So I spent this past weekend in Gimmelwald and Interlaken, Switzerland and it was AMAZING. It was absolutely one of my top 3 trips ever out of this semester and my last semester here...maybe even my favorite ever. It was just so devastatingly beautiful and peaceful and perfect.
Thursday night Allie and I had dinner at Ai Cugnai (so much fun), then went to buy art (an adventure), and hung out a little before bed. We got up painfully early Friday and made a final stop at Bar da Gino before heading to Piazzale Roma (Allie) and the train station (me). It was really hard to say goodbye because I'd had such a good time with Allie and she did a great job of keeping my mind off things! Plus, the fact that she had so little time here and leaving was so sad made me really aware of how little time is left in my semester (about a month and a week). It's not like I'm trying to rush it away (quite the opposite, actually), but it is just FLYING by and I can't do a thing about it! I've had such a great time this semester and it's going to be even more difficult to leave this time because I know the chance for another experience like this is slim. Maybe I just won't come home this time... (kidding, Mom and Dad...well, maybe).
Anyways, I got to the train station in plenty of time and started the whole getting to Gimmelwald adventure. I took a train from Venice to Milan and edited my essays and applications (I suppose I'll never be entirely ready to send them off but it's definitely high time I do and I wanted to have one last glance over them). I caught my train in Milan with plenty of time and it headed towards Spiez, Switzerland. I meant to do more work but ended up sleeping almost the entire time (I blame the dramamine and extreme sleep deprivation)...I woke up just in time to see the suburbs of Milan turn in to the foothills of the alps. My train to Spiez was almost half an hour behind, so I missed my train from Spiez to Interlaken, but it's a short, frequent route, so I took a later one, landing me in Interlaken with 15 minutes to jog to the train station, buy a ticket to Gimmelwald, find an ATM, and get back to the platforms. Getting to Gimmelwald involved taking a train for about 20 minutes, a bus for about 12, and a cable car for 5. I made a whole bunch of friends on the train part of the trip and they were also on the same route, so we kind of joined up to figure it out together. They were hilarious...a whole huge group of Londoners who reminded me so much of the Casa Artom crew...made me miss them! It was a pretty uneventful trip despite the various forms of transportation and the fact that everything was in German (Interlaken and Gimmelwald are in the German part of Switzerland). It was beautiful, though...Gimmelwald is about an hour outside of Interlaken and almost directly north, so I got progressively further into the Alps on each form of transportation. I got off the cable car and our hostel was RIGHT there (so easy and convenient!)...I poked around a little bit and took a ton of pictures before I went in. Inside I realized reception wouldn't open for a few more hours (and the rest of the group was still en route), so I checked email and made some friends who were also hanging out in the hostel. The first group was about 20 people from Ohio and the second group was 3 kids who are a few years older than me and decided the current job market wasn't worth working in, so they're backpacking for about a month. One girl is from Mooresville (which is about 10 minutes from my house), which was cool, and the 3 of them ended up following us to Venice, so we're meeting up with them today. Anyways, the rest of the group arrived around dinnertime and made the best dinner ever (mostly because I was FAMISHED...I'd eaten nothing but a granola bar and some trail mix all day) and I crashed after a few card games.
We woke up around 8 on Saturday and had breakfast (gigantic chunks of yummy bread & some fruit) while selecting a trail to hike (with the help of the lady who runs the hostel). Instead of the original plan, we opted to do this really intense, 6ish hour hike that started and ended in Gimmelwald and involved hiking to the top of this little peak on top of a mountain. We started hiking around 9 and the path took us through what I believe passes for a town? (I say this not in a mean way, but only because it was a series of barns and pastures with goats and cows, but that's the most we saw for the entire hike) It was downhill for maybe 30 minutes (clearly too good to be true) and the lowest portion was this bridge over a river at the bottom of the valley. Then it was straight uphill. For approximately 3 or 4 hours. Over incredibly intense and constantly changing terrain. I say this as if it was a bad experience. It was quite the opposite. It was probably one of THE most rewarding things I have ever, ever, done. Superficially speaking, the weather was perfect, the pictures turned out well, and the company was so enjoyable. On a more serious note, it was a really intense hike that was very physically demanding, especially for someone not exactly in superior shape (at sea level, not to mention a few thousand feet up) and who has an irrational fear of heights/sliding down a rocky cliff side. But I stuck with it despite the fact that my lungs were screaming at me and my heart was thumping harder than ever before and I never took a break before our fearless leader (Eugene) announced one. I didn't even ever fall completely down (although I slipped and slid quite a few times...) or cry or freak out or complain (well, not more than a couple times). Eugene and Kayla are both really experienced hikers (and most everyone else is much more experienced than ME!), so they did a great job of helping me find places to put my feet (to avoid the sliding down the cliff scenarios) and making me feel like I wasn't going to die hiking. I couldn't make it all the way to the top of the extra peak thing (the path became more rock-climbing than path-esque and I was too scared), but I got almost all the way there and then just sat on a ledge and listened to the silence of the mountains punctuated by the occasional helicopter or airplane sounds while the rest of the group went to the top. The walk back down to the bridge was almost more intense than the straight uphill climb because it was so steep and slick that we had to go really slowly. Then once we got back to the river, it was all uphill back to the hostel (I was never so relieved to see UPHILL terrain). I wanted a nice, long, hot shower when we got back, but, the showers only took 1 Swiss Franc coins (1 CHF for 5 minutes of hot water was the deal) and I didn't have any, so we made an early dinner (and by dinner I mean feast) of roasted chicken, fried potatoes, pasta, and green beans. I finally got an amazing 15 minute shower (worth every last penny)and played cards until bed time.
Elizabeth and I got up at what we THOUGHT was 6:45 the next morning (we were planning to catch the 8am cable car to start the cable car-bus-train trip back to Interlaken). Well, Elizabeth remembered seeing signs in their hostel in Interlaken (from Thursday night) about daylight savings time, so we used the superslow hostel computer to google a few sites and figure out what time it ACTUALLY was. 5:45 AM, we discovered. We decided to stay up because neither of us had been sleeping well that night anyways, so we read, had breakfast, got the rest of the crew up, stripped and re-made our bunks, and headed off from the perfect, idyllic little town of Gimmelwald. We got to Interlaken at 9am and had breakfast at this place called Coop restaurant (Coop is a grocery store and this particular location was a Coop supercenter that involved a restaurant among other things). I got a cappuccino and THE best chocolate chocolate muffin ever (followed by some cereal because I was famished). Then we managed to fit ALL our backpacks in this little locker at the train station before heading off to explore the town for a few hours. We poked through a few souvenir shops, took a ton of pictures, and ended up back at Coop restaurant for lunch (everything else was too expensive...i.e. even the quickie burger place was over 8 Swiss Francs and sit-down restaurants were 20+ whereas I ate for 5 at the Coop). I also bought a baguette, an apple, and granola bar at the grocery for dinner on the trains home. We caught each of our trains with no incident, although our Spiez-Milan train had a mother and son on it and the son was NOT happy. He screamed and cried and squirmed almost the entire time and while we all knew the mom was doing her best, it put us on edge in a very real way and none of us were sad to get to Milan and go our separate ways. We all read/slept/listened to music for most of the trip, but towards the end, all 7 of us piled in to 1 compartment, shut all the drapes, turned off the lights, and told ghost stories (we were pretty slap happy after nearly a day of traveling on top of a superlong hike and some serious altitude changes). We were so happy to get back to Venice...Ana and I elected to skip the Pizza al Volo/Doge gelato stops and booked it home, where I proceeded to take a very long, very hot, very free shower, unpack, and finally get a good night's sleep!
Today I got coffee with Kayla, and have been hanging out working on my massive Thanksgiving to-do list while they have a marathon 2 hour Italian class, then it's off to Billa (yes, again), more time-killing while they have an afternoon class, our weekly house meeting (always an experiment in how long we can make 18 college kids sit still), the gym (if my muscles can handle it post-hike), dinner, and some very serious second break planning (since it's in, oh, 2ish weeks...). Eek. But, the girls and I decided to skip Vienna next weekend (to save money and not spent 15+ hrs on a train again) and go during 2nd break instead, which I think is a good decision because I haven't spent as much weekend time in Venice as I'd like to, PLUS, I really missed everyone this weekend and we don't have that much time left to live together as a little family!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
busy week
So as I may've mentioned, this past weekend was a bit of an adventure and the week didn't exactly get any less crazy. And oh wait...I'm going out of town this coming weekend...good plan, right? Can't complain, though...I'm meeting a fun group in Switzerland tomorrow to see Interlaken and Gimmelwald and hike and see glaciers and other such 100% out-of-character things in an attempt to keep my mind off things.
Anyways, Monday Allie and I began the tackling of the Venice "bucket list" that we jointly comprised when she first got here. We hit Bar da Gino and decided it was a good day to go up in the campanile (bell tower) of St.Marks. It was INCREDIBLE. Hands down the best view of the island itself, the nearby islands, the lagoon, etc. Then we stopped by the post office to mail a few things and headed to Rialto to do shop (souvenirs for Allie, a hat for me) and I got yelled at in United Colors of Benetton for using the kids' dressing room (lame). We had lunch at the house, then while the kids had class, Allie went to Billa to get tons of food to make dinner for over half the house (quite nice of her, if you ask me!). We had a marathon house meeting (also kind of lame), then Kayla and I went to the gym, which is good, because I really want to get use out of my stupid 80 Euro membership AND it's kind of nice to have that level of sore that says "yes I might be eating my body weight in gelato, pizza, and pasta on a daily basis, but by God, you aren't going to be able to tell when I get home." When I got back, I "helped" Allie make red wine pasta with broccoli rabe and chicken for dinner (including a last minute dash to Billa for extra food for the dinner (bread and salad) and wine and pasta sauce for Tom...notable only because it was SO busy that there weren't any baskets so I was holding 2 bags of bread, 2 of salad, 2 jars of sauce, and a bottle of wine in THE longest Billa line ever). After that, she and I went to St. Marks to see it at night, listen to the classical music being played by the various cafe bands, look at some art (Allie wants to buy some to decorate her apartment), and just wander because the house was a little wired for sound (the kids had just finished one midterm and were studying for another). Perfect example of how wired the house was? I get back, head to the kitchen for a snack, and proceed to find myself being bench pressed and curled by Tom in some attempt to prove his strength to everyone. Fortunately there is no documentation of this because I was yelling (in slight fear of being dropped on the dirty kitchen floor) the whole time.
Tuesday Allie and I again started at Bar da Gino, then took a vaporetto to the Giudecca (island across from Venice). We walked down the main calle and poked through a few churches but it was absolutely freezing and gross, so we took the vaporetto back to Venice and had lunch. While the kids were in class, Allie read and I worked on essays, then we walked towards this AMAZINGGGG chocolate shop past Santa Margherita that Allie found. It's so cute and chic and classy and, y'all, I could just LIVE there. I couldn't settle on one of the hundreds of beautiful, fancy pieces of chocolate, so I got this giant, steaming cup of hot chocolate made with milk. Basically, it's barely liquid because it's so thick and the taste is just perfect. I rushed back to switch my laundry because angling for space in the washers and dryer here is like a sport and I knew I needed some socks before heading straight in to the Swiss Alps. We were so full from the hot chocolate and day-long snack fest that we decided to walk more and ended up exploring this area off of Campo San Stefano...we found great views of the Grand Canal at dusk (beautiful) and a really cool apothecary-esque perfume shop (I think both the perfume shop and chocolate shop were so appealing because they look nothing like the 9000 other souvenir shops on the island). Then Allie made me dinner (huzzah) and we hung out until about half the group was ready to go out to Santa Margherita for a while. We decided to sit at Duchamps (for old time's sake) and Eugene bought me an Affligam (a type of beer I'd never heard of before this semester, but that the guys here LOVE) and Allie got wine and we all just hung out and talked before heading back to partake in/watch the house party (legendary not necessarily for its level of fun, but because of the presence of hard alcohol in mass quantities...an "experiment" on the part of Dr. Hagy as it's technically against the rules unless he allows it, which he did in this case). Then Allie and I went BACK out for pizza and ran in to Tom, Brian, Megan, and Megan's visiting friends and walked back to Casa Artom with them. It was an interesting night...some people had a little too good of a time and so dealing with that wasn't so fabulous, but, Allie and I got to do a lot of catching up in between, so I can't complain!
Wednesday we opted to sleep in (we were up until 2ish), then got coffee (popular with us, obviously) and visited the Peggy (which we've both been meaning to do since last time we were here). Modern art really isn't our thing, but, it was really cool to see inside the palazzo and take pictures from the dock and we felt good for finally having gone (for free!). We had lunch with David at Bar da Gino, then hung out while the kids were in class, followed by yet another gym adventure and a trip to the train station to get Switzerland tickets. It was a little stressful and I'm (still) so sleep deprived (can't turn my brain off at night) that it wasn't the most enjoyable experience, but, we have train tickets so that's that. Then I got gelato (yes, again), which ruined my appetite for house dinner (chili), but that's ok because the kids had to eat the dinner while watching a marathon opera. While they watched the opera, Allie and I were both too tired to even MOVE, so she read and I caught up on some American tv (don't judge) before going to bed at a decent hour for once!
Today we slept in again and got coffee before heading to San Giorgio (the small island across from St. Mark's square). It was really small, but the church on it is beautiful and the views of Venice were amazing. Then we took the boat back to Venice and walked down to the Gardens...it was SO HOT! That calle gets a lot of sun, but even still...for late October, it was a little ridiculous (and by ridiculous, I mean amazing...I love warm, non-wintery weather). We came back in time to have lunch here (we're so economical) and watch the kids do improv presentations in their lit class. Oh. My. Word. They were insanely funny and entirely innapropriate. So different from what would EVER happen when Allie and I were here! Then we got MORE coffee and went back to the same chocolate shop as Tuesday (at least this time I got a baby cup of hot chocolate) and wandered to Rialto where I was successful in the "find a hat so my ears don't fall off in Switzerland" department and Allie bought more gifts for back home. We're about to have dinner at Ai Cugnai (can't wait for the little old lady's antics and the brothers' joking around) and then go back to St. Mark's once more so Allie can officially buy some art for her apartment.
I can't believe she has to leave tomorrow : ( It's been so great having her here and the time FLEW by. It was definitely good to see her for a lot of reasons, especially because I feel like sometimes I take Venice for granted and her excitement at being back and seeing everything again made me appreciate it more than I do on a day to day basis, if that makes sense. Anyways, I'm excited about Switzerland AND sending my law school apps off next week (the Halloween deadline WILL be reached) AND getting a lot done before the 2nd break, because Thanksgiving will be here before I know it (and apparently I'm expected to basically run that whole shin dig)!
Anyways, Monday Allie and I began the tackling of the Venice "bucket list" that we jointly comprised when she first got here. We hit Bar da Gino and decided it was a good day to go up in the campanile (bell tower) of St.Marks. It was INCREDIBLE. Hands down the best view of the island itself, the nearby islands, the lagoon, etc. Then we stopped by the post office to mail a few things and headed to Rialto to do shop (souvenirs for Allie, a hat for me) and I got yelled at in United Colors of Benetton for using the kids' dressing room (lame). We had lunch at the house, then while the kids had class, Allie went to Billa to get tons of food to make dinner for over half the house (quite nice of her, if you ask me!). We had a marathon house meeting (also kind of lame), then Kayla and I went to the gym, which is good, because I really want to get use out of my stupid 80 Euro membership AND it's kind of nice to have that level of sore that says "yes I might be eating my body weight in gelato, pizza, and pasta on a daily basis, but by God, you aren't going to be able to tell when I get home." When I got back, I "helped" Allie make red wine pasta with broccoli rabe and chicken for dinner (including a last minute dash to Billa for extra food for the dinner (bread and salad) and wine and pasta sauce for Tom...notable only because it was SO busy that there weren't any baskets so I was holding 2 bags of bread, 2 of salad, 2 jars of sauce, and a bottle of wine in THE longest Billa line ever). After that, she and I went to St. Marks to see it at night, listen to the classical music being played by the various cafe bands, look at some art (Allie wants to buy some to decorate her apartment), and just wander because the house was a little wired for sound (the kids had just finished one midterm and were studying for another). Perfect example of how wired the house was? I get back, head to the kitchen for a snack, and proceed to find myself being bench pressed and curled by Tom in some attempt to prove his strength to everyone. Fortunately there is no documentation of this because I was yelling (in slight fear of being dropped on the dirty kitchen floor) the whole time.
Tuesday Allie and I again started at Bar da Gino, then took a vaporetto to the Giudecca (island across from Venice). We walked down the main calle and poked through a few churches but it was absolutely freezing and gross, so we took the vaporetto back to Venice and had lunch. While the kids were in class, Allie read and I worked on essays, then we walked towards this AMAZINGGGG chocolate shop past Santa Margherita that Allie found. It's so cute and chic and classy and, y'all, I could just LIVE there. I couldn't settle on one of the hundreds of beautiful, fancy pieces of chocolate, so I got this giant, steaming cup of hot chocolate made with milk. Basically, it's barely liquid because it's so thick and the taste is just perfect. I rushed back to switch my laundry because angling for space in the washers and dryer here is like a sport and I knew I needed some socks before heading straight in to the Swiss Alps. We were so full from the hot chocolate and day-long snack fest that we decided to walk more and ended up exploring this area off of Campo San Stefano...we found great views of the Grand Canal at dusk (beautiful) and a really cool apothecary-esque perfume shop (I think both the perfume shop and chocolate shop were so appealing because they look nothing like the 9000 other souvenir shops on the island). Then Allie made me dinner (huzzah) and we hung out until about half the group was ready to go out to Santa Margherita for a while. We decided to sit at Duchamps (for old time's sake) and Eugene bought me an Affligam (a type of beer I'd never heard of before this semester, but that the guys here LOVE) and Allie got wine and we all just hung out and talked before heading back to partake in/watch the house party (legendary not necessarily for its level of fun, but because of the presence of hard alcohol in mass quantities...an "experiment" on the part of Dr. Hagy as it's technically against the rules unless he allows it, which he did in this case). Then Allie and I went BACK out for pizza and ran in to Tom, Brian, Megan, and Megan's visiting friends and walked back to Casa Artom with them. It was an interesting night...some people had a little too good of a time and so dealing with that wasn't so fabulous, but, Allie and I got to do a lot of catching up in between, so I can't complain!
Wednesday we opted to sleep in (we were up until 2ish), then got coffee (popular with us, obviously) and visited the Peggy (which we've both been meaning to do since last time we were here). Modern art really isn't our thing, but, it was really cool to see inside the palazzo and take pictures from the dock and we felt good for finally having gone (for free!). We had lunch with David at Bar da Gino, then hung out while the kids were in class, followed by yet another gym adventure and a trip to the train station to get Switzerland tickets. It was a little stressful and I'm (still) so sleep deprived (can't turn my brain off at night) that it wasn't the most enjoyable experience, but, we have train tickets so that's that. Then I got gelato (yes, again), which ruined my appetite for house dinner (chili), but that's ok because the kids had to eat the dinner while watching a marathon opera. While they watched the opera, Allie and I were both too tired to even MOVE, so she read and I caught up on some American tv (don't judge) before going to bed at a decent hour for once!
Today we slept in again and got coffee before heading to San Giorgio (the small island across from St. Mark's square). It was really small, but the church on it is beautiful and the views of Venice were amazing. Then we took the boat back to Venice and walked down to the Gardens...it was SO HOT! That calle gets a lot of sun, but even still...for late October, it was a little ridiculous (and by ridiculous, I mean amazing...I love warm, non-wintery weather). We came back in time to have lunch here (we're so economical) and watch the kids do improv presentations in their lit class. Oh. My. Word. They were insanely funny and entirely innapropriate. So different from what would EVER happen when Allie and I were here! Then we got MORE coffee and went back to the same chocolate shop as Tuesday (at least this time I got a baby cup of hot chocolate) and wandered to Rialto where I was successful in the "find a hat so my ears don't fall off in Switzerland" department and Allie bought more gifts for back home. We're about to have dinner at Ai Cugnai (can't wait for the little old lady's antics and the brothers' joking around) and then go back to St. Mark's once more so Allie can officially buy some art for her apartment.
I can't believe she has to leave tomorrow : ( It's been so great having her here and the time FLEW by. It was definitely good to see her for a lot of reasons, especially because I feel like sometimes I take Venice for granted and her excitement at being back and seeing everything again made me appreciate it more than I do on a day to day basis, if that makes sense. Anyways, I'm excited about Switzerland AND sending my law school apps off next week (the Halloween deadline WILL be reached) AND getting a lot done before the 2nd break, because Thanksgiving will be here before I know it (and apparently I'm expected to basically run that whole shin dig)!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
"don't think, lady, it's bad for your health"
Oh y'all. This weekend. It was epic, crazy, intense, amazing...there are just not enough adjectives to describe it. It all started on Thursday when housemates' friends started to show up. I lost count, but there were at least 7 to 10 non-Casa Artom residents hanging out here this weekend, which was fun, but made for a really interesting dynamic (especially because only 4 people traveled this weekend from our group, but it felt like more). I hung out with the kids after the finished class for the weekend, then Kayla and I walked McKinley as far as the gelateria on the way to the train station (she was headed to Florence), making it basically the first time I'd eaten in a while, which was nice. After that, we took yet another trip to Billa to load up on fruit, eggs, etc for the singles breakfast for dinner extravaganza. I caught up with Alicia and showered while the girls made the dinner (I was forbidden from helping, can't complain), then we sat down to such an amazing meal. Fried potatoes, eggs, fruit salad, pancakes (regular AND chocolate chip), SYRUP (if you know me at all, you know how much I miss syrup), mimosas (with red oj...my favorite). Then there was a pretty intense house party, but a handful of us weren't really up for a big beer pong tournament, so we sat around, talked, and then I crashed in Rhianna's bed until the house party ended (since they play beer pong in the dining room, trying to sleep in my room is entirely futile, but Rhianna's room is a lot further away). I slept like a dream, but somehow ended up with a slew of new mosquito bites running from my collarbone up to my chin...they match really well with the ones on my forehead...
Friday Kayla and I got up and decided to put to use our sweet 80 Euro gym memberships, so we walked allll the way to the gym and she ran on the treadmill while I attempted a weight machine circuit, then we did some painful ab stuff. My stab at Italian weightlifting was hilarious. All the machines are pretty different, so the guy who works in the gym would see me head to a new machine and immediately come over and adjust it for me, no speaking (because, see, he spoke very little English and my Italian isn't exactly fabulous, so he goes "weight?" and I said "44" and that was that). I'm sure I looked like a moron, but I have that perfect level of sore going on right now...I'm determined to get back in shape! After that, Kayla and I walked to the train station (very close to the gym) to see what was up with the planned train strike (to see if we could still hop a train to Vicenza to shop). The info people told us the fast trains were running and that we could catch one in about an hour and a half, so we practically jogged home, got cleaned up, picked up Ana, and jogged back to the station. Shopping while upset is not the best life plan, let me tell you. I don't regret anything I bought, but I probably could've been a little more conservative...doesn't help that Ana and Kayla were being super nice and telling me how great EVERYTHING looked...! I got 2 scarves (fun colors), a brown bomber jacket from Zara Kids, a perfect tweed blazer from H&M, and a black going out shirt from H&M. Oh and something that is described in 3 words that can make every girl's eyes sparkle. That's right. THE perfect little black dress. There are just no words, but essentially, it's seemingly simple but has seams and a fluted hem that make the dress look like I was meant to live in it. Clearly I'm still a little pumped. We got home in time to make some dinner while the rest of the group went out for Chinese, then we all eventually met up in Santa Margherita. Which is where I was told the phrase that is the title of the post. The bartender at Cafe Blu (our 3rd stop, complete with live jazz, I should add) saw me having an internal debate with myself (another glass of wine? no? yes?) and goes "lady, don't think, it's bad for your health." Brilliant. Words to live by, I say. And so I stopped thinking and good Lord, I had a great night. Kayla and I spent most of the night making funny faces at each other as we had stupid thoughts and immediately cracked up. The walk home included being approached by a few cruise workers who "just wanted to hear English," Kayla and I waiting for Eugene outside a bar and singing "Eugene Shyu, where are YOU," and Kayla and I having to stop and sit down multiple times because something or the other was just that amusing...don't worry Mom and Dad, I behaved myself.
Saturday Kayla and I went to Bar da Gino and ran in to Kelly, Kelly's guest Jenny (other guests' names included a Jen, a Jennifer...on top of the Jen and Jenny we ALREADY have in our group), and Caroline. We all talked about our Friday nights and exchanged stories over cappucini and brioche, which was priceless. Kayla and I watched some tv and rested (we were all still a little tired from Friday), then Mom helped me edit my personal statements. Then ALLIE GOT HERE! I was so happy to see her that I basically ran out and tackled her when she got here. We caught up, then had dinner with a big group (cooked by Zach, Rhianna, and Rhianna's guest Virginia), went to Doge for gelato, then came back to get some sleep. On my way upstairs, I was talking to Stephanie and Virginia and Jen (all guests of various people) and I had been trying so hard to figure out why they looked so familiar. Then someone said Stowe's name and it was like this instantaneous light bulb for all of us... we had met at the theater house this one unfortunate night back in January. We spent about 20 minutes (I'm not even exaggerating) exclaiming over what a coincidence that was...I love how small of a world Wake can be!
Today we got up kind of early to meet Ana's new little Italian pal, Giulio at the train station at 10:30ish to go to the wine festival (called Ombra Longa)in Treviso (he studies in Venice, but is from Treviso and was supposed to basically hold our hands through the wine festival since we knew NO details). Well, we go to buy our train tickets while we wait only to learn there's no train at 10:56 like he told Ana...it's at 11:56. And so we go ahead and buy the tickets, but see no Giulio, so we go wandering around until 11:30, then go to the platform to wait (assuming it'd just been a mistake). No Giulio. STILL no Giulio at 11:53...so we decide we're going to get on the train and see what happens when we get to Treviso...worst case scenario, we have a great lunch, poke around town, and come back. Whew. If only that'd been how things went. Instead, the train gets progressively more packed as we approach Treviso, and we get let off in Treviso with hundreds and hundreds of people. Downside...I kind of like personal space. Upside...we were now surrounded by people who knew what to do and where to go. We stumbled upon the main square where we bought a "kit grande"...an apron, a plastic wine cup, a spork, and a map of the 20+ "stops" on the wine festival tour. Having no clue what to do, we just kind of wandered, bought our first glass of wine, and got some tiny little sandwiches. Then we started up the wandering again and I probably won't do the scenario justice, but I'm going to take a stab at describing it. So, first of all, there are basically zero tourists...the only English we heard was our own...AMAZING. Second of all, I don't even know to what Ombra Longa can be compared back home. People were in big groups which were denoted by things like specially made tshirts or crowns of leaves or airline lifejackets or chain mail costumes or pope-esque hats (I'll post pictures soon). And each group would often just burst in to some sort of patriotic sounding song in Italian. And random people (and by people, I mean guys) would stop us about every 20 steps to say something they deemed flirtatious (not like we knew, we don't really speak excellent Italian) and we'd play along then move along. Sometimes people would want to just do the whole "chin chin/cheers" thing and so if we were out of wine, they'd pour us a tiny bit of theirs and we'd cheers and on we'd all move in our different directions. We made all sorts of friends. Just as we were getting ready to leave, we ran in to Giulio and his friends. Giulio and one friend were tied together with some sort of plastic stuff (apparently they were looking out for each other today) and they were all very friendly. They brought their own (very strong) wine and were more than happy to share (slash make us drink some). Oh and I met a friend named Daniel who lives in Vicenza while I was in the line for the porta potties...stealthy little bugger put his number in my cell phone (don't worry, y'all, calling him is pretty far down on my to-do list). Finally we had to get going because Allie is still a little jetlagged, I'm exhausted, and Ana has 2 exams within the next 24 hours. Nevertheless, it was SO MUCH FUN...we spent the day walking around wearing Ombra Longa aprons, eating Italian appetizers, drinking wine out of adorable cups (that fit conveniently in this little pocket sewn onto the apron), taking pictures (I have approximately 200...yeah...), and just being all Italian. After we got back, Allie and I ran in to (and joined) Caroline and Charlotte at San Travaso, which was so funny... it's just weird to be eating with my old group and new group all at once and the waiters were totally trying to get Caroline and Allie's attention, so we got a pretty nice discount and then we met a couple who has a daughter who goes to Wake (and knows my friend Tristan)...such a small world.
Anyways, my apologies for this little novel I've got going on here. Hopefully it was at least entertaining. It was such an unexpectedly great weekend...I'm so pleased and I'm glad that it seems like Allie is having fun so far!
Oh and the picture is Allie, our new friend Giaccopo, me and Ana in our amazing aprons. Blame our other new friend, Sergio, for the whole not quite horizontal quality...
Thursday, October 16, 2008
blessings in disguise
So apparently I should be a little more careful about announcing good moods, because I think it has a way of jinxing them! Yesterday ended up being a bit of a whopper when I got some news that caught me off guard, so I found distraction in the form of gelato. Roberta first cajoled me out of the house and took me to a gelateria on the Zattere, then to an outpost of Ca'Foscari where her boyfriend studies. She told me the story of she and her boyfriend, which was pretty funny, I thought....they'd been dating over 10 years and she kept (semi jokingly) asking him why they didn't just get married already. So he proposed....and it was that point at which she realized she didn't actually want to get married, so she said no and he said "ok, but if/when you decide you DO want to get married, you have to ask." So, they still live together, happily UNmarried, at least for now. Anyways, so then I opted to take a shower and get dressed while the kids had house dinner because I wasn't hungry in the slightest, but Tom hustled me out of the house for yet another gelato and some talking time after dinner but before the house gondola ride. The gondola ride was amazing. It included the 20 of us who live here, Jaimie's parents, Laura and Roberta (the Italian ladies who "run" the house), Massimo (our handyman) and his daughter, and Lucianna and Marissa (two former housekeepers here). The weather was cool but not freezing and everyone dressed up so nicely and we walked around the corner from the house to pile in to 6 gondolas (we'd normally take them from the dock, but the tide was out and so the water was too low). I rode with Kayla, Laura, Elizabeth, Chris, and Eugene and they were hilarious...they took a ton of pictures and it was so cool to be gliding along the Grand Canal and side canals near St. Mark's Square at night. Towards the end, it wasn't so pretty as my stomach started really, really hurting as we were approaching Salute (and thus maybe 10 minutes away from Casa Artom). As soon as we got off the gondola, I took Elizabeth's key and RAN back to the house, ducked away from Tom & Megan, who had gotten back first and were trying to scare people who came in the house, and barely made it up to my bathroom in time. Pleasant, I know. But hey, at least I didn't ruin anyone's gondola ride by losing it BEFORE we got back, right? Apparently my body was just on overload from the stress and the sugar. I haven't really eaten much since then, but that's ok, better safe than sorry, I say. Anyways, everyone here has been so, so nice to me (more than I deserve, I keep telling them, but they won't listen). I've gotten more hugs and cuddles and pep talks than I ever thought possible! And today, Caroline came back from the weekly art visit toting a bunch of pink gerber daisies for me...hands down one of my favorite flowers ever (and what the picture is of at the beginning of the post). But that's kind of the whole point of this little ramble...yeah, life sucks sometimes, but I think I was taking my friends, my real family, and my family here in Venice for granted maybe a little bit and so this helped me remember how great they are and how lucky I am to have them! Plus, they won't let me dwell...there's way too much to do... singles dinner tonight, hopefully shopping tomorrow (although there's rumor of a train strike), planning a trip to Vienna and my 2nd 10 day break, seeing Allie finally (!!), the wine festival in Treviso, finishing up law school applications, hunting down a job for when I get back, etc...and besides, I'm in VENICE for goodness sake, currently holding a job that half the people my age would kill for. There's no way I'm going to not take advantage of the time I have left here...and even if I try, there are nineteen other people in this house who aren't going to let that happen. Bless them.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
post-vacation adventures
It's hard to believe that it's already Wednesday...the time since the break has flown by! The ship got in really early Saturday morning, so we walked to Piazzale Roma to take the vaporetto back to Casa Artom and after I validated our tickets, there was a ticket-checker who saw that I was using IMOB tickets for myself and Mom and Dad and she asked (in Italian) "do you all have the IMOB?" and I said yes and acted way too in a hurry to prove it (thank goodness, because we don't all have IMOB cards). Anyways, we all got ready at Casa Artom, then ran some errands to buy a few gifts for people back home. We got lunch and brought it back to Casa Artom to eat on the porch since the weather is nicer now than it was even in September, then Mom and Dad checked in at the hotel and rested for a while. We went out to dinner at San Travaso that night with everyone back home-Jen, Carolina, Rhianna, Charlotte, and Charlotte's parents. My parents and Charlotte's went on to their hotels as they were both leaving the next day and the girls and I went to Madigans to hang out for a while, which ended up being so much fun! Sunday was perfect...I managed to do laundry, hit the grocery with the girls, and spend some quality time with the handful of people back home while we waited for everyone else to get back. I felt like such a Mom pacing the downstairs hall waiting for the kids to get back, but I missed them all so much and couldn't wait to see them again!
Monday I worked on essays while the kids were in class, then Kayla and I went to join the gym, which was an adventure. The lady who registers people was positively in a horrible mood and so we basically had to force her to take our 80 Euro and our paperwork. Then I bought milk and baked cookies for the kids for our 9pm "what I did on my break" meeting. The meeting ended up lasting a couple hours, but was hilarious as we all told stories about our adventures. Yesterday I was exhausted for some reason so I took 2 separate naps (highly unusual for me, obviously) and finally dragged myself out of bed in time to shower and eat before going to an opera with the group. The opera was really strange-very different from the one we saw in Verona-we barely made it on time and initially all ended up sitting in separate areas in the theater...Kayla and I got perfect seats in the front, but got lonely, so we went upstairs to the very top to join everyone else. At the end, Kayla, Rhianna, Tom, and I left pretty quickly while the rest of the group went out for drinks. I ended up staying up way too late just hanging out, so today I'm exhausted...again. I woke up early (thanks, internal alarm clock) so I tried to go to the gym only to be forbidden entry for reasons at the time I couldn't understand. Apparently it's because I didn't wear flip flops (or something) and change in to my tennis shoes. Lame. I definitely kind of already woke up on the wrong side of the bed and that didn't help. I haven't been sleeping well since break for a myriad of reasons, one of the more obnoxious being the return of the mosquitoes. I was barely bothered by them way back in August/September, but now they're awful for me...they keep me awake buzzing above my head and I have bites all over my right arm and around the perimeter of my face and now in the dead center of my forehead. NOT cute. SO anyways, I tried to rest on the upstairs couch, but there's some sort of crazy intense protest going on in Venice today that's both on foot and on boat, so there were a lot of sirens and whistling that kept me up. I finally crashed for a while, then had lunch with the girls in between classes, and now I'm being totally unproductive and watching Gossip Girl. Tonight it's house dinner, gelato, and house gondonla ride, so it's going to be a busy night. I'm so glad everyone is back home, at least for the weekdays...I really did miss everyone... the hugs, the late night gossiping, the hilarity...this group is great!
I think a fair number of people are sticking around this weekend, so we're planning a "singles" dinner tomorrow(the house couples keep having dinner just the six of them, so Caroline decided we need to have a dinner for everyone who is just plain old single!)...I think we're doing breakfast for dinner, which is AMAZING. Then Friday I think at least Kayla and I are shopping in Vicenza, then Allie gets here Saturday and I think a group of us might go to Treviso for a wine festival Sunday. Huzzah...my post-vacation bad mood is destined to turn around with that line up : )
Monday I worked on essays while the kids were in class, then Kayla and I went to join the gym, which was an adventure. The lady who registers people was positively in a horrible mood and so we basically had to force her to take our 80 Euro and our paperwork. Then I bought milk and baked cookies for the kids for our 9pm "what I did on my break" meeting. The meeting ended up lasting a couple hours, but was hilarious as we all told stories about our adventures. Yesterday I was exhausted for some reason so I took 2 separate naps (highly unusual for me, obviously) and finally dragged myself out of bed in time to shower and eat before going to an opera with the group. The opera was really strange-very different from the one we saw in Verona-we barely made it on time and initially all ended up sitting in separate areas in the theater...Kayla and I got perfect seats in the front, but got lonely, so we went upstairs to the very top to join everyone else. At the end, Kayla, Rhianna, Tom, and I left pretty quickly while the rest of the group went out for drinks. I ended up staying up way too late just hanging out, so today I'm exhausted...again. I woke up early (thanks, internal alarm clock) so I tried to go to the gym only to be forbidden entry for reasons at the time I couldn't understand. Apparently it's because I didn't wear flip flops (or something) and change in to my tennis shoes. Lame. I definitely kind of already woke up on the wrong side of the bed and that didn't help. I haven't been sleeping well since break for a myriad of reasons, one of the more obnoxious being the return of the mosquitoes. I was barely bothered by them way back in August/September, but now they're awful for me...they keep me awake buzzing above my head and I have bites all over my right arm and around the perimeter of my face and now in the dead center of my forehead. NOT cute. SO anyways, I tried to rest on the upstairs couch, but there's some sort of crazy intense protest going on in Venice today that's both on foot and on boat, so there were a lot of sirens and whistling that kept me up. I finally crashed for a while, then had lunch with the girls in between classes, and now I'm being totally unproductive and watching Gossip Girl. Tonight it's house dinner, gelato, and house gondonla ride, so it's going to be a busy night. I'm so glad everyone is back home, at least for the weekdays...I really did miss everyone... the hugs, the late night gossiping, the hilarity...this group is great!
I think a fair number of people are sticking around this weekend, so we're planning a "singles" dinner tomorrow(the house couples keep having dinner just the six of them, so Caroline decided we need to have a dinner for everyone who is just plain old single!)...I think we're doing breakfast for dinner, which is AMAZING. Then Friday I think at least Kayla and I are shopping in Vicenza, then Allie gets here Saturday and I think a group of us might go to Treviso for a wine festival Sunday. Huzzah...my post-vacation bad mood is destined to turn around with that line up : )
Friday, October 10, 2008
Olympia, Corfu, and Split
It's our last full day on the ship and it's hard to believe the trip is almost over! I think it's because our days have been really full and so they fly by. This is the first time I've ever been on a cruise and it's been a really curious way to travel. I really like how convenient things are. I can leave the room with nothing more than my room key (SeaPass, as they call it) and find food, coffee, souvenirs, books, you name it. Unlike staying in a hostel, this is absolutely like staying in a floating hotel. I can call for cookies at 10pm, no questions asked (and have totally taken advantage of that at least twice). Dinner is a multi-course, linen table cloth, silverware laden affair (which is quite a nice change from my good but repetitious dinners of penne with pesto). I don't have to pay for towels or wear shower shoes or wonder about the 12 other people in my mixed dorm. It's also a study in efficiency (I blame my productions class for even making me think like that). I mean think of it...hundreds of staff, thousands of guests, food available practically all day, dozens of daily shore excursions, bingo, a casino, nightly shows...it's just amazing to think of how spot on they have to be in terms of forecasting what they need and figuring out where they'll store it. I want to ask half the staff I see questions about that sort of thing, but I imagine they hear them all the time and get sick of answering. Speaking of staff, that aspect fascinates me, too. How do you decide one day that you want to spend at least 6 months at a time on a boat with a few hundred other workers, all of whom have basially the English language in common (as a second language, that is). I think it'd be pretty cool, though...you'd have friends from literally all over the world! Anyways, bottom line, it's pretty great.
I suppose people might want to know what we've been up to since Mykonos, so I'll do a brief recap of that. We woke up in Katakalon, the port city for Olympia, and took a bus trip to the site of the ancient Olympics. Although a lot has been lost, archaeologists have managed to uncover enough for people to get the general gist. Our tour guide was great...she's from Amsterdam, but now lives in Greece with her husband. They met when she was only 19 and leading tours for groups that left from the hotel her now husband was managing. She chose to study Greek at university and moved there to marry him. Pretty nifty. After she dropped us off in Katakalon, we did some shopping (I got more sandals...that I definitely don't need, but shhh). By then it was almost dinner time, and we pretty much crashed after dinner.
The next day we woke up pretty early on the island of Corfu. We hopped on a bus to see the Achilleon Palace, which was a secondary residence for Elizabeth, a German princess. The palace was beautiful and had amazing views of the ocean. Our guide brought us back to the port on the bus and gave us time to explore and shop a bit. Of course I was the one who ended up buying something (again!) and got a cute sundress (no comments about how impractical it is at this time of year...). We had to set sail in the early afternoon yesterday, so it was another formal dinner night (they try to select nights when you have plenty of time to get ready for formal attire). I read quite a bit that day, which is honestly (dorkily) one of my favorite things to do. I sat out on the deck by the pool and just read and watched the port (and then the ocean as we started to sail away). I also tried to do some law school application stuff, but decided that it's vacation and I deserve a break!
Today we arrived around 8:30 in Split and quickly got off the boat to take a walking tour of the old town. Our guide was a character...the first male guide we've had all trip. He led us through the basement of this giant castle/summer residence/fortress. The entire upper part of the building is actually inhabited now by Split natives, which is pretty cool if you think about it. After our tour, Mom and Dad came back to have lunch, but I wasn't hungry so I poked around and just walked up and down as many streets as I could without getting lost. I ended up buying a few things...some shampoo from this place I first discovered in London (Lush, it's called) and then I got two little containers of lavender that was grown in the mountains outside of Split and "will smell like this for FIVE years" (or so the vendor told me...I'll let you know come 5 years from now how true that was!). The market where I bought the Croatian lavender was incredible. They had fish, meat, veggies, fruit, candy, nuts, clothes, lavender, postcards...you name it. And it was just massive. I loved how bustling it was...full mostly of native citizens and not boring tourists like me! On my way back to the ship, I kind of thought I was going crazy...first there were these insane people scuba diving in the main path of the ferries pulling in, then this man practically leaped on to a tender boat sailing away because his wife was "not well, NOT WELL," then I ended up next to a guy sporting the most intense handlebar mustache I've seen...ever. Let's just say I was happy to get back to my stateroom! This afternoon, I tried, in vain, to work on my personal statement essays (clearly I'm not to good at holding myself to the "it's vacation" mantra)...but the more I work on them, the more I hate them! I mean it's only one of the most important parts of the application aside from my test score and GPA...no pressure, right?
It's been a great trip, but I'm excited to get back "home" in Venice and have some time there. I miss all the kids in the group...not being able to walk downstairs and see them whenever I feel like hanging out is just weird! So far, no one has called or emailed me from the group, so, fingers crossed....it seems like they all survived the first break! Now it's time to plan the second...
I suppose people might want to know what we've been up to since Mykonos, so I'll do a brief recap of that. We woke up in Katakalon, the port city for Olympia, and took a bus trip to the site of the ancient Olympics. Although a lot has been lost, archaeologists have managed to uncover enough for people to get the general gist. Our tour guide was great...she's from Amsterdam, but now lives in Greece with her husband. They met when she was only 19 and leading tours for groups that left from the hotel her now husband was managing. She chose to study Greek at university and moved there to marry him. Pretty nifty. After she dropped us off in Katakalon, we did some shopping (I got more sandals...that I definitely don't need, but shhh). By then it was almost dinner time, and we pretty much crashed after dinner.
The next day we woke up pretty early on the island of Corfu. We hopped on a bus to see the Achilleon Palace, which was a secondary residence for Elizabeth, a German princess. The palace was beautiful and had amazing views of the ocean. Our guide brought us back to the port on the bus and gave us time to explore and shop a bit. Of course I was the one who ended up buying something (again!) and got a cute sundress (no comments about how impractical it is at this time of year...). We had to set sail in the early afternoon yesterday, so it was another formal dinner night (they try to select nights when you have plenty of time to get ready for formal attire). I read quite a bit that day, which is honestly (dorkily) one of my favorite things to do. I sat out on the deck by the pool and just read and watched the port (and then the ocean as we started to sail away). I also tried to do some law school application stuff, but decided that it's vacation and I deserve a break!
Today we arrived around 8:30 in Split and quickly got off the boat to take a walking tour of the old town. Our guide was a character...the first male guide we've had all trip. He led us through the basement of this giant castle/summer residence/fortress. The entire upper part of the building is actually inhabited now by Split natives, which is pretty cool if you think about it. After our tour, Mom and Dad came back to have lunch, but I wasn't hungry so I poked around and just walked up and down as many streets as I could without getting lost. I ended up buying a few things...some shampoo from this place I first discovered in London (Lush, it's called) and then I got two little containers of lavender that was grown in the mountains outside of Split and "will smell like this for FIVE years" (or so the vendor told me...I'll let you know come 5 years from now how true that was!). The market where I bought the Croatian lavender was incredible. They had fish, meat, veggies, fruit, candy, nuts, clothes, lavender, postcards...you name it. And it was just massive. I loved how bustling it was...full mostly of native citizens and not boring tourists like me! On my way back to the ship, I kind of thought I was going crazy...first there were these insane people scuba diving in the main path of the ferries pulling in, then this man practically leaped on to a tender boat sailing away because his wife was "not well, NOT WELL," then I ended up next to a guy sporting the most intense handlebar mustache I've seen...ever. Let's just say I was happy to get back to my stateroom! This afternoon, I tried, in vain, to work on my personal statement essays (clearly I'm not to good at holding myself to the "it's vacation" mantra)...but the more I work on them, the more I hate them! I mean it's only one of the most important parts of the application aside from my test score and GPA...no pressure, right?
It's been a great trip, but I'm excited to get back "home" in Venice and have some time there. I miss all the kids in the group...not being able to walk downstairs and see them whenever I feel like hanging out is just weird! So far, no one has called or emailed me from the group, so, fingers crossed....it seems like they all survived the first break! Now it's time to plan the second...
Final update for Mr. M's 3rd grade class
Hi everyone. It's our last full day on the ship because we arrive in Venice tomorrow morning. In the past few days, we've seen a lot of cool historical sites. After Mykonos, we sailed to the port of Olympia, then went on a tour of the place where the Olympics first began. After our tour, we explored the port town of Katakalon and did some shopping. The next day we woke up in Corfu and went early in the morning to a palace called Achilleon, which is where a German princess spent a lot of time. After our tour, we spent time in Corfu sightseeing and shopping. Today we are in Split, Croatia, and went on a walking tour of the old part of the town. Almost the entire town is built in and around an old castle, which was cool. We'll spend tomorrow in Venice with Jenny, then leave early Sunday morning for North Carolina. Mr. M says "see you Tuesday!"
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Sailing, Athens, & Mykonos
I’m writing this as the ship sails towards Olympia, Greece, and I can’t belive our trip is over half done! Nevertheless, a Greek Isles + Croatia cruise was maybe my best life decision so far this semester…it makes everything SO much easier. The ship feeds us 3 times a day, will bring us room service pretty much 24/7, and arranges all the shore excursions for us. I usually don’t mind working out train and bus schedules and finding hostels, but I had traveled 3 weekends in a row before this trip, so I was getting a little worn out. Plus, it’s pretty cool to be on a ship and to be able to sit on your balcony and watch the sun rise and set as you sail past Greece. It’s definitely strange, though, not to have all my housemates around—I miss them! The only real downside is that internet is SO expensive. We’re talking between 40 and 60 cents a minute here. So, I”ve become quite the speed email checker (surely a marketable skill, don’t you think?) and I write blog posts (for Dad’s class and just in general) and emails ahead of time and copy/paste them really quickly once I turn on my computer.
Anyways, it’s been such a whirlwind trip. We had a bit of an adventure getting to the ship. We took a bus from the airport to Piazzale Roma, then a vaporetto to the stop closest to Casa Artom. Mom and Dad helped me unload the food and clothes they brought over for me, then we went to Pizza al Volo, ordered a pepperoni pizza, and sat on a bench in Santa Margherita to eat it. After lunch, we went back to Casa Artom to check the news and emails, then we put on these circular little patches behind our ears to make sure we didn’t end up spending 7 days on a ship feeling like death because of motion sickness. Then we took the vaporeetto back to Piazzale Roma and decided to walk to the port…it was quite a hike and I felt bad because Dad got stuck pulling his bag and mine. The signs weren’t very clear, so we kind of wandered with a ton of luggage before we found our specific docking area. Once we got on the ship, we dropped off a few things in the room and went exploring to see what all was on the ship. Dinner was at 6:30 and we all barely made it through that…everyone was exhausted, so we went to bed really early.
We spent the second day sailing to Athens. Even though we were on the ship all day, the time passed really quickly. We ate a ton, we shopped, we read…sometimes doing nothing much at all is the best vacation. That night was “formal” dinner, so we got dressed up, which I always like to do. The next morning, we woke up and had breakfast, then tried to go up on the top deck to watch the ship approach Athens, but it was so windy that we had to come back in. We’re talking wind that literally almost picked me up off the ground. We had a quick lunch before we had to meet up with our tour group fpr our shore excursion of the day. Practically half the ship was on the same tour (ours was the only one that actually took you in to the Acropolis), so they split us up into smaller groups, put us on buses, and sent us on our way. Maria, our tour guide, was great…knew a lot about nearly everything in the city and so we got to see quite a few things in a short amount of time. We made it back in time to go to dinner and crash.
Yesterday we arrived in Mykonos around 7am and apparently there were too many ships in the harbor already, so we dropped anchor outside of the port and took tenders to the island. It was nice that we tendered because it the boat dropped us off right at the heart of town and ran really frequently. We got there early enough that shops were just starting to open up and the crowds hadn’t arrived yet. We tried to find this one particular church and the famous windmills, but the streets were so steep and winding and confusing that we gave up and walked back to the main road to do some shopping. We weren’t too successful…Dad and I didn’t find anything, but Mom bought a cool sweater and we just wandered, looking at the cute churches and stopping in a souvenir shop here or there. It’s amazing how white everything is. Literally not a single building was made of anything except white (with the exception of either blue or red trim). It was just a beautiful place and I took a ton of pictures! After being there for a few hours, we took a tender back and had lunch. After lunch, I sat in the library and read for hours…not because I didn’t like Mykonos or anything, but it’s so small that you can see the majority of it in a short amount of time. Plus, I Don’t read enough back at Casa Artom and I certainly won’t have much time for fun reading no matter what I do after Venice (real person job or law school). I read right up until dinner, so Mom and Dad came to collect me and we had a great dinner, followed by losing 20 Euro at the casino, and finally we saw a show in the ship’s theater. Even though we were all tired, we ended up staying up to watch a move that we’d seen various parts of throughout the day (they run one movie a day on a loop). Luckily we could sleep in today before going to Olympia because we don’t arrive until 12.
Anyways, it’s been such a whirlwind trip. We had a bit of an adventure getting to the ship. We took a bus from the airport to Piazzale Roma, then a vaporetto to the stop closest to Casa Artom. Mom and Dad helped me unload the food and clothes they brought over for me, then we went to Pizza al Volo, ordered a pepperoni pizza, and sat on a bench in Santa Margherita to eat it. After lunch, we went back to Casa Artom to check the news and emails, then we put on these circular little patches behind our ears to make sure we didn’t end up spending 7 days on a ship feeling like death because of motion sickness. Then we took the vaporeetto back to Piazzale Roma and decided to walk to the port…it was quite a hike and I felt bad because Dad got stuck pulling his bag and mine. The signs weren’t very clear, so we kind of wandered with a ton of luggage before we found our specific docking area. Once we got on the ship, we dropped off a few things in the room and went exploring to see what all was on the ship. Dinner was at 6:30 and we all barely made it through that…everyone was exhausted, so we went to bed really early.
We spent the second day sailing to Athens. Even though we were on the ship all day, the time passed really quickly. We ate a ton, we shopped, we read…sometimes doing nothing much at all is the best vacation. That night was “formal” dinner, so we got dressed up, which I always like to do. The next morning, we woke up and had breakfast, then tried to go up on the top deck to watch the ship approach Athens, but it was so windy that we had to come back in. We’re talking wind that literally almost picked me up off the ground. We had a quick lunch before we had to meet up with our tour group fpr our shore excursion of the day. Practically half the ship was on the same tour (ours was the only one that actually took you in to the Acropolis), so they split us up into smaller groups, put us on buses, and sent us on our way. Maria, our tour guide, was great…knew a lot about nearly everything in the city and so we got to see quite a few things in a short amount of time. We made it back in time to go to dinner and crash.
Yesterday we arrived in Mykonos around 7am and apparently there were too many ships in the harbor already, so we dropped anchor outside of the port and took tenders to the island. It was nice that we tendered because it the boat dropped us off right at the heart of town and ran really frequently. We got there early enough that shops were just starting to open up and the crowds hadn’t arrived yet. We tried to find this one particular church and the famous windmills, but the streets were so steep and winding and confusing that we gave up and walked back to the main road to do some shopping. We weren’t too successful…Dad and I didn’t find anything, but Mom bought a cool sweater and we just wandered, looking at the cute churches and stopping in a souvenir shop here or there. It’s amazing how white everything is. Literally not a single building was made of anything except white (with the exception of either blue or red trim). It was just a beautiful place and I took a ton of pictures! After being there for a few hours, we took a tender back and had lunch. After lunch, I sat in the library and read for hours…not because I didn’t like Mykonos or anything, but it’s so small that you can see the majority of it in a short amount of time. Plus, I Don’t read enough back at Casa Artom and I certainly won’t have much time for fun reading no matter what I do after Venice (real person job or law school). I read right up until dinner, so Mom and Dad came to collect me and we had a great dinner, followed by losing 20 Euro at the casino, and finally we saw a show in the ship’s theater. Even though we were all tired, we ended up staying up to watch a move that we’d seen various parts of throughout the day (they run one movie a day on a loop). Luckily we could sleep in today before going to Olympia because we don’t arrive until 12.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Update #2 for Mr. M's 3rd grade class
Yesterday we docked in Athens and spent part of the day with a tour guide who showed us all the historic sites in the city. It was a really nice day except for the wind that almost blew us off the top deck! Today we woke up early so we could get to the island of Mykonos before the big crowds showed up. In Mykonos, all the houses are white and have either blue or red trim and there are about 400 churches on the island. Tonight we had dinner and saw a cool show in the theater on the ship. We get to go to Katakalon tomorrow, which is where the original Olympic games were held. We’re off to find dessert, but, be good and do your homework!
Monday, October 6, 2008
An update for Mr. Manzullo's third grade class!
We arrived on time and safely in
Friday, October 3, 2008
ciao, venice
I'm sitting in Casa Artom alone right now and I really think this is a new level of "deathly silent." Even my first night here, I wasn't alone, and I've traveled every weekend thusfar that we were allowed to leave, so I haven't exactly spent a lot of alone time in this house. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to be able to wander around and do what I want without anyone questioning it, but I miss people! Of course in the time I've spent here today by myself (especially as it gets dark out), I've heard every weird sound an ancient palazzo can possibly make. I'm all alone because about 3/4 of the group left last night for our 10 day break and the rest of them left sometime today. I slept in a little this morning, then went with Tom to Piazzale Roma to say goodbye to him as he was leaving for Copenhagen and so I could buy bus tickets for when Mom and Dad get in tomorrow. We had a slight scare when we got almost halfway to Piazzale Roma and he remembered that he left his passport in the house, so he jogged back to get it and then we did the walk again and luckily he made the 11:20 bus. After I said goodbye, I walked to find the right vaporetto station to use tomorrow when we're going from Piazzale Roma to Casa Artom, which brought me to this amazing grocery store called Coop. I wandered around for a while, but settled for just a baguette and jar of pasta sauce to get me through until we leave tomorrow. After I left Coop, I literally spent 2 hours trying to find the port where our cruise will dock. It's deceptive, because you can see the giant ships from practically half the island, but, actually figuring out how to walk to the port is so confusing. I can't complain, though...I had nothing but time today and I got to see quite a few areas behind/around Piazzale Roma that were new to me. By the time I figured it out, I was exhausted, so I walked back to Casa Artom, made myself a perfect little lunch, and curled up in bed to watch a few episodes of good old American TV. After lunch and TV, I headed back out of the house because today was such a beautiful day and ended up walking towards Santa Margherita to buy postcards. Because it was so nice out and I didn't have anything I had to be doing (shhh about the law school apps...), I sat at Bar da Gino and had a cappuccino and wrote postcards, which was relaxing. I came back home and spent some time catching up with my sister, Kristin and Alicia before I decided to finish off a good bit of the food I have here by making penne pasta with pesto and peas, eating salad, and working on the baguette. Now I'm absolutely stuffed and pretty much ready for bed (yes, it's 7:30 pm...).
I'm so tired because yesterday was a marathon day! I went with the students on an Italian art history visit just because there's no reason to sit around the house if I'm not going to work on my essays! Then they had an afternoon exam, so I packed for my trip and had lunch while they crammed. I tried unsuccessfully to nap and woke up really disoriented and in a funky mood, so Kayla and I went for gelato to snap out of it (she'd just finished her exam). I bummed around for a while, then hung out downstairs with Megan, Ana, McKinley, Kayla, Tom, Rhianna, etc as everyone tried to get in some quality time before we all disperse for the break. A bunch of us decided to go out to eat since it was one of our last nights together, and half the group went to San Travaso, but my group went to Ai Cugnai. The crazy little old lady at Ai Cugnai definitely remembered me from last time I was here and was such a hoot...kept trying to tell the girls at the table how young and cute her grandson is and how beautiful we all are. We discovered that their house red wine is practically perfect, especially with the gnocchi bolognese followed by tiramisu. The family who owns Ai Cugnai is relatively familiar with us because we eat there a lot and pass by the restaurant daily, so they were really friendly as we were heading out and I even got a "ciao bella," but we decided to chalk that up to the Italian version of an olive branch! After dinner, almost the rest of the group left on a night train to Munich, so it was just Tom, Jen, Laura, Rhianna, Charlotte, Caroline, David and myself left. A few of us decided to play beer pong for practice (probably not the wisest life decision, but we had nothing to wake up for, really), so Tom, David, Jen, Rhianna, and I spent some quality time in the dining room having fun, chatting, and proving just how competitive we all are. Finally pretty much everyone decided to go to bed except Tom and I, who thought it'd be a genius idea to stay up until 3am hanging out. He and I are in super similar places right now, so it's good to have a little brother of sorts to talk to when we each need to hear "it's going to be fine."
The other days in the week weren't anything too unusual, but that's ok with me...I really like that I've settled in to a routine. I think it's a very Italian notion to not even want to recount every minute of every day, but to just enjoy each day and measure success not by "how much have I done today," but instead by asking myself "did I laugh a lot today? did I have fun?" and if the answer is yes, then it was a successful day. Don't get me wrong, I love a good productive day like today, but I've gotten to the point where I'm not too anxious if I don't have 7 consecutive super-productive days. I am pretty pleased, though, that part of my routine does involve productivity in terms of food...I got to the point where I was eating out way too much, so at the Billa on Sunday, I bought all sorts of stuff so that I could eat in (and with a little more variety than just pesto on everything) and other than eating at Ai Cugnai last night, I've eaten every single meal in this house and for 30 euro for the whole week! I'm so dead tired right now that I have no idea if this little update even makes sense, so I'm going to take a shower and go to bed so that I can fully enjoy the Greece and Croatia adventure that starts tomorrow. I can't wait to see Mom and Dad, I just wish Nina could've visited, too!
I'm so tired because yesterday was a marathon day! I went with the students on an Italian art history visit just because there's no reason to sit around the house if I'm not going to work on my essays! Then they had an afternoon exam, so I packed for my trip and had lunch while they crammed. I tried unsuccessfully to nap and woke up really disoriented and in a funky mood, so Kayla and I went for gelato to snap out of it (she'd just finished her exam). I bummed around for a while, then hung out downstairs with Megan, Ana, McKinley, Kayla, Tom, Rhianna, etc as everyone tried to get in some quality time before we all disperse for the break. A bunch of us decided to go out to eat since it was one of our last nights together, and half the group went to San Travaso, but my group went to Ai Cugnai. The crazy little old lady at Ai Cugnai definitely remembered me from last time I was here and was such a hoot...kept trying to tell the girls at the table how young and cute her grandson is and how beautiful we all are. We discovered that their house red wine is practically perfect, especially with the gnocchi bolognese followed by tiramisu. The family who owns Ai Cugnai is relatively familiar with us because we eat there a lot and pass by the restaurant daily, so they were really friendly as we were heading out and I even got a "ciao bella," but we decided to chalk that up to the Italian version of an olive branch! After dinner, almost the rest of the group left on a night train to Munich, so it was just Tom, Jen, Laura, Rhianna, Charlotte, Caroline, David and myself left. A few of us decided to play beer pong for practice (probably not the wisest life decision, but we had nothing to wake up for, really), so Tom, David, Jen, Rhianna, and I spent some quality time in the dining room having fun, chatting, and proving just how competitive we all are. Finally pretty much everyone decided to go to bed except Tom and I, who thought it'd be a genius idea to stay up until 3am hanging out. He and I are in super similar places right now, so it's good to have a little brother of sorts to talk to when we each need to hear "it's going to be fine."
The other days in the week weren't anything too unusual, but that's ok with me...I really like that I've settled in to a routine. I think it's a very Italian notion to not even want to recount every minute of every day, but to just enjoy each day and measure success not by "how much have I done today," but instead by asking myself "did I laugh a lot today? did I have fun?" and if the answer is yes, then it was a successful day. Don't get me wrong, I love a good productive day like today, but I've gotten to the point where I'm not too anxious if I don't have 7 consecutive super-productive days. I am pretty pleased, though, that part of my routine does involve productivity in terms of food...I got to the point where I was eating out way too much, so at the Billa on Sunday, I bought all sorts of stuff so that I could eat in (and with a little more variety than just pesto on everything) and other than eating at Ai Cugnai last night, I've eaten every single meal in this house and for 30 euro for the whole week! I'm so dead tired right now that I have no idea if this little update even makes sense, so I'm going to take a shower and go to bed so that I can fully enjoy the Greece and Croatia adventure that starts tomorrow. I can't wait to see Mom and Dad, I just wish Nina could've visited, too!
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