From what I call "Copfest" .. :)
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Hey everyone!
Stuff is starting to wind down here in Italia.
Easter dinner was a huuuge success. It ended up being Eastover because we had some Jewish kids with us.. We ended up with 12 people. We had a slight panic because the girl who was bringing appetizers was sick so she couldn't come. Thus Jess and I ended up cooking way more than we would have liked to - Five minutes before people arrived. However Easter was a ton of fun and everyone loved the meal. We made this thing they call "in crosta".. it was a pork roast wrapped in bread and pancetta, and it was absolutely amazing. Not exactly Kosher, but as I was reminded "It's Easter, why would you make it Kosher?" Right, thanks Jonah. ;)
Time is absolutely flying. I've made an effort to do every "Florence thing" possible. My friend Shawn visited these past few days. We went to this restauraunt called Il Latini, and I'm going to have a to make a separate entry for it, just because I think I cam make it into a really good story. I also have climbed the bell tower of the Duomo, and hung out in the Boboli Gardens at the Pitti Palace. Shawn was a really good excuse to do all of these things.. and to re-climb the Duomo. We also went back to Fiesole, which is the town just outside of the city that has the archaeological ruins. However, we got to explore the town a little more, and we found the most AMAZING view of Firenze that I could have ever asked for.
This weekend, five of us are heading to Trapani, a town on the western-ish coast of Sicily.
OH and I'm updating my pictures as I speak (..type?). Apparently some of the albums were on the "private" setting.. SORRY!
I have a little over three weeks left, and I'm devastated. It will be nice to see people, eat cheddar cheese, and wear sweatpants without getting judged for not having "la bella figura".. and I'm excited to start my new job at Butler .. but I'm not quite ready to leave Europe yet.
Grad school abroad? I think so.
Stuff is starting to wind down here in Italia.
Easter dinner was a huuuge success. It ended up being Eastover because we had some Jewish kids with us.. We ended up with 12 people. We had a slight panic because the girl who was bringing appetizers was sick so she couldn't come. Thus Jess and I ended up cooking way more than we would have liked to - Five minutes before people arrived. However Easter was a ton of fun and everyone loved the meal. We made this thing they call "in crosta".. it was a pork roast wrapped in bread and pancetta, and it was absolutely amazing. Not exactly Kosher, but as I was reminded "It's Easter, why would you make it Kosher?" Right, thanks Jonah. ;)
Time is absolutely flying. I've made an effort to do every "Florence thing" possible. My friend Shawn visited these past few days. We went to this restauraunt called Il Latini, and I'm going to have a to make a separate entry for it, just because I think I cam make it into a really good story. I also have climbed the bell tower of the Duomo, and hung out in the Boboli Gardens at the Pitti Palace. Shawn was a really good excuse to do all of these things.. and to re-climb the Duomo. We also went back to Fiesole, which is the town just outside of the city that has the archaeological ruins. However, we got to explore the town a little more, and we found the most AMAZING view of Firenze that I could have ever asked for.
This weekend, five of us are heading to Trapani, a town on the western-ish coast of Sicily.
OH and I'm updating my pictures as I speak (..type?). Apparently some of the albums were on the "private" setting.. SORRY!
I have a little over three weeks left, and I'm devastated. It will be nice to see people, eat cheddar cheese, and wear sweatpants without getting judged for not having "la bella figura".. and I'm excited to start my new job at Butler .. but I'm not quite ready to leave Europe yet.
Grad school abroad? I think so.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Hey everyone
Not a whole lot happening here in Italy lately.. I finally slept through the night last night as it is just Jess and I in our apartment, and I was so excited I thought it warranted getting written down in the blog.
Tomorrow is Easter, and while I'm gonna miss being with my family, we're cooking our own Easter dinner here. For 10 people. :) I'll get pictures of the obnoxious amount of food we bought on here soon... INCLUDING BUNNY CAKE.. provided I can find frosting.
However, in the meantime, Buona Pasqua, and I hope the bunny is good to you.
Oh yeah, and everyone on my mom's side owes me a chocolate rabbit of some sort when I get home. Don't think you guys got off easy this time. ;)
(I also accept payment in jelly beans.)
Ciao Ciao!
Not a whole lot happening here in Italy lately.. I finally slept through the night last night as it is just Jess and I in our apartment, and I was so excited I thought it warranted getting written down in the blog.
Tomorrow is Easter, and while I'm gonna miss being with my family, we're cooking our own Easter dinner here. For 10 people. :) I'll get pictures of the obnoxious amount of food we bought on here soon... INCLUDING BUNNY CAKE.. provided I can find frosting.
However, in the meantime, Buona Pasqua, and I hope the bunny is good to you.
Oh yeah, and everyone on my mom's side owes me a chocolate rabbit of some sort when I get home. Don't think you guys got off easy this time. ;)
(I also accept payment in jelly beans.)
Ciao Ciao!
Monday, April 6, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
I finally have fifteen minutes to write this!
Hey guys!
Sorry (again again) about the delay.. so let's just get right to business.
My spring break was the week after mid-terms.. So my last test was on thursday, and then the festivities began. That weekend, Jess and I stayed in Florence, and had a few people over for a dinner party. It was a lot of fun.. Jess made a seafood risotto. Afterwards a few of us ended up indulging in what I like to call "NOT-3-euro-a-bottle" wine (we've stepped it up to about maybe 5 euro) and watching Family Guy until about 3 am. I feel as though it was an accomplished night, haha.
The rest of the weekend was spent cleaning our apartment (obviously, because who else would?) and packing for our adventure.
On monday afternoon, Jess and I caught a train to Milano, then a bus from there to Bergamo airport. From Bergamo we flew to Prague and landed at about 10:30 pm in a horrific ice/snow/sleet/wind storm.. I actually watched the wing of our 737 do this weird bendy thing while we were flying. Yeah.. my mom didn't know about that one until now. We stayed with a friend of mine's sister, who lives about a 45 minute train ride west of the city in a cute little village called Hostivice. She picked us up at the airport (thank God, we had no money because the Czech Republic isn't on the Euro and also the Czech language makes no sense, so getting to the bus stop would have been a problem). We got back to her apartment and basically fell asleep as soon as we got there, because it had been such a rough flight.
The next morning we got up, were two minutes late for the bus.. and waited in the snow for an hour. In that hour we memorized the bus schedule for the next day, haha. Finally the bus came, we somehow communicated to the driver the name of the place we were trying to go, and got to Zlicin, where we picked up the Metro into the city. This was slightly less complicated, and the two of us arrived in the city in one piece.
Our first day in Prague was an adventure, as it snowed. The entire time. It snowed from the left, then from the right, but never from the sky, for some reason. We got to see the Prague castle, which was also an archaeological museum, and was really cool. Prague is SUCH an old city, and we loved it. We also saw a few more places, ate some lunch and dinner.. In general it was a good day. The next day in Prague, we were much better at public transportation, and the weather was significantly nicer. We bought a ticket to the Prague Jewish Museum, as the Czech Republic was one of the areas that was affected most by the Holocaust (though, I would say you do not hear about it as often). The ticket included entrance to a few memorials, synagogues, and informational museums that were scattered throughout the city. All-in-all, Prague was pretty cool.
We left pretty early on Thursday and once again, caught our bus to the train station.. we got on the train and then got on another bus, destined for Brno, CR and then eventually Vienna, Austria. A friend of mine had set us up with the bus (the website was in Czech and German only, and he happens to speak both) and it was only 10 Euro per person.. whereas flying would have cost us a solid 100 euro each.
We arrived in Vienna and then (barely) navigated ourselves on the Underground to our hotel. Taubstumengasse was the name of our stop. Yeah, German is a CRAZY language.. however the same friend who set us up with the bus has a tendency to babble at me in German (..and czech.. and Italian..) so SOMEHOW i was able to translate things for us as we wandered around after we checked in. Our friend Andrea met us at our hotel, and all three of us passed out for the night.
The next day, we went to the city center and wandered around for a while. We went to Freud's house and Mozart's house. Freud's house was cool, Mozart was a little boring. Maybe that is because I'm a psych major. We also went on "der Prater" (giant ferris wheel in vienna), which was really cool because you get to see the whole city from the top. The next day we visited more sites in Vienna, and had absolutely perfect weather. NICE. Then we climbed the Danube tower, which is the HIGHEST tower ever (but there's an elevator.. and an old German lady hugged me in it because apparently she liked my facial expression) that overlooks the Danube River and all of Vienna. We had dinner in the restaurant up in the tower, and the whole restaurant rotates around so you get to see the entire city lit up at night. This is also where my "Wind" picture (see previous post) came from. Vienna might rival Athens for the "Favorite City Visited" title.
Then I had a week of classes.. I didn't go to two of them (each class allows you five absences, and I have yet to miss any) because my obnoxious roommate decided to have a friend over that kept our entire apartment up three nights in a row. Yes, I did yell at her.
This weekend, our program took us to Siena, a sweet little town in Tuscany.. and then to a natural spa that had pools of naturally hot mineral water. Today we went to Perugia, a city a little further south near Assisi. Then we went to a wine tasting in the Chianti Classico region. The wine was absolutely amazing, so I bought some to ship home. And by "some" I mean "a lot". Don't go there, I'm still in a state of mourning for my bank account.
So there's the update. I only have a little over a month left. I'm devastated.
However, I am excited to start my new job. I was hired as a Mental Health Nurse at Butler hospital over the summer, which pays significantly better than Build-A-Bear does, and it also pertains to my major! My first real job! I'll be doing checks on the patients, admissions, and providing some of their direct care. I think I'm the messenger between the doctors and the patients. "Troubled economy." Don't think so :)
Sorry (again again) about the delay.. so let's just get right to business.
My spring break was the week after mid-terms.. So my last test was on thursday, and then the festivities began. That weekend, Jess and I stayed in Florence, and had a few people over for a dinner party. It was a lot of fun.. Jess made a seafood risotto. Afterwards a few of us ended up indulging in what I like to call "NOT-3-euro-a-bottle" wine (we've stepped it up to about maybe 5 euro) and watching Family Guy until about 3 am. I feel as though it was an accomplished night, haha.
The rest of the weekend was spent cleaning our apartment (obviously, because who else would?) and packing for our adventure.
On monday afternoon, Jess and I caught a train to Milano, then a bus from there to Bergamo airport. From Bergamo we flew to Prague and landed at about 10:30 pm in a horrific ice/snow/sleet/wind storm.. I actually watched the wing of our 737 do this weird bendy thing while we were flying. Yeah.. my mom didn't know about that one until now. We stayed with a friend of mine's sister, who lives about a 45 minute train ride west of the city in a cute little village called Hostivice. She picked us up at the airport (thank God, we had no money because the Czech Republic isn't on the Euro and also the Czech language makes no sense, so getting to the bus stop would have been a problem). We got back to her apartment and basically fell asleep as soon as we got there, because it had been such a rough flight.
The next morning we got up, were two minutes late for the bus.. and waited in the snow for an hour. In that hour we memorized the bus schedule for the next day, haha. Finally the bus came, we somehow communicated to the driver the name of the place we were trying to go, and got to Zlicin, where we picked up the Metro into the city. This was slightly less complicated, and the two of us arrived in the city in one piece.
Our first day in Prague was an adventure, as it snowed. The entire time. It snowed from the left, then from the right, but never from the sky, for some reason. We got to see the Prague castle, which was also an archaeological museum, and was really cool. Prague is SUCH an old city, and we loved it. We also saw a few more places, ate some lunch and dinner.. In general it was a good day. The next day in Prague, we were much better at public transportation, and the weather was significantly nicer. We bought a ticket to the Prague Jewish Museum, as the Czech Republic was one of the areas that was affected most by the Holocaust (though, I would say you do not hear about it as often). The ticket included entrance to a few memorials, synagogues, and informational museums that were scattered throughout the city. All-in-all, Prague was pretty cool.
We left pretty early on Thursday and once again, caught our bus to the train station.. we got on the train and then got on another bus, destined for Brno, CR and then eventually Vienna, Austria. A friend of mine had set us up with the bus (the website was in Czech and German only, and he happens to speak both) and it was only 10 Euro per person.. whereas flying would have cost us a solid 100 euro each.
We arrived in Vienna and then (barely) navigated ourselves on the Underground to our hotel. Taubstumengasse was the name of our stop. Yeah, German is a CRAZY language.. however the same friend who set us up with the bus has a tendency to babble at me in German (..and czech.. and Italian..) so SOMEHOW i was able to translate things for us as we wandered around after we checked in. Our friend Andrea met us at our hotel, and all three of us passed out for the night.
The next day, we went to the city center and wandered around for a while. We went to Freud's house and Mozart's house. Freud's house was cool, Mozart was a little boring. Maybe that is because I'm a psych major. We also went on "der Prater" (giant ferris wheel in vienna), which was really cool because you get to see the whole city from the top. The next day we visited more sites in Vienna, and had absolutely perfect weather. NICE. Then we climbed the Danube tower, which is the HIGHEST tower ever (but there's an elevator.. and an old German lady hugged me in it because apparently she liked my facial expression) that overlooks the Danube River and all of Vienna. We had dinner in the restaurant up in the tower, and the whole restaurant rotates around so you get to see the entire city lit up at night. This is also where my "Wind" picture (see previous post) came from. Vienna might rival Athens for the "Favorite City Visited" title.
Then I had a week of classes.. I didn't go to two of them (each class allows you five absences, and I have yet to miss any) because my obnoxious roommate decided to have a friend over that kept our entire apartment up three nights in a row. Yes, I did yell at her.
This weekend, our program took us to Siena, a sweet little town in Tuscany.. and then to a natural spa that had pools of naturally hot mineral water. Today we went to Perugia, a city a little further south near Assisi. Then we went to a wine tasting in the Chianti Classico region. The wine was absolutely amazing, so I bought some to ship home. And by "some" I mean "a lot". Don't go there, I'm still in a state of mourning for my bank account.
So there's the update. I only have a little over a month left. I'm devastated.
However, I am excited to start my new job. I was hired as a Mental Health Nurse at Butler hospital over the summer, which pays significantly better than Build-A-Bear does, and it also pertains to my major! My first real job! I'll be doing checks on the patients, admissions, and providing some of their direct care. I think I'm the messenger between the doctors and the patients. "Troubled economy." Don't think so :)
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Reasons to Stay in Italy
Ladies and gentlemen, my classes for next semester at Stonehill College:
MWF 9:30am - Bio412: Neuroscience
W 1:30pm - Neuroscience Lab
TTH 8:30am - Psy451: Senior Capstone: Applying Psychological Principles
Th 6:30pm - CJ333: The Accused (Criminal law)
TTh 10:30am - SO227: Human Services
TTh 2:30pm - Psy411: Counseling Practicum I
Annnnnd there's a 5 hour requirement of an on-site counseling internship.
In other news, it's midterms week here in Italy. I stressed myself out studying tiny little details about my Mafia class, only to be greeted by a 4-question midterm that were the most broad, BS-able questions ever. I am going to miss that. haha :)
Has anyone ever been to either Prague or Vienna? Any suggestions on what to do there?
MWF 9:30am - Bio412: Neuroscience
W 1:30pm - Neuroscience Lab
TTH 8:30am - Psy451: Senior Capstone: Applying Psychological Principles
Th 6:30pm - CJ333: The Accused (Criminal law)
TTh 10:30am - SO227: Human Services
TTh 2:30pm - Psy411: Counseling Practicum I
Annnnnd there's a 5 hour requirement of an on-site counseling internship.
In other news, it's midterms week here in Italy. I stressed myself out studying tiny little details about my Mafia class, only to be greeted by a 4-question midterm that were the most broad, BS-able questions ever. I am going to miss that. haha :)
Has anyone ever been to either Prague or Vienna? Any suggestions on what to do there?
Saturday, March 14, 2009
ALRIGHT ALRIGHT HERE IT IS
I know you all are DYING to know SO badly what is going on in my life, since I’ve neglected to update this at all for the last three weeks.
Weelllll okay since my last update I’ve been to Milan, Venice, Athens, and Dublin.
Milan was very nice, although we were unable to see most of the city. The way our program structured the trip, we only got about five hours to get a walking tour and then wander on our own. It was nice, but there was less to do there than I would have liked.
Then the fun began. We had the worst luck EVER with our hotel that turned out to be a hostel. The first room we got, the beds were caved in. It also was lacking a toilet seat but had hair in the shower and droppings in the toilet to make up for it. Sooo I freaked out and ran down and made them change my room. We got to our second room, and there’s a toilet seat! But it doesn’t flush. And our door didn’t lock. So I go back and yell again and they fix it. We go to bed… and at 1:30 a.m. local time, someone keys into our room. So I shoot up in bed and yell HELLO? (because what else do you say?!) and whoever it was runs away yelling SCUZZA!!! It turns out it was only the night guard.. but still. Jess slept through this, in case you were wondering.. God love her haha.
After that we were back on our bus at 7 am, and we set off for Venice. Because it was the last Sunday in Carnivale, there were millions of people there. As in, Venice was at double its normal population. However it was absolutely beautiful, and I was able to see most things. No gondola rides (they were pretty expensive) but I did buy a bunch of Carnivale masks and Murano glass. I looooved Venice and I’d love to go back, but I’m rapidly running out of weekends. I also had some Bellini, which is some good stuff if you ask me!
The weekend after Venice, Jess and I woke up at … 3 am.. and got on a bus to the Pisa airport. We then got on the 7:10 am plane to Athens. Athens was probably the most incredible place I’ve been so far. The entire weekend(4 days, 3 nights) cost us $250 USD because everything we did was free for some reason. We saw the Acropolis, the central gardens, and climbed Mt. Lycabettus! We got to see all the ruins that are just scattered about the city… Greece was really cool. I’ve also discovered a love of Mousakas, their famous eggplant dish. I must have had it 4 times while I was there.
Last weekend I went to Dublin, to visit my friend Monica. Monica and I were best friends in elementary school, but she moved to Ireland when we were 11. However, I see her every summer. So I took the 6 am train to Rome, and flew from there to Dublin. The flight there was very turbulent, but the one on the way back was worse. People clapped when we landed.. the pilot basically just slammed the plane down on the runway because he just wanted it down – we were bouncing so much and would drop mid-air and were swaying back and forth.. ugh. Anyway, Dublin was a lot of fun and it was good to see both Monica and my friend Sam (from high school) who is studying there for the semester. Monica and I stalked Bono and went to his house. There was a lot less to do in Dublin than I thought there would be – however it was nice to go to a place where they spoke English, the signs were in English, etc. AND I BOUGHT PEANUT BUTTER!! It is a normal-sized jar of Jif, and I only paid about 4 Euro for it. A 3-oz thing of Skippy in Italy is 8 Euro. And I’m rapidly running out of the one I brought, so I was glad to find it so cheap.
We went to a little “typical Irish town” called Enniskerry a few minutes away from Dublin for lunch – it was so cute! At night, we went to a few (..maybe more than a few) Irish pubs. I didn’t get a Guinness, mostly because I didn’t feel like being ridiculously full the entire night. However, I tried some of Monica’s boyfriend’s. (He was sitting there alternating between Guinness and Jameson.. ew.) It was wayyy different than American Guinness – much smoother and a lot less bitter. Ummm, not that I would know that through experience or anything. One morning we went out for breakfast, and I got a “full Irish breakfast” … I tried the black pudding, which is blood sausage. It wasn’t .. bad? I mean it wasn’t good but it wasn’t bad either.
I do go to school in between these trips, I swear. I’m doing well. We have midterms next week, which is why I’m home this weekend. My Mafia class isn’t turning out the way I hoped – my teacher is really mean and yells at us when we don’t understand her (..she randomly switches into Italian). I would say that’s the hardest class. My cooking class is a lot of fun, our teacher took us out to dinner and charged it to school, so that was cool. We also did a wine tasting on Wednesday (at 9 am, ha) with that class, and we got to try three different kinds of Chianti. I didn’t realize that there were different kinds of Chianti. Go figure!
Today was a gorgeous day in Florence, it was sunny and 70 degrees out. I spent most of my day in a park studying for midterms. It’s nice to just stay in the city for a weekend! I found a big flea market too, and it had the craziest stuff there such as paintings and art from the 1500’. It was a high-class flea market I guess!
After midterms is our spring break. Here’s a list of upcoming events.
March 23-25: Prague
March 26-29: Vienna
April 4-5: Siena & Perugia
April 17: My friend Shawn (one of the Cumberland guys) is coming from Cork, Ireland for the weekend
April 24: Sicily (..we found a 10 euro round-trip flight on Ryanair.. and then we got an email saying they were charging us 30 euro. Oh well.)
May 1: Fondi :)
Fondi is where my mom’s side of the family is from, and I’ve been in contact with one of my relatives there. None of them speak English except the one I’ve been talking to. It’s going to be a LOT of fun though… I’m very very excited.. however I’m so sad that 2 weeks after I come back from Fondi.. I come home. IT’S GOING BY TOO FAST! So that’s why I haven’t updated this thing. I try to spend as little time inside my apartment as possible. I still have a million things to do in Florence – I haven’t seen the David yet, I haven’t climbed the Duomo.. I’m going to try to save some of that stuff for when Shawn gets here, though.
Alright so there’s my life, and I am sorry I haven’t updated this. I've had the attention span of a pea pod lately. ;) I will be more regular about it.. so you wont have to read a 2-page entry all in one shot ever again.
Pace ed amore
Weelllll okay since my last update I’ve been to Milan, Venice, Athens, and Dublin.
Milan was very nice, although we were unable to see most of the city. The way our program structured the trip, we only got about five hours to get a walking tour and then wander on our own. It was nice, but there was less to do there than I would have liked.
Then the fun began. We had the worst luck EVER with our hotel that turned out to be a hostel. The first room we got, the beds were caved in. It also was lacking a toilet seat but had hair in the shower and droppings in the toilet to make up for it. Sooo I freaked out and ran down and made them change my room. We got to our second room, and there’s a toilet seat! But it doesn’t flush. And our door didn’t lock. So I go back and yell again and they fix it. We go to bed… and at 1:30 a.m. local time, someone keys into our room. So I shoot up in bed and yell HELLO? (because what else do you say?!) and whoever it was runs away yelling SCUZZA!!! It turns out it was only the night guard.. but still. Jess slept through this, in case you were wondering.. God love her haha.
After that we were back on our bus at 7 am, and we set off for Venice. Because it was the last Sunday in Carnivale, there were millions of people there. As in, Venice was at double its normal population. However it was absolutely beautiful, and I was able to see most things. No gondola rides (they were pretty expensive) but I did buy a bunch of Carnivale masks and Murano glass. I looooved Venice and I’d love to go back, but I’m rapidly running out of weekends. I also had some Bellini, which is some good stuff if you ask me!
The weekend after Venice, Jess and I woke up at … 3 am.. and got on a bus to the Pisa airport. We then got on the 7:10 am plane to Athens. Athens was probably the most incredible place I’ve been so far. The entire weekend(4 days, 3 nights) cost us $250 USD because everything we did was free for some reason. We saw the Acropolis, the central gardens, and climbed Mt. Lycabettus! We got to see all the ruins that are just scattered about the city… Greece was really cool. I’ve also discovered a love of Mousakas, their famous eggplant dish. I must have had it 4 times while I was there.
Last weekend I went to Dublin, to visit my friend Monica. Monica and I were best friends in elementary school, but she moved to Ireland when we were 11. However, I see her every summer. So I took the 6 am train to Rome, and flew from there to Dublin. The flight there was very turbulent, but the one on the way back was worse. People clapped when we landed.. the pilot basically just slammed the plane down on the runway because he just wanted it down – we were bouncing so much and would drop mid-air and were swaying back and forth.. ugh. Anyway, Dublin was a lot of fun and it was good to see both Monica and my friend Sam (from high school) who is studying there for the semester. Monica and I stalked Bono and went to his house. There was a lot less to do in Dublin than I thought there would be – however it was nice to go to a place where they spoke English, the signs were in English, etc. AND I BOUGHT PEANUT BUTTER!! It is a normal-sized jar of Jif, and I only paid about 4 Euro for it. A 3-oz thing of Skippy in Italy is 8 Euro. And I’m rapidly running out of the one I brought, so I was glad to find it so cheap.
We went to a little “typical Irish town” called Enniskerry a few minutes away from Dublin for lunch – it was so cute! At night, we went to a few (..maybe more than a few) Irish pubs. I didn’t get a Guinness, mostly because I didn’t feel like being ridiculously full the entire night. However, I tried some of Monica’s boyfriend’s. (He was sitting there alternating between Guinness and Jameson.. ew.) It was wayyy different than American Guinness – much smoother and a lot less bitter. Ummm, not that I would know that through experience or anything. One morning we went out for breakfast, and I got a “full Irish breakfast” … I tried the black pudding, which is blood sausage. It wasn’t .. bad? I mean it wasn’t good but it wasn’t bad either.
I do go to school in between these trips, I swear. I’m doing well. We have midterms next week, which is why I’m home this weekend. My Mafia class isn’t turning out the way I hoped – my teacher is really mean and yells at us when we don’t understand her (..she randomly switches into Italian). I would say that’s the hardest class. My cooking class is a lot of fun, our teacher took us out to dinner and charged it to school, so that was cool. We also did a wine tasting on Wednesday (at 9 am, ha) with that class, and we got to try three different kinds of Chianti. I didn’t realize that there were different kinds of Chianti. Go figure!
Today was a gorgeous day in Florence, it was sunny and 70 degrees out. I spent most of my day in a park studying for midterms. It’s nice to just stay in the city for a weekend! I found a big flea market too, and it had the craziest stuff there such as paintings and art from the 1500’. It was a high-class flea market I guess!
After midterms is our spring break. Here’s a list of upcoming events.
March 23-25: Prague
March 26-29: Vienna
April 4-5: Siena & Perugia
April 17: My friend Shawn (one of the Cumberland guys) is coming from Cork, Ireland for the weekend
April 24: Sicily (..we found a 10 euro round-trip flight on Ryanair.. and then we got an email saying they were charging us 30 euro. Oh well.)
May 1: Fondi :)
Fondi is where my mom’s side of the family is from, and I’ve been in contact with one of my relatives there. None of them speak English except the one I’ve been talking to. It’s going to be a LOT of fun though… I’m very very excited.. however I’m so sad that 2 weeks after I come back from Fondi.. I come home. IT’S GOING BY TOO FAST! So that’s why I haven’t updated this thing. I try to spend as little time inside my apartment as possible. I still have a million things to do in Florence – I haven’t seen the David yet, I haven’t climbed the Duomo.. I’m going to try to save some of that stuff for when Shawn gets here, though.
Alright so there’s my life, and I am sorry I haven’t updated this. I've had the attention span of a pea pod lately. ;) I will be more regular about it.. so you wont have to read a 2-page entry all in one shot ever again.
Pace ed amore
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Γειά σου την Αθήνα
Sorry I've been bad at updating this. We were in Milan and Venice last weekend, and boy oh boy do I have stories.
Currently I'm in Athens.. so I'll update when I get back.
Αντίο
Currently I'm in Athens.. so I'll update when I get back.
Αντίο
Friday, February 20, 2009
Va Bene!
Just to inform you, I'm not coming home. Ever. I have devised a plan along with a few of my classmates to suction cup ourselves to Italy. You will have to get over it.
The days FLY by here, and I've been in Italy for almost 4 weeks. What?! I can't even believe it. It might be the fact that I only have class 3 days a week, or it might just be the fact that I'm ridiculously happy.
Wednesday I made sushi in my cooking class. I know I know, "you're in Italy, why are you making sushi?" Well it just so happens that my sushi-making ability will probably save me approximately 80 dollars a year ;)
Thursday was one of the busiest days I've ever had. I had class from 9 am until 4:15. However, for my Archaeology class, we went to a small town called Fiesole for the day! It's got archaeological ruins, and an archaeological museum. The town itself is up on one of the hills that overlooks Florence, and the view is absolutely breathtaking. My internet is spotty at the moment, so I can't upload the pictures on here, however they ARE on my Picasa site.
After my third and final class of the day (Italian - had a quiz, got 100 WOO) had to FLY home and eat.. and then get ready for Slow Drink Club. Basically we go for wine tastings and learn how to pair foods with wine. We went to a cute little trattoria next to the Ponte Vecchio, where we tasted Chianti Classico and a white wine that I can't remember the name off the top of my head...
When slow drink club was over, we headed over to the Piazza della Repubblica where we met up with our program leaders and we headed about 30 minutes down the Arno to go see Il Pagliacci, a pretty well-known opera. I honestly have no clue what was going on, however what I CAN tell you is that the music was fantastic.
Today, Jess and I woke up at 8 am (gaaaaah) and met 5 of our Stonehill friends at the Florence train station. We got our tickets (..and remembered to VALIDATE them this time since we neglected to do so for Pisa thus we got a free train ride) and hopped a train toward Lucca. It was a pretty train ride, however we sort of missed our stop. And clearly by "sort of" I mean "completely". Right after we stopped blaming Stonehill for our lack of map-reading abilities, we ended up in Viareggio, which is a beach town - so clearly not all was lost. We hung out at the beach for an hour, illegally jumped on the train heading toward Florence, and got off at Lucca, our correct stop.
Lucca is a town that has its ENTIRE city wall still in tact, and its a 2.5 mile loop. The first thing we did when we got there was eat, at this place called Trattoria dal Leo, which was absolutely amazing. However, to get there, we had to make friends with an Italian guy (thank GOD Tony speaks Italian).. instead of giving us directions, he took us there. Then he told the owner to take care of us because we were his new friends... so we got discounted meals (Spaghetti with clam sauce for 6 euro anyone?). We then decided to rent bikes (only 2.50 an hour!!!) so we could ride around on top of the city wall. When we were done with that we went to the giant tower that has oak trees at the top, and climbed that. AMAZING view! We had SUCH a good time, and Lucca is probably the most beautiful place I've ever been.
So now you know why I don't want to leave. Time is going by too fast! Okay it's bed time, we all have to be up at 5 am, as we are going with our program to Milan tomorrow and Venice sunday for Carnivale!
Oh! Also, Jess and I have booked some trips. Next weekend, we're heading to Athens. The weekend after, I'm going to visit my friends Monica (who was a friend of mine that moved there when we were 11) and Sam (a friend from Mount that is studying there for the semester). And, for spring break, Jess and I are going to Prague and Vienna! I'm really excited... I mean really broke, but really excited!
Oh one more thing, thanks to everyone who has been sending me recipes! We've tried a bunch of them out, and we're not eating pasta every night anymore!
Night!
The days FLY by here, and I've been in Italy for almost 4 weeks. What?! I can't even believe it. It might be the fact that I only have class 3 days a week, or it might just be the fact that I'm ridiculously happy.
Wednesday I made sushi in my cooking class. I know I know, "you're in Italy, why are you making sushi?" Well it just so happens that my sushi-making ability will probably save me approximately 80 dollars a year ;)
Thursday was one of the busiest days I've ever had. I had class from 9 am until 4:15. However, for my Archaeology class, we went to a small town called Fiesole for the day! It's got archaeological ruins, and an archaeological museum. The town itself is up on one of the hills that overlooks Florence, and the view is absolutely breathtaking. My internet is spotty at the moment, so I can't upload the pictures on here, however they ARE on my Picasa site.
After my third and final class of the day (Italian - had a quiz, got 100 WOO) had to FLY home and eat.. and then get ready for Slow Drink Club. Basically we go for wine tastings and learn how to pair foods with wine. We went to a cute little trattoria next to the Ponte Vecchio, where we tasted Chianti Classico and a white wine that I can't remember the name off the top of my head...
When slow drink club was over, we headed over to the Piazza della Repubblica where we met up with our program leaders and we headed about 30 minutes down the Arno to go see Il Pagliacci, a pretty well-known opera. I honestly have no clue what was going on, however what I CAN tell you is that the music was fantastic.
Today, Jess and I woke up at 8 am (gaaaaah) and met 5 of our Stonehill friends at the Florence train station. We got our tickets (..and remembered to VALIDATE them this time since we neglected to do so for Pisa thus we got a free train ride) and hopped a train toward Lucca. It was a pretty train ride, however we sort of missed our stop. And clearly by "sort of" I mean "completely". Right after we stopped blaming Stonehill for our lack of map-reading abilities, we ended up in Viareggio, which is a beach town - so clearly not all was lost. We hung out at the beach for an hour, illegally jumped on the train heading toward Florence, and got off at Lucca, our correct stop.
Lucca is a town that has its ENTIRE city wall still in tact, and its a 2.5 mile loop. The first thing we did when we got there was eat, at this place called Trattoria dal Leo, which was absolutely amazing. However, to get there, we had to make friends with an Italian guy (thank GOD Tony speaks Italian).. instead of giving us directions, he took us there. Then he told the owner to take care of us because we were his new friends... so we got discounted meals (Spaghetti with clam sauce for 6 euro anyone?). We then decided to rent bikes (only 2.50 an hour!!!) so we could ride around on top of the city wall. When we were done with that we went to the giant tower that has oak trees at the top, and climbed that. AMAZING view! We had SUCH a good time, and Lucca is probably the most beautiful place I've ever been.
So now you know why I don't want to leave. Time is going by too fast! Okay it's bed time, we all have to be up at 5 am, as we are going with our program to Milan tomorrow and Venice sunday for Carnivale!
Oh! Also, Jess and I have booked some trips. Next weekend, we're heading to Athens. The weekend after, I'm going to visit my friends Monica (who was a friend of mine that moved there when we were 11) and Sam (a friend from Mount that is studying there for the semester). And, for spring break, Jess and I are going to Prague and Vienna! I'm really excited... I mean really broke, but really excited!
Oh one more thing, thanks to everyone who has been sending me recipes! We've tried a bunch of them out, and we're not eating pasta every night anymore!
Night!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Pisa!
Hello!
After my post yesterday, Jess and I wandered around Florence and attempted to visit the Uffizi museum. We get into it for free, so why not? We got there to discover a sign that basically said "We're on strike for the afternoon, come back tomorrow". Italy and its work schedule drives me UP A WALL. It's honestly as though they work when they feel like it.. and if they don't feel like it then they call a strike. The country shuts down in the afternoon so everyone can nap and they don't bother opening up on Monday mornings because that would be too hard to do apparently. And if they really don't want to work and they are SUPPOSED to work.. they just strike. "Oh I have this thing I want to go to but I have to work.." *OH THATS FINE MARIO, WE'LL JUST SHUT THE MUSEUM DOWN.. NO BIG." ....ugh. (..that was a pretty long rant, sorry) Anyway, it was SO nice out that day that we decided to wander around a little longer.. and we ended up down by the Arno river.. Here are some pictures.
Today, Jess and I got on a train (..which was accidentally free but don't tell Italy) headed for Pisa. It was only about and hour and a half away! Pisa is very small, and significantly calmer than Florence is. In fact, drivers STOP for pedestrians. We walked all the way down the main road and ended up at their duomo, along with the leaning tower. And yes, we were tourists and DID take a million pictures. We also laid on the lawn and basked in the sun because for once it was WARM and SUNNY. We tried to go to the botanical garden also, but they decided to close at 1 today. ...Is anyone surprised? We got sandwiches at a place called Salza's which reminded me of Scialo Bros bakery on Federal Hill, only 150,000 times better. We also got gelato (..surprised again, right?) which I successfully ordered in Italian and nobody laughed at me. I got a cone.. half strawberry half nutella. It was amazing. Ok here are more pictures.
After my post yesterday, Jess and I wandered around Florence and attempted to visit the Uffizi museum. We get into it for free, so why not? We got there to discover a sign that basically said "We're on strike for the afternoon, come back tomorrow". Italy and its work schedule drives me UP A WALL. It's honestly as though they work when they feel like it.. and if they don't feel like it then they call a strike. The country shuts down in the afternoon so everyone can nap and they don't bother opening up on Monday mornings because that would be too hard to do apparently. And if they really don't want to work and they are SUPPOSED to work.. they just strike. "Oh I have this thing I want to go to but I have to work.." *OH THATS FINE MARIO, WE'LL JUST SHUT THE MUSEUM DOWN.. NO BIG." ....ugh. (..that was a pretty long rant, sorry) Anyway, it was SO nice out that day that we decided to wander around a little longer.. and we ended up down by the Arno river.. Here are some pictures.
Today, Jess and I got on a train (..which was accidentally free but don't tell Italy) headed for Pisa. It was only about and hour and a half away! Pisa is very small, and significantly calmer than Florence is. In fact, drivers STOP for pedestrians. We walked all the way down the main road and ended up at their duomo, along with the leaning tower. And yes, we were tourists and DID take a million pictures. We also laid on the lawn and basked in the sun because for once it was WARM and SUNNY. We tried to go to the botanical garden also, but they decided to close at 1 today. ...Is anyone surprised? We got sandwiches at a place called Salza's which reminded me of Scialo Bros bakery on Federal Hill, only 150,000 times better. We also got gelato (..surprised again, right?) which I successfully ordered in Italian and nobody laughed at me. I got a cone.. half strawberry half nutella. It was amazing. Ok here are more pictures.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Roma!
Sorry it has been so long since I last updated. I've been sick (with what I think is bronchitis) and have been in a miserable mood so I did not want that to come out in blog entry. :)
Classes are going well, though they are all 2.5 hours long. I like wednesdays because I only have one class at 9 am and then have the whole day to myself. My social psychology class is a little boring, because I've learned most of the material already in all of my other classes. Archaeology class, however, is one of the most fascinating classes I could have taken. I have two professors (a girl from Italy who looks like Dina, and a guy from France named Simone) who are both archaeologists and are REALLY into their jobs. They showed us pictures of the dig site they work at, and yesterday even brought in artifacts from the sites, such as handles from mirrors, and clay pottery.
Last weekend the program I came to Italy through took us to Rome for the weekend. We left at 7 am (Eww) from a church halfway across the city. When we arrived in Rome we immediately went on a walking tour of the city. Unfortunately, it rained almost the entire time we were in Rome, but we all tried to make the best of it. Even more unfortunately, this is when my cold started to turn to bronchitis. On the tour, we were able to see the Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps, and all of the other Roman landmarks, minus Vatican city and the Colosseum. Friday night a few friends and I met up and walked around, but called it an early night since we had things we had to do in the morning. Saturday, we woke up early and went on a guided tour of St. Peter's Basilica and the Castel Sant'Angelo, which is right outside of Vatican city. The castle was originally built as a mausoleum for Emperor Hadrian, but ended up being a safe haven for popes due to the secret passage that connects it to the Vatican. If you read the DaVinci Code, it talks about this place.
After the tour I had to sleep, and did so for approximately four hours... oops.
On sunday, we woke up and checked out, and were allowed some free time so I walked around and took pictures, especially of the place where Caesar was stabbed. Around 1:30, we all met at our hotel and we went on a bus tour of Rome to see all the things that were too far away for us to walk to. Then the bus dropped us off of the Colosseum, and we had a guided tour of that. For the first time in about ten days it was NOT raining, and we saw the sun!! ...and there are no words to describe how happy I was.
I definitely regret not being able to see more of Rome while I was there... so that just means I will have to go back! I will want to see the Roman forum, and the Sistine chapel, because the tours we had did not include them. I also did not throw my coin into the Trevi fountain, so I will have to go back to Rome to ensure that I... well.. go back to Rome again ;)
Arrivederci :)
Classes are going well, though they are all 2.5 hours long. I like wednesdays because I only have one class at 9 am and then have the whole day to myself. My social psychology class is a little boring, because I've learned most of the material already in all of my other classes. Archaeology class, however, is one of the most fascinating classes I could have taken. I have two professors (a girl from Italy who looks like Dina, and a guy from France named Simone) who are both archaeologists and are REALLY into their jobs. They showed us pictures of the dig site they work at, and yesterday even brought in artifacts from the sites, such as handles from mirrors, and clay pottery.
Last weekend the program I came to Italy through took us to Rome for the weekend. We left at 7 am (Eww) from a church halfway across the city. When we arrived in Rome we immediately went on a walking tour of the city. Unfortunately, it rained almost the entire time we were in Rome, but we all tried to make the best of it. Even more unfortunately, this is when my cold started to turn to bronchitis. On the tour, we were able to see the Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps, and all of the other Roman landmarks, minus Vatican city and the Colosseum. Friday night a few friends and I met up and walked around, but called it an early night since we had things we had to do in the morning. Saturday, we woke up early and went on a guided tour of St. Peter's Basilica and the Castel Sant'Angelo, which is right outside of Vatican city. The castle was originally built as a mausoleum for Emperor Hadrian, but ended up being a safe haven for popes due to the secret passage that connects it to the Vatican. If you read the DaVinci Code, it talks about this place.
After the tour I had to sleep, and did so for approximately four hours... oops.
On sunday, we woke up and checked out, and were allowed some free time so I walked around and took pictures, especially of the place where Caesar was stabbed. Around 1:30, we all met at our hotel and we went on a bus tour of Rome to see all the things that were too far away for us to walk to. Then the bus dropped us off of the Colosseum, and we had a guided tour of that. For the first time in about ten days it was NOT raining, and we saw the sun!! ...and there are no words to describe how happy I was.
I definitely regret not being able to see more of Rome while I was there... so that just means I will have to go back! I will want to see the Roman forum, and the Sistine chapel, because the tours we had did not include them. I also did not throw my coin into the Trevi fountain, so I will have to go back to Rome to ensure that I... well.. go back to Rome again ;)
Arrivederci :)
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Here I Am
Before you read this post, I want you to find a recipe that you enjoy having for dinner and/or lunch and I want you to write it down and email it to me at lmccormick9@gmail.com ... we're starving. Your recipe cannot involve ground hamburger (because its about 85% ground-up tendon as I learned) or, most importantly, PASTA. oh my god if i eat one more 'roni I WILL shoot myself.
Back to the blog.Well things have been going pretty well since my last post. It's rained every day since last week, and will continue to rain until Tuesday! Ughh oh well.
A lot has happened since last update. We've done a LOT of exploring and a LOT of cooking. We actually kind of have a system down.. because we cannot afford to go out every night to dinner like the rest of our apartment, we've made friends who are in a similar financial situation (aka we're not millionaires...?) and we all get together and cook for the group of us. It's been working out really well and it's really economical to do it. For example, tonight we went to Chelsea's apartment, Carrie cooked the meal, and Jess and I paid for the chicken while the others paid for the vegetables and dessert. It works out really well and it brings a lot more variety to what I'm eating.
In other news, we found a SUPERMARKET. Of Stop&Shop proportions. It's really a co-op (local farmers sell their products to the supermarket to be distributed). It's less sketchy than the central market (THE CHICKENS. HAVE HEADS.) and there's a minimal amount of Italian that I have to speak there. Only problem? It's a solid 20-25 minute walk. Whatever, they had things I recognized and were much cheaper.
On another food-related note... there's no such thing as marsala wine. They'll look at you like you have about 12 heads. I even used Yahoo answers.. someone told me I had to go to the Marsala region of Italy for it. Any ideas?
Classes started. My first class was "Organized Crime: Sociology of the Italian Mafia". And I will now present to you a direct quote from my professor. "Mafia wars ARE permitted during class time, however please wait until the weather is nicer until you use water guns". Ohhhh I think I'm going to like it here. This class will be intense.. I have to do a 20-minute presentation, as well as a 10 page paper.. Not cool. I think we have a field trip for this class to somewhere Mafia-esque.
Second class was Italian 101. My teacher doesn't speak english. However, I can now spell my name in Italian and I can tell you that I don't speak or understand Italian. That's all I need right?
Today, my only class was "Current Trends in Italian Cuisine". My teacher is awesome and does pretty well with English but occasionally screws up slang and it makes for a good class. We made potato-leek soup. I have mandatory field trips to a vineyard and a fancy Mediterranean dinner. Paid for, in full, by Stonehill College. WOO.
Tomorrow I have classes 9-4:15 (Social Psych, Archaeology, and Italian again) and then we're making dinner with our friend Tony from Stonehill. Should be a good day... IF IT STOPS RAINING
Anyway dont forget to send me recipes please.. I'm serious.
I'm going to Rome on Friday morning at 7 so I probably wont update before that. Be back Sunday night ;)
Back to the blog.Well things have been going pretty well since my last post. It's rained every day since last week, and will continue to rain until Tuesday! Ughh oh well.
A lot has happened since last update. We've done a LOT of exploring and a LOT of cooking. We actually kind of have a system down.. because we cannot afford to go out every night to dinner like the rest of our apartment, we've made friends who are in a similar financial situation (aka we're not millionaires...?) and we all get together and cook for the group of us. It's been working out really well and it's really economical to do it. For example, tonight we went to Chelsea's apartment, Carrie cooked the meal, and Jess and I paid for the chicken while the others paid for the vegetables and dessert. It works out really well and it brings a lot more variety to what I'm eating.
In other news, we found a SUPERMARKET. Of Stop&Shop proportions. It's really a co-op (local farmers sell their products to the supermarket to be distributed). It's less sketchy than the central market (THE CHICKENS. HAVE HEADS.) and there's a minimal amount of Italian that I have to speak there. Only problem? It's a solid 20-25 minute walk. Whatever, they had things I recognized and were much cheaper.
On another food-related note... there's no such thing as marsala wine. They'll look at you like you have about 12 heads. I even used Yahoo answers.. someone told me I had to go to the Marsala region of Italy for it. Any ideas?
Classes started. My first class was "Organized Crime: Sociology of the Italian Mafia". And I will now present to you a direct quote from my professor. "Mafia wars ARE permitted during class time, however please wait until the weather is nicer until you use water guns". Ohhhh I think I'm going to like it here. This class will be intense.. I have to do a 20-minute presentation, as well as a 10 page paper.. Not cool. I think we have a field trip for this class to somewhere Mafia-esque.
Second class was Italian 101. My teacher doesn't speak english. However, I can now spell my name in Italian and I can tell you that I don't speak or understand Italian. That's all I need right?
Today, my only class was "Current Trends in Italian Cuisine". My teacher is awesome and does pretty well with English but occasionally screws up slang and it makes for a good class. We made potato-leek soup. I have mandatory field trips to a vineyard and a fancy Mediterranean dinner. Paid for, in full, by Stonehill College. WOO.
Tomorrow I have classes 9-4:15 (Social Psych, Archaeology, and Italian again) and then we're making dinner with our friend Tony from Stonehill. Should be a good day... IF IT STOPS RAINING
Anyway dont forget to send me recipes please.. I'm serious.
I'm going to Rome on Friday morning at 7 so I probably wont update before that. Be back Sunday night ;)
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Today.. Was Cool
Today we had our first attempt at the Italian bus system. We went to Ikea! Ohhh how I love that store. I had to buy some stuff for the apartment and a mattress topper because I don't really enjoy sleeping on a mattress that feels like wood.
It was a calamity trying to come back from Ikea because we were 2 minutes (we think?) late for the returning bus because it doesn't run on a normal schedule.. It does and then it doesnt and then it does again. However the bus worked out in our favor and it was either a half hour early or a half hour late.. And so we got on the bus and made it back in time for our cooking class.
The lesson was free and was probably the coolest thing ever. We made tiramisu, eggplant caprese, and gnocchi in a tomato sauce. All from scratch. As in, we made gnocchi. Cool :)
I put pics up on the picasa site so be sure to check them out.
Tomorrow my goal is to find a good bottle of Marsala wine... which are quite hard to come by apparently.
Buona notte. <3
It was a calamity trying to come back from Ikea because we were 2 minutes (we think?) late for the returning bus because it doesn't run on a normal schedule.. It does and then it doesnt and then it does again. However the bus worked out in our favor and it was either a half hour early or a half hour late.. And so we got on the bus and made it back in time for our cooking class.
The lesson was free and was probably the coolest thing ever. We made tiramisu, eggplant caprese, and gnocchi in a tomato sauce. All from scratch. As in, we made gnocchi. Cool :)
I put pics up on the picasa site so be sure to check them out.
Tomorrow my goal is to find a good bottle of Marsala wine... which are quite hard to come by apparently.
Buona notte. <3
Friday, January 30, 2009
People like lists, right?
Here is part one of my list of funny things in Europe.
- Italy has quiet hours after 10:30. If you make noise, neighbors can call the cops on you, and you can get fined.
- Your washing machine is in your kitchen. It fits a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, two t-shirts, 3 pairs of underwear and 3 pairs of socks. Then! It will take 2 hours to do one load of laundry. You load it, figure out how to use its infinite number of programs, set the temp of the water.. then you press start and it fills up and sits for 20 minutes. Then it spins once every 15 seconds for the next hour and a half until it decides to spin out. Your clothes are clean at the end though lol.
- Bus > Truck > Car > Vespa > Bike >>>>>> Person. Also, you can't hear the buses coming because they're electric or natural gas. DO NOT CROSS THE STREET UNLESS YOU HAVE THE "OK TO CROSS" SIGNAL, OR YOU WILL GET HIT. And it will be your fault.
- It is not only socially acceptable, but socially encouraged to buy condoms out of a machine located on many corners.
- Italian porn is on during the day and is free.
- Bacteria.. doesn't scare the Italians. They don't like to keep things cold (..milk.. meat.. etc). They also don't have antibacterial hand soap or dish soap. And clearly there's no dishwasher.
- Along the same lines, people who handle your food (especially raw meat) don't wear rubber gloves. Which is alarming because of the next thing on the list....
- Bidet (bih-DAY). Worst invention ever. I don't understand them, I will never use one.. and our apartment has two of them.
- The country shuts down from 1-4 so people can nap. No lie.
- No such thing as mouthwash unless you want to pay 8 euro for it. 3 oz of peanut butter costs almost 6 euro.
- You pay to use public bathrooms. .80 euro.
- Electricity and gas are pumped in from Switzerland and Germany and it is RIDICULOUSLY expensive. And! Italian electricity circuits blow all the time. We had a hair dryer, two computers, and 3 rooms of lights on and the entire apartment went dark.
- Showers? They're hot, but you basically can't be in there for more than 5-8 minutes or your bill goes through the roof. Especially with 7 girls in one apartment.
- It is illegal to have your heat on for more than 10 hours a day. And they'll find you. Oh, will they find you.
- I can get deported if someone stays in my apartment. You have to register with the police as an inhabitant of your apartment and if someone reports that people other than those registered are staying there, the person hosting them can get sent back to the country.
- There are big, stupid-looking bins everywhere for your trash. There is no "curbside pickup". This isn't Applebees. They're funny though.
- Street sweepers not only sweep but wash the streets down every night. They'll hit you too.
I'm sure there's a lot more, and I really should start writing them down as I think of them haha.
New pictures will be up soon! <3
- Italy has quiet hours after 10:30. If you make noise, neighbors can call the cops on you, and you can get fined.
- Your washing machine is in your kitchen. It fits a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, two t-shirts, 3 pairs of underwear and 3 pairs of socks. Then! It will take 2 hours to do one load of laundry. You load it, figure out how to use its infinite number of programs, set the temp of the water.. then you press start and it fills up and sits for 20 minutes. Then it spins once every 15 seconds for the next hour and a half until it decides to spin out. Your clothes are clean at the end though lol.
- Bus > Truck > Car > Vespa > Bike >>>>>> Person. Also, you can't hear the buses coming because they're electric or natural gas. DO NOT CROSS THE STREET UNLESS YOU HAVE THE "OK TO CROSS" SIGNAL, OR YOU WILL GET HIT. And it will be your fault.
- It is not only socially acceptable, but socially encouraged to buy condoms out of a machine located on many corners.
- Italian porn is on during the day and is free.
- Bacteria.. doesn't scare the Italians. They don't like to keep things cold (..milk.. meat.. etc). They also don't have antibacterial hand soap or dish soap. And clearly there's no dishwasher.
- Along the same lines, people who handle your food (especially raw meat) don't wear rubber gloves. Which is alarming because of the next thing on the list....
- Bidet (bih-DAY). Worst invention ever. I don't understand them, I will never use one.. and our apartment has two of them.
- The country shuts down from 1-4 so people can nap. No lie.
- No such thing as mouthwash unless you want to pay 8 euro for it. 3 oz of peanut butter costs almost 6 euro.
- You pay to use public bathrooms. .80 euro.
- Electricity and gas are pumped in from Switzerland and Germany and it is RIDICULOUSLY expensive. And! Italian electricity circuits blow all the time. We had a hair dryer, two computers, and 3 rooms of lights on and the entire apartment went dark.
- Showers? They're hot, but you basically can't be in there for more than 5-8 minutes or your bill goes through the roof. Especially with 7 girls in one apartment.
- It is illegal to have your heat on for more than 10 hours a day. And they'll find you. Oh, will they find you.
- I can get deported if someone stays in my apartment. You have to register with the police as an inhabitant of your apartment and if someone reports that people other than those registered are staying there, the person hosting them can get sent back to the country.
- There are big, stupid-looking bins everywhere for your trash. There is no "curbside pickup". This isn't Applebees. They're funny though.
- Street sweepers not only sweep but wash the streets down every night. They'll hit you too.
I'm sure there's a lot more, and I really should start writing them down as I think of them haha.
New pictures will be up soon! <3
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
28.01.2009
Hello again.
I’m sitting in my apartment atop the Piazza del Mercato Centrale. I don’t overlook anything except a “courtyard” which is not exactly spectacular. The other girls took the rooms with a view. I had a slight meltdown today.. I feel like a peasant compared to all my roommates.. my roommates are all friends slash sorority girls who are opposite of Jess and I… so what do I do? Call my mom and say “I’m having the worst day of my life and I’m in Europe for it!” So if you’d like to start a “pump money to Lauren” fund, that’d be fabulous.
I felt like yesterday was a blur. We got up early and went on our walking tour of Florence (it was gorgeous outside by the way). We got to see the four main areas of Florence that are mainly divided by what church/order of priests are over there. It was really good and very informational… though I probably would have appreciated it a little more had it not started at 9:30 (3:30 am at home). They brought us to a bunch of cool places like the Medici palaces, Il David (who is behind scaffolding at the moment), Dante’s house, and a bunch of other places. The tour guide was great and I felt bad that we were all so tired because she was pretty into it and we weren’t.
Then at night, we took a bus tour (aka they rented city busses and we drove all around the city while standing up). We got to go to where the copy of il David is, which overlooks the city. Gorgeous.
Today we moved into our apartments. And I bought 3 bottles of wine for 10 Euro and they’re actually pretty good and probably equivalent to a 12-15 dollar bottle at home.
I need to sleep now..I’m gonna try not to make these posts long anymore .. haha
Also.. I'll figure out pictures soon.. stupid internet..
Hello again.
I’m sitting in my apartment atop the Piazza del Mercato Centrale. I don’t overlook anything except a “courtyard” which is not exactly spectacular. The other girls took the rooms with a view. I had a slight meltdown today.. I feel like a peasant compared to all my roommates.. my roommates are all friends slash sorority girls who are opposite of Jess and I… so what do I do? Call my mom and say “I’m having the worst day of my life and I’m in Europe for it!” So if you’d like to start a “pump money to Lauren” fund, that’d be fabulous.
I felt like yesterday was a blur. We got up early and went on our walking tour of Florence (it was gorgeous outside by the way). We got to see the four main areas of Florence that are mainly divided by what church/order of priests are over there. It was really good and very informational… though I probably would have appreciated it a little more had it not started at 9:30 (3:30 am at home). They brought us to a bunch of cool places like the Medici palaces, Il David (who is behind scaffolding at the moment), Dante’s house, and a bunch of other places. The tour guide was great and I felt bad that we were all so tired because she was pretty into it and we weren’t.
Then at night, we took a bus tour (aka they rented city busses and we drove all around the city while standing up). We got to go to where the copy of il David is, which overlooks the city. Gorgeous.
Today we moved into our apartments. And I bought 3 bottles of wine for 10 Euro and they’re actually pretty good and probably equivalent to a 12-15 dollar bottle at home.
I need to sleep now..I’m gonna try not to make these posts long anymore .. haha
Also.. I'll figure out pictures soon.. stupid internet..
Post #2 from the 26th
26.01.09
Alright so it’s 2:42 pm in Rhode Island and I guess that means it’s almost 9 here? I still don’t have internet and probably won’t for a while. I guess it’s like 11 euro a day to get it in the hotel room and I just don’t care enough so I’ll keep writing in a Word document until I can get a connection.
It has legitimately been the LONGEST day of my life. The rest of my flight was alright. They gave us breakfast which was basically a roll and some jelly and another slab of cheese. We landed in Germany and went through customs.. which consisted of less than we had to do in American security.. had to take off our shoes and get our laptops checked again. We had a layover in the Frankfurt airport for a few hours, but since there were SO many API kids on our plane we all just stuck together. (On a side note, the sun doesn’t come up in Germany until like 8:30.) FINALLY they boarded us.. onto a bus. And they carried us on the runway (yep the bus was going between the moving planes.. real safe) to this.. midget plane.. that could only carry about 50 people. I was in the front row behind the business class, and if I looked out my window I saw a jet engine. Not okay. I officially heard “Vat type of sandvich vould you like?”, which is a little different than the “VANT SOME SANDVICH?!?” that I was hoping for but it’s fine. German is a silly language. So we took off, I got my sandvich, and that is the last thing I remember until the captain started saying to put your seatbelts on for the landing. I hate landing on small planes.
We walked off our plane, and got on a bus that took us about 10 feet away (why we didn’t walk, we’ll never know) and walked into the baggage claim area. We got our stuff, and everyone was laughing at how the backpack I brought is so much bigger than me. We walked through the airport, and got onto a wicked nice bus that drove us from the airport to our hotel, which is right in the heart of Florence. I couldn’t tell you anything about that bus ride, either. Supposedly it was about 25 minutes long. We got to the hotel and we checked in.. got our luggage and went in the smallest elevators in the world that brought Jess and I to our room, where we discovered what we thougth was a queen bed… until we realized it was two doubles shoved together. So once we did a little rearranging we immediately passed out for an hour and a half (they told us not to sleep any longer than that). When we got up we showered and were actually feeling pretty good about life and so we decided to wander Florence. And then we realized it was pouring out. We wandered around with a few other girls from the program and got some pizza. We were walking down the street that runs outside our building and we turn a corner and were suddenly faced with.. none other than the Duomo. We walked around a little more and came back to the room because we were cold and soaking wet.. so I sat down on my bed and I guess fell asleep for another two hours or so because we woke up and we realized we had to leave for dinner.
The dinner we had was AMAZING. Our program put on a little presentation in the Florence convention center thing telling us where we had to be and when, what to do, where to go, what to avoid doing, and the sketchy places they said they don’t ever want to hear about us going to. Fun fact - transvestites only come out at night. Then we went upstairs and found a buffet-style dinner waiting for us that had awesome food. After we left there we all came back to the hotel. Some crazy people are going out tonight, I just want to sleep because we have a walking tour of Florence tomorrow (and it’s supposed to rain yayyy) that leaves at 9:30 am.
Ok time for bed…
Alright so it’s 2:42 pm in Rhode Island and I guess that means it’s almost 9 here? I still don’t have internet and probably won’t for a while. I guess it’s like 11 euro a day to get it in the hotel room and I just don’t care enough so I’ll keep writing in a Word document until I can get a connection.
It has legitimately been the LONGEST day of my life. The rest of my flight was alright. They gave us breakfast which was basically a roll and some jelly and another slab of cheese. We landed in Germany and went through customs.. which consisted of less than we had to do in American security.. had to take off our shoes and get our laptops checked again. We had a layover in the Frankfurt airport for a few hours, but since there were SO many API kids on our plane we all just stuck together. (On a side note, the sun doesn’t come up in Germany until like 8:30.) FINALLY they boarded us.. onto a bus. And they carried us on the runway (yep the bus was going between the moving planes.. real safe) to this.. midget plane.. that could only carry about 50 people. I was in the front row behind the business class, and if I looked out my window I saw a jet engine. Not okay. I officially heard “Vat type of sandvich vould you like?”, which is a little different than the “VANT SOME SANDVICH?!?” that I was hoping for but it’s fine. German is a silly language. So we took off, I got my sandvich, and that is the last thing I remember until the captain started saying to put your seatbelts on for the landing. I hate landing on small planes.
We walked off our plane, and got on a bus that took us about 10 feet away (why we didn’t walk, we’ll never know) and walked into the baggage claim area. We got our stuff, and everyone was laughing at how the backpack I brought is so much bigger than me. We walked through the airport, and got onto a wicked nice bus that drove us from the airport to our hotel, which is right in the heart of Florence. I couldn’t tell you anything about that bus ride, either. Supposedly it was about 25 minutes long. We got to the hotel and we checked in.. got our luggage and went in the smallest elevators in the world that brought Jess and I to our room, where we discovered what we thougth was a queen bed… until we realized it was two doubles shoved together. So once we did a little rearranging we immediately passed out for an hour and a half (they told us not to sleep any longer than that). When we got up we showered and were actually feeling pretty good about life and so we decided to wander Florence. And then we realized it was pouring out. We wandered around with a few other girls from the program and got some pizza. We were walking down the street that runs outside our building and we turn a corner and were suddenly faced with.. none other than the Duomo. We walked around a little more and came back to the room because we were cold and soaking wet.. so I sat down on my bed and I guess fell asleep for another two hours or so because we woke up and we realized we had to leave for dinner.
The dinner we had was AMAZING. Our program put on a little presentation in the Florence convention center thing telling us where we had to be and when, what to do, where to go, what to avoid doing, and the sketchy places they said they don’t ever want to hear about us going to. Fun fact - transvestites only come out at night. Then we went upstairs and found a buffet-style dinner waiting for us that had awesome food. After we left there we all came back to the hotel. Some crazy people are going out tonight, I just want to sleep because we have a walking tour of Florence tomorrow (and it’s supposed to rain yayyy) that leaves at 9:30 am.
Ok time for bed…
Post # 1, Written on the 25th
25.01.09
It’s 7:47 pm US time and 1:47 am in Italy. I am currently writing this in a Word document (..cuz duh, no internet on a plane.. took me a moment to figure that one out) in seat 38D of the BIGGEST airplane I have ever seen in my life. Thankfully I am on an aisle… mostly so I can people watch. I can’t even believe what is happening right now.. I’m on a plane on my way to go live in Europe for 3 and a half months.
I went to bed ridiculously late and woke up relatively early.. stayed in bed until 9 because I heard the phone ring. I figured it was my adoring public. It was cousin Lisa and Anabelle so I called them back when I was coherent, where Miss Anabelle wished me a Merry Christmas. Sandy came over and we hung out one last time before I left (she came home from school for the weekend to say bye!). Anyway around 11:30 Jess, her parents, and her boyfriend came by. Meanwhile I was trying zto GET AHOLD OF A CERTAIN BOYFRIEND since it was almost time to go and he happened to NOT BE AWAKE haha. It’s ok no harm done- he got to my house.. I said my goodbyes to my cat/fish/car and we drove to Logan. Oh and I said goodbye to Sandy and she cried so I cried and Kyle walked away because of all the estrogen.
We got to the airport and when we walked in, I realized that approximately 20% of Stonehill was in that terminal. There are about 10 people I know on my flight believe it or not. I also saw a kid I went to Mount with who is on my flight so that makes 5 Mount kids in Florence at the moment. Checking in was horrible and I had to move so many things around because apparently weighing my suitcases before I left didn’t work out too well. One was over, one was under.. so I had to move things around.. and I had to check my carryon because of how full the flight was “but don’t worry it’s free”. Ughhh.
I said goodbye to my cell phone which might have been the worst part.. Jess’s parents and Lee… and then to my parents and Kyle at which point I couldn’t hold it together anymore and completely lost it. My mom was a nut but I informed her “Goodbye Ma” just like I did on my first day of Kindergarten.. which my dad caught and started laughing. Then I “manned up” and Jess and I went through security as our families obnoxiously waved and jumped up and down and blew kisses. Going through security is weird and you feel violated at the end of it but that’s fine with me because it means they are really checking. There was a girl behind us in security who was about our age so I decided to ask if she was heading to Florence and by pure luck she was. So we stuck together. She lives in CT, and goes to St. Michael’s in Vermont.
We got to our gate where I’m convinced the remaining 80% of Stonehill College was situated. I need to know.. if we’re all here.. then who is still there? We sat down and caught up with our friends that we hadn’t seen since December. We also met a guy who was traveling from Logan to Germany and from there getting a flight home to Ethiopia. He was.. SO COOL. I know this sounds weird but he tied two of our male fellow Florence-goers (slash Stonehill kids) (Bobby and Tony.. both of whom are pretty solid guys) together with shoelaces and told them to try to untangle themselves. It was hysterical to watch and we all got a bunch of pictures of that. They failed epically at it and the guy finally showed them how to do it and all 20-or-so of us that were sitting there went “ohhhhhhh”. I know that all of you reading are going to be like “WHAT is she talking about?” but when I put pictures up you’ll understand.
I then got my last grande toffee nut soy iced latte for a while and just talked to some more people in our program. Everyone seems really nice and everyone is SO excited. We saw the army of pilots and flight attendants walk by and we realized our plane had arrived. We anxiously awaited our boarding call.. and in no time they finally started calling us. We picked up our stuff and walked over to the gate where we were greeted by people with crazy German accents who were directing us where to go. I got to my seat and sat down. Moments later a woman and her 9-year-old daughter Sophie sat down in the two seats next to me. At the end of the row is a guy who I guess flies a lot from what he was saying.. Though he has really only been conscious when there is food involved. I don’t know how people just.. sleep. I took a Benadryl and passed out for about 45 minutes and that will probably be all the sleep I get until sometime tomorrow?
Anyway.. the woman sitting next to me is a lawyer in Weston, MA and they are currently en route to Russia for the third time, only this time they are coming back with a three-year-old boy who they’ve adopted and decided to name Evan. She told me all about how they decided to adopt him and the experiences they’d had along the way. Sophie is a girl after my own heart and has pretty much played Mario the entire time. The two of them have flown this exact flight on Lufthansa the other two times they went to Russia so they gave me the lowdown on what was going to happen. Thank God because it was right about then I started freaking out. She told me that the chicken was terrible but the macaroni tasted like something straight out of Bertuccis. She told me the order they fed you in.. approximately how far through the flight each meal would be served. Clearly God was watching out for me to put me next to someone like this. And Sophie I think is the only kid on the entire flight.. other than these weird pull-out baby cribs.
Takeoff was cool because we were just sitting there and all of a sudden you heard RARRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHH (engine noise) and we were hauling down the runway. They have a thing on the TV screen that tells you where you are and it showed us flying over RI and then banging a u-turn and flying over the ocean. We got up in the air to our cruising altitude of 38,000 feet just barely over the Canadian border and they came down the aisle with the wine cart. I just got a Sprite because apparently I don’t do well with flying and I was already pretty dizzy. About an hour later they came back again with dinner. She was right- the macaroni was something right out of Bertuccis. It was ziti with marinara sauce that had mushrooms in it, accompanied by a rosemary ciabatta roll, a SMALL salad (the dressing packet was bigger) with two giant shrimp plopped on the top of it, chocolate mousse with a strawberry, and for whatever reason a slab of cheddar cheese...? I gave my mousse to Sophie, she was pumped and we are now best friends, haha.
Anyway that’s all for now.. some movie called Nights in… something… is on. I think Richard Gere is in it? Maybe? Ha i have no idea. I feel a bit like a sardine right now.. if you didn’t know the people around you going into this flight you sure as heck will when you leave. Ok time to try to sleep more.
<3 Lauren
It’s 7:47 pm US time and 1:47 am in Italy. I am currently writing this in a Word document (..cuz duh, no internet on a plane.. took me a moment to figure that one out) in seat 38D of the BIGGEST airplane I have ever seen in my life. Thankfully I am on an aisle… mostly so I can people watch. I can’t even believe what is happening right now.. I’m on a plane on my way to go live in Europe for 3 and a half months.
I went to bed ridiculously late and woke up relatively early.. stayed in bed until 9 because I heard the phone ring. I figured it was my adoring public. It was cousin Lisa and Anabelle so I called them back when I was coherent, where Miss Anabelle wished me a Merry Christmas. Sandy came over and we hung out one last time before I left (she came home from school for the weekend to say bye!). Anyway around 11:30 Jess, her parents, and her boyfriend came by. Meanwhile I was trying zto GET AHOLD OF A CERTAIN BOYFRIEND since it was almost time to go and he happened to NOT BE AWAKE haha. It’s ok no harm done- he got to my house.. I said my goodbyes to my cat/fish/car and we drove to Logan. Oh and I said goodbye to Sandy and she cried so I cried and Kyle walked away because of all the estrogen.
We got to the airport and when we walked in, I realized that approximately 20% of Stonehill was in that terminal. There are about 10 people I know on my flight believe it or not. I also saw a kid I went to Mount with who is on my flight so that makes 5 Mount kids in Florence at the moment. Checking in was horrible and I had to move so many things around because apparently weighing my suitcases before I left didn’t work out too well. One was over, one was under.. so I had to move things around.. and I had to check my carryon because of how full the flight was “but don’t worry it’s free”. Ughhh.
I said goodbye to my cell phone which might have been the worst part.. Jess’s parents and Lee… and then to my parents and Kyle at which point I couldn’t hold it together anymore and completely lost it. My mom was a nut but I informed her “Goodbye Ma” just like I did on my first day of Kindergarten.. which my dad caught and started laughing. Then I “manned up” and Jess and I went through security as our families obnoxiously waved and jumped up and down and blew kisses. Going through security is weird and you feel violated at the end of it but that’s fine with me because it means they are really checking. There was a girl behind us in security who was about our age so I decided to ask if she was heading to Florence and by pure luck she was. So we stuck together. She lives in CT, and goes to St. Michael’s in Vermont.
We got to our gate where I’m convinced the remaining 80% of Stonehill College was situated. I need to know.. if we’re all here.. then who is still there? We sat down and caught up with our friends that we hadn’t seen since December. We also met a guy who was traveling from Logan to Germany and from there getting a flight home to Ethiopia. He was.. SO COOL. I know this sounds weird but he tied two of our male fellow Florence-goers (slash Stonehill kids) (Bobby and Tony.. both of whom are pretty solid guys) together with shoelaces and told them to try to untangle themselves. It was hysterical to watch and we all got a bunch of pictures of that. They failed epically at it and the guy finally showed them how to do it and all 20-or-so of us that were sitting there went “ohhhhhhh”. I know that all of you reading are going to be like “WHAT is she talking about?” but when I put pictures up you’ll understand.
I then got my last grande toffee nut soy iced latte for a while and just talked to some more people in our program. Everyone seems really nice and everyone is SO excited. We saw the army of pilots and flight attendants walk by and we realized our plane had arrived. We anxiously awaited our boarding call.. and in no time they finally started calling us. We picked up our stuff and walked over to the gate where we were greeted by people with crazy German accents who were directing us where to go. I got to my seat and sat down. Moments later a woman and her 9-year-old daughter Sophie sat down in the two seats next to me. At the end of the row is a guy who I guess flies a lot from what he was saying.. Though he has really only been conscious when there is food involved. I don’t know how people just.. sleep. I took a Benadryl and passed out for about 45 minutes and that will probably be all the sleep I get until sometime tomorrow?
Anyway.. the woman sitting next to me is a lawyer in Weston, MA and they are currently en route to Russia for the third time, only this time they are coming back with a three-year-old boy who they’ve adopted and decided to name Evan. She told me all about how they decided to adopt him and the experiences they’d had along the way. Sophie is a girl after my own heart and has pretty much played Mario the entire time. The two of them have flown this exact flight on Lufthansa the other two times they went to Russia so they gave me the lowdown on what was going to happen. Thank God because it was right about then I started freaking out. She told me that the chicken was terrible but the macaroni tasted like something straight out of Bertuccis. She told me the order they fed you in.. approximately how far through the flight each meal would be served. Clearly God was watching out for me to put me next to someone like this. And Sophie I think is the only kid on the entire flight.. other than these weird pull-out baby cribs.
Takeoff was cool because we were just sitting there and all of a sudden you heard RARRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHH (engine noise) and we were hauling down the runway. They have a thing on the TV screen that tells you where you are and it showed us flying over RI and then banging a u-turn and flying over the ocean. We got up in the air to our cruising altitude of 38,000 feet just barely over the Canadian border and they came down the aisle with the wine cart. I just got a Sprite because apparently I don’t do well with flying and I was already pretty dizzy. About an hour later they came back again with dinner. She was right- the macaroni was something right out of Bertuccis. It was ziti with marinara sauce that had mushrooms in it, accompanied by a rosemary ciabatta roll, a SMALL salad (the dressing packet was bigger) with two giant shrimp plopped on the top of it, chocolate mousse with a strawberry, and for whatever reason a slab of cheddar cheese...? I gave my mousse to Sophie, she was pumped and we are now best friends, haha.
Anyway that’s all for now.. some movie called Nights in… something… is on. I think Richard Gere is in it? Maybe? Ha i have no idea. I feel a bit like a sardine right now.. if you didn’t know the people around you going into this flight you sure as heck will when you leave. Ok time to try to sleep more.
<3 Lauren
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