So I am leaving Genoa and returning to the United States tomorrow, and I cannot believe how quickly this semester has flown by! I'm so incredibly glad to have had this experience, which has truly been one of the best, if not the best, experiences of my life. I will always have tons of great memories from this trip, and though it sounds a little cheesy, this semester has definitely changed me as a person. Being away from the people I'm used to depending on and having to find out how to travel across Europe has made me a much more independent person. At the moment, I can't decide whether to feel happy or sad. I'm thrilled to get back to Gary, my family, my friends, and the things I've been missing from home, but I'm so sad to leave Genoa and the villa, not knowing when I'll have the chance to return.
Some of the things I'm looking forward to most when I get back to the US:
1. not having to share a bathroom with 11 boys
2. Taco Bell
3. driving in my car (something I haven't done in 4 months!)
4. having alone time and a room to myself
5. crab cakes
6. being able to talk to people in public
7. sushi
8. being able to wear shorts/dresses/tank tops/flip flops without being stared at
9. being able to do laundry without strategizing about getting a washer and dryer
10. listening to the radio and watching TV
Things I will miss from here:
1. gelato
2. constantly having friends around to talk to and hang out with
3. the beautiful views
4. being expected to travel and have fun every single weekend
5. the pasta
6. the amazing shoes and other shopping
7. the freedom to walk down to the train station and hop on a train to just about anywhere
8. waking up in the villa
9. sitting out on our balcony and drinking wine
10. our dinners in the villa - not just the food, but having 21 people to talk to at every single meal
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Our Epic Week(end) in Ibiza
Ok, so I realize I've been a huge slacker on my blog for the past few weeks, but with the end of the semester, my family visiting, my failing laptop, and my recent alienation on an island, I've been a little overwhelmed.
At some point, I hope to come back and post about the rest of my trip through Venice, Vicenza, and Verona and about my family's visit to Genoa, but first, I'm going to start with my most recent adventure - being stranded on the island of Ibiza in the midst of the volcanic ash crisis. Judith wrote a blog entry about our trip for our class blog, so since I'm busy with make up work, I'm going to borrow it. Here it is:
"With the end of the semester quickly approaching, Kelsey, Catherine, and I decided to take advantage of the warmer weather and cheap RyanAir flights by flying to Ibiza, a Spanish island in the Mediterranean. We knew that it would be a short weekend but still a nice opportunity to relax and rest-up before the craziness of final reviews set in. We arrived in Ibiza early Friday afternoon and spent a couple of laid-back days strolling the waterfront and exploring other parts of the island. Though it’s known as a club hotspot, we arrived before the start of summer season, meaning that most places on the island, including restaurants, shops, and even supermarkets, were closed. That was just fine with us because we really were just looking for a sunny beach and a quiet weekend. In fact, the weather was cooler and cloudier than expected, and not until the morning of our flight back home did the sun come out in full force. On our ride to the airport, we talked about how we wished we could stay to really enjoy going to the beach on this beautiful day.
We got to the Ibiza airport on Sunday morning, and everything changed. We were met with the departures board that was almost completely filled with angry blinking red signs reading “cancelled.” Apparently, the cloud of ash from an Icelandic volcano had finally made its way far enough south and destroyed our hope of getting home that day. We had heard some mention of the volcanic ash interrupting flights on our way to Ibiza, but those were confined to the United Kingdom and Paris. It never crossed our minds that Italy and southern Spain would be affected. We immediately tried contacting people at the villa to plan our course of action, but with phones running low on battery and minutes, we had limited success. Instead, we settled on getting a refund for our tickets. While waiting in line, we heard that the airport itself might be closing in a few hours and that flights might not resume until May 24th, a whole month later! Needless to say, this did nothing to ease our anxiousness. Luckily, we met two other American students studying in Florence who were also trying to fly back to Pisa. We decided to pool our resources and stick together for a little while at least, and we all headed off to the port in hopes of
getting a ferry to the mainland.
The ticket office, however, was packed with people, and tickets sold out before we were able to purchase any. We learned that ferries to Valencia only ran once a day a few times a week, and the ferry to Barcelona only ran on weekends. We couldn’t even imagine how long the train ride would be back to Genova from these cities. With no more options to travel that day, we went back to our hotel to book an extra night and use their Internet. Of course, this was the one trip when none of us brought a laptop. We were also able to talk to our professor, Bernhard, who warned us that the ferry from Barcelona to Genova would be expensive and eighteen hours long on top of that. Meanwhile, there was a good chance we wouldn’t be able to take a train back from Spain because of a workers’ strike in France. Just great!
Considering everything, he advised us to wait it out in Ibiza until wecould get the next flight out. RyanAir’s next flight to Pisa wasn’t until Wednesday, so we booked our seats and crossed our fingers that the airways would clear. In the meantime, there was nothing to do but try to forget about the uncertainty of our situation and to make the most of our circumstances. We were finally able to experience those hot beach days we had initially envisioned, but they were tainted with the knowledge that we were missing some of our last days in Genova and would have a pile of make-up work when we returned.
We spent a lot more time watching CNN to track the cloud’s progress. We were shocked by the headlines that covered our screen. Over 20,000 flights, including ours, were cancelled that Sunday alone, leaving thousands stranded across the continent and abroad. And we saw first-hand just how many people were affected by the volcanic ash. Everyone that we talked to or overheard in our hotel was trapped just like we were. A couple from Scotland had been stuck for a week! We began to worry that our flight on Wednesday might run into trouble, and even our flight back home to the States a week later. How long were we going to be stuck on this tiny island with no clean clothes, living off turkey and cheese sandwiches we made in the hotel room?
We anxiously watched CNN on Tuesday night, and it sounded like thesituation was improving. Several countries were reopening their airspace, and test flights were successfully being made as far north as the UK. Wednesday morning broke bright and beautiful, but we barely noticed. We just wanted to get home! Our bubble of hope from the night before quickly burst as we checked online and saw that our flight was once again cancelled. At this point, we really started to get upset and frustrated.
The temperature climbed to over 26oC later that day, but I think we reached a boiling point that morning. Once we arrived at the airport (our sixth trip across the island), the departures board confirmed the ugly truth, and we trudged over to the desk once again to get refunds for our tickets. Even more discouraging was the fact that only RyanAir flights were cancelled. Fed up with the airline, we returned to our hotel, and booked yet another night from the nice receptionist who had said three days ago, “Oh, I thought you were leaving.” No, we’re still here.
After touching base with Bernhard, we decided to give up on RyanAir and just get off the island as soon as possible. We were able to find a different airline with a flight the next morning at 10 am to Florence. Unfortunately, it also came with a higher fare attached to it - $300 - and our plans for a cheap weekend to Ibiza, with original flights for 20 euros, continued to unravel.
Light comments about being trapped in paradise just weren’t a laughing matter anymore. That afternoon was a decided low point of the trip, and not even ice cream bars could clear our worries. The reality was that we had missed several days of studio and work time, plus a final review for our sketch portfolios. I never thought that I would be so anxious to get back to work, but the clock was ticking. There was still so much I wanted to do and see in Genova before getting into final reviews and then ultimately flying back home.
Thursday morning brought a change in the weather and a change in our fortunes. The drizzly rain did nothing to dampen our spirits as we successfully took off and left the island behind us (hopefully forever!). The eight-hour layover in Barcelona was long, but it was just another step in the road back home. We wanted to get home as soon as possible, but the three-hour delay in our flight meant we didn’t reach Florence until late Thursday night. We had to wait until the next morning to complete our prolonged journey back to Genova. The first train that we could take left at 4:30 am, and we rolled out of bed at 3:30 to have enough time to buy tickets and make the early-bird train. The cards didn’t fall in our favor again, though, as our train and many others that morning were cancelled. Instead, we were only able to buy tickets for a train at 7:30 and hope that this one wasn’t cancelled too. Meanwhile, we returned to our hotel by 4:30 to grab a few extra hours of sleep.
7:30 came, and once again the departures board was filled with cancelled trains. We were luckier this time, and grabbed another train bound in the same direction . Even this one was delayed by forty minutes. Why was everything working against us?! We never did discover the reason for the railway confusion, and in fact we expected it to be the smoothest part of our trip.
So finally, a shortly after 11 am on Friday, seven days and five hours after leaving our villa, the three of us finally made a safe return home. It took us five taxi rides, two trains, and two flights, but we eventually made it back from our “weekend trip” to Ibiza.
With the memory still so vivid in my mind, it is difficult to see the best in the situation, but I know in the future it will remain an unforgettable story. We feared at first that we were going to come back from a completely unremarkable weekend. Instead, we found ourselves in the midst of an international airways crisis that will surely remain in the record books for years to come."
At some point, I hope to come back and post about the rest of my trip through Venice, Vicenza, and Verona and about my family's visit to Genoa, but first, I'm going to start with my most recent adventure - being stranded on the island of Ibiza in the midst of the volcanic ash crisis. Judith wrote a blog entry about our trip for our class blog, so since I'm busy with make up work, I'm going to borrow it. Here it is:
"With the end of the semester quickly approaching, Kelsey, Catherine, and I decided to take advantage of the warmer weather and cheap RyanAir flights by flying to Ibiza, a Spanish island in the Mediterranean. We knew that it would be a short weekend but still a nice opportunity to relax and rest-up before the craziness of final reviews set in. We arrived in Ibiza early Friday afternoon and spent a couple of laid-back days strolling the waterfront and exploring other parts of the island. Though it’s known as a club hotspot, we arrived before the start of summer season, meaning that most places on the island, including restaurants, shops, and even supermarkets, were closed. That was just fine with us because we really were just looking for a sunny beach and a quiet weekend. In fact, the weather was cooler and cloudier than expected, and not until the morning of our flight back home did the sun come out in full force. On our ride to the airport, we talked about how we wished we could stay to really enjoy going to the beach on this beautiful day.
We got to the Ibiza airport on Sunday morning, and everything changed. We were met with the departures board that was almost completely filled with angry blinking red signs reading “cancelled.” Apparently, the cloud of ash from an Icelandic volcano had finally made its way far enough south and destroyed our hope of getting home that day. We had heard some mention of the volcanic ash interrupting flights on our way to Ibiza, but those were confined to the United Kingdom and Paris. It never crossed our minds that Italy and southern Spain would be affected. We immediately tried contacting people at the villa to plan our course of action, but with phones running low on battery and minutes, we had limited success. Instead, we settled on getting a refund for our tickets. While waiting in line, we heard that the airport itself might be closing in a few hours and that flights might not resume until May 24th, a whole month later! Needless to say, this did nothing to ease our anxiousness. Luckily, we met two other American students studying in Florence who were also trying to fly back to Pisa. We decided to pool our resources and stick together for a little while at least, and we all headed off to the port in hopes of
getting a ferry to the mainland.
The ticket office, however, was packed with people, and tickets sold out before we were able to purchase any. We learned that ferries to Valencia only ran once a day a few times a week, and the ferry to Barcelona only ran on weekends. We couldn’t even imagine how long the train ride would be back to Genova from these cities. With no more options to travel that day, we went back to our hotel to book an extra night and use their Internet. Of course, this was the one trip when none of us brought a laptop. We were also able to talk to our professor, Bernhard, who warned us that the ferry from Barcelona to Genova would be expensive and eighteen hours long on top of that. Meanwhile, there was a good chance we wouldn’t be able to take a train back from Spain because of a workers’ strike in France. Just great!
Considering everything, he advised us to wait it out in Ibiza until wecould get the next flight out. RyanAir’s next flight to Pisa wasn’t until Wednesday, so we booked our seats and crossed our fingers that the airways would clear. In the meantime, there was nothing to do but try to forget about the uncertainty of our situation and to make the most of our circumstances. We were finally able to experience those hot beach days we had initially envisioned, but they were tainted with the knowledge that we were missing some of our last days in Genova and would have a pile of make-up work when we returned.
We spent a lot more time watching CNN to track the cloud’s progress. We were shocked by the headlines that covered our screen. Over 20,000 flights, including ours, were cancelled that Sunday alone, leaving thousands stranded across the continent and abroad. And we saw first-hand just how many people were affected by the volcanic ash. Everyone that we talked to or overheard in our hotel was trapped just like we were. A couple from Scotland had been stuck for a week! We began to worry that our flight on Wednesday might run into trouble, and even our flight back home to the States a week later. How long were we going to be stuck on this tiny island with no clean clothes, living off turkey and cheese sandwiches we made in the hotel room?
We anxiously watched CNN on Tuesday night, and it sounded like thesituation was improving. Several countries were reopening their airspace, and test flights were successfully being made as far north as the UK. Wednesday morning broke bright and beautiful, but we barely noticed. We just wanted to get home! Our bubble of hope from the night before quickly burst as we checked online and saw that our flight was once again cancelled. At this point, we really started to get upset and frustrated.
The temperature climbed to over 26oC later that day, but I think we reached a boiling point that morning. Once we arrived at the airport (our sixth trip across the island), the departures board confirmed the ugly truth, and we trudged over to the desk once again to get refunds for our tickets. Even more discouraging was the fact that only RyanAir flights were cancelled. Fed up with the airline, we returned to our hotel, and booked yet another night from the nice receptionist who had said three days ago, “Oh, I thought you were leaving.” No, we’re still here.
After touching base with Bernhard, we decided to give up on RyanAir and just get off the island as soon as possible. We were able to find a different airline with a flight the next morning at 10 am to Florence. Unfortunately, it also came with a higher fare attached to it - $300 - and our plans for a cheap weekend to Ibiza, with original flights for 20 euros, continued to unravel.
Light comments about being trapped in paradise just weren’t a laughing matter anymore. That afternoon was a decided low point of the trip, and not even ice cream bars could clear our worries. The reality was that we had missed several days of studio and work time, plus a final review for our sketch portfolios. I never thought that I would be so anxious to get back to work, but the clock was ticking. There was still so much I wanted to do and see in Genova before getting into final reviews and then ultimately flying back home.
Thursday morning brought a change in the weather and a change in our fortunes. The drizzly rain did nothing to dampen our spirits as we successfully took off and left the island behind us (hopefully forever!). The eight-hour layover in Barcelona was long, but it was just another step in the road back home. We wanted to get home as soon as possible, but the three-hour delay in our flight meant we didn’t reach Florence until late Thursday night. We had to wait until the next morning to complete our prolonged journey back to Genova. The first train that we could take left at 4:30 am, and we rolled out of bed at 3:30 to have enough time to buy tickets and make the early-bird train. The cards didn’t fall in our favor again, though, as our train and many others that morning were cancelled. Instead, we were only able to buy tickets for a train at 7:30 and hope that this one wasn’t cancelled too. Meanwhile, we returned to our hotel by 4:30 to grab a few extra hours of sleep.
7:30 came, and once again the departures board was filled with cancelled trains. We were luckier this time, and grabbed another train bound in the same direction . Even this one was delayed by forty minutes. Why was everything working against us?! We never did discover the reason for the railway confusion, and in fact we expected it to be the smoothest part of our trip.
So finally, a shortly after 11 am on Friday, seven days and five hours after leaving our villa, the three of us finally made a safe return home. It took us five taxi rides, two trains, and two flights, but we eventually made it back from our “weekend trip” to Ibiza.
With the memory still so vivid in my mind, it is difficult to see the best in the situation, but I know in the future it will remain an unforgettable story. We feared at first that we were going to come back from a completely unremarkable weekend. Instead, we found ourselves in the midst of an international airways crisis that will surely remain in the record books for years to come."
Friday, April 2, 2010
Switzerland
We started out our 9-day trip in Switzerland. We stayed in Basel for 3 nights, but we hit a few different places during our stay. This part of our trip was very architecture heavy – of course, we’re always looking at architecture during any of our trips but usually the architecture has some sort of history to go along with it, and we are seeing sites that are somewhat touristy. On this trip, the architecture we saw in Switzerland and the surrounding areas was more contemporary architecture.
When we got to Basel, a colleague of our professor gave us a tour of some of the recent architecture around Basel. The next day, we took a charter bus to Ronchamp, France, where we saw the Notre Dame-du-Haut by Le Corbusier, which was really interesting to see in person. We also visited a social housing project in Mulhouse, France that afternoon. The next day, we toured the Goetheanum and Renzo Piano’s Beyeler Foundation in Switzerland. We spent the afternoon at Vitra Campus, which is in Germany but really close to the Swiss border. Vitra Campus is a furniture manufacturing and showcasing facility, but its owner is really interested in architecture and design, and so all of the buildings have been designed by really famous architects like Zaha Hadid, Tadao Ando, Buckminster Fuller, Frank Gehry, and Herzog & de Meuron. It was really interesting to see the work of so many famous architects all in one place. When we left Basel to head to Verona, we stopped over in Lucerne, Switzerland for an hour to see the train station and the KKL building. Lucerne was so gorgeous. It is a city with a lot of water that has views of the Alps. I wish we could have stayed there a little longer.
The first part of the trip was pretty exhausting. We ended up traveling to 4 different countries in 3 days – Switzerland, France, Germany, and Italy. I thought that the train rides to and from Switzerland were really beautiful. It really is a beautiful country, but I didn’t enjoy being there as much as some other countries simply because it was so expensive! We went out to eat on the first night, and ended up settling for Chinese food, which still cost about $15 a plate. At McDonalds, a happy meal was the equivalent of almost $7. I also thought it was really interesting how freely you can move between countries. When we traveled from Switzerland to Germany, we crossed over to Germany on a public bus. It’s crazy that their public transportation crosses country borders. (By the way, even though I’ve visited 8 different countries, I’ve yet to get a single stamp in my passport because you never have to go through customs over here.)
When we got to Basel, a colleague of our professor gave us a tour of some of the recent architecture around Basel. The next day, we took a charter bus to Ronchamp, France, where we saw the Notre Dame-du-Haut by Le Corbusier, which was really interesting to see in person. We also visited a social housing project in Mulhouse, France that afternoon. The next day, we toured the Goetheanum and Renzo Piano’s Beyeler Foundation in Switzerland. We spent the afternoon at Vitra Campus, which is in Germany but really close to the Swiss border. Vitra Campus is a furniture manufacturing and showcasing facility, but its owner is really interested in architecture and design, and so all of the buildings have been designed by really famous architects like Zaha Hadid, Tadao Ando, Buckminster Fuller, Frank Gehry, and Herzog & de Meuron. It was really interesting to see the work of so many famous architects all in one place. When we left Basel to head to Verona, we stopped over in Lucerne, Switzerland for an hour to see the train station and the KKL building. Lucerne was so gorgeous. It is a city with a lot of water that has views of the Alps. I wish we could have stayed there a little longer.
The first part of the trip was pretty exhausting. We ended up traveling to 4 different countries in 3 days – Switzerland, France, Germany, and Italy. I thought that the train rides to and from Switzerland were really beautiful. It really is a beautiful country, but I didn’t enjoy being there as much as some other countries simply because it was so expensive! We went out to eat on the first night, and ended up settling for Chinese food, which still cost about $15 a plate. At McDonalds, a happy meal was the equivalent of almost $7. I also thought it was really interesting how freely you can move between countries. When we traveled from Switzerland to Germany, we crossed over to Germany on a public bus. It’s crazy that their public transportation crosses country borders. (By the way, even though I’ve visited 8 different countries, I’ve yet to get a single stamp in my passport because you never have to go through customs over here.)
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Lucca
Yesterday we went on a day trip to Lucca. I usually don’t post blogs about our day trips, but Lucca was just so great I wanted to tell everyone about it. It was by far my favorite place in Italy. It is located between Pisa and Florence, so it is between Liguria (the region Genoa is in) and Tuscany. It was a medieval town with a wall built around it, and the whole town is surrounded by mountains. Now the wall has been converted into a pedestrian promenade so there are lots of bikers, joggers, and tourists walking around on top of the wall (which is really wide). The wall has grassy fields all along it, so it’s really pretty when you
're walking on the wall and can see the medieval houses on one side and the greenery and mountains on the other. Within the wall, all of the buildings are historic and colorful. Lucca had lots of the winding alleys and little piazzas. We spent the morning at the Villa Reale gardens which are a little outside of Lucca. Even though it was supposed to rain, the sun came out, and the day was gorgeous. The gardens had lots of fountains, a waterfall, an artificial lake and big open meadows. I could have stayed and laid out there all day. In Lucca, we mostly just toured the different piazzas in the city. We also went up in Torre Guinigi, where you could look out on the entire city. It was cool, since you could see all of Lucca’s towers and the mountains. If you are ever in Florence, make sure to take a day trip to Lucca!
're walking on the wall and can see the medieval houses on one side and the greenery and mountains on the other. Within the wall, all of the buildings are historic and colorful. Lucca had lots of the winding alleys and little piazzas. We spent the morning at the Villa Reale gardens which are a little outside of Lucca. Even though it was supposed to rain, the sun came out, and the day was gorgeous. The gardens had lots of fountains, a waterfall, an artificial lake and big open meadows. I could have stayed and laid out there all day. In Lucca, we mostly just toured the different piazzas in the city. We also went up in Torre Guinigi, where you could look out on the entire city. It was cool, since you could see all of Lucca’s towers and the mountains. If you are ever in Florence, make sure to take a day trip to Lucca!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Nice
Our weekend in Nice was a perfect, relaxing weekend. Going into the weekend, we were worried it was going to rain on us the whole time, but luckily, the rain held off and it was just overcast all weekend, which we were more than okay with. To get to Nice, we had to take a train to Ventimiglia on the Italian border and switch trains there. Our train to Ventimiglia was a regional train, which means it was a dirty, crowded train. When we got to Ventimiglia, our train to Nice had been cancelled, so we had to wait an extra hour for the next train to Nice. When we got to Nice, we just walked around a little bit and got a really late dinner. We had cheese & mushroom crepes for dinner and we all split a nutella & banana crepe for dessert. Both were amazing.
Saturday was one of the best days I've had over here. We woke up and got free breakfast at our hotel, complete with chocolate croissants. (And yes, we actually stayed in a hotel, instead of a hostel!) After breakfast,we hiked up to the chateau on the hill, where there are really awesome panoramic views of the beach and the rest of the city. There's also a gorgeous waterfall up there and a cemetery that looks down onto the entire city.
After wandering around, we went to the produce and flower market that Nice is famous for. We all bought paintings there. We also bought some produce and cheese for lunch. We ate our stuff from the market sitting on the beach. It was so relaxing and peaceful. After lunch, we got gelato at this place in old town that we had read about. It had 80 flavors and a bunch of random kinds like tomato basil, avocado, lavender, beer, and cactus. They also had some normal kinds too, so I got chocolate and mint chocolate gelato. We walked along the water for a while and went to the port and looked at all the yachts. For dinner, we ate at an awesome three course meal. I had some appetizer that was ham stuffed with endives in melted cheese. For my main course, I had chicken with mushrooms and steamed potatoes, and then really rich chocolate mousse for dessert. It was delicious, and the place was really cute. After dinner, we bought a bottle of local wine from a wine shop, went back to our hotel, changed into our pajamas and watched TV (a real luxury since we don't have TV at the villa).
The next morning, we took a bus to Vence, which is a small town about an hour from Nice. It was really quaint and cute, and the people there were incredibly friendly. We didn't do much there - just looked and shopped around. Catherine and I split a giant chocolate chip and pistachio cookie from a little bakery. After we took the bus back to Nice, we hopped on a train back home to Genoa. I've got a busy week ahead of me. Some people who donate money to this study abroad program are here for the week. The one bonus of having visitors is that the cooks are making extra special meals for lunch! (Today we had gnocchi with pesto, white fish, potatoes, salad with corn and tomatoes, and strawberries and chocolate for dessert.) Tomorrow is our last day trip, and we're going to Lucca. On Saturday, we leave for our next 10-day trip. This time we are going to Basel (in Switzerland), Verona, and Venice.
Saturday was one of the best days I've had over here. We woke up and got free breakfast at our hotel, complete with chocolate croissants. (And yes, we actually stayed in a hotel, instead of a hostel!) After breakfast,we hiked up to the chateau on the hill, where there are really awesome panoramic views of the beach and the rest of the city. There's also a gorgeous waterfall up there and a cemetery that looks down onto the entire city.
After wandering around, we went to the produce and flower market that Nice is famous for. We all bought paintings there. We also bought some produce and cheese for lunch. We ate our stuff from the market sitting on the beach. It was so relaxing and peaceful. After lunch, we got gelato at this place in old town that we had read about. It had 80 flavors and a bunch of random kinds like tomato basil, avocado, lavender, beer, and cactus. They also had some normal kinds too, so I got chocolate and mint chocolate gelato. We walked along the water for a while and went to the port and looked at all the yachts. For dinner, we ate at an awesome three course meal. I had some appetizer that was ham stuffed with endives in melted cheese. For my main course, I had chicken with mushrooms and steamed potatoes, and then really rich chocolate mousse for dessert. It was delicious, and the place was really cute. After dinner, we bought a bottle of local wine from a wine shop, went back to our hotel, changed into our pajamas and watched TV (a real luxury since we don't have TV at the villa).
The next morning, we took a bus to Vence, which is a small town about an hour from Nice. It was really quaint and cute, and the people there were incredibly friendly. We didn't do much there - just looked and shopped around. Catherine and I split a giant chocolate chip and pistachio cookie from a little bakery. After we took the bus back to Nice, we hopped on a train back home to Genoa. I've got a busy week ahead of me. Some people who donate money to this study abroad program are here for the week. The one bonus of having visitors is that the cooks are making extra special meals for lunch! (Today we had gnocchi with pesto, white fish, potatoes, salad with corn and tomatoes, and strawberries and chocolate for dessert.) Tomorrow is our last day trip, and we're going to Lucca. On Saturday, we leave for our next 10-day trip. This time we are going to Basel (in Switzerland), Verona, and Venice.Thursday, March 18, 2010
I just realized it’s been almost 2 weeks since I returned from spring break, and I haven’t posted anything recently. I have not traveled anywhere major since spring break. Last Tuesday, our class took a day trip to Torino (Turin). It snowed on us all afternoon and was freezing cold! In contrast, this Tuesday, we took a day trip to Como, and it was sunny and beautiful outside. The weather has been really nice this week. It’s finally started to warm up and feel a little like spring. In Como, we looked at boring Rationalist architecture all day, but the highlight of the day was our one-hour lunch break, which we spent reading and relaxing and eating gelato by Lake Como. It was so gorgeous. Apparently, George Clooney has a house in Como too.
Last weekend, we stayed in Italy because we had our villa party on Friday night. Professors and the rest of the villa staff, friends of the villa staff, and architects from the area were invited. One of the staff members son’s band played,
and they made lots of food and had an open bar. It was nice to see everyone all dressed up. All of us living in the villa are so comfortable with each other now that we rarely look good around each other anymore. On Saturday, Catherine and I went to Milan for the day to visit buildings we needed to research for one of our classes. This week has mostly just revolved around schoolwork, but tomorrow, Judith, Catherine, and I are headed to Nice, France!
Last weekend, we stayed in Italy because we had our villa party on Friday night. Professors and the rest of the villa staff, friends of the villa staff, and architects from the area were invited. One of the staff members son’s band played,
and they made lots of food and had an open bar. It was nice to see everyone all dressed up. All of us living in the villa are so comfortable with each other now that we rarely look good around each other anymore. On Saturday, Catherine and I went to Milan for the day to visit buildings we needed to research for one of our classes. This week has mostly just revolved around schoolwork, but tomorrow, Judith, Catherine, and I are headed to Nice, France!Thursday, March 11, 2010
For my field studies class, we have to keep a sketchbook with us on our day trips and independent travel. I thought you might like to see a few sketches from my recent trip. The first one is of Frank Gehry's Dancing House in Prague, the second is also from Prague, and the last is of the train station in Cologne.
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