Lazy Spring Days

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

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

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

"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!

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...

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!

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...

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

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!

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!