29-Aprile-2006
Holy out of shape am I. This morning I woke up unable to move my right arm. Apparently playing Frisbee at large distances isn’t favorable to my arm…. and back… but, ya know, it’s probably good for me or some jazz like that.
Other than that, it’s been a pretty uneventful day. Jefferino and I booked a hostel for tomorrow night in Cinque Terre, so I will make it there J and we played rummy. I lost really bad.
We went to the market this morning. Saturday is by far the busiest day of the week. I always love the market, but I hate some of the sleazy people there. Today we went with Jeff but just so happened to lose him about 7 minutes into the busiest section. Casey and I tried to finish up without incident, but one guy was “trying to sell jewellery” or perhaps looking for a pocket to pick, and another guy just kept trying to speak to us in English and kept saying that we were beautiful. He put his hand on my shoulder and I turned to look at him and told him to back off… with a bit more colorful language. I often find myself wondering how Italian women deal with this sort of thing… I can’t say I’ve ever noticed it, but I sure would like to witness the whole ordeal and maybe take notes.
The weather was beautiful today. This made us want to play more Frisbee, but after 30 excruciating minutes, I let Casey take my place for awhile. After that Casey and I walked around for a while and watched people stare at our sandaled feet and lack of heavy clothing. Italians are weird.
This evening I took some pictures of myself in a bathing suit. Wow, how depressing. I think I’m going to start fasting…
Tomorrow morning our train leaves at 9:05am. I still don’t have a thing packed and it’s almost 1am, so I’m going to catch some zzz’s so I can get up early to pack.
Ciao!
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Friday, April 28, 2006
reliving the crazy boy band days...
28-Aprile-2006
I had a pretty excellent day today. For the first good half of the day, Casey, Jeff, Jefferino and I sat on the Internet and tried to figure out where we should or would study next. It ended up being pretty interesting.
Casey, Jeff and I then decided to play some Frisbee in the park. It was a pretty dreary afternoon and it started to sprinkle almost right after I got there. The poor weather didn’t hinder our game, but Casey was kept on the sidelines because her allergies kicked in…but Jeff and I entertained ourselves for quite awhile with the Frisbee. You can really whip that thing if you get into it.
After that, being a sweaty, smelly mess, we were headed down to pay rent. As luck would have it, we ran right into a square that TRL (total request live, a very popular TV show on MTV) was set up for Torino. This isn’t the same TRL that we have in the states, they have an Italian version based out of Milano but it was cool nonetheless. We had our first opportunity to view the Italian co-hosts who we have come to know since watching Italian TV – the guy co-host is super hot. I tried my best to bring out the inner 14-year-old, but I just couldn't do it... There was a famous Italian rapper on today who wasn’t all that entertaining, in fact he is Jeff’s least favorite Italian artist, and he was sure to let us know it too :)
Eventually we made it to our landlord’s and had to talk with her about a new crimp in our “after school” plans. For the past two months we’ve been coordinating with her so that we would have a place to stay/leave our stuff after the program ended and she was nice enough to offer us the apt below ours (where two students currently are) for free since we rock. Well apparently one of the girls below us asked about staying and we would have had four people in the apt. So, we went to see if we could figure something else out and it just so happens that since our apartment has the bug infestation that they are hiring an exterminator to come in after the program and the apt won’t be needed until July. Now we can stay until we leave in our own apartment without a problem. I guess it should upset me slightly that they aren’t doing much now, but will when we leave, but I don’t really care..
We also learned that our landlord's dog, Paco, has gone missing. He snuck out the door of the travel agency when a bunch of people came in. Deborah, our landlord, explained to us that it seems to happen on a semi-regular basis, but we were still pretty torn up. Poor Paco!
This weekend is another Italian holiday and the holiday/train situation is looking the same as before. I’m having trouble finding travel buddies to cinque terre since casey is going there when her family comes and jeff doesn’t really want to go. So, I think I might head down there on Sunday and stay until Tuesday. Maybe that will help me to avoid some of the people.
I had a pretty excellent day today. For the first good half of the day, Casey, Jeff, Jefferino and I sat on the Internet and tried to figure out where we should or would study next. It ended up being pretty interesting.
Casey, Jeff and I then decided to play some Frisbee in the park. It was a pretty dreary afternoon and it started to sprinkle almost right after I got there. The poor weather didn’t hinder our game, but Casey was kept on the sidelines because her allergies kicked in…but Jeff and I entertained ourselves for quite awhile with the Frisbee. You can really whip that thing if you get into it.
After that, being a sweaty, smelly mess, we were headed down to pay rent. As luck would have it, we ran right into a square that TRL (total request live, a very popular TV show on MTV) was set up for Torino. This isn’t the same TRL that we have in the states, they have an Italian version based out of Milano but it was cool nonetheless. We had our first opportunity to view the Italian co-hosts who we have come to know since watching Italian TV – the guy co-host is super hot. I tried my best to bring out the inner 14-year-old, but I just couldn't do it... There was a famous Italian rapper on today who wasn’t all that entertaining, in fact he is Jeff’s least favorite Italian artist, and he was sure to let us know it too :)
Eventually we made it to our landlord’s and had to talk with her about a new crimp in our “after school” plans. For the past two months we’ve been coordinating with her so that we would have a place to stay/leave our stuff after the program ended and she was nice enough to offer us the apt below ours (where two students currently are) for free since we rock. Well apparently one of the girls below us asked about staying and we would have had four people in the apt. So, we went to see if we could figure something else out and it just so happens that since our apartment has the bug infestation that they are hiring an exterminator to come in after the program and the apt won’t be needed until July. Now we can stay until we leave in our own apartment without a problem. I guess it should upset me slightly that they aren’t doing much now, but will when we leave, but I don’t really care..
We also learned that our landlord's dog, Paco, has gone missing. He snuck out the door of the travel agency when a bunch of people came in. Deborah, our landlord, explained to us that it seems to happen on a semi-regular basis, but we were still pretty torn up. Poor Paco!This weekend is another Italian holiday and the holiday/train situation is looking the same as before. I’m having trouble finding travel buddies to cinque terre since casey is going there when her family comes and jeff doesn’t really want to go. So, I think I might head down there on Sunday and stay until Tuesday. Maybe that will help me to avoid some of the people.
life goals and holding myself accountable..
leave it to adam to find a website to address anything you could possibly have an interest in...
Today I set up an account on 43things.com which is a way to track your goals.. kind of hokey, maybe not the best way to spend my time, but if it works, can't really complain. So this is my way of holding myself accountable... if you want to look at my goals:
http://www.43things.com/person/lynndro
and be sure to sign up and add me so we can "cheers" each other along the way.. :)
Today I set up an account on 43things.com which is a way to track your goals.. kind of hokey, maybe not the best way to spend my time, but if it works, can't really complain. So this is my way of holding myself accountable... if you want to look at my goals:
http://www.43things.com/person/lynndro
and be sure to sign up and add me so we can "cheers" each other along the way.. :)
Thursday, April 27, 2006
27-Aprile-2006
This evening I had the honor of talking to Laura for about two hours. It was fantastic. We caught up on everything going on in both of our lives and had a little time to play online. Next time we’re on together we will be partaking in some sort of online poker tournament. Hehe We compared our itching stories since she has syrasis – spelling is not right on that one – so we both go through the horror and trauma everyday. Yeah for us.
Today I woke up in a bad mood since I discovered I had been bit again and tore my bed away from the wall, much to seth’s surprise. Then we decided to clean and rearrange and discovered what looked like a termite infestation.. or at least like some bugs that really liked the wood of the floor right under my bed. We noticed a few more instances around the house and in our own room, but mine was by far the worst. There is no telling whether these little buggers are the culprits of the many biting crimes committed against me, but needless to say, my bed is on the other side of the room now. I guess we’ll see.
And today I spoke with my security guard friend again. Up until now, I had been addressing him formally with “Signore” but he told me yesterday that I was to call him by his name, Mimo, from now on. Yay! I have a 50 year old Italian friend, score!
On the bus this afternoon I was just riding along when I head the sure sounds of the Engish language. I turned and saw a group of about 8 lads that were approximately my age speaking with an older gentleman, probably the teacher, about something I could not hear. Well, they were speaking English and weren’t scowling like the rest of the bus so I struck up a conversation and learned that they were auto design students from the UK. Yay for English!
Today I woke up in a bad mood since I discovered I had been bit again and tore my bed away from the wall, much to seth’s surprise. Then we decided to clean and rearrange and discovered what looked like a termite infestation.. or at least like some bugs that really liked the wood of the floor right under my bed. We noticed a few more instances around the house and in our own room, but mine was by far the worst. There is no telling whether these little buggers are the culprits of the many biting crimes committed against me, but needless to say, my bed is on the other side of the room now. I guess we’ll see.
And today I spoke with my security guard friend again. Up until now, I had been addressing him formally with “Signore” but he told me yesterday that I was to call him by his name, Mimo, from now on. Yay! I have a 50 year old Italian friend, score!
On the bus this afternoon I was just riding along when I head the sure sounds of the Engish language. I turned and saw a group of about 8 lads that were approximately my age speaking with an older gentleman, probably the teacher, about something I could not hear. Well, they were speaking English and weren’t scowling like the rest of the bus so I struck up a conversation and learned that they were auto design students from the UK. Yay for English!
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
26-Aprile-2006
Back to my two days of school per week.. I realized that next week I don’t have class again until Wednesday. This is seriously annoying.. why can’t it be all in one shot? Geez louise. I like going to school, but it’s hard when there are such big gaps between classes, I have a hard enough time recalling what we learned the day before let alone the week before… Yes, I do realize that this is a very strange complaint.
Ever since I was investigating opening a bank account, I have walked past a branch of San Paolo everyday on my way to catch the bus to school. When I first went there I required the help of the security guard to figure out to whom I could talk to about my banking. Since the weather has warmed up, the security guard has been outside the bank and we have turned out to be good friends. Friends meaning that I say “Ciao Signore” every time that I go by. Since my lack of school and plethora of vacation, I haven’t been to the bus stop and haven’t run into him. Today he was outside and was noticeably happy to see me. He took my hand and asked if everything was going well. I was happy to see that I finally made a friend who doesn’t work at some sort of food place.. Casey and I have a similar relationship with the crepe man, the owner of the café across the street and the guys that work at the kebab. After a while, being friends with people who sell food is a bad idea… Plus it’s nice to know that my block is being protected.. even if it’s a little far away from my house.
Today I did the unthinkable – I made lasagne! I have never had to make lasagne since I’ve been very fortunate to have my mother and adam who are excellent at it. However, I figured since I was in Italy it was fitting that I try it on my own – plus I bought that cookbook in Scotland with a good recipe with zucchini and mushrooms. There was a lot of preparation and thankfully no tears, until I had to eat it. Nah, it wasn’t that much of a lost cause. I do think that it needed more cheese, it ended up being a bit on the dry side. I suppose it wouldn’t be true lasagne unless I screwed it up at least once. I’ve even seen Adam screw up lasagne.
To offset my addiction to gelato, chocolate, and nutella crepes, I have been trying to exercise at least a little bit each day. I’ve brought myself up to 500 crunches per day and some other muscle workers such as lunges, wall sits and trunk rotations. Mostly my exercise regimen is what I can remember from ski team callisthenics… I would give up chocolate, gelato and nutella crepes if I had a bike to ride instead of my snowboard, which makes a nice decoration for the corner of my room.
Well, I’m off to start a new book. And wish for megan to call me :)
Ever since I was investigating opening a bank account, I have walked past a branch of San Paolo everyday on my way to catch the bus to school. When I first went there I required the help of the security guard to figure out to whom I could talk to about my banking. Since the weather has warmed up, the security guard has been outside the bank and we have turned out to be good friends. Friends meaning that I say “Ciao Signore” every time that I go by. Since my lack of school and plethora of vacation, I haven’t been to the bus stop and haven’t run into him. Today he was outside and was noticeably happy to see me. He took my hand and asked if everything was going well. I was happy to see that I finally made a friend who doesn’t work at some sort of food place.. Casey and I have a similar relationship with the crepe man, the owner of the café across the street and the guys that work at the kebab. After a while, being friends with people who sell food is a bad idea… Plus it’s nice to know that my block is being protected.. even if it’s a little far away from my house.
Today I did the unthinkable – I made lasagne! I have never had to make lasagne since I’ve been very fortunate to have my mother and adam who are excellent at it. However, I figured since I was in Italy it was fitting that I try it on my own – plus I bought that cookbook in Scotland with a good recipe with zucchini and mushrooms. There was a lot of preparation and thankfully no tears, until I had to eat it. Nah, it wasn’t that much of a lost cause. I do think that it needed more cheese, it ended up being a bit on the dry side. I suppose it wouldn’t be true lasagne unless I screwed it up at least once. I’ve even seen Adam screw up lasagne.
To offset my addiction to gelato, chocolate, and nutella crepes, I have been trying to exercise at least a little bit each day. I’ve brought myself up to 500 crunches per day and some other muscle workers such as lunges, wall sits and trunk rotations. Mostly my exercise regimen is what I can remember from ski team callisthenics… I would give up chocolate, gelato and nutella crepes if I had a bike to ride instead of my snowboard, which makes a nice decoration for the corner of my room.
Well, I’m off to start a new book. And wish for megan to call me :)
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
25-Aprile-2006
Well, I do believe that Italy is starting to lose its luster for me. As we get closer to going home, more people are talking about going home and that is making me want to be home even more. I do love the country, the ability to travel on a whim without hesitation, but when I’m not travelling I just read or sit around and do nothing. Never far from my mind is how much work I could be doing at home.. that is probably the biggest American thing I’ve said in awhile. I have been working on a project for one of my classes and have gone above and beyond the work description to try and hold off my boredom. Here I am with the Italians and their relaxed, glamorous lives and all I want to do is wear my hoodie, walk my dog, and go to work. Don’t get me wrong, I’m forever grateful for this opportunity and have stood in awe at how close-minded I was about the world before I had this experience, but I’m ready to go home – or at least travel for everyday that I’m still here…
I suppose this last month of running on “less than high” gear should lead me to do some serious reflecting on myself as a person, on my life and what I’m going to do with it. I have already been thinking about what I want to do as far as work is concerned, where I want to live, how many dogs I want to foster.. all the important questions. :) I’m seriously considering options for working abroad and even pursuing a master’s degree, I guess time will tell.
Well, I suppose that’s all the reflecting I’m willing to share right now, so I’m off to figure out how I could banish the world of bed bugs and other creepy things that bite in the night…
I suppose this last month of running on “less than high” gear should lead me to do some serious reflecting on myself as a person, on my life and what I’m going to do with it. I have already been thinking about what I want to do as far as work is concerned, where I want to live, how many dogs I want to foster.. all the important questions. :) I’m seriously considering options for working abroad and even pursuing a master’s degree, I guess time will tell.
Well, I suppose that’s all the reflecting I’m willing to share right now, so I’m off to figure out how I could banish the world of bed bugs and other creepy things that bite in the night…
Sunday, April 23, 2006
23-Aprile-2006
Article for this week…
It’s Paradise..
Until now we’ve never had a bit of trouble just showing up at the train station and catching a ride to some fun and exciting destination for the weekend. This weekend, however, marks the Independence Day holiday in Italy. On this holiday the Italians choose to travel, which is all fine and dandy except for the non-reservation making travellers. Needless to say, we were slightly upset.
The weather has taken a turn for the better, which is really strange for me. I’ve grown up in Michigan and have vivid memories of daring my brother to go swim in the freezing cold lake during the month of March – ok, sometimes April. That wouldn’t be a problem at all in Italy. For the last three years I’ve been living in Houghton year-round, and last year the final pile of snow held out until the end of May! It’s been strange to experience this climate change, but I’m enjoying it nonetheless.
Since our plans to travel to Nice, France were debunked by the lack of available trains, a few of us decided to go to Lake Maggiore. Lake Maggiore is the second largest lake in Italy and very close to the more famous Lake Como. Lake Como is home to a huge mansion owned by George Clooney and is rumoured to be a hot spot for the likes of Hollywood. I’m sure Lake Maggiore is much more beautiful. Haha.
Once we got off the train, we seemed to be transferred into a tropical paradise. The distinguished look of palm trees and many other types of beautiful vegetation were suddenly all around. As we got closer to the water, the Borromean Islands of Lake Maggiore came into view. Regrettably, we did not make it onto the islands, which I’m somewhat disappointed about, but I think I’m going to go there again when my family joins me in less than a month.
Our soul purpose for the trip was to enjoy the weather and sit by the water. This goal we accomplished flawlessly but the sun didn’t cooperate the entire time. Luckily it didn’t rain but about an hour into our beach sitting, a gigantic cloud decided to place itself conveniently between me and my rays of sunlight. This cloud decided to hang around for an undeterminable amount of time so we took our show on the road and walked along the shore of the lake for a while. This stroll wasn’t disappointing at all; there was endless green grass, amazing plant life, and gorgeous flowers. It was very much how I envision a tropical paradise.
Since the Italian holiday means time off for us, we have until Tuesday before we return to school. This means there is definitely time to make another journey. The destination is still undecided, but it will probably be just another quick day trip – maybe another tropical paradise, I guess we’ll just have to see!
It’s Paradise..
Until now we’ve never had a bit of trouble just showing up at the train station and catching a ride to some fun and exciting destination for the weekend. This weekend, however, marks the Independence Day holiday in Italy. On this holiday the Italians choose to travel, which is all fine and dandy except for the non-reservation making travellers. Needless to say, we were slightly upset.
The weather has taken a turn for the better, which is really strange for me. I’ve grown up in Michigan and have vivid memories of daring my brother to go swim in the freezing cold lake during the month of March – ok, sometimes April. That wouldn’t be a problem at all in Italy. For the last three years I’ve been living in Houghton year-round, and last year the final pile of snow held out until the end of May! It’s been strange to experience this climate change, but I’m enjoying it nonetheless.
Since our plans to travel to Nice, France were debunked by the lack of available trains, a few of us decided to go to Lake Maggiore. Lake Maggiore is the second largest lake in Italy and very close to the more famous Lake Como. Lake Como is home to a huge mansion owned by George Clooney and is rumoured to be a hot spot for the likes of Hollywood. I’m sure Lake Maggiore is much more beautiful. Haha.
Once we got off the train, we seemed to be transferred into a tropical paradise. The distinguished look of palm trees and many other types of beautiful vegetation were suddenly all around. As we got closer to the water, the Borromean Islands of Lake Maggiore came into view. Regrettably, we did not make it onto the islands, which I’m somewhat disappointed about, but I think I’m going to go there again when my family joins me in less than a month.
Our soul purpose for the trip was to enjoy the weather and sit by the water. This goal we accomplished flawlessly but the sun didn’t cooperate the entire time. Luckily it didn’t rain but about an hour into our beach sitting, a gigantic cloud decided to place itself conveniently between me and my rays of sunlight. This cloud decided to hang around for an undeterminable amount of time so we took our show on the road and walked along the shore of the lake for a while. This stroll wasn’t disappointing at all; there was endless green grass, amazing plant life, and gorgeous flowers. It was very much how I envision a tropical paradise.
Since the Italian holiday means time off for us, we have until Tuesday before we return to school. This means there is definitely time to make another journey. The destination is still undecided, but it will probably be just another quick day trip – maybe another tropical paradise, I guess we’ll just have to see!
Saturday, April 22, 2006
22-Aprile-2006
Well, I just spent the last five hours working on adam’s time in Europe. I’ve got tickets for us to go to 6 countries in 11 days. I’m pretty sure it’s some sort of suicide, but other than that, I feel pretty proud. The worst part, was that I bought one set of tickets for the wrong month.. I guess I just got careless after looking at the screen for so long.. the absolute worse part of it was that they were definitely the most expensive tickets I bought…….. grrrrarrrrrrr. I think I have wasted more money carelessly over here than I care to talk about.. On the plus side, if you ignore the mistake tickets, I only spent 270 euro for both of us total for all 6 of our flights. If you do the conversion, that’s $319.00 for two people to fly to six different countries!!! Tell eurorail that they can kiss my butt!! (Eurorail is a train pass with different restrictions on what countries you can visit and requires a fee for seat reservations even after you've paid between 300-500 for the pass itself..)
For awhile I’d been thinking that the eurorail would be cheaper and wiser decision, but when you’re “super saver travel finder”, like me, you can do amazing things. I think I feel a little bit better about my mistake now.. because even if you add the mistake, it’s still a really good deal. We would have lost a lot of time on the long train rides and not been able to use the pass to the fullest extent because of some of the guidelines.
Well, the plan to do Nice tomorrow kind of fell through. This is an extended weekend because of an Italian National holiday and unfortunately everyone else in this country wanted to go to Nice too.. sucks.. but it’s ok, I’m meeting Jeff tomorrow in Milano and we’re going to Lake Majorie.. Sounds exciting huh?
After doing all that planning I just want my mom and adam to get here. I still have some work to do on my mom’s trip, but mostly printing off schedules. We are planning on doing solely an Italian excursion, which is going to be fun because I’ve been saving some important cities for when she gets here. For instance, we’re going to hit up Aosta, Venice, (again, but it was so amazing), possibly Bologna (still working on that one), definitely Florence, Rome and Milano. And she’s only going to be here for a little over a week. Now that I look at it, it’s another suicide mission. I’m going to get an earful from Rose about my hectic planning. It’s ok Rose, you will fear my wrath when we make it to Europe together. :-)
For awhile I’d been thinking that the eurorail would be cheaper and wiser decision, but when you’re “super saver travel finder”, like me, you can do amazing things. I think I feel a little bit better about my mistake now.. because even if you add the mistake, it’s still a really good deal. We would have lost a lot of time on the long train rides and not been able to use the pass to the fullest extent because of some of the guidelines.
Well, the plan to do Nice tomorrow kind of fell through. This is an extended weekend because of an Italian National holiday and unfortunately everyone else in this country wanted to go to Nice too.. sucks.. but it’s ok, I’m meeting Jeff tomorrow in Milano and we’re going to Lake Majorie.. Sounds exciting huh?
After doing all that planning I just want my mom and adam to get here. I still have some work to do on my mom’s trip, but mostly printing off schedules. We are planning on doing solely an Italian excursion, which is going to be fun because I’ve been saving some important cities for when she gets here. For instance, we’re going to hit up Aosta, Venice, (again, but it was so amazing), possibly Bologna (still working on that one), definitely Florence, Rome and Milano. And she’s only going to be here for a little over a week. Now that I look at it, it’s another suicide mission. I’m going to get an earful from Rose about my hectic planning. It’s ok Rose, you will fear my wrath when we make it to Europe together. :-)
Friday, April 21, 2006
21-Aprile-2006
Today was a gorgeous day in Torino. I made a trip to the market and sat around like a lazy bum. Ok, I sat in the park and did some “research” for my paper due at the end of the semester.. If you could call it that. My paper is about dogs in Italy, so my research consisted of observations and picture taking.. rough day, as you might have guessed. I’m pretty pumped I’m on the project, mostly because I’m a silly kid like that.
My mom sent me a bunch of John Grisham books to read awhile back. However, she knows that I usually can’t stand John Grisham, but I’ve come to the point that they’re my only books left and must admit that I’m thoroughly enjoying them.. how does she do that…
I also got wind of Jeff wanting to make a trip to Nice, France this weekend after his mom and grandma leave. I’m planning on joining him and really looking forward to it. I’ve heard that area is particularly touristy, so we might be sleepin on the beach, could be a good time.
Well, it’s late and I’ve got some sit ups to do. Ciao!
My mom sent me a bunch of John Grisham books to read awhile back. However, she knows that I usually can’t stand John Grisham, but I’ve come to the point that they’re my only books left and must admit that I’m thoroughly enjoying them.. how does she do that…
I also got wind of Jeff wanting to make a trip to Nice, France this weekend after his mom and grandma leave. I’m planning on joining him and really looking forward to it. I’ve heard that area is particularly touristy, so we might be sleepin on the beach, could be a good time.
Well, it’s late and I’ve got some sit ups to do. Ciao!
Thursday, April 20, 2006
20-Aprile-2006
Well, I had two days of class and now I’m free until next Wednesday. I kind of like this sort of class schedule. Italy has some national holidays both this weekend and next so we have a five-day weekend (this one) and a four-day weekend next. I was upset to discover that I immediately got bites when I slept in my bed again but I got a new mattress today, so we’ll see what happens tonight.
Brad’s birthday was yesterday and we hosted a party, which may have been a poor decision. There ended up being lots of people in our too small apt and I have a feeling the neighbours might be more than a little disgruntled.
I found out yesterday that I got a 95% on my last Italian test. I’m not sure if the class is getting easier or if I’m just becoming super Italian grammar kid. We have a lot of homework due for next week so I am going to make an effort to get it done before I forget everything in the upcoming long weekend.
I don’t really have anything planned for this weekend yet. I’m thinking about a few different day trips since there are still some things in northern Italy that are supposed to be pretty darn cool. That and I have the free museum pass for Torino, which I should be taking more advantage of than I already am.
Today I was bummed to hear that I won’t be able to get my job back at the Keweenaw Brewing Company right away. The KBC only hires a small amount of people so that everyone gets the amount of hours that they want, which is really smart, but also means that they can’t take on another person at this time. Hopefully I’ll be back there in late June, but it might not be until the end of August. This presents me with a couple of different options. I am taking summer courses for the second part of the summer, but they don’t start until the end of June. Depending on what Downwind Sports has in mind, I might see about going home and working for my mom since it’s not like I’m going to have any money for rent. Not that I’ll actually make money working for my mom, but the sweatshop labor to repay my European debts has to begin sometime.
I also heard today that Applebees is opening up in July. I think I could definitely be an Applebees server. Of course it wouldn’t be nearly as great as the KBC, but I don’t think I’m in a position to be choosy. Who knows, I guess I’ll figure it out when I need to.
So we’ll see about all that good stuff, as for now, I have a book I started in Germany (that megan sent me for Easter) that I really need to finish. I hope that everyone is doing excellent and I’m out.
PS pictures are posted from Germany too!
A Student Abroad
Brad’s birthday was yesterday and we hosted a party, which may have been a poor decision. There ended up being lots of people in our too small apt and I have a feeling the neighbours might be more than a little disgruntled.
I found out yesterday that I got a 95% on my last Italian test. I’m not sure if the class is getting easier or if I’m just becoming super Italian grammar kid. We have a lot of homework due for next week so I am going to make an effort to get it done before I forget everything in the upcoming long weekend.
I don’t really have anything planned for this weekend yet. I’m thinking about a few different day trips since there are still some things in northern Italy that are supposed to be pretty darn cool. That and I have the free museum pass for Torino, which I should be taking more advantage of than I already am.
Today I was bummed to hear that I won’t be able to get my job back at the Keweenaw Brewing Company right away. The KBC only hires a small amount of people so that everyone gets the amount of hours that they want, which is really smart, but also means that they can’t take on another person at this time. Hopefully I’ll be back there in late June, but it might not be until the end of August. This presents me with a couple of different options. I am taking summer courses for the second part of the summer, but they don’t start until the end of June. Depending on what Downwind Sports has in mind, I might see about going home and working for my mom since it’s not like I’m going to have any money for rent. Not that I’ll actually make money working for my mom, but the sweatshop labor to repay my European debts has to begin sometime.
I also heard today that Applebees is opening up in July. I think I could definitely be an Applebees server. Of course it wouldn’t be nearly as great as the KBC, but I don’t think I’m in a position to be choosy. Who knows, I guess I’ll figure it out when I need to.
So we’ll see about all that good stuff, as for now, I have a book I started in Germany (that megan sent me for Easter) that I really need to finish. I hope that everyone is doing excellent and I’m out.
PS pictures are posted from Germany too!
A Student Abroad
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Germany Article for “A Student Abroad”
The Easter Bunny Didn’t Follow Me to Germany
Hallo! I got back very late last night from my Germany expedition. It was an absolutely amazing experience. My boyfriend, Adam, is starting to notice a trend; every country that I spend time in, I want to move to. I think that sounds like an excellent way to work and live.
While in Germany I tried to take note of the major differences between American, Italian and German culture. These are what I’ve come up with:
· German keyboards have the “z” key and the “y” key switched
· People of all ages are way more athletic than Italians, but probably not more than people in Houghton
· The cities and structures are very advanced compared to Italy
· Germans are very welcoming to tourists and provide huge information centers with staff on holidays!
Of the five days that I spent in Germany, three and a half were spent in Cologne. This city has not been a major tourist destination, coming in behind Munich and Berlin, but it seems they are trying to change that. With lots of things to do from renting a bike, cruising on the Rein River and many museums, plus a zoo to visit, the city is in no way lacking opportunities.
The largest and most known attraction in Cologne is the Dom, which is German for “main church” just as the Duomo is the main church in a city in Italy. This structure took over 600 years to build and is definitely the dom-inating structure that you would expect. Just by looking at my pictures you can see how large the church plays over the rest of the buildings.
Also coming to my attention in Cologne were the many modern buildings. The newest being the most recent structure that now represents the city, regrettably, I do not have a photo. Other fancy looking structures included a new concert hall to complement the outdoor facility already used, an amazing Maritime Museum as well as large business buildings.
While in Germany, Casey, Jeff and I took advantage of the infamous German brew. In Italy, beer is very expensive because all the focus goes into making wine. In Germany, with countless brauhaus in Cologne alone, we had no problem finding good varieties of beer. It was interesting to note that all of the main breweries listed in our supposedly “insider” and student geared tourist guide, attracted an older crowd.
Sadly, the weather during the trip was not optimal. I can see the place being a hot spot during the summertime though. Regrettably, since the weather was so poor, I didn’t take a cruise ride on the Rein river. I’ll have to save that for next time. Another down side to our chosen vacation destination was that over the Easter time, lots of things were closed. This only impeded us slightly though, so all worked out for the best.
All in all, Germany was an amazing place to visit. I can’t even imagine how great Munich and Berlin must be but I am making plans to find out! These next couple of days my nose will be to the grindstone since the teachers, as usual, decided to make everything due all at once.
Schoos! “bye” in cologne.. Pronounced like moose, only drop the m and add a “ch” in the beginning
Hallo! I got back very late last night from my Germany expedition. It was an absolutely amazing experience. My boyfriend, Adam, is starting to notice a trend; every country that I spend time in, I want to move to. I think that sounds like an excellent way to work and live.
While in Germany I tried to take note of the major differences between American, Italian and German culture. These are what I’ve come up with:
· German keyboards have the “z” key and the “y” key switched
· People of all ages are way more athletic than Italians, but probably not more than people in Houghton
· The cities and structures are very advanced compared to Italy
· Germans are very welcoming to tourists and provide huge information centers with staff on holidays!
Of the five days that I spent in Germany, three and a half were spent in Cologne. This city has not been a major tourist destination, coming in behind Munich and Berlin, but it seems they are trying to change that. With lots of things to do from renting a bike, cruising on the Rein River and many museums, plus a zoo to visit, the city is in no way lacking opportunities.
The largest and most known attraction in Cologne is the Dom, which is German for “main church” just as the Duomo is the main church in a city in Italy. This structure took over 600 years to build and is definitely the dom-inating structure that you would expect. Just by looking at my pictures you can see how large the church plays over the rest of the buildings.
Also coming to my attention in Cologne were the many modern buildings. The newest being the most recent structure that now represents the city, regrettably, I do not have a photo. Other fancy looking structures included a new concert hall to complement the outdoor facility already used, an amazing Maritime Museum as well as large business buildings.
While in Germany, Casey, Jeff and I took advantage of the infamous German brew. In Italy, beer is very expensive because all the focus goes into making wine. In Germany, with countless brauhaus in Cologne alone, we had no problem finding good varieties of beer. It was interesting to note that all of the main breweries listed in our supposedly “insider” and student geared tourist guide, attracted an older crowd.
Sadly, the weather during the trip was not optimal. I can see the place being a hot spot during the summertime though. Regrettably, since the weather was so poor, I didn’t take a cruise ride on the Rein river. I’ll have to save that for next time. Another down side to our chosen vacation destination was that over the Easter time, lots of things were closed. This only impeded us slightly though, so all worked out for the best.
All in all, Germany was an amazing place to visit. I can’t even imagine how great Munich and Berlin must be but I am making plans to find out! These next couple of days my nose will be to the grindstone since the teachers, as usual, decided to make everything due all at once.
Schoos! “bye” in cologne.. Pronounced like moose, only drop the m and add a “ch” in the beginning
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
18-Aprile-2006
I woke up excited because the weatherman was right on this occasion and it was sunny outside. I took my time at breakfast because the bike place didn’t open until 10am. I asked the man at the desk if I could leave my bag for a few hours and he said yes, which was a relief because he was on the verge of being a little bit cranky.
I made my way to the bike place and the rental guy was super nice. My bike had fenders, a kickstand, a bell and it took some convincing to assure the guy that I didn’t need a basket.. oi vey. But beggars can’t be choosers. I got the bike for 3 hours and only spent 5 euro. For the amount I wanted to ride, I probably would have spent 15 euro, but don’t tell them that. The man showed me a nice little path, which I probably could have done, four times in the three allotted hours, so I varied it a bit. I ended up following the river for quite a ways and see a lot of the factories and industrial sights in Cologne. The path was super nice and I encountered many walkers, runners and other bikers. I was amazed at how many older men were out riding bikes. I was impressed, I hope I’m that agile when I’m their age.
I eventually crossed the river and made it over to a luscious green park, recommended by the bike rental man and sat down to read for a few minutes, since the sun was so nice and warm. After that I rode the other way outside of town for awhile and then headed back to return my bike. I still had an hour to kill before I caught the bus back to the airport so I walked around a bit more and then went to pick up my bag. I also grabbed a piece of tonno (tuna) pizza, which I fell in love with in Germany. However, if you ever get tonno fisch pizza, don’t leave it in your bag for any extended period of time.. because now I have tuna fish air freshener in my bag.. it’s amazing, a real unique scent.
The bus took off at 3:30pm and my flight didn’t leave til 8:30pm. I made it to the airport a little after 6pm and it took forever for them to open up a desk for us to check in for the flight. In my opinion the airport wasn’t the most organized I’ve ever been to, but they got the job done.
I made it back to Milano around 10pm, the flight was only supposed to be an hour, but ended up being delayed a bit. Then I caught the bus back to the central station and after another hour, I arrived at Milano Centrale train station. The last train for Torino left at 12:30am, so I must have just missed the one before it and I sat on the train for a good hour, waiting for it to leave.
After five days I returned to Torino at 2:45am and Casey and Jeff let me in the apt, since I left my keys (idiot!)
All in all, Germany was amazing. I felt a lot more comfortable there, even with the language barrier, maybe that would be different if I was studying there, but they seem friendlier and I’ve heard they are even more friendly in the south.. I’ve also heard this is the same for Italy.. hmm.
I’m glad Adam wants to go back. Not sure if we’ll make it to Munich or Berlin when he’s hear, but I should probably get deciding that in the very near future.
I made my way to the bike place and the rental guy was super nice. My bike had fenders, a kickstand, a bell and it took some convincing to assure the guy that I didn’t need a basket.. oi vey. But beggars can’t be choosers. I got the bike for 3 hours and only spent 5 euro. For the amount I wanted to ride, I probably would have spent 15 euro, but don’t tell them that. The man showed me a nice little path, which I probably could have done, four times in the three allotted hours, so I varied it a bit. I ended up following the river for quite a ways and see a lot of the factories and industrial sights in Cologne. The path was super nice and I encountered many walkers, runners and other bikers. I was amazed at how many older men were out riding bikes. I was impressed, I hope I’m that agile when I’m their age.
I eventually crossed the river and made it over to a luscious green park, recommended by the bike rental man and sat down to read for a few minutes, since the sun was so nice and warm. After that I rode the other way outside of town for awhile and then headed back to return my bike. I still had an hour to kill before I caught the bus back to the airport so I walked around a bit more and then went to pick up my bag. I also grabbed a piece of tonno (tuna) pizza, which I fell in love with in Germany. However, if you ever get tonno fisch pizza, don’t leave it in your bag for any extended period of time.. because now I have tuna fish air freshener in my bag.. it’s amazing, a real unique scent.
The bus took off at 3:30pm and my flight didn’t leave til 8:30pm. I made it to the airport a little after 6pm and it took forever for them to open up a desk for us to check in for the flight. In my opinion the airport wasn’t the most organized I’ve ever been to, but they got the job done.
I made it back to Milano around 10pm, the flight was only supposed to be an hour, but ended up being delayed a bit. Then I caught the bus back to the central station and after another hour, I arrived at Milano Centrale train station. The last train for Torino left at 12:30am, so I must have just missed the one before it and I sat on the train for a good hour, waiting for it to leave.
After five days I returned to Torino at 2:45am and Casey and Jeff let me in the apt, since I left my keys (idiot!)
All in all, Germany was amazing. I felt a lot more comfortable there, even with the language barrier, maybe that would be different if I was studying there, but they seem friendlier and I’ve heard they are even more friendly in the south.. I’ve also heard this is the same for Italy.. hmm.
I’m glad Adam wants to go back. Not sure if we’ll make it to Munich or Berlin when he’s hear, but I should probably get deciding that in the very near future.
Monday, April 17, 2006
17-Aprile-2006
I wasn’t in too much of a hurry to wake up at the hostel, plus there were two other sleeping people in the room who we figured didn’t speak English. I laid awake in bed for awhile and figured I would go back to Cologne for my last full day in Germany since there was still a two hour bus ride back to the airport tomorrow before my flight.
The hostel wasn’t too bad of a set up, but I learned from Sara and Megan that some of them leave little to be desired. This one had lockers in the room so you could make sure none of your stuff was tampered with when you weren’t there. They also provided bed linen and a towel, not all of them do. Everyone was friendly, but it wasn’t like anyone was too buddy buddy, maybe I just wasn’t there long enough to make any more friends. They also had free internet so I caught up on email and then packed up and headed out.
I made it back to Cologne in no time flat and looked for another place to stay. I had fun in the hostel but figured that instead of sharing a room with six people I would try and find a cheap room for the night. Plus I had done some research on the Cologne hostel and learned that they were a little more expensive and charged for a lot of stuff, that and it was way outside of town. As luck would have it I found a hotel not too far way from where we stayed before, which was just a hop skip and a jump to the bus stop and the main station. It was only 39 euro a night and I got breakfast, a TV and my own room! I was excited because on average I spent right around 30 euro a night on lodging the whole time I was in Germany.
I did the town tour again. This time I explored some places we didn’t make it to before and got to watch some of the Rond di Koln which was a bike racing going on. Once again the weather was kind of crappie, so I walked until it started raining and my feet hurt before heading back to the hotel. Once there, I flipped on the TV and caught the end of the bike race which concluded just down the street from where I was staying, although I didn’t know it at the time. I was pretty excited about seeing some of the race and I was then determined to rent a bike before I left the next day.
The hostel wasn’t too bad of a set up, but I learned from Sara and Megan that some of them leave little to be desired. This one had lockers in the room so you could make sure none of your stuff was tampered with when you weren’t there. They also provided bed linen and a towel, not all of them do. Everyone was friendly, but it wasn’t like anyone was too buddy buddy, maybe I just wasn’t there long enough to make any more friends. They also had free internet so I caught up on email and then packed up and headed out.
I made it back to Cologne in no time flat and looked for another place to stay. I had fun in the hostel but figured that instead of sharing a room with six people I would try and find a cheap room for the night. Plus I had done some research on the Cologne hostel and learned that they were a little more expensive and charged for a lot of stuff, that and it was way outside of town. As luck would have it I found a hotel not too far way from where we stayed before, which was just a hop skip and a jump to the bus stop and the main station. It was only 39 euro a night and I got breakfast, a TV and my own room! I was excited because on average I spent right around 30 euro a night on lodging the whole time I was in Germany.
I did the town tour again. This time I explored some places we didn’t make it to before and got to watch some of the Rond di Koln which was a bike racing going on. Once again the weather was kind of crappie, so I walked until it started raining and my feet hurt before heading back to the hotel. Once there, I flipped on the TV and caught the end of the bike race which concluded just down the street from where I was staying, although I didn’t know it at the time. I was pretty excited about seeing some of the race and I was then determined to rent a bike before I left the next day.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
16-Aprile-2006
When we first bought our tickets, 5 days didn’t seem like much time and it was the cheapest way to go. We did the whole airfare thing for under 50 euro a person.. but when you are sort of confined to certain location, because of the airport you have to fly out of, you kind of limit what you can do. Casey and Jeff weren’t too keen on staying until Tuesday so they decided to reschedule their flight and leave on Sunday. (today) I was content to do the same until I realized that Ryanair was going to make us buy new tickets and not even give us a discount or a credit on the amount we had already paid. So I decided to stay til the end.
Today was another rainy day so we had our last awesome breakfast and I inquired about a single room at that hotel and it was 50 euro, a little out of my price range. I put Casey and Jeff on the bus early since it was raining and not a lot was going on. I didn’t know what I was going to do but I walked into the train station and decided to catch a train to dusseldorf and play my luck a little bit more.
It was a short 45-minute train ride and as I got off the platform I found my favorite “tourist information” sign and headed in that direction. As I was walking towards it I suddenly remembered that it was Easter and got nervous, but low and behold, it was open! I was really impressed with the tourist information places in Germany. Italy has them too, but they aren’t usually geared towards tourists. Tourists can go to them, it just seems like a big inconvenience to them and they can be snooty sometimes, at least in my experience. Anyways, the lady was very nice when I inquired about an inexpensive place to stay for the evening and she gave me a pamphlet for the backpackers hostel. I’ve been wanting to try a hostel out and figured now was as good a time as any.
I found my way there and checked in. The guy wasn’t overly friendly, but for 20 euro a night, I guess he didn’t have to be. I was led upstairs to a room with six beds and two girls who apparently had just gotten there also. I introduced myself and learned that Megan and Sara were from Australia but on a work visa in the UK. We got to talking and they asked if I had eaten yet and I hadn’t, so we made our way out to explore dusseldorf. On Easter there isn’t a lot going on Germany so we found a restaurant called “ham-ham,” yes Germans like their meat, and had some lunch.
After some eats we walked down by the Rein River and saw it from this town. There was a herd of sheep on the other side of the river, a huge heard, just grazing in front of the color apartment buildings. It was cool. Since we didn’t have a whole lot else to do we tried the local beer and then decided to find a few happy hours. So we had a few happy hours and passed the time by talking and taking in the German scene. It appeared to us that this town had a few more people that looked like Italians. It was kind of weird, there were some crazy outfits too, but we had a good time. Megan and Sara were taking off early the next morning. They had been touring Germany for the past two weeks and were due back at work for a while. We exchanged email addresses and hit the hay. I didn’t see them when they left in the morning, but they definitely improved the condition of my Easter.
Today was another rainy day so we had our last awesome breakfast and I inquired about a single room at that hotel and it was 50 euro, a little out of my price range. I put Casey and Jeff on the bus early since it was raining and not a lot was going on. I didn’t know what I was going to do but I walked into the train station and decided to catch a train to dusseldorf and play my luck a little bit more.
It was a short 45-minute train ride and as I got off the platform I found my favorite “tourist information” sign and headed in that direction. As I was walking towards it I suddenly remembered that it was Easter and got nervous, but low and behold, it was open! I was really impressed with the tourist information places in Germany. Italy has them too, but they aren’t usually geared towards tourists. Tourists can go to them, it just seems like a big inconvenience to them and they can be snooty sometimes, at least in my experience. Anyways, the lady was very nice when I inquired about an inexpensive place to stay for the evening and she gave me a pamphlet for the backpackers hostel. I’ve been wanting to try a hostel out and figured now was as good a time as any.
I found my way there and checked in. The guy wasn’t overly friendly, but for 20 euro a night, I guess he didn’t have to be. I was led upstairs to a room with six beds and two girls who apparently had just gotten there also. I introduced myself and learned that Megan and Sara were from Australia but on a work visa in the UK. We got to talking and they asked if I had eaten yet and I hadn’t, so we made our way out to explore dusseldorf. On Easter there isn’t a lot going on Germany so we found a restaurant called “ham-ham,” yes Germans like their meat, and had some lunch.
After some eats we walked down by the Rein River and saw it from this town. There was a herd of sheep on the other side of the river, a huge heard, just grazing in front of the color apartment buildings. It was cool. Since we didn’t have a whole lot else to do we tried the local beer and then decided to find a few happy hours. So we had a few happy hours and passed the time by talking and taking in the German scene. It appeared to us that this town had a few more people that looked like Italians. It was kind of weird, there were some crazy outfits too, but we had a good time. Megan and Sara were taking off early the next morning. They had been touring Germany for the past two weeks and were due back at work for a while. We exchanged email addresses and hit the hay. I didn’t see them when they left in the morning, but they definitely improved the condition of my Easter.
Saturday, April 15, 2006
15-Aprile-2006
Well if everyone was laying low because of Sad Friday, they were definitely ALL out and about on Saturday. The streets were filled! I love traveling to different countries because people don’t look the same! Since I have German roots, maybe I look German, but in Italy I have no chance of passing as Italian because they are all dark and short… I am also instantly classified as an outsider and therefore my odds of making friends, even if I could speak the language, diminish substantially. Kind of upsetting, but oh well, Germany wasn’t like that. People actually tried speaking German to me, and I looked like a bumbling idiot, but it worked out alright.
The weather wasn’t ideal today either. I really wanted to go for a bike ride, but we decided to postpone it because we didn’t want to get caught up in a rainstorm. Nothing in Germany was overly green yet, definitely behind Italy, but it seems like in the summer that it would be amazing. I had some brochures from the Rein River tour, which looks like it would be amazing with the whole fog/rain/billowing clouds exception.
Do you ever have those mornings when you wake up and want to pull your hair out because it won’t do anything? Not just a bad hair day, but a “if I don’t get my hair cut today then I’m going to scream” day? Ok, well, if you get your hair cut on semi-regular basis, then you probably don’t have these problems, however, I am not one of those people. The last time I got my haircut was when I was home for Thanksgiving. Every time I go to get my haircut in Houghton, the stylist always tells me that my hair is “very damaged” and that I should come in more often. I’m too busy for that, but I suppose it wouldn’t kill me to be nicer to my hair. Since I had one of those mornings, I decided it was time to get my haircut. In retrospect, getting my haircut in Germany could have been a tragedy… If I had at least gotten it done in Italy I could of sort of described what I was looking for, but there was none of that in Germany. We found a place that looked alright, or at least it beat the one we went into where all the hair dressers had wild colored hair… and found a girl that sort of spoke English to translate.
I was sitting in the chair becoming very nervous when they took my hair out of the ponytail and proceeded to tell me how broken and damaged my hair was… I should have guessed. So they sold me a vitamin treatment and told them to cut off whatever was damaged. Turns out they took off a good inch and a half, which doesn’t seem like much, but it really was a lot. The women really did a good thorough job (according to jeff, ok and me too), so Casey decided to get her haircut also. It was fun and exciting. We also visited the pet store – which beats a boring old museum any day. :-)
After all that fun, we hit up the Hard Rock Café, yeah we’re Americans, and then a brauhaus, which is how it should be… Then we called it quits.
The weather wasn’t ideal today either. I really wanted to go for a bike ride, but we decided to postpone it because we didn’t want to get caught up in a rainstorm. Nothing in Germany was overly green yet, definitely behind Italy, but it seems like in the summer that it would be amazing. I had some brochures from the Rein River tour, which looks like it would be amazing with the whole fog/rain/billowing clouds exception.
Do you ever have those mornings when you wake up and want to pull your hair out because it won’t do anything? Not just a bad hair day, but a “if I don’t get my hair cut today then I’m going to scream” day? Ok, well, if you get your hair cut on semi-regular basis, then you probably don’t have these problems, however, I am not one of those people. The last time I got my haircut was when I was home for Thanksgiving. Every time I go to get my haircut in Houghton, the stylist always tells me that my hair is “very damaged” and that I should come in more often. I’m too busy for that, but I suppose it wouldn’t kill me to be nicer to my hair. Since I had one of those mornings, I decided it was time to get my haircut. In retrospect, getting my haircut in Germany could have been a tragedy… If I had at least gotten it done in Italy I could of sort of described what I was looking for, but there was none of that in Germany. We found a place that looked alright, or at least it beat the one we went into where all the hair dressers had wild colored hair… and found a girl that sort of spoke English to translate.
I was sitting in the chair becoming very nervous when they took my hair out of the ponytail and proceeded to tell me how broken and damaged my hair was… I should have guessed. So they sold me a vitamin treatment and told them to cut off whatever was damaged. Turns out they took off a good inch and a half, which doesn’t seem like much, but it really was a lot. The women really did a good thorough job (according to jeff, ok and me too), so Casey decided to get her haircut also. It was fun and exciting. We also visited the pet store – which beats a boring old museum any day. :-)
After all that fun, we hit up the Hard Rock Café, yeah we’re Americans, and then a brauhaus, which is how it should be… Then we called it quits.
Friday, April 14, 2006
14-Aprile-2006
We made it to Cologne a little after noon and found ourselves a couple hundred feet from the towering Dom, which is the biggest church in a German city. Before we went to explore the city we wanted to find a place to sleep for the night. As luck would have it, there was a “hotel street” (that is a street with 500,000 hotel signs.. ok, that’s an exaggeration) and we split up to find the best price. After checking two hotels I looked for Casey and Jeff and Jeff got the best price so we followed him towards a hotel he checked. It turned out to be a great deal, a little under 30 euro a night and we had free use of the computers (most hotels charge) and an awesome breakfast. In fact, we liked it so much we decided to stay for two nights.
After we were all set up in the hotel we talked to the lady at the desk and got the low down on the town. Being Sad Friday, no stores were open but most of the museums were. We decided to check the town out and picked up a free tourist/advertisement guide that turned out to be really helpful and I can’t figure out why every town doesn’t have one.
We walked around the main streets and decided that Germany definitely had a lot of familiar sights. We found hagan daas.. almost immediately and there were a few starbucks, a dunkin donuts and also a few stores we recognized from Italy. The weather wasn’t optimal so we just meandered around and then headed back to the hotel for a little while.
In the evening we went to two of the brauhaus advertised in the handy dandy booklet. It was definitely an older scene but the beer was good and cheap. I was expecting to get darker beer in Germany but all of the breweries we visited had a light beer. We did have a “on the verge of mean” experience.. at the second brauhaus we were wishing for some KBC peanuts, but since we couldn’t have those, we decided to get some fries or something to munch on that we could share. After getting our paws on the menu and realizing it was rough to read, we thought we found what we were looking for but when we tried to order, we were told that was the kid’s menu and we couldn’t get it. So we asked if we could get some pommes frittes and the guy told us this wasn’t McDonald’s. ouch.
After we were all set up in the hotel we talked to the lady at the desk and got the low down on the town. Being Sad Friday, no stores were open but most of the museums were. We decided to check the town out and picked up a free tourist/advertisement guide that turned out to be really helpful and I can’t figure out why every town doesn’t have one.
We walked around the main streets and decided that Germany definitely had a lot of familiar sights. We found hagan daas.. almost immediately and there were a few starbucks, a dunkin donuts and also a few stores we recognized from Italy. The weather wasn’t optimal so we just meandered around and then headed back to the hotel for a little while.
In the evening we went to two of the brauhaus advertised in the handy dandy booklet. It was definitely an older scene but the beer was good and cheap. I was expecting to get darker beer in Germany but all of the breweries we visited had a light beer. We did have a “on the verge of mean” experience.. at the second brauhaus we were wishing for some KBC peanuts, but since we couldn’t have those, we decided to get some fries or something to munch on that we could share. After getting our paws on the menu and realizing it was rough to read, we thought we found what we were looking for but when we tried to order, we were told that was the kid’s menu and we couldn’t get it. So we asked if we could get some pommes frittes and the guy told us this wasn’t McDonald’s. ouch.
GERMAN UPDATE
Hi from Germany.. If I knew how to say that in this cool new language i would...
Casey Jeff and I took the fly by the seat of our pants approach to this trip and it rocks! last night we came into the airport late and found the big blue sign that said "hotel-tourist information" which was also the only thing in english. the nice man at the desk helped us get a hotel (hotel venezia -- where they spoke italian!) it was hilarious....
today we strayed towards KÖLN (cologne) and everything is closed because it´s sad friday, but we are enjoy ourselves nonetheless :)
My favorite qualm so far is the fact that the "y" and the "z" are switched on this (mac :) keyboard! I have both those letters in my name, and it´s messing with my psyche!
I´m off to a brauhaus and to find some liderhosen!
Casey Jeff and I took the fly by the seat of our pants approach to this trip and it rocks! last night we came into the airport late and found the big blue sign that said "hotel-tourist information" which was also the only thing in english. the nice man at the desk helped us get a hotel (hotel venezia -- where they spoke italian!) it was hilarious....
today we strayed towards KÖLN (cologne) and everything is closed because it´s sad friday, but we are enjoy ourselves nonetheless :)
My favorite qualm so far is the fact that the "y" and the "z" are switched on this (mac :) keyboard! I have both those letters in my name, and it´s messing with my psyche!
I´m off to a brauhaus and to find some liderhosen!
Thursday, April 13, 2006
13-Aprile-2006 –cont..
We arrived in the Frankfurt-Hahn airport last night at 11:30pm. I was nervous flying into a place so late and not having any arrangements for the night, but low and behold, it was easy as pie. Casey, Jeff and I followed the only sign written in English, “Hotel-Tourist Information” to the exact place we needed to go. The man staffing the desk got us all set up for the evening in Hotel Venezia, wouldn’t ya know. :-) The owner of the hotel came and picked us up in the free airport shuttle and I spoke Italian with him all the way to the hotel. In the course of the eight minute ride, he had already determined our destination for time in Germany; Cologne (Koln in German). He led us to the room and called us a few minutes later to inform us that the bus left at 9:30am so we were to be ready at 9:15am and he would drive us but we’d better be downstairs at 8:45am so we’d have plenty of time for breakfast. I pretty much loved this guy, nothing could have been simpler and the room was perfect for the night.
13-Aprile-2006
Here we are, on our way out again. I’ve got to put in a few minutes for my Italian test then we are headed to Milano to catch our plane to Germany. I think after this weekend, even though we have a few long weekends ahead, I’m going to have to slow down. My money is dwindling quickly and I want to be able to travel at the end. Maybe I’ll be able to squeeze in a trip to Cinque Terre if I sleep on the beach J Oh that sounds so fun.
Yesterday I was trying my hardest to get us a hotel for tonight since we are getting in late. Well, I screwed up and managed to get us a hotel that was an hour and a half away by car!!! There was no way that would work, so I cancelled it and was charged a 67 euro cancellation fee. I’m pretty upset with myself about that one. So currently we don’t have a place to stay in Germany tonight. Sounds fun, huh? I thought so too. Well, I’ll send a postcard from our cardboard box tonight! I’m off to trace my roots!
Ciao!
Yesterday I was trying my hardest to get us a hotel for tonight since we are getting in late. Well, I screwed up and managed to get us a hotel that was an hour and a half away by car!!! There was no way that would work, so I cancelled it and was charged a 67 euro cancellation fee. I’m pretty upset with myself about that one. So currently we don’t have a place to stay in Germany tonight. Sounds fun, huh? I thought so too. Well, I’ll send a postcard from our cardboard box tonight! I’m off to trace my roots!
Ciao!
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
11-Aprile-2006
I was semi productive today. I made a huge list of things to do yesterday and hw happened to be at the bottom. Today I feel I’ve accomplished the top of my list quite well.
This morning Casey and I went to see the Shroud of Turin. The duomo is different from other churches because there are guides that fill you in with interesting information. Unfortunately, these guide speak Italian, but I was able to understand enough to get a good grasp on what was going on. Then an English speaking family came up and the guide thought I would be able to translate. Well, I’m not so good at translating, just at sort of figuring out what was said. Oh well, I tried. The guide seemed to be impressed nonetheless.
We did learn some interesting things about the Shroud. Before now Casey and I had thought that there had only been one fire in which the Shroud was involved, but apparently there has been more than one. I made the mental note that the candles that you can light in this church are plastic instead of real. The shroud is 4.42 meters long which pretty huge. They have done testing that proves that the bloodstains were made from direct contact with blood. The body wrapped inside the shroud was definitely dead, but it did not undergo any decomposition. Pollen tests have confirmed that the shroud has passed through the regions of Palestine and the Middle East. It is quite an interesting thing that Shroud. I’m just not sure how likely it is for fabric to last for 2,000 yrs. That’s a really long time!
Not a lot else happened today. I made one of the recipes in my cookbook like a rockstar. :-) I’m proud. And tomorrow I’m going to do my best to crack down on the multitudes of work I have to do. And study for my Italian test on Thursday.
This morning Casey and I went to see the Shroud of Turin. The duomo is different from other churches because there are guides that fill you in with interesting information. Unfortunately, these guide speak Italian, but I was able to understand enough to get a good grasp on what was going on. Then an English speaking family came up and the guide thought I would be able to translate. Well, I’m not so good at translating, just at sort of figuring out what was said. Oh well, I tried. The guide seemed to be impressed nonetheless.
We did learn some interesting things about the Shroud. Before now Casey and I had thought that there had only been one fire in which the Shroud was involved, but apparently there has been more than one. I made the mental note that the candles that you can light in this church are plastic instead of real. The shroud is 4.42 meters long which pretty huge. They have done testing that proves that the bloodstains were made from direct contact with blood. The body wrapped inside the shroud was definitely dead, but it did not undergo any decomposition. Pollen tests have confirmed that the shroud has passed through the regions of Palestine and the Middle East. It is quite an interesting thing that Shroud. I’m just not sure how likely it is for fabric to last for 2,000 yrs. That’s a really long time!
Not a lot else happened today. I made one of the recipes in my cookbook like a rockstar. :-) I’m proud. And tomorrow I’m going to do my best to crack down on the multitudes of work I have to do. And study for my Italian test on Thursday.
Monday, April 10, 2006
10-Aprile-2006
Back to school today. It wasn’t so bad. We had a guest speaker because one of our teacher’s is presenting on the study abroad program back in the States. He was interesting and even though I was doing my homework for my next class, he was still entertaining. I even talked with him after class about designing a website.. He has a secret love for painting that he would like to put online.
The weather today wasn’t very nice. We had rain and cool temperatures, which just made me, want to go back to Paris.
After I got home from school today (in a slightly better mood because it stopped raining), I found out that Casey had been almost pick pocketed on her way home. She was walking near the train station, not just standing around, and felt her back pack get lighter. She turned to see a kid of about 13 or 14 with his hand in her bag. Casey, awesome girl that she is, proceeded to ask him what he thought he was doing, and hit him in the head. *sigh* did I mention that she is my hero?
Well, I suppose that’s all the excitement of today. I made a super long list of stuff that I need to get done tomorrow, which includes buying a new backpack because mine completely gave up on me today at school. I made a deal with it that if I could just make it home without losing the contents of my entire bag, computer included, that I would never use it again.. or at least until my mom replaces the zipper.
Oh yeah, the cockroaches… We have a severe outbreak of nasty bugs in our apt. I don’t like living with nasty bugs.. It’s quite gross. Our landlord dropped off some spray stuff for us to use and it’s proved to be effective.. they crawl out of wherever they are at night and die so I can crunch them in Adam’s slippers in the morning. It’s a great thing, really. I hate bugs..
The weather today wasn’t very nice. We had rain and cool temperatures, which just made me, want to go back to Paris.
After I got home from school today (in a slightly better mood because it stopped raining), I found out that Casey had been almost pick pocketed on her way home. She was walking near the train station, not just standing around, and felt her back pack get lighter. She turned to see a kid of about 13 or 14 with his hand in her bag. Casey, awesome girl that she is, proceeded to ask him what he thought he was doing, and hit him in the head. *sigh* did I mention that she is my hero?
Well, I suppose that’s all the excitement of today. I made a super long list of stuff that I need to get done tomorrow, which includes buying a new backpack because mine completely gave up on me today at school. I made a deal with it that if I could just make it home without losing the contents of my entire bag, computer included, that I would never use it again.. or at least until my mom replaces the zipper.
Oh yeah, the cockroaches… We have a severe outbreak of nasty bugs in our apt. I don’t like living with nasty bugs.. It’s quite gross. Our landlord dropped off some spray stuff for us to use and it’s proved to be effective.. they crawl out of wherever they are at night and die so I can crunch them in Adam’s slippers in the morning. It’s a great thing, really. I hate bugs..
Sunday, April 09, 2006
9-Aprile-2006
“Paris Holds the Key to My Heart…” – song in Anastasia, but I’m pretty sure it has more interesting roots than that.
If ever anyone reading this has the opportunity to journey to Paris, take it. I’ve been looking forward to Paris since I heard we were getting a fantastic deal on transportation and lodging, but I was still a little worried about the hot spot being touristier than I care to enjoy. I have to admit, that I loved every moment – with the exception of our hotel area. We were definitely lodged up near Gard de Nord, which is a little bit shadier than I would like to admit. On the first night I discovered ants crawling along the floor and our bathroom was ridiculous! I don’t think a very, very tiny person could have used the toilet without sitting sideways on the seat. It was ridiculous.. and to the astonishment of many, myself included, I forgot to take a picture of how obscenely small it was.
We arrived Friday evening and had heard through the grapevine that the Louvre was free to students after 6pm. Not knowing whether this was true or not, we journeyed to the Jardin des Tuileries and took in a sunny Friday evening with breathtaking views of the Effiel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and other beautiful works of art. My friends Erin, Kristal, Emily and I walked over to the Louvre and found the student rumour to be true. Waiting not a minute longer, we made our way inside and headed towards Da Vinci’s La Giaconda (Mona Lisa). Unfortunately, she was stuck behind some serious glass as well as a roped off area that made it very difficult to see details. As we stood next to about a million signs that displayed pictures prohibiting cameras, people would walk up and snap a shot just to be verbally assaulted by one of many guards standing around the painting. I did my best to envision the scenes from the Da Vinci code in my head, but I think I’m going to need to reread it since it has been awhile.
After the Louvre we headed to Moulin Rouge and took those famous pictures as well. This was an easy option since it was close to our hotel and we were pretty exhausted from the day before. My friends and I departed only after deciding our EARLY start time so we could be some of the first to the Eiffel Tower.
For some reason waking up in Paris was a lot more exciting than waking up anywhere else. There wasn’t anything too special; still a hotel room with ants and an impossibly tiny bathroom, but it was Paris! The “fab four,” Emily, Kristal, Erin, and I, headed to the Tower. It was a little nerve racking trying to figure out the metro system, since none of us had any idea how to read French, but we did it after a little bit of struggle. The Eiffel Tower appeared to us as we made it off of the metro and sent us practically jogging to see the symbol of Paris. All along I had figured that it was just a tall monument that we would take some pictures at, ride up to the top, take a few more pictures and then be on our way but we were mesmerized. Standing in line with many more mesmerized people, we finally made it to the elevator and descended the giant steel structure. The view was amazing; we had blue bird skies with a minimal amount of clouds that made everything look spectacular. I could have sat in the garden for days.
After the Tower we made the quick jaunt over the river and onto the island that holds the Notre Dame. Erin is an architect major and turned out to be a fantastic tour guide for all of the old works of art. I learned about flying buttresses and also that the Notre Dame could not even be recreated today because the stone work was not passed down into our generation. It is kind of sad really. We didn’t make it up top to hang out with the gargoyles, but it was still well worth the visit. I can totally see being French and chillin with all these fantastic monuments everywhere!
Our admiration for Paris continued from there into the small streets that seemed kind of Italian, but had a different aura. We had heard that the French didn’t really like Americans but everywhere we went, we received smiles, and some much appreciated English (Even though the French language was intimidating, we were still happy to hear Italian once and awhile). Also, it’s been in the news lately that there are riots going on in Paris because people are protesting. I was minutely concerned about this, but we didn’t see any protestors and our train didn’t have any problems. It was unfortunate that four in our group (there was about 18 or so of us) missed the train back to Torino today. Hopefully they don’t have too much trouble working that whole situation out.
After that we walked around the streets a bit and made our way towards Sainte-Chapelle. This church is unbelieveably beautiful. Since I’ve been to a ton of churches over here, they are all beginning to look a bit similar… of course all of them are amazing and huge and gorgeous, but similar nonetheless. Well, not this one. The upper chapel contains 1,134 scenes from the bible in stained glass. This church is most famous for its rose window which has 86 multicolored glass panels depicting the Apocalypse. One of the King Louis’ built it and it is absolutely amazing.
Another highlight included an evening boat tour on the Seine River. We bought baguettes, cheese, and some wine for the excursion and our feet enjoyed the rest from the very busy, exhausting day. After that we saw the Eiffel Tower all lit up for the evening and even got to see the “sparkle” show which happens every half hour for ten minutes.
Sunday morning we hadn’t quite decided a schedule but knew the time to get up and wouldn’t you know that I overslept. My alarm clock didn’t go off and Erin and I were late to breakfast. Luckily, we salvaged the few hours we had before the train left and went up to the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur. Yes, another church. This church happens to be set up in the hills a bit and has a breathtaking panoramic view of the city. We climbed the stairs (where the annoying vendors tried relentlessly to get us to pay money for moronic things – I resisted like a pro) and checked out the huge structure. It was Palm Sunday today and the church had Mass going on so we were amazed to see they were still letting tourists in the church. It was a pretty amazing church, but we didn’t stay too long. For the last few hours we moseyed around and picked up a few souvenirs and other fun stuff. Lots of places were closed, but we had fun anyway.
On the way to the train station we started to see tons of people in matching ponchos and got close enough to read that they were from a marathon. As it turns out, Paris hosted a marathon this morning and all the athletes were walking around, probably cooling down. We didn’t get to see anyone running, but on the train ride home we rode back to Torino with an athlete. They were Italian so we used our second favorite language and talked to him and his family about the marathon (he did really well) and eating raw peppers.
Low and behold we made it home and I’m now avoiding my homework like a pro. I hope my teacher never finds my blog, she would be very disappointed in me. My only happy story about the weekend was when we got off the train.. Apparently my bag must have spilled open and I didn’t think everything spilled out, but I lost a few of my souvenirs. I am pretty bummed, but it could have been worse. At least it wasn’t my camera or my ipod.. the total value lost was probably around 10 euro. I have a friend who has either wrecked, lost, or had stolen 4 different cameras. (One of them wasn’t hers) and now she’s on her 5th. I figure as long as my damage toll doesn’t get that high, that I should be alright.
Ok, I’m headed to bed… tomorrow I’m going to talk all about the cockroaches we have in our apt. That’s just something to look forward to.
If ever anyone reading this has the opportunity to journey to Paris, take it. I’ve been looking forward to Paris since I heard we were getting a fantastic deal on transportation and lodging, but I was still a little worried about the hot spot being touristier than I care to enjoy. I have to admit, that I loved every moment – with the exception of our hotel area. We were definitely lodged up near Gard de Nord, which is a little bit shadier than I would like to admit. On the first night I discovered ants crawling along the floor and our bathroom was ridiculous! I don’t think a very, very tiny person could have used the toilet without sitting sideways on the seat. It was ridiculous.. and to the astonishment of many, myself included, I forgot to take a picture of how obscenely small it was.
We arrived Friday evening and had heard through the grapevine that the Louvre was free to students after 6pm. Not knowing whether this was true or not, we journeyed to the Jardin des Tuileries and took in a sunny Friday evening with breathtaking views of the Effiel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and other beautiful works of art. My friends Erin, Kristal, Emily and I walked over to the Louvre and found the student rumour to be true. Waiting not a minute longer, we made our way inside and headed towards Da Vinci’s La Giaconda (Mona Lisa). Unfortunately, she was stuck behind some serious glass as well as a roped off area that made it very difficult to see details. As we stood next to about a million signs that displayed pictures prohibiting cameras, people would walk up and snap a shot just to be verbally assaulted by one of many guards standing around the painting. I did my best to envision the scenes from the Da Vinci code in my head, but I think I’m going to need to reread it since it has been awhile.
After the Louvre we headed to Moulin Rouge and took those famous pictures as well. This was an easy option since it was close to our hotel and we were pretty exhausted from the day before. My friends and I departed only after deciding our EARLY start time so we could be some of the first to the Eiffel Tower.
For some reason waking up in Paris was a lot more exciting than waking up anywhere else. There wasn’t anything too special; still a hotel room with ants and an impossibly tiny bathroom, but it was Paris! The “fab four,” Emily, Kristal, Erin, and I, headed to the Tower. It was a little nerve racking trying to figure out the metro system, since none of us had any idea how to read French, but we did it after a little bit of struggle. The Eiffel Tower appeared to us as we made it off of the metro and sent us practically jogging to see the symbol of Paris. All along I had figured that it was just a tall monument that we would take some pictures at, ride up to the top, take a few more pictures and then be on our way but we were mesmerized. Standing in line with many more mesmerized people, we finally made it to the elevator and descended the giant steel structure. The view was amazing; we had blue bird skies with a minimal amount of clouds that made everything look spectacular. I could have sat in the garden for days.
After the Tower we made the quick jaunt over the river and onto the island that holds the Notre Dame. Erin is an architect major and turned out to be a fantastic tour guide for all of the old works of art. I learned about flying buttresses and also that the Notre Dame could not even be recreated today because the stone work was not passed down into our generation. It is kind of sad really. We didn’t make it up top to hang out with the gargoyles, but it was still well worth the visit. I can totally see being French and chillin with all these fantastic monuments everywhere!
Our admiration for Paris continued from there into the small streets that seemed kind of Italian, but had a different aura. We had heard that the French didn’t really like Americans but everywhere we went, we received smiles, and some much appreciated English (Even though the French language was intimidating, we were still happy to hear Italian once and awhile). Also, it’s been in the news lately that there are riots going on in Paris because people are protesting. I was minutely concerned about this, but we didn’t see any protestors and our train didn’t have any problems. It was unfortunate that four in our group (there was about 18 or so of us) missed the train back to Torino today. Hopefully they don’t have too much trouble working that whole situation out.
After that we walked around the streets a bit and made our way towards Sainte-Chapelle. This church is unbelieveably beautiful. Since I’ve been to a ton of churches over here, they are all beginning to look a bit similar… of course all of them are amazing and huge and gorgeous, but similar nonetheless. Well, not this one. The upper chapel contains 1,134 scenes from the bible in stained glass. This church is most famous for its rose window which has 86 multicolored glass panels depicting the Apocalypse. One of the King Louis’ built it and it is absolutely amazing.
Another highlight included an evening boat tour on the Seine River. We bought baguettes, cheese, and some wine for the excursion and our feet enjoyed the rest from the very busy, exhausting day. After that we saw the Eiffel Tower all lit up for the evening and even got to see the “sparkle” show which happens every half hour for ten minutes.
Sunday morning we hadn’t quite decided a schedule but knew the time to get up and wouldn’t you know that I overslept. My alarm clock didn’t go off and Erin and I were late to breakfast. Luckily, we salvaged the few hours we had before the train left and went up to the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur. Yes, another church. This church happens to be set up in the hills a bit and has a breathtaking panoramic view of the city. We climbed the stairs (where the annoying vendors tried relentlessly to get us to pay money for moronic things – I resisted like a pro) and checked out the huge structure. It was Palm Sunday today and the church had Mass going on so we were amazed to see they were still letting tourists in the church. It was a pretty amazing church, but we didn’t stay too long. For the last few hours we moseyed around and picked up a few souvenirs and other fun stuff. Lots of places were closed, but we had fun anyway.
On the way to the train station we started to see tons of people in matching ponchos and got close enough to read that they were from a marathon. As it turns out, Paris hosted a marathon this morning and all the athletes were walking around, probably cooling down. We didn’t get to see anyone running, but on the train ride home we rode back to Torino with an athlete. They were Italian so we used our second favorite language and talked to him and his family about the marathon (he did really well) and eating raw peppers.
Low and behold we made it home and I’m now avoiding my homework like a pro. I hope my teacher never finds my blog, she would be very disappointed in me. My only happy story about the weekend was when we got off the train.. Apparently my bag must have spilled open and I didn’t think everything spilled out, but I lost a few of my souvenirs. I am pretty bummed, but it could have been worse. At least it wasn’t my camera or my ipod.. the total value lost was probably around 10 euro. I have a friend who has either wrecked, lost, or had stolen 4 different cameras. (One of them wasn’t hers) and now she’s on her 5th. I figure as long as my damage toll doesn’t get that high, that I should be alright.
Ok, I’m headed to bed… tomorrow I’m going to talk all about the cockroaches we have in our apt. That’s just something to look forward to.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
6-Aprile-2006
In just 8 short hours I will be on a train headed for Paris. It’s so strange to think about that statement. It’s always been one of those “oh maybe someday” type thoughts, but no, tomorrow I go to Paris. Exciting!! My friend Erin has every spare second planned. It’s kind of relaxing.. almost like a tour guide without the big fee, excellent. Hopefully I’ll be able to return the favor if she ends up jumping the plane to Germany with us.
Other than that, not a whole lot going on. I should be packing right now but instead all I want to do is read my book but instead I’m writing on this darn contraption. My computer has been getting fussy lately. I’ve had a real bad history with this computer that likes to break at the most inconvenient times… Hopefully, knock on wood, it can hold out until I get back to the states. Otherwise Best Buy is going to have one angry customer, not that they don’t already but more angry could be worse than the current state of “totally and completely agitated past the point of all stable thinking…
Well, I suppose I should move on to that whole packing thing since it is mildly important and all that jazz.
Ciao for now! And Bonjour tomorrow!
Other than that, not a whole lot going on. I should be packing right now but instead all I want to do is read my book but instead I’m writing on this darn contraption. My computer has been getting fussy lately. I’ve had a real bad history with this computer that likes to break at the most inconvenient times… Hopefully, knock on wood, it can hold out until I get back to the states. Otherwise Best Buy is going to have one angry customer, not that they don’t already but more angry could be worse than the current state of “totally and completely agitated past the point of all stable thinking…
Well, I suppose I should move on to that whole packing thing since it is mildly important and all that jazz.
Ciao for now! And Bonjour tomorrow!
A few things..
Ok, I realized that I forgot to post the pictures of my day trip to Genoa. They are in the gallery now right under the Scotland album... go here.
Also, here is this week's Student Abroad Article...
I think that's it.. ttfn! :)
Also, here is this week's Student Abroad Article...
I think that's it.. ttfn! :)
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
5-Aprile-2006
Yay for no class, boo for extra segments of class. Today I spent a ton of time at school because for my Italian class extra hours are to be spent doing listening comprehension. Thankfully I finished mine today and now I only have to worry about the rest of the compositions that I need to recite.
Yesterday was the final day of cuisine class. Possibly one of the saddest days of my life and not because we won’t have any more meals but we also have a harder final than I thought humanly possibly. During the class our teacher has been going into depth about the origination of the goods used. The different types of grains for pasta, regional cooking differences, etc. and now it seems that she wants us to regurgitate most of that information in the form of a paper. Oh no… I should probably get working on it because if I put it off for too long, then I’ll forget about it. I also have my last presentation for Italian culture due at the end of the month. We got to pick our own topics and I chose dogs in Italy. I was pretty excited.
Other than that today has been fairly uneventful. I paid for the rest of my rent while I’m in Italy and the program directors tried to talk me into going and getting the shots again today. Sounds fun, huh? I’m still all opposed.. but who knows, maybe I’ll be swayed.
Arrivederci!
Yesterday was the final day of cuisine class. Possibly one of the saddest days of my life and not because we won’t have any more meals but we also have a harder final than I thought humanly possibly. During the class our teacher has been going into depth about the origination of the goods used. The different types of grains for pasta, regional cooking differences, etc. and now it seems that she wants us to regurgitate most of that information in the form of a paper. Oh no… I should probably get working on it because if I put it off for too long, then I’ll forget about it. I also have my last presentation for Italian culture due at the end of the month. We got to pick our own topics and I chose dogs in Italy. I was pretty excited.
Other than that today has been fairly uneventful. I paid for the rest of my rent while I’m in Italy and the program directors tried to talk me into going and getting the shots again today. Sounds fun, huh? I’m still all opposed.. but who knows, maybe I’ll be swayed.
Arrivederci!
Monday, April 03, 2006
3-Aprile-2006
I can’t believe that I forgot to finish the adventures of my Scotland story. Sunday was pretty exciting. We walked around town and sat in Borders for a while. Being able to read rocked. I even bought a cookbook so I could try and redeem myself as someone who is efficient in the kitchen. We’ll see how many more pans I can ruin in the next month and a half. After Borders we went to eat at this small art café, which had amazing food. I had a Brie baguette with sun dried tomatoes and spinach. It still sounds amazing! I tried to replicate it today and I think I might be missing an ingredient or two, but it was still good.
After we made it to the airport, thanks to Gillian and Jim, our flight was delayed because someone got on the wrong plane. When we landed, we had to catch a bus from the Bergamo-Milano airport to the Milano train station. This usually is an hour bus ride but for some reason, Sunday night traffic was thick and it took us two hours! Our train was the only thing on time about the whole journey, and we made it back to Torino a little before midnight. Regardless, still a good weekend.
Today was like Christmas. I received three, yes three packages and one super awesome card. One from Adam, one from Megan, one from my mom and a super awesome card from Rose. Thanks to all of the excellent pick-me uppers J It was great. Did you know that “espresso” literally means “pick me up?” Just thought that some of you all might need some random useless knowledge.
The new diagnosis for my bites is bed bugs. Sounds exciting huh? If you do a google search on bed bugs you can find people ranting and raving about how horrible they are. I even read about a couple that moved out of their house. Apparently once you pick them up and they start to multiply, you can get stuck with them. The web sites suggested a few at home recipes but most recommended a professional to do the dirty work. I guess we aren’t totally sure if they are bed bugs, but I’ll be taking precautions. Tomorrow I’m going to boil my bedding. Sounds fun, huh? We’ll see I suppose.
After we made it to the airport, thanks to Gillian and Jim, our flight was delayed because someone got on the wrong plane. When we landed, we had to catch a bus from the Bergamo-Milano airport to the Milano train station. This usually is an hour bus ride but for some reason, Sunday night traffic was thick and it took us two hours! Our train was the only thing on time about the whole journey, and we made it back to Torino a little before midnight. Regardless, still a good weekend.
Today was like Christmas. I received three, yes three packages and one super awesome card. One from Adam, one from Megan, one from my mom and a super awesome card from Rose. Thanks to all of the excellent pick-me uppers J It was great. Did you know that “espresso” literally means “pick me up?” Just thought that some of you all might need some random useless knowledge.
The new diagnosis for my bites is bed bugs. Sounds exciting huh? If you do a google search on bed bugs you can find people ranting and raving about how horrible they are. I even read about a couple that moved out of their house. Apparently once you pick them up and they start to multiply, you can get stuck with them. The web sites suggested a few at home recipes but most recommended a professional to do the dirty work. I guess we aren’t totally sure if they are bed bugs, but I’ll be taking precautions. Tomorrow I’m going to boil my bedding. Sounds fun, huh? We’ll see I suppose.
Saturday, April 01, 2006
1-April-2006
Wow, what a day in Scotland. I think this is the first April Fool’s Day in a long time that I haven’t been apart of or even heard one April Fool’s Joke. Strange. We decided to do a bit of sight seeing today and we happened to come on the weekend of a Scottish holiday. This meant that all of the historic touristy traps were free!! We started off this morning by heading north to the only lake in Scotland, (I can’t think of the name right now, but I’ll get back to you). It’s the only lake in Scotland because all of the other bodies of water are called Lochs. There was a church built on an island in the middle of the lake around the 11th century. There are a few walls and some ruins left on this relatively small island, but it made for some fun exploring. As we were climbing all over grassy knolls, rocks, and roots, I felt like we were in Houghton on the tech trails. Good feelings.
After that we headed to the famous Edinbrough castle. That area of Scotland is more touristy than Glasgow is. There were a few Scots playing the bagpipes in their kilts and lots of souvenir type shops. The castle was pretty amazing. It has also been standing since at least the 11th century. Also, Edinbrough has some fantastic geographical features in its town. There is a huge rock close to the parliament building and by huge rock I mean small mountain. There were people climbing it and it looked like a really good time. From the top of the castle there were some incredible sights. The Carlton Hill (I think that’s the name) was located on an opposite cliff and looked like a very cool place. Jim said that there was a museum and a few other ruins up there. Jim and Gillian made perfect tour guides.
Jim grew up in Edinbrough so on the way home we had to relive his childhood. He took us to a very old bomb shelter type thing. Even he doesn’t know when it was built or the real reason for its construction, but it was amazing nonetheless. Apparently he has been inside of it, but we didn’t get to do that today. There are a few floors for bunks and it’s pretty much built into the ground and some of it is underground. Kind of fun and exciting.
For the remainder of the evening we acted like big bums. We watched some “Friends” and a movie called Crash – good movie, highly recommended. Tomorrow we are going to do a bit of touring around Glasgow before our 3pm flight. That will begin the long trek back to Torino. Scotland has been absolutely amazing thus far. I wonder what it would take to do some studying up here…
After that we headed to the famous Edinbrough castle. That area of Scotland is more touristy than Glasgow is. There were a few Scots playing the bagpipes in their kilts and lots of souvenir type shops. The castle was pretty amazing. It has also been standing since at least the 11th century. Also, Edinbrough has some fantastic geographical features in its town. There is a huge rock close to the parliament building and by huge rock I mean small mountain. There were people climbing it and it looked like a really good time. From the top of the castle there were some incredible sights. The Carlton Hill (I think that’s the name) was located on an opposite cliff and looked like a very cool place. Jim said that there was a museum and a few other ruins up there. Jim and Gillian made perfect tour guides.
Jim grew up in Edinbrough so on the way home we had to relive his childhood. He took us to a very old bomb shelter type thing. Even he doesn’t know when it was built or the real reason for its construction, but it was amazing nonetheless. Apparently he has been inside of it, but we didn’t get to do that today. There are a few floors for bunks and it’s pretty much built into the ground and some of it is underground. Kind of fun and exciting.
For the remainder of the evening we acted like big bums. We watched some “Friends” and a movie called Crash – good movie, highly recommended. Tomorrow we are going to do a bit of touring around Glasgow before our 3pm flight. That will begin the long trek back to Torino. Scotland has been absolutely amazing thus far. I wonder what it would take to do some studying up here…
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