Back in the routine

Now that I've been back from my vacation for a few days I am beginning to get back into the school mode. I have begun to, once again, sink into an overwhelming feeling of stress. This always happens at the beginning of each term when I am reviewing the amount of work I need to finish. This time, however, the grade is based solely on one paper per class due at the end of term. I am constantly in doubt about whether I will be able to complete my papers, and then when they are finished I constantly worry about failing or getting a bad grade. I love being in school, but sometimes I think it seriously messes with my confidence. This term is going to seriously stretch my capacity to manage my time. This is my schedule. On the even weeks I have class Mon 12:30-2:30, Tues 12:30-2:30, Wed 9:30-4:30, Thurs 9:30-5, Fri 9:30-5. On odd weeks I have Mon 12:30-2:30, Tues 12:30-2:30, Wed 9:30-11:30. So that leaves 2 days off every other week. Oh, but wait. I have to also do 9 days of placement this term. That means, those 8 days off that I have this term will be filled with placement and I have to find a random day somewhere in there as well. I have papers due in week 5 and week 10. I basically have nights to do my school work and try and fit some fun time in there as well. I seem to always forget how stressful school can be. Sorry this isn't a happy post I'm just a little stressed at the moment. At least I'm updating you right? :)
Well, I realized that I don't really ever update on the menial everyday stuff that I do that I don't really think about. So, here's how my normal day goes. I usually get up around 8 or 9 AM depending on when my classes are. I do the shower, get ready, eat breakfast thing. I've told you this before, but I live in an en-suite room which means that I have a bathroom in my room. This is really nice because I can shower whenever I want and I never have to wait. There is always hot water and I know that if the shampoo runs out it's my fault because I'm the only one that uses it. Also, if it's dirty, it's also my fault. My flat consists of 6 bedrooms like mine which are arranged very similar to a dorm floor. We have card entry like in a hotel but there are locks on the front door, my flat door and my room door. There is a kitchen in my flat which is shared by the 6 of us. I have 2 cupboards and a shelf in the fridge. The fridge space can be kinda tight, but I have survived up till now so I think I'll be fine. After I'm ready to go I walk about 10 mins to Jane's housing. She is from southern England and is in my program and taking the same classes as me. She lives in University accommodation but not directly on campus. Once I meet her then I have a 30 min walk from there to King's Manor which is on the other side of campus. The walk is actually pretty interesting. We take a short cut that is a walkway that goes past a Victorian church that is actually quite pretty. It has a really tall clock tower and you can see the age of it by the soot build up on the stone. Once we get out of that walkway we are on a main road that goes through one of the gates of the city walls and continues on through the city. We pass through the center of town where all the shopping is and continue on. We also pass right by York Minster which never ceases to amaze me even though I have seen it everyday for the last 4 months. We end up passing through another gateway to get outside the city walls and there is King's manor. It is really a great walk and I think that is what makes the 40 mins go by quickly.
Then I attend my class and usually head back to my room. Here's a map of the path that I walk to get to King's Manor.

It's kinda small but at least it gives you some sort of idea of what York looks like. The main yellow roads go around the outside of the city walls to give you an idea of where the walls are.
Well, that's all I have time to update right now, but I hope you are all doing well and that this gives you some sort of an idea of what I'm going through here and what my days look like.
Oh yeah, and just an update, I'm doing my work placement this term at the Minster so I will update when that begins to let you know what I'm doing there.

Italy

Vacations are great, but there is something comforting about coming back to a familiar place.
My trip to Italy was fantastic and I saw so many different places that I have always wanted to see but I often find that traveling can be stressful especially when you don't speak the language.

Basically I traveled with my friend Liz who I worked with at Calvin in the Archaeology Lab. We traveled for 12 days and saw 3 cities. We arrived in Rome at the airport on December 30. The first hostel that we stayed at was located near the airport which is not near the city center. So, we stayed there one night and found a different place in the city to stay. This place was relatively nice and the location was great. It was within walking distance of most things, except St. Peter's. One thing that is nice about Italy and most European countries, is that their public transportation systems are phenomenal. Even the major trains that go from city to city run frequently and are reasonably priced. So, we spent 4 nights in Rome and had 3 full days to walk around and see things.
The first day we visited a few of the churches that we wanted to see. We saw Santa Maria Maggiore and San Carlo Quattro Fontane. These were both very beautiful churches. Then we walked around a little in the city just trying to find other things that we wanted to see. Rome is a great city and fairly easy to navigate. Even I was able to find my way around which is saying something.
The second day was very rainy and both of us were exhausted from the long day of traveling. We took it easy that day and found a supermarket nearby. The third day in Rome Liz's advisor from Durham who is from Italy originally, showed us around the city and brought us to the major Roman sites. Liz and I started at San Giovanni Laterano, which was a gorgeous church. Then, we went with Liz's advisor to the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Palatine. That was all mostly the morning and early afternoon. Then, Liz and I decided to find some other places so we went to see Bernini's Four River's Fountain, the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. Overall that was our busiest day for sure.
The next day we headed off to Naples where we stayed for 2 nights. We went to Naples to see the National Archaeological Museum and also go to Pompeii. The museum was great and had tons of sculptures and paintings. The museum also had alot of frescoes from Pompeii and a room called the Cabinet of Secrets which was erotic frescoes also from Pompeii. Pompeii was absolutely amazing though. The site itself is huge and there are so many things to see. We spent most of the day there and we saw almost all of the site. There were quite a few frescoes still on the walls of plenty of the buildings and alot of them were in really good condition. I still find it amazing that this site was mostly covered in ash and volcanic materials. I can't imagine being an archaeologists and coming across this site.
After Naples we headed to Florence. I love this city. It's much less fast paced than Rome and it is very beautiful. We went to Santa Maria del Fiore also called the Duomo. This is a beautiful church and the dome is amazing. It is an 8 sided dome built of brick. Quite amazing. We also went to the Uffizi museum which has so many famous works of art. It was also huge and we didn't get to see everything that we wanted to see in it. We also went to the Museum of Santa Maria del Fiore. This museum held many of the famous works of art that were originally in the church. It also held plans of the dome and restoration work that had been done as well.
The last day few days that were in Italy were back in Rome. The first day we went to this church that had an undercroft that was built in the early 1600's by Friars. The Friars used the bones of past Friars and those from a Roman gravesite to decorate the undercroft. There were so many bones it was kind of creepy. But, it was amazing as well. It was unbelievable the designs they created from the bones. They were beautiful. The next day we went to St. Peter's Basillica and the Vatican Museums. St. Peter's was really beautiful and it was amazing to see. We spent a little over an hour going around the church. Then, we went over to the Vatican. This was absolutely huge. They have so many things in this museum that it was unbelievable. The best part, however, was the Sistine Chapel. This is really great. You aren't allowed to take pictures inside, so I don't have any photos, but there are so many different things to look at on the frescoes that you can sit in there for hours just staring at the ceiling. The chapel was packed with people. I am really happy that I got to see it.

Well, that's the gist of my trip and I can elaborate on anything if you want me to. I put all my photos up on flickr so here's the link
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34201125@N05/
Well, I do have to say that it was weird to come back to York after my trip instead of going back home. It made my stay in York much more real as well. I think it really hit me that I was actually in York for a long time after coming back here. I don't know why this specific event triggered that but I think I actually have come to terms with the fact that I'm here for a while still and not just on a long vacation in England.
I miss you and love you all. E-mail me if you want to hear about specifics of my trip! My e-mail is lauren.devos@gmail.com.
Love,
Lauren