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Dickens, Chaucer, and many others. Westminster Abbey is a must-do for a London visit in my opinion.
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More hike photos, featuring the lovely town of Eastbourne 💗
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Some shots from my awesome solo hike on the southern coast! Seaford to Eastbourne-- super super fun!!
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Mixed bag of London views! The tree I'm sitting on is this really cool umbrella-shaped tree in Hyde Park! The eye was pretty scary, but also worth it! London is a great city to just walk around in!!!
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Just as I had a glass of wine with dinner in Italy to complete the experience, I felt it wouldn't be a true British experience if I didn't nip over to the pub for a pint of Guinness with the lads! (It was alright.) And then of course the fish and chips with malt vinegar!!!
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Borough market, English countryside, and Stratford upon Avon! We saw Titus Andronicus there, and it was very very good. I warned people that it was messed up, but some people were still a little shocked. Everyone seemed to think it was good, and so did i! There was a fair going on at the time, so it was very lovely in town. If you look closely at the picture with the people on the bridge, you'll see the bubbles that people were blowing everywhere! Saw Shakespeare's grave and his house, too. All awesome!
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Tower Hill area! All the jewels were very impressive, of course. And I forgot to mention, but we saw Les mis in London, which was awesome! That's what the leather jacket crew photo in the last post is from!
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Napoli and ischia!!! Naples was sketchy but fun, and ischia was a blast! I'll see if I can find the underwater photos we took there :3 most fun I've ever had swimming in the ocean!!!
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Museum vibes! The Borghese was the only one I really really liked apart from the Vatican, and that was largely due to my man Bernini. I even took my own version of the David face that used to be my avatar on here! The Palazzo Massimo also had a pretty dope coin collection, to be fair.
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Hanging out at the Detroit airport, and updating the blog! Still way catching up, but what can you do. Anyway, these are some pictures of the ancient Roman port settlement of Ostia. We had a super cool tour thanks to some very informative guides, and we learned how to date some kinds of masonry by how they look, which is cool I guess! That cave looking picture is a mithraeum, where followers of the cult of mithras would have dined. The picture of the large wall and the cathedral are both from our excursion to Orvieto, which is a very very cute medieval hilltop town that we visited. I got an awesome apricot pastry there and really enjoyed walking around the little town!
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We went on a hike in Florence, and we got a special treat! A medieval castle there is privately owned, and rented out for weddings and parties and such. There had been a wedding the day previous, and as such they were still cleaning up when we arrived! Since the gates were open for the cleaners, we were able to get in, and they let us look around inside the castle!!! We go so lucky and it was really really cool!
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Florence! Florence was an awesome time. Although, two of us got fined €50 each for not having our train tickets validated, literally 2 MINUTES after we got on the train. The people charged were literally waiting in line to validate, then were stopped and fined. That wasn’t the best intro to Florence, but fortunately we stayed in one of the nicest AirBnBs I’ve ever been in, which quickly turned things around! Saw the David, did not go up the Duomo, but got an awesome view nonetheless from the Piazzale Michelangiolo! Beautiful city where I also picked up my now-beloved leather jacket! Something special happened, too, that will get its own post.
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Roman forum and Colosseum!!! Both were very cool, although I have to say the Colosseum was one of the only things in Rome that was smaller than I expected it to be. The Roman Forum was also really cool, but we didn't really know what we were looking at, so I feel like we didn't enjoy it to the fullest. Anyway, we're actually London now, and I'm waiting for my train back home from Eastbourne after a nice coast hike, so I've some time to update the ol' blog!
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I have a bit of free time! What?? Anyway, here's some pictures from the Vatican Museums and saint Peter's. Seeing the school of Athens in person was awesome, and so was the Sistine chapel! And saint Peter's is a million times bigger than you would think. It houses some really beautiful art like the pieta, as well as the funky colored guards who could still kill you! Didn't go up :T but enjoyed the experience nonetheless! Vatican museum still one of my tops.
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