tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48636316065302233812024-03-05T21:03:11.831-08:00when in romemadi's abroad adventuresMadi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-3469329922739455522012-12-14T12:00:00.000-08:002012-12-14T12:00:03.206-08:00Grazie Roma!by the time this post goes live, I will be on a plane flying home. this is my thank you note, my love letter to Rome, and a promise to return. it was a heck of a semester.<br />
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dear Roma,</div>
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thank you for hosting me for three and a half months while I studied abroad. I wasn't sure what to expect when I arrived, but I am leaving with all my expectations blown away by my time here. thank you for letting me learn from you, for letting me explore your holy monuments and historical sites. thank you for making me feel uncomfortable: every challenge I overcame taught me something about myself. thank you for becoming comfortable to me: I will miss my familiar streets. I enjoyed your cuisine immensely, and thank you for helping me add on a carbohydrate layer that will keep me warm this winter. thank you for being a port to the other fantastic places I got to visit this semester.</div>
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I love how busy this city is. you are an international city with complicated feelings about globalizing. I love that your citizens are so friendly and so funny. I love that they entertained my efforts at Italian. I love your traditional <i>piatti</i> of carbonara, gricia, amatriciana, arrabbiatta, bruschetta, and carciofi giudia. your gelato has made it difficult for me to love ice cream the same way. I love your steadfast commitment to tradition. I love all the beautiful art that you have produced and patronized over the centuries, and I love that it is (mostly) available to the public (looking at you, French embassy). I love your piazzas and your markets and your churches. I love your weird quirks even when they make my life harder.</div>
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at the start of my time here, I tossed two coins into the Fontana di Trevi, one for love and two for a return to Roma, which means it has to come true because I can't bear the thought that I'll never see you again. promise you'll get your stuff together economically so I can come back home here. because surprisingly, inadvertently, somehow, you became a new home, and it would be too sad to not return. </div>
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thanks so much for the adventures and the memories of a lifetime. I'll be back Roma!</div>
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love,</div>
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Madi</div>
Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-68200652758842415202012-12-13T07:00:00.000-08:002012-12-13T07:00:05.630-08:00Favorite places in RomeI lived in the Eternal City for a full 3 and 1/2 months, and while that doesn't qualify me quite yet as a local I managed to find some places to eat, shop, drink, and hang out that I really enjoyed. here's my list, kept for my personal records and memory's sake but also because possibly they will be helpful to somebody out there on the internet. starred ones are places my friends all loved but I never made it to, probably because I was sick for half my time here, but I've left them on this list so I can go when I come back to Rome (one day).<br />
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<b>restaurants</b></div>
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I feel like there's a lot of pressure in this category to pick the 'best restaurants in Rome.' I certainly didn't get around to eating at every place recommended by Trip Advisor or Fodors, and I ate a lot of good places that aren't on this list, but these are simply some of the places I did eat at and enjoyed immensely. note: you need a reservation at a lot of these places after 7:30 PM!</div>
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- Zi'Umberto's in Trastevere - get their gricia, their carbonara, their risotto or the pasta with mushrooms and peas and sausage, I forget its name. the fried cauliflower antipasto is also great.</div>
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- Da Enzo - incredible carbonara, the amatriciana is apparently good too. get the buffala mozzarella caprese as a starter, you will not regret it.</div>
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- Dar Poeta - everything is good, but anything that has their buffalo mozzarella is a guaranteed winner. my favorite crust in Rome, Remo's was really good too if a little salty.</div>
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- La Tavernaccia - great carbonara, family owned and quintessentially Roman</div>
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- Volpetti in Testaccio - gourmet meat and cheese shop, also sells arancini/suppli, pizzas, lots of other delicious things and owned/worked by the friendliest sweetest Italian guys<br />
- When In Rome in Trastevere - home to the great American breakfast, good if you're craving eggs and sausage and toast as an expat<br />
- Forno in Campo dei Fiori - not a restaurant, but a great bakery. get their pizza bianca! 0.80 euro will get you a slice.</div>
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-La Carbonara*</div>
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- Cul de Sac wine bar*<br />
- Da Felice*, Testaccio</div>
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<b>bars (otherwise known as "caffes") - don't pay more than 1.50 euro for a cappuccino in Rome!</b><br />
- Barberini in Testaccio - best cappucino in the area/the world, amazing cookies (anything with a shortbread cookie = to die for), great gelato<br />
- Caffe Sant'Eustachio - near the Pantheon, they pre-sweeten their cappucino and it is really good<br />
- Tazzo d'Oro - near the pantheon. the only place to sell espresso granite all year round, amazing whipped cream and the granite is so yummy. granite as in "grah-nee-tay" and not granite the stone. singular: granita.<br />
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<b>bars & clubs</b></div>
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this category is probably less a 'best bars in Rome' list than it is a list of 'where study abroaders go to drink,' but nonetheless for memories sake I shall record them here. this is where either I went or my friends went on a regular basis. also, I realized as I wrote this list that I spent about half my weekends in places other than Rome, so I'm not really much of an expert on Roman nightlife to begin with.</div>
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- La Femme, Trastevere - strong pitchers that come with a free shot, other 2 euro shots</div>
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- Scholars - the boys went here a lot to watch sports on TV, always full of study abroaders and locals. karaoke on wednesdays is highly recommended</div>
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- MOOD - this is the joke on the list, because everybody goes to mood and yet nothing good ever happens inside</div>
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- Gilda - supposedly Roman footballers on AS Roma come here, I wouldn't know if I'd seen one</div>
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- On the Rox in Testaccio - I actually only went once, at the start of the program, but their drinks are stiff and the atmosphere is fun, plus Testaccio is pretty cool</div>
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- Sloppy Sams in Campo di Fiori - not too sketchy and plays international (read: American) music<br />
- Chocolate Bar*</div>
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***Drunken Ship in Campo di Fiori - stay outta here!!! it's dangerous! </div>
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<b>gelato</b></div>
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- Frigidarium - you are required to try their signature flavor, 'frigidarium.' I'm more of a fruit-flavored gelato girl but every single darn time I get frigidarium flavor with either pistacchio, tiramisu, or baccio (hazelnut) flavor. they'll also dip the whole scoop into chocolate, which is to die for.<br />
- Old Bridge - the BEST strawberry (fragole) gelato I ever had, and they had pineapple too. I'd trek to the Vatican just to have this giant cone of deliciousness again. </div>
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<b>shopping</b></div>
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- Via del Corso and its sidestreets - home to a gigantic Zara (and two other smaller ones), a two-story Brandy Melville, and a whole lot of smaller boutiques and big name-brand stores like H&M, Gap, Le Group, Mango, and Accessorize (basically the Claires of the UK/Europe)<br />
- Via Condotti - the most upscale shopping in Rome, but really fun for window shopping</div>
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- Trastevere - during the day there are lots of cute clothing stores, bakeries, services like hair cutting, etc, to wander into</div>
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- Porta Portese market - pop-up flea market every Sunday until 2PM, full of clothes, knockoff designer stuff, leather goods, electronics, accessories, literally everything you could think of</div>
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- Campo di Fiori market - farmers market set up in Campo di Fiori every morning, but there are also home appliances/furnishings, clothes, and flowers.</div>
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<b>monuments/piazzas/museums</b></div>
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- Piazza Navona - lots of cafes, great for people watching. during the day there's something like an outdoor gallery where artists set up their easels and you can buy their art</div>
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- Trevi Fountain - because it's beautiful</div>
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- Vatican Pinacoteca - the Vatican painting gallery is full of seriously amazing pieces. if you aren't blown away in every room you didn't do enough research before you went.</div>
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- Temple of the Vestal Virgins - it's pretty amazing how much of it still stands, my favorite part of the ancient Roman forum</div>
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- Piazza di Spagna - shopping, the Steps, the Borghese gardens nearby, and of course LADUREE, the best macarons in the world are sold near here<br />
- Museo Nazionale - contains some very, very famous ancient Roman sculpture like Myron's Discobolus<br />
- Castel Sant'Angelo - the view from the top is the best, ever<br />
- Janiculum Hill - another great view of the city<br />
- Borghese Gallery - contains Titian's Sacred and Profane love, as well as a massive collection of Bernini's masterpieces. worth seeing but book tickets in advance!</div>
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<b>churches</b></div>
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- St John Lateran - breathtaking Baroque design is what you see first, but the layers on this church is what makes it really fascinating for historians. almost every period of Roman art is represented here</div>
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- St Peter's - don't miss Michelangelo's <i>Pieta, </i>Bernini's sculpture, or the Raphael <i>Transfiguration</i> reproduction that if you look closely you can see was done in mosaic. and if you can, arrange a tour of the crypt below St. Peter's to see ancient Roman mausoleums and even the bones of St. Peter himself.</div>
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- Sta Maria del Popolo - the Chigi chapel by Raphael and the Cerasi chapel by Caravaggio</div>
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- Sant'Ignazio - an incredible Baroque ceiling</div>
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- Oratorio del Gonfalone - it used to house a confraternity. called the Mannerist Sistine Chapel, really cool to see </div>
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- Santa Maria sopra Minerva - Michelangelo's Risen Christ, Lippi's beautiful Carafa chapel</div>
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- San Pietro in Vincoli - contains the tomb of Julius II and Michelangelo's <i>Moses, </i>and the relic contained here are the chains that Peter was bound with... cool stuff</div>
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Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-16159056445115064322012-12-09T16:21:00.001-08:002012-12-11T10:24:27.479-08:00FlorenceFlorence was the city that, aside from Rome, I got to know the best during my time here. I visited on four separate occasions and I am so glad I did - the city is much more medieval than Rome is and much smaller. it's completely navigable on foot and it's the place where the Renaissance was born. I would have loved to live in Florence, even though it is small. here's what I saw in Florence.<br />
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Piazza della Repubblica: lots of cafes and shopping not pictured. on the other side of the arch is the old city center of Florence and the Arno</div>
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Arno River: really beautiful river with several bridges you can cross. </div>
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Santa Croce. contains the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli. there's some great pieces by Giotto inside too. </div>
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Tomb of Michelangelo, self explanatory. </div>
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Orsanmichele. Orsanmichele is a great museum and church, and the exterior of the museum is beautiful. plus its right in the middle of a busy shopping and restaurant street. </div>
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I Fratellini, a great sandwich shop near Orsanmichele. some people say it's overrated, others say it's the best panino in Florence: I'm more in the second camp. I've always enjoyed the sandwiches I got there!</div>
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Bargello Gallery. contains LOTS of stunning pieces of sculpture, including Michelangelo's Bacchus and Donatello's David.</div>
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Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, this is the Florentine Pieta/Deposition by Michelangelo. </div>
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The original Doors to Paradise by Ghiberti, also in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo.</div>
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Santissima Annunciata. beautiful, beautiful church.</div>
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I hiked up to the top of the Duomo! I got really dizzy coming down and was definitely huffing and puffing.</div>
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but it was all worth it to get a closer look at the Last Judgment on the dome, this one by Vasari and Zucchero. it's a shame it's so hard to see from the ground level.</div>
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so high up!</div>
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even with the clouds, Florence is beautiful</div>
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Piazza della Signorina. this building is the Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall of Florence. just to the right of this photograph is the Uffizi.</div>
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Replica of Michelangelo's David, Bandinelli's Hercules and Cacus, and Cellini's Perseus and Medusa (one of my favorites). </div>
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If you're ever in Italy don't leave without seeing Florence! It can be done in a day or two and is my favorite place in Italy. Tuscan food is delicious and of course, the leather markets here are famous. I saw other places besides the ones pictured, of course: San Marco is beautiful and has the famous Annunciation by Fra Angelico, the Uffizi gallery was one of my favorite museums I saw, Casa Buonarroti is small but lovely, Accademia has not only the David but also Michelangelo's unfinished Apostles, Santa Maria Novella which houses works by just about every famous painter of the period you can think of (Masaccio, Botticelli, Lippi, Bronzino, Pisano, Ghiberti, Duccio, Vasari, etc), and of course a fair amount of clothing shops and restaurants. If I were to go again I'd want to go the Boboli gardens, the Pitti Palace, and the Piazza di Michelangelo which is a little outside the city but has the best view of Florence. <br />
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mi mancherai, Firenze! alla prossima volta.Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-56167486226912263812012-11-28T13:58:00.003-08:002012-11-28T13:58:43.182-08:00Things I miss about home + things I will miss about Romemy time abroad is quickly coming to a close. final papers are being turned in (...eventually), I'm scrambling to cross off bucket-list items, and Christmas music rings through the halls. people ask me a lot if I will be sad to leave or if I'm ready to get outta here, and the truth is it's a combination of both. I will be heartbroken to leave Rome. it's been an incredible semester and I still can't wrap my mind around how lucky I have been to see all the things I've seen. I've gotten to travel to so many cool places I never thought I'd ever make it to, I've seen ancient monuments and spectacular art, eaten SO much good food and made some great friends. I don't know when the next time in my life will be that I will get to travel so much in Europe.<br />
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that being said, I miss home terribly and I expect that by the time I need to pack up my little single room and head home, I will be ready to leave. here's a short list of some things I miss about home followed by a list of what I will miss the most about Rome.<br />
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- my family, especially my smelly dog tinkerdink<br />
- being able to drive anywhere I want<br />
- having a functional phone<br />
- basically every ethnic food there is but especially Mexican<br />
- my full wardrobe, I'm sick of wearing the same four sweaters every day<br />
- on that note, my jewelry and makeup. why did I only bring one color eye shadow?<br />
- craft beer (blue moon I am coming for you)<br />
- having a refrigerator<br />
- free laundry<br />
- being skinny...well, skinnier<br />
- Oxy!! I miss my friends so much and I miss campus life so much I am so excited to be back!<br />
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- the FOOD! pasta, pizza, cappuccini, GELATO, the cheeses and the cold cuts (back to vegeterianism once I'm in the States!), suppli and arancini, the cookies (I will possibly miss the cookies the most)<br />
- having the freedom to travel and sightsee and explore Rome<br />
- proximity to other cool countries<br />
- the three story Zara<br />
- Borghese Gardens, the museums, the piazzas<br />
- jaywalking<br />
- being legal to order a drink with dinner<br />
- and of course, my program - the people, the friends, the faculty and the nice man at the front desk of the hotel that orders my takeout food, kills bugs for me, and fixes my broken umbrellas.<br />
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things I won't miss about Rome include the fact that nothing is open on sundays or mondays and the national propensity for running over pedestrians. vehicles 3, Madi 0. also the portion of the European community that doesn't accept body odor as a real thing and won't wear deodorant. and the buses at rush hour.<br />
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to do: eat at restaurants I STILL haven't made it to yet, pick up presents for friends and family at home, and finish this darn paper about Michelangelo. sidenote: thanks readers for getting this little bloggy to 1,200 views! my mind is boggled (bloggled?) that that many people have read my rambles. love you all.Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-15438884064887499022012-11-23T02:51:00.003-08:002012-11-23T02:51:58.230-08:00Thanksgiving... Roma styleyesterday was Thanksgiving, and while families all over the States (mine included) cooked all day and watched the game and enjoye each others' company, our group of American expats in Rome watched our Facebook newsfeeds fill with Instagrammed pictures of reunions with dogs and tables full of food. feeling a bit homesick, we headed to our formal dinner party at the convent...<br />
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...which turned out to be really fun! the convent dining hall had been transformed, with flattering lighting and long covered tables. it was definitely an Italian Thanksgiving, with antipasti including bruschetta and a meat & cheese plate, then our first course (primi) was ravioli followed by penne arrabbiata. second course was the TURKEY with spinach as a side vegetable, and dessert was an apple cake, presumably an interpretation of apple pie.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WZYXdRsJWzw/UK9URt7qF8I/AAAAAAAAAec/pFLr4xghqo8/s1600/DSCN1214.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WZYXdRsJWzw/UK9URt7qF8I/AAAAAAAAAec/pFLr4xghqo8/s320/DSCN1214.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<i>our table</i></div>
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<i>our program director cutting the turkey</i></div>
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it was a lovely dinner. people gave nice speeches and most of our professors even came, which was so fun! I wish it could have lasted longer, but all that wine was making me sleepy. if you have time, try the sparkling wine called Fior d'Arancia, which means orange blossom. it's sweet and sparkly and the best ever. </div>
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happy Thanksgiving to all in the states! I'm thankful for a lot this year. don't all kill yourselves Black Friday shopping. </div>
<br />Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-90559221080273638772012-11-23T02:42:00.002-08:002012-11-23T02:42:54.471-08:00Brusselslast weekend, I had a class trip to Brussels, Belgium! I went with my European Union class and the Public Finance kids came too. the purpose of the trip was to see first-hand the legislative bodies of the EU: the Commission and the Parliament.<br />
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our first night in Brussels, the night we arrived, we got Asian food! such a nice change from Italian. I had Vietnamese pho, and while it wasn't quite as good as some I've had at home it more than satisfied the lack of Vietnamese food in my life lately.<br />
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the second day, we headed to the European Commission in the morning for a talk about the CAP and just some general discussion about the EU and the Commission. we had lunch at the Commission cafeteria, then were free to explore Brussels.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQw7DnqQJ2kt8RokcvA4H24tvfSJy6BSlUQ5mFW_BAxwYrmRkBdfQF8D292lhHXYfi-AGMS-WooVgGLhI1NpM-ZbNxVEYCr53OPD3sbTbkP9kYGX8Rs0IQEunT11mav8MWFMw2Vux5zVaw/s1600/DSCN1201.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQw7DnqQJ2kt8RokcvA4H24tvfSJy6BSlUQ5mFW_BAxwYrmRkBdfQF8D292lhHXYfi-AGMS-WooVgGLhI1NpM-ZbNxVEYCr53OPD3sbTbkP9kYGX8Rs0IQEunT11mav8MWFMw2Vux5zVaw/s320/DSCN1201.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>the Commission building</i></div>
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I really loved Brussels. it was chilly and a little windy, but the city itself was so clean and beautiful. I liked that it was a very international city (as the seat of the EU, go figure), and the local foods were right up my alley - sugary waffels, french fries, and beer! I tried a bunch of different beers while I was there, and I wish I'd written them down for later reference - next time. the waffels are delicious, they're baked with sugar crystal chunks in the batter so when you bite in there's a bit of a crunch. yum.<br />
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<i>bonjour Bruxelles!</i></div>
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anyway, we did some shopping, some eating, and a lot of drinking, all of which was very fun.<br />
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the next day was similar. we headed to the European Parliament for a brief overview of the structure and workings of the Parliament, then we went to the Parliamentarium which is this pretty cool museum that helps you learn about the history of the EU and the Parliament. I played a fun game where you had to see how many Parliament members you could seat before time ran out. then we got lunch and then heard a brief talk from a member of a research team of a DG about what it was like to live and work in Brussels. afterwards, we went back to the hotel room, watched some MTV music videos, then headed out again for dinner and drinking. dinner was seafood at maybe the most random restaurant in the world, where the ladies got sugary sweet champagne and the men got beer. the sexism was not lost on me, but at least the food was good. if you go to brussels, you must eat mussels and chips!<br />
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it felt like a short weekend but it was a lot of fun to be with almost our whole program and eat lots of delicious things! I'll be back for you Brussels!<br />
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ps. it's so cool that everybody in Brussels speaks English, French, AND Dutch! wish I were that cool.Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-10978007767603261182012-11-12T13:10:00.000-08:002012-11-12T13:10:14.473-08:00How My Rome Experience Is Like The Lizzie McGuire Movie... and How It Isn'thopefully, you've seen the internationally acclaimed, saccharine sweet teen flick The Lizzie McGuire Movie. as the first Disney Channel Original Series to get a movie, and as a film set in Rome and therefore joining the ranks of films like Roman Holiday and La Dolce Vita, The Lizzie McGuire Movie certainly had high expectations to live up to. as a pivotal movie of my childhood (to this day I can sing every song off the soundtrack), it set my own expectations for my study abroad trip very high. some of these expectations have been realized, others have not been. here is my evaluation of how close my Rome experience has been to Lizzie's.<br />
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Shared experience 1: I visited the Colosseum!<br />
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<i>this would never happen.</i></div>
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Shared experience 2: I wandered in beautiful gardens!<br />
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<i>not with an Italian pop star, however.</i></div>
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Shared experience 3: I magically got over my fear of stage fright and sang with my doppelganger/CGI double of myself on an international stage in front of thousands of fans who weren't confused when two of me showed up!<br />
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<i>calm down ladies, I'll hang around for autographs after the show.</i></div>
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okay, that last one didn't happen.<br />
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"Lizzie got everything you're supposed to get when you go to Europe. Adventure, romance, total confidence..." - Kate Saunders<br />
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here's hoping I leave Rome with everything Kate Saunders thinks I should have gotten! if it's not Kate approved, I don't want it.Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-40446996919281732152012-11-08T06:08:00.001-08:002012-11-08T09:17:27.353-08:00Random photos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
a lot of things I take photos of never quite make it to the blog because they don't really merit a big long post of their own, so here is an amalgamation of some photos I've taken that I want to share. </div>
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for my Michelangelo class one day, we went to a marble workshop to get a feel for what it was really like to carve marble. and let me tell ya - it was hard! it's hard enough to make a dent in the stuff, much less turn it into a masterpiece. major props to Michelangelo. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lUShMHNpzmA/UJu2jnkSWhI/AAAAAAAAAX4/v5ALRc2GXKo/s1600/DSCN0779.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lUShMHNpzmA/UJu2jnkSWhI/AAAAAAAAAX4/v5ALRc2GXKo/s320/DSCN0779.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<i>Carrera marble</i></div>
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nearby the famous Bramante Tempietto is the lookout spot on the Janiculum hill, not one of the 7 hills of Rome but still a tall hill nonetheless with a spectacular view. it's hard to see but you can see the Vatican from here!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BrTS0J-9yp0/UJu2nELK-LI/AAAAAAAAAYA/2mQepIIKNIE/s1600/DSCN0790.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BrTS0J-9yp0/UJu2nELK-LI/AAAAAAAAAYA/2mQepIIKNIE/s320/DSCN0790.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Janiculum Hill</i></div>
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Rome has a lot of organized strikes and protests. we happened upon this one totally by chance, and at first I was scared by all the SWAT running around. it was an education reform protest, all from students. good for them. </div>
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<i>protest in front of the Il Vittoriano monument</i></div>
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we visited Bernini's Sant'Andrea al Quirinale church, which is a really spectacular Baroque church with a concave/convex exterior and a longitudinal interior. the ceiling and walls are inspired by the Pantheon. </div>
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<i>the altar</i></div>
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for my introduction to art of Rome class, we visited the Vatican Museums, definitely my favorite museum of the ones I've seen. I didn't get an image of Leonardo da Vinci's St. Jerome, but it's worth a look! he's pretty unrepresented in Rome, though not unsurprisingly.<br />
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<i>St. Peter's basilica</i></div>
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<i>Raphael room containing Madonna of Foligno, Transfiguration (there's a copy in New St Peter's too), and the Crowning of the Virgin</i></div>
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the next two are two of the Raphael Stanze frescos, the private rooms of the Pope, decorated to reinforce the power of the papacy. ironically, some 10 years later Rome was sacked and the pope was arrested. you can see German graffiti on the walls of the Stanze. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyZHXL4zJGKtOvuagHYMhFPTBLLFNx6tqna0mrjeQhfKet4rJel6lepK0EMSu8eFWUhBp60OaEGsIWlbQocBZ36pT6ADwmY4-Nh5isAS-6rwJHzZAlcfzh8cvykHScEBpKexlRYBjhfCwS/s1600/DSCN1166.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyZHXL4zJGKtOvuagHYMhFPTBLLFNx6tqna0mrjeQhfKet4rJel6lepK0EMSu8eFWUhBp60OaEGsIWlbQocBZ36pT6ADwmY4-Nh5isAS-6rwJHzZAlcfzh8cvykHScEBpKexlRYBjhfCwS/s320/DSCN1166.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>School of Athens. can you spot Plato/Leonardo da Vinci, Aristotle, Euclid, Raphael, Michelangelo, Perugino/Sodoma, Socrates and Pythagoras? Bramante and Donatello might be in there too!</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqdPVhHKSXYBxyjgB-6SD928lY_xT_2x0pQnN1GJCISqqpWRQEcNHNlB_rRAoTFElIU_d-_605owfEEVF8CrIPVe_Z8MfJfXEa1I-DGPj3NmT7k7uSMsxO-QKIrUY1BWBarP2S5-5vGEIo/s1600/DSCN1169.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqdPVhHKSXYBxyjgB-6SD928lY_xT_2x0pQnN1GJCISqqpWRQEcNHNlB_rRAoTFElIU_d-_605owfEEVF8CrIPVe_Z8MfJfXEa1I-DGPj3NmT7k7uSMsxO-QKIrUY1BWBarP2S5-5vGEIo/s320/DSCN1169.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Fire in the Borgo</i></div>
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the next two photos are from New St Peter's.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG-jsywqxWmj1Vniv64_qaCVo1dKTbQOruPqvsikHc8k3CN_2rO5nyaPpz-JHubKZJQ8DhegJOxhU2aI3i7t9LcqhVPaoV20aefB91kLjTgwKoa4cij1WvDbSy8Zg755kGNPddDOudFEtt/s1600/DSCN1173.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG-jsywqxWmj1Vniv64_qaCVo1dKTbQOruPqvsikHc8k3CN_2rO5nyaPpz-JHubKZJQ8DhegJOxhU2aI3i7t9LcqhVPaoV20aefB91kLjTgwKoa4cij1WvDbSy8Zg755kGNPddDOudFEtt/s320/DSCN1173.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Michelangelo's Pieta. it was amazing to see it in person after all the essays I've written about it... it's kept behind glass to protect it from crazy art defacers. </i></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BfA4WuB7etw/UJu4oVpJBDI/AAAAAAAAAZM/DIAKHBKo9oU/s1600/DSCN1176.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BfA4WuB7etw/UJu4oVpJBDI/AAAAAAAAAZM/DIAKHBKo9oU/s320/DSCN1176.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>the interior of St. Peter's. you can barely see the basilica, designed by Michelangelo</i></div>
<br />Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-19063583318857079892012-11-08T05:40:00.001-08:002012-11-08T05:40:12.442-08:00Olive picking in Velletrilast weekend we went olive picking in a nearby town called Velletri. it's an annual tradition for the program, and it was so fun even though it was rainy and cold the day of.<br />
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our day started with actual olive picking, which isn't so much picking as it is shaking the tree really hard and watching olives rain down on your heads.<br />
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<i>an olive tree! </i></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iQqj8rwxYro/UJu0O_v2jqI/AAAAAAAAAW4/yX6bQ9uVoS0/s1600/DSCN1143.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iQqj8rwxYro/UJu0O_v2jqI/AAAAAAAAAW4/yX6bQ9uVoS0/s320/DSCN1143.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<i>can you spot the olives?</i></div>
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We spent an hour or so picking the olives, then we gathered them up and headed to the processing plant area. </div>
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<i>crates and crates...</i></div>
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<i>...full of olives!</i></div>
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the olives are sorted from the branches and leaves, cleaned, then processed. first they are mashed up into a paste, then plastered onto these cylinders where then the cylinders are pressed, and the oil that comes out is the extra virgin olive oil. there is some water, but that is literally spun out of the oil. the oil/water mixture is put into a high speed spinning machine that separates the water from the oil!<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NOWOiaF2MEU/UJu0ZGo1RII/AAAAAAAAAXU/4MhznWp7iV0/s1600/DSCN1147.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NOWOiaF2MEU/UJu0ZGo1RII/AAAAAAAAAXU/4MhznWp7iV0/s320/DSCN1147.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>the wheels that make paste</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPVSgRFRyJViXjyWmtoASvoavjzqmkUPhcuvj5_9nprEEYfrxzSlsLPJJvdvO9E81DKoh8pNgXVPINtKqKJuGVXXoTgVzMXF3cVHD5VuerTyCSva1r21HXo605ZBgPaBc4tlv_TDQ5FnkZ/s1600/DSCN1149.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPVSgRFRyJViXjyWmtoASvoavjzqmkUPhcuvj5_9nprEEYfrxzSlsLPJJvdvO9E81DKoh8pNgXVPINtKqKJuGVXXoTgVzMXF3cVHD5VuerTyCSva1r21HXo605ZBgPaBc4tlv_TDQ5FnkZ/s320/DSCN1149.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<i>each cylinder takes an hour to fully press</i></div>
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the fresh olive oil was unlike anything I'd ever tasted, it was so delicious and full of flavor. and it was a bright green color! I sort of wish I'd bought some to take home... ugh, it was so good. </div>
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after our day of picking olives it was time for lunch! lunch was a 5 course affair, starting with pasta, then potatoes and bbq chicken, then sausages and ribs, then salad and dessert. we had to skip salad because we were so full, but that's alright. and naturally everything was drizzled in olive oil. except dessert. cake was not oily. </div>
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<i>italian bbq!</i></div>
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we ate for three hours in true Italian style, then headed home. I did not need dinner that night! such a fun day and it was so cool to see how olive oil is made, and the fresh evoo tasted a hundred times more spectacular than anything you buy bottled at Whole Foods. </div>
Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-49564303854157243962012-11-08T05:28:00.003-08:002012-11-08T05:28:39.539-08:00Fall Break Part 3: Londonfinally, the last leg of my fall break trip!<br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">we left Amsterdam at 5 in the morning and arrived in rainy, grey London around 8 after some delays. after dropping our bags off at the hostel we decided to get some sightseeing in, so we headed to the tube and got off at Piccadilly Circus! </span><br />
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<i>hi Piccadilly!</i></div>
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we were pretty darn relieved to be somewhere where everybody spoke English!! granted, everybody in Amsterdam spoke English, but you get what I'm saying. I kept forgetting that I couldn't swear loudly anymore because everybody knew what I was really saying. </div>
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anyway, I immediately liked London. it was clean, very beautiful, the public transportation was easy, and we were staying in Kensington which is the nicest area of London! the weather also reminded me a lot of home, very blustery and rain at unexpected times and a definite chilly bite in the air. </div>
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we were starving so we wandered a bit trying to find a place to eat, but once we saw a TGIF in Piccadilly Circus it was game over. we were really, really craving American food. </div>
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<i>my first meal in London... mozzarella sticks</i></div>
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after lunch we did some more sightseeing! first stop was Buckingham Palace. </div>
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<i>I couldn't get over what a hard job these guys have... they can't budge and it was freezing out!</i></div>
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<i>Westminster Abbey</i></div>
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<i>Big Ben</i></div>
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<i>the London Eye from below</i></div>
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<i>the view from the London Eye</i></div>
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The London Eye was really cool, even though when we got on it was FREEZING and so windy and rainy. </div>
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we were really damp and cold, so we returned to the hostel where we watched some Hollyoaks, which is actually the most addictive soap opera in the world. consider me hooked. once we were suitably warmed up and had our fill of deliciously good looking and dramatic British men on the telly (haha), we headed out for dinner in Soho to this insanely cool restaurant called <a href="http://www.inamo-restaurant.com/" target="_blank">inamo</a>. inamo is a pan-asian restaurant serving pretty darn good food but the real draw is that the menu is touch screen!! it projects onto the table and you can order and see what the food will look like on your plate before you get it. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OcjAk9ivhaE/UJunuXgeyQI/AAAAAAAAAUk/42hwZ37uWlE/s1600/DSCN1076.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OcjAk9ivhaE/UJunuXgeyQI/AAAAAAAAAUk/42hwZ37uWlE/s320/DSCN1076.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>I'm looking at the cocktail that I have just ordered on the menu and seeing it in person!!</i></div>
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<i>another example of how the sick menu works</i></div>
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Anyway, inamo was good food and really fun, a bit noisy but the service was fast and I totally recommend it even if just for the kitsch appeal of playing around on a desktop while eating dinner. you can change the tabletop design and even play games or stream a live feed of their kitchen. </div>
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on our way home, a guy in a pirate hat (it <i>was</i> Halloween) told me that I didn't know what was Gucci. if I wasn't so cold I probably would have told him that I AM Gucci, but in that moment I was too offended (and frozen) to come up with a proper response to such an insult. </div>
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the next day we got an early start to our day to go to HARROD'S!! I was devastated to find out that we were missing the unveiling of their Christmas windows and decorations by 3 days, but even so Harrod's was magnificent. totally life changing, I may move to London one day just so I can to Harrod's every day. they really do sell just about everything you would ever need or want. </div>
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<i>first floor: food halls! </i></div>
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<i>cheese, enough said</i></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d9j5AA8jJks/UJuvH-hOY_I/AAAAAAAAAWU/_tbkvxe1qj0/s1600/DSCN1110.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d9j5AA8jJks/UJuvH-hOY_I/AAAAAAAAAWU/_tbkvxe1qj0/s320/DSCN1110.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>the dog collars. the pet section was our favorite by far, luxury pet goods? a pet spa? 300 pound collars?all of these things spoke to me. </i></div>
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a funny anecdote about the excellent customer service at Harrod's: in the pet department they sell actual pedigree dogs, and for business hours they are kept in these pens behind glass walls where shoppers/tourists can rap on the glass and harass them and in general make these poor dogs wish they were on the other side of the glass. anyway it looked really depressing and sad in there and I said I felt sad in the vicinity of a sales associate, who came over to me immediately and asked if I was alright and if I needed anything. </div>
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<i>the disney princess department. seriously. </i></div>
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anyway, Harrod's was amazing. I loved the toy department, the luxury home furnishings department, the women's shoe hall, the food halls (obviously), the book department, and the designer baby clothes for no reason other than they were the definition of over the top. gaultier for baby? really?</div>
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after Harrod's we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum. the V&A was hosting a fashion exhibition, displaying the progression and development of fashions and style from the 17th century to now, and it was so cool! shoes from F/W 2012 collections were displayed alongside vintage dresses, which I thought was great. it's nice when museums appreciate the vintage and the new together.<br />
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<i>some vintage dresses</i></div>
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the V&A also hosts a large sculpture collection and a medieval art collection, among other things that I didn't get to see. I also almost peed myself because I didn't realize that the V&A was home to the Raphael cartoons of his tapestries, but they were all there! the room they were kept in was totally empty too, which was sad but great for me since I got to enjoy it without tourists asking stupid questions. no joke, one time in the Sistine Chapel I heard some really hick people asking each other "where them prophets were in this place." I mean, each prophet is labeled with his name under him, so... ugh, anyway.</div>
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<i>Bernini's Neptune and Triton</i></div>
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after all this culture we really needed lunch, so we stopped in for some fish n chips with mushy peas! I didn't really enjoy the peas but I very very much enjoyed the fish and the fries. mm, now I'm craving fish n chips...</div>
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<i>fish n chips!</i></div>
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last stop for the day was the Topshop on Oxford Street. it's huge, I think four stories? it was totally overwhelming and overcrowded but I would have loved to take out a whole day to really shop Topshop. the clothes are so cute, why isn't there one in Rome? or Seattle, for that matter.<br />
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later that night we went to a Halloween party at Imperial College, which is a math and sciences school and one of the best universities in the entire world. so, totally my scene. I had a lot of fun even though my costume was a pitiful pair of cat ears. the cute bartender did tell me he liked my ears though, so I guess it's alright.<br />
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we headed home to Rome in the morning, totally wiped out after a long week of traveling and living out of bags that were much heavier from souvenirs, and I actually found myself missing Rome! who would have thought? I really did like London though, I absolutely will be back.<br />
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traveling so much to very different places made me appreciate how comfortable I've gotten here in Rome, and I really liked seeing how life goes in different places. public transportation says a lot about the city, I think; in places where it's well-organized, timely, and clean you'll probably find living there to share those characteristics. it also made me realize how hard it is to have a language barrier where you live. in Rome, there's always the chance that somebody won't understand you, which is a definite stressor because every time you leave school there's the fear that you'll end up in a situation where you won't be able to communicate! finally, as a general travel tip: always check tipping policies of a place before you get there, because it's the last thing you think about before you leave and the first thing that makes you say "oh, s#!t" once you arrive.Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-82982556352576430242012-10-31T16:00:00.001-07:002012-10-31T16:13:08.654-07:00Fall Break Part 2: Amsterdamwe left Interlaken on Monday morning and flew into Amsterdam Schiphol from Geneva! I thoroughly enjoyed exercising my admittedly limited French in the Geneva airport. from Amsterdam, we drove into Den Haag (The Hague), which is the administrative capital of The Netherlands and is a really pretty city. we stayed in Hotel Des Indes, which was absolutely beautiful. we were exhausted from traveling, so we explored the neighborhood a little for a nice place to eat. we settled on <a href="http://www.restaurantoker.nl/index.php?p=1" target="_blank">Oker</a> and had a wonderful meal. I had a Thai coconut lime soup with tiger prawns and momofuku buns with crispy pork. so delicious!!<br />
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Tuesday morning we got up bright and early and headed into Amsterdam, which was about a 45 minute train ride. our first stop was the Anne Frank house. seeing the house was an incredible experience. although the story of Anne Frank and the Holocaust is horrifically tragic, the museum experience leaves you with hope for the future and does a wonderful job focusing on the life of a young girl growing up. though the house was refurbished for recreations and photographs, it was again emptied out by order of Otto Frank, Anne's father, to remind visitors of how much the war stripped away from the people that lived through it. the video interviews with the Frank's helpers and Anne's former classmates were my favorite part, because they brought the Anne I knew from her diary into a 3-dimensional, living breathing context. they describe her as bossy, lively, spirited and even mean; as human as any of us. I highly recommend seeing the Anne Frank house at some point! </div>
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after Anne Frank house, we were starving for lunch and wandered around looking for a place to eat when we stumbled upon <a href="http://www.lustamsterdam.nl/index.asp" target="_blank">LUST</a>. behind the double doors with a seductive pair of lips and the blood-red velvet curtains was a... diner? I had a great chicken club sandwich that had avocados (!!!!). it looked to be a trendy spot for 20-something girls to get lunch, so it was perfect for us.<br />
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next up on the agenda was the Van Gogh museum, which was across town from where we were for lunch. on the way, we passed various "coffeeshops," all clearly marked with Rastafarian flags and marijuana paraphernalia. it should also be noted that a "koffiehuis" means an actual coffee house that sells hot caffeinated beverages and light snacks and pastries. it's an interesting system that the Netherlands has going on and as a foreigner it was hard to wrap my mind around the fact that you could go up to a counter and purchase the drug as casually as you might buy flowers at the florist. then again, I live in California so maybe I should have been a little less culture-shocked.<br />
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anyway, we arrived at the Van Gogh museum only to find... no museum? turns out the Van Gogh Museum had been moved temporarily to the Hermitage while the VGM underwent some construction. but it wasn't all a loss! the famous i amsterdam sculpture park was right nearby and we went and spent a good portion of time doing a photoshoot on the letters.<br />
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<i>naturally, me in the </i>m</div>
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<i>it's so hard to get all the letters in one frame! so close...</i></div>
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in any case, we hiked all the way over to the Hermitage to see the Van Gogh exhibit. it was great!! we saw his famous <i>Sunflowers, The bedroom, Almond blossom, </i>and <i>The yellow house </i>among a lot of his other works. it was a great exhibit too, arranged logically and clearly by theme. I wish I'd been more aggressive about taking pictures of his works, but the security guards were strolling through the exhibit so I was a little nervous. </div>
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in addition to hosting the Van Gogh works, the Hermitage also hosted an exhibition of Impressionist painting, which I LOVE! so I was really excited by this unexpected boon. I saw some really beautiful Pissarro, Monet, Cezanne, Gauguin, Renoir, Manet, and Degas, amongst others. art and art history lover's dream!! </div>
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I left the Hermitage a very happy girl, but little did I know I was only about to become even HAPPIER because we encountered a holiday carnival!! there were lots of rides and games, but my favorite part of any carnival is the food. we made a beeline for the first stand we saw: a poffertjes stand! poffertjes are a Dutch pancake-like treat (a little puffier and airier) that are traditionally served with a big pat of butter and plenty of powdered sugar, which is what I got. and we got them made fresh! words cannot describe how addictive and delicious they were, I wanted about five plates more. but alas I still had to fit into these jeans that I was going to wear for the rest of break... you could also get chocolate sauce, whipped cream and fruit jams on them, but I'm a sucker for powdered sugar on anything. </div>
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<i>magical poffertjes</i></div>
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we also briefly debated doing some gravity-defying rides, but even the bravest of us decided against it after seeing a large vomit bin next to some of the rides. pass. </div>
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<i>the carnival!</i></div>
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the thing I regret most about this day is not also trying some of their special French fries, called Vlaamse Frieten, which are basically just the perfect French fry with a big dollop of mayonnaise. I sort of hate mayo, but trust me you see enough people walking around eating it and you start to want it to. Dutch French fries are seriously yummy, I think I had French fries every single day of fall break... typical. in my defense I never do in Rome! </div>
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tired, full, and filled with festive cheer we got back on the train and headed back to Den Haag. for dinner, we had a Dutch dish called rijsttafel which is essentially rice with a ton of different toppings like vegetables and meat on a big plate. its origins are colonial, from the time that the Dutch traded in Indonesia. it's actually probably more appropriate to call it an Indonesian dish. it was so good!! </div>
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the next, day, we started off another day in Amsterdam with a canal tour! we didn't see much that was new since we'd walked EVERYWHERE the day before, but it was beautiful and so cool to see Amsterdam's sights from the water. I also didn't realize they had such an extensive canal system. the coolest part was the house boats! Amsterdam has house boats along the canals and you could see right up to their front doors, they were beautifully decorated. it made me want to live in a house boat on the canal... one day.</div>
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<i>a Dutch East Indies trading ship!!!! I felt like I was in the 1700s!</i></div>
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<i>hello blue skies</i></div>
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<i>take me back?</i></div>
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after the canal tour we headed to the Rijkes Museum by way of the Red Light district, otherwise known as the street called De Wallen. I knew what to expect, but I was still shocked by what I saw. the exploitation and objectification of the women in the windows was pretty eye-opening. I stared in morbid curiosity, wanting but not able to look away. anyhow, onwards to the Rijkes. </div>
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the museum had a lot of works by Northern European 17th century artists, and I saw some great Vermeer and of course Rembrandt's Night Watch, which is so big! it's a lot larger than I thought it would be, and very beautiful. </div>
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<i>Vermeer "The Milkmaid"</i></div>
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after a walk through the Rijkes Museum, we went to the famed <a href="http://www.pancake.nl/" target="_blank">Pancake Bakery</a>. it's incredible!!! they had so many sweet and savory pancakes and I spent the longest time deciding if I wanted chocolate and powdered sugar or if I wanted bacon cheese and mushroom. I went with savory, such a good decision. the pancake was light and a little sweet and I ate the whole darn thing. </div>
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<i>the Mona Lisa of pancakes: mysterious, soft, a masterpiece</i></div>
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we headed back to Den Haag for the night. we were so tired that we decided to use the spa amenities and order a big room service dinner, and we watched a lot of reality TV. it was a perfect, relaxing conclusion to our really busy and fun time in Amsterdam! </div>
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Amsterdam was a surprising city for me. I was surprised by how beautiful it was, how it combined modernity with a charming quaintness, how walkable it is, and actually how relatively small it is compared to really large cities like Rome or London. I was also surprised by how much I completely fell in love with it. The people were so nice and friendly, the city is simultaneously full of history and yet a modern cosmopolis, and the art!! oh, the art. </div>
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side note: stroopwaffels are my new favorite cookie ever, they're thin waffle cookies with a caramel syrup center. so good!</div>
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coming up next: London!</div>
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Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-26515082790090647622012-10-29T04:34:00.000-07:002012-10-29T04:34:59.161-07:00Fall Break Part 1: Interlaken, Switzerlandthis blog took a brief hiatus because I had midterms (easier than Oxy's, but still not fun) and then as soon as I was done we headed off for our fall break trips! we had 10 days to do whatever we wanted, and my group and I had amazing travel plans. the first part of our trip was in Interlaken, Switzerland, a small resort town in the mountains known for their outdoor activities.<br />
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we took an overnight train to Milan, then connected to Geneva and then to Interlaken. the overnight train was... interesting. you could pay extra for a bunk bed in the sleeping cars, but we just had big comfy chairs to sleep in. I took some Nyquil PM and passed out promptly.<br />
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we arrived early in the morning in Switzerland!! we were on the side closer to Germany, so German was the primary language there. in Geneva, which is on the French side, the primary language is French. pretty cool. my first impression of Switzerland was that it is absolutely beautiful. the mountains are rolling and green, and as they extend further out towards the horizon they become more jagged and snowy. the trees were changing colors and the river and lakes were the prettiest color of blue-green.<br />
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<i>river aarn</i></div>
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the first day, we did all of our souvenir shopping and familiarized ourselves with the town. we did a lot of walking this trip!! my boots have some serious mileage. Interlaken's shops are all about chocolate, cuckoo clocks, Swiss army knives, and outdoor gear. for dinner, we did fondue!! cheese fondue might be the best thing ever invented. we also had some pretty good local beer, a lager with lemonade in it. </div>
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<i>chocolate!! </i></div>
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<i>we got coffee at one point and I asked for an iced coffee. after a lot of questions and discussion this is what the waiter brought me... not what I was expecting</i></div>
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the second day, we started off with a bike tour. umm, I was terrified. and these were not normal bikes, they were electric bikes, which means they essentially are motorized and give you a push when you need it. I had a hard time placing all my faith into a rickety narrow thing with an engine that seemed to move autonomously, so I went slow and trailed behind the rest of my bike group. the views we saw were beautiful though, and we biked 15 miles! not bad for a girl who can barely bike in a straight line, even though I did bike right into a wall and scrape up my right arm, 5th grade style. we saw both lakes, Lake Brienz and Lake Thun, and I wanted to jump in. they were freezing cold, but I would have if I hadn't been wearing clothes that I'd have to be in all day.</div>
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<i>me looking significantly happier off the motorized vehicle of death</i></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EpODkYwSlNo/UI5iWH7yo4I/AAAAAAAAAP0/sS09QMU_lCA/s1600/DSCN0893.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EpODkYwSlNo/UI5iWH7yo4I/AAAAAAAAAP0/sS09QMU_lCA/s320/DSCN0893.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>the mountains. no photo editing involved!</i></div>
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<i>this picture was taken 20 minutes after the one above it. so, so beautiful!</i></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S_A6B9i9igQ/UI5jMJMqZ6I/AAAAAAAAAQM/9dmXsPANgxM/s1600/DSCN0899.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S_A6B9i9igQ/UI5jMJMqZ6I/AAAAAAAAAQM/9dmXsPANgxM/s320/DSCN0899.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>this is lake briens. I felt at home :-)</i></div>
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later that day was CANYON JUMPING! I'm the first person to admit to being a homebody, but something about extreme sports really gets me going. switzerland really makes a junkie out of a person. canyon jumping is exactly what it sounds like. you stand on a small platform 255 feet in the air and free fall until a rope catches you, then you swing through the canyon. Interlaken is one of three places in the world you can do canyon jumping; the other two are Nepal and New Zealand. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YtQ4KVKhiGU/UI5jPQMBQNI/AAAAAAAAAQU/kZTtjc_Yvus/s1600/DSCN0924.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YtQ4KVKhiGU/UI5jPQMBQNI/AAAAAAAAAQU/kZTtjc_Yvus/s320/DSCN0924.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>straight drop down</i></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dh_t-e7KrUY/UI5jUCm1aEI/AAAAAAAAAQc/fxBoTr7-Gzk/s1600/DSCN0926.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dh_t-e7KrUY/UI5jUCm1aEI/AAAAAAAAAQc/fxBoTr7-Gzk/s320/DSCN0926.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<i>the length of the canyon you sail through</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfaolT3O_fCYiHgESqJf9ljRomXTvJmbTWbzFh46qoXeqP36kKz48Xjbf7CG26KUCSbJYIZZIRvCaifn2sevN2RRt98wf1ri0gPsT6ScUxoD4EDv2MXKmwbirIbT7H19G7LEUJcD0feOXW/s1600/DSC_1195+copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfaolT3O_fCYiHgESqJf9ljRomXTvJmbTWbzFh46qoXeqP36kKz48Xjbf7CG26KUCSbJYIZZIRvCaifn2sevN2RRt98wf1ri0gPsT6ScUxoD4EDv2MXKmwbirIbT7H19G7LEUJcD0feOXW/s320/DSC_1195+copy.JPG" width="193" /></a></div>
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<i>so ready to go</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILIZZHXk4AYsLps5lNgTs4y3ntFZhuxwCGNFBVDFUgJPrIaPain4vjYN0sbDQuVHywZPVkI4jxPaTn12uRzoduLqf_62y0i4j8cYpa7jqHG16GyPNTOmFZhCpBlg0eVAgpw4wePO8Fd5z/s1600/DSC_1199.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILIZZHXk4AYsLps5lNgTs4y3ntFZhuxwCGNFBVDFUgJPrIaPain4vjYN0sbDQuVHywZPVkI4jxPaTn12uRzoduLqf_62y0i4j8cYpa7jqHG16GyPNTOmFZhCpBlg0eVAgpw4wePO8Fd5z/s320/DSC_1199.JPG" width="212" /></a></div>
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<i>free fall. note the pigtail action happening here</i></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l9lm7OnVFNk/UI5jYTxwekI/AAAAAAAAAQw/pUs2_uR0Cnc/s1600/DSC_1222+copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l9lm7OnVFNk/UI5jYTxwekI/AAAAAAAAAQw/pUs2_uR0Cnc/s320/DSC_1222+copy.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>casually flying over an angry river</i></div>
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the experience was awesome!!! I didn't feel nervous when we were heading up and kept expecting to feel the pit in my stomach develop, but it never did. I was excited, of course, but I was actually pretty calm until I was standing on the platform looking down, then I got REALLY excited. it was an easy step off the platform, then I was totally free falling. I wish I'd thought to do a silly pose for the photographer as I was falling, but honestly I was too busy feeling the feeling of free fall. it's unlike anything I'd felt before! so cool, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. </div>
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thoroughly beat from our day of extreme sports, we called it a day. we spent our last day in Interlaken doing some more touristy things, like the St. Beatus cave tour!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ybwlYwns4pTunq_QPUt5kfMMcPu1tGSqnEcnry2F7cAx4BboygnUgnEegXzWMez1NnB8z3zbsu4CgClqd2NAksowuLT2hlngjn-rimXKUqd67SGQ76yzpQn1DTXmoJu-o84O06cEv1H-/s1600/DSCN0962.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ybwlYwns4pTunq_QPUt5kfMMcPu1tGSqnEcnry2F7cAx4BboygnUgnEegXzWMez1NnB8z3zbsu4CgClqd2NAksowuLT2hlngjn-rimXKUqd67SGQ76yzpQn1DTXmoJu-o84O06cEv1H-/s320/DSCN0962.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<i>the caves are all the way at the top of this mountain</i></div>
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as the story goes, St Beatus was a pious man who heard rumors of a dragon hiding up in a cave. he went up there, invoked the Holy Trinity, and the dragon fell into a rage and threw himself into a lake and died. convenient!<br />
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anyhow, the caves were discovered in the 19th century (18th?) and they are really spectacular. the stalagmites and stalactites were so cool, and some were over 40,000 years old. there are mirror grottos, where the water is so still it really does look like a perfect mirror, and there are rushing waterfalls and rivers that are a little scary! the view from the restaurant at the top is really pretty too. our guide was nice enough to let us take pictures. this was the only good picture I got, and it doesn't do the cave's natural beauty nearly enough justice, but there it is.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lx5cX80kehQ/UI5jbm8ubCI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/WtVIPmq5GXY/s1600/DSCN0979.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lx5cX80kehQ/UI5jbm8ubCI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/WtVIPmq5GXY/s320/DSCN0979.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>the eerily beautiful st beatus cave grottos</i></div>
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that was about it for Interlaken! in summary: ate a lot of cheese fondue and chocolate, drank a fair amount of Swiss beer, saw amazing caves, jumped off a cliff wall, resisted the urge to buy anything and everything with the Swiss cross on it, biked for hopefully the last time in my life.</div>
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some reflections on this part of the trip:</div>
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1. Switzerland is expensive! the currency is cool though, really sparkly silver coins. and unlike in Italy, restaurant staff are more than delighted to split up checks and give change. average food costs in Switzerland were a little mind-blowing, to be honest, even with the exchange rate. still in sticker shock.</div>
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2. Switzerland is also really beautiful. the great part is that people have figured this out, and so there are many ways of accessing and seeing all of the natural beauty. </div>
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3. I must learn German.</div>
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4. canyon jumping was thrilling and a total rush, but I want more!! next up: sky diving. or maybe breaking the sound barrier by falling from 24 miles above the Earth's surface.</div>
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5. I want to come back one day and do the Top of Europe train ride. it's expensive but I've heard great things about it. </div>
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part 2 and 3 on Amsterdam and London are coming soon!</div>
Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-68279767367562064412012-10-16T10:59:00.003-07:002012-10-16T10:59:52.446-07:00my drawings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
if you've ever sat next to me in a class you know I'm a compulsive doodler. I like drawing, so I decided to take a drawing class this semester. you gotta make time for your hobbies! some of my drawing experiments have gone better than others. here, for your viewing pleasure, is my work so far. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7LcmpIb4c54/UH2fP6DxlrI/AAAAAAAAANM/yjywXbZUcUQ/s1600/DSCN0841.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7LcmpIb4c54/UH2fP6DxlrI/AAAAAAAAANM/yjywXbZUcUQ/s320/DSCN0841.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>geometric forms</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAWqFugvc7DLizs0slbM0_qwYe9xUG2fKLIneiOKzznBVYXIRgKVWGSBqajKVnKJ7UakS3YNQPwAHkUv4SfnAxlvkeXpW9a_e7FSzUW_Sjl8FShmDAJXZ6zXPSDYS5HsahCkpVv7vtihyphenhyphen_/s1600/DSCN0842.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAWqFugvc7DLizs0slbM0_qwYe9xUG2fKLIneiOKzznBVYXIRgKVWGSBqajKVnKJ7UakS3YNQPwAHkUv4SfnAxlvkeXpW9a_e7FSzUW_Sjl8FShmDAJXZ6zXPSDYS5HsahCkpVv7vtihyphenhyphen_/s320/DSCN0842.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>the two sides of my window</i></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_5ZQnFqtreA/UH2fUXYUUsI/AAAAAAAAANc/kvCwuNztMvQ/s1600/DSCN0844.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_5ZQnFqtreA/UH2fUXYUUsI/AAAAAAAAANc/kvCwuNztMvQ/s320/DSCN0844.JPG" width="231" /></a></div>
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<i>a postcard... note the rocks. magnum opus.</i></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-prXMLpLJzUk/UH2fWX3XRCI/AAAAAAAAANk/1IrvpKO1KYA/s1600/DSCN0845.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-prXMLpLJzUk/UH2fWX3XRCI/AAAAAAAAANk/1IrvpKO1KYA/s320/DSCN0845.JPG" width="236" /></a></div>
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<i>a horse. not my best...</i></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--Vt1aP3lL-8/UH2fXw0s4WI/AAAAAAAAANs/iZq4JVjFcKY/s1600/DSCN0847.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--Vt1aP3lL-8/UH2fXw0s4WI/AAAAAAAAANs/iZq4JVjFcKY/s320/DSCN0847.JPG" width="175" /></a></div>
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<i>ladies and gentlemen: a trash can. you can't see the seal of the city of rome, sadly. done with ink.</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6xAzkTaC3vAxtLWBDbD36rBVgwqZy6xLx1DxyvFVIL2sUOeYY31GjV1-QYKzktu92Q6hkRduhh-GOiCUgZpo8MVdDdEecDen7U1XixmNhjLIK8Jp1ifB80IKg65EdTdJVg2YVK45PQcn6/s1600/DSCN0848.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6xAzkTaC3vAxtLWBDbD36rBVgwqZy6xLx1DxyvFVIL2sUOeYY31GjV1-QYKzktu92Q6hkRduhh-GOiCUgZpo8MVdDdEecDen7U1XixmNhjLIK8Jp1ifB80IKg65EdTdJVg2YVK45PQcn6/s320/DSCN0848.JPG" width="287" /></a></div>
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<i>a shed in a garden</i></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t9Ifkh2J3hM/UH2fcSP4HVI/AAAAAAAAAOA/9pgB54Swoe4/s1600/DSCN0852.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t9Ifkh2J3hM/UH2fcSP4HVI/AAAAAAAAAOA/9pgB54Swoe4/s320/DSCN0852.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>view of the colosseum. I actually really like how this one turned out</i></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tnRvPIHZlC0/UH2fe_Gv4-I/AAAAAAAAAOI/aBoknihMUWc/s1600/DSCN0853.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tnRvPIHZlC0/UH2fe_Gv4-I/AAAAAAAAAOI/aBoknihMUWc/s320/DSCN0853.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<i>a lamp post</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpRExPdGx4yJMyjZlTfzGTU8XJVe1Ij84DLJtA0c0ZA60Crqtyq_wsRUH8qeZT2Wa5Y6mTZkgZLdI9V21LLSD4sUW2qASWNUrD1Erp714RXSY2jB7DA0ziOg75q2P_oxtM1r-eoL4GA6lG/s1600/DSCN0854.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpRExPdGx4yJMyjZlTfzGTU8XJVe1Ij84DLJtA0c0ZA60Crqtyq_wsRUH8qeZT2Wa5Y6mTZkgZLdI9V21LLSD4sUW2qASWNUrD1Erp714RXSY2jB7DA0ziOg75q2P_oxtM1r-eoL4GA6lG/s320/DSCN0854.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>a copy of a sketch by michael graves</i></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qJF_NzDcOWM/UH2fjHpMJgI/AAAAAAAAAOY/80CX4sQWhmA/s1600/DSCN0856.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qJF_NzDcOWM/UH2fjHpMJgI/AAAAAAAAAOY/80CX4sQWhmA/s320/DSCN0856.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<i>a sleeping girl. aka I'm too lazy to draw eyes</i></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Hjd57vYdoXw/UH2flfXoBNI/AAAAAAAAAOk/CRD3wqFjttQ/s1600/DSCN0857.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Hjd57vYdoXw/UH2flfXoBNI/AAAAAAAAAOk/CRD3wqFjttQ/s320/DSCN0857.JPG" width="233" /></a></div>
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<i>trapped cat</i></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9lEuYsDo4ek/UH2fniTOyxI/AAAAAAAAAOs/vE1P4FAWM8k/s1600/DSCN0858.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9lEuYsDo4ek/UH2fniTOyxI/AAAAAAAAAOs/vE1P4FAWM8k/s320/DSCN0858.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>the pantheon. harder than it looks to draw...</i></div>
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I'm currently in the midst of midterms hell. as soon as they're over I'm off to fall break! we're heading to Interlaken, Switzerland; Amsterdam/The Hague, Netherlands; then London, UK. so excited!! see y'all in two weeks!Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-15322186089806483962012-10-08T03:51:00.000-07:002012-10-08T03:51:17.596-07:00the no iPhone life + sick, againit's been pretty weird not having my iPhone. all things considered, it's probably lucky I lost it here and not in the States because I don't use it for anything really vital here and I can only text when I'm on wifi, which is never. still, not having a smart phone for the first time since freshman year of high school has been an experience.<br />
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the first thing I noticed right away was I didn't have an alarm clock. I realized this when I slept through my first class of the day.<br />
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the second thing I noticed was that I couldn't check the weather really easily. this bugged more than it should, probably because I'm a control freak.<br />
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I feel very out of the Twitter/Instagram loop, which is sad because previously I was totally addicted. Twitter was really my only way of checking the news and keeping up with current events, so we'll see in the coming weeks if I make the switch to using Twitter on my laptop or if not having a smart phone means living under a rock.<br />
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I also am having a difficult time keeping up with my e-mails. I have three separate accounts, so iPhone's feature of combining all my inboxes was so helpful. now I have to manually check each one. y'all can expect a much slower e-mail response time from me from now on.<br />
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finally, I'm already pretty out of the loop because I live in a separate building from all of my friends. no iPhone = no iMessage = more out of the loop than I was before. this will probably contribute to me becoming a hermit, which is my natural instinct and pretty hard to resist.<br />
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on a separate note, the inside of my throat is so swelled up I can't talk and I am pretty congested. I guess my lifestyle was bound to catch up to me eventually, but did it have to happen now?? at least it doesn't seem to be the vomit-filled illness I came down with last week, just a yucky cold.Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-45912276948362159222012-10-07T17:27:00.001-07:002012-10-07T17:27:35.656-07:00Anirem a Barcelona!this weekend was also up there in the top best most awesome weekends of my life, because we went to Barcelona!! Barcelona has always been a top-priority city that I've always wanted to see, and finally all of my dreams were realized. the city is as beautiful and modern and happening as they say. here's what I did over the weekend.<br />
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we arrived in the late afternoon, just as most people were in siesta time. we didn't have the time to do much sightseeing because museums were closing, but we walked around our neighborhood in search of food and stumbled across two of Gaudi's building exteriors. it's amazing that you can be walking through a neighborhood and then all of a sudden monuments of architectural genius just show up. the picture doesn't do it nearly enough justice.<br />
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<i>Casa Battlo</i></div>
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we walked down Passeig de Gracia and realized pretty quickly that all the street signs were in Catalan, which is a totally different language from Spanish and actually has a lot in common with Italian and French. It's comprehensible if you've learned one or more of the Romance languages, but it's definitely different. although we wanted to explore some, we were starving and interested in trying tapas.<br />
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<i>a bread tapas sampler. the toppings were tuna, crab, shrimp, ham, and a potato and cheese quiche. yum.</i></div>
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<i>PAELLA</i></div>
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Then it was time for a siesta. Siesta time is from about 4 to 8, so we headed back to the hostel to take power naps and do a little research about where to go and what to do in Barcelona. the waiter at our tapas bar told us that Barceloneta was the place to be on a Friday night, so we decided we'd head there for the night. we left our hostel at around 10. </div>
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we settled on a place to eat at around 11:30, which is SO late for dinner but totally normal for Spaniards. once again, we had tapas. the great thing about tapas is you can order 4-5 dishes and share, and that way you can try some of everything!!</div>
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<i>fried artichokes - so salty and crispy</i></div>
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<i>from the top: the best clams, literally small whole fried fish, patatas bravas</i></div>
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we also had this really good white wine called k-naia 2011 that was sweet and semi-dry. we finished a bottle very quickly. we finished dinner around 12:30AM and headed out to the clubs. not really sure which one to pick, we decided to go to the one that promised us free champagne inside. it was fairly horrible champagne, but they were good on their word! we danced the night away then headed home fairly late at night. </div>
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this is a good time to discuss our hostel. we stayed at Casa Gracia, which was a really positive experience. the hostel was helpful and accommodating and the staff were so nice! our room was spacious and clean and the beds were really comfy. breakfast was provided, which was awesome. I can't speak for any of the activities and programs they put on since we didn't take part in any of them, but I liked that they created a communal space for hostel-stayers. the bathroom was clean and the shower was way nicer than the one at my room in Rome! although the hostel itself was nice, we were in a 6-person room that already had one occupant living in it. he was a pretty strange guy from Switzerland that was traveling by himself, and the weirdest thing was that he had a huge gaping wound going around the circumference of his wrist. anyway, we mostly avoided him. </div>
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<i>Las Ramblas street. a busy shopping and sightseeing street, but watch out for pickpocketers. FC Barca had a huge rival game against Madrid on Sunday, hence all the jerseys and spirit</i></div>
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I really loved Barcelona. The city was clean and modern, the streets were also clean and not full of dangerous cobblestones, their public transportation was easy, and their people were nice (and the boys so cute). I found myself wishing I'd studied abroad there, instead of Rome, but that was before my iPhone was stolen. I'm getting there, though. </div>
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After breakfast, we headed down to Las Ramblas street to get to the Picasso museum. Las Ramblas is a main road that empties out into the main plaza, Plaza Catalunya, and the area is notorious for rampant pickpocketing. Pickpocketing and theft is a real issue in Barcelona. When I was going to Rome, I was told over and over to watch out for theft, but I've found that as long as I'm not an idiot (aka not putting my wallet down on a counter and turning around, or not sticking a passport in my back pocket on a bus) I've been just fine and I have always felt safe. Barcelona is a whole 'nother story. It's the wild wild wild west out there! I think I clutched my bag and had it zipped constantly. On Las Ramblas we did a little souvenir shopping for FC Barcelona gear and postcards, then wound our way through side streets until we found the Picasso museum. On our way there we stopped into a fantastic candy and confectionary shop that I wish I could have stayed in forever. They had really yummy fruit-flavored lollipops. </div>
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The Picasso museum was amazing! It mostly showcased his earlier works. It was pretty cool to see that he was had total technical mastery of his subjects, which is why his later Cubism and Modernist works are still cohesive and aesthetically pleasing. I had also never seen his sculpture and pottery before. Very cool.</div>
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After the museum we headed back down Las Ramblas to the Boqueria market. The market was packed with people and had stalls selling all sorts of food! There were fresh fruit stalls, candy stalls, spices and condiments, fish stalls, and the weirdest was the creepy meats. There were lots of stalls selling tripe (umm... it looked fuzzy?) and brains and tongues and livers and whole heads of sheep and chicken with the eyeballs still in. I took pictures, but since I look at this blog a lot I didn't want to continue to torture myself with the gruesome pictures. My favorite stall was the fresh fruit stalls that sold fruit juices and fruit ice pops. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiXYLfxJJ0yB4rY1ijoYgkm-Lw2qbR37XiGbYKtMnEEqoOAN4CCQbQQu4x8ipVfAfpZNBVBppSRfudJ-z36qy0bo_PEnhgL5YH5xjzj4GN0uleYTIT-8CCJKn7hTzLDCOS4-1T98d8KEPy/s1600/DSCN0663.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiXYLfxJJ0yB4rY1ijoYgkm-Lw2qbR37XiGbYKtMnEEqoOAN4CCQbQQu4x8ipVfAfpZNBVBppSRfudJ-z36qy0bo_PEnhgL5YH5xjzj4GN0uleYTIT-8CCJKn7hTzLDCOS4-1T98d8KEPy/s320/DSCN0663.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>more packed than some of the clubs we were in</i></div>
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<i>so much fresh fruit!!!</i></div>
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<i>I may have died and gone to heaven</i></div>
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<i>strawberry ice pop. I could have eaten a hundred of these, there wasn't any sugar added and they were delicious!!!</i></div>
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After La Boqueria, we decided to hit one more site before siesta time. I was determined to see La Sagrada Familia, and it was not disappointing. It's massively intimidating from the outside, and as an art history student who has seen a lot of medieval and Renaissance churches it was jarring to see post-modern furnishings on the exterior of a church (like colored fruits atop spires and iguanas crawling out of sides of windows) but it was so cohesive and beautiful. I was in awe, and that was before I saw the inside. </div>
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<i>my first impression was that the building was melting</i></div>
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<i>I got goosebumps over and over again. its beauty is beyond words.</i></div>
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La Sagrada Familia is the one place I know for sure I would go back to again. It's incredible. </div>
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After the church, we were quite tired and we came back to the hostel where I almost immediately passed out. Once I came to, I showered and we headed out the door again for dinner at around 10. The first place we wanted to go to was packed and there was no way we'd be able to sit down, so we wandered around the nearby area trying to find something to eat but none of the places we saw really appealed to us. Desperate and starving, we stumbled into a tapas bar/restaurant called LOFT212, and it was one of my best dining experiences! The waitstaff were so friendly and nice and helpful, the drinks were stiff and plentiful, and the food was different and more importantly, delicious. We were one of three parties inside at that time, and we had such attentive service and way too much fun. We asked our waiter for what he thought was the best, and the following pictures are of what we were given. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ28o92O0gDMjr2LK20-2SZKaqF3r3otKVEWJyJOaL8tCVcZaiMiKoJTDr41JAquYW3IBJ3d5tiOsJyM1R602wQnAS2FFpqRnzgM2lb3guZyT76WjTXtzHSN1ygaN6N-FFTwGIAu1b03UM/s1600/DSCN0737.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ28o92O0gDMjr2LK20-2SZKaqF3r3otKVEWJyJOaL8tCVcZaiMiKoJTDr41JAquYW3IBJ3d5tiOsJyM1R602wQnAS2FFpqRnzgM2lb3guZyT76WjTXtzHSN1ygaN6N-FFTwGIAu1b03UM/s320/DSCN0737.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>blood sausage. no actual blood involved, SO delicious.</i></div>
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<i>this was one of the best things I've ever eaten in my entire life. crispy fried potatoes, some sort of spicy sauce and creamy mayo. oh my gosh. I'll dream about this one for a long, long time.</i></div>
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<i>sushi!!!!! the tuna was fresh and melted in my mouth. yum. </i></div>
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<i>our really charming waiter. he liked us because we told him Spanish men were better looking than Italian men! </i></div>
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in short, we had a very very good dining experience. there was also a fried cheese that we tried. for drinks we had a pitcher of sangria, plus a dessert cocktail that had Bailey's in it. then as a treat for us he brought out Irish coffee which I think was about half whiskey. whew. everything was so delicious and it was 10x better because the service was so good!</div>
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after LOFT212 we headed to Espit Chupitos, which is a bar that specializes in crazy shots. there's a wall menu with over 200 kinds of shots and there's a gimmick to each one. for example, the Boy Scout shot entails roasting marshmallows over the flaming shot before you drink it. other shots involve lighting things on fire, including your fingers (!!). I did a few special ones that unfortunately can never go public. let me just say my dignity remains somewhere on the floor in Espit Chupitos. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Sgj1qG77uUA/UHIEXrxLxoI/AAAAAAAAAM0/iukoI5PBGXk/s1600/DSCN0754.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Sgj1qG77uUA/UHIEXrxLxoI/AAAAAAAAAM0/iukoI5PBGXk/s320/DSCN0754.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<i>shots on fire at Espit Chupitos</i></div>
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After Espit Chupitos, we went to Razzmatazz, a big club in Barcelona. we had tickets to see Little Boots, but we never quite made it to the show because not twenty minutes inside the club my iPhone got stolen. ugh. I didn't really hold it together and called my parents really upset, so that effectively ended our night. getting back was a major adventure that I don't want to forget but also don't want to extensively describe on this very public blog, so I am going to make a series of bullet points that will make sense to only a few people. sorry to the rest of you, if you ask I'll tell you the story. </div>
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<ul>
<li>Mackenzie taking all my things out of my bag</li>
<li>The first cab ride - tissues and 50 Euro</li>
<li>The second cab ride - the driver was my new BFF and he dropped us off really, really far</li>
<li>The third cab ride</li>
<li>Mackenzie taking all of Maggie's things out of her bag</li>
<li>"I do it all the time, literally, it's so easy you just clean it right up"</li>
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we got back at 4:30AM and slept until 9:55, when we realized checkout was at 10:00 and made a mad dash to collect our stuff and get outta there. the plane ride home was mostly comatose. </div>
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in short, Barcelona was awesome. we ate a ton of really good food, we danced a lot, and made friends with some foreign boys. I saw some beautiful architecture, enjoyed fresh fruit and yummy candies, and got to explore the city on foot. we came, we saw, we were totally conquered by Barcelona. </div>
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<br />Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-64418730038982850652012-10-03T09:12:00.001-07:002012-10-03T09:12:58.998-07:00The food so far<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
By popular request, photos of some of my best meals here so far. Some of these are repeat pictures, I'm not sorry about it.</div>
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<i>Prosciutto e mozzarella</i></div>
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<i>Trofie e pesto</i></div>
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<i>Pizze in Naples</i></div>
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<i>Jewish-style fried artichoke. It looks a little questionable but is seriously delicious</i></div>
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<i>Eggplant lasagna in the Jewish district</i></div>
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<i>Pesto pasta with potatoes in Cinque Terre</i></div>
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<i>Calamari cone in Cinque Terre</i></div>
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<i>Gelato from the Frigidarium (one of the best gelato places in Rome). Tiramisu and Frigidarium's signature (Nutella cookie) flavor with a chocolate topping and a cookie</i></div>
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<i>Thai food in Munich. it was so good!!</i></div>
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<i>I'm convinced this is the best pizza in the world. Dar Poeta in Trastevere, the "Top" pizza: sausage, mozzarella di bufala, porcini mushrooms. super fast service too!</i></div>
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<i>a specialty panino from Volpetti in Testaccio. my usual is prosciutto, artichoke, and pecorino cheese</i></div>
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<i>spinach and cheese tortelli a ragu from Trattoria Toscana Gozzi Sergio in Florence. the best pasta, the best ragu, the best food I've had this entire trip. it looks simple but don't be fooled! their duck meat sauce is good too.</i></div>
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<i>pasta carbonara from Tavernaccia in Trastevere. right up there with best pasta. YUM. the best carbonara I've had here.</i></div>
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<i>the cinque terre signature white wine. it was good wine!</i></div>
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<i>limone granite. brr</i>.</div>
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<i>a standard cup of cappuccino. we drink usually one or two a day... at least I do</i></div>
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<i>clearly the US isn't classy enough for this delicacy. I''m not a Pringles devotee (Tim's!!) but I am addicted to these. may ship a crate home.</i></div>
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alright, I'm hungry.Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-65774938363021439832012-10-01T12:45:00.003-07:002012-10-01T12:54:23.481-07:00Oktoberfest in Munichthis weekend I traveled to Munich, Germany for the annual Oktoberfest festival!!! my friend Maddy was the one who suggested we go, and at first I hesitated. me, a beer festival? I'm more of a vodka cran girl (in countries where I am legal to drink, of course) but obviously I would hate myself forever if I passed up the chance to go to the biggest festival in the world, so I bought a bus ticket and Thursday night was en route to Munich.<br />
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the bus ride was an... experience. we left at around 7PM and got on a high speed train to Florence. from Florence we boarded a Greyhound-type bus and settled in for 9 hour ride through Italy, Austria, and finally into Germany. it was a tight fit but more or less pleasant, and we arrived to a chilly morning in Munich. let me tell you, the cold clean air felt so good! after a month of hot, sticky Roma, it felt good to breathe deeply again. sweater weather!!!<br />
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other thoughts on Munich: I forgot what drinking cold water felt like, or washing my hands with cold tap water. right now in Rome, nothing is ever really cold, but in Munich the water was icy and tasted fresh (I'm a water snob, I can't help it #seattlegirlproblems) which made me really happy. The city itself is also really clean and orderly. no graffiti on every doorway and wall, no cigarette butts covering sidewalks, and no jaywalking, which I am sure was a difficult adjustment for the Italians that overran Oktoberfest. the city is very modern, which makes sense considering the whole city had to be rebuilt after WWII. we also noticed right away that it was a much "more" international city than Rome, in that the food and culture and people of other countries were clearly represented all over Munich (and not just because Oktoberfest was underway). I had Thai food!!!!!! My first non-Italian meal in a month!! I personally really liked Munich and would love to return. but back to Oktoberfest.<br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">we settled into the apartment we rented and then headed to the fairgrounds. there's a large fairgrounds that I think is used the rest of the year for carnivals, because there are rides and attractions set up that are so large I can't imagine they ever take them down. when you walk in it seems like any other fairground, until you notice the giant tents that tower over the promenade emblazoned with the logos of various beer breweries. </span><br />
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<i>the carnival area</i></div>
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when you walk into a tent, this is what you see. the picture below was taken from about halfway down the tent - that is how huge these tents are. the first tent we went to was the Hofbrau tent, famous for attracting a ton of American college students, Canadians, Brits, Italians, and Australians. shoutout to the Australian cutie who almost convinced me to run away to Australia to get married. hey Luke! </div>
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<i>inside the famous Hofbrau tent</i></div>
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we were here for the second weekend of festivities. I had friends and classmates go the first weekend who had a ton of fun, because it's the craziest since it kicks off the whole festival. but I also heard that it was so packed the first weekend that it was impossible to get into tents at all, and what's the point of Oktoberfest if you can't go to tents? that's absolutely where the majority of the experience is.<br />
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Friday is the best day to be at the tents, in my opinion. a lot of people are at work/school, and you can casually walk into a tent even at noon and still find a place to sit and drink without tripping on passed out Italians or cutting your feet on broken steins or sitting in a puddle of spilled beer (or worse). and most people are well rested and are in high spirits, so it was a very fun atmosphere. I didn't make it to other tents, even though I wish I'd powered through. but the lack of sleep and high level of intoxication made it pretty impossible to even stay awake, so we stumbled home and passed out.<br />
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we got up at 6 AM the next morning to trek out to the tents. right away we could tell Saturday would not be like Friday. the train stations were crammed so tightly that I couldn't breathe and the entire city was filled with lederhosen and dirndl. by 8AM the lines outside the tents were super long, and when the bell rang to signify the start of festivities the stampede was insane. people that didn't get in first were banging on the doors and hordes were waiting outside to be let in, and every few hours the security guards would toss everybody outside to allow for a rotation. craziness.<br />
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<i>breakfast both days. hey future employers! I promise I'm drinking responsibly in the name of cultural experience!</i></div>
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to close out this post I am just going to bullet-point some things I want to talk about that I am too tired to write into a coherent essay. here we go.<br />
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1. stealing beer steins. This is a big thing for people at Oktoberfest! be careful because if you get caught it's a 50 Euro fine, and the security at Oktoberfest is NOT gentle. I swear they're all former KGB/mafioso/stasi/La Eme/etc. terrifying. they won't manhandle girls but they will definitely throw the guys around. it's much easier to steal a stein on Friday because the security is less tight. I noticed on Saturday my bag would get checked and patted down. apparently last year security recovered 225,000 steins that people tried to steal! my friends got away with stealing steins, but I decided not to firstly because my bag was already full and secondly because my sorority gave us steins with our letters on them and it's so big that I don't know what to do with it, much less two. the steins hold about three cans of beer each.<br />
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2. the boys. I noticed this particularly on Friday but it holds true the whole event - there were more boys than I have ever seen in my life! walking into a tent felt like walking down a runway, and I found myself wishing I'd bothered to run a brush through my hair. and they were so good looking!! the worst-looking German boy was still better looking than most American boys. can I move to Germany?<br />
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3. the food. I had the best soft pretzels of my ENTIRE LIFE and I am still craving them right now. the pretzels you buy there are 5 Euro and are the size of twice your head, so amazing. their bratwurst is really good too, normally I'm not big on sausage weenies but these were not weenie in size, flavor, or impact on my life. delicious. also apparently chicken and ox ribs are big at Oktoberfest, and although I actually ate neither the chicken did look really yummy.<br />
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4. Oktoberfest 2013 - who's in?Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-31261887460689900462012-09-24T11:38:00.002-07:002012-09-24T11:53:13.590-07:00homesicknessI'm really not the type to get homesick. I've been traveling alone since I was 13, I went to high school and college relatively far from home, I'm not very attached to my childhood house, and I honestly prefer going to the mall and shopping alone. the point here is that I'm fairly independent and not the type to go immediately running to mommy and daddy when $#!T hits the fan.<br />
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but when I got sick while abroad, I felt so lonely and so helpless to help myself that I got really, really homesick. being sick away from home really blows. there's nobody around to ask you how you're doing, no way to get fresh food and water without walking for 20 minutes (not possible when you can't get up without vomiting), and nobody wants to get sick themselves so they do themselves a favor and stay as far away as possible. if you've ever felt alone in a new place, just wait until you get sick.<br />
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<i>my sick face. somebody care about me!!!!</i></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">so how have I been coping with feeling homesick and lonely? I'm finding that writing helps. I love to write, but I've never been much of a journaler. I'm trying to change that. this blog has also been surprisingly fun to write, I thought it'd be more of a chore but I actually find myself anticipating activities and adventures just because I'll get to write about them later. activities like reading a familiar book, emotional eating, and forcing friends/family to talk to me are also very helpful. things like being glued to Facebook exacerbate homesickness and I recommend NOT doing that. </span><br />
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<i>in case I bummed you out with this post. sorry, here's a cute picture to make up for it.</i></div>
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this little post is a PSA for everybody who has a dear friend, family member, or SO studying abroad in some far off corner of the world. don't wait for your super busy, globe-trotting friend/family/SO to "find the time" to contact you, reach out first and tell them how much you miss them!<br />
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PS. benvenuti to everybody who is reaching my blog by Google searching for plaster casts of dead bodies in Pompeii! </div>
Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-14137344335114558682012-09-24T10:56:00.000-07:002012-09-24T10:56:27.630-07:00Cinque Terrethis weekend, the girls and I packed all our things up and headed out to Cinque Terre, a UNESCO World Heritage site about three hours north from Rome. Cinque Terre is famous for it's dry white wine (called 'Cinque Terre'), pesto, seafood, limoncino, and the scenic hiking trails that connect all five of the towns.<br />
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<i>Riomaggiore, the first town</i></div>
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Cinque Terre is absolutely beautiful! the five towns are spread out over the coastline, and the best part of the whole trip was the scenery. I thought Capri couldn't be topped, but Cinque Terre comes very close.<br />
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<i>I grew up by the ocean and still can't believe how endless it seems here!</i></div>
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the first day, we settled into our questionable hostel and explored the town. we found shops that sold jars of pesto and various seafood pastes (a LOT of anchovies in Cinque Terre) and lemon products, but our first priority was to get to the water! some of our group hopped right in, but just minutes after getting into the water a ferry docked right on the landing we were sunbathing on and forced us to scatter. the water is really gorgeous there, it's so clear that jumping in is scary because you can see the rocks that you might hit!<br />
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<i>Pesto with potatoes (!!!)</i></div>
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I got the pesto pasta for dinner and just fell in love. I never ate that much pesto before this trip, but I am now a believer. especially with boiled buttery potatoes tossed in, SO good! after dinner we walked off our food babies and enjoyed the sunset off the docks. </div>
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<i>The Cinque Terre sunset</i></div>
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this seems like a good time to discuss hostels. my group and I got very lucky because we were a big enough group to rent out an entire room with six beds, so we didn't have to share with any strangers. we had a nice enough bathroom and kitchenette, which we didn't use. when we first entered, the room smelled really strongly of garlic, and we discovered upon opening the cabinets that somebody had indeed left several cloves of garlic inside for a later guest to find. thanks!! the beds in the hostel were kind of questionable, and I really hope the sheets were clean (they smelled okay, but apparently immediately after we left they rented them out to the next group without changing them...). the takeaway point here is: DO YOUR RESEARCH! if you pick the first hostel you see you will probably end up with bed bugs. I can still smell the garlic... anyway, we were pretty tired and I went to bed the earliest I have ever gone to bed this whole trip. we were woken at around 7 AM by very loud ringing bells, which at first I thought were ringing in the time until they went past 12... then 13... then over 24 gongs. then I started worrying that maybe it was an emergency evacuation call, that maybe the town had been overtaken by pirates, so I looked out the window but saw no fleeing villagers. at that point I gave up trying to understand the ways of Italians and went back to bed.<br />
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the next day we got up bright and early and headed out to the first leg of the hike, the Via dell'Amore (Lover's Road). you can see why it's called the Lover's Road, because it's absolutely beautiful and I'm sure if you weren't already in love with whoever you were hiking with once you saw the sights and had your breath taken away you would probably start projecting those feelings onto your hiking friend and would inevitably decide you were in love right then. there are several couple-y things to do, like take a picture seated together on this love seat type thing, or place a lock on the trail together (I hear that happened on an episode of the Bachelor?), or commemorate your love for eternity by writing some tacky graffiti on the wall of a tunnel. I have never felt more aware of being single in my life! I wondered some things inside my head like, how many of these lovers symbolized by locks are now divorced? and, I wonder how many people wrote the names of their dogs or their favorite couch (Rosa?) instead of a true love on these walls? but I kept these thoughts to myself so I didn't kill the mood for everybody else enjoying the romance.<br />
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<i>The locks of LUUUURVE.</i> </div>
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the next leg of our hike was less romantic. once we reached the second town, Manarola, we found that we couldn't go on because the blue trail (akin to a bunny slope) was closed due to rockslides. we had two options: skip Manarola - Corniglia and go to Corniglia by train, or go up through the mountainside to Corniglia. my group, being adventurous in spirit and blind in map reading, decided to hike through to Corniglia. we would take the red trail.<br />
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we walked up to the highest point of the town of Manarola and were already feeling the burn when we realized that that wasn't even part of the hiking trail. The first true part of the hiking trail was a series of 1,135 steps (holy guacamole) that were actually vertical. after about 50 of these steps my fat started crying, but then a really fast man sprinted past us up these steps so I forced myself to cut back on the complaining. Once at the top though, the view was spectacular.<br />
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<i>The view from the top! we started at sea level.</i></div>
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we wound our way horizontally through the vineyards, then headed back down to the clifftop town of Corniglia. the way down was maybe even harder than the way up, because the path was very rocky and unstable and I was absorbing a lot of impact on my ankles and knees. all in all, the hardest hike I've ever done in my life. we found out later that it was the advanced hike and that particular stretch was the hardest hike in Cinque Terre<i>. </i>no kidding. </div>
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after the grueling hike, we arrived in Corniglia... almost. turns out Corniglia is the only town on a cliff, but we didn't know that. expecting Corniglia to be on the shore like the other four towns, we descended down a set of spiraling brick stairs (400 steps) to the train station, which was when we looked up and saw the town high above us. not in any mood to go up the brick stairs again, we got on the train and hopped to the next town, Vernazza, for some food. We devoured our pasta dishes then got some giant scoops of gelato (fragola e limone, strawberry and lemon, is the absolute best) to wash them down. food babies in full gestation, we decided to let it all hang out and head to the beach where we swam and sunned and some of us got thrown against rocks in the pursuit of adventure.<br />
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we were going to keep going to the last town, Monterosso, so we could say we hit all five towns, but we were completely exhausted and also couldn't find the trail marker for the Blue Path. we took that as a sign that we should head back, so we did. after showers and power naps we got dressed and went in search of calamari. I watched my calamari get freshly fried and scooped into a cone, and it was really, really good!<br />
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<i>really craving calamari right now...</i></div>
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after calamari we walked through the Via dell'Amore back to Manarola for dinner. I ordered trofie di scampi and it was INCREDIBLE. the best shrimp scampi ever. I tried to take a picture but I ate the entire thing before I got a chance... sorry. trofie is this type of pasta without egg that I am really liking, and the scampi sauce was so good and the shrimp was so good and ahhhhh. I will dream about the trofie di scampi for probably the rest of my life. we walked back through the Via dell'Amore full and happy and drunk and surrounded by the sounds of our laughter echoing through the love tunnels. <i>awww</i>. </div>
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speaking of dreams, we all had very vivid dreams our two nights in Cinque Terre, which cements my belief that the Five Lands is a place of magic and wonder. definitely make Cinque Terre a priority to visit, it's perfect for a weekend away! </div>
Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-60265210201721744082012-09-18T14:30:00.000-07:002012-09-19T05:19:02.616-07:00an italian jobI got a haircut today.<br />
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I have a hate-love-hate relationship with my hair. I hate when it decides that it is large and in charge, won't stay flat, kinks and curls funny, or sticks up in the back. I love when it holds its curl or a blowout and doesn't get greasy for three days. I hate that it takes Olympian strength to get my hair to curl or to blow it out.<br />
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every girl struggles to find the best cut for her hair type and face shape, and it's 10 times harder when you can't just air dry and go. I have a hard time explaining my hair needs to stylists back home; imagine my trepidation when, upon arriving in Italy, I realized my hair was about halfway down my back. I would have to somehow get a hair cut in a foreign country.<br />
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I did a little research and was choosing between Aveda (familiar to anybody who has ever been to a shopping mall in the US) and Elleffe (pronounced ell-effeh), a hair salon in Trastevere. although the idea of a familiar salon was comforting, it was a bit too far away to walk and I felt like enjoying the nice weather, so I decided to go with Elleffe.<br />
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I had the address written down, but I got to the street and realized none of the storefronts had names. spotting a salon chair and a window decal of hair styling tools, I crossed my fingers and walked in. I managed to get out a "ciao" before the receptionist realized I spoke zero Italian and came to my rescue. while I described in English what I wanted, the receptionist translated to the stylist. the bigger problem came when the receptionist walked back to her seat at the desk and I was left alone with the very chatty stylist who had a lot of questions about my hair, but I gestured a lot with my hands and it somehow all made sense to Maria Teresa, who was a saint.<br />
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I thought stylists in the US were talkative, but it's nothing compared to Italian stylists! not only did she want to know about my hair, Maria Teresa wanted to know about school, places I've visited, family, everything. to my surprise, I walked out of the salon an hour later to find that we'd actually had a conversation! I learned a lot about her too. maybe Italian 101 is working?<br />
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in any case, an hour later I had a fantastic haircut and a promise to keep to Maria Teresa, who insisted I come back for my next cut. Elleffe is a little on the pricey side, I paid 56 Euro (about $70) for a shampoo and cut, but they took a lot of care with my hair and spoke English!! it's nice to tip anywhere from 1E to 5E depending on how much you loved the cut and the niceness of the salon, but in Italy nobody is offended if you don't tip at all.<br />
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so I highly recommend Elleffe! I hear they do a reasonably priced mani and pedi, too. maybe I'll go back sooner than I thought, my feet ARE looking a little jank...<br />
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if you're curious, here's my new hair.<br />
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<i>that's like three inches off!</i></div>
<br />Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-58008638606247876912012-09-16T14:44:00.000-07:002012-09-16T14:54:27.197-07:00Pompeii, Capri, NaplesWHEW. this weekend was the one of the busiest, most adventure-packed weekends of my life. and it was by far the best weekend I've ever had (and I think I've had some good ones!). I'll just start at the beginning.<br />
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POMPEII<br />
On Friday morning, very early, everybody on our program loaded up onto a bus and headed out of Rome to the ancient site of Pompeii. sadly, not 10 minutes out of our driveway did our bus driver hit a Smart Car... he then proceeded to get out of the bus and yell at the driver. only in Rome. but moving on. about halfway to Pompeii, we got out at a truckstop to stretch and get coffee. I've done a fair amount of road tripping in my life, and was prepared for any level of disgusting truckstop bathrooms/convenience stores, but instead was blown away by the drugstore/cafe/grocery store/bookstore situation that we arrived at. I enjoyed a lovely cup of cappuccino and fell in love with a large blue and white striped stuffed snake that I was forced to put down. Mackenzie and I briefly debated opening a chain of our own luxury truckstops, which we would obviously call M&M Truckstops, but upon realizing that would get sued (big time) by Mars Inc and M&M candies we decided to shelf the idea for a later day. but onward to the real attraction, Pompeii.<br />
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<i>the ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii</i></div>
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Pompeii (and neighboring town Herculaneum) was buried under a TON of ash when Mt Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. the cloud spewed out by the volcano reached over 20 miles in height, and the amount of thermal energy (zzz...) produced by the explosion was over 100,000 times that of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. wow. fun fact for you, the volcano is still active, though not in any danger of blowing up. anyway, we arrived in Pompeii to... rain. several of us stepped in not-so-ancient puddles, and I almost ate it trying to jump over a flooded walkway. about 2/3rds of the city is excavated, and it was amazing to me that I was walking over the original stone pathways that the Pompeiians would have walked on too. we saw a villa which was so perfectly preserved that you could still see the frescoes on the walls. of course, exposure to the elements and tacky tourists carving their names into walls is quickly ruining the ruins (ha, ha). I would hate to see the day the town is closed to tourism, so if any of you tacky tourists are out there reading my blog: STOP IT!!! you're tacky and we hate you!!</div>
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<i>plaster cast of a long-gone Pompeiian</i></div>
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as you can see from the photo above, we have modern representations of the dead of Pompeii. that figure you see isn't the actual dead body. most of the bodies decayed or were instantly turned to ash from the extreme heat. the plaster casts were made by looking at the negative space that was left behind by the bodies! this particular person is covering his mouth and nose. creepy.</div>
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<i>aww.</i></div>
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another interesting feature of Pompeii is the dogs. there are dogs that wander the ruins, begging for food and attention. I wonder how many people have come by and given this dog a name. our name for it was... Trinity. they're very sweet and affectionate, but also very dirty, poor things. I counted at least four different dogs. we wanted to adopt them all, but obviously we couldn't. if our truckstop idea doesn't pan out, Mackenzie and I may start filming infomercials to raise money for these dogs. think Sarah McLachlan with Mackenzie's face, and you get the idea. </div>
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when we tried to get out of the ruins, we found that because of the rain a lot of the pathways had been closed off without any notice. we were worried that we were trapped in the ruins, and felt a peculiar sense of irony. possibly part of the reason 16,000 people perished in the volcanic eruption was that maybe their city administrator blocked off exits arbitrarily, and this tradition has existed to this day. </div>
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CAPRI</div>
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we finished up in Pompeii and got back on the bus to the port of Naples, where we got on a boat to Capri. the rain had gotten worse, and the blustering winds made our joke of a boat rock so badly that even a few minutes in we all felt horribly seasick. I'm an atheist and I was desperately crossing myself. I've never been that seasick in my life! </div>
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<i>welcome to Capri!!</i></div>
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not to be deterred by the weather (as college kids tend to be), we went to a club in Anacapri and danced the night away. it was so fun being with everybody in the program! there were also some locals/other tourists that came to the club, including a very large man with a ponytail who for some reason had a long straw that reached to the ceiling (seriously, at least 3 feet long) and two lesbians who I bumped into by accident. naturally they took this as an invitation to start rubbing the top of my head, which I did not take in stride like a cool, collected person might have.</div>
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the next day, Capri greeted us with beautiful weather. </div>
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<i>finally!</i></div>
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we stayed in the amazing Hotel San Michele in Anacapri, and because it is situated so high up on the island we had awesome views of the island and bay. our tour guide called the road leading up to the hotel the "Mamma mia road" because when you drive up it you are literally on the precipice of the cliff, and likely are thinking/yelling MAMMA MIA! I think I can say that Capri was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life, and probably ever will see. we started our day with a massive hike (not for the faint of heart or leg muscles, like myself) to the Villa Jovis, which is the villa that Emperor Tiberius lived in and ruled from. it is located on the second highest peak of the island, and even though it's one heck of a hike the view from the top is definitely worth it. supposedly the emperor used to throw kids off the island... nasty guy. </div>
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after Villa Jovis, we went to see the famous Natural Arch of Capri, which was beautiful but also required another hike to get to. I am counting on these expeditions to even out my pasta habit. </div>
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<i>can you see how high up I took this picture from?</i></div>
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after these strenuous physical activities, this girl needed a lemon granita (granite limone) and a panino. the lemon granita was maybe the most delicious drink I've ever had. cold, sweet, icy, made with so much real lemon juice that my teeth hurt. Capri (and really the whole Amalfi coast) is known for lemons, and they put lemons in just about everything. which is great if you, like me, like lemons. I picked up some cute lemon-patterned souvenirs for my mom. hi mom! as we sat in the main square of downtown Capri (to clarify, the island is called Capri, the two main towns are Anacapri up high and Capri down low, and then there is even lower on the shore the port of Capri) a convertible drove through the crowd of people. there was a newly married couple in the car! as they drove through they waved and the crowd cheered and clapped and took lots of pictures. if I were to ever get married, it would sure be cool to do the thing in Capri. </div>
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after lunch, we headed down to the port to see about getting a tour of the island by boat. some groups of students chartered a private boat for a few hours, others got on a bigger boat to get a guided tour, which is what we decided to do. and I think we made the right choice! although we didn't get out and swim in the waters, our tour guide was very knowledgeable and funny. I was also very impressed with our ship's captain, who navigated the large boat into really small grottoes so that we could get a better look. we saw (among other things) the white grotto, famous for its limestone formations and the coral that you can see when the tides recede; the green grotto, which is known for its brilliant green color and total translucency when the water is calm; the blue grotto, probably the most famous of the grottoes (but more on that later); the lighthouses; the villas; and of course, the Faraglioni, the rock structures that are on every postcard you can buy in Capri. the center rock formation, called the Mezza Faraglioni, is the one with the small archway that boats can pass through. if you say "ciao ciao ciao" as you pass under, you'll return to Capri (of course we yelled "ciao" a hundred times). and it's also known as the arco dell'amore, the love arch. you're supposed to kiss the one you love as you pass under it. our tour guide suggested that the singles kiss the captain and/or his first mate, and Mackenzie and I were going to take her up on the offer until we realized she was kidding. the tour is definitely the way to see the island. as I disembarked from the ship, the first mate said to me "ciao, bella, beautiful baby, Merry Christmas!" I commend him for his efforts at English and wished him a very merry Christmas in return. </div>
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<i>incredible.</i></div>
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post-boat tour, we wandered in the port of Capri and bought souvenirs. then we got on the most crowded bus I have ever been on in my life and swerved our way up to Anacapri, where we got on the chairlift that goes to the highest peak of the island. I hyperventilated and panicked the entire way up the mountain and even had one woman (who was passing me coming down) attempt to reassure me when she saw me gasping for air. the view from the top was spectacular, so my friends and I had ourselves an unapologetic photoshoot. then we had ice cream and came back down the lift. I was much calmer on the way down, maybe because I could see my trajectory if I fell out or if the cord snapped. there's something about having the downhill on your back that is terrifying. </div>
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<i>yeah, the view's nice, but check out those cuties!</i></div>
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<i>my view coming down</i></div>
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after the stress of being in a single-person lift chair for 13 harrowing minutes down the rocky mountainside, I needed to do some retail therapy. there is a place in Capri called L'Arte del Sandalo Caprese di Antonio Viva that has been handmaking sandals for over 50 years. I walked in and was immediately overwhelmed by the possibilities - so many different style straps! hundreds of colors in suede and leather, some with jewels and charms! heels! flat sandals! loafers! they're fairly priced and will discount you if you buy more than one pair. in the town of Anacapri there are also a lot of boutique clothing stores, souvenir shops, sandal stores, lemon and limoncello shops, and coral jewelry shops. is resortwear your favorite collection every year? you should probably live on Capri. </div>
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<i>a street in downtown Anacapri</i></div>
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while shopping, we ran into some boys who had just returned from swimming in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Grotto_(Capri)" target="_blank">Blue Grotto</a>. on our boat tour, you can usually stop and jump into a smaller boat that will take you right inside. that day, the tides were high and the waves were choppy and rough, and as we passed the entrance to the grotto the waves crashed against the top of the small entrance (made smaller by the high tide). the tour guide informed us that entrance to the grotto would not be possible that day, and that swimming in was illegal. I was so heartbroken! when I heard the boys had gone in anyways, I was determined to do it. I rounded up the people who were willing to go with me, and we made our way to the entrance. I stripped down and jumped in the water immediately. the water was not very cold, but fairly rocky. regardless, we treaded water and watched the cave entrance to see the timing of the waves. at one point we almost turned around, but how much of a big fat regret would it be if we got this close and didn't do it? when the moment was right, we swam in one by one. when it was my turn, I flailed my way in as fast as my body would let me and I made it safely into the cave. I had a moment of calm, then I looked down. floating in the Blue Grotto, the entire bottom of the grotto (which is deep!) was illuminated by a glowing, eerie light, which is the sun coming through holes in the bottom of the grotto. it was terrifying and I shrieked a little too much, and it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. it's indescribably amazing, and when you're looking down at this glowing blue water it's like an out of body experience. I hope I never forget that shade of blue. inside the water was a little calmer, but I'm not a particularly strong swimmer and the waves were getting larger, which we could tell because the cave entrance would become completely submerged more and more frequently. I spent maybe five minutes inside the grotto (freaking out the whole time) before swimming out, making sure I got the timing right so I wouldn't smack my head on the top of the entrance. once I was out, I started shaking from the adrenaline; I'd never felt so alive before! I highly recommend doing something brave/stupid if you want to feel every single nerve in your body tingle, and I am determined to return to Capri to swim into the grotto again before I am too old to. what. a. rush. I woke up the next morning and my entire body hurt. my lower body from the hikes, my upper body from hanging on for dear life to a chain inside the grotto while being pushed around by waves. the sun went down just as our bus snaked its way back up to Anacapri. amazing. </div>
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NAPLES</div>
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the next day, we woke up and headed back to Naples. Naples is the third largest city in Italy (Milan is the second) and is also the home to pizza and the Camorra, the violent secret society and mafia organization. thinking it would be a real life episode of Gang Land, I was pretty amped and I wanted to see men in suits discussing matters of life and death on street corners (from the safety of my bus), but I saw nothing. you can breathe out now, Mom! we did, however, check out the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, and I had the best pizza of my life. </div>
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<i>so. good.</i></div>
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then we were back on the bus and headed back into Roma! I slept the entire way back on the bus. </div>
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speaking of Roma, Mackenzie and I did some very Roma activities the day before we left on our trip. we visited the Trevi Fountain at night and tossed some coins in, one for love and a second for a return to Italy. I think at this point not returning to Italy is out of the question, because I am in love. </div>
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<i>unfortunately, the Trevi doesn't tell you when your true love is going to show up.</i></div>
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we also decided to check out Vogue's Fashion Night Out. VFNO happens in Los Angeles and New York every year, so I'd heard of it, but had never really gotten up the motivation to go. but since we were in the area and can always be convinced into shopping, we decided to see what was going on. In Rome, VFNO happens on different shopping streets, and we were on the Corso (the main street that goes from Piazza Venezia to the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain) where many stores are. so what is FNO? FNO is essentially a charity shopping event. certain stores stay open very late (some until midnight) and host shopping events, and a few give away goodie bags and sell special FNO items. proceeds from the items go to the Red Cross. in addition to in-store events, the streets are filled with carousing and weird stuff, like a lady we saw who was standing on stilts 10 feet up in the air wearing a dress that went down to the ground. very fun! </div>
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that's all for this post. was it long enough?? I have more photos and stories from my second trip into Florence and some sights around Rome like the ancient Roman Forum, but they will have to wait for another day because I am so tired. peace, love, Capri.</div>
Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-4452724551541489582012-09-11T13:03:00.001-07:002012-09-11T13:15:48.397-07:00video blog?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxKSRdUOMOmSNKUjOeIPJlrneaLhS9WNed_onCgjN26iJFKTw43JkMNXOZZGrLvkzkwX-D72HQsLBwTdFXkAQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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hey blog readers! it's my first video blog!! I discuss my daily routine, what my walking tours entail, and not much else. I say "um" a lot. my new best friend makes a cameo.<br />
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I'm writing bi-monthly for <a href="http://www.hercampus.com/oxy" target="_blank">Her Campus Occidental</a> about my study abroad experiences as well, so if you just can't get enough of me be sure to head over there and read more! HC Oxy has some great non-study abroad related content too, essential reading for every Oxy collegiette.<br />
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and if you are REALLY dying to know more, I write occasionally for Oxy's <a href="http://www.oxy.edu/campus-conversations/admission-blog" target="_blank">Admissions Blog</a>, which is required reading (obviously, since I write for it) for all prospective Oxy students (and non-prospective!).Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-19527962926027926392012-09-07T09:45:00.000-07:002012-09-07T09:45:00.410-07:00friends, food, firenze (oh, and classes)I have officially been here a week now! I feel like I've been here for so much longer though because my days have been very, very long. so what have I been up to?<div>
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classes began on monday. I am taking Introduction to the Art of Rome, Michelangelo, European Union, Drawing from Masterpieces, and Italian 101. all my classes are so good!! the professors are very knowledgeable about Rome and Italy, and I'm definitely going to learn a lot. art of rome is exactly what it sounds like. the class surveys the periods of art and architecture in the city from ancient/classic to baroque. Michelangelo is a course that looks at just the one artist, but of course his work is so varied and covers such a long span of history (and is so critical to understanding the High Renaissance and its development into Italian Mannerism and eventually Maniera) that I doubt I'll ever feel like I've had too much Michelangelo! this class also has field trips to Florence, which I will discuss in a bit. EU is a political science/history class all about the development and current role of the EU. it's definitely really far from my area of academic interest and I'm feeling a little insecure about how little I know, but I'm excited to learn a lot about European politics and history. drawing is going to be the best ever, I love drawing but have no talent or time for it so I'm really excited to have class time to hopefully improve and have a lot of fun. Italian 101 is of course very straightforward, but I'm learning quickly and my biggest problem is confusing it with Spanish and French. just wait, when I come home I plan to have the most authentic Italian accent.</div>
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aside from classes and sightseeing/travel, we've been going out on the town a lot. the nightlife scene is, like I said earlier, crazy. especially on random nights like tuesdays. thursdays are also poppin'. bars pop up along the Tiber river on weekends, and partying on the bank of the river is super fun, though it is terrifying to walk down the slippery steps. suffice to say I am keeping an active social life and not holing up in my room to watch Game of Thrones alone like the hermit I really am. speaking of friends, my dear friend of 15 years is in Italy this week and I got to eat lunch with her and her mom today. it was pretty hard to get my mind around the idea that we met on a tiny island in the middle of Lake Washington and 15 years later ended up in Rome at the same time. </div>
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all of the classes have class trips, some are weekend trips and others are day trips. for example, my EU class goes to Brussels with the Public Finance class for a weekend. my Michelangelo class goes to Florence three times for day trips, the first three Thursdays of the term. to get to Florence, we take an express train at 6:45ish in the morning and then get back around 3:30. totally exhausting and so worth it. yesterday was my first time in Florence, and I just fell in love with the city. it's smaller, more intimate, and more medieval than Rome. of course, it's also the site of some of my favorite art in the world. I wish I lived in Florence. Hey Mom, how would you feel about moving there?? if you go to Florence, go to Gilli Caffe for a coffee and pastry. I've heard less than stellar things about their restaurant service, but their pastries are to die for and while their beverage pricing is a bit high, they are delicious. stand up at the bar and eat breakfast Italian style!</div>
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<i>this is the front window of the Gilli Caffe in Florence</i></div>
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here are some more photos of my trip. it's been easy to upload them to Facebook, so if we are real life friends you can creep my pics online. </div>
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<i>the Colosseum on a really rainy day</i></div>
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<i>Florence at around 8 in the morning</i></div>
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<i>the beautiful Duomo </i></div>
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<i>the Trevi fountain. must go back and toss a hundred coins in</i></div>
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the food here is the best. I'm a little afraid of coming back and being 50 pounds heavier, all thanks to Italians eating pasta every day for every meal, but according to one of my friends everyone will forgive me if I let myself go since this semester is the trip of a lifetime so I guess it's fine. we've been eating a lot of prosciutto, gelato, pasta, pizza, bruschetta, etc etc. I can already tell I am going to miss the food when I come home. even the average, nothing-special food to me is SO GOOD! how am I supposed to return to the Marketplace after this? the solution is obviously to marry an Italian chef and live here in Italy forever. </div>
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I think that's all I have to say for now. I miss my friends and family a ton! please please send me Facebook messages and e-mails and tell me what's going on in your lives. I want to hear that stuff more than anything. I am really getting settled in here and know my way around my immediate area pretty well. 13 weeks to go!</div>
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Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-6410124729046862172012-09-02T00:47:00.000-07:002012-09-02T00:47:18.579-07:00settling inhi friends, family, Facebook stalkers, random Internet people! love you all. it scares me a little how many pageviews I have... call it terrifying flattery. <div>
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as I write this, I am on day 3 of my Roman adventure. I've seen the beautiful Trevi fountain which is 10x more spectacular in person (even with scaffolding on the lefthand side... sigh), the Spanish steps, the "wedding cake" also known as Il Vittoriano, and loads of beautiful and less beautiful Italian men, who are all convinced that Mackenzie is a model. they have also called her "sex symbol" and "okay." I have unabashedly embraced tourist life and am snapping lots of pics, which I hopefully can upload soon.</div>
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I've adjusted fairly quickly to life here. accommodations are pretty comfortable and I haven't had any appliances blow up yet. the only thing that took getting used to is the walking! we walk everywhere and we walk so much that my poor feet are already looking pretty worse for the wear (and this is coming from an ex-rower and ex-waitress). also, the mosquitoes are ravenous, if not large and angry. we've been using hydrocortisone like lotion.</div>
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there are lots of cool people on my program! there really are students from all over the US and it's been so fun sharing and comparing experiences at our schools. for the most part, we've been warmly accepted by all the locals. every once in awhile somebody will walk past and mutter "Americanos..." and shake their heads, but I think that already happens in the US anyway. </div>
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the nightlife here is unreal. bars and clubs are packed with Italians and foreigners alike, and places start filling up at 11:30-11:45. the first night we went out we went out at 10:30 and found ourselves the only people in the bar, which was great for getting the bartender's attention! we met a lot of exchange students from the US, some foreigners, and a lot of Italians. luckily dancing is pretty universal (so is the word for no). and it's not just bars where people hang out, groups will hang out in the squares in the middle of the city that blocks are arranged around which is so cool!! I like that a lot, wish we had it in the states. my closest equivalent I could think of is Pioneer Square in Seattle, but I guess that's only really a happening scene if you like pigeons and bums. </div>
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it's quite humid here still, but all the people from the east coast are loving the weather. the west coasters, especially ones with hair like mine, are not loving the humidity. but it's bearable. the only downside is the flash-flood style rain that comes down super hard and then stops just as you've found your rain coat. </div>
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this is the first time I've had 10 minutes to sit down and write! hopefully I'll have more time this week. classes start monday, I'm real excited about that! more later. leave a comment below and tell me what you want me to write about! </div>
Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4863631606530223381.post-50323217279604757762012-08-30T14:01:00.000-07:002012-09-07T10:00:04.388-07:00first post<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">hi. welcome to my study abroad blog, where I will be writing about my experiences (hopefully not sporadically). a little about me, the blog, my program, etc:</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">ME</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm 20, I'm a psychology major, I'm from Seattle, I love learning new languages, I dislike math but thankfully can still add subtract multiply and divide. I'm into shopping, eating, sleeping, reading, watching USA Network and The Daily Show, social media, gummy vitamins, and my dog. I would rescue shelter animals but I'm allergic to everything, so instead I rescue stuffed animals from drugstores. I'm an art history nerd and I speak exactly zero Italian.</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">THE BLOG</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">the URL for the blog comes from two things I love: myself, and Michelangelo. umm, kidding (though I do love Michelangelo). to be honest, all the clever/overdone names I could think of were taken, and I enjoy alliteration (just a little though, too much alliteration is actually awful). also, I hope that by placing my name with arguably the greatest artist of human history I too will achieve some sort of greatness, though my greatness will likely be related to some sort of credit card debt record and/or something highly athletic (right). as for the title of the blog, you know the saying: when in Rome, do as the Romans do! </span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">MY PROGRAM</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm fortunate that my school has a close relationship with Trinity College in CT, and that Trinity has a campus in Rome, Italy. my program is all American college students living together in Rome, on the Aventine hill. I will be taking Italian 101 as well as 4 other classes. there are a few other Oxy students going on my program as well, one of whom is one of my best friends (hey Mackenzie). how lucky are we? stay tuned for double the trouble adventures.</span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">CIAO!</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">that's all I've got for now. my next post will be from ROMA! </span></div>
Madi Thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13747499451150042322noreply@blogger.com3