Santorini

I'll start out with a few blanket statements that sum up my 2 1/2 days in Santorini:
1. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been too.
2. The people were extremely nice
3. I will go there for my honeymoon
4. I could have stayed there forever

We didn't do anything specific that was really the highlight of Santorini (aka ATV's in Corfu), But we stayed in an adorable hotel, watched the sunset both nights (once in the area by our hotel and the other night in Ia) I had tons of tzatziki, looked at the adorable jewelry shops, saw Red and Black sand beaches and did a wine tasting for 2.50 euro.

The people also loved us, which is nice after lots of people not liking that we're form the US in different parts of Europe. At every meal we got something free. At breakfast it was a delicious traditional Greek pastry, but of course I don't know the name. One of the nights we went to dinner at "Mama's House" which was absolutely delicious. I got a stuffed eggplant, filled with meat and vegetables and topped with feta then baked. A few of us shared some wine, and as we finished it "Papa" the owener, brought another on the house. He then goes "Want to know why I'm giving all the tables free alcohol tonight?" We asked why and in a very loud, sing song voice and huge smile across his face he goes "Cause I got divorced todayyyy!" and cackles as he walked away smiling. He had no wedding ring on so it could be true.

I was definitely bummed to leave Santorini. My pictures will never do it justice, but I know I will make it back there one day.

Athens

Athens was nothing like I thought it would be. I don't know what exactly I was expecting, but anything I imagined wouldn't be exactly what I saw. We got in around 8, got the free french toast and eggs for breakfast and then left for a 3 1/2 hour walking tour with the leaders. We covered all the main sites, including the Parliament building, Royal Gardens, Temple of Zeus and the Acropolis. They ended the tour in one of the main squares to have the rest of the afternoon to adventure on our own.

We opted to beat the crowd and get custom made sandals first, then eat. This is despite feeling my stomach eating itself. I got a cute pair of gladiators for 29 euro, which he fitted perfectly to my feet. He looked like Hagrid and was one of the nicest men ever. He had gone to Parson's School of Design in NYC, but was 3rd generation sandal making. He also asked if we came on one of those hippie buses, when we tried to explain we came with a group on a bus. We asked him for lunch suggestions, and ended up back in the main square eating 2 euro gyros in the sun, as we recommended. Hagrid really knew his stuff.

Then we shopped around. There was a flea market and a bunch of cute shops. I got my dad a small birthday present, but held back from buying too much. We also went to get strawberries from a fruit stand and he gave us each 1 kilo (about 2.2 lbs) each for 2 euro. Best strawberries and they are huge, but that hasn't stopped me from eating over half the back already. We then went back to the hostel and passed out till dinner.

Dinner was delicious. We did the group dinner, so it was with 140ish other people. They gave us unlimited wine and water, bread, we shared 4 different appetizers (greek salad, meatballs, calamari and fried mozzarella), then got to pick an entree, which I got Musaka. I'd never had musaka but it was really good. It was kind of like a casserole with layered potato, meat and eggplant. So good. Then there was fruit for dessert.

Now it's time to pass out, not only due to my food coma, but because it's almost midnight and we have to wake up at 5 for a boat to Santorini. Woooo!

Corfu Day 3 3/21/2011

Our final day in Corfu was another really good one. We rented kayaks and ventured in the Agea sea. The water was a beautiful shade of blue and the sun was shining strong. I'm really out of shape so I'll probably want my arms to just fall off tomorrow, but it was totally worth it. I took a HUGE risk and put my smaller camera in a plastic bag out on the kayak with me which was totally worth it since the pictures were awesome and the camera survived. We started with a group of 5 of us, but within an hour only Gabby and I were playing. We had a cute couples/romantic getaway stopping in all the coves and small beaches we saw. We even found some REALLY cool rocks, so we started a rock collection.
The rest of the day was spent re-packing and relaxing since the evening was departure time. I'm currently on my way to Athens. Wooo! We had a 45 minute bus ride from Pink Palace, we're on a 1 1/2 hour ferry ride now and then we have a 7 hour bus ride. I'm ready to take a few melatonin and pass out on the bus.. just gotta get through the rest of the ferry ride. Luckily one of my roommates lent me a book "Are you there vodka it's me, Chelsea?" Which is really entertaining so I've been reading to stay awake until the bus ride. Guess I'll get back to the book and next time I write I'll be in Athens!

Corfu Day 2 3/20/2011

This may have been one of the best days of my life. We went on an ATV Safari, which was a 5 hour ATV tour all around Corfu. We went to the beach, the top of a mountain, off roading in the rain and everywhere in between. We even ate lunch on top a mountain/ledge near a church. During the off roading part it was raining pretty hard and as I went through the mud and puddles I have to admit I felt really bad ass. The views were amazing, the towns were cute and ATVing in general was awesome.

Then at night was the Pink Toga Party. It was in the same Bar Mitzvah venue as dinner the night before and at around midnight they did traditional Greek dances, broke plates and did a fire show. It was really cool.

1 more day in Corfu!

Corfu Day 1 3/19/2011

Day 1 in Corfu is done, well I guess it was a half day by the time we got to Pink Palace, but still.

Once we finally got to our rooms and showered after over 24 hours in the same clothes, we got gyros (typical) and chilled on the beach with one of the ground's dogs. It was a pretty chill day since everyone was exhausted from traveling. Dinner was included so we went to this area of the Pink Palace, that as one of our friends so perfectly put it was "the perfect venue for a Bar Mitzvah" The dinner was soup, salad (greek salad of course) and this pasta with stewed beef (they obviously didn't get the memo we came from the motherland of pasta). It was really good and the greek salads were prob my favorite dish. Then the place really got the Bar Mitzvah vibe going by playing throwbakcs like Dirty, Jump Around and get low as disco balls rotated and strobe lights flashed.

Now I'm back in my room. Got back around 11 because I was tired and tired of dancing and wanted to be rested for my ATV Safari tomorrow. They take us all over the island and I'm pretty pumped. Beaches, views, old corfu town. I'm going to see it all.

Off to read a little and then pass out. Good night!

Spring Break Begins

3/18/2011

So I'm on the ferry cruise ship thing to Greece! Woo! It's been a really long day, but I'm still extremely excited to get to Greece.

My day started at 5:30 am after very VERY little sleep. I showered and got ready (not to mention tried to skype with my faj... who stood me up) and we made our way to Termini. We loaded up on snacks and REALLY started the journey.
5 hour bus to Ancona
14 hour ferry ride that I'm on.

Then when we get to Greece tomorrow morning we have another ferry to Corfu. As lame as I sound, I've mostly been sleeping a lot, but I'm going back to sleep now to make sure I'm ready to explore tomorrow

Done-zo

I did it. I survived my horrible week of papers and tests despite my hand wanting to fall off any second now, I am all packed and ready for Greece in the morning. We have to leave the apartment at 7am to meet the bus2alps group at 9.
We take a bus to the coast, then a cruise ship thing to Corfu and we are in Corfu for a few days, then on to Santorini and then on to Athens then I come home and then my mom gets here!

Things I plan on doing in Greece:
-eating a lot of gyros and all the other delicious foods Greece has to offer
-ATV safari
-Kayaking
-Taking millions of pictures
-RELAXING
-beach!
-pink toga party at the pink palace

I'll write my blog posts by hand and post them when I return because I'll be completely out of touch from the world (no phone or internet) until the 28th. So if you don't hear from me... that's why and I promise I'm probably safe.

More Writing

As I struggle to convince myself to finish my Media and Gender midterm (it's not due for almost 3 hours), my in class free writing came extremely easy this morning, despite not sleeping well due to stress and the thunderstorm that convinced me and Gabby the world was ending. Wish I could say Gender Theories could flow as easily as this did, but I figured I should share what I wrote as it describes this oh so rainy roman day.

When it rains in Rome, I never want to leave the down comfort of my bed. I want a mug of the thick, stand your spoon up in it Hot chocolate delivered to my bedside and for the rice, pudding consistency to sooth my throat and warm me from the belly up. I want my favorite movies to play constantly and for the curtains to be open so I can watch as the droplets playfully fall and land on my balcony. the droplets that never made it to the ground and rest on my window help me feel as if I am outside while I still remain warm in my bed, as they obstruct my complete view as if they are on my eyeballs.
But other times when it rains in Rome I want to rush outside in my big black rainboots and long rain coat. Put my hair up so nothing is in my way and I am free to jump from puddle to puddle, dancing to whatever song may be stuck in my head. Whether it's Jason Mraz or Hilary Duff or one of the 1950's doo op songs from my music class. Nothing can stop me from dancing. A lot of time as I dance alone in the wet streets of Rome, I wish I was placed in a scene of Singing in the Rain, but most people try to avoid the rain at all costs. And for that I often dance alone when it rains in Rome.

Alright well I better get back to my paper, almost done. Then study for my Italian midterm. Womp womp. But 2 days until Greece!!

Procrastination?

I figured a productive way to procrastinate would be to post a blog, since everyone seems to like when I update this thing and to be honest I'm tired to attempting to finish my music paper and Gabby and I have already gone over Art History a few times today and we're pretty confident.
So here is a pro's and con's list of my time in Italy so far:

Let's start with the positives. PROS:
-it's gorgeous. You can be walking and then BOOM there will be ruins in the middle of the sidewalk like it's no big deal they've just been chilling for a good 2000+ years.
-you can find extremely fresh produce and pasta for cheap
-if you're a girl and you smile at the pizza guy he'll basically cut your bill in half. Gabby and I just went up to the only place near our apt open on Sunday's and it was 3 euro for both our meals combined cause the guy working liked us
-I can leave my phone in the apartment, or in my bag for hours (or even days) and still come back and haven't missed a thing. (Dad I know you won't believe this after my texting counts in the US, but I haven't used my phone for 3 days other than as an alarm.)
-cheap coffee. only 1 euro for a cappuccino better than any I've made in my many years as a barista

I'm sure I could think of more if I really wanted to procrastinate the day away. but we'll move onto the CONS:
-nothing is open on Sundays. We're out of milk and bread but oh well it'll have to wait till tomorrow.
-Italian Men. yup they are their own category. Before I left everyone was like you'll go fall in love with an Italian man. Yeahhhh Right. I'd love to be able to walk down the street without getting called to our said something about every step I take
-Time Difference/contact with family and friends. While I'm lucky enough to be able to call the US for free with gmail, and talk to my parents in some form most days and gchat Adam pretty often, I feel like the time difference with the West and East coasts can be a little challenging (Hawaii is so far away it's really not bad because when I wake up, they have just finished dinner and are chilling before they go to bed)

Alright... well I'll go do the responsible thing and work on my papers and study for my midterms because FRIDAY I GO TO GREECE!!! We spent part of the morning looking at the extra activities we can purchase and decided to not do the Booze Cruise and instead to do the ATV Safari and Kayaking in Corfu instead. cheeee heeeee.

Midterms?

I figured I'd leave a quick update since I really won't have much to update on and to let everyone know I'm alive and safe, just busy. It's midterms time. Although most of the classes and schedules here are much easier than AU, midterms are midterms and they are still keeping me busy. Here's what I've got for this week on tap:

Monday: Art History Midterm, Italian Oral Midterm
Tuesday: Popular Music and Culture Paper due
Wednesday: Short Fiction due, Media and Gender take home Midterm due, Italian Midterm
Thursday: Popular Music and Culture Midterm

But when I make it through all of that:
Friday: GREECE!!!!
And then the day I get back from Greece:
MOMMY!
followed by my Dad's visit, then my brother's and then finals and I already go home. I know it's still 2 months away but time is flying.

As a midterm studying treat, Gabby and I found some clams on sale, so we'll be having a linguine and clam dinner. But for now, I'm eating my delicious salad I made for lunch and am going to go crank out this Short Fiction in hopes that today I can finish that and my music paper. Ciao!

Wait, this is class?

I have another on-site class on Wednesday mornings, which I feel like I don't normally talk about it, despite the fact that it may be my favorite course I'm taking at AUR. It's call Writing Rome, and is a mostly creative-based writing class and about putting yourself in the mindset of a writer. We meet at various places around the city, normally starting at a known place, and then end up wandering for the 3 hour period ending up in random parks, beautiful basilicas or getting gelato or hot chocolate depending on the weather. Today was especially gorgeous and we started at the Spanish steps, then wandered around and through a giant park, wrote near a fountain and then wandered more and ended up at Gialliti, which just so happens to be my favorite gelato shop and is like a hundred years old and really cool. (Mom, Dad and Adam, don't worry we'll go there at least once when each of you visit.)
The pictures in this post are ones that I snapped on our journey today. Going to some of these places at 9am is a completely different look from when I'm there in the afternoon or night on my own time, and it was gorgeous and nice enough that despite not sleeping much last night I was completely awake and enjoying class today.
During class the professor will give us writing prompts that are simple and very open to get our brains flowing because not even she likes the fact that we have to wake up so early to get to class. They normally have to do with the places we're going that day and she allows us to sit down and write for at least 20 minutes. Today I sat near this fountain and hopefully caught a little tan on my face as I wrote. I'm not normally one to share my writing, but I've decided since I am talking about the class today, and I don't have much more to write, and this weekend I won't even have much to write as I'm getting into midterms etc, here is what I wrote in class today. The prompt I chose was "You always said Piazza de Spagna was..."

You always said Piazza de Spagna was where you wanted to fall in love. Whether the sun was rising painting an orange tint along the marble stairs or in the peak of the night as the lit up Roman skyline lay below you.
You always said Piazza de Spagna was one of your favorite spots in the city. At the top not the bottom. As you caught your breath after hiking the 130ish stairs to the top and you could see all the shades of Rome.
You always said Piazza de Spagna would be one of the last places you'd visit when you grew old and couldn't travel so easy. Whether someone had to carry you up or you could manage on your own.
You always said Piazza de Spagna held so many stories and so much history people would never learn. As people only visit to snap a few pictures and say they'd been there without a thought of the meaning of the piazza going through their mind.
You always said Piazza de Spagna had a special place with you, but you never got a chance to say why.

Well I came home for my break today so now I need to put my school clothes back on and get my butt over to AUR for Media and Gender and Italian. Ciao!

Is This Town Anorexic?

Nicole and I decided to spend our Friday by taking a short day trip to Gaeta/Formia, as I did last weekend to Frascati and Anzio. Unfortunately the weather wasn't cooperating and the town may have not been the perfect choice. Nonetheless we had a blast and it was definitely a good trip for us to be on together since we are both very much laugh at yourself and make the best of any situation people.
As we stepped off the train, rain blew in our face and we tried to exit the station the wrong way... people obviously knew we weren't locals from the beginning. We then decided we'd try to find a restaurant to eat. Not an easy task. We questioned if people even ate there because we only saw shops and not even a grocery store.

Eventually we made it to a restaurant that was actually really cute and a little cowboy themed or something. Bull riding stuff. We decided on having pizza, but both decided we wanted different, not as american things. Therefore the pizza I ordered said it would have mozzarella, spicy salami and potato on it, and Nicole (who always gets Margherita everywhere) ordered one with mozzarella di buffala and tomato and something else. Low and behold when the pizzas came, hers was basically a margherita, and mine was basically french fries and pepperoni (like the pizza I had teased at the last place. oops.) They were delicious, just not what we expected. But the guy even gave us a box to go so we didn't have to clean our plate! First leftovers of the trip because it's normally considered rude if you don't finish your food here.
Despite not being able to finish our pizzas, a couple tables over a couple had gotten some cheesecake to split and Nicole and I got weak and decided to order some. Little did we know they had multiple kinds and well all you know I'm extremely indecisive, but Nicole is too... so we got cheesecake. He asked us if we wanted caramel, chocolate, strawberry or some other berry and we couldn't pick. As he saw the hesitation in our indecisive eyes, he pointed up and goes "I know" to us, and came back with what is pictures, a piece cut into four with a drizzle of each sauce. The strawberry and caramel were probably my favorite.

After lunch there was basically nothing to do there, so we walked around, looked at all the shop windows that were closed for siesta and then headed back to Rome to rest up before we cook some dinner and head out for the night. Despite sounding like not so fun of a day, we actually had a really good time together since we normally hang out in groups and have some fun stories to share with our friends.

Good Morning Peter!

Despite not wanting my weekend of travels and adventures to end, I started my week bright and early (at 8:45am) in St Peter's Square with my Renaissance and Baroque class. It was supposed to rain all day, especially after the thunder and lightening the night before (which might I add, I have never heard anything quite like it before I was afraid the building would topple over since it shook with every blast of thunder), but luckily the rain held off during our 3 hour class period. We waited in the security line and made our way into the church. I had no idea what to expect, and Daaaria (our professor, a Borghese if you've heard of them.) had given us a pretty good run down before, but it was huge and gorgeous inside. Tourists had traveled from all over to wander through looking at the statues, amazing ceiling art, and history that lay under the dome Michelangelo had designed. Not to mention the Swiss guards weren't too shabby to look at. Our professor said that they didn't pick Italian military men because they knew that if people slipped them enough money they could easily be swayed to break the rules and that the Swiss army has very specific look requirements for their soldiers. They need to be a certain height, no glasses, etc. Gabby and I were happy to hear about and see a few of them.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. We finally tried this sandwich shop near school because we were out of groceries and couldn't make our own lunches and the sandwich shop was extremely good. I had a spicy salami, ricotta and pesto sandwich. Noms I tell you. Classes were the same, youtube videos of Jersey Shore in Media and Gender and learning a new verb tense in Italian, but I got my quiz back (the one I complained about because the teacher called it a quiz but it was like 6 pages long with a short essay and listening section) and I guess I shouldn't have complained so much because I got an A-! Woohoo! Starting the semester strong (I know, it's almost midterms/AU is in the middle of midterms, but we don't have many assignments here). Next assignments are an Art History paper due Monday, which I'm doing on Raphael's Triumph of Galatea and then a critical response on The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone by Tennessee Williams, which I'm ready for Writing Rome. Off to actually read some of the novella before I have to venture to school in the rain. HAPPY MARCH!