Two Weeks in Wales

Dear Family and Friends,

I have now spent two weeks in the UK. It is lovely here. The people and the places are wonderful. There are several other international volunteers as well including two from Mexico, one from Uganda, one from Colombia, one from France, and another from the U.S. The rest of the volunteers are from England and Wales. So far it has been a wonderful opportunity to learn about other cultures and backgrounds. I do get a few odd looks when I say certain words or pronounce words, the British volunteers sort of just laugh and smile at me. They are trying to teach me the lingo here, as well as the differences in spelling.

The student I am assisting here is such a nice girl. She has cerebral palsy, which affects her mobility and overall motor function. However, she is quite strong and independent, and is able to do much on her own. Two other girls and I are simply there to assist her with any thing she needs. She is pursuing a Masters degree in War and Society with an emphasis on America. She had earned her Bachelors degree in American Studies and likes to speak to me about her travels in America a great deal. We exchange information, and the similarities and differences between the two countries. She particularly enjoys American media, so we have very nice chats together.

The top picture is in a town called Mumbles which is a part of Swansea, Wales where I am staying. It is a very pretty town right by the water. It is also home to Catherine Zeta Jones (if anyone is interested). The picture is of the pier there. The 2nd photo is of the lighthouse in Mumbles, the 3rd is of an old Lifeboat house, built in 1883, and the last photo is of the Mumbles pier from a distance.

I will continue to update my blog more frequently as I now have a more stable rota to follow.

Love to All,
Elena

Back Home

Picture of My Group in Front of the Colosseum



Dear Family and Friends,

I am back home from my trip to Italy. It was a wonderful experience, one that I will remember for the rest of my life. I visited some wonderful places and met some really great people. It almost feels like all a dream now, the time spent there went by so quickly. I know I keep saying this, but I was so honored and blessed for my time spent there. I will be updating my blog with some more photos from my trip to Spain and more from Rome. I leave to go to Wales, UK on September 11th and I will be there for 9 months. I will be continuing my blog for that trip as well, so please stay tuned. I hope you have enjoyed my posts and I look forward to adding new blogs of my adventures in the UK.

Love to All,
Elena

Vatican Museums 7/15/09

Dear Family and Friends,

Here are photos from my trip to the Vatican museums. After the fall of Rome the Catholic church began to preserve several cultural artifacts. Within this museum we were able to see artifacts from Egypt, Greek and Roman sculpture, tapestries, maps, Renaissance art, and of course the beautiful Sistine Chapel. One sculpture that we were able to see was the Apollo Belvedere, which was considered to have captured the beauty of the human form. For a long time it was considered to be the most beautiful statue. We than saw the Laocoon. Laocoon was a priest for the Trojans. He is most remembered for having told the Trojans not to accept the wooden horse from the Greeks during the Trojan war. Because the Greek gods wanted the Greeks to win the war, they had serpents come and kill Laocoon. The statue of him depicts his utter torture as he is being enveloped by the serpents. Another statue we were able to see was the Belvedere Torso, believed to be that of Hercules. There is no head and no limbs. However, the great Michelangelo loved this sculpture and later used it as inspiration in his other works. We were also able to see some of Raphael's work. He created the most beautiful paintings within the museum, including the famous Transfiguration. Being in this museum was an amazing experience and I was so glad to have gotten the opportunity to stand in front of some of the most beautiful artwork in the world. Top photo is Apollo Belvedere, 2nd photo is the Laocoon, 3rd photo is the Belvedere Torso, and the 4th photo is Raphael's Transfiguration .
Elena

Sistine Chapel 7/15/09

Family and Friends,

I have already made an account of my time within the Vatican museum. However, while the Sistine Chapel is a part of the museum, I felt that it deserved its own post because it is truly one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. Upon walking into the chapel we were told that we were not to take pictures. Then we walked into the room of hundreds of people, each of them snapping photos. I completely confess to having joined in with the picture taking, I couldn't help myself. I did not use flash though, that is what ruins the paintings and frescoes. Within this chapel are the works of the genius Michelangelo and other prominent artists of the time. The history behind the Sistine Chapel is amazing, specifically Michelangelo's story. He was specifically commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo had no interest in painting, he was a sculptor and wanted to continue sculpting in Florence, which is where he was at the time. However, the Pope ordered Michelangelo be brought to the Vatican regardless of his own wishes. War later broke out against the French and Michelangelo fled back to Florence without the notice of the Pope. However, after a victory over the French the Pope diverted his attentions back to the Chapel and sent what was practically an army to bring Michelangelo back to the Vatican City where he was now forced to paint with no pay, cheap materials, and with little assistance. A common misconception is that Michelangelo painted the ceiling on his back, this was not the case. He had created a scaffolding device to bring him to the level of the ceiling, but he painted standing up with his head tilted back most of the time. This painting position as well as paint constantly dripping into his face caused him to be temporarily blind. It took him four years to complete the beautiful ceiling. As our tour guide said many believe that Michelangelo was driven by his genius and others believe that it was God that guided Michelangelo's hand. Perhaps it was both. All I can say is that it was truly a humbling experience, and I feel blessed to have been given the opportunity to have witnessed such as piece of history, such as piece of art, and such as piece of absolute genius.

Elena

Jewish Ghetto of Rome 7/14/09

Dear Family and Friends,

Here are pictures of our visit to the Jewish Ghetto in Rome. The ghetto was the forced home of the Roman Jews for over 300 years. According to our guide the Roman ghetto was not as bad compared to other countries such as Poland. However, the people still lived in extremely unhygienic living conditions, with most families living in one room households. The main goal of the Pope and Catholic church was to convert Jews to Christianity. If a Jewish man considered converting, he and his whole family were taken out of the ghetto and had to make choice as whether or not they want to convert. If the husband decided to convert, the children would stay with him no matter what the wife's decision was. Thus, many Jewish women were forced to convert because they did not want to leave their children behind. It was not until the 19th century that the Roman Jewish population gained equal rights as that of Roman citizens. After gaining equal rights they decided to build a grand, large synagogue. Previously, they were allowed only to have one synagogue and they were not to be grandiose.

Elena

Florence, Italy July 10-12

Dear Family and Friends,

These are some of my photos from my trip to Florence. The weekend I spent there was very fun. We visited the Uffizi, which is a huge art gallery. It took us three hours to go through it all. Within this gallery were able to see the famous Birth of Venus and La Primavera by Botticelli, Tondo Doni by Michelangelo, Venus of Urbino by Titian, and Medusa
by Caravaggio. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of these amazing paintings because we are not allowed to take photographs within the museum. But I encourage you to look them up online to get a visual of what I saw, they are beautiful. We also went to the Academia, which has Michelangelo's David. It was an awe inspiring moment seeing the David. It is very big, much taller than I had expected. The figure has so much detail down to the veins in his arms and hands. When I turned the corner and saw the statue of him I instantly got the chills. I was not able to get any photos of it because we were not allowed to. They had the guards on high alert there. We also went to the Duomo, which is a huge church. The outside of the church was one of the most decorative I have seen during my trip in Italy. The top photo is of the Duomo, sorry that it is sideways. The bottom two photos show the inside of the church, as well as the third photo which is of the ceiling. The second photo from the top is of me in front of the ponte vecchio, which is one of the oldest bridges in Italy. The fourth photo from the top is of the gothic church Santa Croce. Overall I had a wonderful trip in Florence, it was easy to maneuver around the city and I enjoyed each place we visited.

Love to All,
Elena

Paestum Greek Temples 7/9/09

Dear Family and Friends,

These are photos from my trip to a town called Paestum in Southern Italy. In this town are the ruins of theGreek temples. They were gigantic and absolutely beautiful. They were dedicated to the Greek Gods Hera and Athena. The top photo shows a gorgeous view we got from the museum there. The second picture shows a fresco found within the temples. The last three pictures are of the Greek Temples. We did not have the best guide for this site which was very unfortunate. However, the area was still very pretty and the ruins were spectacular to see up close.

Love to All,
Elena