Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Olivia and Khaleesi in Rome!

Hello! My name is Khaleesi and my human and I are visiting Rome for a month this summer! My friend Regi is also here with his human. He and I battled in gladiatorial combat at the Colosseum last week. It was epic.

My friend Regi and me, with our humans Olivia and Marissa.

Our epic Colosseum battle.

MY favorite part of the trip is flying over St. Peter's Square at night and seeing all of the pretty lights, but Olivia (that's my human) likes seeing all the places where people like Julius Caesar and Romulus used to live. She was also really excited to discover that she can buy her entire breakfast plus coffee for only 2 euro!

Regi and me in the Forum.

Sometimes, when we go to museums, we play Guess Which God with the mythological  artwork, and I help her try to translate all of the Latin. We're also learning lots of Italian words! Sometimes we can order coffee or gelato without speaking English at all.

Surveying the Colosseum

Two weekends ago, we visited Pompeii, but it was really rainy so Olivia kept my wings nice and dry in her jacket. She was a little scared that Mount Vesuvius would erupt while we were there, but I promised I would carry her to safety. We saw so much cool stuff!

Staying warm and dry in Pompeii.

This week, we're going to tour the Vatican and the Vatican Museums, and then on Saturday we'll get back on the big metal dragon to fly home (I may be strong, but I'm not strong enough to carry a human across the entire Atlantic).

Ciao!
Khaleesi
Lloyd International Honors College Draconian International Representative
 
Olivia Wood
UNCG in Rome
Italy

Monday, June 1, 2015

Zoe and Mr. Dragon in Florence!


Experiencing writer's block.
 
I’m really struggling with my opening here. I mean I’m a dragon, not a poet. I guess I’ll start with hello and my name and see where that takes me. Hello everyone! My name is Mr. Dragon. My human, and best friend, Zoe Fishman named me that. She’s very creative.

This is both of our first times out of the country. We are currently in Florence, Italy having a great time! We arrived only yesterday though, so we haven’t had much time to really explore. Thus, my post may be shorter than others. Don’t worry though, I have a feeling I will be posting again later on, as I’m sure all of you will be extremely curious to know what I am doing.

Zoe let me sit on her lap on the plane ride. Some people stared...I guess they don’t have dragons in their countries. Zoe slept most of the plane ride, but I was too excited, looking out the window every chance I got. As we landed in Florence, I could already see some of the beautiful architecture awaiting me.

Checking out the plane ride into Florence!

We taxied to the meeting location to get our keys for our apartment. Zoe was nervous, as she doesn’t know Italian and is overly paranoid about being in unfamiliar places, but I’m not, so I talked to the taxi driver and assured Zoe all would be well.

After getting our keys and housing packet, we immediately went to our apartment. Zoe put me in her bag to keep me safe, but she couldn’t find our apartment, so she had to take me out to help. I’m really great with directions and finding places. Zoe...not so much. We make a great team! Something else Zoe is not the best at...using keys to open doors. We spent 10 minutes trying to figure out how to open our downstairs door and our apartment door.

When we eventually got into our apartment, we were amazed by how beautiful it was. Filled with rustic, Italian furniture and art, it was modern but antique at the same time. Everything we could need was already supplied for us! Ashley, Zoe’s human friend and roommate, showed us our room and I immediately called dibs on the left side of the bed. We unpacked all our stuff (I have a lot of clothes) and then plopped down. I wanted to go see the city but Zoe was tired from the traveling. I guess humans don’t have the stamina that dragons do.

Saying hello to Florence from our window.

Our second day in Florence proved to be much more eventful. We had orientation for most of the day. Zoe now has 4 folders full of papers and insists on carrying them all around with her every time we go anywhere. Her roomies and me think she’s a tad ridiculous, but when we get lost her 10 maps prove quite useful.

Me attentively listening at orientation.

My favorite part of the day was the spontaneous concert we went to. We were sitting in our room when we kept hearing screams and music playing, so we decided to check it out. It ended up being some famous singer who spontaneously had a concert in the plaza right next to where we live!

Zoe in the middle of the crowd at the concert.
 
Our last event of the day was the Welcome Dinner for the international students. I was the star of the show...obviously. People kept asking Zoe about me, which was annoying, since I obviously can talk. Zoe and I took photos and ate tons of food. Zoe is extremely picky, but I forced her to try one of everything. Some things worked out well, and others went right back on the plate. Still, I was proud of her for trying new things!

Center of attention like always.
 
Everyone wanted to be in my photo.

Right now Zoe and I are booking our tickets to go on a day trip with her roommates to Cinque Terra tomorrow. I would fly there, but I don’t want to leave Zoe, so I guess I have to take the train with them. I’m really excited to travel around Italy and I can’t wait to post again and update all my fans on my travels to come.

Signing off for now!

- Mr. Dragon