Goodbye Florence

Today is my second to last day in Florence but my last day with access to a computer and internet hence--blog entry! Finals were fine, studying was hindered by a short flu-spell (I had 102.5 fever--I haven't had a fever like that since I was 12). But I just didn't leave the house for two days and slept while Mama took care of me and gave me medicine. I did miss the student art show which I had two of my photos in and it is probably the only art show I will ever be in but oh well! Studying was slightly more relaxing than all the traveling I've done the past month (Venice, Paris, Rome, Munich--four weekends in a row).

It is a very strange feeling--I am sad to go but I am really want to see my friends and family. I guess it is similar to when I was leaving--sad to leave my friends and family but looking forward to the new experienece. I have been doing my favorite things in Florence: shopping and eating. Trying to finish up my Christmas shopping here and also eating gelato and pizza and of course Mama's cuisine. I have been to Pizzeria Spera three times in the past week and I had a good farewell on Wednesday, but I might make it back there again on Friday. My Italian has finally gotten okay/good. I talk to Italians and they speak back to me in ITALIAN! I also can hold a conversation! I got two compliments on my Italian from strangers (granted I was about to buy something from them) and Mama has been commenting on my improvement! Now, I am going to go home and forget everything! Well, hopefully not, I am signed up for a conversational Italian class next semester so that should help!

I will miss my host family a lot we have become really close over the past month. During my Italian final I started to cry (not because it was hard). The last essay was write a farewell note to someone in your host family and I wrote it to my fratello, Cosimo. I also cried when I said goodbye to my Italian teacher who was the professor I got the closest with. I gave her a framed picture of our class when we were cooking and she cried a little too! It was really sad but only because we had so many good times! I also had to say goodbye to one of the good friends I made here, Elissa. We both don't know when will see eachother next--Elissa goes to school at Bowdoin (Maine) and lives in Aspen. But with facebook and our blackberries we are not worried that we will have any trouble keeping in touch!

My roommate leaves this afternoon and Cosimo's mostra (art exhibition--I like "mostra" better) is tonight. Mama and I will be cooking all day! She "gave me a break" to come to school to check on my flight and turn in my key. Mama keeps saying she will be sad when I leave and that she has always wanted a daughter. Those are not good things to help me be okay with leaving. Oh, but I just found out my good friend Cassie will be staying with Fiamma next semester (I told her to request Fiamma). But I have all of Friday left and I am going to finish packing, do some last minute shopping, and eat! I leave on Saturday at 7:05 am and I am getting to the airport at 5:00 am when it opens!

I have had such a great experience here and its funny to look back at how I so clearly went through all the stages of culture shock. It took longer than expected but I found friends, fun, family, and a new culture in Florence. I will miss this place a lot but I am ready to go home. I am so thankful to my parents and Whitman for letting me come to Florence and have this amazing experience.

Fitting In

So I want to apologize again for the lack of blog posts but I promise I have an excellent reason this time…I am having so much fun! I am busy all the time and I am finally fitting in here in Florence. It is really true what they say about once your settled in, its time to leave! I absolutely love my host family, my friends, even my Italian class! My host brother Cosimo’s girlfriend Alex moved in with us last month. At first it was kind of strange, I didn’t even know Cosimo had a girlfriend and then as I like to put it she came to dinner and never left. But she is great, from Austria and speaks fluent English and prefers English to Italian which she is just starting to learn which means we speak mostly English now at home. Although this is not good for my Italian, it is really good for bonding and getting to know each other because we can actually have real conversations because my host mama Fiamma is very good conversationally in English and Cosimo is practically fluent. Alex also brought Melissa (roommate) and I closer with Cosimo because she was so relaxed with us that he became too. He does a great impression of me—he basically just says whatever and loser all the time but then adds the hand motions (which I definitely don’t do). In turn, I make fun of Cosimo for living with his mom at 28 and being a slacker. I even ended up changing my return ticket to the U.S. so I can stay for a few extra days. I did this for two reasons: the first being that I didn’t want to leave 18 hours after my Italian written final and secondly Cosimo’s exhibition that he has been working so hard was the Thursday I was supposed to leave and I really want to see that! Alex also has many jobs planned for me to help with the exhibition.

Mama Fiamma and I have also been bonding a lot lately. Funny to say but it mostly occurred after my roommate stayed with her boyfriend for a week because Fiamma and I spent a lot more time together. And she is hilarious! We have so much fun talking and making fun of people. Haha. We even talk about Cosimo and Alex and I try to teach her about American things/concepts like Facebook. We talk about her old host students too. Mama is selling her cookbook at our school and yesterday I rode on the back of her vespa to go to school! It was so fun and one of my goals here. It was only slightly scary for the first minute or so because I was scared of balancing but after that it was just fun! I am excited to ride Daddy’s vespa when I get home! I am also having lunch at the house today--and this is unusual because we usually don't get lunch but since I am leaving for Munich tonight she wanted to feed me!

Mama is still keeping me well fed. Fortunately, I joined a gym shortly after fall break. So now I am just working out enough to maintain my weight (which pretty much means I have to work out every day I am not traveling). My gym is great, there are classes every hour (and sometimes two) and also a personal trainer available at least 2 hours every day. I go to the total body workout at least three times a week which is very fun and helps with my Italian! Although, I am also learning that you really don’t need to know what the instructor is saying. I wish I would have joined a gym as soon as I got here but my knee injury early on prevented any exercising for a month.

I am even enjoying my Italian class! My class dwindled from 13 to 10 (lost one because he is an architecture student, another was just auditing and just stopped coming; one went home because of a shattered elbow). And usually one or two people don’t come every day so it’s a very close class! You really get to know the people in your class—probably because you are with them 8 hours a week mostly just talking about yourselves. Today in Italian class was quite fun. First of all, none of the boys showed up (all four). So it was just us six girls. We were cooking part of an Italian meal so the first thing we did was made a list of ingredients we needed and then we “facciamo la spesa” (went grocery shopping) at the nearby supermarket. It was so fun and since the boys weren’t there to tie us down we were very efficient and thrifty! I was in charge of the money (naturally, haha) and we came in 10 euro under budget (thank you very much). Then we went to the kitchen where Donatella our profesoressa was waiting and she instructed us on how to begin. We made pesto (from scratch, duh) pasta and tiramisu. It was surprisingly pretty easy and also fun! We listened to Chirstmas music and sang and cooked. We finished by 12:15 so had 35 minutes to relax and enjoy our food. We had about ¾ of the tiramisu left so Claire (one of my classmates) and I brought it to our following photo class which is full of nine girls who always love chocolate.

Speaking of photo, I am loving photo class! It is pretty much just a big three hour party every class and everyone looks forward to going. There are only nine girls and we all like each other. That is because lately we have been getting ready for finale critiques and the art show so all we do is print off our photos, listen to Christmas music, sing, gossip about students and celebrities, watch funny you tube videos (kids seeing a version of T.I.’s “Whatever You Like”) last time, and of course upload pictures to facebook. We also have a lot of photo paper left so we have been taking advantage of it and been printing photos for our photo albums! From not knowing if I would be able to stand our professor from absolutely loving her crazyness has been great. She loves me too…she “loves my irony in person and in my photos” haha. She also took us to this modern art show at the one place that shows contemporary art in Florence and like encouraged us to give our opinions. Well, of course I have no trouble giving my opinions and they were mostly negative yet insightful about the value of a lot of the pieces. She told me after that she loved my comments and that they were just so logical (I am an econ major).

Other things I have done, I went to Rome last weekend and Venice the weekend previous to Paris. I went to both cities with my art history class which I love. I only don’t love that I have to memorize 90 images for the final! Ah!

Oh and I have made some great friends! I have mostly been hanging out with Lisa and Elissa who are in my photography class. Lisa is from Maine and goes to Bates and Elissa is from Aspen and goes to Bowdoin. Good liberal art schools—that is really what I need to stick with! They are so fun and positive and we have been having a great time together. I went to Paris with Lisa last weekend. Elissa ran the marathon last Sunday (and Lisa ran 20/26 miles with her) so it was really fun to go out and support them. Elissa had a great quote about the marathon…“in any other circumstance I think I would lose weight while training for a marathon however that is not the case in Italy I am barely staying the same”. There you have it, if you don’t want to gain weight while living with a host family for four months in Italy, train for a marathon.

Even in regular Italian life I have been doing a lot better! I can go to the supermarket, cafe, tabacci with ease. I don't let Italians push me over in line (although did I ever really?).

Other news from home, I have been elected Recruitment Chair of Kappa Kappa Gamma! I also have been elected CEO of Whitman Investment Company that manages about 1% of our endowment (about $300,000). So I have lots to look forward to when I get to school! Not to mention seeing all of my friends and professors again! And ohh Whitman (efficient) administration.

Paris Part Deux: I LOVE PARIS

I am listening to Frank Sinatra’s “I Love Paris” as I write this blog entry because that is exactly how I feel about Paris! I went on the all school Paris trip this past weekend. At first, I was a little weary about going because I had already been to Paris and although I found it enjoyable, I didn’t LOVE it. However, I decided to go anyway because Paris is a big place, there was a lot more to do, and I wanted to go to Versailles. This was one of the best decisions of my semester. We left from the train station at 8:45, I asked Mama for an early dinner so I could get one fabulous meal in before I left. Once I got to the station, I saw the mass of almost 50 students with three graduate students, two T.A.’s, and one professor who were leading the trip. I found my friend Lisa, who was my only close friend on the trip, and we found a group of four friends to room with. I didn’t know the other people very well but one of them was from West Seattle (therefore cool) and friends with two of my good friends at Whitman (Juliet and Joe).

I had just finished Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, so of course I had a much romanticized version of an overnight train in my head (both with excitement and comfort). In each train car, there were six beds, with three leveled bunks. I would guess the rooms were sixty-four square feet—maybe NYU dorm size? But they were clean, quiet, and came with water and blankets! I also had new friends to talk with and a wonderful Poroit mystery. However, I wanted to be fully energized for Paris—so I set my alarm for 9:00 (we were supposed to get in at 9:30, took an Ambien, and went to bed at 11:00. I slept like a baby and woke up promptly at 9:00 to learn we were still about two hours away. Oh well, that just meant a leisurely morning. We got off the train at 11:15 and wandered over to our hotel via the metro.

It was very nice staying in a hotel! Two weekends in a row (last weekend I was with my art history class in Venice)! Our hotel was very nice and modern—however they were renovating and changing the beds that day so our room wasn’t ready yet. The hotel was located near many metro stops and also about a twenty minute walk to the Moulin Rouge.

At 2:00, we met at the Louvre. Lisa and I decided to walk—but after getting lost in approximately five minutes we decided it would be a better idea to take the metro and then walk around—this was a very good choice. The admission price was included in our trip fee and we split into groups once we arrived. I was in a group of about fifteen other students with the T.A. (Sean) from my art history class and three graduate students from Syracuse. I was excited to be at the Louvre because I really could spend a whole week in that museum—and two hours last time was really just enough time to hit the masterpieces. To give you a sense of the immensity of the Louvre, if you spent five minutes on every piece of artwork, you would be there for 23 years. They have everything! Ancient roman sculptures, Renaissance masterpieces, Picasso and cubism, the best examples of neo-classicism, Egyptian tombs—it is fantastic! It was really nice to be with a relatively small group and with different (future) art historians because they were so passionate and informative about the works they talked about. When Kellan (one of the grad students) saw Wingless Victory, she squealed and said this is my absolute favorite sculpture last time I was here I just sat here for an hour and stared! Oh, I wish I had an hour again! Let me tell you about it…and then ranted on including an interesting fact about the right wing being fake and the hands and arms were missing because an Austrian found those parts while a Frenchman found the main body. It was also fun seeing in person Raphael’s and Leonardo’s paintings that we had just talked about in class especially with my classmates and T.A. I (of course) have a minor crush on my T.A. Really, because this is the first time (and probably only time) I will ever have a T.A. so it’s only fair that I have a crush on him. He also is very smart and helpful and his lectures during class are actually interesting (but he lectures rarely). We also make fun of our Professor which is always fun—do not get me wrong, Professor Nelson is fantastic, but also a little dramatic, eccentric, funny, and typical arrogant art historian (or typical professor). Anyway, I saw a lot more sculpture and antiquity this time and we spent about four hours in the museum.

For dinner, Lisa and my other friend Katie and I walked over to the Moulin Rouge which evidently is also the “red light” district. The Moulin Rouge was a little out of our price range (150 euro for a dinner and a show) but we saw it from the outside and took pictures of it! Then we went to an elegant café sandwiched between some gentleman’s clubs and had “big salads”. Oh they were delicious big salads! I got a huge salad bowl with a layer of potatoes sautéed in garlic, salmon, shrimp, corn, tomatoes, and oh yes, lettuce. It was the biggest probably unhealthiest salad I ever ate and it was fantastic! For dessert, we went to the pastry shop next door and I probably had the best éclair of my life—and it was only 1.50 Euro. We also had a nice time chatting it up with the pastry chef who spoke Italian. We walked back to the hotel and called it a night early (around midnight) and just watched television and read our books. It was nice because I got to watch CNN World because I haven’t watched the news in English for a very long time.

Saturday we went to Chartres and Versailles with our school. We took advantage of free breakfast and stocked up on delicious pastries, bread, and fruit for the train ride. Chartres is considered one of the greatest achievements in architecture and of the three great Gothic churches. Anyway, it was beautiful and also in the middle of nowhere—we got there via train. After Chartres, we went to Versailles! I was excited to see where the worst treaty of the 20th century was signed and overall bask in the history of Versailles. Versailles is just as ornate as expected and even much larger in person. We only had an hour before the palace closed so we stuck to the royal apartments, royal chapel, and the Hall of Mirrors. Of course the latter was my favorite room because it was covered with mirrors! I was excepting weird shaped mirrors with ornate frames, but instead the room is just covered with plain old mirrors. Mirrors were very rare in the late 18th century when the palace was built and Louis XIV even had to capture some Venetian mirror-makers to complete his project.

Lisa and I rushed to the train station because we wanted to see the lighting of the tomb of the unknown solider under the Triumphant Arch (Rick Steves suggested it). A few other people tagged along and we had a fun time booking it to central Paris to see it. We made it just 5 minutes late and saw most of the ceremony. Then Lisa and I and another girl in our program Anne started to walk to the Eiffel Tower to take pictures and see the pretty lights at the top of the hour. On the way there, we met two other American guys from Chicago. The first guy we met Alecks had such a strong Chicago accent I thought he couldn’t have been American (then I realized it was Chicago). We ended up hanging out with them which was great because they could take pictures and it was nice to be in a bigger group with guys in Paris at night. We ended up liking them and they (of course) loved us. Apparently, Alecks is interning at the International Criminal Court at The Hague in Holland and has not seen Americans for four months and we were a little refreshing. His friend was visiting him in Europe and they were traveling around with them for a week. We had a great time at the Eiffel Tower and took lots of pictures (of course).

Eiffel Tower with Blue and White Lights

Lisa and I are in the same photo class (that is how we met) so we just bring out the picture taking in each other. They invited us out to dinner and we went to a café and enjoyed French onion soup, wine, and crepes and brownies for dessert. We then went in pursuit to find a place to get drinks that was somewhat affordable. We went to famous Harry’s New York Bar by the French opera house. It was cool when we got there Harry’s had a great ambiance and the walls were all decorated with American colleges (even Whitman was there! But not Bates to Lisa’s dismay). We stayed there for a while soaking in the history with past frequenters including Sinclair Lewis, Ernest Hemingway, Coco Chanel, Jack Dempsey, Rita Hayworth, Humphrey Bogart, and even the Duke of Windsor (according to Wikipedia). George Gershwin also supposedly composed “An American in Paris” here and the “Bloody Mary” was also created here. But we soon learned we couldn’t really afford this joint (the cheapest thing was on the menu was 7 Euro). So we started heading back in the direction of our hotel. We found a little tavern, St. George’s that caught our eye because Taverns (especially since we are in Paris) equal more affordable beers and some English speaking. We got there and there was hardly anyone there but more affordable beer. We ordered a few rounds and were having a really nice time getting to know each other. They changed the music and put on Queen and we sat there singing to “Bohemian Rhapsody” while the other bar goers looked at us with interest and amusement (but not annoyance). I took a hilarious video during our impromptu jam session. As the night wore on, drinks kept being ordered, and the bartender, waitress, and manager started talking to us a lot. Before we knew it, we were getting free drinks, shots, and snacks. It was glorious. We stayed there until 2 am when bars close in Paris and started getting ready to leave. As the manager saw us doing this, he immediately raced over to the table and asked us what we were doing. We responded with our simple answer when he replied that we were being silly and that of course we should stay here while the bar closed and drink with them and the few remaining locals. So the shades went down, the door closed, but the music remained on! And the drinks kept coming! We also convinced them to make us some grilled cheese sandwiches which was very hard to explain given the chef only spoke French and Spanish—but I brought out my quite rusty Spanish and we ended up with delicious open-faced grilled cheese sandwiches. The night waned on until 4 am (I think) when we decided we should call it quits and get home. When the bill came, about half of our drinks/snacks weren’t on it and boys insisted on paying more just because they had such a good time. All in all, Lisa and I managed to spend 5 hours in a bar and only spent 10 Euro! Our hotel was very close by and the boys insisted on walking us home so we avoided getting a costly taxi. We walked home singing and laughing all the way when we ran into a young man playing the tuba at 4:30 am. Lisa immediately ran over to him and asked him what he was doing. We accosted him with a few pictures and then decided what we were seeing wasn’t real and went to bed. All in all an eventful, fun-filled night with new friends!

Lisa and I woke up sometime before 9 and we were both hurting a little bit from last night. But we knew we had to start our last day in Paris. Our plan was to go to the Dome Church to see Napoleon’s tomb (my main request), Musee D’Orsay, Notre Dame, and maybe the Eiffel Tower again if we had time. We got to the Hotel des Invalides and set off looking for my beloved Napoleon. We took some pictures in the complex because it was beautiful (like every building in Paris). The guards were entertained by our extreme tourist tendencies and made gestures in the back and then got in a few pictures with me. We talked to them for a little bit and then asked them where Napoleon was. They then offered to take us there and then we wouldn’t have to pay admission—of course we accepted. The only condition was not speaking when we were around other guards because they could only take in family and our awful French gave our non-Frenchness up. The Dome Church (where Napo’s tomb is) was absolutely beautiful and it was so nice to be in the presence of the best thing that has happened to France. Our two new guard friends then asked us if we wanted to go up to the roof to see a wonderful view of Paris. We of course obliged and felt special as we walked through the restricted areas of the church. We climbed about a thousand steps to the roof of the church in a small, winding staircase that was very similar to the stairs at the Duomo in Florence. Once we got to the top though, it was worth it. We had an absolutely stunning view of Paris. Including of the Eiffel Tower! It was absolutely amazing and literally breathtaking. Then…it started to snow! It was an absolutely perfect moment and Lisa and I were just expressing our utter bliss with frantic picture taking, smiling, and laughing. The guards laughed at our giddiness but we didn’t care. Next, they asked us if we wanted to clime even hard to the Dome (of the Dome church). We said of course and went through an even steeper and narrower set of steps. Once we got up there, it was again worth it! We could touch the frescoes that covered the dome of the church and experienced what the artist had to do every day to get to the works. We were so high up it was scary and we could see all the people in the levels below. We took more photos but didn’t stay up there too long because we were scared of the heights. It took us about 15 minutes to climb back down. But it was quite an experience! I was on top of Napoleon!! So great for a Napoleon lover. We got the guards e-mail address and promised to send them our photos. Lisa summed it up pretty well, “Oh to be young and beautiful traveling in Europe.” That is exactly how we felt.

The picture that started it all...the guards who let us up to the roof!

With Napoleon's Tomb


View of Eiffel Tower from the Roof

View from the Roof

How Close We Were to the Frescoes

The Church We Just Climbed

Next, we went to Musee d’Orsay and it was fantastic again. This time I got to see the Picasso/Manet exhibit that was wonderfully done. And of course Lisa and I were in ecstasy in the Monet room on the 5th floor. We met up with our friends from last night at a café and walked to Notre Dame with them. The walk in the rain was nice but we only had time to spend about 15 minutes inside the church because before we knew it the day had gone and we had to rush back to our hotel and then to catch our overnight train back to Florence.

Paris was fabulous and I don’t foresee myself ever having as good as a trip as I did this time. It was a perfect balance of seeing tourist sites and being filled with historical informational and getting to know new people and having fun enjoying the night and Parisian culture.

Barack Obama Santa

Study Abroad is All About Learning Anyway….Mistakes I Made and Thing I Learned

This is not only my first trip in Europe, but it is pretty much the first time I have traveled around by myself (or without my parents). So, as my first trip, I am bound to make a few mistakes…or many mistakes. I started to write them down so I would learn from them.

First, I am very ashamed to admit this…I don’t want my parents to think they raised a silly, ignorant child but…it is my blog and I need to be honest. I didn’t bring a pair of sneakers. Okay, I know, I know. But I swear my black flats are so comfortable, I can walk in them everywhere! Not to mention they were practical because they matched with everything! Lies, my flats were already dying from walking around in Italy so much—American shoes (non-sneakers) are actually not made for walking as I am learning in Italy since about half of my shoes have died. I was in denial about the frail condition of my flats but once I got to London the truth came out. The soles of my flats were practically worn all the way down and there was a hole in the side of my shoe that I could stick a finger through. Absolutely no support. I had to throw them out on Day 2 in London and bought a replacement pair of black flats at Clarks.

Second, it is not smart to wear new shoes when traveling and walking a lot. My new black flats were cute and somewhat comfortable, and had a large sole with a lot of support. However, by Day 2 of wearing them (Day 4 in London) multiple blisters had accumulated on my feet around my toes and on the heel of my foot. I couldn’t walk without pain even if I covered them with band-aid. So what do I do? Buy another pair of shoes! At the airport in London, I went to Claire’s—yes, I went to Claire’s where I haven’t been since Middle School and actually bought something! I bought fake black uggs for fifteen pounds. Now, my felt like they were sitting in clouds of comfort. And they were warm too and went with everything! Too bad they were also cheap, not supportive, and not water resistant. Silly Sarah, this could easily be corrected if I would have just brought my sneakers! My reasoning of course for not bringing my sneakers was because it wouldn’t fit into my pack. I didn’t want to check any baggage (extra twenty euro) so I fit everything in my high school backpack. This is how I know I am related to Aunt Susan, I managed to fit in about four dresses—but I couldn’t fit in my lovely, practical, comfortable, perfect sneakers.

Third, well I meant to pack my Rick Steves’ Backpacking Across Europe but I either forgot or decided to just take Eragon because Rick Steves’ wouldn’t fit. The point of that was that I wish I would have researched the places I went more. When Sonia and I arrived in Italy, it was great! But also like, so what do we do now? We went to Big Ben, Parliamentary House, and Westminster Abbey—but then we had no idea what else to do. Thank god for cheap tourist booklets or we wouldn’t have known what to do! My excuse for this was that our trip was right after mid-terms (literally it was about 18 hours after my last mid-term), so I thought researching the trip would just be a way for me to procrastinate my studies. Silly Sarah again, you should always research so you can enjoy the place more (paraphrasing Rick Steves here). Fortunately, I learn quickly and bought a few travel guides while in England to read while traveling on planes and buses.

Fourth, go somewhere you know you can enjoy/relax. You can usually do this anywhere, but with my case in Barcelona—not so much.

Fifth, pick your travel companion(s) carefully and communicate.

Good Things I did (I like balance):

First, bring a good book. I was reading the third installment (which was supposed to be the final installment—don’t get me started I am so upset and irritated) of Eragon: an epic fantasy tale about the struggle between an oppressive, power-hungry tyrant King Gallbatorix and the rebel forces of the Varden made up of humans, elves, dwarves, urgals, and Saphira (Eragon’s dragon). Basically, epic fantasy novel similar to Lord of the Rings. Eragon was a wonderful outlet when I was tired in my room or when I wanted the plane/bus/train to go faster.

Second, bring an ipod. Oh how I love my little green ipod shuffle. He was great when I wanted to drown out that loud person talking on his cell phone or a wonderful soundtrack while reading Eragon.

Third, I realized I am very capable of solving my own problems. Granted, the whole not bringing my tennis shoes (or trainers as the Brits call them) was pretty stupid but I didn’t just sit around and complain about it—I did something (maybe not the smartest thing) but a quick and relatively cheap solution. If I didn’t know where I was going, I would ask or find a map and figure it out myself. I am not just a problem-solver, but I am also very good at fulfilling my own needs. If I wanted to relax for a while, I would. If I wanted a chocolate crepe, I would ask a local or the hotel/hostel for a suggestion and then go get a chocolate crepe. These things may seem obvious too my readers—but then you obviously don’t know people from my study abroad program.

Fourth, WEAR A MONEY BELT!! Hooray, I finally swallowed my pride and embraced my money belt. Let me tell you the history of my relationship with a money belt. When I went to Turkey my senior year of high school (my first trip out of North America), our teachers highly encouraged the students to wear money belts to protect their money and documents. I refused to because they were nerdy. I heard lots of horror stories about getting robbed in Europe. So, on my last trip to the Tacoma Mall while I was buying a small inflatable pillow for traveling, the money belt section caught my eye. Then I saw a beautiful, silk, and most importantly RICK STEVES money belt. It felt so nice and looked so practical—and I could just hear Rick Steves voice and the voice of my high school teachers who I went to Turkey with telling me to buy it. Well, my money belt did not leave my neck after we left Dublin. I was constantly vigilant to the risk of getting robbed. You may have noticed why there was a bulge in the front of my stomach in many of my pictures in Dublin and Paris? Well, that is not unusual weight put on from Italy (that is spread pretty evenly, haha) that my money belt! And guess what, I didn’t get robbed once! Yay, me!

Fifth, experience the local culture and cuisine. I did a good job of not going to places with all Americans and where people from that city actually hung out (exception: halloween). Of course, it was also not hard for me to

By the way, if you haven’t noticed, I tend to regard Rick Steves as my travel prophet.

Barcelona

I just said to my roommate, “Barcelona will be quick to write because I was scared”. Sadly, this statement pretty much defines my time in Barcelona. We arrived on Thursday morning and weren’t leaving until Sunday afternoon so had plenty of time to relax and see the city. Unfortunately, every person I talked to prior to going to Barcelona told me they either were robbed, knew someone who was robbed, or just to watch out from getting robbed. Even my study abroad program sent out an e-mail saying to be careful about getting robbed ESPECIALLY IN BARCELONA. Really, they had to mention just one city and it was Barcelona? Even the workers at the hostel mentioned in the first night I was there. I overheard guys in the dorm next to me talking about how they got pick pocketed outside of a club the night before. What did all this lead to? Constant anxiety about being robbed. I lived with my money belt on and even slept with it. I didn’t take out my camera (not because I was so much worried about my camera getting stolen, well I was, but mainly about all my pictures from the trip thus far). I never took out more than 50 euro when I went out and only took one credit card if I took one at all. I always locked up my stuff in the locker the hostel provided. I even had trouble sleeping and nightmares about being stolen from. I am a pretty rational and logical person (I think like an economics major). And I know some may consider this an irrational fear—but let’s look at the evidence. Everyone I knew was robbed or knew someone who was robbed and people in my very hostel had been robbed! So my fear was pretty justified. And in the end it lead to the safe keeping of all of my possessions. 

Now to the trip. Our hostel was great despite the nine person mixed gender (ah, scary) dorm that was connected to another dorm with a half completed wall which made the place very loud. But you get what you paid for; it was only 45 Euro for the three nights I was there (plus another 2 euro for a blanket, and another 2 euro for a towel). It was in a great location, literally 50 meters from the sea. There was also free breakfast and free use of three computers with internet. I was a little tired and worn out by the time we got to Barcelona so I was mainly interested in eating good food, practicing my very rusty Spanish, and relaxing.

I realized that I had one aspect missing in my adventures. It was a very un-Claxton trip in that I didn’t eat great food. I find many times that my favorite trips are described by the food I ate and then what happened in between. This is definitely not the case with this trip. I guess it happens when you don’t have enough time or money. I was determined change this in Barcelona! I consulted my guide book and sought out the best yet affordable food in town and also the local cuisine. I enjoyed wonderful paella. I went to the oldest restaurant in Barcelona which was a fabulous Catalan restaurant and enjoyed their specialty spinach enchiladas and fish. I also enjoyed eating tapas for lunch especially croquettas.

My Spanish has gone from awful to horrendous. I realized I would start speaking Spanish and end up speaking Italian. They are just too similar! I did not realize how quickly my Spanish would go when I got here but I would constantly try to think of words in Spanish and the Italian ones were the only words that would come. I also didn’t realize how much I missed speaking Italian. It was so nice when I ran into Italian tourists in Dublin and spoke Italian with them. They were even from Florence! I was desperate to speak Italian in France because I speak absolutely no french—only bonjour, merci, and hoh-hah-hoh-hah (i.e. the French laugh). I definitely wished my roommate was with me when I was here—she is fluent in Spanish.

On the first night, I ended up having dinner with ten native Barcelonans. How did I get myself into this? Well, Sonia’s sister met a guy in Costa Rica who lived here and they stayed in contact via facebook when he learned we were visiting he invited us to meet up with him. Little did we know, but he invited us to his friend’s birthday dinner. So here we are two American girls, both pretty much speaking no Spanish and ten male Barcelonans. Dinner was pretty fun the guys were all crazy and loud and singing. The one next to me was really cute and spoke English very well! It was definitely nice to meet the locals.

The next day was Halloween and during the day we saw some of the sights, mostly Gaudi architecture. It rained all day and I lacked proper footwear so that was no fun. However, it had finally stopped raining by nightfall. Halloween was a bust in Europe. I dressed up like a devil i.e. wore a red outfit and could take off my devil horns and be normal if I needed to. Sonia dressed up like a cat… i.e. wearing a black dress and cat ears with cat makeup. Then we hit the town and found only other Americans dressed up. Oh well, so we hung out with Americans. We went to this really cool bar though that was like a big tree. It sounds weird (I wish I took pictures but alas I didn’t have my camera because I didn’t want to get stolen). But it was really cool, probably because it reminded me of Lord of the Rings.

My absolute favorite day was the next day (Saturday). Sonia decided to go to the Dali museum which was about a two hour train ride away and I wasn’t really interested in because I am picky about my artwork. I went to the beach (without money of course because everyone gets robbed near the water) and read Eragon and put my toes in the sand. It was fantastic and probably the first time I was relaxed since before mid-terms. And then I ate some delicious food.

On Saturday night, we took it easy but went to one of the nighttime tourist attractions: the Ice Bar. Yes, very touristy but whatever. It was a bar made completely out of ice! When you arrived, you were outfitted with a winter coat and gloves. The cups were even made completely of ice! And there was a beautiful ice sculpture of Gaudi’s Sagrada Famiglia. One thing I regretted about Barcelona was not having one big, crazy night out. After all, Spain is known for their nightlife with discos not starting until 2 and people not going to bed until 5. However, I was tired and poor after a week of traveling and was perfectly happy sleeping eight hours.

When Sunday rolled around, I was ready to come home! I definitely missed Mama Fiama’s cooking and hanging out with Alti. I also became homesick for real home when I was in Barcelona and I thought it would help to come back to Florence for a while. On my flight back, there were about fifteen people from my program including my roommate! What a pleasant surprise. Also, just to tell you how small Europe/Florence is (to American students that is). We met two groups of students studying abroad in Florence while in Barcelona and I have run into them three or four times since I have been back (about two weeks).

Anyway, I am so incredibly lucky to get to travel so many places. I have traveled more in two weeks than people have in their entire life! I really am so fortunate! Thank you parents and Whitman!

Also if you want to see more pictures, you can view all my pictures from my semester at http://picasaweb.google.com/demingsc

Real Gaudi Sagrada Famiglia

With Ice Sagrada Famiglia at the Ice Bar

 

The Beach Next to our Hostel!

Autumn in Paris

I know why everyone talks about springtime in Paris and not fall—its freezing cold! Well, I didn’t mention how cold Dublin and London, Paris was a little better but still cold. We flew into the Beauvais Airport “in Paris” which actually meant about an hour bus ride from central Paris. We got in very late in Paris at 10:00 pm and I was little weary about finding our hotel in the dark in a city I have never been to also when I speak no French. Good thing I make friends easily and am competent with a map! I sat at a window on the bus but then moved when two old French women wanted to sit next to each other (I am constantly breaking American stereotypes and am nice). So then I sat next to a young man who was cute in a Ken Jennings sort of way (if you don’t understand the reference—you don’t deserve to get it). We didn’t talk until about halfway through the ride but he was very nice and he was in Dublin running the marathon. He was German but living in Paris working for an “American tourism company”. He was instantly charmed by me (I don’t really know why but it seems to happen a lot in Europe). After we got off the bus, we walked to the metro with him and he told us some information about the Paris metro and took the metro together for a few stops before I had to get off. I learned that he was actually working for EURODISNEY aka the happiest place on earth and he gave me his e-mail address so I could meet up with him when I come back to Paris on November 21-23 (we are having dinner this Saturday). There was only one functioning ticket machine at the metro station so the line to buy tickets was out the door (literally) and took us about twenty minutes. Once we were on the metro, we were practically to our hotel. Our hotel, the “Perfect Hotel” (its name) was fine—small and right next to a metro stop. We went to bed early because we had a large task in front of us: doing Paris in a day.

The day began at 08:00, Sonia got up showered, did her hair, make up, and got dressed. Me, in my typical, non-Parisian way, woke up 15 minutes before we left, brushed my teeth, and ate our free breakfast (which consisted of a baguette and coffee). We took the metro to the Louvre and were there by 9:00. It was a Wednesday morning in off-season October and I couldn’t believe the line at the Louvre!!! We had to wait almost TEN MINUTES to buy tickets. It was appalling. Actually, the line was shorter at the Louvre then at the metro station. We headed straight up to what we came for the Renaissance Masterpieces (I hate that word but I’ll use it here) of the 16th and 17th Centuries. We wanted to see Leonardo’s great works before it got too crazy. I skipped the Masaccio, Giotto religious paintings (been there, done that in Florence) and went straight to Leonardo. Oh Leonardo. I saw many paintings I had studied that previous week in my art history class. Including the beautiful Virgin Mary with St. Anne, I had seen the cartoon in the National Gallery of London just a few days prior and now I was seeing the painting! I then saw Da Vinci’s Madonna on the Rocks when I immediately exclaimed I knew where the Mona Lisa was! I have seen The Da Vinci Code over three times. We turned around toward the most famous painting in the world: The Mona Lisa. I guess I had the typical reaction: it’s so small! Really, it’s probably 20 inches by 30 inches and the barrier around the painting and then the huge crowd around the barrier only makes looking at it more dramatic yet anti-climatic. But then you see that smile, and just don’t know what to think. I stood there for probably fifteen minutes—the first five spent at looking at the Mona Lisa and the last ten spent at looking and taking pictures of the crowd. It is fascinating watching people who are staring at something else. I took a few pictures but I didn’t get any really good ones.

The rest of the Louvre was pretty much my Introductory to Art History class during my freshman year at Whitman. I saw Gericault’s The Raft of the Medusa, Ingres’ The Apotheosis of Homer, Jacques Louise David’s (my favorite) Oath of the Horatti, Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People, ect. I only saw one portrait of Napoleon and missed David’s Bonaparte Crossing the St. Bernard Pass, but I will see this when I come back to the Louvre! As you all may or may not know, I am a big fan of Napoleon (I kind of love him and think he is the best thing to happen to France). We stayed in the Louvre only until about noon when the crowds started to gather. We basically had to skip antiquity (anything pre-Renaissance) and modernity (everything after the 18th century) to do this, but the Louvre is a big place and you need to make sacrifices.

Next, we had to recharge so we headed over to Notre Dame area to see the church and to eat of course. Lunch today was the only half decent meal I had in Paris. I had a warm goat cheese salad with bread and tomatoes. Sonia and I also shared some french fries (duh, we had to we are in France)! And we finished the meal with a chocolate crepe, yummy! Then we went to Notre Dame and it was an absolutely beautiful church and it was nice not to have to pay to go into a church! (Referring to the 12 pounds at Westminster Abbey and 3-5 euro at every church in Florence—don’t get me wrong I know the church needs money for restoration and maintenance, but I think it should be done on a donation only basis). We walked around the Gothic Quarter for a while and then decided to go to Musee D’Orsay—generally considered to be the second most famous museum in Paris.

Musee D’Orsay was fabulous! The ticket wait was double the Louvre (a whole twenty minutes) but it was definitely worth it. I was glad I skipped “modern” art at the Louvre because I saw the best collection of impressionism here! Here is just a sample of some of the artists whose works I viewed: Cezanne, Courbet, Degas, Delacroix, Gaudi, Gauguin, Ingres, Manet, Matisse, Millet, Monet, Munch, Renoir, Seurat, Van Gogh, and Whistler. My favorites were Degas, Renoir, Monet, and Van Gogh. I grew up with Degas and Renoir copies in our living and dining room and I remember studying Van Gogh and Monet when I was in third grade. Again, in my down time I would sit and look at the beautiful paintings, but also at the people looking at the paintings. Here are some funny pictures I took in the museum.  

Me with Degas' Ballerinas

Sonia with Whistler's Grandma

Also in our dining room

After this museum, it was about 5:00, i.e. nap time. Yes, Paris in a day yet still time for a nap. We went back to the hotel slept for an hour or so and then headed to the Champs d'Elysses, the Triumphant Arch, and the Eiffel Tower for sight seeing and pictures. Then we had dinner in a café near the Eiffel Tower and walked around for a bit until we called it a night (didn’t experience the Parisian night life—we had an early flight in the morning).

I liked Paris—I think we did a great job with the short time we had. If you are wondering why we spent such a short time here it is because I didn’t want to come to Paris because I was already going with the school and I make negative presumptions about French people (no offense cousins). I also know no French. But my friend Sonia wanted to go. So we compromised and decided to only go for a day…hmm I did not really think this one through. Because I forgot about the expenses it cost to GET TO Paris rather than how much we were saving by not staying in Paris. In retrospect, I wish we would have decided not to go at all or go for at least two full days—but as you can see it turned out fine as we hit most of the major Parisian sites in just one day!

At the Triumphant Arch

At the Eiffel Tower

Dublin (Dublino to the Italians)

Sunday morning at the crack of dawn (no time to waste) an old English cab to where we were staying. The tube line was down so we had to resort to a taxi—good thing in London that is just as entertaining! And then we took a train to the airport. This is one of the first things I have learned about traveling. Budget airlines are budget for a reason and in this particular case it is because Ryan Air doesn’t fly into Heathrow (about 15 minutes on the tube to central London) it flew out of Stansted (about an hour train ride from central London). The train ride also cost about 24 pounds round trip—which is about $50 doubling our transportation fare. Our plane was about an hour late but I was perfectly content finishing my London journal entry, reading Eragon, and listening to my ipod. We flew Ryan Air again and accidentally purchased priority boarding tickets so we seated the plane first. I got the aisle in the first row and no one sat in the middle seat next to me! The flight was uneventful and it was remarkably easy getting to the center of Dublin (our cheapest of the trip—six euro one way).

After the bus ride it was a short 15 minute walk to our hostel and David (my portable electronic map) assisted us so we didn’t get lost. We settled into Barnacles right in the heart of Temple Bar, a famous cultural district of Dublin. From as far as I can see, the only reason they called Temple Bar area famous for its culture is because it was filled with traditional Irish pubs. Barnacles is the second hostel I have ever stayed at and the first without a private room. We had a 4-person female dorm with two bunk beds. The hostel was huge—three floors, a big kitchen and dining room, and a living room with non-functioning computers. The hostel was not to capacity but filled with probably 30 young people. Our room was clean with locks for our luggage and clean sheets (oh the simple pleasures of life). The staff was somewhat helpful and there was lots of tourist information in the front room.

We went sightseeing the first day and saw Dublin Castle, Chris Church, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and Trinity College. However, the highlight of my day was our nighttime festivities (as it should be in Ireland). After seeing a brochure in our hostel, I convinced Sonia to go on the “Literary Pub Crawl”. Finally a combination of being a nerd and yet also a social butterfly. The pub crawl was led by two Dublin actors who performed scenes and passages from the works of Dublin’s best writers including Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, George Bernard Shaw, Brendan Behan, William Butler Yeats, and James Joyce (unfortunately no Brom Stoker). We went to pubs and places where the stories were set or just places they were known to frequent. We went to one pub that is a scene in Joyce’s Ulysses and also Trinity College where most of the writers were affiliated. There were about twenty people—I indubitably being the youngest. We went to four pubs and I drank four pints. We befriended a nice couple from Wisconsin who were visiting Ireland on vacation. I mention this because the husband was an Associate Dean at Indiana University of Law…hmm he got to take time off to visit Europe…and he doesn’t even have a daughter studying abroad there. Isn’t that the same title as my mother? Oh yes, yes it is. Okay, that is really not fair I know my mother and father would come and visit me if she could but I can still be bitter about it. Anyway, after that we went to the Temple Bar and it was absolutely crazy and packed with people. Sonia and I met some Irish people and this woman and man who insisted I was Greek. I just gave in. We also saw students from our program in Syracuse University at the bar. There were also students from Syracuse staying at our hostel. I can’t get away from them. Europe is a small place—or maybe Americans just travel to the same places?

Monday came around and we learned it was a bank holiday and also the Dublin Marathon. Consequently, the buses weren’t running and hardly anything was open. I decided to Kilmainham Gaol which is an old prison erected in the 18th century and used until 1924. I am very interested in prisons and frequent tours with the Whitman College Prison Research Group in the Walla Walla area so I thought it would be interesting to see a historical prison. It is probably most famous for being the execution site of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rebellion which vindicated the leaders as martyred patriots and basically turned Irish public sentiment against English Rule. Okay, enough with the history lesson. The tour was fabulous—I would highly recommend it. Our tour guide was fantastic, very informative, but included great personal anecdotes (just like I do when I give tours of Whitman ) about the prisoners and the place. It gave the prison a more human feel so you could actually imagine people staying in these cold, dark, tiny cells. It was also very spooky as the prison is made of grey stone filled with tiny cells with no windows and iron doors with iron bars. It would be a great place for a haunted house! No wonder the prison has been used in several movies including The Boondock Saints, The Italian Job (1969), In the Name of the Father ( 1993), and Michael Collins (1996).

Next, a little less gloomy we went to the Guinness Storehouse. Now I am not a big fan of Guinness (or beer in general), but I’m in Dublin! The Guinness Storehouse is massive! 7 stories! It is similar museum but also had the vibe of a cult devoted to the Guinness. The museum included the history of Mr. Guinness himself, the ingredients and process of beer making, as well as the following advertising. My favorite section was the advertising which includes the origins of Tookie the Toucan, vintage advertisements, large graphics and prints, and screens showing old and contemporary television commercials. Why are beer advertisements always so good? The product really sells itself. With your ticket to the storehouse comes a free print of Guinness (hooray) you can either learn how to pour the “perfect pint” or get a drink at the sky bar on the 7th floor. I of course chose how to learn how to pour the perfect pint! I love the interactive stuff. So in case you are wondering here are the directions to pour a perfect Guinness pint (and if they don’t do this the next time you order a Guinness you can yell at them and tell them their ruining it and ask for another one):

1) Angle the glass at a 45 degree angel and tilt the tap forward and fill the glass up ¾ of the way.
2) Sit the glass down and let it settle for two minutes
3) Hold the glass vertically and pull the tap away from you and fill it it up far enough so the foam goes over the top.
Volia! Perfect Guinness Beer!

We stayed there for lunch and I had the tradition Irish beef stew—it was delicious and reminded me of beef stew in my childhood before I became a vegetarian. I also managed to finish a quarter of my Guinness over lunch! Good job me!

On the way back to the hostel, I decided to check my e-mail as I am completely addicted to the Internet and the Internet café RIGHT next to our hostel was just too tempting. I checked my e-mail and found something unusual (well other than the fact that my mom FINALLY emailed me back), I had two e-mails from my uncle Peter (to be exact…my dad’s youngest sister Jane’s husband). I read the first one and learned that my cousin was studying abroad in London and that they were visiting her in London at the same time I was there! I googled their hotel and found it was only a short one kilometer away! I called the hotel from a pay phone (my cell phone decided not to work in Ireland) and said I would meet them there in an hour. My family was staying at the fabulous Shelbourne hotel—where JFK and Grace Kelly stayed when they visited Ireland. It was absolutely beautiful and a stark contrast from the hostel I was staying at. We stayed at the hotel because all the local places were either closed or the ones that were open were packed and I was perfectly fine staying at the elegant hotel (the doormen wore top hats). It was so nice to see my family again and so unexpected! My uncle and aunt has just flown in from London from Connecticut that morning so were expectantly a little jet lagged but that did not stop the flow of conversation. It was nice talking to my cousin too because I haven’t seen her in I don’t even know how long. We compared our experiences and I was glad I decided to come to Italy. My aunt was as charming as ever and my travel partner absolutely adored her. They filled me in on the wedding of my cousin Anna which was the Saturday before and showed me pictures of my family including my Dad and Andrew who represented the Seattle clan at the wedding. They had wonderful things to say about my elder brother Andrew and it was nice to hear them talk about him because I felt like I was with him again! We talked, ate, and drank for a while but called it a night around ten.

Tuesday was our last day in Ireland but we weren’t leaving until the evening. Sonia and I both really wanted to see the countryside so we signed up for a bus tour of the Southern Coast and the Powerscourt Gardens. We rode a double decker bus for 90 minutes down the coast of Ireland then had a two hour stop at the beautiful powerscourt gardens then returned via a different route that took about an hour. The ride was great our tour guide was very pleasant—he was informative, funny, and sang a lot. I met some people from Connecticut on the bus (one was even from West Hartford and went to the same high school as my dad). The gardens were absolutely beautiful and I took about 150 pictures to prove it. It was nice to relax and enjoy nature. It had been a long time since I had seen green.

Dublin was great. I didn’t like it as much as London but I enjoyed it. There were absolutely no street signs anywhere which made it frustrating to get around but at least the streets were straight. I was also surprised about the strange language barrier that occurred in Dublin, particularly in Dublin bars. Seriously, I could not understand the majority of Dubliners I talked too especially when they had been drinking and their accents were just exaggerated. Also, I never knew this but the “Irish” language is trying to be preserved in Dublin and all the signs are in English as well as Irish. What I mean by the Irish language is what I think we would call Gaelic. The tour guide on our bus tour said it was in order to preserve their culture—which starts with the language which about 25% of Irish Citizens claim to speak.

Actors from the Literary Pub Crawl

Kilmainham Gaol

Learning how to pour the Perfect Pint

Advertisement Section at Guinness

My Cousin Nora and I at the Shelbourne Hotel

*Also, sorry for all the typos and misspellings on the last post--I fixed them!

I LOVE LONDON!

I LOVE LONDON! I am in complete and utter euphoria here. It’s like the first stage of culture shock but I won’t go through any of the other stages! When I met Emma, the girl who so generously let us stay in her apartment and is a high school friend of my traveling buddy, she made the remark that “London is a cleaner version of New York”. I immediately dismissed this comment because New York is my favorite city in the world and I don’t think any other city is even comparable. How could London be as fabulous, crazy, cultured, stylish, expensive (well maybe that) as New York? But getting to know the city in the three brief days I realized how many similarities there were. Namely, the diversity (of people, places, and things to do); fantastic public transit system (the tube); friendly, smart, stylish people; and even a variety of good restaurants (in England of all places). Okay, so the restaurants were definitely not like New York City but the British stereotype of terrible food was definitely ended for me. There was tons of culture, almost everywhere I went there were three languages being spoken. The tube made it so easy to get around and everywhere I went was so different. Where we stayed in Finsbury Park was like Brooklyn but where my friend Sam lived in South Kensington was more comparable to the Upper East Side. Oh and style wise, it's all about the British coat. It is freezing here so everyone has to have a cute coat! Even then men dress well! I guess it's only in America that they don't...

Family and Friends, you might have to say goodbye to me again—because I can definitely see myself living in London for a year after college. From this experience so far, I don’t think I could leave my family, friends, and good ole’ America for any more than a year.

London loved me too. I mean it really does. The firs time we rode the tube, also the only time I ever needed to ask a question (because it really only took one time to figure it out), the first woman I asked explained to me very clearly and even corrected my pronunciation (FINS-berry, not FINES-berry). At every stop, the nice British man on the loudspeaker says “Mind the Gap”—in American meaning watch out for the step. It was so nice of the loudspeaker to warn me (and I guess the other passengers too) about the space between the train and the tracks—the tube really cares about my well being. Also, when there had to be maintenance on the tube they would tell the Londoners months in advance and have replacement bus routes. Maybe I have just been stuck in Italy too long when public transit and Italian trains are mostly known for weekly strikes and doing their best to inconvenience people. Or maybe London just really cares for its citizens! Also, on all the street corners with pedestrian crosses there were signs that said “look right” or “look left” in case I forgot that Brits drive on the opposite side of the road. Thank you again London for saving me from a pedestrian car accident.

When I was walking to the station from my friend Sam’s apartment I ran into a nice old British man who started talking to me and then he confirmed I was indeed going in the right direction of the station (of course I was, I couldn’t get lost in London—London loved me too much). A man next to us overheard and said he was going to the station as well and offered to walk with me. We walked and chatted he was a director of theater company, just got back from a seven city tour in America, spoke English, French, and Farsi). Everyone in London is so nice.

By day 3 in England, I had even given someone (with a British accent) directions.

So for my actual trip, I saw a lot of the sights: Big Ben, Parliamentary Square, Westminster Abbey, King’s Cross (and Platform 9 ¾), Westminster Cathedral, Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery, the Boardwalk, London Eye area, and Harrod’s. Now keep in mind, I have never heard of Harrod’s before so I had no idea what was instore. One of the things I really wanted to do in England was have high tea. So I asked a fellow Whittie David Deming—I always trust whittie’s judgment more than the average bloke and we also share a last name, where he suggested I go. He said Harrod’s at Knightsbridge was great so I was picturing a little tea room run by an old British lady—but oh I could not have been more wrong. Now Harrods is technically a “Department store” but it is so much more than that. It is more like an exhibit of culture. It is huge (5 stories maybe?) and filled with fabulous boutiques, fashion, art, food, and restaurants. While trying to figure out which of the many places available for high tea in Harrod’s to go to I walked by a beautiful glass sculpture and tray. I looked at the price tag and it cost 115,000 pounds—now when is the last time you saw a $200,000 glass sculpture at your local department store just sitting out unprotected. The next room had Bob Dylan’s collection of art on loan. It was the most fabulous little gallery—and still inside a department store! I am not really a fan of contemporary art, and I started to realize through this exhibit is I wasn’t a fand merely because I hadn’t seen enough! I loved all this art work!! There were also beautiful vintage prints of movie posters and photos of American and British music and movie stars. Then I saw a sign for “Christmas World”. Oh no, it’s like Love Actually coming real. Christmas is what I love. Christmas in London is my dream. I ran to try and find this “Christmas World” and nothing could stop me. I walked in and there was an explosion of red and green. It was massive the size of a normal department store’s kid’s section. There were trees, ornaments, Christmas cards, everything. The place was so lavishly decorated I felt like I was in a different store. They also hired gorgeous people just to stand there, wear black, wear “Christmas World” sashes, and look beautiful. This place put Macy’s little display in the Tacoma mall to shame. I was so happy that I was sad because I knew that I would have to leave eventually. I had to buy something—and wanted something London like. I bought a beautiful glass Big Ben ornament (unfortunately, it didn’t even make it to Barcelona). We finally slowly drew ourselves away from Christmas World and had high tea at the Harrod’s café. It was delicious! I ate five minute finger sandwiches with scones served with clotted cream and jam. Oh, and of course, tea! This entire Harrod’s journey occurred within 2 ½ hours on one floor. I could have spent all day here but it would have been somewhat torturous because I couldn’t afford anything (especially when I doubled the prices to put it in American dollars).

The experience in London streets, stores, transit, and restaurants is a stark foil to Italy. The first place Sonia and I ate outside of Italy was an Indian restaurant in Sotto. The wait staff was extremely friendly as we walked in and they took our coats. The restaurant was packed but they came by to ask how we were every five minutes anyway (I probably would have though that this was overbearing if I hadn’t been in Italy for the past two months but instead I was grateful/exuberant). There were obviously many business people taking there lunch break here and every single one ordered beer—not just a little bottle of corona but like 40 ounces of ale. The Brits start early. Oh and the Indian food was fantastic!

Hanging out with Sam, one of my friends from Whitman, was also a highlight of the trip. Sam lives in South Kensington so showed me around that and in Leicester Square. It was so nice to be with some one from Whitman again—we probably reminisced and caught up for most of the night—I pitied Sonia for being stuck with us alone until her friend Emma joined us. It was also nice to see what a way different experience Sam was having studying abroad. I think we had a normal night for him but definitely one of the craziest/longest I have had in Europe. We had dinner—asian food (I was taking a complete fast from Italian) and then we hit the Leicester Square Clubs. They were big and crazy—nothing like anything in Florence.

On Saturday night, I walked around the boardwalk area. I went to the Tate Modern museum for a little bit right before it closed and then walked down at sunset near the London Bridge (it’s not falling down…sorry, I couldn’t help myself). I was meeting my friend Kelsey on Saturday night for dinner and drinks. Kelsey is a fellow Kappa sister who graduated last May and is living in London for a year with her sister. Kelsey was the best slice of home/Whitman I ask for (somehow she just reminded me more of Whitman than Sam—probably because we talked about Kappa and our friends for so long). Hanging out with Kelsey it seemed like I had just seen her last week when it was actually almost six months ago. We just chatted and were sharing and comparing our experiences abroad. I got to bed early at midnight to prepare for the 9:30 flight to Dublin the next day.

In front of Buckingham Palace

Me with Big Ben

A brief glimpse of Harrod's "Christmas World"

High Tea at Harrod's

Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross (duh)

With my friend Kelsey at a pub in Camden

Journey Begins!

Journey Begins!

So let me first apologize for the lack of blog posts and extreme lateness of these blog posts. There are many reasons that can be listed but I’ll just say its mostly because of procrastination. I kept a journal for the past two weeks when I was away from a computer, so many of these blog posts are just my journal entries typed. I also plan to lie on the dates the blogs were posted so there is a clear chronological order.

Today I had to run and catch my first moving train today! It was just like the movies: a young girl with a gigantic backpack so large it looks like she has a hunchback, running for a train beside her friend at dawn in Santa Maria Novella. I actually climbed on the train while it was moving (granted it was moving very slowly) and Sonia had to pull me in because my center of gravity was off due to my 10 kg pack. Of course, there are four trains to Pisa every hour, but we wanted to catch this train (it went straight to the airport)! We left Florence at 6:37 am catching the bus from my home at 6:05. Of course, my Australian friend Nigel said he was going to be back in Florence on Wednesday for one night—so I spent the night before with him at my (and now our) favorite pizza and didn’t end up going to bed until 2 am—because of course I had to pack and update my ipod before I went to bed. This should have proved to be a long, tiring travel day.

We flew out of Pisa which is actually a one hour and twenty minute train ride away from Florence because we were flying via Ryan Air—one of Europe’s budget airlines that everyone raves about. It only cost 35 euro to fly to London Stanstead. We had plenty of time at the airport and I experience my first plane ride without assigned seats. We waited in line prior in order to get a better selection. But wait, we are in Italy so the real question is what line? Italians don’t really wait in line. It’s more about being constantly vigilant in a waiting blob and pushing yourself forward. I got an aisle seat and no one sat next to me! Yes! I felt something unexpected today while I was leaving Florence. It was a sense of sadness from leaving Florence. I can’t believe it, I am actually homesick for Florence! Although, I think it may be more about missing the people and not the city itself...

Mid Terms are OVER!

It has been a while! And I apologize. My excuse is mid-terms, internship applications, and preparation for big travel trip coming up—I knew I would just be another excuse for procrastination if I wrote in my blog. Oh, and yes, I am still planning on working on Wall Street this summer…and I just finished one of my applications today!

Anyway, I just finished mid-terms! Hooray! Mid term week was comparable to a normal week at Whitman stress and work wise. On Monday, I gave a presentation with my friend Rebecca bout Italian Fashion in the 16th Century shown through Italian Portraits, we did E! Style Red Carpet commentary but instead used portraits instead of our favorite American celebs. The class and professor pretty much ate it up (my professor actually said “bravo”) as we talked about the It girls wearing expensive brocaded velvets and voluminous sleeves and the sumptuary laws limited the amount of jewelry in an outfit. We also had to turn in a four page paper summarizing our research. On accident, mine turned out to be an 8 page research paper (which was an alternative to doing a presentation and a shorter summary of research paper). I blame Whitman College. They have turned me into an overachiever. Anyway, if anyone would like a copy of my paper or presentation (slightly more entertaining) I would happy to provide you with an electronic copy.

I had Italian oral and written today. Italian oral went quite well as she had to tell me to stop talking because we were about to go over time (sound familiar…just like when I am taking in English)! The Italian written might have gone even better as it was like I was filling out a worksheet in English. Its not that I am great at Italian we just seem to be going at a pace of a regular Italian 101 class in college…but we are in Italy and have this class every day for two hours so I wish we would move a little faster.

Architecture was yesterday and went okay.

Anyway, so now I am done and preparing for my crazy, long fall break trip that I leave for tomorrow! Here is a brief overview…and I know it’s a lot but I have never been to Europe before and don’t know when I’ll return…therefore I am getting it all in. haha.

Thursday, October 23—I leave for Pisa (an hour train ride) to fly to London (2 hour flight)! I will be in London until Sunday. Hopefully I will get a chance to see at least some of the many friends I have studying/living in London. From Charles Wright: Ryan, Andrew Wark, and Courtney and from Whitman Kelsey and Farris.

Sunday, October 26- Tuesday, October 28—Dublin

Wednesday, October 29—Paris

Thursday, October 30—Sunday, November 2—Barcelona

I am looking forward to starting off back in English speaking countries! I also am really looking forward to Barcelona. I am going to Paris for three days in November, but my friend who I am traveling with really wanted to go there so we will just be there for one full day. If anyone has any suggestions for any of the places I will gladly take them! Because, this is a very poorly researched trip. I just plan on taking Rick Steve’s Europe Through the Back Door on the planes and trains and going from there.

Volterra--Tuscan Hill Town

Okay..so I am posting some a few weeks late...but I have been busy and had an exciting past two weeks so I want to re-live it! The weekend before mid-terms I went to Volterra on Friday and Perugia (again) on Saturday. Just to point out that mid-terms were stressful…but not that stressful.

So anyway, my friend Chelsea and I met at 10:00 at the train/bus station to go to Volterra. Volterra is one of the Tuscan hill towns and is about 80 kilometers southwest of Florence (closer to Siena). It is a ninety minute drive or a two hour bus drive. We had no idea really what the bus schedule was like we just knew we had to go to Colle di Val d’Elsa and then change buses to go to Volterra. So we took the 10:30 bus to Seattle and got off at Colle di Val d’Elsa and checked the bus schedule to Siena…8:45, 9:45, 10:45, 14:45. Great. So we had about two and a half hours to kill in Colle di Val d’Elsa. But we were hungry and the town was kind of cool so we kept fully entertained!

The funniest/most interesting part of Colle di Val d’Elsa is when we had lunch. There are all these random people in Italy who sell the most random collection of stuff outside of grocery stores or sell trinkets and knick-knacks on the street. So this random guy, comes over to me and Chelsea while we are eating at a café outside and then just sits down and puts all his stuff down like he knows up. Then he lights up a cigarette and offers us coffee. And then he seemed pretty harmless so we just talk to him for like twenty minutes in mostly Italian with some English. I love practicing Italian with random people especially if Italian is their second language because they are much easier to understand! He was kind of strange but was telling us how he lives in Pisa and sells things there and in Bologna but he is going back to Senegal in Novemeber. Anyway, he gave me his number and made me promise to call him if I ever go to Pisa (not likely) and then he gave me one of the things he was selling haha. It is pictured below. Interesting interaction but that is my favorite part of traveling, meeting random people and hearing their stories!

My Present (Madre con bambino)

Colle di Val d’Elsa

At 2:45 we got on the bus to Volterra. The two euro bus ticket was one of the best purchases I have made to date on this trip. The bus ride through the tuscan hills was BEAUTIFUL! Everything looked like it was straight out of a movie or postcard. It reminded me of Walla Walla a little bit but pretter and with less people. The lands were so beautiful they seemed like they were landscaped to appear a certain way. I took many pictures from the bus that did not truly encapsulate the beauty. I already know I want to return and I asked Alti if he has been here and he says he loves it and asked me if I wanted to go some weekend! So I will definitely be coming again. Here are a few of those pictures:

Anyway, Volterra was absolutely beautiful and old (like EVERYWHERE in Italy). We were guided by Rick Steves’ excellent eight page guide of the city. But the real reason I went there was because it is the home to the ancient royal Vampire family the Volutri. No, I haven’t become a goth since I have been in Italy—I just have become a Twilight nerd. The Twilight series has filled the void in my heart left by Harry Potter. Chelsea is also a twilight nerd—hence our perfect travel compatibility on this outing. We took pictures next to the clock tower and the alleyway facing the clock tower (where the climax of the second book takes place—I won’t give anything away). So these pictures are for people who will appreciate them. I wore black on purpose and tried to look like a vampire. We also went to this strange, strange wine bar that Rick Steves suggested. Its run by these two guys and has a lot of great wine and is decorated with bras. There is also a dentist chair in the wine cellar. Oh Rick Steves.

The Clock Tower

The Alleyway Facing the Clock Tower

Boar is the Local Delicacy

Wine Bar

We took the bus back and we were the only TWO people on the huge charter bus. We sat in the front (I have been getting car sick so I always sit in the front now) and then talked to the driver for the most time. Also, the drive complemented my Italian!! He said I spoke Italian very well! And he didn’t speak any English so we had to speak Italian. He was from Volterra, of course. Italians always ask you where you are from and then when you ask them the same question it is whatever city you are in. Almost always. People don’t leave their hometowns here. I have met Italians in Volterra, Perugia, Lake Como, and Milan—and they are all from where I met them! And they answer you like oh well I am from Perugia, Certo (of course)! Just one cultural difference I noted.

Anyway, I was home in time for dinner. And then did not go out, but instead worked on my Architecture study guide (I am such a nerd).