So, I'm sad to say that as of late, there is not much to update on. I've pretty much covered the basis of what to see as a tourist in Rome, and have spent the last week either in front of the television, or as in the past few days, in front of laptop. Quite lame I suppose seeing as I am in Rome... But then again - maybe you would call it settling in? I don't know. All I have to say is that The Filipino Channel airs some very entertaining shows and not to mention I am totally brushing up on some Tagalog. Mom and Dad you should be proud, you've got yourself a nearly "Quadro-linual" daughter, haha! [This is secretly another pitch for my dad to get it cabled into our house back home]
On an exciting note... I leave for London in 9 days, and as like my initial feelings before leaving for Greece... The nervousness is taking a little bit more of a precedence than the excitement. Although, I think we all know that'll change once I get there. I've met my two roommates [through Facebook of course] who are actually really good friends. The both of them go to BU and are going to be doing the music program in London. I've been chatting with one of them an she seems very nice. We've already made plans to jam together with my limited guitar and singing abilities and I'm sure, here amazing violin skills! 9 days seems so close.... Yay!
Lastly, I just want to note that the bugs here in Rome seem to adore me. My legs are covered with itchy bug bites and it's driving me nuts! Greece was a lot kinder I have to say.
Well, this is all for now!
With love from Rome,
Carla
22 August 2008
14 August 2008
Thank the Lord for a day of WiFi and here are the Italy Pics!
These are some snapshots from Italy, so far.
The Colosseum
The Pantheon
Venice
The Vatican
Piazza Navona
St. Angels Castle
The Pyramid
Trevi Fountain
Santi, L'Aquila
With Love from Rome,
Carla
11 August 2008
A quick word on Venice.
We took the overnight train to Venice on August 8th. The train, minus the lack of sleep seriously reminded me of Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Express. You really do get your own little compartment and everything. If only we had this back in the States... Well anyways, we get to Venice, and it's way too early. The town was deserted, but it was a much appreicated contrast to what it was like a few hours later, with people just swarming like ants in all crevices that was to be walked on. Venice to me is like a theme park. It's a little surreal. Absolutely NO CARS and everything, I mean everything really is on water. Even the bus system - boats... on water. I loved it actually! The Venetian architecture was present everywhere, of course. It was just a little weird to put together because I had seen it everywhere except for Venice itself. I seemed to have an underappreication for it at this point. Nonethless, Venice was a lot of fun. There's alot of high end shopping to do there, as well as really amazing structures. And it's really, Venice is more than the romanitic gandala ride through the streets and canals.
Pictures of Italy probably won't be up until I get to London and have more stable interent. So until then, I hope my words suffice.
Much love from Rome,
Carla
Pictures of Italy probably won't be up until I get to London and have more stable interent. So until then, I hope my words suffice.
Much love from Rome,
Carla
An excerpt from my journal...
I want to jot down the words from my most recent entry from my personal journal because it seems to sum up the entirety of what I am internally going through here in Rome. It's turning out to be more than I thought it would. At first, coming to Rome was a one month vacation before a semester in London and a chance to get to know some of my mom's side better. What it's turned into is an opportunity of countless and new ways to discover who I am. It's funny because I thought I knew who I was before all this, but yet, being here has caused me to realize that there are so many more aspects to the person that I am - aspects that I had not yet touched upon. So this entry may be a little different. It's not exactly the travel blog aesthetic that I usually write... It may be a little more personal. If you all don't mind, I'd like to let you into that world.
07 August 2008 "A Mid-Mid Life Evaluation"
Being here in Rome has really given me so many opportunities to think, reflect, and discover. Most of my train of thought has been filtering through the channel that is, "Life's Direction". When I really think about it, I realize just how blessed a life it is that I lead. Yesterday, on the bus, coming back from The Vatican and Pantheon, my cousin Jay told me that out of all my cousins on my mom's side, I was the luckiest. And this really got me thinking because it was a familiar statement. I've always been told, by both sides of my family that I'm doing big things, and that It's good that I'm taking advantages of all the opportunites being given to me. For that I could thank my dad, simply because he raised me thinking that I should never let opportunities pass me by... That I should always go for them, no matter if they work out or not. Well, to refer back to the statement, I wouldn't call it lucky. Rather, I would call it truly being blessed because it really does exemplify the love of God at work. At least for my life, I see how putting God above all else, or at least trying to... How easily He directs your path, and makes them successful... Despite let downs in life, He gets you to where you need to be, at the right time. I see how loving God with all of your heart will indeed supply all your needs, not just spiritually either. And all this I'm finidng more and more evident the more I evaluate my place in this world, and my own life. I'm thinking... why am I doing what I'm doing. How crazy does my life sound right now... I've been abroad for 5 weeks, I've got an internship with THE TRAVEL CHANNEL lined up. I get to see and travel and expirience... All before I'm 20. And it's scary, but thrilling... And I just wonder "Why God? Why me?" It makes me wonder exactly what kind of plan it is God has for my life. I'm looking back at my childhood, and I see that I was always doing something - getting involved somehow... Always aspiring and having some kind of drive towards something. And it seems that that has carried itself throughout my life so far. I've always been told that God had something big for my life, and it's kind of crazy because I feel like it is actually starting NOW. I just pray that I'm ready for it. I knew that this year, 2008, God was going to launch me into the next chapter of my life... It seems like He really has. And now that it's all happening, I give God all glory for these blessings. Perhaps understanding the context of my own life, and my expiriences as a young Filipino-American woman are my testimony... I don't have to second guess it anymore, because there is inspiration here.
With all that said, I feel like my life is unraveling here - in a good way. For the first time in my life, I've had to come to terms with the dualities in my own nationalities, and trying hard to explain that to a 16 year old cousin whose level of thinking at the point of ignorance, and trying not to be so sensitive to his hard comments. Although, he is a great person. It accentuates the opportunities to cultivate more patience and love in my life. My cousin tells me I'm not an American, that I shouldn't cheer for the US team duing the Olympics... And to tell you the truth, if it weren't for me coming half way across the world, I probably would never have the revelation and appreication for both nationalities that I do now. I've always known I was Filipino, duh. I've also always known that my parents did raise me in the exact tradtional Filipino household. I grew up in the US, and the American culture became my familiar ground. And I thought I was okay with that. And I spend almost 20 years like that, and I get to Rome, and it's like, whoah. There's so much I don't know about the Philippines. My sense of Filipino history does not go past WWII and McArthur, and unless the US was involved, I didn't know. I find that quite embarassing when my couisns ask me why I dond't this or that. It's like I'm not Filipino. But who can really blame me? I went to school under American education. And honestly, I thank my cousin for the scrutiny because now I have more of a drive and passion to learn more of my own Filipino culture than I knew before. I'm speaking more in Ilocano than I ever have been and it feels great to utilize my bilingual-ness. I want to learn Tagalog, I want to continue catching up with Filipino pop culture thanks to TFC (The Filipino Channel), and all that good stuff. But at the same, I am an American, and I appreciate ever single blessing that I have had because of this nationality. My whole life is invested in this country and I don't second guess any of that. I love being an American, and I love being a Filipino. And so thankful to be fully exposed to both. So thank you Rome, of all places, and thank you to my cousin, who I do truly love... But thank you for presenting to me the chance to pay more attention the dualities of who I am.
To say the least, it's been tremendously pleasant to be "meeting" other cousins and family members here in Italy. It's amazing that where I thought my family boundaries ended... It doesn't. I have family throughout the world, and that's a crazy thought, again. Too much thinking for me these days though, so I'll stop here.
With love from Rome, and a special thanks for reading this one,
Carla
07 August 2008 "A Mid-Mid Life Evaluation"
Being here in Rome has really given me so many opportunities to think, reflect, and discover. Most of my train of thought has been filtering through the channel that is, "Life's Direction". When I really think about it, I realize just how blessed a life it is that I lead. Yesterday, on the bus, coming back from The Vatican and Pantheon, my cousin Jay told me that out of all my cousins on my mom's side, I was the luckiest. And this really got me thinking because it was a familiar statement. I've always been told, by both sides of my family that I'm doing big things, and that It's good that I'm taking advantages of all the opportunites being given to me. For that I could thank my dad, simply because he raised me thinking that I should never let opportunities pass me by... That I should always go for them, no matter if they work out or not. Well, to refer back to the statement, I wouldn't call it lucky. Rather, I would call it truly being blessed because it really does exemplify the love of God at work. At least for my life, I see how putting God above all else, or at least trying to... How easily He directs your path, and makes them successful... Despite let downs in life, He gets you to where you need to be, at the right time. I see how loving God with all of your heart will indeed supply all your needs, not just spiritually either. And all this I'm finidng more and more evident the more I evaluate my place in this world, and my own life. I'm thinking... why am I doing what I'm doing. How crazy does my life sound right now... I've been abroad for 5 weeks, I've got an internship with THE TRAVEL CHANNEL lined up. I get to see and travel and expirience... All before I'm 20. And it's scary, but thrilling... And I just wonder "Why God? Why me?" It makes me wonder exactly what kind of plan it is God has for my life. I'm looking back at my childhood, and I see that I was always doing something - getting involved somehow... Always aspiring and having some kind of drive towards something. And it seems that that has carried itself throughout my life so far. I've always been told that God had something big for my life, and it's kind of crazy because I feel like it is actually starting NOW. I just pray that I'm ready for it. I knew that this year, 2008, God was going to launch me into the next chapter of my life... It seems like He really has. And now that it's all happening, I give God all glory for these blessings. Perhaps understanding the context of my own life, and my expiriences as a young Filipino-American woman are my testimony... I don't have to second guess it anymore, because there is inspiration here.
With all that said, I feel like my life is unraveling here - in a good way. For the first time in my life, I've had to come to terms with the dualities in my own nationalities, and trying hard to explain that to a 16 year old cousin whose level of thinking at the point of ignorance, and trying not to be so sensitive to his hard comments. Although, he is a great person. It accentuates the opportunities to cultivate more patience and love in my life. My cousin tells me I'm not an American, that I shouldn't cheer for the US team duing the Olympics... And to tell you the truth, if it weren't for me coming half way across the world, I probably would never have the revelation and appreication for both nationalities that I do now. I've always known I was Filipino, duh. I've also always known that my parents did raise me in the exact tradtional Filipino household. I grew up in the US, and the American culture became my familiar ground. And I thought I was okay with that. And I spend almost 20 years like that, and I get to Rome, and it's like, whoah. There's so much I don't know about the Philippines. My sense of Filipino history does not go past WWII and McArthur, and unless the US was involved, I didn't know. I find that quite embarassing when my couisns ask me why I dond't this or that. It's like I'm not Filipino. But who can really blame me? I went to school under American education. And honestly, I thank my cousin for the scrutiny because now I have more of a drive and passion to learn more of my own Filipino culture than I knew before. I'm speaking more in Ilocano than I ever have been and it feels great to utilize my bilingual-ness. I want to learn Tagalog, I want to continue catching up with Filipino pop culture thanks to TFC (The Filipino Channel), and all that good stuff. But at the same, I am an American, and I appreciate ever single blessing that I have had because of this nationality. My whole life is invested in this country and I don't second guess any of that. I love being an American, and I love being a Filipino. And so thankful to be fully exposed to both. So thank you Rome, of all places, and thank you to my cousin, who I do truly love... But thank you for presenting to me the chance to pay more attention the dualities of who I am.
To say the least, it's been tremendously pleasant to be "meeting" other cousins and family members here in Italy. It's amazing that where I thought my family boundaries ended... It doesn't. I have family throughout the world, and that's a crazy thought, again. Too much thinking for me these days though, so I'll stop here.
With love from Rome, and a special thanks for reading this one,
Carla
07 August 2008
Limited with internet time, but I must post!
This may be the most rushed and hurried post ever, but I must update! It such a stinker when you have to pay for internet and it's so far away!
Okay, so I'm out of the mountains, and this week has been spent touring around Rome. So, I found out that the fountain I saw was called, Trevi Fountain. I'm sure that will ring a bell, and plus, it's in all the movies set in Rome. The other day I went to Castle St. Angelo, and walked around the Piazza Navona. I've also done the Vatican, which was incredible! Minus the heat and all the people, and the narrow stairs... It was breathtaking and stunning!
Tomorrow, my cousins and I are heading to Venice for the day. I'm excited!!
Lastly, I feel like being here in Rome has been this journey of self-discovery. There's much to say about this, so I'll update when I have more time! Nonetheless, I'm doing well... Just a tad bit homesick, but I'm good!
Much love from Rome,
Carla
Okay, so I'm out of the mountains, and this week has been spent touring around Rome. So, I found out that the fountain I saw was called, Trevi Fountain. I'm sure that will ring a bell, and plus, it's in all the movies set in Rome. The other day I went to Castle St. Angelo, and walked around the Piazza Navona. I've also done the Vatican, which was incredible! Minus the heat and all the people, and the narrow stairs... It was breathtaking and stunning!
Tomorrow, my cousins and I are heading to Venice for the day. I'm excited!!
Lastly, I feel like being here in Rome has been this journey of self-discovery. There's much to say about this, so I'll update when I have more time! Nonetheless, I'm doing well... Just a tad bit homesick, but I'm good!
Much love from Rome,
Carla
01 August 2008
When in Rome...
It's my third day here and I am currently in Santi, L'aquila, Italy for the weekend. This is a town about an hour and a half outside of Rome where another one of my Uncles and cousin lives. It's a very quaint mountainside and vert beautiful. As soon as I get better internet, I'll be able to post some pictures. But until then, just know that it is breathtaking, serene, quiet, and very different than in Greece. It seems like that here though, or at least in my perspective. Don't get me wrong, Italy is an amazing place, an amazing country... And it really is shaped like a boot! I felt like a little kid, looking out my window in the plane, and just being dumbfounded by the actual boot shaped mass of land! But for some reason, and it may be just because of my own bias... I find Greece just a wee bit more beautiful. Nonetheless, the two are unique in their own ways and I appreciate both. And I feel VERY priveleged to be able to spend a good amount of time in each.
Anyways, it's a shame that I don't remember the names of the things I've seen so far. On my first day we [my two cousins and I] saw most of the famous fountains, of which one was the one where you make a wish with a coin and throw it in backwards. We also dropped by the Republic, Piazza Venezia... and sadly, other things that I don't remember the name of. But perhaps by the time I get pictures up, I'll have time to look things up. I admit it's hard when you don't have a tourguide around who can give you enough background information to compile itself into one history book. Rome is exquisite in its architecture. VERY VENETIAN, which is such a contrast to that of Greece, although at some points you can find Venetian buidlings in areas with Roman infulence. Now, for a little while, let me get all nerdy on you all... I find it amazing to be in area, where in Greece, we talked so much about. It's absolutely funny how everyone in Greece talks about how the Romans stole everything they ever did and tried to call it their own. For example, the Greek Parthenon and the Roman Pantheon. But besides that, me seeing it so many centuries later, borrowed and unorigianal as Greece may see it, Rome is beautiful. After this mountain experience, my cousins and I have plans to see Venice and Florence, as well as finish up Rome. I'm very much excited about this, and it's weird because Italy for me is a vacation. And unlike Greece, I'm not quite the traveller because I am going to see all the touristy sites with perspective lens of a toursit. But then again, I'm not exactly a tourist seeing as I'm kind of immersed with the locals, not quite living in the moreso comforts of a hotel... I'm staying in a humble little apartment with my 2 cousins... Not quite touristy there if you get what I mean.
Nonetheless, I am overwhelmed with just how blessed this adventure has been so far. I'm going on about 5 weeks being abroad now - and it's a blessing that I'm not as homesick as I could be. But to reassure the family and friends back home, I constantly think about you all, and always try to picture you all being here with me. Well, besides the not-quite-so-homesick schpeel, being here in Rome is awesome. I have a chance to get to know some of my mom's side of the family better, which I know she is absolutely ECSTATIC about. All my life, I've been close to just my dad's side, so it's awesome to get to know my mom's brothers and sister-inlaws, as well as cousins on her side. Most of the time, I've spent with my cousin Junior... We exchange language lessons - he fills me in on basic Italian and I get to teach him English so he can communicate with everyone lese better. It's actually quite an amazing tradeoff if you know what I mean. [=
I figure I'll end here for now. Pictures will hopefully come soon!
With love from Rome,
Carla
Anyways, it's a shame that I don't remember the names of the things I've seen so far. On my first day we [my two cousins and I] saw most of the famous fountains, of which one was the one where you make a wish with a coin and throw it in backwards. We also dropped by the Republic, Piazza Venezia... and sadly, other things that I don't remember the name of. But perhaps by the time I get pictures up, I'll have time to look things up. I admit it's hard when you don't have a tourguide around who can give you enough background information to compile itself into one history book. Rome is exquisite in its architecture. VERY VENETIAN, which is such a contrast to that of Greece, although at some points you can find Venetian buidlings in areas with Roman infulence. Now, for a little while, let me get all nerdy on you all... I find it amazing to be in area, where in Greece, we talked so much about. It's absolutely funny how everyone in Greece talks about how the Romans stole everything they ever did and tried to call it their own. For example, the Greek Parthenon and the Roman Pantheon. But besides that, me seeing it so many centuries later, borrowed and unorigianal as Greece may see it, Rome is beautiful. After this mountain experience, my cousins and I have plans to see Venice and Florence, as well as finish up Rome. I'm very much excited about this, and it's weird because Italy for me is a vacation. And unlike Greece, I'm not quite the traveller because I am going to see all the touristy sites with perspective lens of a toursit. But then again, I'm not exactly a tourist seeing as I'm kind of immersed with the locals, not quite living in the moreso comforts of a hotel... I'm staying in a humble little apartment with my 2 cousins... Not quite touristy there if you get what I mean.
Nonetheless, I am overwhelmed with just how blessed this adventure has been so far. I'm going on about 5 weeks being abroad now - and it's a blessing that I'm not as homesick as I could be. But to reassure the family and friends back home, I constantly think about you all, and always try to picture you all being here with me. Well, besides the not-quite-so-homesick schpeel, being here in Rome is awesome. I have a chance to get to know some of my mom's side of the family better, which I know she is absolutely ECSTATIC about. All my life, I've been close to just my dad's side, so it's awesome to get to know my mom's brothers and sister-inlaws, as well as cousins on her side. Most of the time, I've spent with my cousin Junior... We exchange language lessons - he fills me in on basic Italian and I get to teach him English so he can communicate with everyone lese better. It's actually quite an amazing tradeoff if you know what I mean. [=
I figure I'll end here for now. Pictures will hopefully come soon!
With love from Rome,
Carla
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