Association for Future Dictators of the World

The Corporate Bogeyman

2009-03-23T03:49:00.002+01:00

Obviously I do not know how to spell "bogeyman." I just remember thinking that it wasn't spelled phonetically, so I tried for unphonetical spelling. Anyway, moving on to the purpose for my blog tonight.

I tend to be a sensationalist. Yes, I looked this word up in the dictionary before I used it. It doesn't perfectly fit my purposes, but it will function in this instance. I know I'm not painting myself in a very flattering light, but I tend to get very excited about almost every new thing I learn before checking to see whether that new bit of knowledge is true or not. Generally I'm excited because it seems very true and relevant, but I'm not so arrogant as to believe that I am incapable of being deceived, especially when a lot of the world today is extremely skilled in deception. So, that's why I'm a sensationalist. I get excited about sensational knowledge. However, that's where everyone else comes in. Ah, the purpose of my blog finally comes to light: I am asking for outside input and opinions on my newest piece of knowledge.

Tonight I watched a documentary with my religion class called "The Corporation." Here is the website for the documentary, and I highly recommend watching it to anyone that is affected by a corporation: http://www.thecorporation.com/. Which means everyone, by the way. After watching the movie, I discussed with my friend the fact that both of us have learned a lot this semester that we hadn't known before, and although that's generally the purpose of taking a class, we have felt different about this semester's new knowledge in that we feel we must do something about what we have learned. I may or may not write more blogs about the other topics and issues I now feel are important and should be addressed, but right now the foremost in my mind is the entity of the corporation.

I looked up the word "corporation" in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, and the search returned four definitions. The one most important to me right now is the second: "a body formed and authorized by law to act as a single person although constituted by one or more persons and legally endowed with various rights and duties including the capacity of succession." This, my friends, is the definition of one of the most influential powers in our modern world. The big corporations, or companies, that affect us all are gaining more power as time goes by. We see the results of this grasping for power in environmental problems, global oppression of the poor and working classes, and a deadly duo of consumerism and materialism.

Okay, I've obviously developed a pretty strong opinion on corporations and capitalism in the past few months. I have to admit that I never thought any of this important before now. However, I will also admit that I have only seen part of the issue, though that part has made me react very strongly. This is where everyone else comes in again. Besides just expressing opinions, if any of you have an interest or knowledge please help me find some reliable research on the topic. I would do this myself, but at this point I shouldn't even be taking the time to write this blog. :) So, if anyone can help me learn more on the topic or offer me some additional knowledge, it would be much appreciated. I hope you all take the time the think about something that I find very important. Thank you!

~Allie

Vivo ancora!!!

2009-03-03T07:08:00.002+01:00

It's amazing! She's alive! Wow, sorry my one loyal reader (Becky). :D And anyone else out there who got annoyed that I never updated. I felt kind of weird writing here since I technically made this my travel blog, and I haven't really done too much traveling, but I wanted it to be for later, too. So...Here it is. It's later, and I'm going to write more!

Apparently my classes did nearly kill me, but I survived last semester and I'm surviving this one. I'm hoping to graduate this May, hooray! We'll see if I ever make it down that long aisle to receive my long-anticipated diploma, though. I don't feel so sure sometimes. That's been discouraging me from writing, plus the fact that my computer acts up almost constantly these days. However, I will persevere! And live to see another day! Even if it contains tests, homework, stress, and more stress.

August, how I love your long days!

2008-08-13T02:27:00.002+02:00

Sadly, there just aren't enough of them before school starts again! I've been so busy learning a new job and attempting to keep up with life that this summer has passed by in a blur! Of course, I'm sure part of that had to do with the fact that I'm used to my summer officially beginning at the end of April, whereas this year I got home almost in the middle of June. But anyway, life has been busy and fun this summer, though it's almost over. Well, summer anyway. Life isn't almost over, though with some of the classes I have to look forward to, I'm not quite so sure.

In vacanze

2008-07-08T02:49:00.003+02:00

Ah, lovely Florida in the summertime. Well, besides the cloud cover and humidity, at least. I'm enjoying my little family vacation and my time with my brother before he goes off to California and with my family after being gone for about nine months. I'm also going to try to see some other friends in the area and some of my extended family in the area, too.

I got in a conversation with my brother's roommate and his girlfriend (who happens to be my roommate from high school and a very good friend) last night about anime, and now I've got an anime-watching project to last me for the rest of the summer, hooray! Well, I just wanted to write something since it's been a little while since I last wrote, even if it's not anything important or groundbreaking.

The family in Florida, taking a walk on Park Avenue

Library Work

2008-06-26T18:27:00.003+02:00

The library is an enormous mess right now. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it is being torn apart! Quite literally, actually. They're renovating the ground floor this summer, which is where I do most of my work. The carpets have been pulled up, the walls have been torn down, dust is everywhere--it's not a very nice place to spend a lot of time! Unfortunately, I spend the majority of most days here! However, I think the final product will be worth the trouble.

That's all that's going on with me right now. I'm afraid my blog entries won't be very interesting this summer if this one is anything to go by!

Here I am

2008-06-22T06:10:00.001+02:00

Home again. Back in the United States. I guess I'll have to stop calling this a travel blog now, sadly. I'll still try to write, though, maybe as much as I wrote while I was in Italy! Pretty sad record, I know, but maybe I'll even write more now that I have so much more uninteresting stuff to write. That's usually when I write the most; when I have absolutely nothing to say!

I was very excited, though, that one of my teachers from the school in Italy was here in Tennessee for a bit. She's still here, actually, but she leaves tomorrow. That made it a little easier to come back since I knew I'd have at least one connection to Italy at least for a little bit. We love you, Milena! Now, I just need to watch Italian movies and listen to Italian music and try not to lose what I've learned.

Italia lost!

2008-06-09T22:38:00.003+02:00

I don't know if anyone out there is a fan of soccer, but I just watched the game between Italy and the Netherlands for the European Cup. Man, what a brutal defeat for Italy! Netherlands won 3-0. We were all together in the TV room watching the game on the projector, groaning and yelling and cheering for the poor Italian team.

I have to say, though, the olandese (Netherland-ish...how do you say that, anyway?) goalkeeper was pretty incredible! Even Simona, the Italian girl sitting next to me, said that. What made me laugh, though, was that every time the camera would pan to him, he'd have this huge frown on his face or he'd be yelling at his team members or something. Why so angry? You're apparently unbeatable! Well, at least by the Italian team. Silly goalkeeper.

Back in Florence

2008-06-08T14:59:00.000+02:00

And a bit relieved to be here. I hadn't thought about how stressful it would be to fly back from Malta only to have to be ready to fly again within a few hours. I'm glad I decided to come back earlier because now I have this week to figure out how I'm going to get to the airport and whether I'm going to try to pack that extra kilogram or not risk it.

It's kind of funny how much we worry about packing. In fact, if I were afraid of flying, at this point I'd probably be more afraid of getting through the weighing of the suitcases than that. I'm not afraid of flying, but I'm definitely worried about my suitcases! I wish it was easier than it is! I'm even considering just paying the extra money for my suitcases, but since I'm so close that would be pretty pointless. Right now I've already packed my suitcases and they're at a friend's house, but I've still got a few things I need to fit in somewhere, and they're not fitting in my carry-on! Anyway, that was a pointless little discourse about the petty worries of packing.

So, in more global news, Hilary Clinton has apparently finally given up her bid for president. I'm curious to see how the elections will pan out. I suppose I'd better get back to getting my stuff ready. I'll worry about the elections in November!

No sand, too much sun and broken bikes!

2008-06-06T18:28:00.002+02:00

Yep, so I'm in Malta. Quite a gorgeous place, actually, though the title might fool you. The beaches are mostly rocky and I think I got too much sun today when I had to walk back from a bay with Erin and our bikes. Her gears kept slipping on her bike, so we couldn't ride back to the hostel. It wasn't too bad, just a bit hot and sweaty. Now we're back, though, and tomorrow we'll meet some friends from Villa Aurora at the Adventist church here. So...that's my impression of Malta so far. No, just give me a couple of minutes of coolness and I'll give a much more positive report! :) Ciao everyone!

L'esame è fatto!

2008-05-30T12:55:00.001+02:00

As the title says, the exam is done! The conversation exam was this morning, the last part of the PLIDA test for international certification in Italian. I think I did well, but I'm just relieved to have it finished! Now I have to wait until October or November to find out how I did on the tests and whether or not I passed. I won't be anticipating it because waiting that long with anticipation would probably kill me! So, I'm going to put it out of my mind. Now I have a few days left here in Florence before I'm off to my island vacation in Malta, which sounds a lot more glamorous than it probably will be.

Tonight is our closing ceremony where we will receive our diplomas and have one last meeting together. Tomorrow is the closing ceremony of the theology students, and I'm going to try to go to that, too. This afternoon I'll spend some time shopping for souvenirs! Anyway, these are my last few days in Italy, and I hope I can enjoy them as I have enjoyed this year!

Ho finito! Ho finito! Ho finito!

2008-05-15T13:09:00.002+02:00

Title = I have finished! I've finished! I'm done! :D

Yes, I have just finished my last final exam (how's that for an interesting phrase?) for this school year! Of course I still have the PLIDA test, the international certification exam, which is nothing to sneeze at, but that's not for school! And boy, am I excited about that! Well, about the fact that it's not for school, at least.

Anyway, I'm off to eat lunch since I just had a few minutes here to mess around, but that was enough time to say what I came to say. I'm done!

Malta, here I come!

2008-05-07T13:15:00.000+02:00

I've been trying to figure out where to go after the school year ends, well, at least for a few days. I think I already wrote about that, but now I've found my solution! I'm heading to Malta!

In case you don't know, Malta is an island in the Mediterranean, though don't ask me anything beyond that!

Well, just an update, and now I'm off to eat some lunch.

After School Ends

2008-05-06T00:38:00.003+02:00

Well, I've got plans for the end of the school year, whether I want to or not! Oh, and I am finally updating after another long period of time with no updates.

Okay, about my most interesting travel plans for the end of this school year. I had thought about going to the northern part of Italy again and seeing some of the towns around Venice such as Padova (Padua), Vicenza and Verona. Sadly, I'm not going to be doing that. Of course, I'm still pretty excited about my plans, but I really did want to see some of these places. Maybe I can just take a few day trips to the cities, though the train tickets are a bit pricey. I'll figure it out, I suppose.

So, after all of that suspense, I will tell you all what I'm doing! I'm going to Malta for ten days! I hope I don't get bored there, which I don't think I will. Uh oh, I just had a bad thought. I'm traveling with Ryanair and can only take a carry-on bag. Which means that I can only take liquids and gels in tiny amounts. Which means that I can't take my sunscreen. I'm going to be in trouble! Let's hope that I can buy some sunscreen there for a lot less than 16 euro! So, those are my plans for the end of this school year! The end for now, I suppose. It's way past my bedtime!

Lazy Spring Days

2008-03-26T17:07:00.001+01:00

I just got back from doing cartwheels down the hill outside. I went down there to do them because I hoped to be out of anyone's eyesight, but I quickly realized three things. One, the gardener could easily see me from where he was, and I'd be highly embarrassed if he saw my little childish display; two, there were two random strangers wandering around near where I was; and three, I really need to stretch because I think I pulled a muscle. Not that I'm going to let any of this stop me from doing it again next time the sun comes out.

So, I again meant to write about some of the things I've done in the past few days, but I again forgot to do it. Yesterday I went to Pisa with my friend, Erin, and we had a good time wandering around. A lot of people don't like Pisa because they're disappointed with it when they go there expecting a bigger city with more tourist attractions than there are. However, since I'd gone before and only ended up spending half an hour or so in the Piazza dei Miracoli where the cathedral and the leaning tower are, I was happy to return again. I'd actually found an anime and manga store on the way to the piazza the first time, which is why I left the area rather quickly. That and it was raining that time, too.

Anyway, yesterday was a perfect day for a day trip. The sun was out, the sky was nearly cloudless, and the temperature was almost perfect, just a little bit on the chilly side. I got to see the inside of the cathedral and wander around the city, plus eat at a Chinese restaurant where Erin and I were the only non-Chinese (or at least non-Asian) customers. We got some stares, but we wanted our Chinese food! After our busy day, I took the train home by myself since Erin was planning to stay a few days there. I was definitely ready to be in bed by the time I got home!

The Cathedral

Inside the Cathedral (Loved the ceiling)

Erin and the Baptistry

Eating lunch on the grass in the Piazza

The Cathedral and the Leaning Tower

A Day in Church

2008-03-18T20:54:00.000+01:00

This is so cool! My roommate just pointed this video out to me. This was taken this past Sabbath in our church here in Florence, and my roommate (the only girl playing) and some other students were playing the special music. They did really well; in fact, it sounded a lot better in person, not that this sounds bad. The guy on the far right is also an ACA student, and then the other two are both high school students, I believe. Anyway, so I hope you all enjoy, and you can also get a tiny view of the church I go to most every Sabbath. I was actually sitting two rows behind the guy videotaping this up in the balcony. Pretty cool!

Bomboloni caldi

2008-03-13T20:54:00.001+01:00

Bomboloni caldi. What a lovely phenomenon! Bomboloni are fresh, hot doughnuts made in the afternoons at four o'clock. They're balls of dough fried and covered in sugar, and they'll even fill it with cream if you ask.

Several of our teachers had mentioned i bomboloni, but I hadn't had a chance to go get them yet. Today was a perfect day, the first sunny day in over a week, and it seemed the perfect afternoon to walk down to Piazza Dalmazia and eat some fresh doughnuts. Becky, Sally and I ventured down through the afternoon rush hour, maneuvering between crowds of children and their parents as they poured out of the schools and onto the sidewalks. After a few errands, we went to the pasticceria (little shop where they bake pastries) for our afternoon treat.

First we were astonished to find enormous chocolate eggs in the windows along with piles of other sweets for Easter. Now, these eggs were not just really big Easter eggs, they were amazing! They had pictures painted on them with frosting, and everywhere was written, "Buona Pasqua!" (translation: Happy Easter) Once we got inside the pasticceria, we were all a little dazed by the assorted pastries calling to us through the display windows. Then a man who worked there walked past us and asked us what he could get us. He started listing off various types of sweets.

Then he said the magic words, "Bomboloni caldi!" We jumped to agree, and he pointed us to a spot on the counter where they had fresh ones sitting on a paper and uncooked ones waiting to be fried. They asked if we wanted cream, and after we agreed the lady squeezed some into each of the doughnuts with a big icing-bag-thing. Then the man got a little plate and they set them on it for us. We each took one and took the first bite. They were warm and perfect! I had sugar all over my lips by the end. Afterwards we looked at each other and agreed to get another.

I very much enjoyed my experience with bomboloni, but I'll definitely have to be careful that I don't start resembling one!

Marzo pazzo

2008-03-09T09:04:00.000+01:00

"Crazy March." That's definitely the right name for this month! Sally, one of the volunteers here and a friend of mine, was telling me that she heard a couple of women in the store talking about "marzo pazzo" because of the strange weather we've been having. Then in one of our classes we learned a little phrase for it: "Marzo pazzarello, esce il sole e prende l'ombrello!" I know it doesn't go exactly like that, but it's close. It roughly translates as "Crazy march, out with the sun and take the umbrella," but don't put any faith in my translation skills! After a couple of translation classes and learning the dangers of mistranslating, I'm frightened to translate anything!

So my March has been pretty crazy so far. The weather has been pretty strange; at the beginning of this past week it felt like spring for sure with sunny days and very mild temperatures (I even went outside with short sleeves). Then in the middle of the week the temperature suddenly took a sudden plunge. The days since then have been cold, cloudy and rainy. Oh, and extremely windy! How could I have forgotten the wind? It's quite impressive wind, actually. When we're sitting in our classes, we can hear it whistling around the corners of the building pretty much constantly. Actually, it's more than whistling. Closer to screeching! One cool thing about this weather is that the clouds always seem to look incredible, even when they're dumping rain on us. Plus for a couple of days this past week, when it first got cloudy, underneath the cloud cover the horizon was extremely clear! We could see clearly some of the mountains (or hills, whatever they're called) around the city, which are normally seen through a haze of what I assume is probably pollution.

View under the clouds

The sky trying to decide whether to be cloudy or sunny

Besides the weather, we started a new trimester at the end of February, and I'm still getting used to it! I'm taking a lot of classes this time since most of the classes I need are available only this trimester. Besides the normal grammar, composition and conversation courses, I'm also taking History of Italy, Translation and Interpretation, History of Art, Literature, Italian Culture, Geography and Mediterranean Cooking. Of course, a couple of these classes only meet once a week, but it's still a pretty busy schedule.

In two weeks, we're taking a two-day trip to Rome, and the day we get back from that, our three weeks of spring break begin! This is my crazy March, though not so crazy when I'm writing it down.

Soon I'll put more pictures on my picture site, I hope, though I haven't been taking many pictures lately. I think the most recent ones (besides a couple I took of the sky this week) were from the Valentine's party. Those are pretty fun. Well, I suppose I'll save some of my motivation for writing for the next entry.

Shame on me!

2008-03-08T09:08:00.001+01:00

Ha ha, once a week. I should have known better! :) So, here's my shameful first blog after about two months. Almost exactly two months, actually. And I really don't have anything else I want to say in this entry, either. I have one planned out, but I'll do that later today. Though I'm not going to promise since I know how well that works for me! Happy Sabbath, everyone!

Once a week...

2008-01-13T03:28:00.000+01:00

Okay, so I'm running a little late for this week, but I wanted to try to post on my blog at least once a week as often as I can, and so here is my post for this week.

Not much new going on here, just started classes again this week. I did have a test on Friday in my grammar class, and it wasn't my best performance! I blame it completely on the fact that this was our first test since getting back from break.

Besides that, not much else to tell; this might be how some of my posts go sometimes! I hope everyone is doing well in their first few weeks of the new year.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-02T12:39:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the new year, one and all! It's 2008: a leap year, the year that I would have been graduating had I finished in four years, and the year in which I will attempt to write more often in my blog! :o) Right now it's going to be time for lunch pretty soon, and the cafeteria is finally reopening for this meal. So, I'm waiting in anticipation for this exciting event. Otherwise it's a pretty normal day. School starts again next week, and I guess I'm looking forward to classes starting again. I'll feel better about having a routine again, but I also rather enjoy being lazy. Anyway, hope everyone will have a wonderful new year!

Finalmente! Questo film...

2007-12-28T14:07:00.000+01:00

I've been meaning to post this short video for a really, really long time! It's pretty funny, and quite true, or so I've heard. I don't know about some of it from personal experience. So, enjoy:

Paris at Christmas Time

2007-12-26T21:03:00.000+01:00

Okay, at least one more thing. Since Becky has posted something about our trip to Paris, I must now do the same for the sake of our non-existent competition. If we were competing over posts, I think Becky would win by default since she has about a hundred more than I do. But oh well, I'll still write something about our trip to Paris! We had a really awesome time and did nearly everything we'd wanted to do, which is nearly a miracle considering that we had about three and a half days and none of us speak French. Though it did help that a lot of the signs were written in French and English and that a lot of the people spoke at least a little bit of English. However, we're still going to pretend that we managed to do all we did through much trial and tribulation. That way I feel accomplished!

Sunday evening, after we arrived and got settled in the hostel, we walked around and ended up finding our way to the Church of the Sacred Heart, or in francese, la Basilique du Sacré-Coeur. The church was positively breathtaking, and after we'd looked around inside for a bit, some nuns came out and started singing, so it felt like a little piece of heaven and its splendor. Or at least that's what I like to think!

La Basilique du Sacré-Coeur

The next day, which was Monday, we left early in the morning (well, 9:00 at least) for the Louvre. We spent THE ENTIRE DAY walking THE ENTIRE LOUVRE. We were there for about 9 hours, and we literally walked the entire museum. And I actually remember some of the things I saw! Maybe because I took pictures...

Cupid and Psyche

So, after the Louvre we walked toward a big ferris wheel that we could see from the museum and that I hoped would be a carnival. Sadly, it was only the ferris wheel. But we walked through a pretty park, and the ferris wheel was near this big intersection with an obelisk and lots of other cool stuff that I suspect were famous and took pictures of. I also took a lot of pictures of the ferris wheel, which I suspect I was a little obsessed with.

My obsession :oD

The next day (after a very well-deserved and restful night of sleep!) we started with an attempt to see the Bastille. I don't even know exactly what we should have been looking for (a prison of some kind?) or whether it's still around, but I guess I'll never know since we didn't find it! We did, however, find our way to one of Victor Hugo's houses. They had a little museum inside (as expected) and it was free! Hooray for free things! It was actually quite a nice little display, too. After we finished there, we started our rather long walk to Notre Dame, and on the way we stopped in at least one other church, and I also saw a store named after me! Or at least coincidentally with the same name. I don't know anyone in Paris, so somehow I doubt it was named after me. Unfortunately. Notre Dame was everything it's cracked up to be. The stained-glass windows were positively amazing, and they had music playing (or possibly even live) there, too. Between the Gregorian chanting--I'm not really sure that's the right type of music, but we'll pretend it is--and the colorful rays of light, I was in awe. Even among all of the crowds of people and busyness in the church, it still felt like a holy place. I left the cathedral feeling blessed.

The square that contains the house of Victor Hugo

I think we're going to be very good friends...

The back of Notre Dame; unfortunately the picture I took of the front got lost because my camera was being stupid. So, you'll just have to settle yourselves with this one till I get pictures from Sean. And hope that he took some of the front.

Looking at one of the stained-glass windows with a weird reflection on the camera

I didn't feel so blessed for long, though, when we started climbing the Eiffel Tower an hour or two later! I recalled vividly my fear of heights about an eighth of the way up to the first floor, and we were on the stairs. However, thanks to the encouragement of Becky and Sean, and thanks to very sturdy metal railings, I made it up to the second floor with them, which was as high as we could go on foot. And the view was definitely worth it! We walked up right about at sunset, so we got to see the city in daylight and then also in the dark. Beautiful!

On the way there

Me on the Eiffel Tower, 2nd floor (I think) during the light show - sparkly! :o)

Beautiful sunset over Paris

After we climbed carefully back down the tower, we took the metro part of the way home and stopped at Moulin Rouge to see it in the dark, since Keturah had told me that it's not that impressive, but definitely better at night. I thought it was a little impressive, but I am glad that we went at night. It was in a halfway-sleazy part of town, though. It was a bit surreal because half of the stores around it were sex shops, but there were also normal stores interspersed between them, and most of the people walking around were families or older, distinguished, or normal people. Weird. Anyway, after that, we went back and eventually got to bed.

Bright lights, big city...I never did get what was with the windmill, though

The next morning, we got out of bed and packed up everything. Fortunately, we were able to leave our luggage at the hostel for the day so we could tour around on our last day without dragging our bags behind us. Our first stop for the day was the Church of the Sacred Heart again for daytime pictures. After that, took the metro to l'Hotel des Invalides and the tomb of Napoleon, which was really big and impressive and covered in gold. After a bit of exploring there, we walked to the Petit Palais and went inside for some time to look around. The Petit Palais had some really nice artwork, and again this museum was free, at least for the permanent collection. After that we walked to the Palais Garnier Opera House, stopping at another pretty church on the way. The Opera House is where the Phantom of the Opera was set. We did have to pay to get in there, but I think it was worth it! The staircase was certainly grand, and so was this really cool foyer. After that, we raced back to the hostel for our bags and took the metro to the Arch of Triumph, or l'Arc de Triomphe. We only took enough time to get some pictures before running to catch the bus back to the airport. After a long trip home, that was the end of my trip to Paris! I really loved the city. Paris is gorgeous! I'm really glad I went.

Becky and I in front of the Church of the Sacred Heart

La Basilique du Sacré-Coeur in the daylight

Everybody has fun at l'Hotel des Invalides!

We could be twins. Except that he's in marble. And I'm much cooler. Literally (notice the red nose).

If Napoleon had commissioned this for himself, I would have thought he was conceited. Very impressive!

Palais Garnier - Angel of Music? :o)

Sean, Becky and me on one of the balconies overlooking the grand staircase

Below the grand staircase

Goodbye, Paris! L'Arc de Triomphe

So, in summary of this huge post (my longest yet), these are the things from my checklist of Paris that I got to do:

1. Saw the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur

2. Walked the entire Louvre

3. Went inside the house of Victor Hugo

4. Saw Notre Dame

5. Climbed the Eiffel Tower and saw it in day and night

6. Posed in front of Moulin Rouge

7. Walked down the stairs in front of the Sacré-Coeur that are in the movie Amelie

8. Went to the Hotel des Invalides and Napoleon's tomb

9. Went inside the Petit Palais

10. Went to the Opera Garnier

11. Took a picture on the grand staircase from the Phantom of the Opera

12. Saw the Arc de Triomphe

Plus a lot of extras. And all this in only three and a half days. We must have superhuman powers. :oP THE END!!!

Merry (Late) Christmas!

2007-12-26T20:06:00.000+01:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas even if it is a little late. Or, in Italian, Buon Natale!

Here everyone is definitely still celebrating Christmas. Becky and I went out for a walk this evening and found that nearly everything is closed. There were quite a few families and older couples out walking, too, but no one was out to shop or run errands. After wandering around near the school since we couldn't buy bus passes (mine is completely used up and Becky left hers in the room, which is also almost finished), we finally found a bar (a café in Italy) that was open and decided to stop for a couple of caffè (coffees). There were a total of four people inside, including us. It was nice, though, because we could speak in Italian (a little bit) and not feel quite as stupid as we usually would. After that we walked back to the school in a roundabout direction. And I'm writing all of this just to have something to write! I've been busy lately, but not with anything really newsworthy. I'm sure everyone really wants to hear about how I hand washed my clothes this afternoon and all of the little things like that. So, here's another post. Finally. About almost nothing. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! :o)

Oh, and here are a few pictures I took on our little outing today, since I've decided to chronicle everything I do in pictures. Well, nearly everything.

Some mannequins making weird faces that made Becky and I laugh.

Becky and I copying the mannequins. I think we look prettier than they do! :o)

Che bellissimo sunset!

Oh, and what beautiful girls, too! ;o)

And now that's the end for now! Maybe one of my New Year's resolutions will be to update my blog more often, though. We'll see! Ciao everyone!

Lucca

2007-11-29T16:20:00.000+01:00

I uploaded this picture for my profile picture and thought, why not leave it up here? So, this is a picture of me in un parco (if you can't figure out what that word means, I'm a little worried) in Lucca. I really loved Lucca, even though it was a rainy day. As they say here in Italy, fa brutto tempo!

Trip to Napoli

2007-11-20T22:41:00.000+01:00

Okay, I'm going to jump ahead of myself a bit and go ahead and post the video from our trip to Napoli, the Amalfi Coast, Capri and Pompeii here since they put it on the internet. Here it is:

Silenzio Accademico

2007-11-19T15:56:00.000+01:00

Today is "silenzio accademico," or dead day. Our finals begin tomorrow, and I feel positively terrified! It's not that I've been doing terribly in my classes, but I'm worried that I'll start now. Meanwhile, in other news, a record is broken when I make two posts in two days!

So, I mentioned Cinque Terre but didn't really expound on any details. I'll say a little more about that trip now and try to also get to some of the other trips since then. As I may or may not have mentioned, the day was partly cloudy and even a little rainy sometimes, but I was actually glad for that since it meant less tourists, excluding ourselves, of course. We started out at the first town, Riomaggiore, which is also where the "Via dell'amore" starts, which is a walkway that goes through this stone tunnel-type thing with graffiti all over the walls. The graffiti was pretty awesome, though. I had fun there even if I wasn't with a lover. Or was I?

Anyway, I walked with some of my friends and one of my teachers, Milena, to the next town, Manarola. It was a picturesque little place, and I think that's where I bought my Cinque Terre dessert that was made of angel-food cake with apples and confectioner's sugar and probably some other goodies. It was quite yummy, plus it had the added attraction of being named after the place, which is a sure way to lure in unsuspecting tourists. After that we took in some of the scenery and continued our trek between that town and the next one, Corniglia. I really liked Corniglia, but it had the unfortunate feature of forcing us to walk up hundreds of stairs to finally reach the town itself. In Corniglia I bought some gelato and saw a bunch of beers in front of a store with pictures of famous, or possibly infamous, people on the labels. Hitler seemed to be a popular one. I also had the fun experience of having my skirt blown up by the wind in Corniglia. Let's just say I'm thankful that no one was paying enough attention to be able to tell me whether it went all the way up or not!

After wandering around in Corniglia for a bit, we took the train to the last town, Monterosso, passing up Vernazza, which was one of the places I really wanted to see, but it was okay that I missed it. In Monterosso I walked on the beach and watched while Milena talked a couple of the men on the beach into letting us (Becky, Milena and I) use some lounge chairs, which would normally have a charge during the high season. I eventually moved on to look at the giant man carved out of rock toward the end of the city, and then we rode the train back to La Spezia and took the bus home. All in all, it was a busy but incredible day! And now I must go to study some more. I'll see about writing about a few of the other trips during my breaks.

Cinque Terre

2007-11-18T15:02:00.000+01:00

So, I'm finally updating again. For now, I'm still going to catch everyone up a little bit before I start doing current stuff. On September 26, we went to Cinque Terre, a set of five coastal towns in the mountains along the sea. It was absolutely gorgeous, though it did rain a bit and it was partly cloudy for most of the day. Anyway, so here's a video that one of my classmates put together with pictures and short films from the trip. Also, I'm going to maybe post a few pictures in this blog, but I'm also going to have a separate page for pictures since I have so many and since they take forever to load here. SO, without further ado:

First Impressions

2007-10-12T12:28:00.000+02:00

I know I've been here for more than a month now, but I had planned to write about my traveling and my arrival in Italy, so everyone's going to have to put up with old news.

First I have to say that flying was amazing. I had flown in a small plane before, but never in an airline, so the experience was quite different. I'd never been so high! The clouds were gorgeous and a lot more interesting from above. When we first got up in the air, the atmosphere was so hazy that it looked like a big bowl of blue soup with dollops of sour cream floating on its surface. As we traveled further north, though, and over the ocean, the atmosphere got clearer and the clouds got bigger.

I took probably way too many pictures of the clouds because I love the sky and wanted to share some of the scenery at least with my dad, who may be the only one who appreciates it, and to remember my first flight over the ocean.

When we flew into Frankfurt, the sky was overcast with just enough space between clouds to cast an eerie light on the city. The panorama looked like something out of a science fiction novel, completely with skyscrapers and space ships (well, I imagined we were in a space ship, anyway).

We found our way through the airport to the trains, though we thankfully didn't have the trouble that I'd heard we would have. Keturah (my travel companion who is also now my roommate) and I took a train to a town or suburb called Mainz, about twenty minutes from the airport. Mainz was nice, though the weather was a lot colder than we had expected, considering we had left America in summer heat. We found a little café and settled down with some tea to write letters, or in my case, write in my journal. I felt a bit out of place, really, considering that no spoke much English, and Keturah and I didn't want to be conspicuous as tourists and Americans. However, after sitting for a bit and enjoying the tea, I felt better. This was my first minor experience with culture shock, I suppose.

After we wandered Mainz for several hours, we returned to the airport and boarded another smaller plane for the flight to Florence. I enjoyed this flight nearly as much as my first flight because we flew over a lot of mountains, and I took about another hundred pictures. I first realized we were in Italy when I saw the ocean with tiny snakes of water crawling away from it. I couldn't tell you which cities I saw from the air, but I was too much in awe to pay close attention to the actual layout and geography.

Our plane landed at the Florence airport after 6 pm, and we were met by Liviana, the girls' dean. We climbed into the big ADRA van she had driven to pick us up--she explained the the other van was in use at the time--and I had my first experience with Italian traffic. I wouldn't call the memory traumatic, but I have to admit I was on the edge of my seat a few times when we came within inches of other cars or when people decided to change lanes whether or not there was room for them in the desired lane. To my surprise, we arrived unscathed just in time for dinner.

Speaking of food, it is now time for lunch, so I'll be continuing later. I'm going to have to post pictures later, too.

Ciao!

2007-10-09T12:34:00.000+02:00

Hello everyone! My first blog entry, wow. I just realized something very interesting. Apparently Google is the Italian Google here, and so is my blog website since it's through Google. Therefore, all of the options and instructions for blogging are in Italian. I'm going to have to figure out a way to have it in English, because while I'm definitely learning a lot of Italian, I don't know the computer terms at all really. Anyway, this is kind of a test blog to see how it looks and whether I'll change the layout or not. Hope everyone is doing well!