Wrapping up the Season

While my time here is limited in Trieste, I have a lot of things to look forward to this week. I finished all my exams today, one of my best friends is coming to visit me tomorrow, and Bryan, Kayla, Erika and I all leave together to head to Prague on the 17th. Trieste is ready for the holidays. There are two huge Christmas trees now up, Christmas markets everywhere, lights down every road, an ice-skating rink, and delicious food everywhere. I officially have only 5 days left here and it's a little heart breaking. I have met so many new friends here and learned how to live abroad. While being away from loved ones has been tough, I think that it is something every young adult should do for a period of time. I can say that living in a foreign country as a 20 year old has changed my life. Meeting people isn't something I am afraid of. I have navigated my way across the world and allowed myself to open up to new experiences. I have eaten some of the most amazing food and I absolutely love creps. I have noticed that when you come half way around the world with only a few things you realize how lucky you are to have everything at home. I thought I was independent before, but I can say I have changed a lot. My heart is open to new people and I am going to miss everyone I have met here! Thank you Olymar, Nikola, and Danio for helping me get settled in here in Italy. Thank you Marco, Elio, Iacopo, and everyone else who has been a friend to me here for being so kind. Lastly, I was lucky enough to come half way around the world with someone who I can now say is a friend for life. Thank you Bryan for being the best first roommate, eating dinner with me every night, and just always being there to talk when I miss home the most.


Today Bryan and I finally got pictures of us in Trieste. It has been our "home" for four months and we never actually documented us being here. It's funny that I carried my camera everywhere except here. Maybe I thought that four months wouldn't go by so fast. I guess time really does fly when you are having fun!

- Addio miei amici. Mi mancherai.

The World of Technology in Europe - A Lost Adventure

When I arrived in Europe I never thought about how much I rely on technology being a photographer. During my time here I have been uploading photos to my website Hannah Swick Photography, Facebook, and of course this blog. Unless I have perfect Wi-Fi connection it takes hours on end to upload my photos onto anything. It makes it difficult to share everything that I want to.

Before I left Colorado I unlocked my iPhone to have world access via Verizon. I thought that buying a SIM card ahead of time through UNC would be great! It promised too much and sounded like it wouldn’t be very expensive but boy I was wrong. The SIM card that you can buy through the ICIS card that I got from UNC was one of the worst things I ever did. It said that you would be able to call at a low rate but it charged me more than anything else. I made only a few essential calls and it cost me over 150 euros in two weeks. I wanted to cry. When I arrived in Italy I bought a specific SIM card for Italy. You bought the SIM for 25 euros, which included the first three months as a down payment, then after, that it was supposed to be 9 euros. If I didn’t have to try and call my credit card company who kept hanging up on me, and the calls kept dropping I would have been fine, but that wasn’t my case. WIND, one of the Italian phone companies here charged me an arm and a leg and my minutes were gone along with my entire down payment. So my dad found the app where I could call through until I could pay again for the month and everything was fine. Phones are complicated here. Recently I prepaid for my last month here in Italy (10 Euros) and before my contract restarted for the month, a Slovenian phone company charged WIND 12 cents for me apparently using their phone signal, even though I haven’t even been in Slovenia. Because Trieste is so close to Slovenia, this happens a lot. So I went to WIND to see what happened and they told me that there was nothing I could do about Slovenia picking up my phone signal so I owed WIND money. I found this not my problem but theirs, but I couldn’t win the battle. The minimum payment to WIND is 5 euros so I had to pay the 5 euros even though I only owed 12 cents. It was ridiculous.

Free WIFI in Europe does not exist. That has been a trouble of mine with blogging and uploading photos onto my website. I decided to not pay for an Internet card for my computer in my apartment the duration I have been in Italy because it thought it was too much. So I have only used my computer for iTunes and editing photos at home then I go to the University for Wi-Fi, which bumps you off every 2 hours until I found a local coffee shop named Kulp in Trieste that has fast Wi-Fi and a big comfy couch that I spend most of my time on when I am not at home or at school. Paying 2 euros for a cappuccino for unlimited Wi-Fi for roughly 6 hours (the time that I normally am in the Kulp) is much cheaper than paying for Wi-Fi or Internet at my apartment and I also enjoy the coffee! Compared to home, I can upload about 30 photos in 6 hours here in Italy, but at home I can upload 30 in about an hour.

If you have Apple products I would recommend anyone traveling abroad to buy the specific outlets for mac products! They are interchangeable and fit better in the plug-ins throughout the UK and EU than the all-in-one big bulky converters. The best apps that I have found while being abroad are WhatsApp, iTranslate, Duolingo, Skyscanner, CNN, Linphone, The Weather Channel, FaceTime, and Maps. CNN is always nice for me so I can stay updated with the United States and see what is happening in the countries I am in. I also don’t have television or the radio to stay updated (even if I did, it’s only in Italian).

One thing that I found very impressive was that FaceTime is a billion times better than Skype. I tried Skyping back home and the connection was awful. I couldn’t hear or see my parents, so we decided to try FaceTime. I had never FaceTimed before I was here in Italy but it works 99% of the time. I also use WhatsApp to stay in contact with not only my friends and family back at in Colorado, but almost everyone uses it here in Europe as well. It is a free texting app that connects to your contacts that have the app. I have friends from Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Colorado, and Oklahoma.

My view on technology has changed while being here. I have learned tricks by experience and hopefully I was able to let everyone who wants to study abroad or just travel some in on insight on what to expect in not only Italy but also Europe.

What I have learned in Europe!

People have asked me what it’s like to live here in Italy and I have a lot to say about that. It’s different. I have learned how to be independent and most of all what I really need to make me happy. No one needs everything that they have. Coming over seas and leaving almost everything you have behind at home is difficult. It took me forever to figure out what I wanted to bring but in all reality I brought too much. I wear pretty much the same combinations of clothing almost everyday here. I’m surprised if someone hasn’t noticed. I did buy 2 sweaters, a coat and a scarf here because I made the decision to buy a coat instead of bring one with me, and it was cheaper in the long run then haul a coat in September!

Changing my daily routine was overwhelming at the beginning. I moved into an apartment that wasn’t mine, all I had was a bed, desk, closet, bathroom, kitchen and utensils. I have changed my routines in the morning and have gotten used to not having a bathtub when all I want to do is relax. My comfortable home is half way around the world and nothing made sense the first few weeks living here. Going to the grocery store where nothing is in English can be difficult. It took me over a month to find milk that was lactose free, something that is so easy to find in the United States can be difficult when there is a language barrier everywhere.

I have never been afraid to go alone here in Europe. I feel completely safe. Never once have I felt that I was in danger (except on a train in Germany, but that is a long story). I feel more endangered in my hometown than in Europe. Yes there are some places in every town that can be scary, but so far I feel great, as long as I don’t speak or bring attention that I am a foreigner.

Traveling is so easy and relatively cheap to do. Many planes here in Europe are around 30Euros, it’s when you have luggage is what bites you in the butt. I can fly from Venice to many places on a low budget, if only I had more time I could take advantage of traveling further places. Unlike in the United States, no one relies on a personal car to get around. Most places have an excellent bus system and train system. I can get anywhere in Italy by train. I don’t think I can get to Nebraska by train or by bus from Greeley.

There are a few things that I do take for granted:

Health: I am I healthy and young. My legs have walked me around Europe, my lungs work, my eyes can see, my ears can hear the beautiful sound of the sea.

Wealth: I’m not talking about money. I am talking about the wealth of my experiences I am having and which I have had. My parents have taught me that there are more things in life than fancy clothes and expensive things. Traveling is considered wealth in my eyes. The more that I can see in this world is more important to me than anything that I can buy in a store. I would rather buy a plane ticket to Prague than spend that money on something that I won’t care about in ten years. 

Now that I have finally gotten to travel throughout parts of Europe, it doesn’t mend my itch for traveling. I just want to travel more. I have so many places that I want to see now, not just in Europe, but also around the world! I cannot wait to see where life takes me after I graduate from UNC!

Rain Rain Go Away…

Trieste is very rainy. I would say that it rains five out of seven days but always on days I have class first thing in the morning. When it’s not raining, it’s windy. The wind here in Trieste is named Bora. During the winter it gets so windy here that people can hardly walk, buses cannot drive up the step streets, and trashcans slide into the road. Bora is only beginning now in November. Last week it was so windy, I didn’t go outside the majority of the day because I could hardly walk in it. A funny thought I had was that what if instead of snow days like we have in Colorado, they have wind days, where school is canceled. I don’t know if that happens here, but I could believe it because the shutters can hardly block out the noise tunneling through the narrow streets.

Today it rained. I didn’t have class until 2:30, my beginners’ Italian course. Being almost done with classes, this class has been the hardest for me. Learning to speak and write a language in eight weeks is difficult. I have people in my class from Turkey, Poland, Spain, Romania, Africa and fellow Americans. Maybe it is difficult because the only common language we have in the room is English yet the professor doesn’t know English very well so she speaks only in Italian to explain everything. I guess I jumped both feet at the same time into the language.

Academics here are very interesting. I was so used to either MWF classes or TR classes back at UNC, but here I have a combination of MF, MT, TR, WT with each class lasting either 2.5 hours 3 hours or 4 hours but a 10-15 minutes break every hour where you can either grab some coffee, a smoke break, or eat a snack. The first two weeks here I thought it was ridiculous to pause class to drink coffee but now I enjoy a nice break where my brain doesn’t have to pay attention to anything. I am going to miss my breaks in class when I return to UNC but then again, my classes are no where near four hours long, not even my studio art classes are longer than three hours. Of course in art class, we take breaks for coffee because one can only print in the darkroom for so many hours at a time.

Here in Trieste I am taking four courses: Intellectual Property Rights, Entrepreneurial Finance, Marketing and Innovations, and Italian language. I think the most exciting part of any of the classes is that I am the foreigner in the room. 99% of my classes, besides Italian where we are all foreigners, are from Italy. 95% of the students from Italy are from Trieste or small towns near by. There is a Russian, two girls from Slovenia, a guy from Taiwan and two students from Africa (I’m not sure of which country in Africa). I have always envied exchange students ever since I met my first friends from around the world my Junior year in High School but now I was walking in their shoes and being around the world studying.

If I had one piece of advice for students in college is take the opportunity to get out into the world. Not just studying in a different state, but to study abroad. I have learned so much just being away from home. Yes I do miss home, but home is where the heart is. Very cliché, but it’s true. My heart is here in Italy right now but it is also back in good ol’ Greeley, Colorado where my family is. I have made a nice little home here where at the end of the day, I can take off my shoes and know that I am comfortable. Also, advice for anyone studying abroad, make sure you travel outside of the country you are living in, especially if you are in Europe. Europe is a little bit bigger than the state of Texas.  Take advantage of being here. Not many people get to say that they lived in a different country for either a semester or a year to study. I am lucky that I have traveled with someone who knows how to get around. So far I have been to Dublin, Galway, London, Amsterdam, Bremen, Hamburg, Venice, Trieste, Muggia, Collio, Florence, Bologna, CinqueTerra, Pisa, and Rome. I am still going back to Venice, Bologna, and Florence and then after the semester ends I am going to Prague, Ansbach, Paris, and Brussels and back to Dublin. In total of 16 weeks, I will have been to eight countries. I only wish that I could go to more, but I still have the rest of my life ahead of me.

I am ready for the next six weeks of my journey here in Europe.

-Ciao

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.

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

Muggia, Italy

Have you ever wanted to go somewhere that not a lot of people have been and find out that it is one of the most beautiful places you have ever been? This weekend I traveled by car to Muggia, Italy, just a few miles from Trieste. Waking up early and leaving before most people were awake made the adventure that much more exciting. Luckily I have met some amazing friends here who enjoy bringing me places only locals go to. Muggia is one of them. This place was almost a mini Venice.

Walking around I couldn't help but notice how many plants were everywhere and how clean the streets were. It's not a big town at all. There isn't a tourist attraction that would bring people there besides of wanting to visit a small town.

The colors of fall are starting to show here in Italy yet the smell of spring time lingers in the air. The smell of honey suckle filled the small raining streets. It was amazing. Although I haven't traveled much in Italy yet, all the small towns around Trieste are beautiful. People are kind everywhere and everyone is happy. It's like they all know they live in a historic country and that's all they need to know.

I can just imagine myself with a small cottage in the hills with olive trees and vines everywhere filled with grapes that hang over my patio in the summer time. It would be a place where I could relax and enjoy the beauty of my country. 

Enjoy the photos from Muggia, Italy

-Ciao

Sailing Away : Barcolona 2013

Being someone who has never grown up with the water by their side, I can honestly say everyone is missing out. The beauty of the sparkling sunset over the horizon is breathtaking, especially when you are sitting with friends talking about how blessed we are in life. I would never take back my experience here in Italy, not for all the missed wifi, family, movies, cars, or anything else in this world that I am lucky to have back in the states. Being abroad now for 40 days, I do miss home, but the places I have seen and the friends that I have met make everything seem like my new home.

For everyone following my blog, I wish I could write more, but the internet takes me a few hours to upload any photos, I'm trying my best!

This weekend was Barcoloana here in Trieste, Italy. It is a sailing race where people from all over the world come here to race. It was a beautiful sight. I found two boats from Florida and I was just excited to know someone else here is a foreigner! Photos cannot show at all how beautiful the sea is when it is full of Sail Boats!

Trieste is a place where something is always happening. Every weekend I have been here something has been going on. One weekend there was a festival about Austrian rulers back with Trieste wasn't a part of Italy. This weekend was Barcolana. Cruise ships stopped here to let people enjoy the beautiful sites of Piazza Unita and all the other shopping areas to visit. This place is a busy place. People are always coming and going. Even I feel like I always traveling throughout the city, finding new places to go. I didn't stay in Trieste all day to watch a race that you can technically not see since its in the Adriatic Sea, but I was there for the start of the race and also was able to view the city and the race above off the side of a road where there were other spectators who wanted to see the race from a different view. Looking out over the water and seeing hundreds of tiny triangles floating around, wondering if they are actually moving or not, is a beautiful sight.  One of the boats from Florida was named "True Love" and I believe the sailors on that ship know exactly what it means to love to travel. They can go anywhere the water cant take them.

Please enjoy the Beautiful photos from Barcolana 2013 here in Trieste, Italy

-Ciao

My Home Away From Home

Old Roman Theatre, Trieste, Italy

I have already been in Trieste, Italy for over a week now and I can say that I am excited to be living here for four months. Although I am a litter nervous with the language barrier, I believe that I will be able to figure everything out sooner or later. Trieste is a relaxed place; let me put an emphasis on that. People walk slower, eat slower, close stores in the middle of the day for a few hours, and our registration process for school is going to take forever. But who can complain. The view is beautiful, people are kind and the hills are a great workout! This week I have memorized the main roads to direct me through the city and the places I need to go. I refuse to use the bus system because I feel that I can walk faster and explore more of the town on my own. You miss so much of the town when riding in a vehicle. This week has been about getting the correct documents for living and studying in Italy. The food here is not what I expected to be Italian food. I think that homemade food anywhere around the world is amazing, depending on who is actually making it. The spaghetti my mother makes at home is a million times better than any restaurant just because it was cooked with love. I have had pizza here and it tastes like pizza. The toppings are not the same because of the availability of food choices and what is in season is different, but its still tastes like pizza. I think it just depends on where you go and if it is a small restaurant where the chiefs are good or not.

Piazza Unita, Downtown Trieste, Italy

This weekend I am meeting up with a dear friend that I have known since the Third grade. He just so happens to be studying abroad in Bologna, Italy so he is traveling to Trieste, Italy this Saturday and we are going to Venice Sunday to view the city for the first time together. It will be nice to see a familiar face and be able to talk about our travels so far!

I think the best thing about Trieste is the history behind the city. The city completely faces the Adriatic Sea that has allowed Trieste survive throughout history. The story begins with a prehistoric settlement of a hill-fort on the high ground of San Giusto, which eventually was founded by the Roman Tergeste in the 1^st Century B.C. (Promotrieste.It, 2). The city has Medieval Church’s, Roman Ruins and cultural influences from bordering countries such as Slovenia and Austria. The longer I am here, the more of the city reveals itself to me.

Cruise Ship at the Port in Trieste, Italy

Classes begin on lunedi 30 (Monday) and I begin my day probably by trying to figure out which room my classes are in. The economics building has many floors and as I have found out in Europe, Piano 1 is like our second floor. The ground level is “A” and then it starts at one. I am getting used to the idea of everything being different, but I still think that the third floor of the building shouldn’t be labeled as Piano 2. This is just my American side coming out of me. Being surrounded with the Italian language I am trying to make connections that are similar to what I know in the States. Exit signs are running green men here, the 24 hour time clock is what is used here, and many other things are similar, I just have to look for them.

Adriatic Sea meets Trieste, Italy

I am excited for my stay here, but at the same time chatting with my friends and family just makes it feel like I am off to college and can only use messaging to contact them. In all reality, I am half way around the world, figuring things out by myself in a culture I don’t know much about, a language that is foreign, and I don’t know anyone. It’s just the way that you think about it. I enjoy reading Italian everywhere, it makes me feel like I am in a story book on an adventure.  I am just 20 years old and I have complete one of my dreams of getting to Europe. Now that I am here, it’s up to me to make the most of it!

Ciao!