Barcelona French Fling

I never dreamed I'd actually get into a fling...much less with a French guy. Those 4 French guys staying in the same room? Well went out with them last night for a drink at a bar and though they didn't speak much English, we did actually manage to communicate. Had lotsa attention coz I was the only girl since Bovy decided she wasn't feeling well enough to go.

I must say that French guys are really something. Definitely way better than Italians. For one thing, they aren't cheap. They bought my drink. Then when we were walking back, all of them were finding some opportunity to hold my hand or put an arm around my waist. It was definitely very flattering for my female ego. Luckily for me, I only really like one of them...lol so at least I didn't have to make a choice as to which one I'd go for!! Hahaha

French guys are definitely great kissers...and wonderful for a fling coz of the language barrier. It's a pity I'm leaving today although he did try very hard to get me to extend my stay in Barcelona. I must say that I was sorely tempted, if I hadn't already paid €70 for my bus trip back to Paris and booked my accomodation and bought disneyland tix. Ah well, I suppose at least I'll have some nice memories! 8p Now just where has the conservative me gone?

Barcelona

Being sick on a holiday sux. Here I am in Barcelona and I've just wasted the entire day staying in the hostel coz I was sick. I threw up when there was nothing to chuck (which is the worst kinda feeling) and I've still got a headache and I keep getting chills. I'd planned a full itinery for today too, but now I'm gonna have to revamp the entire itinery to make up for lost time.

On the upside, we met some cute French guys who are staying in the same room. They're design students from southern France. The downside is that I'm sick...so although they invited us to join them to go out clubbing, I don't feel up to going. Argh! They don't speak much English though, but one of them is really hot... Sigh. They're gonna be around tomorrow though so maybe we can go out with them then.

I might as well have not taken a course in French for all the French I can speak. Everything I wanna say comes out in Italian. On the upside, I can actually understand some Spanish since it's so similar to Italian. Italian is still stuck on me though when I find myself saying 'Sì' instead of 'oui' and 'grazie' instead of 'gracias' and going 'ciao' pretty much all the time. The whole language switching thing as you cross borders really mucks up your brain...

Christmas

Christmas

Merry Chirstmas to everyone! Spent Christmas eve at the Eiffel Tower and we walked for 16 hours that day. The Eiffel Tower was real crowded. It seemed everyone wanted to climb the Eiffel Tower that day! It's definitely worth going up though. From the top they tell you in which direction different countries in the world are and how far it's from Paris. Wellington is almost 19 000km away...definitely one of the furthest. The view of Paris at night from the top of the tower is fantastic...a very romantic spot.

I attended the midnight mass at Notre Dame...and yep all of Paris wanted to attend too. It was so crowded and they had to get police control. It was in french though, but the gospel was in English. The choir was fantastic...as it would be for such a grand affair.

We met some of the other backpackers in the same hostel yesterday. They're from Canada...asian Canadians who speak better French and understand more French than Mandarin. We spent the day with them, went to see the Moulin Rouge, which was really disappointing compared to what it looked like in the movie. The one in the movie is more impressive! I'd have liked to watch one of the cabaret shows, but the cheapest tickets for the shows cost more than €80! One would think that with those kinda prices, they could have renovated the exterior...make it more impressive. As it is, it was kinda small.

We ended the night at this fantastic french restaurant with the Canadians which wasn't too expensive I guess. Then went to Place de la Concorde for a ride on the ferris wheel. Bovy was squealing the entire time...she doesn't like moving heights much. She squealed going up the Eiffel Tower as well. One of the guys mentioned he saw a guy propose to his girlfriend at the top of the Eiffel Tower yesterday. Pretty romantic...and of course she said yes. He said he didn't think the tower was romantic until he witness that and now he would like his future wife to propose to him at the top of the tower too! I think a proposal at the top of the tower is kinda romantic I guess, but not too original.

We're leaving for Barcelona tomorrow, to begin phase 2. Time is really flying! It was kinda sad having to say goodbye to the new friends, but we're probably gonna see them in Germany in Cologne coz they're on exchange there. One of them, we're gonna see him again when we get back to Paris coz we're going to Versailles together. Should be interesting, together with the countdown in Disneyland Paris! My sister is gonna be so jealous!

Paris

Paris

It's phase 1 of the Big Europe Trip. I saw Wouter off at the bus station the morning I left for Paris...and was trying desperately not to cry (without much success). I think the people at the bus station must have thought I was pathetic...red nose, running eyes...you get the picture. Saying goodbye is always the hardest for the people staying behind.

Anyway, as I was saying, the Big Europe Trip has begun. I can't quite believe I'm in Paris...seeing the Eiffel Tower, and going to the Louvre. It's pretty surreal. the hostel I'm at is kinda awful...they don't have an elevator and we had to carry all our luggage up 3 flights of stairs!! It smelled bad and there wasn't much lighting in the rooms either. Staff isn't very friendly and they lock you out from 10 to 3pm. For those who wish to stay in Paris, my advice is don't stay at Auberge Internationale Jeune (I think that's the name, or something pretty similar). Despite the lousy accomodation, Paris is fantastic. You can really tell the difference between buildings in France and Italy...even though they're almost as old as each other.

Bovy and I paid a visit to the Louvre today...mainly to see the Mona Lisa. It's not very impressive though. Lol...it was kinda like ok this is the Mona Lisa and that's it. Nothing very 'wow'. There were some really nice paintings though, especially Galerie de vues de la Rome moderne and Galerie de vues de la Rome antique. They were my 2 favourite paintings in the Louvre. The medival section of the Louvre is kinda creepy, being underground and it was especially creepy close to closing time when no one was about. Think dark and chilly and bare. You'd expect to see something floating towards you any minute. I'd hate to get lost down there! The Louvre building itself is really impressive being so long. We never got to see everything and after awhile you get bored...

Gonna scale the Eiffel Tower tomorrow. I can't believe it's almost Christmas!

End of Exchange

End of Exchange

Another chapter of my life has ended, with exams being over and everyone leaving. Funny how fast time goes. I really hate to leave and to say goodbye, knowing that chances of seeing certain friends you've made again are pretty slim.

Despite all it's shortcomings, I'm gonna miss Italy...it's nightlife, the great (if non punctual) transport system, aperitivos...and yes, pizza and pasta. There's no pizza anywhere like in Italy. Or mozzarella. Think brick oven, traditionally baked pizzas.

Definitely, what I'll miss most are the people...even returning to Italy in future won't be the same coz the people make the difference. Actually I still can't quite believe I've been in Italy. I think maybe it'll really hit only after I'm gone.

Naturally the people I'll miss most will be Bovy and Wouter. I'm gonna be travelling with Bovy all around Europe over the next month, but we'll only see Wouter some time in January when we go over to the Netherlands. I'm gonna miss seeing him everyday... As Alex, my roommate would say 'Charlie's Angels' is no more. We're going to Simon's tomorrow to hang out and stay up the whole night...and cry over saying goodbyes. Did I mention how I hate saying goodbye?

Turning 20

Turning 20

Gosh time really flies…can’t believe my birthday just came and went like that! Not that I didn’t have a good time of course, I had really good friends to celebrate with and it was one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had. It started off the night before, watching a movie with Wouter and Bovy until midnight when they surprised me by bringing in lighted candles and singing happy birthday. It was so sweet…but then I wouldn’t call them my best friends for nothing would I?

I’d actually intended to just pass my birthday quietly…probably just with Wouter and Bovy, but my room mate objected to that…she’s definitely more of a party girl than I am…so I ended up inviting about 20 people to dinner at this Chinese restaurant where some friends had been too before and said it was great. And so it was…good food, good friends, great birthday. 8) They even ordered a cake thing and asked for a candle to be put in as a substitute birthday cake. They tried to get me drunk though, ordering a glass of grappa which is about 70% alcohol and telling me I had to drink it. They didn’t know it was so strong….and neither did I but we figured since it was served in such a huge portion, it couldn’t have been too bad. I mean, pure vodka is served in shots and this drink came in a portion similar to a full wine glass…which lead me to make the huge mistake of taking a gulp from the glass, because if it was gonna taste bad might as well take it like a shot right? I nearly died….or came close to anyway. It totally burned like drinking liquid fire…and it burned for awhile. Of course I didn’t finish the drink (if I did I’d probably be in hospital right now) and I passed the drink around for them to try the poison they just tried to feed me lol.

Speaking of alcohol, I received a bottle of liquor from Will and a bottle of wine from Ben and Mike (figures it’ll be the guys who give alcohol 8p). How it’s all gonna be consumed by the time I leave beats me. Fiona and co got me this really nice scarf, which would certainly come in useful for when I head to Sweden and Finland! Pietro gave me roses. Wouter and Bovy got me something, but it’s not here yet or not ready yet…and I’m dying of curiosity juz wondering what it is.

Originally I’d intended to go out clubbing after dinner so I gave Will the roses and wine (since he lives 2 doors down from me) to take back. He was being accommodating since it was my birthday, although he looked funny carrying 4 roses and a bottle of wine walking down the street. When I cancelled plans to go clubbing and decided to head home instead, he and Julie disappeared…alone, so I couldn’t relieve him from the task of carrying wine and roses. Must have been a sight though, he had wine, roses and a girl…now all that was missing was the guitar…

Work & Projects

Work & Projects

Finals are around the corner, got projects to complete, really need to study, but somehow can't bring myself to do it. I can't seem to get outta holiday mode!!! The thing is, neither can most of the other exchange students and while we're all ordinarily not like this at home, there's something about going on exchange that makes you not wanna study.

It's been more than 2 months now...of not really studying. I wonder what's gonna happen when I return home to reality. In the meantime, I'm still not studying (but trying hard...well kinda) and when I'm not trying, I'm busy going out or planning my travels. Can't wait till school is over so I start my big 1.5 month Europe tour! Gonna spend Christmas in Paris, then head to Spain and back to France for New Year's then to London and after that Holland, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Ireland before meeting up with Addie in Warwick and going to either Denmark or Norway. I so love how easy it is to travel within Europe!!

Prague Photos

Prague Photos

And here are some of the photos I took in Prague. Era bellisima!


International travel mates: Wouter (Holland), Me (NZ), Nadia (Singapore), Julie (Canada)


Prague Castle


In the Prague Castle courtyard: Nadia, Me, Wouter


Old Town Square during the day


Almost magical: Old Town Square at night


Tyn Church - much like a fairy tale castle aye?


On Charles Bridge at night


View from Chrales Bridge


View of the city

Mid-Semester Break I: Prague

Mid-Semester Break I: Prague

Prague has gotta be one of the most beautiful cities in the world! I returned to Milan Tuesday night from my way-too-short trip to Prague (Czech Republic), Vienna (Austria) and Bratislava (Slovakia). We (Julie, Nadia, Wouter and me) spent 2 days in Prague, 1 day in Vienna and about ½ a day in Bratislava…that is not counting the time we spent traveling from place to place.

We left Milan 3 November to catch the flight to Bratislava in the evening coz Ryanair doesn’t fly to Prague and landed in Bratislava at around 6.30 in the evening, only to find that we had missed the bus to Prague. That’s one of the problems with flying with a low cost airline…you get flights at inconvenient times and to small places, but hey it’s way cheaper (€40 for a return trip). Anyway, this left us with no option than to catch a train to Prague which was about 4 ½ hours away (5 hours by bus). Getting to the train station from the airport was another story altogether….we ended up taking a cab and got entirely ripped off. My advice to those who wish to travel to Bratislava: Don’t take a cab!! One would expect it not to be so expensive since the Slovakia isn’t exactly a very developed country, but the cab drivers really rip tourists off!

We had to switch trains to get to Prague and it was kinda scary coz they didn’t speak English (only Czech) and for quite a couple of stops we didn’t see the name of the station on the stations so we were quite afraid we would miss our stop. The other worry was that we’d miss our connecting train as our train was late and there were some problems along the way. Julie was pretty worried and kept telling us not to worry; Wouter’s Dutch so he was cool throughout (I never seen him worry before…); Nadia and I were kinda in-between. But as Wouter says, it all works out in the end and we did stop at the right place (nearly got off wrongly though!) and we did make our connection.

Arriving in Prague at midnight, we then faced the problem of getting to town, or rather to our hostel. The train station was kinda dodgy with bums lying around and scary-looking people. I can’t figure out why Wouter said he felt safe there…honestly “safe” didn’t come to mind when Nadia, Julie and I looked at the train station. We ended up taking a cab and getting ripped off again. The Czech Republic is also not a good place to take a cab!!

Day 1 in Prague was spent at the Prague Castle, with its gothic cathedral and numerous museums. The cathedral was definitely impressive…I’d say it was on par with the Duomo here in Milan, but scarier looking…the gargoyles looked quite evil… It was cold in Prague though, which made the grog (hot spiced wine) we had in the afternoon much welcome. Food isn’t too expensive in Prague, although having to convert from euro to Czech crowns to evaluate prices was rather tiring (1 euro = 30 Czech crowns).

Night time found us wandering about Staré Mesto (Old Town), with its cobbled streets and alleys and the stores lining them. The buildings looked gorgeous lit up at night and the view from Charles Bridge was totally breathtaking, with jazz buskers playing at certain points on the bridge. We had dinner at one of the outdoor restaurants which had decent prices and wonderful food. I had pork medallions in port wine sauce with potato purée which was simply divine. Ended the night in a jazz bar recommended by the Lonely Planet but the book gave the totally wrong address…thankfully we found the right place by accident. The band playing that night was good and the saxophonist was female (a nice change from the usual male players!), the bar was warm and the drinks were good….a lethal combination to put you to sleep coz you’re so relaxed. When we got back to the hostel we met these 2 Belgian chicks who were staying in the same room. They assumed we didn't speak French though and were talking about Wouter and whether he was 'dangerous'...probably coz he was the only guy in the room. They kept glancing at him throughout talking to us...and about us. We didn't tell them that Julie, being Canadian, studied French as a 2nd language coz it was compulsory in her school and Wouter, being Dutch, also had to study French among several other languages in school. For me, my French has gotten really rusty so I only managed to pick up certain things. It was funny though.

Day 2 was spent wandering about town and visiting the Jewish part of the city as well as the St Nick's Cathedral and the Child of Prague Church which were really impressive. We also visited the Charles Bridge in the day...and it was awfully cold and rainy. Still, the view from the bridge was great! At night we found ourselves having dinner at the same place since the food was so good there and the prices were decent. Then we headed back to the hostel which had an underground bar for drinks...and an early night since we had to get up at 6.30 the next morning to catch the bus to Vienna.

Lost Wallet

Lost Wallet

Ok I've pretty much come to terms with the fact that I'm never gonna actually catch up with my travelling blogs so I've given up writing them...well for most places except when I feel like it. I'll try and post photos, but it's rather annoying to upload them coz I've to resize them first.

Anyway, this is really outdated but on the way to Portofino I lost my wallet on the train and I only realised it was gone when I wanted to pay for ferry tickets and couldn't find my wallet. Chances of me ever getting it back are negative so although I asked the guy at the station to call the staff in the train to see if they could find my wallet, I pretty much expected that they wouldn't find it. I mean it was a Versace wallet and it had quite a sum of cash inside and...it's Italy. Probably if it was another European country, my chances of getting it back are higher but oh well... Thankfully my credit card wasn't in the wallet though as I forgot to put it back into my wallet and had shoved it into my coat pocket in the morning so I guess it wasn't so bad. The worst thing about losing my wallet is losing all the cards I had in it. Sigh...they're a real pain to replace and my pretty Otago student ID is lost forever and can't be replaced coz I get a new card next year and it'll be different. 8( I lost my NZ driver's license too which is also kinda a pain but I can only get that replaced when I return to NZ next year. My insurance company is pretty good though (did I mention I love insurance...especially travel insurance?) so they're compensating me for my wallet and for the cash I lost and are playing for my card replacements.

Filing for the insurance claim was a bit of a hassle though coz I had to submit a police report. In any other country I suppose it wouldn't be so bad, but this is Italy. Since it's Italy, filing a police report was naturally a horrendous experience. Naturally they don't speak any English at all (which I expected and so I asked a friend to come along as a translator) and naturally their computer system had to crash for an hour. Naturally they also gave priority to Italians rather than foreigners so even though this Italian lady came after me she got to go first. Now I'm just waiting to hear from my insurance company as to how much they'd be willing to compensate me coz I couldn't find the price of my wallet online, although I found a similar looking Prada wallet and gave them the link to that...so maybe they'll get me that wallet (it was really nice). 8P

Italian Exams

Italian Exams

I just finished my mid term exam (had only 1 for Innovation and Technology Management) and am now blessedly free and will soon be heading to Prague, Vienna and Bratislava for the rest of the break. I've come to understand why Italian students can still afford to party hard when exams are just around the corner...they cheat. I don't mean sneaky cheat, but rather openly cheat...like take their friend's paper and copy it or discuss the answers or copy from a cheat sheet. They do it right in front of the examiners too! The examiners know that they cheat but they don't do anything about it. In one exam (unfortunately not the one I took), the professor told the class “Just don't cheat too much”!! Or if the professors do anything it would just be to shush the class from time to time. For the “stricter” ones, they'd give students who were cheating too obviously a verbal warning once and if they caught them again, they merely take 1 or 2 points off their grade. Like Hello? This is a university exam counting towards your final grade right? What's 1 or 2 points out of 30 if you can get 30 by cheating?!! Us exchange students are completely astounded by this Italian way of doing things. I mean all of us have discussed the issue several times and the consensus is that never would you find a university where cheating in exams is so widely accepted except in Italy!! It's insane!! Anyhow, people didn’t cheat too much in my exam...coz my professor is Swiss, rather than Italian, so it'll probably be more fair considering that they moderate results according to a Normal curve.

Note on travelling blogs

Note on travelling blogs

For those who have noticed, my travelling blogs tend to be somewhat backdated...unfortunately I've been travelling more frequently than I blog. Lol In my backlog of travel blogs there's still Pisa, Siena & Bologna and later Portofino coz I'm leaving for Portofino tomorrow. I wonder if I'll ever catch up with the travelling...

Intellectual Stimulation

Intellectual Stimulation

My date was a really nice guy and very different from other Italians…intelligent and philosophical too. While I don’t think anything of romantic nature is gonna happen between us, I think he’d make a great friend. We talked a lot the whole time about different cultures and about food, music, life etc. It turned out to be great despite my initial apprehension, unlike the last Italian guy I went out with (who seemed nice at first but turned out to be real sticky). Perhaps this guy turned out to be decent coz I met him when I was completely sober…lol…the sticky guys I’ve met were after I had a buzz in my head. Or maybe it’s coz he’s older (well 1 year older than the last guy who was 25) and so more mature?

Anyway, it was an intellectually stimulating conversation and we’re gonna meet up again sometime next week or the week after. He suggested cooking for me coz he likes cooking…so well, see how it goes. Got back from the date and I ended up having another intellectually stimulating conversation….very intellectually stimulating (involving poetry and history and politics) with the night-shift security guard for about 2 hours. Honestly, I really don’t get why he’s just working as a security guard because he’s very widely-read and very intelligent. He’s my favourite security guard and we have good conversations every time, although since he doesn’t speak English very well, our conversation is a mix of English and Italian and his dictionary. Still, I’ve learnt much from him and I was really flattered when he said he learnt much from me too…coz he’s really way more knowledgeable than I am (also partly due to the fact that he’s over 50) 8)

Settling Down…Am I?

Settling Down…Am I?

I think I’m probably at the end of my wild phase. I don’t go out much at night anymore (or rather I don’t go out every single night) and I’m drinking less…plus I’m not making out with random guys. Lol Not since the last one I made out with had smoked something disgusting and I nearly puked when he kissed me…had to brush my teeth twice afterwards!! (Yes and he was Italian) Going out at night on weeknights for me is now restricted to aperitivo with a couple of good friends where you go to a nice bar sit down, have a yummy cocktail and help yourself to the free buffet. There’s a really nice one down the Naviglio Grande with a wonderful buffet and their cocktails aren’t so bad either, although all Italian cocktails are pretty strong.

As I said, I’m being a good girl…or maybe I’m looking for more intellectual company rather than some dodgy guy who likely just wants to get laid. I still meet lotsa guys whenever I go out with friends to the club. They just come up to you and start talking to you…but I’ve not met many who are “decent”. Which is pretty reasonable coz how often do you meet a “decent” guy in a club? Last Friday I went with a friend to this club that was located in a rather isolated area (we got lost and walked around for hours trying to find it and we didn’t have a map) and then she hooked up with some Dutch guys and they were all speaking Dutch so I was pretty much on my own…which isn’t so bad really coz there are guys who constantly approach you to talk. So I ended up meeting this whole bunch of Spanish guys on exchange from Barcelona but they were studying at another university in Milano. It was fun talking to them though there was only one guy out of the group who struck me as more of the decent type. Unfortunately, they had to leave early so I didn’t get to talk to him much.

I did meet a decent guy though later when I was sitting in the foyer of the club waiting for my friend who went to the bathroom. Basically this guy comes up to me and says, “You’re too beautiful to be sitting alone.” Nice pick-up line but flattery doesn’t work on me…much lol. Turns out the guy is Italian, but he spoke good English coz he worked in the US for awhile and he’s an engineer but he’s currently doing an MBA. We actually had a good conversation….something you don’t usually get with an Italian guy you meet at a club. He was sober too. What gave him many points in my book was that unlike other Italian guys, he wasn’t sticky. He gave me his number but said he wouldn’t get mine so the choice as to whether we’d meet up again was left to me. Definitely different from other Italian guys and I must admit, I liked it. So I contacted him a few days later (although after the last Italian guy I kinda told myself I’d keep away from Italians) and we’re meeting up tomorrow…although occasionally I’m wondering what the hell I’m doing, but I’m gonna see how it goes tomorrow and reserve further judgement. Lol

Travelling: Venezia

Travelling: Venezia

I’ve always wanted to go to Venezia and I can’t quite believe that I finally have been!!! I went the weekend of 16 September with several of my classmates and friends (12 of us in all). It was a really last minute thing. I mean there had been some talk about maybe heading to Venezia during the weekend, but we hadn’t actually made any final decisions till about 1.30am on Thursday (or should I say Friday), after we had finished watching a French/Spanish movie at one of my classmates’ apartment…which pretty much left us only a couple of hours to do whatever was needed (go home, pack, sleep) before catching the 7am train. All of us probably got about 2 to 3 hours of sleep that night, but there was the long train ride where most of us eventually fell asleep on after the initial chatter. Lol

It seemed everyone was going to Venezia that weekend though coz we met heaps of other exchange students on the same train and when we arrived in Venezia. The first thing you see coming out of the train station is the Grand Canal with the many buildings on the other side and the huge government building.


Since we couldn’t check into the hostel till 2pm, we decided to hop onto the vaporetto for which we bought a 24hr pass. The vaporetto is basically the equivalent of the public bus coz in Venezia there are no buses and no cars….everyone travels by boat or by walking coz the land area isn’t very large and the streets are more like alleys – way too narrow for a bus or car to pass through. Anyway, the vaporetto took us down the Grand Canal so it was kinda like a sight-seeing trip down, with lotsa stops along the way.
Along the Grand Canal
Waterways between streets

One thing we noticed on the trip down was that there were hotels and buildings with red penguin statues on the balconies…they were pretty common, but to date we’ve not found out why there are the red penguins there coz it wasn’t written in the guide books and the Italians we asked didn’t have a clue.

We kinda wandered around mostly waiting to check into the hostel and had lunch at some restaurant in the middle of a maze of alleyways. You can quite easily get lost in Venezia coz it’s a maze, plus there are lotsa dead ends at the end of alleys…I wouldn’t like to be running from someone there, you’d just turn left and right and get lost or find yourself at a dead end.
Typical Venetian streets...and Michael

After checking into the hostel, we went out and wandered around some more, mostly taking it easy. Probably the one place that really stood out was Piazza San Marco…which should probably have been named Pigeon Square instead. There were hundreds and hundreds of pigeons all over the place. You just wanna stomp on them really….think pigeon sea. They wander so close and there are so many of them that if you kicked out, you should probably be able to kick one of those annoying things. As you can see, I bear no love for pigeons…but they’re unhygienic, fat, greedy and ugly. If you hold out a piece of white paper, you’ll find a whole swarm of them flocking to you, flying in your face and perching all over you (and transferring billions of germs to you), thinking that it’s food coz tourists can purchase a paper cone of food (at an exorbitant price of course!) to feed the pigeons (which honestly that should be banned). Now if anyone is into hunting…

Actually Piazza San Marco is where the Basilica is and is just beside the Doge's Palace and it’s really beautiful at night…also partly due to the fact that it’s pigeon free then. The cafes around the perimeter of the piazza would have tables and chairs outdoors and there would be mini stages set up with quintets or quartets playing lively tunes or classical music. It’s definitely a place for lovers then…or a bunch of good friends just chilling 8).
Basilica

Dinner was at this nice restaurant with typically huge Italian portions and I enlisted Michael’s help in finishing off my pizza. Between us all we had 4l of wine as well…except that the 2 American chicks and this French/German one got drunk and got kinda embarrassing as we walked around after dinner.

Piazza San Marco is pretty in the early morning as well…coz there are no tourists and NO PIGEONS!! Anyway we spent some time exploring the Doge's palace and visited the Basilica. Getting into the Basilica took quite awhile though coz not only was there a queue to get in, but we also had to queue to move from the entrance of the palace to the Basilica as there were heaps of tourists and it was high tide so you could only walk on the raised platforms they put up. During high tide, the piazza is flooded and they set up raised pathways for walking. Unfortunately, the pathways are narrow and there are few of them…much fewer than the number of tourists, so it ended up being more like a queue just walking along the pathway!!
Doge's Palace courtyard
Piazza San Marco at high tide

Classes

Classes

Actual classes have begun this week and I would still be feeling like I am on holiday (which I kinda am…) if not for the fact that classes are outrageously long!! I’ve never had classes that went straight for 3 hours. I’m taking a Business Strategy class which goes from 2.30 to 5.45pm every Monday. It’s crazy…you tend to find yourself losing concentration after the first hour. The thing is, the lecturer’s are Italian and speak with a strong Italian accent so you’ve actually gotta concentrate hard to figure out what they are saying. Plus their handwriting is completely illegible… I supposed the lecturer for Business Strategy isn’t so bad coz he doesn’t have too strong an Italian accent, plus it’s a pretty interesting class and he’s not boring. He keeps telling us that the real title for the class is “How to Make Money…Legally”.

I’ve gotta say that the worst lecturer I have is the one for International Marketing. His Italian accent is so strong that half the time I wonder if I’m sitting in an Italian class instead. His handwriting is illegible and he mumbles from time to time to make himself even more incomprehensible. Perhaps he’s aiming to bore everyone into dropping the class, especially since there are so many of us taking that class and the lecture theatre assigned is too small to hold everyone.

Speaking of small lecture theatres, the one assigned to us for Management of Fashion Companies is ridiculously tiny considering that they knew how popular the class would be!! Plus the theatre isn’t even the bench type like the others, thereby disallowing fitting of more people on the seats. Rather, it has individual seats which are extremely uncomfortable for sitting in one place for half an hour never mind the fact that the lecture is 3 hours long…

Contrary to my expectations, my class in Technology and Innovation Management has been the best so far. I thought it would be really boring coz it wasn’t a paper I’d have taken by choice, but I didn’t have a choice and it’s the last paper I can get credit for back in Otago so I had to take it even though it totally clashes with my International Marketing class on Wednesdays (I’ll have to attend classes alternate weeks…). Anyway, the lecturer is hilarious and he’s really young…or at least he looks it…he looks like he’s under 25, but he’s a professor. He’s really loud and his English isn’t too bad. He has a funny way of speaking though…rather than dropping his voice inflection at the end of a sentence as people normally do, he maintains it so it sounds really weird as if the sentence is uncompleted but not quite.

As I’ve mentioned he’s hilarious. In today’s lecture, he constantly went on and on about how big companies can’t grow and survive and he kept telling us, “What I’m saying here, ragazzi, is that to survive you must grow! And you must grow in double digits otherwise you’ll die and you won’t have enough pension to pay for a room in a 5 star hotel.” He also loves asking “Giusto?” after making a point and then he’ll answer himself half a second later, exclaiming, “Giustissimo!” At one point in the lecturer, he leaned into one of the guys sitting in front and said, “In 15 years, ragazzi, you should be at the peak of your career otherwise you’ll never survive. Giusto? Giustissimo!” (exclaiming the ‘giustissimo’ of course). The look on the poor guy’s face was priceless…he was pretty much staring at the lecturer as if the lecturer had just sprouted 2 heads. I’m definitely looking forward to the lecture tomorrow.

Note: For the curious, “giusto” means ‘right’ and “giustissimo” implies that something is “more right than right” i.e. extremely right…whoever said Italians were sane?

Travelling: Varenna

Travelling: Varenna

One of the places many Italians recommended that we should check out was Lake Como. Lake Como is huge, with many small towns located all around it. Each town is different, with it’s own coat of arms and there was some rivalry in the past between the rulers of the towns to see who could build a better palace etc so there’s definitely plenty to see in terms of palaces and villas in each town. Alex and I took another day trip on our 2nd weekend to Varenna which was reachable by train from Milano (some towns can only be reached by taking the ferry from Varenna or Como).

Since Lago Como is slightly North of Milano, it’s closer to the Swiss border so the Swiss Alps can be seen across the lake.

There are 2 Villas in Varenna with very famous gardens (everything seems to be famous to the Italians) – Villa Cipressi and Villa Monastero. They really have lovely gardens, especially in Villa Monastero, plus because it was still summer, the flowers were still in bloom so there was plenty of colour around!

Villa Cipressi at the side
Villa Cipressi grounds
Villa Monastero
Villa Monastero gardens

Aside from the villas, whose grounds took hours walking through because we were taking photos and admiring the plants, Varenna also has really old buildings…which of course has gotta be a church coz most of the old buildings in Italia are churches. The Chiesa San Giorgio is 13th Century architecture….impressive stone building with an even older but more impressive interior because of the statues and paintings and carvings.

It was a pity we didn’t have time to travel to some of the other towns, but I suppose I could go another time. There was this store, Il Pozzo, in Varenna which sold absolutely gorgeous jewelry, which was kinda expensive as well. The earrings were really beautiful…and despite not wanting to spend anything, I ended up buying a pair coz the storeowner gave us a discount when he learnt we were students and well, I really really liked those earrings (and a couple of other pairs as well, but I couldn’t afford that many). Most of the jewelry is handcrafted in Firenze (Florence) though, so I might be able to get cheaper stuff when I go there. I have to make a trip to Firenze for shoes coz I broke both my pairs of heels!! Apparently Firenze has a good selection at reasonable prices and I do need them…lol

Travelling: Stresa

Travelling: Stresa

It's great being in a big place that’s so connected. You’ll never run outta places to see. I have no idea how I’m gonna be able to go everywhere in the short time I’m here! I doubt I’d be able to cover all of Italia, never mind the rest of Europa. Anyway I’ve been meaning to blog about my trip to Stresa some 3 weeks ago, but I never really got round to doing it…

I went to Stresa with my roomie, Alexandra (Alex) during my 1st weekend in Italia. Classes hadn’t begun yet and we didn’t know what to do over the weekend, so she picked up her guidebook and flipped through it before suggesting we go to Stresa which is 90km out of Milano, which made it a great day trip.

The train system is great. You can basically get almost anywhere in Italia (and to other countries) by it. It wasn’t too difficult for us to buy tickets at the railway station to Stresa which was about 1 ¼ hours train ride. The seats are pretty ok in the trains and the price was decent, being €4.75…not much to see on the way there but that gave us the opportunity to take a nap. Lol

Stresa is a small beach town, where there are many hotels…the really expensive ones. It’s also famous for the Grand Hotel where Ernest Hemingway once stayed at. They now let out the very same room he stayed in for a princely sum. As can be seen from the photo below, it is a really grand place and people there were dressed in formal wear in the middle of the afternoon…formal wear meaning guys in suits and ladies in designer gowns, much like what one would wear to a ball. It wasn’t just the Grand Hotel though. Guests at the other hotels were also similarly dressed, and no there was no function on.



To me Stresa was built for tourists, but different…the streets were these paved paths with white street lamps. It seemed like something out of a storybook…and so very English.


Most ordinary tourist who visit Stresa take the ferry out to the islands on Lake Maggiore – Isola Bella, Isola Pescatore (Superiore) and Isola Madre. Being ordinary tourists, Ale and I did the same although we just visited 2 of the islands, Isola Bella and Isola Pescatore.


Out of the 3, Isola Pescatore was the only residential island and specialized mainly in fishing (why does that not surprise me?). There wasn’t really much to see there, but they had lotsa seafood restaurants and good beaches to suntan or have a picnic, as many people did. Isola Bella on the other hand is smaller and the Borromeo Palace is located there. The palace is huge with beautiful grounds, built by Count Borromeo for his wife Isobella.


Stresa was a nice place (wonderful according to Alex who comes from New York where you don’t see nature), with definitely much fresher air than in Milano! I did think it was too commercialized though, which spoiled it somewhat, but it made for a good day trip.

Sono a Milano: Partying

Sono a Milano: Partying

Probably one of the great things about being on exchange is the number of parties the student network here organises for us. We had 3 parties in a single week. 1 on Friday when we first went to uni, which was kinda like a get to know everyone welcome party; 1 on Tuesday at this really great club, Casablanca, which was a get to know everyone better still and dance and another 1 on Thursday, which they called a "What's your name again" party.

I've gotta say that Tuesday's party was the best coz the club was big with 2 dance floors and 3 bars and it had good music. Practically everyone was there so I met heaps of people, plus there were italians who weren't from the uni as well (coz the club is still opened to the public but exchange students get in free with a student card) and I met quite a couple of Italian guys...come to think of it, all the italians I know are male... I guess that's coz Italian guys are pretty bold. They pretty much come up to you and pick you up...like they clearly hit on you. They know how to do it pretty well too lol and they're definitely charming in their own way. Like quite a couple of the Italian guys I met, rather than shaking your hand after introductions, they kiss it, look right into your eyes and tell you you're beautiful, but they pretty much tell every chick the same thing so while it's
romantic, I don't suppose it's something that a girl can take too seriously. As I've
mentioned before, italian guys are bold. I was looking for my friend in the club and I met this italian guy and had a short conversation with him in my limited italian (almost all the italian guys I've met only speak italian). Then I told him I had to go coz I was looking for my friend...and I've also mentioned before that italian guys are rather persistent and sticky so naturally he tried to get me to stay but I told him I really needed to leave, so he was like aww and then he kinda grabbed me round the waist and kissed me full on the lips...something I wasn't quite expecting...

I gather that I'm getting influenced by my very typically American room mate and the
alcohol...which would probably explain why Tuesday night I wound up making out with this Moroccan guy on the dance floor. We were just dancing and then somehow it happened... The thing was that he lives in my residence which was bad because I definitely see him around. Even worse was that I couldn't remember his name. I mean I met the guy on Friday and I knew he lived in my residence, just couldn't recall his name and I had to ask my roomie the next day coz he's in her italian class. It was one of the things whereby you come back and lie down and go "What the hell did I just do?" He wasn't too bad a kisser though, although the best kisser I've come across so far was this aussie/kiwi guy I made out with in a club a couple of months back (whose name and face I can't recall...). Anyway I don't suppose the Morrocan guy remembers making out with me...or at least he doesn't seem to, which is good coz it's not awkward when we see each other (in fact he went to Thursday's party with my roomie and I). Of course there were classes the next day and everyone was just really stoned in class although the teachers understood coz they knew we were at the party...they're quite cool really.

Thursday's party was at a small club which wasn't very good coz it was too crowded to dance. Still it was fun coz you meet more people...and collect more phone numbers. Maybe I'm going through a wild phase...but it's good being single at large parties. You're pretty much free to hook up with anyone. Again I'm blaming the alcohol...had 3 drinks that night and italian drinks are waaaay strong. Usually back in NZ, when they make a whiskey and coke (my usual drink), it's 1 part whiskey 3 parts coke....in italy it's 3 parts whiskey 1 part coke. Plus I had a vodka redbull and a vodka lemon...on an almost empty stomach, so my head was buzzing happily throughout the night...had some trouble climbing up and down the stairs, but that wasn't too bad and I dun think anyone could tell that I had to concentrate to walk straight...lol Anyway, towards the end of the night I met this Italian guy whose dad owns a restaurant in Hamilton in NZ...at least he spoke English pretty ok and well...ended up making out with him. At least he doesn't stay in my residence and I'm gonna go out on a date with him sometime this week so he won't really be just a one-off kissing partner...I think. I can't quite recall his face (oops), but we've been texting each other to make a date except that it's been in italian so I've been flipping through my dictionary to supplement my limited vocab. I have mentioned that italian guys are sticky so I'm still uncertain as to whether it's a good idea to go out with him...but I figure I'll deal with that later. After ignoring the other sticky guy (although I did feel kinda guilty doing so) he's stopped trying to contact me...

But it's been fun so far playing on the wild side and it's good being female in Italy coz if you ask for free drinks you're more likely to get it from a male bartender and drinks here are horribly expensive!If my parents see this, they'll definitely flip...thank goodness they don't even know I've got a blog... I mean it's not really me...I'm not the wild type really. It's just this year and it's Italy...lol I think I've gotta cut back some on the partying though coz I was really tired and stoned on Friday in class which made understanding the class even harder than it usually is. Honestly if they have parties 3 times a week I'm gonna die...I'd probably flunk all my papers. There's a party every Tuesday at Casablanca though. I wonder where my self-discipline has gone?

Sono a Milano: Italian Class

Sono a Milano: Italian Class

It's been a week since my language classes started and I'm hoping my Italian has improved somewhat by now...actually I'm pretty sure it has, except for my pronunciation which is still lousy coz I still pronounce it the English way. Everyone in my class seems to speak Italian really fluently mainly coz they're super multi-lingual and majority of them speak Espagnole (oops...Spanish) which is very similar to Italian. There are heaps of Portugese in my class and portugese is similar to Italian too. I'm probably the worst in the class coz it takes me way longer than everyone else to understand when the lecturers speak fast. I can read and write it way better than I can speak or hear it. I'm thinking maybe I should have tranferred one class down coz apparently I'm in the highest level of the elementary classes (there are 4 levels of elementary classes). I must have done pretty well in that italian proficiency test they gave us before classes began to be placed in a class higher up, but then again it was a written test...

When they said it was an intensive course, they really meant intensive. We have classes everyday from 11.30am to 4.30pm with only a half hour lunch break in between sometime at 2pm!! It's insane really...at least my teachers are nice and they give us half an hour, some classes only get 15 mins (but everyone just takes 45mins...the 'italian' 15 mins). The other day we had to go for this "special lesson" on the italian economy, whereby it's a mass lecture and we nearly didn't get a lunch break at all coz italian class was supposed to run from 11.30am to 2.30pm so a 5hr lesson was supposed to be condensed into 3hrs and then the special lesson would run from 2.30pm to 4pm thereabouts. Honestly the schedule is insane! Actual classes are gonna begin on Tuesday and then we'll be having the language classes everyday from 6 to 8pm so I'm not quite looking forward to that. I don't even get these kinda hours back home!!

One wouldn't expect these kinda crazy hours from Italians, considering that if you go out every night the bars and clubs are always crowded. Restaurants and pizzerias are opened till 2am every night and clubs open till much later. Just seeing all the people out at night, one would think that Italians never seem to need to work...I mean it's kinda hard going to work in the morning when you've been out partying late aye? Well at least for me...