a VERY quick update
"the bicycle thief" De Sica - watch it! i cant get over how depressing not only neorealist italian, but italian films in general are. this is the original "pursuit of happyness" minus the happy ending.
free time is so minimal these days, hence the updating only once a week. i have to say, i really like how busy i am. i just wish i had more time near a computer to respond to emails and upload pictures. i promise upon my return i will have well over 5000 pictures for a monumental slide show if anyone is interested (highly doubtful), haha.
last week was so good. thursday evening our house hosted a potluck and invited about 20-25 people. to our pleasant surprise, everyone came and even brought a few more. along with showing up, everyone brought something to eat or drink! i made a simple cous cous with sauteed vegetables and there was a ton of other great food. geoff made a great greek salad, brandan and nathan made an awesome banana pudding, jess made chicken parm, alison made a salad, brittney made pasta, there was garlic bread, toasted bread with cheese and various italian meats (considering i am 1 of 4 vegetarians in a school of 150 kids), 7 or so bottles of wine and tons of cookies. everything was consumed and fun was had. we even played a few games of telephone. i was most excited because i really like playing host, especially for a successful event.
earlier that day my friend evan from freshman year (we lived on the same floor in the dorms)at evergreen came to visit. he's been traveling since may and wanted to see a familiar face so he stayed on our couch for a few days. it was really nice for me as well, to see a familiar face. he got along great with my roommates which was a relief. its always stressful when your guest doesnt get along with your roommates/friends.
saturday we went on a class field trip to pisa and lucca. pisa was nice, beautiful beautiful buildings and of course, the leaning tower. i had two really amazing pastries from this place across the street from the tower. italy knows their sweets! i took the quintessential picture of me holding up the tower so ill post that sometime soon. we got a tour of all of the important buildings including: the baptistery, the cathedral and the...im blanking on the name but the cemetary with the holy dirt...haha. the baptistry was by far my favorite building because of its ornate and beautiful eastern european/middle eastern inspired facade.
then we went to lucca which was so so great. its similar to florence except there are more trees and its a much smaller town. we toured all of the famouns monuments and churches and tried the famous st. zita cake which is actually a vegetable cake. it dates back to the 1200's and was delicious.
sunday, kate, evan and i dragged ourselves out of bed and met jess and justine at the train station in the early morning. we hopped on a train and went to the famous cinque terre. a lot of people visit there all of the time and half of my school has already been which took away the novelty away a little bit until i arrived. it was SO beautiful! it was a beautifully clear and warm day, the water was bright blue, there was a nice breeze...it was just amazing. we started at the northermost town and hiked to vernazza which ive been told was the best of the 5. everyone was right.
the hike was about three miles and there was a 15 minute uphill at the beginning that was reminiscent of masada. then it got easier. i stopped every 5 minutes to take pictures, i couldnt resist! when we got to vernazza we headed straight to lunch. cinque terre is where pesto was invented so we had to get some. i can honestly say that i had the best italian meal i have ever had. fresh pasta with fresh, amazing pesto, to die for! then we hopped back on the train and made our way down to the next town. then we took the 'lovers hike' which shouldnt really be called a hike, it was more of a walk with a seaside view. [lindsay: i saw the locks!]
after seeing the rest of the towns we made our way back to florence. i am so happy we went, i was so close to sleeping in. it was a good wake-up call for me because now i know from experience how ridiculously easy it is to get anywhere. there is really nothing stopping me, except for homework that is. i actually have homework now! i jinxed myself a few weeks ago when i said i wanted to be pushed harder, dammit! i have the travel bug and i dont think its going away for a while. kate and i are heading up to neice next weekend. we're going to take an overnight train thursday night and stay until sunday, visiting cannes, monaco and other beautiful coastal cities and towns.
the weekend after that is my class trip to rome for three days, then our midterms, then we have our fall break already!10 days in milan, paris, and interlaken. then we have a weekend off, then we wanted to go to germany and spain. the following weekends will be spent hanging out with mom and ally, venice, bologna and maybe some other small italian villages. then the semster is over. its crazy how fast its all going now.
okay, this was supposed to be a quick post, yikes! ill share more later.
with love.
free time is so minimal these days, hence the updating only once a week. i have to say, i really like how busy i am. i just wish i had more time near a computer to respond to emails and upload pictures. i promise upon my return i will have well over 5000 pictures for a monumental slide show if anyone is interested (highly doubtful), haha.
last week was so good. thursday evening our house hosted a potluck and invited about 20-25 people. to our pleasant surprise, everyone came and even brought a few more. along with showing up, everyone brought something to eat or drink! i made a simple cous cous with sauteed vegetables and there was a ton of other great food. geoff made a great greek salad, brandan and nathan made an awesome banana pudding, jess made chicken parm, alison made a salad, brittney made pasta, there was garlic bread, toasted bread with cheese and various italian meats (considering i am 1 of 4 vegetarians in a school of 150 kids), 7 or so bottles of wine and tons of cookies. everything was consumed and fun was had. we even played a few games of telephone. i was most excited because i really like playing host, especially for a successful event.
earlier that day my friend evan from freshman year (we lived on the same floor in the dorms)at evergreen came to visit. he's been traveling since may and wanted to see a familiar face so he stayed on our couch for a few days. it was really nice for me as well, to see a familiar face. he got along great with my roommates which was a relief. its always stressful when your guest doesnt get along with your roommates/friends.
saturday we went on a class field trip to pisa and lucca. pisa was nice, beautiful beautiful buildings and of course, the leaning tower. i had two really amazing pastries from this place across the street from the tower. italy knows their sweets! i took the quintessential picture of me holding up the tower so ill post that sometime soon. we got a tour of all of the important buildings including: the baptistery, the cathedral and the...im blanking on the name but the cemetary with the holy dirt...haha. the baptistry was by far my favorite building because of its ornate and beautiful eastern european/middle eastern inspired facade.
then we went to lucca which was so so great. its similar to florence except there are more trees and its a much smaller town. we toured all of the famouns monuments and churches and tried the famous st. zita cake which is actually a vegetable cake. it dates back to the 1200's and was delicious.
sunday, kate, evan and i dragged ourselves out of bed and met jess and justine at the train station in the early morning. we hopped on a train and went to the famous cinque terre. a lot of people visit there all of the time and half of my school has already been which took away the novelty away a little bit until i arrived. it was SO beautiful! it was a beautifully clear and warm day, the water was bright blue, there was a nice breeze...it was just amazing. we started at the northermost town and hiked to vernazza which ive been told was the best of the 5. everyone was right.
the hike was about three miles and there was a 15 minute uphill at the beginning that was reminiscent of masada. then it got easier. i stopped every 5 minutes to take pictures, i couldnt resist! when we got to vernazza we headed straight to lunch. cinque terre is where pesto was invented so we had to get some. i can honestly say that i had the best italian meal i have ever had. fresh pasta with fresh, amazing pesto, to die for! then we hopped back on the train and made our way down to the next town. then we took the 'lovers hike' which shouldnt really be called a hike, it was more of a walk with a seaside view. [lindsay: i saw the locks!]
after seeing the rest of the towns we made our way back to florence. i am so happy we went, i was so close to sleeping in. it was a good wake-up call for me because now i know from experience how ridiculously easy it is to get anywhere. there is really nothing stopping me, except for homework that is. i actually have homework now! i jinxed myself a few weeks ago when i said i wanted to be pushed harder, dammit! i have the travel bug and i dont think its going away for a while. kate and i are heading up to neice next weekend. we're going to take an overnight train thursday night and stay until sunday, visiting cannes, monaco and other beautiful coastal cities and towns.
the weekend after that is my class trip to rome for three days, then our midterms, then we have our fall break already!10 days in milan, paris, and interlaken. then we have a weekend off, then we wanted to go to germany and spain. the following weekends will be spent hanging out with mom and ally, venice, bologna and maybe some other small italian villages. then the semster is over. its crazy how fast its all going now.
okay, this was supposed to be a quick post, yikes! ill share more later.
with love.