Being Away For The First Time

Face-timing my nephew Jaxson

Growing up I always wanted to see things but I was always afraid to do things on my own. I have always had my parents by my side taking care of me. For the first time in my life I moved out of the house, half way around the world, to a country that didn’t speak my language. It’s frightening, yet exciting at the same time. I have had to adapt to many things. Having to take public transportation for the first time in my life was a big step. I had never ridden a bus before, not even to school. I have always walked places or driven in a car. It’s very different than home here.

The first week I arrived in Italy my credit card stopped working, my bank account was frozen, and I had thought that I was prepared for it all. I did all the necessary steps to try and prevent it but it still happened to me, the girl who was preparing to study abroad for over a 6 months. Luckily my parents found an application called Linphone that I could download on my iphone that allowed me to call through my home phone landline. I was then able to call my phone company and not have to be charged crazy international rates.

The Parents!

When I decided that I wanted to study abroad, it was about this time last year. I one day came home and told my parents that I was going to go to Trieste, Italy in the fall semester. I literally sat down and printed off all my paperwork and started filling it in. I turned my application in before winter break and waited until March 1^st, the actual deadline to start planning my trip. I was telling people that I was going to Italy before I was even accepted because to me, I had my mind set on it and thought there was no way I would not go. If I was declined, I was going to take a semester off and travel. I needed to get out of Greeley. The same time, I was scared.  I didn’t know what all I had to do to get to Italy. I found out during spring break that I was accepted to the University of Trieste and only a few days later, I bought my plane ticket to Ireland. I know… Ireland is nowhere near Italy. Ireland was where I wanted to start my adventure on September 4^th, 2013 yet it all didn’t seem real, even though I had an official date as to when I was going to be packing my bags and leaving this town I grew up in.

The Sister-in-law and Brother!

It’s been hard being away from my family. We have always been so close. I found out in January that I was going to be an aunt for the first time and my nephew was due a week after I left the states. While I was gone I missed the birth of my beautiful nephew Jaxson Eli Swick on September 12^th. I was sitting in Germany with my friend Thorben who was an exchange student my junior year in high school, uploading photos from Amsterdam and London onto my website, thinking how in the world did I happen to miss the birth of Jaxson the only time I was away from Greeley longer than a week!

At the same time, I was separated from my friends and family while a devastating flood swept my town and much of Colorado and I was nowhere to help out. My best friend lost her house and everything in it and all I could do was tell her how much I loved her and if she needed anything, my home is always open. It’s hard when people you love are in pain, and you are enjoying just the beginning of your adventure around the world, getting ready to experience how other people live. 

I’ve missed a lot of things here. But I have so many things to be thankful for. I get to travel. I am so blessed to be able to do things most 20 year olds don’t get to do. I can say my first apartment was in Italy. The first time I took a train alone was in Germany. The first time I traveled out of the Americas was with out family and with only mere strangers I met a few months before, but now are dear friends. I am also blessed that I have a best friend only 3 hours away by train in Bologna, that if I need to, I can go see any time I want because a train can take me there every morning leaving at 7:04am.

As my journey is quickly ending, I have a small countdown going on in my head. I have three weeks left of school. I cannot believe how fast this semester has gone by. My friend Erika is coming to visit me on December 11^th-20^th so that’s only 27 days away! I leave for Germany on the 20^th for Christmas and then spending New Years in Paris! 2014 is in 48 days and I’ll be back in Colorado in 54 days.

I have mixed feelings about leaving this place I call home for right now. I want to go back to Colorado,go back to dance classes,spend time with my family, but at the same time I am going to miss my new friends and living on my own. I know this isn’t the last time I will be living abroad but I will be making the most out of the next 54 days until I go home. Italy is wonderful.

A Pisa Me

We were only in Pisa for less than 24 hours. Clearly we wanted to make sure that we made all the goofy photos like every tourist has to do. We saw the Battistero di San Giovanni, Santa Maria della Spina on the Arno River, Piazza dei Miracoli,
Keith Haring’s mural called “Tuttomondo“ and some of the smaller streets of Pisa when we were walking to the train station. We arrived in Pisa pretty late in the evening from Cinqueterra. Our hostel was named “Hostel Pisa Tower” and we could see the tower from our window. That was pretty remarkable.  We tried taking some night photos at the Tower with us being giants, but they didn’t turn out so well, but I was able to get some night photography in which I thought turned out amazing! Although our time was short, you really only needed one day in Pisa, unless you wanted to make sure to go to all the different churches but I would say my 16 hours spent there was perfect!

To view more photos of Pisa please view Hannah Swick Photography- Pisa

Santa Maria della Spina is a small Gothic church in the Italian city of Pisa

Keith Haring’s mural called “Tuttomondo“

Cinqueterra: 5 Cities on the Coast of Italy

There's not much to say about Cinqueterra except wow. I never thought that I would be able to travel to all five cities in one day. We didn't plan it very well, but we only had one day to hit them all. The cities are on the rugged coast of the Italian Riviera. The five cities are  Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. Sadily, the trails between the cities were closed for the season but we saw them all in about 8hours. Riomaggiore was my favorite city because I spent most of my time there. I was able to explore the city not just during the day, but at night as well. We stayed in a hostel right outside of the cities in a small town called Biassa. The hostel name was Ostello Tramonti and they provided us with transportation to and from Riomaggiore.There was a small path that led around the edge of the town where you could walk down onto a rocky beach and it reminded me of last summer in California with my family. It was cool but very muggy so a layer of sweat covered my entire body the entire time I was there. When I was in Biassa it was raining, like most days here in Italy. But it was beautiful. Outside our hostel was a residential area where there were not any roads for vehicles. It was a very romantic city. I could only think of all the people who have grown up here without having a garage or even a car to drive. I wish I had more time to explore the cities, but I really just wanted to say that I had been to all the cities. I will go back someday!


To view more photos from Cinqueterra please view my website at Hannah Swick Photography- Cinqueterra

Doing what I love to do the most!

-Ciao

Now That's a Bunch of Bologna!

B-O-L-O-G-N-A

Now that the song is stuck in your head, you just pronounced the name of the town Bologna completely wrong. I traveled to Bologna to see my friend Miguel in the town that he is studying abroad in. A month ago he traveled to my town of Trieste to visit and now it was my turn. Bologna is beautiful. It is the largest city in the Emilia-Romagna Region in Northern Italy. The city of about 300,000 people dates back to 1000 BC and was first under the rule of the Etruscans then later Romans. Over 40-km-long  porticoes make the city of Bologna one of the most unique cities in Italy. There are over 600 arches in the city lining the streets. It is a beautiful site. Good thing I have a friend who lives here to be my tour guide. Bologna was once walled in and still parts of the wall is present here today. It is interesting to think that people would wall in their cities for protection. Could you imagine your hometown with a giant wall around it, letting only people who were from the town to enter. I only spent a brief time here in Bologna, but I enjoyed the time visited. To view more photos from Bologna please view Hannah Swick Photography- Bologna

Porticoes

Leaving Bologna to head to Cinqueterra!

-Ciao

Firenze: Going back in time to the Renaissance

The one place I have always wanted to go was Florence, Italy. Many years ago Florence was the center of medieval European trade and was the wealthiest cities at the time. The Medici family was a political dynasty and ruled during the late 14^th -18^th centuries. The Medici produced four popes for the Catholic Church and two Queens for France. Today, you can still see their presence in Florence. As I was in Florence from October 23^rd- October 26^th, I walked the footsteps of famous Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo, Leonardo, Ghiberti, Raphael and many more. I felt that I slipped back into time. I went to the Uffizi Gallery and the Academia and was able to appreciate the hundreds of masterpieces finished by famous artists. I was in awe when I saw the Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli.

Inside Battistero di San Giovanni, Florence, Italy.

Our hostel we stayed in was very close to Piazza della Repubblica that has a beautiful carousel all year near the arch of the Piazza. We walked over Ponte Vecchio which is a Medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge that crosses the Arno River. The river reflected beautiful lights from the nearby buildings onto Ponte Vecchio at night. One of the most exciting things I saw was the Roman and Renaissance sculptures in the Loggia dei Lanzi off the Piazza della Signoria. Benvenuto Cellini’s 1545 bronze sculpture of Perseus with the head of Medusa was the most impressive to me. What is great about Florence is that there are so many beautiful sites you can see for free. Yes, a lot of the art that you want to see are in the Galleries that you pay for, but by walking around you see so much art on the streets. The view from Piazza Michelangelo was remarkable.  I could see the entire city of Florence by night. The lights of the city made everything look like a background. I am glad that I was able to finally travel to a historical city that I have only read about in my art history book. 

View from Giotto's bell tower, Florence, Italy.

Of course the grand site in Florence is the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, the Duomo.  It was finished in 1436 by Arnolfo di Cambio and Filippo Brunelleschi. The architecture period was Gothic-Renaissance. When I was standing in line to go inside the basilica, I thought that it was going to very crowed but that was the biggest open structure I have ever been in! What was really interesting that I found about the basilica was that under the flooring, you could go down stairs and see the original flooring and structure of the basilica when it was first built. It was persevered very nicely along with the frescos on the walls. I climbed 463 stairs to reach the top of the Duomo and 416 stairs to reach the top of the tower next to it. Total, in one day I climbed up and down 1,758 stairs that didn’t count climbing the stairs in our hostel that was on the fifth floor. To say the least, I was very tired by the end of the day. Florence is as grand as everyone says that it is. I am actually returning back to Florence in a few weeks to visit a few more things before I have to leave this beautiful country. 

To view more photos from Florence and some from Tuscany please view
Hannah Swick Photography- Tuscany 
Hannah Swick Photograph- Florence

Me at the top of the Duomo, Florence, Italy.

Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore

At Piazza Michelangelo, from Left to Right, Me, Bryan, Keaton

Piazza della Republica, in Florence, a carousel with 20 horses and two gilded “king's carriages."

Ponte Vecchio, Florence, Italy

-Ciao

The Collio Hills and More

Today was the first time I have ever been on a motorbike. I could tell that I was a little cautious, leaning with my driver slightly, feeling the wind blowing through my hair, giving a fresh breath of air in my helmet where I had to lift the protectant plastic when we stopped so I could breathe again. The view was magnificent. Nothing separated my view with the breathtaking landscape of The Collio Hills but the little plastic that covered my eyes to protect me from the massive amounts of air blowing at my face when I leaned over the shoulders of Iacopo, my wonderful Italian friend.  I could finally understand why my high school IB English teacher made us all read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values our senior year. I cannot only understand how the author describes being on a motorcycle, but also the “quality” of writing (for me the quality of writing about it). My experience today was something I can try to describe, but the words traveling through my brain on the 4 hours we traveled were lost every time I thought about how dangerous this was for me. I am not a person to take risks. I plan everything step by step, train ticket to hostel. For me, this was something I had to do while I was here and luckily I had an opportunity that was given to me.

Autumn is finally here. Burgundy, gold, oranges and a slight hint of brown with still many areas of dark greens filled the Collio hills. Vineyards raced for miles. Once again, all I could do was breath. The air was fresh. The sky was clear and all I could think about was how lucky I am.

We started our ride from Pieris and traveled through the town of Gorizia, in Friuli – Venezia Giulia, to ride through the Collio Hills. We took a back road called the street of wine “strada del vino.” The first place we stopped was in San Floriano Del Collio, where I was able to get off the bike the first time to stretch my legs and of course shoot the lovely wine country.

After traveling through the Collio Hills, I could only imagine what Tuscany will look like this coming weekend when I travel to Florence on Wednesday. In the afternoon we arrived in Grado, a small town off the coast of Italy. We walked through the old cobble stone streets named “Calle” which reminded me much of the labyrinth roads of Venice. This area in Grado that we explored is named “Grado Vecchia” which means old Grado. The seaside was spectacular. The soft blue covered the horizon making it difficult to see where the sea ended and the sky begin. It looked almost like a painting I have done last semester. The beach was empty and the pier had a few quiet footsteps occupying the space.

 

Once the blue became dark, and the streetlights appeared, we drove to a small town named San Martino d’Aquileia to partake in the Pumpkin Festival where an area of the town brought back the look of medieval times.  The smell of fire and food filled the crisp air of fall.

I had a brilliant Saturday.

To view more photos from my day please visit Hannah Swick Photography- Collio Hills

-Ciao

Breathe

Inhale…

Exhale…

Sometime all you need to do is breathe. To me, the most relaxing thing to do is taking a breath of fresh air in and holding it as long as you can. Feeling the oxygen traveling through your body, calming every nerve cell and telling yourself that you are amazing.

Now imagine yourself sitting on top of a mountain, no one is there but you. What is there to do? Think about life. Think about family. Think about breathing.

Watching the sunset with my newest friends was like breathing. It was relaxing and all I could think about was inhaling the fresh sea air and allow it to travel through my body, calming all my worries and all my thoughts. I am blessed to be here. Able to travel. Able to walk. Able to enjoy life not just in one city or one country, but one world. We are all the same. Although we do not speak the same language, we still communicate with smiles, tears, laughing, and breathing. No one knows how much they are living on the edge until you travel somewhere you have never been and have to meet new people and those people you can then call friends.

Next time you don’t know what to do, just…

Inhale…

Exhale…

Just Breathe.

-Ciao