It seems that I have been failing at everything techonolgy related lately. Blogging, journaling for myself, uploading/tagging/captioning pictures, and everything else that links me to home...my bad.
But here's a little update about life before I set off for what may be the 3 most productive weeks of my life....travel-wise at least.
Thursday I leave for Dublin, then head to Galway to see the Cliffs oh Moher, then back to Dublin for a few days. Then I hop over to London & hopefully squeeze in Broadway! After that I travel alone in Europe for the first time to meet Katie in PORTUGAL! I fly into Faro then head to Lagos. Then finally at the end of the week head back to Verona for a whole 4 days. (Possibly less if we decide to take a day adventure for extreme sports in either Interlaken or Lake Garda...keep your fingers crossed). Then April 2 we're off again TO GREECE! We are spending my 21st in Santorini then taking a ferry to Athens for a few days. And finally we fly to Rome and take a train up to Cinque Terre for a weekend of camping & hiking! Let me tell you that's a mouthful to explain & is going to be the most exhausting three weeks of my life!
By the way my birthday is April 6th mark your calanders so you can allow at least a week for your presents to actually reach me ;)
But all of that is what's to come, here is what's been going on...
Friday we had Unofficial and we got up to start the festivities a 9am. We had Sweedish crepes and Sangria for breakfast and from there quickly switched over to Mexican guac & chips. Sadly we didn't have tequila with it but we made do with vodka.
Sunday we had a Claudio trip to Lake Garda. We spent hours just exploring the towns on the lake and we all decided that's a life we could easily live. Everything was so much more calm and slow there than in real life. I could get used to that life vry quickly. After that we took a cable car up the mountains and saw some of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. It was like entering an entirely different universe with snow-covered mountains and quaint lodges where everyone knows everyone else. If I weren't such a horrific skiier than I could get used to that life too. We spent most of the day doing photo shoots with all the beautiful scenery. By the last town we started losing steam and after our mad dash for much needed gelato, we found a park and a new way to entertain ourselves. Sometimes acting like a kid again is just what you need to refresh your perspective and replenish your energy. We played the couch game, which is where everyone anonymously switches names. You then have to call name to figure out who is who and get your team to your bench. It kept us entertained for a few hours until dinner. We all LOVE Claudio dinners because it means at least a 4 course meal and an almost endless supply of free wine! (Have I bragged about this before?!) This mean didn't disappoint, complete with one of my favorites...risotto! And of course red & whine wine and coffee after dinner (my new appeciation). We played some of our favorite bus games: 20 questions & Would you Rather..? all the way home!
This week was "light" for school....as if it could be any easier. We didn't have photography and for business tomorrow we have a fieldtrip to a Candy factory! So now all that's left for me this week is to get graded on my chocolate-eating abilities. I forsee it going well.
I'm so excited though because tomorrow morning Claudio's wife, Rita, is taking me and Ashley to the hair salon she goes to so we can get our hair dyed!! I'm nervous because of the whole I freak out if my hair isn't dark enough and language barrier thing. But hopefully everything wil work out fine! It has to because after my hair appointment I go on the fieldtrip and then Claudio drops me, Lauren & Maura off at the train station so we can catch our train to our plane to Dublin!
So I better go pack, wish me luck!! I'm attempting to fit 11 days into one backpack. If I accomplish this, I will consider myself a fully functioning adult because up until I moved to Verona I have been notorious for overpacking unnecessary items for every trip. So overcoming it will do wonders for my future travelling :)
3.11.2010
Sweet Home Verona
We are officially halfway done. Monday marked the exact halfway point of our time in Verona. I can't believe it is going so incredibly fast. The thought of it all ending is so depressing. A summer in either Bloomington or Champaign compared to Verona? No offense but I feel like it's going to be rough. I am excited to see everyone though so I'm sure I'll manage somehow...
So this past weekend Katie came to visit me from Florence! Lauren's 3 friends were also in town visiting from the States. We had a packed house all week but it was at least very entertaining!
Katie got here around noon on Friday and we went to eat in Piazza Bra. We went to Breck, which is a really nice self service. We had pasta and bread and cappuccino! After that we walked around for a little while but went home because it was cold. Of course of all the weekends I choose to stay in Verona it happens to be the very cold one right in the middle of warm ones! Anyways that night Kim, Lo & I took all the visitors to dinner at one of our favorite pizza places San Matteo. It's a cool restaurant because it's very modern inside but connected to an old church outside. We got free Sprits with dinner too! After dinner we bought wine and headed back to the apartament to have a few bottles. But of course the cheaper wine opener we have doesn't actually open wine bottles that have plastic corks. So we finally settled on attacking the corks with a pitch fork for about 30 minutes until we could force them down inside the bottles. It was interesting...
Finally we decided to try out the Osteria close to our apartment that we pass by all the time. The people inside always wave to us so we figured we would give it a try. It was a small family bar with about 10 people in it. They were all over 50...but pretty excited there were six 20 year-old American girls there. They tried to start Karaoke for us but the owner said it would be too loud too late so unfortunately we never got that ball rolling. Would have been an experience though...
The next day we got up early to sight-see in Verona! We each got a day pass that allows you entrance into all of the touristy places. First we went to the Arena and acted as tour guides as we explained some of the history of Verona. Then we took the girls to Piazza Erba and Piazza Signiori (aka Piazza Dante because of his statue). We took them to the top of Lamberti Tower to get a beautiful view of the whole city and surrounding country side. After that we went to one of my FAVORITE places, La Casa di Giulietta! We walked through the tunnel of love letters to rub the bronze statue of Juliet and walk through the house out onto her balcony. People come here by the thousands every year to find good luck and true love and I love the power of a place like this. It has inspired so many famous authors, poets and artists. I am so proud to live in the city of love. It is such an important city especially to an English minor like me! Then we walked to the churches Santa Anastasia and The Duomo (or the Verona Cathedral). We finished the day with a walk over Ponte Pietra (the Stone Bridge) to see the Roman Theater. I'm hopefully going to see Romeo and Juliet performed there in Italian later this month! It's a beautiful outdoor theater overlooking the city and has beautiful terraces attached. There are endless pictures in the newest link of all my sightseeing so be sure to look at my beautiful city!!
That night we went to two new clubs. First we went to a Jamaican club, called Jamaika. How creative. It was a really fun atmosphere though with reggae music, bowls filled with alcohol and fresh fruit, and of course shots lit on fire. After that we went to a discoteca, my first one in Verona, where we of course stayed out too late and had soo much fun! All in all my weekend with Katie was filled with so many new adventures and I got to show her where I lived! (By the way Katie told me she calls Rachel to laugh at how cheesy my blog is...so enjoy Katie).
As with every new week in Italy, this one was no exception to the many incredibly opportunities I have. This week 5 of us had the chance to get involved with one of the local high schools. We have been working on a presentation for the past few weeks and it was finally time to give it to a group of high schoolers. We went to the school to talk about American Literature, Mark Twain, and Racism in America. It was such an awesome experience to interact with local kids. We presented the information we prepared and helped the teacher to explain the basic concepts. Some of them didn't even know who Elvis or Martin Luther King Jr. were!! It was definitely an experience because we had to talk very slowly and use very simply language. However, I will give them credit because their English is a lot better than our Italian. But we've only been learning for weeks and they've been learning for years. It was such an awesome thing to be a part of, especially because my minor is English. Although it is even an asset to my major because I've worked in Psych labs before dealing with cultural differences and this was a chance to experience it first-hand! I will say though, despite the fact that almost all of the women I am related to are teachers, this reaffirmed the fact that I DO NOT want to be a teacher! I am sticking to my plan to do research!! I don't have a problem with speaking in public but I still don't think it's something I would want to do for the rest of my life.
So there are my stories of the week. Tomorrow we have Unofficial in Verona. It's a week late but we still have to celebrate it! Then Saturday we head to Venice and Sunday to Lake Garda for another Claudio trip! That means we get a whole weekend of free (well pre-paid) 4 course meals with wine. We've been desperate for another Claudio weekend for a while!! I'm excited because we are going Murano, where the glass blowing is, in Venice :)
Oh, one last thing. While it was in the 60s in Illinois yesterday, it SNOWED ALL DAY FOR THE FIRST TIME in Verona!!!!! It was the craziest thing ever! But luckily it didn't stick and the temperature jumped back up again today and I could walk around in just a sweatshirt. I was a little worried there but I'm glad it didn't last long. I'll put up snow pictures soon too!
<3Kalyn
So this past weekend Katie came to visit me from Florence! Lauren's 3 friends were also in town visiting from the States. We had a packed house all week but it was at least very entertaining!
Katie got here around noon on Friday and we went to eat in Piazza Bra. We went to Breck, which is a really nice self service. We had pasta and bread and cappuccino! After that we walked around for a little while but went home because it was cold. Of course of all the weekends I choose to stay in Verona it happens to be the very cold one right in the middle of warm ones! Anyways that night Kim, Lo & I took all the visitors to dinner at one of our favorite pizza places San Matteo. It's a cool restaurant because it's very modern inside but connected to an old church outside. We got free Sprits with dinner too! After dinner we bought wine and headed back to the apartament to have a few bottles. But of course the cheaper wine opener we have doesn't actually open wine bottles that have plastic corks. So we finally settled on attacking the corks with a pitch fork for about 30 minutes until we could force them down inside the bottles. It was interesting...
Finally we decided to try out the Osteria close to our apartment that we pass by all the time. The people inside always wave to us so we figured we would give it a try. It was a small family bar with about 10 people in it. They were all over 50...but pretty excited there were six 20 year-old American girls there. They tried to start Karaoke for us but the owner said it would be too loud too late so unfortunately we never got that ball rolling. Would have been an experience though...
The next day we got up early to sight-see in Verona! We each got a day pass that allows you entrance into all of the touristy places. First we went to the Arena and acted as tour guides as we explained some of the history of Verona. Then we took the girls to Piazza Erba and Piazza Signiori (aka Piazza Dante because of his statue). We took them to the top of Lamberti Tower to get a beautiful view of the whole city and surrounding country side. After that we went to one of my FAVORITE places, La Casa di Giulietta! We walked through the tunnel of love letters to rub the bronze statue of Juliet and walk through the house out onto her balcony. People come here by the thousands every year to find good luck and true love and I love the power of a place like this. It has inspired so many famous authors, poets and artists. I am so proud to live in the city of love. It is such an important city especially to an English minor like me! Then we walked to the churches Santa Anastasia and The Duomo (or the Verona Cathedral). We finished the day with a walk over Ponte Pietra (the Stone Bridge) to see the Roman Theater. I'm hopefully going to see Romeo and Juliet performed there in Italian later this month! It's a beautiful outdoor theater overlooking the city and has beautiful terraces attached. There are endless pictures in the newest link of all my sightseeing so be sure to look at my beautiful city!!
That night we went to two new clubs. First we went to a Jamaican club, called Jamaika. How creative. It was a really fun atmosphere though with reggae music, bowls filled with alcohol and fresh fruit, and of course shots lit on fire. After that we went to a discoteca, my first one in Verona, where we of course stayed out too late and had soo much fun! All in all my weekend with Katie was filled with so many new adventures and I got to show her where I lived! (By the way Katie told me she calls Rachel to laugh at how cheesy my blog is...so enjoy Katie).
As with every new week in Italy, this one was no exception to the many incredibly opportunities I have. This week 5 of us had the chance to get involved with one of the local high schools. We have been working on a presentation for the past few weeks and it was finally time to give it to a group of high schoolers. We went to the school to talk about American Literature, Mark Twain, and Racism in America. It was such an awesome experience to interact with local kids. We presented the information we prepared and helped the teacher to explain the basic concepts. Some of them didn't even know who Elvis or Martin Luther King Jr. were!! It was definitely an experience because we had to talk very slowly and use very simply language. However, I will give them credit because their English is a lot better than our Italian. But we've only been learning for weeks and they've been learning for years. It was such an awesome thing to be a part of, especially because my minor is English. Although it is even an asset to my major because I've worked in Psych labs before dealing with cultural differences and this was a chance to experience it first-hand! I will say though, despite the fact that almost all of the women I am related to are teachers, this reaffirmed the fact that I DO NOT want to be a teacher! I am sticking to my plan to do research!! I don't have a problem with speaking in public but I still don't think it's something I would want to do for the rest of my life.
So there are my stories of the week. Tomorrow we have Unofficial in Verona. It's a week late but we still have to celebrate it! Then Saturday we head to Venice and Sunday to Lake Garda for another Claudio trip! That means we get a whole weekend of free (well pre-paid) 4 course meals with wine. We've been desperate for another Claudio weekend for a while!! I'm excited because we are going Murano, where the glass blowing is, in Venice :)
Oh, one last thing. While it was in the 60s in Illinois yesterday, it SNOWED ALL DAY FOR THE FIRST TIME in Verona!!!!! It was the craziest thing ever! But luckily it didn't stick and the temperature jumped back up again today and I could walk around in just a sweatshirt. I was a little worried there but I'm glad it didn't last long. I'll put up snow pictures soon too!
<3Kalyn
3.01.2010
Informazione
Hey, not sure if I did this before but some people were asking about my address so here it is:
Kalyn Lykkebak
Centro studi IDEA Verona
Stradone A Provolo, 16
37123 Verona Italy
Skype: kalyn.lykkebak
Italian phone#: +39 366 2786720
Email: klykkeb2@gmail.com
Cellphone (if you want to leave me surprise messages to be received at a later date): 309-287-1997
I guess that's all!!
Grazie! Ciao!
Kalyn Lykkebak
Centro studi IDEA Verona
Stradone A Provolo, 16
37123 Verona Italy
Skype: kalyn.lykkebak
Italian phone#: +39 366 2786720
Email: klykkeb2@gmail.com
Cellphone (if you want to leave me surprise messages to be received at a later date): 309-287-1997
I guess that's all!!
Grazie! Ciao!
2.28.2010
When in VERONA....
This blog title was going to be something equally cheesy like, When in ROME...
But I never made it to Rome this weekend. So I have nothing of real importance to report, but I have ample amounts of time to at least report my nothing weekend.
So I woke up very early Friday morning. (Because lets face it 20 year olds only get up extremely early for the fun stuff). Anyways I get up and double check that I'm fully prepared for my weekend adventure & that I have everything. But seriously when am I ever fully prepared for anything? Apparently not this weekend at least. My first misstep was not realizing the rain outside my window. Since it was supposed to be in the 60s in Rome, I set off in my sandals & (too long) jeans. I walked my 25 minute walked in the rain to the train station, only to realize mistake number two. We waited until our train was posted, which of course is only 10 minutes before the train leaves, and once it was we decided to validate our tickets right away so we didn't forget. But low and behold, guess who forgot to even bring her tickets in the first place?? Of course, me! Who also didn't have ANY cash on her because she didn't want to stop at the ATM in the rain? Again, yours truly. So my friend Steph gave me 20 euro & I hopped in a taxi to attempt to make the train. Once I told him my plan in broken Italian, not only the look on his face, but his reaction confirmed my fears. There really wasn't a chance in hell I was going to be on that train.
So after I get home, find the tickets, and have a minor panic attack. I decide to save money and stay here. Aka I got myself too worked up to do what was necessary for the easy fix. But oddly enough everything worked out better for me. Turns out I was running a fever and ended up in bed most of the weekend. Told you I had nothing exciting to report. At least the weather was nice Saturday, even got up to 60! So I spent most of the day lounging on the balcony either reading or dozing off. But I got a lot of random tasks accomplished that I otherwise wouldn't have time for. And my roommate Kim told me that she was still trying to find time to do Rome too and that we could do it together.
So even though I didn't get my adventures in Rome, I at least got a restful, hot tea-filled, excitementless weekend in Verona. And I'm already starting to feel a lot better. Now I'm prepared for my week of classes & my weekend with Katie! She is coming to visit me from Florence and I get to take her around to see all of the wonderful sights of my new hometown :) I am so, so excited. It will be a much more eventful weekend in Verona.
So that's all for now and clearly that's not alot. I promise to have more next time. Sending my love back home <3 Kalyn
But I never made it to Rome this weekend. So I have nothing of real importance to report, but I have ample amounts of time to at least report my nothing weekend.
So I woke up very early Friday morning. (Because lets face it 20 year olds only get up extremely early for the fun stuff). Anyways I get up and double check that I'm fully prepared for my weekend adventure & that I have everything. But seriously when am I ever fully prepared for anything? Apparently not this weekend at least. My first misstep was not realizing the rain outside my window. Since it was supposed to be in the 60s in Rome, I set off in my sandals & (too long) jeans. I walked my 25 minute walked in the rain to the train station, only to realize mistake number two. We waited until our train was posted, which of course is only 10 minutes before the train leaves, and once it was we decided to validate our tickets right away so we didn't forget. But low and behold, guess who forgot to even bring her tickets in the first place?? Of course, me! Who also didn't have ANY cash on her because she didn't want to stop at the ATM in the rain? Again, yours truly. So my friend Steph gave me 20 euro & I hopped in a taxi to attempt to make the train. Once I told him my plan in broken Italian, not only the look on his face, but his reaction confirmed my fears. There really wasn't a chance in hell I was going to be on that train.
So after I get home, find the tickets, and have a minor panic attack. I decide to save money and stay here. Aka I got myself too worked up to do what was necessary for the easy fix. But oddly enough everything worked out better for me. Turns out I was running a fever and ended up in bed most of the weekend. Told you I had nothing exciting to report. At least the weather was nice Saturday, even got up to 60! So I spent most of the day lounging on the balcony either reading or dozing off. But I got a lot of random tasks accomplished that I otherwise wouldn't have time for. And my roommate Kim told me that she was still trying to find time to do Rome too and that we could do it together.
So even though I didn't get my adventures in Rome, I at least got a restful, hot tea-filled, excitementless weekend in Verona. And I'm already starting to feel a lot better. Now I'm prepared for my week of classes & my weekend with Katie! She is coming to visit me from Florence and I get to take her around to see all of the wonderful sights of my new hometown :) I am so, so excited. It will be a much more eventful weekend in Verona.
So that's all for now and clearly that's not alot. I promise to have more next time. Sending my love back home <3 Kalyn
2.24.2010
The City that NEVER Sleeps
I am currently writing to you from my balcony. I am basking in the most beautiful day we've had in Verona thus far sporting jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, sunglasses, and sandals. It is currently 55 degrees & sunny. It's hard to see the computer screen but I decided this was still the perfect place to blog. There is no possible way to sit indoors today and for that matter no way to possibly be in a bad mood. I'm currently looking out on San Zeno (if you didn't know one of our famous churches/museums...it gets its own 2 page spread in Italian travel books) and watching life happen around me. I wrote in my journal earlier since this beautiful weather has me feeling all sentimental and philosophical. But that lead to "What am I going to do with my life?" and "I have so much to do when I get back to the States!" So I quickly pushed those thoughts out of my head and decided to retell my stories from beautiful Spain instead!!
We arrived in Spain Friday afternoon after a smooth trip.We met up with our friends from Rome and Milan because we all stayed in a hostel together. It was cool having friends from all over Italy come together to go to Spain. It was also two of our friends', who live in Barcelona, birthdays so it was a weekend of celebrating! When we first got there we had a few drinks then ventured out to find dinner. That turned out to be somewhat of a disaster since we couldn't find the restaurant we were looking for. It also starting pouring down rain and none of us had our umbrellas. So we found the closest place, which ended up being (ironically enough) a Chicago style Pizzeria. But the food was good so we ate and headed back to the hostel for more drinks and to meet up with the kids staying in Barcelona. The first bar we went out to was called The Dow Jones Bar and it would be a huge hit in America if we ever got one. Maybe I'll bring a Stock Market night to Kams...Basically the drink prices fluxuate based on who is buying what. Here is a picture of me and Mia outside the bar.
The next one is of the drinks.
Every hour the stock market would crash and everyone would run to the bar to get drinks. It was definitely a really cool experience! After that we headed to the strip of clubs along the beach!! We went to a club called Shoko. It had a lot of different bars inside, huge dance floors, and a really cool outside area. Since the weather was so nice a few of us went outside to hang out. We ended up leaving the back of the club and walking along the beach and we saw some other friends in one of the clubs further down. At the end of the night we gathered up all of our friends and we ran to the beach and took our shoes off to run through the sand & water. It was the most beautiful partying ever haha.
The next day we headed out to tour the city. We went to one of the big squares and took pictures in front of a fountain that we had no idea if it had any significance at all but it was pretty. From there we headed to tour the Gaudi museum at La Pedrera. Gaudi is the famous architect that designed a bunch of difference buildings around Barcelona. Being on the roof was incredible because we got a view of the whole city and we were standing on his work. We also learned alot about the unique way he builds. After the museum we walked around the city for a while taking it all in and we stopped at a Kabab place to get Durum. Obviously the boys idea but it was really good & HUGE. Definitely got our 3 euros worth. Then we went to the Park de la Ciutadella and to see the Arc de Triomf. It was all so beautiful we took a hundred touristy pictures in front of one of the fountains. Here is one of our group for the weekend:
From there we made the trek all the way up to Parc Guell, its Gaudi's famous park. It was definitely worth the hike, everything was so beautiful. We could see out over the whole city & the ocean from up there!
After that we made dinner at the hostel to save some money. It was interesting because we found out there wasn't an oven after we bought our food...That night we went out to two cool bars. The first one L'Ovella Negra is a huge open warehouse with tons of seating. It was a really fun atmosphere and perfect for our birthday celebration. AFter that we went to a random bar but we had a lot of fun because my friend Mia and I played Dare. (No truth just dares). All-in-all it made for an interesting night and we stayed out until 5:30 am!! Almost made it to 6 but still a successful weekend for partying.
The next day we had some time to sight-see but we were exhausted so we decided to just try to fit in one thing. We walked down to the beach to take pictures of the ocean and then we took a gondola ride (cable car not boat....) over the city up to the top of Montjuic "Jewish Mountain." We were above the city alot that weekend but everytime the view was breathtaking. We walked around the mountain and went to a castle and the Port Olympic. It's where the 1992 Olympics were held.
And finally we made our journey home to Verona. This was the one part of the trip that did not go off flawlessly. Our plane was delayed so we missed our train home. We ended up having to wait 2 hours for the next one and didn't get home until after 2:30am. But it was okay because we made a new friend--a Spanish 18year old boy who was travelling alone and asked for our help getting a train ticket. We figured he wouldn't have to be alone and we would have the protection of a male so everybody wins. We are all now facebook friends with him too haha. The language barrier was interesting but luckily Ashley & Mia knew some spanish and he knew some Italian because he is studying in Padua.
That's all for now! I head to Rome this weekend with Lauren, Mia, Ashley, Maura, Court & Steph!
CIAO!
We arrived in Spain Friday afternoon after a smooth trip.We met up with our friends from Rome and Milan because we all stayed in a hostel together. It was cool having friends from all over Italy come together to go to Spain. It was also two of our friends', who live in Barcelona, birthdays so it was a weekend of celebrating! When we first got there we had a few drinks then ventured out to find dinner. That turned out to be somewhat of a disaster since we couldn't find the restaurant we were looking for. It also starting pouring down rain and none of us had our umbrellas. So we found the closest place, which ended up being (ironically enough) a Chicago style Pizzeria. But the food was good so we ate and headed back to the hostel for more drinks and to meet up with the kids staying in Barcelona. The first bar we went out to was called The Dow Jones Bar and it would be a huge hit in America if we ever got one. Maybe I'll bring a Stock Market night to Kams...Basically the drink prices fluxuate based on who is buying what. Here is a picture of me and Mia outside the bar.
The next one is of the drinks.
Every hour the stock market would crash and everyone would run to the bar to get drinks. It was definitely a really cool experience! After that we headed to the strip of clubs along the beach!! We went to a club called Shoko. It had a lot of different bars inside, huge dance floors, and a really cool outside area. Since the weather was so nice a few of us went outside to hang out. We ended up leaving the back of the club and walking along the beach and we saw some other friends in one of the clubs further down. At the end of the night we gathered up all of our friends and we ran to the beach and took our shoes off to run through the sand & water. It was the most beautiful partying ever haha.
The next day we headed out to tour the city. We went to one of the big squares and took pictures in front of a fountain that we had no idea if it had any significance at all but it was pretty. From there we headed to tour the Gaudi museum at La Pedrera. Gaudi is the famous architect that designed a bunch of difference buildings around Barcelona. Being on the roof was incredible because we got a view of the whole city and we were standing on his work. We also learned alot about the unique way he builds. After the museum we walked around the city for a while taking it all in and we stopped at a Kabab place to get Durum. Obviously the boys idea but it was really good & HUGE. Definitely got our 3 euros worth. Then we went to the Park de la Ciutadella and to see the Arc de Triomf. It was all so beautiful we took a hundred touristy pictures in front of one of the fountains. Here is one of our group for the weekend:
From there we made the trek all the way up to Parc Guell, its Gaudi's famous park. It was definitely worth the hike, everything was so beautiful. We could see out over the whole city & the ocean from up there!
After that we made dinner at the hostel to save some money. It was interesting because we found out there wasn't an oven after we bought our food...That night we went out to two cool bars. The first one L'Ovella Negra is a huge open warehouse with tons of seating. It was a really fun atmosphere and perfect for our birthday celebration. AFter that we went to a random bar but we had a lot of fun because my friend Mia and I played Dare. (No truth just dares). All-in-all it made for an interesting night and we stayed out until 5:30 am!! Almost made it to 6 but still a successful weekend for partying. The next day we had some time to sight-see but we were exhausted so we decided to just try to fit in one thing. We walked down to the beach to take pictures of the ocean and then we took a gondola ride (cable car not boat....) over the city up to the top of Montjuic "Jewish Mountain." We were above the city alot that weekend but everytime the view was breathtaking. We walked around the mountain and went to a castle and the Port Olympic. It's where the 1992 Olympics were held.
And finally we made our journey home to Verona. This was the one part of the trip that did not go off flawlessly. Our plane was delayed so we missed our train home. We ended up having to wait 2 hours for the next one and didn't get home until after 2:30am. But it was okay because we made a new friend--a Spanish 18year old boy who was travelling alone and asked for our help getting a train ticket. We figured he wouldn't have to be alone and we would have the protection of a male so everybody wins. We are all now facebook friends with him too haha. The language barrier was interesting but luckily Ashley & Mia knew some spanish and he knew some Italian because he is studying in Padua.
That's all for now! I head to Rome this weekend with Lauren, Mia, Ashley, Maura, Court & Steph!
CIAO!
2.18.2010
IS THIS REAL LIFE??!!
I CAN NOT BELIEVE THIS IS ACTUALLY MY LIFE! As if I could have even dreamed that I would get even more spoiled by Italy than I already am, it happened today. Like I would have thought I'd have something sooo interesting to post when I leave for Spain tomorrow. But of course Italy is a magical place that never ceases to amaze me.
Italian people, businessmen in particular, are the greatest people on earth. Their way of live is so much better than Americans, I seriously have no idea how we continue to work and live the way we do. Trust me they do life right over here. I mean come on they take a 3 hour lunch break every single day and never forget to have a glass of wine before heading back to work. But other than that, Italians are some of the kindest people I have ever met. So let me tell you about the wonderful things the Italians did for me today...
We had our first Business with Claudio today, and if it is a sign of what's to come, then we've struck gold. First we head to Soave to visit the Zanella Marble factory. We sat in a conference room and talked about marble where we found out that they are constructing a huge statue and fountain for the capital of some country. They only have 15 workers in their factory but their own quary so they don't have to buy marble from others. So far pretty cool. Then we head to the factory and watch the proccess happen in front of us. Alot of the work is done by machines but the final details are meticulously done by hand. It must take forever to complete the huge works they do. I will add pictures once they are uploaded. This company has a unique way of carving the marble too so we couldn't document the whole process because it is consiered a "State secret." It was a really, really inrestesting thing to experience and it was awesome becuase we got a paperweight as a gift. To you it may sound lame but it is made out of the highest quality of marble there is and it is the same type that The David was carved out of, so we were pretty excited.
The day only got better from there. After that the 9 of us piled into the European version of an Astrovan to head back towards Verona to Frau Shoe factory. 9 girls and a shoe factory.....we were pretty excited. So we meet the owner and he is the nicest 76 year old man ever. He talked to us about the importance of good business. He refuses to have his shoes made in Romania or China even though the labor can be 1/10 of the cost. He believes in everything being made in Italy. He was very firm on that point, and on the importance of quality not quantity. You could tell he has passion for what he does and for the people who work for him. He personally knows every single one of his employees. He told us that it takes about 60 people to make each pair of shoes and they make 1400 a day, so he has a lot of workers. He would probably be one of the best people to work for. After we talked to him and drank our tea and coffee, he took us on a tour of the factory. It was so incredible we saw every single step in the process of making a shoe. He also has a robot that we took pictures of and videotaped so I will put those up too!! All in all it was such a cool trip.
As that day of "class" (remember GPA credit class here people) couldn't get any better. He takes us back to the conference room & after we take a group picture with him he says "Do I dare offer you each a pair of my shoes for free?" DO YOU DARE?? DO WE DARE TAKE YOUR SHOES? HELL YES! So the best shoe factory owner on the planet took us down to his store and APOLOGIZED because it doesn't have the full selection. We are imagining like 5 pairs to pick from or something. But he literally lets us run free throughout the entire store (which had PLENTY of shoes) to pick out WHATEVER WE WANTED....FOR FREEEE. He also apologized for not being able to take us out for dinner and drinks that night but said he would not die until we came back. So we are definitely going back. We each got a pair of Italian-made leather shoes/boots/heals/etc for free. It took me another hour after we left to really grasp that this is my life right now. I am by far one of the most blessed people on the planet. I feel like I'm never allowed to have a bad day for the rest of my life. I got adorable greyish heeled boots with a bow. I couldn't resist another pair of red moccasons because they were over half off and I was already getting boots free so I caved and bought those too. Again more pictures to come! The free boots might I add cost 225 US dollars. I'm still in shock that he did such a generous thing for us. Just to show that he is such a good company. You would never find such service in America, I can say that much. Therefore I decided I never want to leave Italy. Sorry everyone I will miss you but I don't think I can come home. Kidding but really this is by far the best four months of my life.
So I just had to rub in how amazing my life is and how greatful I am for the experience. Next time you see me I will be sporting true Italian fashions :)
peace. love. shoes.
Kalyn
Italian people, businessmen in particular, are the greatest people on earth. Their way of live is so much better than Americans, I seriously have no idea how we continue to work and live the way we do. Trust me they do life right over here. I mean come on they take a 3 hour lunch break every single day and never forget to have a glass of wine before heading back to work. But other than that, Italians are some of the kindest people I have ever met. So let me tell you about the wonderful things the Italians did for me today...
We had our first Business with Claudio today, and if it is a sign of what's to come, then we've struck gold. First we head to Soave to visit the Zanella Marble factory. We sat in a conference room and talked about marble where we found out that they are constructing a huge statue and fountain for the capital of some country. They only have 15 workers in their factory but their own quary so they don't have to buy marble from others. So far pretty cool. Then we head to the factory and watch the proccess happen in front of us. Alot of the work is done by machines but the final details are meticulously done by hand. It must take forever to complete the huge works they do. I will add pictures once they are uploaded. This company has a unique way of carving the marble too so we couldn't document the whole process because it is consiered a "State secret." It was a really, really inrestesting thing to experience and it was awesome becuase we got a paperweight as a gift. To you it may sound lame but it is made out of the highest quality of marble there is and it is the same type that The David was carved out of, so we were pretty excited.
The day only got better from there. After that the 9 of us piled into the European version of an Astrovan to head back towards Verona to Frau Shoe factory. 9 girls and a shoe factory.....we were pretty excited. So we meet the owner and he is the nicest 76 year old man ever. He talked to us about the importance of good business. He refuses to have his shoes made in Romania or China even though the labor can be 1/10 of the cost. He believes in everything being made in Italy. He was very firm on that point, and on the importance of quality not quantity. You could tell he has passion for what he does and for the people who work for him. He personally knows every single one of his employees. He told us that it takes about 60 people to make each pair of shoes and they make 1400 a day, so he has a lot of workers. He would probably be one of the best people to work for. After we talked to him and drank our tea and coffee, he took us on a tour of the factory. It was so incredible we saw every single step in the process of making a shoe. He also has a robot that we took pictures of and videotaped so I will put those up too!! All in all it was such a cool trip.
As that day of "class" (remember GPA credit class here people) couldn't get any better. He takes us back to the conference room & after we take a group picture with him he says "Do I dare offer you each a pair of my shoes for free?" DO YOU DARE?? DO WE DARE TAKE YOUR SHOES? HELL YES! So the best shoe factory owner on the planet took us down to his store and APOLOGIZED because it doesn't have the full selection. We are imagining like 5 pairs to pick from or something. But he literally lets us run free throughout the entire store (which had PLENTY of shoes) to pick out WHATEVER WE WANTED....FOR FREEEE. He also apologized for not being able to take us out for dinner and drinks that night but said he would not die until we came back. So we are definitely going back. We each got a pair of Italian-made leather shoes/boots/heals/etc for free. It took me another hour after we left to really grasp that this is my life right now. I am by far one of the most blessed people on the planet. I feel like I'm never allowed to have a bad day for the rest of my life. I got adorable greyish heeled boots with a bow. I couldn't resist another pair of red moccasons because they were over half off and I was already getting boots free so I caved and bought those too. Again more pictures to come! The free boots might I add cost 225 US dollars. I'm still in shock that he did such a generous thing for us. Just to show that he is such a good company. You would never find such service in America, I can say that much. Therefore I decided I never want to leave Italy. Sorry everyone I will miss you but I don't think I can come home. Kidding but really this is by far the best four months of my life.
So I just had to rub in how amazing my life is and how greatful I am for the experience. Next time you see me I will be sporting true Italian fashions :)
peace. love. shoes.
Kalyn
2.17.2010
"This is going to be a long night"
So the title is a quote from my Prague experience, which let me just tell you was one of the most interesting travel experiences of my life. So we had to rough it because our plane left from a town called Bergamo at 7:55am on Friday. However, there are no trains to Bergamo before that. So we had to leave Thursday night. Around 8pm 10 of us hopped on a train and made our way to the town, about an hour outside Milan. Of course we almost missed our one connecting train but miraculously this time we didn't. So we get into Bergamo around 10pm. We try to explore the airport a bit but to no avail. Everything is locked until 5am with the exception of this tiny, freezing cold waiting area. So we suck it up and settle in for the night. Not 10 minutes after we post up agains a wall (of course I'm on the end right next to the door people keep going in and out of) a break dance crew starts setting up on the wall opposite us. So natually we think this is hilarious and completely surreal as it obvious they too will be here all night long. But hey we welcomed the distraction. The break dancers starting having a competition right in front of us, our guess is that they were practicing for some competition. Even though we pulled this theory out of thin air, we stuck to in. After they do a few tricks I convinced Lauren to do a dance off with them. I knew she was the only one who would agree and I was hard up for something to keep my mind of the cold and pressing sleepiness. So she walks up to them and starts to dance then falls to the ground to do the worm. We got it on video so it should be floating around the internet very soon. After that the break dancers were only entertaining every now and then. Sometimes they would put on shows for us and other times they would just talk technical stuff amongst themselves. But here's where my night got really interesting. The creepiest looking guy in the place comes to sit down uncomfortably close to me. So my natural reaction of course is to laugh like any American girl would. I inch away a little and start talking with my friends about how weird he is. Because we ignorantly think he can't understand us. After a little while I am halfway laying down on my bag and so then he follows suit and lays down next to me. Dangerously close next to me. More laughter ensues. At this point Cheryl tries to capture him on camera but I can't contain my laughter and he keeps opening his eyes to stare at us. So this is all we got:
But it gets worse. A little after this blurry picture is taken. He keeps his eyes open one always on me. Then he goes above and beyond our wildest expectations and turns on his side--one arm stretched out to me. And gets EVEN CLOSER. At this point the man is basically trying to spoon me. I burst out laughing soo hard and so does everyone else, at this point I am literally losing it. So I sit up and am basically sitting on top of Lauren sleeping next to me. I start talking to my friends about how I can't do this and he says to me in his broken accent "Dis is going to be a long night." That was the last straw for me and so I walked outside in the freezing cold with Lisa and Cheryl around the entire airport to get away from this cuddle-loving man. However, we got lucky and went through a closed off construction zone to find that there is a cafe opening at 2am. At this point it was 1:30 so we just had to endure 30 more minutes on the ground before we could sit and eat. We ended up staying in that cafe until 5am when checkin opened. He came and sat directly behind me and watched me the whole time. We also got whistles for an hour straight from 50 year old men across the room. Like I said this was my most interesting travelling experience. We waiting at check in for an hour before we could check in for our flight. Then headed to the actual nice part of the airporot they had been hiding from us. There was a kids play room and because we were delirious from exhaustion we decided to play to kill time before our flight. I beat Lauren in the obstacle course, which for me is very excitng because I never win anything. Then we rudely took up three seats each to try to rest a little before our flight at 8. But no such luck because our flight keeps getting pushed back and we don't end up leaving until after 10am. So we don't end up getting to Prague until after 11am. All in all our trip took us about 15 hours.
After being awake for 24 hours straight and suffering from a mild stalking experience we knew we weren't in any mindset to accomplish much that day. We just walked around the snowy city (aka I forgot it was still winter until I saw snow again...sucks for you America its almost in the 50s today in Verona). We had authentic czech lunch though and I had rump steak and the other girls got a meat platter. Everything was delicious!! I miss eating meat all the time! We also stopped in a Starbucks (aka Fourbucks) for coffee and to give our friend Clair her birthday cake! Then we FINALLY napped and got ready for our evening. We went to dinner, oh in case you didn't know Prague is known for having REALLY cheap beer, so obviously we had different kinds of beer with every meal.
Then the surprise began. We said we should go back to the hostel for our free welcome drink and to get other drinks because none of the clubs would be busy yet. So we go back and get drinks and shots. We all tried a shot of absinthe (don't worry the whole hallucinogen thing is a myth...unless maybe you get some from a drug dealer, i don't know) but I thoght it tasted good it was like sugar, because you melt sugar in it before you take it, and licorice. No one seemed to agree. Anyways then we tell Clair that we are taking the tram to the clubs...buuut. WE HAD LIMOS PICK US UP AND DRIVE US AROUND PRAGUE FOR FREEEE!!!!! It was AWESOME! AND SOO SURREAL! I mean seriously who are we to get a limo to drive us around a foreign country?? And for free! Needless to say Rod at Hostelone is the best hostel owner in the world. So it took us to really cool clubs and we made sure Clair had a blast celebrating her birthday. As did we. Here is me and Elangie getting into the limo!
So the next day we got up and did our real sightseeing. We went to Old Town Square and saw the Clock Tower strike 1. There were also little markets there where we had crepes made right in front of us! We also tried food from a stand I got a friend cheese sandwhich aka a giant mozzerella stick flattened on bread. Let me tell you I would eat them everyday if we had them in Verona. So its probably very good that we don't. So then we walked down to the river and explored over there. We got really pretty pictures in front of the castle and everything across Charles Bridge. See the new pictures I uploaded for those!
Then we ventured out to find the John Lennon wall and we got so many cool pictures there too!! Here I am in front of the wall:
We finally ventured home to get ready for our RIVER DINNER CRUISE! It took us all around the city to see the beautiful sights from the river. We also got to feast on fine Czech cuisine--buffet style of course. We had czech sausages, goulash, chicken, dumplings, and soo many other things. It was the perfect way to end our trip! It was a three hour cruise and there was also a jazz band that played music for us the entire time. It was also the perfect setting for me to get closer with more people on my trip. I hadn't travelled with teh five girls I went with before so we all had so much fun getting to know each other even better.
I forgot to mention there was alot of excitement getting to the boat because we almost missed it! I had to run about a mile I would guess in heels. By the end I gave up and ran sock-footed through the snow and cobblestone. But it was definitely worth it. We got home a while after 10 and had to leave the hostel at 3:30am to get to the airport. We always travel at awful hours because its cheaper. So we planned to watch movies in the lounge and relax. But unfortunately Lisa lost her passport and we all felt soo bad for her that we spent the entire time tearing the hostel apart looking for it. We never found it but luckily they let her on the plane anyways because she had copies of her passport and visa. She got a temporary one yesterday that lasts her 6 months so she's good to travel for the rest of the trip. But still we were worried for a while that she wouldn't be able to come home with us.
Finally we made our long journey home to spend the entirety of Valentines Day in bed dead to the world catching up on an entire weekends worth of sleep. All in all it was one of the most surreal and memorable vacations of a lifetime. I still can't believe I get to take a new vacation and see a new country every weekend!!
Next weekend I am heading to BARCELONA SPAIN! So if you've got any advice for me let me know!
One last thing I HAVE to tell you about is that I finally started my photography class yesterday!! I keep liking every class the best and now I love this one too. My teacher is awesome (because everyone here is haha). His name is Mauro and he is a professional photographer. He was born in Verona but lived and studied in NYC for 10 years so his english is excellent. Since the class is very technical it is my only one not in italian. For our first class he taught us about the history of photography and the first camera and alot of other really interesting stuff. Then we watched a few clips from the movie Smoke with Harvey Kitel. It looks really good now I want to watch the whole thing. Then we set off for our first fieldtrip! On our way to the gallery we stopped in Piazza Erbe for coffee, he treated. Is this seriously class??? We sat and talked with him for about half an hour. I love my life. Then we went to the amatuer photographers gallery, which happens to be underground completely within the Roman ruins that lie under the city. It was like entering another world entirely. It was a very cool experience. He critiqued all of the photography, so I'm pretty nervous as to what he will have to say about ours. But I can't wait for the experience of this class, he told us that we will spend an hour or two of each class in the classroom and the rest take trips around the city to either take pictures or see galleries! I still can't believe I'm getting 15 GPA hours for these classes. Life could not be better than this.
And last but most certainly not least...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!! I HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERUFL DAY (I MEAN WEEK) CELEBRATING WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY! I'm sorry I can't be there to go to Outback (in the Outlook) tonight but I will be thinking of you guys!! I miss you & I love you! Have a Margarita for me :)
<3 Kalyn
But it gets worse. A little after this blurry picture is taken. He keeps his eyes open one always on me. Then he goes above and beyond our wildest expectations and turns on his side--one arm stretched out to me. And gets EVEN CLOSER. At this point the man is basically trying to spoon me. I burst out laughing soo hard and so does everyone else, at this point I am literally losing it. So I sit up and am basically sitting on top of Lauren sleeping next to me. I start talking to my friends about how I can't do this and he says to me in his broken accent "Dis is going to be a long night." That was the last straw for me and so I walked outside in the freezing cold with Lisa and Cheryl around the entire airport to get away from this cuddle-loving man. However, we got lucky and went through a closed off construction zone to find that there is a cafe opening at 2am. At this point it was 1:30 so we just had to endure 30 more minutes on the ground before we could sit and eat. We ended up staying in that cafe until 5am when checkin opened. He came and sat directly behind me and watched me the whole time. We also got whistles for an hour straight from 50 year old men across the room. Like I said this was my most interesting travelling experience. We waiting at check in for an hour before we could check in for our flight. Then headed to the actual nice part of the airporot they had been hiding from us. There was a kids play room and because we were delirious from exhaustion we decided to play to kill time before our flight. I beat Lauren in the obstacle course, which for me is very excitng because I never win anything. Then we rudely took up three seats each to try to rest a little before our flight at 8. But no such luck because our flight keeps getting pushed back and we don't end up leaving until after 10am. So we don't end up getting to Prague until after 11am. All in all our trip took us about 15 hours.
After being awake for 24 hours straight and suffering from a mild stalking experience we knew we weren't in any mindset to accomplish much that day. We just walked around the snowy city (aka I forgot it was still winter until I saw snow again...sucks for you America its almost in the 50s today in Verona). We had authentic czech lunch though and I had rump steak and the other girls got a meat platter. Everything was delicious!! I miss eating meat all the time! We also stopped in a Starbucks (aka Fourbucks) for coffee and to give our friend Clair her birthday cake! Then we FINALLY napped and got ready for our evening. We went to dinner, oh in case you didn't know Prague is known for having REALLY cheap beer, so obviously we had different kinds of beer with every meal.
Then the surprise began. We said we should go back to the hostel for our free welcome drink and to get other drinks because none of the clubs would be busy yet. So we go back and get drinks and shots. We all tried a shot of absinthe (don't worry the whole hallucinogen thing is a myth...unless maybe you get some from a drug dealer, i don't know) but I thoght it tasted good it was like sugar, because you melt sugar in it before you take it, and licorice. No one seemed to agree. Anyways then we tell Clair that we are taking the tram to the clubs...buuut. WE HAD LIMOS PICK US UP AND DRIVE US AROUND PRAGUE FOR FREEEE!!!!! It was AWESOME! AND SOO SURREAL! I mean seriously who are we to get a limo to drive us around a foreign country?? And for free! Needless to say Rod at Hostelone is the best hostel owner in the world. So it took us to really cool clubs and we made sure Clair had a blast celebrating her birthday. As did we. Here is me and Elangie getting into the limo!
So the next day we got up and did our real sightseeing. We went to Old Town Square and saw the Clock Tower strike 1. There were also little markets there where we had crepes made right in front of us! We also tried food from a stand I got a friend cheese sandwhich aka a giant mozzerella stick flattened on bread. Let me tell you I would eat them everyday if we had them in Verona. So its probably very good that we don't. So then we walked down to the river and explored over there. We got really pretty pictures in front of the castle and everything across Charles Bridge. See the new pictures I uploaded for those!
Then we ventured out to find the John Lennon wall and we got so many cool pictures there too!! Here I am in front of the wall:
We finally ventured home to get ready for our RIVER DINNER CRUISE! It took us all around the city to see the beautiful sights from the river. We also got to feast on fine Czech cuisine--buffet style of course. We had czech sausages, goulash, chicken, dumplings, and soo many other things. It was the perfect way to end our trip! It was a three hour cruise and there was also a jazz band that played music for us the entire time. It was also the perfect setting for me to get closer with more people on my trip. I hadn't travelled with teh five girls I went with before so we all had so much fun getting to know each other even better.
I forgot to mention there was alot of excitement getting to the boat because we almost missed it! I had to run about a mile I would guess in heels. By the end I gave up and ran sock-footed through the snow and cobblestone. But it was definitely worth it. We got home a while after 10 and had to leave the hostel at 3:30am to get to the airport. We always travel at awful hours because its cheaper. So we planned to watch movies in the lounge and relax. But unfortunately Lisa lost her passport and we all felt soo bad for her that we spent the entire time tearing the hostel apart looking for it. We never found it but luckily they let her on the plane anyways because she had copies of her passport and visa. She got a temporary one yesterday that lasts her 6 months so she's good to travel for the rest of the trip. But still we were worried for a while that she wouldn't be able to come home with us.
Finally we made our long journey home to spend the entirety of Valentines Day in bed dead to the world catching up on an entire weekends worth of sleep. All in all it was one of the most surreal and memorable vacations of a lifetime. I still can't believe I get to take a new vacation and see a new country every weekend!!
Next weekend I am heading to BARCELONA SPAIN! So if you've got any advice for me let me know!
One last thing I HAVE to tell you about is that I finally started my photography class yesterday!! I keep liking every class the best and now I love this one too. My teacher is awesome (because everyone here is haha). His name is Mauro and he is a professional photographer. He was born in Verona but lived and studied in NYC for 10 years so his english is excellent. Since the class is very technical it is my only one not in italian. For our first class he taught us about the history of photography and the first camera and alot of other really interesting stuff. Then we watched a few clips from the movie Smoke with Harvey Kitel. It looks really good now I want to watch the whole thing. Then we set off for our first fieldtrip! On our way to the gallery we stopped in Piazza Erbe for coffee, he treated. Is this seriously class??? We sat and talked with him for about half an hour. I love my life. Then we went to the amatuer photographers gallery, which happens to be underground completely within the Roman ruins that lie under the city. It was like entering another world entirely. It was a very cool experience. He critiqued all of the photography, so I'm pretty nervous as to what he will have to say about ours. But I can't wait for the experience of this class, he told us that we will spend an hour or two of each class in the classroom and the rest take trips around the city to either take pictures or see galleries! I still can't believe I'm getting 15 GPA hours for these classes. Life could not be better than this.
And last but most certainly not least...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!! I HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERUFL DAY (I MEAN WEEK) CELEBRATING WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY! I'm sorry I can't be there to go to Outback (in the Outlook) tonight but I will be thinking of you guys!! I miss you & I love you! Have a Margarita for me :)
<3 Kalyn
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
