This month I was all about traveling. For the first three weekends of the month I traveled to a different city in Italy. First was Venice. I went to Venice with my roommate Priscilla for two days. We did not do much because when we got there it was extremely cold and we weren’t really prepared for the weather. We walked around the first day and got dinner. On the second day we shopped around and visited Saint Mark’s Basilica and then came back to Rome.

The second weekend SAI Rome took us to Umbria. On Friday we went to the Perugina Chocolate Factory, had a tour and made our own chocolate during the cooking class. On Saturday we visited Fabriano and learned how paper was made. Also on Saturday we had the opportunity to go inside the Frassisi caves. That was the most exciting part of the trip. The caves were amazingly breathtaking! On Sunday we went to Assisi and learned about Saint Francis’ life.

The third weekend I had to go to Florence for my Italian High Renaissance art history class. We had class on Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday morning. I arrived in Florence on Thursday evening so that I could have some time to explore the city myself. What that really means is I that I went searching for leather! I found it! I bought two purses, a wallet and a leather jacket all for very reasonable prices. I have two highlights from my trip to Florence. The first one is going inside the Medici palace and seeing this room that was full of gold. The artwork in that particular room was gorgeous as well. The second highlight is seeing the Michelangelo’s David in the Accademia. The sculpture is HUGE! I was so surprised. What a marvelous piece that clearly took talent and Michelangelo’s recognition for that piece is well deserved.

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Darrah is a student at Pace University studying at John Cabot University in Rome during the Fall 2013 term.