Well, just one week left and I will be back in the states...crazy! Meanwhile, I’ve been keepin’ pretty busy in the last few days, what with going out while finding time to study and finish up all the final work. Last week was the last week of classes, in which I turned in a couple long final papers, and did my thirty-minute transatlantic presentation-which went well (it was on surrealism, with examples of Joan Miro and Salvador Dali). Other than that we’ve been going to various bars/cafes, for cards, studying, or just hanging out. On Wednesday Laura, Florette, Guy Sam and I had dinner at Florette and Guy Sam’s place, after which we headed to a nearby cafe/bar to watch the Barcelona/Chelsea game. It was actually really fun, the place was full of Spanish guys (mostly middle-aged) intently watching the game, I always enjoy watching “football” with Europeans, they get so into it. Plus the game was amazing, with a goal in the last couple minutes to tie up the game and allow Barcelona to continue. After that, Laura and I headed over to Crechas, where we checked out the live music they have every Wednesday. It’s so great, I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned it, but it’s this little place in the Old Zone, and in the downstairs they have a small area with live music. This band, the best one, plays Irish music, and is always great. Complete with a couple violins, the Galician version of bagpipes, drums, tambourine, etc...I love that place. On Thursday, Laura and I went out on a mission...a piercing mission. This was the second or third time we had attempted to find a place, but everything was always closed. However, we finally had success, and after waiting around for a while Laura got her nose pierced, and I got my eyebrow pierced!!! I know, many of my family member readers will probably not be pierced. But don’t worry; I really like it, just a small silver bar with a little ball on each end, very classy. Plus, I will probably get tired of it in about a year or two, and then I will just take it out and all will be well. That’s the great thing about piercings...not permanent. So yeah, that was our big adventure, Laura’s looks nose piercing looks really good as well. After some dinner at Doner Kehbab, our favorite, we headed over to Florette and Guy Sam’s place for some cards and such. When it got a little later, Laura, Florette and I went out, on the town, and had a really random/fun night in the old zone. First, we headed over to a little cafe/bar that one of my guidebooks mentioned was good, where we all got a glass of wine and chatted for a bit. After a while, a group of spanish people came in, including two short, stout guys, another guy, and two girls. One of the guys was really loud (his name was Santi), and they all approached us, wanting to know where we were from etc., and then had fun learning various English vocabulary. It was pretty amusing, and I talked to one of the girls for a while, who was really nice. Meanwhile, these three older men in there seventies were getting absolutely trashed (they were the only other people in the bar/cafe at this point), and they wandered over to us and started drunkenly joining the conversation/making constant commentary. Turns out they were all doctors, kind of ironic considering the state they were in, but they were friendly and amusing, at least for a while. Someone ordered us a couple more glasses of wine, and we hung there for a while, the three of us just kind of sitting back and reveling in the hilarity of it all. After a while, Santi wanted to take us to another bar, so we headed off. He knew the owner of the place, and they set about chatting fora while. We only stayed there for a bit though; the old men showed up and we decided it was time for a change of company, and apologized to Santi and made our escape (the ol’ “we have to get up early in the morning” excuse). We decided to stop in at Laura’s place to use the bathroom and re-group, but on our way we bumped into three Spanish guys our age, who stopped us to chat. They seemed cool, so we agreed to check out a discoteca with them, and made our way through town. Turns out they didn’t really know where it was, so Laura had to intervene, but we made it eventually. It was this really cool place (still in the old zone) that we had never discovered. We hung there for a while, getting some (free!) drinks and dancing with the guys for a while, very fun. After a while we decided to head out though, as at this point it was around 3 in the morning, and we were ready to get home. The guys seemed pretty disappointed, but we said our goodbyes and headed back. On Friday I slept in, eventually meeting up with Laura at a cafe for a study break and some cards. Not long after we got invited to Florette and Guy Sam’s place for dinner again, so we headed over there with some bread and wine. We hung out for a long time, eventually heading to our favorite place for hot chocolate, also an ideal place for sitting around and playing cards. After a while there Guy Sam and Florette headed home as they were tired, but Laura and I headed to a bar we had been meaning to check out. We stayed there for a while, eventually heading home to get some rest, as we were considering getting up early the next morning for a trip to Ourense. However, the next morning Laura wasn’t really feeling up for the trip, so she and I stayed in Santiago. We had a really great day-my roommate Leo invited us to a picnic with some of his friends, so we and my roomate Samuel tagged along. It was funny, we ran into Paul (one of the Kenyon kids on our program) on the way to Parque Alemeda, and he agreed to come along. We thought we were just going to be eating in the park, but Leo’s friends had other plans. Turned into a loooong walk, part-way up the little mountain that I climbed about a month ago. It was pretty funny, none of us were at all prepared, but we made it! The park was really nice, with a great view of the city, and a little pond that we settled by. The picnic was delicious, especially after the unexpected hike, and we all spent a long time there relaxing. I really like Leo’s friends; there were two Brazilian guys, another girl from Brazil, two German guys, a guy from Slovania, plus Leo and the rest of us. A good time was had by all, and we went to a little cafeteria they had set up to get a coffee and sit around and chat for a while longer. It was interesting, we talked a lot about the education and health systems in our various countries, which only made me realize just how much we pay for our education in the US (especially at Kenyon), not to mention the rediculous nature of our health care...Slovania seems to have a better system for Christ’s sake! But anyways, hopefully that will change. Again, it was a really fun time, everyone was super nice. After the coffe Laura, Samuel, Paul and I headed back down to town, while the rest of them did the rest of the walk up. We needed to get to the grocery store before it closed, as neither Laura nor I had any food. Eventually we split up, Laura and I stopping in at Froiz, our nieghborhood supermarket, before heading back to her place to relax for a bit. We watched some episodes of The Office on her computer, waiting for Guy Sam and Florette to get back from Oursense to join us for dinner. After dinner, we settled in for some more Bid whist (we are truly addicted to this game), and then all went off to bed, as everyone was pretty tired and didn’t really feel like going out. And that brings me to today! I’ve basically just been studying all day, with breaks for episodes of South Park in between, talking with my rooommates, and dinner at Laura’s place. Sam just got back from London today, where she had been visiting Lloyd this whole weekend, so we caught up a bit. And here I am...time to get back to studying actually, I’ve got my first Exam tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Brit
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Home stretch
That's right, only a couple more weeks and I will be back in the States. I'm super excited to be home, but man there are a lot of things I'm gonna miss. For example, this weekend we hopped on a train, and an hour and a half later we were at one of the most beautiful beaches in the world...not bad. About 14 or 15 of us went this Saturday, as a break from studying and to have some fun. We woke up early and caught an 8:30am train, getting us into vigo at around 10. It was a super nice day, the weather has been incredible lately, so we picked up a map and headed out to explore. We headed down the main road, partially just to see it and partially because some of the girls wanted to locate the H&M. We then made our way to a grocery store, where we stocked up on booze and food for lunch, before we made the final trek to the ferries. We purchased tickets that would get us to the Islands, and after a bit of a wait boarded our ferry for the 20-minute ride. The islands were absolutely incredible! As it was still pretty early, the beach wasn't too crowded, so we walked a little while and found ourselves a spot, everyone immediately stripping down to there suits to get some tanning going, and burying the beer and other beverages in the sand by the water to cool. We then spent the next 6 hours or so laying around in the sun, with occasional spurts of activity, namely recovering the beer as it was nearly swept out to sea. We even went swimming, despite the cold water; it was like the Caribbean, beautiful/fine white sand, crystal clear water...I was in heaven. When our six hours of paradise were up, we headed over to wait for our ferry, grabbing some icecream while we waited. When we got back to the mainland, we went on a search for a couple Mexican restaurants we had looked up online (everyone is craving Mexican food right now), only to find that they had both shut down...tragic. Instead, we piled into a Hamburger place, and caught the beginning of the Barcelona-Madrid game before we had to catch our train, comparing the various sun burns we had obtained on the way. We got home at around 10:30 and went our separate ways...Such a great day. Laura and I couldn't believe our luck-two weekends in a row including beautiful trips to the beach! The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful, consisting of sleeping and attempts to get some work done. Tomorrow I have a big paper and presentation due, which I can't wait to be done with. A couple nights ago Laura, Florette, Guy Sam and I learned this card game called Bid Whist that Laura used to play in high school. It's actually really popular among African Americans, and it's a really fun game. So the past few nights we've been hanging out at Guy Sam and Florette's place (she moved in there for the last month, as she was sick of living so far away from everyone, plus her two spanish roommates turned out to be very bitchy). Other than that I'm just doing work, next week is exam week so I need to be preparing for that. Wish me luck!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
GREECE!
I would say hello in Greek, but I don't actually have any idea how...Greek is pretty much impossible, I can't even read the alphabet to try and spell anything out! In any case, just got back from a wonderful weekend in Greece a couple hours ago. Laura and I went and stayed with Anna Kephart, our friend from Kenyon, and had great fun! We left thursday night, taking a flight to Madrid, with our sleeping bags in hand. Yep, it was time for another night in the Madrid airport, always fun. Fortunately, we were in terminal 4 of the Madrid Barajas airport (which is huge, by the way), which happens to be the super big and nice one. Thus we were able to locate a cafe (everything was closed, as it was like midnight), with some cushion-y sofas, where we set up camp for the night. Laura managed to go to sleep pretty quickly, but I had had a nap earlier so spent some time getting a bit of work done on my laptop (which I brought a long as it is so light and awesome), before trying to sleep. Definitely not the best nights sleep I've ever had, but not bad as far as sleeping in an airport goes. We woke up very early the next morning, surrounded by people eating in the cafe, and sulked off to relocate and free up some space for a couple hours. Then it was time for the flight to Athens, which was through Iberia, very exciting! We are used to flying Ryanair, the cheapest airline ever that has the bare minimum in commodies, so we were very very happy when we got drinks on the plane, and even a meal!!! We felt very spoiled. The flight was almost four hours long, a good amount for a little nap, and then we were in Athens! We walked out and looked around for Anna, who was going to meet us, and after a bit of worried searching we managed to find each other. After much hugging and greetings, it was off to find the bus that would take us the hour-ride into the city. We settled in for the ride, Anna warning us about pick-pockets on the bus, which was then followed by an announcement asking us to look around as someone had "lost" there wallet and passport...eek. We didn't have any problems though, and it was a nice drive into the city, spent catching up a bit and getting our first glimpses of Greece. After we got off the bus it was just a short walk through the market to Anna's flat, which she shares with three other girls. We headed up to her place, which was very nice, with a little balcony with a cool view. We set down our stuff and relaxed for a little bit, catching our breath and figuring out the plan for the rest of the day. As Laura and I had had a pretty tiring travel experience, we decided not to do anything too intense, and headed out for a walk along the city to do some shopping and exploring. We stopped in at a couple shops before heading to a pastry shop, where Anna treated us to some AMAZING baclava, so good. Afterwards we continued on our walk, stopping in at our favorite shops. We went to H&M, a must-do at every city I go to (Santiago doesn't have one ;( where Anna bought some new clothes, and I got myself a beauuutiful dress that I am slightly obsessed with. We had a good time chatting and walking around, and we saw quite a bit of the city which was super nice. When we got tired we headed back to Anna's place, catching a taxi as they are unbelievabley cheap in Greece (like one euro per person!!!). We headed up to the apartment to drop off our purchases, and then headed back out to the little grocery store down the street to get our dinner supplies. Turns out Anna, like Laura, is a very good cook, so she made us these delicious greek dish consisting of eggplant stuffed with a ground beef/cheese mixture, plus some dipping sauce that we ate with pita. I took a nap while dinner was being cooked. Dinner was splendid; we finished late, so Laura and Anna went to bed; I stayed up a little longer and got some work done, before dozing off myself. The next morning we got up early and headed out to the port (about an hour away). We stopped in at a cafe and grabbed some food, and then headed over to find a ferry that would take us to Aegina, an island about an hour away. We got our tickets and not long after boarded the ferry, which was a lot bigger than I had been excpecting. The ride was super cheap, less than 20 euro there and back, but the boat was super nice! I felt like I was on a cruise. We went all the way up to the top deck, where we got a bench and settled in for the hour ride. It was so nice, sitting in the sun and chatting while sailing through the beautiful ocean. When we arrived at Aegina, we got off the boat and walked over to the beach area. The water was crystal clear, absolutely incredible. Anna is into archaelogy, plus Laura and I both wanted to be paleontolgists when we were little, so we followed her around a fence to get further down the beach to look for pot shards. It was really cool, there are soooo many shards half-buried and scattered around; we spent a long time searching for some and by the end had quite the collection. It was kind of funny though, there was this middle-aged guy sunbathing naked over there when we came over, but fortunately he decided to put some clothes on after he realized we were going to be hanging around for a bit...awkward. In any case, we spent a long time exploring, and then headed over to check out some awesome remains of the ancient city. First we browsed the archaeological museum, which had lots of old ceramics and such, and then we went and walked around the ruins. It involved a little climb, which gave us a beautiful view of the Island of the top; so picturesque. After we finished exploring that we decided to walk up the road a ways to get to another section of beach we had seen from up top. We managed to find it, and explored it for quite a while. I ended up just laying and sun bathing for a long time, while Laura and Anna continued to do a bit of searching for shards. It was ridiculously nice out; laying there in the sun was truly heavenly. Once we had had our fill of the beach, we headed back towards the port, stopping in at a restaurant along the way to get some lunch. We picked a place right on the water, with an incredible view, and started off the meal with some fried octopus, which Laura and I weren't too crazy about. We all ordered another eggplant dish as our main meal, basically an eggplant lasagna-delicious, plus some white wine for the table. It was an excellent lunch, we took our time eating and enjoying the atmosphere, and then we headed more into town to look around for a bit. There wasn't reallly a whole lot to do in the town, but we stopped in at some little shops, sampling some of the pistachios that Aegina is famous for, and then just walked around. We had some time to kill, so we went and found another cafe on the water and got some drinks. We hung out there for quite a while talking, and then headed over to our boat when it arrived. A couple hours later we were back in Athens, where we walked around for a while, grabbing a Gyro for dinner and then returning to Anna's apartment. Again, we were all pretty tired, so Laura and I finished watching a movie on my laptop and then we settled in for the night.
The next morning we got up early again, and headed to the metro to get to the Acropolis. First we grabbed some pastries for breakfast, Laura and Anna partaking in a popular coffee-drink, and we made our way to the entrance. As we waited outside the entrance we actually ran into someone that went to Anna's high school; small world! When we were finished with our food we made our way in, flashing our student ID's and getting in for free, yes! The walk up wasn't too bad, and there was plenty of things to stop and admire on the way. When we finally got to the top the view was breath-taking, we felt like we were on top of the world. Anna gave us a little tour of the various ruins, which was very nice, and we spent a while exploring and admiring on the scenery. It was really crazy though, on the way down we ran into Kate Blanchett! She was litteraly an arms-length away from us with her two little boys. One of the staff came up to her and asked is she was a famous actress, which caught our attention. She was very nice, replied "yes", and laughed when they asked if she was Kate Winclet. Pretty crazy! We continued on our way, not wanting to be annoying, and from a distance i took a quick discreet picture. Crazy! In any case, we then made our way out of the Acropolis, and began to walk a ways in the general direction of the Agora. First we stopped in at this awesome sandal place, where all the sandals are made by hand. They were super nice, it's a famous place where the Beatles even went and got sandals! The women who runs it is the granddaughter (or daughter, i forget...) of a famous sandalmaker/poet, whose books are apparently very well known in Greece. We spent a long time there, and all left with a pair of these great sandals. Laura and I actually got the same pair of Gladiators...soooo cool. After that, Anna took us to check out this great flea market, where we wandered around and admired all the random objects on display. By this time we were running out of time, so we made our way quickly to Ancient Agora, which we explored for a bit before grabbing one last gyro. Then it was back to Anna's place to grab our stuff and make our way to the airport, and so ends my stay in Greece. The only sucky part was that our flight to Madrid got in late, and Laura missed our flight (I had already checked in online, as I'm a European citizen and can do that). It really sucked, she had to call Mar, who figured out a bus she could take at midnight, arriving in Santiago 9 hours later. Poor girl! But other than that we both had a great time; one day I definitely want to return to the Islands; they were just so beautiful.
So yeah, my time abroad is winding down. The weather here is TERRIBLE right now, it has gotten cold and rainy, typical Santiago, but it is good in that I am more productive without the tempation of the park. I'm getting my work done slowly but surely. We're also all keeping an eye on the swine flu, kind of terrifying! For one thing, we are all worried we will have trouble getting home, which would be awful. But I'm sure it'll be fine; everyone stay safe!
Love,
Brit
The next morning we got up early again, and headed to the metro to get to the Acropolis. First we grabbed some pastries for breakfast, Laura and Anna partaking in a popular coffee-drink, and we made our way to the entrance. As we waited outside the entrance we actually ran into someone that went to Anna's high school; small world! When we were finished with our food we made our way in, flashing our student ID's and getting in for free, yes! The walk up wasn't too bad, and there was plenty of things to stop and admire on the way. When we finally got to the top the view was breath-taking, we felt like we were on top of the world. Anna gave us a little tour of the various ruins, which was very nice, and we spent a while exploring and admiring on the scenery. It was really crazy though, on the way down we ran into Kate Blanchett! She was litteraly an arms-length away from us with her two little boys. One of the staff came up to her and asked is she was a famous actress, which caught our attention. She was very nice, replied "yes", and laughed when they asked if she was Kate Winclet. Pretty crazy! We continued on our way, not wanting to be annoying, and from a distance i took a quick discreet picture. Crazy! In any case, we then made our way out of the Acropolis, and began to walk a ways in the general direction of the Agora. First we stopped in at this awesome sandal place, where all the sandals are made by hand. They were super nice, it's a famous place where the Beatles even went and got sandals! The women who runs it is the granddaughter (or daughter, i forget...) of a famous sandalmaker/poet, whose books are apparently very well known in Greece. We spent a long time there, and all left with a pair of these great sandals. Laura and I actually got the same pair of Gladiators...soooo cool. After that, Anna took us to check out this great flea market, where we wandered around and admired all the random objects on display. By this time we were running out of time, so we made our way quickly to Ancient Agora, which we explored for a bit before grabbing one last gyro. Then it was back to Anna's place to grab our stuff and make our way to the airport, and so ends my stay in Greece. The only sucky part was that our flight to Madrid got in late, and Laura missed our flight (I had already checked in online, as I'm a European citizen and can do that). It really sucked, she had to call Mar, who figured out a bus she could take at midnight, arriving in Santiago 9 hours later. Poor girl! But other than that we both had a great time; one day I definitely want to return to the Islands; they were just so beautiful.
So yeah, my time abroad is winding down. The weather here is TERRIBLE right now, it has gotten cold and rainy, typical Santiago, but it is good in that I am more productive without the tempation of the park. I'm getting my work done slowly but surely. We're also all keeping an eye on the swine flu, kind of terrifying! For one thing, we are all worried we will have trouble getting home, which would be awful. But I'm sure it'll be fine; everyone stay safe!
Love,
Brit
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Good ol' Santiago
Hello all,
Its been a while, not a whole whole lot to report though as I have just been hanging out in Santiago for the past week or two. Last weekend Laura and Florette went with some other people to Madrid, and since Sam and I had already been we stayed in Santiago. My plan was to get lots of work done and have a really productive opinion...like that was gonna happen. I borrowed Laura's computer for the weekend, which unfortunately is very old and slow, and doesn't seem to like my wireless connection. So, with a combination of that and my recent procrastination habit I got very little done the whole weekend. I did, however, spend some time with Sam; we made some awesome chicken noodle soup, and got plenty of "Arrested Development" in. Sunday I actually did make some progress on one of my papers, but other than that it was just a very chill weekend spent relaxing, watching movies, and hanging with Sam, with occasional bursts of productivity throughout. Laura and the rest of the group got back late Sunday night, which was nice as I missed not having them around. This week I've been very busy going out at night/dining late, plus on Tuesday my new laptop arrived!!! I absolutely love it, it's so light and quick and just perfect. So, I've been spending all my free time getting all my music transferred and arranged, and just getting everything downloaded on the computer that I need...God it's so nice having a laptop again, being without it just makes everything so much harder, especially with all the research I need to be doing right now. Monday Me, Laura, Florette, Sam, Guy Sam and I did a bothellon in the park, where we sat and drank outside (the weather is beautiful again) for a long time, it was really nice. Afterwards we went to Burger King for dinner, which was delicious and made us feel at home! Then Laura, Guy Sam and I headed over to our friends Fattin and Katie's house, where we hung out for a long while along with some other kids from our program. On Tuesday, Sam, Laura and I had dinner together and hung out for a bit, opting not to stay up too late so we could go out the next night. Last night (Wednesday) I had a bunch of friends over to my place, switching it up a bit since we always go to Laura's, which was really, really fun. My two roommates came as well, and Laura cooked us some delicious stir fry, plus my always good artichoke dip, lots of bread with chorizo and cheese; very good. Everyone had a good time, my roommates got along well with everyone (they're such great guys), and we spent a long time just sitting around and chatting. As it got late we headed out, Laura and I heading to meet up with some of the Kansas kids at Fusion (this bar where one of our program kids bartends, we've kind of taken it over), while the others went off to bed (lame). We ended up having a really fun time at Fusion, they were having a beer pong night, which was fun to watch, and again we spent a long time just hanging out and talking. We headed home late, getting to bed after 3, but I still managed to get my reading done for class ;). So yeah, that's what I've been up to. Meanwhile, in the back of my mind I am kind of freaking out as I have SO much work I need to get done, and it's just so hard to get anything done here! Every time I go to start studying or something I get invited to go get a drink, chill in the park, etc., I don't want to miss out on anything and feel like I'm running out of time! It's going to be sad to leave, especially within the last month I have really just been having a great time in Santiago. I've really gotten to know the people on our program and like them all so much, it's going to be hard to say goodbye to it all. Not to mention the town, with all it's awesome bars/restaurants/etc., the general feeling here is just so positive, the Spanish just seem to have a great view of life and living in general. But in any case, it will still be so nice to be home, I miss everyone very much, and I've been abroad so much! On another note, tonight Laura and I fly to Madrid, where we will catch our flight to Athens tomorrow morning!!! I am so excited for this trip, it's just me and her, and then we're going to stay with our friend Anna who is studying there, one of our mutual friends from Kenyon. Saturday we're even planning on doing a little trip to an Island or something!!! I'm really, really excited, I've always wanted to go to Greece, and I think the three of us will have a really great time. Will share the story as soon as I get back!
Sending my love from Santiago,
Brit
Its been a while, not a whole whole lot to report though as I have just been hanging out in Santiago for the past week or two. Last weekend Laura and Florette went with some other people to Madrid, and since Sam and I had already been we stayed in Santiago. My plan was to get lots of work done and have a really productive opinion...like that was gonna happen. I borrowed Laura's computer for the weekend, which unfortunately is very old and slow, and doesn't seem to like my wireless connection. So, with a combination of that and my recent procrastination habit I got very little done the whole weekend. I did, however, spend some time with Sam; we made some awesome chicken noodle soup, and got plenty of "Arrested Development" in. Sunday I actually did make some progress on one of my papers, but other than that it was just a very chill weekend spent relaxing, watching movies, and hanging with Sam, with occasional bursts of productivity throughout. Laura and the rest of the group got back late Sunday night, which was nice as I missed not having them around. This week I've been very busy going out at night/dining late, plus on Tuesday my new laptop arrived!!! I absolutely love it, it's so light and quick and just perfect. So, I've been spending all my free time getting all my music transferred and arranged, and just getting everything downloaded on the computer that I need...God it's so nice having a laptop again, being without it just makes everything so much harder, especially with all the research I need to be doing right now. Monday Me, Laura, Florette, Sam, Guy Sam and I did a bothellon in the park, where we sat and drank outside (the weather is beautiful again) for a long time, it was really nice. Afterwards we went to Burger King for dinner, which was delicious and made us feel at home! Then Laura, Guy Sam and I headed over to our friends Fattin and Katie's house, where we hung out for a long while along with some other kids from our program. On Tuesday, Sam, Laura and I had dinner together and hung out for a bit, opting not to stay up too late so we could go out the next night. Last night (Wednesday) I had a bunch of friends over to my place, switching it up a bit since we always go to Laura's, which was really, really fun. My two roommates came as well, and Laura cooked us some delicious stir fry, plus my always good artichoke dip, lots of bread with chorizo and cheese; very good. Everyone had a good time, my roommates got along well with everyone (they're such great guys), and we spent a long time just sitting around and chatting. As it got late we headed out, Laura and I heading to meet up with some of the Kansas kids at Fusion (this bar where one of our program kids bartends, we've kind of taken it over), while the others went off to bed (lame). We ended up having a really fun time at Fusion, they were having a beer pong night, which was fun to watch, and again we spent a long time just hanging out and talking. We headed home late, getting to bed after 3, but I still managed to get my reading done for class ;). So yeah, that's what I've been up to. Meanwhile, in the back of my mind I am kind of freaking out as I have SO much work I need to get done, and it's just so hard to get anything done here! Every time I go to start studying or something I get invited to go get a drink, chill in the park, etc., I don't want to miss out on anything and feel like I'm running out of time! It's going to be sad to leave, especially within the last month I have really just been having a great time in Santiago. I've really gotten to know the people on our program and like them all so much, it's going to be hard to say goodbye to it all. Not to mention the town, with all it's awesome bars/restaurants/etc., the general feeling here is just so positive, the Spanish just seem to have a great view of life and living in general. But in any case, it will still be so nice to be home, I miss everyone very much, and I've been abroad so much! On another note, tonight Laura and I fly to Madrid, where we will catch our flight to Athens tomorrow morning!!! I am so excited for this trip, it's just me and her, and then we're going to stay with our friend Anna who is studying there, one of our mutual friends from Kenyon. Saturday we're even planning on doing a little trip to an Island or something!!! I'm really, really excited, I've always wanted to go to Greece, and I think the three of us will have a really great time. Will share the story as soon as I get back!
Sending my love from Santiago,
Brit
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Voyage to Italy, Part II (also known as longest blog post ever)
Hello again,
Sorry I have been horrible at updating my blog lately, I have been amazingly busy but now it has quieted down a bit and I have a chance to catch up. So, Rome; we got off at the Colosseum metro stop and grabbed sandwiches at one of the many random food stands scattered around the city. The weather was amazing, so we snagged a spot on the grass, laying out and relaxing for a bit, soo nice. We eventually dragged ourselves out of the sun, and joined the massive line to see the Colosseum. That’s the problem with Rome, SO MANY TOURISTS! Plus, since it was Holy Week, there was even more than usual…insanity. To skip the line and learn more about Ancient Rome we opted for a tour, which was totally worth it, although our tour guides accent made understanding her a bit difficult at times. Overall though it was a good visit, it was very cool to see such a cool structure up close, and I very much enjoyed the descriptions of our guide. After the tour, I went my own way, opting to go lay in the grass and read while Sam and Ryan checked out a temporary exhibition. It was so nice just laying there in the sun, with an amazing view of the Colsseum in front of me. We then met up again and went to explore the Ruins, only a short walk away. This was also very cool, and we spent a long time exploring these, our visit including the old congress and such. After the ruins we walked around some more, checking out some of the beautiful buildings nearby, before resting for a bit and coming up with a game plan for dinner. We decided that we would meet up with Rob for some dinner near a metro stop, and called and arranged to meet him. Then it was off on a pretty long walk through the city, taking us along a major street lined with shops, until we ran into Rob and went off to find some food. After checking many restaurants, we came to the conclusion that we were just gonna have to suck it up and pay more than we would normally for some decent food, so we picked a pizza/pasta place and settled in. The food was great, much better than our previous experience, so we left happy and full. We still had some time to kill before Sam, Ryan and I had to catch the metro to the train station, so we walked around a bit and sat in a café to chat and relax a bit, very nice. Then it was off back to the hostel, where we stopped in at the bar for a drink and to use the computers again before bed.
The next morning we caught the train to Florence, after I minor incident involving me getting off at the wrong station (Sam told me to, then realized that it was the wrong one…to bad I was already off the train. Fortunately, I was able to sneak on the next train and made it to the right station like ten minutes later). We were all pretty tired and cranky, I was feeling particularly snappy because of the train incident, and then our inability to find the correct bus to the hostel. After much wandering and questioning, we eventually found a bus that would take us to the hostel, and not long after we arrived. The hostel was good, much better located, and very cheap (always good). As I had pretty much already explored much of Florence last semester, I got some lunch with Sam and Ryan, but then decided to just wander around a bit, not feeling the need to re-do all of the touristy stuff. I spent a long time exploring, and eventually got a call from Sam and Ryan, and we arranged to meet at this amazing gelato place not far from our hostel. By this time Rob had also arrived in Florence, so he came and met us as well. Unfortunately, Rob had managed to get a really horrible sunburn on his face, so he spent most of his time in Florence in doors, poor guy. But we had a nice time talking and eating some amazing gelato, heading over in the direction of the Duomo afterwards. I went with them to the little chapel next door the Duomo, and spent a good amount of time there, but afterwards we went our separate ways as I had already visited the Duomo on my last trip. Instead, I decided to explore more of the city, checking out some of the many stores and just enjoying walking at random. I managed to find the H&M (my fave cheap clothing store), where I bought a pretty blue dress, perfect for the warm weather. I continued wandering, eventually making my way back to the hostel, where I stopped in for a short nap before dinner. Sam and Ryan stopped by and woke me up, and we headed over to a nearby restaurant for dinner. The restaurant was great, really good food, atmosphere, and service, and while I was there I ran into a girl that went to my high school! She had her back to me but was only a table away, so on our way out I stopped and said hi (she was in my grade as well). It was pretty crazy, she even is on the same program as Anne Lambert, so I told her to say hello for me. After dinner we returned to the hostel, as it was already pretty late, and I spent some time reading for class before falling asleep.
The next day I opted to sleep in, as again I didn’t feel like re-doing all the tourist-y stuff, so Sam and Ryan went off and I took my time. After a nice warm shower (a near impossibility at our last hostel), I got ready and headed out, bringing some school work along with me. First stop was a nearby pizza place for breakfast/lunch, where I spent a while reading as well. I then walked around a bit, eventually stopping in at a café to do some more school work and relax, and get some amazing Italian hot chocolate. After finishing my reading I went off to do some more exploring, until I met up with Sam and Ryan for a bit to get a snack and hang out. They then went off to do the art museums, which I had already seen, so I found a nice café in the nearby square looking out over the amazing sculptures, and ordered a glass of wine to pass the time. It was really nice, I just hung there for a couple hours, sipping my wine and using the extra time to get some more homework done, very relaxing. Then it was off to a little square not far from the train station, where there was some nice grass ideal for sunbathing that I took advantage of, laying back and listening to my Ipod for a good hour or so. Such a nice, relaxing day, I even managed to get some color. After that it was time to meet up with Ryan, Sam, and Rob, and we went back to the same place as the night before for some dinner. It was another great dinner, followed by more amazing gelato at the nearby place (we were kind of obsessed with that place…). Then it was time for Sam, Ryan and I to go and catch our train to Venice, so we said our goodbyes to Rob and picked up our luggage at the hostel. After a bit of a walk we arrived, and went through the difficult of process of trying to figure out how to get to Venice. We had changed our earlier plans, as Sam and Ryan wanted some more time in Florence, so we weren’t entirely sure of how the trains were going to work. The only one we could get took us to the wrong station in Venice, and as we would be arriving at 1 in the morning we were worried we would be unable to get transportation to the correct station. With no other options, we decided to just buy the ticket and hope for the best, so we made our way to the train. The train ride was actually really great, I ended up sitting next to this guy from Guatemala, who was traveling through Europe with a bunch of his friends. He and I had a really long, interesting conversation, and he even let me have a taste of some Guatemalan liquor that he and his friends were drinking (tasted like coffee, ick, but was still cool). It was also nice because I got to practice my Spanish, which I am proud to say held up very well. After about three hours we arrived in Venice, so I said goodbye to Pedro and Sam, Ryan and I headed out to try and find a bus that would take us to the other station. There were other people in our situation, and with their help we managed to find the appropriate bus station, where we were picked up about 25 minutes later. When we arrived at the other station we caught a little boat that would take us to our island (about 45 minutes away). It was pretty cool, the boat system is kind of funny, it’s run just like a metro with the various stations and timetables, except on water! Eventually we arrived in Lido, where our hostel was located, and we walked off in search of our hostel. After a while we managed to find it; it was actually just a really cheap hotel, and we were very excited to see we had our own room, towels, a TV, everything! And for like 14 euro a night! Sam got a pat on the back for that find, and we settled in for the night.
The next room we got up at a decent hour and headed out to explore. On the way to the boat stop we stopped in at a pastry shop next to the hostel, grabbing a most delicious “breakfast” (cookies/cake=breakfast of champions). The boat ride was great, I really loved Venice, it was so unique and just beautiful with the water and such beautiful little buildings. We headed over to one of the most famous bridges in Venice, taking lots of pictures, and then stopped in at a cool market street, where we admired the glass jewelry and figures. We spent a long time there, eventually grabbing a pizza wrap thingy for lunch. We then walked around some more, eventually heading over to an art museum housing an amazing Oriental collection, and then to the old Jewish ghetto, where we hoped to visit some Synagogues and such. Unfortunately, they were all closed due to an approaching Jewish holiday, so we only walked around there for a bit. Our next plan was to check out the cemetery, but on the way over we were informed that the cemetery closed at 6, so we were too late. Instead, we decided to head over to check out the glass-making part of Venice, although as it was getting late in the evening only one store was open. It was still cool though, really beautiful stuff. As everything seemed to be closing, we caught a boat in the direction of our hostel, where we stopped in for some more layers (it was cold at night!) before heading back out to a part of Venice that was supposed to be really pretty. It was a bit of a walk from the boat stop, but eventually we made it to the main road. It was pretty, but at this point it was dark out so it was harder to appreciate. Unfortunately the prices were atrocious in that area, and we ended up settling on a little café that we could actually afford. It was a pretty crappy place, we had to eat inside as it was too cold outside, and there were lots of older people playing slot machines right behind us…not such a great atmosphere. The food was decent though, and afterwards we stopped in at a pastry shop for some dessert on the way back. As it was cold and dark we decided we didn’t feel like much exploring, so we headed to a different bus stop, poking around a pretty garden on the way. Then it was back to the hostel, and so concluded our only full day in Venice.
The next morning Ryan got up extra early to visit a Naval History Museum (Sam and I had no interest), and Sam and I headed out on our own for breakfast again at the pastry shop. We also attempted to buy phone cards so that we could make some travel arrangements, but Italian pay phones proved to be impossible to use, ah well. After a healthy breakfast of gelato and pastries we caught the boat to one of the main centers of Venice, which houses the cathedral, museums, palace, tower, etc. We spent a long time exploring those, which were all absolutely gorgeous, and then we headed over to check out Vivaldi’s church (one of Sam’s must-sees). Unfortunately the church was closed, but Sam was still happy to see it from the outside. After that we found ourselves a nice little restaurant with a nice view of the water, where we ate some pizza for lunch. Next we decided we wanted to walk to the boat that would take us to the cemetery, for a second try at seeing it. Sam passed me the map, but as I couldn’t really locate the street names I decided I would just walk in a straight line in what I thought was the right direction. It was a really beautiful walk, Venice is just so gorgeous, although I managed to lead us in the opposite direction of the cemetery station…whoops. It wasn’t a big deal though, as Ryan and I wanted to just explore more of Venice anyways, so we walked around back in the direction of the bridge, this time me leading with the map. We made it there no problem, thanks to my mad map reading skillz, and explored some more, grabbing some sandwiches for dinner. After a bit of exploration there, it was time to head back to the hostel and pick up our luggage, after which we headed to the train station and caught our train to Milan. We arrived pretty late at night, and after being unable to locate the bus that the hostel recommended taking we decided to brave the metro. We eventually figured it out, and got into what was supposed to be our hostel (actually a two-star hotel). Turns out they had moved us to another hotel, for the same price, but that was three-stars. It was only a short walk away, so we headed off over there, map in hand. It was easy to find, and was really nice! Again, also very cheap, something like 14 euro a night, so we were very happy. The next morning we got up and headed over to a nearby café for some breakfast. At this point I was feeling travelled out, and had limited interest in exploring, so I headed back to the hotel to chill for a bit, arranging to meet up with Sam and Lloyd later on to do the Cathedral. After I got in my reading and alone time I headed back out, after some confusion with the metro system, and we met up and visited the cathedral, which was gorgeous. After that Lloyd wanted to pay to climb up to the top, so Sam and I waited for him outside, sitting on a ledge and people watching for a bit. After he joined us we went and walked around a bit, exploring parts of the city, and stopping in at a museum mainly to use the bathroom, haha. We explored the crazy nice shops, venturing into Gucci and the like and feeling amazingly out of place. There were even some piano players playing the middle of the shopping area, so we stood and listened to them for a while. After more walking around it was getting late, so we decided to head back to the hostel for a bit, where we checked our email and rested for a bit before heading back out for a late dinner. We went to this place called “La cometa” (the comet) not far from our hostel, which was actually really great. The only problem we had was that only part of the menu was translated into English. Surprisingly enough, Sam and I read on the menu that “ostriche” was offered as an appetizer. Sam and I were pretty excited by the prospect of trying ostrich, so we ordered one to start off. Of course, it wasn’t ostrich; ‘ostriche” translates to oyster, hahaha. We were pretty disappointed, especially because neither of us even likes oysters, but we paid for it so we were gonna eat it goddamnit! The rest of the dinner was great, as it was our last one we splurged a little and got some wine for the table, followed by some delicious pizza and even a little dessert. It was a really great dinner, we all enjoyed ourselves, and then it was back to the hostel for our last night in Italy.
And so ends our epic journey! It definitely had its ups and downs, as I wasn’t always in the best of spirits, but overall it was good. The next morning Sam and I headed out to the airport to catch our flight to Madrid, where we had a 6-hour layover. We were planning to meet our friend Brendan (one of my best friends from Kenyon) in Madrid, as he wanted to visit us in Santiago for a few days. Sam and I had incorrectly assumed that he would get plane tickets beforehand, as we had, so we were very surprised when he called saying he was in Madrid, and wanted to know how we were getting to Santiago. What followed was panic, as we tried to figure out the best way to get to Santiago that wouldn’t cost him an arm and a leg (our Ryanair flight would have been over 200euro for him, as it was so last minute, so that was an impossibility). Turns out the best way was for him to take a sleeper train, so he did that and arrived in Santiago the next morning (Sunday). Sam went and picked him up at the train station at about 7am the next morning, as she has a pull-out bed in her room to stay in, and I came over and met him later that morning. It was really, really fun having him here; Brendan really seemed to love Santiago. That Sunday (Easter) we headed over to the cathedral, where we caught part of mass. I don’t know what it’s called, but Santiago apparently has the biggest silver incence thingys in the world! It’s attached to the roof of the church, and on Easter they let it swing through the church, which was very cool to see. It was cool, I had never seen so many people in Santiago; so many people had arrived from the pilgrimage to Santiago, so it was kind of crazy. After watching a bit of the service, Brendan (a fellow atheist) and I headed out to wander around the Old Zone for a bit. I wanted to take him to one of my favorite cafes, but it was closed to the holiday, so we just walked around aimlessly for a bit, catching up. We then headed back to Sam and Laura’s place, where we all had Easter breakfast together-delicious French toast. Later on Brendan, Laura and I headed out to a couple cafes/bars, where we got some drinks and spent a long time talking. I hadn’t seen Brendan in a long time, as he has been abroad for the year in Exeter (a Kenyon-run program based in England, for English majors), so we had a whole lot to catch up on. Again, it was really, really great to see him. He reminded me about all the things I love about Kenyon, and seeing such a great friend really just put me in great spirits, which I needed after the mood I had been in after the robbery plus some rockiness in Italy. Sunday night Guy Sam also had a potluck at his place, so we all went to that which was really fun. I spent the rest of the week attending class and spending the rest of my free time with Brendan. Tuesday we checked out the Contemporary Art museum nearby, which was interesting although very bizarre, as contemporary art always is. While he was here we took him to our favorite bars and cafes, and just had a really great time hanging out. He really enjoyed it especially because of the Celtic influence around here, and the overall vibe of the city. Showing him around also made me realize just how much I love this place; it really is just a great town, and I really love the people I have met here. So yeah, I had a really great week, I am finally feeling back to normal again, and just happy to be here. Today, I even got an awesome new hair cut. It’s shoulder length, with long layers, and BANGS! This is big news, as I have never had bangs in my entire life. I’ve gotten lots of compliments, and really love the new look. Hopefully you all will like it! Alrighty, well I need to head over to Laura and Sam’s for dinner, but there’s the update, I’m doing really well, and my new laptop should arrive in the next week. Life is good!
Love,
Brit
Sorry I have been horrible at updating my blog lately, I have been amazingly busy but now it has quieted down a bit and I have a chance to catch up. So, Rome; we got off at the Colosseum metro stop and grabbed sandwiches at one of the many random food stands scattered around the city. The weather was amazing, so we snagged a spot on the grass, laying out and relaxing for a bit, soo nice. We eventually dragged ourselves out of the sun, and joined the massive line to see the Colosseum. That’s the problem with Rome, SO MANY TOURISTS! Plus, since it was Holy Week, there was even more than usual…insanity. To skip the line and learn more about Ancient Rome we opted for a tour, which was totally worth it, although our tour guides accent made understanding her a bit difficult at times. Overall though it was a good visit, it was very cool to see such a cool structure up close, and I very much enjoyed the descriptions of our guide. After the tour, I went my own way, opting to go lay in the grass and read while Sam and Ryan checked out a temporary exhibition. It was so nice just laying there in the sun, with an amazing view of the Colsseum in front of me. We then met up again and went to explore the Ruins, only a short walk away. This was also very cool, and we spent a long time exploring these, our visit including the old congress and such. After the ruins we walked around some more, checking out some of the beautiful buildings nearby, before resting for a bit and coming up with a game plan for dinner. We decided that we would meet up with Rob for some dinner near a metro stop, and called and arranged to meet him. Then it was off on a pretty long walk through the city, taking us along a major street lined with shops, until we ran into Rob and went off to find some food. After checking many restaurants, we came to the conclusion that we were just gonna have to suck it up and pay more than we would normally for some decent food, so we picked a pizza/pasta place and settled in. The food was great, much better than our previous experience, so we left happy and full. We still had some time to kill before Sam, Ryan and I had to catch the metro to the train station, so we walked around a bit and sat in a café to chat and relax a bit, very nice. Then it was off back to the hostel, where we stopped in at the bar for a drink and to use the computers again before bed.
The next morning we caught the train to Florence, after I minor incident involving me getting off at the wrong station (Sam told me to, then realized that it was the wrong one…to bad I was already off the train. Fortunately, I was able to sneak on the next train and made it to the right station like ten minutes later). We were all pretty tired and cranky, I was feeling particularly snappy because of the train incident, and then our inability to find the correct bus to the hostel. After much wandering and questioning, we eventually found a bus that would take us to the hostel, and not long after we arrived. The hostel was good, much better located, and very cheap (always good). As I had pretty much already explored much of Florence last semester, I got some lunch with Sam and Ryan, but then decided to just wander around a bit, not feeling the need to re-do all of the touristy stuff. I spent a long time exploring, and eventually got a call from Sam and Ryan, and we arranged to meet at this amazing gelato place not far from our hostel. By this time Rob had also arrived in Florence, so he came and met us as well. Unfortunately, Rob had managed to get a really horrible sunburn on his face, so he spent most of his time in Florence in doors, poor guy. But we had a nice time talking and eating some amazing gelato, heading over in the direction of the Duomo afterwards. I went with them to the little chapel next door the Duomo, and spent a good amount of time there, but afterwards we went our separate ways as I had already visited the Duomo on my last trip. Instead, I decided to explore more of the city, checking out some of the many stores and just enjoying walking at random. I managed to find the H&M (my fave cheap clothing store), where I bought a pretty blue dress, perfect for the warm weather. I continued wandering, eventually making my way back to the hostel, where I stopped in for a short nap before dinner. Sam and Ryan stopped by and woke me up, and we headed over to a nearby restaurant for dinner. The restaurant was great, really good food, atmosphere, and service, and while I was there I ran into a girl that went to my high school! She had her back to me but was only a table away, so on our way out I stopped and said hi (she was in my grade as well). It was pretty crazy, she even is on the same program as Anne Lambert, so I told her to say hello for me. After dinner we returned to the hostel, as it was already pretty late, and I spent some time reading for class before falling asleep.
The next day I opted to sleep in, as again I didn’t feel like re-doing all the tourist-y stuff, so Sam and Ryan went off and I took my time. After a nice warm shower (a near impossibility at our last hostel), I got ready and headed out, bringing some school work along with me. First stop was a nearby pizza place for breakfast/lunch, where I spent a while reading as well. I then walked around a bit, eventually stopping in at a café to do some more school work and relax, and get some amazing Italian hot chocolate. After finishing my reading I went off to do some more exploring, until I met up with Sam and Ryan for a bit to get a snack and hang out. They then went off to do the art museums, which I had already seen, so I found a nice café in the nearby square looking out over the amazing sculptures, and ordered a glass of wine to pass the time. It was really nice, I just hung there for a couple hours, sipping my wine and using the extra time to get some more homework done, very relaxing. Then it was off to a little square not far from the train station, where there was some nice grass ideal for sunbathing that I took advantage of, laying back and listening to my Ipod for a good hour or so. Such a nice, relaxing day, I even managed to get some color. After that it was time to meet up with Ryan, Sam, and Rob, and we went back to the same place as the night before for some dinner. It was another great dinner, followed by more amazing gelato at the nearby place (we were kind of obsessed with that place…). Then it was time for Sam, Ryan and I to go and catch our train to Venice, so we said our goodbyes to Rob and picked up our luggage at the hostel. After a bit of a walk we arrived, and went through the difficult of process of trying to figure out how to get to Venice. We had changed our earlier plans, as Sam and Ryan wanted some more time in Florence, so we weren’t entirely sure of how the trains were going to work. The only one we could get took us to the wrong station in Venice, and as we would be arriving at 1 in the morning we were worried we would be unable to get transportation to the correct station. With no other options, we decided to just buy the ticket and hope for the best, so we made our way to the train. The train ride was actually really great, I ended up sitting next to this guy from Guatemala, who was traveling through Europe with a bunch of his friends. He and I had a really long, interesting conversation, and he even let me have a taste of some Guatemalan liquor that he and his friends were drinking (tasted like coffee, ick, but was still cool). It was also nice because I got to practice my Spanish, which I am proud to say held up very well. After about three hours we arrived in Venice, so I said goodbye to Pedro and Sam, Ryan and I headed out to try and find a bus that would take us to the other station. There were other people in our situation, and with their help we managed to find the appropriate bus station, where we were picked up about 25 minutes later. When we arrived at the other station we caught a little boat that would take us to our island (about 45 minutes away). It was pretty cool, the boat system is kind of funny, it’s run just like a metro with the various stations and timetables, except on water! Eventually we arrived in Lido, where our hostel was located, and we walked off in search of our hostel. After a while we managed to find it; it was actually just a really cheap hotel, and we were very excited to see we had our own room, towels, a TV, everything! And for like 14 euro a night! Sam got a pat on the back for that find, and we settled in for the night.
The next room we got up at a decent hour and headed out to explore. On the way to the boat stop we stopped in at a pastry shop next to the hostel, grabbing a most delicious “breakfast” (cookies/cake=breakfast of champions). The boat ride was great, I really loved Venice, it was so unique and just beautiful with the water and such beautiful little buildings. We headed over to one of the most famous bridges in Venice, taking lots of pictures, and then stopped in at a cool market street, where we admired the glass jewelry and figures. We spent a long time there, eventually grabbing a pizza wrap thingy for lunch. We then walked around some more, eventually heading over to an art museum housing an amazing Oriental collection, and then to the old Jewish ghetto, where we hoped to visit some Synagogues and such. Unfortunately, they were all closed due to an approaching Jewish holiday, so we only walked around there for a bit. Our next plan was to check out the cemetery, but on the way over we were informed that the cemetery closed at 6, so we were too late. Instead, we decided to head over to check out the glass-making part of Venice, although as it was getting late in the evening only one store was open. It was still cool though, really beautiful stuff. As everything seemed to be closing, we caught a boat in the direction of our hostel, where we stopped in for some more layers (it was cold at night!) before heading back out to a part of Venice that was supposed to be really pretty. It was a bit of a walk from the boat stop, but eventually we made it to the main road. It was pretty, but at this point it was dark out so it was harder to appreciate. Unfortunately the prices were atrocious in that area, and we ended up settling on a little café that we could actually afford. It was a pretty crappy place, we had to eat inside as it was too cold outside, and there were lots of older people playing slot machines right behind us…not such a great atmosphere. The food was decent though, and afterwards we stopped in at a pastry shop for some dessert on the way back. As it was cold and dark we decided we didn’t feel like much exploring, so we headed to a different bus stop, poking around a pretty garden on the way. Then it was back to the hostel, and so concluded our only full day in Venice.
The next morning Ryan got up extra early to visit a Naval History Museum (Sam and I had no interest), and Sam and I headed out on our own for breakfast again at the pastry shop. We also attempted to buy phone cards so that we could make some travel arrangements, but Italian pay phones proved to be impossible to use, ah well. After a healthy breakfast of gelato and pastries we caught the boat to one of the main centers of Venice, which houses the cathedral, museums, palace, tower, etc. We spent a long time exploring those, which were all absolutely gorgeous, and then we headed over to check out Vivaldi’s church (one of Sam’s must-sees). Unfortunately the church was closed, but Sam was still happy to see it from the outside. After that we found ourselves a nice little restaurant with a nice view of the water, where we ate some pizza for lunch. Next we decided we wanted to walk to the boat that would take us to the cemetery, for a second try at seeing it. Sam passed me the map, but as I couldn’t really locate the street names I decided I would just walk in a straight line in what I thought was the right direction. It was a really beautiful walk, Venice is just so gorgeous, although I managed to lead us in the opposite direction of the cemetery station…whoops. It wasn’t a big deal though, as Ryan and I wanted to just explore more of Venice anyways, so we walked around back in the direction of the bridge, this time me leading with the map. We made it there no problem, thanks to my mad map reading skillz, and explored some more, grabbing some sandwiches for dinner. After a bit of exploration there, it was time to head back to the hostel and pick up our luggage, after which we headed to the train station and caught our train to Milan. We arrived pretty late at night, and after being unable to locate the bus that the hostel recommended taking we decided to brave the metro. We eventually figured it out, and got into what was supposed to be our hostel (actually a two-star hotel). Turns out they had moved us to another hotel, for the same price, but that was three-stars. It was only a short walk away, so we headed off over there, map in hand. It was easy to find, and was really nice! Again, also very cheap, something like 14 euro a night, so we were very happy. The next morning we got up and headed over to a nearby café for some breakfast. At this point I was feeling travelled out, and had limited interest in exploring, so I headed back to the hotel to chill for a bit, arranging to meet up with Sam and Lloyd later on to do the Cathedral. After I got in my reading and alone time I headed back out, after some confusion with the metro system, and we met up and visited the cathedral, which was gorgeous. After that Lloyd wanted to pay to climb up to the top, so Sam and I waited for him outside, sitting on a ledge and people watching for a bit. After he joined us we went and walked around a bit, exploring parts of the city, and stopping in at a museum mainly to use the bathroom, haha. We explored the crazy nice shops, venturing into Gucci and the like and feeling amazingly out of place. There were even some piano players playing the middle of the shopping area, so we stood and listened to them for a while. After more walking around it was getting late, so we decided to head back to the hostel for a bit, where we checked our email and rested for a bit before heading back out for a late dinner. We went to this place called “La cometa” (the comet) not far from our hostel, which was actually really great. The only problem we had was that only part of the menu was translated into English. Surprisingly enough, Sam and I read on the menu that “ostriche” was offered as an appetizer. Sam and I were pretty excited by the prospect of trying ostrich, so we ordered one to start off. Of course, it wasn’t ostrich; ‘ostriche” translates to oyster, hahaha. We were pretty disappointed, especially because neither of us even likes oysters, but we paid for it so we were gonna eat it goddamnit! The rest of the dinner was great, as it was our last one we splurged a little and got some wine for the table, followed by some delicious pizza and even a little dessert. It was a really great dinner, we all enjoyed ourselves, and then it was back to the hostel for our last night in Italy.
And so ends our epic journey! It definitely had its ups and downs, as I wasn’t always in the best of spirits, but overall it was good. The next morning Sam and I headed out to the airport to catch our flight to Madrid, where we had a 6-hour layover. We were planning to meet our friend Brendan (one of my best friends from Kenyon) in Madrid, as he wanted to visit us in Santiago for a few days. Sam and I had incorrectly assumed that he would get plane tickets beforehand, as we had, so we were very surprised when he called saying he was in Madrid, and wanted to know how we were getting to Santiago. What followed was panic, as we tried to figure out the best way to get to Santiago that wouldn’t cost him an arm and a leg (our Ryanair flight would have been over 200euro for him, as it was so last minute, so that was an impossibility). Turns out the best way was for him to take a sleeper train, so he did that and arrived in Santiago the next morning (Sunday). Sam went and picked him up at the train station at about 7am the next morning, as she has a pull-out bed in her room to stay in, and I came over and met him later that morning. It was really, really fun having him here; Brendan really seemed to love Santiago. That Sunday (Easter) we headed over to the cathedral, where we caught part of mass. I don’t know what it’s called, but Santiago apparently has the biggest silver incence thingys in the world! It’s attached to the roof of the church, and on Easter they let it swing through the church, which was very cool to see. It was cool, I had never seen so many people in Santiago; so many people had arrived from the pilgrimage to Santiago, so it was kind of crazy. After watching a bit of the service, Brendan (a fellow atheist) and I headed out to wander around the Old Zone for a bit. I wanted to take him to one of my favorite cafes, but it was closed to the holiday, so we just walked around aimlessly for a bit, catching up. We then headed back to Sam and Laura’s place, where we all had Easter breakfast together-delicious French toast. Later on Brendan, Laura and I headed out to a couple cafes/bars, where we got some drinks and spent a long time talking. I hadn’t seen Brendan in a long time, as he has been abroad for the year in Exeter (a Kenyon-run program based in England, for English majors), so we had a whole lot to catch up on. Again, it was really, really great to see him. He reminded me about all the things I love about Kenyon, and seeing such a great friend really just put me in great spirits, which I needed after the mood I had been in after the robbery plus some rockiness in Italy. Sunday night Guy Sam also had a potluck at his place, so we all went to that which was really fun. I spent the rest of the week attending class and spending the rest of my free time with Brendan. Tuesday we checked out the Contemporary Art museum nearby, which was interesting although very bizarre, as contemporary art always is. While he was here we took him to our favorite bars and cafes, and just had a really great time hanging out. He really enjoyed it especially because of the Celtic influence around here, and the overall vibe of the city. Showing him around also made me realize just how much I love this place; it really is just a great town, and I really love the people I have met here. So yeah, I had a really great week, I am finally feeling back to normal again, and just happy to be here. Today, I even got an awesome new hair cut. It’s shoulder length, with long layers, and BANGS! This is big news, as I have never had bangs in my entire life. I’ve gotten lots of compliments, and really love the new look. Hopefully you all will like it! Alrighty, well I need to head over to Laura and Sam’s for dinner, but there’s the update, I’m doing really well, and my new laptop should arrive in the next week. Life is good!
Love,
Brit
Monday, April 13, 2009
Voyage to Italy, Part 1
Hey all, its been a while. I have returned from my 8-day trip through Italy, which I did over Semana Santa. Overall it was a pretty good trip, although I must admit it had its ups and downs. We headed out Friday around mid-day, heading to the airport for our cheap Ryanair flight to Rome. I’m not gonna lie, I wasn’t exactly thrilled for the trip; the whole robbery thing had put me in an overall negative mood, plus traveling with a semi-couple wasn’t sounding all too appealing. Already feeling cranky and tired overall, Sam and Lloyd showing up late for things didn’t help, and the trip was off to a rocky start. Lloyd (Ryan) managed to calm me down a bit though by being sweet and using my love of music to pull me out of my mood, and then we were on our way. We got in to Rome in the evening, catching a bus from the airport into the city (which was a bit of a pain…Sam had managed not to write down the information for the hostel-she pretty much planned this whole trip as I did all the others, so we spent a while trying to figure out where exactly we needed to go and such, again not helping my already limited patience). After much questioning and some phone calls we managed to figure it out, eventually arriving at a central train/metro station that would provide the necessary transportation to our hostel (which was about half an hour outside of Rome…another strike against Sam). By this time it was dark and we were all hungry, so after stopping in at an internet café so Sam could print out the itinerary for the week (she had been unable to before we left) we settled on a cute looking restaurant not far from the station. It was a bit pricier than we were used to, but after looking around for a while we realized that was pretty much the norm, so we sucked it up and eagerly entered, ready to get a taste of some authentic Italian food. We all ordered various pasta decisions (I went for some spinach/cheese ravioli myself), and relaxed for a bit. When they finally brought out the food, I was unpleasantly surprised. Not only was there only a little bit of ravioli, it didn’t even taste very good! We were all pretty pissed, having paid entirely too much for such crappy food, and we left unhappy and already bitter about the city. Still hungry after our tiny portions, we stopped in at a gelato place, which was very good, although the servers were very rude and unwelcoming. Again, Rome did not seem too promising, but the gelato was good so we didn’t give up hope. We then headed into the station, where we figured out our route and got on the metro that would then take us to the appropriate train. The Rome metro system was surprisingly crappy; very dirty, and overall just kind of sketchy. The train was no better, but we eventually made it to the little city outside of Rome at around midnight. We left the station, cranky and ready to be at the hostel, only to realize that the buses we were planning on taking were no longer running. What’s more, none of our cell phones would work to call the hostel, so we were pretty much screwed in this sketchy little town, with no one around, and in the middle of the night. Luckily, a night bus pulled up, and we ran over to ask for help. He didn’t speak English, but luckily he did speak Spanish (turns out his wife is Mexican), so we were able to communicate with ease (thank God). We explained our situation, his route wouldn’t take us near the hostel, but he was really, really nice and helpful, leaving the bus to walk around and try to figure out how to help. He ended up calling the hostel for us (which was perfect, as the hostel owner only spoke very limited English), and he explained the situation. The owner ended up driving over and picking us up, taking us to the hostel. We of course thanked the bus driver profusely, he was amazingly helpful and friendly, I don’t know what we would have done without him! After a long day, we were ready for bed, so we settled in to our respective rooms, which were pretty nice. I was actually rooming with two girls from Hong Kong, one of which spoke some English (turns out she volunteered at the Olympics, which she said was very cool but VERY hard work). Although the location was far from ideal, the hostel itself was very cool. For one thing, it was extremely cheap (only like 10 euro per night) but had nice clean rooms and bathrooms. It was mainly composed of camp grounds, with some dorms as well for the less adventurous (aka us), plus a cute restaurant, bar, and market. The next morning we woke up pretty early, although Sam and Ryan had trouble getting ready on time and we ended up leaving a lot later than I had hoped (argh). The hostel had a shuttle that ran every half hour to the train station (which only runs until like 11pm), so we took that, and then headed into the center of Rome. First stop was the Vatican, where we walked over to check out the Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel. I was feeling a bit anti-social, annoyed with Sam and Ryan for various reasons (mainly the constant lateness and overall inability to plan well), so I did my own thing, getting an audioguide and making my way through the many museums and the chapel on my own. It was very cool, so much to see. In the Egyptian museum they even had real mummies, one of which had been unwrapped, which I thought was very cool. At this point Ryan’s friend Rob from London (who I met in Amsterdam, and then saw again in London) got in to Rome, and we met up with him at the Vatican. I hung with them for a bit, but they were moving pretty slow through all the museums and such, so I decided to head to a nearby café to chill by myself for a bit. It was cool, the hostel had a free book exchange, so I had borrowed a random novel to read. It was really nice, I spent a long time reading in this little café, munching on a yummy sandwich and getting hit on by one of the waiters, haha. After a while the others were ready to meet up, and I joined them feeling refreshed and in high spirits. I accompagnied them to lunch, getting a dessert as I had already had a sandwich (which was delicious, it was a piece of “thousand layers” cake, this flaky pastry kind of thing that everyone enjoyed). Finally, some good Italian food, and the waiters were super nice and friendly, which was great after the negative experience the night before. After a leisurely lunch and a bit of walk we arrived at St. Peter’s, where we joined the really long line and waited to enter. The basilica was absolutely gorgeous, so big and visually stunning, and the four of us had a good time walking around admiring it. After that we decided to try and check out a castle that was within walking distance, but by the time we arrived it was getting ready to closed. Instead, we sat a wall by the river for a while, chatting and eating some gelato before we continued to walk around the city for a bit. We came across a really cool plaza, where some interesting street performances were going on, so we paused and admired those for a bit. After some more wandering we grabbed some yummy sandwiches for dinner, and then began the long walk back towards the metro. We had checked train schedule and knew the last train left at around 9 towards our hostel’s town, so we speed walked across the city, briefly stopping at the Trevi Fountain (which was extremely crowded-I tried to throw in a coin in from afar but failed miserably, oh well). Thanks to my superior map skills, we managed to catch the metro to the train station in time, and we hopped on and settled in for the half hour ride towards our hostel. It was funny, there were three couples clearly from the southern US, which I very much enjoyed. Overall, there were a LOT of Americans in Rome, the most I had encountered in any of the cities I had visited, which was interesting. In any case, we arrived at the station and caught the shuttle to the hostel, where we headed to the bar for some cards and drinks. We had a good time, splitting a pitcher of Sangria between the three of us and getting in a good game of Egyptian Ratscrew (a fast-paced game involving slapping certain cards). After a while, we checked our e-mail on one of the available computers, and then called it a night, vowing to get up early the next morning.
We did in fact manage to get up early, and we took the 8:30 shuttle the train station, then taking the metro in the direction of St. Peter’s so that we could see the Pope do Palm Sunday mass. Rob was supposed to meet us at the metro station, but due to alarm troubles he ended up getting there about an hour later. By that time we had already gone in to try and claim some seats, which we managed to do. It was very intense, there were sooo many people, but we managed to get some seats, plus we had good views of the huge screens they had set up so everyone could watch the mass. After much waiting around the ceremony began, and I got to see the Pope! Although I’m not at all religious, it was still a very cool/interesting experience, it was really neat to actually see such a significant religious figure. We stayed for almost all of the mass, leaving a bit early to avoid crowds, plus I must admit I was getting pretty restless. The ceremony was conducted mainly in Italian, with some French, English, and Spanish spoken at times as well. As I said, it was definitely a neat experience; I find religion in general very fascinating, and being surrounded by some intense Catholics proved to be very interesting. It was funny though, I couldn’t help but be a bit disgusted at how some people were acting during the Communion; many priests walked around performing communion, and people were just being really pushy and ridiculous in there attempt to be served…not very Christian in my opinion. But that’s enough about that; after the mass Sam, Ryan and I decided to find some lunch, heading to the metro and catching the metro to the Colosseum to begin our tour of Ancient Rome.
Alrighty, and now I’m going to have to leave you in suspense again as it is already 2:40am here and I’ve still got some reading to do. Will continue soon,
Brit
We did in fact manage to get up early, and we took the 8:30 shuttle the train station, then taking the metro in the direction of St. Peter’s so that we could see the Pope do Palm Sunday mass. Rob was supposed to meet us at the metro station, but due to alarm troubles he ended up getting there about an hour later. By that time we had already gone in to try and claim some seats, which we managed to do. It was very intense, there were sooo many people, but we managed to get some seats, plus we had good views of the huge screens they had set up so everyone could watch the mass. After much waiting around the ceremony began, and I got to see the Pope! Although I’m not at all religious, it was still a very cool/interesting experience, it was really neat to actually see such a significant religious figure. We stayed for almost all of the mass, leaving a bit early to avoid crowds, plus I must admit I was getting pretty restless. The ceremony was conducted mainly in Italian, with some French, English, and Spanish spoken at times as well. As I said, it was definitely a neat experience; I find religion in general very fascinating, and being surrounded by some intense Catholics proved to be very interesting. It was funny though, I couldn’t help but be a bit disgusted at how some people were acting during the Communion; many priests walked around performing communion, and people were just being really pushy and ridiculous in there attempt to be served…not very Christian in my opinion. But that’s enough about that; after the mass Sam, Ryan and I decided to find some lunch, heading to the metro and catching the metro to the Colosseum to begin our tour of Ancient Rome.
Alrighty, and now I’m going to have to leave you in suspense again as it is already 2:40am here and I’ve still got some reading to do. Will continue soon,
Brit
Friday, April 3, 2009
Brittany gets robbed
Yep, as most of you know, I got robbed on Tuesday. For those who don't, I'll provide the story. At least it gives me something to blog about, right? Tuesday, after my morning class, I walked through the Old Zone to the bank. Every month, the program gives us a 250 euro check, which we go cash and then use to pay our rent (my rent is only 160, so normally I get an extra 90 euro which is always nice). I went inside, waited in line and cashed my check, stowing the money in my wallet. I then proceeded to walk home, a bit of a walk from my house. I came in, dropping my purse on my couch, opening one of the wings of my window to get some fresh air, hit the power on my computer so it would wake up, and then headed into the kitchen to make myself some lunch. I decided to make myself some rice, and set up making it. The kitchen is next to my room, with our small bathroom in between. As I was cooking, I noticed that one of my roommate's shoes fell off the kitchen's window ledge, where he had set them out to dry. The window itself was closed, but I thought I saw a pole or something that had knocked it down. Figuring it was just my roommate trying to get his shoes down, or that the wind had knocked down the shoe and I had just imagined the pole, I kept cooking, as I had to keep constantly stirring anyways. About 20 or 30 mintues, I finished cooking, grabbed a school book that needed to go back in my room, and headed back into my room. The first thing I noticed was both wings of the window were wide open, which I thought was strange but figured the wind could have just blown them open. I walked over and closed the window, turned around, and looked at my desk. My laptop was gone. Panicked, I started looking all around my room, just in case my laptop had magically moved. Then it hit me: I had been robbed. I snatched up my purse, grabbing my wallet and opening it up; all my money was gone, my recently cashed 250 euros (when I got home my apartment owners weren't there, so I was going to pay them later that day), plus probably an extra 20 that I had in there before. Now I was really upset, my first thought being that it had just happened; maybe the robber was nearby. I ran outside, running around the building, but the only people around were some street workers, and one of our old next door neighbors. I hurriedly asked the workers if they had seen anything, which they replied they had not, and then I saw my apartment owner, who was walking up from town back to the house. I ran over to him and sputtered out what had happened. What followed was lots of crying and panicking; I kept calling Mar, our program director, although she was finishing up teaching class so it took a good ten minutes for her to get my message. I finally got her on the phone, and she headed right over, taking about ten minutes to get to my apartment. Meanwhile, my apartment owner had called the cops, who said that I would need to come in and get a statement before they would come check out my place. Thankfully, Mar arrived, who speaks Spanish and English, and she took it from there. I love Mar, she's such a nice, caring person, and she immediately took charge, translating for me so I wouldn't have to, and just helping me get through it. She drove me over to the police station, where I was questioned (with her still acting as translator if needed) and a report was drawn up. After the police she took me home, where I double-checked my room to see if anything else was stolen. Luckily, my credit cards, passport, etc. were all still there. The only other thing missing was a silver necklace I had on my bedside table, one of the ones I got in Provence. I was really happy to see that in the mess that is my purse they had not seen my Ipod,so at least I've still got my music. So yeah...after that, I called Laura so I could borrow her laptop, and she came over right away, being amazingly helpful and supportive. I then called home, relating the events to Mom and Dad, and just waited in my house for the police to come later that evening, doing some homework while I waited. So yeah, that's my story, pretty shitty. My room is towards the back of the house, on the second story...never would of thought I would be robbed. It looks like the robber used a chair from the tiny patio outside, used that to climb on top of a little structure, and then pulled himself up into my window. Everyone I've talked to, police included, just keep repeating how strange the whole thing is. Stuff like this never happens in Santiago, especially in such a manner, so the theory is that I might have been followed home from the bank. In any case, it was really upsetting...my laptop had all my work from all my years of school, plus some work I had been doing for classes this semester that I am now going to have to re-do. All my professors have been really understanding, giving me extensions when needed, which is really great. But yeah...it really sucks, and I've been in a bit of a funk since it happened.
On a more positive note, I got back my two exams from last week, and did really well on both (100 on my transatlantic exam, yayy!). I also finished up Mar's essay and got it in almost on time (she said I could take extra time if I needed to), so it's nice to have all that done. Unfortunately I'm going to have a whole bunch of work coming up, especially because I lost a fair amount of it that I am now going to have to re-write. Today I'm going to Italy for 8 days for Semana Santa (our Spring break); it'll be nice to do some traveling to take my mind off of things. On that note, I really need to go get packed and ready to go, but just want to let everyone know I'm doing okay, and fill everyone in on recent events.
Love you all, will let you know how Italy goes,
Brit
On a more positive note, I got back my two exams from last week, and did really well on both (100 on my transatlantic exam, yayy!). I also finished up Mar's essay and got it in almost on time (she said I could take extra time if I needed to), so it's nice to have all that done. Unfortunately I'm going to have a whole bunch of work coming up, especially because I lost a fair amount of it that I am now going to have to re-write. Today I'm going to Italy for 8 days for Semana Santa (our Spring break); it'll be nice to do some traveling to take my mind off of things. On that note, I really need to go get packed and ready to go, but just want to let everyone know I'm doing okay, and fill everyone in on recent events.
Love you all, will let you know how Italy goes,
Brit
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