woops! Here's the post for last week!
Quickly, as I want sleep (although that's a little rediculous since I spent about 12 hours sleeping last night, but whatever).
This week was kind of a shut down from the week before because suddenly I wasn't spending every waking moment trying to write Italian research papers. I wrote a total of 25 pages in Italian the week before, so buckling down for finals was kind of a joke, sadly. I ended up cramming right before my Art History exam, even though I'd had all week to do moderate studying. As a result, the exam went okay, but I was really angry at myself for not having prepared myself more. I could have done so much better. Oh well.
I was able to go back to choir this week though, and decided to stick with it, as I always feel better after singing. Hopefully this week I'll be able to sign up for free swim hours and then I'll just feel amazing (although exhausted) Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Not a whole lot else happened last week up until Friday, so I'll tell about that and then get to bed.
Sarah and I decided to go to Trieste and Venice for the weekend, so Friday we got up and left the house at 5:30 for the train. It was 20 minutes late, so we missed the next couple that we were supposed to catch in Bologna and Venice, forcing us to spend 8 hours on a train. Happily, Monica and Hannah were on the same trains that we were, so we all spent the weekend running around together.
We finally got to Trieste at 3 and wandered around. It's a very small city, but really cute. We didn't feel like we were in Italy anymore because it really doesn't look like it. The city's belonged to so many different countries in its history (even its recent history) that it doesn't have a defined identity. It's just a cute port town on the Northern Adriatic (which we made sure to slosh our hands in for a minute). They have lots of sail boats in the harbor, and it was really foggy that day, so it looked like the world just dropped off about 50 meters from the pier. It was so neat. They also had an ancient Roman theater, a castle (not an impressive one except that it had a drawbridge), and a Nazi concentration camp (but we didn't have time to go see that because we wanted to wander before dark). We found a place that served cheap but good pizza and then passed out in hour rooms. Sarah and I got a hostel that had the biggest room for three people I've ever seen in a hostel. It was really lovely, even though if you paid attention, your back was being attacked by the springs in the matress. I didn't care, as I hadn't walked that much after so little sleep since Winter Break.
Saturday we got up early again and left on the 6:45 train to Venice. We spent the day wandering around and experiencing Carnivale (Italian Mardi Gras celebration). My signora had leant me a mask that a past Smithie left at her house so I wore that for most of the day until I found myself a really pretty one for only 8 euro.
I think the word I'd use to describe Venice is "sparkling". Everything shines and sparkles, even in the rain. The buildings are all different colors, the water reflects everything, the windows are filled with Venetian glass and colorful masks, and during Carnivale everyone's wearing 1700s costumes in the most amazing colors (which of course match their masks, in the true Italian style). Carnivale's also kind of like their Halloween (becuase they didn't start to celebrate Halloween really until a couple of years ago) so a lot of people were running around in other costumes too, among which were a pack of Pikachus, a set of Jedis following Darth Vedar, and a couple of drunken condoms. I saw some kids wearing Power Rangers and Tigger costumes too, but the grown ups really got into it. It got really crowded by the end of the day, but it was still a lot of fun. We met up with another Sarah from our group and went to the Guggenheim museum (modern art). It was a really awesome collection, so I'm really glad I got to see it. We also stopped somewhere and ate Tiramisù before leaving because Hannah had heard that it was a Venetian specialty. Ours was a little freezer-burnt, but tasted good anyway.
We were on the 8 p.m. train out, as all of the rest of them were full until 3 a.m. and we were exhausted. We finally reached Florence at about 11:45 last night and I spent most of today in pjs. I did run into town quickly and bought some shoes that were on sale for 10 euro and then with the extra 2 that I thought they were going to cost, I bought some killer gelato in Gianduja and Almond. Alex came over this afternoon and we watched Tomb Raider and Short Circuit, as neither Alex nor Sarah had ever seen either. It was very relaxing.
However, as has been said, I'm passing out already, so I'm off to bed. The BIG EMAIL O'DOOM comes out this week, so be watching for it! (of course, if you've been following this, it's kind of pointless, but oh well!)
This week was kind of a shut down from the week before because suddenly I wasn't spending every waking moment trying to write Italian research papers. I wrote a total of 25 pages in Italian the week before, so buckling down for finals was kind of a joke, sadly. I ended up cramming right before my Art History exam, even though I'd had all week to do moderate studying. As a result, the exam went okay, but I was really angry at myself for not having prepared myself more. I could have done so much better. Oh well.
I was able to go back to choir this week though, and decided to stick with it, as I always feel better after singing. Hopefully this week I'll be able to sign up for free swim hours and then I'll just feel amazing (although exhausted) Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Not a whole lot else happened last week up until Friday, so I'll tell about that and then get to bed.
Sarah and I decided to go to Trieste and Venice for the weekend, so Friday we got up and left the house at 5:30 for the train. It was 20 minutes late, so we missed the next couple that we were supposed to catch in Bologna and Venice, forcing us to spend 8 hours on a train. Happily, Monica and Hannah were on the same trains that we were, so we all spent the weekend running around together.
We finally got to Trieste at 3 and wandered around. It's a very small city, but really cute. We didn't feel like we were in Italy anymore because it really doesn't look like it. The city's belonged to so many different countries in its history (even its recent history) that it doesn't have a defined identity. It's just a cute port town on the Northern Adriatic (which we made sure to slosh our hands in for a minute). They have lots of sail boats in the harbor, and it was really foggy that day, so it looked like the world just dropped off about 50 meters from the pier. It was so neat. They also had an ancient Roman theater, a castle (not an impressive one except that it had a drawbridge), and a Nazi concentration camp (but we didn't have time to go see that because we wanted to wander before dark). We found a place that served cheap but good pizza and then passed out in hour rooms. Sarah and I got a hostel that had the biggest room for three people I've ever seen in a hostel. It was really lovely, even though if you paid attention, your back was being attacked by the springs in the matress. I didn't care, as I hadn't walked that much after so little sleep since Winter Break.
Saturday we got up early again and left on the 6:45 train to Venice. We spent the day wandering around and experiencing Carnivale (Italian Mardi Gras celebration). My signora had leant me a mask that a past Smithie left at her house so I wore that for most of the day until I found myself a really pretty one for only 8 euro.
I think the word I'd use to describe Venice is "sparkling". Everything shines and sparkles, even in the rain. The buildings are all different colors, the water reflects everything, the windows are filled with Venetian glass and colorful masks, and during Carnivale everyone's wearing 1700s costumes in the most amazing colors (which of course match their masks, in the true Italian style). Carnivale's also kind of like their Halloween (becuase they didn't start to celebrate Halloween really until a couple of years ago) so a lot of people were running around in other costumes too, among which were a pack of Pikachus, a set of Jedis following Darth Vedar, and a couple of drunken condoms. I saw some kids wearing Power Rangers and Tigger costumes too, but the grown ups really got into it. It got really crowded by the end of the day, but it was still a lot of fun. We met up with another Sarah from our group and went to the Guggenheim museum (modern art). It was a really awesome collection, so I'm really glad I got to see it. We also stopped somewhere and ate Tiramisù before leaving because Hannah had heard that it was a Venetian specialty. Ours was a little freezer-burnt, but tasted good anyway.
We were on the 8 p.m. train out, as all of the rest of them were full until 3 a.m. and we were exhausted. We finally reached Florence at about 11:45 last night and I spent most of today in pjs. I did run into town quickly and bought some shoes that were on sale for 10 euro and then with the extra 2 that I thought they were going to cost, I bought some killer gelato in Gianduja and Almond. Alex came over this afternoon and we watched Tomb Raider and Short Circuit, as neither Alex nor Sarah had ever seen either. It was very relaxing.
However, as has been said, I'm passing out already, so I'm off to bed. The BIG EMAIL O'DOOM comes out this week, so be watching for it! (of course, if you've been following this, it's kind of pointless, but oh well!)