President Bush is in town (Roma) therefore I am leaving for the weekend. My portion of Roma, Trastevere, is under high security with over 6,000 detailed officers. There is apparently high terrorist alert. Being that this is all happening, I've decided to flee to Capri for the weekend. I will write about my weekend when I return.
Have a safe weekend everyone!
xo,
Kristen
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
The past 6 days or so...
Sorry I haven't written in a little while...I've been busy with school, hiking Cinque Terre, taking funny pictures at Pisa, etc. etc. etc. This is a quick run through of the past 6 days or so...
Thursday: Thursday night I really don't remember what we did...if anything we probably just went to Campo dei Fiori with friends..that's my best attempt at a guess for Thursday night. All of the days and nights kind of blend together here; you get different thoughts mixed up of what you did, where you went, etc. Of course, classes took place that day.
Friday: Friday we actually had classes. We generally don't have classes on Friday's because the University isn't open (welcome to yet another great feature of the Italian lifestyle!). We were planning to take it easy and pack for our weekend at Cinque Terre and Pisa, but of course, we're in Roma! Vanessa and I went out with AJ, Jon, Dominique, Kristin and Laura (all other SHU students) sightseeing and went to Piazza Venezia, the Roman Forum, Colosseo and the Trevi Fountain. The Trevi Fountain was by far my favorite sight of all. It's absolutely beautiful and huge and just everything I dreamed of and more. haha. I'm a nerd. We got gelato by the Trevi (at the place my hairdresser's mom recommended) and it was delicious. As always, I get fragola (strawberry). I will be posting pictures that AJ took on my Webshots account very soon for everyone to see.
Saturday: On Saturday we took a 4 and a half hour train ride from Roma to Riomaggiore. Riomaggiore is the first of 5 villages of Cinque Terre. We hiked...and we hiked...and we hiked some more. It was by far the most painful, eye-opening, and self-gratifying experience I have pretty much ever had. Hiking that far is intense and there were times I wanted to wimp out and take the train to the last village (there is a train that runs through all 5 villages). These pictures have already been posted for your viewing pleasure. Saturday night we took the train to Pisa, and walked forever trying to find our hostel. Instead of finding our hostel, we ended up running into this huge, leaning building. Yes, yes, it was the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We took some pictures, hung out and then proceeded on our journey to find the hostel. After about 45 minutes of walking through deserted Pisa (Pisa is seriously nothing without that tower) we stumbled upon our campground hostel. Not your typical hostel, we actually had a camper-like, bungalow for the 7 of us to stay in. It had a kitchen, bathroom with a shower, and 3 bedrooms. It was great and very cost efficient (only 20 Euro per person for great amenities). Vanessa, Erika, Nicole and I stayed up until about 3am, despite how tired we were from hiking all day, and talked about basically nothing of importance, just joking around.
Sunday: Sunday we were up and at 'em around 10am (haha) and checked out of the hostel. We walked to the Leaning Tower again to take all the necessary tourist pictures holding it up, etc. With little time left, we ran to the train station in Pisa to get our train back to Roma. Also, what I forgot to mention is that I got McDonald's chicken nuggets and fries in Pisa...and it was amazing. Not as greasy and disgusting, by any means, as it is in America.
Monday: Monday! Back to school, back to school, to prove to my blog-readers that I'm no fool! haha so yup, we had classes yesterday and then were planning on going on this American Bar Crawl with a bunch of other American college students from schools all over. We got ready and went to AJ and Jon's apartment and much to our dismay, they had just finished eating and hadn't showered or gotten ready to go out. We hung around their apartment and waited for them and by the time they were done it was far too late to go to the Bar Crawl. Jon was convinced that the 10 mosquito bites on his hands and arms were bed bugs. He spent at least 20 minutes Googling about the symptoms of bed bugs before we left to go to Campo dei Fiori for the night. We got to Campo dei Fiori after a bus ride and a short walk. There we spent hours just hanging around and having casual drinks with friends. Campo dei Fiori is always a great time. Tons of Americans go, but there are also Italians, as well. It's always fun to meet new people, and Campo is the place to do so.
Tuesday (today): Today was pretty uneventful: marketing class, finance class and now I am writing on here. In a little while AJ and Jon are going to come over and study finance - we have our first big exam tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Be sure to check out the picture site for updates:)
Thursday: Thursday night I really don't remember what we did...if anything we probably just went to Campo dei Fiori with friends..that's my best attempt at a guess for Thursday night. All of the days and nights kind of blend together here; you get different thoughts mixed up of what you did, where you went, etc. Of course, classes took place that day.
Friday: Friday we actually had classes. We generally don't have classes on Friday's because the University isn't open (welcome to yet another great feature of the Italian lifestyle!). We were planning to take it easy and pack for our weekend at Cinque Terre and Pisa, but of course, we're in Roma! Vanessa and I went out with AJ, Jon, Dominique, Kristin and Laura (all other SHU students) sightseeing and went to Piazza Venezia, the Roman Forum, Colosseo and the Trevi Fountain. The Trevi Fountain was by far my favorite sight of all. It's absolutely beautiful and huge and just everything I dreamed of and more. haha. I'm a nerd. We got gelato by the Trevi (at the place my hairdresser's mom recommended) and it was delicious. As always, I get fragola (strawberry). I will be posting pictures that AJ took on my Webshots account very soon for everyone to see.
Saturday: On Saturday we took a 4 and a half hour train ride from Roma to Riomaggiore. Riomaggiore is the first of 5 villages of Cinque Terre. We hiked...and we hiked...and we hiked some more. It was by far the most painful, eye-opening, and self-gratifying experience I have pretty much ever had. Hiking that far is intense and there were times I wanted to wimp out and take the train to the last village (there is a train that runs through all 5 villages). These pictures have already been posted for your viewing pleasure. Saturday night we took the train to Pisa, and walked forever trying to find our hostel. Instead of finding our hostel, we ended up running into this huge, leaning building. Yes, yes, it was the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We took some pictures, hung out and then proceeded on our journey to find the hostel. After about 45 minutes of walking through deserted Pisa (Pisa is seriously nothing without that tower) we stumbled upon our campground hostel. Not your typical hostel, we actually had a camper-like, bungalow for the 7 of us to stay in. It had a kitchen, bathroom with a shower, and 3 bedrooms. It was great and very cost efficient (only 20 Euro per person for great amenities). Vanessa, Erika, Nicole and I stayed up until about 3am, despite how tired we were from hiking all day, and talked about basically nothing of importance, just joking around.
Sunday: Sunday we were up and at 'em around 10am (haha) and checked out of the hostel. We walked to the Leaning Tower again to take all the necessary tourist pictures holding it up, etc. With little time left, we ran to the train station in Pisa to get our train back to Roma. Also, what I forgot to mention is that I got McDonald's chicken nuggets and fries in Pisa...and it was amazing. Not as greasy and disgusting, by any means, as it is in America.
Monday: Monday! Back to school, back to school, to prove to my blog-readers that I'm no fool! haha so yup, we had classes yesterday and then were planning on going on this American Bar Crawl with a bunch of other American college students from schools all over. We got ready and went to AJ and Jon's apartment and much to our dismay, they had just finished eating and hadn't showered or gotten ready to go out. We hung around their apartment and waited for them and by the time they were done it was far too late to go to the Bar Crawl. Jon was convinced that the 10 mosquito bites on his hands and arms were bed bugs. He spent at least 20 minutes Googling about the symptoms of bed bugs before we left to go to Campo dei Fiori for the night. We got to Campo dei Fiori after a bus ride and a short walk. There we spent hours just hanging around and having casual drinks with friends. Campo dei Fiori is always a great time. Tons of Americans go, but there are also Italians, as well. It's always fun to meet new people, and Campo is the place to do so.
Tuesday (today): Today was pretty uneventful: marketing class, finance class and now I am writing on here. In a little while AJ and Jon are going to come over and study finance - we have our first big exam tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Be sure to check out the picture site for updates:)
Friday, June 1, 2007
Photographs
http://community.webshots.com/user/KristenInItaly
This is a link to my Webshots account. Not all of the pictures have captions yet, but the ones that do are in a smaller font right below the picture. Enjoy and be sure to check for updates soon after my hiking trip through Cinque Terre and Pisa this weekend!
ciao ciao
xo
--K
This is a link to my Webshots account. Not all of the pictures have captions yet, but the ones that do are in a smaller font right below the picture. Enjoy and be sure to check for updates soon after my hiking trip through Cinque Terre and Pisa this weekend!
ciao ciao
xo
--K
Thursday, May 31, 2007
MY BAG WAS FOUND!
I received an email this morning saying my bag was found and delivered to AUR's reception desk and i get to pick it up today! Yay!! However, I had already started spending a lot of money...I wonder how this is going to work out with the insurance company...
Class in an hour.
Ciao! Ciao! Ciao!
xo,
--K
Class in an hour.
Ciao! Ciao! Ciao!
xo,
--K
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Italia is not America and America is not Italia.
It's been a hectic and interesting 3 days so far...the luggage being lost is somewhat devastating due to what was in the bag. No money can replace sentimental items. It's unfortunate but it happens...you live and you learn.
Through the past 3 days I have learned the title of this post quite well: Italia is not America and America is not Italia. The people, culture and socially acceptable things here are not the same in Italy, and vise versa. The men gawk at you, especially my friend Gina...you'll see. She's beautiful and looks very ethnic and Italian and they all gawk at her. Any native Italian will call us bella or bellisimas because they think we are suckers. Some people are very nice, others are very, VERY rude. Tonight on the bus ride home from The Pantheon (one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life...was built BEFORE CHRIST...and Christ is a pretty old guy!) we got yelled at by a homeless looking man on the bus, "BASTO, BASTO, BASTO AMERICANAS!" (translation: SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP AMERICANS!) It was strange all in all but a lot of people on the bus agreed with him, which was disheartening.
I love the Italian culture. We didn't eat dinner until 10pm tonight and the food is amazing. Baked Lasagne was fabulous and I have recently discovered chocolate candies called Baci, similar to the Rocher candies at home. I pretty much have AMERICAN stamped on my forehead, but I am okay with it kind of; I've been making small attempts at the Upim department store (to replace clothing) and at the Mercato (market) and at the Gellaterias (gellato) to speak Italian and most people just laugh at me because I am sure I'm not very good, but you can tell they appreciate the effort.
It's 2:30am but it's so hard to sleep, I think I am still on American time, leaving me at 8:30pm...huge difference! This weekend we are hiking 17 miles (yes, you heard me...I am HIKING 17 MILES) over a span of 2 days which makes it more tolerable on the islands of Cinque Terre (pronounced chinkwa terra). It's supposed to be beautiful and I'm really excited to see the different villages. We are staying at a hostel in Pisa (the hostel is a private room for just us, thank God) so we'll be able to go to the Leaning Tower of Pisa which I'm really excited about. We are also planning a trip to Venice for the last weekend we are in Italy. We're planning it with some girls who are my year in school and also go to SHU that I knew before the trip, one of which was my roommate at orientation.
I was homesick today...I miss the family and even the friends...It's odd sometimes to be away from everything you know, but I really don't think I would trade an experience like this because it's so unique to what we are used to.
That's all for now, I promise I will upload pictures tomorrow and post the link on the blog. Sorry about the lack of posting lately. Classes start tomorrow and Dad just sent me an instant message telling me to go to bed:)
Ciao!
xo,
--K
Through the past 3 days I have learned the title of this post quite well: Italia is not America and America is not Italia. The people, culture and socially acceptable things here are not the same in Italy, and vise versa. The men gawk at you, especially my friend Gina...you'll see. She's beautiful and looks very ethnic and Italian and they all gawk at her. Any native Italian will call us bella or bellisimas because they think we are suckers. Some people are very nice, others are very, VERY rude. Tonight on the bus ride home from The Pantheon (one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life...was built BEFORE CHRIST...and Christ is a pretty old guy!) we got yelled at by a homeless looking man on the bus, "BASTO, BASTO, BASTO AMERICANAS!" (translation: SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP AMERICANS!) It was strange all in all but a lot of people on the bus agreed with him, which was disheartening.
I love the Italian culture. We didn't eat dinner until 10pm tonight and the food is amazing. Baked Lasagne was fabulous and I have recently discovered chocolate candies called Baci, similar to the Rocher candies at home. I pretty much have AMERICAN stamped on my forehead, but I am okay with it kind of; I've been making small attempts at the Upim department store (to replace clothing) and at the Mercato (market) and at the Gellaterias (gellato) to speak Italian and most people just laugh at me because I am sure I'm not very good, but you can tell they appreciate the effort.
It's 2:30am but it's so hard to sleep, I think I am still on American time, leaving me at 8:30pm...huge difference! This weekend we are hiking 17 miles (yes, you heard me...I am HIKING 17 MILES) over a span of 2 days which makes it more tolerable on the islands of Cinque Terre (pronounced chinkwa terra). It's supposed to be beautiful and I'm really excited to see the different villages. We are staying at a hostel in Pisa (the hostel is a private room for just us, thank God) so we'll be able to go to the Leaning Tower of Pisa which I'm really excited about. We are also planning a trip to Venice for the last weekend we are in Italy. We're planning it with some girls who are my year in school and also go to SHU that I knew before the trip, one of which was my roommate at orientation.
I was homesick today...I miss the family and even the friends...It's odd sometimes to be away from everything you know, but I really don't think I would trade an experience like this because it's so unique to what we are used to.
That's all for now, I promise I will upload pictures tomorrow and post the link on the blog. Sorry about the lack of posting lately. Classes start tomorrow and Dad just sent me an instant message telling me to go to bed:)
Ciao!
xo,
--K
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Rainy a Roma
So we finally got to our apartment...we stayed in a 60 euro a night hotel last night because I lost my Vera duffle and was unable to make it to the University Housing Office in time. I shared a room with Vanessa and Erika shared a room with her friend who is visiting (she's been traveling Italia for the past 3 weeks and is now in Roma and staying with us for a few nights), Nicole. Nicole found the hotel so by the time we got off the train from the airport we checked in. We quickly changed and went out to dinner. I had the best rigatoni I've ever had in my life with alfredo sauce, onions and bacon. Sounds strange, yet completely appetizing. Ordered some house wine and sat around with the girls for the night talking.
We then got on Linea B (the train near Termini, the area where we stayed for the night) and went to see the Colleseo (Colleseum) and Roman Forum all lit up at night. It was amazing and I am going to update photos later on today when I get the chance. I have orientation at 3pm so I will be updating probably after that. Tonight we may go to a Pub Crawl depending on the weather and meet up with my friend Jon and his roommates.
Ciao ciao ciao!
--K
We then got on Linea B (the train near Termini, the area where we stayed for the night) and went to see the Colleseo (Colleseum) and Roman Forum all lit up at night. It was amazing and I am going to update photos later on today when I get the chance. I have orientation at 3pm so I will be updating probably after that. Tonight we may go to a Pub Crawl depending on the weather and meet up with my friend Jon and his roommates.
Ciao ciao ciao!
--K
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Will the only American girl please stand up?
I guess I could blog right now but I’m actually too tired to get a thought process going. The flight to JFK was only 40 minutes, which beats driving any day of the week. JetBlue is the best thing since sliced bread; I watched The Real World the entire (yes, all 40 minutes) way to NY and everyone around me for some reason was hooked on a documentary on National Geographic about September 11th…yea, don’t ask. It was beyond creepy as well as disturbing that anyone would really want to watch that while on a flight…just my opinion
Hopefully our plane will leave on time. Vanessa is at the airport right now but she is in line getting her tickets and checking her bags. Erika will be here at 7pm. If our flight leaves on time we will arrive in foggy London-town at 5:25am EST….I don’t know if you knew, but this portion of the D’Almeida family does not function well early in the morning, regardless of destination or task. Should be interesting.
I’ll try and write in London if Heathrow gives me free internet access. I’ve been at JFK since 4pm and I board the next plane at 8:45pm, therefore I felt it necessary to splurge the $7.95 for a day-pass internet access. I’d probably have gone mental already without it…Okay, back to my Wok and Roll (Chinese restaurant) dinner…mm, General Tso’s chicken and fried rice, you never let me down.
--K
Hopefully our plane will leave on time. Vanessa is at the airport right now but she is in line getting her tickets and checking her bags. Erika will be here at 7pm. If our flight leaves on time we will arrive in foggy London-town at 5:25am EST….I don’t know if you knew, but this portion of the D’Almeida family does not function well early in the morning, regardless of destination or task. Should be interesting.
I’ll try and write in London if Heathrow gives me free internet access. I’ve been at JFK since 4pm and I board the next plane at 8:45pm, therefore I felt it necessary to splurge the $7.95 for a day-pass internet access. I’d probably have gone mental already without it…Okay, back to my Wok and Roll (Chinese restaurant) dinner…mm, General Tso’s chicken and fried rice, you never let me down.
--K
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
