Below are the 16 most recent journal entries recorded in Kendra's LiveJournal:

Wednesday, April 14th, 2004
10:09 am	Nice was definitely more than nice We left Friday night on an overnight train to Nice and the French Riviera. The forecast was rain but we were hopeful. We had to share our compartment with 2 older gentlemen, so that made 6 of us in this little thing, trying to sleep comfortably. Still, I felt lucky because there were tons of people in the hall just sitting there. I guess a lot of people were travelling for Easter weekend. The Italian train system would only sell us tickets to Ventimiglia, a station that is close to the Italy-France border, but we got to stay on the train all the way to Nice. We got comfy in our hotel, went to the grocery store, got stuff to eat, and went on the beach and had a picnic. We were dead tired because we got very little sleep on the train. We just laid there and talked. There was one little boy who ventured in the water but we all agreed it was too cold. There were also quite a few men in speedos and one lady who was topless. We were all wearing our clothes but pretty much everyone else was in swimsuits. There wasnt a cloud in the sky. Then we walked to the top of the hill and looked out over Nice. There was a water fall up there and a huge park with a bunch of kids playing. We did a little shopping (I got a pair of shoes that I really wanted) and then met a couple of other guys from our program for dinner. Then we went to a bar and watched a live band sing a bunch of older songs that we knew. Sunday we went to Monte Carlo, Monaco and it was beautiful. There were quite a few people here for Easter vacation and the beaches were nice. Again, we had a perfect day without a cloud in the sky. I had my first crepe...it was nutella and delicious, so we had to take a picture to capture this moment. It was really really good. For dinner a big group of us met and I had salmon and then gelato. We came back on Monday a little tanner, a little fatter, and definitely more relaxed. Everything went really well and I was sad to see it end and school start. We only have 2 more weeks...8 more days of class. I am trying to get hotels and plans figured out for after the program, so that is taking some time as well. Not having very much time left has me thinking about coming back....I am feeling pretty apprehensive about it. I havent seen or talked to people in a really long time and not that many people have stayed in touch because everyone has been so busy. I kind of wonder if I will fit back in to how things were, or if I have changed, or if other people have changed. Every year brings something different and I am sad that some of my friends will be studying abroad. Things will definitely be different so I am preparing myself for that. I am now 21 so I can actually go to bars and experience that type of scene. This summer I will have a real job which I have to buy real clothes for. I have a roommate from NC and we are trying to find an apartment there. She has done lots of research and we will probably get that stuff figured out this week. HOpefully we get along well. I am looking forward to this experience....and the money wont hurt either because traveling is definitely expensive. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, March 29th, 2004
10:06 pm	veneto history I know, I know...i didnt post for so long and now I am posting multiple times a day. We just got done with a European seminar about the history of the Veneto region (the region i am living in in Italy). Apparently it is the richest region in Italy and even though it is 1/10th the size of Kansas, it produces over 50% of italys exports. When we were traveling, my mom commented that you dont really see a lot of businesses or industry. I found out tonight that it is not that they dont have industry, they just keep it away from highways in separate industrial parks. important italian companies in the region include benetton, diesel, lotto, fashion box, quaker oats, and many more. 1 in 8 residents own their own businesses but these businesses are very different than the US. They are run by the family and the owner is still in charge of making all the decisions. When he gives the company to his children or other family, he still makes daily business decisions. The graduation rate from college here is around 4% which is a lot lower than what it is in italy (12%), but a lot of college graduates work abroad. Thus the people running the businesses have no college degrees or formal education. Women here also play a greater role in business than in other places (including the US). They are known here for their creativity and ingenuity....which must be why they are in the world record for the most kinds of gelato (over 500) and the most kinds of pizza located in a town near here...and some of the toppings include anchovies, polenta........and here's the kicker: Viagra. I kid you not. (Comment on this)
6:03 pm	work (or lack of) in Italy We just had a speaker in my accounting class as to the differences in European and American businesses. It was pretty interesting, even though a lot of it went over my head. I feel like the speaker had so much information that he could teach a whole semester long class on it, but instead it was compressed into one lecture. There were some things I thought were really interesting though. For example, in Italy it is almost impossible to fire someone, they dont do takeovers, the business is owned by families and they dont give much away to shareholders. They have a lot of laws protecting the workers and unions, etc. This could be a reason why the unions are so big on having strikes. So this could have been what the national strike that we encountered on Friday in Venice could have been about, as well as the train strike on Tuesday. This seems so weird to me coming from the US where things like that just dont happen. You cant shut down all the museums because you want to show that you have the power to strike. But I see that it is now all about the workers rights. Italians also take about 40 work days per year. They close on random days and take siestas. There are no 24 hour things open (which i have actually gotten used to). I guess i took all of the these convenience things for granted in the US but here it is different because they value different things. I guess that is one reason why coming over here has been really interesting-it has taken me a while to see that everyone does not see things the same way as americans. When i see that a business will just not open for a full day, i think "why are they doing that? they could be making extra money." but other things are more important to them. And this way obviously works for italians, but it is definitely a lot different from any american views of business. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
11:51 am	time changes So yesterday I experienced some confusion with the time change. For some reason Italy (and I think maybe all of europe???) had daylight savings yesterday...which is not the same time as the United States. Why this is, I dont know. Also I have noticed that Italians dont really run outside. Whenever I have ran to the nearby towns, people kind of stop and look at me funny (probably a combination of the fact that I am an American and that I am running). I do however notice a lot of bikers...and they all wear bright spandex suits and fancy helmets, so they all look really hard core. There are even a lot of older people (mainly male) who bike. And they bike on the highways, not just within towns. Also there are very few sidewalks and nowhere in Italy is very handicapped accessible. I guess I cant even remember seeing hardly anyone handicapped. Also another random observation....grocery stories (they are very rare, you mainly go to different types of stores for different things) dont have carts because they buy their food nearly everyday so that it is fresh. Just a couple of random thoughts.... (Comment on this)
Saturday, March 27th, 2004
5:07 pm	a week of fun So its been a while since i have posted but i have the feeling that this entry will be extra long because i have had such an eventful week. On Friday my mom, aunt Denise, and I left in the afternoon for Florence. We got in at night and found our hotel. Saturday we were all pretty tired so slept in a little. We saw the Duomo and Accademia (with Michaelangelos David). We climbed the Campanile bell tower and then we decided we needed to climb the Duomo tower too. These gave amazing views of Florence. It is such an amazing place. We walked by some markets and I got a couple of scarves. For dinner we went to Due G's. The owner at first was a little intimidating. We didnt have a reservation so he told us to come back in 15 minutes, i just didnt understand what he said. fortunately a table of americans told us that they were leaving soon and that someone had recommended the place to them and that it was fabulous food. He was definitely a character. He brought us out a 1.5L of white wine and basically told us what we should eat. Our food was great. A sampling of appetizers, then grilled chicken, then dessert. Oh yeah and the whole thing of wine. After, i decided i still had a craving for gelato, so we went to a gelateria down the street and i got oreos and chocolate. it was heavenly. On Sunday we went to the Uffizi and then ate lunch at a really shady place. However, dessert was gelato...and it was the best gelato i have had. i got 4 different kinds-chocolate, chocolate with cookies, chocolate with caramel, and then this other kind that was heavenly (and of course had chocolate with it too). Then we walked to michaelangelos piazza to get a view of Florence. It was really windy when you get up that high, but the view was definitely worth it. We went shopping after that and I got 2 pairs of shoes-black boots, and these little cute dress shoes. I also got a couple of purses in the local markets. Bargaining is fun and it was a great time to just walk around and look at all of the different stands. I didnt like being harassed by some of the people on the streets, but most of the time it was okay. On Monday we went to Poncho Vecchio bridge which we had seen the day before from a distance. Then we went to the leather school and got some purses, wallets, coin purses, and bracelets. Florence is really well known for its quality leather, so we figured that we should splurge. We took a bus to Siena which lasted a little over an hour. However when we got there, we didnt know where our hotel was, so we spent an hour trying to get a taxi or figure out what we should do. We finally got a taxi and then walked around siena. We saw the duomo which is just crazy inside and out. It has stripes all over, gold and other bright colors of intricate designs, huge arches, beautiful stain glass, frescoes on the ceilings...it was just crazy. then we went to il campo which is the main square in the town. There were tons of people just hanging out, eating outside, sitting down, playing hackey sack, walking the streets. We then went to Enoteca Italiana at the Fortress that they have in town. The wine menu list is about 20 pages, so I was quite overwhelmed. Because we were in the Tuscany region, i decided to try a glass of one that was made there. I picked a white, sweet wine that was slightly bubbly. It was probably my favorite wine/drink of anything i have ever had. My mom tried something that tasted horrible and my aunt tried a couple of drier red wines (which I am not as big of fan of). We decided to split the bottle and we definitley finished it off and then my mom and aunt each got one to take back to the US. This was a lot of fun, however we did this before dinner....and my navigation skills to try to get us back to the main square were a bit subpar. I basically got us lost and an hour later we stopped in to ask someone where we were just to find out that we were exactly back where we started. How we made a loop I will never know. The next day we tried to go to Cinque Terra....however the train strike prolonged our stay in Siena for a couple of hours. We finally got into Riomaggiore (the first Cinque Terra town) and set out looking for a place to stay. We found a hotel and ate at a good seafood restaurant. We ordered the mixed seafood appetizer and I tried anchovies cooked 3 different ways. When they are fresh they dont taste anything like what I would think anchovies from the US taste like. I had a really good fish called sea bream. On Wednesday my mom and I hiked from Rio to Manarola and then from Corniglia to Vernazza. We ate lunch by the seaside and enjoyed a little bit of the cute town. Restrooms are scarce so both my mom and I resorted to peeing in a hole that they call a bathroom (however I have to say that the one I went to the bathroom in was better quality than my mom's, if you can even rank them). We decided the portapotties are definitely a step up from these. I dont really understand why these are still around; I mean italy is a civilized country and that just seems dirty. We started hiking from Vernazza to Monterosso and enjoying the sights....lemon trees, orange trees, vineyards, the sea on one side, the mountains in the distance, the cute little towns, cacti, little streams. It was beautiful and amazing. However half way through our hike it started hailing. then it started hailing and raining even harder. We had no choice but to continue and by the time we got to Monterosso we were soaked. We went back and tried to warm up and then went to dinner at La Lanterna which was a cute little restaurant by the marina. Our waitor was Corrado and he was great and willing to help with anything we needed. We tried octopus salad which was really really good. I then tried my moms spinach gnocchi and my aunts pasta with clams and they were all delicious. I had sea bass grilled and it was one of my favorite fish that i have had. This dinner was probably one of my favorite that I have had since I have been over here. Trying the new seafood has been so fun. Thursday I hiked by myself from Vernazza to Monterosso which we had done the day before but this time it was a lot nicer out. Before we left we stopped at a jewelry store where the jewelry was all made from local flowers which were pressed between glass. My mom bought me a beautiful violet bracelet that I picked out. We took the train to Venice and after a little difficulty, we found our hotel. This was definitely the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in. 2 TVs, a lofted bedroom, sensored lights....we were tired so we decided to eat in the restaurant in the hotel. My mom and I split the risotto special which was rice with asparagus and shrimp. It was the best risotto I have had. We also had proseco which is the white slightly sparkling wine that is known to be the best in the region where i come from (the Veneto). Friday we tried to go to Doges palace and down the grand canal but due to a national strike, all the museums were closed. There were tons of things that were closed all over Italy. This seems weird to me because things like this just dont happen in the United States. I guess it is just a difference in culture. They strike often to show that if they had a reason to strike, they would. We went out to Murano Island and went shopping in a bunch of the little shops. Murano Island is known for its special glass that it makes especially there. Denise bought me a bracelet for my birthday and I wore it for the rest of the trip. We took the vapereto (water bus) back to the mainland and went on a gondola ride. This was a good time and definitely an experience to remember. it was fun to go through the canals in the gondola. i read that a used one costs 10000 euro and a new one costs over 65000, so this was as my mom put it "a nice canoe". We ate dinner and drank proseco (again) and then went to a Vivaldi concert where the performers dressed up in old clothes and wore wigs and everything. Afterward we got dessert at the hotel for my birthday. Between the three of us we ate tiramisu, chocolate parfait, and creme broulee (although I probably ate more than my fair share). it was a good birthday and I was sad to part with my mom and aunt so early on Sat. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, March 14th, 2004
7:55 pm	Vienna So Thursday night we headed to Vienna. Pre Vienna we went to bassano and got gelato while we waited for our train to venice. then in venice we had a nice break for about 3 hours. For about an hour we went to this little sketchy bar and watched soccer. Then they kicked us out and because nothing else is by the train station we went back to the it and just waited inside. Let me tell you nothing good happens after midnight on Thurs at the Venice train station. There were a lot of drunk Italian guys trying to talk to us. We did our best to ignore them. Then they started talking to a girl we knew wasnt italian (she was blond) so we invited her to come sit with us. We waited for an hour and a half more and then finally got on the train. Everybody else had couchettes but i didnt, so me and the girl from sweden went and sat together. It was interesting to talk to her about what it was like in Sweden and what she thought of Italy. She was 19 and was volunteering here as a nurse before she went back to college. She said most people take time off after high school before they go to college. She was already also a nurse (because that was her focus in high school). It was pretty interesting. I didnt get much sleep because she got off halfway through the night and I was alone and kept getting woken up by people coming in. But I survived. In the morning the landscape was beautiful...mountains with snow and cute little towns. We got to Vienna and went to our hostel-wombats (it was a good hostel and cheap only 15 euro a night). then we headed out right away. first we had to master the underground system (we definitely had it down by the end. it was actually really really nice and worked well). we went to st stephens cathedral and climbed to the top of the south tour. it was something like 450 feet and was the 3rd tallest steeple in the world or something. yes, those winding stairs definitely were hard to go up and made you really dizzy going down, but the view of vienna from the top was definitely worth it. We then wandered around and saw a bunch of statues, a couple of other churches, the Hofburg Palace (Winter Residence) and their jewels. We mainly saw a lot of the outsides of buildings and statues, like where Mozart played his first concert. We saw the library which is the biggest in austria and it was huge. We went shopping at H&M and i got a pair of pants and a tank top. We then went back and showered at our hostel before heading out to find dinner. We ate at this great place called Centimeter. It was real Austrian cuisine. Most of the group had weinerschniztel and french fries and some got some other dishes. it was an experience because the menu was all in german. I got some fried calimari thing and it was really good. They brought way entirely too much food but we did our best to eat it. The next day we headed to Schonnbrunn Palace (the summer home) which has 1441 rooms. We walked the grounds first and I bet this place would be amazing in the spring with everything blooming. We took a grand tour of over 40 rooms and i learned a ton about austrian history which I didnt know anything about before. If anyone is interested to learn more I would love to share it with you. After the palace we left and went to the Fine Arts museum which has the 3rd largest art collection in the world. it was amazing and we didnt even make a dent in it. i would have loved to spend more time there but we had to go and get ready for the opera at the staatsoper. we waited in line for a couple of hours and then had to stand the whole time but it was definitely worth it. it was two operettas. The first one was your classical love, betrayal, murder opera and the second one was a comedy. The opera house was amazing. It was probably my favorite thing that I did here. It was an amazing experience. We ate at a really good mexican restaurant. on sunday we had a long train ride back. but it was okay and overall it was a great trip with fun people. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 10th, 2004
3:57 pm	my stomach hurts...but i still can eat dessert yesterday started off amazing....I found out I got an internship-yay! which i didnt think i had a chance at getting. then i got a 93 on my finance test (and he said he would probably add 8 points to our score). then came our second dinner excursion. People went all out dressing up (most of the girls wore skirts but I still thought it was too damn cold and yup its definitely snowing today). Anyway, we went to Castelfranco which is about 20-25 minutes away. There were no cocktails before the meal this time which was kind of disappointing. However the bread and the breadsticks were dang good. I am not sure exactly what we ate. I guess that is part of the fun of it. First it was some quiche like thing, then a crescent roll filled with raddichio, then a crepe thing. And this is where I got sick. The crepe had cheese in it, so i tried a little but really didnt like it. However, the smell literally made me nautious for some reason. i have never been affected by that before. But I got sick first in my napkin, then I ran to the bathroom. This is definitely every kids nightmare come true. i tried to sit through the next 3 courses and tried everything. there were some noodles with duck sauce. i ate some more bread and breadsticks to calm my stomach and had some of the meat. then was dessert which was wonderful of course (i ate it all even though i probably shouldnt have). it was some cream like ice cream in a pastry shell and then they came around and poured hot chocolate on it. it was amazing and made the whole dinner worth it. i should have passed but didnt and so I paid dearly by waking up every half an hour throughout the night. I still feel sick today and it is snowing and cold on top of that. I went by myself to Bassano del grappa (a little town about half an hour away) to get my train ticket to vienna this weekend. it took a while, but i finally got it and was pretty proud of myself for going there alone on the bus and making it back okay. when i was waiting for the bus, an italian girl from the high school here started talking to me and we talked for a while. she was so nice and tried to help me out at the train station by explaining to the guy what i wanted. she is going home for the weekend but is coming back next week. we may try to get together and have her practice english (even though she really doesnt need to) and me learn some italian. A lot of Italians and europeans say that they do not know english well, but they really speak fine. Fredericka also knew dutch, german, and a little spanish. quite impressive. she has never been to the united states but wants to go to either california or florida. she didnt know where nebraska was (big surprise), and i told her there was not really much of a reason to visit there. sorry i am a cornhusker all the way but its the truth. anyway i still feel sick and really just want to crawl up in a ball....or work on some more homework!!!! Not really but I have a lot to do. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, February 29th, 2004
1:07 pm	back home in paderno Now i finally have time to sit and reflect and try to remember all of the things that I have done in the last week. We hung out at a lot of bars in Amsterdam just kind of chilling and watching the people and the sites. The nights we spent walking around were crazy. People smoke marijuana in "coffeeshops" and you get coffee in "cafes". this is an important distinction to make. The culture here was just a lot more open than anything I had ever been exposed to. I did not enjoy people coming up to me and whispering "coke, ecstasy, crack" or wandering around the "Red Light District" where girls were standing in the windows trying to sell themselves. It cost 50 euros to sleep with them. It just felt really dirty. You wouldnt believe how many girls there were that were in every window for a whole block. There are little fast food falafel, pizza, waffle, fries, and donut stands that are all open at all hours. People here eat a lot of those fries with these little forks and ketchup and mayonaise (weird). Amsterdam is a city that is good to visit, looks better in the day than at night, and I would definitely not want to live here. We were supposed to fly to london from amsterdam and then fly to berlin...but one of the guys i was with accidently booked it for the wrong day so we ended up taking a train to berlin. i guess since this was the biggest fiasco of the trip, we did alright. I talked a lot about Berlin already but it was a totally different experience than Amsterdam. we went out to a couple of bars and then finally found this club but we mainly just hung out. i got a midori (a melon drink) and we just chilled and talked. it is crazy how everything here starts so later and people stay out until like 5 in the morning. when you are dancing and having a good time it is like people dont even notice. The morning we left berlin we went down to reichstag and went up the dome and saw the whole city. we took a train from berlin to prague and it was about 5 hours but i read and watched out the window and we stayed in a really nice compartment so it went by really fast. i withdrew money in crowns (they havent switched to the euro yet), and about 25 crowns is a dollar. it was really weird having to convert everything in my head and i never really got used to the whole currency situation. we got to our hostel and we ended up staying in two different rooms and we shared a bathroom and one shower. We went out to eat at a place called svet which means world and it had foods from all over the world. it was good. then we showered and got ready and met a couple of people from my college at a bar in old town square. We all went out to this crazy disco that is 5 stories with different bars and different types of music on each floor. We mainly stayed on the bottom floor and i ended up just talking with a whole bunch of people from all over. i had a great time. people dancing, awesome music, (they played vanilla ice, and a couple other older things), so i had a great time talking, meeting people, and dancing until after 5 in the morning. the next day we kind of wandered around the city. this city is amazing. it has such cool old historic architecture, i felt like we were in midevil times. we went to old town square and they had a market that they sold a bunch of wooden toys at, beer steins, those nexted dolls, painted eggs, and fresh fruit and veggies (i read that they have to grow their own produce to have it in the market). it was fun to just wander through cobblestone streets and cool buildings. the guys i was with like to wander with beer. everywhere we went on the trip had cheap beer (sucks for me because i definetly dont like it and didnt have any for the whole trip). we saw st charles bridge, a whole bunch of statues, the old cool crazy clock that they have, prague castle (which is beautiful), st wenceslas square, and a whole bunch of other things. i got some fresh fruit and veggies and they were amazing. we ate at an irish pub and the irish are definitely crazy. we hung out at a jazz bar for a while and that was a good time. music is really big here. they have all types-classical, jazz, opera, etc. i would have liked to see a concert and spend more time here. i got a hoodie from here so i will always remember this place. our train left at 530 and we took 5 hours to vienna, then switched trains, then spent the rest of the time until 9 this morning to venice. it was snowing pretty much everywhere we went. i finished angels and demons-it was a great book, and i spent a little time reading this other book about wallstreet stuff. i didnt sleep very well at all. i woke up all the time and would be uncomfortable or cold or something. i have a lot of homework and stuff to do today but i dont really feel like doing it. we have class this week and then 4 days next week and then we have 3 days off, so i need to decide where i want to go for that. i am pretty open to whatever so we will see what happens. wow this has been a long entry so it is my time to sign off. love you and miss you all (Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 25th, 2004
11:19 pm	in berlin.... I sit here in mz hostel and it feels like so much has happened since i last posted and since i am being charged to use internet, i am onlz going to fit a little of it in until later. interesting high (and low) points... i have noticed how used to italian culture/language, other stuff i have gotten used to. i still saz gratzi and si and a few other things. i also got used to the architecture. so far amsterdam and berlin have been a lot more 'americanized'. i have actuallz seen things like ranch and starbucks....not in italy and i kind of like it that way. amsterdam was fun but i wish i would have only spent a day and a half instead of 3 there. the van gogh museum was awesome though and i got a really fun pair of boots for 50 euro originallz 100 (i talked to the sales girl about friends, gave her some cinnamon gum and we bonded). in berlin it was really really cold. we went to a fun disco last night and did a lot of dancing. today me and matt spent the whole day walking around with a tour guide who was really fun and really new his stuff about german historz (he is a german history major and getting his masters here at humboldt university which is amaying...they had 29 nobel prize winning professors teaching there...and einstein taught there before he taught in princeton because he is jewish and marx and lenin went to school there as well as other famous people). there is so much historz here, i wish i could share it all that i learned, but there is just so much. we learned everzthing from 17th century historz to ww2 and hitler to the separation of west and east berlin, to the reunification. it was amazing but it was also really cold and snowing and outside. but i am really glad i did it. i wish i could spend longer here, there are so many museums that would be awesome to go to. tomorrow afternoon we are off to our last city, praha (prague). it should be fun and different. i miss you all and love you and hope all is well. i love hearing from you guys. i will update when i can but i love getting your emails!! love k (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, February 20th, 2004
2:09 pm	sandwich and salad bar This sign has been posted since the beginning of week and literally had everybody talking about it. Last night for dinner it was practically anarchy....people were dying for a change from the pasta (twice a day 7 times a week). It was pretty amusing to see everybody get all ansy for this meal. I mean it is sandwiches for goodness sake. Anyway they had hamburgers, hot dogs, ham deli meat, pickles, buns, white bread (which i hadnt seen over here), and then they brought out the french fries. People got a plateful of them. Some people had a hot dog, hamburger, and sandwich. You would have thought that they hadnt fed us by the way people were acting. I guess sometimes people just yearn for a little comfort of the familiar. Thats why care packages with peanut butter and popcorn from home (Colby Ridge of course!) are the best. (Comment on this)
Thursday, February 19th, 2004
3:08 pm	a little bit of home... I am referring to the fact that when i woke up this morning I went about my normal routine. However when i glanced outside i saw that it was snowing. Yes snowing. This crazy weather must follow me around everywhere. It had been so nice. it still doesnt seem that cold, just very wet. The last few nights I have been reading a little of Angels and Demons (which i started on the way over here). it is really interesting to read it now that i have been to rome and i have been making notes to myself about the interesting stuff in the book and maybe if i go back to rome i could pay more attention. its a good book and i am sure that i will finish it within the next week because of all the travelling that i am going to be doing. it is very weird to me still that people dont say excuse me or please or thank you. whenever i brush up against someone in a store, i always say scuza, but they never reply. in fact no one has ever said that to me, even though i have said it to other people like a million times. people just say that americans overuse the phrase, but i would rather be too polite than be that typical rude american so i figure it is okay. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, February 16th, 2004
12:55 pm	mamomosos So we watched a video in a class today about a phenomenon in italy called mamamosos (sp?). This phenomenon is really taking over. People here get married later (around 27) and the age is getting older and older. This results in fewer children. The population of Italy actually decreased last year. When i found this out, i thought about the women i have seen and it is rare to see pregnant women, or women with multiple young children. Also side note on differences-it is rare to find fat italians. they eat bread and pasta a lot but no fast food and they use olive oil and fresh ingredients and walk instead of us lazy americans. they also watch tv a lot less. i think all of this is why americans are so fat. looks like they are doing something right, huh? anyway, the video was hilarious because it was about 30 and 40 year old men who still lived at home with their mamosas. their moms asked what they wanted to eat and prepared whatever they want, cleaned their rooms, did their laundry, pressed their clothes, ran their errands.... These men were successful businessmen who had lots of money. In fact a lot of the men even had their own place to live, but usually it was in the same neighborhood as their mama's house (less than a block away) and they still chose to live at their moms house. There was one guy who got married and moved out, yet still sent his laundry home on a bus for his mom to iron for him. I found it all pretty ridiculous but hilarious. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, February 15th, 2004
11:24 pm	Happy Valentines day for all Yesterday a group of 6 of us went to a nearby town, Asolo. It was beautiful. We first walked to this castle at the top of the hill, called Rocco (literally the rock) and then wandered around the town. There are so many cute shops. There were tons of jewelry shops, high end clothing (definitely out of my price range), and pottery shops. you will find no big stores here. their hours are pretty much whenever they feel like being there. The roads were really narrow so its a good thing that everybody drives such small cars. you will be hard pressed to find an suv around here. There was a fountain in the middle of the town in the piazza and we drank some tea and cocoa before dinner. As foolish americans we tried to eat there before 7, but no restaurants opened until then. we went to this wonderful little pizzeria and i shared a pasta dish and pizza with another girl. They were ridiculously good, not like american pizza at all. You eat with your forks and knives at all times, continental style, and this is the proper ettiquette. It is still weird to have to pay for water. You dont tip the waiter, because included in the bill is a coperto or cover charge. Afterward we went back to the cafe and got some wonderful gelato. It was probably one of the best that i have had. It was a good night all in all. I would like to explore all of the towns around here a little more. I miss chips and salsa, because I have yet to have Mexican food since I have been here. Speaking of food, today in the cafeteria for lunch they served quail...and it definitely still looked like the bird. I went to the market again this morning and really enjoy watching all of the people interact. Italians are so stylish and always look so well done. It is no wonder they think Americans are slobs. Thats all for now. (Comment on this)
Friday, February 13th, 2004
11:51 am	dinner and fun last night Before we went on our dinner excursion last night, we had an ettiquette seminar. There are so many different rules, it is crazy. I realized that I really know very little about business ettiquette and what makes it even more complicated is that it differs on what country you are in. Then we got all fancied up-guys in suits and ties was nice for a change-and drove to the restaurant. We started with mingling and cocktails and then had our 4 course meal. Risotto with raddiccio (a vegetable that is really common over here, its kinda like cabbage), ravioli with artichokes and butter and rosemary sauce, hen roasted potatoes, and more raddichio, and this amazing amazing chocolate mouse with an orange cream sauce. We had white wine at first and then red with the meaat, then champagne with dessert. I think we all enjoyed ourselves and then afterward pretty much all of us went to the local bar in town and continued having fun there. It was a late night and an early morning but all in all a good time. it is pretty cold here today and kind of dreary. i have got lots of school stuff to do, the usual. Its off to lunch now....cafeteria food does not compare to last nights meal. i forgot to mention that a couple days ago, one of the meat options at lunch was rabbit....yes rabbit. some say that it is a delicacy, but i cant see it that way. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 11th, 2004
11:39 am	a grand meal... Last night we had a faculty advisor night. Basically me and 8 other students went out to dinner with a faculty member here. Mine happened to be one of my teachers and probably one of the most knowledgable and well respected and liked guy there. He has been with the program for 10 years so he knows a lot about the area. We went to this cute little restaurant in a closeby town and fortunately i sat next to my professor so he could explain pretty much everything on the menu for me because i had no idea what anything was. i ended up getting a pasta with red sauce, tomatoes and "scampi" which i understood to be shrimp. yes it definitely came out still in the shell....with its head and eyes and everything. the professor told me i was supposed to eat it with my hands....so i did. it was quite an experience. we drank a little red wine-i am a bigger fan of white, had some delicious special bread, tried some parmesan potatoes, and then for dessert the professor ordered us all these drinks that had one third lemon gelato, one third proseco (a kind of wine that this region is known the best for-definitely my favorite, its kinda bubbly white wine), and one third vodka. it was really good. the conversation was awesome because the professor had so many stories about meeting the people that had come to this area. apparently the sequel to a talented mr ripley was filmed here. dr white has eaten with kim basinger and alex baldwin when they were here, and other celebrities have been around here too. its crazy. he said we have to get to some nearby towns and had loads of suggestions of restaurants (since he only cooks maybe once a week he eats out all the time). hopefully i will get to do that at some point. anyway it was a great night and i left feeling full and happy. i wish i could explain how much better real italian food is.....ahhhhh (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, February 9th, 2004
2:35 pm	Ciao...still tired from a trip to Rome So I sit here in Paderno del Grappa and I am so excited now to finally start my long anticipated journal. I have not kept up so far but I hope to do a much better job from now on. This weekend I went to Rome. All I have to say is that it was amazing. It is incredible to be in this city with so much history. Seriously, civilization practically began here. Anyway, the train ride down was interesting. I went with 4 other girls on Thursday night. We had purchased "couchettes" which were beds that we could sleep in. However, we couldnt figure out where on the train we were supposed to go so we ended up hauling our huge travelling backpacks that weighed more than us down the whole length of the train. There were a lot of people on it so we couldnt find any room for us together. Finally we split up and sat down. When the conductor came by he told us we were in the wrong seats and pointed toward the end of the train where our couchettes were awaiting us. Basically a couchette is a room with 4 beds and thats it. We crowded into 1 because we didnt want to split up. It was a long night with not a lot of sleep. We got into rome around 6 am and found our little home for the next couple nights. the area was kind of ghetto but the apartment was cute. Friday we went to the vatican, st peters bascilica, and i stood under the sistine chapel. it was amazing. then we proceeded to hit up some amazing sales. If you stand at the top of the spanish steps and look down the street, the road is lined with stores like prada, gucci, armani..... we skipped those and went to the "saldis". I got a really cute skirt for 8 euro. Saturday we went to the Bourghese museum, which was amazing. We then went to the Trevi Fountain, shopped a little more, ate some gelatto again, went to the Pantheon and hung out at the Trevi Fountain. We ate dinner at this awesome Italian place and drank some proseco (a very good wine) and ate pasta, bread, and desserts until we were stuffed. It was all awesome. Sunday we went to the Colesseum and Roman Forum and hung out until it was time to go. All in all it was a long but good and exhausting weekend. I need to catch up on sleep, homework, and start planning my next travel week, which is in 2 weeks. Hopefully this will be the first of many entries....please post your comments!!!! (8 Comments |Comment on this)