These are backwards so start from the last and work your way up

Where they invented this wonderful thing

Capri 
Capri
Pompei
Snowy castle ruins in Ireland
Our breakfast in the Barcelona Hostel
Me and Katie at Park Guell
Sagrada Familia

The adventure comes to a close...

Ooook 

So I know that I said that I would do this like a month ago, and I probably should have done it even before that. 

But since it has been a while I have forgotten a lot and a lot has happened so I will just round this all up into a few lines of what these past few months have been about...

Well lets see... this semester I have:

Learned to be more patient with everything including public transportation, have learned to put up with cranky old Italian men working behind glass, been to Barcelona and Madrid and have eaten tapas, met up with Coralie Bessette, been to the Prado and Reina Sofia, been to the top of Sagrada Familia, drank and made Sangria, went to Dublin, stole a Guinness pint, ate some fish and chips, explored castle ruins in the snow, even went to a local Irish hospital due to my friend's heavy nose bleed, I sadly broke down and had a McDonald's meal in the Rome train station and felt pretty guilty while doing it, I went to Brussels... and had a waffle... don't go to Brussels..., and in Italy I also went to Rome and Florence, saw David and Venus and other great things and ate wonderful Gelato... yes yes, I also explored the so called bad part of Naples (the spanish quarter) which is really cool and ate at the place where the Margherita  pizza was invented, I took a boat ride in Capri and walked up to the center stopping after getting lost with Katie for a short picnic, I had cannoli and fresh squeezed lemonade and a shot of Limoncello after bad service in a restaurant in Sorrento, I ate nutella and strawberries with Molly and Katie on the way home, I made some friends, used my Italian, learned how to figure out Italian's public transportation and now could use the metro anywhere, I went to mass in Italy... well parts of different masses, I played guitar on my porch, made crepes almost every time I was asked to, explained where Macerata is located more times than I can count and most people still didn't know where it was, I made gnocchi and lasagna, took Bailey's nightcaps from time to time with Carly, I had a picnic in Siena's piazza, ran through Siena to the station and still missed out bus, got stuck at the bottom of Assisi without a bus, visited the chocolate place almost everyday while my mom came to visit, spent more money than I probably should have but it was worth it.... and yeah, thats about it.

So I leave you with this quote:

"Wine is alive; as it ages, It changes" said by a jolly wine man we visited

This is my last post for a while, maybe forever and who knows, maybe I've changed too but that will be for all of you lovely people to decide the next time you see me.

For now, have a great, adventure filled next couple of months, I'll see you before you know it.

Alyson

Cross my heart

Blog tomorrow I swear, I am writing it tonight!

Well, I am now 20 years old! Big deal, big deal. It was a pretty good birthday from home, better than I had expected. I got to sleep in since I don’t have classes on Wednesdays so that was nice. Also, I have cross cultures on Wednesdays and sometimes after that class we get little treats and Angelica (Filiberto’s wife) had made me two birthday/ carnivale cakes and I was sung to in Italian, Chinese, English and Spanish. Then the group went out to eat at a pizzeria called the palace and then when to hang out at Katie, Grace and Hsuan Hsuan’s apartment where they presented me with a chocolate cake and some other chocolates, totally unexpected and it made me slightly homesick. I got to talk with my family which was nice. It was overall a success I would say. Then the next day we went grocery shopping and I made a couscous dinner with Molly and Grace. The instructions were 250 ml of water + 250 g of couscous = a picture of three people dancing and one more in parentheses. The diagram could have worked if we had measuring cups and what not but sooomehow it ended up edible. Then yesterday we went to Tolentino and Ascoli Piceno which were pretty cool. We had to be at the bus at 7:15… they were flat… we saw churches… the sun came out at one point. It was a pretty good day. We got back to Macerata and it was snowing, like real snow, like almost blizzard, crazy and for Film we have to write a paper about the Godfather so we are watching it again and we were supposed to watch it last night (at least Katie, Diana and I) so I told them to just come over but Diana said the roads were to slippery to walk and I didn’t call Katie in time. So poor little sicky arrived our door covered in snow. But we took care of her with some tea, songs on the guitar, soup and grill cheese and a movie. We watched Chicago, it’s been years, still wonderful. Then this morning we had a huge scramble with eggs, cheese, potatoes, onions, chicken, peppers, garlic and tomatoes. Now I have to go take a shower and head on over to Diana’s to watch that movie, so I must leave you. We have exams this week so we all have to study up but as a preview tonight we could possibly be doing Mexican night. Then, tomorrow is Valentine’s Day or as my dad calls it; Single’s Awareness Day. 

So that is that, alla prossima…if that is spelled right.

Alyson

Masks, masks, masks

Right. So… ready, set, go!

What have I been up to? Not really sure where to start. A lot has been happening and if I didn’t know I had my viewers I might not be doing this, so thanks for forcing me to record my doings, this is a good thing.

So, we didn’t have an excursion with school this week so we made our own and ventured to the fantasy world of Venezia for a taste of delicious carnivale. If some of you aren’t sure what that is I’ll try my best to explain. It’s like an experimental artist took a bunch of little people, put them in a bucket, painted their faces and put crazy costumes on them, dropped some alcohol in there and then dumped them in the center of San Marco square, adding a little bit of miracle growth.

That probably made no sense, basically, the place was packed and colorful and wonderful. The first days not so much though, we traveled all day Friday after missing the train from Macerata by literally, not joking, 30 seconds, we ran up to the train as it was rolling away. Anyway, we got to the Venice train station around 6 and then took a “bus” which is really just a type of ferry to Lido, an island that is about 40 minutes from the station. It’s pretty touristy in the summer I guess because it has a nice beach, it also has a decent hotel that costs 30 dollars a night… dollars, that’s not bad for Venice, at least it was cheaper and easier than a hostel. We went out with the others who had been there for about 4 hours already but there wasn’t much to do, we basically made it to San Marco, walked around the empty square until we met a few Americans I guess from California, and then out of nowhere they came swarming, there must have been around 200, we got out of there with a huge culture shock, everyone was like “I don’t like Americans very much”, so we will see what happens when everyone gets back home. It started raining so we all jumped back on the ferry soaking, my shoes were sooo wet but I figured they would be dry by morning… nope. So I walked around Venice the next day until about 2 with wet feet when I stared feeling really sick and cold and just nooot good. So after getting a hot meal and sitting down my friends Grace and Molly walked around with me to find shoes, by the end I bought these Venetian shoes from a French lady which were basically slippers… but hey, my mood improved by about 94% when I put them on. Then after two days of rain we were graced with the Sun’s presence just in time for the official beginning of Carnivale. Perfetto!

This is where it gets funny, we decided to take the train at 9 because the only one before that was at 3 and that’s when everything was happening. So… we get to our train and find out that it has compartments and not regular seats but there aren’t any slips where it should tell you if the seats are reserved, so I ask one guy what we are supposed to do, he tells us just to find some empty seats so we go in and take up two compartments of 6 for the 8 of us. Then people come and tell us that we are in their seats. So, we go back to talk to the same guy and he tells us to talk to the conductor who says that the train is full and according to our tickets we bought standing tickets, probably the reason that the woman at the ticket booth was showing as more concern than any Italian in her line of work should. He tells us then to get on the train and stand until the next stop where they will add more cars. So we all cram into a small area and get off, praying that the train isn’t going to take off without us. Luckily we got some seats in the next car and weren’t bothered until Ancona. Actually, that’s not true, at one point this guy came in and asked us a few questions something like, "Hey, my friend is very shy, he wants to get to know you, one or two girls come with me?" Yep, sent that one on his way. So then we got to Ancona at around 2am and had to wait 2 hours for our next train. At one point a guy came up to us and asked us if we were farther than Bologna and we were like... yeah, that's about 3 hours from here, I guess they fell asleep. Then we took another train to Civitanova and then to Macerata, the last train kept stopping in random places, everyone passed out and I forced myself to stay awake just so we got off at the right stop. We made it to Macerata at about 6am, then walked home, I got a 30 minute nap in, didn't change, got a caffe and got to class 5 minutes early.

I didn't sleep again until about 8 at night... so that's cool, got about 10 hours in, somehow lasted again today and am awake enough to write this, so not bad.

So that is a short update on the sitch. I would post pictures but I ended up filming more than taking pictures and I'm using my friend's laptop, so maybe tomorrow if I can. It's also my birthday! I think that we are going to go out to dinner or something, who knows, at least Wednesday is my sleep in day.

So, until next time, signing off...

I'm still kickin', don't worry

January 28, 2010

Hello!

So I know it’s been like a week, I’m still alive, don’t worry.

This past week has been alright, people are getting more and more sick and I hope that I’m not coming down with something too bad. Yesterday I was burning up and I felt a little light headed so I just stayed after class because some of the girls from the Renaissance class watched Troy. I forgot how bad an actor Orlando Bloom is, it’s painful to watch. But anyway, I am feeling better and I’ve been pounding myself with meds and vitamins and whatnot so hopefully I will feel better soon. Just before I got sick one girl, Molly, had been feeling sick too, like fever and vomiting, sooooo fingers crossed because I’ve been hanging out with her a lot lately.

On Wednesdays we have our cross-culture class and we had a cheese tasting, so now I have some idea of the varieties here, one of them they had us put fig jam on it, can you say wonderful? Well, maybe not, but I sure can. And we had white wine with it, kind of strange for me but I asked Filiberto about it and he said that it was just because he wanted us to taste a wine from the area. He then told us to hurry up and finish it before our next class started… again, only in Italy.

 

Tomorrow we are going to an abbey and maybe a castle? I’m not sure, and they said something about a wine tasting.

 

Also… big news! I’m going to Carnivale in Venice next weekend! We booked a hotel today and I’m going to buy my tickets soon, so we will be there from Friday to Sunday, I’m so excited! I will for sure videotape that with the 33 minutes remaining of my battery until I get that package from good old G-Rap… it should be here any day now, hopefully.

 

What else? I’m learning Buttercup on the guitar. “You know, build me up, buttercup baby just to let me down” (that will now be in all of your heads for a few hours I hope).

I also just changed my background on my laptop to a cute little rabbit picture from stumbleupon I’m sure some of you have seen it. Tiled of course.

Also, I just listened to this song and wrote down the lyrics… yes I know I could have gotten them offline and maybe some of the words will be wrong, Mallory will know.

 

But I think you should all read and listen to it, you can think of me if you want to, that way it will sort of have something to do with the blog, here’s the link as well

 

Come and open up your folding chair next to me

My feet are buried in the sand, and there’s a breeze

There’s a shadow, you can’t see my eyes

And the sea is just a wetter version of the skies

Let’s get a silver bullet trailer and have a baby boy

I’ll safety pin his clothes all cool and you’ll graffiti up his toys

I’ve got a perfect booooody, but sometimes I forge-e-e-e-e-et

I’ve got a perfect booooody cause my eyelashes catch my sweat, yes they do, the dooooo

 

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

Now, I’ve been sitting on this abandoned beach for years

Waiting for the salty water to cover up my ears

But every time the tide come in to take me home

I get scared, now I’m sitting here alone, dreaming of the dolphin song

 

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

Maybe one day you will understand that I want nothing from you just to really hold your hand

Til that day comes, please to feel so down, don’t make frowns you silly clown

 

Juuuuust come and open up your folding chair next to me

My feet are buried in the sand, and there’s a breeze

There’s a shadow, you can’t see my eyes

And the sea is just a wetter version of the skies

 

There’s a shadow, you can’t see my eyes

There’s a shadow, you can’t see my eyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyes

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCvgXmg0m1g

January 30, 2010

Ok, so yesterday was pretty cram packed… we went to San Ginesio which was snow covered… not like Michigan but it was super unexpected and I was wearing converses, not good. But it was super pretty and I actually took pictures, so I’m pretty proud of myself, even though it was mostly so that I can just sketch Romanesque buildings for my Art History journal from my own pictures instead of other people’s on facebook.

So we went to a few churches and then to an abbey called S. Maria di Chiaravalle di Fiastra which was cool. Then we ate lunch, I had gnocchi and soup, and then we went to a castle and walked to the top of the tower, or keep? I’m not sure what it’s called, let me tell you, people were camera happy, by the end I didn’t want to take anymore, I am already not such a fan of posing. Then we went to a Winery called Il Pollenza and we even got to taste some wine! One white and then the same red but from different years. The white was actually really nice, I’m usually not huge on whites, the red on the other hand was very woody… like very, very woody, it kind of tasted like wood, but I mean it was still good just not my type of red. Then we got back and bought our tickets for Venice and went grocery shopping. After that I went to my friend Katie’s apartment and we figured out spring break… so, the deal is we will take a train to Rome then take a plan to Barcelona, then either a train or bus to Madrid, meet up with Coralie there and take a plane to Dublin, stay a few days, maybe do mini bus trips to other places, it’s a small country, then the cheapest way back was through Brussels and then to Rome… so, we are going to hang out in Belgium for a day or so. Yep, so planes booked now we have to start looking at other transportation and hostels. Hey, if any of you have connections in any of those places or have friends that could house us or something please let me know, there will be 4 girls all together. Or if any of you have stayed in hostels there or have any good tips of where to go or anything anything at all let me know please! I think it will be a fun and possibly crazy adventure, I might have to live on only pasta when I return to Macerata but that is a risk I am willing to take.

 

It took us like 4 or 5 hours to figure this all out last night so by the time we finished it was around 2- 2:30 so they told me to spend the night on their couch… so yeah, it’s starting to feel like home haha.

 

Anyway, that is all for now, I am going to go buy some veggies with Carly and post this all in a few hours, take a look at these pics!

Winery

Abbey... I think that's how it's spelled
Snow
Bad idea...

 

I have no time.... sorry for the long wait between blogs

January 24, 2010

 

Hello folks!

I touched the Adriatic sea yesterday! Never thought I’d do that. We went to Civitanova, this city that is about 30 minutes by train from Macerata. It was pretty cool, pretty cold too. We went to the big market and went to eat at this seafood restaurant and walked along the beach. Some kids ran in barefoot up to their calves, those crazy Oregoneans… Oregonas… I don’t know, Carly would probably be upset with me if she read this right now.

 

There isn’t too much to tell. Classes are going well, but I have to get back into the habit of doing homework again. We have to write a review about Moonstruck for my film class which is what I am avoiding doing at the moment.

 

Let’s see… my legs are killing me, I might have to amputate. Filiberto had us on yet another walking tour of Macerata on Friday from I think 9am to 5ish with a break for lunch, so that was a blast and a half. After that, we went to Pathos (a café) to get caffeine or sugar recharges before going to meet our tandem partners. It’s a program where you are paired with another person who is interested in speaking your language or learning about your culture. I was partnered with Chiara who seems pretty cool. She’s 28 but I think we will still have enough in common to be good partners, plus she lived in Paris for a bit and speaks some French, so we can practice 3 languages. We have to meet at least once a week for 2 hours to speak in Italian and English so we are meeting tomorrow night for aperitif.

 

Oooops, I was supposed to post this last night, fail.

 

It was kind of an intense night last night, a bad day for the Graces we said.

My roommate Grace’s friend died and the other Grace’s grandpa died. So we did a girls night at one of the apartments. They seem to be doing better today, but it must be really tough… so depressing note there.

 

But I am doing fine, it sort of made me homesick for a bit but I will def be fine.

 

Not sure what else to say… hopefully video soon? Or more pictures?

 

Peace out for now.