Claire Rose Mangine

ClaireInItalia

Claire Rose Mangine

I am an American student from New York studying abroad in Perugia, Italy for the second semester of my junior year of college.



Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Sansepolcro April 24th 2012

Ahh blog #24. I can’t believe I’ve done that many. But then again it doesn’t seem like a lot for 3 and a half months. This might actually be my last blog of this Italian study abroad semester, seeing as how I go home on Friday and I’m not doing any travelling before then. Last blog?!?!?!!?!?!? Did I just day that? Looks like it. My last trip was on last Friday, April 20th. With the Bonaventure group, we took a bus to Montecasale and La Verna. These are two pretty important places because they’re so closely related to St. Francis. We got on a little 9 person bus at 8:30am and about 2 hours later we arrived in Montecasale, basically a church on top of a giant hill in Tuscany. The church was so tiny! However, ... read more
3 Crosses where the Thieves are buried
St. Bonaventure's Bed
St. Francis' Bed

Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome April 17th 2012

Look here I am not being a week late for a post! Maybe it's because I have absolutly nothing to do today. I ran around Perugia this afternoon with Carrie, but that only took us an hour. I don't have class and already finished my paper so I'm set. That's where this blog comes in: This past weekend I went to Rome with my Archaeological Discoveries class. I absolutly hate this class and if I hear the word "Etruscan" once after leaving Italy I don't even know what I'll do. The one good thing I will get out of this class was the paid for trip to Rome, which I loved. We met at (ew) 6:20am to get on a charter bus that drove straight to Rome. Abby and I brought our neck pillows and slept ... read more
The Laocoon
Walking to the Sistine Chapel
VIP Vatican Parking

Europe » Italy » Sicily » Catania April 16th 2012

It’s gotten to be a steady pattern of me being a week late for each blog I’ve been posting. Weeks are much busier so when I have some free time on the weekends I add a new one…a week late. This blog is about my Easter Break “vacation” in Sicily from April 6-9. I went with my roommates Carrie, Abby and our friend Marie. We had a flight on April 6 at 7am. The only way to get there on time (Iguess) was to take a train late Thursday night to FCO and sit in there until our flight. So..that’s what we did. We got to the airport and set up camp on the floor. There was no way I could sleep like that so I finished a paper and just laid there, miserable, listening to ... read more
city center of Catania
Catania
Easter Vigil Parade- Catania

Europe » Italy » Campania » Sorrento April 8th 2012

Happy Easter!!! Buona Pasqua :) I'm currently in Catania, Sicily writing this blog. We came here for Easter break from Friday- Monday but that will be a later blog (at some point). Last week, we (Me, Carrie and Abby) went with about 40-ish other students from Umbra to Pompeii, Sorrento, Capri and Naples. Sounds familiar, don't you think? The trip the week before that included these same places, but not Capri and Naples. We got on the bus at the ridiculous hour of 6:30am. I'm getting used to these. Wait to hear what we had to do for this trip.. We drove in a big bus down to Pompeii and were split into 2 groups and given a tour of a the city...AGAIN. Yawn. The tour wasn't even that great. And it's not like I've seen ... read more
fruits!
in the lemon and orange grove
before heading to Capri

Europe » Italy » Campania » Pompei April 4th 2012

Hello! I’m taking a break from one of the busiest weeks of the semester to finally update this blog. I’ve been slacking, I’ll admit. Last, LAST week, March 23-25 I went on a class field trip to Pompeii, Herculaneum , the Almafi Coast and Naples. Last week, March 30-April 1, I went on a school sponsored trip to Sorrento, Capri and Naples. I’ll split both weekends up into 2 different blogs. In my Roman Civilization and Daily Life class we are always talking about Pompeii and Herculaneum, the two civilizations that were destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. I know too much about this topic now… So, it would only make sense that we travel there for a field trip! We left at the obnoxious hour of 6:30 a.m. and piled on ... read more
Entrance of Pompeii
The Forum
me in the baths

Europe » Spain » District of Madrid March 21st 2012

I was invited to meet a close family friend in Madrid this past weekend, and without thinking twice, took advantage of the opportunity. Mary Fran was in Spain for a week before volunteering as an “Anglo” in an intensive program where Spaniards come to converse with native English speakers to become more fluent in English. She explained that the Spaniards were businessmen or doctors who wanted a closer relationship with their English speaking clients so they took time off their high paying jobs to attend this program. She told me no Spanish was allowed! I’ve never traveled alone in Europe before, so I printed out tons of maps and wrote down phone numbers of everything. I was prepared. I took at 9am bus on Friday March 16 to Rome, and then flew to Madrid. When I ... read more
Welcome to the Hotel Urban
Restaurant the first night
fluffy chairs

Europe » France » Île-de-France March 8th 2012

Part Three of my Spring Break Adventure! Paris—My destination of choice! I have been in the process of these 3 blogs since 1:30..it’s almost 6:30 now. I did stop for a lunch break and random distractions, obviously. So. I left off with us leaving London on a TRAIN for Paris. Yes it is possible! When I suggested to Carrie and Abby that we could take that way to get to Paris, they thought I made it up. See, guys?? Told you. We had tickets for the 11:31am train from London St. Pancras station to Paris Nord. We showed up 30 minutes early, went through security and hopped on the train. It was a pretty short ride, a little less than 3 hours I think. After getting off the train, we found the Metro station and had ... read more
Dinner the first night
Arc de Triomphe
me outside the Louvre

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Victoria March 8th 2012

Welcome to Part Two of my spring break adventures. London! Carrie’s destination of choice. We successfully got to our 8:50pm flight to London on Monday evening and landed in London’s Gatwick airport. No strikes or waiting for airport staff members. From there we bought a ticket for the train to get to London. We asked someone where the train was and he just said “run now you’ll catch it!” so we did. And caught it! From there we walked around looking for the hostel. After a wrong turn, asking someone in a hotel for directions at like 11pm, we finally found it. We checked in, walked upstairs and opened the room to our 9 person room. Yes, 9 person. We were greeted by a blast of heat and realized that every one of our 4 rommates ... read more
Me outside of Buckingham Palace
The Queen of England's surprise visit
Big Ben

Europe » Ireland March 8th 2012

I’m back! And in one piece! Everything went swimmingly, just like I though it wouldn’t ;). We only had one tiny plan change on the first night, but I will explain later. I have decided to make 3 blogs of my Spring Break adventures because I went to 3 different countries. The first was Ireland, Abby’s country of choice. Let’s see how long this takes me…good thing I’m done with classes for the day. FIRST STOP: Cork, Ireland. We were warned about a week in advance that there was going to be an air line strike in the Rome airport starting at 11:30am or something like that. I’ve learned, in Italy, you can just do things like that. We also were told that our airline, Aer Lingus, was not going to be participating. We thought we ... read more
Irish Breakfast
Slainte!!
Unintentionally Invading Dublin!

Europe » Italy » Umbria » Perugia February 22nd 2012

6 days later..hello again. Unfortunately, nothing's really been going on so there's not much to blog about. Since it's been Carnivale, we've gone out a few times with masks on and seen people with ridiculous costumes and more masks. It's been a two week celebration here for sure. People are out and dressed in costume every night it seems! Last night, with little persuading from a friend, I decided to go out to celebrate Mardi Gras even though I have two midterms to study for... At least I have all day today to do that since they're both on Thursday. When would I have the chance to do that again? Of course I had to go. The whole "nothing's-happening-so-no-blogs" excuse will all change starting this Friday the 24th!! Here are the official plans as of right ... read more




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