Keep you in suspense long enough?

SORRY that I fail at life and it's been literally a whole month since I last updated! I've been traveling a lot, had mid-terms, my parents came to visit over spring break, I've been trying to finalize summer plans and basically everything has just been crazy busy! So now I have lots and lots to update you all on, prepare yourself for lots of reading!

Back to Feb 27th: We went out for my roommates birthday and it was really fun. We went out with some new people, some old people to an old place and a new place. I like when things get all mixed around like that.

I woke up on the 28th and headed to Cinque Terre. "Cinque Terre" means "Five Towns". It's in northern italy, on the west coast... google it to find out more/see pictures. I spent the weekend there alone which was both nice but also boring. It was cloudy the entire weekend and rained on and off (surprise, surprise), but it's such a beautiful place! I wanted to hike the trails between the towns, but four of the five were closed because of mudslides. I spent my days taking the train between all the towns and wandering through the streets.

Vernazza was my favorite town. Colorful boats lining the streets, a big church on the water, all the old men of the town playing fooseball in the town square (yes, they have a fooseball table that just sits in the middle of town), and it just had a nice, friendly feel. At night, I wandered through the streets where all the people live, away from the touristy parts, and it was exactly what Italy should be. Lots of narrow, winding streets, smells of Italian cooking drifting out the windows, loud Italian families inside... it was just perfect. I spent my last night in this town too, eating pizza in the little harbor and watching people wander through the square as the train kept flying by in the distance.

My other favorite thing about Cinque Terre was these three men I saw. I first passed them when I was walking the path from Riomaggiore to Manarola. They were all hudled together and talking very fast as they walked the path together, all leaning on big umbrellas that they were using as canes. Later I walked the path in the other direction, and the three of them were sitting on a bench, still deep in animated talked. I came back to Manarola maybe five hours later and they had moved to another bench in the town, still deep in conversation. THEN I saw them every single day I was there, rotating between thier benches and the path, always very deep in conversation and hudled close together. I just thought it was so funny. I wonder if they all grew up in Cinque Terre together and have been best friends since they were little or something? It was just great.

Corniglia is the town in the middle and it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay up in the hills. You have to take a bus to get to it from the train station. Then, me being the smart girl I am, climbed 83478365387 steps down to the shore once I got there. Seriously, talk about a lot of steps! It took me a long time to get down there, I relaxed and read for a while on a dock, then it took me FOREVER to get back up. Oh well.

Cornigilia seemed to be the town least effected by the tourism. They just ignore tourists as if they aren't even there. Half the town is in the piazza at all time. The old women in their dresses, stockings, heels, and big aprons are all there playing with/yelling at all the little children, the old men are sitting on benches talking, and the middle-aged people are all havign quick conversations as they run off to the rest of life or chase after their kids.

Basically, I spent my weekend wandering through the towns, reading in my hotel at night, eating fabulous dinners (alone... while being stared at... no fun), and just observing life in Cinque Terre. The sun came out for a while on my last day there and they opened one of the back paths between the towns, so I decided to try it. However, it was a path that wasn't marked all that well that went waaaaaaay up into the mountains. It was almost creepy to be up there. And SO humid. So after about 30mins of hiking up and up and up and up, I decided I would rather just go back down and take the trains instead of getting lost in the mountains by myself.

OH and on my second day there, I went to Pisa for the morning. There is basically nothing in Pisa except for the leaning tower. No joke. I took a train there, got off, looked at three churches, went to mass, took some pictures of the leaning tower, looked EVERYWHERE for pizza (which was nowhere to be found), went back to the train station where I finally found pizza, ate lunch, and got back on a train to La Spezia (the base of Cinque Terre).

So that was the weekend of Feb 27th. I actually made it a long weekend and skipped my Monday classes, coming back in time for my Tuesday afternoon classes.

That Thursday (March 5th) Savannah came in from Siena because we were leaving for Vienna, Austria the next morning. I took her out to our usual Thursday hang-out to meet all my friends here. She and a few of my roommates wanted to go back early, so I went back with them, got Sav all comfortable in bed, then headed back out with one of my roommates who hadn't gone out originally to meet up with the rest of the crowd. It was our usual Thursday scene, but it was super fun. I ended up coming home at 4:50am, waking up Savannah/packing, and running downstairs to be picked up by the car that would take us to the airport at 5am! It was ridiculous.

Savannah and I arrived in Vienna and immediatly noticed all the differences between Austria and Italy. It is much calmer/quieter, it's cleaner, more orderly, and COLDER. This was seriously one of the coldest times of my life. I hadn't brought warm clothes because the weather said it would be similar to Rome. NOT. It was FREEZING and WINDY and RAINING all weekend. Savannah and I went through three umbrellas because the wind was just so out of control. I bought an umbrella and it was destroyed maybe 10mins later, so I threw it away and decided to just brave the rain. Savannah went through two umbrellas in one day before giving up as well. Half my picktures from Vienna are just of destroyed umbrellas on the street, in garbage cans, etc. If it wasn't so COLD, I probably would have just stood on the street laughing at people fighting with their umbrellas all weekend.

Instead, Savannah and I got laughed at. Probably one of the best moments of the whole weekend was when Sav and I were standing on a street corner, in the rain, and she was fighting with her umbrella, which had already been completely torn apart by the wind. However, she was still trying to get it back to normal because she was not giving up on her second umbrella. I was literally half sitting/laying on the sidewalk laughing because I had fallen over and she was swinging her umbrella around like a maniac. I was snapping lots of pictures, and all the people waiting to turn at the light were sitting in their cars, pointing and laughing at us. It was one of the funniest moments of my life. Hahaha. After that, the 3rd umbrella of the weekend was stuffed into a garbage can and the crazy antics were no more.

We did a lot of stuff involving music because helllllllo, we were in Vienna! We went to Mozart's house, the "Haus der Musik" (which was like a hands-on music museum/real museum about composers and the Vienna Philharmonic Symphony), and then there was church. The first time we went to "mass" it was at St. Stephen's, the big main church in Vienna. First the preist came in while the longest intro song I have ever heard EVER was played on an organ. At times, it sounded straight out of a horror movie. Then he said something (when the music finally stopped) and I couldn't understand it because it was in German (side note: Savannah and I got to Vienna, only to realized neither of us had done any research on it really besides learning there is a big ferris wheel there. We started walking around and realized we had no idea what we were supposed to see or EVEN what language they were speaking! We didn't figure out it was German until we got back to Rome and looked it up... fail), then an orchestra played a bunch of Joseph Haydyn, accompanied by some people singing. It went on for probably over an hour. Then the preist talked again and "mass" was over. Savannah and I just looked at each other like "What?" and the guy next to us said something that seemed like "What just happened?" in German. No one knows. Hmmmm.

Sunday we woke up bright and early and went to Hofburg Palace. Of course, on our day when we leave early, it was sunny and warm! We first bought tickets for the Vienna Boys Choir, walked around for a little bit, then went to get some coffee and croissants. We came back for our second attempt at mass and found our way to our seats. We were in a little balcony off to the side and no one sat in the front row, so we moved up. It was maybe one of the coolest masses ever. There were like 20preists and they used a lot of incense and I don't really know what happened when it wasn't the usual mass because it was all in German, but it was still soooooooo cool. Plus, the boys sang which was really awesome. At the end of mass, they sang Ave Maria, which was really nice.

After mass, we headed to the Albertina museum. I liked it a lot. They had a lot of Monet and Picasso and some Palace staterooms as well. Savannah left a little early to go to the butterfly house and we met up after I finished the museum. We wanted to go to the Spanish Riding School too, but we didn't have time. There was SO much to see at that Palace, I wish we had had more time there!

Anyway, besides our musical adventures and battling with umbrellas (none of this flows correctly, sorry, I kept remembering things and adding in paragraphs, like the one above, so it doesn't really make sense, but hopefully you get the picture), Savannah and I spent a lot of time eating. There was actually VARIETY in food choices, unlike it Italy. We didn't even know where to start! Our first night, we immediately headed for the sushi! Yummmm. They also had BAGELS in Vienna, and we COULDNT FIND THEM! It broke our hearts. The second night there, we ate at the oldest restaurant in Vienna. Hitler and Napoleon had even eaten there! We ended up sitting at a table that was almost on top of the table next to us. Turns out the men next to us were Italian... one from Rome and one from Tuscany. Figures. We started talking to them after I cut my ribs and one of them went flying onto their table (good, good) and after they looked shocked/starting laughing, Sav and I asked if they were Italian (because we had been evesdropping) and then we had a conversation in broken Italian. They left before us, and Savannah and I could finally talk without feeling like they were listening to our every word, ha. Some other lady took the table and smoked TWELVE ciggs before her food came. Gross. Savannah and I continued on our delicious, non-italian meal... complete with wine and dessert! I had the Sachertorte (a chocolate cake that Vienna's famous for) and it wasn't really that good. Oh well.

By the last day, Sav and I caved at the U station (metro/subway/tube/whatever) and got pizza. It wasn't Italian pizza though, so it was okay. Big, soft, thick crust and lots of cheese and toppings! Gooooood. Ironically, while I was avoiding anything I eat in Italy (aka pizza, tuna fish, and pasta) I ended up getting tuna fish pizza. I thought it was chicken! I just can't escape! And because I know you're wondering, it was actually pretty good, surprisingly.

The only other thing we did in Vienna was go on the big ferris wheel! Which was actually a disappointment. It was cool because the ferris wheel frame survived WWII while everything else around it was destroyed, but the ride itself was disappointing. We wanted to go at night to get a nice view, but Vienna is basically dark at night, so we couldn't see anything! Can't win 'em all, I guess.

So Vienna equals best friends being reunited, music, destroyed umbrellas, being wet, freezing, lots of laughter and LOTS of good food.

We arrived back in Rome late Sunday night... which is when I remembered "Oh heyyyy! I have midterms starting TOMORROW!" So obviously, I decided we should go out to appertivo with my friends! We arrived, each got a glass of wine, then loaded up on food. After stuffing our faces some more to go along with the theme of the weekend, it was time to socialized. I had drank maybe three? sips of my wine, when I decided I was going to go join Savannah on the other side of the bar. As I'm walking, I suddenly feel myself flying through the air. Next thing I know, I hit the ground and my glass of red wine goes flying out of my hand to shatter EVERYWHERE. Good, good. The entire bar just goes silent as I'm laying on the floor in a puddle of red wine and glass. I had tripped on a footstool. So I start laughing, jump up, grab a handful of napkins and start cleaning! All the Italians are freaking out and telling me not to worry about it and everyone's asking me how drunk I am while I try to explain that I just got off a plane and only had three sips of wine! Danielle explained that I'm the clumsiest person alive and then it turned into a night of everyone making fun of me and talking about all the embarrassing, clumsy things I've done since arriving in Italy, haha. We called it an early night, grabbed some gelato, and headed home.

Monday, I woke up early to study for Italian and take Sav to the train station. Mid-terms were basically a joke. I barely studied and spent most of the week sitting out on the balcony. I got sunburned while all the Romans walked around bundled up in their winter coats and scarves. I just don't know how they do it! I think all my exams went well and I'll probably have B's across the board in all my classes here. Which is great, considering I don't do any homework and never study.

I woke up bright and early Friday morning (we're up to Match 13th by now) to go greet my parents at the airport. My original plan was to take the train by my house up one stop and then switch trains to take one to the airport. However, the train by my house was delayed by 45mins. Sooooo I decided to walk to school to get a bus to the main train station, where I would have to actually buy a ticket to take the express train to the airport. I walked to my school and had to wait THIRTY minutes for a bus. Then we had to deal with rush-hour traffic in Rome... which is not something you want to be in the middle of. I get to the train station and buy my ticket right as the train is pulling away and have to wait another thirty minutes for the next one! Once it leaves, I realize this "express" train is maybe the slowest one I've been on yet. I couldn't believe it! By the time I get to the airport, my mom has already called to ask where I am because I'm over an hour late. Lucky for them, they're flight had arrived an hour early! So by the time I finally got to the airport, I was super stressed out and not the happy, up-beat person I should have been when seeing my parents for the first time in months. Ohhhhhh Roma.

We grabbed the million bags and headed back to the trains. Because it was just that kind of day, we had to wait some more for our train to come into the station. Then we started the journey to my apartment. When we got back, we unpacked everything and I had a whole new food supply! Yesssss... bagels (already gone), girl scout cookies (trying to save them), cheez-its (eating them as I type), peanut butter (it's been on everything I eat), soup, etc. The only thing I forgot to ask for was SALAD DRESSING! How could I have been so dumb!? They also brought me lots of clothes for this summer.

Oh yeah, time out. I have been accepted to do another MSU study abroad program this summer. I will be doing an internship in Geneva for my international studies major, but I am not sure what exactly I will be doing. I am in the middle of the placement process, and will hopefully be finding out soon. I explained that my interest is working with an NGO with human rights, health/education, or international politics. It's been pretty stressful because I had to change the date of my interview with the placement agency so I had to re-arrange my spring break, then I was told by MSU that I was actually denied from the program because I don't actually have a second major, then I had to confirm that I DO have a second major, then they had to re-evaluate my application, and it was just craziness. Especially since I'm in Italy, so everything had to be done through e-mail. I am still trying to figure out how I'm going to get my visa and all that stuff, but I'm sure it will fall into place.

Sooooooo anyway, my parents were here! I warned them about all the walking (espcially up hills and stairs) that they would have to do, but they didn't realize that I wasn't exaggerating. Which was a common theme that week. They thought I had exaggerated about how much walking to do, how crazy Romans drive, how dirty the city was, etc... but I wasn't! Rome is just a crazy city! We spent their first day running all over room and basically doing some window-shopping tourism? I don't know how else to explain it! Ha. We just walked past everything, didn't really go in anywhere. I tired them out and by the time the sun set, they were exhausted. I was actually impressed, I stayed up my whole first day here, but I didn't do much besides sit around, haha. We ended the night in an irish pub by their hotel with a bunch of crazy Whales rugby fans. Whales was playing Italy and it was on the TV at the bar, so we had all that as entertainment.

Saturday we woke up early and caught a train to Pisa. Basically the same as last time I went there, we saw the tower, hung out for a little bit, then walked back to the train station. Then we went up to La Spezia to see Cinque Terre! I just love that place! The trails were still closed, so we took the train between towns and just enjoyed the scenery. It's such a relaxing place. That night, we had a late dinner, then went back to the hotel for another good night's sleep after an exhausting day.

Sunday, we grabbed another train and headed to Firenze (Florence)! It was my second time there as well, and it's pretty small so it was easy to show them where all the main attractions were in the city. I could definitly tell tourism season is picking up. It was soooooooo much more crowded than it was when I went my first weekend here!

Monday we were on the move again and we jumped on the train to Venezia (Venice). I was suuuuuper excited for Venice and it was just perfect! Again, exactly how I pictured Italy. I loved all the canals and being on the water. We spent two relaxing days there just enjoying the sunny weather. I did some exploring by myself as well and walked all over the city, even going back into the non-touristy areas... which is my favorite thing... being able to see how the locals live. We went to Maurano and saw some glass blowing, which was cool, and they walked us through their showrooms as well to try to make us buy stuff, but it was nice to just be able to see all the crazy chandeliers and sculptures and all the different techniques that are used and everything. While we were in Venice, I bought an oil on canvas painting that I'm really excited about. It took me forever to make a decision on which one to choose, but I really like the one I picked. Venice was mostly just very relaxing, lots of wandering around.

We headed back to Roma on Wednesday, and by then we were all EXHAUSTED. We went to the grocery store to get some food, then went across the street to get some pizza for dinner. My parents got to meet Rosalitta... who is the woman who owns the pizza place with her husband. We're not sure if that's really her name or how we started calling her that, but that's what we call her. She doesn't speak a word of english and we never understand her fast Italian, but it all works out okay. She loves us, we're BFF. Called it an early night after dinner.

Lucky me, I had the whole thing with my internship waiting for me in Roma, so I was scrambling to make my resume into a CV, answer some short essay questions, fill out applications, and re-read all the information they had sent me so I could prepare for my phone interview.... and that's how I spent Thursday morning. We wanted to go to the Vatican that afternoon, but it was closed for a Vatican Holiday or something. Soooo we just went back to wandering around Rome. We tried to go to the Colloseum and the Forum, but got there after they closed. We also tried to go to the Pantheon, but it was closed for mass. So we did some more window-shopping tourism.

Friday morning I had my phone interview and then we went to the Vatican. It's such a crazy place, so much to look at! After that, we attempted the Pantheon again, but it was closed for a concert. Wandered around again... I can't really remember what we did. I think that's the night we went to a restaurant right by my apartment that I'd never been to before. It was realllllly good and I'll be going back their soon.

Saturday, we were going to go to Napoli (Naples) and Pompeii, but we were all too tired from all the traveling, so we decided to spend some more time walking around Rome. I wanted to go to a great market I had heard about, but when we got off at the stop, there was nothing there. Just a really shady neighborhood. So we walked around for a while, looking for the market, before realizing we probably wouldn't find it. We ended up back by my school and went to my favorite pizza place. I taught my mom how to order pizza and we ended up with a whole tray of it. We walked down to a fountain that has a great view of Rome and ate the pizza. Except it was SO windy and cold! It just came out of nowhere! It was ridiculous! After that, we walked down into Trastevere. We went to Santa Maria in Trastevere, Tiber Island, walked over the oldest ponte (bridge) in Roma (69BC!), went through some of the Jewish Ghetto, and then we attempted to go to the Pantheon for the third day in a row. Surprise, surprise... it was closed for mass. I don't really remember what we did the rest of the day... the whole break is just such a blur! We saw so much!

Sunday we woke up with two objectives in mind. The inside of the Pantheon and the Colloseum/Forum because we hadn't been inside them yet. Surprise! We got into the Pantheon! Wooooooo. However, there was a marathon in Rome that I didn't know about so the Colloseum was closed! Aaaaand half the buses/trams weren't running... and we spent quite some time waiting for a bus that never came, then getting on a bus that only went half the route and then turned around... it also happened to go past the "Saturday Market" which was actually on Sunday! The area didn't look so shady with it there and it was super busy! Butttt we didn't go. So that was interesting. Anyway, you can never rely on public transportation in Roma!

Sunday night, I took my parents to the airport. We hung out for a while before they had to go through security and it was a great week with them! I wish Michael could have come too, but he had school. I took a train back to my apartment and settled in to watch the MSU basketball game. I remember the first five minutes, and the next thing I know, I'm waking up with my face on my computer keyboard because the final buzzer is going off! Spring break made me so tired that I slept through and MSU march maddness bball game... now that's tired!

Monday morning, I woke up bright and early and went to class and then I had the whole day free because my afternoon class was cancelled. So I hoped on a bus to Siena to see Savannah during her last week there! I got there around 3pm and wandered around the city until Sav was done with class at 5pm. While waiting for her in the Campo, I met a british guy named Tom. He asked me about the book I was reading and then about the buses in Siena. I didn't know how to answer his questions, so I told him to wait for Savannah. He was on holiday from his university and traveling Italy alone for the week. We helped him find a hostel near Siena and then invited him to dinner with us. Went back to Savannah's to put my stuff down and walk around Siena a little bit. We waited for Tom in the Campo for dinner and it's just crazy how different Siena is from Roma. There was basically no one out in the streets, the Campo (main Piazza) wasn't very busy, and it was just so calm! It was nice to just sit in a quiet area in the middle of town AND I could see stars! I haven't seen those since Michigan!

Savannah's friend had found a really good restaurant in a Rick Steve book, so we decided to check it out. It was very authentic (with a handwritten menu) and cheap! Perfect. I had some veal (another one of my main italian foods), tomatoes in oil, and some chocolate cake for dolce. It was cool meeting Tom, I love all the phrases British people use and the way they talk. He was a nice guy and we walked him to the city walls after dinner before leaving him to set out for his hostel. As we walked through town, Savannah told me all about the history of Siena and about all the contradas (little sections of the city... it's a big deal... has to do with the Palio horse race... google it) and I even saw a contrada meeting happening! Which is a super big deal. We grabbed our stuff from Sav's apartment and headed to her friend Ali's (the one we went to dinner with) to sleep there because she had two extra beds.

Woke up early Tuesday morning and had breakfast with Sav before heading back to Rome. It was interesting to see how much the scenery changes between Rome and Tuscany. Although I was still exhausted and it was a really rushed trip, I'm glad I got to go to Siena while Savannah was still there. Plus, the bus rides were nice and relaxing.

Last night we went out to dinner with my roommate Victoria's parents and some family friends because they were in town for the week. It was so fun! They're super nice and it was just a great night full of great conversation, lots of laughter, and good food.

I wanted to go do some touristy stuff in Rome today, but it was all dark and grey and so I did laundry and typed this instead. I'm also trying to figure out my schedule for next year because I have to sign up for classes soon. The sun is actually coming out so I think I'm going in search of some new jeans (mine have been destroyed) and then maybe some sight-seeing (but everything closes so early and it's already 4pm!). MSU plays tonight (3am here) so I'm super excited for that!

Also, tomorrow I am going on a Tuscan day-trip with my school and we're going to be having a food/wine tasting type thing, which is exciting. Savannah also arrives tomorrow because her program ends today. She will be staying in Rome with me until Thursday morning when we head to Greece! Which I am soooooooooo excited for! Then I get to go to a different part of Greece the next weekend over Easter! Ha. Living in Europa is pretty cool. I'm basically going to be a beach bum for the month of April because I think I'm also going to be heading to the Almalfi coast at some point. Yay!

I'm pretty sad my time in Rome feels like it's quickly coming to an end though. I really, really like it here (as much as I complain) now that I've gotten used to it. I think I'm going to have huge culture shock when I get to Geneva... more than the people coming from the States. I love the craziness of it and I dunno. Just the way the city is. It's not so bad once you get used to it... that's just the trick, you have to learn to get used to it.

Anyway, I should get to my sight-seeing or shopping or SOMETHING before this day ends!

Ciao!

P.S. I didn't edit this because it was just too long and my eyes hurt, so ignore any of my mistakes, please!