We went to the opera yesterday! It was cute. Everyone dressed up and we sat in these fancy schmancy boxes. We saw "Rigoletto" by Verdi, which has a famous song I guarantee you've heard: "La Donna é Mobile." Youtube it. Good times!
I got my hair cut today! The place I went was tres chic, and had a little pooch laying around. It was the cutest little dog. Oh and my hair is okay too. It's MAD SHORT. Shorter than I intended, but hey, hair grows back.
I finally got to eat dinner with Nice tonight! I felt bad because I have not been able to eat with her for a couple days, due to cooking lessons (grilled eggplant and homemade pasta) and the opera, and she was STOKED to have me eating with her tonight. That was good.
Computer still not 100% fixed. I think Nate was doing the reinstallation tonight, which means I should get my computer back tomorrow, sans everything on my hard drive. Alas. I will be pestering people for music shortly.
The bebes I am bebesitting for are awesome. The bebeist of the bebes is really shy still but today he played cars with me so I think we're on the road to becoming best friends soon. The older boy is mad smart (speaks three languages) and really good with his brother, despite the 8 year age difference. Also, feeling like I am earning SOME money is nice as well. Downside? I biked 40 minutes in the rain today getting there and back. That was not so pleasant.
That's all I really have for you! This weekend we are training it to Lucerne, Switzerland, for a chill (literally, it was snowing today there) weekend of pretty sights. Also we have a really solid group going. Should be a good time!
I hope life continues to be awesome for everyone at home. Miss you all! LOVE!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
BACK FROM BARCELONA!
By far my most favorite city that I have seen yet. It was so well-rounded! I mean, you could be completely surrounded by people in the most urban of settings and then you could walk to the beach in 10 minutes! Plus, there were palm trees everywhere, so that helped with the exotic-ness.
Erin and I stayed with our friend from BC, Chiara, who was the best hostess we could have asked for. She has only been in Barcelona for 2 months but already knows so much about the city -- when we would go to places she was like our own personal tour guide. My favorite things that we saw were, undoubtedly, the buildings and structures created by Gaudi. We saw La Pedrerea, Casa Batllo, Parc Guell, and Sagrada Familia. They were ridiculous! Look up pictures online if you don't know about them (soon, as well, I will post my own pictures). I really knew nothing about the modernist movement (he was building Dr. Suess houses in the early 1900's) but I am basically obsessed. We also saw some work of another modernist who built the Hospital San Pau (where we all agreed we would gladly be sick for an extended period of time...it was basically a gorgeous college campus) and the Palau di Musica. The coolest thing about Barcelona was that you could just walk down the street and be amazed. Every building was so cool, even if they weren't Gaudi's or anything. I loved it.
We also went down Les Rambles, a huge square that was packed and had the most intricate street statue performers I have ever seen. There were also a ton of kiosks, some of which sold ANIMALS. So weird.
We got tapas, of course, and sangria (it's a cultural thing!), and for lunch, Chiara made me try a waffle topped with chocolate and condensed milk and ice cream and it was simultaneously disgusting and delicious. ALSO CHURROS!
No crazy nightlife for us though -- because we wanted to see as much of the city as possible, we bypassed the club scene where people get back at 7 am (no joke, Erin and I saw some people coming back home this morning when we left for the train station). I don't think I could handle being abroad there -- sleepy Parma is much more my style. But I would love to go back to Barcelona, there is still a lot to see.
Oh, and we were able to go to the BEACH because it was nice weather. We didn't go in, but instead sight-saw (conjugation?) the Olympic Village in Port Olympic, and threw rocks in the water. ALSO ALSO we went up a funicular (I sang Decemberists all the way up because it reminded me of Myla Goldberg) and a ski.lift type thing to the top of this hill that had beautiful views of the city.
So basically Barcelona was a weekend of a GORGEOUS town, a TON of walking, and TOO MUCH fried food. Oh man. LOVED IT.
This week we have a Verdi opera on Tuesday (excited to dress up!) and my 8:15 am classes were CANCELLED this week because we are transitioning to the next part of the school year. SCORE.
I don't want to think about the fact that it's almost November already.
By far my most favorite city that I have seen yet. It was so well-rounded! I mean, you could be completely surrounded by people in the most urban of settings and then you could walk to the beach in 10 minutes! Plus, there were palm trees everywhere, so that helped with the exotic-ness.
Erin and I stayed with our friend from BC, Chiara, who was the best hostess we could have asked for. She has only been in Barcelona for 2 months but already knows so much about the city -- when we would go to places she was like our own personal tour guide. My favorite things that we saw were, undoubtedly, the buildings and structures created by Gaudi. We saw La Pedrerea, Casa Batllo, Parc Guell, and Sagrada Familia. They were ridiculous! Look up pictures online if you don't know about them (soon, as well, I will post my own pictures). I really knew nothing about the modernist movement (he was building Dr. Suess houses in the early 1900's) but I am basically obsessed. We also saw some work of another modernist who built the Hospital San Pau (where we all agreed we would gladly be sick for an extended period of time...it was basically a gorgeous college campus) and the Palau di Musica. The coolest thing about Barcelona was that you could just walk down the street and be amazed. Every building was so cool, even if they weren't Gaudi's or anything. I loved it.
We also went down Les Rambles, a huge square that was packed and had the most intricate street statue performers I have ever seen. There were also a ton of kiosks, some of which sold ANIMALS. So weird.
We got tapas, of course, and sangria (it's a cultural thing!), and for lunch, Chiara made me try a waffle topped with chocolate and condensed milk and ice cream and it was simultaneously disgusting and delicious. ALSO CHURROS!
No crazy nightlife for us though -- because we wanted to see as much of the city as possible, we bypassed the club scene where people get back at 7 am (no joke, Erin and I saw some people coming back home this morning when we left for the train station). I don't think I could handle being abroad there -- sleepy Parma is much more my style. But I would love to go back to Barcelona, there is still a lot to see.
Oh, and we were able to go to the BEACH because it was nice weather. We didn't go in, but instead sight-saw (conjugation?) the Olympic Village in Port Olympic, and threw rocks in the water. ALSO ALSO we went up a funicular (I sang Decemberists all the way up because it reminded me of Myla Goldberg) and a ski.lift type thing to the top of this hill that had beautiful views of the city.
So basically Barcelona was a weekend of a GORGEOUS town, a TON of walking, and TOO MUCH fried food. Oh man. LOVED IT.
This week we have a Verdi opera on Tuesday (excited to dress up!) and my 8:15 am classes were CANCELLED this week because we are transitioning to the next part of the school year. SCORE.
I don't want to think about the fact that it's almost November already.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
I was going to add some pictures on this post because obviously I cannot update my webshots, but Jeff's computer is being dumb. I think it is good that my computer is broken because today was the biggest waste of a day that I've had since I've been here! Jeff is in Southern France and I learned how to break into their room so I stole his computer for the weekend. Because of that, I am now fully caught up on the Office and very important Saturday Night Live sketches. Oh Sarah Palin, you are just not funny. I really really enjoyed Amy Poehler's rap though, that was worthwhile.
We went to Lake Como yesterday and saw George Clooney! He took all the pictures for us, so that was nice. It was really really pretty there but also really really touristy. It was like a huge resort basically. We took a bus from Como to Bellaggio, which is supposed to be this gorgeous little Italian town, not realizing that the bus took an hour. Despite the length, it was a fabulous way to tour the lake and the little towns along the lake. I didn't realize how HUGE that frickin' lake is. You wouldn't think it! But it was a very chill weekend in that respect so it's been good.
I've been wasting a lot of time on Facebook and looking through people's pictures -- I miss hearing about what's happening at BC! NO ONE EMAILS ME TO TELL ME ABOUT THEIR LIVES. I beg you to take pity on the poor lonely child lost in the wilderness of Italy -- tell me about your lives at home! No matter how trivial or lame you may think it is compared to my glamorous and cultural life here, DO IT. I miss you guys.
CRY CRY CRY!
hope all is well! but not too well that you're having so much fun without me that you can't EMAIL ME.
:[
We went to Lake Como yesterday and saw George Clooney! He took all the pictures for us, so that was nice. It was really really pretty there but also really really touristy. It was like a huge resort basically. We took a bus from Como to Bellaggio, which is supposed to be this gorgeous little Italian town, not realizing that the bus took an hour. Despite the length, it was a fabulous way to tour the lake and the little towns along the lake. I didn't realize how HUGE that frickin' lake is. You wouldn't think it! But it was a very chill weekend in that respect so it's been good.
I've been wasting a lot of time on Facebook and looking through people's pictures -- I miss hearing about what's happening at BC! NO ONE EMAILS ME TO TELL ME ABOUT THEIR LIVES. I beg you to take pity on the poor lonely child lost in the wilderness of Italy -- tell me about your lives at home! No matter how trivial or lame you may think it is compared to my glamorous and cultural life here, DO IT. I miss you guys.
CRY CRY CRY!
hope all is well! but not too well that you're having so much fun without me that you can't EMAIL ME.
:[
Friday, October 17, 2008
Our flight to Brussels was cancelled today because of a strike at the Pisa airport...which meant that we spent essentially 12 hours traveling around Italy for nothing, trying to figure out what to do. Basically though we just got a ton of money down the drain with our deposit and first night for the hostel (because we did not cancel before 24 hours) and our dumb flight (which we can try to get back if we send a fax? Right.) and all the trains we took (7) during the course of the day. Yuck.
The only good thing that came out of it was that Erin and I had a wonderful wonderful train ride home from Florence (yep, back there again) to Parma because we talked to this 64 year old Italian man who spent 2 years in Chicago (living in Downers Grove!) working with ENRICO FERMI and who made the first nuclear plant in Italy. Um. Also he was hilarious. We basically talked to him about everything and anything -- he said he would toast us if Obama won. Yesss. When we got off the train we looked back and he was looking out the window for us so we did a big big wave and blew him a kiss. He was so happy -- he was telling us about his family but how he's alone now because his wife died 5 years ago so I think he was really excited to strike up a conversation for an hour. It made us so so so happy, despite our terrible day of traveling.
There really is not much to do in Parma. Upsetting. I don't know what we're going to do tomorrow. Bleh. We were so looking forward to Belgian waffles and Belgian chocolate. Maybe we will go to Lake Como -- we are looking up train times right now. MORE TRAINS HOORAY. :[
BUT FRANCO IS THE BEST!
Also it is Nice's birthday today! We celebrated with cake and gelato and Happy 21st! plates. Because that's how old she is.
HOORAY!
The only good thing that came out of it was that Erin and I had a wonderful wonderful train ride home from Florence (yep, back there again) to Parma because we talked to this 64 year old Italian man who spent 2 years in Chicago (living in Downers Grove!) working with ENRICO FERMI and who made the first nuclear plant in Italy. Um. Also he was hilarious. We basically talked to him about everything and anything -- he said he would toast us if Obama won. Yesss. When we got off the train we looked back and he was looking out the window for us so we did a big big wave and blew him a kiss. He was so happy -- he was telling us about his family but how he's alone now because his wife died 5 years ago so I think he was really excited to strike up a conversation for an hour. It made us so so so happy, despite our terrible day of traveling.
There really is not much to do in Parma. Upsetting. I don't know what we're going to do tomorrow. Bleh. We were so looking forward to Belgian waffles and Belgian chocolate. Maybe we will go to Lake Como -- we are looking up train times right now. MORE TRAINS HOORAY. :[
BUT FRANCO IS THE BEST!
Also it is Nice's birthday today! We celebrated with cake and gelato and Happy 21st! plates. Because that's how old she is.
HOORAY!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
1. Yesterday I decided my bicicletta was the one the woman who turns into the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz ride, and I started humming her little theme song to myself.
2. I am getting so good at nodding -- I think Italians have like a special magnetic power that when they speak really fast they nod at you and you nod with them, making it seem like you know what they're talking about but really you just can't tear yourself away from their magical nodding powers.
3. I got a babysitting job! Twice a week for a couple hours for two boys, ages 9 and 21 months. I'm so stoked (and thanks to Dianne for talking to a random Italian woman...sorry I didn't tell you I put you down as a reference...) and getting paid in euro is a bonus as well.
4. My soc class was cancelled for tomorrow! Meaning I don't have an 8:15am class but instead a 12:45 class to start my day! HOORAY!
5. I got two! COUNT THEM TWO! prizes in my cereal box yesterday! KUNG FU PANDA!
6. My Dell disc still hasn't come and I think I will live the rest of my life on other people's computers. Forever!
7. I forgot to say that there was an old man in the Portugal airport wearing a BC hat. When Erin told him we went to BC too, he said "fair enough!" Hahahha.
8. Nice's birthday is in two days! Also I showed her how to use Facebook yesterday. She is so cutting-edge.
9. Gelato keeps getting better and better. I feel bad for when I go home because my old love, ice cream, is going to feel all jealous and stuff, because in my head I'll keep comparing it to gelato. Sigh.
10. I'm going to mass in like 45 minutes for the first time in a long time. It's been really hard to find mass times and when I don't have that darn Salt and Light meddling in my faith life, I don't remember to go. I'm very excited, though, I've been looking forward to it all day.
2. I am getting so good at nodding -- I think Italians have like a special magnetic power that when they speak really fast they nod at you and you nod with them, making it seem like you know what they're talking about but really you just can't tear yourself away from their magical nodding powers.
3. I got a babysitting job! Twice a week for a couple hours for two boys, ages 9 and 21 months. I'm so stoked (and thanks to Dianne for talking to a random Italian woman...sorry I didn't tell you I put you down as a reference...) and getting paid in euro is a bonus as well.
4. My soc class was cancelled for tomorrow! Meaning I don't have an 8:15am class but instead a 12:45 class to start my day! HOORAY!
5. I got two! COUNT THEM TWO! prizes in my cereal box yesterday! KUNG FU PANDA!
6. My Dell disc still hasn't come and I think I will live the rest of my life on other people's computers. Forever!
7. I forgot to say that there was an old man in the Portugal airport wearing a BC hat. When Erin told him we went to BC too, he said "fair enough!" Hahahha.
8. Nice's birthday is in two days! Also I showed her how to use Facebook yesterday. She is so cutting-edge.
9. Gelato keeps getting better and better. I feel bad for when I go home because my old love, ice cream, is going to feel all jealous and stuff, because in my head I'll keep comparing it to gelato. Sigh.
10. I'm going to mass in like 45 minutes for the first time in a long time. It's been really hard to find mass times and when I don't have that darn Salt and Light meddling in my faith life, I don't remember to go. I'm very excited, though, I've been looking forward to it all day.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Still no computer. I'm about to call Dell again to see if they can connect me to their international number so THEY can send me a recovery CD. I think my friend might be able to fix it if I get that, so cross your fingers. I don't like not having my computer to watch my movies or listen to my music or check mah email. Or talk to people, I GUESS. Alas.
WE WENT TO PORTUGAL THIS WEEKEND.
Highlights:
-awesome hostel! attractive and friendly staff, very very clean, and free breakfast! yummy.
-we saw a lot a lot of the town -- we climbed up a castle, scoped out some markets and took a tram to Belem, where we sampled the local pastry (of which a certain pastry shop makes 1200 a day!!) and climbed a tower on the water. It was very windy but very awesome
-EVERYONE WAS SO NICE. our cab driver definitely had no idea where we were going when we tried to get to our hostel so he dropped us off on a random street so we went into a shop where a heavily tattooed and pierced man took like 15 minutes mapquesting where we were going and explaining the best he could where our hostel was. sooo nice. we went back the next day and i bought a couple things from them.
-i won shanghai! what what?!
Lowlights:
-Portugal is smelly! we got up really early on Saturday so we could make the most of our day -- way before anyone was up and about, and the amount of trash and broken glass from the previous night was astounding. Certain streets REEKED as we passed them. Very odd.
-confusing streets -- thank god for Erin and Jeff, I would have had no clue where I was if I was on my own.
-traveling -- we got to the airport to portugal way too early because we had the wrong times for our flight. it was simply a long day of waiting around and not being able to sleep because my ipod was out of battery. alas.
-no passport stamp! ALAS! How will people know I am such a world traveler?
-we don't speak Portugese. We did learn one word when we were there: "obrigado," which means thank you (or "obrigada" if you're a girl)
It was really good to experience a different culture though. It was weird, the flight took the same amount of time it takes me to get from Chicago to Boston, but this time when I got off the plane it was a completely different language (although some would argue the East Coast accent is a different language altogether) and a different way of life. It wasn't at all what I had expected, but then again, I didn't really know what to expect. I was so glad I was able to go -- it's such a unique place to say you've been to -- but I'm not sure if I'll be going back ever. We had a lot of fun though, and took a ton of pictures -- hopefully sometime soon I will be able to upload them (cross those fingers hard plz).
Time to call Dell and eat leftovers! Cooking class tonight! We're making risotto con zucco. DEELISH!
WE WENT TO PORTUGAL THIS WEEKEND.
Highlights:
-awesome hostel! attractive and friendly staff, very very clean, and free breakfast! yummy.
-we saw a lot a lot of the town -- we climbed up a castle, scoped out some markets and took a tram to Belem, where we sampled the local pastry (of which a certain pastry shop makes 1200 a day!!) and climbed a tower on the water. It was very windy but very awesome
-EVERYONE WAS SO NICE. our cab driver definitely had no idea where we were going when we tried to get to our hostel so he dropped us off on a random street so we went into a shop where a heavily tattooed and pierced man took like 15 minutes mapquesting where we were going and explaining the best he could where our hostel was. sooo nice. we went back the next day and i bought a couple things from them.
-i won shanghai! what what?!
Lowlights:
-Portugal is smelly! we got up really early on Saturday so we could make the most of our day -- way before anyone was up and about, and the amount of trash and broken glass from the previous night was astounding. Certain streets REEKED as we passed them. Very odd.
-confusing streets -- thank god for Erin and Jeff, I would have had no clue where I was if I was on my own.
-traveling -- we got to the airport to portugal way too early because we had the wrong times for our flight. it was simply a long day of waiting around and not being able to sleep because my ipod was out of battery. alas.
-no passport stamp! ALAS! How will people know I am such a world traveler?
-we don't speak Portugese. We did learn one word when we were there: "obrigado," which means thank you (or "obrigada" if you're a girl)
It was really good to experience a different culture though. It was weird, the flight took the same amount of time it takes me to get from Chicago to Boston, but this time when I got off the plane it was a completely different language (although some would argue the East Coast accent is a different language altogether) and a different way of life. It wasn't at all what I had expected, but then again, I didn't really know what to expect. I was so glad I was able to go -- it's such a unique place to say you've been to -- but I'm not sure if I'll be going back ever. We had a lot of fun though, and took a ton of pictures -- hopefully sometime soon I will be able to upload them (cross those fingers hard plz).
Time to call Dell and eat leftovers! Cooking class tonight! We're making risotto con zucco. DEELISH!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Thanks Jeff for letting me use your computer!
Sooooo my computer is DEAD. I don't know how or why but all I know is that I came back from my weekend and I could not turn my computer on. I tried for 6 hours! ALAS. So right now Nate is looking at my computer to see if he can do anything because if he can't my coordinator said they'd have to send it to Milan and then to FRANCE because no one uses Dells here! SO GOOD!
This weekend was good though! Me and Jeff went with Nice on a trip -- her friend has a HUGE property where they make olive oil, and so we spent the weekend walking through tiny Italian towns and basically living an authentic Tuscan life. The best part, maybe, was the meat market because they had chickens with heads and feet (if the feet are yellow you know it's good) and we saw a pigs hoof get cleaved in half. YUCK. Dan would not have liked it because NO ONE used gloves. And NO ONE cared.
I got my bike today! And was terrified to ride it on the streets -- you'd think since I know how to bike and do it well(ish) it would be no big deal. But you don't get it. There are cars and buses and motorini and bikes and pedestrians all vying for the same spot on the road. And I had no idea where I was supposed to stop and go so I would follow old people. Hahaha.
ALSO I mailed my absentee ballot in today! I am very excited but very sad I don't get a I VOTED TODAY sticker.
I don't know what else is new. Not having my computer throws me for a LOOP.
I LOVE CAPS!
there is no peanut butter here.
:[
Sooooo my computer is DEAD. I don't know how or why but all I know is that I came back from my weekend and I could not turn my computer on. I tried for 6 hours! ALAS. So right now Nate is looking at my computer to see if he can do anything because if he can't my coordinator said they'd have to send it to Milan and then to FRANCE because no one uses Dells here! SO GOOD!
This weekend was good though! Me and Jeff went with Nice on a trip -- her friend has a HUGE property where they make olive oil, and so we spent the weekend walking through tiny Italian towns and basically living an authentic Tuscan life. The best part, maybe, was the meat market because they had chickens with heads and feet (if the feet are yellow you know it's good) and we saw a pigs hoof get cleaved in half. YUCK. Dan would not have liked it because NO ONE used gloves. And NO ONE cared.
I got my bike today! And was terrified to ride it on the streets -- you'd think since I know how to bike and do it well(ish) it would be no big deal. But you don't get it. There are cars and buses and motorini and bikes and pedestrians all vying for the same spot on the road. And I had no idea where I was supposed to stop and go so I would follow old people. Hahaha.
ALSO I mailed my absentee ballot in today! I am very excited but very sad I don't get a I VOTED TODAY sticker.
I don't know what else is new. Not having my computer throws me for a LOOP.
I LOVE CAPS!
there is no peanut butter here.
:[
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Here are some pictures of my apartment! Try to count how much is from IKEA :]
This is my bed and the pictures I put up 10 minutes ago. My bed isn't made, and you can see the change of sheets and note that Nice left for me this morning. Also you can see one of the 9 million stuffed animals at the foot of the bed that was in my room. I like the crocodile so I keep him there.
Here's my bebe kitchen! I make tea on the stove and have cereal for breakfast. If you zoom in, you can see the Batman toy I got in the cereal box above the stove by the dishes.
Here's my BATHROOM! You can see the shower in the mirror kind of -- I had a picture of how tiny it was but I thought it was boring. Pictures of toilets obviously make for better posts.
Here's the other side of my bedroom area. The stuffed mouse that Nice gave me is on the shelf above the drying rack, which is holding the majority of my laundry that I did last night. It's not all dry yet. Usually I put my laptop on the desk where I can look out past the stuffed animals onto a really cute lane that leads to a park. It's a little messy, but I'm still getting situated. There is a polka-dot rug on the floor that I wish you could see.
Dinner last night was good! The girl that is living here for the year is in a single as well, so Nice had her eat with us. She kept bringing food to the other BC students in the next room, who had just attempted to make gnocchi (and didn't do too well on their first attempt).
Nice also invited me to travel with her to Torino this weekend! I'm pretty excited; she is such a character.
Also, last night we booked a flight to Lisbon! Hooray for Portugal!
We had a language proficiency test today and tonight we have our first Italian class. Blehh. I love walking around Parma though. I am the only one in Nice's apartment who is in the advanced track, and I had to be in the main piazza this morning earlier than they did. Walking there this morning it actually hit me that I'm in Italy and I'll be walking along these streets everyday. That soon I'll have a bike and get to wherever I'll need to go. That I'll be able to read in the giardino and navigate around the city to get to the different areas where my classes are and where my friends are living. That already I'm a part of la dolce vita that exists here.
It was a good feeling.
This is my bed and the pictures I put up 10 minutes ago. My bed isn't made, and you can see the change of sheets and note that Nice left for me this morning. Also you can see one of the 9 million stuffed animals at the foot of the bed that was in my room. I like the crocodile so I keep him there.
Here's my bebe kitchen! I make tea on the stove and have cereal for breakfast. If you zoom in, you can see the Batman toy I got in the cereal box above the stove by the dishes.
Here's my BATHROOM! You can see the shower in the mirror kind of -- I had a picture of how tiny it was but I thought it was boring. Pictures of toilets obviously make for better posts.
Here's the other side of my bedroom area. The stuffed mouse that Nice gave me is on the shelf above the drying rack, which is holding the majority of my laundry that I did last night. It's not all dry yet. Usually I put my laptop on the desk where I can look out past the stuffed animals onto a really cute lane that leads to a park. It's a little messy, but I'm still getting situated. There is a polka-dot rug on the floor that I wish you could see.
Dinner last night was good! The girl that is living here for the year is in a single as well, so Nice had her eat with us. She kept bringing food to the other BC students in the next room, who had just attempted to make gnocchi (and didn't do too well on their first attempt).
Nice also invited me to travel with her to Torino this weekend! I'm pretty excited; she is such a character.
Also, last night we booked a flight to Lisbon! Hooray for Portugal!
We had a language proficiency test today and tonight we have our first Italian class. Blehh. I love walking around Parma though. I am the only one in Nice's apartment who is in the advanced track, and I had to be in the main piazza this morning earlier than they did. Walking there this morning it actually hit me that I'm in Italy and I'll be walking along these streets everyday. That soon I'll have a bike and get to wherever I'll need to go. That I'll be able to read in the giardino and navigate around the city to get to the different areas where my classes are and where my friends are living. That already I'm a part of la dolce vita that exists here.
It was a good feeling.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Mmmm -- I'm writing this ONTO MY BLOG and not onto a Word document because I HAVE INTERNET!
Maybe the capital letters should instead read I'M IN PARMA! Because that's true too.
Guys, its so cool here!
I think I'm a little slap happy still of getting out of Florence and the hotel, because some people already are complaining but I'm super excited to be here.
We took the bus from Firenze to Parma and there wasn't enough room for everyone's luggage. Very nice, bus. We spent a cramped 2.5 hours and then got dropped off at our respective homes.
I am staying in this woman Nice (pronounced knee-chay)'s apartment, and although I have a single (the other people living in her apartment have doubles, except for one girl who is staying the whole year who also has a single), I am technically doing a "homestay," which means she makes me dinner and breakfast. But mostly dinner because she told me she gets up early to run, so I buy what I want and she'll pay me for it. Which is good news for me! I bought tea and Honey Nut Cheerios today so I'm totally set.
BUT YEAH!
Nice is adorable. She got us (the 6 of us living here) huge things of gelato which we ate with another homestay family who lives nearby, and the two BC students living with them. First of all, the gelato was amazing, and it's right around the corner. Also, it is called Gelateria Mickey Mouse. HA.
Everything in our rooms is from IKEA, which they LOVE here -- we all had like 9 stuffed animals in our rooms. Nice gave me a mouse stuffed animal to keep to welcome me. Too cute.
I have my own bathroom and tiny tiny (smaller than yours, Suze) kitchen area, and windows that look out over this arched passageway and a lane lined with trees. So pretty. We're very nearby the center of the city and close to a beautiful park.
Nice told us that in two weeks she will stop speaking English and only speak Italian, and that we will get bikes to ride around. I'm sad about the latter because everyone already has bikes :[ I feel a little left out.
EVERYONE RIDES BIKES! It's so cute and European. I can't wait to join and possibly die because of the wacky traffic.
Today Nice went to Milan, but I'm super excited about dinner with her later. We had a boring day, lots of standing in lines and shelling out money to get bus passes and a permit of stay. Parma is adorable, and completely different than what I expected. It has a definite city vibe to it, but its small and soooo much less touristy than Florence.
Our welcome dinner was fabulous last night -- tortelli, prosciutto and parmesean cheese (obvi), vealish type meat, sparkling vino (?) and a YUMMY cheese crepe thingy.
Right now I need to go figure out if I can do laundry (the washers are TINY TINY and there are no dryers) and upload some pics! HOORAY!
Love you all, hope life is molto bene!
Maybe the capital letters should instead read I'M IN PARMA! Because that's true too.
Guys, its so cool here!
I think I'm a little slap happy still of getting out of Florence and the hotel, because some people already are complaining but I'm super excited to be here.
We took the bus from Firenze to Parma and there wasn't enough room for everyone's luggage. Very nice, bus. We spent a cramped 2.5 hours and then got dropped off at our respective homes.
I am staying in this woman Nice (pronounced knee-chay)'s apartment, and although I have a single (the other people living in her apartment have doubles, except for one girl who is staying the whole year who also has a single), I am technically doing a "homestay," which means she makes me dinner and breakfast. But mostly dinner because she told me she gets up early to run, so I buy what I want and she'll pay me for it. Which is good news for me! I bought tea and Honey Nut Cheerios today so I'm totally set.
BUT YEAH!
Nice is adorable. She got us (the 6 of us living here) huge things of gelato which we ate with another homestay family who lives nearby, and the two BC students living with them. First of all, the gelato was amazing, and it's right around the corner. Also, it is called Gelateria Mickey Mouse. HA.
Everything in our rooms is from IKEA, which they LOVE here -- we all had like 9 stuffed animals in our rooms. Nice gave me a mouse stuffed animal to keep to welcome me. Too cute.
I have my own bathroom and tiny tiny (smaller than yours, Suze) kitchen area, and windows that look out over this arched passageway and a lane lined with trees. So pretty. We're very nearby the center of the city and close to a beautiful park.
Nice told us that in two weeks she will stop speaking English and only speak Italian, and that we will get bikes to ride around. I'm sad about the latter because everyone already has bikes :[ I feel a little left out.
EVERYONE RIDES BIKES! It's so cute and European. I can't wait to join and possibly die because of the wacky traffic.
Today Nice went to Milan, but I'm super excited about dinner with her later. We had a boring day, lots of standing in lines and shelling out money to get bus passes and a permit of stay. Parma is adorable, and completely different than what I expected. It has a definite city vibe to it, but its small and soooo much less touristy than Florence.
Our welcome dinner was fabulous last night -- tortelli, prosciutto and parmesean cheese (obvi), vealish type meat, sparkling vino (?) and a YUMMY cheese crepe thingy.
Right now I need to go figure out if I can do laundry (the washers are TINY TINY and there are no dryers) and upload some pics! HOORAY!
Love you all, hope life is molto bene!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
