Italy

When  I was in High School, I took I Italian for two years. You are required to take at least two languages in high school, so for my freshman and sophmore year i took spansh for spanish speakers. For my junior and senior year i took Italian, but i really don't remember anything but like two or three words. lol I must say though i do not regret taking the class. All of my closest friends also took the class with me and it was way more fun. =) One day our junior year our italian teacher, Mrs. Moskal asked the class who would be interested in going to Italy if she organized a trip? My friends and I were exited and thought the would be kool if we all went together. There were six of us and we hoped all of our parents would let us go. Days went by and Mrs. Moskal continued oraganizing the trip, and gave us more details about it. Meanwhile I had asked my parents if I could go, but they didn't seem ok with the idea. But I told them Mrs. Moskal said we could anyone of our family members with us, and I asked my brother to come with and he said he would. So I had permission to go and now we were only waiting on my friends' permission from their parents.

It was amazing that all of our parents had given us permision, so we all began to pack our bags. We went during our winter break so we left after christmas and we would spend new years in Italy. Our flight was almost 12 hours long and felt like forever!! I had nver been on and airplane that long, but we finally arrived in Milan, and headed to the hotel we would be staying in Tuscany. The time change was a lil crasy becase we where all tired and wanted to sleep but it was daylight so we were thrown off big time. The first place we visited was the colosseum in Rome, i was amased on how big it was. And it was very interesting to learned the colosseum was used for gladiatorial contest and public spectacle like animal hunts, executions and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building was also used for entertainment in the early medival era and later reused for housing or workshops. Today the colosseum is ruined by damages of earthquakes, but is one of Rome's most popular attractions.

We also went to the Sistine Chapel in Rome where Michael Angelo painted the ceiling of the Chapel wich took about four years to complete from (1508 to 1512). Michael Angelo's work is part of a large scheme of decoration within the chapel wich represents much of the doctrine of the Catholic Church.  The painting contains over 300 figures and at the center nine episodes from the Book of Genesis, that was divided into 3 groups; God's creation of the Earth, God's creation of humankind, and the state of humanity. Also in Michael angelo's painting are paintings of The Creation of Adam and Eve.

We were not allowed to take pictures inside of the chapel so i tried my best to snap some pictures I tried the best that I could.

Heres another not the best but again I was trying not to get caught taking the pictures. lol

The next place we visited was Pisa, wich is known worldwide for its leaning tower or Torre pendente di Pisa. The leaning tower is almost 184 feet on the lower side from the ground and 186 feet on the higher side. The tower has 296 or 294 steps, because  the seventh floor has two fewer steps on the north-facing staircase. The tower leaned at an angle of 5.5 degrees between 1990 and 2001 but the tower now leans at about 3.99 degrees. This makes the tower seem like it's falling and many people like to take pictures and here is my picture not very succesful at making the ilusion that i was holding it but i tried.

Our trip was very exiting and even though i was very home sick and missed my parents i did enjoy myself and hopefully one day i will go back and visit Italy again .=)