Get your hands off the girl, can't you see that she belongs to me? And I don't appreciate this excess company...

Music: Perfect Situation (Weezer)

Well hello there! This blog update has taken me almost a week to complete, mostly because of all the links.

I figured I'd tell you about my spring break, despite not having pictures ready yet. I think this summer I'm going to get ALL my Europe photos together and put them into slideshows on CDs to hand out to friends and family members. It's a large undertaking but I think if Dad helps it'll work quite well. He's got the know-how and I... well, I've got the pictures! And that's an important job too. :P

Ok! Well my spring break was good times. I kept a travel journal for part of the time, to help me remember the first few days of my adventuring. So, here it is, laid out for your perusal. I hope you also click each link I've posted throughout the update; each one is relevant, safe for work, and sometimes hilarious, so enjoy!

Captain's Log, Day One: Wednesday, April 8th
I left Florence around noon and headed off to Pisa, beginning my travels with high hopes for success and a swift arrival in Paris. I arrived in Paris pretty late, but the good part was that from Pisa to Paris, I got to travel with my friend Carrie. We saw one another at the airport and realized we had the same flight. We parted at different metro stops in Paris, intending to hang out the next day. That evening I showed up at the hotel and Jordan seemed overly relieved--our phones can't contact one another and she had no clue when I was arriving so she was freaking out a bit since I didn't show up until after 9pm. Luckily I'm a big girl now and didn't get lost on the way. ;) I completed the evening with a fine meal of peanut butter sandwich, lentils from a can, and a large beer.

Captain's Log, Day Two: Thursday, April 9th
Jordan and I waited for Carrie to come to our metro stop and meet us, but she was late, and we couldn't wait because if we didn't get going soon, we'd have to stand in line at the Louvre for hours. So, after I bought a two-day metro pass, we headed over to the Louvre. Finding the line was a bit complicated but luckily we were towards the front--got there just in time. Inside was HUGE, as we expected. I got to see many fabulous paintings and sculptures, like The Raft of the Medusa and the Venus de Milo, but particularly the Mona Lisa. I don't know why, but I'd expected it to be at the end of a long, dim corridor with deep red carpets and mahogany trim. Instead, it was stuck in a hallway in between two other hallways, with hordes of tourists elbowing their way to the front to see it. I have no idea where I got such a ridiculous image in my head. Maybe Dan Brown put it there? Who knows.
Next we walked through the Tuileries Garden and bought a little breakfast--a couple of cheap, small baguettes with cheese and a panino. It was delicious, and not just because we were quite hungry. From the Tuileries, we headed up the famous and beautiful Champs-Elysees, window shopping and peering into stores here and there. We reached the Arc de Triomphe and took a solid half hour to find the under-passage to get to it (the signs are useless and all but ONE of the subways only lead to the metro, not to the center of the plaza where we needed to be). We then went inside the Arc and walked up all 267 steps (count 'em... Jo did) to the very tippy-top. I was freaking out a bit from the height (which I generally do, especially since the wind up there is a bit stronger and feels as if it's trying to sweep you right off) but I got used to it and took some pictures and one or two videos. The view was amazing... I noticed how very flat the city is; there aren't too many disruptions to the same level of beige/tan apartment buildings. Besides the Eiffel Tower and a few skyscrapers in the distance, hunched together in what I assume is the Parisian Wall Street, it was all very uniform and rather geometrical.
We then walked back down and hopped on the metro to the Eiffel Tower. We didn't go up, since only one "leg" was open due to a worker strike (how ridiculous does that sound?) and the line, even for museum pass holders like us, was horrendous. We satisfied ourselves with pictures and then moved on. Looking up at the tower, though, I was reminded of this terrible video (caution: it is truly terrible. Safe for work... yet terrible.) in which a man thought he sewed a suit that would, upon jumping off the Tower, allow him to glide like a flying squirrel. Instead, he simply fell, much like a regular squirrel.
We had quite a bit of time left in the day, so instead of heading home, we continued on. Along the way, I took a couple pictures of a building with a garden growing on its walls. I'd heard of these "green buildings" before, but had never seen them. Due to a lack of space in a city for actual new gardens and parks, they plant moss, lichens, and vines on the walls instead. The result is a beautiful, wild-looking structure that pretends to be a hint of a city soon to be overgrown with plant-life.
We hit up the Musée Rodin and the Musée D'Orsay that evening. They were both lovely, and I really enjoyed them. The Rodin has a garden in the back and Jo and I sat and relaxed for a while, enjoying the sunshine and good weather. I got to see several famous works, particularly The Thinker which they've put outside (a testament to the work's hardiness, I suppose). The D'Orsay was quite cool. Built into a former train station, the inside is HUGE and open, a real breath of fresh air for those weary of the close quarters of most museums. There we saw works by Van Gogh (whom the Italians pronounce hilariously "Van Gog") and Whistler's Mother, which inevitably made me think of the movie Bean. :P
We meandered back to our hotel and moved our things into our new room (the night before we'd stayed with Jordan's two friends, so tonight we moved to a two-person room). I stepped outside onto our balcony, resting my poor sore piggies on the cold stone, and took pictures of the street lit up below and the full moon above.

Captain's Log, Day Three: Friday, April 10th
This is the day that things began to get really complicated. We checked out of our hotel early and headed towards our couchsurfing host's apartment. We found it with no trouble, but, upon reaching the building, we realized he'd never given me his last name. We knew his first name, and I could guess his last but he wasn't answering. We began ringing other bells, just to see if anyone could give us some information. That was our undoing.
A French lady who lived on the first floor and spoke exactly no English came out and helped us. She was quite nice... for a while. Then we came to the sudden and horrible realization that she was, indeed, insane. Or, at least mostly deaf and almost completely demented. Her loud French help was no help at all; we were looking for Didier, so she called up her (very rude) son... whose name was Didier. Wrong one. The lady began to get very upset and started yelling even louder in French... we had no idea what she was saying so we thought she was yelling at us and accusing us of something.
Eventually, after a wild goose chase through the building trying to find the right Didier, a very kind lady, Paulina, who lived upstairs helped us. She was Finnish, spoke perfect French, and English with a British accent. She let us store our bags in her apartment and was just so kind to us she seemed like an angel. We walked out of the building with her, as she was on her way to pick up her two little girls from school for lunch, when I saw Didier himself walking down the street towards the apartment. I said, "Didier?" It was lucky we saw him, because then we knew for sure he wasn't screwing us over on having a place to stay that night.
So, relieved and ready to start our day (late; it was around 11am by the time the hubbub had died down), we ventured back into the bowels of the city for another day of wandering about museums and staring at art.
Our first stop was Notre Dame. As with the Tower, we were unable to go inside since we didn't want to stand in line for three hours to do so. However, we stood outside and took pictures. One thing I noticed was that, yet again, Disney had misled me. It was a LOT smaller than I would have guessed from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. We did go inside of the small museum underneath the plaza; it showed the foundations of an old town and was more on the boring side of the things we'd seen already, but still interesting.
Then we made our way to the Luxembourg Gardens. The sun came out for a while and the wind was blowing softly; I ate an apple and began updating my travel journal and sat there quite happily for a little while.
After our little break, we began the long trudge up the hill called Montmartre to the Basilica of Sacré-Coeur. It sure was a hike up all those steps, and it was a gauntlet what with all the hawkers and street vendors. One of them tried to get Jo to stop by walking in front of her and not letting her pass. She stopped dead and then said loudly in her "angry Hulking-out Jordan" voice, "Get away from me!" We walked around that man, who dropped back in temporary defeat, past another vendor, who shook his head and muttered to me first something in French that ended with "mauvais" (bad) and then in English, "No good!" I simply rolled my eyes at him and we walked away. I respect their "right" to try and sell me illegal goods in the street, and demand in return that they respect my right to ignore them and not be harassed or touched by them.
The church itself was beautiful, particularly the outside. If you look at the picture, it greatly resembles a mosque, giving it somewhat of a Middle Eastern/Oriental flair that I found rather appealing. Inside, they were having mass for Good Friday (although why they'd call the day of Jesus' crucifixion and death "good" I'll never know... religions are strange, no?). The endless river of tourists, however, was still permitted to enter the church and wander around a bit before exiting on the other side, a fact that made me anxious to get in and out quickly to avoid disrupting their ceremony and leave the worshipers in peace.
Back outside, we trudged back down the hill we'd conquered only half an hour before and wended our way through the area until we reached the exact opposite of the holy and high-minded place we'd been before: Paris' own little Amsterdam, complete with the Moulin Rouge and the "Sexodrome" (a store I'd taken a picture of simply for its hilarious and off-putting name).
After that little soul-searching escapade, we went back downtown to my personal Paris favorite, the grand and most excellent Pompidou. :D I wandered blissfully around while Jordan accompanied me most of the time, somewhat less enthusiastically.
We then headed home, limping because our poor battered feet were protesting further movement. We retrieved our bags from the lovely lady upstairs and removed them to our host's apartment. I thought that it would be a very awkward situation, but our host turned out to be a really nice, fun guy who was more than happy to chat with us and even took us out for drinks with his friend.

Captain's Log, Day Four: Saturday, April 11th
The next morning, at the buttcrack of dawn, I awoke and left for my flight to jolly old England. After trains, planes, and more trains, Ally picked me up at Paddington Station and we walked to her apartment to drop off my things.
The first activity we did was took a walk through Hyde Park, which at that early-ish hour was quite lovely and misty. We took our time, catching up on what we'd been up to since her visit to Florence a couple of months ago. We paused by the Serpentine and chatted some more about random stuff. On our way out, I spotted what I found out later to be Wellington Arch. I'd recognized it from a video I'd watched at the top of the Arc de Troimphe in Paris (there's a museum-like area towards the top, with a video playing details of important arches around the world).
Next we hopped on the Tube to Portobello Road. I took pictures left and right as we walked slowly through the endless markets and shops, including a picture of George Orwell's house on that street (my very favorite!). All the houses were painted pretty pastel colors, which was appropriate since it was the day before Easter. I bought a good-priced watch in a shop called Octopus, which was a good purchase because I am forever in need of a good watch.
As an aside, I also found Jesus on Portobello. He was standing on the corner, surrounded by what appeared to be bodyguards. I think his wig was on crooked.
Later that day, we met up with three of Ally's classmates, Damian, Jake, and Jeff, for food and drinks. We spent the rest of the evening in pubs throughout the Camden area, enjoying good company and some delicious appetizers from a Mexican place.

Captain's Log, Day Five: Easter Sunday, April 12th
Ally and I went to eat brunch at 1pm with more of her classmates, this time Toby, Clarissa, and Alex (Damian was supposed to come but didn't show up until much later). We ate delicious food at a nice place and laughed a little bit at our slightly ridiculous waiter, who apparently had rather unfortunately-placed holes in his pants. :P I myself didn't see them... luckily.
After brunch, we walked down the River Thames and finally sat at a pub and got some drinks. Ally and I had intended to go up to Greenwich Village that day, but we enjoyed hanging out so much that once we sat down at the pub, we didn't do anything else for hours. We did walk by Tate Modern and the Globe Theater on the way there, however, and I got some great pictures of both as well as the London Eye.
That evening, planning how to get to Stansted airport from Ally's was a bit of a hassle... but that runs into the next day, so read on below!

Captain's Log, Day Six: Monday, April 13th
At 3:30am I left Ally's. I had to take a cab and then a train. Then I had to wait in line forever at the airport. Ryanair may be cheap and Irish (two of the things I love most in this world) but they have perfected their system to become the epitome of "frustration". I will probably avoid flying with them again anytime soon.
Once I reached Dublin, however, it seemed that all my troubles magically disappeared. I took a shuttle to the city center and almost got whiplash from trying to see everything at once. I couldn't have cared less that it was cloudy and would probably rain any minute or that some random guy on a street corner said I had a "nice arse" (I took it as a compliment even though, much like the Italian "ciao bella", it wasn't).
My hostel was a little difficult to find, mostly because my directions were a bit muddled. I finally found it and was able to store my suitcase (for only a euro!) until check-in at 2:30, leaving me free to wander about the city as I pleased.
The first thing I did was bought myself a couple of croissants and a mocha, to keep warm. It was on the chilly side and still threatening rain. I walked up Grafton Street, the premier shopping street in Dublin, and saw "the tart with the cart", Molly Malone herself. (As you'll see throughout this post, Dubliners have a penchant for creating rhyming nicknames for various statues and monuments around the city, particularly ones they're not overly fond of. Molly's a favorite, but she gained her nickname from the way in which she's portrayed, as you'll see in the pictures. "Tart" here means "slightly whorish" but it's not a very strong insult. To say someone's a "slag" would be much worse.)
I wandered through St. Stephen's Green, the largest park in the center and even more beautiful than Hyde Park. I had intended to keep wandering around sooner but I ended up staying in that park for quite a while, watching people walking around, feeding the birds on the pond (ducks, seagulls, swans, etc.). I sat by the W.B. Yeats memorial in one corner of the Green and fed a small bird some croissant crumbs from my hand. Yeats is one of my favorite poets; I've always loved "The Stolen Child" the best, followed by "Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven". I also saw plenty of James Joyce statues and memorials throughout the city; his book Ulysses is to this day Dublin's greatest tribute.
I walked a little ways into Merrion Square, or rather the park therein known as Archbishop Ryan Park, but it seemed more creepy to me and I didn't go very far. I did take one or two pictures, but left quickly.
I also visited the (free) National Gallery. One nice thing about visiting the capital city of a country is all the museums! All of the major museums in Dublin had free entry (although most were closed since it was a bank holiday). My favorite works were definitely those by Yeats' brother Jack. His style was so influenced by the Impressionists that I just knew Jordan would have loved them. At first, you couldn't quite grasp what you were seeing. Then, the forms and colors would emerge, leaving you wondering how he managed it.
I also passed by the Huguenot Cemetery. I didn't see our family name (which makes sense, but I checked anyway just in case). It's just a very small gated plot right on the side of the street, stashed in between two larger buildings on either side.
I headed back to the hostel and put my bag in my room. I was in a mixed dorm with about 13 beds, not all of which were filled the whole time. I stayed there and relaxed for a while before heading out to the north of the city. I walked over Ha'penny Bridge and saw "the hags with the bags". I then walked up O'Connell, past "the biggest needle on O'Connell Street" (a huge spire whose nickname references the drug troubles that have plagued O'Connell for many years and which have only recently been lessened by various watchdog laws). I went into the Savoy theater and saw a movie (because I could!)--Fast & Furious 4. It was a great movie! :)
Afterwards, I bought myself some Subway and headed back home to eat it. I went to bed fairly early; although I had wanted to read the copy of Watchmen I had bought that day, I didn't want to disturb the others in my room so I slept instead.

Captain's Log, Day Seven: Tuesday, April 14th
I had arranged to meet my friend Kate in the center of St. Stephen's Green in the morning so that we could hang out. She goes to Smith with me and we became good friends after working at the Campus Center Cafe together. We met up and headed first to Trinity College, where she was able to get me in to see the Book of Kells for free using her student pass.
Then we went to the National Museum of History and Archeology, which was fascinating. My favorite parts were probably the Egyptian exhibit and the bog people, all wrinkled like dried prunes. The bog people were definitely the creepiest things I've ever seen (and I saw Pope John Paul II's dead body in a box in St. Peter's, so you KNOW it's creepy). One bog man was missing his lower half and a peat-harvester had chewed up his arms somewhat, leaving him all mangled, but his head remained, albeit somewhat squished. I also saw a torso and two arms and hands, all that remained of this particular bog man, but the hands were remarkable. They were almost perfectly preserved, which was somewhat unnerving since he was lacking a head and everything below his waist (in the link, he's the one to the right).
Outside, we started to make our way up to the north of the city. On the way, I paused on Fleet Street (the one with a terrible lack of demon barbers) and took a photo of the Hard Rock Cafe Dublin. We went into the gift shop but didn't eat there (too expensive). They didn't have too much memorabilia, but they did have a car hanging upside-down from the ceiling. So that was cool.
In the north, we searched for a while for a particular statue but couldn't find it. This link has a picture of the statue, the reason we couldn't find it, and an article about Dubliner's habit of renaming their monuments. Then, Kate had class so I wandered up and down O'Connell a bit and stopped in a pub to use the internet. We met up again at Parnell Square and went to the Garden of Remembrance. I took some pictures of the beautiful Children of Lir monument and we sat in the garden enjoying the sunshine until a man came round and said we had to go cause the garden was closing for the evening. The story of the Children of Lir is quite interesting as an example of Irish mythology, and can be found here.
Afterwards we just kind of wandered back over the river and parted ways for the evening. I went back to my hostel and this guy who had the bunk above me started talking to me. He seemed friendly, if very, very awkward (he was Quebecois) so we went out for a pint at the pub around the corner. After a while I just wanted to go back and relax alone so I left and did just that.

Captain's Log, Day Eight: Wednesday, April 15th
This was the day I had to leave, but my flight wasn't until 8pm or so. I woke up, gathered my things, and checked out. Storing my bag again left me free to meet up with Kate, and she and I wandered around just a bit since it was raining. We spent much of our time inside St. Stephen's Green shopping center, a large shopping mall near the park, to avoid being outside in the bad weather (especially because she didn't have a raincoat, umbrella, anything, crazy girl :P ).
Next we walked over to St. Patrick's Cathedral and took a couple pictures of it. Finally, we walked to Dublin Castle and took pictures of that as well. It was less impressive than it sounds... it's not a very castle-y castle; it's actually more like the Italian palazzo than the English or French complexes you normally think of when you hear "castle".
Afterward we said goodbye and I sat in my hostel's common room for a couple of hours, relaxing and not getting drenched outside. I read Watchmen and watched Happy Gilmore on the TV. Then, it was time to go... I caught the shuttle to the airport, was pleased as punch at not having to pay a boarding pass fee once I got there, boarded my flight and left Ireland's fair shores to return to Florence.
My return was a bit anti-climactic... I'd expected a rather simple come-home but it turned into a harrowing near-fiasco, much like our encounter with the crazy French lady. First, I slept the entire way from Pisa to Florence on the shuttle; I literally sat down, leaned my head against the window, and conked out entirely. Traveling always exhausts me. Then, I wake up and we're suddenly in Florence at the train station so I leap off the bus and practically run to the nearest bus stop; I probably could have walked, but it was about 2:30am and I knew I could catch a night bus if I was lucky. I hurried because they only come once an hour, and I did NOT want to be sitting around the not-so-nice station area that late at night. Already there was a man standing a little too close to me for comfort, who kept looking at me as if I knew the answer to a question or something. Some other people who'd been on my shuttle from Pisa came and stood at the stop and I was relieved.
Luckily a bus came within 20 minutes and I hopped on. It was going past the Campo di Marte station, which is an easy 5 minute walk from my house, so I was quite pleased to have caught it. At the Duomo stop, which is the one right after the train station, some very drunk Hispanic-looking fellows got on and I sensed immediately there could be trouble. They'd obviously been clubbing, despite one of the men having gray hair, which told me they were skeezeballs. I kept my bag close to me and avoided looking at them.
Despite their inebriation, which I had hoped would keep their attention away from me, one of them, the smallest and probably youngest (20, 21, maybe, tops) looked over at me. He started staring and I immediately looked at him harshly. He was the first to break eye contact; he seemed a bit cowed and faced front again, too drunk to register what happened.
However, his drunken mind apparently forgot I'd stared him down so he looked over again before two minutes had passed. This time I ignored him entirely. I looked interestedly out the window at the passing scenery, not deigning to glance at him even when he started making kissing sounds to get my attention, which was actually hilarious in between his drunk "hic..... hic..... hic" sounds.
In my mind, I was running through various scenerios, such as, "Okay, if it gets worse, I'll stand up, go over, grab his shirt, and slam his head against the window" or "I'll just start screaming at him and demand the bus driver throw him off", etc. I was hoping they wouldn't get off at the same stop I needed, cause I knew then I'd have a problem, and I didn't really feel like having to wrestle three drunk guys with a suitcase to worry about.
Luckily, and I am still thankful for this, they got off at the stop before mine... but not without incident. The two older ones got off the bus without even glancing at me (they probably didn't even notice their friend was failing miserably at getting female attention), but the little one made his way to the middle door, which I was sitting near, and then started to turn towards me, ready to make one final attempt.
I had tensed, watching for something like this, and without hesitation, I turned slightly towards him, raised my middle finger as a warning, and said loudly and furiously in English, "Get. Off. The. Bus!" He seemed disheartened and got off the bus rather quickly.
I was so relieved, I couldn't help muttering a string of rather strong curses aimed at him and the entire male sex. I was already on edge before I even got on the bus, so thinking back, if he'd tried anything else, I probably would have given him as harsh a beating as I could manage. A girl can only take so much catcalling and wolf whistling before she's ready to break some heads, and that little punk almost tipped me over the edge. Finally reaching my apartment, I'd never been so relieved to be home with a locked door behind me.
[Aside: About sleazy, aggressive European men... it's one thing to be appreciated as a woman. It's another thing to be harassed everywhere you go by gross men just because you're blonde, probably a tourist, obviously young, and they know they can do it with impunity because the women don't do anything about it.
That was actually the advice we got upon our arrival... don't react. That's what they want. Just ignore it. However, I will NOT just sit back and ignore it when some sicko whips it out on a bus, and I refuse to ignore being harassed every time I walk down the street. Next guy who does either of those things is getting a left hook and I guarantee that, while I may not knock him out, I'm going to at least leave a bruise he'll remember. -_-]

Aaaand that's all... it was quite an adventure. Paris was a bit more difficult, because Jordan and I didn't get along for the second half of it (we were both tired and stressed). There were about two days of sunshine total and it was cloudy, chilly, and/or rainy the rest of the time. Its ending was a rather sour note in an otherwise sweet trip. However, it was overall a fabulous trip, and I feel so thrilled and happy that I got to (finally!) see Ireland, a place I've been wanting to visit for years and years.
I hope you enjoyed this post! Sorry for the lack of pictures but I'm working on it! I'll have them done at least by this summer, when I'll have a (little) more time to work on them.

For if I hold my tongue I'll never lose my voice...

Music: Upside Down (Barenaked Ladies)

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been so very long. No luck yet on pictures... I figured I'd just toss you guys an update already, to appease your unholy hunger for news on what I'm up to lately. :P

I guess I'll start way back in the olden days when I went traipsing through Europe in the dead of winter...
All went according to plan, more or less, which was nice. December 17th I left Florence and hopped the train to Geneva. I'd meant to leave on the overnight train but couldn't buy a ticket for out-of-country that late. I should have gotten it earlier but I didn't. Anyway, no harm, no foul, and I made it safely into Geneva. Seeing Nikki again was amazing! We definitely missed one another... being roommates and then next-door neighbors for two years in a row gives you a special bond and it was nice to reconnect. :) There, I also met Mayda for the first time. She's the third girl we traveled with over break. I'd never met her before; we'd seen each other around campus once or twice (and both worked at the cafe, though not at the same time). It was pretty much love at first sight! lol We got along smashingly right away, and commenced with the endless parade of "your mom" jokes that set the tone for the entire trip.

From Geneva we flew to Amsterdam, then took a speedy train into the city. Amsterdam is a beautiful and incredibly fun place to be as a twentysomething, and if you fall into that age category (or thereabouts) I highly recommend visiting there. There's so much to see and do, so many fun people to talk to, and everyone is very nice (a huge change from tightwad Florence!). We wandered around in the cold every day and night for the three days or so that we were there, and just generally partied and had fun. I even did my first pub crawl while we were there! Yay for me. ;) That was super fun... we literally ran into a huge group of people our age and ended up joining up with the crawl, and made some friends. :)

We split up after Amsterdam; Nikki and Mayda remained there for Christmas, while I went on into Germany to spend the holiday with Uncle Bob & Co. in Braunschweig. That was SO relaxing and fun, and it was lovely to see everyone again! There were two sad notes: one, that their dog died while I was there--he was very sick and the doctor said it was better to put him down, to end his suffering. The other was that I couldn't stay longer; I was meeting the girls in Berlin on the 26th. So, I reluctantly left Braunschweig (with about two pounds of chocolates in a plastic bag curtesy of wonderful German Christmas traditions!).

[My experience with German trains, particularly from Amsterdam to Braunschweig, deserves a special note. I am now quite used to and well versed in the Italian train system. It sucks, but I've mastered the suckage. Germany's trains, by comparison, were clean, punctual, and filled with attractive people like the young man who sat next to me and slept the entire trip (but unlike the Santa Clause-esque man who sat across from me). However, I'm a by-the-book person, and this fact, coupled with my sad lack of any knowledge of the German language, nearly caused me a disaster. I heard "Braunschweig" on the annoucements and I thought to myself, "Well that sounds good, I should be there soon." However, I didn't hear it again. I got off at the next stop and finally caught a train BACK to Braunschweig, since I'd overshot it by about an hour and a half. Yes, I ended up going halfway to Berlin. No, this was not funny. Yes, I will be offended if you laugh at me, because I challenge you to go to Germany and NOT do the same thing. ;) ]

At any rate, I traveled safely alone again to Berlin and met up with the girls outside the flat we were staying in. This was our first experience with a CouchSurfing host, but I wasn't nervous. Our host, Thomas, had to leave about two hours after I arrived anyway (Nikki and Mayda had already been there for a day, so he was able to show them around the city). We got his flat all to ourselves! Around noon we met my old friend Dan in the train station; he lives about an hour or two away from Berlin, and we hadn't seen one another for years, so we were excited to get together and catch up. The four of us walked around chilly but beautiful Berlin all day, enjoying the Christmas markets selling gluhwein and donut holes. We visited the Holocaust memorial after dark, which is one of the most beautiful and haunting places I've ever been (here's an aerial shot which doesn't quite do justice to how tall the blocks get towards the middle; if you fell from the top you'd break quite a few bones).

After Berlin, we flew on to Venice. Venice was just about as cold as Berlin (they were both much more chilly than Amsterdam); the water rushing off the water was killer. We bundled up tight and, after dropping our luggage off at our hotel on Lido, the location of the Venice Film Festival, we hopped on a waterbus and hit the town. By the time we reached the center island it was dark, but that added to the mystery and charm (as well as the risk of getting lost in the twisty, nameless side streets in the bowels of Venice proper). Every few steps we saw more shops selling tourist souvenirs and Carnivale masks as well as gorgeous bridges. None were more beautiful than the famous Rialto, however! We only spent about three days there; our last day, before we had to leave for Rome, we spent several hours on the island of Murano, home of the glassmakers. We each bought an item or two from Murano and then we headed on our way.

Our experience in Rome was positively the best; we spent a solid 8 days there (more than we expected). The first two not-so-great days we stayed in a hotel outside the city; it was sketchy, half an hour's ride on the bus to get there, and impossible to find unless you already knew where it was. Our first night there, fresh off the bus, we only found that horrible place because we ran into two girls, American students, who happened to be staying there as well. The Romans have this thing about directions... everything is "just 100 meters" away. Crazy people!

At any rate, the third night we switched to a CouchSurfing host, and it truly made our trip special. Our host's name was Giulio, and we spent New Year's Eve at his flat with over twenty other people there, just having fun, cooking up a huge mess of food for everyone, and enjoying the company of REAL Italians (as well as Polish, Croatian, Chilean, etc. people!). Here are some things we did:
We spent New Year's getting drenched with spumante, champagne, at the Colosseum.
We visited the famous Trevi Fountain at least three times.
We mastered the Rome Underground system and only once got on the train heading the wrong way. ;)
We put our faith in the driver of the number 20 night bus to get us back to that horrid hotel, and that bus driver never lead us wrong! Also, he was a cutie. :P
We discovered the very best places to get breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
We ate a late lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, helping me fulfill my mission to visit the Hard Rock in each city I visit (and making up for me missing out on Hard Rock Amsterdam).
We saw the Roman Forum, the Arch of Constantine, the Pantheon, and many other famous Roman sites of interest and import.
We learned how to say "I'm a hot chick" in Polish.
We discovered the wonderful people-watching to be had at the Spanish Steps, my personal favorite spot in Rome. We were sung at there by a man with a guitar. Sadly, all the musical potential he had was in that instrument... he could NOT sing! :P
We wandered around the huge park that is the Villa Borghese and got lost over and over.
We visited the Tiber Island, saw the Ara Pacis (a famous temple) from outside the museum it's in, and took pictures of la Bocca della Verita', the "mouth of truth", from outside the gate.
We visited a church in which the crypt below was decorated entirely in the bones of monks who'd lived and worked there... it was sufficiently creepy. When I say "entirely", I mean every conceivable surface was covered in bones.

Our visit to Vatican City is a whole other experience. We went there early a day or two before we were going to leave Rome for Florence. We were able to spend this time there because our original plan, to head up to Siena and Arezzo for a few days, was derailed when our CouchSurfing host was unable to host us. Giulio kindly let us stay longer, despite needing to leave himself, and we hit the Vatican!
We first stood in line for a while (not as short as we would have liked, but not as long as we expected) and got our tickets for the Vatican museums (which includes the Sistine Chapel). Making our way through all the various rooms filled with priceless works of art was the highlight for me. The Sistine Chapel knocked us flat on our butts... it was incredible! We were crowded with the hordes of tourists who'd come to do the same thing we were doing--that is, getting cricks in our neck from staring at the ceiling--but I only had eyes for Michelangelo's depiction of God giving Adam the spark of life. I'm not religious, but that was a moving experience, and one I will never forget.
After seeing all there was to be seen in the museums, we surreptitiously wandered out a "tour groups only" exit and thereby wandered unknowingly into Saint Peter's Basilica itself. We had to ask a nun where we were; we literally had no idea (blame fatigue if you like, but I'd say it was simply being American :P). The church itself was an incredible example of fine architecture; huge, sweeping ceilings, amazing works of art tucked away in each corner, etc. Michelangelo's Pieta' was my particular favorite.
Coming back out, we then had an adventure trying to get Nikki's bag that she'd been forced to check at the coatroom upon our entrance into the museums. As it turns out, after a certain time of evening, they transfer all the leftover bags to another office within the Vatican. We ended up waiting around in the pouring rain for about two hours for the bag. However, not a single one of us will ever complain about this experience--it was our favorite. Why? Because we became the only people I know personally who have spoken to the Swiss guards! I was the first to talk to them, and I'm therefore cooler than every one of you. Sorry guys, but let's face facts, yeah? ;)

Afterwards we headed to Florence. During their stay here (about three days or so) we spent a full day visiting Siena. Through our wanderings, we met up with another American girl who happened to be a CouchSurfer. We all ended up grabbing lunch together and hanging out, having fun. :)

Well, that pretty much sums up my winter break! I wish I could post pictures, but half of them are being held hostage by my Recycle Bin, and the rest I haven't had the courage or the energy to sort through as of now. Plus, let's face it... how could I even begin to choose which ones to post?? However I promise that someday, hopefully sooner rather than later, I shall do my best to post pictures. I wouldn't want to let you guys down. ;)

That'll be all for this post; I'll update with more recent stuff later once my fingers have recovered from this hellish type-fest. Talk to you guys soon... I expect lots of comments! Love you all!

Hustlers grab your guns, your shadow weighs a ton, driving down the 101, California here we come...

Music: California (Phantom Planet)

Here, as promised, is a list of some of the things I did in Cortona on Monday. Some of them have photo counterparts and others are things that I didn't snap a photo of; I didn't get any pics of most of the people around me except for myself and my host parents. Basically it's the short version for those of you who don't have time to scroll down (and if you don't... find some time!).

While I was in Cortona, I managed to:
~ touch the doorknob at Jovanotti's house and took a picture of his Ohio-made mailbox
~ took pictures of a crapload of neat door knockers while I was at it; they're mostly lions
~ ate delicious pizza for lunch for the amazing price of about a euro a slice
~ visited a jewelry shop beneath a set of stairs that probably leads up to some important building or another
~ took a picture of the biggest leaf ever in the entire world covering my face, and then my host mom's (whom I adore for always patiently enduring my wacky photo ops involving her, with only the minimal derisive laughter :P)
~ attended a special mass in the late afternoon to celebrate the reason we went on a day trip that day, which was a national holiday celebrating the Immaculate Conception
~ saw the first really believable relic I have ever laid eyes on--the mummy of Santa Margherita herself. It was sufficiently creepy.
~ got a history/art history lesson from an adorable Franciscan monk named David whose Italian I understood perfectly (of course he was Croatian... maybe that's why lol)
~ laughed at Chiara as she caught my hyperactive mood and took some fuzzy leaves from a creeping plant on a wall and started sticking them to my clothes one by one; I of course promptly removed them and stuck them on her. My host dad turned around finally and had to wait for us to finish being goofballs before we could move on :P
~ "paid" a little boy a "toll" so that he would allow me to pass by him through the front yard of a church. This payment consisted of him handing me the (invisible) ticket and then me handing it right back to him. My host dad explained the process to us, having gone through himself several minutes prior. The little boy was quite pleased that he was making a fortune and kept running back to his mom to "hand" her the "money" :P


Now that you've read that and if you haven't done this already, scroll down and check out some of those pictures. ;)

And it's our God-forsaken right to be loved, love, loved...

Music: I'm Yours (Jason Mraz)



Yesterday, I went to Cortona with my host family for the day. It was incredible!! I took 528 pictures (and a video of a cat). It was THAT beautiful. So, I'll leave the written words for photo captions and start right on in with the photosaga. ;)

Here's the view from the train; during the cold winter nights and days, the region gets blanketed by a thick layer of nebbia, fog, which is quite an incredible sight (even for me, growing up in a very foggy area):
Here's my host mom, holding up (at my behest) a GIANT leaf... definitely the biggest leaf I've ever seen. It was a freak leaf:
View over the foggy countryside, from the abbey of Santa Margherita:
The sun came out eventually and stayed all day... I even got a tiny bit burnt:
View of the Tuscan countryside over the cloister:
Here's the Fortezza di Girifalco, a fortress directly above Santa Margherita:Old Roman stones near the fortress (I of course snagged a crumbly piece off of one of them, cause, let's face it... I'm from Ohio. How many legitimate Roman rocks am I going to find just laying around like this ever again??):
Here are my host parents posing cheerfully in front of the house of a famous Italian rapper (the first one, in fact) named Jovanotti:I almost peed myself when Chiara showed me that a famous Italian guy's mailbox is from Youngstown, Ohio! Really, I actually had to pee already so it was dangerous seeing this:
One of the main buildings in Cortona; couldn't tell you which one it was, but it was covered in family crests and important shields of all kinds; for example the one at the very very top, a smaller one to the left of the big one between the windows, was the Medici family crest:A dragon-thing I found interesting forever snarling at the foot of a statue:
The campanile (belltower) of Cortona's Duomo, peeking out from behind some other buildings as if it knows that I've been ruined for cathedrals and belltowers forever after seeing Florence's own Duomo and its campanile:
There were a ton of jets flying overhead that day; or maybe it just seemed like it because I'm generally surrounded by so many tall(ish) buildings:
The next two pictures go together... hopefully most of you will get the joke.

Picture one, a sign for an Italian language school there in Cortona:Picture 2 (aka the punchline). This street, the street that the sign's arrow was pointing towards, went up and up and up, past the part where the sunshine makes it impossible for you to see that your efforts at mastering this diabolic hill are completely and utterly futile, and that you should just give up right now:
This was an actual street, called appropriately "little dark street" in Italian, and it smelled inexplicably of bananas:
Cortona is where they filmed the movie Under the Tuscan Sun, which was based on Francis Mayes' book:

You've heard of the Shop Around the Corner, now allow me to present to you the Shop Under the Ancient Stairs!:Beautiful sunshiney day!:
It's almost sickening how photogenic and adorable this region is:The thick walls surrounding Cortona, which was originally an Etruscan town (making it older than the Romans):
It's me! Finally I can prove I was actually there, if the 500+ examples of photographic evidence didn't prove it enough:
That says "street closed" and I think you'd better listen... that short lady looks tough:
New one-night-only match between the old champ, The Hill, and Lauren, a wiry but tough challenger to the title!!:
Hill: 1, Lauren: 0:(But I won in the end, obviously, or I'd still be there, dragging myself up that hill):
Me posing with my amica, the church of Santa Margherita:
The moon rising over the Fortezza di Girifalco:

My host dad took me on a special trip just before sunset, to the Convento delle Celle (Convent of the Cells).

Here's the ravine into which the convent was built ages and ages ago:
The convent itself, perched on the side of the ravine over a stream:
This sign says, "Stop, in the silence before God, you discover who you are." I enforced its message with some sign language:
My hello peace-signing shadow:The small chapel, with a Madonna and Child probably in the style of Cimabue. As the sign to the right says, the tiny room behind it was the cell of Saint Francis of Assisi himself, who came here for some time and slept and prayed there:
I took three pictures of this room. The first and the third turned out green for no apparent reason. This was the third one. My host dad said it was "the whisper of God" and we had a chuckle about it:
This is the symbol of San Francesco (among other symbols like his brown robe, awkward haircut, animals, etc.) because he received the stigmata:The abbey, laid out pretty as a picture:
The view from this bridge over the stream, and the way the buildings were laid out, reminded me terribly of The Postman, a movie with Kevin Costner (if you've seen Waterworld and enjoyed it, you'll like The Postman... it's practically the same movie except it's got Tom Petty in it and Kevin Costner doesn't have gills this time):
Really a gorgeous, peaceful place. When we were there, the brothers were conducting mass in the chapel:
The trees were huge:
More of the walkways and bridges: Sunset in the ravine... once the sun started setting, you could feel the chill really settle into the air:
My goodbye peace-signing shadow:
Back at Santa Margherita to catch the last colors of the setting sun:

And that was pretty much it! I slept for most of the drive home, which was okay cause I was exhausted from huffing and puffing my pudgy bum up and down all those hilly streets, but it wasn't very restful, as you'll know if you've ever tried to sleep in a car. :P

I hope you enjoy these pictures! That was only a small sample of the hundreds I took total; I've tried to post the very best of the best so that you are entertained economically rather than bored to tears looking through all my photos of interesting building corners and my very fine collection of interesting battenti for Project Door Knockers.



(Like these two):















In the following post, I'll add a written list of some other stuff that happened, to tell you about things I did that I didn't get pictures of. :)

And I discovered that my castles stand upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand...

Music: Viva La Vida (Coldplay)

Sorry it's been a while since I updated... it's been hard to get motivated to do anything after Michelle died but things are slowly getting better (or at least less bad). My midterms went okay... I did REALLY well on my art history midterm (of course!) and only did badly on my Stylistics one (Italian grammar is difficult for me unfortunately).

Thanksgiving was really nice (some pictures are below). We all went to Serena's house and Pam (our cooking teacher from Orientation) made us a gigantic, delicious meal with turkey, mashed potatoes, and tons of other things including pasta lol. There was even apple pie! It was fabulous and everyone looked amazing.

Here's the spread, and Emily staring gleefully (creepily?) at it:
Lorna and I doing that arm thing during the toast:
Naomi and I also doing that arm thing:
Lorna, who wore a tie, had to be the "man" at the party, which is difficult to imagine because of her fabulous mane of hair:
This is almost everyone! We were missing Laudia and Susanne for some reason:
Breadstick party! I especially love Emily peeking from in between me and Victoria lol:Lorna, the happy father, and Victoria, who can do a really creepy thing with her belly and make it look like she's preggers:
We are just so very happy! Look at how happy we are:
More arm things:

The following weekend wasn't so great; I found out Saturday afternoon what had happened and spent the following three days sitting in my room doing nothing. Going back to school was difficult but it was really nice to be with my friends again, and things gradually improved somewhat as the week went on.

On Thursday I had my volunteering with Mary. We met the rest of the kids (the first time we went, just to establish where it was and meet one of the people in charge) we'd only met one of the children, Mohammed. All of the kids were interesting and adorable. I made particular friends with one little girl, whose name sounded like "Meri". We basically just watched cartoons with them for a while, and afterwards helped the cook prepare dinner. My role was to roll raw chicken in flour. Yay me! :P The cook was nice, too... I didn't catch his name but we'd met him the first time and he was fun to talk to.

Friday I went to class with Elizabeth, Mary, and Diane. The class itself wasn't that intriguing but it was hilarious to tease Elizabeth a little about a cute guy who was sitting near her and who kept looking up at her. :P I left a bit early and tried to do some shopping for boots before going home, but my mission was an abject failure and I returned home in defeat. I had only about 15 minutes to get ready so I hurried and then headed back to the Sede via bus, my host family in tow. We made it to the Sede family party fashionably late and I stuffed my face with food, since I hadn't eaten very much beforehand.

Here's the foyer of the Sede, with our non-denominational holiday tree beneath a cloth copy of Botticelli's The Birth of Venus (one of those candles on the table later caught on fire and luckily Adriana and I were around to put it out, cause no one else was in the room o_O ):
Me and little sis Serena:
Serena and host mom Chiara, who's making a funny face because I tease her that she can't stop talking when someone's taking her picture (meaning I have a bunch of pictures of her with her mouth open and her eyes shut):
Just like this actually lol:

Me and sis again:
This picture is just hilarious. Monica is on the phone and hugging her son Giovanni in the foreground. Margaret, Elizabeth and Pam along the left are laughing and chatting, and Meg is facing away from the camera in between Emily and Victoria, who are both looking at me like I ate the last of their cookies (Donata is directly to the right of Victoria; she's their host mom):
Here I am with, from left to right, Monica, Emily, and Victoria:
The following evening was Serena's cresimo, or confirmation. It was held at their church, which is newer but quite pretty with a tall ceiling and big, sweeping pseudo-Gothic arches.

Serena's in the black-and-white striped shirt facing away from us; she had just sat down. I tried to get a good picture of her but the woman who accompanied her, a friend of the family, was blocking my shot. However, behind the guy in the purple robe (the bishop? Dunno his title) is a man with white hair; that's their uncle. Also, beside the purple robe guy is my host dad. Lapo was also up there; he's an altar boy but isn't visible in this picture:

That was last night; after the confirmation we all came back to the house and had a big party. All of the grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends were crammed into the living room, and it was the most fun I'd had in at least a week. :P

That's the last exciting thing that's happened this weekend so far. Tomorrow is a national holiday and we don't have school or work, so I'm going with my family to Cortona for the day. I've never been there, but I heard it's beautiful so I'll make sure to take lots of pictures for you guys!

Turn the lights off in this place, and she shines just like a star...

Music: Come Closer (Ne-Yo)

Jordan's visit went really well! It was great to see her and hang out, even though I got a bad cold halfway through. :/ It was alright though and it made me feel better having my sis around to look after me. :P

Here's Jo and I near San Miniato (my host dad took the picture):
View of the city at night (my camera rocks!):
At Fiesole (a hill town just outside of Florence):
I played with the city lights of Florence:
City lights make hearts:
Jordan's shadow:Cute sissies walking down the hill:
I think it must be a sin to be as badass as we are:
"And then I was like, no way, and then she was like, yes way!":
One small step for plastic mannequins, one giant leap for Barbie-kind:
Um, this size runs kind of small. I don't think you're gonna fit. I mean, your feet are kinda big:Alta moda meets Jordan:
Just blend in, they tell me:
I think I became an art history major so that I could ignore everything I know about the work and do things like this:
Don't peek!:
Pony:This thing bit me:
Bye bye Jordan! Pay no attention to the guy staring at us:

That was pretty much it! We each took about a gazillion photos of the various places we went together/separately but that's too many to post here. :P

Vesuvius was August 24th, not July, oh Professor P-Man...

Music: Oh Professor P-Man (Victoria and Lauren)

(Yes... Victoria and I wrote a song. Yes, it's about a professor. No, I won't be posting the lyrics here on my blog. :P It's basically an inside joke anyway so don't worry too much about it! I will send you the lyrics if you request them and if you want I'll explain the lyrics too.)

Well, I'm sitting in my room waiting for Jordan to arrive. She's supposed to touch down in Pisa around 5:30 and she's going to call me once she figures out her train so that we can arrange where to meet at the Florence station. I'm excited but trying to gather my energy for her visit... I stayed home from class today because I'm so exhausted and I just feel completely worn out. I'm only missing two things at school today--History of Costume, and a visit with the Art History class to the Duomo. I'll have to visit inside another time, to make up for it. It's weird to think that I walk by the Duomo every single day and yet I haven't yet been inside. o_O

On Monday was my birthday obviously, and I just spent it at home with my family. They were amazing! We had dinner (delicious pasta with walnuts and roasted rabbit... mmm, Thumper). After the meal they turned off the lights and brought out a cake with candles and sang to me. :P I took pictures (and have a couple from Saturday night at the cafe) so here they are.

Saturday night at the cafe... there was a guy with a funny sign on his back (I think someone took it off a bathroom door) so I pretended to take a picture of Mary (left) and Jen in order to get it. I really like how the sign says "out of order" in three languages lol:
Right before dinner Monday night... the kids made me sit on a pillow throne and wear a blanket because I was the "queen". Here I am knighting Lapo:
Here we see my sudden but inevitable betrayal as I slaughter my new little knight:
And here I am gloating over his wee corpse (don't worry, no small Italian children were harmed in the making of this photo series; he had wayy more fun than I did acting this out lol):
My torta! It was basically a giant bowl of cream puff goodness:
Here I am blowing out my candles. I'm not sure where my face went but it came back eventually:My slice of cake, next to the present they got me (a really nice, soft, long-sleeved hooded shirt... purple of course!), my Hello Kitty card, and some awesome heart stickers:
For the next five photos, here's where I made everyone wear the bow from my gift on their heads. They were amazingly cheerful about it, too. I think that's what being a family means... you do what I TELL you to! lol

Here's Serena, who picked out my cool birthday card:
Lapo, in the latest winter fashion:
My host dad looking not at all ashamed to be wearing a bow on his head:
Here's my host mom... she must have watched the bow coming around the table inexorably towards with some amount of horror :P :Me, my bow, and my strange birthday hair:
Chiara was talking in Italian as I gestured for them to stand next to one another as I took this picture, and she didn't stop talking even afterwards. I don't even know what she was saying lol:
Serena and Lapo, the two most adorable Italian children ever created:


Well that's it for birthday photos... I do have two more to show you. First is my fresco, which I made last Wednesday for the practical part of the Art History class with Professor P-Man. It wasn't difficult, but it was a bit tedious and we were rushed for time so a lot of people got angry about the whole affair. I just made my dead San Francesco and gave it to my family as a gift.

Serena asked me why I was giving it to them (just polite wondering) and I said it was because I'm not Catholic lol. Really I just wanted to give them something from me to them, to show them at least a little how much I appreciate everything they do for me:

What's funny about this next picture (besides the possible blasphemous connotations) is the scarves... all three of us have the same exact scarf (Victoria is wearing mine) with the same pattern, just in various colors. In fact Emily and I both have black ones.

Emily and Victoria make a stunning Madonna and Child. Emily really demonstrates the whole "balloon head" concept from the Bizantine style:

Alright, that's it. Naomi is coming over to visit me in my infirmity and maybe I'll convince her to come pick up Jordan with me around 6. I'll write more later.