last (but not least)

My teacher (who I work with all day) forgot to tell me that I have NO classes today, since he's giving the seniors their practice bac (the test Frenchies take to get their high school diploma). I'm definitely not sad about it, but I wouldn't have minded staying in bed a bit longer...

Anyhow, I figured I'd take advantage of all this free time and finally finish my entries on my break that I got back from three weeks ago. Good plan huh? Let's see how much I remember.

All of us were very sad to leave Italy, and even though I was looking forward to Vienna I must say I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to. I feel kind of bad because it really is a nice city, tons of pretty buildings and lots of history and culture. I think I was just tired at that point, and it was cold, and I didn't want to look at buildings. Don't get me wrong, I liked it, but I'd like to go back someday when it's a big warmer and I can just soak up the atmosphere, you know? We saw some museums and drank some coffee, like you're supposed to do in Vienna, and had the BEST dinner of the trip at this Austrian fare place across the street from our hostel. It was sooo good-I've been craving schnitzel since I came back (does anyone know how to make schnitzel? Can you teach me?) We also visited two places by an artist whose work I find fascinating,
Friedensreich Hundertwasser. He's really into environmentalism and philosophy, and I like his art (especially the colors) but he also designs buildings that are straight out of Dr. Suess. We got to see 3 of them in Vienna, and they're so neat. Check him out.



From Vienna we headed to Prague, which I completely fell in love with. I recommend it to anyone who wants to see Europe from a different angle. Still a classy city, like Paris, but with tons of history like Berlin, and the architecture is cool too. We had a great three days wandering around, learning about Communism, appreciating the exchange rate, adn getting to know Czech food. It's pretty darn good, very hearty and filling. I don't know what else to say except I loved it, so I'll let some pictures speak for me.


On a side note, I took my last trip to Caen this weekend. :( Had one last pizza night with girls, finally got to the Caen Memorial (which I liked) and ate my last St. Jean baguette. This weekend I'm off to Bordeaux with my friend Beth, so more on that later!

Carnevale

Happy Spring! I'm hoping Mother Nature takes a look at her calendar today and starts warming things up around here.

From where I left off: After two fast-paced days in Rome, we left Adi behind for one last day of exploring by himself before he had to head back to France and took off for Venice. We stayed on the mainland instead of the islands of Venice, and although the area our hotel was in was a bit creepy (Bates Hotel anyone?) the hotel itself was actually not bad at all, and the breakfast was the best we had the whole trip. And, as it turns out, my fellow English assistant not only stayed in the same hotel as me on the same night, but in the room right next door! We didn't see each other and found this out after we got back, but how crazy is that?

Anyhow, dropped off our stuff, headed to Venice proper. Holy cow, what a party. Not the crazy, frat-partyesque style of Mardi Gras, but right when I stepped off the bus I could sense a certain electricity in the air that told me that this was going to be a good time. People in costumes and masks everywhere, laughing and enjoying themselves. We headed toward the water and were immediately caught up in the atmosphere of it-crossing the first bridge I remember thinking simply "Wow." We didn't go far before we decided to head into a mask shop and check out the goods, and they were amazing. Just out of this world. I regret not taking pictures, but take my word that they were gorgeous, as the price tags confirmed. We slowly made our way through the winding streets, over bridges through throngs of people. I don't know if Venice is like that all year, but I have to say that during Carnevale it lived up to every romantic notion I've ever heard. The streets are random, almost unnavigable, but luckily there's signs on buildings every now and then with arrows pointing you toward Piazza San Marco, the Rialto Bridge, and other big areas of the city. We were really hungry but couldn't be bothered to eat with all the excitement, so we grabbed something quick and then moved on to get some masks that were more in our price range. Now that we looked more the part we continued slowly making our way toward Piazza San Marco, where there was going to be a concert that night. We saw some cool costumes on the way, and although the concert wasn't amazing the group wasn't bad and with everyone around enjoying themselves it was really really fun. Definitely my favorite night of the trip. We even met some Michigan people in the crowd, some nice B-schoolers whose names I'm having trouble remembering. We danced and sang and had a fantastic time, then headed back to the hotel to crash.

Next day we lingered over breakfast and headed to town to catch a vaporetto to the island of Murano, famous for its glass. We decided to take a boat from the bus terminal and passed great sights on the way-typical gondolas, and even a boat race complete with people in costumes! I loved it. Getting off the boat to head to catch the boat to the island, we passed what ended up being my favorite costumes of Carnevale (that I saw, that is). They were just so intricate and the way the people in costumes control the crowd cracks me up. They're such divas. If they want to leave, they just have to toss their head and walk away, and the crowd follows. If they want you to stop taking pictures, they turn away and make a motion with their hand. If, on the other hand, you are chosen to take a photo (which happened to me a few times!) you'll get a gesture with the hand that says, go ahead, take one if you must. I read somewhere that masks of Carnevale started as an equalizer. That is to say that for that time of the year, there would be balls and what have you, and everyone would wear a mask so that they could keep their identity hidden and have a good time. The artistocrats could dance with the peasants if they wanted; no one could see their face. I also read that part of the mystery of Carnevale, in addition to not revealing your identity, was that you're not supposed to talk. Every emotion is conveyed through gestures, I imagine, which is why those who are in costume act the way they do. I was really pleased to see so many of them staying true to the no talking rule, it made the whole thing seem that much cooler and tied to tradition.

Anyhow, many costume sightings later we were on a boat to Murano, where we spent several hours amongst its glasswares. Nothing amazing, but I'm glad we went. It might also be more interesting at other times of year when there's not so much action in Venice, I don't know. We got back in time to make our way through the crowds to the parade in San Marco. Although we couldn't see much of it, I have to say that those in costume really didn't hold anything back when it came to looking the part. There were people there in Halloween type costumes who just looked silly next to the people in very regal, traditional Venetian Carnevale garb. I would love to be able to go to a ball there someday and see what people turn up with.

Sadly we had a night train to Vienna so we didn't get to stay very long, but the time we were there is one of my best memories of the trip, and I highly recommend that everyone go to Venice during Carnevale to join in the fun, it's completely worth it!

The Eternel City

The saga continues.

From Florence we made our way to Rome, where our hostel was a huge disappointment after the luxurious Luna Rossa, but it was somewhere to sleep and that's pretty much what we needed since we had a busy two days ahead of us. First stop was the Colosseum, not far but of course, it had started to rain. Rain was pretty much the theme of Florence and Rome, unfortunately. We ended up taking a tour which I really liked-the guide was really informative and brought up some interesting perspectives on the events that took place in the Colosseum-whether we should think of it as inhumane or whether we should see it through the eyes of the Romans at that time, etc. Walking around the Colosseum was a pretty moving experience, thinking about how long it's been there, everything that took place inside, the history that surrounds it. From there we slowly made our way to the Trevi Fountain, stopping every five feet or so for more pictures and something else historical. Seriously, you couldn't throw a feather in Rome without hitting something of historical significance.

Eventually we arrived at the Trevi Fountain only to find our friends, Jenny and Bart. Let me explain. I have no idea what these people's name are. We just made them up. But we saw them at least 4 times between Florence and Rome, and they had come from the Olympics in Torino before that. When we saw them again at the fountain, I couldn't resist taking this picture. And do you know, later that night we saw them on the way back to the hostel, and someone finally said something to them and of course they'd noticed us as well (it's hard to miss a group of 5 Anglophones in Italy). It became a bit of a joke, but alas they weren't headed to Venice afterward, so we had to say our adieus in Rome.

By the time we got to the Fountain it was pretty much pouring and we were all miserable, so we ended up eating at a restaurant not far away called That's Amore, where I started my first love affair with an Italian guy. No, not really, but I decided that our waiter was fabulous, despite his unibrow. I think it was because he gave me wonderful pizza and cappucino, but my joke the rest of the trip was how I was going to bring the waiter, Berto Uni (my invented name for him in honor of his unibrow, named after Bert from Sesame Street), back with me to the US so he could make me pizza, cappucino, gelati. Dinner was followed by more gelati (remember when I said gluttonous?) and then on our way back to the hostel we ran into a random group of Anglophones headed for the bar, so we decided to join them for a drink. To make it short, we weren't intrigued by their company and headed back after one drink, but there was live music so it was still a good time.

We were up early the next morning to get to the Vatican, and stood in line outside in the rain for an hour to get inside. It moved pretty fast, though, and it was definitely worth it. We took a tour here as well, which was also quite good. The guide pointed out stuff I never would have known/noticed, seeing as I know virtually nothing about the Vatican-statues that lead to Michaelangelo's depiction of God, the ceilings that were painted to look raised but were actually flat. The museums were interesting, although we moved through quicker than I would have on my own, and I have to be blasphemous for just a second and say that the Sistine Chapel was a bit...disappointing. Let me explain. I'd seen so many pictures and it was so built up and I'd imagined it as one way in my head, when really it was quite a bit different. The artwork is certainly good, and when I remembered that one guy did the whole entire thing and all the little symbols included in it (as pointed out by our tour guide) I was certainly impressed, but yeah, I just thought it would be different. I did like St. Peter's Basilica a lot though, probably one of my preferred cathedrals out the however many that I've been to.

For our last night in Rome we walked (in the rain, of course) past the Ducal (?) Castle and then down toward Campo dei Fiori and Travestere, which we had heard was a cool area of Rome. It did seem pretty happening, and although the place we ended up eating left something to be desired our gelati wasn't bad and we found a good place to have a drink. All in all, a good trip to Rome and I'm excited to go back again with the fam in April.

Carneval is coming soon, but I've been on for awhile so I should probably let someone else use this computer!!

Pisa and Firenze

Sorry it's been so long between posts-grades are due and it's been difficult to get a seat at the computers lately.

Let's see-so we had planned on visiting Pisa after Florence, but because of train schedules it made more sense to go on our way from Torino to Florence. The train ride there was probably one of the prettiest we had, through Tuscany most of the way, and we could even see the coast for a good part of it! Palm trees, colorful houses, smooth blue water-I felt like getting off the train and staying for good. After arriving in Pisa and getting our stuff stored away, we headed off in search of the tower, stopping to admire the sights along the way, of course.

I have to say, seeing the Tower in person was quite an experience. It's one of those things that really struck me, after seeing it in pictures all the time, not because it's an amazing monument but because it just kind of came out of nowhere as we were turning the corner, and also because, you know, it really does lean! We had a fun photo session with the tower and then got some lunch and gelati-the best of the trip, actually. Mmm, I love gelati.

Back on the train and on our way to Florence. We arrived at night to some problems at the hostel that eventually got sorted out. After relaxing a bit in our luxurious hostel room, we headed out on a town and had one of the first meals of what was to become a gluttonous eating tour through Italia. It's just so good though, Italian food. Walked around the Duomo in town and headed back for the night, since the next day was to be a fast tour of Florence. We started out early at the Duomo (actually going in this time) and I quite liked it, as cathedrals go. My favorite part was definitely the ceiling of the dome-the painting was gorgeous. From there we tried to go to the Accademia to see David, but the line was far too long so we meandered toward the Ufizzi instead, stopping to see the copy of David along the way. The Ufizzi was pretty cool, but not my favorite art museum (I'm not crazy about Botticelli, shhh). From there we wandered and wandered-Palazzo de something, street of something-I don't have a map right in front of me to know the names, and I'm just lazy. Our last night in Florence was spent eating at a delicious Tuscan restaurant, followed by more gelati (not as good as in Pisa but it was gelati, so I'm not complaining).

Rome is up next, but I have to go sit with some girl while she works on Science Olympiad or some such, so it'll have to wait. I know you're excited! ;)

Olympic Times

I'm going to try to recap my break as best I can, hopefully keeping it short too. Here goes.

After a bit of a journey, Steph and I finally arrived in Torino for the Olympics. We got settled into the apartment we were renting and then headed out on the town. My first Olympic experience was pretty darn cool-to see the town all done up, thousands of people out supporting their countries; I was really happy that I got to be a part of it all. The first night we pretty much walked around, saw lots of Olympic stuff (Medals Plaza, the lights on the streets, etc.) and crashed pretty early. The next day we ventured around town a bit more and then headed to the arena for our first hockey game, US-Sweden men in preliminaries. After waiting outside in the snow and sharing our umbrellas with an American family and a Belge, we were really relieved to get inside. I'll admit that the rink might not have looked much different from other hockey rinks I've seen, but just knowing that I was about to see an Olympic game there made it that much cooler. Not long after Team USA took the ice for warmups, and from there it was on. Even though the game wasn't terribly exciting and the US lost 2-1, I still had tons of fun. There were people everyone decked out head-to-toe in US gear, certainly the most I've seen since I left home 5 months ago, and plus Steph and I had our Olympic cowbells that we rang every chance we got. It was a fantastic first Olympic experience to say the least. We were almost back to the apartment when we got a text from Ben, another English assistant who was at the Games with his friend Tony, both from Minnesota. So we headed to meet them and had a low-key night out in Torino. Good times all around.

The next day the rest of our group came to town-Lana and her brother Adi (from Canada, Prince Edward Island to be exact) and Ailsa (British). Lana and Ailsa are Steph's roommates, also English assistants in France, and Adi is on a Rotary exchange in France. We dropped their stuff off and then showed them the town, and finally headed to the ticket office to see if Adi could get a ticket for the gold medal women's hockey game that Steph and Lana were going to see. In the end, after meeting a nice American guy at the ticket counter, we all walked out with tickets for the game-Steph, Lana and Adi with better seats, and Ailsa and I with their original tickets for a discounted price. We made our way to the arena, and took advantage of our one-hour wait with an extensive Olympic flame photo session. It was so strange to see all of these things in person after seeing them so much on TV, and the flame was one of the things that got to me most, given the tradition behind it and everything. Finally we were allowed to pass the first gate but still couldn't get into the arena, so we headed to the party tent and had an amazing time with the randomest assortment of people you can imagine-Canadians, Swedes, Americans, Swiss, and I have no idea who else. Everyone was drinking and there was music and some of the US women's team, who had just won the bronze, came to the tent-it was a darn good time. Finally we got into the arena and the game got underway. Of course it would have been cool to see a North American showdown, but I had a great time cheering for our northern neighbors, and anyhow the US team had already won bronze. The game was fun, certainly more exciting than the men's one we saw, and after we got to see the medal's ceremony and everything. Another surreal Olympic moment. After the game we got to see the US women's team outside again, with their medals this time! Overall an amazing experience, I'm so glad we decided to do it.

Next up-Pisa and Florence!