Another one of those don't CRY because its over but SMILE because it happened kind of trips!

THIS PAST WEEKEND WAS ONE OF THE MOST MEMORABLE OF MY LIFE. 

(aside from my family coming to visit!)

The weekend of April the 16th my best friend here in Italy, Yenni Le and I packed up our belongings, food, and happy pants because this was the weekend we went to MUNICH, GERMANY. 

We booked our trip through this fun little weekend trip company here called Bus2Alps. Bus2Alps is really great because they take such great care of you. Not only do you get transportation, room, and breakfast. You also get a planned out agenda of events they organized for the group. 

It is a seven hour bus ride from Florence, Italy to Munich, Germany and it is an absolutely breath taking ride. The mountains are unlike any I have ever seen and the grass is so incredibly green. We departed around 7 and made it there around 2 am. Unfortunately, my sweet Yenni and I went to stake our claim for a room together and there were no rooms available for two people. So we had to split up. While we were trying to get a room together I noticed a name on the list of Bus2Alpers going to Munich  that looked familiar. In fact, the name looked so familiar that I had mentioned it to Yenni while waiting to depart from the train station earlier that day because someone in our group looked like her. So I went up to her and asked her if her name was Haley and BAM! Just like that, a friendly familiar face from high school.  

Haley is a year older than me, we went to high school together, she went to Texas Tech, and is now living in Northern California. She is the only person besides my family I have seen here from back home. It was quite exciting for the both of us.

Day one in Munich, Germany: April 17: BIKE TOUR AROUND GERMANY!

Okay so I now know that "The Sound of Music" was filmed in Austria but I still felt like I was in The Sound of Music while touring around this city. There is just something about traveling around Munich, in a group, on old school bikes that makes me feel like Julie Andrews is leading our pack. However, I do not believe Julie Andrews would take us to the English Gardens where we have a "Beer Break" before finishing up our tour. (Yes, it was about noon.) Here we were able to see and sit under the beautiful Chinese Tower.

Next we adventured around and came back to Mike's bike shop where we were set free to eat at this lovely place called "Kuchlbauer's Bierwelt". Where I tried my first german pretzel. (Not so impressive.) 

We finished off our day with a pub crawl through Munich. Dinner and unlimited drinks for the first hour and a half and a tour after that was the offer for only 15 Euro. Can't beat that! Only the beer they served was unbelievably heavy (it was called Guntengurg), the food had meat in it, and you were surrounded with amazing people you could not help but talk to! Luckily, if you were one of the first 10 ladies there you got everything for free. I do not know who the other 7 girls were but and Yenni, Haley, I got everything for free. Yay!

At the next pub we went to, the CEO of Bus2Alps was an absolute sweetheart and bought Yenni and I a drink as a "Thank you for being accommodating" referring to Yenni and I's room split up. 

Day 2 in Munich and Dachau, Germany: April 18: CONCENTRATION CAMP and SPRINGFEST

Yenni and I woke up early early early and headed over to find out more about taking a tour of the first concentration camp established in Germany. This camp is located in Dachau, Germany. It is just 10 miles outside of Munich. All in all this was the most intense moment of our trip. During this trip we stood were unfathomable amounts of people died, were humiliated, tortured, used for experiments, and forced labor. 

Never in my life did I think I would stand in a Crematorium were bodies were burned. Never in my life did I think I would stand were the bodies of those who suffered during the holocaust had once laid. Never ever in my life did I think I would stand in a gas chamber. There are very few words I can think of to express how much this experience impacted both Yenni and I.  

 The Dachau concentration camp is huge. One can literally spend all day there. There is so much to see, so much to read, and so much to let soak in. As hard as it is. The crematorium I mentioned earlier was hidden within the concentration camp. This is a characteristic our tour guide says is proof that the Nazi's knew what they were doing was wrong. While leaving this crematorium I noticed a plaque on the wall stating that in February of 1945 the crematorium ceased to be used due to THE COAL SHORTAGE. This shocked me. 

Next we came back to the hostel which was amazing! Unlike our first experience with hostels. Our hostel's name is The Wombats Hostel and I recommend them to everyone! 

Springfest was the best possible way to finish up much an intense sad day. Springfest reminded me a lot of our fairs in the states only quite a bit more...... oh what is the word.........GERMAN. Instead of a boring "food court area" there is a tent and underneath there are hundreds of people packed in tables. Most are standing at the tables, singing, dancing, drinking out of gigantic mugs of beer, and eating. Everyone is friends with everyone! Your waitress is wearing a cute little german dress and there is also live german and english music playing. I had my first legit german pretzel here. Yummy!

Outside are rides and foods of all sorts. Meat, meat, meat, and oh did I say meat? This I did not enjoy but oh mamma mia did I enjoy the sugar roasted pecans and chocolate covered strawberries!! They have chocolate covered everything at springfest! Eeek! 

I had a hard time making the transition from speaking Italian to German. Most everywhere you went they spoke English and Yenni would try to tell me, "We are lucky Teia, they speak english!" but I kept being difficult.   

Day 3 in Munich, Germany: April 19: Deutsches Museum

Once again Yenni and I woke up unbelievably early and headed out to find our task for the day. Today our task was anything inexpensive because Yenni's debt card got demagnetized and my income of zero can only get us so far. 

Task found! Deutsches Museum only 3 euro entry fee. This was the coolest museum ever! There was so much to see and so much to do! Marine Navigation, Modelrailway, Aeronautics, Hydraulic engineering, Energy technologies, Museums's history, Federal presidents award for Technology and Innovation, Scientific chemistry, Altamira Cave, Glassblowing, Ceramics, Astronautics, textiles, environment, foto+film, and oh so much more. 

Honestly, I just really enjoyed seeing real airplanes, massive ships, the environment section, and the foto+film room was AMAZING!!! I could have stayed there for hours upon hours! It was also quite compelling to see a world perspective from Germany. 

Through this trip I got to really see Germany. One might feel some uneasiness towards Germany due to their rough and recent history. I might have felt some uneasiness towards Germany before this visit but Germany embraced me with open arms and now I cannot wait to go back!

Thank you so much for reading!  

Sempre,

Teia Hagood

ps- I really want my family to come here with me *cough*cough*

Say a prayer for my family.

MY WONDERFUL FAMILY WAS HERE IN ITALIA!!

My family made it to Italy safe and sound on saturday April the 5th. My Aunt Selena, Momma, and Daddy arrived in Rome and we had a great time. Our first night, we took a night tour of Rome where we quickly saw: 

an eyehole in a door with a beautiful view of the dome of Saint Peters

a piazza with a view of the city

the Spanish Steps

Trevi Fountain 

Basiica di San Pietro

Vatican entrance

Pantheon

Castel Sant' Angelo ("the angel castle")

Piazza Navona ( "the 3 fountains")

Colosseum

Palazzo Venezia

the wedding cake monuement

We finished up our first amazing evening together with dinner at a restaurant named, La Maieletta. This is not the correct spelling. I should spell it correctly due to the fact that I have it written on one of our Holiday Inn Rome West maps. However, since I have ten maps from our Holiday Inn experience I cannot find the map our wonderful hotel clerk, Vincenzo, gave us with the name of the restaurant. Our waiter at La Maieletta was a hoot and a half. My family got to experience their first shot of Limoncello. They thought I was insane when I ordered it because they were absolutely full and they thought I was ordering "Limon Jello"! Silly silly fun fun times! 

The following day we took the day to revisit all of the above places and much much more to see them during the day and get better pictures. We saw the tomb of Rafael in the Pantheon, the inside of the basilica di S. Pietro (Saint Peters Church), had some of the best coffee and hot chocolate in town from San Eustacio's, and later treated ourselves to some of the best gelato in town from Crispino's. This was the day following the horrible earthquake. Thank you all for your concern. We were not affected by its disaster. We probably would have felt something but my parents were recovering from jet lag and I sleep like a rock. We also went shopping and had dinner at a nice little Trattoria. 

The next day, April 7, was our Vatican tour. It was amazing. Crazy and hectic but all in all amazing! We then soaked up some of the beauty the colosseum had to offer. We ended our night with dinner in our hotel and it was to our surprise OUTSTANDING!

April 8th, we took a sweet little trip to Naples and Pompeii. One word... Glorious! Oh minus our tour guide that smelled of cigarette smoke and loved the sound of her voice a little too much. Naples known by some here as "Mafia central". My personal opinion is that it is worth seeing during the day. Pompeii was one the best experiences we had on our trip. We had a much better tour guide for our walk through Pompeii. I got to see casts of people that are FROZEN IN TIME! Great creepy picture opp!  

April 9th was Cinque Terra Giorno! (Five Islands day) My momma is convinced they are not islands and simply villages. This was so much fun and the beauty of the islands is unreal. We became experts on using the train in italy on April 9. We took the train to Cinque Terra in the morning and ended our night by taking a train to Florence. We had dinner at my favorite Restaurant "Gloden View" and then had some Hotel Chaos but ended up at a wonderful bed and breakfast.

April 10 my family and I visited the Uffizi gallery, saw the David, Piazza Sinoria, Piazza Vecchio, Duomo, had an exquisite tour of the Basilica di Santa Croce by one the best tour guides in town (Me!), and of course we hit up San Lorenzo Square for a little shopping. That night we made the complex decision to come back to Rome via train.

April 11 we soaked up our last day together shopping and enjoying each others company in Rome. To conclude our magnificent Italian experience together we decided it would be best to have dinner at our favorite restaurant we went to our first night in Italy, La Maieletta. Our waiter remembered where we sat and a lot of what we ordered. 

Unfortunately, we did not get to end our trip happily. On the night of April 11 (early Easter) my grandmother, Jessie Hagood, passed away. My grandmother was the cutest woman and she looked adorable in hats. She use to teach me to croce (you know ... that thing you do with yar n) and would make me the most rockin' egg sandwiches ever. We also loved walking over to the dollar store together and buying useless knickknacks that served no purpose but to make us happy. She lived such during such an interesting time. During her lifetime her husband fought in WWII and the first African American was elected president of the USA. Woah! 

I do not want my grandmother to be gone but I understand that she had to go. I especially do not want her to go while I am unable to say goodbye but I understand I will get to say goodbye. I do not like not being able to lend some support to my family, I hope that I am able to do so from across the globe. 

I love you Grandma.

I love you family.

I love you EVERYONE!!   

 

Thank you for reading and HAPPY EASTER!

      

  

Everyday I walk out of my front door and wonder why on earth I waited so long to enter this beautiful world. Or I thank God I signed up for nine a.m. classes so I have the opportunity to spend as long as possible fully submerged in this Italian bucket. 

Some days are better than others. Today was one of those great days where I proudly walked around smiling at everyone, even if they were looking at me like I was crazy because I was running. I hear it is a dead give away that you are not Italian if you are seen out running. Running is the best way to see this city. Running or hiking. Well, and of course with a guide. 

I think my day was so good partly because I am in Italy but also because of a quote my best friend here abroad, Yenni, told me. Here it is:

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

When she told me it I instantly thought of my momma. 

Yesterday Yenni and I went on a simply EUPHORIC hike through the windy roads of southern Florence. It led us to a Piazza overlooking all of Florence. We looked at each other as we were on cloud nine and both said to each other, "Wow this right here is why I am here." We are going to be experiencing this exact feeling a week from now when we are in Paris, France and looking at the Eiffel tower, The Mona Lisa, Notre Dame, and palace of Versaille.

Every tuesday from 11:00am to 1:00pm please think of me because I am sitting in the Basilica di Santa Croce with my home boy Michelangelo Buonarroti. I am a tour guide and I absolutely love it. I am getting great experience talking in front of people and the people I guide around have been the most likable ever. It is just so wonderful to finally absorb all of the art and knowledge I have been wanting to learn about my whole life.   

Thank you for reading and following me along my journey!

AMOREePACE

SEMPRE,

Teia      

Buongiorno! Buona sera! e Ciao! 

Good day! Good evening! and Hello!

 wonderful world! I have done quite a bit since my last blog update. I have been to rome and amongst many things saw the Vatican, Coliseum, St. Peters Church (mamma mia! This is what I think heaven will look like!)  Trevi fountain, Pantheon, and millions of little beautiful churches.

 My family is coming to Italy in April. April 4th through the 13th to be exact and Rome is where we will be staying. This is my spring break. After spending a weekend in this beautiful HUGE city, I could not be any more happy this is where my parents and Aunt Selena decided to book there hotel at. There is so much to see and I feel like there are less smokers. I did make one huge mistake in Rome and I will never EVER do it again. I went to 

the

Hard Rock Cafe. We waited for a table longer then we spent sitting at one. The service was terrible but not unexpected.

Early February I took a trip to Vinci and Pistoia. Vinci is where Leonardo Da Vinci was born and I got to see the house he lived in! This is it to the right. The dome at the top is one of my photographs from Pistoia. 

Oh my goodness! So many things have happened! On February 25 I celebrated my 21st birthday. Fifteen friends and I had dinner at a spanish restaurant over here called Salamanca. Afterwards we went and enjoyed some of the nightlife of Florence, which I have not had a chance to do yet. 

The following day, February 26, we had a class field trip to the Casa Di Buonarroti and saw many great works by the amazing Michelangelo. This was an amazing experience and family, please be expecting many Michelangelo cards because I kind of went crazy in the gift shop.  

February 27, One of my most amazing friends here, Yenni, and I went shopping. In Italy there are only two designated months a year when stores are allowed to have sales and February is one of them. If you ever have the opportunity to come if February to catch the sales come earlier on in the month. The are not so great towards the end of the month. Then Yenni and I ventured over to The Accademia Museum and had the opportunity to experience mr. sexypants David. The Museum is in the middle of no where and the outside is completely coated in Graffiti. This is something really random and weird, but if you ever have a chance to go to the Accademia check out there sculptures. They have good sculptures from many great artist but there is somthing very wrong with them. I do not know if it is how they have taken care of them but all of them have these gross little dots all over them. Some of the statues look as though they are diseased. Just a little weird observation. All in all it was a great experience because Art is amazing and it was everywhere! 

This past week I also started giving guided tours of the Basilica di Santa Croce. It is the most amazing church and I am so happy to be there. I can not wait to give my parents and Aunt Selena a tour when they come. In the Santa Croce we have the most astonishing art some being the TOMB OF MICHELANGELO and Galileo, amazing bizantine art, and frescos done by Giotto as well as his apprentices.     

Things are going quite swell here in Florence. I miss everyone so much but I feel like I have finally made the adjustment to Italian life. I could deffinately use a little more work on my Italian language though and on that note I should probably go study. 

Gratzie Molto for reading and following!

AMOREePACE

SEMPRE!

Teia Hagood

HELLO WORLD FROM FLORENCE ITALY!

I made it here safe and sound, and have successfully lasted almost a full week in this beautiful city. I also just got back from the Esselunga Super market and I officially have a full 100 piece package of gum and my own fruit! I am a happy camper. The Esselunga Super Market is the Italiana Kroger only not as nice. People are quite pushy and although "Mi Scusi" is in their vocabulary I feel like I am the only one saying it.  It was quite an experience. Most students in my program take the bus to Esselunga but I decided to walk. By the time I got out of the store it was 8:00pm and my hands were full so I called a taxi and they said they would be there in 5 minutes. The traffic was horrendous and I did not think there was anyway that poor taxi was going to make it in 5 minutes. Luckily, they did so I took a taxi home. When I came in with groceries the woman I am staying with, Juliana, flipped out and asked me (in italian) if I walked to Esselunga by myself (solo) I said "si." and left out the part about the taxi. Only because I had asked her if she would go with me earlier and she said no.    

Okay I never fished talking about the beautiful city of Siena. I did not think I would, but I miss Siena. I miss being in a hotel with all of my friends right down the hall. I miss Teresa, the italian woman we turn to for help with anything and always has the answer. ( I still see her but she is no longer right down the hall.) Most of all I miss our amazing breakfasts! Minus the goat milk, if that is what it is. It tastes very different from what I am use to. When I was putting groceries up earlier I saw that Juliana stores hers in the cabinet. I believe this means you do not have to refrigerate the milk until it is open. Beside the point, in Siena AIFS (The American Institute of Foreign Study) organized many different activities for us. 

The first activity I took part in was learning the secrets of Italian cuisine! This class was taught by a researcher of the Tuscan cuisine and a renowned member of the ACI, Lella.

 Yes Mom, Dad,

 Jason, and sweet MaKenzie this means you will be getting me in front of the stove and it is not just to bake or make vegetarian chilli, I am going to make you a four course meal! We will start off with a wonderful soup called Pappa al' Pomodoro, then have two different pastas one called Pici and the other gnocchi (one is a  little potato dumpling type pasta and the other is a hand made spaghetti), and to finish off our four course meal I will make you some of the best Tiramisu you have ever had! I took some kickin notes and I signed their guest book "I cant wait to make this for my family!" So for better or for worse, family, you will be eating Teia's Italian Cuisine.     

Another activity I partook in was Wine Tasting. This was the one of the activities I was looking forward to the most but it was the least exciting.

While staying at the Hotel Duomo in Siena I shared a room with one of the sweetest people I have ever met. Her name is Revae. (This is her with me to the left. We are on a ferry to Venice.) She has had the most interesting life and is such an opinionated young woman. I do not think this trip would have been the same if I had not met and roomed with her. I also think I make her nauseous sometimes because I wear too much pink. But somewhere deep down inside I think she enjoysall the pink I wear because she has a pink journal.

The other activities I partook 

in were: Chianti Sculpture Park, A Guided Art History Tour of Siena and Visit to a Private House (This turned into 'free gelato' instead of "Private House"

 because woman who resides there has a husband who became ill.), Visit to the towns of Pienza, Monte Oliveto, and San Gimignano, and last but not least a Museum Tour to several different artistic and historical sites in siena. 

The Museums and churches I got to experience were 14th- century Abbey belonging to the Benedectine order, the Church and Chiostro Grande, The Cathedral of Pienza, Torre Grossa (the only tower out of 14 towers op

en to the public in S.Gimignano. That is 14 of the original 76.), Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Cathedral of Saint Catherine (Where Saint Catherine's severed head and finger remain), Piazza del Campo, and of course the magnificent Duomo of Siena. 

(Chianti Sculpture park: Revae and I

inside one of their Labyrinth Sculptures)

(This picture does not do The Duomo justice. Go see it! And then stop by Firenze and check theirs out too! )

While staying in Siena I also enjoyed The Fortezzi located on top of The Enoteca ( an underground Italian restaurant and winery). The Fortezzi is the best place to go running in Siena. It overlooks all of Siena. Beautiful. Breathtaking. Stunning. 

Okay last but most certainly not least while staying in Siena during the weekend of January 23-25  I experienced Venice. Venice was by far the most aesthetically appealing city I have been to yet. (Aside from the tuscan hills we drive through on our ways to

 different cities.) The art was out of this world. No matter how many times I see a painting of the Jesus and/or The Madonna each painting seems to be better than the last. I am just loving this experience! Thank you so much for reading and I hope to hear from you soon!  

Oh! The picture of me at the top is in mia camera (room) here in Firenze. I took it last night right before I went to the Opera to watch a play entitled Lucia Lammermoor. And there is something to talk about next time! 

LOVE&PEACE

ALWAYS,

Teia Hagood

For those of you who do not know me or know me and do not know what has been going on in my traveling experience, I am Teia Hagood and I am Art student at Texas Woman's University. I worked my tail end off and have finally been rewarded with this truly blissful experience to study abroad in Italy.

To start off my experience abroad, the provider I chose to study abroad with, AIFS, organized a three day experience in London, England. I got to experience many free museums. A few being: The British Museum (Where all the controversy is taking place over the returning of Parthenon relics), The V&A, and The Museum of

Natural History. My first night in London I went to see the play Wicked. Unfortunately jet lag hit and it was a little hard to enjoy the play when your fighting to stay awake.

We also had the opportunity to partake in a Private coach tour of London with the most wonderful tour guide. Her name is Nicola Watts. If you ever need a tour guide in London, England please give reach me and I will gladly give you her contact information. This woman is so delightful! We ended up have three extra passengers sneak on our bus during our visit at Buckingham Palace and she handled the situation marvelously and instigated a new rule of have a "secret password" for all tour members. She made our short stay so much fun.

This is me is my "AIFS landmark Coat" in front of Buckingham Palace.

During this tour I also got to see St. Peters Cathedrale, Hyde Park where the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS performed. Yes, I was the only on the bus that yelled "No! Way!" This park is near this beautiful animal memorial, Greengot bank, Prince Albert Memorial, London bridge, and The Eye (A huge ferris wheel).

Following my stay in London, I flew into Bologna (right when you recover from jet leg, here's some more!) where we took a bus to Siena! The first day of my Italian Language class started Monday January 12 and lasted until day was January 30.

This is all for right now. The next time I write I will right about eveything I got to experience in Siena.

ps- the picture in the middle (above buckingham) is the view from our hotel in Siena.

Sunday January 25

Man Ray (Silhouette 1916)

Sunday the 25 of January I visited a pretty little museum known as the Guggenheim in Venice, Italy. During this visit I was blessed with the opportunity to see masterpieces by the well known artists: Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso, Max Earnst, Vasily Kandinsky, Salvador Dali, Man Ray, and many other well known truly inspirational artists. These artist that I mentioned are the artists whose work impacted me the most. 

It is one thing to see pictures of an artists work and to study an artists work. It is quite another to see it... RIGHT THERE.... on the wall. It was as if I did not believe my eyes when I saw the name plates beside the paintings. The artists signature on the paintings clarified my doubt.

Picasso (On the Beach, 1937)

The first piece I came to on my right was a painting by Pablo Picasso. I was stunned. I then saw a flash come from the girls 

camera who was standing next to me. One of the interns who worked in this area told her no flash photography. I have been told that a flash on a painting is the equivalent to 5 days in direct sunlight on a painting.    (This is the Painting to the left.)

One piece that had a great impact on me was definitely Alchemy, 1947.  This is a painting by Jackson Pollock. I have always seen his work and admired the crazy beauty hidden within the paint but I never understood his work until this exhibit. When you get up close to this painting you realize there is sand, rocks, string, and who knows what else. I could look at a Jackson Pollock painting for days. Literally days. I did not want to leave. I also read in this museum that Pollock puts loose canvas on that ground and then pours paint upon paint and does his thang. 

Another piece that made me stop and go oh no! SERIOUSLY! SERIOUSLY! Please tell me this is real! Oh yes it was real two original Man Ray rayographs. I was stunned. They were beautiful. 

During this Guggenheim Visit I also learned that Peggy Guggenheim was married to Max Ernst. If I am not mistaken Max Ernst was jewish and Peggy Guggenheim saved hi

m from the Germans through marriage. The tour guide also said that Peggy Guggenheim was a very self confident woman and no one ever made her jealous except for Max Ernst. Evidently he was quite good looking. They married in 1942 and divorced in 1946.

I am on cloud 9! Thank you Guggenheim! And thank you so much for reading!!