AFRIC-ing out about Morocco!

            One would think that since my Morocco (AHHHHH!) flight isn’t until this afternoon, I should just be relaxing and all ready to go. Let’s look back on all of the previous evidence: I’m all about packing mere hours before I leave. It might have seemed as though I wanted everything done the night before, but the time of day really had nothing to do with it – all of those flights just happened to be early. Conclusion: I have not yet packed, but fear not, I will. To catch you all up:

Weekend: Awesome. We saw Nichols and Julie, tried out a new club (Lemon), saw an awesome view of the city at sunset (from the temple), found that things are actually a lot closer than the metro makes them out to be (by walking to Corte Ingles), got Mexican food (spice up your life?), and saw a bullfight. It was both beautiful and tragic.

I did not expect to be so emotionally invested in the lives of those poor bulls. I also didn’t realize we would be so close (we were basically front row.) It was the last fight of the season – it was a novice fight which means that it was probably more gory than normal because the matadors have less experience. It was crazy because they were around our age (born in ’91, ’89, and ’84). There were six bulls – 2 for each guy. There are three stages to a bullfight. The first was my favorite – the bull runs out and there are about 6 guys in really, really brightly colored tight clothing out in the ring all using their big capes to learn about the bull’s behavior. This was the part most like a dance to me. It was a little unfair because if the bull got mad the matadors all had the opportunity to run behind a wall. Cheap. Where could the bull hide? Anyway, after watching the spandex men, a man on a horse came out. In stage 2 the horse was blindfolded and wearing a protective covering. (I think the only way to get me in the middle of a bull ring would be to blindfold me too.) The spandex men coaxed the bull over to the horse, where the rider jabbed him with a lance. This looks incredibly painful but apparently is just to agitate the bull and doesn’t really hurt it too much (so says Wikipedia. I beg to differ.) This gives the matador the chance to see which side the bull favors. After the horses roll out, those who Perry dubbed the “kebab-ers” came out. The kebab-ers each have two barbed poles that they try to jab the bull with – these are to weaken and disorient it a little. Come on, matadors. How much more help could you possibly need? It’s like they want them to win, haha. Anyway, the final stage is the actual fight. The matador comes out in his classic tight clothes carrying his red cloth. The matadors are pretty impressive. The bull is attracted to the movement of the cloth (it has nothing to do with the red – they’re colorblind) so when the matadors move the cloth they have to make sure to keep the rest of their body very, very still. Finally, once they’ve worn the bull out enough, they go for the final stab with a sword. It’s supposed to go in a specific spot so as to make it as quick and easy as being stabbed with a sword could possibly be. The first one almost made me cry. Seriously – you could see this one’s eyes really clearly and it just looked so sad (understandably.) I felt so disgusting watching it. When you think about it though – being bred to be big and strong might be better than being bred to be fat and meaty and sent to the slaughterhouse, right? I’m not sure. It’s an important tradition here though so I’m glad I went. (I would never go again.)

There were some intense moments where the bull was winning. It was crazy! Matador number 2 got pinned to the ground by the bull – all of his amigos had to come to the middle and distract the bull so he could roll out. I think someone got a video. Yes! Matador number 3 was very pompous (with good reason) – even though his strut was mostly justified, it still made it funnier when the bull picked him up and threw him in the air a couple of times. One of the guys also had to jump over the wall at some point to escape the wrath of the bulls. I’m going to be honest – those were my favorite parts. So, pompous guy number 3 – as mentioned, he was very impressive. After his fight the whole crowd started screaming and waving white objects (literally, anything. Flags, napkins, grocery bags?) Turns out, this means “WE THINK YOU DID REALLY AWESOME AND WANT SOMEONE TO REWARD YOU FOR ITTTTTTTT” (capitals to emphasize the volume of the stadium at this time.) The president of the stadium listened and awarded him with the ear of the bull. Personally, if I did a good job, a body part of a recently deceased animal – and not even an edible one at that, seems sort of like a cheap prize, but he seemed pretty excited about it. Good work, pink lemonade. (Our nickname for him, based on his outfit color choice.)

Monday: Nada exciting, I don’t think. We saw Nichols and Julie to say goodbye! Sad. : ( Impressive that we saw them twice in Europe though, right?

Tuesday: We were out of the house literally from 820AM to 930PM. We had class and normally come home for lunch, but had to practice our group presentation for cooorcooorse. After our last class, we had signed up to go see a play, called Día Estupendos. I wasn’t expecting much, but it was HILARIOUS. Seriously. Other than the unexpected full nudity, this play was amazing. It was basically just talking about the summer and exaggerated funny things that happen. At first I didn’t realize that the 5 players kept changing character so that was a bit confusing. Once I caught on though, I was loving it. It ended with a scene where this woman was leaving from staying over her friends’ house for awhile. They literally put together a song and dance for her, and said dramatic goodbyes. She leaves and then they’re all reflecting about how much they already miss her, when the phone rings. It turns out she forgot her umbrella. The other woman who was still there was like – “I have to go. We already said goodbye. I’m not saying goodbye again and it would be weird to see her. I’m going to hide.” One of the other players agrees and joins her. This leaves two men still on stage. They’re deciding what to do, and realize that they, too, don’t want to go through the sappy goodbye process again. They call her back and tell her the umbrella will be on the floor and hang up before she has a chance to say anything. They hear her coming, throw the umbrella on the floor and leave. It was great. Alright, it doesn’t sound too funny when you write it out, but I swear I wasn’t the only one laughing.

Wednesday: Wednesday was very important because 1. we had our coorcooorse presentation, and 2. it was Mike’s birthday! We think coorcoorse went well. Josh had the crowd laughing pretty hard (and even drew an unexpected diagram for the class)! Mike’s birthday was fun! We went to Orange, because we’re all about clubs that named after fruits. Well, we’re more about clubs that are free/cheap but the two tend to go hand in hand. Also when we got home Angeles thought it was breakfast time and started preparing. We were really confused as it was actually 3 in the morning. She loca. 

Thursday: After class we had signed up to see a Flamenco show. We went with a bunch of our classmates to find something for dinner. We are successful in finding 2 euros half-baguette sized tortilla sandwiches. The show was so cool, but mostly not flamenco. There were three dances and only the last one really had flamenco. The first two were very contemporary – it was intense. I think the first one was a love story. It centered around this guy and this girl who started off slow-dancing together. Then it got real weird for awhile. Then they were at a table shouting gibberish at each other. Then they danced? It was sort of unclear, but the gist was…relationships are hard? I don’t know. I was just trying to look for the Flamenco that wasn’t coming. The second dance was a lot scarier. It was really dark (physically) and I’m pretty sure it was about things that are really dark (emotionally.) There was one guy in a sweatshirt. I think he was trying to expel demons from his body. He was sort of seizing at one point – I always figured demons would come out in the form of dance. Finally, the third act was my favorite. There were Flamenco-ing and Flamenco-ing hard. The coolest part by far was when the brought of these metal squares to dance on. We all figured it was just to amplify the noise, but no! They surprised us and poured water on them! [Oh – I forgot to mention. They (2 guys, 1 girl) were wearing tight, leather, mustard-colored pants, and shirts with ruffles.] When they danced the water would splash all around. Molly made the excellent point that it would have been cool if they used paint! It was still really cool. A modernized Flamenco, one might say. As I always realize after seeing shows like this, I can’t dance. Coming to this realization is always rather difficult. So it goes.

Friday – We’re gooooooooing to Morocco and we’re gooooooooooooooonna ride a ca-a-amellllllllll. (Sung to the tune of “We’re going to the chapel and we’re going to get married.)

I thought this was going to be short. Oops.

The OFFICIAL End of Midterm Week

I know this might be overwhelming since I just wrote a 7 page post about Italy, but I want to get all caught up! I’m still two weeks behind, but don’t worry this will be short and sweet. I’ll only give ya the good stuff.

Angeles and Emilio have become a lot more comfortable with us and subsequently a lot more hilarious. Some highlights:

Background: We’re going to Morocco next week.

A: “Did you know you could have 3 wives in Morocco?”

E: “Yea! All you have to do is go up to a girl’s father and be like ‘I want to marry your daughter. I have 5 cows and 3 goats,’ and you can have her!”

A: “It’s true. Emilio has a girlfriend in Morocco.”

E: “No. I don’t have enough goats.”

A: “What are you smoking?”

E: “I don’t smoke. I’m a Christian.”

Background: Angeles offers us a weird hamburger-esque thing for lunch. We choose not to partake.

A: “You didn’t eat anything!”

Nicole and Erin: “Yes we did! We had vegetables and bread and a personal pizza with ham type of thing! And a banana!”

A: -looks at both of us- “No. You ate nothing.”

Background: Nicole has finished her meal (obvi), Erin has not eaten her bread.

E (to A, in other room): “ERIN NEEDS MORE BREEEEEEEEAD! AND I DIDN’T GET ANYYYYYY!”

Erin: “No! I’m fine! And you can have mine.”

E (to A, in other room): “I’M GOING TO HAVE ERIN’S!” to us: “I’m being abandoned here.”

Background: Erin has been feeling cold lately

A: “Why are you so cold all the time?”

Erin: “It’s cold in this house!”

A: “You’re cold blooded.” Gives her three blankets, slippers, and a space heater. It is now 100 degrees in Erin’s room.

Background: Erin didn’t finish her lunch and wasn’t feeling well. Nicole did and feels fine (once again, obvi.):

A: “Why didn’t finish your meal? Nicole did. She’s strong.”

E: “Aren’t I strong?”

A: “No. Nicole’s strong. You’re weak.”

(I’m basically trying to demonstrate that I’m the favorite child.)

Background: Erin is in her room studying.

A: “Erin! Erin! Come here! Come see Emilio! He’s watching football! He LOVES football! It’s his favorite. He’s so excited about it!”

Erin follows to find Emilio PASSED OUT on the couch.

A: “He does this all the time…watch. Ask him about it tomorrow. He’ll say he saw the whole entire thing. And who won. And how exciting it was.”

*Next day at lunch*

A: “Eat now, because you wouldn’t want to interrupt watching the football game, right?”

E: “I WAS JUST THINKING! I WASN’T ASLEEP!”

Background: Chaele and her friend Taylor come to visit from Paris! Chaele come to OUR APARTMENT to eat dinner! She speaks zero Spanish!

A: “Does she speak Spanish?”

Erin: “No, but she speaks French!”

A: “French? Who needs French? The only languages are Spanish and English.”

AWESOMEEEEEEEE.

So, as you could infer – Chaele and Taylor came to visit last weekend! It was so fun! On Friday night we went on a pub crawl with their hostel. We met an Australian who didn’t know if California was on the east coast or the west coast (because he got his left and right confused?), and a Maryland grad who was a huge Duke fan!!!! Obviously, it was exciting. We thought we’d found some new bars, but obviously our “social chair” John had already been to all of them. The next day, we went and did some touristy things! We saw the Reina Sofia which was awesome, got lunch at the MONTADITOS PLACE which was even more awesome, got dessert at the famous Mercado San Miguel by Plaza Mayor, and went to Retiro to enjoy some Tinto de Verano by the lake. WEIRD: we ran into some Duke kids studying in Barcelona randomly in Retiro. WHY ARE DUKE PEOPLE EVERYWHERE? It was very cool. We went out Saturday night to the club that’s literally right across the river! This is exciting because we could walk there and it was free. Overall success.

Sunday – today = SO MUCH WORK. 3 tests, 20 minute presentation and 7 page paper – all in Spanish, all in one week. Luckily, we’re done!! (Well, we have a 30 min presentation next week, but I’m not worried about that right now.) As mentioned in the previous post (unless you haven’t yet read it – in which case, what are you doing here?) Julie and Nichols are here for the weekend! We’re about to go head out to meet them. With this post, I am officially caught up on all things - let the weekend truly begin!

Veni, Vidi, Vici

            Alright, folks. Thanks for waiting! Make sure you get a snack, get a drink, and clear your schedule – this is about to be a novel…and I’m not even sorry about it. We spent our fall break in Italy and it was as delicious (and I guess beautiful and exciting) as I had hoped!

            Our adventures began with an early flight on the budget airline RyanAir – it was everything I hoped a budget airline to be. They were trying to sell us stuff the whole flight (“Smokeless cigarettes?” “Perfume?” “Jewelry?”) NO, GRATHIAS. (I’m adapting the typical Spanish lisp.) It was a pleasant surprise to have Robyn, Katherine, Amanda, Megan, and Jenna on our flight. After the flight and hour long bus ride (obvi budget airlines don’t fly into convenient airports), we all split up to find our respective hostels. Erin, being the champ that she is, had found us one mere steps away the train station (Okay, granted it was a crack house that gave us all bed bugs, but the ratings were good and the location was better. I didn’t hate it, as they say. Good work.)

            We got to our hostel around 1.30 and had reservations to be at the Vatican (I know – 3 countries in one day; we were busy) at 3, so we needed to make some moves. (Power moves.) On our way to the metro (Madrid metro >>> Rome metro), we stopped and got PIZZA in a random, cheap restaurant. We had thought that it was not possible for pizza to be that delicious. We were proven wrong, time and again, since all of our meals consisted of either pizza or pasta. [Note: Upon our return we told Angeles what we had eaten and she was appalled! “Pizza and Pasta?” she said “Those aren’t real foods! If I went to Italy I would have to bring a purse filled with meat just to survive.” The woman loves her food.) 

            We arrived at the Vatican, and it was truly overwhelming. Conveniently enough, with our reservation, we got to skip the whole line. Worth the extra 5 euro? Probably. Our reservation was for the “museum” which actually turns out to be the entire city! SO COOL. We saw some paintings, some statues, some buildings – you know, the usual. 

This was one of few times where Erin and I were alone on a visit – usually we would be at least with a small other group. There was a sizable group from our program doing Italy for fall break, but most of them had left Thursday so we were going to meet up with them that night. The Vatican has millions of visitors annually, so obviously it was pretty busy. Needless to say, we turned a corner, and who do we see sitting at a fountain but DIM kids? HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE? THERE ARE MORE THAN 10,000 PEOPLE WHO VISIT THE VATICAN EVERY SINGLE DAY (o algo asi). There is such a slight chance that we would run into these kids, yet it somehow doesn’t surprise me at all. We joined forces to go see the Sistine Chapel together. THE SISTINE CHAPEL! You know how things are totally hyped up your whole life, and then you see them and you’re let down? This was the opposite of that. I was actually more impressed than I thought I was going to be. This thing is immense and meticulous and vibrant and truly moving. There were a ton of people there constantly shushing everyone (unclear as to exactly why), and security monitoring closely to make sure people weren’t taking any pictures (but not closely enough), and even so I was truly awed. It would most likely qualify as most-amazing-thing-I’ve-ever-seen-in-my-life. I never wanted to leave. Luckily, as alluded to, most of us were able to snag a photo or two (except for Mike who got in trouble with security which was hilarious), so we have (ironically illegal) proof so that we can convince ourselves that we were actually there. 

Yep. That's real life.

            After the Vatican, we needed a little sugar rush to keep our momentum going strong. It marked the first of many gelato trips! We went to Old Bridge, a place recommended by Erin’s friend who studied in Rome last semester – it happened to be right by the Vatican and also happened to be DELICIOUS. Truly, it was life-changing. (In a different way than the Sistine Chapel was…I guess.) Apparently no one gets only one flavor, so I went for 3. I got Caramel, Nutella, andddddddd Stracciatella – it was a great life decision. Right. So, food aside, we went for a walk afterwards to try to hit some more sights. We saw a castle, a church, a bridge, and tried to find a park? (I was realizing how long I’d been awake at this point so might have missed a few key details.) Basically, we saw lots of old and beautiful things. It was awesome. 

See how there are only people on the left? I just wrote a paper about a
painting and said that had significance. Basically, I'm artsy.

            Clearly, we were in no mood to walk all the way back to our hostel, so Erin and I hitched a ride on the free Italian transportation system! Yayyyyy! Okay – we were totally prepared to pay. Really, we were. We got on the bus and there was nowhere to do so! We were supposed to have already bought tickets, apparently. Whatever. (Europe is making me rebellious. One might even go as far as to say “fun-ish.”) I actually out-touristed myself, and took a picture of a monument through the bus window. It was just soooooooooo pretty! I’m not (too) ashamed. 

Embarrassing? Probably.

            We went to the train station to buy our tickets to Florence, and who do we run into but Julie, who’s studying in Florence but happened to be in Rome on a field trip! This world is just too small, because I am certainly not popular enough to be running into people I know in Rome. After a brief catch-up and setting up tentative plans to meet in Florence, we successfully bought some train tickets. Second class, baby….aka last. We travel in style.

            Since the gelato recommendation from Erin’s friend proved to be so good, we further followed her advice and walked to her favorite place for dinner! We took a roundabout route, which ended up working out really well since we ran into the Trevi Fountain! It was so cool to see it at night. Dinner was probably the best dinner I’ve ever had in my life. My salad and Penne a la Vodka was Out. Of. This. World. I also tried literally everyone else’s meals (gnocchi, pasta with pesto, spaghetti Bolognese, etc.) and just didn’t want it to end. We went to her favorite bar after dinner (right around the corner!) which had American college flags on the walls. We didn’t see a Duke one and were very upset. Turns out, the bar tender just hadn’t yet gotten the chance to put up his new flag which includes our most recent National Championship. (We’re kind of big deal…even in Italy.) Rome, although much more beautiful than Madrid, is also much more lame. We went home at like 1 and the place was dead. Sad, Rome. What are you doing with your Friday nights? Get on Spain’s level.

            Unfortunately, getting back early did not lead to a good night’s sleep. After dealing with the incredibly rude and ignorant receptionist at the hostel, we tried to go to bed. Right when I was about to fall asleep, our roommates for the night came back. I mean, I get that your kebabs were “dank,” ladies, but must you scream about them for hours on end? Apparently, they must. It was fine though, because who doesn’t love a little late-night entertainment?

            I decided to get up early the next morning (since I like to always be slightly sleep-deprived) and go for a run. It was probably the coolest run of my life. I gave myself a rough outline of sights I wanted to hit, and just spent my time meandering around to get there. I saw the Opera house, a famous church, a cool park with random fun-sized carnival rides, some piazzas, some fountains, some monuments, the British embassy (complete with threatening soldier holding a gun!), a friar, and of course, a ton of McDonald’s. I got back just as everyone else was in the process of waking up, which worked out pretty well. We grabbed some (delicious egg sandwich) breakfast at a nearby café, and prepared to get our Ancient Rome on.

            We walked to the Coliseum, and I at least was stunned by its size. (When we told Emilio about it when we got home, he wasn’t impressed. “The Coliseum? Isn’t it broken?”) After absorbing that for a little (and obvi getting some group pics – photo op!), we headed over to see how big the line was. It was pretty long (understandably.) We kept being heckled by people to join their tour groups and at first were adamantly against it. Reasons: I am cheap, don’t trust people, and generally dislike tours. After realizing that we could jump the line if we joined a tour, we reconsidered. After paying extra 8 euros, we went to the designated “waiting” area for the hecklers to coerce enough people to join us to make a full group. We were pretty confident that Mike could catch and subsequently tackle the woman who sold us tickets if she tried to pull anything, so personally, I wasn’t too worried. After making friends with the elderly British couple next to us, we found ourselves being herded towards a man holding up a book about Rome. Great, I thought. 8 Euro for story time from a book for tourists. How wrong I was! Our tour guide was both hilarious and knowledgeable!

Highlights:

“A soda company was willing to pay for all of the renovations for the Coliseum if the government would let them put up a huge (youuuuge) sign up while they were done. They didn’t approve it because they didn’t want it to become the Coca-Colaseum.”

SPEAKING OF HUGE, he says it like meeeee! Maybe it’s the Italian in me? Or maybe I just sound like English is my second language? (In Kindergarten, my mom was asked if this was the case. Forealsies.)

“The doors were smaller because the Italians were smaller…just in the legs, though. Just. In. The. Legs.”

We got to take pictures with the “roman soldiers” fo’ free! Eric nearly lost his head over it! 

I feel like he should be a little more worried, don't you?
Also: Perry and Mike match. 

Conclusion: Learning is fun! If you’re ever in Rome, FIND THIS GUY! (Stefano, I think?) I have his info but don’t feel like looking for it, so you’ll have to take the initiative and ask me. Do it, though. So worth it. 

Interactive learning is the best type of learning.

Rather than continuing the tour of the Roman Forum, we decided to go get lunch (and gelato, obvi) and do it ourselves after. We got pizza and it was delicious. So, so, so delicious. The gelato wasn’t as good as Old Bridge, but I would definitely have more of it every day of my life.

The Roman Forum was great, especially since we ran into Katherine and Robyn, the keeper of great wisdom. She was our official tour guide, teaching us all sorts of things we would have never known that I’ve mostly forgotten. There were some really expensive poles? Consult Robyn for further information.

Buy me these

            After the forum, we wanted to sit. We found the most beautiful fruit stand ever, and sat on the curb next to it. We then walked over to what’s apparently nicknamed the “Wedding Cake.” I guess I could see why. Anywhoo, after running into the other team (I guess Rome’s not that big of a city and there are only so many sites to hit), we caught another “free” bus back to our side of town! Erin and I checked out Perry and Mike’s hostel (it was > our hostel, but more more $, so whate’er), and then met up with everyone for dinner. I got something delicious – gnocchi, I believe, and enjoyed every last bite of it…and then we went to go get gelato? Don’t you judge me. Cheap and delicious – and I’d even ran that morning. Perfect. So we walked back to get a good night’s sleep – we needed to be up early to catch our train to Florence the next morning!

            We got up right on time (the girls with whom we shared our room were still not back from the night before…perhaps they were camping out in front of a kebab place so they’d be able to get the first ‘dank’ sandwiches of the day?) and headed to the station. We got deeeeeelicious pastries for breakfast from the train station and found our way to our train and subsequently our seats.

            Turns out, we were ridin’ Harry Potter style! For those of you who are not aware of what the trains to Hogwarts look like (aka no one), they have compartment cars! Of course, our immediate instinct was to worry that something like this was going to happen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_KACgT-ZD0. (I hope you’ve all seen Eurotrip.) We did have some sing-a-longs (Sara’s got some hip tunes on her ipod), and when we came out of a dark tunnel Perry was standing in the middle of the compartment, but luckily, things never got to the level of that clip. We took up the whole car so we were able to be as loud and obnoxious as we pleased! We even played some games. Things we learned: Big-booty is a lot harder (and less inappropriate) than one would think, Sara is incapable of playing zoo, and yet very good with movie titles? Syd, Sara, Mike, Perry, Erin, and I arrived in Florence by noon!

            We found our way to our hostel (via “free” bus obvi) and were so, so, so excited when we got there! It was basically the size of a small apartment. There were two rooms and we were the only ones there. Jonathon, the owner, gave us wine and a map of Florence on which he highlighted all of the must-see sights! It was really well-kept and such a pleasant surprise. It’s called the Dany House and it’s amazing. 

Obvi, we needed a picture with Jonathon, the owner.

It was particularly exciting to be in Florence because we know people studying there! Nichols is doing Duke in Florence, and Julie is doing NYU in Florence. Lindsay (from home!!!) is doing …Wesleyan in Bologna? The name is unclear, but pretty irrelevant. The point is that she took a train up to Florence to see me!! Yay! Her train got in slightly after mine so we met her for lunch in the central market area! It was an incredible collision of college and high school and Europe and pasta. Such a good combination. I got a spinach and cheese filled ravioli that is literally making my mouth water just thinking about it. SO delicious. After lunch, we met up with Nichols in front of the Duomo! So many reunions!

Reunited, and it feels so good.

Obviously, our next move was to get gelato. Luckily, Anne is my official life planner; this means I had a copy of all of the recommendations her sister made for places to go in Florence, including the best gelato EVER. Now, there is a general consensus that the best gelato in the world is in Italy. Apparently, within Italy there’s a consensus that the best gelato is in Florence. Within Florence, there’s a consensus that the best gelato is at Vivoli. By the transitive property (ah! My favorite property!) we had the best gelato in the world. IT WAS AMAZING! I cannot even express to you how happy I was in that moment when I took my first bite. (I’m so glad I’m not studying in Italy. I would actually be obese.)

            Anyway, after enjoying my gelato, we headed back to the Duomo because we had a date to meet Anne, Margo, and Aubrey, who were leaving Florence that night! We were hoping to climb the Duomo together but unfortunately it was closed. We still got to catch up (not seeing each other for 48 hours or so is way too long), which was good. They dropped us of at the Academia and headed to Milan! Why at the Academia? To see the David, of course! Personally, I wasn’t expecting too much, but you know, I figured it was something I should do. Once inside though, I was actually blown away. The immensity of this thing is unbelievable. The attention to detail is unbelievable. Clearly, if I were to pick a word to describe the David…? Unbelievable. I feel like the craftsmanship is most obvious in the hands – they’re so detailed you could see the veins! My favorite part of the David was the abdominal region because that man has a beautiful stomach. Nice arms, too. I guess it makes sense that the man who beat Goliath would be someone who worked out a lot…I obviously took an illegal picture to cherish forever.

Do you work out?

            After the David, we had even more reuniting to do! We met Julie on Ponte Vecchio, the famous and beautiful bridge overlooking a river. Her apartment is pretty close by. After our hugs, we split up for a bit and planned to meet back up later. We Madrid kids (+ our Bologna friend!) wanted to climb to the Piazza Michelangelo which promised breathtaking views of the city. Well, we got our breath taken away pretty early on during our trek to the top. We lost track of Perry, Mike, and Erin nearly at the bottom of the long stairway because they’re all big falkers (fast walkers, duh. Why? What’d you think I meant?) Eventually, us slowpokes made it to the top and rejoined them. We took in the views and took some photos. While Sydney and I were taking some shots on the lower piazza, an old man came up to us and gestured that he wanted us to take a picture for him. Obviously we agreed being the polite girls we are. TURNS OUT, he actually wanted a picture with us? We think it was because Sydney was Asian since he asked a random Korean man to join us when I asked the person taking the picture to take one with my camera too (I’m all about making new friends.)

I thought I had a pic with our new friend, but I don't...you'll have to settle
for this terrible view instead. Deal with it.

            After the piazza, we met up with Julie and Nichols again for dinner. We went to a place called Dante, which is popular with the NYU kids in Florence, possibly because they offer free wine to said students. I was a fan. Free things are my favorite type of things. Margo had recommended we try the “Wild Boar Sauce.” I was at a loss for what I wanted, and since I aspire to be wild(ish), I went for it. Mike and I actually split that and some ravioli. Do I even need to say it was delicious? I don’t, right? Do I even need to say that we went to go get gelato after? No? Great. Glad we’ve all got the routine down by now. Unfortunately, Lindsay had to head back to Bologna, but it was SO exciting to see her! (Check out her account of our reunion on her blog, http://lindsayinitalia.blogspot.com – she’s unsurprisingly a lot less verbose than I am and can give you a true Italian perspective on our adventures!)

            We returned to our beautiful hostel for a little R&R. Sara, Syd, Mike, and Perry had to leave early the next morning, leaving Erin and me to explore the city ourselves! We took full advantage of the day and got a pretty early start. After eating more Nutella than one person should reasonably be able to consume (as provided by our hostel), we headed out. Our first mission was to climb the Duomo! On our way, we hopped into a random little church, mostly because we could. It’s incredible that every building we stepped into on this trip was beautiful to the point of disbelief. I didn’t think that I could be awed by a random church on the side of the road but I was clearly wrong. A beautiful church is yet to not give me chills.

            We arrived at our destination and finagled our way in, making sure we were ahead of an annoying tour group. One could really feel the immensity of the building once inside. I know I’m short, but I think anyone who steps into this building and looks up would be a little taken aback. There’s a creepy mural on the top of the Final Judgment that I really liked. We figured out where to go to climb and jumped on line (or “in line” as you non-LIers like to point out.) The wait wasn’t too bad and 100% worth it. The stairs were innumerable (or at least >450), and at the end nearly insurmountable (had to have been an 89 degree angle), but the view was incredible, and that’s an understatement. We were high up. At this point I could safely say I’ve seen Florence from nearly every angle. 

            The climb down was much less fun, but the payoff was still pretty exciting – we figured we had earned our lunch. We found a great special (who doesn’t love a good deal?) and for just 9 euro we got wine, salad, and a main dish! I got lasagna because I hadn’t had it yet. Was it delicious? Of course. Was I tired of pasta yet? Of course not. We were rejuvenated and ready to see more sights! We tried to go to the Uffizi (a famous art museum) but it was closed. A pity, but I guess it leaves me something to do next time, right? We then found ourselves meandering and in search of cool things. We found some – CANOLIS! Although they’re a Sicilian specialty, I’d say the Florentines had them down pretty well. I love a good canoli and Erin had never had one! Glad she’s been initiated.

            The weather was starting to get iffy (don’t worry – Jonathon gave us umbrellas!) so we headed to the Santa Maria Novella Church to sit inside for awhile. After getting in and taking an illegal picture we just enjoyed the beauty around us and reflected on our trip. 

After fully exploring the church, we headed to the train station. Nichols is doing Duke In Florence – the program all lives together in a 15^th century castle-type thing in Sesto, just outside of the city. We actually bought a ticket this time (although I lost mine and didn’t end up needing it), and met her there. It was so fun and so beautiful!!! It was a neat set up since they all live together. They also have a chef who personally cooks them delicious Italian meals. Now, I know Angeles and Emilio are conspiring to get me and Erin fat, but if they were offering me Italian food every night, they would probably be more successful. 

What's cuter? The garden or these two!

We hung out there for a bit, and then headed back into Florence to meet Julie for dinner! Unfortunately the place she wanted to take us was closed, but luckily, a place right nearby was open and delicious! I’m pretty sure I just went for spaghetti and marinara because I hadn’t had that yet, but weirdly enough, I’m not 100% sure. It was delicious and wonderful to catch up with Julie! (She and Nichols are actually in Madrid right now for the weekend so we’ll get to see them again! Exciting!) We headed back to the hostel to find ourselves being offered free wine (I seriously love this hostel). We also bonded with the other people staying there. (We were all obviously at Oktoberfest.) We went to bed early because we are perpetually sleep deprived in Europe, and we had to get up early to head back to Rome and catch our flight. EXCEPT. Our train to Rome was super late, so we could’ve slept later. It wouldn’t have been so sad except that: 1. it was really cold, and 2. I had to blow my nose really badly which, as I hope you haven’t had to find out, is a terrible, terrible feeling.

Once we finally arrived, we obviously headed out to lunch. We wanted to go back to the place we had dinner the first night because it was beyond delicious. We trekked all the way across the city with our 15-20 pound backpacks only to find it was closed! Seriously, it was tragic. We were kind of consoled by the place next door that served a delicious pizza and some good wine (love me some lunch wine), but there’s still a pang of sadness in my heart. We got some gelato after which was almost delicious. We each picked one flavor that just wasn’t up to par. It was triste (sad) because it was our last delicious Italian experience. (Somehow, we persevered.)

Before leaving, we needed to hit all of the sights we missed, aka the Pantheon. It was pretty cool. Then we walked to the Trevi Fountain and sat for awhile (my neck and shoulders were struggling), and then headed back to the train station. 

We got on our bus which took us to the airport where we sat FOREVER because our flight was delayed. Curse you, RyanAir! To give you some perspective on our wait time: we spent our time playing this game that’s supposed to be about people. We played it for so long that it ended up being about inanimate objects. (Creativity is important in times of desperation.) We finally made it back to Madrid and were unsure as to whether or not the metro would be running long enough to make it all the way back to our beloved Puerta del Angel. Luckily, we were successful. We got home sweet home, dropped our heavy loads, and passed out. I had a Striacciatella flavored dream of everything we’d done and seen. With the help of knowledgeable friends, we had conquered Italy with the enthusiasm of the greatest of tourists – upon our return my only hope was that such knowledge would extend far enough to conquer our next greatest challenge: midterms. 

Midterm week - yes, we occasionally have work!

I think Ruben Studdard can explain what I'm feeling about not updating lately better than I can:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmiiUqeKwnI


It's a wonder that man's career didn't take off...

Promise, as soon as I get my act together you'll be able to hear ALLLLLLLLLL about Italy.

(Teaser: We saw and did lots of exciting things!)

Weekly Highlights

Erin and I have a talent for not getting ourselves together until mere hours before leaving the country. Clearly now is an appropriate time to start packing for Italy. Perfect.

Regardless, onto the highlights (I´m into lists lately, so let it happen):

1. Meeting with Marta! I officially have a Spanish friend. My intercambio, Marta, is so cool. She was clearly very fashionable (a fact which I forgot to take into account when planning my outfit Monday morning), and very kind. We went to a cafe and hung out. We talked about how she worked in Ohio over the summer (unclear as to what she did exactly. I thought that she said she worked at Cedar Point, but this seems highly unlikely and fairly random, no?) We spoke in Spanish (I guess we´ll do English next week?) and I understood most of what she said, and she called me out when I didn´t. I liked that. ("You know what blank means?" "Yea!" "Really??" "...no.") We ended our conversation with her suggesting I facebook friend her, and you know that if it´s on facebook, it´s legit.

2. Emilio takes the role of entertaining host parent for the week!
"Women always talk about how great they all look when they´re together, but as soon as they´re alone they talk about how fat and ugly the others are."
"Basketball...it´s for girls. I like bulls and football (soccer). They´re a lot tougher."
"I want to ask you guys a question and it´s okay if you don´t want to answer it. You don´t have to answer....did you guys know each other before you got to Spain?" (we assured him that this was, in fact, an appropriate question.)

3. We suddenly have work to do?

4. Erin´s friend Sony and her roommate Nikki come to visit! Erin and I eat out for the first time in Madrid. Obviously, we order melon for dessert....and then we get churros con chocolate for dessert numero dos. We go to the cave bar! People do in fact drink from the ceiling. Unfortunately, we are not that cool. We start to see the city from an above ground view. It is surprisingly walkable. We realize we should start walking around more because cool things are very close to us.

5. This is by far the least interesting blogpost evahhh, BUT WE´RE GOING TO ITALY TOMORROWWWWWW! Erin wrote a song about it. It goes: Erin´s going to italyyyy, Nicole´s going to italyyyy, we´re all going to italyyyy, and it´s gunna be really fun. (feel free to make up your own tune, or better yet, ask for a performance next time you hear from Erin). VIVA ITALIAAAAA!

Barcelona isn’t at all what Cheetah Girls 2 made it out to be…

            While I haven’t personally seen Cheetah Girls 2, I have no doubts that Sara’s sentiments about Barcelona were largely the norm in our group. It had been talked up as though it was the best place in Spain, if not Europe, and frankly, that’s just not the case. That’s not to say that we didn’t have a good time – it’s merely to say that Madrid > Barcelona. We have a busy evening ahead of us, so I’ll try my best to be brief. (You know me – brevity’s my middle name!)

Things that were cool in Barcelona:

1. The Mountain of the Jews (Monjuic) – I love the Jews and I love these views:

2. Gaudí – He is the father of modern architecture and basically created all of the structures we went to visit in Barcelona.

 a. The Sagrada Familia – By far my favorite church we have visited thus far. Gaudí believed that in the coming years, people would lose their faith and very few would actually enter into churches – because of this, he “wrote the bible in stone” around the outside on the building. He believed in nature moreso than mathematics (although the two go hand in hand, no?), so nature was where he looked to design his buildings. He used the “natural arc,” or the arc between our legs which support us to support his buildings. He also made a model of his building upside-down, using a series of strings and weights. The inside of the church is made so as to look like a forest – I love this guy. It has been in a constant state of construction for more than 40 years and doesn’t look as though it’s going to be ready too soon. Unfortunately, Gaudí died an early death in an unfortunate tram accident (really? He got hit by a tram?) so has not seen all of his work carried out. How ironic – a man ahead of his time getting killed by a piece of modern technology. At least it earned him a place of honor at Jesus’ right hand in a sculpture on the wall which was completed after his death. I’d take it.

Flip this bad boy over and you'll have the structure of the church!

b. Casa Batlló and Milá –Saint George is the patron saint of Barcelona, and since he was into fighting dragons and whatnot, Batlló is supported by what looks like bones and the balconies are made to look like mouths so as to pay homage to his hard work. (Fighting dragons take a lot out of you…like a leg or two.) Milá – lots of stairs but worth it, as always. Very cool and confusing roof.

Do you get the dragon vibes?

Worth excessive amounts of stairs?

c. Parque Guell – Cool dragon, cool plaza, cool music, cool Hansel and Gretel candy house (or something.)

3. Sardana – You know I love any opportunity I have to dance. Every Sunday at noon, in front of the Barcelona chapel, the masses gather to participate in a big, group circle dance called la Sardana. I tried to jump into a pre-formed circle, but was glared at by old people so backed off. Margo, Anne, Perry, Robyn, and I did manage to make it into one as it was forming though, and thanks to the help of the old man next to me (“try be a little more…smooth”), I think I eventually got the hang of it.

4. Las Ramblas – The superwide (40m!) streets have a large sidewalk in the middle which is lined all the way down with vendors selling art, flowers, and…canaries? I could dig it.

5. ¿Qué Pasta? – Awesome restaurant because: Spanish puns are funny; pasta is delicious; we’re preparing our bodies for Italy?

6. Perry’s 21^st Birthday! – A delicious dinner (best. croquettas. ever.)  A Harry Potter shot (most interesting bar ever? – over 100 shots…Perry tried two of each. Just kidding – we’re clearly too cheap for that.) A group of people I’m obsessed with. What’s missing? A McFuffin, but they don’t have them here. I tried.

Oh, you know. Just making some new friends.

7. Somehow snagging first-class train tickets in a nearly empty car on the way home – We’re clearly the favorite students.

8. Beach – Self-explanatory.

Things that were not so cool in Barcelona:

1. Hostel location – Right next to hookers and drug dealers? People getting offered cocaine? Having to go illegally down a one-way street in the cab on the way home because the police were writing up tickets for said drug dealers/hookers?

2. Not safe – everyone who says Madrid is less safe is a dirty, dirty liar. Number of people robbed in Madrid over the course of a month: 0, Number of people robbed in Andalucia in 6 days: 0, Number of people robbed in Galicia in 5 days: 0, Number of people robbed in Munich (AT OKTOBERFEST!) in 3 days: 0, Number of people robbed in Barcelona in 3 days: 3. (Madrid > Barcelona)

So, the next time you find yourself watching the Disney channel (be honest – you’re probably already watching), if Cheetah Girls 2 comes on, be warned: Barcelona isn’t all it’s cracked up to be (although it definitely has crack.)