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
2.28.2010
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
2.09.2010
These Streets Will Make You Feel Brand New
These Lights Will Inspire You.
Since I wrote last I've had quite the eventful weekend and first week of normal class. Aka I don't have to get up for 9:30 class every day...ever again! My days have been filled with travelling to some of the most beautiful cities on water in the world, an almost fainting experience, and laughing at how American we still seem to be despite our best efforts to transform into true Europeans...
So a little about the classes I am taking and how it still amazes me how completely different my life is in comparison to the life I would have had if I had stayed in the States. (By the way I don't understand why people don't study abroad more...get your lives together & get over here.) So my Business class is taught by our Resident Director Claudio and there really is no other way to describe him other than badass and one of the most interesting people I have ever had the pleasure to meet. This man literally has connections EVERYWHERE. So for Business we spend 50% of the time in the classroom & 50% of the time on fieldtrips. The fieldtrips include: visiting a marble factory and watching a sculpture carve statues out of marble (aka I will be envisioning the creation of The David the entire time), a visit to a cake/chocolate factory where we obviously get taste-testers and "a gift to take home," a visit to a cheese factory in Asiago where we also go horseback riding in the mountains, a visit to a winery or two where we get to do wine tasting and have dinner, and finally a shoe factory. Now at the shoe factory there are no garuntees but we have been lead to believe that the owner will take us out for dinner and drinks (free of course) and will also let us pick out a pair of custom made shoes to keep...FOR FREE! So like I said this is just not real life anymore. I've officially entered the twilight zone, and I couldn't be more thrilled.
I was supposed to start photography today but after half an hour of waiting we were finally informed that our teacher is out of town...where you ask? America. Hey thanks for the heads up IDEA Verona. Its funny though because its just another example of how different they live here. Had there been 15 kids sitting in a classroom waiting for a teacher in America they would've had a sub all over that within 5 minutes of waiting. It was nice to have the day before my cinema class though so I went grocery shopping with one of my roommates.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. This past weekend we hopped on a 6euro train for Venice!! We attended Carnival, which is the Italian celebration of Mardi Gras. We got to Venice around noon and got on the next ferry to San Marco. As amazing as I thought Florence was, Venice is even more incredible. If you know me at all then you know how much I love being near any body of water. Hence why I was a swimmer all my life, taught swim lessons in high school, and secretly wish I could be a mermaid for a few days. Instead of streets Venice has small canals for boats to go through. I've already pictured my whole life living in Venice with my own boat to get from place to place and a house that has steps disappearing into the water. Needless to say I was in heaven the minute we arrived.
Once in San Marco square we found the cheaptest place we could to get some lunch. I shared pizza and gnocci with Maura yumm. After that we were on the hunt for drinks, don't judge me it's a holiday based on drinking. So we found cheap wine and bought a bottle each. Now we were told ahead of time that everyone drinks in the streets and its perfectly normal and acceptable. I don't think 6 people each with her own bottle is as acceptable as we thought. We got so many comments--good and bad. So none the less it was an interesting experience. Mostly we just wandered around the square where they had shows and performers and people everywhere. We didn't do any sightseeing this time because we are heading back in March for that! All in all it was a really fun day and we caught a train home later that evening to be back in Verona because we had an early day on Sunday. The best part: we were wearing Italian-made hand painted masks all day! Of course mine was blue :) Here's a picture of my mask (pay no attention to the awkward smile/closeup).
Sunday we had another Claudio trip!! We live for trips with Claudio because we know they involve seeing amazing places we wouldn't think to go to on our own and tons of delicious Italian cuisine! We headed to some little towns right on Lake Guarda. Its the big lake in Northern Italy and it is absolutely beautiful!! First we went to Salo to see the Vittoriale and the Vittoriale Gardens. The lands were once the home of Gabriele D'Annuzio. D'Annuzio was once a friend to Mussolini until he banned D'Annuzio for becoming too powerful and too popular. D'Annuzio was exiled to the castle built for him in Salo, where he carried out the rest of his life. First we got a tour of where he lived and even saw the exact spot where he eventually died at his desk. He had the biggest personal collection of books that I have ever seen. I couldn't keep up with the tour because I kept staying behind in awe of all the literature. His house was very interesting though and very cluttered...he would have fit in with my family. :) After that we ventured outside to tour the grounds. There are endless acres of land looking over the water. We saw part of the warship the Puglia, the Mausoleum where he remains, an open air theater that still holds prestigious shows during the summer, the terraced gardens, and many war relics. I took the opportunity to wander alone through the vast amounts of scenerey to completely take in the experience. I walked through every part of the gardens and through some trails behind the fountains. Then I climbed to the top of the Mausoleum to sit for a long time looking at the ships on the water.
Later in the day we went to other cities on Lake Guarda and they were all equally beautiful. We also did the typical American touristy type activities such as feed swans (candy because we didn't have bread) and take posed pictures on the piers. But we all got to watch a beautiful sunset together.
I'm getting ready to leave for Prague in a few minutes so that's all I've got for now! I'll do another big picture upload after this weekend. I hope you aren't all snowed in at home ;) because we definitely aren't here!
<3 Kalyn
Since I wrote last I've had quite the eventful weekend and first week of normal class. Aka I don't have to get up for 9:30 class every day...ever again! My days have been filled with travelling to some of the most beautiful cities on water in the world, an almost fainting experience, and laughing at how American we still seem to be despite our best efforts to transform into true Europeans...
So a little about the classes I am taking and how it still amazes me how completely different my life is in comparison to the life I would have had if I had stayed in the States. (By the way I don't understand why people don't study abroad more...get your lives together & get over here.) So my Business class is taught by our Resident Director Claudio and there really is no other way to describe him other than badass and one of the most interesting people I have ever had the pleasure to meet. This man literally has connections EVERYWHERE. So for Business we spend 50% of the time in the classroom & 50% of the time on fieldtrips. The fieldtrips include: visiting a marble factory and watching a sculpture carve statues out of marble (aka I will be envisioning the creation of The David the entire time), a visit to a cake/chocolate factory where we obviously get taste-testers and "a gift to take home," a visit to a cheese factory in Asiago where we also go horseback riding in the mountains, a visit to a winery or two where we get to do wine tasting and have dinner, and finally a shoe factory. Now at the shoe factory there are no garuntees but we have been lead to believe that the owner will take us out for dinner and drinks (free of course) and will also let us pick out a pair of custom made shoes to keep...FOR FREE! So like I said this is just not real life anymore. I've officially entered the twilight zone, and I couldn't be more thrilled.
I was supposed to start photography today but after half an hour of waiting we were finally informed that our teacher is out of town...where you ask? America. Hey thanks for the heads up IDEA Verona. Its funny though because its just another example of how different they live here. Had there been 15 kids sitting in a classroom waiting for a teacher in America they would've had a sub all over that within 5 minutes of waiting. It was nice to have the day before my cinema class though so I went grocery shopping with one of my roommates.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. This past weekend we hopped on a 6euro train for Venice!! We attended Carnival, which is the Italian celebration of Mardi Gras. We got to Venice around noon and got on the next ferry to San Marco. As amazing as I thought Florence was, Venice is even more incredible. If you know me at all then you know how much I love being near any body of water. Hence why I was a swimmer all my life, taught swim lessons in high school, and secretly wish I could be a mermaid for a few days. Instead of streets Venice has small canals for boats to go through. I've already pictured my whole life living in Venice with my own boat to get from place to place and a house that has steps disappearing into the water. Needless to say I was in heaven the minute we arrived.
Once in San Marco square we found the cheaptest place we could to get some lunch. I shared pizza and gnocci with Maura yumm. After that we were on the hunt for drinks, don't judge me it's a holiday based on drinking. So we found cheap wine and bought a bottle each. Now we were told ahead of time that everyone drinks in the streets and its perfectly normal and acceptable. I don't think 6 people each with her own bottle is as acceptable as we thought. We got so many comments--good and bad. So none the less it was an interesting experience. Mostly we just wandered around the square where they had shows and performers and people everywhere. We didn't do any sightseeing this time because we are heading back in March for that! All in all it was a really fun day and we caught a train home later that evening to be back in Verona because we had an early day on Sunday. The best part: we were wearing Italian-made hand painted masks all day! Of course mine was blue :) Here's a picture of my mask (pay no attention to the awkward smile/closeup).
Sunday we had another Claudio trip!! We live for trips with Claudio because we know they involve seeing amazing places we wouldn't think to go to on our own and tons of delicious Italian cuisine! We headed to some little towns right on Lake Guarda. Its the big lake in Northern Italy and it is absolutely beautiful!! First we went to Salo to see the Vittoriale and the Vittoriale Gardens. The lands were once the home of Gabriele D'Annuzio. D'Annuzio was once a friend to Mussolini until he banned D'Annuzio for becoming too powerful and too popular. D'Annuzio was exiled to the castle built for him in Salo, where he carried out the rest of his life. First we got a tour of where he lived and even saw the exact spot where he eventually died at his desk. He had the biggest personal collection of books that I have ever seen. I couldn't keep up with the tour because I kept staying behind in awe of all the literature. His house was very interesting though and very cluttered...he would have fit in with my family. :) After that we ventured outside to tour the grounds. There are endless acres of land looking over the water. We saw part of the warship the Puglia, the Mausoleum where he remains, an open air theater that still holds prestigious shows during the summer, the terraced gardens, and many war relics. I took the opportunity to wander alone through the vast amounts of scenerey to completely take in the experience. I walked through every part of the gardens and through some trails behind the fountains. Then I climbed to the top of the Mausoleum to sit for a long time looking at the ships on the water.
Later in the day we went to other cities on Lake Guarda and they were all equally beautiful. We also did the typical American touristy type activities such as feed swans (candy because we didn't have bread) and take posed pictures on the piers. But we all got to watch a beautiful sunset together.
I'm getting ready to leave for Prague in a few minutes so that's all I've got for now! I'll do another big picture upload after this weekend. I hope you aren't all snowed in at home ;) because we definitely aren't here!
<3 Kalyn
2.03.2010
NON C'É FRETTA....
....it means no worries for the rest of your days. It's our problem free philosophy...Hakuna Matata. Non c'è fretta roughly translated means no worries in Italian. Katie taught the phrase to me this past weekend while I was visiting her in Florence! I took it on as a personal motto just as she has done :) If I were to say it in Italian though I would say Io vado a Firenze a visitare mia amica Katie! (except I can only say it the present tense...give me a break I'm still learning)
Anyways Florence is AMAZING! Its different from Verona but I loved the atmosphere. It's one of those cities that is always alive and inviting to everyone. It felt like a bigger and busier version of Verona, and WAY more touristy. We heard more people speaking English on the streets than Italian, which is why I am so happy I chose Verona. While Florence would be such a fun place to live, I feel like I'm getting more of the culture in my every day life.
Florence was definitely a memorable adventure that taught me some important lessons at the same time. We all headed to the train station Friday after class--there were about 20 people who went, which was pretty cool, but we didn't all stay together there. Right when we got to our hostel, called Veronique, Lo & I went to meet up with Katie!!! I was so excited to see her, I was jumping around, hugging her soo much! We went to the store to get food and cooked dinner at her apt before going out. She had only been in Florence for about 4 days at that point so it was really cool to experience her first weekend with her. Her apartment is soooo different from my little place but I loved it. She lives with 7 girls from all over the country! We drank some wine with them and then headed to a little pub called The Lion's Fountain. After that we went to a club called Bbop where I used my sneakiness to simultaneously play a joke on Katie and get us free drinks. I stayed with Katie that night just like we were roomies again :)
The next day we met up with my friends at the Accademia to see Michelangelo's The David! It was unbelievable, I've never seen any artwork so amazing...and I've been to the Louvre! The sheer size of the statue was mesmerizing. But we couldn't take pictures in the museum so I took one of the smaller statue that stands in one of the main squares of town.
After seeing the David we walked to get lunch. Katie and I got McDonalds....shocking I know. But it was a quick cheap meal...can't live luxuriously all the time. After that we walked through the Palazzo degli Uffizi and looked at all of the amazing statues. That's where the smaller David was. There were also sculptures of some of the greats: Donatello, Dante, Galileo, da Vinci, Machiavelli, and so many more! I took pictures so check out the picture site for all of Florence too. We walked through to the beautiful River Arno to take some toursity pictures. Then we met back up with the group to walk through the Uffizi museum. There was so much amazing artwork by so many famous people, I could not believe it. There was so much history too because some of the works dated back thousands of years. Many had been in the museum since the 1600s. We saw da Vinci's famous works the Adoration of the Magi and Annunciation.
Once we toured through the many rooms of the Uffizi we headed to Ponte Vecchio (meaning old bridge). The bridge is the oldest, and most beautiful, in Florence. It was saved by the Nazi's during WWII because of its beauty. Now it houses very expensive shopping. It is also one of the most picturesque places for photoshoots. We walked to the Palazzo Pitti, which is the Medici palace across the river. But because it was closing soon we decided to save it for the next day and head back to the hostel to rest. But first we stopped in the square by where we were staying to ride the Merry-go-Round. Sounds juvenile but it was, like everything in Italy, ornate.
Back at the hostel, as we got ready for dinner, is where I learned my very important lesson of travel. I thought we had rented out the entire floor of our hostel. So I left my makeup in the bathroom area because we were running late for dinner and I planned to finish it when we got back. That was mistake number one. Mistake number too was forgetting the camera on the table after taking pictures of the hostel so people could see what one looks like. Obviously we locked up the bedrooms and the floor and left. When we came back from dinner, my makeup and camera both were gone. There were new people in another room on the floor and the cleaning people had also been through, so I had no way of figuring out who took all my stuff. No one got anything taken from the bedrooms so that was good. But learning the hard way really, really sucks sometimes. It's ironic that two of the things that I use everyday and usually don't go anywhere without got taken from me. I would've been fine losing clothes but no such luck. :( Its okay though because I had extra makeup back home and my big camera is still safe, so there's the silver lining...?
But on the bright side dinner was DELICIOUS and soo much fun! We had to wait forever to get tables because of course we travel in abnormally large groups of 20. But the wait turned out to be well worth it. Dinner was 10 euro and here is what I got: a personal pizza, bruschetta, wine, limoncella, Baileys. It was one of the best dinner's I've ever had!! And the cherry on top (because this is before I knew my stuff was gone). Some Italians thought I was Italian! So in my broken Italian I told them yes and that I was staying here with family haha and they believed me. I was so proud of myself and complimented that people thought I looked like I belong here! Because who wants to stand out as an American really...?!
That night we went out to a discoteca--my first one--called Space. It was a pretty cool club with a lot of different floors and you don't pay until you leave. Which could have potentially have been disastrous but luckily I only had my one free drink that came with paying the cover charge.
The next morning we checked out of the hostel and because Katie is a saint, we put all of our bags at her apartment for the day. Our first stop was back to Palazzo Pitti to see the beautiful gardens of the Medici family. It was literally acres of gorgeous land and we spent hours wandering around admiring everything. It still astounds me that this was just the backyard to their palace and any of the Medici's could roam the gardens any time they wanted. It really reinforced my dream of getting my own castle. Random fact: the Uffizi was offices that belonged to the Medici family and they had secret passageways to get there so they didn't have to go out in public!! Their lives were so fascinating! Here's a view from the gardens of Florence with the mountains in the background...talk about breathtaking. I still can't believe I'm seeing all these things!
After we finally managed to pull ourselves away from the gardens (we literally wanted to stay all day), we headed to get lunch. This was a horrible mistake. We went to a place by the Duomo that was Self-Service...if you are in Florence NEVER, EVER EAT HERE. Every single person who ate there agreed that it was by far the worst meal we had ever eaten in our entire lives. Thinking about it makes me nauseous still. But the Duomo, the main church, makes up for the awful food. If I lived in Florence I would walk around it every day because it is such a force taking up the entire square in the heart of the city. We wanted to go on the free tour of it but unfortunately did not make it in time. After that it was time to SHOP!! We spent hours in the outdoor markets hunting for the best deals on fine Italian leather and scarves, and anything we could find. I ended up getting a really pretty brown leather purse for only 30 euro. I also got a navy blue hand painted mask for Carnival next weekend. I also got bracelets, scarves, a dress, and a mini journal. All in all I would say it was very successful shopping. Once we finished shopping is when we finally realized that staying until the last train home was not the best idea. We were ready to leave but still had hours left to kill. We ended up sitting in a cafe and I had hot tea. Finally we ventured out again to wander through the shops because Saldi (the big sale) is still going on thanks to the world wide bad economy. By the time 5:30 came around we were more than ready to head to the train station.
Here begins a whole new learning experience. Me, Lauren, Alex, & Amelia bought tickets together and we had to switches. No problem right. So the first transfer works perfectly we take a train from the main station in Florence to one still in the city but further out. Then we switch to a train to Bologna. Let me tell you about Bologna's train station. There literally is no inside. It's also dirty with homeless people living in the tunnels. It also has very confusing signs. So of course it is just our luck that we are on the wrong tracks and miss our train back home to Verona. Of course this train is also the LAST train of the night. Let me just put you in my frame of mind for a second: we have been on our feet walking since 10 am in the freezing cold (Florence is colder than Verona), we are carrying heavy backpacks and shopping back, it is dirty, and we a exhausted and have class the next morning. I had one of those truly depressing moments when your spirits just sink as the realization hits that you have no way home that night. But we were resourceful and looked for other trains that were stopping in Verona. We found a German train heading to Munich that stopped in Verona, leaving in a few hours. So we even stopped at information to ask about it and they were all for us train crashing. We had to sit in a smelly room with old men coughing to wait. But while we were waiting we also saw a really disturbing site: a guy (we think was on drugs) fell off a train and hit his head on the platform, his feet were hanging off under the train, and he was bleeding from the head. He was also screaming and gasping for air so loudly that we stopped to look. I'm so glad we had Alex with us because it was one of the scariest things I have ever seen, there just was something not right about the guy and he scared the hell out of me. I could not have been more relieved a few hours later to finally be a stowaway on an overnight train to Germany. We found a dining car and sat for a few hours playing cards. It turned out to be a lot of fun and we got lucky because they never came around to ask us for the tickets we did not posess. We FINALLY made it home around 1am and I still think I'm short of sleep from that weekend 3 days later!!
But Florence was an amazing experience and it felt so good to finally see Katie again. I pulled out one of my cheesy lines like being with Katie felt like being home again...haha. But it really did because in this new experience you are thrown in with 37 kids who don't know you and you get so close so fast, but it just felt great to be with one of my best friends again. We are already trying to plan when we can hang out again!
This week I have my Italian final on Friday then we are celebrating with some drinks! Then Saturday I will be in Venice celebrating Carnival!!! And then on Sunday we have another Claudio trip!! Speaking of Claudio, I have to tell you about my business class that started this week and the amazing trips I am taking with it. But I think I'll save it for another time. I promise to get pictures up soon!
I love and miss you all! As much as I appreciate all of the amazing experiences here, I will always appreciate the people waiting for me back home even more <3 (too cheesy??)
PS I can see the Alps from my walk home from school everyday!! I still can't believe this is really my life. Coming here is by far the best thing that has ever happened to me!
PPS I also have a new roommate. Her name is Katerina, she's 26 and from the Czech Republic. We have no idea what happened to Daria...but like I said here's to new adventures!
Anyways Florence is AMAZING! Its different from Verona but I loved the atmosphere. It's one of those cities that is always alive and inviting to everyone. It felt like a bigger and busier version of Verona, and WAY more touristy. We heard more people speaking English on the streets than Italian, which is why I am so happy I chose Verona. While Florence would be such a fun place to live, I feel like I'm getting more of the culture in my every day life.
Florence was definitely a memorable adventure that taught me some important lessons at the same time. We all headed to the train station Friday after class--there were about 20 people who went, which was pretty cool, but we didn't all stay together there. Right when we got to our hostel, called Veronique, Lo & I went to meet up with Katie!!! I was so excited to see her, I was jumping around, hugging her soo much! We went to the store to get food and cooked dinner at her apt before going out. She had only been in Florence for about 4 days at that point so it was really cool to experience her first weekend with her. Her apartment is soooo different from my little place but I loved it. She lives with 7 girls from all over the country! We drank some wine with them and then headed to a little pub called The Lion's Fountain. After that we went to a club called Bbop where I used my sneakiness to simultaneously play a joke on Katie and get us free drinks. I stayed with Katie that night just like we were roomies again :)
The next day we met up with my friends at the Accademia to see Michelangelo's The David! It was unbelievable, I've never seen any artwork so amazing...and I've been to the Louvre! The sheer size of the statue was mesmerizing. But we couldn't take pictures in the museum so I took one of the smaller statue that stands in one of the main squares of town.
After seeing the David we walked to get lunch. Katie and I got McDonalds....shocking I know. But it was a quick cheap meal...can't live luxuriously all the time. After that we walked through the Palazzo degli Uffizi and looked at all of the amazing statues. That's where the smaller David was. There were also sculptures of some of the greats: Donatello, Dante, Galileo, da Vinci, Machiavelli, and so many more! I took pictures so check out the picture site for all of Florence too. We walked through to the beautiful River Arno to take some toursity pictures. Then we met back up with the group to walk through the Uffizi museum. There was so much amazing artwork by so many famous people, I could not believe it. There was so much history too because some of the works dated back thousands of years. Many had been in the museum since the 1600s. We saw da Vinci's famous works the Adoration of the Magi and Annunciation.
Once we toured through the many rooms of the Uffizi we headed to Ponte Vecchio (meaning old bridge). The bridge is the oldest, and most beautiful, in Florence. It was saved by the Nazi's during WWII because of its beauty. Now it houses very expensive shopping. It is also one of the most picturesque places for photoshoots. We walked to the Palazzo Pitti, which is the Medici palace across the river. But because it was closing soon we decided to save it for the next day and head back to the hostel to rest. But first we stopped in the square by where we were staying to ride the Merry-go-Round. Sounds juvenile but it was, like everything in Italy, ornate.
Back at the hostel, as we got ready for dinner, is where I learned my very important lesson of travel. I thought we had rented out the entire floor of our hostel. So I left my makeup in the bathroom area because we were running late for dinner and I planned to finish it when we got back. That was mistake number one. Mistake number too was forgetting the camera on the table after taking pictures of the hostel so people could see what one looks like. Obviously we locked up the bedrooms and the floor and left. When we came back from dinner, my makeup and camera both were gone. There were new people in another room on the floor and the cleaning people had also been through, so I had no way of figuring out who took all my stuff. No one got anything taken from the bedrooms so that was good. But learning the hard way really, really sucks sometimes. It's ironic that two of the things that I use everyday and usually don't go anywhere without got taken from me. I would've been fine losing clothes but no such luck. :( Its okay though because I had extra makeup back home and my big camera is still safe, so there's the silver lining...?
But on the bright side dinner was DELICIOUS and soo much fun! We had to wait forever to get tables because of course we travel in abnormally large groups of 20. But the wait turned out to be well worth it. Dinner was 10 euro and here is what I got: a personal pizza, bruschetta, wine, limoncella, Baileys. It was one of the best dinner's I've ever had!! And the cherry on top (because this is before I knew my stuff was gone). Some Italians thought I was Italian! So in my broken Italian I told them yes and that I was staying here with family haha and they believed me. I was so proud of myself and complimented that people thought I looked like I belong here! Because who wants to stand out as an American really...?!
That night we went out to a discoteca--my first one--called Space. It was a pretty cool club with a lot of different floors and you don't pay until you leave. Which could have potentially have been disastrous but luckily I only had my one free drink that came with paying the cover charge.
The next morning we checked out of the hostel and because Katie is a saint, we put all of our bags at her apartment for the day. Our first stop was back to Palazzo Pitti to see the beautiful gardens of the Medici family. It was literally acres of gorgeous land and we spent hours wandering around admiring everything. It still astounds me that this was just the backyard to their palace and any of the Medici's could roam the gardens any time they wanted. It really reinforced my dream of getting my own castle. Random fact: the Uffizi was offices that belonged to the Medici family and they had secret passageways to get there so they didn't have to go out in public!! Their lives were so fascinating! Here's a view from the gardens of Florence with the mountains in the background...talk about breathtaking. I still can't believe I'm seeing all these things!
After we finally managed to pull ourselves away from the gardens (we literally wanted to stay all day), we headed to get lunch. This was a horrible mistake. We went to a place by the Duomo that was Self-Service...if you are in Florence NEVER, EVER EAT HERE. Every single person who ate there agreed that it was by far the worst meal we had ever eaten in our entire lives. Thinking about it makes me nauseous still. But the Duomo, the main church, makes up for the awful food. If I lived in Florence I would walk around it every day because it is such a force taking up the entire square in the heart of the city. We wanted to go on the free tour of it but unfortunately did not make it in time. After that it was time to SHOP!! We spent hours in the outdoor markets hunting for the best deals on fine Italian leather and scarves, and anything we could find. I ended up getting a really pretty brown leather purse for only 30 euro. I also got a navy blue hand painted mask for Carnival next weekend. I also got bracelets, scarves, a dress, and a mini journal. All in all I would say it was very successful shopping. Once we finished shopping is when we finally realized that staying until the last train home was not the best idea. We were ready to leave but still had hours left to kill. We ended up sitting in a cafe and I had hot tea. Finally we ventured out again to wander through the shops because Saldi (the big sale) is still going on thanks to the world wide bad economy. By the time 5:30 came around we were more than ready to head to the train station.
Here begins a whole new learning experience. Me, Lauren, Alex, & Amelia bought tickets together and we had to switches. No problem right. So the first transfer works perfectly we take a train from the main station in Florence to one still in the city but further out. Then we switch to a train to Bologna. Let me tell you about Bologna's train station. There literally is no inside. It's also dirty with homeless people living in the tunnels. It also has very confusing signs. So of course it is just our luck that we are on the wrong tracks and miss our train back home to Verona. Of course this train is also the LAST train of the night. Let me just put you in my frame of mind for a second: we have been on our feet walking since 10 am in the freezing cold (Florence is colder than Verona), we are carrying heavy backpacks and shopping back, it is dirty, and we a exhausted and have class the next morning. I had one of those truly depressing moments when your spirits just sink as the realization hits that you have no way home that night. But we were resourceful and looked for other trains that were stopping in Verona. We found a German train heading to Munich that stopped in Verona, leaving in a few hours. So we even stopped at information to ask about it and they were all for us train crashing. We had to sit in a smelly room with old men coughing to wait. But while we were waiting we also saw a really disturbing site: a guy (we think was on drugs) fell off a train and hit his head on the platform, his feet were hanging off under the train, and he was bleeding from the head. He was also screaming and gasping for air so loudly that we stopped to look. I'm so glad we had Alex with us because it was one of the scariest things I have ever seen, there just was something not right about the guy and he scared the hell out of me. I could not have been more relieved a few hours later to finally be a stowaway on an overnight train to Germany. We found a dining car and sat for a few hours playing cards. It turned out to be a lot of fun and we got lucky because they never came around to ask us for the tickets we did not posess. We FINALLY made it home around 1am and I still think I'm short of sleep from that weekend 3 days later!!
But Florence was an amazing experience and it felt so good to finally see Katie again. I pulled out one of my cheesy lines like being with Katie felt like being home again...haha. But it really did because in this new experience you are thrown in with 37 kids who don't know you and you get so close so fast, but it just felt great to be with one of my best friends again. We are already trying to plan when we can hang out again!
This week I have my Italian final on Friday then we are celebrating with some drinks! Then Saturday I will be in Venice celebrating Carnival!!! And then on Sunday we have another Claudio trip!! Speaking of Claudio, I have to tell you about my business class that started this week and the amazing trips I am taking with it. But I think I'll save it for another time. I promise to get pictures up soon!
I love and miss you all! As much as I appreciate all of the amazing experiences here, I will always appreciate the people waiting for me back home even more <3 (too cheesy??)
PS I can see the Alps from my walk home from school everyday!! I still can't believe this is really my life. Coming here is by far the best thing that has ever happened to me!
PPS I also have a new roommate. Her name is Katerina, she's 26 and from the Czech Republic. We have no idea what happened to Daria...but like I said here's to new adventures!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
