Florence

Took a class field trip to Florence last week. It has taken this long to final debrief to the point of being able to write about it. It was a real whirl-wind day.

We left as a class at 7:00 a.m. to get on the train to Florence. Chugging along in the old locomotive gave a nice chance to look at the Italian country side. Strangely enough, it all seemed very fimilar, yet I couldn't put my finger on why. Yes, there were many olive fields like back home, but the rolling ascept of the hills was entire individual.

Katie had to take a nap while Megan kept watch.


With all the glory that Florence has to offer history wise I left like the train station gave the best view in to what Italy was like in the past: The signs are still analoue and make a loud flapping noise as they fall to the next station stop. Most of the trains themselves are much older than I am used to seeing in either California or Japan- this railway system predates the 20th century in some parts. Cool!



We also did the must-see spots. Before lunch was the Duomo, Baptistry, Orsanmichele, and Piazza Della Signoria- all very extreme and very ornate. It was really impressive to know that Donotelo had been involved in creating much of this art work, and even some of his orginals were still there. Cool! Here is Prof. Christina giving us the lowdown on the Duomo before we go in.

We were given two hours to wander through Florence by ourselves. It is like all other big towns- the locals walk fast and talk on cell phones while the tourist look up and take pictures. For lunch Megan and I found the Irish Pub in Florence. It was almost as if the creepy goat head fountain wanted us to find it. After a good beer or two it was time for more learning!

Time for Santa Croce, and Santa Maria Novella. I stopped taking pictures cause I was just too overwhelmed. Too much visual input and heavy learning. Hey, if you want to see the churches that bad you can look them up online anyways.

After all of that it was back on the train to get back in to Venice at about 8 p.m. All very exhausting. Woo- I'm getting tired just thining about it now.

Overall, Florence was nice. I am planning on going back in Spring to give Hideki a visit while he is at the Florence Art Insitute getting his own masters. I'll have more time to really see what the city is like then.

GOALLL!!!!!

Howdy all. The internet at my apartment has been out all weekend, so I have loads of updates. I'll start with the most recent and move backwards; we'll Tarantino this bad boy.

On Sunday I, along with Katie, Kasha, Giovanna, and Fabio went to see the Venice soccer team play. According to Fabio (who is Giovanna's boyfriend and a true 100% Venetian- He even has the lion of St Marco tattooed on him to prove it) the Venice team was in the national league a few years back playing all the big wigs such as Rome. But in the past few years they have lost a few good players and are down to division 3. I'm not sure who the opponent team was on Sunday- red team... someone said something about being from outside Milan.

Either way, the Italians love their soccer. We sat with the booster club and clapped along with all kinds of chants and strange hand gustures. Good thing I practised my loud clapping, right Meliss? When the opposite team would miss a goal the crowd would say "no come se" and shake there hands in the form of two L's. Not sure what it meant, but good stuff.

In fact, the Italians love their soccer so much that riots are not uncommon. The riot squad was already at the gates when we go there. I am not exaggerating when I say there were at least 45 policy/military/riot guard on duty that day. During the pat down they took Fabio's lighter and the cap to my soda. Turns out those are two items that get thrown on the field a lot.

On a nice sunny day there was nothing better than to be at the game. Go Venice!

Torcello

We had our first Art History field trip on Tuesday.

Tuesday just so happened to be my first I-hate-this-fucking-country-day. With all of the stores being closed from 1-3 and then out for the night by 6, I was unable to get a phone card to call my Mom. Instead at 7:30 am in the brisk Venice morning air I was pumping euro in to a pay phone that cost 30 cent per moment- I would say minute, but the phone seemed to count down faster than that. Any ways that, in addition to living in what is the Disneyland of Europe had finally worn a little thin.

Luckily, getting out of the city and riding over to Torcello helped calm all the nerves.Torcello is in the far side of the lagoon from Venice. It was the first area to be settled back when the Veneti were fleeing from raiding barbarians. Everything was going good for Torcello... by 639 AD they had made Santa Maria Assunta, were a major trade port, and even had a Bishop. Woot!

Well, come the 11th and 12th century things go wrong. All of a sudden the mud flats turn to swamp and a bad bout of malaria takes over. Everyone picks up shop (literally deconstructed their homes) and moved to Venice, Burano, or Murano. Torcello now has a population of 14 and is used as a popular place to have weddings. In Italy you have to be married in a church or it doesn't count.

Speaking of churches, there are two left. Santa Maria Assunta is spectacular inside. The two far walls of the church are covered in gold and everything is shinny. When you leave there is a great mosaic of the Final Judgement with all of the ways you can be punished for deadly sin. My camera ran out of batteries so I didn't get any sweet shots, but I have stolen stuff from the Internet. Nice!



Okay, I need to read. On Thursday I go to Florence for the day for a field trip. I promise not to run out of batteries this time!

Lovely Lido

Yesterday was glorious, so I took a trip to Lido, the beach island of Venice. It is only about 15 mins by water bus, so a nice afternoon trip. Really it is a sand bar that separates the Adriatic from the lagoon Venice is in. Lido is currently home to the Venice Film Festival that takes places every Sept. and attracts big Hollywood types.



History wise it was one of the places that people could camp before they went through immigration to get in to Venice. In 1202 before the 4th Crusade ten's of thousands of French crusaders had to camp out there because they couldn't pay for the ships they needed. And in true wine-country style Venice and France said, "Screw the Crusade, let's go kick ass in Constantinople and steal all there stuff." Well, that is the laymen version of the story.



Today Lido is very contemporary with hotels, tourist stuff, and until recently a casino (which actually is about 2 minutes from my school now). Look, they even have cars and bikes! Can't find either of those in Venice proper.

The beach is convenient. That is all I ever need in one. After a nice tan I went around to see all the contemporary art around. Venice itself as all kinds of laws about preserving the authenticity of city, so finding permanent exterior sculptures has been tricky.

Ah Lovely Lido, I do adore.

appartamento

Ma always said that she feels better when she knows where I am sleeping. Here is my rat-hole of an apartment. When I first showed up I was pissed- there is no way you can convience me that the average citizan of Venice lives like this. Example:

The bedroom. We sleep on cots with hard, squeecky matress. Notice the delightful comforters we were given- all the other rooms got a wool blanket. I did score the only real wardrobe which must be opened with a key. Nice!

The bathroom was an exciting new place. Notice that the sink, shower, and toliet are all in one place. Hey, it's Europe.


Our kitchen is very small, and you have to light the stove with a lighter. It only took about 3 burns for one of the 7 roommates to break down and buy a longer lighter. It wasn't me though.


But for the cold, crappy, smelly place it is, we have an amazing view. That is Megan in the kitchen watching some 'Home Movies' (the show with Brendan Small).


And from out of my window.


Rumor has it that our apartment has traditional floors from when the building was made back in the 17th cent., or whenever it was made. This makes for a very beautiful, very slippery marbel in the stairwell. Even an ounce of moisture and it is a slippin' slide of destruction.

Even though I make loud complaning noises, the truth is this is Venice and it is awesome. There is no way I could be here without the scuola and KEI. ~Thank you~

Venezia

The past four days have been a typhoon- literally. With less than 4 hours of being in Venice under my belt, a summer rain storm came in to drentch the entire city. Joined by thunder and lightening it took 2 days to clear up. I am going to think of it as the city taking a bath for me before I got here so it could be all spick and span.

San Marco welcomed me with a rainbow after the rain.

There has been some wandering so far, more food shopping, and a ton of beaucratic paperwork. Everything from getting my citizen card to health insurance, water bus pass, and even the library takes at last 2 forms and a copy of my passport. Robin, and instructor at the school, says everything is still done on paper, so the conveiance of computers, AKA the 21st century, is not in play. Also, I have found that every woman behind glass in Italy is a bitch. Just a raging mean person. There is lots of big arm motions when the two girls who speak Italian get envolved with the public servants.

The school is excellent. For how crappy the apartment is the printing room makes up for it 9 folds. I'll write big long blabbing post about both these places later.

To bed with me- I have school in the morning. HA!

Call it!

9:20 p.m. Sunday

This fine follow, my only italian lifving with us, gave me a nick name. "Big Mama." I'm the oldest so I get to be Mama.

My roommate is very sweet.. she isn't so in to the smell of sweet sweet smokes. Well, I guess I'll shower.

No Boys, No Booze

I have made a new decree. While I am in venice I will neither become romanticly envolved with any boys, nor shall I consume any alchohol.

Yes, yes, I hear the audience gasp, "But why?"

Simply enough, I will have neither the money nor time for these things.

However, some of you doubt my ability and level of self control. Well those ney-sayers are right, I'll break before too long. I even went to the Duty Free and picked up an emergency handle of Seagrams 7 for cheap.

But I will hold out as long as possible!

I'm working on the honor system here. I will tell thruth when I break. So lay down your beats now.

The First State

On arriving in Deleware, numerous questions came to mind:

1)Are there trees in DE?
Yes! Turns out DE is a very lush and green place. The entire area is green, not too unsimilar to Olympia, WA. Suprising yes?

2)Green, eh? Like the Shire?
As far as I can tell, DE is indeed the Shire. I visited Brandywine Creeandywine Creek Park. I was simpliy glorious! I fully expected to see a hobbit appear from no where. We also saw evidence that hobbits go tubbing.

3)Are there sidewalks in DE?
Also yes, however they are made for the slender model. The cement in the area of Wilimington I was in was indeed small and stoped in various places.

4)Why DE?
Besides being extremly close to the Philadelpia airport, which just so happened to have the cheapest flights to Venice, Brain is back in DE. It was great visiting with him. A perfect relaxing stop before leaving the country.

Besides all of these questions, we also went to a show in Philadelpia held in the basement of a church. Mike D had planned this little excursions to see Silver Jew, but the real suprise was the opening band. Monotix is a three man band from Isreal that is very aduience envolved reeks of B.O.. They started the show on the floor with the audience and moved the drum kit through the room every 15 mins or so. the lead singer would dash in to the crowd to grab beers, throw water, and even take a garbage can to throw on the drummer. At one point the singer tried to do what I can only assume was breakdance fight the air, to which I got a swift kick to the gut. I grabbed his ankels so he could dry hump the air, which seemed to be pleasing to him.
Over all, another great adventure thats to a great host.

It's a Hell of a Town

After a mere two hour delay thanks to Hurricane Hana, I was on my way to New york. Took the cab from JFK to Peter Lugers (that's right, like Luggie) and met up with Emily, Brandon, and my wonderful host Aimee.

Large amounts of meat were consumed. Very gross, very yummy, dripping with colestrol. Emily and Brandon had been in NY all day on an eating marathon lead by the newly hungry Aimee. By the time we got home there were more leftover food bags than my luggage, which Mr. Brandon kindly helped me lug.

I tired taking pictures of the NY skyline at night, but from a moving cab that didn't work out so hot. See, there is the Empire State building!

Aimee lives in Harlem in an amazing place! The owners live in LA, so it is fully furnished with primary walls. Cool spot!

Morning time means brunch at Bathazars. Aimee wisely made reservations, as the crowd outside seemed like they had been there for days. Food was again excellent. Is it something in the water that makes the food so good? Speaking of, it seemed like every place we went had these same water bottles for the tables. I wonder if that is just the style, or if drinking the tap water is no good so it has to be shipped in.

We toured central park, a grand place. When we first entered I could have sworn I saw the rock from the Muppets take Mahatten where Kermit and Piggy are talking. There were a shit ton of people there- really reinforced the idea that this is one of the biggest cities in the world.

We went to Rockafeller Center and to the Top of the Rock. I was glad that everyone else taled me in to it- I was cheaping out. $20 to go to the top of a building seemed a little high (does that even count as a pun?). Thank you Brandon!

After a quick stop in Times Square where I saw my two favorite things in large format, we headed to Greenwich for some more food. The Spotted Pig was by far the most amazing food. Too bad I was already stuffed!

So the claim is that this place is the exterior to the Friends house. Not being a fan of Friends, I wasn't so in to it. However!!!!! We got to see the garbage men come. So in New york, people just toss the Garbage out on to the street in bags. It is piled up everywhere- look.
Garbage! Another gross place? the subway. The title only goes half way up the wall, it is muggy and hot, and water just drips from strange places. Ick. However, once on the train I was very excitied. It was cool! I rode the subway! It looks differnt on Sienflied though.

I had a great time in New York. More fun than I thought I would have really. Big cities scare me, but thanks to Aimee everything was under controll. Thank you guys so much!!!!

Me on the subway above. So much fun!

A mere three trips

Going to the Italian Consulate in SF is like playing a game of Russian Roulette, only instead of bullets plowing through your brain it is cranky bureaucrats shooting dirty looks. No where on their website is there a list of information you need to provided to obtain your visa. The info that is readily available is that you may NOT call if you have any questions and you MUST show up in person to the SF office.

Thankfully I was only missing two vital piece of paperwork on trip one. After a quick fax and waiting 30 days I was back to pick up the visa.

At the consulate the nice man behind the glass asks for my recite. Oh but wait, what is this?Student visa's are free,I say. Yes, but there is a recite.... what might that be?
That's right, it is this shred of paper. I had to drive the 3.5 hours back to Chico to get this unofficial photocopied nothing that has my name spelled wrong on it.

But hey, I got my visa. At least I wasn't the girl from Oregon State- she was missing some paper work and would have to wait a week to try again. That is one long drive, having done it.