Friday, March 20, 2009

paris romantique.

So, last but not least, my romantic trip to Paris. Just first let me say, despite the miserable trip back, Matt Collins lightened our hearts by telling stories about his Irish Catholic family of 12. One of their family events was even going to see "Cheaper by the Dozen." They took up an entire row. I could never even begin to think about cooking for a family of 14.

Anyways, PARISSSSS. We took public transportation which is so cheap but a huge hassle. Took us about 2 and a half hours to the airport. We met a really nice woman on the plane who was studying Italian, but who had just ben in Namibia working with a program for a couple weeks. Since we were still unsure of where we were staying we hinted at staying with her, but she quickly informed us her place was even too small for her to sleep in. Bummer. We took the hour long bus ride into the heart of Paris where we met a young attractive and wasted french man. He was still in his suit and tie coming from a raging party of some ritzy looking bar. He informed us that every Thursday night the business workers of Paris go out straight from work and get drunk. Sounds like a good plan to me! He helped us find the metro which was nice. He was also a potential crashing place in the back or our oh so desperate minds. On the metro we met 3 more men all from South Africa. One was younger than the other two, and he had just won best young agricultural farmer. The two older men had brought him there to receive his award at the convention. I think he won the award for baby tomatoes? Who knows... anyways they didn't stop talking about how this young farmer (mind you young meaning early 30s -- NOT attractive) promised his mother he would come home with a wife. Suggesting either Lauren or I should wed this unattractive 30 some year old man. They even offered to buy us sushi at their hotel but we politely declined. The 50 year old + men were not happy about it either. "3-none offer, your loss" one of them said. Anyways we of course we proceeded to get lost in trying to find our hostel. Once we found it though the place was super cool. St. Christopher's hostel has a very young atmosphere, a bar and club scene within the hostel. Probably best hostel bed situation I have ever been to as well. We had curtains across our bed so we wouldn't be disturbed in the morning, and pull out crates for security purposes to put your things in. We were on opposite sides of the room, Lauren and I always feel strange if I don't sleep below her haha. Weird I know. Anyways, we went and got some delicious pizza. Pepperoni and green pepper! So good. Went home and went to bed.

We unfortunately missed free breakfast but met some of our roommates. Two really nice girls from Australia, they gave us some free alcohol as well. They had been traveling for a month, Paris was their last stop. They had already been to London and Dublin. Two places of which I do not plan on going to. We had some delicious shakes, reserved a hostel further south of the city because St. Christopher's was too expensive to stay at over the weekend, and were on our way to Versailles. This is when the chaos of the weekend begins.

The hostel told us that we could buy Museum Passes at the metro station. You pay 32 euro for a 2 day pass to get into all of the museums, the costs add up so it was definitely worth it considering all we intended on seeing. We asked a woman at the metro station and she agreed the "2-day pass." It was 28.50 so we thought we were getting a deal. This way you can avoid all the lines for buying tickets as well. We went on our way, and within a matter of minutes we realized we had just bought unlimited metro passes for the next two days. We tried for the next 2 hours to figure out if we could return them, even went back to the initial station we bought them at... It was extremely unsuccessful. "No es possible" is probably their favorite phrase in Paris. We heard it countless times over the weekend. In the process we were able to actually buy the Museum passes we had initially wanted, so within a matter of 2 hours we had spent roughly 60 euros. But since we had reserved this new hostel outside of the city in which we had to use the RER trains (trains that go to the suburbs) which are $2.90 per ride, we figured it might be worth it to use them after all. In the long run we did end up saving money on trains since we also had to use the RER trains out to Versailles. It was also extremely convenient, we didn't once have to buy metro or RER tickets again. So our initial frustration phased out eventually.

We finally made it out to Versailles by 1:30. The Chateau was incredible, built in the 14th century for Louis XIV and all of his royalty and servants. It also became the head of government conferences etc for an extended period of time. This palace was massive. Lauren and I probably both probably took a total of 300 pictures there alone. Louis XIV was a lucky man. His bedroom faced east to the sunrise every morning. He even had public ceremonies for the people to watch him fall asleep and wake up? How disturbing is that?? He was also an unfaithful bastard, he was known for his adutlress tendencies, in fact adultry became fashionable in court circles because of him. This Chateau was so elegant, europe is so rich in history and aesthetic beauty. I can't imagine just walking around that enormous place as my home. The Hall of Mirrors is 250 feet long and there are 17 arched mirrors matched by 17 windows on the opposite side. There are 24 Candelbras, which look like chandeliers but were lit by around 2,000 candles every night. From the Hall of Mirrors you can also see all of the extragavant gardens. Oh my god, then comes the Queen's bedroom decorated by Marie-Antoinette. There were 19 royal children born in this room over the years. There was a huge chest for her jewelry which was large enough to probably hold my entire wardrobe. The bed and decor was insane. The beds alone could make you feel like royalty by just being in their presence.

Once my camera was on the verge of death from taking so many damn pictures at Versailles we headed to Champs-Elysees. You walk east when heading from the Obelisk in front of the Louvre towards the Arc de Triumphe. It was about 6:00 by the time we began the trek down Champs-Elysees and the sun was setting behind the Arc de Triumphe and it was breathtaking. Lauren and I were a little taken back by the street, we thought it would have more of a historical feel but looked quite similar to Michigan Ave in Chicago. The Arc de Triumphe was built in 1809 to honor Napoleans soldiers who had a shocking victory against the Austrians. It symbolizes all of the French victories as well as having the monument of the Unknown Soldier beneath it. We climbed the Arc as well, gorgeous view. Paris is laid out so that every main straight runs into the site. If you walk around and see the lay out of the streets it looks like rays of the sun coming out of the Arc. Its pretty incredible actually. We saw Sacre Couer, the Eiffel tower for the first time, the Seine river, all of Paris in just one view! And since we had gotten there around sunset, we got to see the entire city during the day, and as the sun set when all of the lights came on, even on the Eiffel tower! Lauren and I both got a picture of us touching the top of it. We met a middle aged American couple who was had just come from Africa as well, we exchanged pictures of eachother-- a bit odd. We took the metro to the Eiffel tower but than realized we still had to get our stuff from St. Christopher's so we only took a couple pictures and got a crepe with Nutella and headed back. That warm french crepe was a good treat for our extremely productive and stressful day.

We hung out at the hostel for a while, saw a girl from the JFRC there and met a girl who was from the twin cities! She went to Southwest for 3 years and knows a bunch of friends from both South and Southwest. Smalllll world. We finally made it onto the right train (got on the wrong one a couple times) and were on our way with some minimal groceries we had picked up along the way by midnight. Then somehow we got stuck on the car of 20 drunk kids who the police were trying to tame. In fact one was so outrageous they had to physically pull him off as he held on to a poll inside the train for dear life. He was fighting and resisting the cops and they had to hold him down with a night stick. All of his friends then drunkenly tried to come defend him, which just made the situation much worse. Girls were crying and screaming and stomping all over the train car we were on. It was a huge dramatic scene that went on for a good half hour before they were able to arrest the one kid who could hardly stand. Lauren was super freaked out, she has never seen anyone get arrested before, much less a drugged up and extremely intoxicated kid resisting authority. The cops stayed on the train with the rest of the kids until we arrived at another stop where 30 or so cops waited to force all of them off the train and out of the train station. Once we finallllly made it to our stop we were lost in the middle of NOWHERE. We were in a smalll town, 45 minutes south of the city which was completely dead. Lauren thought we were going to die for sure. After a good half an hour of walking in the empty darkness with not a soul to be found we stumbled upon our hotel. No one as the reception desk, but there was an envelope left for us. We took the elevator up to our hotel room and the hallway was even dark and eery! Shit. What had we gotten ourselves into? We ate some snacks and went to bed by 3:30 am.

The next morning we were out by noon and headed to Notre Dam. I'm burnt out on churches after that one. It was absolutely gorgeous and massive but I think I've seen enough in the past 3 months. It was a beautiful day outside as well. People were having picnics outside of the Cathedral and all along the Seine River. As we were deciding whether or not to climb the towers a creepy man with SCARY face mask came up behind me and I screamed bloody murder - In front of 50 people who were waiting in line to climb the tower of Notre Dam. That was embarassing. After my face returned back to normal from its crimson flush, we made our way to the Picasso museum which we both lovedddd. There were some incredible Picasso pieces there. I had a couple favorites in particular. I have always loved Picasso but these pieces blew my mind out of the water; "The Three Figures Under a Tree," a specific portrait of Dora Mar from 1937, another portrait of Marie Terese, and lastly "A Woman Reading." Lauren and I really tried to analyze his art and figure out the development through the multiple periods and styles full of his complexity. We were able to point out his consistent love for music, women, and pipes. Women were always number one. Exactly how it should be. We were done with Picasso by 3:30 which hardly left us enough time for both the Louvre and Musee D'Orsay. So we decided to hit the Louvre for a couple of hours and see Musee D'Orsay the next morning (Sunday).

The Louvre is GINORMOUS. Its so huge its overwhelming. The pyramid entrance is pretty cool though it seemed a bit out of its element. Its such a modern contraption, triangular shape made of glass leading you underground? Sitting in the middle of a 800 year old building was a bit strange. But cool nevertheless. We decided to enjoy the beautiful day and sat out by the fountains for a bit to soak up the warmth of the sun. We saw the Mona Lisa where Lauren's camera died. FHerL. Mine was in the process of dying so I only captured a few good ones. Like our tour guide book said its not worth all the hype and is slightly disappointing. It is much smaller than you would expect it and is behind a pane of glass, or more like a large glass box over 10 times the size of it. We went through and saw a lot of Italian art (which I am also over) then proceeded to the French art and tried to compare the two. Italian art is all religious based full of gods and godesses, angels and other fantasy things I have no idea about it. It depicts much lighter and brighter colors which I appreciate; the light hearted Italian spirit and potentially endless faith. French art on the other hand was much more realistic and dark, with animals and portraits of people in everyday life. It beautiful and extensive. Lastly we saw Apollo's apartments. Oh. My. God. Thats all I can say, I thought Versailles was luxurious, this was straight out of a Disney movie, potentially where sleeping beauty, or maybe even Cinderella (once she married the prince of course) could have possibly lived. We were in awe walking through his endless beautiful, glorious, and royal filled home. I had been searching for Venice De Mailo all the way through, but we got kicked out before we could make it there. So one more stop we needed to make the next morning.

We finally ventured to the Eiffel tower and found a quaint place to eat and relax for a solid 3 hours. It was delicious and a quite pleasant dinner that Lauren and I shared under the Eiffel tower's beastly self. Very romantic. Around 8 or 9 we went to climb the Eiffel tower but I guess you can't actually climb it after 6pm. So we took the elevators up up and away. Every hour on the hour the tower has a light show which I was not aware of. It almost looks like cameras flashing at every inch on the iron of the Eiffel tower. Its intense and crazy cool. At this point neither of us had our cameras so I got limited photos in, on, and or around the Eiffel tower. It was frustrating beyond belief but we survived I guess. We headed to see the Moulin Rouge next, we figured it'd be at its peak during night hours as well. The scene was "poppin" and I quote Lauren Harriett. Everyone was out partying but because we were worried about missing the last RER train back to our ghost town hidden hotel we just stopped into one bar for an over priced glass of champagne. The bar was a riot and so much fun so we were bummed we couldn't stay. Entertaining, good energetic live music which everyone was fully enjoying and participating in.

This step is where we begin our second horrific but extremely lucky adventure to Hotel Creepster. We rushed from the metro to the RER train only to find that they no longer run south after midnight?? We had been told several times the RER trains run until 2, so we rushed back onto the metro to another RER train in hopes that this train station had no idea what they were talking about. Guess what? No more RER trains to southern France. So we found a metro line that went the farthest southeast we could possibly go, in hopes that there would be a taxi would could catch from there to our Hotel. Wrong again. We got off the train only to walk into a dark large empty parking lot. Fortunately there had been others on the train and after some major convincing, Lauren asked them to please help our helpless souls. The guy we talked to spoke english which was a plus, he was from Senegal. We met so many people from Africa which was really neat. Anyways after a walk to his hotel with a group of his friends (including a girl who was not happy about us tagging along) he made the call for us to a cab company to come pick us up from once again the middle of no where. Where we had put ourselves this time was even more deserted because it wasn't a town, it was a high way with a few hotels and rundown skyscrapers. Essentially no place to turn to besides this generous young man who got yelled at by his girlfriend for using all her minutes. We waited, and waited, and waited (mind you our friends had gone to bed considering it was already 3 am). While waiting we contemplated how we could possibly get to our Hotel, hitchhiking seemed like our only option. Hitchhiking on an open highway=extremely safe and not terrifying at all. After 45 minutes the cab finally came. We were still at least a 20-25 minute drive from the Hotel which robbed us of another 60 euro. All this hassle to save money which prohibited us from going out both friday and saturday night and instead allowed us to 1. See wasted teenagers get beaten by cops, and 2. Be stranded in the middle of nowhere twice! Priceless memories. Let me tell you.

Home and in bed, relieved of all distress we fell asleep around 4:30 am. Pure exhaustion left us little time to accomplish our goals on Sunday, but we made it all happen.

Musee D'Orsay was our first stop. My mom has always told me that this museum changed her life for the better in grasping and conceptualizing art in a meaningful way. I felt exactly the same. Impressionism has become my new found favorite artistic style. First of all the museum is an old train station which is fascinating within itself. But on top of that, the way the museum is laid out you can see the transformation from more simplistic and traditional paintings to the emotional and textured art. The rhythm and movement and depth of the strokes in the Impressionist paintings were indescribable. Lauren and I were taken a back. It was truly a growing and exponentially rewarding experience. Monet, Van Gogh, Sicily, seeing their progression over time. Each brilliant individuals way of expression themselves through art it was incredible. I thought about one my best friends Kevin San Juan the entire time. He recently painted me a painting as a going away gift which contains all of the qualities and beauties Impressionism embodies. Kevin if you read this you are an incredibly talented artist, so thank you. This historical background for Impressionism was also interesting. It supposedly came about shortly after photography was invented. Because photography could capture moments in a realistic way with no movement painters had to find another way to express themselves and keep the beauty and appreciation of arts historical form alive. Musee D'Orsay is definitely my top recommendation for anyone who goes to Paris.

Because it was the first Sunday of the month, and all the museums are free monthly on this special day we cruised into the Louvre to see Venus. Goddess of either sex or the sea. Because her arms are missing there is no way of telling which god she may be. Arms and hands are what expressed, symbolized, and communicated the type of goddess represented in each statue.

We were crunched for time per usual so we grabbed a sandwich, briefly watched a symphony playing outside the metro and made our final trek back to the airport. Although it may seem stressful, chaotic, and totally absurd Lauren and I agree it was our best trip so far. We saw and learned so much, and it would have been no where near as exciting or adventurous without the many many memorable ridiculous experiences. And not once during those crisis moments did we freak out or get upset, we just laughed in hopes everything would work out in the end.

All in all it was a wonderful trip, and I loved Paris even more than I expected to. I will get to Tunisia soon but jesus lord that is going to be a LONGG blog. By the end of 10 whole days in Africa you will all hope that I just shut up already.

Happy Spring, and Happy almost Golden Birthday to Haley Slaferrrr. She turns 21 tomorrow!

love.
noraclaire.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Carnivale in Venice. Oh what a 36 hours....

Thursday a group of us stayed in and watched "Something About Mary," down in Rinaldos while we snacked and hung out. Lauren and I ended up sleeping in until 4 o'clock. I had gotten up and eaten lunch and was awake for about an hour and a half, but went back to sleep. Our only excuse is that we hadn't gone to bed until 4 am, so 12 hours of sleep isn't so long. Anyways, we were awoken to everyone drinking and celebrating St. Sauters Day. This is the last name of Mark, a friend of ours here. They were throwing a huge party in their room in celebration of his name for absolutely no reason. It was actually really fun and entertaining, it was a beautiful day so everyone was outside enjoying the weather and good Italian beer. We eventually all went to dinner without about 25 people at one table, all at least a little tipsy where there were prayers and cheers to Mark for his holy day. It was hilarious.

In the meantime, we had convinced 3 of these guys to come with us to Venice for the weekend. Joe, Mark, and Matt all drunkenly decided to join our excursion. Our group consisted of 8 people; Nika, Nick, Kaela, Molly Keifer (a girl from the twin cities as well), Mark, Joe, Matt, and I. It was actually a wonderful group size and functioned well for the entire weekend--well almost, but I'll get to that later. We were to catch the train at 10:30 pm and arrive in Venice at 5:30 am. Somehow we figured this would be a fabulous idea and could manage on little sleep to party for 24 hours in Venice for Carnivale. We hardly made it to the train station, but we did it with very little time to spare. Got on and managed to get a car to ourselves and stayed up and drank for a while longer. We got into a few political conversations which were actually quite enlightening. We learned a lot about eachother after a few screaming fits at one another. Mark is actually incredibly intelligent and surpassed our expectations of what we had known of him previously.

I just want to say here, upon our return when asked how our trip went, we were at a loss for words. This trip was literally indescribable. So much fun and chaos, there are literally no words to even begin to explain this day. But this will be my attempt to show you what a wreckless/wonderful 36 hour excursion it was.

We all got some sleep on the train until we were abruptly awoken by some man telling us we had to switch cars because they were leaving the one we were on behind. We were all so frazzled we just couldn't stop laughing, in disbelief we had taken this adventure upon ourselves. The boys we had convinced to come along said and I quote "Where are we?? We just got drunk and got on a train??" It was hilarious, because they had no previous intentions of coming along, but somehow had drunkenly managed to end up on this (what at the time seemed like horrific) journey.

Within 15 minutes we had arrived in the dark and unbearably cold city of Venice. We were at a loss for words. There were no public bathrooms, and absolutely nothing was open at 5:30 in the morning. So in utter helplessness we set up camp, in fact named it "Camp David" and huddled in a corner together. We all laid in, around, and on top of eachother cuddling trying to keep warm. We stayed there for a good hour until the buffet in the train station opened. I was too tired to even think about food. Once the sun finally started to rise we saw that the water front was right outside of the station. It was already beautiful. We waited around for the right taxi to bring us to Piazza di San Marco and we were all pretty miserable in the process. We finally got onto the cool water taxis that brought us to the main island? We are still unsure exactly how Venice works. We were so unprepared it was unbelievable. We had no maps or itinerary for Venice or Carnivale. Matt had brought nothing warm yet 5 pairs of socks and underwear? Anyways, Nika had already been feeling sick and got serious motion sickness on the boat so once we finally got off, she ended up puking in a near by trash can. That was unpleasant for everyone, but her especially. She felt better afterwards and we walked around to find a little cafe for breakfast since after all it was only 8 am. We got some sandwiches and watched American music videos for another hour and a half or so. Once we had all had time to relax and reenergize by putting food in our stomachs we were motivated to start the day. 9:30 was also a more reasonable time to start functioning for us 21 year olds.

Quick side note: We saw at least 4 "Wishbone" looking dogs throughout the day while in Venice, so it was a running joke and anthem song sung during our Carnivale. "What's the Story Wishbone?!" I honestly don't know if I stopped laughing the entire time I was there, our newly found male friends were a riot and kept our attitudes light hearted and giggly throughout our indescribable day.

We continued on our way, walking on bridges over the canals, seeing gondolas every which way. We decided that we still had time before any events would be going on so 6 of us decided to go for a ride. Nika was still traumatized from the water so she decided to stay back, as well as Molly. The gondola ride was absolutely gorgeous. I felt like royalty traveling through the innards of Venice. We were traveling the streets but the streets were made of water. There were steps from homes and hotels directly into the water. It was just as I had imagined it. I have always loved the concept of Venice and its unique beauty and it met all of my high expectations. Property there is ridiculously expensive which is to be expected, but our "driver" (of the gondola) told us that for roughly 700 square feet its about 350,000 euros which is about $500,000 American dollars. For such little space! It's insane. But if someday I become rich enough I would love to have a vacation home there, maybe a gondola as well. What a fantasy. When we got back Molly and Nika had found the main piazza so we ventured there where I bought my mask. I was the only one who purchased a mask but it was so worth it. Green and originally painted in Venice Italy, with feathers, glitter, and a jewel to hold the feathers in place. Molly eventually got her face painted but I will keep this mask for the rest of my life. Carnivale in Venice 2009. So amazing. Anyways, we wandered around San Marco and saw all the costumes, took a million pictures with them and of them. Then snuck into the church, again probably one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. It was COVERED in gold. Domes all over the church filled with gold mosaics.

After we continued to walk around the city discovering little piazza's and beautiful winding streets and bridges. We eventually bought some alcohol, and claimed a bridge near Piazza di San Marco. We sat there for a couple hours drinking and singing our hearts out. I took a nap there for a while since I was on such limited sleep and so did a few others, when we eventually got kicked off of the bridge because we were making too much of a ruckus singing karaoke. We moved to the Piazza where we all continued to relax and drink when all of the sudden a Hari Krishna parade started marching through. Nika, Nick, and I, all independent of one another hopped up and joined the parade, marching through all the streets of Venice chanting the cultish songs of the Hari Krishna religion. It was one of the oddest experiences of my entire life. But people were taking photos and we were super in tune with it for the hour or so that we marched. We thought we had been enlightened and touched by the spirits of these people, but soon after realized what nuts we were. Don't get me wrong, it was an incredible experience but outrageously strange none the less.

Once we finally made it back to San Marco the ceremony had started. Odd music was playing and there was a large white ball floating through the air. A woman was doing some sort of trapeze acrobatic nonsense as well floating and dancing through the air to the slightly creepy music. I was ecstatic by this I guess so I ran ahead to take pictures (even though I had left my battery behind charging at the JFRC... SO disappointing). This incident left me alone for the following two hours. I tried to trace backwards but was unable to do so and didn't find Nika or Nick. So for the proceeding 2 hours I asked every police woman or man I saw "Tren a Roma??" and they would point me in a general direction. I walked with the mobs of people hoping to dear god that I would find my way back to the train station. We had said earlier in the day, if worse comes to worse we will all meet back at the train station for the 8:30 train back to Rome. I literally have no concept of how I made that happen for myself but I got there, bought a ticket and waited hoping to find everyone asap. I waited for a good hour and finally spotted Kaela, Matt, Joe, Mark, and Molly! I was thrilled/turned extremely frantic. I had maintained my sanity until I could be vulnerable and freak out about how terrified I had been in the mass of thousands of people, lost and alone. The terror only lasted about 15 minutes and I was over it. By the time everyone had arrived we had missed the 8:30 train so we had to wait for the 11:56 train. We were all so exhausted we laid back down on the floor of the train station (which was much busier at this hour) and took another brief nap. We ran into some familiar faces who were headed back to the JFRC on our same train, got some food at the buffet again and waited patiently for the train to depart.

Once we finally got on the train 5 out of the 8 of us magically got seats on a train that had been extremely overbooked. Molly, Mark, and Joe were standing in the hallway of the train for a good two hours while we waited and watched people protest outside the train, throwing things at it and screaming. It was a huge riot with cops everywhere trying to constrain the angry tired people who just wanted to go home. Our train was therefore delayed two hours while they waited for an entirely new train to come to put all the extra people on. It was out of this world. Once we finally got moving 2 men came and told us that we were in their "reserved" seats. We explained that we didn't even have reserved seats so there was no way we were moving. The 2 young men then threatened to fight the 8 of us, which just sort of made us all chuckle to ourselves. I sacrificed my seat for one and then 4 squished onto one side. I slept above, you know where the luggage is supposed to be held? Yeah... It was made of approximately 6 metal bars which means that there are roughly 6 bruises on 6 locations of my body. It was incredibly uncomfortable, but I managed. We finally made it back around 9 am, and I crashed until lunch at 1:30. We hung out in Rinaldo's for the rest of the day watching Jurassic Park and eating snacks. That Sunday night was the first night I went to bed before 2 am. Some much needed sleep obviously.

Okkkkkk, I'm finally catching up. Just one more week and Paris which I will have up before Tunisia. I promise! Don't forget to read them in order. Amsterdam/Brussels, Venice, and Paris. Enjoy!

Love always,
Nora Claire.

"Baby went to Amsterdam...."

Catching up once again. I forgot to mention Tuesday night the JFRC put on a huge karaokee show. It was actually a blast. We all got 2 free beers and danced and sang for about 3 hours straight. It was essentially a massive shit show of wasted Americans singing old N'sync, Destiny's child, and of course all the fun 80s and 90s rock we grew up with. The SLA's have been putting on great events and karaokee was definitely a successful one. Especially for a Tuesday night when everyone had class the next day.

So yes, then Wednesday was Calcio which I skipped out on. There are weekly updates for Calcio, a comedic editorial type thing. It is one of the most sarcastic and most hilarious commentaries I have ever read. There is a whole team of students who write it, but Matt Collins is the primary writer. It makes fun of everyone, and there are 3 classic pictures randomly printed of Calcio players stolen from facebook. It also repeatedly makes fun of Todd Whaller which we all enjoy. "Not-so-baller-Whaller" is one of his several nicknames.

Thursday we all had class and headed off to the airport for Brussels around 5pm. We waited for the 990 for a good half hour when we finally realized it would only be 2 Euros more to just take a cab and not have to worry about all the public transportation being on time. So we walked back to the JFRC hopped in a cab thinking we would be there in no time. Unfortunately it was the middle of rush hour so our taxi driver decided to take all of the back streets to get us to the airport rather than the freeway. The taxi ride-which should only take about a half hour-ended up taking about an hour and 25 minutes.

Let me explain to you a few fun facts about Ryan Air. Although the flights can be dirt cheap (roughly 1 euro one way), the taxes are usually at least 20 euro each way, plus a 10 euro fine each way to check in at the gate. If you are not an Italian citizen you are not allowed to check in online, therefore the service cost of relating with people costs us an extra 20 euro. What has this world come to? SO our roundtrip flight to Brussels which was supposedly 1.50 each way, ended up being around 70 euros total. So that is just fact number one about Ryan Airs deceptive ways. Secondly, you are only allowed to bring one tiny tiny bag which I have addressed before. It can also be no heavier than 10 kilos which doesn't seem bad, but really its VERY easy to go over. Last little trick Ryan Air likes to play on its customers so they can play to rob you of all you are worth is the 40 minute deadline to check in. If you check in one minute past the 40 minute deadline to boarding time you have to buy an entirely new ticket. Our flight was at 8:45 and we made it there right at 8. With only 5 minutes to spare. Our flight ended up being delayed which is typical of Ryan Air as well. Usual boarding time takes place when the plan e is supposed to be taking off. Lastly, every single airport that Ryan Air travels to is about 80 km away from the city center. So on top of a ridiculous amount of hassle with the airline, you have to manage your way to the city center after the flight.

Once we finally made it into Brussels we took a cab to our hostel which had already shut down entirely. We dumped our stuff in the room and went to a strange hookah bar/restaurant across the street. We had a couple Belgian beers and talked with the bar owners. Some 60 year old man was asking Lauren to be his girlfriend. It was an odd encounter. As we were leaving a whole crew of drag queens walked in and noticebly checked out Nick as well. We were all starving so we headed down the street for some Kabobs which were beyond delicious. Perfect midnight snack in Brussels. It was freezing and we were exhausted so we rushed back to our hostel only to find the 3 loudest snorers that I have ever encountered in my entire life. They even beat my dad's horrific sleep apnea! I literally thought one girl was on the verge of death her snoring was so loud. To say the least I got slim to none of the sleep I desperately needed for a packed weekend.

We woke up early and headed to the Atomium, a huge atom looking structure that was built for the World Fair in 1958. It was the first large world fair of the post-war period and wasn't intended to survive past the exhibition, but its popularity allowed it to remain a major landmark of Brussels -- kind of like the Eiffel tower. It symbolizes iron crystal magnified 165 billion times! There are 9 large spheres connected by 20 tubes at a height of 102 meters in the sky. Its an incredible piece of architecture, I have never seen anything like it before. Lauren and I decided to sit that one out because we were already going to be paying lots of entrance fees in Amsterdam. After the rest of the crew toured the spheres we returned to the city center to see the peeing boy fountain which was cute. Not quite sure what the hype is there. On our way to the Grand Plaza we ate some scrumptious Belgian waffles. Fresh hot waffles with strawberries and nutella. We were all in heaven. And covered in chocolate of course. We tried to clean up while walking to the Grand Plaza which was probably the most beautiful piazza I have yet to see. Beautiful, intricate, and unique buildings covering every wall of this massive square. I can't even begin to describe how gorgeous it was, and it was daylight! Something I have noticed about outdoor architecture is the beauty is magnified times 100 at night. Personal preference I guess, but the Trevi fountain, the Eiffel tower, the Colosseum, they all have so much more depth and elegance during the night with all of the lights hitting their most glorious angles. Anyways, we went back to the hostel, grabbed our stuff and headed for the train station to AMSTERDAM!

We got into Amsterdam around 8pm, train ride was fast and but nice being able to relax for a while before a rambunxious night in Amsterdam. We happened to be staying in the redlight district, the main drag of all the fun night life scenes. Molly was in Amsterdam as well, and happened to be staying a 5 minute walk down the same street. So while others got ready I went on a mission to find her. I found her, but she was on a tour with her program and lets just say Amsterdam had already gotten the best of her, so presumably I did not see her again that night. I tried calling her around 11:30 and she was already in bed! Anyways, our night continued by going to a couple Cafe's, trying to get into the Sex museum but it closed. We went back to the main drag where some could no longer function, in fact I had to bring Nick back to the hostel (mind you we were all also extremely exhausted from the continuously interrupted sleep from the night before). When I brought Nick back there were about 20 guys partying in our hostel room who turned out to be complete ass holes (sorry family) but its the honest truth. They were furious that "we" wanted to go to bed, and were accusing us of inappropriate things. It was just an unfortunate situation. But once I did as I do, they eventually left and I put Nick to bed. We went to a couple bars but Nika and I weren't content with just sitting around at a cafe so we dominated the town. We wandered around until 4 am. Checking out different bars, cafes, and eating tons of treats along the way. There were sex shops, entire shops dedicate to condoms, and endless smoker friendly shops left and right. It was quite the scene and I was on cloud 9, it was a riot.

The next morning we were awake and at a bagel shop by 11. We hadn't had bagels in so long! We were all elated! The bagels were delicious with avocados, and tomatos, and of course wonderful cream cheese. It was a good way to start the morning. Amsterdam is beautiful by the by. Its known for its sex, drugs, and alcohol, but I think Amsterdam is such a beautiful city with all of the canals weaving through it. Every other street you cross a bridge, with boathouses everywhere. I really admired the beauty of Amsterdam.

We had decided the day before we should go to Anne Franks house first to get the incredibly depressing stuff out of the way. I had been there before but this time was a completely different experience. Being a child and seeing something like that, and becoming an adult and seeing something like that are two very radically different experiences. We all had tears in our eyes. There were two things that struck me the most. One, the pencil drawn lines with dates on the walls of the annex. The lines were of the height grown by each child while living in the annex hiding. It was devastating to think of these children and families locked up in darkness, not even allowed to see daylight for over two years in fear of jeopardizing their lives. The holocaust has always been a topic that I feel incredibly passionate about and have studied for years on end, so to see something so real and personal. The simplicity of the difference in height while confined simply because they were Jews, really moved me. There are no words. Its devastating, and the fact that such devastating genocide still happening right now. Ugh, thats a whole other discussion. Anyways... The second thing that made my heart sink was the photograph of Otto Frank standing in the annex probably 30 years after the war. Its the last image you see as you leave the museum. A black and white photograph, you can feel his pain standing in the empty room where he spent over 2 years of his life hidden with his family. None of which are still alive. It said that he had requested that the annex remain unfurnished which was also such a painful thing to even think about.

On a lighter note, we left there for the Heineken museum. We needed something to relieve our minds and hearts, so why not check out how the Heineken beer is brewed? (Catch the sarcasm?) We took a tram to the southern part of the city, and paid a ridiculous amount of money to get in but the price ended up being worth it. We got to try all of the ingredients put into the beer including: water, barley, hops, and yeast. Not the best tasting stuff prior to it being brewed. Then you get to see the huge brewery room, massive round copper "things." I really have no idea how else to describe them. Next they "Brew You!" You go on this ride where you get brewed, you get tossed up and down, water splashed on you, bubbles floating everywhere. They call it a fantastic 4-D trip, "Hold on tight and enjoy the ride!" That was pretty fun and then you finally get a "free" glass of cold delicious Heineken beer. You go through a disco looking room full of screens displaying all of the international advertising and global market which Heineken caters to. Walk through a couple more rooms, galleries and learn the history of Heineken, a couple more pictures, and then you get your last "free" glass of that tasty Heineken -- "The world's most international brand!" So there is my little endorsement for Heineken... Afterwards we went to a small pub around the corner. Very local place because the beer was cheap and filled with old dutch people playing pool. It was a fun location where the 10 of us socialized and drank some more Heineken.

We headed back to the hostel as it started to get dark, and since it was Valentine's Day we decided to have everyone go out for a romantic dinner. I eventually got a hold of Molly as well and after getting ready I went and picked her up (by foot). We went out for a phenomenal Vietnamese dinner. It was a really cute place and delicious food. We ate, we drank, we laughed. It was a fun way to spend Valentine's Day, and lovely to finally see a familiar face: my dear Molly. In Amsterdam of all places!

After dinner we successfully made it to the sex museum. It was so graphic I won't even go into any further detail than to just say I probably never need to go back there again. There were some cool parts, but it was WAY intense. Even for us 21 year olds. So I would most likely not recommend it to anyone, but especially anyone above or below the ages of 21 as well. Afterwards I met Molly's friends and we headed to a bar called Absinthe. Sidenote: Before I left my mother gave me a HUGE Europe for christmas book called "Europe on a Shoestring: Big trips on Small Budgets." I am eternally grateful, but am sorry to say that it is COMPLETELY inaccurate. It was published in 2007 yet all of the prices are completely inaccurate. As well as all of the happening bars they suggest being closed. So we trekked too far, for a closed Absinthe bar. I hope it can still help Carrie and I out on our month long adventure (CAN'T WAIT Ms. Carrie Binder!). Anyways, we found another couple bars in the area. We all split up because the group was too big, but I hung out with Molly and another girl Rachel. I ended up drinking a wee bit too much, and in combination with other things I got thrown over the edge. So this was the second time I have gotten sick since being here. Plus I am still convinced that the first time in Sienna it was from pure exhaustion. I ended up heading home around 3 after a lot of bar hopping and bringing Molly home. We all woke up too late to make it to the Van Gogh museum which was incredibly disappointing for some. But I am returning with Carrie in May. I intend on renting a bike (everyone rides bikes everywhere -- I almost got hit by bike riders at least 5 times) and riding to every art museum in town. It will be warm, and I will even get to see a Lily Allen concert! So excited. We got bagels to revive ourselves for the long journey of getting back to Rome. We had to catch the train to a bus, and a bus to the plane, the plane to another bus, the bus to the metro, and another bus to walk a half a mile back to the JFRC. It was a good 11 hours of solid traveling, but worth it of course!

Monday we were all exhausted but I received and email from the head of the english department informing me I got a tutoring job! I was thrilled. I am tutoring a 15 year old girl named Viviana, who goes by Vivi. She is only a year and a half older than Chloe. Way more innocent than her too! But I will be tutoring her every Tuesday from 1:30-2:30. I also found out about these excersize classes taught by this wonderful, energetic, incredibly athletic, and flexible woman downstairs. Every Tuesday and Thursday from 4-5. There is a 5-6 class on Tuesdays but it is more aerobics and I am just not cut out, nor coordinated enough for that stuff. So I have been going as frequently as possible. She KILLS us. After Tuesday I couldn't walk for a solid week, but I still forced myself to go that Thursday. She is a professional does these classes all over Rome. She is adorable, motivating, and SO much fun. There is a large group of us, all women, who she has inspired to actually work out and somewhat enjoy it.

We saw another film Tuesday night as well. It was totally absurd. Angels were coming down from the sky, some man had magical powers, it was NO neo-realist film so we were all in shock and not quite sure what to make of it. Wednesday after class Lauren and I walked around the neighborhood again, did some grocery shopping, and stopped into our favorite little pizza place to visit Walter. We picked the wrong time and because it was during the siesta hours the place was packed. We'll have to go back another time.

But funny story while we were there. Let me just start by saying Lauren HATES tuna. She probably hates tuna as much as I hate cheese. Maybe even a little more. When I initially bought tuna (which turned out to be cat food), she wouldn't even let me open the can IN our room. Thats how much she hates it. Anyways, she decided to be spontaneous and get a new kind of pizza, with olives, cheese, and peppers. First bite she says, "God this cheese is strange." She kept eating it, making a few more comments like: "I don't know what kind of cheese this is... I can't decide whether or not I like it. I've never met a cheese I don't like!" She was beyond confused (she is one of you avid cheese lovers). Within the last few bites she decided to dig her finger around in the cheese to try and figure out what kind it might be (mind you they heat up the pizza and melt the cheese so everything is all gooped together). Within a matter of seconds she saw TUNA all mixed in with the cheese! It was hilarious! All the more hilarious because she knew there was something wrong with the pizza the entire time but ate the whole thing anyways. Sorry. It was essential to the day and made me laugh for a good half hour.

We tied in Calcio that night. Played against the orange team, my History professor plays on that team and he heard me curse several times. I would apologize, but he assured me he understood, as he kept swearing as well. Calcio is hilarious and so much fun. There is a team that has gone DEFEATED the entire season. Giallo--the yellow team. But their team spirit trumps everyone elses. I think they have just come to find humor in the fact that they most likely will not win one single game over the entire season. Where as there are 2 other teams who have gone undefeated and are stacked. Somehow the teams were unevenly distributed, but its all in good fun. We had a lot of fun at BP (beer and pizza) as well. I have yet to drink at this after party, but we were playing lots of fun drinking games with about 20 people around a table.

Okay, well thats all for now. Carnivale in Venice is next!
God Bless. Or something....
LOVE!
Nora

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Firenzeeeee.

So, like the smart person that I am, I didn't get to bed till around 3 am Friday morning, and had to get up at 5 am to catch the train to Florence. It was hell to say the least. And any of you who know me, KNOW how much I hate the morning. It was the 5 of us; Nick, Lauren, Katie, Nika and I. It was still dark as we wondered the streets of Rome, taking the 990 to the Cipro metro stop, and the metro all the way to Termini. We wanted to get on a train as soon as possible so we went to the desk to buy our tickets. We had been told by friends that the tickets were only 15 euro for the slow train, which was fine by us because we wanted to sleep so we could be well rested to explore the rest of the day. Unfortunately the attendant had no idea what we were talking about, and ended up having to pay 38 euro for a ONE way ticket to Florence. We were all bummed, this was supposed to be a cheap weekend! Not only did we pay 38 euros, we got there within less than an hour and a half which meant very very little time to sleep.

Fortunately our hostel was only 2 blocks away from the train station. A wonderful characteristic of Florence, everything is within a 10 minute walking range. We got to our hostel "Archie Rossi," but couldn't check in until one. There was a place to store our things and there was a free walking tour around the cities main sites at 10 am. So we grabbed some coffee and were on our way. We had looked up the weather and it was supposed to be raining all day Saturday and Sunday, but to our pleasant surprise it was blue skies and sunny all day Saturday. It was perfect weather while we explored the entirety of Florence. First we saw the market, which was just around the corner from our hostel, and then San Lorenzo. The interior of the church is supposedly one of the most magnificent churches to ever be seen, but for some reason we couldn't go in. The exterior leaves little to be desired, but there is reason for this! Michaelangelo had a whole plan to decorate it with white marble, and make the outside of the church just as magnificent as the interior, but he was sent to Rome to work on the Vatican... NOT by choice. Rome had threatened to attack Florence, so Michaelangelo was forced to do his pieces at the Vatican which I found incredibly interesting.

The Duomo was next. Literally the most incredible exterior of a church I have ever seen. It is pink and green! So much detail and beautiful marble. It was massive! Fourth biggest in the world... depending on who you talk to. But the Vatican is first, then one in London, and than the church in Milan, and then the Duomo in Florence. It even had an ancient clock that told time by the sun. It had 24 roman numerals. If I knew more about god (I choose not to capitalize intentionally -- I also am going to start writing woMYN this way... by choice, I was informed it still considered correct spelling even though on Word it says it is incorrect), but yes, if I knew more about god I could tell you all that was depicted on the ceiling of the Duomo. I think it was some variation depicting judgement day. The art inside the church was a combination of both the Gothic and Renaissance style. The windows were from the Renaissance and the pillars were Gothic because of the grey colors. Fascinating stuff.

We ended in a Piazza with the statue of Neptune. It was a gorgeous piazza filled with many other statues as well. We met Nick's high school friend there Andy who Nick stayed with for the weekend. We went back to an organic market we had passed on the tour. An organic market only open on the first Saturday of the month, with only cheese and wine. It was pretty neat. Any wine and cheese lovers heaven I'm sure. We then stopped at a cute pizza cafe off the Piazza before we did a full loop and tour all over the city of Florence. Nick searched for his leather messenger back which was his #1 purchase in coming to Italy. We walked all across town, did a million and photo shoots, stopped for some gelato before we finally headed back to our hostel for a nap around 5.

We were all so overly exhausted we couldn't fall asleep and had a somewhat dullisional conversation until we could no longer stay awake and napped for a short hour. We got up, got ready, and headed out for a nice Florence dinner. I heard from a friend that Florence was known for its steak, but it was too expensive so I got Pork Ribs and Potatoes. It was delicious. Still on my sober binge I drank about 3 glass bottles of water to myself (you are usually supposed to share them with the whole table). After dinner, we got some pre-gaming materials and headed back to Andy's apartment. I bought juice. Blood orange juice, the most favored juice in all of Italy. We got in some heated political debates after listening to an annoying girl from Tish brag about her life and how many famous people she knew and had worked for. I guess she has gotten high with the kid from the 6th sense? Who knows. We were tired of it after a solid 5 minutes of her banter.

We managed to make our way to the "Space Bar." A huge discoteca in Florence. It was quite the scene. First discoteca I have been to in Europe and I had a blast! Everyone else was wasted, and I probably had the best time of anyone, sober! I danced my pants off the entire night. I had decided I could either be bored and sit down while watching drunk people get more drunk all night, or have the time of my life. And in choosing the latter, I definitely made the right decision! Lots of music, lots of fun, lots of raving. It was a jolly ol' time.

We got home around 4:30 am, and passed out immediately. Being up for 24 hours on only 2 hours of sleep can really do you in. We had set an alarm for 9 but didn't wake up until 11. Fortunately the hostel didn't charge us for an extra day. We got a slow start to the day, and went out for a phenomenal breakfast. So much food and deliciousnes all at once. We all miss breakfast a lot. That took us another couple of hours, and by the time we wanted to head to Pisa it was too late. The museum where David is, also closed by 2 on Sundays, so we missed seeing him as well. Plus we had already been screwed with expensive tickets so we decided to shop around the markets and stores in town. I bought myself a pink scarf!

Once we finally made it to the train station we had JUST missed the Regional train which was the 15 Euro train rather than the 40 Euro train. So we had to wait another 2 hours before catching the next train at 7:15. We sat in a Mcdonalds and had some fun conversations for the remaining time. There was also a weird pattern of people eating in Mcdonalds and taking pictures of themselves there and eating the food? We weren't sure if they thought it was cool or totally absurd. But it was weird for us none the less.

We made it back to JFRC by midnight and were completely exhausted. Monday and Tuesday were easy and relaxed, class and homework. Naps somewhere in there too. We had to play major catch up since we are leaving for Brussels and Amsterdam this weekend! Tuesday we watched the film Bicycle Thief. I think its a pretty well known film, good, and much less depressing than the others we have watched so far. Not that this film was depressing as well.

Today was class and homework, it hailed today? I am confused by mother nature. She is just so upset she wants to throw us all off I guess. Manic little lady she is. Its above 60 in Chicago, and pouring hail on our heads over in Rome. To say the least it was chilly outside, so I skipped out on Calcio tonight. Decided to stay in, get some homework done, get caught up on this blog, and even do laundry! Lauren and I switch off doing the full load so it was my turn this time. Time to get packed up before we head off for the outrageous weekend! I will come back with details galore. Only the appropriate ones of course. Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Valentines Day!

Love,
Nora.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Catching up. Vatican City!

So I guess Friday has already been covered since our acquaintance with the neighborhood happened that day rather than Wednesday. We were lazy and went to bed early Friday night so we could get up early and go to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. The line was long for students to get in, but it was only 8 euro if you had a student ID. Poor Nika is still waiting on hers, so she had to pay the full price of 14.

The Museum was incredible. I probably took another 400 photos. There was so much depth and detail to the paintings of each individual room we entered. There is so much intricacy that covered such a large mass it was almost too overwhelming to comprehend. But than once you take a few steps closer and you can see the texture of the paint, and the movement of each stroke the painter made with his brush. It's beyond words to describe the detailed work that lined this museum. We walked for an hour through each of the rooms, some of which used to be bedrooms of previous popes. We stopped, sat, and gazed in a few rooms because we were in such awe. The ceiling was covered in art and the walls from top to bottom. With detailed marble lining all of the floors. We wondered how long it could have possibly taken to create such a masterpiece. To give you an idea of how large this place is, we only went through HALF!

The Sistine Chapel was purely undescribable. To see one of the most famous and historical pieces of art right before your eyes is powerful, moving, and again indescribable. To see man reaching for the heavens, and the tension between their two fingers almost touching but never will. It was mind blowing. We sat for about a half hour in the chapel. Some of our group bought rosaries for their mothers who would be thrilled to have a rosary from the Sistine chapel, I however moved on. Afterwards we got a bite to eat outside of the Vatican and walked around the neighborhood and shopped since it was the last day of sales. I bought a pair of boots and a leather bomber jacket! The jacket is purple and has sweet collars. Nick went on a major shopping spree, Lauren got some boots as well, and Nika finally got a new wallet. We wandered for a couple more hours, stopped for Gelatos and headed home for a quiet evening. We all watched Pineapple Exrpress in Rinaldo's and went to sleep. It was a very calm night life weekend in Rome which was really nice for all of us.

Sunday we attempted to get up and go to the market, but failed miserably. We had no idea where we were going, and since it closed by 1 we decided there was no point in trying to get get there with limited time to shop. We slept in late to get ourselves well rested to watch the superbowl from midnight until 4 am. We ate dinner, caught up on some homework, and headed out for the evening around 11. We went to a new bar called On the Rocks. There were more Italians there which was nice. Its in an area called Trestevere which I am looking forward to exploring more. I hear there are more bars, less Americans, and a more diversified population in the surrounding areas. So I have yet to lose all hope in meeting some young Italians. Sunday night was also the most dramatic night of my life. I think alcohol and an extremely intense football game can really throw some people over the edge. Especially men who already have a tendency towards "Asshole" qualities. Needless to say, beer was thrown, screaming took place, kicking out of those men screaming at us, and finally a chair was thrown at us as well by some older Italian man. I was incredibly sober so this course of events was to say the least draining. But a funny memory in the long run. But to top off the night we had the best taxi ride home I have ever had in my entire life. It was Lauren, Nika, Katie and I. The man was staked outside of the bar waiting for those ready to come home after the superbowl. I'm sure he could hear the frazzled and distressed tone in our voices, so within about 2 minutes of the cab ride he pops in a cd and turns it on blast! It has 8 songs on it including Maroon 5, Jordan Sparks, Rhianna, and several other American Pop artists. This man was running a business! He had us all screaming at the top of our lungs and dancing to the music, he even participated as well! We had so much fun on the cab ride home we were able to completely forget about our disasterous night. Unfortunately I didn't get to bed until about 6 am and Monday morning I my first Sociology test. That didn't go as well as I had hoped. I am gonna step up my game in school for sure! Classes like I expected though are extremely hard.

Anyways, after class 6 of us went on a piercing excursion. Four of us walked out with piercings. Katie, Kristi, Kaela, and I. I got my monroe pierced. I had two solid weeks of sobriety due to medication for my kidneys PLUS it was my birthday week (sort of?) so we all decided to be adventurous and get something done. It was a bonding experience for all of us, and we were all swollen for a couple days there after. My lip has finally gone down after lots of cleaning, tape and ice on the face, and much less aggressive Calcio playing this week.

Tuesday was a normal day, watched another depressing movie which I talked about in my previous post. I guess De Sicca was trying to convey Italy's misery during and after Facism, and he is doing a wonderful job. We are all left in shock after every film. But our teacher-Dibiagi-gets infuriated when we don't like the endings if they aren't happy. He doesn't understand why people always expect happy endings in the art of film because its not reality. He sees film as an art that is an expression of the world and reality. Artists are supposed to feed messages of reality through their own perspective and creativity, not just simply entertain. He says the real world almost never has happy endings which is absolutely true, we are just all used to Hollywood romantic comedies I guess. He is teaching me quite a bit about film, and its art, angles that the films are shot from. Its much more creative and deeply thought out than I ever initially expected.

Wednesday was calm until Calcio. Funny story though. Every Wednesday night at dinner they blast music in the cafeteria to pump everyone up to play calcio, its hilarious! People are jumpin around and making competitive gestures to the teams they will be playing against that night. Its a riot. Although, probably from all of the high energy and blasting music, the electricity in the cafeteria went out for the remainder of dinner hours. I have never eaten dinner in the dark but it was kind of exciting and weird and mysterious as to what would be put into your mouth next!

We had an 8:30 game and we played soccer in the rain! I have always wanted to play soccer for fun in the rain. Although like I said before, I was terrified of my face getting pelted with the ball so I was far less aggressive and actively playing this week compared to last week. We won though! Against the Marone team which I guess is brown? Gross. Anyways, we put up a good fight and won 4 to 3! Lauren and I skipped out on beer and pizza this week and headed home to get some homework out of the way. But since I had hardly broken a sweat in soccer I decided to go on a run... ME, running... WHAT?! I felt productive afterwards and showered for the undisclosed number'th time. Thursday and today (Friday) have been lazy lazy days. There was a wine tasting session that I had planned on going to, but shortly soon after realized I was still not able to drink... So I missed out on that excursion. Bummer, but I think my SLA said she would do it again, so I will definitely be attending the next time she coordinates it.

Today we had plans of going to H & M, and getting chinese food, but for some reason the rainy season has given us all a hard hit of fatigue and serious lack of motivation. So laundry, homework, catching up on the news were in the mix, and its going to be an early night as well. We are off to Florence at 5 am tomorrow morning! We hope to catch a 7 o'clock train and get in by 11 and explore the rest of the day! I'm very excited. We will hopefully go to Pisa on Sunday as well to see the leaning tower. I will write about Florence soon!

With much love,
Nora Claire.

P.S. This blog was obviously supposed to be posted on Friday night, but the internet has been overly spuratic and non-existent at times. So forgive the confusion. Hope everyone had a great weekend! TIme for another depressing movie tonight!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Venti Uno. Happy 21st Birthday.

So we arrived back late on Sunday, and at midnight on Sunday it would be my 21st birthday. We all came back, ate dinner, got settled in, took a nap so we could have at least a mini celebration when the clock struck 12. Lauren got home a couple hours earlier than our group because she and a few others took a cab. So on our commute back she had run to the store, picked up a mini cake and a bottle of champagne. Absolutely adorable and incredibly generous of her. I mean we have only known eachother for 3 weeks, and she made sure I had a cake and everything. We hung out down in Renaldo's till about 11:45 and while everyone else went for a cigarette I came back up to my room. Right at midnight everyone came in, popped the bottle of champagne, sang happy birthday 3 times, and made me blow out the candles more than once as well. It was really really adorable actually. I was really touched by the efforts made by those who I have only known for such a short period of time. Inspired by Arthur's video, they all sang "My Girl" to me, but replaced the lyrics with "Talkin' about Nora...." and danced along for the entire song. Wonderful way to begin my 21st birthday. I have also never received so many birthday wishes in my entire life. I got over 80 happy birthdays on facebook, and over 30 emails. So for those of you who are reading this, and I didn't respond to you via facebook or email. Thank you. I am truly grateful. It meant the world to me.

Anyways, the rest of the day went by fairly normal. Went to class, ate lunch, did some homework, hung out, went to dinner etc etc. Then it was time to go get the alcohol everyone was busy trying to get their homework done to prepare themselves to spend the rest of their monday night out. So I went to get the wine and booze myself. This ended up being a wonderful decision. First, I got a better feel for the neighborhood I live in, as well as developing a close relationship with the guy who owns the Inoteca-the wine shop. The wine shop has been in their family for over 55 years, and has been passed down through 3 generations. Anyways, I told him it was my 21st birthday so he generously shared an $80 dollar bottle of wine with me. He proceeded to give me an extensive wine tasting lesson. It was an absolute blast. I got try sweet and dry wine, swirl it, smell it, taste it, and even examine it under the light. It was such a unexpected and pleasant birthday treat. While I was there another older man came in to purchase a bottle of wine, he seemed to be a regular. I started talking to him and explaining why I was in Rome and what I was studying. When I told him I was studying Italian film he was overjoyed and mentioned that he was an actor. After he left, the store owner bragged by showing me that this man was who did the voice dubbing for all of George Clooney's movies! He also does Tom Hanks voice-over for Forest Gump. All in all the trip to the liquor store was much more than originally expected and quite the pleasant surprise.

I got back, told my story, and began getting ready. Sorry to family for putting some explicit details in here, but it was my 21st birthday. I was fortunate enough to get to take a shot with a few important people via Skype before going out to celebrate my 21st birthday! It was really comforting and sweet to be able to experience it from a few from home, even if they were forced to take a shot at 3 in the afternoon. Thank you. Anyways, we had a crew of about 10 people who were going out on a Monday night, just to celebrate my birthday. I was seriously honored, and had such little expectations of this day that I was blown away each time something really wonderful worked out. We got slightly lost on the way to the Ice Bar, but eventually found it in a hidden alley right by the Colosseum. It was mandatory to wear these huge metallic shawls that velcroed shut, as well as gloves, both of which they provided before entering the igloo. You went through 2 sets of glass doors and all of the sudden it was 23 degrees and everything was made out of ice. The bar, the fancy martini glasses, the floor, the benches, the separated rooms. On top of that, there were lights behind the ice which rotated through a spectrum of colors. Every color you could imagine. I had a rainbow filled 21st birthday, and again for those of you who know me, know how much I love rainbows! Such a colorful night!

We got a couple rounds of free drinks, danced around, and took a million photos. I think I got a drink of every color and I was done for. Heels and ice don't mix very well, especially on one's 21st birthday. I fell on my knees about 10 times which were unfortunately bruised for about 3 days after. Because its so cold, people usually only last about an hour inside this massive igloo, so I was ready to leave after exactly one hour. They had even popped a bottle of champagne for me but I was already on my way out the door. In fact I ran towards the door, somehow forgot that the glass doors were still there and literally ran straight into it. HARD. I had a bump on my head for the following 3 days as well. Needless to say it was a wonderful, colorful, and somewhat painful birthday. Much better than I expected.

Tuesday was a boring day, not much happened aside from watching one of the most depressing movies of my life. It's called Children are Watching Us, by Vittorio De Sicca. We just watched another tonight (Tuesday February 3rd) which was just as depressing if not more so. Kids either die, or get abandoned by their parents, or are exposed to things they should never be exposed to. Although the films are good, I would never recommend De Sicca because they put us all in a very solemn mood.

Wednesday was a good day! Lauren and I finally acquainted ourselves with the Balduina neighborhood. We walked down to Upim and got ourselves a vibrant rug to warm up our room. We also got some groceries, juice and crackers, and she got a bottle of Nutella which was gone by the end of the day. She really screwed us over on that one. We are all now addicted. One of the most rich and delicious treats I have ever experienced. Anyways, then we walked down to the Balduina piazza and saw all the little stores and hip shops. There are a lot of intimate stores where they only sell female underwear. Its like a bunch of Victoria Secret's everywhere. We are all a little bit weirded out by the concept.

Lauren's favorite food is pizza, so we HAD to stop for pizza on the way back. This ended up being the best decision of our adventure. First of all, most delicious Italian pizza either of us have had yet. Incredibly fresh tomatoes, basil, and mozzerella cheese. I wasn't a huge fan of the cheese, but the vegetables were filled with potent flavor. As we were sitting there, the guy who worked behind the counter started talking with us in english. I guess he had lived in London for 2 months so he could communicate with us a bit. Best young Italian I have met so far. He was incredibly sweet, helpful, genuine, and not a creep at all. He also dressed like a normal person, rather than flaunting all the highest brand names on his shirt, pants, or shoes. We talked with him about the limited night life and he gave us options of where we could go and what we could do. He grew up here and said that he has never found Rome to be the most fun place to live. I feel as though I keep hearing the same thing over and over again. I thought that it might just be because we are in this bubble of American students out in a rich suburb, but I think no matter how hard you try its gonna be a major struggle. There is even a girl here fluent in Italian and she is genuinely upset because she can't find anyone to speak Italian with. They either want to go home with you or are not interested (sorry to be blunt).

Anyways, we found out his name was Walter (though its pronounced 100% differently in Italian) and that he works everyday from 12-10pm except Mondays. So we figure we will go visit our new friend and maybe he can help us with our Italian as well as take rely on him to take us out out and show us what this city is really about! As we were headed back, I bought a neon limegreen scarf. It seemed highly appropriate and it was only 4 euro! We had to make it back in time for Lauren's class at 5 so we hurried back, had dinner and hung out until Calcio!!!

First of all, I am on the PINK team!! I am more than thrilled for this simple fact. We got ourselves prepared to work out for the first time in ages and make a complete fool of ourselves. We were running late per usual so we had to run half way there, we laughed as we did so because we were utterly confused as to what our lives were coming to? Running down the streets of Rome to play Calcio? I hate running. Anyways, our games started at 8:30 while others had started at 7:30 so we got to see the last few minutes of the prior games. We were Rosa, and we played against Rosso (the red team). Their team is STACKED. They have at least 3 players on their team who play soccer for the Loyola Club soccer team, as well as Todd Whaller who I am sure has played ever since he started working here. It was somewhat unfair, but we held our own and only lost 5 to 4. Despite the imbalance in talent I had a BLAST. I hadn't played soccer in years, aside from the brief game in Jamaica and I couldn't have enjoyed myself more. I got an incredible work out because I was on the field about 85% of the game. We were missing some players, plus we had one or two team members who refused to play against such a good team. Again, despite all that I had a wonderful wonderful time. (Every muscle in my body felt like daggers were being stabbed through them for the next 5 days).

Afterwards is the weekly tradition of Beer and Pizza. Its about a 10 minute walk, and it is 10 euros for a stein of beer as well as your own massive pizza. Everyone attends to celebrate, socialize, and gorge themselves with pizza and beer after a strenuous work out. Somewhat of a complex course of events, but fun despite it all. Lauren and I weren't drinking or eating, and got cold after about an hour of sitting outside so we decided to walk home on our own. This was a BAD idea. We got lost in the northern part of Monte Mario for about 45 minutes. Following the 990 bus stops hoping to eventually arrive back at Via Massimi. We walked and walked and walked, realizing if we had just waited for the others we probably would have made it home already. Neither Lauren nor I really minded the walk. One of the goals is to get lost while traveling, so we got lost, found a wonderful view of Rome, and saw more of the rich neighborhood and finally made it back by 12:30.

Thursday was another calm day; class, lunch, and that night was the dinner for the Mass of the Holy Spirit. Nika and I skipped out on the mass and went for the delicious dinner. Best Italian meal I have had yet. We had delicious bread that looked Matza-ish. Unlimited wine. Delicious breaded red peppers. These famous Italian things called Suppli, its a round fried ball of rice and cheese, people here love it! Once again I unfortunately don't like cheese. There were several other courses considering it was a 4 course meal, but there was so much food I can't remember what all was eaten. I do know that it was topped off with a wonderful lime gelato. It was a fabulous dinner for everyone at the JFRC to participate in. We bussed home and it was FREEZING, though I probably shouldn't complain since there are those of you who are in below zero degree weather.

Anyways, this brings me all the way up to friday, so I think I will stop here and work on the weekend slash the beginning of this week (it is 4 am on wednesday morning here) tomorrow. Glad to be finally catching up with you all.

Much love from raining Rome.
Nora

OOOooooh. PS. Lauren just informed me that our wednesday adventure actually occurred on Friday. Too much work to rework the whole blog, but just know after class we lazed, went to dinner, then calcio. The Balduina excursion starts 'technically' in tomorrows blog. I hope this makes sense. Ciao e Buona Notte!

Barcelona Dreams.

It's been so long since I have written I don't even know where to begin. But I think Barcelona is a good start, and fairly close to where I left off last time.

First of all Barcelona was amazing and a blast. It began with waking up roughly 2 hours after going to bed, and me having to stuff my entire sleeping into my no where near compatible backpack. I had to sit on my back pack and stuff it in with my foot in order to make it fit. Ryanair only allows one suitcase which has to be approximately 1x1 ft. (Slightly exaggerated, but still). I need comfort while sleeping so I had to bring it, Lauren also encouraged the idea. We took a cab there which was simple and easy. Checked in and were on our way shortly after. I slept the whole plane ride there considering I was extremely sleep deprived. Once we landed we were all talking about how excited we were to get countless stamps from so many European countries. But we were promptly informed that within the European Union no stamps will be provided. The people at the airport actually laughed in our faces when we asked if we could receive them.

The trip from the airport to our hostel was hell to say the least. (Excuse my language). First, we got separated from two of our travel partners on the first hour and a half bus to get to the city center. Then, once we arrived, somehow not 1 of the 13 of us had directions on how to get to the hostel. So we called Barcelona Dreams (the name of our hostel) several times, as well as paying a euro to look up directions on the internet at the bus depot. After about an hour of confusion, we found our way to the Metra. That was a whole other disaster. First we had no idea how to manage the Metra in Barcelona. So we all bought tickets. All 13 of us. We decided to manage our group we would count off numbers so when we finally were able to head to a destination we could call off numbers and if a number in 1-13 was missing we would know to go back and/or wait. Once we finally arrived at the train where we were supposed to get on, our tickets didn't work for the entry of that specific train. So all 13 of us had to buy tickets again! Nika and I were the first through and as we were standing there a man came up and started tugging on the back of her sweater. He looked disgusted and pointed to her shoulder aggressively where someone had spit all over her. He even got my attention to show me what he had noticed. So I helped her clean it off, and moved on without really understanding what had just happened. We were slightly disgusted and concerned as to who would do such a thing, but sleep deprivation makes these little things seem irrelevant. Especially when trying to manage 13 people. Once everyone got their tickets we headed down to the Metra, and as we were waiting Nika felt in her purse and realized her wallet was gone. She and 2 others ran up to try and see if she had left it behind, but to no avail. We realized too little too late that the scum bag who had spit on her sweater had stolen her wallet. 200 euro cash gone, plus her debit card, credit card, license, and all the other important documents a wallet usually contains.

It was incredibly unfortunate, but she handled it like a trooper. I would have been balling but she was was just fine. We finally arrived at the Barcelona Dreams, an adorable hostel. I haven't stayed at many hostels, but it was definitely a youth hostel with lots of young 20 year olds traveling Europe. We met one girl named Vanessa who was from Canada, she was a real cool chick. We talked about national health care, the war, the oxymoron of people believing in war and the death penalty versus opposing abortion etc. I always enjoy those talks, especially with intelligent people who are on the same page as me.

We also ran to the supermarcado a couple blocks down. We were all starving, so I bought some salami, tucs (the european brand of Ritz crackers), and Zumo. Zumo is juice in Catalan. Arriving in Barcelona and being able to speak the language was an incredible relief for me. The language barrier had been broken and I could finally communicate with people. Until I slowly realized, everything was in Catalan. I asked where the Jugo was, and the store manager had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. Only temporarily had I felt the brief satisfaction of comprehending the language I was surrounded by. Anyways, we also later met an Australian guy named Coffee (weird right?) who had been traveling Europe for the past 4 months or so as well. Coffee and Vanessa had met somewhere along the way and re-met up in Barcelona to continue traveling together until he left. After snacks, we drank some wine and headed out for the night.

Friday night we attacked Las Ramblas. The main street that leads the night life, which runs straight into the Mediterranean. It was a beautiful area, lots of tiny streets to walk down, full and energetic night life, and friendly faces left and right. It was a pleasant change from the dull night life in Rome, and the slightly pretencious Italians. We stopped in a couple bars and eventually made it home by 5 am. The next morning we were all slightly too hung over to get an early start, but most of us were ready by about noon. Let me just say here, I will never again travel with such a large group. Not only did we have our group of 13, we met others there who were studying abroad in different parts of Spain. We weren't able to get out of the hostel and into town until 2 o'clock. So, we hopped on an overpriced tour bus and hit all the main Barcelona tour spots.

First stop was Sagrada de la Familia by Antoni Gaudi. The construction of the temple began in 1882, and it is still a work in progress. He worked on it for over 40 years until he died in 1926. The overall plan of the church was based on the use of innovative geometrical shapes of naturalistic style. There are 12 belltowers within the church that are all above 100 meters tall that take form of trees, with designs on the ceiling that resemble leaves. The continuation of the construction is financially supported by the donations of tourists visiting the church. It was one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture I have ever seen. The value of nature within the structure put us all in awe. Next and last stop was Parc de Guel, also done by Gaudi. Aside from nature, mosaics was another artistic passion of his. I love mosaics. Probably one of my top favorite artistic forms. The park was huge, and at the top of a hill which had an epic view of the entire city as well as the Mediterranean. Full of grass, flowers, trees, fountains, and other structures designed and covered in mosaics. There was a cool, hip, and beautiful woman who was maybe a couple years older than us sitting at the park making unique and gorgeous jewelry. Katie and I sat and talked with her for a while, where she informed us about a rave happening in the city later that night (which we did not attend). Needless to say we both ended up buying some incredible rings from her. Only draw back is she promised us several times that is was pure silver which was the only reason we felt inclined to spend 20 euro. Yet within a couple hours my finger had already turned green. Bummer. I don't know why I am always so trusting with strangers. We had a fun photo shoot around the park and in front of the city scape before we were on our way. A little fun fact about this park: for all you America's Next Top Model watchers, this park is where they did a runway for the ghost brides dresses. I had no idea but there were some girls with us who were super hyped about that fact.

We made our way back down the hill and hopped back on the double decker bus where we sat on the second level and watched the city fly by. The wind was brutal, but we pushed through it so we could tour the city and see the sights from 30 feet up. It was more than a good time. Though we did see several trees down, and heard later on that 4 teenagers had been killed from the strong wind. I never knew that we could find another equally windy city across the world. We finally got back to Barcelona Dreams by around 8, hung out for a while, and decided to do our birthday dinner celebration at some place near by. Kaela, Amanda, Katie, Nick, Nika, Lauren, and I got a delicious dinner by around 11 o'clock. Typical time for a a dinner in Barcelona. We sang happy birthday a couple times, drank a couple bottles of wine, and headed out to face the Barcelona night life once again. We ended up back at Las Ramblas where we met up with a friend from back home Jane, who is actually studying in Barcelona. We also went to a nice laid back bar with couches and cool artwork on the walls. It was called the Flamingo bar. It was a perfect last night to end our adventures in Barcelona. We didn't go to sleep till about 6 am, and had to be up at 9 to catch the Metra, to catch the bus, to catch our flight in time. I never knew how complex traveling is when you don't have someone planning it all step by step for you.

We were all slightly sad to leave Barcelona after such an incredible time, where the people were fun, and we could communicate with natives. We all hope to return before we head back to the states whenever that may be.