Wow, four weeks ago?
So I realized I've seriously neglected this thing, but don't feel bad LJ, I haven't written in my regular diary in a long while either.
So, I guess I'll make a list of everything I've done in the last month so that we're caught up...
-Ravenna with the school: THE place in Italy I'd been wanting to see all year. The mosaics were AMAZING.
-Irlanda in Festa: St. Patty's Day traditional Irish music concert in Florence. It was amusing as hell watching Italians do "Irish dancing" in the crowd and to hear Italian musicians singing with Irish accents.
-Choir concert: Amazing church with really cool frescoes; the sound was so cool, and it really reinforced my hopes to one day do a Sacred Harp sing in an ancient church. After all of the extra rehearsals necessary to prepare for the concert, I think I finally bonded with a number of my fellow choir members.
**SPRING BREAK**
-Paris: saw everything again but had Sarah with me this time and wasn't Christmas, so it was a good deal more cheerful. We even managed to see some of the gardens I hadn't gotten to, we went to the free night at the Louvre, we saw way more of the Gardens of Versailles, and I got to go to the Musee d'Orsay, which was pretty fantastic. Oh, and we met up with some friends from Smith that we didn't even know were going to be in Paris!! It was a completely random moment, meeting them suddenly at the Louvre! It was good getting to see them.
-On Easter: we wandered through a park and watched kids running wild looking for the myriad of hidden eggs. Then as we were getting to the airport it snowed. wtf?
-Killarney, Ireland: one of the most gorgeous places. The first day we watched the Irish Grand National in a pub while eating some hearty Irish food. We also took a little walk in the National Park and went to some live traditional music that night. The hostel we stayed in was the best I've ever been to.
Day two: 9:30 a.m. we left the hostel, and returned at 1:30 a.m. the next day. Why? We were stupid, basically. We decided to circle the lake, without being prepared for a serious day of hiking, and without knowing the area or the terrain. By 6 p.m. we'd made it about 3/4 of the way around the lake and were stuck in the thickest "Rhodedendron", as they called it later, that I've ever seen in a forest. We knew that we wouldn't make it back to town by dark, and had to call Mountain Rescue, who found us by 10 p.m. They then bashed a path through the forest and led us down the mountain and back to their jeep (that sentence makes it sound easy). Admittedly, Sarah and I were having a blast, but don't for a second think that just because we enjoyed the Adventure, we didn't understand how much trouble we could have been in. We're really lucky. And now we have this GREAT story to tell.
Day three: sleep, laundry, bus ride, and lots of lamenting because our bodies were rebelling against the fact that we hadn't died on the mountain instead of forcing them to keep going.
-Cork, Ireland: we really didn't do anything, even though we technically COULD have gone to kiss the Blarney Stone. We were just too tired, and really, IT'S A ROCK.
-Wexford, Ireland: A REALLY cute town with pretty much nothing to do. It was a good place to be for exhausted travelers though.
-Dublin, Ireland: We both hated it, and not just because it rained almost the entire time. Dublin's vibes are definitely not very nice. We spent most of our time there just kind of hanging around.
**END OF SPRING BREAK**
-Birthday: I called the Banshees the night before, so was up really late (but I loved getting to talk to them) and then my mom called me at 7 a.m. my time, so sleep was kind of zilch. My roommates decorated my room though, which was a really happy surprise, and then kept me under house arrest until they could surprise me with a picnic (which ended up inside because the weather wasn't consenting). A couple of friends came over for dinner and the day ended happily.
-Ferrara: Another school trip. We had the craziest bus driver who made us all sick, but we had all outside tours of the town and then took a bike ride along the medieval walls of Ferrara. It was made even cooler by the fact that we had to watch Giardino dei Finzi Conti for Cinema that week and it takes place in Ferrara!
-Barcelona: Kathryn and I skipped the country for beautiful Spain for self-made extended weekend. We spent the whole time wandering and thoroughly enjoying the town, minus the bit we spent on the beach (the Mediterranean's still too cold to swim in) and drinking in pubs. This weekend solidified my love for Spanish beer, btw. Wub da shtuff. Anyway, it ended up being an EXCELLENT weekend, even though I had to keep myself on a really tight budget. We were both depressed to have to come back to Florence, but we're over it now and looking forward to the next things we're doing.
-Val d'Orcia: Romantic Tuscany in a Nutshell could have been the title of this school trip, as we hit Sant'Antimo (a little old Romantic style church) and two teensy towns, Pienza and Montepulciano. Some of us skipped out on seeing the entirety of Pienza in favor of sitting in someone's wheat field, which was only about up to our knees. We sunbathed, played in the grass, and braided flowers into each others' hair. We also ate much Pecorino cheese...mmmmmm..... Montepulciano was just a gorgeous little town with a fabulous view, and since we were left to our own devices, we mostly just goofed off. There were a number of "jumping shots" taken in the little piazzas of that town. We had the same bus driver as the Ferrara trip, but this time didn't make us quite as sick.
NOW! I'm trying to get things caught up on and then finished up because next week's the last week of classes, I want to send out my guida before we leave for Sicily in almost 3 weeks, and because I'm leaving for Nottingham on Wednesday night!!! Well, actually I'm spending a night in Rome because my flight's from there early Thursday morning. Why Nottingham again? Because they're having a 2-day singing convention and the only thing I had to pay for was my transportation there and back!!! I'm SO EXCITED. I've been seriously missing Sacred Harp, and this should be a good enough fix to last me until I get back home.
Anyway, there's no reason why I should be falling behind in things, but I am, so I'm going to try to fix that. Bye, all! hmm....I should make a new icon....I haven't uploaded a new one in over a year.
So, I guess I'll make a list of everything I've done in the last month so that we're caught up...
-Ravenna with the school: THE place in Italy I'd been wanting to see all year. The mosaics were AMAZING.
-Irlanda in Festa: St. Patty's Day traditional Irish music concert in Florence. It was amusing as hell watching Italians do "Irish dancing" in the crowd and to hear Italian musicians singing with Irish accents.
-Choir concert: Amazing church with really cool frescoes; the sound was so cool, and it really reinforced my hopes to one day do a Sacred Harp sing in an ancient church. After all of the extra rehearsals necessary to prepare for the concert, I think I finally bonded with a number of my fellow choir members.
**SPRING BREAK**
-Paris: saw everything again but had Sarah with me this time and wasn't Christmas, so it was a good deal more cheerful. We even managed to see some of the gardens I hadn't gotten to, we went to the free night at the Louvre, we saw way more of the Gardens of Versailles, and I got to go to the Musee d'Orsay, which was pretty fantastic. Oh, and we met up with some friends from Smith that we didn't even know were going to be in Paris!! It was a completely random moment, meeting them suddenly at the Louvre! It was good getting to see them.
-On Easter: we wandered through a park and watched kids running wild looking for the myriad of hidden eggs. Then as we were getting to the airport it snowed. wtf?
-Killarney, Ireland: one of the most gorgeous places. The first day we watched the Irish Grand National in a pub while eating some hearty Irish food. We also took a little walk in the National Park and went to some live traditional music that night. The hostel we stayed in was the best I've ever been to.
Day two: 9:30 a.m. we left the hostel, and returned at 1:30 a.m. the next day. Why? We were stupid, basically. We decided to circle the lake, without being prepared for a serious day of hiking, and without knowing the area or the terrain. By 6 p.m. we'd made it about 3/4 of the way around the lake and were stuck in the thickest "Rhodedendron", as they called it later, that I've ever seen in a forest. We knew that we wouldn't make it back to town by dark, and had to call Mountain Rescue, who found us by 10 p.m. They then bashed a path through the forest and led us down the mountain and back to their jeep (that sentence makes it sound easy). Admittedly, Sarah and I were having a blast, but don't for a second think that just because we enjoyed the Adventure, we didn't understand how much trouble we could have been in. We're really lucky. And now we have this GREAT story to tell.
Day three: sleep, laundry, bus ride, and lots of lamenting because our bodies were rebelling against the fact that we hadn't died on the mountain instead of forcing them to keep going.
-Cork, Ireland: we really didn't do anything, even though we technically COULD have gone to kiss the Blarney Stone. We were just too tired, and really, IT'S A ROCK.
-Wexford, Ireland: A REALLY cute town with pretty much nothing to do. It was a good place to be for exhausted travelers though.
-Dublin, Ireland: We both hated it, and not just because it rained almost the entire time. Dublin's vibes are definitely not very nice. We spent most of our time there just kind of hanging around.
**END OF SPRING BREAK**
-Birthday: I called the Banshees the night before, so was up really late (but I loved getting to talk to them) and then my mom called me at 7 a.m. my time, so sleep was kind of zilch. My roommates decorated my room though, which was a really happy surprise, and then kept me under house arrest until they could surprise me with a picnic (which ended up inside because the weather wasn't consenting). A couple of friends came over for dinner and the day ended happily.
-Ferrara: Another school trip. We had the craziest bus driver who made us all sick, but we had all outside tours of the town and then took a bike ride along the medieval walls of Ferrara. It was made even cooler by the fact that we had to watch Giardino dei Finzi Conti for Cinema that week and it takes place in Ferrara!
-Barcelona: Kathryn and I skipped the country for beautiful Spain for self-made extended weekend. We spent the whole time wandering and thoroughly enjoying the town, minus the bit we spent on the beach (the Mediterranean's still too cold to swim in) and drinking in pubs. This weekend solidified my love for Spanish beer, btw. Wub da shtuff. Anyway, it ended up being an EXCELLENT weekend, even though I had to keep myself on a really tight budget. We were both depressed to have to come back to Florence, but we're over it now and looking forward to the next things we're doing.
-Val d'Orcia: Romantic Tuscany in a Nutshell could have been the title of this school trip, as we hit Sant'Antimo (a little old Romantic style church) and two teensy towns, Pienza and Montepulciano. Some of us skipped out on seeing the entirety of Pienza in favor of sitting in someone's wheat field, which was only about up to our knees. We sunbathed, played in the grass, and braided flowers into each others' hair. We also ate much Pecorino cheese...mmmmmm..... Montepulciano was just a gorgeous little town with a fabulous view, and since we were left to our own devices, we mostly just goofed off. There were a number of "jumping shots" taken in the little piazzas of that town. We had the same bus driver as the Ferrara trip, but this time didn't make us quite as sick.
NOW! I'm trying to get things caught up on and then finished up because next week's the last week of classes, I want to send out my guida before we leave for Sicily in almost 3 weeks, and because I'm leaving for Nottingham on Wednesday night!!! Well, actually I'm spending a night in Rome because my flight's from there early Thursday morning. Why Nottingham again? Because they're having a 2-day singing convention and the only thing I had to pay for was my transportation there and back!!! I'm SO EXCITED. I've been seriously missing Sacred Harp, and this should be a good enough fix to last me until I get back home.
Anyway, there's no reason why I should be falling behind in things, but I am, so I'm going to try to fix that. Bye, all! hmm....I should make a new icon....I haven't uploaded a new one in over a year.