Today was final exam day! Went to school at normal time, around 9 am, and waited around for awhile until the profs came with the exam. Sat down and started to take it. Not bad at all! I don't think I aced it but I don't think I did horribly like I thought I would. I then had an oral part with Prof Branciforte which wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be. Overall, not bad. And now I can
say some cool Italian phrases and sound exotic ;-)
After school, we got lunch at Da Maria again. We tried their pansotti con salsa di noci (the walnut sauce). It was ok but not the same as the classy restaurant. We came back to the hotel and I took a nap and then packed to come home! I know I am lucky to be in Italy and I am so thankful for this experience but I am ready to go home. I've had a great time and seen so many amazing, beautiful sites, and met so many interesting people, and learned so much... but I've also never been away, living out of a suitcase, for this long (I unpacked some but for short trips, you never fully move in and make the space yours). It will be nice to be home and see my parents, brother, aunt, grandma, etc and hear their voices (they get special shout outs because I know they are reading this ;-) lol) And I'm excited to see my cats and all my friends and see my home and apartment! I'm excited to sleep long
nights and relax and do nothing. I'm excited to TEXT! :-P I'm really going to miss Italy though. I'm going to miss the intricate buildings that never got boring to look at (well except those churches...), and I'll miss the delicious food and the interesting people I've met. I'll even miss hearing and speaking the language. I'll especially miss the view of the mountains meeting the ocean. That was probably my favorite thing about this entire trip... that view.
Anyway... back to today. After packing, I went to the aquarium with Behrad, Tasha, and Jessica. It was nice to be down by the harbor because it is pretty, interesting, and there is a lot to look at. The aquarium was an aquarium lol but it was nice and I had fun. None of their tanks have bars around
them so you can press your nose up to the glass... even with the shark tank! So the sharks, dolphins, sea turtles, sting rays, puffins, etc were inches away! So cool! And they had a touch tank!!! I petted a sting ray! Fun times :-)
Now, I need to go get ready for our last dinner all together! And then we are going OUT OUT OUT! to celebrate being DONE DONE DONE! with Italian class :-P Home tomorrow!!! :-D (plane lands at Dulles at 7:15pm so I won't be home til after 9 probably but everyone should text me lots!)
Last bit of love from Italia <3
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Blog Day 19 - Study Study Study! And Opera
Today we went to school and had an ALL REVIEW DAY! YAY! It was really helpful and i finally feel like things are starting to click... kind of. I'm still going to have to do some MAJOR studying tonight... except we are seeing a 3 hour Opera tonight so there won't be as much studying or sleeping as I would like.
Things are finally clicking location-wise too. I have a really horrible sense of direction (sometimes I get lost in Perry Hall still! :-P) and now, the second to last day, I've finally figured my way out around Genova! I suck at life :-P And I've finally figured out how to order food as well. Good thing pointing and grunting is understood in all countries!
After school, we had a CHEAP lunch at Da Maria, a pasta-lunch place right by school. It was so good and they let me get ravioli with PESTO! Genoa is known for its pesto and its stuffed pastas but I haven't seen them combined! So they had spaghetti and pesto and ravioli and ragu so I asked for ravioli and pesto. She gave me a funny look but I got it! It was really good. I feel like all I write about in this blog is the food but that is what Italy is known for!
We came back to the hotel (Siamo tornate a hotel... just doing a little studying/translating while writing my blog lol) and then it was study time. So many tenses and so much vocabulary! And we had to practice SPEAKING because there in an oral section too! I hate trying to have a conversation because we are so limited in what we know how to say. I feel like I sound like an idiot when I speak Italian.
We did some studying and then showered and started to get ready for the Opera. And then we watched the Inauguration! Congrats Mr. President Obama! :-D It was sooo exciting and such an awesome moment in history to see. The only problem was that the Italian channels all dubbed over the speeches in Italian! Go figure :-P I'm going to have to YouTube those speeches so I can be up-to-date on it all. It was still a cool thing to watch.
We got ready and left for the Opera. We saw "Il Turco in Italia" and it was fun to be there. It was opening night and some people were very done up! Good people watching place. We went in and we were supposed to be in the balcony but Suzanne said she got us an upgrade because they know her. She only got us an upgrade because the place was basically empty and there were lots of orchestra seats left! Haha! We were in the back of the orchestra and they were nice seats. The interesting thing about theatres in Italy is that the scenery is the height of the room but then the building goes down into the ground that same amount, and up into the air that amount again! This is because the scenery is like a giant painted wall and when they change scenery, they just drop it down into the ground, or pick it up into the ceiling! Pretty cool!
The scenery was nice and so were the costumes... but we couldn't understand a single word! Even if we spoke Italian better, we still wouldn't get it because they gave every word like 10 syllables! O0o0o0o0o0o0o!!! Up and down their voices went. It was kind of ridiculous. And the professoressas said that it would be an hour and a half long. No. That was the first half. Instead of getting home by 11, we weren't home til after midnight... the night before our final exam! Oy... Lets hope I don't fail! It was an interesting experience all in all.
Buonanotte!
Things are finally clicking location-wise too. I have a really horrible sense of direction (sometimes I get lost in Perry Hall still! :-P) and now, the second to last day, I've finally figured my way out around Genova! I suck at life :-P And I've finally figured out how to order food as well. Good thing pointing and grunting is understood in all countries!
After school, we had a CHEAP lunch at Da Maria, a pasta-lunch place right by school. It was so good and they let me get ravioli with PESTO! Genoa is known for its pesto and its stuffed pastas but I haven't seen them combined! So they had spaghetti and pesto and ravioli and ragu so I asked for ravioli and pesto. She gave me a funny look but I got it! It was really good. I feel like all I write about in this blog is the food but that is what Italy is known for!
We came back to the hotel (Siamo tornate a hotel... just doing a little studying/translating while writing my blog lol) and then it was study time. So many tenses and so much vocabulary! And we had to practice SPEAKING because there in an oral section too! I hate trying to have a conversation because we are so limited in what we know how to say. I feel like I sound like an idiot when I speak Italian.
We did some studying and then showered and started to get ready for the Opera. And then we watched the Inauguration! Congrats Mr. President Obama! :-D It was sooo exciting and such an awesome moment in history to see. The only problem was that the Italian channels all dubbed over the speeches in Italian! Go figure :-P I'm going to have to YouTube those speeches so I can be up-to-date on it all. It was still a cool thing to watch.
We got ready and left for the Opera. We saw "Il Turco in Italia" and it was fun to be there. It was opening night and some people were very done up! Good people watching place. We went in and we were supposed to be in the balcony but Suzanne said she got us an upgrade because they know her. She only got us an upgrade because the place was basically empty and there were lots of orchestra seats left! Haha! We were in the back of the orchestra and they were nice seats. The interesting thing about theatres in Italy is that the scenery is the height of the room but then the building goes down into the ground that same amount, and up into the air that amount again! This is because the scenery is like a giant painted wall and when they change scenery, they just drop it down into the ground, or pick it up into the ceiling! Pretty cool!
The scenery was nice and so were the costumes... but we couldn't understand a single word! Even if we spoke Italian better, we still wouldn't get it because they gave every word like 10 syllables! O0o0o0o0o0o0o!!! Up and down their voices went. It was kind of ridiculous. And the professoressas said that it would be an hour and a half long. No. That was the first half. Instead of getting home by 11, we weren't home til after midnight... the night before our final exam! Oy... Lets hope I don't fail! It was an interesting experience all in all.
Buonanotte!
Day 18 - So much to do.. so little time!
School kind of sucked today. We learned like 4 different verb tenses in about 5 minutes. I was trying really hard to understand when to use each one because instead of learning one, using it by itself,learning the next, etc, we just learned them and then immediately mixed them. So I was trying to figure them out and really TRYING and Professoressa Amodeo yelled at me that I wasn't paying attention so I got frustrated and kind of growled back. After class she asked why I got frustrated and I explained that I was trying and I don't like being accused of not working when I am so she apologized but all this Italian just doesn't fit into my brain :(
After the regular class, we got a short lunch break and then had a theatre person come and teach us about the Opera. We are going to the Opera on Wednesday so she was teaching us about the specific play we are seeing "Il Turco In Italia" or something like that. She explained the plotline and the characters because it is confusing on a normal basis but we would have been completely lost since we don't even speak the language. It sounds like it will be really fun though! She also told us about Italy's Operas and the comedic plays they do too.
After that class, Tasha and I decided to try to go to the aquarium Wednesday after the final exam because we need to study tonight. I really hope we get there! So we all just went back to the hotel and started the exam review. I've done about 2/3s of it but I don't even understand the rest. No clue... oh well. My brain needs a break from Italian and then I'll find someone to tutor me. I can't wait until this class is over but I don't want to leave Italy! There are so many more things I want to do in Genova and so many more places I want to visit and explore in Italy. And so many more people I want to meet and so much more food I need to eat and wine I need to drink! :-P Screw getting a job... can't I just magically be rich and travel the world? I kind of want to be a travel writer now... that would be fun!Who knows what I'll do after I graduate. I can't even figure out what life is going to be like back in CP for this spring semester? I don't even want to think about it. I just need to attempt to enjoy my last few days here. We still have the Opera, a group dinner, and hopefully I'll get to the aquarium and maybe another night of all bonding together and drinking some wine. I am excited to see my family, friends, cats, cell phone, and homes though.
Love from Italia! <3
PS I hope the inauguration goes smoothly tomorrow! So excited to have a new president and one who is intelligent and competent and well-spoken. I just hope he stays safe and all those crazies out there stay home.
After the regular class, we got a short lunch break and then had a theatre person come and teach us about the Opera. We are going to the Opera on Wednesday so she was teaching us about the specific play we are seeing "Il Turco In Italia" or something like that. She explained the plotline and the characters because it is confusing on a normal basis but we would have been completely lost since we don't even speak the language. It sounds like it will be really fun though! She also told us about Italy's Operas and the comedic plays they do too.
After that class, Tasha and I decided to try to go to the aquarium Wednesday after the final exam because we need to study tonight. I really hope we get there! So we all just went back to the hotel and started the exam review. I've done about 2/3s of it but I don't even understand the rest. No clue... oh well. My brain needs a break from Italian and then I'll find someone to tutor me. I can't wait until this class is over but I don't want to leave Italy! There are so many more things I want to do in Genova and so many more places I want to visit and explore in Italy. And so many more people I want to meet and so much more food I need to eat and wine I need to drink! :-P Screw getting a job... can't I just magically be rich and travel the world? I kind of want to be a travel writer now... that would be fun!Who knows what I'll do after I graduate. I can't even figure out what life is going to be like back in CP for this spring semester? I don't even want to think about it. I just need to attempt to enjoy my last few days here. We still have the Opera, a group dinner, and hopefully I'll get to the aquarium and maybe another night of all bonding together and drinking some wine. I am excited to see my family, friends, cats, cell phone, and homes though.
Love from Italia! <3
PS I hope the inauguration goes smoothly tomorrow! So excited to have a new president and one who is intelligent and competent and well-spoken. I just hope he stays safe and all those crazies out there stay home.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Blog Day 16 and 17 - Milano e Partita del Calcio (Milan and soccer game!)
Off to Milan we went! Quick train ride (we are all train-pros by this point) and then we were in our 5th town in 7 days! We've been busy. We went to our hotel, called "The Best Hotel" and we were all worried it was going to be an omen for the exact opposite. It wasn't too bad though. We had 5 people in 2 rooms and then I was in a room for 4 people with Ash, Kel, and Tasha which was nice.
Two of the guys working the desk were really nice and helpful but one was CREEPYYY! I went out to ask him questions TWICE and each time he was on facebook and looking at a gross girl. One of the girls was naked but not showing anything in her picture and the other girl just had a picture of her boobs as her profile picture. GROSS!!! I wasn't trying to be nosy or anything but as he was helping me, he would look things up on the computer and didn't even bother to minimize or hide what he was looking at! So weirddd! But really amusing.
In Milan, we saw the Duomo, which is this HUGE cathedral with crazy spires and marble blocks and it was beautiful! It was Gothic style so it was a lot different than the other churches we had seen. It was a lot more open, with less little crevices and corners. It was darker and even had a bunch of tombs in it! There wasn't much gold on the walls and it wasn't as extravagant. It was interesting to see something new. And it is the second largest church in the world! (according to my Foder's travel book :-P) Outside the Duomo is this huge piazza and there are THOUSANDS of pigeons. I HATE birds with a passion and especially hate pigeons because they try to steal your food and they beg and walk in my way on the streets. So anyway, thousands of pigeons. Needless to say, I was freaking out. And these guys on the street would try to give you bird food and if you didn't take any, they would throw it at you so the birds would swarm around you. It was SOOO scary!!! One hit my EAR! And a bunch of others were all under my feet. OMG i hate birds so it was horrible! But it was actually really hilarious too because it was so different than anything I'd ever experienced. But yea... interesting! lol
After the Duomo, we tried to go see The Last Supper painting but it turns out you actually DO need reservations to see it! (The books all said the same thing about David and other things in Florence and that all worked out fine but not this one) So that was a bummer but oh well. We did some shopping, saw the Prada and Gucci stores, looked at other expensive places, etc. It was a fun day even though we didn't have much of a game plan.
Later, we went to dinner at this nice little place down the street from our hotel. They were putting extra tables together and one of the girls with us, Marta, grabbed an extra place setting. They asked if she was a waitress and she said yes so they gave her an apron and a pen and told her to take our orders! It started out as a joke but then they actually wound up doing NOTHING! SO ANNOYING! And then they just decided to like make up a check and say we each owed $13.50 which was much more than some people were expecting. It was just kind of sketchy so we made them write an itemized bill and realized that they were in fact ripping us off by charging us for too much water and stuff so yea. I guess they thought we were an easy target but HA! We proved them wrong :-P The food was really good though.
After dinner, we went back to the hotel and pre-gamed with $3 wine. Kind of a lame pregame though because SO many people were feeling sick and didn't want to drink :( We sang to Behrad at midnight because it was his birthday and then a bunch of us headed out. We tried to take him to a gay bar at first (I didn't want to cuz I thought that was mean for his 21st birthday) but we couldn't find it anyway. Then we tried to back track to this other place we saw but it wasn't really a bar.. just a sketchy cafe that had some alcohol. Then we tried to walk to this other place but people got frustrated and mad and it was just bad and annoying so we went back to the sketchy cafe and bought B some shots of grappa (basically nasty Italian grain alcohol) for his birthday. EWWW the guy behind the counter was being sketchy and hitting on me. First, he started off asking B which of us he was dating... "NONE just friends!" and then it went to "Well who are you sleeping with?!" and then it was like "She is pretty" and apparently got dirty from there. Eww I was really sketched out because he kept giving me really creepy looks and his tone makde it sound like he was being a perv. I felt like I needed a shower :( Gross!
After that, we just headed back to the hotel and crashed and headed back to Genoa.
When we got back to Genova, we got to chill for a few minutes at the hotel and then we went to a soccer game! Palerma vs Sampdomia (or something like that) which is a team from Genoa! Of course we cheered for them! But they lost lol the Palerma team had PINK jerseys on! SO WEIRD! They looked like their white shirts had just been washed with a red sock. They just needed some bleach :-P But yea it was a fun time. Outside the stadium, everyone was drinking and hanging out and joking around. Then we went in and it wasn't too crazy but the fans were loud. I wish I could understand what they were saying though! I bet it was bad :-P
But anyway... it was fun and things are good here :-) hope everyone is doing well at home!
I get home the 22nd so everyone get excited to see me! :-P I really want to eat a bacon cheeseburger :-P I miss eating meat! All I eat here is pasta and pizza, which I love, but now I'm starting to crave other stuff. So... big eating party when I get home! And then LOTS AND LOTS of gym time ;-P
Love to everyone! <3
A presto (see you soon)
ADDENDUM: I forgot to say this... we had MALE MODELS staying in the same hotel as us! They were cute but obviously arrogant and a little too "three hours in front of a mirror"-ish lol But it was amusing that they were there. I wanted Krissie to go talk to them because she is looking for a husband ;-)
Two of the guys working the desk were really nice and helpful but one was CREEPYYY! I went out to ask him questions TWICE and each time he was on facebook and looking at a gross girl. One of the girls was naked but not showing anything in her picture and the other girl just had a picture of her boobs as her profile picture. GROSS!!! I wasn't trying to be nosy or anything but as he was helping me, he would look things up on the computer and didn't even bother to minimize or hide what he was looking at! So weirddd! But really amusing.
In Milan, we saw the Duomo, which is this HUGE cathedral with crazy spires and marble blocks and it was beautiful! It was Gothic style so it was a lot different than the other churches we had seen. It was a lot more open, with less little crevices and corners. It was darker and even had a bunch of tombs in it! There wasn't much gold on the walls and it wasn't as extravagant. It was interesting to see something new. And it is the second largest church in the world! (according to my Foder's travel book :-P) Outside the Duomo is this huge piazza and there are THOUSANDS of pigeons. I HATE birds with a passion and especially hate pigeons because they try to steal your food and they beg and walk in my way on the streets. So anyway, thousands of pigeons. Needless to say, I was freaking out. And these guys on the street would try to give you bird food and if you didn't take any, they would throw it at you so the birds would swarm around you. It was SOOO scary!!! One hit my EAR! And a bunch of others were all under my feet. OMG i hate birds so it was horrible! But it was actually really hilarious too because it was so different than anything I'd ever experienced. But yea... interesting! lol
After the Duomo, we tried to go see The Last Supper painting but it turns out you actually DO need reservations to see it! (The books all said the same thing about David and other things in Florence and that all worked out fine but not this one) So that was a bummer but oh well. We did some shopping, saw the Prada and Gucci stores, looked at other expensive places, etc. It was a fun day even though we didn't have much of a game plan.
Later, we went to dinner at this nice little place down the street from our hotel. They were putting extra tables together and one of the girls with us, Marta, grabbed an extra place setting. They asked if she was a waitress and she said yes so they gave her an apron and a pen and told her to take our orders! It started out as a joke but then they actually wound up doing NOTHING! SO ANNOYING! And then they just decided to like make up a check and say we each owed $13.50 which was much more than some people were expecting. It was just kind of sketchy so we made them write an itemized bill and realized that they were in fact ripping us off by charging us for too much water and stuff so yea. I guess they thought we were an easy target but HA! We proved them wrong :-P The food was really good though.
After dinner, we went back to the hotel and pre-gamed with $3 wine. Kind of a lame pregame though because SO many people were feeling sick and didn't want to drink :( We sang to Behrad at midnight because it was his birthday and then a bunch of us headed out. We tried to take him to a gay bar at first (I didn't want to cuz I thought that was mean for his 21st birthday) but we couldn't find it anyway. Then we tried to back track to this other place we saw but it wasn't really a bar.. just a sketchy cafe that had some alcohol. Then we tried to walk to this other place but people got frustrated and mad and it was just bad and annoying so we went back to the sketchy cafe and bought B some shots of grappa (basically nasty Italian grain alcohol) for his birthday. EWWW the guy behind the counter was being sketchy and hitting on me. First, he started off asking B which of us he was dating... "NONE just friends!" and then it went to "Well who are you sleeping with?!" and then it was like "She is pretty" and apparently got dirty from there. Eww I was really sketched out because he kept giving me really creepy looks and his tone makde it sound like he was being a perv. I felt like I needed a shower :( Gross!
After that, we just headed back to the hotel and crashed and headed back to Genoa.
When we got back to Genova, we got to chill for a few minutes at the hotel and then we went to a soccer game! Palerma vs Sampdomia (or something like that) which is a team from Genoa! Of course we cheered for them! But they lost lol the Palerma team had PINK jerseys on! SO WEIRD! They looked like their white shirts had just been washed with a red sock. They just needed some bleach :-P But yea it was a fun time. Outside the stadium, everyone was drinking and hanging out and joking around. Then we went in and it wasn't too crazy but the fans were loud. I wish I could understand what they were saying though! I bet it was bad :-P
But anyway... it was fun and things are good here :-) hope everyone is doing well at home!
I get home the 22nd so everyone get excited to see me! :-P I really want to eat a bacon cheeseburger :-P I miss eating meat! All I eat here is pasta and pizza, which I love, but now I'm starting to crave other stuff. So... big eating party when I get home! And then LOTS AND LOTS of gym time ;-P
Love to everyone! <3
A presto (see you soon)
ADDENDUM: I forgot to say this... we had MALE MODELS staying in the same hotel as us! They were cute but obviously arrogant and a little too "three hours in front of a mirror"-ish lol But it was amusing that they were there. I wanted Krissie to go talk to them because she is looking for a husband ;-)
Blog Day 15 - Nightlife in Genova?
So we got our quizzes back today... no one was very happy about the grades (again) but I did ok. I'm not too worried about my grade but an A would be nice. But I'm still doing some extra credit... I figure it can't hurt! :-)
After school, I got to take a nap! It was exciting (I know I'm lame) lol I caught up on journal entries and wrote my extra credit work. I meant to do some some homework but that nap was just too important :-P
After awhile, Kel, Ash and I got some dinner at the Mureno Suite again which was nice. I had gnocchi al pesto which was good! The girls both got Minestrone alla Genovese, which has pesto in it and makes it even more amazing than normal minestrone soup. I love the food here and I can't wait to try my hand at it when I'm back at the apartment! :-) (yea, weird.. Amy wants to cook lol)
After dinner, we all got ready and 12 of us decided to attempt to find the nightlife in Genoa. Since Italians have classes (and hard school work!) 6 days a week, they don't seem to go out as much as people do in College Park. People have tried numerous times to find a good club or bar here but to no avail.
So we went out and started walking around. We went to this one bar that some of the girls had found and it was interesting. Everyone was a little bit older.. and kinda creepy. But I had a corona and it was good. I hadn't really drank beer this whole trip so it was a nice change. We hung out and people watched and chatted.
Then we moved on and decided to just follow the crowds and see where they went. We walked past this one place but people spilling out on the streets were packed so thick, you couldn't even SEE a bar behind them! We walked some more and found this little back alley area where EVERYONE was! YAY we found some nightlife in Genova! Most people even seemed to be around our age. There was a bar and then tables outside and everyone spilled out on the sidewalk/street. There was a gelato place and a greasy hamburger place in the same area. Behrad said it was the Ratsies of Italy :-P I got gelato and it was gooooooood ;-D for someone who doesn't usually eat dessert, I love that gelato! We hung out for a few minutes but we were all exhausted and had to catch a train in the morning so we headed home and went to bed. Milan in the morning! :-)
Arrivederci (good bye)
And "Ti voglio bene" to my friends and family (I love you... in a non-passionate way :-P)
After school, I got to take a nap! It was exciting (I know I'm lame) lol I caught up on journal entries and wrote my extra credit work. I meant to do some some homework but that nap was just too important :-P
After awhile, Kel, Ash and I got some dinner at the Mureno Suite again which was nice. I had gnocchi al pesto which was good! The girls both got Minestrone alla Genovese, which has pesto in it and makes it even more amazing than normal minestrone soup. I love the food here and I can't wait to try my hand at it when I'm back at the apartment! :-) (yea, weird.. Amy wants to cook lol)
After dinner, we all got ready and 12 of us decided to attempt to find the nightlife in Genoa. Since Italians have classes (and hard school work!) 6 days a week, they don't seem to go out as much as people do in College Park. People have tried numerous times to find a good club or bar here but to no avail.
So we went out and started walking around. We went to this one bar that some of the girls had found and it was interesting. Everyone was a little bit older.. and kinda creepy. But I had a corona and it was good. I hadn't really drank beer this whole trip so it was a nice change. We hung out and people watched and chatted.
Then we moved on and decided to just follow the crowds and see where they went. We walked past this one place but people spilling out on the streets were packed so thick, you couldn't even SEE a bar behind them! We walked some more and found this little back alley area where EVERYONE was! YAY we found some nightlife in Genova! Most people even seemed to be around our age. There was a bar and then tables outside and everyone spilled out on the sidewalk/street. There was a gelato place and a greasy hamburger place in the same area. Behrad said it was the Ratsies of Italy :-P I got gelato and it was gooooooood ;-D for someone who doesn't usually eat dessert, I love that gelato! We hung out for a few minutes but we were all exhausted and had to catch a train in the morning so we headed home and went to bed. Milan in the morning! :-)
Arrivederci (good bye)
And "Ti voglio bene" to my friends and family (I love you... in a non-passionate way :-P)
Blog Day 14 - Trip to Camogli
Today is quiz day! We went to school after studying the entire day and night before. We all felt like we were ready. Then she hands it out. 3 pages. Directions all in Italian. Uh oh. It was pretty rough. we'll see what my grade is tomorrow :-\. We also learned today that we can write some mini-essays to get extra credit. One page, double spaced, in Italian, about any place we visit. I am going to write about Florence, Portofino, Camogli (where we went today.. description coming), and Milan, where we are going this weekend. I might not write about ALL of those places, but at least 2 of them. Definitely Florence because that will be easy. "Siamo andati alla discoteca! Abbiamo ballato!" (We went to a discoteca. We danced!).
After school, we headed to the train station and took a quick, 30 minute train to Camogli, another coastal town on the Mediterranean Sea. Professoressa Branciforte lives there! It is a tiny little town, where most of the men still make their living off of the Sea. Every town we've been to has had a lot of similarities but every one is unique and interesting and special. Camogli was right on the sea, with small, black rocky beaches, huge cliffs, and brightly painted buildings. Like the other towns we have visited, the twn climbed up into the mountains, providing every home with a view of the sea and in the afternoon, a view of the sunset over the sea. Like Genoa and other places, Camogli had the fake painted rock patterns and fake windows on the buildings. Unlike the other towns, Camogli has an annual fish-frying day. There are these HUGE antique frying pans leaning against this one wall that were the ancient pans that were used. They were literally like 10 feet across! It is a giant feast and everyone in town gets a free meal. Camogli is right down the coast from Genoa and they can see each other. During the festival, people in Genoa can see the glowing red embers from the giant fires that are built to heat the giant pans and cook the fish.
In the town, we just walked around, ate some foccacia and gelato, and stared out at the Sea. The water was so amazingly clear and turquoise! I want to live on the water some day... or at least own a beach house.. in Italy... on a journalists salary ;-). High hopes right?
We were playing on the pier and I was chatting with Professoressa Branciforte (Suzanne), just asking some questions about her life, life in Camogli, and life in Italy in general. Very interesting and very different.
We took the train back to Genoa and watched the sunset on the Mediterranean Sea. I swear you can see every shade of every color in these sunsets!
Soon, we are going to go out to eat some pasta, then come back here, drink some wine, do some extra credit work, and relax. I hope we go eat soon because... ho fame e ho l'acquolina in bocca! (I'm hungry and my mouth is watering!)
Alla Prossima (Until next time) :-)
Continued... We went to this REALLY good restaurant called Il Rustichello. They had amazing, delicious traditional Italian food. I had some type of pasta with pesto on it and it was amazing! Everyone elses meals were really good too. Yum I love the food here! Now, I'm hanging out with all the other girls, drinking wine, and updating my blog and journal :-) But now its bed time!
Buonanotte!
After school, we headed to the train station and took a quick, 30 minute train to Camogli, another coastal town on the Mediterranean Sea. Professoressa Branciforte lives there! It is a tiny little town, where most of the men still make their living off of the Sea. Every town we've been to has had a lot of similarities but every one is unique and interesting and special. Camogli was right on the sea, with small, black rocky beaches, huge cliffs, and brightly painted buildings. Like the other towns we have visited, the twn climbed up into the mountains, providing every home with a view of the sea and in the afternoon, a view of the sunset over the sea. Like Genoa and other places, Camogli had the fake painted rock patterns and fake windows on the buildings. Unlike the other towns, Camogli has an annual fish-frying day. There are these HUGE antique frying pans leaning against this one wall that were the ancient pans that were used. They were literally like 10 feet across! It is a giant feast and everyone in town gets a free meal. Camogli is right down the coast from Genoa and they can see each other. During the festival, people in Genoa can see the glowing red embers from the giant fires that are built to heat the giant pans and cook the fish.
In the town, we just walked around, ate some foccacia and gelato, and stared out at the Sea. The water was so amazingly clear and turquoise! I want to live on the water some day... or at least own a beach house.. in Italy... on a journalists salary ;-). High hopes right?
We were playing on the pier and I was chatting with Professoressa Branciforte (Suzanne), just asking some questions about her life, life in Camogli, and life in Italy in general. Very interesting and very different.
We took the train back to Genoa and watched the sunset on the Mediterranean Sea. I swear you can see every shade of every color in these sunsets!
Soon, we are going to go out to eat some pasta, then come back here, drink some wine, do some extra credit work, and relax. I hope we go eat soon because... ho fame e ho l'acquolina in bocca! (I'm hungry and my mouth is watering!)
Alla Prossima (Until next time) :-)
Continued... We went to this REALLY good restaurant called Il Rustichello. They had amazing, delicious traditional Italian food. I had some type of pasta with pesto on it and it was amazing! Everyone elses meals were really good too. Yum I love the food here! Now, I'm hanging out with all the other girls, drinking wine, and updating my blog and journal :-) But now its bed time!
Buonanotte!
Blog Day 13 - Italian Analysis
So today was not a very good day. We went to school and that has been frustrating. This Italian course is normally taught during a 15-week semester. We are doing the ENTIRE course in under 3 weeks! It is MUCH harder than any of were expecting. It is a 100-level course but Italian is nothing like English. Knowing Spanish or French only seems to get in the way of our Italian. It is really difficult but I actually really like it! And lots of people that we encounter in our daily routines enjoy teaching us new things, and every where we go, we learn something new about Italian culture. The guys at the bar that we stop at for paninis teach us how to properly order food. The waitresses at a restaurant down the street teach us curse words. The train rides teach us geography. Walking the streets teaches us how to act Italian, dress European, read signs, and dodge cigarette butts and dog poop! :-P Everything here is a learning experience... and an adventure!
After school, we did nothing but study. We have an exam tomorrow! I'm scared :( So yea... nothing more to write about the day because we just studied.
So since this is a boring entry, I will write about some things I have observed (I'll probably repeat a lot of things that I have already said but oh well).
- Everyone has a dog and they go to the bathroom everywhere. They are taken into stores and restaurants and anywhere that the owners go.
- Everyone here smokes.
- Italy keeps weird hours, compared to what we are used to in the US. Stores, shops, and bakeries open at a normal hour in the morning, like around 8 or 9, close around 2, and reopen around 4, and then close for the night around 7. At 7, the restaurants open. Bars here are not like bars at home. They are more like cafes and little sandwich shops or bakeries.
- Everyone here owns at least 10 pairs of boots. I bought myself a pair to feel Italian :-P
- All the girls have dark hair, dark eyeliner, and either straight or side-swept bangs that fall in their eyes.
- All the guys are dressed either super metro or really punked out. Their pants are so tight, I can practically count the change in their back pockets.
- People live off of wine, foccacia, pasta, gelato and oranges.
- People walk a lot and from far distances, but they also CRAM onto the buses during rush hour. They are packed in there so tight, they pretty much POP out the doors when the bus stops!
- In this region, everyone's home has a gorgeous view of the Sea.
- Bathrooms are not meant to spend much time in here. The windows let in cold air, the flusher on the toilet takes all my strength to push in, the shower temperature changes at its own will, and the towels are rough!
- People drive CRAZY in this town! There are sometimes 4 mopeds side by side in one lane on the streets and they zip in and out of the itty bitty cars that are driving the same streets.
- The cars are MINUSCULE! You know the smart cars that are on campus that you can pay to use? That is the size of a normal family car here!
- The pigeons and seagulls are fatter and meaner here than in the States. I HATE birds! Stupid creatures, trying to steal my foccacia.
- There are CONDOM machines at random places along the streets!!! So weird and random. I guess maybe they are for the prostitutes that we saw around the older areas and down on the water front?
- There are more churches than grocery stores.
- Everyone makes out EVERY WHERE!!! and for no reason! It's kinda ridic, and REALLY amusing. A couple will just be walking down the street and for no reason, stop and start making out in the middle of the sidewalk! Standing at the bus stop, I guess they get bored, so they start making out! Full tongue and everything! It's really funny and shocking :-P
- If you are an art history major, move to Italy and study for the rest of your life. There is enough artwork to last a lifetime and longer.
- The Italian language sounds pretty because pretty much everything ends in a vowel and accents are naturally in the middle of many words. This makes the language sound since since there aren't as many hard sounds.
That's it for today! Bacioni! (*Kisses*)
After school, we did nothing but study. We have an exam tomorrow! I'm scared :( So yea... nothing more to write about the day because we just studied.
So since this is a boring entry, I will write about some things I have observed (I'll probably repeat a lot of things that I have already said but oh well).
- Everyone has a dog and they go to the bathroom everywhere. They are taken into stores and restaurants and anywhere that the owners go.
- Everyone here smokes.
- Italy keeps weird hours, compared to what we are used to in the US. Stores, shops, and bakeries open at a normal hour in the morning, like around 8 or 9, close around 2, and reopen around 4, and then close for the night around 7. At 7, the restaurants open. Bars here are not like bars at home. They are more like cafes and little sandwich shops or bakeries.
- Everyone here owns at least 10 pairs of boots. I bought myself a pair to feel Italian :-P
- All the girls have dark hair, dark eyeliner, and either straight or side-swept bangs that fall in their eyes.
- All the guys are dressed either super metro or really punked out. Their pants are so tight, I can practically count the change in their back pockets.
- People live off of wine, foccacia, pasta, gelato and oranges.
- People walk a lot and from far distances, but they also CRAM onto the buses during rush hour. They are packed in there so tight, they pretty much POP out the doors when the bus stops!
- In this region, everyone's home has a gorgeous view of the Sea.
- Bathrooms are not meant to spend much time in here. The windows let in cold air, the flusher on the toilet takes all my strength to push in, the shower temperature changes at its own will, and the towels are rough!
- People drive CRAZY in this town! There are sometimes 4 mopeds side by side in one lane on the streets and they zip in and out of the itty bitty cars that are driving the same streets.
- The cars are MINUSCULE! You know the smart cars that are on campus that you can pay to use? That is the size of a normal family car here!
- The pigeons and seagulls are fatter and meaner here than in the States. I HATE birds! Stupid creatures, trying to steal my foccacia.
- There are CONDOM machines at random places along the streets!!! So weird and random. I guess maybe they are for the prostitutes that we saw around the older areas and down on the water front?
- There are more churches than grocery stores.
- Everyone makes out EVERY WHERE!!! and for no reason! It's kinda ridic, and REALLY amusing. A couple will just be walking down the street and for no reason, stop and start making out in the middle of the sidewalk! Standing at the bus stop, I guess they get bored, so they start making out! Full tongue and everything! It's really funny and shocking :-P
- If you are an art history major, move to Italy and study for the rest of your life. There is enough artwork to last a lifetime and longer.
- The Italian language sounds pretty because pretty much everything ends in a vowel and accents are naturally in the middle of many words. This makes the language sound since since there aren't as many hard sounds.
That's it for today! Bacioni! (*Kisses*)
Blog Day 12 - Day of Churches
Today was the day of churches. We went to school of course, learned some more Italian (or should I say screwed up some more Italian), and had a few hours of rest (or homework-doing). Then, we all met up around 4 for our church-tour.
It is impossible to visit Italy and not visit churches and see the art. Each city seems to have a church on every piazza (and a piazza or two on every street). The churches each look plain on the outside (or plain by Italian standards) but each one is covered in gold and antique artwork on the insides. The frescos and alcoves in the churches depict every imaginable Bible scene; every vice and virtue; every saint and holy person you can think of. There are intricate, molded designs on the walls and ceilings; huge columns covered in pink, green, black, and white marble sprouting from the inlaid marble floors; wood and marble sculptures of Jesus and Mary hiding in corners; huge paintings that are made to look three-dimensional on every wall. There are giant cupolas in every church with paintings of G-d, Jesus, Mary, saints, etc. The cupolas also have paintings of people looking down on the church, as if it was a theatre and those were other people watching the going-ons.
The four churches we visited in Genova were all of the Baroque-style so my descriptions might only pertain to that style. It was interesting to visit them, but they do all look the same after awhile. I think my favorite was the one we visited that had been a private church for one of the rich families. It was relatively small but still intricately designed and decorated.
It was amazing to learn that the artwork and churches only get restored every once in awhile, and when they are restored, they are ONLY cleaned. There is never any new paint put on the walls! The paintings were glorious and perfect and many looked as if they were done recently. Pretty cool!
After the churches, Kelly, Ashley (other one, not my roommate), Allison, Krissie, Marta, Behrad, and I went out to dinner at the nice restaurant that our Professoressa had taken us to last week. Most of us got the pansotti con salsa di noci again (the ravioli-type pasta with walnut sauce). It was AMAZING yet again! We also got a bottle of wine and dessert. Great meal! I love eating in Italy.
Buenasera! (Good evening)
It is impossible to visit Italy and not visit churches and see the art. Each city seems to have a church on every piazza (and a piazza or two on every street). The churches each look plain on the outside (or plain by Italian standards) but each one is covered in gold and antique artwork on the insides. The frescos and alcoves in the churches depict every imaginable Bible scene; every vice and virtue; every saint and holy person you can think of. There are intricate, molded designs on the walls and ceilings; huge columns covered in pink, green, black, and white marble sprouting from the inlaid marble floors; wood and marble sculptures of Jesus and Mary hiding in corners; huge paintings that are made to look three-dimensional on every wall. There are giant cupolas in every church with paintings of G-d, Jesus, Mary, saints, etc. The cupolas also have paintings of people looking down on the church, as if it was a theatre and those were other people watching the going-ons.
The four churches we visited in Genova were all of the Baroque-style so my descriptions might only pertain to that style. It was interesting to visit them, but they do all look the same after awhile. I think my favorite was the one we visited that had been a private church for one of the rich families. It was relatively small but still intricately designed and decorated.
It was amazing to learn that the artwork and churches only get restored every once in awhile, and when they are restored, they are ONLY cleaned. There is never any new paint put on the walls! The paintings were glorious and perfect and many looked as if they were done recently. Pretty cool!
After the churches, Kelly, Ashley (other one, not my roommate), Allison, Krissie, Marta, Behrad, and I went out to dinner at the nice restaurant that our Professoressa had taken us to last week. Most of us got the pansotti con salsa di noci again (the ravioli-type pasta with walnut sauce). It was AMAZING yet again! We also got a bottle of wine and dessert. Great meal! I love eating in Italy.
Buenasera! (Good evening)
Blog Day 11 - Portofino
We went to school just like normal and then mid-day they told us that we had a field trip right after school! So after the school day ended around 1, we all rushed back to the hotel, grabbing some foccacia on our way back, changed shoes, and headed to the train station. We took a short train ride to Portofino and Santa Margherita.
GORGEOUS!!! I love towns on the water. Portofino is like the rich, expensive town on the Riveria. It's really small and exclusive with just a handful of houses spread from the edge of the water up into the mountains (because like every where else here on the Riveria, the mountains meet the sea!). Dolce and Gabbana have a house there!!! Their house looks like an ancient CASTLE! It was really cool. Down on the coast, there was a little port with fishing boats and brightly colored houses and cafes. If you looked across the little port, you could see across the bigger harbor to the other side, white fluffy clouds covered snow peaked mountains, which led to bright yellow towns that lined the aqua blue sea. We walked up into the hills, passing huge houses with 50+ steps and intricate gates at the foot of the properties. The paths were ivy-lined and cobblestoned, giving glimpses of the blue Sea to one side, the bright sky above, and deep breathes of plants, herbs, oranges and mint.
The houses in Portofino, Santa Margherita, Genoa, and many of the towns in the Liguria Region of Italy having interesting decorations on the outsides. When they were built in the ancient times, it was very expensive to use real blocks of stone to build the homes with. So instead, the houses are PAINTED to LOOK like they are built with large stones! So all of the buildings have these three-dimensional designs to them that look like large bricks of stone were used but up close, it is just paintings! And also, many of the homes have FAKE WINDOWS! They are just paintings on the building but they are right next to real windows! It is really amusing and interesting and pretty.
So anyway, back in Portofino, we walked through the paths and made our way to the Faro, or the lighthouse. The lighthouse looked out over the water and, as Kel Bel said, you could look out into infinity! It really did look like it went on forever! It was really spectacular :-)
After we got back to Genoa, we relaxed, did some homework and studying, and went out to dinner. We went to this place called Via Frugolini 49 (or something like that), which we had already TRIED to find 3 times! Twice we got lost and the third time we found it but it was closed! So we went a fourth time and it was finally open! It was a really nice, classy place. I finally tried Minestrone alla Genovese (they put pesto in it because Genoa is known for its pesto) (By the way, if I haven't explained yet, Genoa is called Genoa in English but in Italian it is Genova!)
After dinner, we came back to the hotel and crashed. Long day!
Leave me some comments on my blog so I know who, if anyone, is reading it! :-)
Buonanotte! (Goodnight!)
GORGEOUS!!! I love towns on the water. Portofino is like the rich, expensive town on the Riveria. It's really small and exclusive with just a handful of houses spread from the edge of the water up into the mountains (because like every where else here on the Riveria, the mountains meet the sea!). Dolce and Gabbana have a house there!!! Their house looks like an ancient CASTLE! It was really cool. Down on the coast, there was a little port with fishing boats and brightly colored houses and cafes. If you looked across the little port, you could see across the bigger harbor to the other side, white fluffy clouds covered snow peaked mountains, which led to bright yellow towns that lined the aqua blue sea. We walked up into the hills, passing huge houses with 50+ steps and intricate gates at the foot of the properties. The paths were ivy-lined and cobblestoned, giving glimpses of the blue Sea to one side, the bright sky above, and deep breathes of plants, herbs, oranges and mint.
The houses in Portofino, Santa Margherita, Genoa, and many of the towns in the Liguria Region of Italy having interesting decorations on the outsides. When they were built in the ancient times, it was very expensive to use real blocks of stone to build the homes with. So instead, the houses are PAINTED to LOOK like they are built with large stones! So all of the buildings have these three-dimensional designs to them that look like large bricks of stone were used but up close, it is just paintings! And also, many of the homes have FAKE WINDOWS! They are just paintings on the building but they are right next to real windows! It is really amusing and interesting and pretty.
So anyway, back in Portofino, we walked through the paths and made our way to the Faro, or the lighthouse. The lighthouse looked out over the water and, as Kel Bel said, you could look out into infinity! It really did look like it went on forever! It was really spectacular :-)
After we got back to Genoa, we relaxed, did some homework and studying, and went out to dinner. We went to this place called Via Frugolini 49 (or something like that), which we had already TRIED to find 3 times! Twice we got lost and the third time we found it but it was closed! So we went a fourth time and it was finally open! It was a really nice, classy place. I finally tried Minestrone alla Genovese (they put pesto in it because Genoa is known for its pesto) (By the way, if I haven't explained yet, Genoa is called Genoa in English but in Italian it is Genova!)
After dinner, we came back to the hotel and crashed. Long day!
Leave me some comments on my blog so I know who, if anyone, is reading it! :-)
Buonanotte! (Goodnight!)
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Blog Days 8, 9, and 10
This is going to be one LONGGG blog post...
So Friday... we went to school and had a quiz. It wasn't too bad so I hope I did well because I would love to get an A in this class. Plus, I studied really hard! There were a few extra credit questions too that I know I got right so that should also help. They ended class a few minutes early because we all had to go get ready for FLORENCE!!!!! :-D
We went back to the hotel and grabbed our bags and did a bit of last minute packing, met the group, and headed off to Florence (or Firenze as it is called here)! 14 of us caught the train and we were off! :-D Behard, our one and only male on the trip, was deemed our German Shepard, tour guide, knight, and translator. He really took care of us this weekend and I really appreciated it! He organized who was going, got all the train tickets for us, researched and reserved a hotel for everyone, and planned what to do and where. It was an amazing weekend and we really have him to thank for it! We are going to celebrate his birthday in Milan and make sure he has a blast!
So anyway... 4 hour train ride to Florence. The view was amazing and it never got old! Look out one side and you see gorgeous views of the Mediterranean Sea with cliffs and beaches and rocky shore lines and boats and fishing towns and gorgeous villas right on the water. Look out the other side of the train and the skyline is broken up by the mountains that were tree covered and snow-peaked. The sky is bright blue with small, bright white clouds. The sunset is breath-taking and indescribable. We passed town after town of brightly colored houses, orange trees lining the streets, and mopeds and mini cars zooming all around. I couldn't peel my eyes away from the view.. it was spectacular.
we got to Florence around 7pm. We asked for directions to our hotel and set off along cobblestone streets, where the bright yellow and cool tan buildings were so close together, the only visible sliver of sky was taken up by the full moon and the huge Duomo that Florence is famous for. As we walked towards the Hotel Ginori, we passed intricately detailed churches, piazzas with fountains and statues of Italy's greatest and bravest, and windows that gave glimpses of painted ceilings and beautiful artwork. We passed bars, cafes and restaurants with beautiful bottles of wine in the windows and delicious scents of pasta and pizza wafting out.
We got to our hotel and checked in. Krissie and Emoni had decided to come last minute and only for one night so they had to get their own room but everyone else was in groups of four. Ash, Kel, and I stayed in a room with another girl, Karen. The rooms were nice and we each had our own bed and closet. The bathroom was weird though... as all bathrooms in Italy seem to be. The toilet was INSIDE the shower and the shower only had a detachable head that refused to work like a normal shower. It was a funny experience and we all got a laugh out of it. (The bathroom in Genoa is even worse... the windows aren't airtight so the bathroom is always freezing and the curtains even move when the window is closed from the wind blowing in! And the water can never stay at one temperature. And the toilet is funky lol) So in comparison, the Florentine bathroom was amazing! Plus, the towels were actually SOFT!!! They don't have clothes dryers in Italy so the towels are all scratchy but the ones at our Florence hotel were niceee!
We all got ready and left to find some dinner. We randomly went into a place where you ordered at the counter and they brought it to your table. The food wasn't very good. A lot of us got a pasta sampler and no one really liked it. But they let us drink the wine we had bought earlier there so that made up for it. I also split a cannolli with Kel which was pretty good. I figured I had been in Italy for a week... I needed to try an authentic cannolli here! we went back to the hotel and pre-gamed with wine and had some bonding time. It was a lot of fun and I really like most of the people here! I was excited because Krissie decided to drink and go out with us even though her and Emoni were waking up early to do an art tour in Florence. I hadn't had much hang out time with her outside of homework time (She speaks Italian really well because she is a French and Spanish major and has been to Italy a bunch of times so she helps us with homework). We all got nicely tipsy before we left and Florence was just as pretty with a wine buzz! :-P We were walking to one club that was in my book but then there was a guy handing out fliers for another club so we decided to go there. It was called Astor and upstairs had a huge bar, projector TVs, white curtains and black lights, and lots of interesting people. Downstairs felt kind of like Thirsty Turtle, with loud dance music, flashing lights, everyone dancing, and the drinks flowing. It was really fun though! We all went and got drinks and they gave us all free shots. Some of the Italian boys there were really nice but others were total creepers. Ashley (not Ash my roommate) was being CHASED by one guy even though she repeatedly told him no. Pretty funny. I think they have a thing for red heads here since there are none. I was chatting with a guy named Lidi who was nice and chill. He even backed off when I told him I wanted to dance with my friends. He is a really good dancer (I think all European men are!) and it was so fun! He even dipped me! Rofl.
After awhile of dancing and drinking, we decided that the Italians can out-party us Americans and it was time for us to end the night. (I think they party from like 1 am until 6 am... and then get up and walk all over town during the day!) Behard was our German shepard; he counted us as we left the bar to make sure we had everyone and he made sure none of us smashed our faces on the cobblestones. We all made it safely back to the hotel and crashed in bed... well kind of.
The hotel was pretty nice but had some quirky, amusing qualities that were especially funny late at night when we were drunk. For example, the beds were REALLY bouncing. They felt like trampolines!!! I was bouncing all over the place and laughing my butt off. Ash took some hilarious videos that night! (they will be on facebook eventually). All in all, it was a great night.
The next morning, we clutched our heads and dragged ourselves out of bed, ate a quick breakfast of bread (because that is all they serve in the morning), and started our sight-seeing. We started out with the Duomo, the huge dome on top of a church that Florence is famous for. We went inside that church and looked at the artwork there (everywhere, and especially every church, has a TON of artwork! Intricate, detailed, extravagant, antique art pieces adorn every inch of space on every single building, even if it is a building with an every day use, like a grocery store). We wandered the streets and went to the university and L'Academia where the statue of David is. Florence is a really small town and it only takes about 30 minutes to walk end-to-end of the historic areas. We saw David and all of the other artwork in that museum. It was pretty impressive. Maybe I am stupid, but I never realized that the statue of David is depicting David from the Bible story of David and Goliath! That was interesting. As I was looking at David, some old guy was behind me and goes "Whoa.. those are some buns of steel!... Or maybe buns of.. rock? Hmmm" And seemed to seriously contemplate it :-P We went to Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) where we took a million pictures. There is a gorgeous view of the Arno river with bridges crossing it and reflections of the buildings on the water's surface. After that, we walked around some more, ate some gelati (I tried fig gelato! YUM!), and walked through the gold and jewelry district. Every store practically GLOWED because of the gold. It was beautiful. The gelati in Florence was really cool because every store had huge displays with designs molded into the gelati and pieces of fruit or candy in it. They really do everything to the extreme here in Italy! And while wandering around the streets of Florence, guess who we see?! My dancing buddy, Lidi! Haha really funny. We climbed to the Pizzale Michelangelo, a high point that gives a view of the entire city. It was amazing and beautiful and again, words can't describe it.
On our walk back to the hotel, we saw an anti-Israeli protest. It was kind of scary so we just stood and watched. We went back to the hotel and got ready. We decided to go out to Cibreo Trattoria, a restaurant that my travel book suggested. It shares a menu and kitchen with the Florentine Culinary Institute! I got a bread soup and chicken meatballs and it was all REALLY good and unique and interesting. Allison ordered stuffed chicken neck and it came with a CHICKEN HEAD sitting on the plate! ROFL it was hysterical and so weird!
After dinner, a lot of people wanted to see the Ravens game so we went back to the Astor bar because they were playing it on their big screen. Except they didn't play the sound! So there was old American club music playing while everyone watched the game. I was more interested in my Chianti wine and the music than the game. And guess who we saw AGAIN! Yupp.. Lidi was there.. Apparently all his friends work there. We chatted and it was cool to talk to someone from a different culture (He isn't actually Italian. He is Albania and living and studying in Italy. Kinda lame to not be talking to an Italian but it was still interesting).
We couldn't stay out too late because we had to catch a 9:30 am train to Pisa! We woke up, ate some more bread (I love my carbs but this is getting a bit outrageous! lol), and ran to the train station.
It was a quick ride to Pisa but then a 30 minute walk (with our huge bags and ALL our Florentine souvenirs) to the Leaning Tower. We took A LOT of corny pictures, joked around, hung out, did some more shopping, and just relaxed for a few hours. Not really much to do or see other than the Leaning Tower of Pisa and its church that goes with it. We caught another train and headed back to Genoa. I was SO sad to see the weekend end. I was really tempted to hop on another train and go back to Florence and stay there forever :-P (don't worry Mom and Dad.. I would have written once in awhile! :-P) But alas, all good things must come to an end.
It was a really good bonding weekend. Kel Ash and I bonded really well with Ashley, Allison, Tasha, Krissie and Behard and we all had a lot of fun. We are going to host an Italian party this semester and invite everyone over for some Italian wine, food, and partying :-P
Saluti dalle Genoa (Greetings from Genoa)
So Friday... we went to school and had a quiz. It wasn't too bad so I hope I did well because I would love to get an A in this class. Plus, I studied really hard! There were a few extra credit questions too that I know I got right so that should also help. They ended class a few minutes early because we all had to go get ready for FLORENCE!!!!! :-D
We went back to the hotel and grabbed our bags and did a bit of last minute packing, met the group, and headed off to Florence (or Firenze as it is called here)! 14 of us caught the train and we were off! :-D Behard, our one and only male on the trip, was deemed our German Shepard, tour guide, knight, and translator. He really took care of us this weekend and I really appreciated it! He organized who was going, got all the train tickets for us, researched and reserved a hotel for everyone, and planned what to do and where. It was an amazing weekend and we really have him to thank for it! We are going to celebrate his birthday in Milan and make sure he has a blast!
So anyway... 4 hour train ride to Florence. The view was amazing and it never got old! Look out one side and you see gorgeous views of the Mediterranean Sea with cliffs and beaches and rocky shore lines and boats and fishing towns and gorgeous villas right on the water. Look out the other side of the train and the skyline is broken up by the mountains that were tree covered and snow-peaked. The sky is bright blue with small, bright white clouds. The sunset is breath-taking and indescribable. We passed town after town of brightly colored houses, orange trees lining the streets, and mopeds and mini cars zooming all around. I couldn't peel my eyes away from the view.. it was spectacular.
we got to Florence around 7pm. We asked for directions to our hotel and set off along cobblestone streets, where the bright yellow and cool tan buildings were so close together, the only visible sliver of sky was taken up by the full moon and the huge Duomo that Florence is famous for. As we walked towards the Hotel Ginori, we passed intricately detailed churches, piazzas with fountains and statues of Italy's greatest and bravest, and windows that gave glimpses of painted ceilings and beautiful artwork. We passed bars, cafes and restaurants with beautiful bottles of wine in the windows and delicious scents of pasta and pizza wafting out.
We got to our hotel and checked in. Krissie and Emoni had decided to come last minute and only for one night so they had to get their own room but everyone else was in groups of four. Ash, Kel, and I stayed in a room with another girl, Karen. The rooms were nice and we each had our own bed and closet. The bathroom was weird though... as all bathrooms in Italy seem to be. The toilet was INSIDE the shower and the shower only had a detachable head that refused to work like a normal shower. It was a funny experience and we all got a laugh out of it. (The bathroom in Genoa is even worse... the windows aren't airtight so the bathroom is always freezing and the curtains even move when the window is closed from the wind blowing in! And the water can never stay at one temperature. And the toilet is funky lol) So in comparison, the Florentine bathroom was amazing! Plus, the towels were actually SOFT!!! They don't have clothes dryers in Italy so the towels are all scratchy but the ones at our Florence hotel were niceee!
We all got ready and left to find some dinner. We randomly went into a place where you ordered at the counter and they brought it to your table. The food wasn't very good. A lot of us got a pasta sampler and no one really liked it. But they let us drink the wine we had bought earlier there so that made up for it. I also split a cannolli with Kel which was pretty good. I figured I had been in Italy for a week... I needed to try an authentic cannolli here! we went back to the hotel and pre-gamed with wine and had some bonding time. It was a lot of fun and I really like most of the people here! I was excited because Krissie decided to drink and go out with us even though her and Emoni were waking up early to do an art tour in Florence. I hadn't had much hang out time with her outside of homework time (She speaks Italian really well because she is a French and Spanish major and has been to Italy a bunch of times so she helps us with homework). We all got nicely tipsy before we left and Florence was just as pretty with a wine buzz! :-P We were walking to one club that was in my book but then there was a guy handing out fliers for another club so we decided to go there. It was called Astor and upstairs had a huge bar, projector TVs, white curtains and black lights, and lots of interesting people. Downstairs felt kind of like Thirsty Turtle, with loud dance music, flashing lights, everyone dancing, and the drinks flowing. It was really fun though! We all went and got drinks and they gave us all free shots. Some of the Italian boys there were really nice but others were total creepers. Ashley (not Ash my roommate) was being CHASED by one guy even though she repeatedly told him no. Pretty funny. I think they have a thing for red heads here since there are none. I was chatting with a guy named Lidi who was nice and chill. He even backed off when I told him I wanted to dance with my friends. He is a really good dancer (I think all European men are!) and it was so fun! He even dipped me! Rofl.
After awhile of dancing and drinking, we decided that the Italians can out-party us Americans and it was time for us to end the night. (I think they party from like 1 am until 6 am... and then get up and walk all over town during the day!) Behard was our German shepard; he counted us as we left the bar to make sure we had everyone and he made sure none of us smashed our faces on the cobblestones. We all made it safely back to the hotel and crashed in bed... well kind of.
The hotel was pretty nice but had some quirky, amusing qualities that were especially funny late at night when we were drunk. For example, the beds were REALLY bouncing. They felt like trampolines!!! I was bouncing all over the place and laughing my butt off. Ash took some hilarious videos that night! (they will be on facebook eventually). All in all, it was a great night.
The next morning, we clutched our heads and dragged ourselves out of bed, ate a quick breakfast of bread (because that is all they serve in the morning), and started our sight-seeing. We started out with the Duomo, the huge dome on top of a church that Florence is famous for. We went inside that church and looked at the artwork there (everywhere, and especially every church, has a TON of artwork! Intricate, detailed, extravagant, antique art pieces adorn every inch of space on every single building, even if it is a building with an every day use, like a grocery store). We wandered the streets and went to the university and L'Academia where the statue of David is. Florence is a really small town and it only takes about 30 minutes to walk end-to-end of the historic areas. We saw David and all of the other artwork in that museum. It was pretty impressive. Maybe I am stupid, but I never realized that the statue of David is depicting David from the Bible story of David and Goliath! That was interesting. As I was looking at David, some old guy was behind me and goes "Whoa.. those are some buns of steel!... Or maybe buns of.. rock? Hmmm" And seemed to seriously contemplate it :-P We went to Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) where we took a million pictures. There is a gorgeous view of the Arno river with bridges crossing it and reflections of the buildings on the water's surface. After that, we walked around some more, ate some gelati (I tried fig gelato! YUM!), and walked through the gold and jewelry district. Every store practically GLOWED because of the gold. It was beautiful. The gelati in Florence was really cool because every store had huge displays with designs molded into the gelati and pieces of fruit or candy in it. They really do everything to the extreme here in Italy! And while wandering around the streets of Florence, guess who we see?! My dancing buddy, Lidi! Haha really funny. We climbed to the Pizzale Michelangelo, a high point that gives a view of the entire city. It was amazing and beautiful and again, words can't describe it.
On our walk back to the hotel, we saw an anti-Israeli protest. It was kind of scary so we just stood and watched. We went back to the hotel and got ready. We decided to go out to Cibreo Trattoria, a restaurant that my travel book suggested. It shares a menu and kitchen with the Florentine Culinary Institute! I got a bread soup and chicken meatballs and it was all REALLY good and unique and interesting. Allison ordered stuffed chicken neck and it came with a CHICKEN HEAD sitting on the plate! ROFL it was hysterical and so weird!
After dinner, a lot of people wanted to see the Ravens game so we went back to the Astor bar because they were playing it on their big screen. Except they didn't play the sound! So there was old American club music playing while everyone watched the game. I was more interested in my Chianti wine and the music than the game. And guess who we saw AGAIN! Yupp.. Lidi was there.. Apparently all his friends work there. We chatted and it was cool to talk to someone from a different culture (He isn't actually Italian. He is Albania and living and studying in Italy. Kinda lame to not be talking to an Italian but it was still interesting).
We couldn't stay out too late because we had to catch a 9:30 am train to Pisa! We woke up, ate some more bread (I love my carbs but this is getting a bit outrageous! lol), and ran to the train station.
It was a quick ride to Pisa but then a 30 minute walk (with our huge bags and ALL our Florentine souvenirs) to the Leaning Tower. We took A LOT of corny pictures, joked around, hung out, did some more shopping, and just relaxed for a few hours. Not really much to do or see other than the Leaning Tower of Pisa and its church that goes with it. We caught another train and headed back to Genoa. I was SO sad to see the weekend end. I was really tempted to hop on another train and go back to Florence and stay there forever :-P (don't worry Mom and Dad.. I would have written once in awhile! :-P) But alas, all good things must come to an end.
It was a really good bonding weekend. Kel Ash and I bonded really well with Ashley, Allison, Tasha, Krissie and Behard and we all had a lot of fun. We are going to host an Italian party this semester and invite everyone over for some Italian wine, food, and partying :-P
Saluti dalle Genoa (Greetings from Genoa)
Blog Day 7 - Palazzo Reale
Today, the snow was all gone but it was still pretty chilly. We went to class and they reviewed a bit more today so I feel like I am starting to get the hang of Italian... at least better than I was before.
After class, Kel and I stopped to get her a sandwich at our normal place we go, Bar 25, and the guys know us now! we chatted with them a bit in Italian, telling them that we are in Italy until the 22nd, studying Italian language and culture, that we are going to Florence this weekend, and that we are going to Milan next weekend. It was really fun! And then they gave us free Mars candy bars :-) We met back at the school and went as a group to the Museo di Palazzo Reale. It is a museum in the royal palace. This area of Italy had a royal family at one point and this palace is where they lived. It is now a museum that showcases their art and decorations. It was magnificent and beautiful and intricate and CRAZY!!!
Talking about royalty in this area, there is a street full of palaces of the rich families from ancient Genoa. These gorgeous, huge houses with beautiful paintings, intricate statues and bas-reliefs, and breath-taking courtyards and indoor gardens and fountains, are now used for every-day type things. They are used for City Hall, a post office, a book store, etc. It is crazy!!! Here in Genoa, dogs go to the bathroom on things that would be in MUSEUMS in the USA!!! (By the way, everyone owns a dog here and they bring their dog everywhere, including into to stores and restaurants. And the dogs go to the bathroom wherever they want.) They have these beautiful carvings and paintings on the side of buildings that are from centuries ago and it is just common place here! It boggles my mind that everything here is so intricate and the manifestation of grandeur but it is just a whatever type thing.
After the museum, me and Kel shopped around some. We tried on some really cute boots that i might buy! They are pretty cheap even by my standards and I've been wanting cute, flat boots for awhile now. I might splurge on myself but I will probably wait til the end of the trip after I buy other people souvenirs.
Now I need to go do my homework so that I can study and then... PACK FOR FLORENCE!!!!! :-D
After class, Kel and I stopped to get her a sandwich at our normal place we go, Bar 25, and the guys know us now! we chatted with them a bit in Italian, telling them that we are in Italy until the 22nd, studying Italian language and culture, that we are going to Florence this weekend, and that we are going to Milan next weekend. It was really fun! And then they gave us free Mars candy bars :-) We met back at the school and went as a group to the Museo di Palazzo Reale. It is a museum in the royal palace. This area of Italy had a royal family at one point and this palace is where they lived. It is now a museum that showcases their art and decorations. It was magnificent and beautiful and intricate and CRAZY!!!
Talking about royalty in this area, there is a street full of palaces of the rich families from ancient Genoa. These gorgeous, huge houses with beautiful paintings, intricate statues and bas-reliefs, and breath-taking courtyards and indoor gardens and fountains, are now used for every-day type things. They are used for City Hall, a post office, a book store, etc. It is crazy!!! Here in Genoa, dogs go to the bathroom on things that would be in MUSEUMS in the USA!!! (By the way, everyone owns a dog here and they bring their dog everywhere, including into to stores and restaurants. And the dogs go to the bathroom wherever they want.) They have these beautiful carvings and paintings on the side of buildings that are from centuries ago and it is just common place here! It boggles my mind that everything here is so intricate and the manifestation of grandeur but it is just a whatever type thing.
After the museum, me and Kel shopped around some. We tried on some really cute boots that i might buy! They are pretty cheap even by my standards and I've been wanting cute, flat boots for awhile now. I might splurge on myself but I will probably wait til the end of the trip after I buy other people souvenirs.
Now I need to go do my homework so that I can study and then... PACK FOR FLORENCE!!!!! :-D
Blog Day 6 - Snowing in Genoa and Delicious FOOD!
So today started out kind of boring. We woke up and it was snowing REALLY hard!!! It was so pretty but really unusual weather for Genoa. We went to school, learned lots of verbs, came back to the hotel and trudged through 10 pages of Italian homework!!! It took forever and was really difficult.
Once we finally finished our homework, we had a group dinner, with the professors, Stefania and Susan. Susan's boyfriend and son were there also. They told us that it was going to be a traditional Genovian meal so we were really excited. Plus, we got to have Italian wine and not pay for it! YAY!!! So we went to this really nice restaurant near Due Torre (The Two Towers). The dinner was set up so we got a taste of Genoa classics. The first course was pansotti (ravioli type things stuffed with herbs and vegetables) with DELICIOUS salsa di noci (walnut sauce). It was SOOO good!!! I need to eat that again and again before I leave here!!! And Professoressa Branciforte (the official way to address Susan) said the sauce is really easy to make! Just blend walnuts, Parmesan cheese, heavy cream, and 1 garlic clove. We are definitely going to eat Italian meals ALL the time this semester! :-D The second course was pesto lasagna. The pesto in the Liguria region is amazing!!! It wasn't lasagna as we know it, with the layers. It was just pesto on top of long, thin, wide, flat noodles. It was perfect. It's a good thing I am only here 3 weeks... between the pasta, pizza, foccacia, and gelato, I would be HUGE if I stayed here any longer :-P After the pasta meals, they brought out the meat course. There was very rare, thinly sliced steak with Parmesan cheese and some type of lettuce. They also brought out squid. I tried a tiny piece and it was ok but not really my type. We also had vegetable pies, with spinach, zucchini, and mashed potatoes and string beans together. It was very similar to quiche. The whole meal was amazing, the best yet! I had the red wine which was much better than the few cheap wines that I have tried so far here. (Although even the cheap wines here are much better than what I drink at home :-P) After the main meal, we got to choose our dessert. I had panna cotta with chocolate sauce. Panna cotta is cooked cream that condenses and is then cold. It kind of has the consistency of flan but it was just a milky flavor. It was really good! I was sitting next to Susan's son Max and he suggested it to me.
It was interesting to talk to Max because he lives here. He is 15 and was telling us how their high schools work. They have sections within each grade and there are some specialty schools and they study for half days Monday-SATURDAY! But then when they get out in the early afternoon, they have a lot of homework that takes the rest of the day. He is studying ancient Greek so that he can read the ancient philosophers in their native language! How cool is that?! Sounds difficult though.
After dinner, we came back to the hotel and studied and drank some wine with two of the other girls, Allison and Ashley. We have a test on Friday :( Wish me luck!
Ciao!
Once we finally finished our homework, we had a group dinner, with the professors, Stefania and Susan. Susan's boyfriend and son were there also. They told us that it was going to be a traditional Genovian meal so we were really excited. Plus, we got to have Italian wine and not pay for it! YAY!!! So we went to this really nice restaurant near Due Torre (The Two Towers). The dinner was set up so we got a taste of Genoa classics. The first course was pansotti (ravioli type things stuffed with herbs and vegetables) with DELICIOUS salsa di noci (walnut sauce). It was SOOO good!!! I need to eat that again and again before I leave here!!! And Professoressa Branciforte (the official way to address Susan) said the sauce is really easy to make! Just blend walnuts, Parmesan cheese, heavy cream, and 1 garlic clove. We are definitely going to eat Italian meals ALL the time this semester! :-D The second course was pesto lasagna. The pesto in the Liguria region is amazing!!! It wasn't lasagna as we know it, with the layers. It was just pesto on top of long, thin, wide, flat noodles. It was perfect. It's a good thing I am only here 3 weeks... between the pasta, pizza, foccacia, and gelato, I would be HUGE if I stayed here any longer :-P After the pasta meals, they brought out the meat course. There was very rare, thinly sliced steak with Parmesan cheese and some type of lettuce. They also brought out squid. I tried a tiny piece and it was ok but not really my type. We also had vegetable pies, with spinach, zucchini, and mashed potatoes and string beans together. It was very similar to quiche. The whole meal was amazing, the best yet! I had the red wine which was much better than the few cheap wines that I have tried so far here. (Although even the cheap wines here are much better than what I drink at home :-P) After the main meal, we got to choose our dessert. I had panna cotta with chocolate sauce. Panna cotta is cooked cream that condenses and is then cold. It kind of has the consistency of flan but it was just a milky flavor. It was really good! I was sitting next to Susan's son Max and he suggested it to me.
It was interesting to talk to Max because he lives here. He is 15 and was telling us how their high schools work. They have sections within each grade and there are some specialty schools and they study for half days Monday-SATURDAY! But then when they get out in the early afternoon, they have a lot of homework that takes the rest of the day. He is studying ancient Greek so that he can read the ancient philosophers in their native language! How cool is that?! Sounds difficult though.
After dinner, we came back to the hotel and studied and drank some wine with two of the other girls, Allison and Ashley. We have a test on Friday :( Wish me luck!
Ciao!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Blog Day 5
Second day of class and despite finally getting a full night of sleep, I was still really sleepy. To me, class felt just as hard as yesterday! Today, we learned some more verbs... but I don't think I could even tell you what they were off the top of my head. After I finish writing, I am going to study some more. We also learned seasons, months, days of the week, time, etc.
After school, we hung out and used the internet for awhile. It put me in a bad mood though because the journalism deans are so frustrating! And yes, I'll write that in a blog... I pretty much told them that straight to their faces and in numerous emails anyway. I asked for my producing grade to be looked at as soon as it was posted and I gave them all the information they asked for, and more, and now that I am in Italy, they are asking me to waste my time and email the prof to get a specific grade breakdown! I AM IN ITALY PEOPLE!!! THAT IS WHY I BEGGED YOU TO HELP ME BEFORE I LEFT!!! GRRR!!!
But anyway... screw it. They already hate me and will hate me even more next semester. On to happier topics...
Today was kind of boring because it is a national holiday here. It is the day of the epiphany or something like that? And they have this lady, Berafina, who looks like a witch and brings sweets and gifts to the kids in Italy. But because it is a holiday, the streets are empty and most of the places around are closed!
So when we got back from school, we did our homework and practiced some Italian. Then we all napped which was nice except now I won't be able to fall asleep. After we woke up, we tried to find this one place to get some more pasta pesto! But we got lost :-P Streets here aren't labeled the same way as in America (obviously) and it was hard for us to figure out what street we were on. So we asked this guy "Dove?" (Where?) and pointed to the card we had for the place. He said that he thought it was closed so we wound up just going to this pizza place that we had already been to. I can't wait to learn more Italian and get the hang of it better so that we can feel comfortable ordering food and shopping, etc.
I am going to go study more before bed so ciao everyone! :-)
By the way, it is snowing here!!! And even though we are in the center of a city, it is still pretty snow! We will see if any of it sticks tomorrow and if it stays pretty... I think it will though... Even things that are ugly, are still pretty because we are in ITALIA! :-D (i don't know if that made any sense but it did to me! lol)
One last thing... we are officially booked for a hotel in Florence!!! :-D I am so excited! I need to do some research though! :-D eek!
Ok.. Ciao for real now! :-D (By the way, my posts are posted the day after I write them usually)
After school, we hung out and used the internet for awhile. It put me in a bad mood though because the journalism deans are so frustrating! And yes, I'll write that in a blog... I pretty much told them that straight to their faces and in numerous emails anyway. I asked for my producing grade to be looked at as soon as it was posted and I gave them all the information they asked for, and more, and now that I am in Italy, they are asking me to waste my time and email the prof to get a specific grade breakdown! I AM IN ITALY PEOPLE!!! THAT IS WHY I BEGGED YOU TO HELP ME BEFORE I LEFT!!! GRRR!!!
But anyway... screw it. They already hate me and will hate me even more next semester. On to happier topics...
Today was kind of boring because it is a national holiday here. It is the day of the epiphany or something like that? And they have this lady, Berafina, who looks like a witch and brings sweets and gifts to the kids in Italy. But because it is a holiday, the streets are empty and most of the places around are closed!
So when we got back from school, we did our homework and practiced some Italian. Then we all napped which was nice except now I won't be able to fall asleep. After we woke up, we tried to find this one place to get some more pasta pesto! But we got lost :-P Streets here aren't labeled the same way as in America (obviously) and it was hard for us to figure out what street we were on. So we asked this guy "Dove?" (Where?) and pointed to the card we had for the place. He said that he thought it was closed so we wound up just going to this pizza place that we had already been to. I can't wait to learn more Italian and get the hang of it better so that we can feel comfortable ordering food and shopping, etc.
I am going to go study more before bed so ciao everyone! :-)
By the way, it is snowing here!!! And even though we are in the center of a city, it is still pretty snow! We will see if any of it sticks tomorrow and if it stays pretty... I think it will though... Even things that are ugly, are still pretty because we are in ITALIA! :-D (i don't know if that made any sense but it did to me! lol)
One last thing... we are officially booked for a hotel in Florence!!! :-D I am so excited! I need to do some research though! :-D eek!
Ok.. Ciao for real now! :-D (By the way, my posts are posted the day after I write them usually)
Monday, January 5, 2009
Blog Day 4 - Classes Start!
Today was our first day of class. It was hard!!! We started out with Professor Braniciforte who only
spoke Italian and spoke it really fast!!! We had to basically make up the alphabet and start over
every time we guessed a letter wrong. They don't have some letters that we have so that was
interesting. I also liked learning the numbers but for some reason, I can never remember how to say
"two"! (It is due by the way... pronounced DOO-EH). We learned how to introduce ourselves (Mi chiamo
Amy!), say where we are from (Sono di Baltimore), to ask how someone is (Come stai?), and "to be"
verbs. We also learned articles which are really tough!!! "Professoressa" Amodeo taught the second
half and she was hilarious. She helps us all get through the days because we just laugh at everything
she says. The other night, she called us flowers. Not pretty or delicate... but prissy wimps who
would die in the cold!!! But yea... My brain was DEAD after just a few hours of school. I hope it
gets easier.
After school finally ended, most of us hung out and used the free Internet there. Then, a couple of us
went to find food. We stumbled upon this little "bar" which is more like a sandwich shop in the
States. I got some really yummy sandwich but I have no clue what was on it. Then we went to the
market/coop and I got clementines, foccacia, and mozzarella to just have in my room if I get hungry
during off hours. It is really weird because restaurants and stores aren't open during the same kind
of hours as in the US. Stores close at 7 pm and restaurants don't open UNTIL 7:30pm! No such thing as
an early bird special in Italy!
A bunch of us went out to dinner tonight at a place down the street called Murena Suite. We had a
waitress named Veronica who was learning English so she would teach us phrases and we would teach her
phrases! It was sooo fun to go back and forth. We had a lot of laughs. There were two cute Italian
boys sitting in the same area so we were joking about hitting on them. But they were the first cute
Italian boys I've seen all trip! Most are a weird mix between metrosexual and biker dudes. We did get
one of them to take our picture with Veronica, the waitress. She was really interesting and fun and
the meal was really good. And I had my first Italian red wine... I had white the other night... And I
have a bottle of sparkling white under my bed, waiting for a special time to enjoy it lol. Three of
the girls we were with, Marta, Emoni, and Krissie, are fairly advanced in Italian so they were helping
us to communicate. And they wrote down a bunch of bad words for me to learn :-P I love being
inappropriate.
By the way... Hai un bel culo! ;-) (You have a nice ass!) Haha yea I am lame.
Ciao!
spoke Italian and spoke it really fast!!! We had to basically make up the alphabet and start over
every time we guessed a letter wrong. They don't have some letters that we have so that was
interesting. I also liked learning the numbers but for some reason, I can never remember how to say
"two"! (It is due by the way... pronounced DOO-EH). We learned how to introduce ourselves (Mi chiamo
Amy!), say where we are from (Sono di Baltimore), to ask how someone is (Come stai?), and "to be"
verbs. We also learned articles which are really tough!!! "Professoressa" Amodeo taught the second
half and she was hilarious. She helps us all get through the days because we just laugh at everything
she says. The other night, she called us flowers. Not pretty or delicate... but prissy wimps who
would die in the cold!!! But yea... My brain was DEAD after just a few hours of school. I hope it
gets easier.
After school finally ended, most of us hung out and used the free Internet there. Then, a couple of us
went to find food. We stumbled upon this little "bar" which is more like a sandwich shop in the
States. I got some really yummy sandwich but I have no clue what was on it. Then we went to the
market/coop and I got clementines, foccacia, and mozzarella to just have in my room if I get hungry
during off hours. It is really weird because restaurants and stores aren't open during the same kind
of hours as in the US. Stores close at 7 pm and restaurants don't open UNTIL 7:30pm! No such thing as
an early bird special in Italy!
A bunch of us went out to dinner tonight at a place down the street called Murena Suite. We had a
waitress named Veronica who was learning English so she would teach us phrases and we would teach her
phrases! It was sooo fun to go back and forth. We had a lot of laughs. There were two cute Italian
boys sitting in the same area so we were joking about hitting on them. But they were the first cute
Italian boys I've seen all trip! Most are a weird mix between metrosexual and biker dudes. We did get
one of them to take our picture with Veronica, the waitress. She was really interesting and fun and
the meal was really good. And I had my first Italian red wine... I had white the other night... And I
have a bottle of sparkling white under my bed, waiting for a special time to enjoy it lol. Three of
the girls we were with, Marta, Emoni, and Krissie, are fairly advanced in Italian so they were helping
us to communicate. And they wrote down a bunch of bad words for me to learn :-P I love being
inappropriate.
By the way... Hai un bel culo! ;-) (You have a nice ass!) Haha yea I am lame.
Ciao!
Blog Day 3 - Hiking Tour of the Five Towns
Third day in Italy and I am sleepy! We had to wake up and meet the prof at 7:30 to catch an 8 am train. We took a 2 hour train ride the Cinque Terre (pronounced Chin-kweh Tehr-reh) which are 5 towns along the Mediterranean Sea. We hiked from one area to another and then took a train to another area (because there was a mudslide blocking the path!) And hiked some more.
I'm not really sure how many of the towns we actually were in but the hiking was gorgeous... but kind of scary!!! The path was really narrow and rocky and if you slipped, you could have easily fallen and DIED!!! haha but really, I'm not exaggerating. There were these huge, plunging drops down sheer rock cliffs. One of the areas we went through was a bridge that must have been meant for lovers. There were tons of names on the walls, written in graffiti-style, and a statue of 2 people kissing. There were also locks attached to the railing but I dunno why?
We walked through these little towns that look like movie sets (Adam, you were so right... It doesn't seem real!) There was so much to see but not enough time to see it all! I had to keep looking down as I walked so I didn't trip or twist an ankle. I think I could have stayed there and stared at the Sea all day. Pictures don't capture how beautiful the the scene is.
Sometime during the hike, me and Behard got into a long talk about Iranian Jewry which was really interesting. He is from Iran but studying at UMD but not Jewish. He went to a discussion about Iranian Jewry though so he was teaching me things. He was also teaching me some Italian... or was trying to! I don't pick it up very quickly but I am trying! Other than Ash and Kel (2 of my best friends and my roommates here in Italy and at UMD, for those who don't know), Behard is one of the only people I've really had a decent discussion with so far but I look forward to getting to know all the girls better soon.
Anyway, back to the hiking trip.. One of the towns had 382 steps to climb to get to it!!! We did it all and it was fun!!! There were houses spread out along the steps though... can you imagine carrying groceries up or down that many steps?! I am going to come home with awesome legs ;-)
We walked through these beautiful little fishing towns where people had their boats parked on the street outside of their houses like we park cars (In the main cities, there are tons of motorbikes, mopeds, and itty bitty little cars).
The professor was walking at the back of the group so we didn't see her for a very long time and were just kind of on our own. It was a little bit scary but a lot of fun. I really love hiking and wish I got to do more of it! I think we have at least one more hiking trip planned. Who wants to hike when I get back home?? (By the way, people can comment on my blog... I think? Someone try it out! Or if people want to say hi and how jealous they are, feel free to send me a facebook message or email :-P)
There are Santas all over the place here which is really funny. They are all climbing into windows and up balconies. In Italy, there is also another character who brings gifts to children. Her name is Beerfina and she looks like a witch and flies on a broom and brings sweets.
In the final town, Verranzano (or something like that), most of the group got there awhile before the prof. We walked around and got gelato and shopped some! It was so unreal... these tiny little streets with houses and shops stacked on top of each other and squished in next to each other, all brightly painted against a beautiful blue sky... Still feels like a dream!!!
After that, we finally all met up again and got a quick late lunch. Then we caught the train back to Genoa.
I loved those little towns! They were so beautiful and lived up to my expectations of Italy (well, this area of Italy at least.) They fit my idea of what the Riveria was supposed to look like. Genoa doesn't really fit my image of Italy but we haven't seen much yet. The main street, Venti Septembre, is named after the date that Italy became unified. That is where our hotel is and it is kind of a weird street. There are cables zig-zagging across the sky that run the buses, the traffic is crazy, there are TONS of people all in a hurry, and HUGE neon lights and signs. But then there are also streets dating back to the Medieval and Roman eras with gorgeous architecture and piazzas and fountains and things that are out on the street here but would be tucked away in a museum back home. It is a funky mix but I am sure in a day or two, once I get used to it, I will fall more in love with it. I already love the food and the language! There is so much to see and not enough time to see it!
A few general things about Italian: everyone has dogs and they take them everywhere and they go to the bathroom anywhere; tons of people where real fur here.. PETA would be all over them in the states!; they listen to a lot of American music (Katy Perry plays everywhere!); and those moped drivers are crazy!
Tomorrow we start class! Wish me luck!
That's it for today... Ciao! :-D
PS - GO RAVENS! :-) (living with Ash and Kel makes me more interested than usual lol)
PPS - I write my blogs in notepad and then later post them on to the actual blog so thats why a bunch might show up at the same time. Paying for Internet sucks! But now that classes started, we get free Internet sometime so more to come...
I'm not really sure how many of the towns we actually were in but the hiking was gorgeous... but kind of scary!!! The path was really narrow and rocky and if you slipped, you could have easily fallen and DIED!!! haha but really, I'm not exaggerating. There were these huge, plunging drops down sheer rock cliffs. One of the areas we went through was a bridge that must have been meant for lovers. There were tons of names on the walls, written in graffiti-style, and a statue of 2 people kissing. There were also locks attached to the railing but I dunno why?
We walked through these little towns that look like movie sets (Adam, you were so right... It doesn't seem real!) There was so much to see but not enough time to see it all! I had to keep looking down as I walked so I didn't trip or twist an ankle. I think I could have stayed there and stared at the Sea all day. Pictures don't capture how beautiful the the scene is.
Sometime during the hike, me and Behard got into a long talk about Iranian Jewry which was really interesting. He is from Iran but studying at UMD but not Jewish. He went to a discussion about Iranian Jewry though so he was teaching me things. He was also teaching me some Italian... or was trying to! I don't pick it up very quickly but I am trying! Other than Ash and Kel (2 of my best friends and my roommates here in Italy and at UMD, for those who don't know), Behard is one of the only people I've really had a decent discussion with so far but I look forward to getting to know all the girls better soon.
Anyway, back to the hiking trip.. One of the towns had 382 steps to climb to get to it!!! We did it all and it was fun!!! There were houses spread out along the steps though... can you imagine carrying groceries up or down that many steps?! I am going to come home with awesome legs ;-)
We walked through these beautiful little fishing towns where people had their boats parked on the street outside of their houses like we park cars (In the main cities, there are tons of motorbikes, mopeds, and itty bitty little cars).
The professor was walking at the back of the group so we didn't see her for a very long time and were just kind of on our own. It was a little bit scary but a lot of fun. I really love hiking and wish I got to do more of it! I think we have at least one more hiking trip planned. Who wants to hike when I get back home?? (By the way, people can comment on my blog... I think? Someone try it out! Or if people want to say hi and how jealous they are, feel free to send me a facebook message or email :-P)
There are Santas all over the place here which is really funny. They are all climbing into windows and up balconies. In Italy, there is also another character who brings gifts to children. Her name is Beerfina and she looks like a witch and flies on a broom and brings sweets.
In the final town, Verranzano (or something like that), most of the group got there awhile before the prof. We walked around and got gelato and shopped some! It was so unreal... these tiny little streets with houses and shops stacked on top of each other and squished in next to each other, all brightly painted against a beautiful blue sky... Still feels like a dream!!!
After that, we finally all met up again and got a quick late lunch. Then we caught the train back to Genoa.
I loved those little towns! They were so beautiful and lived up to my expectations of Italy (well, this area of Italy at least.) They fit my idea of what the Riveria was supposed to look like. Genoa doesn't really fit my image of Italy but we haven't seen much yet. The main street, Venti Septembre, is named after the date that Italy became unified. That is where our hotel is and it is kind of a weird street. There are cables zig-zagging across the sky that run the buses, the traffic is crazy, there are TONS of people all in a hurry, and HUGE neon lights and signs. But then there are also streets dating back to the Medieval and Roman eras with gorgeous architecture and piazzas and fountains and things that are out on the street here but would be tucked away in a museum back home. It is a funky mix but I am sure in a day or two, once I get used to it, I will fall more in love with it. I already love the food and the language! There is so much to see and not enough time to see it!
A few general things about Italian: everyone has dogs and they take them everywhere and they go to the bathroom anywhere; tons of people where real fur here.. PETA would be all over them in the states!; they listen to a lot of American music (Katy Perry plays everywhere!); and those moped drivers are crazy!
Tomorrow we start class! Wish me luck!
That's it for today... Ciao! :-D
PS - GO RAVENS! :-) (living with Ash and Kel makes me more interested than usual lol)
PPS - I write my blogs in notepad and then later post them on to the actual blog so thats why a bunch might show up at the same time. Paying for Internet sucks! But now that classes started, we get free Internet sometime so more to come...
Blog Day 2
First real day in Genoa...
Today, we woke up around 8:30 and went to breakfast in the hotel. European breakfast with lots of bread and thats it. We met at 11 and walked to the cable car that just goes up and down the mountain. We went allllll the way to the top to see the view... but it was FOGGY!!! So lame... I want to try to go back up there to get some good pics of the view.
Then we went to lunch at De Maria which was super cheap and delicioso! I had pasta pesto! And then for dessert, I had fruita cotta (cooked fruit) which was really yummy. There was funny grafitti outside that had rock and roll bands listed.
The prof walked us home and we had some free time. A bunch of us went shopping and to the market. Italy doesn't have sales all the time... they only have 2 sales a year: now and in July. But everything is still so expensive! And I didn't come here to go clothes shopping for myself. I can do that at home.
Then we went out to dinner at a pizzeria and got a whole pizza to myself! (It is made to be like that) Mine had bacon and tomatoes on it. Then we came back here and hung out. I hung out with some of the people from our group and we discussed possible places to travel. I think this coming weekend we are going to go to the Toscana area... Florence and a wine tour in the country and then Pisa on the way back!!! So exciting!!! The lady who works the front desk the most, Josephina, is researching for us. And the other weekend we can travel, we might go to Venice and then Milan on Sunday. Our only boy on the trip, Behard (or just B as we call him) turns 21 on that Sunday and he wants to spend his birthday in Milan. I think that would be a blast.
Sorry my writing sucks in this blog but I have too much to do! Duh I am in ITALY!!!
Today, we woke up around 8:30 and went to breakfast in the hotel. European breakfast with lots of bread and thats it. We met at 11 and walked to the cable car that just goes up and down the mountain. We went allllll the way to the top to see the view... but it was FOGGY!!! So lame... I want to try to go back up there to get some good pics of the view.
Then we went to lunch at De Maria which was super cheap and delicioso! I had pasta pesto! And then for dessert, I had fruita cotta (cooked fruit) which was really yummy. There was funny grafitti outside that had rock and roll bands listed.
The prof walked us home and we had some free time. A bunch of us went shopping and to the market. Italy doesn't have sales all the time... they only have 2 sales a year: now and in July. But everything is still so expensive! And I didn't come here to go clothes shopping for myself. I can do that at home.
Then we went out to dinner at a pizzeria and got a whole pizza to myself! (It is made to be like that) Mine had bacon and tomatoes on it. Then we came back here and hung out. I hung out with some of the people from our group and we discussed possible places to travel. I think this coming weekend we are going to go to the Toscana area... Florence and a wine tour in the country and then Pisa on the way back!!! So exciting!!! The lady who works the front desk the most, Josephina, is researching for us. And the other weekend we can travel, we might go to Venice and then Milan on Sunday. Our only boy on the trip, Behard (or just B as we call him) turns 21 on that Sunday and he wants to spend his birthday in Milan. I think that would be a blast.
Sorry my writing sucks in this blog but I have too much to do! Duh I am in ITALY!!!
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Traveling to Italy!
BLOG DAY 1
Sorry about this first blog but I am super jetlagged and exhausted after a full day of traveling and over 24 hours of being awake. This first blog is going to be really disjointed and horribly written.
Met the girls at Dulles around 2, checked in and went to our gate, met a few other people from our program. Everyone seems really nice and interesting.
7 hour flight to Paris wasn’t that bad. Plane and seats were really comfortable and high tech! TVs in the back of the headrests made the flight go by quickly. I watched Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist which I really liked!
Got to Paris for our layover. We were exhausted so all 12 of us girls in the program crashed, some of us sleeping on the floor. Then our plane was delayed so our 4 hour layover turned into over 5. The ground was cold and hard so sleep didn’t really happen.
On the Paris to Genoa flight, we all slept but woke up as we were landing. Genoa is GORGEOUS from the air!!! Starts at the water line and climbs up into the mountains. White buildings with some splashes of color. Amazing view of the harbor and mountains.
Landed and met up with our awesomely crazy professor, Stefania Amodeo. She is hilarious and a complete nut! She kept saying “OH MAMA MIA!!!” about all of our bags. She is going to be a total Italian mother on this trip but that is great! She seems to be full of energy, good advice, and crazy Italian phrases.
We took TWO city buses from the airport to our hotel. The Italians apparently do NOT appreciate big bags blocking their way on the buses so we got a lot of dirty looks and Italian grumblings.
We got to our hotel and checked in. Kel, Ash and I are apparently in the biggest and best room... and it is only like 2/3s the size of a normal American hotel room. But it is nice and clean and I think we will be just fine in this room. Only negative thing is that all 3 of us are sick in different ways so 2 of us sharing one big bed might be bad.
With no time to eat or unpack or nap or even sit down, we all headed out and went on a 2-3 hour walking tour of the area. We were all dead on our feet and hungry but resturants close from 2ish-7ish! We got gelato which was amazing but not exactly a real meal. After the walking tour, we had an hour in our room so me and Ash each skyped our parents and I unpacked some.
Then we went to this little Pizzareria down the street. We didn’t get pizza but ate off of a buffet. It was nice to eat some pasta (aka my comfort food!)
Now, I am just writing this and then crashing :-)
Stay tuned for more from the BEAUTIFUL Italia! :-D
Sorry about this first blog but I am super jetlagged and exhausted after a full day of traveling and over 24 hours of being awake. This first blog is going to be really disjointed and horribly written.
Met the girls at Dulles around 2, checked in and went to our gate, met a few other people from our program. Everyone seems really nice and interesting.
7 hour flight to Paris wasn’t that bad. Plane and seats were really comfortable and high tech! TVs in the back of the headrests made the flight go by quickly. I watched Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist which I really liked!
Got to Paris for our layover. We were exhausted so all 12 of us girls in the program crashed, some of us sleeping on the floor. Then our plane was delayed so our 4 hour layover turned into over 5. The ground was cold and hard so sleep didn’t really happen.
On the Paris to Genoa flight, we all slept but woke up as we were landing. Genoa is GORGEOUS from the air!!! Starts at the water line and climbs up into the mountains. White buildings with some splashes of color. Amazing view of the harbor and mountains.
Landed and met up with our awesomely crazy professor, Stefania Amodeo. She is hilarious and a complete nut! She kept saying “OH MAMA MIA!!!” about all of our bags. She is going to be a total Italian mother on this trip but that is great! She seems to be full of energy, good advice, and crazy Italian phrases.
We took TWO city buses from the airport to our hotel. The Italians apparently do NOT appreciate big bags blocking their way on the buses so we got a lot of dirty looks and Italian grumblings.
We got to our hotel and checked in. Kel, Ash and I are apparently in the biggest and best room... and it is only like 2/3s the size of a normal American hotel room. But it is nice and clean and I think we will be just fine in this room. Only negative thing is that all 3 of us are sick in different ways so 2 of us sharing one big bed might be bad.
With no time to eat or unpack or nap or even sit down, we all headed out and went on a 2-3 hour walking tour of the area. We were all dead on our feet and hungry but resturants close from 2ish-7ish! We got gelato which was amazing but not exactly a real meal. After the walking tour, we had an hour in our room so me and Ash each skyped our parents and I unpacked some.
Then we went to this little Pizzareria down the street. We didn’t get pizza but ate off of a buffet. It was nice to eat some pasta (aka my comfort food!)
Now, I am just writing this and then crashing :-)
Stay tuned for more from the BEAUTIFUL Italia! :-D
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