Turkey-Gate '08, Resolved

It's the day after Thanksgiving here in Venice and I should be enjoying my first ever black Friday in Florence, but my girlfriends crapped out on me and the weather is awful, so, I'm watching movies all day instead! I deserve a break, though, because Thanksgiving went SO WELL! I mean of course I was running around like a crazy person all day helping people cook and clean, picking up last minute stuff, setting the tables, etc. I didn't really sit down to eat with everyone because there was always wine to refill or coffee to be made or something like that, but, I was too happy to care. Everything went off without a hitch--people followed my lovely oven schedule, nothing exploded or caught on fire, all the food tasted great, the flowers Mom and Dad sent looked amazing on the tables, people were very complimentary, etc. After dinner, we had the concert, which was just amazing. I sometimes forget that I live with such talented people! As if this already wasn't a strange enough Thanksgiving in the sense that I had to organize it for 60+ guests, we decided to go out afterwards. I guess that's the one upside of Thanksgiving in a country that doesn't celebrate it--EVERYTHING is open! We all had a great time mostly because everyone was exhausted, but relieved that the dinner and concert were over. Plus it's fun having new faces to join the group (various people have family in town). Still, it felt more like a big dinner party and less like a major family holiday, mostly because it's my first Thanksgiving in my entire 22 years not spent with family!

Wednesday was also crazy (as I like to say, until dinner yesterday, I hadn't sat down in 48 hours). It started when I accidentally woke up at 7am (which is a feat of nature based on the extent of the house party the night before). I wasn't supposed to leave until 9:45 with Tom and Brian to get the turkeys from Rialto, but, they were not so enthusiastic about helping and I was anxious, so, I decided that I could handle 40 pounds of bird on my own as long as I had a rolling cart. I walked to Rialto dragging the cart and began to realize they were setting up the acqua alta elevated sidewalks and thought to myself "hmm, what could make THIS day more fantastic? definitely high water." Normally I legitimately love acqua alta and will go out looking for it, but, it was going to throw off my plan . Luckily the vaporetto was running as usual and I dragged the turkeys from the butcher to the boat and took a quick ride back to Casa Artom. Later a few of the girls helped me take the butcher turkeys AND the turkeys from the army base to the restaurant that agreed to cook them for us. (I guess I never updated that the girls made it to the base on Tuesday and got 3 10lb turkeys?). We took them to Taverna San Trovaso, where they immediately greeted us with a slew of Italian, the only phrase I understood being "TACCHINO!!" After some debate, they sent us to Ristorante San Trovaso around the corner, so we headed that way. At Ristorante, we met one of the most devastatingly attractive Italian men ever (a guy who works there) who was also very excited about the turkeys and called the chef out. The chef decided we needed to go BACK to Taverna, so we dragged our body weight in turkey BACK to the first location--highly comedic. But, the turkeys were off my hands for at least 24 hrs and I was happy! The rest of the day was a blur of cooking and cleaning and preparing and by the end I was exhausted but dragged myself out with the group anyways.

I can't believe how little time I have left in Venice : ( I have a ton to do before I go, so I'm off to watch a few movies and then do some shopping if it stops raining!

Mom, Dad, and Nina sent me flowers (on behalf of themselves AND everyone at OBKB lodge because I'll be missing Thanksgiving for the very first time in my entire 22 years AND I'm stressing like mad, which you know if you read my last post). Basically, it made my day when a man rang the bell and had a delivery for me and then I realized it was flowers : ) And so now they're sitting on the side table on the mezzanine right outside my room (because my room is consistently above 80 degrees and thus flowers die right away) and everyone keeps asking me who sent them and telling me how pretty they are and I just love them! The arrangement is massive and very fall-colored, so I think I might separate it out in to a few flowers for each of our many tables on Thanksgiving day. Anyways, a big thank you to the extended family for my beautiful flowers...I miss you guys a LOT and I hope you have fun at the lake and I'll be calling you after dinner (presupposing I survive). Love you!

Turkey-Gate '08

So, I think last time I posted, I was very optimistic about Thanksgiving in Italy. Let's just say my optimism has been deflated a bit by what I'm now (fondly?) referring to as "turkey-gate '08." I think the simplest way to explain this little adventure is just to say that the Italian women who run the house DO NOT understand this very American holiday. The tension first emerged last Wednesday when I went with Laura (one of the Italian ladies) to a paper wholesaler and to Rialto market. The paper wholesale shop was where Laura intended for us to buy table cloths, paper products, plastic utensils, etc. So I meet Laura near the shop in the FREEZING weather, which did wonders for my lovely cough, but whatever, the show must go on. We go in to this shop and a burly man probably 3 inches SHORTER than me starts bustling around to "help" us. And by "help," I mean "show Laura 500 things we never knew we needed that are ridiculously overpriced." So Laura's just throwing stuff on to the counter like it's Christmas, and our burly little friend adds it up and announces that it's 197 Euro, but he'll knock it down to 190. Hey thanks, bud. Laura takes this all in stride and writes the man a check, meanwhile I'm slowly dying inside, because our ENTIRE Thanksgiving budget is 600 Euro...you do the math there. Adding insult to injury is the fact that I had looked in to buying all of this from the Italian Wal Mart (Panorama) and it would've been at least half as expensive and not all that much of an inconvenience to transport.

Before the ink was dry on that check, Laura dragged me to her personal butcher so we could order turkeys. Now I did some intense guest-list calculations and predictions and realized we're going to expect around 60 people. And the rule of thumb, or so I've been told, is to get 1 to 1 1/2 lbs of turkey per person, so I was aiming for 75lbs of bird....also known as 35 kg. Laura refuses to listen to this logic, and initially orders 4 separate 6 kg turkeys, but I use my excellent powers of persuasion and convince her to order a 5th (which STILL isn't nearly enough). As I'm already fretting about this, I learn a)this will set us back 50 Euro PER FREAKING TURKEY and b)the restaurant that agreed to cook the turkeys might cook them Tuesday or Wednesday. So now I'm thinking "great, I'm going to be serving cold, insufficient turkey to a bunch of grumpy, homesick kids." When I express my concern to Laura regarding pre-cooking the turkeys, she says to me "but Jenny, it is winter. We will cook the turkeys and just set them outside until Thursday." Lord help us all...luckily at this point we had to go our separate ways, or I might've hurt her. Also, if you're keeping tabs, this means Laura and I spent about 450 Euro in a matter of 1 hour, leaving 150 Euro to prepare every last remaining item for 60 people...

Later that day, as I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with this, especially since the students are now freaking out (I made the mistake of venting with them), Laura, Roberta, and Massimo (our handyman) call me in to the office. Like a little firing squad, they rapidly inform me that every prior year, 25 kg of turkey is PLENTY and we will only be getting that much. Have a nice day. At this point, I'm really just ticked...I'm sorry, but this is an AMERICAN holiday and I'm pretty sure that automatically makes me more qualified than any of them to assess our turkey needs. On the other hand, I've never done this before (not for 4 people, not for 60), especially not in ITALY, so, I'm pretty inexperienced, and if they don't think I'm qualified, they shouldn't have gotten me involved in the first place. So, I go downstairs, and end up realizing that we can get turkey from the army base in Vicenza since Caroline and Charlotte mentioned it. Done. Trip planned for the upcoming weekend. Whew.

If only it ended there. So, Charlotte and Caroline get stuck with a HUGE list of requests from people for American ingredients from the base to make typical dishes. Which wasn't supposed to be a problem because Jen and Karen were supposed to go help. Well, they overslept and decided not to go, so the girls couldn't get all the items on the list, not to mention 30+ lbs of bird. No big deal, they planned to go Saturday for a second trip. Caroline was too hungover. Not a problem, how about Sunday? Oh, well, Charlotte had a friend in town. Eh, they'll skip class Monday and go then. Oh wait, it snowed, so the grocery store on the base was closed (which they discovered only upon arrival). So, now, we have a mere 3 6kg turkeys on order from the butcher (the most he will give us, not to mention the most we can afford), and the girls are attempting to return to Vicenza tomorrow, however a)it is 2 days from Thanksgiving and Lord knows if any turkeys will be left, b)it's supposed to snow again, c)they can't even leave here until after lunch and it's a 2 hr trip each way. OH MY LORD. Honestly, if I had my way, I'd have just not worried about offending Laura and Roberta from the beginning (not using their butcher is a faux pas apparently) and sent enough people with the girls to the base to get all our turkeys there, especially because it's significantly cheaper (1 USD per pound), but now it's too late, and we'll be lucky to even get enough turkey to supplement the turkeys coming from the butcher.

On top of that, we still don't have very much of the budget left to buy ingredients for the remaining dishes. Eeek. I knew this would be complicated, but, I figured the oven logistics and that sort of thing would be more problematic than literally having enough food. In the grand scheme of things, I realize this is one day, one holiday, but everyone is so homesick, plus, we have a)Italian guests who I want to show a real Thanksgiving and b)families of students here who willingly flew across the ocean and gave up a holiday with their whole, extended families, so I want this to NOT be a pathetic train wreck! Cross your fingers for me...

The rest of the time since my last update has flown...I've mostly been making a serious effort to get over my horrible cough/cold (a success, I think), doing as much pre-Thanksgiving organizing as possible, and hanging out as much as possible with the kids here because I'm going to miss them terribly when we leave! I did some shopping in Padova on Saturday and got really tall black pumps (a necessity, I say), another little black dress (emphasis on little, but whatever, I'm short), and a great sweater (highly useful this time of year, no?). We've also been doing a bit of a restaurant tour to hit both unique places (like the Indian restaurant near the Frari) and Italian places we've never tried ("Sport-rant," "the good bread restaurant," etc), which has been GREAT (then again my enthusiasm about eating should surprise no one)! I'm also running around like crazy to get David's gift together on top of weird Thanksgiving errands like buying enough flour/eggs/sugar/milk/butter/foil baking pans/etc, but, I LOVE being busy, so, I promise I'm not complaining! OH and I sent in my last official law school application today...so, unless I add a school in the DC area or an off the wall place (California??), I'm DONE with that and I'll hear from places starting as early as December (but as late as April for some, unfortunately). Also cross your fingers there...

Ok, the novel-length crisis update is over, but, just fyi, the pictures are my attempt to capture what the driving snow looked like this morning when I woke up : )

p.s.

I forgot to mention that I've gotten a lot of mail in the past few days...a Halloween card from Nanny Carolyn and Grandpa Bob, a Thanksgiving card from Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Mike, and a letter from Scrolfes and it has MADE MY DAY! I'm serious...I'm such a huge dork, I know, but we all know this by now and I've never claimed to be anything to the contrary! I just love getting mail...every letter I've gotten this semester is tacked to this cute bulletin board they put up in my room and it makes me so happy to be able to look up there and see all the love in the form of cute stationary : ) It's always nice to know there's a package on the way (thanks Mom and Dad) or a letter that should be arriving soon (thanks Nina!), but surprise mail is great, too, and so I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has sent me something--I hope you've all gotten my postcards!

Also, the Christmas decorations were a big hit : ) It makes me happy to see everyone get a little Christmas spirit, even if all it took was a few twinkle lights and some sparkly ribbon. I'm definitely a lot more excited about Thanksgiving now, because I was worried that people would be a little down since we aren't at home and that no matter how hard I worked, it just wouldn't be special... BUT, based on the reaction to just a few small decorations, I think that I don't need to worry about that. Don't get me wrong, I have an obscene amount of logistics to work out (oven schedule anyone? no...maybe you want to help me divy up the paltry collection of pots, pans, and serving dishes? or, you could help me compose the "common ingredient" list to figure out how much flour, eggs, butter, and sugar we need...), but, I'm definitely the girl for the job (after all, "organized" might as well be my middle name) and I'm dorkily excited to figure it all out (there may or may not be a color coded, multi-tabed spreadsheet called "Thanksgiving" already in the works...). Oh and I get to do some fun, slightly secretive house-gift buying today, which is always exciting (when it comes to Christmas, am I my mother's child or what? ps-Mom, you'd have died at the ribbon/gift wrap selection at Panorama yesterday...). Anyways, I included a few pictures of our little decorations-the lights, the little ornaments on everyone's door, and our little Christmas countdown snowman : )

I love mornings, I hate winter

I forgot how much I like waking up early and not having to rush off somewhere. I don't mean summer internship 5:45am early. I mean waking up at 7am because I've slept enough and having time to, oh, I don't know, decorate Casa Artom with a little Christmas cheer before heading off to the gym. Yesterday Kelly and I took a stealthy trip to Panorama after our house meeting and I bought as many Christmas decorations as my wallet could handle (not as much as I would have liked, unfortunately). So I got up early today before the kids woke up and added a few wreaths, ornaments, etc around the house and wrapped Christmas lights and ribbon around the banisters. I definitely didn't have enough ribbon or lights, but it'll just have to work because Panorama is not exactly a quick trip AND Christmas lights just aren't as cheap here as back home! Still, I'm really excited to have a little holiday decoration in the house and I hope the kids like it...people are kind of homesick right now, especially as Thanksgiving gets closer and while I know a few twinkle lights aren't going to completely fix that, maybe it'll improve morale just a little?

On the other hand, I HATE WINTER! I started this rant in Vienna, where I began to freeze my butt off, and it's cold in Venice, too, so, it continues! I hate having to wear tons of layers and look like a marshmellow and having a Rudolph red nose all the time. Plus, I hate getting sick (always happens in the winter) and never being warm (especially problematic in constantly chilly Casa Artom). Even though the Christmas season (my absolute favorite) happens to fall in Winter, I'm still pretty anti-winter.

Other than that...things are pretty normal around here...we played a very interesting game of house jeopardy last night (basically a roast of everyone's escapades all semester), but other than that, it's been laundry, cleaning, homework (for the kids), essays (for my last remaining applications), etc. Oh and most everyone doing a "I can't wait to come home" countdown and me being sad every time they mention that!

Misery in Munich

We got to Munich around 10:15 on Friday and quickly got our luggage off our hands at our nearby hostel. After that, we had lunch at the train station before catching an S train (kind of a mix between metro and regular train) to Dachau (the concentration camp about 30 min outside Munich). It was one of the most haunting things I have ever seen. The remnants of the camp today are much, much smaller than the site was when it was in operation, but it was still plenty to give us an idea of how it used to be. We entered the camp through the path and gate that prisoners would have entered, then found ourselves in the "roll call" area in front of 2 reconstructed barracks (there were approx 30 at one time). The barracks showed the progression of the camp as it eventually help over 30,000 people (while it was intended to hold 6000). We also saw several religious memorials constructed after the camp was shut down after the war. The original barracks holding the crematoriums are also still in place off to one end of the camp and that was probably the most disturbing for me to see (I'm sorry, but there are just some things you can't even take pictures of, you know?). We also walked through the prison within the camp where horrible things were done to people who disobeyed even the most mundane of rules. At least for me, I left with this horrible chill that had nothing to do with the weather. Nevertheless, I'm glad I went and saw something that was such a major part of modern history.

We then took the S to the U to the Olympic Park, where we walked around until it got dark. Then we came back in to the main part of Munich for dinner at a traditional beer house. Elizabeth and I had amazing soup while Kelly and I tried one of the five famous beers from Germany. All day I had been feeling a little sick...my cold that I had a while ago seemed to be coming back...so I barely ate anything. We went back to the hostel and got cleaned up and ready for bed and I just felt progressively worse. I thought a solid night of sleep would help, but I ended up tossing and turing all night because my throat and head hurt so badly and I was alternately burning up and freezing. Oh and my stomach staged several revolts. Pleasant. I decided that 4 or 5 more hours outside in the cold on my feet was not going to help matters, so I bit the bullet and paid way too much money for a new ticket back to Venice from Munich at 7am instead of 4pm. I had a not so pleasant train station interaction with a very sketchy German man, but managed to evade him and catch my train. Don't get me wrong, I was very, very happy to be heading back to Venice, but, I was miserable. My entire body just ached and the stiff train seat was doing nothing to help that. Plus, my head was still pounding and my stomach was still NOT happy. By the time I finally collapsed on my bed that afternoon, I could've cried tears of joy but I was too exhausted.

Today I've been very, very lazy. My only successful endeavor was getting groceries and since then, I've just been watching good old American TV in bed and drinking tea like it's my job to try and make my throat stop hurting long enough to either eat or cough-two things I definitely NEED to do, but hurt too much! I have SO much to do in the last few weeks here that I can't afford to be laid up for too long....

Sound of Music in Salzburg

Salzburg was great, although a little rainy and cold! It was too bad that we couldn't do the whole make our own dinner thing, but, dinner at the hostel was great. We just hung out until Elizabeth joined us around midnight and walked her back to the hostel (to avoid another Vienna-esque disaster).

We got up nice and early Thursday to be downstairs in time for our 9am Sound of Music tour. Our guide, Peter, was a bit of a character. His accent was really hard to place, which is apparently due to his combination of American dad and Austrian mom. He kept making bad jokes, but, his knowledge of Sound of Music sights and trivia was perfect. The 3 of us zipped around Salzburg and the foothills with 2 couples in a tiny little red van. It was absolutely beautiful and I loved seeing sights that I had only ever seen on a tv screen before. After the tour, we walked around Salzburg a bit, but finally gave in to the rain and headed back to the hostel to rest and have an early dinner since we also had to get up early Friday to walk back to the train station to catch our train to Munich.

Ambivalent about Vienna

We got in to Vienna around 10:30pm and started the adventure to find our next hostel. We took a tram to a relatively major street and found the hostel with basically no trouble, despite how questionable the neighborhood seemed. Too good to be true, right? Well, Elizabeth wasn't at the hostel despite having arrived at 1pm. She texted us to let us know she was at the local train station and was lost. So we tried to text her directions, but that didn't work, so we set out looking for her at midnight in a bad part of town. It took us almost an hour to find her because our text messaging was so delayed but luckily we eventually met up and made our way back to the hostel.

Monday we headed to the main sights inside "the Ring," poked around the snack market and had lunch, then met up with Ana and Rhianna (who had come in via night train early Monday morning) around 5:30 to take the U out to the Flow House. Kelly's friend Katie is studying there this semester, so she gave us a tour, then joined us at Fischerbraue (a local restaurant that my friend Will recommended). We hung out at Flow House for a bit after, then Elizabeth and I headed back to get some sleep. It was interesting seeing the Flow House (the third and final Wake house I've seen) ...it's probably the nicest of the three in terms of decorations, however it's location is less convenient than Casa Artom. Nevertheless, it feels the most home-y and the group has a totally different feel (much less dramatic) than ours.

Tuesday we got up and met up with Ana and Rhianna to head out to Schonbrun (a palace outside the city). The grounds were beautiful and we found a zoo!! We spent a few hours being entirely captivated by the adorable animals before giving in to the cold and heading back to Vienna proper for a light lunch at Starbucks. After Starbucks, Elizabeth went to visit a few music-related museums while the rest of us shopped (a lot) before dinner.

Wednesday Kelly, Rhianna, Ana, and I went to the Belvedere, then for one last stop at Starbucks before meeting up with Elizabeth for lunch at this cute Austrian cafe. Elizabeth went on to another museum while Kelly and I ran a few errands (grocery, camera shop to put my pictures on a CD since my camera couldn't hold all of them, etc) then caught a 2:45 train to Salzburg.

Vienna didn't do much for me (sorry Will D)...it wasn't as charming, colorful, or pleasant as Prague and I just didn't love it. I didn't hate it either, and I had a great time with the girls, especially on our little Starbucks and shopping adventures, but it wasn't a place I'd visit again.

Charming Prague

As I mentioned, I slept a ton on the night train to Prague and thus the trip was already off to a great start! We had a bit of a struggle finding the ATM and lugging our bags on to the metro, but once we found our stop, finding our hostel was really easy. And in case I haven't gushed enough...the hostel was AMAZING. It was the most expensive place I've stayed, but even at 45 USD a night, it was a relative bargain and totally worth it. We had our own double with two twin beds, a fridge, and our own bathroom. The only downside was that the light in the bathroom was motion activated and for some reason, it would cut off after you were in the shower for more than 5 minutes. Still...it was really cute, internet was free, and I am so glad Allie recommended it!

Our entire time in Prague, we didn't really have a well-planned agenda...Kelly had been busy with classes/exams before the break and I was in a particularly bad/apathetic mood leading up to it, so neither of us did a lot of research. Luckily our hostel gave us a great map with all the must-see sites illustrated, so each day we just picked an area with a lot of sites and poked around. We had all sorts of luckily finds--a castle that was way better than the acclaimed Prague Castle, STARBUCKS!, and the famous Astronomical Clock right before it was set to do its thing on the hour. The weather was pretty mild-cloudy our first day, rainy/gross our second, but sunny and beautiful the third. We stuck close to the hostel when it got dark out--after all, we were two girls alone in Eastern Europe! Luckily there was a great local pub (where we tried Czech beer and got chicken and potatoes for about 6 USD) and a Mexican restaurant near the hostel. Really the only bummers of the trip were when we walked ALL the way to the Prague Market only to find it closed and the sketchy taxi ride we took from our hostel to the train station. It was really hard to leave Prague and it didn't help that our train ride was a little rough since we spent the first hour or so sitting on these tiny little "extra" seats in the hall of the train until a compartment opened up.

starbucks and shopping

So Kelly and I are safely inside of our lovely hostel in Salzburg, waiting for Elizabeth to join us (she stayed longer in Vienna to see a few more sights). Sadly the hostel doesn't have a kitchen, so the pasta and sauce we bought in Vienna and lugged all the way here is USELESS! Nevertheless, we sucked it up and had dinner here at the hostel (some sort of potato concoction for me and a burger for Kelly) and it wasn't too bad (except that we'd already paid for other food that we couldn't cook!). Our train ride was uneventful, thank goodness...I LOVE German/Austrian trains...very clean, efficient, and thoughtful (as in, there was a compartment on our train reserved specifically for women...genius!). We haven't seen much of Salzburg because it was dark when we got in, but, tomorrow we're going to see a TON...starting at the bright and early hour of 9 for our Sound of Music tour, followed by an afternoon of sightseeing in the actual town of Salzburg.

Vienna was a whirlwind...kind of like with Prague...when I'm back in Venice and NOT paying a ton for internet, I'll give more detail (for anyone who cares to listen to my rambling). It was good, though...not nearly as beautiful or enchanting as Prague, but, still a great, interesting place. Thankfully my friend Will lived there when I lived in Venice last time, so he told us what was worth seeing, what wasn't, etc, which saved us a lot of time and money. Fear not, friends...I put that money to good use at Starbucks (yes, again, shhh...it was essential for my sanity) and various Viennese shops (mostly H&M and Zara). I would feel guilty, but, I just got the second half of my salary in Euro (cash) and I have to spend it before I come home. Yes, have to (also essential for my sanity!) Starbucks, shopping, and the lovely zoo made Vienna worthwhile, but, as Kelly so kindly put it, "if my parents were doing a tour of Europe, I wouldn't tell them Vienna was an obligatory stop."

I'm excited to see the cities we still have left, but, my suitcase is positively bursting at the seams (I know, I have only myself and consumerism to blame) and I'm getting a bit tired of the constant packing up, moving on, trying to find a new hostel in the dark every third night, etc. But, then I sit back and think "oh yeah, I'm in EUROPE" and promptly force myself to stop complaining, because despite being travel-weary, this 10 day break has come at a great time and this semester has been one of the best EVER! Anyways, I have a mere 10 minutes of internet left, so I suppose I should be a grown up and check email. Miss you all-can't wait to see everyone in less than a month!

Ciao, Eastern Europe

Hey y'all. So the clock is ticking on my very expensive internet time here in Vienna and therefore I don't have time to bore you with a total recap of my past 4 days (lucky you!). Mostly this is intended to prove to Mom and Dad that I'm alive and well :) But, if you happen to be interested in my final hurrah, read on!

So, my final hurrah is in the form of this last 10 day break and I scheduled a very ambitious trip... 4 cities in 9 days, 5 separate train trips ranging from 2 hours to 15 hours, 4 separate hostels, 2 languages I cannot speak ONE WORD of (Czech and German)...you get the idea. Plus, as I had mentioned earlier, last week I was in one heck of a weird mood, so I wasn't exactly eager to get on a 15 hour night train bound for cold weather and sketch (I was starting in Eastern Europe, after all). Well, Kelly and I have our first mishap when we can't find our train at the Venice station. The only train leaving at our scheduled time was supposedly headed to "Vienna" according to the board announcing departures. After checking with two different TrenItalia sources, we were assured our train would go to Vienna, then our car (and many others) would head on to Prague. Ok cool. So we get on the train, where we knew we'd be in a 4 person sleeper car (the 6 person cars were sold out). Now, I'd had a great night train experience on my way back from Nice last time I was in Venice, but I knew that was an anomaly AND I'd heard some real horror stories. This guy maybe 4 or 5 years older than me is the train car attendant, takes our ticket, and leads us to an open sleeper car. He announces that it's his birthday, and just HOW happy it is depends on us. Dude clearly didn't get the "don't mess with Jenny" memo and I quickly set him straight (amazing what an eye roll/ice queen look of death can do for you, huh?). Then he lectured us for not reserving an all female sleeper car, since it was a night train and sketchy boys get drunk and ... So, he kind of mumbles something about how no one else will be in the car with us and I'm thinking "this is too good to be true," so I make him say it again, very clearly, that we will be alone and no drunk scary boys will be joining us in some random city. Our little birthday friend then implied some sort of favors might be in order for the having our own car set-up, and I quickly issued another eye roll/death look combo before shoving him out and locking our door on him. After an hour of bonding over boy traumas and family stories, Kelly and I settled in for what we thought would be an AWFUL night of sleep. I tossed and turned for a while, but apparently fell in to a really deep sleep, because I woke up to check the time, telling myself "don't be too excited, it's probably only 1 am"...um, it was 9 AM. Yes friends, I slept 12 hours. ON A TRAIN. This is big news (and the key to my trip getting off to a great start). Kelly and I ate a little, talked a little, and actually fell back asleep for a good hour before getting to Prague.

Once we arrived, we took the metro to a stop very near our hostel and checked in. The hostel was AMAZING. More like a hotel than hostel. So clean, pretty, quiet, chic, etc. We were over the moon at landing such a safe, comfortable place in a somewhat sketchy city. Things only got better from there. Despite cloudy and sometimes rainy weather, we walked around a TON and saw so many beautiful buildings. I took about 200 pictures. And the exchange rate was definitely in our favor...I've never eaten (or drank)so well for so little money. Basically, we couldn't have started our 9 day adventure in a better way and when we had to leave on Sunday night to come to Vienna, we were sad :(

That's all for now (only 10 minutes of internet left!), but, please believe I'll be flooding you with details and pictures when I get back to Venice next weekend!

ps-shameless plea for mail/packages...I have LESS THAN 30 DAYS left! Send me mail, especially because I'm going to be very homesick as Thanksgiving approaches! Honestly, it will make my week!

Theraputic Tiramisu

Oh y'all...it has not been my favorite week. The house mood in general has been a little blah, people are getting snippy with each other, I certainly have plenty of my own drama to sort out, and the weather (until today) has been absolutely revolting, so, as you can imagine, that's not exactly the best combination. I think part of the problem, too, is that I'm experiencing this weird combination of homesickness AND sadness about having to leave so soon. I miss my family, my dog, my room, familiar things, Wake friends, etc and so I'll be happy to get home to all of that. At the same time, as my professor (David) so appropriately put it tonight at dinner, "I do my very best living in Venice." Now, I'm not trying to be all downer and cynical and say "heck, this is as good as it's gonna get and it's all down hill from here," because I know better than that. But, I live in a palace on the Grand Canal with 19 of the most amazing people who let me cry on them, make me laugh, cook for me, eat my cooking, teach me new things every single day, surprise the crap out of me every time I turn around, regularly sit down and play music of concert quality, and so many other things that I can't even remember right now. Add that to the fact that, on any given weekend, I can get on a train with a half dozen of them and find myself in Switzerland or Slovenia or Lord knows where else in a few hours for a weekend-long adventure ...I really am living the dream. Let's face it, at home, I'm not nearly this cool ; )

Anyways, enough with the little sappy rant there! Yesterday Kayla and I got up kind of early, got coffee, and got to the gym right as it was opening, which was nice because we kind of had the place to ourselves. I tried this weird cardio machine that is kind of like an elliptical, only instead of moving your feet front to back, you move them side to side (you look absolutely ridiculous, in case you were wondering, but it's a great workout)...good times. I got ready while the kids had class, then "helped" Kayla make salsa (and by "helped," I mean "sat on the counter and gossiped") and ate our leftover fajitas from Monday night (amazing). In the afternoon, I packed a little for my trip and did all the boring pre-trip stuff (printing out maps, directions to the hostels, etc). After the afternoon class, Kayla and I went to Bar da Gino AGAIN because the weather was just so miserable and we were kind of dragging a little and it was the perfect day to just hole up in a corner table and people watch. A group of the girls and David went to a local restaurant called Ai Sportivi (know affectionately as "Sportrant" by our group) and I managed to impress/amaze/disgust everyone by finishing the most gigantic plate of spaghetti alla bolognese EVER. Mind you, I was still hungry afterwords...love my metabolism. We had a house party and somehow I got roped in to playing about 300 games of beer pong, all of which were a total disaster because my beer pong skills have totally abdicated. I swear to you once upon a time, I was good. Now, I literally make people laugh. And y'all know how I feel about NOT being good at something... So, I was over it pretty early and ended up spending a good bit of time hanging out in the kitchen talking to Brian's parents/brother who are visiting.

This morning Kayla and I planned to go to the gym early again, but, got as far as Bar da Gino (in our lovely exercise clothes, mind you) and decided that wasn't going to happen. She was exhausted, I was exhausted and in a not so fabulous mood, so, we decided to just go tomorrow. I dragged her with me to Billa instead because I had agreed to make tiramisu for dessert for house dinner. It ended up being a wee bit more expensive than I thought it'd be, bringing me to spend all but my last Euro (before I got paid later in the day today), but, that's ok because it turned out SO WELL. I'd try to be modest, but, I'm just too surprised! I spent a LONG time in David's kitchen...tiramisu is such a process...so many different things to whisk until "stiff peaks form." David's kitchen looked like an absolute war zone...egg yolk and sugar concoction all over his fridge (don't ask), whipping cream all over me and his toaster, cocoa powder on the stove/me/the counters/the floor, espresso dripping all over the place...it took me almost as long to clean it up as it did to prepare everything! I don't even mind, though...I've been craving tiramisu, plus, I didn't want to do practical things (write essays, pack, etc). Probably the best benefit, though, is that cooking and cleaning are some of my favorite ways to completely distract myself, and like that bartender said, "don't think, lady, it's bad for your health." Later in the day, I helped Brian's parents get set up in the kitchen (they generously offered to make our house dinner tonight), then Zach and I went on a "friend date" to have a little chat over gelato and hot chocolate (he's got a lot on his mind, I've got a lot on mine, and nothing says "everything is going to be ok" like a rant while on a sugar rush, right?). Then we stopped by Billa to pick up a few last minute things for dinner and came back to help with final preparations. It was quite the dinner...caprese, fresh bread, chicken marsala, and tiramisu...amazing. Plus, my absolute favorite part was when Brian's dad got us started on "toasting," which involved one person standing up, saying something sappy and sweet about how happy we are to be here and know each other, then calling on someone else to make another toast. Everyone was surprisingly sincere given how impromptu it was and I am already thinking of how much I'm going to struggle when it's time to say goodbye : (

Now everyone is studying (they have a music test tomorrow) and I'm so hopped up on caffeine (I drank a lot of espresso during my 3 hour stint in David's kitchen) that I can't even think about sleeping (despite being pretty sleep deprived and about to start a marathon 10 day break coming down off a cold...sweet). I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get a solid night of sleep and wake up in a better mood tomorrow, because tomorrow at 8pm, I've got to get on a train for 15 straight hours and you just can't be anything but chipper to make it through that! I'm not taking my laptop on the trip, but, please believe I will be making one serious post when I get back to let you know how AMAZING Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, and Munich are!

P.S., I Love You

So I haven't given y'all an update in over a week, and while I'm sure no one is all that worried, I like posting because it helps me remember how I spent my semester here! Speaking of which, the semester comes to a close in a month and six days (imagine my pained expression as I type this). I have done SO MUCH in my time here and made such great friends and I do not regret ONE SINGLE THING, so I really shouldn't be sad, but, I think that's exactly WHY I'm sad (if that makes any sense). I've just had so many "how did I get here??" or "is this really my life??" moments this time...not in a bad way...just in the sense that I'm more conscious this time of how lucky I am to have an opportunity like this and I like to acknowledge that as often as possible (typically in the form of probably obnoxious statements like "guys, I just LOVE trains...you can go anywhere and you don't even have to lift a finger" or "I am at the top of a Swiss Alp and I climbed all the way here all by myself" or "I get to walk around in this Disney-esque city every single day and I love it"..yep, I'm a dork). It's not that I don't want to go home (I miss everyone, really I do), but, I really like the lifestyle and attitude here...so much more relaxed, healthier, more fun, more travel and culture-oriented. Bottom line, I like living in la-la land :)

Anyways, here's my attempt at recapping the past 7 days without entirely boring you to death:

Last Monday-lots and lots of productivity...coffee, laundry (my Switzerland clothes were a wreck), essay and application editing, cookie baking, house bonding

Tuesday-gym in the morning, and then I really can't remember after that (the days fly by and are really busy, and yet somehow a week later, I can't recall a single thing I did..., but that's ok, because I DO remember that this past week was one of my favorite so far!)

Wednesday-Coop with Kayla before their 11am class, bbq sauce making (thanks Nanny for the recipe...which I got from you last time I was here, and is as big of a hit this time as last!) extreme adventure in an attempt to find the American store that sells brownie mix (for our American themed house dinner), epic failure of extreme adventure that ended in me walking around Venice for 3 hours, chocolate cake baking, house dinner preparations, house dinner

Thursday-honestly can't remember...probably rested because I'm recovering from a pretty icky cough/cold!

Friday-rested pretty much all day because I was feeling pretty miserable AND the weather was positively revolting...I watched P.S. I Love You with Tom (he hadn't seen it, I'd only seen it once, everyone else went to this really expensive restaurant for Ana's birthday dinner and I was feeling poor and still sick), then Caroline and I played beer pong with the boys who were home (Chris, Tom, Eugene)...very entertaining and enjoyable

Saturday-Kayla and I went to the gym and then on an adventure to find acqua alta (high water caused by frequent rain) and I had such a great time (I really love sporting my rain boots and splashing around in the rain)! I watched P.S. I Love You (again...) and did some organizing and cleaning. Later I made lasagna for a the girls, then a group of guys went to the Casino and banned girls, so the girls went out and had an "I hate boys" angry night, which actually ended in the girls finding the boys at Pizza al Volo and making nice. Oh and I broke a wine glass (by setting it down way too aggressively at Blu)...no big deal...the bartender thought it was funny : )

Sunday-got up after a mere 4 hours of incredibly awful sleep, went to mass with Tom, had leftover lasagna for lunch, then headed to Padova with Kayla and Elizabeth to sight see and shop...shopping didn't really happen because EVERYTHING was closed :( but, we totally plan to go back (it's a mere 30 min train ride away), and the scenery was beautiful and it was just such a great last minute little adventure that kept me from thinking of how exhausted I was!

Today-coffee, laundry, train station (where I spent...oh 260 Euro on my tickets from here to Prague, Prague to Vienna, Vienna to Salzburg, Salzburg to Munich, and Munich back to Venice...so 2nd break is planned at quite a price!), lunch at Pizza al Volo, trip #1 of the day to Punto, Thanksgiving invitation-making while the kids had class, house meeting, gym, Punto trip #2 of the day, gelato plus whipped cream (Kayla decided my mood needed a serious boost), and now cooking dinner

I'm exhausted because of my lovely 4 hours of sleep Saturday night, BUT, I'm finally feeling better (knock on wood) somehow! I have SO MUCH to do before I leave Thursday for the 2nd break and to prepare for Thanksgiving, but, right now I'm in complete and total denial! I've actually been fairly productive today, but, I'm neglecting my one remaining law school app in lieu of hanging out with everyone before we all disperse on Thursday.

PS-pictures are of Kayla and I playing in acqua alta