Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Madrid, Dublin, and end of Rome
MArdrid,
Went to an AWESOME evening at the Joy Eslave club in Madrid, where the US Embassy Interns and myself partied it up until 6:30 am with the US marines in VIP! It was amazing! Cirque dei Solei performed that night at Joy on stage, 2 feet from my head...it was incredible
The next morning, or should I say afternoon, again the shower gods cast their evil spells on me and Zubin's apartment was struck with freezing cold water...for 2 of the 3 days I was there. Sooo that was a shock after a very long night.
Saturday we strolled through Madrid...caught some art exhibits...for FREE and the Prado...and then met up with the guys for a night of jamming at El Sol ( i think....may have to check). It was an amazing local joint with just 2 small rooms where people sat while guys took turns jamming Flamenco music, people would just start singing and clapping,...it was amazing!
Sunday Zubin and I enjoyed a beautiful day, saw the palace, and enjoyed outside seating at the park. Thai dinner and Churros with chocolate were a great end of the day!
Dublin,
WAS INCREDIBLE! ENGLISH!!!!!!!! Leanne and I were in heaven with the ease of travel and communication in our own language. Althought I apparently couldn't understand it still because it took the guy at Subway 3 times for me to understand he was asking me if I wanted it with "cheese and toasted"...wow I felt ridiculous.
Starbucks, Mexican food, and English made for an amazing weekend...ohhh and that black stuff...GUINNESS!!!!!!!
So good...soooooo good! The brewery at St. James Gate...which his a 10,000 year lease btw......was very cool and modern....360 degree bar atop Dublin...too bad it was a bit cloudy.
Pretty much in Dublin... I drank Guinness...drank Irish Whiskey....relaxed....enjoyed English.....and ate non-italian food and drank drip coffee! I loved Ireland..the people were SOO nice!
Nowwww I'm in London, which most of you already know has been quite stressful, but i'm enjoying it and things are calming down now. Just trying to prepare myself for my research in Germny. I am sad to have left Italy...the family was truely amazing and the kids were great. I learned a lot about myself and life that I will share hopefully tomorrow night. Sorry the updates are soooooooooooo infrequent I promise to get better. As for tonight I was on a 12 hour tour of England today.. and I require sleep.....I love and miss you all!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Testing the Guinness......It passes
STARBUCKS....DRIP COFFEE......YESSSSSSSSSSS
This is why I got a C in maps in the 1st Grade...trying to find Temple bar on my map....when IM IN TEMPLE BAR...AWESOME!
BEEF IN GUINNESS!!!!!!!!!!!! All I need in life!
GUINNESS with rooftop view of Dublin :)
Id love to add more, but honestly I am paying 5 Euro right now for internet and it suckssss and wont let me upload more. Hopefully in two weeks when I get to Germany I can upload more for you and fill in all the balnks from the last 3 months with some dependable internet. still waiting to hear if there will be internet on my ship-board accomodations for the 6 week stay in Germany. Lets keep our fingers crossed! Love you all!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Madrid Madness
So my friend Zubin from Semester at Sea is in Madrid until May and I had a free weekend so I jetted! Last weekend was one of the greatest reminders of just how fun life can be and one of the best weekends I have had in quite some time.
Got in Thursday night, mastered the metro within 5 minutes of arriving ( true SAS style) and got to Zubins place! We headed out to grab a beer at a really trendy and well decorated little bar. Although Zubin and I have been living life more in the lifestyle of 53 year olds instead of 23 we decided a tequila shot was a true test of our youth... Which stayed with me until about 4pm the next day! (FAIL).
Friday Zubs had to work so I wandered around Madrid. Truely one of my favorite feelings... Just walking outside at the start of your day with no real plans and an entire city at your fingertips! I saw the Reina Sophia art museum, which has many picasso works including the Guerncia ( I'm totally butchering the spelling here but I'm winging this from the blackberry and can't refernece the proper spelling.. Google it :) ) anywaysssssss it was a reeally nice museum. Zubin showed me an awesome spot, el tigre, for some lunch... 4 euros got us each a beer and enough tapas to keep my satisfied!! Good deal if I do say so myself!
Considering Zubin played hooky from work friday afternoon, we went back to the embassy to a happy hour thing the marines put on. It was really quite a good time. I met some of the other interns who provided much fun the rest of the weekend! Ok looks like this is as far as I'm going to get with this post... More to come.. And it includes VIP parties, bunnies, the Diesel, jam sessions, gay bars, andddddddddd much more! Ciao ciao!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
showers and trains
I say this not to complain, at all, I'm actually chuckling at the events now as I sit on the train, however I personally would like to remember this ridiculous morning.
So, waking up, after a very cold damp night of half sleep... Wasn't actually so bad. However as I get ready to take my shower, I am rudely made aware of the complications this simple task is going to pose today. To preface this, I have yet to have a single shower here that is consistently hot. It verys from luke warm, to a few seconds of scald, to 5 minutes of icicle water.. Repeat. Also, the bathroom sink for the past week hasn't been draining properly. When you brush your teeth ( turning the water off diring brushing obviously.. Save the planet ).. You still end up with a pool of foaming spit water trying to escape down the emergence drain hole at the top. It doesn't help that its the smallest sink I've ever seen, but regardless, there have clearly been some plumbing issues. However I sure hope I'm bot the only person keeping up with my hygiene and the presence of a plunger in the bathroom 3 days ago had me thinking they were onto the problem.
Wellllll apparently not. As I turn the shower on this morning and give it the 2 Minute warmup to reach the mildly warm water temperature I'm learning to desire above all other water options, I step ib to find myself sstanding in a puddle of ice water which has now caused water to spil over the shallow basin of the shower stall all over ther floor. FAIL.
So turn the water off. Obviosuly. Stand there like an idiot for a few seconds cursing to myself... Grab the towel and continue to debate my options. The worlds smallest sink with an equally poor drainage situation at the shower will obviously not work for a sponge bath of sorts. So option 2 the "boys bathroom". Which doesn't have a shower, instead a tub which also serves as a permanent mop closet... I have never quite understoon the shower proceedings in the house and frankly still don't. So the tub in the "boys bathroom" has a hand-held shower head.
Focus on the hair is my main objective, since we all know that I'd rather stink than have greasy hair. Ha! So as I'm waiting for the water to reach its semi-warm temperature ( ps my face is literally purple by now from being near hypothermic).. The shower head begins an exorcist/ striking cobra impression flinging cold water all of me, the bathroom, my partially dry towel and my dry ( but not clean ) clothes I was to wear today.
FAIL.
Moving on.. I manage to get through wash and conditioning before the water turns the frigid cold... Causing my to bang my forehead against the tub because I'm attempting the upside down head of version of hair washing this morning. PISS!
Thennn I decide that since the water hit the cold spell I could brush my teeth wait the five minutes and try a quick splash with luke warm water so I didn't smell not knowing when and where the next sufficient shower would be and since I was having so much fun already.
Welll that resulted in a squating duck attempt at a 'bath' next to 2 mop buckets. Ohh the joys!
After the semi shower/bath disaster, I tried to fix the overflowing shower .. And all that got me was a horrible stench of poop through the train and more water all over.
Thennnn I go to the train station, stil covered on a thin coast of soap and hair that has way too much conditioner residue. To find out its not working today. Fail. A bus and a few trains later. Finally in Rome. Wish me luck!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Day in Rome with the Family
Monday, March 1, 2010
I just booked a trip to Madrid for the 11-15 and then I go to Ireland the 18-21. I leave for London on April 9th and will be in Germany by April 19. Lots going on and lots I need to plan for.
Hope all is well back home. Love and miss you all!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Firenze é BELLA!!!!
I am doing better, sorry about that last post, but sometimes frustration gets the best of me and online is the best place for me to vent. I apologize. So, Florence, or Firenze in Italian, was BEAUTIFUL! It was small enough that it was quaint and big enough to be enchanting. I loved it! I am hoping to go back for a day next weekend with hopefully a bit warmer weather.
When we got there we wandered around forever trying to find where we were haha, but eventually we got a cab to the hostel and then off to explore. We stopped for lunch at a lil place with amazing pasta and birre di miele ( honey beer). Love love love! Then wandered through the market where I got boots, jeans, a hat, bracelets, and a leather purse...... :) the only shopping I have done in Italy.
The Duomo...is AMAZINGLY beautiful. You sort of stumble upon it in the middle of the city and it is breathtaking. It has such amazing color to it compared to the color scheme of Roma. Lets see...that night i had AMAZING gnocchi with pesto and then we ended up going out to some ITalian club with 3 Italians...which forced Leanne and I to put our Italian to the test since they spoke basically NO english! hah It was a great time and felt great to have the freedom and independence back in my life.
The next day we went back to the Duomo, saw the David. Ok wait, we must focus on the David now... he is literally the most perfect man EVER! I usually HATE sculptures, I find them cold, lifeless, and dull... and I walked into the room with David and just could not stop admiring the every detail in absolute perfection. From the veins in his arm, to the muscle definition in the legs...it was perfect. I literally fell in love with it....
Saturday night we went to dinner with our friend Chelsea and her boy from New York and I had Steak Florentine....um...AMAZING! and we shared wine and tomino ( great cheese from Northern Italy) and it was just perfect.
Saturday night was filled with a bit more drinking than I think any of us planned, which led to an interesting Sunday. But we managed and actually climbed the bell tower next to the Duomo...400 plus stairs....it was a great view and a challenging yet rewarding experience. haha!ù
I am in love with gnocchi in the country and even had Monica and Paolo teach me how to make it for lunch the other day. I am so excited I know how to make pasta from scratch! This week has been really raining, until today.. the sun has been shining and it was almost 62 degrees!!!! BEAUTIFUL today. I went and sat at the beach and soaked up some vitamin D from the sun that I was pretty sure had disappered forever.
Things with the kids has been getting really hard. Fulvio has been horrible lately with lessons and has had me really stressed out. Last night was a breaking point for all of us.. and I was to the point of shouting at Fulvio, and then Paolo and Monica has to step in. It resulted in him missing dinner and catechism because he just has not had respect for any of it. I was really upset about it and talked with Monica about it today and she said it was nothing I have done wrong and has no problem that I had to yell at him and perhaps i need to be more stearn with him in general. I am really hoping today goes bettter, but I am nervous.
I think I am giong to a concert tomorrow ...should be interesting. I will try to post a few Firenze pics on here but I dont know if I will have the time today... although I have spent 2 hours uploading on Facebook so check them out there if you can and I will get them on here asap!
Miss you all...hope all is well! Love!
Ciao ciao!
Friday, February 12, 2010
I guess friendships in Rome seem to get confusing and the friend I had made here has me feeling really isolated from other people I have met here. I am sad.. Very sad and frustrated. There is also a lot of miscommunication associated with the whole ordeal and I have no idea what to believe. All i know is that i want and deserve the freedom while in ITALY to talk to, see, be friends with, and perhaps interested in whomever I please. We are all supposed to be adults by age 23 and i would honestly say that the situation is not being handled very maturely.
So there, thats out....
Other than that Im going to Florence this weekend and am excited to get out of Rome for a bit! Hopefully next week in Rome is a bit nicer weather and less drama with the freedom to be me!!!!!
Friday, February 5, 2010
Roma in Sepia :)
Great Week In Rome
The rest of the week I spent quite a bit of time around Ostia. The weather was nicer this week so I made it to the beach the other afternoon for a little walk. I also have been trying to just walk around a lot, take pictures, get some exercise haha! The town has little markets everyday which I find fun to browse and look at, although the majority of the stuff is complete crap. The other day I went out around Ostia and it was beautiful, sunny, and warm and then 30 minutes later pouring rain :( Obviously I didn't have an umbrella and ended up waiting for a bus under a pharmacy. Which reminds me haha...While im waiting for this bus in the rain I see the awning at the pharmacy...PERFECT right? Ya thats what I thought so I run over there and find that I'm standing by like a little pharmacy vending machine. So Im thinking , ohh thats nice you can come buy asprin and stuff when they are closed...NOPE...CONDOM MACHINE! I about died. Considering we are in ITALY here and we all know the Italian men repuation haha it was priceless... and I looked like a total loser just chilling out by this condom machine...awesome life moment!
Hmm...Yesterday I went into Rome to go to St. Peter's. I took the right bus but really had no idea when to get off the bus, so I ended up just randomly stumbling upon St. Peter's. It was GORGEOUS! They still had the Christmas decorations up, and I got some decent pictures I think. Its hard travelling alone because there is no one to help me take jumping pictures..because you all know I wanted one haha! Anyways..then I wandered along the river to meet up with my friend Leanne.
We booked our trips to Florence for next weekend, and IRELAND!!!!! Ya im pretty excited about the Ireland trip. We are going the weekend after St. Patty's becasue they have a week long party for it and that way we ahve time to see the rest of Dublin! AHHH!
Hm, I dont really know what all is going on this weekend. I will pry try to stay home with the kids this weekend because they had a really busy week and didnt have much patience to do much! And next weekend I will be gone so. I am going to the Super Bowl on Sunday...well technically Monday for me...at the Hard Rock Cafe here in Rome. Im excited , should be fun!
Let's just hope the Colts win...orrrrrr Davide is going to have too much fun rubbing it in my face.
Alright well im going to try to post a few pics from yesterday, but these library computers HATE me.
Miss and love you all!