My Students

I am just swelling with pride right now.  This summer, Dr. Courtney Meyers and I taught ACOM 5308, Utilizing Online Media.  We have studied blogs (and thus the recent activity on this site), Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Flicker, and several other online tools to communicate the message of agriculture.

This class has been a blast to teach, and I have learned so much in the process. Our students were required to Tweet daily, watch and reflect on AgChat, review a social media book, create a video resume, build a portfolio website, and create an online marketing plan.  I will post links to their websites in a few days, but I wanted to show off their video resumes.  All these students did the work themselves, and they are all available for work in the near future!  Take a look!  I am just so proud of all of them!

Brittni Drennan's Video Resume

Mica Graybill's Video Resume

Kelsey Hall's Video Resume

Brian Holladay's Video Resume

Christy Witt's Video Resume

Italy Day 14--Final Thoughts

All we did today was eat breakfast at the B&B, which consisted of yogurt and cookies, then we took a train to the airport, which is not interesting at all, but we wanted to share our Jerry Springer final thoughts on Italy.

Italy is beautiful, and there are a few places that I would love to see again. A trip to Italy was my dream vacation, and I am so very happy we were able to see this wonderful country. 

The scenery is so diverse--ocean, mountains, rolling hills, and wonderful greenery. It really is a beautiful country with wonderful people and I hope to re-visit certain areas someday.

As much as I loved our trip and had high expectations for Italy, I must say I was a little let down on a few fronts. First, many parts of it were very dirty. We saw lots of trash--water bottles, cigarette butts, and just general junk lying around on the sidewalks and street. This was especially obvious in Rome, but Milan, Venice, Florence and Sorrento all could have used a good scrubbin'.  Graffiti was everywhere. EVERYWHERE! 

All over train stations, the trains including the seats, on buildings, highway signs, construction sites, historic monuments, and the worst--churches, even St. Peter's. Basically, if something had a surface, some jerk was going to write or paint on it. Some places tried to control the graffiti, but with the sheer amount of it, you could tell many cities gave up. It was really angering to see that Italians, and even some idiot Americans, Texans even, have such little respect for public property and historic relics.

Another disheartening experience was the beggars. They were everywhere. All colors, all ages, always wanting money. Some of them would carry a baby around and tell you the money was to feed the kid. They would approach everyone they saw. Seriously, you could not go anywhere without getting hit up for money. The only time I was tempted to give money was to an old man on the street with two cute little dogs. It broke my cold, cold heart! I was a little torn, because I know we are supposed to be sympathetic and helpful to the poor, but if I would have given money to every person that asked, I don't know that we would have had the money to feed ourselves on our trip. I'm sure some of those people legitimately needed some help, but I know there were others that were scamming on the sympathies of tourists. One lady in particular was begging in the square of the Duomo in Florence. Every time we walked through the square, there she was, asking us for money. She probably walked that square 20 times in one day. Granted, I don't know her situation, and it's not right for me to judge, and I hope she's able to get away from that life someday soon.

Eva, our innkeeper in Tuscany, told us that Italy has a huge problem with immigrants from all over the world. She said the immigrants usually end up on the street begging or picking pockets. When they get caught, they don't usually have a passport, so the Italian government doesn't know where  

to deport these people to, so they let them stay. It's sad, and I hope the Italian government does something about it.

Another drawback of Italy is the traffic. You hear stories about Italian drivers...they're all true. They drive like psychopaths. They pass on curves, pull out in front of people, cut people off, speed, and honk...oh, those Italians love to honk the horn. Then there are the motorcycles and scooters. If I lived in Italy, I would drive a scooter. They're cheap to operate in a country where gas is very expensive, and apparently the rules of the road do not apply to them. They weave in and out of cars, which worked very well for them when there is a lot of traffic.  They make up their own lanes and drive in between cars.  The photo above is the only one I got of this mess, and it doesn't clearly demonstrate how awful the traffic really was.

We really didn't see much law enforcement on the road while we were there, so it seemed to us that we could go as fast as we wanted, weave in an out of traffic, bump into other cars, pull out in front of others...just as long as we didn't kill anyone.

To avoid driving, Italy has a pretty good public transportation system. It's very dirty as evidenced by me gagging on the train in the photo to the left, but we were able to get everywhere we needed via trains, trams, buses, subways, ferries, and an occasional cab. As long as we were in the water or on some sort of rail, we also didn't have to worry about freaky Italian drivers, either.

Driving aside, the Italian culture was very interesting to us. We really liked most of the people we encountered. They were very friendly and hospitable. The culture, from what we saw, was strongly rooted in family. It was not uncommon for grown kids to still live with their parents, and working for the family business was very common. At our B&B in Rome, the owner's daughters worked for her, and they seemed perfectly happy hanging out at home with their family.

Italians didn't seem to be into their careers as Americans, although I'm told that in Milan, the residents are very career centered and the culture there seemed similar to New York or DC. Italians also don't seem to be in as much of a hurry as Americans. This is really nice, until you’re famished and need a piece of pizza ASAP. They rest for an hour or two every day and they take long vacations. Tell me again why Americans don't do this??

Europeans in general--not necessarily Italians, and not all Italians--are well travelled. They have seen all or most of their continent, but when you can cover three countries in the amount of time it takes to get from Lubbock to Dallas, it isn't hard. A vast amount have spent a significant amount of time in the US, and many other parts of the world. They keep up with US news and they're very interested in our politics. Nearly all of them speak English, possibly Spanish, sometimes German, and maybe French. We felt really ignorant. The Italian language is really pretty. Instead of saying Rome, it's Roma. Instead of Naples, Napoli (NAP-o-LEE).

Italians are very dramatic. They talk with their hands a lot and get really loud in a conversation. Sometimes that pretty language doesn’t sound so pretty.  At the B&B in Rome, the owner and her daughter were engaged in what appeared to be a very heated argument. We asked the daughter what was going on, and she said they were discussing how to sell their puppies. They weren't mad, just dramatic about their conversation.

In Europe, many, many people smoke and it's not a big deal. However, all those smokers throw their cigarette butts on the ground, littering the streets. If an area is posted non-smoking, you won't see anyone violating the rule. But if it's not marked, you'll be standing in a blue cloud for a long time. The owners of the B&B in Rome smoked, so all the bedding had a stale smoke-mixed-with-detergent smell. It wasn't horrible, but noticeable.

Mealtime is very important to the Italian culture.  It’s not uncommon for dinner to last three hours.  We had a typical Italian dinner at our agritourismo and it was four courses.  It really was a great way to enjoy a meal, albeit expensive.

Many restaurants expect you to order the full four courses, and some people do, but that was a little out of our price range.  Appetizers were $5-8 (Euros, not dollars), pasta was $8-12, main dishes were $15-20 and did not include a veggie or potato, and dessert was $5-8.  This did not include drinks. 

Several times we asked for tap water, but they told us they didn’t have it.  Really?? Funny?  They want you to order bottled water which was about $2 for a large bottle, which doesn’t sound bad, but you’re looking at U.S. $2.60 for water.  Ripoff!  The wine was fairly reasonable. We found bottles as cheap as $5, yes for a bottle, but most places had more expensive wines.  We always asked for the house wine and were never disappointed. 

One of the wonderful things about Italian restaurants is that they always bring you a basket of bread.  I fell in love with Italy with that first basket-o-bread in Venice.  I think I could survive on bread, wine and cheese, but that’s a conversation for another day.  The drawback of the bread is that restaurants charge about $2 per person, but that also covered the tip.

Italians, and in general, Europeans, have coffee after dinner.  In fact, they look at you like you have two heads if you don’t order coffee after your meal.  Cappuccino is a breakfast drink, and if you ask for coffee, you get espresso. I don’t understand why those Italians couldn’t grasp the fact that I really didn’t care for coffee and didn’t want any. 

I focused on a lot of negatives in this post, but the trip was awesome…a dream come true, really.  I hope to return there someday, but only to Tuscany and maybe Sorrento.  I would really like to see the Italian Alps, called the Dolomites and possibly the Lake Cuomo area…home of the original Bellagio. 

Italy is a wonderful country, and I highly recommend it for a vacation.  Ciao!  

Italy Day Tredici

Our last day in Rome. We slept in and took our time getting ready. We were really tired because of all the walking we did. We walked to the neighborhood train station and then had to wait about 30 minutes for the next train into town.

We really wanted to see the Necropolis. It's a crypt below St. Peter’s Basilica—Peter (as in Simon Peter....as in Jesus' disciple) is buried there. We heard about this through a woman we sat next to on a train that was a historian for the Vatican. Little did we know, you have to have reservations several weeks, maybe even months in advance. So we go be-bopping into the tour office and asked for a tour for today, and they looked at us like we were devil worshippers or something. Fine. Whatever.

So we stood in line for a really long time to see St. Peter's Basilica. It was totally worth the wait.

Completely beautiful and gigantic.

I was in awe at how huge it was, yet it was very well decorated.

I was also in awe at the symbolism of the church. Jesus told Peter, "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”—Matthew 16:18—and literally, the church, the mother Catholic church, is built upon Peter's remains. His bones are directly below the altar, which is pictured below.

That Bible verse is inscribed around the dome, but I couldn’t tell if it’s in Italian or Latin.

The Basilica was so incredible with the ornamentation. Michelangelo’s famous Pieta is in the Basilica as well, and it was really cool to see that.

Next, we went below the crypt, many former popes are buried there. Some of them had elaborate tombs, some with a marble carving of themselves on top. Pope John Paul is buried down there. I was pleased to see he had a very simple, white headstone that said Pope John Paul, 1920-2005. No photos allowed. Some visitors got a little emotional at his grave—he really was loved by masses of Catholics. Five years after his death, there were still photos and other John Paul trinkets for sale at the Vatican.

Next we went to the top of the cupola.

Thank you Jesus for an elevator. We were so tired, and it was so hot that day, that the million stairs would have been the death of me. The elevator got us a little more than halfway up, and at that point, we were able to get up close and personal with the artwork in the dome.

It was beautiful at that level, and it's all mosaic, not paint. This prevents fading from sunlight and flash photography, plus it's so pretty!

We lingered around the dome long enough to catch our breath, and then it was up...up....up.....toooooooo heaven (shameless reference to early 80s Reba hit).

Those stairs were horrible!

I don't usually have problems with tight spaces, but they bothered both of us. Plus they were tilted, going along with the shape of the dome.

I think Michelangelo created that stairway for idiot tourists to prove their faith, because I was praying the entire trip up. (Quick prayer: thank you God for preventing my heart attack at the top of the dome and for saving me the embarrassment of being carted down those stairs on a stretcher. Amen.)

Miley Cyrus was wrong--it's not the climb, it's the view when you get there.

We (mostly me) were dripping with sweat. Look closely and you can see me glistening.

It was totally worth the agony. The view was breathtaking (even though we didn't have much breath to take). We could see all of Rome and got a great view of it's beautiful monuments and ruins.

It was also great to get a bird's eye view of Vatican City. We had wonderful, unobstructed views of St. Peter's Square, the papal apartment, the Sistine Chapel,

the museum (holy moly that thing is huge),

the gardens, and the train stop. The gardens are available to tour by advance booking only, so we were thrilled to see them from the sky--so pretty!

The pope and/or his peeps can catch a train right in the back yard, and the Vatican has it's own radio station.

Following the dome climb, it was close to 4 p.m. and we were starving. We ate a piece of pizza (must say, Pizza Hut was better) and took the Metro to the Spanish Steps. It was raining, so we didn't really get to see them in all their glory, but we were really let down. They were just steps with pretty buildings at the top and expensive stores at the bottom.

Then we walked to the Trevi Fountain...now that was worth the walk! We had no idea how huge it would be! It was beautiful!

But then it started to pour, so we and a hundred other tourists took refuge in a tiny little church next to the fountain. We would have never given this church a thought, but we are so glad we went in. For such a small church, it really was beautiful. It was covered in Biblical artwork from floor to ceiling, and the walls and beams had a nice blue/grey color on them. It was lit with candles and the altar was covered with lilies, so it smelled wonderful in there. Music was playing, and it sounded like there was a choir of nuns and monks hidden somewhere singing just for us. It was very peaceful, and we just sat and stared at the ceiling and altar for 30 minutes or so.

Then we got hungry.

Everything that we found near the fountain was completely touristy, and we wanted our last Italian meal to be a good one, so we decided to go with what we knew. We took a very long, meandering bus ride and inadvertantly saw some beautiful parts of Rome, then changed buses, then walked several blocks back to Ponte Sisto--the restaurant Kate recommended. We ate there two days previously and knew it would be good. It was. All their pastas are homemade and so yummy! Scott had homemade spaghetti with shrimp, mussels and clams. I had homemade rigatoni with bacon and fava beans and a bit of Chianti. We had panna cotta with caramel for dessert. It was yummy, but Scotty said my panna cotta was better. Sweet, but I think he was lying.

We went back to the room a little early so that we could pack for our trip home :(

Italy Day Dodici

First item on the agenda--see the Pope. We took the Metro to the Vatican, then we bought a few rosaries to give as gifts. The Pope addresses the masses in St. Peter's Square every Sunday at noon.

And by masses, I mean people by the THOUSANDS...and they all had cameras. So did we.

When we arrived, mass was still in progress in the Basilica. We could see a simulcast of the service on Jumbotrons in the square. Even though the service was in Italian, the music was really nice and it was cool to see a service in the "mother church."

About 10 minutes after church let out, the windows opened in the papal apartment, the maroon cloth was rolled out,

and then the Pope stepped out.

Obviously, we didn't get a good view of him. It could have been a cardboard cutout for all we know. He gave a message in Italian, and then he gave short blessings in English, German, and Spanish.

He welcomed us to the Vatican on Pentecost Sunday (and we still don't know what Pentecost is) and blessed us with wisdom, joy and peace. It was a really awesome experience. He blessed my rosaries...although he probably does not realize that.

Next we did lunch...mmmmm, McDonalds. But did you know McDonalds charges for ketchup in Italy? That’s un-American! Beggars in the McDonalds hit us up for money. They were everywhere and use their kids to make people feel sorry for them. They were also picking up used cups and drinking from them, so they were obviously hungry enough to eat others’ leftovers. It was really sad.

Our next activity was the Coliseum.

It was huge and an awesome site to see. It would have been so cool to go to an event there.

We both decided to watch Gladiator when we got home.

Did you know they had luxury boxes in ancient Rome? Seriously. The photo below is of antique stadium boxes where the emperor and other rich folk would sit.

Graffitti is all over Rome, but we were rather disappointed to see that Americans...TEXANS for that matter...participated. Of course, this adds fuel to all of our aggie jokes.

It was kind of hot in the Coliseum, so we sat in the shade and gawked at the architectural wonder, but then our attention turned to people's feet. We could not believe some of shoes people would wear. Heels, wedges, flip flops, tall boots...all to tromp around the cobblestone streets of ancient Rome. How very intelligent.

We learned, however, of a new fashion craze--boy capris. Scotty can't wait to get a pair.

Constantine's Arch is right next to the Coliseum. Constantine legalized Christianity in Rome around 300...or maybe 500 A.D. So, we can attribute him for our religion spreading across Europe and eventually to the United States.

We took a tour of Palatine Hill, the hilltop overlooking Rome where all the ancient emperors lived. Palatine means palace in Italian.

As you walk through the area, you can see why the emperors chose that location for their homes, it was really beautiful. When a new emperor took over, he would build a new palace.

There are lots and lots of ruined buildings...and then Mussolini built his palace up there too. I found that just a bit pretentious. His palace is now some sort of museum.

Mussolini's digs were not all that pretty, but nice view. We saw what was left of the Circus Maximus, the old chariot race track. It doesn't look like much now, but I guess it once was really something to see.

Palatine Hill was where Rome began, and then the civilization flourished in the Forum. The Forum is at the bottom of Palatine Hill, and you can see how this once was a busy city with lots of residents, visitors and monuments.

Abandoned single pillars were all over the place, and piles of old columns, capitols and marble lay around like scrap metal. Kind of sad (tear, sniff).

Now here's a little story about a town named Rome. A long, long time ago...like waaaayyyy before Christ when mythology ruled, the area had an honorary group called the Vestal Virgins. I can't really remember what they did, but it was an honor to be one. Well, one of the lovely ladies turned up pregnant. Oops. So she told everyone that Zeus or someone like that was the baby daddy, so no one was going to mess with his kid. So she had the babies, and oh no...twins! She named the boys Romulus and Remus. She was still ashamed of having kids out of wedlock, so she dumped the babies. A she-wolf (and every time I tell the story, Shakira's She-Wolf plays in my head) took the babies and raised them as her own. All over Rome, there are carvings and pictures of a she-wolf and two babies.

When the boys were older, they wanted to establish a settlement. They had some sort of fight, and ROMulus won, and hence, ROMe was born. If I understood the guide correctly, archaeologists think this little area protected by the tin roof was possibly Romulus's settlement.

When Rome fell, the buildings and monuments were abandoned, so the churches used the old Roman buildings as their scrap yards, and they took whatever marble and other materials they wanted to use to build cathedrals. Good one Rome.

Just outside the ruins is the jail that held Peter and allegedly, Paul. We really wanted to see this, but it was closed for reconstruction :(

So, we ate! Our friend Kate, who lived in Rome for a semester, recommended Isodoro near the Coliseum. On her suggestion, we did the pasta sampler.

We ate like high school football players at the Pizza Hut lunch buffet. Then we got the bill. The food was reasonably priced, but they charged a 12% service charge AND a $2/person cover. (Note from Scott - hmmmm, it appears my thriftiness has really rubbed off on Erica! Just a few short years ago she never even looked at prices. Good for you E! I'm proud of you!! Now back to Erica).

We got some great nighttime photos of the Coliseum, then called it a night. (Note: Scott's pictures were way better than mine, so I only posted his photos).

When we returned to the B&B we visited with Francesca and family. Their yellow lab had just had puppies, and they decided to crash right in front of the door. They were not moving for us or anyone...they didn't care that we paid money to be there. They were really cute and I wanted to keep one.

Francesca force-fed us apricots soaked in brandy. Holy moly! They were something else! This was a very fun, very nice Italian experience.