April 28, 2009
had my Architecture in Italy exam in the morning. The exam was super hard, largely because I had missed so much information while I was sick.
After the exam I had to rush over to Casa della Creativita to meet up with Hardy, Em, Nadia, Kelly, and Bari to prepare for the auction. Then we had to go back to studio to meet with our teachers one last time before rushing back to Casa della Creativita to continue setting up. The place really looked nice once we had all the artwork displayed. I was impressed by how much artwork we actually had since we had almost nothing as of Sunday.
The auction went pretty well. The live music was really good. A decent number of people came, but they were mostly our friends or friends of Bari's, so not too many people who would actually be bidding on artwork. Bari also put way too much emphasis on the music, so people weren't looking at the artwork and bidding while the music was being played. So the actual auction part of the night wasn't a huge success, but it definitely has the potential to be a bigger success in future years. We figured out all the logistics of how the evening needs to work, so the students who organize it in future years just have to worry about obtaining artwork and attracting bidders. We had the disadvantage of having only about three weeks to organize the whole thing in the midst of preparing for all of our finals and pretty yucky weather the night of the event.
As soon as everything was cleaned up, Nadia and I sprinted back to our apartment to grab our things and meet up with Nikul and Pat to go to Cinqueterre. We had to catch a train that left Florence at 12:37.
April 27, 2009
Our final project for Architecture in Context was due today. Architecture in Context is kind of like Studio, except our projects are more about the idea than the details of the project. This presentation was true competition style. We didn't have to do any sort of presentation, just prepare one board with all the information we wanted to show. We couldn't even put our names on the boards so it was like a real architectural competition. The judges were really harsh when they announced the results, though. Rather than only announce the winners, they announced every project from worst to best and explained why each one was eliminated, so all we heard were the bad things about each project and not any of the good things.
After the winner announcements, we all went downstairs to the High Bar for aperitivo, and then Hardy, Em, Kelly, Nadia, and I had to go back to studio to finish our preparations for the auction the next day.
Our final project for Architecture in Context was due today. Architecture in Context is kind of like Studio, except our projects are more about the idea than the details of the project. This presentation was true competition style. We didn't have to do any sort of presentation, just prepare one board with all the information we wanted to show. We couldn't even put our names on the boards so it was like a real architectural competition. The judges were really harsh when they announced the results, though. Rather than only announce the winners, they announced every project from worst to best and explained why each one was eliminated, so all we heard were the bad things about each project and not any of the good things.
After the winner announcements, we all went downstairs to the High Bar for aperitivo, and then Hardy, Em, Kelly, Nadia, and I had to go back to studio to finish our preparations for the auction the next day.
April 25, 2009
went to a club in La Cascine Park. This club called Central Park was having its opening night, so we decided to go. It's a seasonal club, because it's supposed to be an outdoor club, but when we got there, it was all inside. It was really huge, with lots of different dance floors and bars. We didn't leave the main room so that we didn't loose anyone, so I guess there might have been an outdoor part somewhere, but it didn't really look like it. I was definitely disappointed that it wasn't outside.
When we went in, we were told that girls were free, but they had a card system. When you enter the club, you're given a card. Every time you buy a drink, they punch the card. At the end of the night you have to bring the card up to the cash register on your way out. Then you have to pay for whatever drinks you've bought and any entry fee before you're given an exit ticket. The bouncers at the exit check your exit ticket to make sure you've paid. If you lose your card or your exit ticket you have to pay 50! euro. Luckily I didn't lose my card, but when I brought it to the cash register, the woman told me I owed a euro. I asked her why, but she didn't speak English, so she grabbed another woman to talk to me. This woman told me that the euro goes to the CI (I don't know how it's spelled but it sounds like the letters C and I). The CI is the government sanctioned mob group that all events have to be registered with. They're also the ones who give out dancing licenses. That's right. You have to have a proper dancing license to be allowed to even have people clapping their hands in your establishment. So that one euro I had to pay to get of the club was basically a dancing tax. Italy definitely has some strange laws.
went to a club in La Cascine Park. This club called Central Park was having its opening night, so we decided to go. It's a seasonal club, because it's supposed to be an outdoor club, but when we got there, it was all inside. It was really huge, with lots of different dance floors and bars. We didn't leave the main room so that we didn't loose anyone, so I guess there might have been an outdoor part somewhere, but it didn't really look like it. I was definitely disappointed that it wasn't outside.
When we went in, we were told that girls were free, but they had a card system. When you enter the club, you're given a card. Every time you buy a drink, they punch the card. At the end of the night you have to bring the card up to the cash register on your way out. Then you have to pay for whatever drinks you've bought and any entry fee before you're given an exit ticket. The bouncers at the exit check your exit ticket to make sure you've paid. If you lose your card or your exit ticket you have to pay 50! euro. Luckily I didn't lose my card, but when I brought it to the cash register, the woman told me I owed a euro. I asked her why, but she didn't speak English, so she grabbed another woman to talk to me. This woman told me that the euro goes to the CI (I don't know how it's spelled but it sounds like the letters C and I). The CI is the government sanctioned mob group that all events have to be registered with. They're also the ones who give out dancing licenses. That's right. You have to have a proper dancing license to be allowed to even have people clapping their hands in your establishment. So that one euro I had to pay to get of the club was basically a dancing tax. Italy definitely has some strange laws.
April 24, 2009
finally talked to the doorman! One of the buildings that we often pass has a doorman who's really friendly. At the very beginning of the semester I made it my goal to befriend him, but by the time I worked up the courage to say hi to him, he disappeared. A different, much less friendly, doorman replaced him. A couple days ago, I noticed that the doorman changed again. Nadia and I spent several days trying to decide if it was the original doorman or a third one. We finally decided he was the original, so we struck up a conversation with him and took photos with him. He was very friendly and disappointed that we only met him now, with only a week left in Florence.
went to dinner at Bari's with Em, Hardy, Kelly, and Nadia. Bari is the woman in charge of Creative Campus, the organization through which we were organizing the auction. It was kind of neat to go to dinner in an Italian apartment. Bari's American, so it wasn't quite a traditional Italian meal, but it was still interesting.
finally talked to the doorman! One of the buildings that we often pass has a doorman who's really friendly. At the very beginning of the semester I made it my goal to befriend him, but by the time I worked up the courage to say hi to him, he disappeared. A different, much less friendly, doorman replaced him. A couple days ago, I noticed that the doorman changed again. Nadia and I spent several days trying to decide if it was the original doorman or a third one. We finally decided he was the original, so we struck up a conversation with him and took photos with him. He was very friendly and disappointed that we only met him now, with only a week left in Florence.
went to dinner at Bari's with Em, Hardy, Kelly, and Nadia. Bari is the woman in charge of Creative Campus, the organization through which we were organizing the auction. It was kind of neat to go to dinner in an Italian apartment. Bari's American, so it wasn't quite a traditional Italian meal, but it was still interesting.
April 23, 2009
final crit for studio. It was done semi-competition style, so we didn't have to do much of a presentation. We've never done competition style crits before, so we all prepared full presentations and then Carlo rushed us through them and made us skip over parts. It was kind of weird but at least we got out of crit fast.
had dinner with everyone in our building. It was like a recreation of our first ever family dinner.
final crit for studio. It was done semi-competition style, so we didn't have to do much of a presentation. We've never done competition style crits before, so we all prepared full presentations and then Carlo rushed us through them and made us skip over parts. It was kind of weird but at least we got out of crit fast.
had dinner with everyone in our building. It was like a recreation of our first ever family dinner.
April 19, 2009
went to mass with Pat at la Chiesa di San Niccolo, which is right around the corner from studio. The priest was CRAZY. At first it seemed like he was rushing through the mass. He was fidgeting and talking fast and just seemed like he really didn't want to be there, but then he started adding huge speeches in the middle of random parts of the mass. I have no idea what he was saying, but I'm pretty sure he added his own commentary throughout the Gospel even.
went to mass with Pat at la Chiesa di San Niccolo, which is right around the corner from studio. The priest was CRAZY. At first it seemed like he was rushing through the mass. He was fidgeting and talking fast and just seemed like he really didn't want to be there, but then he started adding huge speeches in the middle of random parts of the mass. I have no idea what he was saying, but I'm pretty sure he added his own commentary throughout the Gospel even.
April 15, 2009
went running in the morning. I ran down to La Cascine, a really big park that starts right at the edge of Florence. I had run there before but hadn't been able to figure out how to actually get in because there's so much construction. It turns I had been on the right road last time but just hadn't gone far enough. I ran pretty far into the park and then crossed over the river to head back. There's lots of construction up that way for the new tram line, though, so I got stuck in all these fences. I had to go so far out of my way to find a way around them. And every time I went to cross a street, I would hit another fence or a huge traffic circle so I wound up making a huge crazy circle around Florence just to get back home.
went to the San Lorenzo Market and the Mercato Centrale with Nadia. The Mercato Centrale is a huge indoor food market. The downstairs is all meat, so we headed straight for the second floor, where all the fruits and wines and things like that are.
went running in the morning. I ran down to La Cascine, a really big park that starts right at the edge of Florence. I had run there before but hadn't been able to figure out how to actually get in because there's so much construction. It turns I had been on the right road last time but just hadn't gone far enough. I ran pretty far into the park and then crossed over the river to head back. There's lots of construction up that way for the new tram line, though, so I got stuck in all these fences. I had to go so far out of my way to find a way around them. And every time I went to cross a street, I would hit another fence or a huge traffic circle so I wound up making a huge crazy circle around Florence just to get back home.
went to the San Lorenzo Market and the Mercato Centrale with Nadia. The Mercato Centrale is a huge indoor food market. The downstairs is all meat, so we headed straight for the second floor, where all the fruits and wines and things like that are.
Naploli e Capri
April 10-12, 2009
spent Easter weekend visiting Naples and Capri. On Friday I took a train down to Naples. The train was sooooo crowded that there was absolutely nowhere to sit. The kind of ticket I had bought didn't have a seat reservation so it could be used on any train from Florence to Naples but that also meant that no seat was saved for me. Usually there are enough empty seats that that doesn't matter; plus there are little fold down seats in the aisles, but every single seat was full. Even all the floor space in the aisles and any spot to lean on a wall was full. I had to stand in the tiny entryway of one of the cars. Even that was so crowded, with two other passengers and three policemen, that it was standing room only. Shortly after I got on, the policemen starting checking everyone's passports. I was really glad I had thought to bring mine even though I wasn't going to be leaving the country, because I'd never seen anyone check documents before. Eventually the policemen got off the train, and there was enough room for me to sit down on the floor in the doorway. I spent the entire five and a half hour train ride without a seat, getting up at every stop so people could get out the door.
Once in Naples, I walked to my hostel to meet up with Katie, Laura, and Pat. I stopped to see one of the castles and the Duomo on the way. When I had tried to book the hostel different websites were telling me different things about availability, so I e-mailed the hostel. They said they could make the reservation, just let them know how many beds I needed, but I never received a confirmation e-mail after I replied, so I really wasn't sure if I had a reservation or not. When I got to the hostel, I explained the situation to the man and showed him the e-mails. He couldn't find a reservation for me, but he said there was room. He showed me to one of the rooms, gave me sheets, and told me to wait a minute. When he came back in the room, he was carrying a bed frame and a bag of leg parts. He ripped open the bag and starting building me a bed. When it was all finished, with mattress and everything, he let me put the bed anywhere in the room. I was pretty impressed that rather than turn me away, he just built a new bed for me.
When Laura, Katie, and Pat got back to the hostel, we hung out there for a little while and met some other American kids and a Belgian guy. We all went out for pizza at a restaurant where Pope John Paul II had eaten. After dinner we went back to the hostel and met a bunch of other people staying there.
Saturday morning we got up bright and early to take the ferry to Capri. On the ferry we ran into Nadia who was also visiting Naples and Capri. Once on the island we took a bus to Anacapri to climb the mountain. Climbing the mountain was awesome. Before we had gone very far, we came to a fork in the road. We picked the path that looked more promising, but it quickly ended. We decided to continue on anyway, following an overgrown little goat path (or some other kind of animal path). We trekked along that for awhile until we had to start scaling the rocks. I don't think I've ever done legit mountain climbing like that before. It was so cool. When we got to the top, we could see how easy the other path would have been, but we were all definitely glad we chose the harder way. We could see almost all of Capri from the top. There was another slightly higher peak a short distance away, so of course we had to climb that as well. We took the real path this time, though.
After hiking the highest peaks, we worked our way over to the beach, hoping to rent some kayaks. Unfortunately, the beach was super crowded so we weren't able to rent kayaks, but Pat and I went swimming and exploring the rocks while Katie and Laura got a tan. There were jellyfish EVERYWHERE. I even got stung by one, but luckily it didn't hurt at all.
Late afternoon we started on our way to the other side of the island to visit the Blue Grotto. The Blue Grotto is a cave in the water that appears to shine blue. There's a hole in the rock under the water through which the sun shines, giving everything a blue glint. You're supposed to pay a lot of money to take a little rowboat into the grotto, but the boats stop at about 5:00, so we planned to get there after 5, so we could swim in. The bus stopped really far from away so we had to walk soooo far to get there. It was worth it, though. There was just this teeny little metal dock next to a hole in the rock and a sign saying absolutely no swimming but luckily I didn't see that until we were leaving. At the grotto, we met back up with Nadia and the boys from our hostel.
By the time we got to the grotto, the sun wasn't high in the sky anymore, so the cave was kind of dark. One wall was still glowing blue, though, and the water was shining a crazy bright blue. The cave was huge, but I didn't go in very far because it was so dark. Then Pat saw a jelly fish and we all freaked out and swam out. We were willing to brave the dark and the freezing cold and the waves, but the jellyfish was too much.
When we were back on shore and somewhat dried off, we all decided to go to the lighthouse to watch the sunset. It was kind of cloudy, so the sunset wasn't great, but it was still fun climbing on the rocks. When we finally decided to head back to the dock to catch the last ferry to Naples, we realized we had just missed a bus. As we were waiting for the next one, Katie and some of the guys started to talk to one of the men who was also waiting for the bus. He told them we'd never make it back to Marina Grande (where the ferry comes) in time for the last ferry of the day and that we better take a taxi. He was a little odd so we weren't sure if we should believe him or not but he was really insistent. No taxis come all the way out to the lighthouse, though, so we were going to have to take the bus to Anacapri (where we were supposed to switch buses) anyway. In Anacapri we sprinted to find a taxi. Luckily we found one pretty fast, but there were eight of us and the driver only wanted to take five. We really didn't want to split up (especially since that would mean each person's fare would be more), so we begged the driver to take all eight. He let us all cram in and he sped down the mountain to the marina. We made it to the ticket office with plenty of time to buy our tickets and get on the ferry. Maybe it wasn't really necessary to take the taxi, but we were all glad we made it and didn't have to spend the night on the island.
Once back in Naples, we walked Nadia back to her hostel and then headed back to ours. On the way we ran into an Easter parade, so we stopped and watched for a little while. Two of the boys (Neil and Teddy), Katie, and I lost the rest of the group so we explored Naples a little. We found a whole street stretching between two piazzas crowded with kids our age. Naples is pretty dirty and poor looking, with not a whole lot of people wandering around, but this street seemed to be where everyone comes at night. We also passed some sort of festival for Easter with Polynesian dancers. There seems to be a large population of Polynesians in Naples.
After getting back to the hostel and realizing that everyone else went out to dinner without us, Katie, Neil, Teddy, and I went out to get pizza on our own. Then we headed back to the hostel to go to bed.
Our original plan for Sunday was to go to Herculaneum. Then the plan changed to go to Sorrento, but neither plan worked out because of the limited transportation on Easter, so we stayed in Naples instead. We went to Easter mass at Gesu Nuovo. Then we wandered around and took the metro to go see some big park, but once again the limited public transportation foiled our plans, so we walked through a smaller park and went to see one of the castles. We took a nap on some rocks by the water. Although none of our original plans worked out, it was nice to see the cleaner side of Naples.
Eventually we headed back to our hostel to pick up our bags and go home. We had a little time to kill though, so we hung around the hostel for a little while. The people at the hostel were preparing for an Easter party, so we helped them make Sangria. More and more people joined us in the common room, so we polished off a good portion of the Sangria we had just made. Everyone who was there had to leave before the party was scheduled to start, so we kind of made our own party. Then we headed to the train station to go back to Florence.
spent Easter weekend visiting Naples and Capri. On Friday I took a train down to Naples. The train was sooooo crowded that there was absolutely nowhere to sit. The kind of ticket I had bought didn't have a seat reservation so it could be used on any train from Florence to Naples but that also meant that no seat was saved for me. Usually there are enough empty seats that that doesn't matter; plus there are little fold down seats in the aisles, but every single seat was full. Even all the floor space in the aisles and any spot to lean on a wall was full. I had to stand in the tiny entryway of one of the cars. Even that was so crowded, with two other passengers and three policemen, that it was standing room only. Shortly after I got on, the policemen starting checking everyone's passports. I was really glad I had thought to bring mine even though I wasn't going to be leaving the country, because I'd never seen anyone check documents before. Eventually the policemen got off the train, and there was enough room for me to sit down on the floor in the doorway. I spent the entire five and a half hour train ride without a seat, getting up at every stop so people could get out the door.
Once in Naples, I walked to my hostel to meet up with Katie, Laura, and Pat. I stopped to see one of the castles and the Duomo on the way. When I had tried to book the hostel different websites were telling me different things about availability, so I e-mailed the hostel. They said they could make the reservation, just let them know how many beds I needed, but I never received a confirmation e-mail after I replied, so I really wasn't sure if I had a reservation or not. When I got to the hostel, I explained the situation to the man and showed him the e-mails. He couldn't find a reservation for me, but he said there was room. He showed me to one of the rooms, gave me sheets, and told me to wait a minute. When he came back in the room, he was carrying a bed frame and a bag of leg parts. He ripped open the bag and starting building me a bed. When it was all finished, with mattress and everything, he let me put the bed anywhere in the room. I was pretty impressed that rather than turn me away, he just built a new bed for me.
When Laura, Katie, and Pat got back to the hostel, we hung out there for a little while and met some other American kids and a Belgian guy. We all went out for pizza at a restaurant where Pope John Paul II had eaten. After dinner we went back to the hostel and met a bunch of other people staying there.
Saturday morning we got up bright and early to take the ferry to Capri. On the ferry we ran into Nadia who was also visiting Naples and Capri. Once on the island we took a bus to Anacapri to climb the mountain. Climbing the mountain was awesome. Before we had gone very far, we came to a fork in the road. We picked the path that looked more promising, but it quickly ended. We decided to continue on anyway, following an overgrown little goat path (or some other kind of animal path). We trekked along that for awhile until we had to start scaling the rocks. I don't think I've ever done legit mountain climbing like that before. It was so cool. When we got to the top, we could see how easy the other path would have been, but we were all definitely glad we chose the harder way. We could see almost all of Capri from the top. There was another slightly higher peak a short distance away, so of course we had to climb that as well. We took the real path this time, though.
After hiking the highest peaks, we worked our way over to the beach, hoping to rent some kayaks. Unfortunately, the beach was super crowded so we weren't able to rent kayaks, but Pat and I went swimming and exploring the rocks while Katie and Laura got a tan. There were jellyfish EVERYWHERE. I even got stung by one, but luckily it didn't hurt at all.
Late afternoon we started on our way to the other side of the island to visit the Blue Grotto. The Blue Grotto is a cave in the water that appears to shine blue. There's a hole in the rock under the water through which the sun shines, giving everything a blue glint. You're supposed to pay a lot of money to take a little rowboat into the grotto, but the boats stop at about 5:00, so we planned to get there after 5, so we could swim in. The bus stopped really far from away so we had to walk soooo far to get there. It was worth it, though. There was just this teeny little metal dock next to a hole in the rock and a sign saying absolutely no swimming but luckily I didn't see that until we were leaving. At the grotto, we met back up with Nadia and the boys from our hostel.
By the time we got to the grotto, the sun wasn't high in the sky anymore, so the cave was kind of dark. One wall was still glowing blue, though, and the water was shining a crazy bright blue. The cave was huge, but I didn't go in very far because it was so dark. Then Pat saw a jelly fish and we all freaked out and swam out. We were willing to brave the dark and the freezing cold and the waves, but the jellyfish was too much.
When we were back on shore and somewhat dried off, we all decided to go to the lighthouse to watch the sunset. It was kind of cloudy, so the sunset wasn't great, but it was still fun climbing on the rocks. When we finally decided to head back to the dock to catch the last ferry to Naples, we realized we had just missed a bus. As we were waiting for the next one, Katie and some of the guys started to talk to one of the men who was also waiting for the bus. He told them we'd never make it back to Marina Grande (where the ferry comes) in time for the last ferry of the day and that we better take a taxi. He was a little odd so we weren't sure if we should believe him or not but he was really insistent. No taxis come all the way out to the lighthouse, though, so we were going to have to take the bus to Anacapri (where we were supposed to switch buses) anyway. In Anacapri we sprinted to find a taxi. Luckily we found one pretty fast, but there were eight of us and the driver only wanted to take five. We really didn't want to split up (especially since that would mean each person's fare would be more), so we begged the driver to take all eight. He let us all cram in and he sped down the mountain to the marina. We made it to the ticket office with plenty of time to buy our tickets and get on the ferry. Maybe it wasn't really necessary to take the taxi, but we were all glad we made it and didn't have to spend the night on the island.
Once back in Naples, we walked Nadia back to her hostel and then headed back to ours. On the way we ran into an Easter parade, so we stopped and watched for a little while. Two of the boys (Neil and Teddy), Katie, and I lost the rest of the group so we explored Naples a little. We found a whole street stretching between two piazzas crowded with kids our age. Naples is pretty dirty and poor looking, with not a whole lot of people wandering around, but this street seemed to be where everyone comes at night. We also passed some sort of festival for Easter with Polynesian dancers. There seems to be a large population of Polynesians in Naples.
After getting back to the hostel and realizing that everyone else went out to dinner without us, Katie, Neil, Teddy, and I went out to get pizza on our own. Then we headed back to the hostel to go to bed.
Our original plan for Sunday was to go to Herculaneum. Then the plan changed to go to Sorrento, but neither plan worked out because of the limited transportation on Easter, so we stayed in Naples instead. We went to Easter mass at Gesu Nuovo. Then we wandered around and took the metro to go see some big park, but once again the limited public transportation foiled our plans, so we walked through a smaller park and went to see one of the castles. We took a nap on some rocks by the water. Although none of our original plans worked out, it was nice to see the cleaner side of Naples.
Eventually we headed back to our hostel to pick up our bags and go home. We had a little time to kill though, so we hung around the hostel for a little while. The people at the hostel were preparing for an Easter party, so we helped them make Sangria. More and more people joined us in the common room, so we polished off a good portion of the Sangria we had just made. Everyone who was there had to leave before the party was scheduled to start, so we kind of made our own party. Then we headed to the train station to go back to Florence.
April 8, 2009
went to the Uffizi Gallery with Izzy and Kelly. The museum usually has a crazy long line so we got there right when it opened and only had to wait about 45 minutes to an hour to get in (which is considered really good). I'm not a big museum person but it's more interesting when we've already learned about a lot of the paintings in class and know what they're about.
After Studio, Emily, Hardy, Nadia, Kelly, and I had to sprint off to a meeting. Since we're all juniors in the honors program, we have to complete a service project by the end of the year. The fact that we're studying abroad during the time we're supposed to do it makes it a little harder, but Hardy had set up a meeting with a woman who organizes activities to bring study abroad students and Italians together. She had told him that we could help out with one of the activities in order to fulfill our service requirement. Originally we had thought that it would just be something fairly easy (we only have to have four hours of service between the five of us), but during the course of the meeting, we realized we're actually going to have to do a LOT of work. Because of the recent earthquake, Bari (the woman we met with) suggested we organize a silent auction to benefit the victims. We're going to collect donations of artwork from study abroad students who can't take it all home and auction it off to people living in the area. We're also organizing performances (music and poetry and that kind of thing) to take place during the night. It's going to be a really neat event, and it's pretty amazing to be doing something like this for our host country, but at the same time, it adds a whole heck of a lot of work at an extremely busy part of our semester. Nadia and I are handling most of the publicity, so hopefully we'll be successful in recruiting artists and performers, as well as a good mix of Italians and foreigners to attend.
After our meeting, we rushed home to get ready for the "Gallery" down in the boys' room. Someone had the idea to set up a night where some of the paintings and photos that our friends have done for class could be showcased. The downstairs boys (the ones that live in my building) hosted the event. We all had our doubts as to how well they would organize the night and set up their room, but they exceeded all of our expectations by far. Their room looked AMAZING. They moved all their beds and dressers and desks into one bedroom, so the other one could be used for the gallery. Artwork was displayed in the now empty bedroom as well as in their tiny living room. They borrowed easels from the painting teacher and printed up little placards with the title, artist, and short description for each piece. They used sheets as tablecloths so everything looked super classy. All of our architecture and Italian teachers were invited.
The dress code for the night was formal attire, and everyone went all out. Our teachers were so impressed not only by the display but also by how well everyone could clean up. We (the students, not the teachers) were all assigned food to bring. It was supposed to be a sort of wine and cheese party, so there was plenty of wine and cheese of course, but also bread, crackers, dip, grapes. There was so much food, and it was all displayed really nicely, too.
When the night started to wind down, Stefano played guitar for us. He's not an amazing player, but we all really enjoyed hearing him play Italian songs. Then Phil, who is an amazing guitar player, also played a few songs for us. Before Carlo left he invited us all out to some really fancy club later. Unfortunately when we met him there later, none of us (Carlo included) could get in, because it was a Cavalli Club and Roberto Cavalli himself was there. It didn't really matter, though, because we were all pretty worn out and just happy about what a success the Gallery had been.
went to the Uffizi Gallery with Izzy and Kelly. The museum usually has a crazy long line so we got there right when it opened and only had to wait about 45 minutes to an hour to get in (which is considered really good). I'm not a big museum person but it's more interesting when we've already learned about a lot of the paintings in class and know what they're about.
After Studio, Emily, Hardy, Nadia, Kelly, and I had to sprint off to a meeting. Since we're all juniors in the honors program, we have to complete a service project by the end of the year. The fact that we're studying abroad during the time we're supposed to do it makes it a little harder, but Hardy had set up a meeting with a woman who organizes activities to bring study abroad students and Italians together. She had told him that we could help out with one of the activities in order to fulfill our service requirement. Originally we had thought that it would just be something fairly easy (we only have to have four hours of service between the five of us), but during the course of the meeting, we realized we're actually going to have to do a LOT of work. Because of the recent earthquake, Bari (the woman we met with) suggested we organize a silent auction to benefit the victims. We're going to collect donations of artwork from study abroad students who can't take it all home and auction it off to people living in the area. We're also organizing performances (music and poetry and that kind of thing) to take place during the night. It's going to be a really neat event, and it's pretty amazing to be doing something like this for our host country, but at the same time, it adds a whole heck of a lot of work at an extremely busy part of our semester. Nadia and I are handling most of the publicity, so hopefully we'll be successful in recruiting artists and performers, as well as a good mix of Italians and foreigners to attend.
After our meeting, we rushed home to get ready for the "Gallery" down in the boys' room. Someone had the idea to set up a night where some of the paintings and photos that our friends have done for class could be showcased. The downstairs boys (the ones that live in my building) hosted the event. We all had our doubts as to how well they would organize the night and set up their room, but they exceeded all of our expectations by far. Their room looked AMAZING. They moved all their beds and dressers and desks into one bedroom, so the other one could be used for the gallery. Artwork was displayed in the now empty bedroom as well as in their tiny living room. They borrowed easels from the painting teacher and printed up little placards with the title, artist, and short description for each piece. They used sheets as tablecloths so everything looked super classy. All of our architecture and Italian teachers were invited.
The dress code for the night was formal attire, and everyone went all out. Our teachers were so impressed not only by the display but also by how well everyone could clean up. We (the students, not the teachers) were all assigned food to bring. It was supposed to be a sort of wine and cheese party, so there was plenty of wine and cheese of course, but also bread, crackers, dip, grapes. There was so much food, and it was all displayed really nicely, too.
When the night started to wind down, Stefano played guitar for us. He's not an amazing player, but we all really enjoyed hearing him play Italian songs. Then Phil, who is an amazing guitar player, also played a few songs for us. Before Carlo left he invited us all out to some really fancy club later. Unfortunately when we met him there later, none of us (Carlo included) could get in, because it was a Cavalli Club and Roberto Cavalli himself was there. It didn't really matter, though, because we were all pretty worn out and just happy about what a success the Gallery had been.
April 7, 2009
went to the Boboli Gardens with Nikul. Those were pretty neat to see, and they were HUGE. There was definitely way more garden than any one palazzo needs.
went to the Lion's Fountain to hear Phil play guitar and sing. He's really good. He lives two floors down from us, so I often hear his guitar music through the window when he's practicing.
went to the Boboli Gardens with Nikul. Those were pretty neat to see, and they were HUGE. There was definitely way more garden than any one palazzo needs.
went to the Lion's Fountain to hear Phil play guitar and sing. He's really good. He lives two floors down from us, so I often hear his guitar music through the window when he's practicing.
April 6, 2009
An actor came in to do some activities with us in Italian class. He was really funny. He talked all in Italian and had us do little skits in Italian, which was quite amusing. While we were doing these activities, something HUGE must have fallen in the room above us. We heard an almighty crash and plaster rained down on our heads. It was seriously the biggest crash I've ever heard, and now there are several large cracks in the ceiling of our classroom. I have no idea what happened upstairs, but it definitely sounded like someone dropped a baby elephant from several stories up.
An actor came in to do some activities with us in Italian class. He was really funny. He talked all in Italian and had us do little skits in Italian, which was quite amusing. While we were doing these activities, something HUGE must have fallen in the room above us. We heard an almighty crash and plaster rained down on our heads. It was seriously the biggest crash I've ever heard, and now there are several large cracks in the ceiling of our classroom. I have no idea what happened upstairs, but it definitely sounded like someone dropped a baby elephant from several stories up.
April 5, 2009
went to mass at San Frediano with Pat. We had both completely forgotten it was Palm Sunday until we saw a couple of people leaving the church with olive branches, which is apparently what they use here instead of the palm fronds we use. The mass was pretty cool. Obviously we still didn't understand a lot of it, but after the priest read the opening homily, everyone in the church processed outside and around the church courtyard, singing. I don't know if we went to a children's mass or if this church is just more children-oriented, but all the kids at mass led the procession. They also got to go up on the altar for the Our Father and the Sign of Peace. Everyone handing out olive branches and doing the collections were kids, too.
When I came back to my apartment after being in studio most of the day, I heard guitar playing and singing coming from one of the windows facing our little courtyard. Everyone in our apartment building crowded out onto our balconies so we could listen better. Eventually we clapped after one of the songs, and we wound up talking to the girls who were playing. They were really nice and invited us to come to a Spanish club for music and dancing. It was really neat.
went to mass at San Frediano with Pat. We had both completely forgotten it was Palm Sunday until we saw a couple of people leaving the church with olive branches, which is apparently what they use here instead of the palm fronds we use. The mass was pretty cool. Obviously we still didn't understand a lot of it, but after the priest read the opening homily, everyone in the church processed outside and around the church courtyard, singing. I don't know if we went to a children's mass or if this church is just more children-oriented, but all the kids at mass led the procession. They also got to go up on the altar for the Our Father and the Sign of Peace. Everyone handing out olive branches and doing the collections were kids, too.
When I came back to my apartment after being in studio most of the day, I heard guitar playing and singing coming from one of the windows facing our little courtyard. Everyone in our apartment building crowded out onto our balconies so we could listen better. Eventually we clapped after one of the songs, and we wound up talking to the girls who were playing. They were really nice and invited us to come to a Spanish club for music and dancing. It was really neat.
April 3-4, 2009
went to Milan with Studio. We took the Eurostar from Florence Friday morning. When we got to Milan, we had a little time for lunch and then headed to our hotel to drop off our things. I was surprised by how nice the hotel was. I got one of the nicer rooms with only one roommate (and right next to the breakfast area).
The first piece of architecture we visited was the new complex built for the World Expo to be held in Milan in 2015. It's called Fiera di Milano and was designed by Massimiliano Fuksas. Fiera di Milano is super cool. It's made up of a lot of different buildings, but a crazy glass pavilion stretches the entire length which is 1.3 kilometers. Most of the buildings are pretty interesting, too, but it's really this flowing expanse of glass that really attracts your eye. The walkway underneath appears to be white but has a blue tint to it, so it feels like you're in the sky. The whole complex was closed when we got there, but Carlo can talk his way into anywhere, so the guards let us in.
Next we went to look at a building designed by Renzo Piano. We weren't supposed to be allowed to go inside this building either, but once again Carlo worked his magic and they let us in, but we weren't allowed past the lobby and we couldn't take pictures inside. I think this building has offices, conference rooms, and an auditorium. The main building, housing the offices and such, forms three sides of a square. In the middle is a huge mound covered in trees. Something is underneath the trees and I'm pretty sure it's the auditorium.
We took the metro to Castello Sforzesco. We took the metro just about everywhere because Milan is so big. We had to get off at the stop called Cadorna. We stopped to learn about the Cadorna Station. I think it's kind of ugly in a primary color/nursery school type of way, but I guess it's pretty symbolic of a type of architecture that was popular at the time it was built (which I think was the 1980s). There was a kind of neat sculpture out in front, though. The sculpture looked like a brightly colored needle and thread, but the thread passed under the road and came up on the other side.
From the castle we walked to the Duomo. At this point we were given free time to go in the Duomo, wander around, and find dinner. The Duomo church (I don't know what it's called) is really nice inside. The arches are pretty amazing. After walking around the Duomo, a bunch of us went into the Galleria, which was the first mall in the world. It has lots of unbelievably expensive stores. Up above, it also includes the second ever seven star hotel. The only other one is in Dubai. We were trying to imagine what could possibly be offered at a seven star hotel, and we decided they must provide secretaries and car service and gift baskets and museum passes and things like that.
After the Galleria, we headed back up towards our hostel to grab some dinner before we were supposed to meet back up with the group. We found a little pizza place with outdoor seating, so we ate there. At the end of the meal, we asked the waiter for a bottle opener to open the beer and wine we had gotten earlier at the grocery store. We weren't sure if this was rude since we hadn't bought any drinks at the restaurant, but the waiter was really nice and wound up sitting down with us to have a glass of wine. His friend who makes the pizzas came out, too. We wound up talking to them for a pretty long time. Both the waiter and the pizzaiolo (pizza-maker) are from Egypt, working in Italy to save up some money before they go back to Egypt. I've never met anyone from Egypt before so it was really interesting to hear about the schooling and jobs and things. We eventually had to leave because we were already late to meet back up with our class to experience the Milano nightlife, but our new friends invited us to come back for a few drinks when the place closed at midnight.
Carlo and Stefano (our teachers) took us to a piazza that was pretty much surrounded by bars. The nice thing about Italy is that everyone drinks outside, so while other people bought expensive drinks at the bar, those of us on a budget could drink the cheaper stuff we had bought at the grocery store. Carlo brought us into this one really expensive bar just to look at the architecture. The bar owners probably weren't too happy to see a big group of Americans walk in, look around without buying anything (Carlo specifically told us not to buy anything because it would really expensive), and walk back out. After hanging out in the piazza and laughing at all the crazy things people were walking around selling for awhile, we headed back to the hostel. On the way we passed our pizza place and of course it was just after midnight and we ran into the Egyptians. Luckily we were with our whole class, so we told the Egyptian guys that we had to go back to our hostel with the group and wouldn't be able to stick around.
Saturday morning we had breakfast at our hotel and then went to visit the Bocconi University. We had to take a tram there which was fun. The Bocconi University is really crazy. It was named the most beautiful building in 2008, which I think is a little weird, because it's all big boxy shapes, which I don't usually associate with the word beautiful. Next we walked around Milan learning about different historical events and geographical factors that have affected the architecture over the years. We eventually worked our way to some really colorful building whose name I can't remember. We went to a little art exhibit nearby. It was sponsored by a beer company so all the artwork featured the beer in some way, but they aslo had these really cool benches made out of cardboard. Instead of being corrugated, the cardboard had more of an accordian-type weave, so the benches could fold up or stretch out and be made into all sorts of shapes. We also walked around the fashion distrcit, since Milan is the fashion capital of the world.
The last place we went was the Padiglione D'Arte Contemporanea. After walking through the main building, we took a break to relax in the garden. Not much relaxing happened, since most of us decided to practice our handstands and cartwheels and have somersault races down the hill. When we were all worn out and dizzy from all that somersaulting, we went back into PAC to see the photography exhibit. Finally we headed back to the hotel to pick up our things and head back to Florence.
went to Milan with Studio. We took the Eurostar from Florence Friday morning. When we got to Milan, we had a little time for lunch and then headed to our hotel to drop off our things. I was surprised by how nice the hotel was. I got one of the nicer rooms with only one roommate (and right next to the breakfast area).
The first piece of architecture we visited was the new complex built for the World Expo to be held in Milan in 2015. It's called Fiera di Milano and was designed by Massimiliano Fuksas. Fiera di Milano is super cool. It's made up of a lot of different buildings, but a crazy glass pavilion stretches the entire length which is 1.3 kilometers. Most of the buildings are pretty interesting, too, but it's really this flowing expanse of glass that really attracts your eye. The walkway underneath appears to be white but has a blue tint to it, so it feels like you're in the sky. The whole complex was closed when we got there, but Carlo can talk his way into anywhere, so the guards let us in.
Next we went to look at a building designed by Renzo Piano. We weren't supposed to be allowed to go inside this building either, but once again Carlo worked his magic and they let us in, but we weren't allowed past the lobby and we couldn't take pictures inside. I think this building has offices, conference rooms, and an auditorium. The main building, housing the offices and such, forms three sides of a square. In the middle is a huge mound covered in trees. Something is underneath the trees and I'm pretty sure it's the auditorium.
We took the metro to Castello Sforzesco. We took the metro just about everywhere because Milan is so big. We had to get off at the stop called Cadorna. We stopped to learn about the Cadorna Station. I think it's kind of ugly in a primary color/nursery school type of way, but I guess it's pretty symbolic of a type of architecture that was popular at the time it was built (which I think was the 1980s). There was a kind of neat sculpture out in front, though. The sculpture looked like a brightly colored needle and thread, but the thread passed under the road and came up on the other side.
From the castle we walked to the Duomo. At this point we were given free time to go in the Duomo, wander around, and find dinner. The Duomo church (I don't know what it's called) is really nice inside. The arches are pretty amazing. After walking around the Duomo, a bunch of us went into the Galleria, which was the first mall in the world. It has lots of unbelievably expensive stores. Up above, it also includes the second ever seven star hotel. The only other one is in Dubai. We were trying to imagine what could possibly be offered at a seven star hotel, and we decided they must provide secretaries and car service and gift baskets and museum passes and things like that.
After the Galleria, we headed back up towards our hostel to grab some dinner before we were supposed to meet back up with the group. We found a little pizza place with outdoor seating, so we ate there. At the end of the meal, we asked the waiter for a bottle opener to open the beer and wine we had gotten earlier at the grocery store. We weren't sure if this was rude since we hadn't bought any drinks at the restaurant, but the waiter was really nice and wound up sitting down with us to have a glass of wine. His friend who makes the pizzas came out, too. We wound up talking to them for a pretty long time. Both the waiter and the pizzaiolo (pizza-maker) are from Egypt, working in Italy to save up some money before they go back to Egypt. I've never met anyone from Egypt before so it was really interesting to hear about the schooling and jobs and things. We eventually had to leave because we were already late to meet back up with our class to experience the Milano nightlife, but our new friends invited us to come back for a few drinks when the place closed at midnight.
Carlo and Stefano (our teachers) took us to a piazza that was pretty much surrounded by bars. The nice thing about Italy is that everyone drinks outside, so while other people bought expensive drinks at the bar, those of us on a budget could drink the cheaper stuff we had bought at the grocery store. Carlo brought us into this one really expensive bar just to look at the architecture. The bar owners probably weren't too happy to see a big group of Americans walk in, look around without buying anything (Carlo specifically told us not to buy anything because it would really expensive), and walk back out. After hanging out in the piazza and laughing at all the crazy things people were walking around selling for awhile, we headed back to the hostel. On the way we passed our pizza place and of course it was just after midnight and we ran into the Egyptians. Luckily we were with our whole class, so we told the Egyptian guys that we had to go back to our hostel with the group and wouldn't be able to stick around.
Saturday morning we had breakfast at our hotel and then went to visit the Bocconi University. We had to take a tram there which was fun. The Bocconi University is really crazy. It was named the most beautiful building in 2008, which I think is a little weird, because it's all big boxy shapes, which I don't usually associate with the word beautiful. Next we walked around Milan learning about different historical events and geographical factors that have affected the architecture over the years. We eventually worked our way to some really colorful building whose name I can't remember. We went to a little art exhibit nearby. It was sponsored by a beer company so all the artwork featured the beer in some way, but they aslo had these really cool benches made out of cardboard. Instead of being corrugated, the cardboard had more of an accordian-type weave, so the benches could fold up or stretch out and be made into all sorts of shapes. We also walked around the fashion distrcit, since Milan is the fashion capital of the world.
The last place we went was the Padiglione D'Arte Contemporanea. After walking through the main building, we took a break to relax in the garden. Not much relaxing happened, since most of us decided to practice our handstands and cartwheels and have somersault races down the hill. When we were all worn out and dizzy from all that somersaulting, we went back into PAC to see the photography exhibit. Finally we headed back to the hotel to pick up our things and head back to Florence.
April 1, 2009
had a scavenger hunt in Italian class. We started out in Piazza della Repubblica and were given different missions (written in Italian) in which we had to interact with Italians. One activity was to interview an Italian and get the answers to a set of questions we were given. Another was to buy a postcard and a stamp (which required us to use our Italian at two different stores), write out the postcard, and send it to our teacher. Not only did the activities require the use of the Italian language but they also made us use our knowledge of Florence. For instance, knowing what mailboxes look like or what kind of store sells stamps. One activity also gave us step by step directions to a market, but if you were familiar with the market, you could get there much faster. Of course my team won. The prizes were chocolate eggs with bracelets inside. When the teacher handed the first one to one of my teammates, I said "Oh yay chocolate!" and the teacher turned to me and said, "You don't get one." She knew I had an allergy to nuts because of the dinner at the restaurant, and so she didn't want to give me a chocolate egg on the off chance that it might contain almonds (even though the ingredients only listed chocolate). We all think she really just didn't buy enough and used that as an excuse. Even the losing teams got some form of chocolate, but I got two dopey styrofoam eggs on sticks and a pencil instead.
went to Piazza Alberti for studio. We had a tour of a new residential building led by none other than the architect of the building. The building was very contemporary unlike the part of Florence we usually see. Visiting a building and hearing about it from its architect was definitely a very different experience than visiting on your own. He could tell us all of the intentions behind every move he made in the design and made us notice things that maybe we wouldn't otherwise.
had a scavenger hunt in Italian class. We started out in Piazza della Repubblica and were given different missions (written in Italian) in which we had to interact with Italians. One activity was to interview an Italian and get the answers to a set of questions we were given. Another was to buy a postcard and a stamp (which required us to use our Italian at two different stores), write out the postcard, and send it to our teacher. Not only did the activities require the use of the Italian language but they also made us use our knowledge of Florence. For instance, knowing what mailboxes look like or what kind of store sells stamps. One activity also gave us step by step directions to a market, but if you were familiar with the market, you could get there much faster. Of course my team won. The prizes were chocolate eggs with bracelets inside. When the teacher handed the first one to one of my teammates, I said "Oh yay chocolate!" and the teacher turned to me and said, "You don't get one." She knew I had an allergy to nuts because of the dinner at the restaurant, and so she didn't want to give me a chocolate egg on the off chance that it might contain almonds (even though the ingredients only listed chocolate). We all think she really just didn't buy enough and used that as an excuse. Even the losing teams got some form of chocolate, but I got two dopey styrofoam eggs on sticks and a pencil instead.
went to Piazza Alberti for studio. We had a tour of a new residential building led by none other than the architect of the building. The building was very contemporary unlike the part of Florence we usually see. Visiting a building and hearing about it from its architect was definitely a very different experience than visiting on your own. He could tell us all of the intentions behind every move he made in the design and made us notice things that maybe we wouldn't otherwise.
March 31, 2009
went to the Museo Nazionale Alinari della Fotografia with Architecture in Italy. As you can probably figure it, it's a museum of photography. We go to a lot of neat places with classes in order to see the architecture or the way in which the building was restored, but in the process, we get to look at other interesting things that we might not otherwise go to see. I probably never would have paid to go into the photography museum, but I really enjoyed looking at all the photographs and exhibits on the history of cameras inside.
went to the Museo Nazionale Alinari della Fotografia with Architecture in Italy. As you can probably figure it, it's a museum of photography. We go to a lot of neat places with classes in order to see the architecture or the way in which the building was restored, but in the process, we get to look at other interesting things that we might not otherwise go to see. I probably never would have paid to go into the photography museum, but I really enjoyed looking at all the photographs and exhibits on the history of cameras inside.
March 30, 2009
had my x-ray at the hospital today. After being sent back and forth across the hospital about five times, I finally had my x-ray which showed that the pneumonia is completely gone! Despite the fact that I've been going to class for a week, I can now officially return to my normal life.
went to dinner at an authentic Italian restaurant with my Italian class and some Italian students for the Universita di Firenze. The dinner was one of the activities for class to get us to really experience Italy. The fees we paid at the beginning of the semester covered the cost, so that was really nice. We started off with an antipasto of pomodori, formaggio, e pane (tomatoes, cheese, and bread). Il primo piatto (the first course) was riso con vedure (rice with vegetables). Il primo secondo (the second course) included meat, so the vegetarians in the group got le pizze vegetariane (vegetarian pizzas). The pizzas were HUGE. The whole meal was a lot of food, but those of us who got the pizza had a TON of food. I forget the name of the dessert but it was a pastry filled with cream covered in chocolate sauce slash pudding. By the time Nikul and I had finished our pizzas (since they were so huge), they had run out of that dessert. They brought dolci di nonna (grandmother's sweets) instead, which was a torta con mandorla (cake with almonds), so I couldn't eat that either. The restaurant was very accommodating and wasn't going to let anyone miss out on any of the courses, so they made me panna cotta with frutta di bosco (mixed berries), which was really good. By the time we left the restuarant, we were all stuffed.
had my x-ray at the hospital today. After being sent back and forth across the hospital about five times, I finally had my x-ray which showed that the pneumonia is completely gone! Despite the fact that I've been going to class for a week, I can now officially return to my normal life.
went to dinner at an authentic Italian restaurant with my Italian class and some Italian students for the Universita di Firenze. The dinner was one of the activities for class to get us to really experience Italy. The fees we paid at the beginning of the semester covered the cost, so that was really nice. We started off with an antipasto of pomodori, formaggio, e pane (tomatoes, cheese, and bread). Il primo piatto (the first course) was riso con vedure (rice with vegetables). Il primo secondo (the second course) included meat, so the vegetarians in the group got le pizze vegetariane (vegetarian pizzas). The pizzas were HUGE. The whole meal was a lot of food, but those of us who got the pizza had a TON of food. I forget the name of the dessert but it was a pastry filled with cream covered in chocolate sauce slash pudding. By the time Nikul and I had finished our pizzas (since they were so huge), they had run out of that dessert. They brought dolci di nonna (grandmother's sweets) instead, which was a torta con mandorla (cake with almonds), so I couldn't eat that either. The restaurant was very accommodating and wasn't going to let anyone miss out on any of the courses, so they made me panna cotta with frutta di bosco (mixed berries), which was really good. By the time we left the restuarant, we were all stuffed.
March 29, 2009
went to mass at Santa Maria del Carmine. I planned on going to the 12:00 mass so I could sleep in after my long day in Rome. When I got to the church, everyone was coming out, but I knew there hadn't been an 11:00 mass, so I was very confused. I double-checked the mass times on the door and went inside for a little while, but they were blowing out candles and turning lights off as if all the masses were done for the morning. I started to wonder if somehow I was an hour behind, and that's when I realized that the clocks had switched an hour ahead during the night, but of course my clock hadn't. Luckily there was another mass at 6:00, so I fixed the time on my cell phone and decided to come back later. Before going home, I went over to the San Lorenzo market. It's a very touristy place where vendors set up all along this one street, but they have some really cool stuff for pretty good prices. I got some souvenirs and did some window shopping. It was raining lightly but was still pretty warm, but I still had at least three different Italians ask me if I was freezing (because I had bare legs). They have such a different idea of temperature than us. I was perfectly comfortable in flip flops and a skirt, but all the Italians were bundled up with pants, scarves, and heavy winter jackets.
went to mass at Santa Maria del Carmine. I planned on going to the 12:00 mass so I could sleep in after my long day in Rome. When I got to the church, everyone was coming out, but I knew there hadn't been an 11:00 mass, so I was very confused. I double-checked the mass times on the door and went inside for a little while, but they were blowing out candles and turning lights off as if all the masses were done for the morning. I started to wonder if somehow I was an hour behind, and that's when I realized that the clocks had switched an hour ahead during the night, but of course my clock hadn't. Luckily there was another mass at 6:00, so I fixed the time on my cell phone and decided to come back later. Before going home, I went over to the San Lorenzo market. It's a very touristy place where vendors set up all along this one street, but they have some really cool stuff for pretty good prices. I got some souvenirs and did some window shopping. It was raining lightly but was still pretty warm, but I still had at least three different Italians ask me if I was freezing (because I had bare legs). They have such a different idea of temperature than us. I was perfectly comfortable in flip flops and a skirt, but all the Italians were bundled up with pants, scarves, and heavy winter jackets.
March 28, 2009
went to Rome for the day since I missed the trip while I was sick. I took a train from Florence at 6:30 in the morning. I got to Rome about 9 and took the metro to the Vatican. Vatican City confused me so much, because you enter into Piazza di San Pietro but then you can't really go anywhere else. There were fences everywhere and you could only enter and leave through the one arch leading back into Rome. I eventually figured out that the huge line wrapping around the piazza was to get into St. Peter's so I got on line since I couldn't figure out how to go anywhere else. I walked around St. Peter's for a while and went to confession (I can now say I've received a sacrament in the Vatican). Then I climbed the dome and visited the papal tombs. I got to see where Pope John Paul II is buried. A lot of the people visiting the tombs where crying when they walked away from his tomb. I also went to see a free exhibit on the history of the Vatican in honor of their 80th anniversary. They had a really cool model that was an exact replica of the city and took six months to build.
After spending half my day in the Vatican, I left to explore Rome. First I went by Castel Sant'Angelo and Ponte Sant'Angelo. Then I worked my way over to the Ara Pacis by Richard Meyer and saw some cool buildings on the way. Next I went to Piazza Navona, where I got some gelato. Piazzo Navona is pretty cool. It's full of painters selling their work while creating more paintings. I also checked out the Pantheon, Campidiglio or Capitoline Hill (not nearly as impressive as I was expecting), the Colosseum, aand the Arch of Constantine. On the way to the Colosseum and Arch, I had to walk by an extensive collection of Roman ruins. It was so neat to see. I wanted to go through and explore the whole thing, but I was afraid of running out of time. Then I headed up to the Trevi Fountain, which I really liked except for the huge crowds. Some of the fountain is carved in detail but a lot of it is rough rock, so it's really natural looking. I couldn't get too close though because of how many people were there. All of Rome was crawling with tourists, but at the Trevi Fountain, there was just a sea of people. My last site to see was San Carlo Quattro Fontane which was a little underwhelming. When we learn about these things in school, they always seem so much bigger. It's very different to see them in person and realize how small they really are and how little importance they seem to have in the city. At this point I still had close to two hours before my train, so I decided to see Piazza della Repubblica which is right by the station. I sat there for a long time sketching.
When I finally went to the station to catch my train, I was still a little early, so I got on the first train heading back to Florence. It only left about 15 minutes earlier than the one I had planned on taking but I figured I'd get back 15 minutes earlier that way. Boy was I wrong. I had completely forgotten that I bought a more expensive ticket for the later train because it only took two and half hours whereas the one I got on took four hours. So by waiting 15 minutes I could have saved myself an hour and a half of travel time, especially since I had already paid the 8 extra euro to get back earlier. Needless to say, by the time I got back to Florence, around 11:00, I was exhausted.
went to Rome for the day since I missed the trip while I was sick. I took a train from Florence at 6:30 in the morning. I got to Rome about 9 and took the metro to the Vatican. Vatican City confused me so much, because you enter into Piazza di San Pietro but then you can't really go anywhere else. There were fences everywhere and you could only enter and leave through the one arch leading back into Rome. I eventually figured out that the huge line wrapping around the piazza was to get into St. Peter's so I got on line since I couldn't figure out how to go anywhere else. I walked around St. Peter's for a while and went to confession (I can now say I've received a sacrament in the Vatican). Then I climbed the dome and visited the papal tombs. I got to see where Pope John Paul II is buried. A lot of the people visiting the tombs where crying when they walked away from his tomb. I also went to see a free exhibit on the history of the Vatican in honor of their 80th anniversary. They had a really cool model that was an exact replica of the city and took six months to build.
After spending half my day in the Vatican, I left to explore Rome. First I went by Castel Sant'Angelo and Ponte Sant'Angelo. Then I worked my way over to the Ara Pacis by Richard Meyer and saw some cool buildings on the way. Next I went to Piazza Navona, where I got some gelato. Piazzo Navona is pretty cool. It's full of painters selling their work while creating more paintings. I also checked out the Pantheon, Campidiglio or Capitoline Hill (not nearly as impressive as I was expecting), the Colosseum, aand the Arch of Constantine. On the way to the Colosseum and Arch, I had to walk by an extensive collection of Roman ruins. It was so neat to see. I wanted to go through and explore the whole thing, but I was afraid of running out of time. Then I headed up to the Trevi Fountain, which I really liked except for the huge crowds. Some of the fountain is carved in detail but a lot of it is rough rock, so it's really natural looking. I couldn't get too close though because of how many people were there. All of Rome was crawling with tourists, but at the Trevi Fountain, there was just a sea of people. My last site to see was San Carlo Quattro Fontane which was a little underwhelming. When we learn about these things in school, they always seem so much bigger. It's very different to see them in person and realize how small they really are and how little importance they seem to have in the city. At this point I still had close to two hours before my train, so I decided to see Piazza della Repubblica which is right by the station. I sat there for a long time sketching.
When I finally went to the station to catch my train, I was still a little early, so I got on the first train heading back to Florence. It only left about 15 minutes earlier than the one I had planned on taking but I figured I'd get back 15 minutes earlier that way. Boy was I wrong. I had completely forgotten that I bought a more expensive ticket for the later train because it only took two and half hours whereas the one I got on took four hours. So by waiting 15 minutes I could have saved myself an hour and a half of travel time, especially since I had already paid the 8 extra euro to get back earlier. Needless to say, by the time I got back to Florence, around 11:00, I was exhausted.
March 27, 2009
went on a mini field trip with Architecture in Context. First we went to see La Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista or, as it's more commonly referred to, The Highway Church. It's right next to the highway, so not a great location, but it's an awesome church. From outside, the forms look really strange and awkward, but inside they look much more graceful and organic. There are these big branching supports that might be inspired by trees. The ceiling hangs low and then swoops up really high as if it's a blanket or a tent supported by the trees. Towards one end, the ceiling comes to a point, making one think that maybe it's inspired by the hull of a boat instead. The whole church is made of really rustic stone and cement, so it's just really cool in a much more natural way than the overly extravagant churches of the Renaissance or Baroque times. After the church, we went to visit a fashion outlet center. I think we were supposed to see how the architecture of the fashion outlet is really fake and completely unlike the historical buildings but it looked just like any little mock-town shopping center at home. There was a Bose store, though, with a SUPER AWESOME video about their products. They had a little mini theater in the back and I don't know what it was, but the movie was so intense and had such amazing sound that by the time we left, everyone in the theater was in shock and wanted to go out and experience life (and of course buy a Bose system).
After the field trip I went out to sketch some of our topics for Architecture in Context. First I went to Santissima Apostoli. Then I headed up a huge hill to Forte di Belvedere which, unfortunately, has construction all around, so there wasn't much to sketch. Then I worked my way all the way down the hill just to go right back up another one to Piazzale Michelangelo. The road up to Piazzale Michelangelo winds its way up the mountain, but there are several pedestrian paths that cut across through the shrubbery and greenery. I wasn't content with following these paths, so when I saw a little hint of a path leading off into the trees, I decided to go exploring. The path led a little ways back down, but it come out to an overgrown circle enclosed by stones. It looked like it used to be the top of a tower but it was so overgrown it was just part of the nature now. When I walked into the circle, I realized there were two COMPLETELY overgrown sets of stairs leading out of the circle. One led down to the road below and one led back up to the hill. I took the stairs up, fighting my way through bushes, but when I reached the end, there was a fence blocking my way. I battled some more shrubbery to finally get back onto the path I was supposed to follow. The piazzale was pretty cool too, with nice views, but I enjoyed the climb up there more.
went on a mini field trip with Architecture in Context. First we went to see La Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista or, as it's more commonly referred to, The Highway Church. It's right next to the highway, so not a great location, but it's an awesome church. From outside, the forms look really strange and awkward, but inside they look much more graceful and organic. There are these big branching supports that might be inspired by trees. The ceiling hangs low and then swoops up really high as if it's a blanket or a tent supported by the trees. Towards one end, the ceiling comes to a point, making one think that maybe it's inspired by the hull of a boat instead. The whole church is made of really rustic stone and cement, so it's just really cool in a much more natural way than the overly extravagant churches of the Renaissance or Baroque times. After the church, we went to visit a fashion outlet center. I think we were supposed to see how the architecture of the fashion outlet is really fake and completely unlike the historical buildings but it looked just like any little mock-town shopping center at home. There was a Bose store, though, with a SUPER AWESOME video about their products. They had a little mini theater in the back and I don't know what it was, but the movie was so intense and had such amazing sound that by the time we left, everyone in the theater was in shock and wanted to go out and experience life (and of course buy a Bose system).
After the field trip I went out to sketch some of our topics for Architecture in Context. First I went to Santissima Apostoli. Then I headed up a huge hill to Forte di Belvedere which, unfortunately, has construction all around, so there wasn't much to sketch. Then I worked my way all the way down the hill just to go right back up another one to Piazzale Michelangelo. The road up to Piazzale Michelangelo winds its way up the mountain, but there are several pedestrian paths that cut across through the shrubbery and greenery. I wasn't content with following these paths, so when I saw a little hint of a path leading off into the trees, I decided to go exploring. The path led a little ways back down, but it come out to an overgrown circle enclosed by stones. It looked like it used to be the top of a tower but it was so overgrown it was just part of the nature now. When I walked into the circle, I realized there were two COMPLETELY overgrown sets of stairs leading out of the circle. One led down to the road below and one led back up to the hill. I took the stairs up, fighting my way through bushes, but when I reached the end, there was a fence blocking my way. I battled some more shrubbery to finally get back onto the path I was supposed to follow. The piazzale was pretty cool too, with nice views, but I enjoyed the climb up there more.
March 26, 2009
went to visit a bunch of sites today. During Architecture in Italy, we visited Palazzo Davanzati. I guess it's an unusual palazzo because of how tall it is. Palazzi usually have more of a horizontal organization but the Davanzati family made their palazzo really tall with a central lightwell giving it more of a vertical organization. After class, Nikul and I visited the Galileo exhibit in the Palazzo Strozzi Museum. We have to write a paper on Palazzo Strozzi, so we were required to visit the inside, but the exhibit was actually pretty cool. It was all about the solar system and the horoscopes and how math, music, science, and all sorts of things have influenced people's theories on the universe over the years.
Studio was also spent visiting sites in Florence. We took a bus to the outskirts of Florence to see the suburban area called Novoli. The architecture there is really different because it's much more modern than the Renaissance historical center, but it still ties in with the general style of Florentine architecture. After walking around for a while, we went to a real estate fair that's being held in the building that used to house the train station. We went around to the different booths, collecting pamphlets and brochures so we can get a feel for the way European apartments tend to be laid out. This is to help us with our current project which includes designing apartments for the University of Florence School of Architecture.
went to visit a bunch of sites today. During Architecture in Italy, we visited Palazzo Davanzati. I guess it's an unusual palazzo because of how tall it is. Palazzi usually have more of a horizontal organization but the Davanzati family made their palazzo really tall with a central lightwell giving it more of a vertical organization. After class, Nikul and I visited the Galileo exhibit in the Palazzo Strozzi Museum. We have to write a paper on Palazzo Strozzi, so we were required to visit the inside, but the exhibit was actually pretty cool. It was all about the solar system and the horoscopes and how math, music, science, and all sorts of things have influenced people's theories on the universe over the years.
Studio was also spent visiting sites in Florence. We took a bus to the outskirts of Florence to see the suburban area called Novoli. The architecture there is really different because it's much more modern than the Renaissance historical center, but it still ties in with the general style of Florentine architecture. After walking around for a while, we went to a real estate fair that's being held in the building that used to house the train station. We went around to the different booths, collecting pamphlets and brochures so we can get a feel for the way European apartments tend to be laid out. This is to help us with our current project which includes designing apartments for the University of Florence School of Architecture.
March 25, 2009
Today is Capodanno Fiorentino, which is the Florentine New Year. It's also called Annunciazione di Maria or the Annunciation of Mary. Every year on this day, there's a festival in Piazza di Santissima Annunziata with little stalls of clothes and knick-knacks and sweets. Luckily, we had to meet at the Foundling Hospital in Piazza di Santissima Annunziata for studio today, so I headed up there early and got to enjoy the festivities, including some amazing fried dough. The reason we had to go to the Foundling Hospital was to go to a conference hosted by Syracuse University on finding public space in unexpected places. Three different architects presented their ideas on the subject and then there was a round-table discussion. I left after the first two architects, because it was soooooo long. I didn't find it particularly interesting because of how long it was, but it was kind of interesting to go to an architectural conference.
Today is Capodanno Fiorentino, which is the Florentine New Year. It's also called Annunciazione di Maria or the Annunciation of Mary. Every year on this day, there's a festival in Piazza di Santissima Annunziata with little stalls of clothes and knick-knacks and sweets. Luckily, we had to meet at the Foundling Hospital in Piazza di Santissima Annunziata for studio today, so I headed up there early and got to enjoy the festivities, including some amazing fried dough. The reason we had to go to the Foundling Hospital was to go to a conference hosted by Syracuse University on finding public space in unexpected places. Three different architects presented their ideas on the subject and then there was a round-table discussion. I left after the first two architects, because it was soooooo long. I didn't find it particularly interesting because of how long it was, but it was kind of interesting to go to an architectural conference.
March 23, 2009
went back to classes! I never thought I'd be glad to go to class again, but after being cooped up in either the hospital or my room for two weeks, I'm loving the fresh air and interaction with people besides my roommates. I almost forgot I was in Italy these past two weeks, so it's nice to get out and hear people speaking Italian again.
went back to classes! I never thought I'd be glad to go to class again, but after being cooped up in either the hospital or my room for two weeks, I'm loving the fresh air and interaction with people besides my roommates. I almost forgot I was in Italy these past two weeks, so it's nice to get out and hear people speaking Italian again.
March 22, 2009
went to the Florence vs. Siena soccer game. Neither team played particularly well, but Florence won. It was kind of cool to see some of the die hard fans. They have their own section on one end of the field that gets sold out before the season even starts. They all have giant flags they wave around (and by giant I mean bed sheet sized) and scarves that they all hold up in unison at certain times. They sing songs and lead chants, too. The opposing team's fans also have their own section, but it's caged in, and no one is even allowed to sit in the stands right next to the cage. It's pretty ridiculous, but I guess at some of the bigger rivalry games, things get really out of hand. Our match was pretty tame, though.
went to the Florence vs. Siena soccer game. Neither team played particularly well, but Florence won. It was kind of cool to see some of the die hard fans. They have their own section on one end of the field that gets sold out before the season even starts. They all have giant flags they wave around (and by giant I mean bed sheet sized) and scarves that they all hold up in unison at certain times. They sing songs and lead chants, too. The opposing team's fans also have their own section, but it's caged in, and no one is even allowed to sit in the stands right next to the cage. It's pretty ridiculous, but I guess at some of the bigger rivalry games, things get really out of hand. Our match was pretty tame, though.
Venice
March 20-21, 2009
went to Venice on an overnight class trip. We left Friday morning on a Eurostar train (those are the really fast ones). We got to Venice in time for lunch. After eating at the station, we got our boat tickets and worked our way over to our hostel. The public transportation in Venice is really cool, because they can't have a bus or metro system, so they have boats instead. We had to take one boat around the Grand Canal to Campo di San Marco and then switch to another boat to get out of the center of the city to our hostel.
After dropping our stuff off at the hostel, we took a boat back to the island that forms the main part of the city to see Campo di San Marco and the church that faces it. We walked around a lot of the city, taking note of different architectural elements and the way different buildings are restored. We also went in a couple more churches, before being set free to wander the get some dinner and wander the city. I enjoyed a long relaxing dinner with Nikul, Kelly, Izzy, Ash, Katie C., and Pat.
After dinner we walked around for awhile, exploring the canals and bridges and going into a few shops. Venice must be known for its glass, because almost every shop was selling glass jewelry or trinkets. While walking around, we could hear some really good music coming from somewhere, so we followed it to its source and discovered this little wine bar with live music. It was just a tiny little place but it opened up to the street, so there was a crowd filling the whole inside as well as the street. Now that I think about it, there are no cars, so all the roads are only for pedestrians. But anyway, the music was awesome, and we stayed there listening to it until we had to leave to meet back up with the group.
The meeting point was all the way on the other side of the city, and with all the canals and strange windy and dead-ending roads that work their way around the canals, it took us almost an hour to get there. We had fun, though, turning down random roads and hoping they led in the right direction, singing Disney and other classic songs the whole time. We were supposed to be meeting back up with the group to go out to a bar and experience the nightlife (this part of the trip was optional), but no one in our little group really felt like doing that, so we met back up with the group for a little while and then went back out on our own again. We went to see the new bridge by Santiago Calatrava (which isn't even completely finished, but is open to cross). Then Kelly and I headed back to the hostel while the others explored a little longer.
Saturday morning we had breakfast in the hostel and then saw some more churches and some of the more modern buildings around our hostel. It was interesting to see how these architects designed cost-saving (they're all low-income housing) modern buildings that still tie in with the historical context. We also went to the Fondazione Stampalia Querini Museum, because it was restored by Carlo Scarpa. That was fairly interesting. And there was a chocolate festival nearby that we walked through, so we all bought chocolate and were happy.
After the museum we had free time to get lunch and explore on our own again. I feel like most of this trip was free time. We walked to the outskirts to see some park Carlo (our teacher) recommended. The park wasn't anything special, but we came across this weird collection of buildings that each had a country's name written on the side. They were all empty and very abandoned looking. When we asked Carlo about it later, he said they were used for exhibitions at least once a year, but are currently empty. They looked like they had been abandoned for more than a year, though. They were still neat to see, in a semi-creepy, Planet of the Apes type way.
Late afternoon we met back at the station to catch our train home. Despite not being able to go on a gondola ride (which are super expensive but are on my list of things to do before I die), I had a really good time in Venice, and I'm really glad I was feeling well enough to go after the whole pneumonia debacle.
went to Venice on an overnight class trip. We left Friday morning on a Eurostar train (those are the really fast ones). We got to Venice in time for lunch. After eating at the station, we got our boat tickets and worked our way over to our hostel. The public transportation in Venice is really cool, because they can't have a bus or metro system, so they have boats instead. We had to take one boat around the Grand Canal to Campo di San Marco and then switch to another boat to get out of the center of the city to our hostel.
After dropping our stuff off at the hostel, we took a boat back to the island that forms the main part of the city to see Campo di San Marco and the church that faces it. We walked around a lot of the city, taking note of different architectural elements and the way different buildings are restored. We also went in a couple more churches, before being set free to wander the get some dinner and wander the city. I enjoyed a long relaxing dinner with Nikul, Kelly, Izzy, Ash, Katie C., and Pat.
After dinner we walked around for awhile, exploring the canals and bridges and going into a few shops. Venice must be known for its glass, because almost every shop was selling glass jewelry or trinkets. While walking around, we could hear some really good music coming from somewhere, so we followed it to its source and discovered this little wine bar with live music. It was just a tiny little place but it opened up to the street, so there was a crowd filling the whole inside as well as the street. Now that I think about it, there are no cars, so all the roads are only for pedestrians. But anyway, the music was awesome, and we stayed there listening to it until we had to leave to meet back up with the group.
The meeting point was all the way on the other side of the city, and with all the canals and strange windy and dead-ending roads that work their way around the canals, it took us almost an hour to get there. We had fun, though, turning down random roads and hoping they led in the right direction, singing Disney and other classic songs the whole time. We were supposed to be meeting back up with the group to go out to a bar and experience the nightlife (this part of the trip was optional), but no one in our little group really felt like doing that, so we met back up with the group for a little while and then went back out on our own again. We went to see the new bridge by Santiago Calatrava (which isn't even completely finished, but is open to cross). Then Kelly and I headed back to the hostel while the others explored a little longer.
Saturday morning we had breakfast in the hostel and then saw some more churches and some of the more modern buildings around our hostel. It was interesting to see how these architects designed cost-saving (they're all low-income housing) modern buildings that still tie in with the historical context. We also went to the Fondazione Stampalia Querini Museum, because it was restored by Carlo Scarpa. That was fairly interesting. And there was a chocolate festival nearby that we walked through, so we all bought chocolate and were happy.
After the museum we had free time to get lunch and explore on our own again. I feel like most of this trip was free time. We walked to the outskirts to see some park Carlo (our teacher) recommended. The park wasn't anything special, but we came across this weird collection of buildings that each had a country's name written on the side. They were all empty and very abandoned looking. When we asked Carlo about it later, he said they were used for exhibitions at least once a year, but are currently empty. They looked like they had been abandoned for more than a year, though. They were still neat to see, in a semi-creepy, Planet of the Apes type way.
Late afternoon we met back at the station to catch our train home. Despite not being able to go on a gondola ride (which are super expensive but are on my list of things to do before I die), I had a really good time in Venice, and I'm really glad I was feeling well enough to go after the whole pneumonia debacle.
March 14, 2009
came home from the hospital today! I started feeling sick Saturday night while still in Berlin, had a miserable day of traveling home on Sunday, continued to feel miserable Monday and Tuesday, and by Wednesday morning I was still feeling so bad that I went to the hospital (in one of the ambulances whose insistent wailing I daily curse). After spending all day in the emergency room, wheeled from one room to another or sometimes just left out in the hall for hours, hooked up to IV after IV, I was taken to an overnight room where it was finally explained to me in English that I had pneumonia and would have to stay in the hospital for two to three days. Those next few days were not a whole lot of fun. The only person who spoke more than a few words of English was the doctor, who only saw me for about five minutes each day, so I didn't talk much during those days. Thursday morning my roommates came to visit me and bring me a few things like a toothbrush and some books but were quickly kicked out since visiting hours hadn't technically started yet. Izzy, Nikul, and Kelly came by later that night during actual visiting hours and stayed for a little while, giving me the opportunity to actually speak in English. No one could come visit me after Thursday because everyone left for Rome on a class trip (that I was supposed to be on) early Friday morning. On Thursday the doctor said that I could leave Friday, but I had another dangerously high fever Thursday night and wasn't allowed to leave. Luckily Friday night, I finally slept the whole night without a high fever so I was allowed to leave this afternoon.
came home from the hospital today! I started feeling sick Saturday night while still in Berlin, had a miserable day of traveling home on Sunday, continued to feel miserable Monday and Tuesday, and by Wednesday morning I was still feeling so bad that I went to the hospital (in one of the ambulances whose insistent wailing I daily curse). After spending all day in the emergency room, wheeled from one room to another or sometimes just left out in the hall for hours, hooked up to IV after IV, I was taken to an overnight room where it was finally explained to me in English that I had pneumonia and would have to stay in the hospital for two to three days. Those next few days were not a whole lot of fun. The only person who spoke more than a few words of English was the doctor, who only saw me for about five minutes each day, so I didn't talk much during those days. Thursday morning my roommates came to visit me and bring me a few things like a toothbrush and some books but were quickly kicked out since visiting hours hadn't technically started yet. Izzy, Nikul, and Kelly came by later that night during actual visiting hours and stayed for a little while, giving me the opportunity to actually speak in English. No one could come visit me after Thursday because everyone left for Rome on a class trip (that I was supposed to be on) early Friday morning. On Thursday the doctor said that I could leave Friday, but I had another dangerously high fever Thursday night and wasn't allowed to leave. Luckily Friday night, I finally slept the whole night without a high fever so I was allowed to leave this afternoon.
Spring Break!
February 27-March 8, 2009
When asked what I did over spring break, the first things that come to mind are climbing trees, playing on playgrounds, and picking citrus fruits. Then of course we did other less important things like visit architecturally important buildings, go on tours, become experienced users of the mass transit systems, pick up a little Catalan and German, and try to recall all the Spanish we ever learned.
February 27, 2009
I went on Spring Break with Nikul, Ash, and Kelly. We started with Barcelona. We had to wake up WICKED early on Friday to walk over half an hour to catch our train at the station just outside of Florence. Of course, we had all stayed up late the night before to have one last family dinner to celebrate midterms being over, so that walk was a little rough. Luckily our train had little compartments with seats that can all slide out to form one giant bed so we napped the whole way to Milan, where we had to catch a bus to the airport, where we finally got our plane. While we were waiting at the airport, a man accidentally set off the alarm, but NO ONE came. The alarm went off forever until someone leaned on the other emergency door. When it was finally time to board our plane, we were all herded onto a shuttle bus that took us about 20 feet to the plane and everyone who didn't fit on the bus just walked over to the plane. It was super weird. The plane was cool, though, cuz we got to climb up a flight of stairs like in the movies.
Once we landed in Barcelona, we had to take another bus into the center of the city and then find our way to our hostel, Hostal Maritima. Along the way we discovered a cool park with a giant tile sculpture and some neat buildings and piazzas. Our hostel was located right on La Rambla (the main drag leading right down to the water), so we got to see all the street performers, statue people, and street vendors along there as well. Once we checked into the hostel, we went back out wandering the city again. Barcelona is such a gorgeous city. Everything is so designed, and people actually populate all the public spaces. Even the random little piazzas that seem out of the way are full of people.
February 28, 2009
Saturday morning, we got up bright and early to go explore Montjuic, the mountain just on the edge of the city. On the way to the mountain, we found these funny trees with spikey branches and strange fruits. We really wanted to get one down, so I tried jumping for one and failed miserably. A runner was jogging by and laughed at me and said, "Almost!" We also tried throwing Nikul's shoe (despite his protestations that it would get stuck), but didn't manage to knock anything down. We decided to move on and soon came to another clump of the funny trees. Since Nikul's shoe hadn't gotten stuck before, we figured it was safe to try throwing it again. We weren't so lucky this time, and his shoelaces got tangled around the branch. I tried to get it down with a stick, but that didn't work. Just when we decided that I would need to climb on Nikul's shoulders, a group of runners came over and I swear you could hear the music playing, "Dun da da dunnnnn!" They quickly formed a three-man pyramid, tossed Nikul's shoe down and ran back in the direction they had come from. We were cracking up over the fact that they clearly ran out of their way to help us, saved the day (and were very proud of it), and continued on their run.
We had originally planned to spend the morning on Montjuic, but we quickly realized we would need the entire day to fully enjoy this mountain. There were parks and playgrounds and all sorts of fun things to do all the way up the mountain. We climbed a trillion trees before we even reached the parks. All the trees in Barcelona are amazing for climbing. We were even climbing from tree to tree. While up in the trees we picked oranges to eat.
One of the first fun things we came to was a ropes course. The sign said it was for 12 and under but we stayed out of the way of the little kids and joined in the fun. Before long one of the moms had joined us. We also found a musical park. At the first part, there were these wooden planks to jump on that played different notes and these wooden pumps that also played notes. Then we came to a series of squashy stepping stones. When you jump on them, they play notes, so we spent a while figuring out how to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb." The Spanish family walking by was quite amused. Continuing up the mountain, we saw more awesome playgrounds and these two GIANT slides that of course we just had to go down (still for 12 and under).
When we finally reached the top of the mountain, we found ourselves at the castle (which was originally our destination). We spent some time exploring the castle and eating our stolen oranges. Then we took a sky car to a spot about halfway down the mountain so we could go find the Olympic Stadium. The sky car was cool cuz we had a great view of the city. The Olympic Stadium wasn't that impressive but we got to see the Walk of Fame, with different athletes' footprints, the track stadium, the pool buildings, and Calatrava's famous communications tower.
On our way back down to the main city, we saw this really cool building that's part of an art school or art museum or something. It's weird, but there are escalators that run up this part of the mountain. We eventually came out to some important plaza; I think it might have been Placa Espana or something like that. It has a huge fountain, but it wasn't on. After stopping back at the hostel briefly, we found our way to the Gothic Quarter to see the cathedral by Gaudi. Unfortunately much of the exterior of the cathedral was covered by scaffolding but it was still really cool to see. We listened to a bunch of the musicians playing in the piazzas around the cathedral, grabbed some dinner, and went back to the hostel to relax.
Back at the hostel, we sat out in the common room playing card games with a deck of cards borrowed from a French girl in another room. A girl named Ana from Croatia soon joined us. She spoke English amazingly well, and she said she learned it all from watching "TV and Cartoon Network." Soon the group of British kids and the group of French kids were all out in the common room, too. Two of the French kids, Pierre and Lou, joined our group playing cards. Even the man who ran the hostel joined in. After many rounds of cards, we moved into the French kids' room to hang out for awhile. Our Italian roommate Matteo also joined us. It was kind of crazy how all these different people from England, America, Italy, Spain, France, and Croatia could all hang out together and have so much in common. Other than the man who ran the hostel, we were all foreign students, so it was cool. Luckily, everyone spoke English, although some of the conversations were in Spanish or French or Italian, too. When it was late enough to go out, we all traipsed out to the club. The French and British kids went one direction, but Nikul knew of a club on top of the mall down by the water, so we headed down there with Pierre in tow (I guess he preferred coming with us than going with his group). We spent awhile at the club, but Pierre and I got separated from Kelly, Ash, and Nikul, so we wandered around Barcelona for awhile looking at all the cool things down by the water. It's hard to describe, but seriously EVERYTHING in Barcelona is designed, from the pedestrian bridges over the highways to the coverings over the benches. It's really neat to see.
March 1, 2009
Sunday morning, I got up early to go to mass at the Gaudi cathedral. All the streets were blocked off, and on my way back, I found out why. I saw a wheelchair race go by, which was so cool. Back at the hostel, we all packed up our stuff, left our bags at the hostel, and went out to see all the other Gaudi buildings. The wheelchair race wasn't going on anymore, but this time we saw a regular road race going by. As we headed up Les Ramblas, we saw these awesome drummers. I could have stood there and listened to them all day.
The first Gaudi building we saw was Casa Batllo. Casa Batllo is an apartment building whose shape is inspired by a dragon. It's such an awesome building. Gaudi's style is absolutely crazy, with colored tiles everywhere, and no straight lines, other than the flat floor. We paid a lot of money to go in and see the interior of the building, but it was worth it, since Casa Batllo is my favorite of Gaudi's buildings. I was really glad we got to go on the roof where the main part of the dragon is. My pictures probably don't do it justice, because it is such an awesome building.
After Casa Batllo, we went to see Casa Mila. We didn't spend as much time there, because we didn't go in. Casa Mila is very Art Nouveau and wavy, too, but it doesn't have the colored tile. Supposedly it has a really cool roof, but we couldn't see that from the street. Next we went to La Sagrada Familia, also designed by Gaudi. La Sagrada Familia has been under construction for over a hundred years. The cranes scattered among the towers are as much a part of the building as anything else.
After La Sagrada Familia, we headed across the city to Park Guell. I don't think I can even begin to describe Park Guell. You'll just have to look at my pictures when they go up. A huge portion of the park was closed for maintenance (there were like 3 tree branches on the path.... hardly reason to close half a park), which we were extremely disappointed about, so we snuck into the other part of the park.
We eventually headed back towards our part of the city to have a real sit-down dinner before leaving Barcelona. On our way back to the hostel after dinner, we stopped to listen to a man who was playing the guitar and singing English songs. He had a HUGE gathering watching him, and they all knew these English songs better than I did. It's no wonder everyone in Europe seems to know English with so much English television and music around. We listened for several songs before heading into the hostel to grab our bags. While we were in there, we said good-bye to the French kids, who didn't want us to leave. It was funny how sad they were to see us go. They tried to convince us to stay another night, but we had a ferry booked, so we headed down to the harbor.
We took a ferry all night to Palma de Mallorca. We bought the cheaper tickets, which didn't actually include seats, so instead we got to sleep on the benches in the cafeteria. The cafeteria closes at midnight, and the benches are pretty comfortable, so it actually wasn't bad at all. It might have because of how all the activities we crammed into the past couple of days, but I slept great.
March 2, 2009
We arrived in Palma at around 7:00 in the morning. Even the reception at our hostel, Hostal Terramar, wasn't open that early, so we found the hostel and then sat on a ledge, eating oranges and watching the sunrise. When the hostel opened, we relaxed for a little while before heading out in search of a bike rental. We rented bikes and biked around the island for a couple of hours. Kelly's not much of a biker so she explored the historic district while we biked. Then Nikul and I joined her and she showed us around. We saw the cathedral and some piazza type areas. When Ash met back up with us, we headed back to the hostel for a little more relaxing before dinner at a little sandwich place. After dinner, we stayed in the hostel playing Outburst with our British roommate Fiona.
March 3, 2009
Tuesday morning, Nikul and I tried to get one last bike ride in before we had to return our bikes. We decided to head down the coast in the opposite direction we had gone the day before. We quickly came to the end of the bike path and came to the highway. It was starting to rain at this point as well, so rather than trying to bike on the highway in the rain (and soak the few clothes we had brought with us), we headed back to the hostel. We still biked for almost an hour, so it was all good. After we had returned all the bikes, we reconvened at the hostel to figure out our game plan for the day. Originally, we had hoped to take a ferry to another island that only houses a national park. No one seemed to know anything about this ferry, which might not even have been open since it's not tourist season yet, and it was really starting to rain, so we decided to scrap the national park idea. Instead, we decided to head into the historic part of Palma to see the Arab baths.
Once in Palma, we followed the signs for the baths around in circles until we finally found it. The Arab baths were a HUGE disappointment. There was a scraggly garden and one room and that's all there was to see. We had only paid 2 euro to get in, but we wanted to get our money's worth, so when we found a lemon tree, we figured we might as well pick some of the lemons. None of the lemons could be reached from the ground, so Ash climbed up into the branches. Unfortunately she still couldn't reach, but when she jumped down from the tree, a giant moldy lemon got shaken free and fell just a few inches from her head and splatted on the ground. It was really funny, but the smell made us want lemons even more. Nikul climbed up into the tree and with his long gangly arms managed to pick some lemons. There was a German family who were also visiting the baths and thought this was all very funny and took pictures of Nikul.
After the Arab baths, we wandered around the city for awhile until we found the tourist information center. Here we got information about hiking and buses and decided to take a bus to the other side of the island to see some of the scenery. On the way to the bus, we found an awesome playground, but it was fenced off and we were severely disappointed.
We were originally going to take a direct bus to Soller (the town on the other side of the island), but we figured out that a different one would be more scenic, so we took the other bus to enjoy the scenery. In Soller we walked around, took pictures, and then had dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Eventually, we took the bus back to Palma to enjoy our last night drinking a beer and taking in the view up on the roof terrace.
March 4, 2009
We got up bright and early to watch the sunrise from the roof, but it was so cloudy that we couldn't see anything. Then we gathered all our things and caught a bus to the airport to head to Berlin. Once in Berlin, we had to catch a train and then take the metro out to the Schonhauser Allee stop (we had a lot of fun with that name). Then it was just a short walk to our hostel, The Corner Hostel. It was pretty late in the day when we got there and we were all pretty pooped, so we spent the afternoon planning our time in Berlin. We made dinner in the hostel and met two groups of Italian kids who were also staying at the hostel. The one group of girls didn't really speak English and were younger than us, but the other group was our age and spoke English fairly well, so we hung out with them after dinner. After playing cards for awhile in the hostel, we went to the pool lounge that was literally across the street.
March 5, 2009
Thursday morning, we took the metro into the heart of Berlin for a free walking tour. The tour was really awesome. Our tour guide was a girl from Australia named Lucy and she did a really good job. She was really funny and the tour gave us a good overview of the city so we could decide what to go back and see in more detail later. We learned so much history about Berlin, too. Some of the things we saw were the Brandenburg Gate, the American and French embassies around the gate, the famous hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby out the window, a Gehry building, the Reichstag, one of the many Holocaust Memorials, the former site of Hitler's bunker (now just a parking lot so that he's not glorified in any way), Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall, the Nazi Air Force Building which is now something else, some famous chocolate store, Gendarmenmarkt with the Konzerthaus and the French and German churches on either side, and a bunch of other stuff. The Gehry building is totally unlike the stuff he normally does. Usually he creates these crazy buildings with fairly normal interiors, but there's a law that no building in the piazza with the Brandenburg Gate can outshine the gate, so Gehry had to internalize his craziness. The outside is very normal looking, but the inside looks like the belly of a whale. It was pretty cool.
After the tour, we went back and went into a bunch of the buildings that we had only seen from the outside. Of course we went back to the chocolate store to buy some chocolate. We explored a little of West Berlin as well since we had only seen East Berlin on the tour. While we were trying to figure out what one building was, we ran into Emily, Hardy, Phil, Jarrod, Katie, and Liz who had all been traveling together for spring break. We all made plans to meet back up later that night, and then we went to climb the dome of the Reichstag. The Reichstag is a pretty neat building, because the main building was built towards the end of the 19th century, so it looks fairly traditional. The dome on top, however, wasn't added until the end of the 20th century, so it's much more modern looking. The dome is completely glass and offers a 360 degree view of Berlin. In the middle of the dome is this huge mirrored pointed thing that's kind of hard to describe. It points to a window through which you can see the German parliament meeting.
After the Reichstag, we rushed back to the hostel, grabbing dinner on the way, so we could go on the pub crawl hosted by the same group that had led our tour. We quickly gobbled our sandwiches, dropped off our bags, and headed to another part of Berlin for the pub crawl. The pub crawl was supposed to go to 4 bars and end at a club, but by the third bar Kelly wasn't feeling well, so I went back to the hostel with her.
Finding our way back was extremely difficult. We didn't have a metro map and the closest stops didn't have the train that went to our hostel, so we had to figure out where to switch, but the trains stop running at a certain part of the night, so we actually had to take a tram. It was all very confusing. There were two German boys who spoke English who tried to give us directions but we quickly realized they were telling us to get off at the wrong stop so that we would get off with them, so we rode the tram a little longer to put some distance between us. By the time we got off the tram, we had no idea where we were, but I used the miniscule amount of German I know to go into a cafe and find someone who spoke English. I asked the man behind the counter if he spoke English, and when he said he only spoke German, we started to leave, but he grabbed my arm and indicated that he would find someone at the bar who spoke English. I thought it was really nice of him to find someone who could help us, because he was obviously busy. Luckily the man who spoke English was able to direct us to the Schonhauser Allee stop so we could find our way back to the hostel with no further difficulties.
March 6, 2009
Friday morning, we headed back to the same place as on Thursday for another tour with that group. We gave that tour group plenty of business. This time we went on the concentration camp tour (unfortunately not free like the other one). The concentration camp is a little ways outside of the city, so we had to take two trains to Oranienburg, where we walked the same path the Holocaust victims took to get to Sachsenhausen (the concentration camp). The tour was really interesting, but it was FREEZING cold, which wasn't pleasant. I can't imagine how any of the victims survived the cold in their thin little uniforms. I was super bundled up and I felt like I was getting hypothermia, so it's no surprise that so many died. A lot of the camp is no longer standing because of how expensive it is for the upkeep of so many buildings, but our tour guide Lucy (the same girl we had for the free tour) knew a lot of really interesting information and was able to give us a good idea of what the camp had been like. I really liked how she didn't focus on any one group that was targeted during the Holocaust but talked about all the groups that were brought into the camp. She listed 5 or 6 different categories of prisoners; I don't remember all of their correct names, but the largest group to be targeted besides Jews were the Romana City (at least that's what it sounded like she said, but basically it's the Gypsies). Jews and Gypsies were the lowest rung of the social hierarchy in concentration camps. Other groups higher up the ladder were social somethings (I can't remember the name), which included alcoholics, criminals, and the unemployed, Communists, and some others that I can't remember. The Communists were the top of the hierarchy because they weren't inferior people; they simply had the wrong political views.
When we got back from Sachsenhausen, we went to see the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche or the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. This was a church that was bombed during World War II (most of the interesting facts we learned in Berlin had something to do with WWII). It wasn't restored in order to commemorate the bombings, so there are holes in the church where you can see all the way through, or see out to the sky. It was closed when we went, so we couldn't go inside, but it was still really neat to see. During the mid-1900s a new church complex was built on the same site. The new complex has several buildings that sort of surround the old church. All the new buildings are very modern looking, made of glass blocks. It's a strange juxtaposition.
When we got back to the hostel, we made a big spaghetti dinner and then hung out with the Italian kids again. Liz and Katie came over, and we went over to the pool hall again. This time some of the Germans challenged the Italians to a game. All the German locals were clearly very good pool players. We watched a couple games after the Italians lost. After a while we decided to go find another bar. Since we were in more of the suburban part of Berlin and since Germans go to bed really early, not many places were open. One place we came upon was very clearly a gay bar with blacked out windows. Some of the others and I tried to point this out and that it might not be the best place to go, but Katie and two of the Italians decided to check it out anyway. They weren't even allowed through the door. One of the guys inside shut the door in their faces. It was amusing.
We eventually found some other little bar. We stayed there for a little while until a really sketchy German boy tried to pick a fight with us over a missing box of cigarettes. Between his drunkeness, some misinterpreted jokes, and much confusion because of the language barrier, things started looking bad, so we beat it and went back to our respective hostels.
March 7, 2009
Saturday we had a big day planned. We wanted to go find the Hindu temple (second largest in Europe supposedly) since Nikul is Hindu, go through the Jewish Museum, and visit a bunch of the architecturally important buildings we had learned about in different classes.
We had an address for the temple and directions via the metro, so we took the metro to the street it was supposed to be on and started walking. I forget the name of the road, but it was a very long road, so we walked all the way down one side to the next metro stop, and then turned around and walked all the way back up the other side. Nowhere along the way did we see a Hindu temple or even anything remotely resembling a temple. We weren't sure if construction was completed, but we saw pictures of the ground breaking two years ago on their website, and they had information about services for different holidays, so we figured the temple had to be around somewhere. We eventually found where it should have been based on the number address, but it was just a strip mall and a Home Depot type store. We asked in the Home Depot store where the temple is and no one had heard of it, so we went back out and continued looking. There's a big park next to the strip mall and the pictures on the website had shown greenery so we trekked all through the park in search of the temple. Still no luck (although we did find a really cool playground). We started discussing the possibility of the whole thing being a huge hoax to raise money (the website asked for donations for the construction process), and just when we were convinced that no Hindu temple exists in Berlin, Nikul spotted this little white board that said "Sri Ganesha Hindu Temple." It was sitting on a little plot of land that looked fairly abandoned. There were some trees cut down, a random park bench, and a teeny construction trailer, but no sign of construction. We're still baffled by it, since we had seen the pictures of the ground breaking but no ground was broken. If that was the second largest Hindu temple in Europe, I'd really like to see the largest...... maybe two construction trailers and a chalkboard?
After visiting the "temple," we headed uptown to visit the Jewish Museum whose building was designed by Daniel Libeskind and was a topic in several of our architectural history-type classes. We weren't impressed with the museum, but experiencing the architecture made it worthwhile. The building is super crazy with all these sharp angular forms and window cut-outs, I think to symbolize the pain and suffering Hitler caused. The building includes the Holocaust Tower (a big dark, cold tower with no exhibits) and the Garden of Exile (this weird slopey outdoor space with all these tall square pillars). The museum was a lot of reading mini biographies of random Jewish people involved in the Holocaust plus some other random information that had very little connection to Judaism. The building would have done much better as a memorial and place for reflection than as a museum. There was one exhibit that I really liked, though. It was called Fallen Leaves and was a whole bunch of faces cut out of metal with different expressions covering the floor of one of the "voids" of the museum. I didn't realize when I was there that you are allowed to actually walk on the faces and touch them, but it was still interesting to see and think about.
Next we started our whirlwind tour of as many architecturally important buildings as possible. We started with the GSW building and then tried to see the Page Memorial (I'd never heard of it but one of our teachers here recommended it as something we should definitely see), but unfortunately couldn't find it. Berlin seems to have a unique way of swallowing up buildings so unsuspecting tourists can't find them. Just like with the temple, we went to the street address and searched all around and couldn't find more than empty lots. So we scratched the Page Memorial off our list and continued on our way to see the Netherlands Embassy (where we were scolded for walking on the grass after we were clearly off the grass and leaving the building), the Sony Building, the Potsdamer Platz Building, the Kammersmusiksaal, and the New National Gallery. Everything we saw was really cool except for the New National Gallery. The Gallery is empty right now, with no exhibit, but it has those screens that have words running across them (I can't think of the name). There were a zillion of these screen strips running across the ceiling of the building but they all had really creepy, violent, gruesome poems or stories or something scrolling across. And it was all in English which was weird. After reading about someone's murderous ambitions and the satisfaction of killing, we got creeped out and headed to our last stop which was a Police and Fire Station with a really cool facade.
At this point it was dark out and we were all frozen and exhausted so we headed back to our hostel for dinner and some much needed relaxation. When we got off at our stop, I went to one of the churches the lady at our hostel had found for me. Since we would be traveling all day on Sunday, I knew I wouldn't make it to mass, so I figured I'd go in and say a prayer or something. When I got there, though, there were two men in the lobby hanging up flyers and the church was locked up. I tried to ask them about it, but they didn't speak English, so they went and got someone who did, who explained to me that no one can go in the church except during mass. I thought it was really weird, but I guess in cities, that's not uncommon.
When I met back up with the group, we decided to go out for dinner to celebrate our last night of Spring Break. As luck would have it, the first affordable place we found was an Italian restaurant. The waiter didn't speak English but he did speak Italian so we were able to communicate. Who would have thought that we'd be speaking Italian in Germany?
In the midst of our packing slash napping after dinner, Nikul, Ash, and I made lemonade with the lemons we still had from Palma de Mallorca and the last of our oranges.
March 8, 2009
All day Sunday was spent traveling back to Florence. From our hostel we had to walk to the metro, take two different trains to the airport, fly to Milan, take an hour-long bus from the Milano airport to the Milano train station (I spent this hour sitting on the floor, since they let too many people on the bus, and I gave up my seat to a little old lady), take a 3 hour train to the outskirts of Florence, take another super short train to the center of Florence, and then walk home. All this time I had a raging fever (which I later found out was the onset of pneumonia) and was utterly miserable. Despite my unhappiness during all this traveling, I was really glad that I didn't get sick until the very end of Spring Break. I was able to have a blast, climbing trees, scampering up mountains, and trekking all over the place.
When asked what I did over spring break, the first things that come to mind are climbing trees, playing on playgrounds, and picking citrus fruits. Then of course we did other less important things like visit architecturally important buildings, go on tours, become experienced users of the mass transit systems, pick up a little Catalan and German, and try to recall all the Spanish we ever learned.
February 27, 2009
I went on Spring Break with Nikul, Ash, and Kelly. We started with Barcelona. We had to wake up WICKED early on Friday to walk over half an hour to catch our train at the station just outside of Florence. Of course, we had all stayed up late the night before to have one last family dinner to celebrate midterms being over, so that walk was a little rough. Luckily our train had little compartments with seats that can all slide out to form one giant bed so we napped the whole way to Milan, where we had to catch a bus to the airport, where we finally got our plane. While we were waiting at the airport, a man accidentally set off the alarm, but NO ONE came. The alarm went off forever until someone leaned on the other emergency door. When it was finally time to board our plane, we were all herded onto a shuttle bus that took us about 20 feet to the plane and everyone who didn't fit on the bus just walked over to the plane. It was super weird. The plane was cool, though, cuz we got to climb up a flight of stairs like in the movies.
Once we landed in Barcelona, we had to take another bus into the center of the city and then find our way to our hostel, Hostal Maritima. Along the way we discovered a cool park with a giant tile sculpture and some neat buildings and piazzas. Our hostel was located right on La Rambla (the main drag leading right down to the water), so we got to see all the street performers, statue people, and street vendors along there as well. Once we checked into the hostel, we went back out wandering the city again. Barcelona is such a gorgeous city. Everything is so designed, and people actually populate all the public spaces. Even the random little piazzas that seem out of the way are full of people.
February 28, 2009
Saturday morning, we got up bright and early to go explore Montjuic, the mountain just on the edge of the city. On the way to the mountain, we found these funny trees with spikey branches and strange fruits. We really wanted to get one down, so I tried jumping for one and failed miserably. A runner was jogging by and laughed at me and said, "Almost!" We also tried throwing Nikul's shoe (despite his protestations that it would get stuck), but didn't manage to knock anything down. We decided to move on and soon came to another clump of the funny trees. Since Nikul's shoe hadn't gotten stuck before, we figured it was safe to try throwing it again. We weren't so lucky this time, and his shoelaces got tangled around the branch. I tried to get it down with a stick, but that didn't work. Just when we decided that I would need to climb on Nikul's shoulders, a group of runners came over and I swear you could hear the music playing, "Dun da da dunnnnn!" They quickly formed a three-man pyramid, tossed Nikul's shoe down and ran back in the direction they had come from. We were cracking up over the fact that they clearly ran out of their way to help us, saved the day (and were very proud of it), and continued on their run.
We had originally planned to spend the morning on Montjuic, but we quickly realized we would need the entire day to fully enjoy this mountain. There were parks and playgrounds and all sorts of fun things to do all the way up the mountain. We climbed a trillion trees before we even reached the parks. All the trees in Barcelona are amazing for climbing. We were even climbing from tree to tree. While up in the trees we picked oranges to eat.
One of the first fun things we came to was a ropes course. The sign said it was for 12 and under but we stayed out of the way of the little kids and joined in the fun. Before long one of the moms had joined us. We also found a musical park. At the first part, there were these wooden planks to jump on that played different notes and these wooden pumps that also played notes. Then we came to a series of squashy stepping stones. When you jump on them, they play notes, so we spent a while figuring out how to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb." The Spanish family walking by was quite amused. Continuing up the mountain, we saw more awesome playgrounds and these two GIANT slides that of course we just had to go down (still for 12 and under).
When we finally reached the top of the mountain, we found ourselves at the castle (which was originally our destination). We spent some time exploring the castle and eating our stolen oranges. Then we took a sky car to a spot about halfway down the mountain so we could go find the Olympic Stadium. The sky car was cool cuz we had a great view of the city. The Olympic Stadium wasn't that impressive but we got to see the Walk of Fame, with different athletes' footprints, the track stadium, the pool buildings, and Calatrava's famous communications tower.
On our way back down to the main city, we saw this really cool building that's part of an art school or art museum or something. It's weird, but there are escalators that run up this part of the mountain. We eventually came out to some important plaza; I think it might have been Placa Espana or something like that. It has a huge fountain, but it wasn't on. After stopping back at the hostel briefly, we found our way to the Gothic Quarter to see the cathedral by Gaudi. Unfortunately much of the exterior of the cathedral was covered by scaffolding but it was still really cool to see. We listened to a bunch of the musicians playing in the piazzas around the cathedral, grabbed some dinner, and went back to the hostel to relax.
Back at the hostel, we sat out in the common room playing card games with a deck of cards borrowed from a French girl in another room. A girl named Ana from Croatia soon joined us. She spoke English amazingly well, and she said she learned it all from watching "TV and Cartoon Network." Soon the group of British kids and the group of French kids were all out in the common room, too. Two of the French kids, Pierre and Lou, joined our group playing cards. Even the man who ran the hostel joined in. After many rounds of cards, we moved into the French kids' room to hang out for awhile. Our Italian roommate Matteo also joined us. It was kind of crazy how all these different people from England, America, Italy, Spain, France, and Croatia could all hang out together and have so much in common. Other than the man who ran the hostel, we were all foreign students, so it was cool. Luckily, everyone spoke English, although some of the conversations were in Spanish or French or Italian, too. When it was late enough to go out, we all traipsed out to the club. The French and British kids went one direction, but Nikul knew of a club on top of the mall down by the water, so we headed down there with Pierre in tow (I guess he preferred coming with us than going with his group). We spent awhile at the club, but Pierre and I got separated from Kelly, Ash, and Nikul, so we wandered around Barcelona for awhile looking at all the cool things down by the water. It's hard to describe, but seriously EVERYTHING in Barcelona is designed, from the pedestrian bridges over the highways to the coverings over the benches. It's really neat to see.
March 1, 2009
Sunday morning, I got up early to go to mass at the Gaudi cathedral. All the streets were blocked off, and on my way back, I found out why. I saw a wheelchair race go by, which was so cool. Back at the hostel, we all packed up our stuff, left our bags at the hostel, and went out to see all the other Gaudi buildings. The wheelchair race wasn't going on anymore, but this time we saw a regular road race going by. As we headed up Les Ramblas, we saw these awesome drummers. I could have stood there and listened to them all day.
The first Gaudi building we saw was Casa Batllo. Casa Batllo is an apartment building whose shape is inspired by a dragon. It's such an awesome building. Gaudi's style is absolutely crazy, with colored tiles everywhere, and no straight lines, other than the flat floor. We paid a lot of money to go in and see the interior of the building, but it was worth it, since Casa Batllo is my favorite of Gaudi's buildings. I was really glad we got to go on the roof where the main part of the dragon is. My pictures probably don't do it justice, because it is such an awesome building.
After Casa Batllo, we went to see Casa Mila. We didn't spend as much time there, because we didn't go in. Casa Mila is very Art Nouveau and wavy, too, but it doesn't have the colored tile. Supposedly it has a really cool roof, but we couldn't see that from the street. Next we went to La Sagrada Familia, also designed by Gaudi. La Sagrada Familia has been under construction for over a hundred years. The cranes scattered among the towers are as much a part of the building as anything else.
After La Sagrada Familia, we headed across the city to Park Guell. I don't think I can even begin to describe Park Guell. You'll just have to look at my pictures when they go up. A huge portion of the park was closed for maintenance (there were like 3 tree branches on the path.... hardly reason to close half a park), which we were extremely disappointed about, so we snuck into the other part of the park.
We eventually headed back towards our part of the city to have a real sit-down dinner before leaving Barcelona. On our way back to the hostel after dinner, we stopped to listen to a man who was playing the guitar and singing English songs. He had a HUGE gathering watching him, and they all knew these English songs better than I did. It's no wonder everyone in Europe seems to know English with so much English television and music around. We listened for several songs before heading into the hostel to grab our bags. While we were in there, we said good-bye to the French kids, who didn't want us to leave. It was funny how sad they were to see us go. They tried to convince us to stay another night, but we had a ferry booked, so we headed down to the harbor.
We took a ferry all night to Palma de Mallorca. We bought the cheaper tickets, which didn't actually include seats, so instead we got to sleep on the benches in the cafeteria. The cafeteria closes at midnight, and the benches are pretty comfortable, so it actually wasn't bad at all. It might have because of how all the activities we crammed into the past couple of days, but I slept great.
March 2, 2009
We arrived in Palma at around 7:00 in the morning. Even the reception at our hostel, Hostal Terramar, wasn't open that early, so we found the hostel and then sat on a ledge, eating oranges and watching the sunrise. When the hostel opened, we relaxed for a little while before heading out in search of a bike rental. We rented bikes and biked around the island for a couple of hours. Kelly's not much of a biker so she explored the historic district while we biked. Then Nikul and I joined her and she showed us around. We saw the cathedral and some piazza type areas. When Ash met back up with us, we headed back to the hostel for a little more relaxing before dinner at a little sandwich place. After dinner, we stayed in the hostel playing Outburst with our British roommate Fiona.
March 3, 2009
Tuesday morning, Nikul and I tried to get one last bike ride in before we had to return our bikes. We decided to head down the coast in the opposite direction we had gone the day before. We quickly came to the end of the bike path and came to the highway. It was starting to rain at this point as well, so rather than trying to bike on the highway in the rain (and soak the few clothes we had brought with us), we headed back to the hostel. We still biked for almost an hour, so it was all good. After we had returned all the bikes, we reconvened at the hostel to figure out our game plan for the day. Originally, we had hoped to take a ferry to another island that only houses a national park. No one seemed to know anything about this ferry, which might not even have been open since it's not tourist season yet, and it was really starting to rain, so we decided to scrap the national park idea. Instead, we decided to head into the historic part of Palma to see the Arab baths.
Once in Palma, we followed the signs for the baths around in circles until we finally found it. The Arab baths were a HUGE disappointment. There was a scraggly garden and one room and that's all there was to see. We had only paid 2 euro to get in, but we wanted to get our money's worth, so when we found a lemon tree, we figured we might as well pick some of the lemons. None of the lemons could be reached from the ground, so Ash climbed up into the branches. Unfortunately she still couldn't reach, but when she jumped down from the tree, a giant moldy lemon got shaken free and fell just a few inches from her head and splatted on the ground. It was really funny, but the smell made us want lemons even more. Nikul climbed up into the tree and with his long gangly arms managed to pick some lemons. There was a German family who were also visiting the baths and thought this was all very funny and took pictures of Nikul.
After the Arab baths, we wandered around the city for awhile until we found the tourist information center. Here we got information about hiking and buses and decided to take a bus to the other side of the island to see some of the scenery. On the way to the bus, we found an awesome playground, but it was fenced off and we were severely disappointed.
We were originally going to take a direct bus to Soller (the town on the other side of the island), but we figured out that a different one would be more scenic, so we took the other bus to enjoy the scenery. In Soller we walked around, took pictures, and then had dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Eventually, we took the bus back to Palma to enjoy our last night drinking a beer and taking in the view up on the roof terrace.
March 4, 2009
We got up bright and early to watch the sunrise from the roof, but it was so cloudy that we couldn't see anything. Then we gathered all our things and caught a bus to the airport to head to Berlin. Once in Berlin, we had to catch a train and then take the metro out to the Schonhauser Allee stop (we had a lot of fun with that name). Then it was just a short walk to our hostel, The Corner Hostel. It was pretty late in the day when we got there and we were all pretty pooped, so we spent the afternoon planning our time in Berlin. We made dinner in the hostel and met two groups of Italian kids who were also staying at the hostel. The one group of girls didn't really speak English and were younger than us, but the other group was our age and spoke English fairly well, so we hung out with them after dinner. After playing cards for awhile in the hostel, we went to the pool lounge that was literally across the street.
March 5, 2009
Thursday morning, we took the metro into the heart of Berlin for a free walking tour. The tour was really awesome. Our tour guide was a girl from Australia named Lucy and she did a really good job. She was really funny and the tour gave us a good overview of the city so we could decide what to go back and see in more detail later. We learned so much history about Berlin, too. Some of the things we saw were the Brandenburg Gate, the American and French embassies around the gate, the famous hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby out the window, a Gehry building, the Reichstag, one of the many Holocaust Memorials, the former site of Hitler's bunker (now just a parking lot so that he's not glorified in any way), Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall, the Nazi Air Force Building which is now something else, some famous chocolate store, Gendarmenmarkt with the Konzerthaus and the French and German churches on either side, and a bunch of other stuff. The Gehry building is totally unlike the stuff he normally does. Usually he creates these crazy buildings with fairly normal interiors, but there's a law that no building in the piazza with the Brandenburg Gate can outshine the gate, so Gehry had to internalize his craziness. The outside is very normal looking, but the inside looks like the belly of a whale. It was pretty cool.
After the tour, we went back and went into a bunch of the buildings that we had only seen from the outside. Of course we went back to the chocolate store to buy some chocolate. We explored a little of West Berlin as well since we had only seen East Berlin on the tour. While we were trying to figure out what one building was, we ran into Emily, Hardy, Phil, Jarrod, Katie, and Liz who had all been traveling together for spring break. We all made plans to meet back up later that night, and then we went to climb the dome of the Reichstag. The Reichstag is a pretty neat building, because the main building was built towards the end of the 19th century, so it looks fairly traditional. The dome on top, however, wasn't added until the end of the 20th century, so it's much more modern looking. The dome is completely glass and offers a 360 degree view of Berlin. In the middle of the dome is this huge mirrored pointed thing that's kind of hard to describe. It points to a window through which you can see the German parliament meeting.
After the Reichstag, we rushed back to the hostel, grabbing dinner on the way, so we could go on the pub crawl hosted by the same group that had led our tour. We quickly gobbled our sandwiches, dropped off our bags, and headed to another part of Berlin for the pub crawl. The pub crawl was supposed to go to 4 bars and end at a club, but by the third bar Kelly wasn't feeling well, so I went back to the hostel with her.
Finding our way back was extremely difficult. We didn't have a metro map and the closest stops didn't have the train that went to our hostel, so we had to figure out where to switch, but the trains stop running at a certain part of the night, so we actually had to take a tram. It was all very confusing. There were two German boys who spoke English who tried to give us directions but we quickly realized they were telling us to get off at the wrong stop so that we would get off with them, so we rode the tram a little longer to put some distance between us. By the time we got off the tram, we had no idea where we were, but I used the miniscule amount of German I know to go into a cafe and find someone who spoke English. I asked the man behind the counter if he spoke English, and when he said he only spoke German, we started to leave, but he grabbed my arm and indicated that he would find someone at the bar who spoke English. I thought it was really nice of him to find someone who could help us, because he was obviously busy. Luckily the man who spoke English was able to direct us to the Schonhauser Allee stop so we could find our way back to the hostel with no further difficulties.
March 6, 2009
Friday morning, we headed back to the same place as on Thursday for another tour with that group. We gave that tour group plenty of business. This time we went on the concentration camp tour (unfortunately not free like the other one). The concentration camp is a little ways outside of the city, so we had to take two trains to Oranienburg, where we walked the same path the Holocaust victims took to get to Sachsenhausen (the concentration camp). The tour was really interesting, but it was FREEZING cold, which wasn't pleasant. I can't imagine how any of the victims survived the cold in their thin little uniforms. I was super bundled up and I felt like I was getting hypothermia, so it's no surprise that so many died. A lot of the camp is no longer standing because of how expensive it is for the upkeep of so many buildings, but our tour guide Lucy (the same girl we had for the free tour) knew a lot of really interesting information and was able to give us a good idea of what the camp had been like. I really liked how she didn't focus on any one group that was targeted during the Holocaust but talked about all the groups that were brought into the camp. She listed 5 or 6 different categories of prisoners; I don't remember all of their correct names, but the largest group to be targeted besides Jews were the Romana City (at least that's what it sounded like she said, but basically it's the Gypsies). Jews and Gypsies were the lowest rung of the social hierarchy in concentration camps. Other groups higher up the ladder were social somethings (I can't remember the name), which included alcoholics, criminals, and the unemployed, Communists, and some others that I can't remember. The Communists were the top of the hierarchy because they weren't inferior people; they simply had the wrong political views.
When we got back from Sachsenhausen, we went to see the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche or the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. This was a church that was bombed during World War II (most of the interesting facts we learned in Berlin had something to do with WWII). It wasn't restored in order to commemorate the bombings, so there are holes in the church where you can see all the way through, or see out to the sky. It was closed when we went, so we couldn't go inside, but it was still really neat to see. During the mid-1900s a new church complex was built on the same site. The new complex has several buildings that sort of surround the old church. All the new buildings are very modern looking, made of glass blocks. It's a strange juxtaposition.
When we got back to the hostel, we made a big spaghetti dinner and then hung out with the Italian kids again. Liz and Katie came over, and we went over to the pool hall again. This time some of the Germans challenged the Italians to a game. All the German locals were clearly very good pool players. We watched a couple games after the Italians lost. After a while we decided to go find another bar. Since we were in more of the suburban part of Berlin and since Germans go to bed really early, not many places were open. One place we came upon was very clearly a gay bar with blacked out windows. Some of the others and I tried to point this out and that it might not be the best place to go, but Katie and two of the Italians decided to check it out anyway. They weren't even allowed through the door. One of the guys inside shut the door in their faces. It was amusing.
We eventually found some other little bar. We stayed there for a little while until a really sketchy German boy tried to pick a fight with us over a missing box of cigarettes. Between his drunkeness, some misinterpreted jokes, and much confusion because of the language barrier, things started looking bad, so we beat it and went back to our respective hostels.
March 7, 2009
Saturday we had a big day planned. We wanted to go find the Hindu temple (second largest in Europe supposedly) since Nikul is Hindu, go through the Jewish Museum, and visit a bunch of the architecturally important buildings we had learned about in different classes.
We had an address for the temple and directions via the metro, so we took the metro to the street it was supposed to be on and started walking. I forget the name of the road, but it was a very long road, so we walked all the way down one side to the next metro stop, and then turned around and walked all the way back up the other side. Nowhere along the way did we see a Hindu temple or even anything remotely resembling a temple. We weren't sure if construction was completed, but we saw pictures of the ground breaking two years ago on their website, and they had information about services for different holidays, so we figured the temple had to be around somewhere. We eventually found where it should have been based on the number address, but it was just a strip mall and a Home Depot type store. We asked in the Home Depot store where the temple is and no one had heard of it, so we went back out and continued looking. There's a big park next to the strip mall and the pictures on the website had shown greenery so we trekked all through the park in search of the temple. Still no luck (although we did find a really cool playground). We started discussing the possibility of the whole thing being a huge hoax to raise money (the website asked for donations for the construction process), and just when we were convinced that no Hindu temple exists in Berlin, Nikul spotted this little white board that said "Sri Ganesha Hindu Temple." It was sitting on a little plot of land that looked fairly abandoned. There were some trees cut down, a random park bench, and a teeny construction trailer, but no sign of construction. We're still baffled by it, since we had seen the pictures of the ground breaking but no ground was broken. If that was the second largest Hindu temple in Europe, I'd really like to see the largest...... maybe two construction trailers and a chalkboard?
After visiting the "temple," we headed uptown to visit the Jewish Museum whose building was designed by Daniel Libeskind and was a topic in several of our architectural history-type classes. We weren't impressed with the museum, but experiencing the architecture made it worthwhile. The building is super crazy with all these sharp angular forms and window cut-outs, I think to symbolize the pain and suffering Hitler caused. The building includes the Holocaust Tower (a big dark, cold tower with no exhibits) and the Garden of Exile (this weird slopey outdoor space with all these tall square pillars). The museum was a lot of reading mini biographies of random Jewish people involved in the Holocaust plus some other random information that had very little connection to Judaism. The building would have done much better as a memorial and place for reflection than as a museum. There was one exhibit that I really liked, though. It was called Fallen Leaves and was a whole bunch of faces cut out of metal with different expressions covering the floor of one of the "voids" of the museum. I didn't realize when I was there that you are allowed to actually walk on the faces and touch them, but it was still interesting to see and think about.
Next we started our whirlwind tour of as many architecturally important buildings as possible. We started with the GSW building and then tried to see the Page Memorial (I'd never heard of it but one of our teachers here recommended it as something we should definitely see), but unfortunately couldn't find it. Berlin seems to have a unique way of swallowing up buildings so unsuspecting tourists can't find them. Just like with the temple, we went to the street address and searched all around and couldn't find more than empty lots. So we scratched the Page Memorial off our list and continued on our way to see the Netherlands Embassy (where we were scolded for walking on the grass after we were clearly off the grass and leaving the building), the Sony Building, the Potsdamer Platz Building, the Kammersmusiksaal, and the New National Gallery. Everything we saw was really cool except for the New National Gallery. The Gallery is empty right now, with no exhibit, but it has those screens that have words running across them (I can't think of the name). There were a zillion of these screen strips running across the ceiling of the building but they all had really creepy, violent, gruesome poems or stories or something scrolling across. And it was all in English which was weird. After reading about someone's murderous ambitions and the satisfaction of killing, we got creeped out and headed to our last stop which was a Police and Fire Station with a really cool facade.
At this point it was dark out and we were all frozen and exhausted so we headed back to our hostel for dinner and some much needed relaxation. When we got off at our stop, I went to one of the churches the lady at our hostel had found for me. Since we would be traveling all day on Sunday, I knew I wouldn't make it to mass, so I figured I'd go in and say a prayer or something. When I got there, though, there were two men in the lobby hanging up flyers and the church was locked up. I tried to ask them about it, but they didn't speak English, so they went and got someone who did, who explained to me that no one can go in the church except during mass. I thought it was really weird, but I guess in cities, that's not uncommon.
When I met back up with the group, we decided to go out for dinner to celebrate our last night of Spring Break. As luck would have it, the first affordable place we found was an Italian restaurant. The waiter didn't speak English but he did speak Italian so we were able to communicate. Who would have thought that we'd be speaking Italian in Germany?
In the midst of our packing slash napping after dinner, Nikul, Ash, and I made lemonade with the lemons we still had from Palma de Mallorca and the last of our oranges.
March 8, 2009
All day Sunday was spent traveling back to Florence. From our hostel we had to walk to the metro, take two different trains to the airport, fly to Milan, take an hour-long bus from the Milano airport to the Milano train station (I spent this hour sitting on the floor, since they let too many people on the bus, and I gave up my seat to a little old lady), take a 3 hour train to the outskirts of Florence, take another super short train to the center of Florence, and then walk home. All this time I had a raging fever (which I later found out was the onset of pneumonia) and was utterly miserable. Despite my unhappiness during all this traveling, I was really glad that I didn't get sick until the very end of Spring Break. I was able to have a blast, climbing trees, scampering up mountains, and trekking all over the place.
February 25, 2009
went to San Lorenzo to get ashes. This was probably my weirdest mass experience so far. San Lorenzo is run by three different tourist companies, so it's really weird to go to anyway. I don't think you can even go into the main church without paying. So anyway mass was in this little side chapel and before mass started they did some other prayer service first. I really have no idea what it was since it was in Italian. There were only three other people at mass besides the three priests. Once mass started it was pretty normal, but they did ashes really strangely. Instead of making a cross on the forehead, the priest sprinkled them in our hair. It was so bizarre.
went to San Lorenzo to get ashes. This was probably my weirdest mass experience so far. San Lorenzo is run by three different tourist companies, so it's really weird to go to anyway. I don't think you can even go into the main church without paying. So anyway mass was in this little side chapel and before mass started they did some other prayer service first. I really have no idea what it was since it was in Italian. There were only three other people at mass besides the three priests. Once mass started it was pretty normal, but they did ashes really strangely. Instead of making a cross on the forehead, the priest sprinkled them in our hair. It was so bizarre.
February 24, 2009
had a feast for Fat Tuesday :-). After all the Carnivale celebrations, I wanted to celebrate Mardi Gras in style, so I told my roommates that I'd make a ton of pancakes for dinner, which worked well since Tuesdays are Nadia and my day to cook anyway. Our pancake dinner quickly turned into a feast. I made the pancakes (some with chocolate chips) and Nadia made potatoes and parfaits. Pat and Jarrod joined so they brought fruit, and Hardy also came, so he brought juice and champagne. We decorated the house and made it a full-out party. (We called it the Pancakes, Potatoes, and Parfait Party). With our studio presentations due in only two days, a feast of good food was just the break we needed.
p.s. Mom, you'd be proud of my pancakes. Not every one was perfectly round, but they actually looked like pancakes instead of the usual blobs I wind up with.
had a feast for Fat Tuesday :-). After all the Carnivale celebrations, I wanted to celebrate Mardi Gras in style, so I told my roommates that I'd make a ton of pancakes for dinner, which worked well since Tuesdays are Nadia and my day to cook anyway. Our pancake dinner quickly turned into a feast. I made the pancakes (some with chocolate chips) and Nadia made potatoes and parfaits. Pat and Jarrod joined so they brought fruit, and Hardy also came, so he brought juice and champagne. We decorated the house and made it a full-out party. (We called it the Pancakes, Potatoes, and Parfait Party). With our studio presentations due in only two days, a feast of good food was just the break we needed.
p.s. Mom, you'd be proud of my pancakes. Not every one was perfectly round, but they actually looked like pancakes instead of the usual blobs I wind up with.
February 22, 2009
went to mass at Santa Maria Novella with Pat. Although I've gone to their daily mass a couple of times, this was the first time I'd been in the main part of the church. It was pretty cool inside even though I'm not a huge fan of the white and green stripes of marble. The little alcoves in the front of the church were all completely covered in frescoes, which was a strange contrast with the stark white walls of most of the rest of the church. It made me wonder if originally they planned on covering the whole church in frescoes, or if that's the way they meant it to be. Every church I've gone to has a different feel. There were so many people at this mass, and I really didn't get a touristy feel, so I think most of them go there regularly. Plus I recognized a few faces from daily mass. This was only the third church (including the one in Pruno) that had an altar server. Pat and I still can't decided if it was a boy or a girl. He/she had sort of longish hair for a boy but we figured he just had long hair. Then at communion, we saw that he was wearing red patent leather Mary Janes. My first thought was "why would a little boy wear such obviously girl shoes?" and then it occurred to me that it might be a girl. And then I could see her as a girl, but at the same time she still really looked like a boy, so we never made a final decision. During Communion, these two women started a conversation on the side of the church. I was thinking how rude it was that they just got up from their pews and started talking, not ever whispering, while there was obviously still a mass going on. I saw one of the church guards, who keep out the non-church-goers and help with collections, giving them the evil eye. Then when Communion finished and the priest stood up to say the final blessings, he stood at the altar, glaring at the women, and said in a very pointed tone, "Pregghiamo" (we pray). Then he waited until they stopped talking until he continued. I thought it was really funny that the priest totally called them out for their rudeness.
went up to studio to do some work. On the way there, we saw some people rollar-blading and biking by with funny hats and painted faces, but we didn't know why. Later as more people started coming into studio, they were telling us that there was a parade for Carnivale, but every time a new person came in, they would say, "But I think it's over now." Finally around 5 or 6, after this happened probably four times, we decided to go to Piazza della Signoria where the parade ended just in case the festivities weren't over. Lo and behold, they were still going on when we got there. Apparently everyone in the parade was dressed up for a different nationality (most of the people actually being from that country originally), so we got to see the Russian group singing their national anthem, but they were the last group, so Carnivale really was over then. We were glad we got to see at least a little bit, though.
went to mass at Santa Maria Novella with Pat. Although I've gone to their daily mass a couple of times, this was the first time I'd been in the main part of the church. It was pretty cool inside even though I'm not a huge fan of the white and green stripes of marble. The little alcoves in the front of the church were all completely covered in frescoes, which was a strange contrast with the stark white walls of most of the rest of the church. It made me wonder if originally they planned on covering the whole church in frescoes, or if that's the way they meant it to be. Every church I've gone to has a different feel. There were so many people at this mass, and I really didn't get a touristy feel, so I think most of them go there regularly. Plus I recognized a few faces from daily mass. This was only the third church (including the one in Pruno) that had an altar server. Pat and I still can't decided if it was a boy or a girl. He/she had sort of longish hair for a boy but we figured he just had long hair. Then at communion, we saw that he was wearing red patent leather Mary Janes. My first thought was "why would a little boy wear such obviously girl shoes?" and then it occurred to me that it might be a girl. And then I could see her as a girl, but at the same time she still really looked like a boy, so we never made a final decision. During Communion, these two women started a conversation on the side of the church. I was thinking how rude it was that they just got up from their pews and started talking, not ever whispering, while there was obviously still a mass going on. I saw one of the church guards, who keep out the non-church-goers and help with collections, giving them the evil eye. Then when Communion finished and the priest stood up to say the final blessings, he stood at the altar, glaring at the women, and said in a very pointed tone, "Pregghiamo" (we pray). Then he waited until they stopped talking until he continued. I thought it was really funny that the priest totally called them out for their rudeness.
went up to studio to do some work. On the way there, we saw some people rollar-blading and biking by with funny hats and painted faces, but we didn't know why. Later as more people started coming into studio, they were telling us that there was a parade for Carnivale, but every time a new person came in, they would say, "But I think it's over now." Finally around 5 or 6, after this happened probably four times, we decided to go to Piazza della Signoria where the parade ended just in case the festivities weren't over. Lo and behold, they were still going on when we got there. Apparently everyone in the parade was dressed up for a different nationality (most of the people actually being from that country originally), so we got to see the Russian group singing their national anthem, but they were the last group, so Carnivale really was over then. We were glad we got to see at least a little bit, though.
February 19, 2009
had family dinner. On the way to studio we decided we wanted to mix it up a little and not do the usual pasta, sauce, and bread. Instead we picked tacos. Everyone started getting so excited about it that we planned a whole Mexican fiesta. Everyone gave Nikul all their Spanish/Mexican music so he could make a playlist. We wanted to get sombreros but didn't know where to get them, so I spent half of studio making a GIANT sombrero. I used random model-making supplies left over from last semester and it turned out pretty awesome. Dinner included guacamole, tortilla chips, and tacos with ground beef, chicken, and all the usual fillings. It was really good. Of course Nikul's playlist was playing the whole time and any time the macarena came on (he put in something like six different versions), everyone had to get up and do the macarena. This only worked cuz we were down to 18 people instead of the usual 28 (some people went to the soccer game and some people went to the opera so they were all missing). Emily and Liz took a cooking class a couple weeks ago, and everyone wanted them to share one of the dishes they learned, so they made panna cotta for dessert. It was sooo good. After our Mexican fiesta, we went out to the club. We wanted to go to this Mexican sounding one but it was closed, so we had to go somewhere else.
had family dinner. On the way to studio we decided we wanted to mix it up a little and not do the usual pasta, sauce, and bread. Instead we picked tacos. Everyone started getting so excited about it that we planned a whole Mexican fiesta. Everyone gave Nikul all their Spanish/Mexican music so he could make a playlist. We wanted to get sombreros but didn't know where to get them, so I spent half of studio making a GIANT sombrero. I used random model-making supplies left over from last semester and it turned out pretty awesome. Dinner included guacamole, tortilla chips, and tacos with ground beef, chicken, and all the usual fillings. It was really good. Of course Nikul's playlist was playing the whole time and any time the macarena came on (he put in something like six different versions), everyone had to get up and do the macarena. This only worked cuz we were down to 18 people instead of the usual 28 (some people went to the soccer game and some people went to the opera so they were all missing). Emily and Liz took a cooking class a couple weeks ago, and everyone wanted them to share one of the dishes they learned, so they made panna cotta for dessert. It was sooo good. After our Mexican fiesta, we went out to the club. We wanted to go to this Mexican sounding one but it was closed, so we had to go somewhere else.
Pietrasanta, Pruno, and Viareggio
February 14-15, 2009
went to Pietrasanta, Pruno, and Viareggio with Margaret and Christine.
We left our house at 5:30 in the morning to catch a 6:10 train to Pietrasanta. Our tickets were kind of confusing and didn't say a train number, so we had to pick between two different trains that left at 6:10, but we asked one of the train workers and thought we were getting on the right train. After riding the train for several hours (the trip was only supposed to take just over two hours), we started to wonder if we had gone the wrong way. After looking at the train route map, we decided that the train went to Pisa Centrale then turned and continued to Viareggio and on to Pietrasanta. But when we got to Pisa Centrale it turned around and started back towards Florence. We still thought we were ok, though, because it looked like maybe it went back three stops and then went to Viareggio and Pietrasanta. So we rode the train back three stops to Lucca, but at Lucca we heard announcements saying the train was going back to Santa Maria Novella (the train station right by our apartment). We quickly asked a train worker if we were on the right train and he said we had to switch to the train to Viareggio. Luckily we were at a big train station where we could switch. So the man told us what track to go to, and we waited for the train to Viareggio. The train came and we thought we were finally on the right track. This train brought us to Viareggio, the big station two stops before Pietrasanta, and stopped. We figured it just stopped longer at big stations, but a man came and told us we had to get off; Viareggio was the end of the line. So we got off and went in search of a train to Pietrasanta. We found the right train and which bin it was coming to and finally got to Pietrasanta. Although it took us 3 trains and about 6 hours to get there (instead of 1 train and only 2 hours), it didn't put a damper on our moods. It was an adventure and we were all so proud of ourselves for figuring it out, especially since we did it almost completely in Italian.
When we got to Pietrasanta, our first goal was to find our hostel so we could drop off our bags and then wander the city. That turned out to be quite a lot harder than we expected. We found a map right away, but it didn't show where we were on the map, so we misread it and had to come back several times. Eventually we found the center of the city and another map, but we still guessed our location wrong so we spent quite a while wandering streets looking for our street (Via del Teatro) until someone was able to give us directions. We were so excited to have finally made it, but when we got to number 14 where our hostel was supposed to be located, there was just an empty building. We stood there in shock for a few minutes before sending Margaret into an Internet cafe to ask for help. She talked to the people inside for a good half hour trying to figure out where this hostel was. Finally they saw that the address said Via del Teatro 14, PrunoPietrasanta. Apparently Pruno is a tiny little town up in the mountains outside of Pietrasanta. The Internet cafe people told us that we had to take a bus up to the town. We decided to eat lunch on the Duomo steps and walk around the city for a little while before trekking up the mountain.
Soooo we bought tickets for the bus (at which point I got complimented on my Italian), and headed up to Pruno. We were actually pretty excited to be staying on the mountain even though we didn't get to spend much time in Pietrasanta. There were a bunch of other kids on the bus around our age or a little younger. One of the boys started talking to us. Between his broken English and our broken Italian we were able to make some small talk and he said that he was coming up to Pruno later and he and his friends could show us around the town.
When we finally reached Pruno (around 2:45), we immediately saw the sign for Ostello La Pania, the hostel where we had reserved beds. Finally a part of the journey was easy..... or so we thought. We climbed up the little mountain path to the hostel and rang the bell but no one answered. Since siesta is usually from 1:00 to 3:30, we thought that maybe the people were sleeping or out to lunch or whatever they do during siesta. It was freezing cold though, so after waiting half an hour (during which we continually exclaimed about the amazing views), we finally asked a woman and a man that we saw if they knew where the hostel people were. The woman called the hostel number for us and after a lot signals and simple Italian words managed to communicate to us that the man who runs the hostel, Lorenzo, had to drive up from Pietrasanta so he would be in Pruno in about an hour. She told us that we could go wait in the ristorante/bar to get out of the cold. Before going into the bar, we walked around the town and realized that it only has three streets and probably not more than 50 in habitants. When we went into the bar, the owner immediately knew we were the girls from the hostel. Luckily he spoke English fairly well, so he asked what we were doing for dinner and offered to make a reservation at a restaurant two towns down the mountain since his was fully booked (we had forgotten that it was Valentine's Day). I don't know if this is typical of small towns everywhere, but everyone we spoke to in Pietrasanta and Pruno was so nice and helpful and did more than we asked to help us out. Finally Lorenzo showed up and was mumbling about not receiving our reservations. He spoke English, so although there was obviously a mix-up with the hostel, at least we could understand him. After shuffling papers and pretending to look for our reservations for several minutes, he finally said, "Actually the hostel's closed. It's under construction." That definitely threw us for a loop. He told us about the other options in the area; there was another hotel slash bed and breakfasty type thing in Pruno, some place in Pietrasanta, and some place in Volegno (the town just before Pruno), but every one was going to cost at least 27 euro. Since we had planned for the hostel which cost 18 euro, we couldn't afford that. Lorenzo spent a lot of time talking on the phone and talking to everyone who came into the bar. Considering how small the town is and the fact that half of its population came into the bar at some point during this, I'm quite sure everyone in the town knew about the three American girls who tried to stay at the hostel. We thought a couple of the people in the bar offered to let us stay in their houses but Lorenzo told them no. Of course we were eavesdropping on Italian so we easily could have misunderstood what they were talking about. Lorenzo finally got the bed and breakfast in town to let us stay the night for 20 euro but we couldn't have the breakfast that was supposed to be included. Although Lorenzo was really helpful finding us a new place to stay, his whole attitude towards the situation surprised us. It was clearly his fault for not taking his hostel off the hostel-booking website yet he never once offered to pay the difference for any other place we stayed and any time he offered us a new place he seemed to think we were just being picky by not choosing the expensive ones. I don't know if maybe he had this idea that all Americans are rich, but eventually he understood that we really couldn't afford the other hotels.
So finally we had the whole accomodations thing figured out (it was about 4:30 by this time), and then Lorenzo dropped the next bombshell. No buses run to Pruno on Sundays. This was something we should have already realized cuz I had seen a bus schedule at the station but somehow we missed that important fact. Luckily Lorenzo was still feeling helpful so he did some more calling and finagling and set up a ride for us. FINALLY we had everything figured out and could actually enjoy being in Pruno. Despite everything that went wrong, we never stopped having fun, but we started getting frustrated when we couldn't figure out where to stay, so by the time we were settled in our room, we were ready to just relax and take in the views. The bed and breakfast we wound up in was attached to the church on one side and the bell tower was attached to the other side, more specifically, attached to our room. Before Lorenzo left, I asked him what time the mass would be at in the morning. He told us that it would be around 9:30 most likely, but really whenever the priest woke up, so listen for the bells.
After a couple hours of lounging around, taking pictures out the windows (we had an awesome view of the mountains and of Volegno), and recharging our batteries, it was time to head off dinner. We had to walk about five to ten minutes down the windy mountain road to the restaurant. Apparently it's the only restaurant for the town it's in (I don't know the name) and for Volegno so it was easy to find. When we walked in, the cook immediately knew we were the three girls from the hostel and pointed to a table that clearly said it was reserved for "ostello" ("hostel"). We felt like celebrities with the way everyone on the mountain knew who we were. As we were waiting for the cameriera (waitress), we realized that the menu was oral. We still don't know what a lot of the different foods are in Italian (I don't know what most of the stuff is even in English), so we were kind of worried, but the waitress was sooo nice. She didn't speak any English but she said everything very slowly for us and enunciated. Italians always run all their words together and if there are two vowel sounds in a row, they just blend them, so she really had to think about enunciating everything so clearly. I ordered the ravioli, which wound up having nuts on it, but they weren't too hard to pick out. I just hope I didn't look too rude, searching through my food and picking stuff out. We didn't order an antipasto, but the waitress brought us some of the stuff that comes with the antipasto anyway, which was really nice. The antipasti were all trays of meats with little bowls of tomatoes and onions and stuff like that to eat with it, so we didn't get that, but the waitress brought us a bowl of the fried bread (in addition to the regular bread that comes with any meal), and a dish of this weird thing that had a similar consistency and taste to grits. We never did figure out what it was, but it was pretty good. And because it was Valentine's day, there were chocolates at each of the place settings. All in all it was a really good meal.
After dinner, we were trekking back up the mountain and we remembered that we had agreed to meet the Italian boy at 8 (which was when our reservation for dinner was), but at this point it was about 10:00. We felt kind of bad for blowing him off, but were kind of glad it didn't work out because we hadn't realized before that Pruno is so small there is absolutely nothing to do at night. The real attraction of it is the view, which is obviously much better when it's light out. Just as we were talking about this, we heard a Vespa coming up the road towards us. I jokingly said "Watch that be the Italian boy." Well, lo and behold, the Vespa stops just a little bit up the road from us and the Italian boy and his friend get off. It was so funny. So we talked to them for a little while, but then we told the boys we were going to bed and headed back to our room. We felt really bad that they had come all the way up to Pruno just to see us. We were planning on going to Carnivale the next day, though, and the boys mentioned that they were also going, so Christine gave them her number and said we could meet up with them there.
The next morning, we woke up to CRAZY church bells. They started going off just before 9 and rang for a solid ten minutes. It was unbelievable sounding. We took that to mean the priest was up, so we got up and got ready to go to mass. Christine and Margaret aren't Catholic, but they wanted to see a mass, so we all went to church together. The bells rang two tolls at 9:30 and the mass begin about ten minutes later, so we figured out that the crazy bells are the wake up signal and then they ring the bell again to tell everyone to come to the church, and then mass starts.
A man from the bed and breakfast was supposed to drive us about halfway down the mountain to Cardoso where the bus comes twice on Sundays. The first bus wasn't until 1:50, so we had most of the morning free. We spent it walking around Pruno, taking pictures, and exploring the mountain. We found little overgrown trails into the woods, so we went on them. It was sooooo cool. We found a couple little abandoned houses built into the mountain. One of them was just a little corner with a window poking out of the stone. I couldn't even figure out how anyone would get in. Margaret had on heels and Christine didn't trust her balance, so they didn't explore too far, but I clambered all over, crossing the little streams trickling down the mountain and jumping from rock to rock. It reminded me of playing in the woods when we were little, except ten times cooler. Vic and JC would have loved it.
Eventually we went back to the bed and breakfast and Emilio (I guess he's one of the owners or someone who works there or something) gave us a ride. We were really excited to ride in an Italian car, but it turned out to be a Ford station wagon so not that exciting after all. It was still an interesting ride, though, because he went around those tight mountain turns like they were nothing. From Cardoso, we took the bus down to Pietrasanta, and then another bus to Viareggio for the Carnivale. Carnivale was INSANE. Before we even got into the actual carnival, we could see the giant floats, and people everywhere in crazy costumes, and confetti and silly string coating the streets, the people, the buildings. The costumes people wore were ridiculous. The most popular kind of costume was this sort of fuzzy potato sack. The potato sack ended in shorts and then you wore tights underneath with these fuzzy legwarmers at the bottom. They also had hoods, but no one wore the hoods up. I guess they were all supposed to be animal costumes since they all had different kinds of ears attached to the hoods, but they were so weird. They were all different colors, some obviously not animal colors. It wasn't even kids wearing this silly costumes. It was mostly college-aged kids and grown-ups wearing them. A lot of the kids were dressed up as characters or bumble bees. We didn't look out of place, not being in costume, but we were definitely in the minority. There were a few rides and food places, but the main part was the parade. The parade route was a loop, so it never ended. The floats were HUGE. Most of them were at least as tall if not taller than the buildings around...... the 5 or 6 story buildings. I've never seen anything like it. A couple of them were kind of gruesome, cannibal-type floats, which was weird. Every float had zillions of people on and around it, dancing and singing and acting ridiculous. And it wasn't like big parades at home where the spectators can't go in the streets. We were in the middle of the road watching this parade. The spectators became part of the parade. Everytime a float came by though, event workers would be walking along with it, clearing people out of the way. Even then, you had to duck as the corners went by, so you didn't get whacked. The marching bands didn't even try clearing people out of the way; they would just push through. My pictures probably don't capture it very well, but you can get an idea of how huge these floats were and how close we were. In a lot of my pictures you can't see the whole float, but that shows how close we were. If we weren't careful, we could have lost limbs to the floats as they passed.
When we were all Carnivale-ed out, and had taken the requisite pictures of touching the Mediterranean Sea, we decided to head home. We continued to practice our Italian by asking for directions to the train station. The train station was crazy with everyone trying to get home, and the next train to Florence was leaving in like five minutes, so we had a mad dash to the ticket window, threw our money at the teller, and sprinted up to the platform. We got there right as the train was coming in, and a rush of people tried to get on, so we just shoved our way on without double checking that it was the right train. It turns out that the train that was supposed to come after the Florence one came first so we found ourselves back at Pietrasanta. That was at least a town we recognized so we decided to get off there and find another train back. We eventually figured out that if we had stayed on that train, it would have turned around and ended up back in Florence eventually, but instead we waited in the Pietrasanta train station for 40 minutes until the same train came back headed to Florence.
On the train we noticed that the couple sitting across the aisle appeared to be sketching floor plans, which was funny since we were all taking notes and drawing things in our sketch books, too. When we were almost back at our station, Margaret asked the couple if they were architects. We talked to them for a little while, and it turns out that the man, and maybe the woman too, works at a firm right by the piazza we're designing for our studio project. Through a mix of Italian and English, he told us to check out their website and come visit the firm sometime. He said that students come work there "to get a little experience," so like an internship. He said they've never had American students, but the way he said sounded like they never had, but maybe they should consider it.
So after countless mishaps, mix-ups, and mess-ups, we made it safely back to Santa Maria Novella train station all in one piece with a weekend full of great memories. I think everything that went wrong just made the trip that much better, especially since only the hostel mix-up cost us any extra money (2 euro).
Although originally I had been a little jealous of my friends who were going on expensive trips every weekend, I'm really happy with everything I've done instead. This whole weekend only cost about a third or less of what a lot of my friends have been spending on their weekend trips. And I had thoroughly enjoyed spending some time in the city by myself on the weekend that everyone else went away, too, so you really can have an awesome time in Italy without spending huge amounts of money.
went to Pietrasanta, Pruno, and Viareggio with Margaret and Christine.
We left our house at 5:30 in the morning to catch a 6:10 train to Pietrasanta. Our tickets were kind of confusing and didn't say a train number, so we had to pick between two different trains that left at 6:10, but we asked one of the train workers and thought we were getting on the right train. After riding the train for several hours (the trip was only supposed to take just over two hours), we started to wonder if we had gone the wrong way. After looking at the train route map, we decided that the train went to Pisa Centrale then turned and continued to Viareggio and on to Pietrasanta. But when we got to Pisa Centrale it turned around and started back towards Florence. We still thought we were ok, though, because it looked like maybe it went back three stops and then went to Viareggio and Pietrasanta. So we rode the train back three stops to Lucca, but at Lucca we heard announcements saying the train was going back to Santa Maria Novella (the train station right by our apartment). We quickly asked a train worker if we were on the right train and he said we had to switch to the train to Viareggio. Luckily we were at a big train station where we could switch. So the man told us what track to go to, and we waited for the train to Viareggio. The train came and we thought we were finally on the right track. This train brought us to Viareggio, the big station two stops before Pietrasanta, and stopped. We figured it just stopped longer at big stations, but a man came and told us we had to get off; Viareggio was the end of the line. So we got off and went in search of a train to Pietrasanta. We found the right train and which bin it was coming to and finally got to Pietrasanta. Although it took us 3 trains and about 6 hours to get there (instead of 1 train and only 2 hours), it didn't put a damper on our moods. It was an adventure and we were all so proud of ourselves for figuring it out, especially since we did it almost completely in Italian.
When we got to Pietrasanta, our first goal was to find our hostel so we could drop off our bags and then wander the city. That turned out to be quite a lot harder than we expected. We found a map right away, but it didn't show where we were on the map, so we misread it and had to come back several times. Eventually we found the center of the city and another map, but we still guessed our location wrong so we spent quite a while wandering streets looking for our street (Via del Teatro) until someone was able to give us directions. We were so excited to have finally made it, but when we got to number 14 where our hostel was supposed to be located, there was just an empty building. We stood there in shock for a few minutes before sending Margaret into an Internet cafe to ask for help. She talked to the people inside for a good half hour trying to figure out where this hostel was. Finally they saw that the address said Via del Teatro 14, PrunoPietrasanta. Apparently Pruno is a tiny little town up in the mountains outside of Pietrasanta. The Internet cafe people told us that we had to take a bus up to the town. We decided to eat lunch on the Duomo steps and walk around the city for a little while before trekking up the mountain.
Soooo we bought tickets for the bus (at which point I got complimented on my Italian), and headed up to Pruno. We were actually pretty excited to be staying on the mountain even though we didn't get to spend much time in Pietrasanta. There were a bunch of other kids on the bus around our age or a little younger. One of the boys started talking to us. Between his broken English and our broken Italian we were able to make some small talk and he said that he was coming up to Pruno later and he and his friends could show us around the town.
When we finally reached Pruno (around 2:45), we immediately saw the sign for Ostello La Pania, the hostel where we had reserved beds. Finally a part of the journey was easy..... or so we thought. We climbed up the little mountain path to the hostel and rang the bell but no one answered. Since siesta is usually from 1:00 to 3:30, we thought that maybe the people were sleeping or out to lunch or whatever they do during siesta. It was freezing cold though, so after waiting half an hour (during which we continually exclaimed about the amazing views), we finally asked a woman and a man that we saw if they knew where the hostel people were. The woman called the hostel number for us and after a lot signals and simple Italian words managed to communicate to us that the man who runs the hostel, Lorenzo, had to drive up from Pietrasanta so he would be in Pruno in about an hour. She told us that we could go wait in the ristorante/bar to get out of the cold. Before going into the bar, we walked around the town and realized that it only has three streets and probably not more than 50 in habitants. When we went into the bar, the owner immediately knew we were the girls from the hostel. Luckily he spoke English fairly well, so he asked what we were doing for dinner and offered to make a reservation at a restaurant two towns down the mountain since his was fully booked (we had forgotten that it was Valentine's Day). I don't know if this is typical of small towns everywhere, but everyone we spoke to in Pietrasanta and Pruno was so nice and helpful and did more than we asked to help us out. Finally Lorenzo showed up and was mumbling about not receiving our reservations. He spoke English, so although there was obviously a mix-up with the hostel, at least we could understand him. After shuffling papers and pretending to look for our reservations for several minutes, he finally said, "Actually the hostel's closed. It's under construction." That definitely threw us for a loop. He told us about the other options in the area; there was another hotel slash bed and breakfasty type thing in Pruno, some place in Pietrasanta, and some place in Volegno (the town just before Pruno), but every one was going to cost at least 27 euro. Since we had planned for the hostel which cost 18 euro, we couldn't afford that. Lorenzo spent a lot of time talking on the phone and talking to everyone who came into the bar. Considering how small the town is and the fact that half of its population came into the bar at some point during this, I'm quite sure everyone in the town knew about the three American girls who tried to stay at the hostel. We thought a couple of the people in the bar offered to let us stay in their houses but Lorenzo told them no. Of course we were eavesdropping on Italian so we easily could have misunderstood what they were talking about. Lorenzo finally got the bed and breakfast in town to let us stay the night for 20 euro but we couldn't have the breakfast that was supposed to be included. Although Lorenzo was really helpful finding us a new place to stay, his whole attitude towards the situation surprised us. It was clearly his fault for not taking his hostel off the hostel-booking website yet he never once offered to pay the difference for any other place we stayed and any time he offered us a new place he seemed to think we were just being picky by not choosing the expensive ones. I don't know if maybe he had this idea that all Americans are rich, but eventually he understood that we really couldn't afford the other hotels.
So finally we had the whole accomodations thing figured out (it was about 4:30 by this time), and then Lorenzo dropped the next bombshell. No buses run to Pruno on Sundays. This was something we should have already realized cuz I had seen a bus schedule at the station but somehow we missed that important fact. Luckily Lorenzo was still feeling helpful so he did some more calling and finagling and set up a ride for us. FINALLY we had everything figured out and could actually enjoy being in Pruno. Despite everything that went wrong, we never stopped having fun, but we started getting frustrated when we couldn't figure out where to stay, so by the time we were settled in our room, we were ready to just relax and take in the views. The bed and breakfast we wound up in was attached to the church on one side and the bell tower was attached to the other side, more specifically, attached to our room. Before Lorenzo left, I asked him what time the mass would be at in the morning. He told us that it would be around 9:30 most likely, but really whenever the priest woke up, so listen for the bells.
After a couple hours of lounging around, taking pictures out the windows (we had an awesome view of the mountains and of Volegno), and recharging our batteries, it was time to head off dinner. We had to walk about five to ten minutes down the windy mountain road to the restaurant. Apparently it's the only restaurant for the town it's in (I don't know the name) and for Volegno so it was easy to find. When we walked in, the cook immediately knew we were the three girls from the hostel and pointed to a table that clearly said it was reserved for "ostello" ("hostel"). We felt like celebrities with the way everyone on the mountain knew who we were. As we were waiting for the cameriera (waitress), we realized that the menu was oral. We still don't know what a lot of the different foods are in Italian (I don't know what most of the stuff is even in English), so we were kind of worried, but the waitress was sooo nice. She didn't speak any English but she said everything very slowly for us and enunciated. Italians always run all their words together and if there are two vowel sounds in a row, they just blend them, so she really had to think about enunciating everything so clearly. I ordered the ravioli, which wound up having nuts on it, but they weren't too hard to pick out. I just hope I didn't look too rude, searching through my food and picking stuff out. We didn't order an antipasto, but the waitress brought us some of the stuff that comes with the antipasto anyway, which was really nice. The antipasti were all trays of meats with little bowls of tomatoes and onions and stuff like that to eat with it, so we didn't get that, but the waitress brought us a bowl of the fried bread (in addition to the regular bread that comes with any meal), and a dish of this weird thing that had a similar consistency and taste to grits. We never did figure out what it was, but it was pretty good. And because it was Valentine's day, there were chocolates at each of the place settings. All in all it was a really good meal.
After dinner, we were trekking back up the mountain and we remembered that we had agreed to meet the Italian boy at 8 (which was when our reservation for dinner was), but at this point it was about 10:00. We felt kind of bad for blowing him off, but were kind of glad it didn't work out because we hadn't realized before that Pruno is so small there is absolutely nothing to do at night. The real attraction of it is the view, which is obviously much better when it's light out. Just as we were talking about this, we heard a Vespa coming up the road towards us. I jokingly said "Watch that be the Italian boy." Well, lo and behold, the Vespa stops just a little bit up the road from us and the Italian boy and his friend get off. It was so funny. So we talked to them for a little while, but then we told the boys we were going to bed and headed back to our room. We felt really bad that they had come all the way up to Pruno just to see us. We were planning on going to Carnivale the next day, though, and the boys mentioned that they were also going, so Christine gave them her number and said we could meet up with them there.
The next morning, we woke up to CRAZY church bells. They started going off just before 9 and rang for a solid ten minutes. It was unbelievable sounding. We took that to mean the priest was up, so we got up and got ready to go to mass. Christine and Margaret aren't Catholic, but they wanted to see a mass, so we all went to church together. The bells rang two tolls at 9:30 and the mass begin about ten minutes later, so we figured out that the crazy bells are the wake up signal and then they ring the bell again to tell everyone to come to the church, and then mass starts.
A man from the bed and breakfast was supposed to drive us about halfway down the mountain to Cardoso where the bus comes twice on Sundays. The first bus wasn't until 1:50, so we had most of the morning free. We spent it walking around Pruno, taking pictures, and exploring the mountain. We found little overgrown trails into the woods, so we went on them. It was sooooo cool. We found a couple little abandoned houses built into the mountain. One of them was just a little corner with a window poking out of the stone. I couldn't even figure out how anyone would get in. Margaret had on heels and Christine didn't trust her balance, so they didn't explore too far, but I clambered all over, crossing the little streams trickling down the mountain and jumping from rock to rock. It reminded me of playing in the woods when we were little, except ten times cooler. Vic and JC would have loved it.
Eventually we went back to the bed and breakfast and Emilio (I guess he's one of the owners or someone who works there or something) gave us a ride. We were really excited to ride in an Italian car, but it turned out to be a Ford station wagon so not that exciting after all. It was still an interesting ride, though, because he went around those tight mountain turns like they were nothing. From Cardoso, we took the bus down to Pietrasanta, and then another bus to Viareggio for the Carnivale. Carnivale was INSANE. Before we even got into the actual carnival, we could see the giant floats, and people everywhere in crazy costumes, and confetti and silly string coating the streets, the people, the buildings. The costumes people wore were ridiculous. The most popular kind of costume was this sort of fuzzy potato sack. The potato sack ended in shorts and then you wore tights underneath with these fuzzy legwarmers at the bottom. They also had hoods, but no one wore the hoods up. I guess they were all supposed to be animal costumes since they all had different kinds of ears attached to the hoods, but they were so weird. They were all different colors, some obviously not animal colors. It wasn't even kids wearing this silly costumes. It was mostly college-aged kids and grown-ups wearing them. A lot of the kids were dressed up as characters or bumble bees. We didn't look out of place, not being in costume, but we were definitely in the minority. There were a few rides and food places, but the main part was the parade. The parade route was a loop, so it never ended. The floats were HUGE. Most of them were at least as tall if not taller than the buildings around...... the 5 or 6 story buildings. I've never seen anything like it. A couple of them were kind of gruesome, cannibal-type floats, which was weird. Every float had zillions of people on and around it, dancing and singing and acting ridiculous. And it wasn't like big parades at home where the spectators can't go in the streets. We were in the middle of the road watching this parade. The spectators became part of the parade. Everytime a float came by though, event workers would be walking along with it, clearing people out of the way. Even then, you had to duck as the corners went by, so you didn't get whacked. The marching bands didn't even try clearing people out of the way; they would just push through. My pictures probably don't capture it very well, but you can get an idea of how huge these floats were and how close we were. In a lot of my pictures you can't see the whole float, but that shows how close we were. If we weren't careful, we could have lost limbs to the floats as they passed.
When we were all Carnivale-ed out, and had taken the requisite pictures of touching the Mediterranean Sea, we decided to head home. We continued to practice our Italian by asking for directions to the train station. The train station was crazy with everyone trying to get home, and the next train to Florence was leaving in like five minutes, so we had a mad dash to the ticket window, threw our money at the teller, and sprinted up to the platform. We got there right as the train was coming in, and a rush of people tried to get on, so we just shoved our way on without double checking that it was the right train. It turns out that the train that was supposed to come after the Florence one came first so we found ourselves back at Pietrasanta. That was at least a town we recognized so we decided to get off there and find another train back. We eventually figured out that if we had stayed on that train, it would have turned around and ended up back in Florence eventually, but instead we waited in the Pietrasanta train station for 40 minutes until the same train came back headed to Florence.
On the train we noticed that the couple sitting across the aisle appeared to be sketching floor plans, which was funny since we were all taking notes and drawing things in our sketch books, too. When we were almost back at our station, Margaret asked the couple if they were architects. We talked to them for a little while, and it turns out that the man, and maybe the woman too, works at a firm right by the piazza we're designing for our studio project. Through a mix of Italian and English, he told us to check out their website and come visit the firm sometime. He said that students come work there "to get a little experience," so like an internship. He said they've never had American students, but the way he said sounded like they never had, but maybe they should consider it.
So after countless mishaps, mix-ups, and mess-ups, we made it safely back to Santa Maria Novella train station all in one piece with a weekend full of great memories. I think everything that went wrong just made the trip that much better, especially since only the hostel mix-up cost us any extra money (2 euro).
Although originally I had been a little jealous of my friends who were going on expensive trips every weekend, I'm really happy with everything I've done instead. This whole weekend only cost about a third or less of what a lot of my friends have been spending on their weekend trips. And I had thoroughly enjoyed spending some time in the city by myself on the weekend that everyone else went away, too, so you really can have an awesome time in Italy without spending huge amounts of money.
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