| it's 2009 |
[20 Jun 2009|04:36pm] |
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It's 2009. And halfway through the year. I can't believe it's already been almost a year since my last post. It was an... eventful year to say the least. Although I can't say that way too many things happened that I wanted to happen at school. Fortunately I can say I had a great place to live with fabulous roommates. Highlights of the year (whether good or bad):
1. I lived in Arbaugh with Mollie, Bonnie, and Allison Mulherin and it was fabulous.
2. I did my first sound design for the fall show, Blood Wedding.
3. I assistant directed for the winter show, The Learned Ladies.
4. I did lighting design work and was a guard and a voice-over for the spring show, Omniscience.
5. I didn't get into any of the shows... and I auditioned for all of them. I understand the reasons for the first two, though they don't make me feel better. But I don't understand the reasons for the last one (I was the only girl who was called back who didn't get a part, and I know I was available more than some and had a better attitude and was just as good).
6. I directed three JP Shanley short plays for play prod and Ben directed the other three... this was awesome.
7. I assistant directed the Quad City Playwrights' Festival and I'm the lead director next year.
8. I had my second little for pleding and Mollie pledged as well.
9. I got an awesome house for this year with Mollie, Bonnie, Jill, and Allison Connelly.
10. I passed quite a few relationship hurdles, including my 6 month, 8 month, and 1 year mark. We're at about 1 1/2 years now.
11. I decided to triple major in English, Asian Studies, and Theatre.
12. I learned that I really do love EVERY aspect of theatre.
13. I got a job/internship co-teaching a playwrighting and performance class of high schoolers (just finished my first week) with Metro Arts on Augustana's campus.
14. I got to babysit my new theatre professor's adorable children a lot.
15. I believe that I have matured a lot.
I think I'm now mostly okay with the idea that I only have one year of college left. While I will miss my house and I still miss Arbaugh and I'll miss my friends and roommates, I think I have a pretty decent future ahead of me. My current plan is to teach English in Wuhan, China for a year and then either join the Peace Corps in Africa or move to Oregon with Ben and adopt an African son and an Asian daughter.
In terms of a career, however, I still have no idea what I want to do with my life.
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| Oops! |
[25 Jun 2008|09:51pm] |
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Sorry about that break. And it's going to be even longer because I'm going to Rock Island tomorrow and I won't be back until Sunday night. I'll try to post more/the rest on Monday.
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| June 7, 2008- Athens |
[22 Jun 2008|08:57pm] |
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Woke up at nine. Went to breakfast. We talked to Dave downstairs and made plans for transportation for the day, then went back upstairs to meet Natalie. Walked to the National Archeological Museum, which was about a half an hour walk. On the way, we saw "The Killah": a creepy graffetti picture of a kid with huge sharp teeth and a knife. The museum prices were really weird. I could have sworn it said it was free for people under 19, but I guess it was just three euros instead of seven.
First floor exhibitions were closed for the day and the eighth, but there was still plenty to see on the ground floor. Most of it was ancient Greek sculpture and there were also a lot of jars: a whole huge collection of them. After about half of the museum I couldn't keep my slow pace, so I went much quicker through the rest. I hope I didn't miss too much, but I took a lot of pictures.
At one point by the theatre masks, Natalie took a picture of me making the same face as one of them. A lady FLIPPED OUT on us. She comes over and is like, "Let me see that picture!" I'm thinking, "oh no, crazy Greek". I showed her the picture.
"Delete it!"
"Okay..." and I did.
"Let me see it. And the previous one. And the one before that." That went on for about five pictures until I said, "I'm not going to let you see all 200 of my pictures." Then she stood there explaining to me why I couldn't have that picture. She said it was disrespectful. I think she was just really bored of her job. She also said that they would check all of our pictures on the way out, which of course they did not.
We looked at the rest of the museum and then went to the museum cafe across the street for lunch. I had some chicken sandwich and a green tropical fruits slushie. We took a nice break from walking before heading out again. We walked to the nearest metro station and took the green line as close to plaka as we could get. They were right, the metro stations are clean. We walked to a street Natalie had remembered and we did some shopping there. Only for little things, however, and no clothes (dresses are way too expensive everywhere). But I got a decent amount of stuff and I still have money left over.
To be continued...
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| I'm at your feet |
[20 Jun 2008|03:37pm] |
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Shakira- Whenever, Wherever |
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I am so freaking bored of summer and June isn't even over yet. I mean, I have my internship, which is nice and going pretty well so far. And I have work, sort of... barely any hours yet. But most of what I've established in the past two years I've left in Rock Island or even in Asia. And I've always said that I'm independent and don't need anyone for anything, but I just feel lost and alone right now. I feel like the only one I really have right now is Spike, and he's a freaking turtle so he doesn't talk and I can't like go on walks or anything with him because he's so tiny and he'd get lost. I think I made a day before decision to go to Momence tomorrow to see Mollie even though she doesn't get off work until 3:30 and it's an hour and a half away, because I just need to see her.
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(1 message | holla back)
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| June 6, 2008- Athens |
[20 Jun 2008|03:01pm] |
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The Beatles- Here Comes the Sun |
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I woke up at eight this morning having to pee and then sometime between then and 10:30 I must have picked up my alarm clock and turned it off. It was supposed to go off at nine, but I woke up at 10:26 with it in my hand. Natalie's didn't go off either and it changed the time for her. So long story short, we missed breakfast, but got some much needed sleep.
We got up and showered and changed and went to the grocery store across the street to get some lunch, I got bread and bananas and juice and granola bars and peanut butter and Natalie got some things. It came out to ten something, which was funny because the little Skippy peanut butter was about half of that. Then we went to Starbucks to get drinks. My four euro iced mocha was mostly normal, but Natalie's drink with soy milk was terrible and tasted like milky liquid vegetables or something.
Then we went to the pharmacy where we couldn't get Natalie any razors because apparently that is the old fashioned way of doing it. When we got back, we changed into our swimsuits and went out to the pool on the roof. At first there were no more lounge chairs, so we just sat in normal chairs at a table. Finally some people left and we got chairs. Amanda and Jeremy were there too, because it was raining in the morning when they were planning to go to the beach.
There are only 23 people left in Athens with our tour, but today many of them are on the one day cruise, which is where mom is today. We stayed at the pool for a while and got an Ocean long drink (even though you're not supposed to drink alcohol or have sugar out in the sun). Margaret and Charlie came up after a while too. The guys next to us were speaking Spanish very loudly and very quickly. On our way back down we talked to Lynn and Jack and got a map from them. Apparently Dave and Lucia had gotten lost on the metro and got a free ride back from some random guy in his Toyota just by luck.
Shower time, and then we went out again to go shopping at a few stores around the hotel. Everything was too expensive though. We returned to the hotel after looking around and went to the hotel's restaurant. I got a hamburger, but it wasn't really a hamburger, more like a slab of meatloaf on a bun. And the french fries were too mushy, but it was okay I guess. Mom met us there around 8:30 and we all went to bed pretty soon after.
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| June 5, 2008- Athens |
[19 Jun 2008|03:10pm] |
We left at eight this morning and Telly told us we'd arrive in Athens around one. Our new driver was much too jerky for our tastes and the drive down from Delphi at the beginning was really curvy. We stopped partway down the mountain to take a group picture. I thought the point was to take it on a few good cameras and then send it to everybody, but apparently no one understood that and we ended up taking about twelve. And who knows how good of a photographer the driver is anyway.
After taking one smiling stop, Telly gave us the Trafalgar four evaluations. They were not very detailed and I'm not sure they do a lot of good, but whatever. Before I had even gotten to mine, Telly asked me to help her with them. So I got to (had to) sit on the stairs at the front of the bus and put surveys into envelopes and seal them, while Telly asked me about Ben. Then I went back to my seat and Natalie filled mine out for me with my help so that I wouldn't have to write on the bus.
Contrary to what Telly had told us, we arrived at our hotel in Athens around 11:30. We had seen a Pizza Hut pretty much right across the street, so we decided to go there for lunch (there was also an Applebee's about a mile away, which was strange). Our waitress spoke English well and was excited when I asked for a water in Greek. She gave us a free appetizer of bread and black olive dip, whic was decent even though I don't like olives.
The California group came too to get some pizza for Jeff, who was in his room with a rash (from the sun? which Glen also got, thanks for the info Glen). Mom and Liz were talking about issues with Glen and Daniel. Amanda and Jeremy were there too. When we left, they (our waitress) even gave us chocolates. Then another bad idea nap before our guided tour at 2:30. Of course, that means we were exhausted for the tour. Telly had told us it would go until five, but then our tour guide told us 5:30 instead.
First we went to the Acropolis to see The Parthenon, etc. The tour guide talked about the reconstruction process and how it won't ever be completed. And how if we built the same thing as the Greeks, it would take longer than it took them; basically it means they were much smarter than we are. We saw some dogs sleeping in the shade by The Parthenon. But my personal favorite was the handicap picture signs on the ground showing spots where people in wheelchairs could be. The problem, though, was getting there in the first place. All of the ground was either uneven and rough or really slippery.
I bought some postcards for one euro on the way down and Natalie and I got a strawberry lemon slushie. Then we had a little driving tour of Athens in which we saw the Old Parliament and the new one, the Olympic stadium, and Constitution Square. Supposedly the five Olympic circles stand for each continent, which apparently means that Antartica and Australia don't exist.
When we returned, we had until 6:40 to get ready for our optional excursion dinner in Plaka. Most everyone in the group dressed up except for Derek. And everyone was there except Amanda and Jeremy. After the drive we had a thirty minute walk in which these dogs kept following us. One of them had recently been shaved and had a terrible flat top pointy head haircut and a lion looking tail. They were pretty dirty of course. At one point, two of the dogs kept rubbing up against Helen and she was like, "oh, are these my body guards?"
When we finally got there, we sat across from Toni and Mark (ah!) and Lindy and Mark and next to Debbie and Doug. They brought us a ton of appetizers, but the good ones were the baked zucchini and tsatziki (which is like a cucumber dipping "sauce"). Then I ate chicken and vegetables for dinner and ice cream and baklava for dessert. During dinner there was singing and music played along with a recording and Greek dancing. Then our tour guide girl danced, mostly with Miguel, and made us dance.
Amy made us get up for the ladies dance saying that if she got up, we had to as well. It was awkward and similiar to belly dancing, so of course we couldn't do it. And I was on the outside so more out in the open. Then there was a male dance which less of our guys got up for. They hardly did any dancing anyway. It was mostly being in a linked circle with someone in the middle who was often the tour guide lady. When she danced with Miguel it was awkward because she was trying to get her to dance like a Greek and he was trying to get her to dance like a Mexican. It looked a lot more natural when she danced with Peter.
A card was given to Telly at the restaurant and an honorary Australian citizenship for Jack. Then everyone sang happy birthday to Glen, whose birthday is also June 9th. He also got a card signed by everyone and thanked Natalie and I like ten times for it. He also kept asking if he could catch us in the morning to give us hugs before he left. At Pizza Hut he said he would miss us the most because we were the only ones who spoke English. Other people "spoke Australian" apparently.
We didn't get back until around 10:30 and then just went to bed pretty quickly.
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(holla back)
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| June 4, 2008- Delphi |
[17 Jun 2008|06:42pm] |
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Another morning in which our suitcases had to be out by 6:15. Then we left at 7:45 after a really lame breakfast. We had about a four hour drive to Delphi after a few stops. One stop at a really famous bridge in Greece called the "Charilaos Trikoupis" bridge, which was pretty cool. Another stop for lunch at an actual restaurant where we sat with Janet, Steve, Douglas, and Marquita and I ordered stuffed tomatoes. They were good, though not as good as stuffed peppers, naturally.
Our tour guide in Delphi was Christina and she was pregnant. She told us the things Natalie told me and then a few more stories. Delphi was named for the word dolphin, which is what Apollo turned into when he saved a lot of travelers from drowning in a ship wreck. Only seven years ago they discovered some important things about Delphi, which likely means that there's a lot more to learn. The oracles there were sneaky and you only got what you wanted to hear from them. Also, two inscriptions were very important to the Greeks in Delphi and those were "know thyself" and "nothing in excess".
The hike up wasn't bad, but then it kept getting hotter. The hike down was worse because the stones were pretty slick. Then Amy gave me a shit ton of little pink motion sickness medicine. Too bad it expires pretty soon, because now I have a lot of it. After the visit we drove the really short distance to the hotel. We found out there was a pool and decided to write out there since most of the shops were closed (due to nap time).
Jeff was down there alone and a creepy older couple: the dude kept staring at us weirdly. Natalie freaked out about a bee and then killed another big one with my flip flop. Jeff even talked to us again. Amanda and Jeremy came down and we learned that they're younger than we thought (26 and 27, respectively). Jeremy just got a masters in social work; he's starting a job working with severely mentally ill patients as soon as he gets home to West Virginia.
After the pool we took showers and went to dinner at 7:30. Even though it was the same chain of hotels, the food selection was way worse. I ate very little as usual. Then we caught Glen playing solitaire on a computer that said "for internet use only". Jeff told us that he got all burnt. Even his eyelids, ouch!
Went to bed early again.
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(holla back)
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| June 2, 2008- Patras, Olympia |
[16 Jun 2008|09:33am] |
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This morning I was rudely awakened at about 5:30 with an annoucement about the boat reaching its destination and getting your luggage. I was too tired to freak out much about it. Apparently we just stopped somewhere else on the way; I'd hate to be one of those people. We woke up around seven like we were supposed to. As soon as we decided not to go to breakfast and to just sleep in, Natalie changed her mind and I had to get up.
Breakfast was not worth it. It was corn flakes and rolls and then eggs and bacon which weren't cooked enough. Then we went back to bed, which of course was a terrible idea. Once mom got out of the shower, a cleaning guy kept trying to get in to clean the room. And when I was in the shower, they said we would be getting there at noon instead of 12:40. So no time for that muffin I so badly wanted.
We all left the boat and boarded our new bus with a new driver to Olympia. The new bus is bigger, so nobody has to sit in the back unless they want to. The ride was a few hours long and it was very hot when we got there. Anyway, we got to see the site of the first Olympic games. Only men could participate and/or watch because they were all naked. Winners would receive free food for life (sweet prize). Cheaters would get their name on a stone and then people would spit and pee on it. Sometimes they would even have an "accident" on the way home. To protect themselves from the sun, men would cover their bodies with olive oil and dirt.
Women had their own version of the Olympics later on in which only the virgins (non married women) of the town could participate. Men could watch. Women weren't naked, but they had short dresses on with one breast exposed (that can't be comfortable for running; neither can having a penis exposed either). I think that must have been how guys picked their wives. Also, cheaters were found out by expert doctors tasting their urine. And they ran in laps, not around a track.
Even though everything was pretty interesting, I mostly wanted to just leave after the info because it was way too hot outside for me. When we got to the hotel, I was too hot and tired for anything and I kept almost falling asleep. Dinner was at eight and it was a buffet. I was really happy about that. And Greek food is much better than Italian food, which is weird and ironic.
After dinner it was already past nine, so we bought some batteries, Natalie read me a story about Delphi, and then I fell asleep pretty damn quickly.
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| June 2, 2008- Pompei, Bari |
[15 Jun 2008|11:43am] |
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We left Sorrento this morning at eight. Natalie and I didn't have our bags out by seven when we were supposed to and they freaked out on us. We first had about an hour drive to Pompei. There we got to see a good portion of the sizeable city's ruins with Willy as our tour guide. The highlight of the morning was when Willy's phone rang and the ringtone was "Low" by Flo-Rida. Which was hilarious. Also, Willy broke out into "Irreplaceable" by Beyonce. So apparently he is hip, with his red sunglasses, bright green pants, and funny sweater.
We got to see where all the houses were in Pompei and some paintings on the floor and walls. And in an old whore house, there was a poor dog sleeping in the shade on the hard cement. After seeing the city we ate at a self-service place which was bu dan (not only) disgusting, er qie (but also) really expensive. It was like seventy-five dollars for the three of us.
After lunch and having a pee-pee (as Willy calls it), we got back on the bus to drive to the harbor. We learned that anyone switching seats with us was only doing it for their own benefit. Because when we switched with Mark and Toni today it was for Toni's knees because they had no leg room and also couldn't see the TV properly. We watched "Roman Holiday" with Audrey Hepburn, which was decent, but the ending was pretty stupid.
Apparently we had a lot of time, so we stopped twice on the road for like a half an hour each time. When we got to the harbor area in Bari it was 4:30 and we had half an hour of free time. Natalie and I sat on a bench and wrote in our journals while Glen went around us flicking bottle caps and yelling at the "stupid" pigeons who he loved in Venice.
We boarded our ship around five and said goodbye to Vincenzo, our driver. The cabins on the boat aren't bad at all. Especially compared to the overnight train to Wuhan in China. I just wish the boat would move like that train did. While we were at dinner and the boat was taking off, we were told it would get better, but it never did. It was like a mild earthquake all night and loud. Our dinner was not the Greek burger Telly lead us to believe it was going to be. Even though we are now in Greek territory, the food was pretty American. However, the soup was avgo lemono, which was mostly good. Then we had veggies, turkey, french fries, salad, and fruit for dessert.
We planned to roam the boat again when dinner was over, but we were just too tired (yet again). Even though Telly told us we could sleep in, breakfast is at eight tomorrow morning.
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(holla back)
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| June 1, 2008- Isle of Capri |
[14 Jun 2008|10:49am] |
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Today has most likely been the best day overall on this trip so far. Of course, I write this in a personal state that begs to differ. My stomach is very upset with me right now. We left at 7:45 this morning in smaller busses that took us down the curvy mountain. We met our local guide there, Willy. And exchange:
Willy- Who are you here with?
Peter- Telly.
Willy- Oh! You're the teletubbies. Are there more of you?
Peter- Two more busses.
Willy- You seem very nice. Are all of you nice? I don't like the mean ones.
Peter- Yes, I think so. Well, we have a few cheeky ones.
Willy- That's okay, as long as they're good looking. They can't be ugly.
Helen- That's me. I'm cheeky and good looking.
Then we took a big old boat that just seemed like a huge bus to the Isle of Capri. We took the funicular up the island and took a walk with Willy to see the gardens and the view. Next, much of the group went on an optional excursion on a boat around the island. We didn't go, luckily. Natalie and I looked at a lot of the shops and then had lunch at a restaurant with a good view and a great color combo style: orange and brown. Amanda and Jeremy were at a table behind us.
After lunch we went shopping and I bought some Limoncello (which is a famous local liquor in parts of Italy, but it's gross and way too strong) in a cute little bottle with a scenic picture. We also sat while I had some caramel gelato and people watched. There were some crazy people, including snake lady, bubble butt, purples, little mermaids (old ladies with bright red hair), and old, fat women in bikini tops. Some of the people here are very unattractive and wear terrible clothes.
At about 2:15 we went to take the funicular back down. People mob and push too much in Italy. There was a guy who looked like my Uncle Tom with a cute baby. And there was a tiny girl who kept scooting toward me (away from the crack) on the funicular. We met at the bottom at three and everyone was there except for the people who went on the optional excursion.
When we reached the boat, we realized that Telly had given us the wrong tickets (from the morning boat) and nobody got on except for Chris. Finally they let us on, but by then there were very few seats left on the boat and we had to sit on some ledge backwards. Mom bought me a red Capri bag. The very end of the boat ride when it was swaying and we were waiting to get off made me a little sick. Then we had another little (crowded) bus take us up to the hotel and that had me feeling really not well.
We got back and decided to take an hour and a half nap. As usual, bad idea. Natalie's alarm went off an hour early and she didn't wake up until I made her and then mine didn't go off at all. So mom woke us up right before dinner and I was exhausted. I hardly ate anything and our waiter (who looked like a combination of Gonzo and Robert De Niro) freaked out on me when I said that I don't like fish. "I get you other meat!" "I'm not hungry, thank you."
After dinner, while we were in the room, Glen was on the internet looking up stuff on the Lakers. He talked about the Laker girls and then read an entire article out loud on the team. We could hear all of it from our room. I left everything else to do for the morning and went to bed early. I had another weird dream where mom was a queen (I guess) in our house and there was no dad and her kids were Jeff and Derek instead of us.
Also had an exchange with Jeff (the 21 year old Californian) today for the first time. I'm glad one of them talked to me before the trip is over. He looks older without his headphones (that he wore all the time). Seems nice.
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(holla back)
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| May 31, 2008- Sorrento |
[13 Jun 2008|08:23pm] |
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Wyclef Jean- The Sweetest Girl |
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Another really crazy dream last night. Long, nasty drive to Sorrento today. Dave and Lucia switched seats with us so that we didn't have to sit in the very back for all of the terrible curves. Understandable why they switched though because they had no room under their seats for their bags and no foot room and no pockets to put things in front of them on the seat back.
Why is this trip so frustrating? The drive was about five hours or more. We stopped at a war memorial cemetary where many Canadians and New Zealanders were buried. Most were under the age of thirty, many with unknown names and identities and only the heading "known to God" on their tombstones. Kind of depressing. We also watched "Under the Tuscan Sun", which was pretty good, but very sappy and quite unrealistic, even though it was based on a true story. The last of the drive into Sorrento was horrible. The view was nice, sure, but it was curvy as heck. I had to waste another dramamine.
Telly dropped a lot of the group off at a mozzerella farm, including mom, and we drove to the hotel. The drive was crappy again and more than the ten minutes we were told. We got our room: the hotel is pretty nice, but the shower is still messed up and there are a ton of flies. We ate some lunch at the hotel with Amy and Chris. There were no menus, just "we make you any salad or sandwich". So, mozzerella, tomato, and lettuce sandwich and peach juice. It was all decent. After lunch it was already after four and I showered and we did laundry.
Dinner at 7:30 at the hotel. Baby chicken, after yesterday's baby pig. We wore our dresses and I wore my elephant glass blowing pendant on a necklace. We sat with Janet and Steve and talked about the weird, blunt, rushed serving in Italy. Then we took a look at the view from the hotel roof. We now know all but two names of people on the tour (Jo helped us out).
Got to check my e-mail today (free internet at the hotel, which is nice). No word on the internship. Got my grades. Told Luke that I got him something, but didn't get to respond to Mollie. Also didn't get to my other e-mails. But now Jeff and Derek are on the computer and have been for a long time. Ugh.
Bed time.
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(holla back)
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| May 30, 2008- Florence to Assisi |
[12 Jun 2008|05:13pm] |
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I woke up too much during the night. I got up at 7:15 and put my suitcase out at 8:30 before breakfast. After eating I took notes on our tour group while Natalie napped and mom did random things.
I'm sick of Italian food already. How come in most other countries you can only get their food, but in the U.S. you can get food from wherever? I wonder how everyone is doing. I know people back home are well.
Then I napped too and we woke up too late. Natalie went off on her own and mom and I went to some of the little shops without her. After we looked around a bit, we got some "food" at a stand. I got some Haribo and some strawberry Italian ice and ritz crackers. Mom made a big mess with her nutella waffle. It started raining again and got kind of cold.
We went back to the hotel and the rotation for today had us in the second last row of the bus. It was pretty terrible and there was some accident on the way. I slept on the bus and of course that had me feeling horrible when we got off. The view in Assisi is pretty, but the town itself is kind of horrible. Also, the bathroom in our hotel room is tiny and quite impractical. The "door" to the shower really doesn't work at all.
After settling into our rooms, we met our local tour guide and visited the Basilica of St. Francis (Glen's saint) and a bunch of 14th century paintings of Jesus and the saints, etc. It was pretty boring, I'll be quite honest. Also it was really windy and cold. Then Natalie and I walked back to the hotel and got a little confused on the way back because the streets don't make sense.
Dinner at 7:30, looked like a baby pig or a heart. So of course I didn't eat much again. I'm pretty sure there will be three constants for me for this whole trip: 1) always exhausted, 2) always thirsty, 3) never hungry.
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(holla back)
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| May 29, 2008- Florence |
[12 Jun 2008|09:39am] |
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We left the hotel at 7:45 in the morning after a semi decent breakfast. The rotation has us in the back half of the bus, which is not cool. I didn't sleep this time, but Telly was talking most of the time. When we got to Florence, we dropped people off for the optional excursion at the monestary. Some of drove onto the hotel.
We ate lunch at a little place where they didn't notice us coming in and took like fifteen minutes to give us menus. Then me and mom's food came out with anchovies (eww) on it instead of lettuce and when we said we had wanted lettuce instead they just threw a bunch of lettuce on top of it all and we had to pick all the anchovies off ourselves.
When we returned to the hotel, I was so exhausted and I couldn't keep my eyes open. I decided that I had to stay back for the walking tour. So I passed out and woke up from Natalie opening the door and saying "get up, we're late!" Apparently they had gotten lost (without me there, ha) and it was actually dinner time. So I got up and we took a twenty minute walk to the restaurant. We were late and had to be split up, but it was fine.
I wasn't very hungry and the main course was scary pink chicken and pork, so I didn't eat much again. But the tiramisu for dessert was good. Then we walked to the bus and my feet got soaked and dirty because it had been pouring while we were in the restaurant. It was another relatively early night.
Two popular gangs in Florence must have been "PLG!" and "Jado" because that was the graffiti written everywhere.
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(holla back)
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| May 28, 2008- Venice (Venezia) |
[11 Jun 2008|04:47pm] |
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Today was a much better day, but still very tiring. We left yet again at 7:30 in the morning. We had to drive a good (not so much) distance into Venice and then take a boat (yuck), of course. I should've realized that Venice and I wouldn't get along well. First of all, a city on the water? Hong Kong and I didn't get along well. Plus St. Mark's Square: the pigeons. My slight phobia of birds didn't work out there.
Then we went to a murano glass blowing place and the master was wearing way too tight clothing. Mom spent way too much money on some vase/bowl thing and I bought a little green elephant pendant (even thought I don't usually wear jewelry). Later we sat in Burger King and people watched; there were some ridiculous people. The best was a woman covered in shades of purple from head to toe, even her hair was lavender. Some people passed us like three times within fifteen minutes, including this old lady and I don't know how the hell she got around so quickly because she looked like she was ninety.
The streets were too crowded and there are so many creepy mullet tween boys. More pigeons again. We took a boat to another little island, which Telly said was the Venezian Venice: Burano. The houses are all really sweet colors like awesome oranges and stuff. Mom hated all the ones I liked, of course. Sometimes they do clash horribly with the house next door though, like burnt orange and hot pink. The dinner was blah, and fish. Everyone else loved it.
Also on the way to one of our boats there was a guy cleaning the boats who had jeans on that said "JEANS" really big on a patch across the butt. Natalie got a picture, but her camera deleted it.
When we got back to the hotel I was going to read and shower and go to the grocery story to buy some food (since we ate dinner at four), but I was way too tired to do anything. But, oh well. I read about five pages of "Mr. Sammler's Planet" by Saul Bellow and then I had to stop because I was too tired and went to bed at 8:30.
I had some really weird dreams.
Toni said she went to Burger King and had a salad, "isn't that disgusting". Really, the only disgusting thing is her teeth.
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| May 27, 2008- Rome to Venice |
[11 Jun 2008|09:56am] |
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Natalie woke up way too early this morning and was freaking us out. We had to have our bags out by the door at 6:20am. Got in the bus at 7:30, left late, Dave held us up by thinking that he forgot some important papers or something. Of course, they were in his suitcase in the bottom of the bus like they should have been. We were on the bus until 6:15pm with stops of course, but still! Natalie and I were on the fifth row of the bus across from Glen, who kept trying to ask us questions even when I was asleep. Toni was wearing too much lipstick of course, and Telly's was neon.
I haven't eaten or slept enough at all yet. And I felt sick all day. Telly talks a little bit too much. She calls the toilet the "smiling room" and when we stop, asks if we can "be serious for a little minute before going to smile". But I'm not smiling in there because there is no toilet paper, and there was no warning of this. There is also too much shuffling around instead of actual walking. I hate busses and I just want to sleep all of the time.
There are so many people from Australia and Canada and the U.S. (Arizona, California, Texas, West Virginia) and one guy from New Zealand. Oh yeah, and one Mexican-American. Telly also says "mama mia" and "okey dokey" all the time and rolls her r's too much and it makes me angry and jealous. The rest of the evening we ended up wasting too much time and going to bed late anyway.
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| May 26, 2008- Rome |
[10 Jun 2008|11:38am] |
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Or "Roma" as the Italians call it and "amor" backwards, which Telly loves. Today was a long day. We left at 8:30am to have a tour of parts of Rome. First, we met our local tour guide, Ziggy. She is pretty old but thinks she's super hip. She isn't bad, but like most tour guides, gives way too much unnecessary information. I don't know what is wrong with me. Today I couldn't stand for more than like a minute at a time and of course Ziggy loved to stand.
We went to the Colloseum first where Ziggy talked forever just standing by the entrance and I couldn't really pay attention. Unfortunately, a lot of what we did wasn't entirely memorable (because I don't even remember names of places) and I didn't feel well anyway. We were supposed to get back to the hotel at three, but we got back around 4:30 instead. A nap didn't really happen and we left again for the 5:15 optional tour. We went on the Appian Way and to the Trevi Fountain. Apparently if you throw two coins in it just means you want to get married (not that you will) and three coins means you'll get a divorce. Divorce for Natalie. You have to throw with your right hand over your left shoulder with your back to the fountain.
I miss Mexican food. All the food here tastes the same. Dinner was decent, but it takes forever to get the check. After dinner, one of the couples on our tour was pretty drunk (Dave and Lucia). Annoying. I actually felt really mature on the bus.
We have "the rrradios" all the time which was kind of heavy and obnoxious and cost a LOT of money if we lose them. The rotation starts tomorrow which means that we'll get assigned seats on the bus.
We kept seeing these David (by Michelangelo) boxers which are hilarious. A picture will be posted at some point. I want to buy some for everyone just to be funny and annoying. There was a mime who was frozen in a really awkward pose who would wiggle his eyebrows if you gave him money. A bunch of kids were messing with him. I'm sure he was very uncomfortable.
Ziggy told us to put up a hand or a finger to stop the cars, but "don't put up the wrong finger or they will kill you". Ziggy seemed to think a lot of people might kill you. And she showed us this calender which she said we should buy if we wanted a calender from Rome. It was a calender of priests and I guess they were very good looking and Ziggy said, "if they're not models, I'll kill myself". Apparently priests are not allowed to be good looking.
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| May 24/25 2008 Champaign to Rome |
[09 Jun 2008|10:38am] |
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playlist on the airplane |
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I'm going to rewrite my journal from Italy and Greece on here so that if for some dumb reason I lose it, I'll always have it. Sorry that many entries are choppy, short, and hard to understand if you're reading. It was more just for me to remember of course.
British Airways is not as good as JAL. Our chicken looked like cat food or dog or deer meat. The pains in my head weren't nearly as bad as they've been, but they were still present. Transfer at Heathrow in London was terrible. Busses and waiting in line galore. The lunch at the airport in Rome tasted, smelled, and looked like the food on the Islamic Market Street in Xi'an: pretty good for the mouth, terrible for the stomach. Italy doesn't really seem like a different country yet.
Our tour guide reminds me of Norm on Asian Term, but Italian and Finnish and without all the talk about soil (usually). Her name is Telly (like on Sesame Street). We are the youngest of the ones on the tour that we've seen so far. And Telly already loves me because of my name, apparently. I miss school and people. I still don't feel well from the two days of traveling.
I Am Legend- good movie, but lots of inconsistancies; lame ending; should have read the book?
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe- pretty good movie; average looking kids (which was kind of nice). There was some optional tour that we didn't go on because we were exhausted. Took a nap and felt icky and then went to a Pizzeria. It was very good, but they kind of tricked me and our food took an hour.
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| I like to complain |
[10 Apr 2007|10:52am] |
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 annoyed |
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nothing! |
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Things that need to be done (I have no time or patience!), but I'll be sad when they are...
1. pledging for Alpha Psi Omega
2. Stuff Happens
3. freshman year of college
4. QCPF
Things that just should be done and we'd all be happier...
5. finding a job for summer (I won't be sad when this one is done, I need to)
6. cold weather ending!
7. my period
8. all big papers and assignments and such
I can't go to Central's musical or last play. Why do they have to be at such bad times? Ugh.
The End.
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