I arrived in Copenhagen at 9AM on Wednesday exhausted from my crazy week in Poland, and also a bit sad to be leaving because I had had such an amazing experience, and I felt like there was so much more fun to be had with Gosia.
Prior to leaving Warsaw, I knew only that Emily was in Copenhagen for the day, and she was to leave on Thursday for a Scandanavian adventure, over which I was excited for her, but caused me stress for my own situation. I got in touch with our friend-from-the-Rome-hostel, Andrew, but he too was leaving for a weekend in Sweden, so it looked as if I would be on my own for the majority of my stay in Denmark.
After having a shower in a public bath (yay!) I headed up to Emily's campus to meet her for lunch. It was a nice time, cool school, cool people, etc. I then met up with Andrew for a bit, and when Em was done with classes, we walked along the Stroget (the largest pedestrian walkway in the world, and incidentally also the most commercial). Although Emily offered me her floor for the first night, I secured a hostel called "Sleep-in Green" near the center city, a vegetarian, eco-friendly place. I felt sure I would meet interesting people there.
Emily left for Sweden early the following day, so I showed up to the Sleep-in Green at around 7AM in the morning. I dropped off my stuff, had a yogurt, and took a morning walk up to the famous "Little Mermaid" statue in the spuradic Copenhagen rain. When I finally arrived, I found the crowd of tourists to be a much more impressive spectacle than the statue itself: a very small, naked half woman/half fish sitting on a tiny rock in the canal. Well worth the walk, I thought to myself.
By the time I returned to the hostel, it was lock-out time and I was rudly kicked out. I called Andrew from a nearby payphone, and we met up for the rest of the day, wandering down to Christania, a freetown outside of city center that was taken over about 30 years ago by squatters, and had fought hard to stay independent of the rest of Copenhagen. We walked into the town through alleys surrounded by beautiful, massive graffit-ied walls. Men stood in the middle of the street selling hash and weed, while gleeful tourists smoked huge blunts outside at the tables of nearby restuarants... truly a remarkable place. Plenty of music, weed, cheap drinks/food, free roaming dogs and friendly people. Apparently, all the money earned from the food establishments goes towards paying for the utilities of the communal residences, in which none of the inhabitants have to pay for rent. A socialist dreamworld, really.
The following day Andrew left for Sweden and I was officially on my own. I dodged out of the hostel early, avoiding an awkward Phillipino boy named Matthew slightly resembling Golum that I had met the night before. The day was good, I took a canal tour, went to the National Museum, ate some Danishes on the Stroget, and climbed another tower overlooking the old town.
That night, after some random intoductions, I tagged along to a night club with a group of four Italian boys from Torino named Gabriel, Roberto, and Faaabio, two girls from Indiana, Kate and Ana, and of course, Matt aka Golum the Phillipino boy. The night started off fun, but was highlighted with the romance that was inevitably struck between myself and the Italian Fabio. He insisted on paying for everything (every drink, every cover, every taxi), opened each and every door, refused to walk in front of me ever and asked me politely what I'd like to do before we moved anywhere. While normally I find this type of male mating behavior completely and totally obnoxious, this time, he had me entirely in a trance. For the few drunken hours I spent with Fabio, I was actively entertaining fantasies of marriage and Tuscan Villas and an Italian happily ever after. He didn't speak much English, but it wasn't much of a problem for me in the least. When he left for Helsinki at when we returned from the club, I wholeheartedly wanted to follow, but luckily stayed in Copenhagen dreaming about what could have been had I run off with my Italian lover. Le sigh. Some things just weren't meant to be I suppose.
The last day of my Copenhagen adventure was not nearly as exciting. Being half hung-over from the night before, the four of us remaining sat in a park for the day playing card games. We ate cheap falafel, napped and went to Christania for the evening.
I left Copenhagen the following day feeling more than ready to come to London. Although I loved almost everything about the city, traveling alone is just not quite as fulfilling.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Lulu does Poland, part 3
The last day of Poland deserves this entire post... SO much craziness.
Again, going to bed we intended to wake up for the 630AM train to Krakow and then an early bus on to Aushwitz. So naturally, we made the 730AM train that wouldn't arrive in Krakow until 3PM, which turned into 4PM. After cramming on a small bus, we arrived at the site of the Nazi camp at around 6PM. Visiting the camp was... eerie and saddening and moving and also very very very wet.
We lingered until 730PM, just long enough to miss the last bus back to Krakow. A nice Polish driver on a coach bus parked nearby offered us shelter until his tour group returned... a group of genius American high school students on a tour of Eastern Europe. He told us stories of his mother, who had been put in the Nazi camp down the road from Aushwitz. So moving and so very very real. Apparently her task had been to separate the belongings of those going to the gas chambers... shoes in one pile, hair in another, etc... although her son couldn't be sure because she refused to speak about the experience until the day she passed away.
The American group returned, and I waved enthusiastically at them, hoping they might be slightly interested in taking to an American... I was wrong. "Listen girls," the leader said, "I would love to offer you a ride, but the policy of the group is really strict, sorry!" And off they drove, leaving Gosia and I in the pouring rain with a 9090990909 Kg back pack to hitchhike back to Krakow... a mode of travel I would never dream of doing in America, but something Gosia has become a seasoned pro at over the past 4 years.
Luckily, we found the road that leads back to Krakow and Gosia was able to flag down a truck driver and sweet talk him into bringing us to a town a little closer to our destination. I entertained the driver with my squirell conversation, and after a very awkward ride, we were left again in the pouring rain, this time at a gas station where eventually a kind man on his way to the airport gave us a lift. "Jestum Meewaa" I told the man, after which they both burst out laughing... apparently I told the man "you are nice girl!" Whoops... :)
One more short lift to the train station and we we arrived 14 minutes before our train, soaked to the bone and exhausted from running around and traveling all day. I got on the plane to Copenhagen, and although in the same hygenic state I had arrived in Poland 6 days earlier, I was so blown away by my experience. 4 years is a long, long time, but when all was said and done, it felt like 4 days. I can't wait to visit again!
Gosia sends her love to everyone in AP, and says she's sorry not to be able to visit this summer!
The End! phew....
Again, going to bed we intended to wake up for the 630AM train to Krakow and then an early bus on to Aushwitz. So naturally, we made the 730AM train that wouldn't arrive in Krakow until 3PM, which turned into 4PM. After cramming on a small bus, we arrived at the site of the Nazi camp at around 6PM. Visiting the camp was... eerie and saddening and moving and also very very very wet.
We lingered until 730PM, just long enough to miss the last bus back to Krakow. A nice Polish driver on a coach bus parked nearby offered us shelter until his tour group returned... a group of genius American high school students on a tour of Eastern Europe. He told us stories of his mother, who had been put in the Nazi camp down the road from Aushwitz. So moving and so very very real. Apparently her task had been to separate the belongings of those going to the gas chambers... shoes in one pile, hair in another, etc... although her son couldn't be sure because she refused to speak about the experience until the day she passed away.
The American group returned, and I waved enthusiastically at them, hoping they might be slightly interested in taking to an American... I was wrong. "Listen girls," the leader said, "I would love to offer you a ride, but the policy of the group is really strict, sorry!" And off they drove, leaving Gosia and I in the pouring rain with a 9090990909 Kg back pack to hitchhike back to Krakow... a mode of travel I would never dream of doing in America, but something Gosia has become a seasoned pro at over the past 4 years.
Luckily, we found the road that leads back to Krakow and Gosia was able to flag down a truck driver and sweet talk him into bringing us to a town a little closer to our destination. I entertained the driver with my squirell conversation, and after a very awkward ride, we were left again in the pouring rain, this time at a gas station where eventually a kind man on his way to the airport gave us a lift. "Jestum Meewaa" I told the man, after which they both burst out laughing... apparently I told the man "you are nice girl!" Whoops... :)
One more short lift to the train station and we we arrived 14 minutes before our train, soaked to the bone and exhausted from running around and traveling all day. I got on the plane to Copenhagen, and although in the same hygenic state I had arrived in Poland 6 days earlier, I was so blown away by my experience. 4 years is a long, long time, but when all was said and done, it felt like 4 days. I can't wait to visit again!
Gosia sends her love to everyone in AP, and says she's sorry not to be able to visit this summer!
The End! phew....
Lulu does Poland, part 2
The wedding reception stretched into the wee hours of the morning, with many of the guests lingering around the dance floor. At one point the best man scooped me up and swung me around, while I watch the drunken "beetle's blood" boy swing Gosia around like a rag doll.
After finally going to bed at 7AM, I awoke in the cozy Polish farm home place designated for those in the wedding and their company. I strolled down to the restuarant area for breakfast, in a amazingly mismatched outfit (Gosia had packed for me while I was at the museum) passing dozens of puppies, chickens, bunnies and horses on the way. We helped them to clean up, bring their presents to their flat, then the father of the bride took us speeding through Warsaw streets back to Gosia's flat where immediately passed out.
The next morning, we planned to take a 7AM train to Pulawy (pronounced Poo-ava), where Gosia grew up. So, naturally, we caught the 10AM train, running all the way there with my 70000 Kg backpack. After taking me to her new and beautiful home, stuffing me with fresh vegetables from her Grandparent's farm, she took me to the cutest village ever, where apparently the first King of Poland resided in what is now a huge pile of rocks. Passing bakeries, waffle shops and eateries, it seemed as if we ducked into every place, Gosia grabbing tons of Polish treats for me to try. After sitting by a church and chatting for what seemed like hours, we headed back to her parent's house, where I was able to practice the Polish Gosia had taught me on the train.
Then we headed over to her grandparent's house, the cutest little Polish village EVER. Her grandfather keeps bees that fly very freely around their yard, and her grandmother keeps a really intense vegetable garden. I entered their home, and her grandmother, without hesitation, put plates and plates of food and tea in front of me, instructing Gosia to translate commands to try this honey and that soup, and to tell her what the weather was like in New York. The fact that I did not speak Polish was irrelavant to her, as she spoke directly to me as if she expected a response. Cutest woman ever.
Gosia was such a good teacher that my ability to speak Polish is far expanded from simply "the squirell on the chair likes cheese". I am now able to hold a fairly basic Polish conversation about squirells and what they do and do not like to eat. I can also say yes, no, thank you, hello, and nice to meet you my name is marilu... however, these did not seem as impressive to Gosia's parents or grandparents as my squirell phrases.
Later that evening we sat over Gosia's shoebox full of memoirs from her year in America, looked through pictures and notebooks, etc. So many years have gone by, and we're both so much more grown up.
Watching Gosia speaking with her parents and friends was a bit like watching a fish in water. I kept thinking to myself how weird it was to hear her speaking this way, like she's had this secret life on the side of her english-speaking American year with us. It felt so weird, but also so beautiful.
(Side note, ignore the typos, I don't have time to go over this and I'm on a Danish keyboard... see----> æøåæøåæøåæøæåæø)
After finally going to bed at 7AM, I awoke in the cozy Polish farm home place designated for those in the wedding and their company. I strolled down to the restuarant area for breakfast, in a amazingly mismatched outfit (Gosia had packed for me while I was at the museum) passing dozens of puppies, chickens, bunnies and horses on the way. We helped them to clean up, bring their presents to their flat, then the father of the bride took us speeding through Warsaw streets back to Gosia's flat where immediately passed out.
The next morning, we planned to take a 7AM train to Pulawy (pronounced Poo-ava), where Gosia grew up. So, naturally, we caught the 10AM train, running all the way there with my 70000 Kg backpack. After taking me to her new and beautiful home, stuffing me with fresh vegetables from her Grandparent's farm, she took me to the cutest village ever, where apparently the first King of Poland resided in what is now a huge pile of rocks. Passing bakeries, waffle shops and eateries, it seemed as if we ducked into every place, Gosia grabbing tons of Polish treats for me to try. After sitting by a church and chatting for what seemed like hours, we headed back to her parent's house, where I was able to practice the Polish Gosia had taught me on the train.
Then we headed over to her grandparent's house, the cutest little Polish village EVER. Her grandfather keeps bees that fly very freely around their yard, and her grandmother keeps a really intense vegetable garden. I entered their home, and her grandmother, without hesitation, put plates and plates of food and tea in front of me, instructing Gosia to translate commands to try this honey and that soup, and to tell her what the weather was like in New York. The fact that I did not speak Polish was irrelavant to her, as she spoke directly to me as if she expected a response. Cutest woman ever.
Gosia was such a good teacher that my ability to speak Polish is far expanded from simply "the squirell on the chair likes cheese". I am now able to hold a fairly basic Polish conversation about squirells and what they do and do not like to eat. I can also say yes, no, thank you, hello, and nice to meet you my name is marilu... however, these did not seem as impressive to Gosia's parents or grandparents as my squirell phrases.
Later that evening we sat over Gosia's shoebox full of memoirs from her year in America, looked through pictures and notebooks, etc. So many years have gone by, and we're both so much more grown up.
Watching Gosia speaking with her parents and friends was a bit like watching a fish in water. I kept thinking to myself how weird it was to hear her speaking this way, like she's had this secret life on the side of her english-speaking American year with us. It felt so weird, but also so beautiful.
(Side note, ignore the typos, I don't have time to go over this and I'm on a Danish keyboard... see----> æøåæøåæøåæøæåæø)
Lulu does Poland, first installment
So this is my first blog, and although the formal backpacking superstars portion of europe is over, I feel obligated to document my week of Polish insanity.
So after leaving Joe, Kris and Inbal at the Madrid airport, waiting around and sleeping awkwardly in uncomfortable airport chairs for hours and hours on end, I arrived in Warsaw at around 7PM. Walking to passport control, I felt excited to be embarking on what I thought I would be completely surrounded by a foriegn language and culture. Looking down at my feet, when I saw the words "Please don't step beyond this line" I knew I was wrong... almost everyone in Poland speaks English, too.
I grabbed my pack from the baggage belt and no sooner had I walked through the sliding glass doors of the arrival's gate, when I saw Gosia bouncing and barreling through the crowd to attach me with a hug. She grabbed my pack from me and began running towards the bus, me trailing behind Gosia with a 16Kg backpack, an activity that would occupy the rest of my Polish trip.
After at riding on at least 4 buses, Gosia and I arrived at her brother's flat, in which she had been squatting for weeks. Walking in the door, desheveled from not having showered in 48 hours, I found myself in the middle of a Polish flat party. Gosia fussed over me, introducing me to everyone in the room, and although I couldn't remember people's names and we all had mutual pronunciation problems, they were extra sweet to me.
After showering, Gosia plopped me down next to two of her good friends who were excited to practice their English with me. We had such pleasant conversations when Gosia poked me and said "look around"... everyone at the Polish party was starring at us quite awkwardly, and I was later informed by Gosia that it was because they found me "exotic"... Then the drinking started, and I was soon forgotten about long enough to slip out of the house with Gosia for a drive around Warsaw at night.... so beautiful!!
The next day was full of sleeping for me, while Gosia prepared for the wedding of a close friend. In her email, she told me she had to "witness" this wedding, so I assumed it would be a simple ceremony at a city building... however, it turned out that she simply forgot the correct translation of "maid of honor". After I realized this, I knew I was in for a crazy experience.
Not fully realizing what exactly was going to happen, the day of the wedding Gosia was so busy that she sent me off with a two of her friends, designating them as my babysitters, Tomok and Hung. They were super sweet and took me to a museum, on a walk of Warsaw and then finally, to the wedding; a traditional Catholic Polish wedding in a gorgeous Cathedral in Old Town Warsaw... it was breath taking, except for the fact that I couldn't understand anything that was going on, but I had Hung with me, and when she lacked the words to describe to me where we had to go and why, she just grabbed me by the hand and led me there.
The ceremony was beautiful, but I was relieved when it ended thinking "ok, now Im off the hook, I can just sit back, eat and watch Polish people party"... then at the reception, Hung grabbed my hand and led me to the spot two seats away from the bride and groom who I had never met before, but who turned out to be so very welcoming.
"You're the States girl? The American friend of Gosia?" The groom asked me. "You drink...." he said. "Yes, I drink," I said, taking a spit of my champange." "No, not a question... You Drink!" He responded, and the whole table laughed in my direction, and then poured me multiple shots of Vodka and an unidentified Polish liquor that one man kept insisting was "Beetle's blood, traditional Polish beetle's blood". For the rest of the evening, I felt like Ian's mother in My Big Fat Greek wedding... and then we danced, drank and ate tons of delicious food until 7AM the following day.
Stay tuned for the rest of the trip... :) (I miss you guys)
So after leaving Joe, Kris and Inbal at the Madrid airport, waiting around and sleeping awkwardly in uncomfortable airport chairs for hours and hours on end, I arrived in Warsaw at around 7PM. Walking to passport control, I felt excited to be embarking on what I thought I would be completely surrounded by a foriegn language and culture. Looking down at my feet, when I saw the words "Please don't step beyond this line" I knew I was wrong... almost everyone in Poland speaks English, too.
I grabbed my pack from the baggage belt and no sooner had I walked through the sliding glass doors of the arrival's gate, when I saw Gosia bouncing and barreling through the crowd to attach me with a hug. She grabbed my pack from me and began running towards the bus, me trailing behind Gosia with a 16Kg backpack, an activity that would occupy the rest of my Polish trip.
After at riding on at least 4 buses, Gosia and I arrived at her brother's flat, in which she had been squatting for weeks. Walking in the door, desheveled from not having showered in 48 hours, I found myself in the middle of a Polish flat party. Gosia fussed over me, introducing me to everyone in the room, and although I couldn't remember people's names and we all had mutual pronunciation problems, they were extra sweet to me.
After showering, Gosia plopped me down next to two of her good friends who were excited to practice their English with me. We had such pleasant conversations when Gosia poked me and said "look around"... everyone at the Polish party was starring at us quite awkwardly, and I was later informed by Gosia that it was because they found me "exotic"... Then the drinking started, and I was soon forgotten about long enough to slip out of the house with Gosia for a drive around Warsaw at night.... so beautiful!!
The next day was full of sleeping for me, while Gosia prepared for the wedding of a close friend. In her email, she told me she had to "witness" this wedding, so I assumed it would be a simple ceremony at a city building... however, it turned out that she simply forgot the correct translation of "maid of honor". After I realized this, I knew I was in for a crazy experience.
Not fully realizing what exactly was going to happen, the day of the wedding Gosia was so busy that she sent me off with a two of her friends, designating them as my babysitters, Tomok and Hung. They were super sweet and took me to a museum, on a walk of Warsaw and then finally, to the wedding; a traditional Catholic Polish wedding in a gorgeous Cathedral in Old Town Warsaw... it was breath taking, except for the fact that I couldn't understand anything that was going on, but I had Hung with me, and when she lacked the words to describe to me where we had to go and why, she just grabbed me by the hand and led me there.
The ceremony was beautiful, but I was relieved when it ended thinking "ok, now Im off the hook, I can just sit back, eat and watch Polish people party"... then at the reception, Hung grabbed my hand and led me to the spot two seats away from the bride and groom who I had never met before, but who turned out to be so very welcoming.
"You're the States girl? The American friend of Gosia?" The groom asked me. "You drink...." he said. "Yes, I drink," I said, taking a spit of my champange." "No, not a question... You Drink!" He responded, and the whole table laughed in my direction, and then poured me multiple shots of Vodka and an unidentified Polish liquor that one man kept insisting was "Beetle's blood, traditional Polish beetle's blood". For the rest of the evening, I felt like Ian's mother in My Big Fat Greek wedding... and then we danced, drank and ate tons of delicious food until 7AM the following day.
Stay tuned for the rest of the trip... :) (I miss you guys)
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
LAST QUOTES?!
A few to leave you with:
(no context, out of the blue) I love schizophrenic people!
-Lulu, Madrid
If I were a serial killer in spain, this would be a perfect place to dispose of bodies
-Joe, Gaudi park, Barcelona
Those kids are just ASKING to be kidnapped! GET IN MY SUITCASE
-Joe, train station
Joe, in hotel room, with blanket over legs: I feel like FDR right now
(no context, out of the blue) I love schizophrenic people!
-Lulu, Madrid
If I were a serial killer in spain, this would be a perfect place to dispose of bodies
-Joe, Gaudi park, Barcelona
Those kids are just ASKING to be kidnapped! GET IN MY SUITCASE
-Joe, train station
Joe, in hotel room, with blanket over legs: I feel like FDR right now
MAD HOSTEL!!!!
The name of this hostel in madrid was not kidding...this place is freekin madness. The common room is continuously echoing at a decibel level of approximately 110, part in parcel to the dozens of drunken california people and loud, loud pop music (though I did just rock out to dreamlover by mariah carey and ironic by alanis morrisette in quick succession...how I heart the 90s!) Basically, this place isn´t really the ideal living situation...with me waking up on the lower bunk of a bed this morning with approximately 8 inches of room between mine and the next bunk wondering HOW AM I GOING TO GET UP?!?!?! But you know what? Spain is freekin sweet, so I suppose it makes up for it.
We´re in madrid now, and have been since late last night. Before that was barcelona and LET ME TELL YOU I AM IN LOVE WITH THAT CITY. Gaudi´s house and the surrounding park high above the city was pretty much the most gorgeous thing I´ve ever seen, even if I did have to climb approximately 98723254203 stairs to get there. There are actually escalators in the middle of the street all the way up there, but our group is FAR too hardcore for that. I raced Lulu, her on the escalator and I on the stairs, and she only beat me by about a quarter of a second. If I go to the gym now, I could get on the stairmaster and completely kick its ass.
Barcelona is amazing for many reasons. The beach, at which we spent 2 out of our 4 days, was lovely (despite consisting of a little more dirt than sand) and the water clear and beautiful, as it has been throughout our experiences on the mediterranean. There are so many freekin vendors heckling you, the scarf lady´s voice bearing a striking similarity to the yowl of a dying cat, but our favorite was certainly the donut man. Running and dancing around the beach with a tray stacked high with an AMAZING PYRAMID OF DONUTS, he sang songs to us and we fell in love because he was soooo darling! I will also let you guess as to who out of our group went topless on the beach...although it may or may not be a trick question. It´s so natural here...I only wish it was so socially accepted in the US, and wouldn´t cause such a stir! I saw so many boobs on this trip, I will never be surprised by a wardrobe malfunction as long as I live.
Barcelona is also amazing because of las ramblas, a happening street full of vendors and street performers. I can´t even describe how elaborate their costumes were, although there was a hulk hogan esque character dressed up like disco fever, complete with disco ball and lighting. Pictures will certainly be posted on facebook. Musicians abound throughout the city as well, especially jazz which I have been enjoying quite a bit. One night in our barcelona hostel, I was actually able to jam with some jazz musicians from cincinatti and it was sweeet ass! The people in our hostel were so great, we met plenty of great friends and went out to some craaaazy clubs until very early hours with them. All in all, we´re officially facebook friends with a whole host of new people, so I consider the trip a success.
By far, our favorite part of barcelona was the food market off of las ramblas. Joe promised to blog about it because he was OBSESSED...but I´m not kidding you kids, above all, it was one of the most amazing things I´ve seen on this trip. SO many booths with the most fresh food you´ve ever seen...fresh fruit juices and every fruit, veggie, meat, egg, cheese, pepper, spice, delicious organic dish you could EVER WANT. The sheer color of the food was astounding, and coming from a colorblind person you know it must have been gorgeous. If only they had such places in the US, for I have certainly never seen anything like it.
We will come back here someday (perhaps open a hostel like our hostel owner in barcelona, Fefe. Yes, his name was Fefe and he was ridiculous, please inquire for furthur stories about this delightful character), and we will be happy. I will be home in 2 days...madrid has been lovely with nice rowboating in the park and exploring the city. Tomorrow we go to toledo, and then 3 out of the 4 will come home, with Lulu continuing on to other adventures. I´m sad but...also relieved. Traveling is exhausting, but I´m so glad to have had this trip and learned so much..seen so much. I need to see more...someday I will make it happen. Thanks all of you who have been reading...and I´ll see you when I´m home!
Lovelovelove
Kris
We´re in madrid now, and have been since late last night. Before that was barcelona and LET ME TELL YOU I AM IN LOVE WITH THAT CITY. Gaudi´s house and the surrounding park high above the city was pretty much the most gorgeous thing I´ve ever seen, even if I did have to climb approximately 98723254203 stairs to get there. There are actually escalators in the middle of the street all the way up there, but our group is FAR too hardcore for that. I raced Lulu, her on the escalator and I on the stairs, and she only beat me by about a quarter of a second. If I go to the gym now, I could get on the stairmaster and completely kick its ass.
Barcelona is amazing for many reasons. The beach, at which we spent 2 out of our 4 days, was lovely (despite consisting of a little more dirt than sand) and the water clear and beautiful, as it has been throughout our experiences on the mediterranean. There are so many freekin vendors heckling you, the scarf lady´s voice bearing a striking similarity to the yowl of a dying cat, but our favorite was certainly the donut man. Running and dancing around the beach with a tray stacked high with an AMAZING PYRAMID OF DONUTS, he sang songs to us and we fell in love because he was soooo darling! I will also let you guess as to who out of our group went topless on the beach...although it may or may not be a trick question. It´s so natural here...I only wish it was so socially accepted in the US, and wouldn´t cause such a stir! I saw so many boobs on this trip, I will never be surprised by a wardrobe malfunction as long as I live.
Barcelona is also amazing because of las ramblas, a happening street full of vendors and street performers. I can´t even describe how elaborate their costumes were, although there was a hulk hogan esque character dressed up like disco fever, complete with disco ball and lighting. Pictures will certainly be posted on facebook. Musicians abound throughout the city as well, especially jazz which I have been enjoying quite a bit. One night in our barcelona hostel, I was actually able to jam with some jazz musicians from cincinatti and it was sweeet ass! The people in our hostel were so great, we met plenty of great friends and went out to some craaaazy clubs until very early hours with them. All in all, we´re officially facebook friends with a whole host of new people, so I consider the trip a success.
By far, our favorite part of barcelona was the food market off of las ramblas. Joe promised to blog about it because he was OBSESSED...but I´m not kidding you kids, above all, it was one of the most amazing things I´ve seen on this trip. SO many booths with the most fresh food you´ve ever seen...fresh fruit juices and every fruit, veggie, meat, egg, cheese, pepper, spice, delicious organic dish you could EVER WANT. The sheer color of the food was astounding, and coming from a colorblind person you know it must have been gorgeous. If only they had such places in the US, for I have certainly never seen anything like it.
We will come back here someday (perhaps open a hostel like our hostel owner in barcelona, Fefe. Yes, his name was Fefe and he was ridiculous, please inquire for furthur stories about this delightful character), and we will be happy. I will be home in 2 days...madrid has been lovely with nice rowboating in the park and exploring the city. Tomorrow we go to toledo, and then 3 out of the 4 will come home, with Lulu continuing on to other adventures. I´m sad but...also relieved. Traveling is exhausting, but I´m so glad to have had this trip and learned so much..seen so much. I need to see more...someday I will make it happen. Thanks all of you who have been reading...and I´ll see you when I´m home!
Lovelovelove
Kris
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Barcelona is FIGHTING!
Well, I guess I'll write something, since Joe and Kris are still sleeping, I think, and I don't even know where Marilu is.
So yeah. We are in Barcelona. I love Barcelona. To pick up from where Kris left off:
When we finally got to the hostel at 7:30 pm instead of in the morning, we checked in and took quick showers before going to meet Dan and Karen (see previous post). This hostel is a little bizarre. It's actually just fine, except that the staff here is extremely disorganized. I don't think they really know what's going on and which beds are available in which room at any given time. The main guy who works here is very stand off-ish and doesn't seem to want anything to do with the hostel guests. I think he actually lives here or something. Maybe.
Anyway, we met up with Dan and Karen and went out to eat dinner on La Rambla, which is one of the main avenues in Barcelona. There are tons of those people who do random weird outdoor acts on the street in La Rambla, similar to the pantomime statues in other cities but weirder and more creative. So, while eating some food, seated in the outdoor section of a restaurant (which we later found out costs more than sitting inside) we saw a clown that kept doing silly things to those passing by (ex. he would throw confetti at a couple walking ahead of him and sing here comes the bride). Unfortunately for the clown, he ended up picking the wrong man to incorporate into his act. Some old man with a crutch got really really offended when the clown went up to him (I don't even know what he did to him because I was sitting with my back to him, but maybe the others can fill you in later.) The old man started cursing the clown out ("Hijo de puta! Hijo de puta! Perro!") and threatening to call the police. The clow managed to flee, and then the man started cursing out those dining out there for laughing. The waiters and a couple of other men tried to get him to leave. He started screaming at the waiters and threatening one of the men with his crutch. The other man then took the crutch away from him, I suppose for his own safety. But the man just kept screaming at everyone for a really really long time. It was quite bizarre. After that we went out to a bar with Karen and Dan. And then we went back to the hostel.
The next day we went to the beach and it was wonderful. At night we went out with our hostel, which organizes night outings. We went to what was supposedly the best club in Barcelona. I had a good time dancing. I don't think everyone enjoyed that club very much. There was some weird act with these women who may have been men in drag dancing and this one woman singing over the music phrases like "are you ready" and "free your mind." It was kind of obnoxious, or at least I found it to be so. Then they dropped confetti from the ceiling. Then we all lost each other. Then we all found each other. Then we took cabs back to the hostel.
XO
Is
So yeah. We are in Barcelona. I love Barcelona. To pick up from where Kris left off:
When we finally got to the hostel at 7:30 pm instead of in the morning, we checked in and took quick showers before going to meet Dan and Karen (see previous post). This hostel is a little bizarre. It's actually just fine, except that the staff here is extremely disorganized. I don't think they really know what's going on and which beds are available in which room at any given time. The main guy who works here is very stand off-ish and doesn't seem to want anything to do with the hostel guests. I think he actually lives here or something. Maybe.
Anyway, we met up with Dan and Karen and went out to eat dinner on La Rambla, which is one of the main avenues in Barcelona. There are tons of those people who do random weird outdoor acts on the street in La Rambla, similar to the pantomime statues in other cities but weirder and more creative. So, while eating some food, seated in the outdoor section of a restaurant (which we later found out costs more than sitting inside) we saw a clown that kept doing silly things to those passing by (ex. he would throw confetti at a couple walking ahead of him and sing here comes the bride). Unfortunately for the clown, he ended up picking the wrong man to incorporate into his act. Some old man with a crutch got really really offended when the clown went up to him (I don't even know what he did to him because I was sitting with my back to him, but maybe the others can fill you in later.) The old man started cursing the clown out ("Hijo de puta! Hijo de puta! Perro!") and threatening to call the police. The clow managed to flee, and then the man started cursing out those dining out there for laughing. The waiters and a couple of other men tried to get him to leave. He started screaming at the waiters and threatening one of the men with his crutch. The other man then took the crutch away from him, I suppose for his own safety. But the man just kept screaming at everyone for a really really long time. It was quite bizarre. After that we went out to a bar with Karen and Dan. And then we went back to the hostel.
The next day we went to the beach and it was wonderful. At night we went out with our hostel, which organizes night outings. We went to what was supposedly the best club in Barcelona. I had a good time dancing. I don't think everyone enjoyed that club very much. There was some weird act with these women who may have been men in drag dancing and this one woman singing over the music phrases like "are you ready" and "free your mind." It was kind of obnoxious, or at least I found it to be so. Then they dropped confetti from the ceiling. Then we all lost each other. Then we all found each other. Then we took cabs back to the hostel.
XO
Is
Friday, June 29, 2007
Favorite quotes parte dos!
You´ve got to move it move it!
-Restaurant owner, trying to move us into his restaurant
Whatcha gonna do pap-aye-i, pap-aya-oh! Real ladies don´t fall for gigalos!
-Greek pop star, and the trip´s new catch phrase
I HATE sex
-Lulu, to sex shop owner
I thought my ipod was gonna die, and I was gonna have to smack a bitch
-Lulu, train to paris
I can´t wait to suck some sweet spanish (expletive)
-Anonymous, bathroom stall, France/spain border
Joe, referring to emo people who cut themselves:
"If you want to feel alive and really hurt yourself, drink 3 milkshakes"
Lulu approaches man at metro stop, looking for a map
(In french)" Excuse me, could I please have a menu?"
It´s like mother nature´s smacking me in the face with her heaving bosom
-Joe, referring to the waves in the mediterranean
Joe, referring to drinking later on: that´s another reason not to eat that much at dinner!
Inbal: I´m not that hungry
Joe: more room for the roofies!
Last night on the rambla in Barcelona, we saw two old men in a heated street fight. No, I am not lying, nor exaggerating.
Miss everyone, the beach is grand, PLEASE LEAVE NOTES!
Kris
-Restaurant owner, trying to move us into his restaurant
Whatcha gonna do pap-aye-i, pap-aya-oh! Real ladies don´t fall for gigalos!
-Greek pop star, and the trip´s new catch phrase
I HATE sex
-Lulu, to sex shop owner
I thought my ipod was gonna die, and I was gonna have to smack a bitch
-Lulu, train to paris
I can´t wait to suck some sweet spanish (expletive)
-Anonymous, bathroom stall, France/spain border
Joe, referring to emo people who cut themselves:
"If you want to feel alive and really hurt yourself, drink 3 milkshakes"
Lulu approaches man at metro stop, looking for a map
(In french)" Excuse me, could I please have a menu?"
It´s like mother nature´s smacking me in the face with her heaving bosom
-Joe, referring to the waves in the mediterranean
Joe, referring to drinking later on: that´s another reason not to eat that much at dinner!
Inbal: I´m not that hungry
Joe: more room for the roofies!
Last night on the rambla in Barcelona, we saw two old men in a heated street fight. No, I am not lying, nor exaggerating.
Miss everyone, the beach is grand, PLEASE LEAVE NOTES!
Kris
I don't like french keyboards
....And frankly, that is the only excuse I have for not blogging more. You see, many of the letters are switched around, and I couldn´t seem to ever get the hang of writing words containing the letter m without inserting commas where they didn't belong. Because I care about you, the reader, I did not want to blog with anything less than perfect spelling and punctuation. Also, I may or may not have been lazy.
So hey guys, we went to France! Nice was ridiculously amazing. Our hostel there served one euro drinks and made to order pizzas and was set up with this amazing common room where everyone could hang out and meet eachother. Unfortunatly, it seemed as if all of california/long island had decided to up and backpack Europe simultaneously, and they ALL booked this hostel. Needless to say, we did manage to meet some cool people there, such as traveling companions Claire and Bethany. Claire was a loud, talkative and friengly amazon woman such as myself (who is also going to Uconn in a year, WEIRD), though decidedly much more ridiculous and hilarious. One night, as she and Bethany walked several kilometers home to the hostel by themselves at 4AM, they decided it would be a good idea to pretend they had tourettes in order to scare off any boys making unwanted advances. Randomly spasming and shouting obscenities the whole way home while otherwise keeping a straight face apparently kept them safe from harm, and I commended them for their ingenuity, while Joe literally spit his drink over the entire kitchen at their demonstration.
We only had 2 days in Nice, and we made the most of them by rocking the beach. The beach, instead of sand, was made up of fairly large sized rocks. When entering or exiting, you cannot in any way strive to achieve a baywatch level of sexiness, but rather look more like a crippled old woman on her last legs. Regardless, once you get into the water, you're amazed at how ridiculously clear and warm it is. Joe and I spent hours flipping around, pretending to be the little mermaid/man and the like. We also attempted to swim out to a sea cave, and almost drowned. If we were truly merpeople, this wouldn´t have happened...but alas.
Some memorable quotes
Joe: Look at me, I´m a sea tortoise!
Joe: I will gather you seaweed for a crown and you will be my sea queen
After many days of traveling, it was exactly what we needed. French people turned out to be amazingly nice to us on this leg of the journey, one woman helping us find our bus stop to the appropriate beach, another shop owner making us salads from scratch when we told her that we were vegetarian. She was amused by our word for pepper, repeating it often in her cutie french accent, and gave us lollipops for dessert-JOY! We had a royal feast on the beach with salads, fruit, baguettes (turns out france is NOT out of them) and cheese, and I actually got a decent tan for the first time in my life. We were truly in love with france.
Paris was beautiful; the little street markets were fun to look at, there were great things to do and to see, and our love affair with crepes was tumultuous and frequently satisfied. We saw the louve of course, and the Museo d´orsay (my favorite oh van gogh and monet why do I love you SO). The Notre Dame cathedral was amazingly epic, with someone playing really horrifying organ music when we came in that sounded exactly like what I would imagine God´s wrath and fury sounds like...which I guess is the point? Lulu and I made the rounds, making sure to light a candle for every saint we saw, especially the ones like Saint Dennis, who looked lonely with only a few lit in his name. Everyone loooves Jesus, with thousands of burning flames surrounding his particular shrine, but we preferred to stick with the underdog.
The eiffel tower was, of course, great. We went there with a bottle of wine on our first day, watching it sparkle at the top of the hour. The venders with bottles of wine of their own refused to stop harrassing us to buy some even though we were clearly all set, so Lulu took to trying to sell them our half filled bottle for 1 euro right back. They were not amused, had a little ´¨vendor conference¨´ about us and our cheekiness I am sure, and didn´t bother us anymore. I have considered filling my pockets with stupid shit to then try and sell to the vendors, as this table turning seems to spook them in a way ´get the hell away from me!´ never could.
We went out twice in Paris: the first to an irish pub down the road, you know, past the sexodrome and the moulin rouge. The part of town we were in left much to be desired, as did our hostel, with plaster coming down from the walls, electrical wiring from the ceiling, and one extremely ornery front desk man. Our room was also on the top floor, 128 stairs up, so we are really going to have well defined calf muscles by the time we return, this is for sure. At the irish pub, these american guys sent over a free drink to Lulu in order to get an in, then came over to our table to brag about their jobs as sound engineers for Julio Iglesias, that´s right, Enriques very famous dad. They tried to impress us with their ability to sneak us into the show...but really we just rocked the free drinks that they kept buying us and hightailed it out of there.
The 2nd time we went out, it was to sexy bar....bras hanging from the ceiling, very buff waiter men wearing booty shorts and very inappropriate tshirts, and on occasion stripping for the audience out of firefighter outfits. It was definitely an experience to be had. We traveled back to our hotel to try and go out again in that area. When Joe left us to go to bed because he was feeling ill, we took a wrong turn and walked straight into the red light district. Men yelling from cars, others pulling over to try and proposition us were scary enough, but when Lulu got her ass full on grabbed by a man in a wheelchair, we knew it was time to get out of there. We stopped off in a grocery store along the way while i paced outside, needing to pee but not going on without the others. The shopkeeper was frightened, thinking I was trying to steal fruit or something, and Lulu expertly said in french ´oh don´t worry, she is peeing!´(as opposed to, she NEEDS to pee). The grocery man had a good laugh and told me just to do it in the street, for it was free. Thanks lu.
We were really excited to get out of Paris (because it had been rainy and cold much of our time there) and get to the beach in barcelona. Unfortunately, the french STRUCK AGAIN, and their train strike caused our overnight train to be cancelled. This resulted in approximately 24 hours of travelling and 5 trains in order to reach our destination....NICE. We were not pleased, and quite exhausted/exasperated with the french when we finally left their stupid, stupid country. On the up side, we met and hung out with two Aussie travelers, Dan and Karen, throughout this trial...and have since decided to make them our traveling companions. I will write more about this later because we need to gooo to the beachhh yayyy
Sorry this is so long, but I´ll try to update more with shorter entries soon, Barcelona is great so far and WE HATE THE FRENCH!
Love,
Kris, Joe, Lu, IS!
So hey guys, we went to France! Nice was ridiculously amazing. Our hostel there served one euro drinks and made to order pizzas and was set up with this amazing common room where everyone could hang out and meet eachother. Unfortunatly, it seemed as if all of california/long island had decided to up and backpack Europe simultaneously, and they ALL booked this hostel. Needless to say, we did manage to meet some cool people there, such as traveling companions Claire and Bethany. Claire was a loud, talkative and friengly amazon woman such as myself (who is also going to Uconn in a year, WEIRD), though decidedly much more ridiculous and hilarious. One night, as she and Bethany walked several kilometers home to the hostel by themselves at 4AM, they decided it would be a good idea to pretend they had tourettes in order to scare off any boys making unwanted advances. Randomly spasming and shouting obscenities the whole way home while otherwise keeping a straight face apparently kept them safe from harm, and I commended them for their ingenuity, while Joe literally spit his drink over the entire kitchen at their demonstration.
We only had 2 days in Nice, and we made the most of them by rocking the beach. The beach, instead of sand, was made up of fairly large sized rocks. When entering or exiting, you cannot in any way strive to achieve a baywatch level of sexiness, but rather look more like a crippled old woman on her last legs. Regardless, once you get into the water, you're amazed at how ridiculously clear and warm it is. Joe and I spent hours flipping around, pretending to be the little mermaid/man and the like. We also attempted to swim out to a sea cave, and almost drowned. If we were truly merpeople, this wouldn´t have happened...but alas.
Some memorable quotes
Joe: Look at me, I´m a sea tortoise!
Joe: I will gather you seaweed for a crown and you will be my sea queen
After many days of traveling, it was exactly what we needed. French people turned out to be amazingly nice to us on this leg of the journey, one woman helping us find our bus stop to the appropriate beach, another shop owner making us salads from scratch when we told her that we were vegetarian. She was amused by our word for pepper, repeating it often in her cutie french accent, and gave us lollipops for dessert-JOY! We had a royal feast on the beach with salads, fruit, baguettes (turns out france is NOT out of them) and cheese, and I actually got a decent tan for the first time in my life. We were truly in love with france.
Paris was beautiful; the little street markets were fun to look at, there were great things to do and to see, and our love affair with crepes was tumultuous and frequently satisfied. We saw the louve of course, and the Museo d´orsay (my favorite oh van gogh and monet why do I love you SO). The Notre Dame cathedral was amazingly epic, with someone playing really horrifying organ music when we came in that sounded exactly like what I would imagine God´s wrath and fury sounds like...which I guess is the point? Lulu and I made the rounds, making sure to light a candle for every saint we saw, especially the ones like Saint Dennis, who looked lonely with only a few lit in his name. Everyone loooves Jesus, with thousands of burning flames surrounding his particular shrine, but we preferred to stick with the underdog.
The eiffel tower was, of course, great. We went there with a bottle of wine on our first day, watching it sparkle at the top of the hour. The venders with bottles of wine of their own refused to stop harrassing us to buy some even though we were clearly all set, so Lulu took to trying to sell them our half filled bottle for 1 euro right back. They were not amused, had a little ´¨vendor conference¨´ about us and our cheekiness I am sure, and didn´t bother us anymore. I have considered filling my pockets with stupid shit to then try and sell to the vendors, as this table turning seems to spook them in a way ´get the hell away from me!´ never could.
We went out twice in Paris: the first to an irish pub down the road, you know, past the sexodrome and the moulin rouge. The part of town we were in left much to be desired, as did our hostel, with plaster coming down from the walls, electrical wiring from the ceiling, and one extremely ornery front desk man. Our room was also on the top floor, 128 stairs up, so we are really going to have well defined calf muscles by the time we return, this is for sure. At the irish pub, these american guys sent over a free drink to Lulu in order to get an in, then came over to our table to brag about their jobs as sound engineers for Julio Iglesias, that´s right, Enriques very famous dad. They tried to impress us with their ability to sneak us into the show...but really we just rocked the free drinks that they kept buying us and hightailed it out of there.
The 2nd time we went out, it was to sexy bar....bras hanging from the ceiling, very buff waiter men wearing booty shorts and very inappropriate tshirts, and on occasion stripping for the audience out of firefighter outfits. It was definitely an experience to be had. We traveled back to our hotel to try and go out again in that area. When Joe left us to go to bed because he was feeling ill, we took a wrong turn and walked straight into the red light district. Men yelling from cars, others pulling over to try and proposition us were scary enough, but when Lulu got her ass full on grabbed by a man in a wheelchair, we knew it was time to get out of there. We stopped off in a grocery store along the way while i paced outside, needing to pee but not going on without the others. The shopkeeper was frightened, thinking I was trying to steal fruit or something, and Lulu expertly said in french ´oh don´t worry, she is peeing!´(as opposed to, she NEEDS to pee). The grocery man had a good laugh and told me just to do it in the street, for it was free. Thanks lu.
We were really excited to get out of Paris (because it had been rainy and cold much of our time there) and get to the beach in barcelona. Unfortunately, the french STRUCK AGAIN, and their train strike caused our overnight train to be cancelled. This resulted in approximately 24 hours of travelling and 5 trains in order to reach our destination....NICE. We were not pleased, and quite exhausted/exasperated with the french when we finally left their stupid, stupid country. On the up side, we met and hung out with two Aussie travelers, Dan and Karen, throughout this trial...and have since decided to make them our traveling companions. I will write more about this later because we need to gooo to the beachhh yayyy
Sorry this is so long, but I´ll try to update more with shorter entries soon, Barcelona is great so far and WE HATE THE FRENCH!
Love,
Kris, Joe, Lu, IS!
Thursday, June 21, 2007
What I have learned today: france is freekin CRAZY
A good amount has happened since my last post, that's for sure! For one, Joe finally learned the correct spelling of our beloved Ronald Reagan's name (wooo polysci majors!), and two, I have learned I can never be a true wine connossieur because of my terrible colorblindness affliction. Damn you missing red cones, you have RUINED MY DREAMS!!!!!
After our lovely trip to Siena with Reagan, we spent a day in Firenze (that's florence for all you non-italian speaking heathens) visiting the Uffizi art gallery of mainly renaissance works. Let me clarify: we spent 2 hours waiting in line to get into the Uffizi, then an hour and a half seeing about 7208974320 different variations of madonna and child, then took a goddamn siesta for pretty much the rest of the day. One of the only cool stories I learned from my overpriced audio tour was in this room with a bunch of marble statues of men and women in different contortions and poses. Apparently, the mother had the GALL to boast that her children were more beautiful than those of Apollo, and as a result they were all systematically killed. This is the obvious result, because we certainly can't have beautiful children and boasting mothers walking the earth willy nilly, doncha know!
Our last day in italy was spent hiking the tuscan countryside on a wine tour with a guide. Really, it was just the four of us and one other older woman, Paula, who told us stories of all her world travels. Paula went to art school and ended up with the most amazing and bizarre job; she is commissioned to go to meetings and draw graphic representations of what is being said. In the end she has made these amazing colorful posters, like the kind you would make for your oral presentations in high school only much, much prettier. I have no idea what kind of need anyone would have for someone like this, but her job has taken her all over the world and it was amazing to hear of her travels. What a neat thing it would be to see so many things for FREE because of your job? I'm sure I would eventually long for a home to spend extended amounts of time in, but it sounds like an excellent way to see what's out there!
At any rate, we hiked up this mountain and got to see the peak where Leonardo da Vinci tested his flying machines (or rather, his apprentices tested cause hey..who knew whether they were going to work or not?), as well as the place Galileo was exiled to when he proclaimed that the earth was not, in fact, the center of the universe. Amazing views of mountains and valleys full of olive groves on a gorgeous summer day was a very fitting end to our time in italy. Our multi-course meal complete with information on the proper way to taste, smell, and examine the color of wine and olive oil was also, as expected, totally freekin sweet.
After renegade showers in the hotel we had already checked out of, exciting laundry adventures, and a ridiculous lost-in-florence trek with our backpacks we arrive at the sketchiest train station I've ever set foot in. The bathrooms were those HORRIFYING robo toilets I am so fearful of, and I almost wasn't able to go in without freaking out too terribly: thanks inbal for your moral support. Joe and lulu took a video of it to mock me, but I stand by my conviction that toilet areas should not be run by robots. In the station we actually meet up with two kids from Geneseo who had played soccer and graduated in our class. Small freekin world. One of them actually lives down the street from me at home, and also hates Peter Garnsey (kid from my high school, stupid meanie who also went to geneseo)! Oh the lovely connections you can find with others.
When we finally get on our terribly delayed train, we find that our decision to save 25 euro by getting seats instead of beds for our overnight train was a terrible idea. We end up in a cramped cabin with very upright seats that did not recline, in the loudest and most congested car I have ever been in. None of us were able to sleep for more than a half hour at a time, and creepy people (Marilu insists there was one with a cigar staring at her, but then again, she was mumbling about keeping the crazy pickpocketers away all night) kept opening the door to our cabin for seemingly no apparent reason. When the morning finally came, the train stopped and we suddenly realize that an awful lot of people are exiting. With no PA system for announcements, an Italian man suddenly comes to our car to tell us what's going on, in italian. Once I manage to convey to him that we don't understand what he's saying he says 'there is a problem in france, we must leave the train!' Joe later replied 'what's wrong, are they out of baguettes?!' (which of course, became the tagline of the day, said in an obnoxious french accent) Turns out there has been a metro strike in france that is supposed to end soon, but they ended up uprooting us in the most disorganized manner possible and putting us on a new train to france. When we finally arrive and check into our hostel (more like a caribbean-esque haven for california girls and many dumb boys), we shower, get food, and get lost on the way to the beach. When we finally made it, it was goddamn worth it though. Clearest water ever (even if you do have to cause yourself tremendous amounts of pain on the stony beach on your way in), perfect weather and an amazing view of Nice. Later that night we went out to a music festival in old Nice with some friends from our hostel and got to see french swat cars in action (to quell a riot, perhaps?) and the most packed bus home I have ever been on. We barely made it out alive, but I look forward to the rest of my time here in France, for sure.
I miss you guys. Please leave me notes, or write me mail at kristine.teets@gmail.com so I can be happy that people love meee! For those that have written, I will get back to you soon but now I must get to BED
I'll leave you with some quotes! (Mostly, you know, Joe)
"I want you to No-tees"
-Young man covering Radiohead's creep in a piazza in Firenze, June 16
"That would've been horrific, and I would've taken a picture"
-Joe, referring to a pigeon hunting dog going in for the kill, yet failing. Firenze, June 16
"I wonder if michelangelo debated over giving him an innie or an outie"
-Joe, referring to David, Firenze, June 17
"If part of your developmental stage is in a pond. then i will eat you"
-Joe, trying to justify eating frog legs as a vegetarian, Firenze
Joe: Are tomatos fruits or veggies?
Inbal: vegetables commercially, fruits scientifically; let's eat these tomatos like scientists
"Hello, let me introduce you to my sex buddy"
-Julian, hotel clerk, trying to understand the logistics of a sex buddy relationship, such as introductions to friends and family
"I always wake myself up when I start drooling"
-Kristine, bus from siena
Joe: what if they brought gay animals on Noah's ark?
Inbal: I think that's how unicorns died out
After our lovely trip to Siena with Reagan, we spent a day in Firenze (that's florence for all you non-italian speaking heathens) visiting the Uffizi art gallery of mainly renaissance works. Let me clarify: we spent 2 hours waiting in line to get into the Uffizi, then an hour and a half seeing about 7208974320 different variations of madonna and child, then took a goddamn siesta for pretty much the rest of the day. One of the only cool stories I learned from my overpriced audio tour was in this room with a bunch of marble statues of men and women in different contortions and poses. Apparently, the mother had the GALL to boast that her children were more beautiful than those of Apollo, and as a result they were all systematically killed. This is the obvious result, because we certainly can't have beautiful children and boasting mothers walking the earth willy nilly, doncha know!
Our last day in italy was spent hiking the tuscan countryside on a wine tour with a guide. Really, it was just the four of us and one other older woman, Paula, who told us stories of all her world travels. Paula went to art school and ended up with the most amazing and bizarre job; she is commissioned to go to meetings and draw graphic representations of what is being said. In the end she has made these amazing colorful posters, like the kind you would make for your oral presentations in high school only much, much prettier. I have no idea what kind of need anyone would have for someone like this, but her job has taken her all over the world and it was amazing to hear of her travels. What a neat thing it would be to see so many things for FREE because of your job? I'm sure I would eventually long for a home to spend extended amounts of time in, but it sounds like an excellent way to see what's out there!
At any rate, we hiked up this mountain and got to see the peak where Leonardo da Vinci tested his flying machines (or rather, his apprentices tested cause hey..who knew whether they were going to work or not?), as well as the place Galileo was exiled to when he proclaimed that the earth was not, in fact, the center of the universe. Amazing views of mountains and valleys full of olive groves on a gorgeous summer day was a very fitting end to our time in italy. Our multi-course meal complete with information on the proper way to taste, smell, and examine the color of wine and olive oil was also, as expected, totally freekin sweet.
After renegade showers in the hotel we had already checked out of, exciting laundry adventures, and a ridiculous lost-in-florence trek with our backpacks we arrive at the sketchiest train station I've ever set foot in. The bathrooms were those HORRIFYING robo toilets I am so fearful of, and I almost wasn't able to go in without freaking out too terribly: thanks inbal for your moral support. Joe and lulu took a video of it to mock me, but I stand by my conviction that toilet areas should not be run by robots. In the station we actually meet up with two kids from Geneseo who had played soccer and graduated in our class. Small freekin world. One of them actually lives down the street from me at home, and also hates Peter Garnsey (kid from my high school, stupid meanie who also went to geneseo)! Oh the lovely connections you can find with others.
When we finally get on our terribly delayed train, we find that our decision to save 25 euro by getting seats instead of beds for our overnight train was a terrible idea. We end up in a cramped cabin with very upright seats that did not recline, in the loudest and most congested car I have ever been in. None of us were able to sleep for more than a half hour at a time, and creepy people (Marilu insists there was one with a cigar staring at her, but then again, she was mumbling about keeping the crazy pickpocketers away all night) kept opening the door to our cabin for seemingly no apparent reason. When the morning finally came, the train stopped and we suddenly realize that an awful lot of people are exiting. With no PA system for announcements, an Italian man suddenly comes to our car to tell us what's going on, in italian. Once I manage to convey to him that we don't understand what he's saying he says 'there is a problem in france, we must leave the train!' Joe later replied 'what's wrong, are they out of baguettes?!' (which of course, became the tagline of the day, said in an obnoxious french accent) Turns out there has been a metro strike in france that is supposed to end soon, but they ended up uprooting us in the most disorganized manner possible and putting us on a new train to france. When we finally arrive and check into our hostel (more like a caribbean-esque haven for california girls and many dumb boys), we shower, get food, and get lost on the way to the beach. When we finally made it, it was goddamn worth it though. Clearest water ever (even if you do have to cause yourself tremendous amounts of pain on the stony beach on your way in), perfect weather and an amazing view of Nice. Later that night we went out to a music festival in old Nice with some friends from our hostel and got to see french swat cars in action (to quell a riot, perhaps?) and the most packed bus home I have ever been on. We barely made it out alive, but I look forward to the rest of my time here in France, for sure.
I miss you guys. Please leave me notes, or write me mail at kristine.teets@gmail.com so I can be happy that people love meee! For those that have written, I will get back to you soon but now I must get to BED
I'll leave you with some quotes! (Mostly, you know, Joe)
"I want you to No-tees"
-Young man covering Radiohead's creep in a piazza in Firenze, June 16
"That would've been horrific, and I would've taken a picture"
-Joe, referring to a pigeon hunting dog going in for the kill, yet failing. Firenze, June 16
"I wonder if michelangelo debated over giving him an innie or an outie"
-Joe, referring to David, Firenze, June 17
"If part of your developmental stage is in a pond. then i will eat you"
-Joe, trying to justify eating frog legs as a vegetarian, Firenze
Joe: Are tomatos fruits or veggies?
Inbal: vegetables commercially, fruits scientifically; let's eat these tomatos like scientists
"Hello, let me introduce you to my sex buddy"
-Julian, hotel clerk, trying to understand the logistics of a sex buddy relationship, such as introductions to friends and family
"I always wake myself up when I start drooling"
-Kristine, bus from siena
Joe: what if they brought gay animals on Noah's ark?
Inbal: I think that's how unicorns died out
Monday, June 18, 2007
Regan's Secret Mission
So today we decided to consult our fifth and most distingusighed member of our traveling party, the very much dead former President Regan. While he enjoyed the sights and sounds of dear Firenze he desired more, much more. Therefore after a brief brainstorming session, a plan was hatched! It was off to Siena, a mythical place that many of our dear friends ha once happened upon.
The bus ride was largely uneventful but the countryside was quite beautiful. As soon as we arrived at the Siena bus station we ran into a problem common to this trip. We did not know where we were. But after a quick trip to an authentic Siena gift shop we were off, Regan included. Instead of eating out for lunch we went to a supermarket and purchased the materials for a fantiastic picnic: mozzarela, tomatoes, and bread. The setting of this picnic was the majestic Campo. Regan had not seen something so awe inspiring since the Berlin Wall had fallen many years before. Our picnic was very messy but delicious and many pictures were taken in the Campo.
After lunch, we went to the Duomo to see yet another church. It was really quite the sight. There were scary German tour guides who shouted when tourists used flash on their cameras. Another tour guide showed us her happy and sad face to illustrate what had been lacking in church sculptures in Italy up till the creation of the Duomo: emotion. I was touched by her commitment to the craft that is guiding tours.
We wandered around the streets of Siena and thought that the cool cantratas. You see Siena is seperated into 17 different districts which each have their our government and symbol, be it bear or fish, and once a year they compete in a race to see who is top dog. It was like the seperate houses of Hogwarts, everyone in Hogwarts are all classmates but they also have a loyalty to their respective houses, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, etc. Everyone in Sienna is Siennese but they each have their own gangs.
Finally we went on top of the Piazza Pubblico which was friggen 7 euros. But it was worth the money. Buttttttt, the climb to the top was really physical and scary. I mean we climbed St. Peter's Basillica which was 500 steps but this was equally as stressful. When we finally conquered the steps like Regan how conquered Communism, the view was simply amazing.
However like all good things our trip in Sienna had to end so with heavy hearts we bid farewell to the town that had given us all so many great memories. I'm sure Regan will always treasure every second he was there even though he may not remember it tommorow considering he suffers from debilitating Alzehiemers.
Ciao Bella
The bus ride was largely uneventful but the countryside was quite beautiful. As soon as we arrived at the Siena bus station we ran into a problem common to this trip. We did not know where we were. But after a quick trip to an authentic Siena gift shop we were off, Regan included. Instead of eating out for lunch we went to a supermarket and purchased the materials for a fantiastic picnic: mozzarela, tomatoes, and bread. The setting of this picnic was the majestic Campo. Regan had not seen something so awe inspiring since the Berlin Wall had fallen many years before. Our picnic was very messy but delicious and many pictures were taken in the Campo.
After lunch, we went to the Duomo to see yet another church. It was really quite the sight. There were scary German tour guides who shouted when tourists used flash on their cameras. Another tour guide showed us her happy and sad face to illustrate what had been lacking in church sculptures in Italy up till the creation of the Duomo: emotion. I was touched by her commitment to the craft that is guiding tours.
We wandered around the streets of Siena and thought that the cool cantratas. You see Siena is seperated into 17 different districts which each have their our government and symbol, be it bear or fish, and once a year they compete in a race to see who is top dog. It was like the seperate houses of Hogwarts, everyone in Hogwarts are all classmates but they also have a loyalty to their respective houses, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, etc. Everyone in Sienna is Siennese but they each have their own gangs.
Finally we went on top of the Piazza Pubblico which was friggen 7 euros. But it was worth the money. Buttttttt, the climb to the top was really physical and scary. I mean we climbed St. Peter's Basillica which was 500 steps but this was equally as stressful. When we finally conquered the steps like Regan how conquered Communism, the view was simply amazing.
However like all good things our trip in Sienna had to end so with heavy hearts we bid farewell to the town that had given us all so many great memories. I'm sure Regan will always treasure every second he was there even though he may not remember it tommorow considering he suffers from debilitating Alzehiemers.
Ciao Bella
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Florence Florence, you are so.....
Well, I guess it's time that I make my debut on this blog. So, here are some random bits because quite frankly I'm not sure what Kristine has written here recently.
We are in Florence right now. Last night we had this wonderful plan to wake up bright and early and go to the Accademia before all the other tourists arrive and crowd our space. So we did! And it totally didn't work. We stood in line from 9:30-12:40 until we were finally let in. Although I must say that seeing the David statue was worth the wait. I never realized just how large and detailed it is. Very very impressive. They also had an exhibit on Italian baroque musical instruments, which I liked.
Besides that we've spent a lot of time sitting in various Piazzas both here and in Rome, sometimes with a bottle of wine, sometimes with gelatto, and watching. It's just so pleasant. Marilu says: "The pigeons are amazing. Highly recommended." Marilu and Joe spent several minutes today feeding the pigeons with this Italian potato-chip-in-stick-form snack called Sticki. What a wonderful idea- all the pigeons came to hang out with us. Kristine enjoyed it thoroughly.
Our last night in Rome we sat around in Piazza Navona with some wine. There were a couple of neat street performers, including this girl that dance with a fire hoola hoop. Marilu haggled with this woman for a scarf (see quote in previous entry). At some point all the street vendors suddenly ran out of the piazza with the speed of light because the cops were coming. It was quite hilarious. It was so fast I could't even get a picture, just this horde of vendors with all their bags jetting out of the piazza. Joe got a picture though, so you'll see it in a few weeks.
The night before we tried going to some bars. We got a card advertising some specials at some bar so we decided to check it out. We went there, and were pretty much the only people in the bar. At first Kris tried to order the special which they seemed not to even know about, but they gave it to her when she showed the card. Then the rest of us waited to be served while four bartenders were standing behind the counter talking to themselves and clearly not wanting to serve us. From the little we understood we're pretty sure it had something to do with us being American. Yay for discrimination. Did Kristine write this story already? I don't know. Oh well. Then we went to another bar called "bitch boulevard." We walked in and the two bar tenders were just fighting and yelling at each other. So... we walked out and went back to the Drunken Ship, another bar at the Campo di Fiori which caters to mostly Americans, and the occasional Italian. Wasn't quite my style, but at least we could, you know, order drinks.
Earlier that day Marilu and Joe went to see some ruins (Roman Forum, Colosseum etc.) Kristine and I had already seen them and were pretty Romed-out by that point, so we sat on a rock in the forum and talked for an hour and a half. Andrew, a wonderful nice traveller from Canada whom we met at the hostel, was also a part of many of the above Rome stories. We are at a hotel now, so we probably will not meet any travel buddies here, although we do get to talk to other backpackers in internet cafes and while waiting to get into museums for 3 hours.
Some more info on Morad (a.k.a Borat, or so Kristine likes to call him) - we had a little falling out with him on the last night after Kris told him to stop petting Marilu like a cat, and Joe pretended to make out with her in order to avoid Morad. He was not pleased, but we were not pleased with him either, so whatevvvzzzzz.
OK, we love you, internet costs mucho €€€€€€€€€,
XOXOXOXO
Inbal and the crew!!!!!!!!
We are in Florence right now. Last night we had this wonderful plan to wake up bright and early and go to the Accademia before all the other tourists arrive and crowd our space. So we did! And it totally didn't work. We stood in line from 9:30-12:40 until we were finally let in. Although I must say that seeing the David statue was worth the wait. I never realized just how large and detailed it is. Very very impressive. They also had an exhibit on Italian baroque musical instruments, which I liked.
Besides that we've spent a lot of time sitting in various Piazzas both here and in Rome, sometimes with a bottle of wine, sometimes with gelatto, and watching. It's just so pleasant. Marilu says: "The pigeons are amazing. Highly recommended." Marilu and Joe spent several minutes today feeding the pigeons with this Italian potato-chip-in-stick-form snack called Sticki. What a wonderful idea- all the pigeons came to hang out with us. Kristine enjoyed it thoroughly.
Our last night in Rome we sat around in Piazza Navona with some wine. There were a couple of neat street performers, including this girl that dance with a fire hoola hoop. Marilu haggled with this woman for a scarf (see quote in previous entry). At some point all the street vendors suddenly ran out of the piazza with the speed of light because the cops were coming. It was quite hilarious. It was so fast I could't even get a picture, just this horde of vendors with all their bags jetting out of the piazza. Joe got a picture though, so you'll see it in a few weeks.
The night before we tried going to some bars. We got a card advertising some specials at some bar so we decided to check it out. We went there, and were pretty much the only people in the bar. At first Kris tried to order the special which they seemed not to even know about, but they gave it to her when she showed the card. Then the rest of us waited to be served while four bartenders were standing behind the counter talking to themselves and clearly not wanting to serve us. From the little we understood we're pretty sure it had something to do with us being American. Yay for discrimination. Did Kristine write this story already? I don't know. Oh well. Then we went to another bar called "bitch boulevard." We walked in and the two bar tenders were just fighting and yelling at each other. So... we walked out and went back to the Drunken Ship, another bar at the Campo di Fiori which caters to mostly Americans, and the occasional Italian. Wasn't quite my style, but at least we could, you know, order drinks.
Earlier that day Marilu and Joe went to see some ruins (Roman Forum, Colosseum etc.) Kristine and I had already seen them and were pretty Romed-out by that point, so we sat on a rock in the forum and talked for an hour and a half. Andrew, a wonderful nice traveller from Canada whom we met at the hostel, was also a part of many of the above Rome stories. We are at a hotel now, so we probably will not meet any travel buddies here, although we do get to talk to other backpackers in internet cafes and while waiting to get into museums for 3 hours.
Some more info on Morad (a.k.a Borat, or so Kristine likes to call him) - we had a little falling out with him on the last night after Kris told him to stop petting Marilu like a cat, and Joe pretended to make out with her in order to avoid Morad. He was not pleased, but we were not pleased with him either, so whatevvvzzzzz.
OK, we love you, internet costs mucho €€€€€€€€€,
XOXOXOXO
Inbal and the crew!!!!!!!!
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Favorite quotes parte uno!
Inbal is like a cockblocker for nasty hostels
-Joseph Mcmanus, Youth Station Hostel, June 14th
That bag hangs really well, like my scrotum
-Joseph Mcmanus, streets of roma, June 14th
I wonder how different fashion would be if we had to accommodate tails
-Kristine, sleep deprived at the termini train station, june 16
Flower man approaches Lulu in an attempt to sell a rose, Lulu decides she wants to learn to haggle
Flower man: 1 Euro
Marilu: 10 cents!
Flower man walks away
Piazza Nevona, Roma, June 15th
Kristine sees baby with multiple piercings
Kris:Why would you put holes in your baby? You just got it! It's new!
-Florence Train station, June 16
"You put out, you get it. It's called karma, sexual karma"
-Joe, Florence, june 16
Quick update because the internet is expensive! Marilu constantly sexually harrassed by moroccan man we affecionately call Borat. Morad, his real name, is famous for such quotes as "you are so nice, I just want to take you!". We drink in piazza nevona and see amazing street performers with fire and large unicycles. Lost in florence, lost pretty much everywhere. Lovelovelove it here but have been missing home friends pretty extremely. Will update more later (also, geneseo buds, will someone plan a stonybrook trip I mean PLEASE?! Neil isn't allowed to go away and shirk out on that shiat!)
Write more later, love you all!
Kris, Lu, Inbal, JOSEPH
-Joseph Mcmanus, Youth Station Hostel, June 14th
That bag hangs really well, like my scrotum
-Joseph Mcmanus, streets of roma, June 14th
I wonder how different fashion would be if we had to accommodate tails
-Kristine, sleep deprived at the termini train station, june 16
Flower man approaches Lulu in an attempt to sell a rose, Lulu decides she wants to learn to haggle
Flower man: 1 Euro
Marilu: 10 cents!
Flower man walks away
Piazza Nevona, Roma, June 15th
Kristine sees baby with multiple piercings
Kris:Why would you put holes in your baby? You just got it! It's new!
-Florence Train station, June 16
"You put out, you get it. It's called karma, sexual karma"
-Joe, Florence, june 16
Quick update because the internet is expensive! Marilu constantly sexually harrassed by moroccan man we affecionately call Borat. Morad, his real name, is famous for such quotes as "you are so nice, I just want to take you!". We drink in piazza nevona and see amazing street performers with fire and large unicycles. Lost in florence, lost pretty much everywhere. Lovelovelove it here but have been missing home friends pretty extremely. Will update more later (also, geneseo buds, will someone plan a stonybrook trip I mean PLEASE?! Neil isn't allowed to go away and shirk out on that shiat!)
Write more later, love you all!
Kris, Lu, Inbal, JOSEPH
Thursday, June 14, 2007
ROMA
Rome is amazing with Lulu, Joe, and IS! 500 stairs up to the top of st. peters but it was so worth it; despite constant gelato, we are going to lose 10 lbs by the end of this vacation so help us! Took pictures looking like glowing angels in the vatican, I SWEAR we will figure out how to post them soon. Saw a crazy fire juggling unicyclist today in piazza nevona, got discriminated against by terrible bartenders, but ended up having a wonderful time with our hostel friends Andrew, Michael, and Brian at the drunken ship in campo di fiori (thanks Leia for introducing us!)
I love that you can drink out of fountains in Rome. I love how many wonderful people I have met already. I do not love how my ATM card was stolen, but somehow it all was worked out in the end and it's ok, I am lucky to have backups and amazing friends and such a wonderful trip!
LOVELOVELOVE
KrisISLuJoe!
I love that you can drink out of fountains in Rome. I love how many wonderful people I have met already. I do not love how my ATM card was stolen, but somehow it all was worked out in the end and it's ok, I am lucky to have backups and amazing friends and such a wonderful trip!
LOVELOVELOVE
KrisISLuJoe!
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
OH MY GOD I HAVE THE INTERNET
There has been no time. To breath, to sleep, to do anything but eat 17 course meals (for Inbal and I, pretty much always bread, pasta, tomato and mozzarella and grilled veggies....mmm the wide variety of veggie options in europe!), sing, dance, walk miles and miles (usually lost and holding out maps like the amazing tourists we are), drink too much, take in so much beauty you end up pretty much being immune to it after a while (oh my goodness, we are on another mountain top overlooking a beautiful city built into the mountain and valley and breathtaking cliffs and the mediterranean sea AGAIN I CANNOT EVEN TAKE IT) and be exhausted by the dramadramadramadramadrama of having 36 performers spending every second of their life together. I've been yearning for the internet for days but we only have one or two hours of free time at a time on this trip and who can really sit in front of a computer screen when you're in friggin ITALY?! Answer: probably me because I am an addict, but it's alright, my loving friends stopped me.
Some highlights from the trip:
The concerts were SO BEAUTIFUL. We ate dinner in taormina at the top of a mountain looking over the mediterranean, singing for the waitstaff and making asses out of ourselves as usual, though they seemed very appreciative. I have learned basically no italian so far except for a few words, including gratsie; I pretty much just thank everyone everywhere I go, even if it makes no sense to do so. We walked down 500 steps on the side of the mountain to reach the gorgeous little church, filled to the brim after NARD's promoting outside, and the priest took us all out for gelato afterward. We saw a lady in the other room salsa dancing with herself, and it looked as if her nipples were showing very clearly through her shirt. Nick of course went to dance crazily with her for a while and allayed all of our fears by discovering it was just, in fact, poorly placed polka dots.
In our hotel in Taormina, we were able to drink on the private beach, then go out to the bars. After hips and harmony members broke out into an impromptu version of be my baby, the concierge finally had enough and came out to scream at us in rapid fire italian. We met Canadians, Nella and Stuart, who we hung out with for our stay in Taormina and were amaaaazing. Hopefully we will meet more and more friends to spend the time with once we're on our own. We got in so much trouble for making noise when we returned that the concierge made us all chip in to pay for a room that a bitchy brit couple left at 2 in the morning complaining of not being able to sleep. Jordan tried to talk them down the night before, explaining we were a choir that hadn't seen eachother in a while. They proclaimed that we "weren't ACTING like a choir". Whatever guys, you obviously know nothing about the performing types.
Beach day in Taormina resulted in an unexpected meeting with miss Sarah Hanlon, a former chamber singer who was there for one day as her cruise ship docked. Crazy! We took pics with our traveling Reagan on the beach that we will try and upload soon; he really is having a lovely time! I haven't even gotten a sunburn yet because i am a freak about spf 50 sunblock. An italian waiter told me I looked italian the other day and I yelled FALSE in his face without even really thinking about you know, being rude. We laughed and laughed.
ps Fiona, I am slowly spreading false and true statement to europe..I've already got a few chamber singers doing it, hoooorayyy!
In sorrento we participated in a catholic mass. Yes, they really are just as boring in italian, it's true. Also had my first taste of limoncello, a lemon liquor that is famous in sorrento. Got an entire bottle for myself because it is frackin delicious, but don't worry mom, I would never drink it all in one night!
Pompeii was hilarious; our tour guide spent the entire time talking about the brothels and the sex lives of the pompeii people. We saw pictures on the wall of the brothel of people having sex in different positions. When you go in, you can point at which one you want, like a mcdonalds menu, hooray! Life was so much simpler, then...haahaaaaaa.
And then there was Rome. Amazing concert where Leia and I cried about 47 times, honestly the best we've ever sounded. Saw a marching band on the spanish steps, relaxed by the beautiful trevi fountain and played I spy using tourists as subjects (I spy with my little eye a man that looks like tom hanks from castaway, go!). Inbal, Les and I had some idiot moves as we were walking around as night, as well as getting lost during the day. Ah well, we saw the colloseum at night and it was beautiful. Reagan enjoyed all of these sights, and also found love at the trevi fountain heck yes!
We sang crazy songs on the bus ride home, gave speeches, entertained requests from our tour guide to hear "something like age of aquarius, or the beach boys!" and just overall had a good time. Nick moran, who the entire trip was the king of the bus, was overthrown in a violent coup. Here was his song, before his terrible fall
The King of the Bus Song
(Nick) I'm the king of the bus!
(the people) The king of the bus, he's better than us!
(Nick) I'm the king of the bus!
(the people) The king of the bus, he's better than us!
(Nick) I'll throw you into oblivion
I'll cast you into the sea
I never go to toilets
cause toilets come to me!
Rob line as his second in command was pretty much the best thing ever. The entire choir went out, running like 36 crazy people the three quarters of the mile to the metro to reach the last train with only 7 minutes to spare. Everyone got crazy drunk, I stole a shot glass from the bar because they were making us leave so early and there was no way I was going to finish another double shot of tequila in that moment. Talked to skeevy italian man named Giovanni; Leslie referred to me as Teets and he said "oh, I will not look at your Teets, only your beautiful eyes" hahaHA..my last name never gets old. Left the square at 2AM, everyone shitty drunk, forcing Leslie to sing joni songs with me so she wouldn't give up, somehow getting everyone in taxis and home for our 3am curfew (where the nuns we are staying with lock the doors and that's the end of it, you're on the streeet) with 10 minutes to spare.
The chamber leg of this journey was great but i'm so excited to see lu and joe today and go off on our own. Right now I have 5 euro in my pocket and this internet is already up to £4.15 because I like to write epic, epic entries. I will email people who have emailed me back soon, but right now I'm pretty sure if I don't eat or drink I am going to faint. Love and miss you all, WE ARE ON OUR OWN... SCARRRYYYYYYYY!
Kristine and Inbal!
Some highlights from the trip:
The concerts were SO BEAUTIFUL. We ate dinner in taormina at the top of a mountain looking over the mediterranean, singing for the waitstaff and making asses out of ourselves as usual, though they seemed very appreciative. I have learned basically no italian so far except for a few words, including gratsie; I pretty much just thank everyone everywhere I go, even if it makes no sense to do so. We walked down 500 steps on the side of the mountain to reach the gorgeous little church, filled to the brim after NARD's promoting outside, and the priest took us all out for gelato afterward. We saw a lady in the other room salsa dancing with herself, and it looked as if her nipples were showing very clearly through her shirt. Nick of course went to dance crazily with her for a while and allayed all of our fears by discovering it was just, in fact, poorly placed polka dots.
In our hotel in Taormina, we were able to drink on the private beach, then go out to the bars. After hips and harmony members broke out into an impromptu version of be my baby, the concierge finally had enough and came out to scream at us in rapid fire italian. We met Canadians, Nella and Stuart, who we hung out with for our stay in Taormina and were amaaaazing. Hopefully we will meet more and more friends to spend the time with once we're on our own. We got in so much trouble for making noise when we returned that the concierge made us all chip in to pay for a room that a bitchy brit couple left at 2 in the morning complaining of not being able to sleep. Jordan tried to talk them down the night before, explaining we were a choir that hadn't seen eachother in a while. They proclaimed that we "weren't ACTING like a choir". Whatever guys, you obviously know nothing about the performing types.
Beach day in Taormina resulted in an unexpected meeting with miss Sarah Hanlon, a former chamber singer who was there for one day as her cruise ship docked. Crazy! We took pics with our traveling Reagan on the beach that we will try and upload soon; he really is having a lovely time! I haven't even gotten a sunburn yet because i am a freak about spf 50 sunblock. An italian waiter told me I looked italian the other day and I yelled FALSE in his face without even really thinking about you know, being rude. We laughed and laughed.
ps Fiona, I am slowly spreading false and true statement to europe..I've already got a few chamber singers doing it, hoooorayyy!
In sorrento we participated in a catholic mass. Yes, they really are just as boring in italian, it's true. Also had my first taste of limoncello, a lemon liquor that is famous in sorrento. Got an entire bottle for myself because it is frackin delicious, but don't worry mom, I would never drink it all in one night!
Pompeii was hilarious; our tour guide spent the entire time talking about the brothels and the sex lives of the pompeii people. We saw pictures on the wall of the brothel of people having sex in different positions. When you go in, you can point at which one you want, like a mcdonalds menu, hooray! Life was so much simpler, then...haahaaaaaa.
And then there was Rome. Amazing concert where Leia and I cried about 47 times, honestly the best we've ever sounded. Saw a marching band on the spanish steps, relaxed by the beautiful trevi fountain and played I spy using tourists as subjects (I spy with my little eye a man that looks like tom hanks from castaway, go!). Inbal, Les and I had some idiot moves as we were walking around as night, as well as getting lost during the day. Ah well, we saw the colloseum at night and it was beautiful. Reagan enjoyed all of these sights, and also found love at the trevi fountain heck yes!
We sang crazy songs on the bus ride home, gave speeches, entertained requests from our tour guide to hear "something like age of aquarius, or the beach boys!" and just overall had a good time. Nick moran, who the entire trip was the king of the bus, was overthrown in a violent coup. Here was his song, before his terrible fall
The King of the Bus Song
(Nick) I'm the king of the bus!
(the people) The king of the bus, he's better than us!
(Nick) I'm the king of the bus!
(the people) The king of the bus, he's better than us!
(Nick) I'll throw you into oblivion
I'll cast you into the sea
I never go to toilets
cause toilets come to me!
Rob line as his second in command was pretty much the best thing ever. The entire choir went out, running like 36 crazy people the three quarters of the mile to the metro to reach the last train with only 7 minutes to spare. Everyone got crazy drunk, I stole a shot glass from the bar because they were making us leave so early and there was no way I was going to finish another double shot of tequila in that moment. Talked to skeevy italian man named Giovanni; Leslie referred to me as Teets and he said "oh, I will not look at your Teets, only your beautiful eyes" hahaHA..my last name never gets old. Left the square at 2AM, everyone shitty drunk, forcing Leslie to sing joni songs with me so she wouldn't give up, somehow getting everyone in taxis and home for our 3am curfew (where the nuns we are staying with lock the doors and that's the end of it, you're on the streeet) with 10 minutes to spare.
The chamber leg of this journey was great but i'm so excited to see lu and joe today and go off on our own. Right now I have 5 euro in my pocket and this internet is already up to £4.15 because I like to write epic, epic entries. I will email people who have emailed me back soon, but right now I'm pretty sure if I don't eat or drink I am going to faint. Love and miss you all, WE ARE ON OUR OWN... SCARRRYYYYYYYY!
Kristine and Inbal!
Monday, June 11, 2007
AH
Today, Marilu and I will be leaving for Italy and already I have lost the confirmation code for my flight to Italy. This will be an exciting trip...possibly a really short one for me...hmm I hope by the end of this trip I will be slimmer and also have swapped spit with an French hottie. Wish me luck.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
ITALLIIAAA WHOOAAAAAA
Holy toledo we are finally here! we traveled from 1230 our time to 330 italian time...about 21 hours and we were friggin TARD when we got here. no sleep, very cracked out. Another classic marissa mulder quote set the tone for our journey: "what stays in italy, happened in italy", and we were off.
Some highlights thus far:
FOOD. LOTS OF IT. MULTIPLE COURSES. NO ONE COULD FIT INTO DRESSES AT OUR CONCERT. SO WORTH IT.
Mine and Leslie,s birthdays! We both were given cakes at dinner and sung too by the choir. Leslies was lemon but she was pretty convinced it was coconut. strange things happen to your tastebuds in foreign countries apparently, but we are all pretty cracked out so i suppose itàs excusable. No drinking yet because Palermo has terrible night life, but tonight is going to be the party night to end all party nights with the entire choir. Certainly many stories will come.
First concert last night, got in trouble with frightening, yelly sweater man for exposed shoulders and skirts and shorts above the knee during our practice earlier that day. Had to wear multiple scarves- we were very attractive.
Got assaulted by italian men of other choir. mine yelled "alta alta!" (tall one tall one!) and demanded a photograph as he was pretty much holding my ass. Another one upped him by grabbing norma and christiana and yelling "duo duo!" (Iàve got two!!). Nick moran told them Jesus was watching, we all had a good laugh. Jack had a fan club of preteen italian girls...good times were had by all.
Tomorrow is beach day in taormina, today we SHOP. How much can I fit in my backpackagain? I guess we will see! miss you all!
Kristine and friends!
Some highlights thus far:
FOOD. LOTS OF IT. MULTIPLE COURSES. NO ONE COULD FIT INTO DRESSES AT OUR CONCERT. SO WORTH IT.
Mine and Leslie,s birthdays! We both were given cakes at dinner and sung too by the choir. Leslies was lemon but she was pretty convinced it was coconut. strange things happen to your tastebuds in foreign countries apparently, but we are all pretty cracked out so i suppose itàs excusable. No drinking yet because Palermo has terrible night life, but tonight is going to be the party night to end all party nights with the entire choir. Certainly many stories will come.
First concert last night, got in trouble with frightening, yelly sweater man for exposed shoulders and skirts and shorts above the knee during our practice earlier that day. Had to wear multiple scarves- we were very attractive.
Got assaulted by italian men of other choir. mine yelled "alta alta!" (tall one tall one!) and demanded a photograph as he was pretty much holding my ass. Another one upped him by grabbing norma and christiana and yelling "duo duo!" (Iàve got two!!). Nick moran told them Jesus was watching, we all had a good laugh. Jack had a fan club of preteen italian girls...good times were had by all.
Tomorrow is beach day in taormina, today we SHOP. How much can I fit in my backpackagain? I guess we will see! miss you all!
Kristine and friends!
Sunday, June 3, 2007
You know, I heard Rome was really nice..but...
"If I see any more ruins, I'm going to ruin YOU"
-Marissa Mulder, in reference to her exasperation at the plethora of ruins in Rome, Italy
-Marissa Mulder, in reference to her exasperation at the plethora of ruins in Rome, Italy
Friday, June 1, 2007
What do you do..
...when you're leaving tomorrow, and your backpack hasn't come in yet? My future roommate advised that I treat it like having the hiccups and eat a spoonful of sugar. CAVITIES WILL NOT HELP ME IN THIS SITUATION, PHIL!
Ideas for what I could use to carry my stuff:
1. Tie it to my body using rope. All purpose, and if I need to climb a mountain, I will be READY.
2. Rent pack mule. Call her Daisy and keep as lifelong pet.
3. Get Joe drunk and use him as a pack mule. Keep him as lifelong pet.
4. Large canvas teacher bag covered in teddy bears. Anyone who tries to steal from me will only get so far as the washable markers, play-dough and googly eyes compartment before they give up.
5. Another backpack that I will probably go and purchase for way too much money tonight from Dick's frackin' sporting goods. Jeez louise, this is SO JUNKY.
Lovelovelove and I'm leaving for LI/NYC tomorrow!!!!
<3 Kris
Ideas for what I could use to carry my stuff:
1. Tie it to my body using rope. All purpose, and if I need to climb a mountain, I will be READY.
2. Rent pack mule. Call her Daisy and keep as lifelong pet.
3. Get Joe drunk and use him as a pack mule. Keep him as lifelong pet.
4. Large canvas teacher bag covered in teddy bears. Anyone who tries to steal from me will only get so far as the washable markers, play-dough and googly eyes compartment before they give up.
5. Another backpack that I will probably go and purchase for way too much money tonight from Dick's frackin' sporting goods. Jeez louise, this is SO JUNKY.
Lovelovelove and I'm leaving for LI/NYC tomorrow!!!!
<3 Kris
Thursday, May 31, 2007
And so it begins...
Welcome to what will hopefully be the site of many ridiculous stories (and hopefully pictures!) from our trip to Europe! From June 13th to July 5th, Marilu, Inbal, Joe, and I (Teets, in case you weren't aware) will be traveling to Rome, Florence, Nice, Paris, Barcelona, and Madrid...with hopefully a few side trips along the way! With Inbal and I starting out our journey early with the chamber singers in southern Italy, we'll be over there in 4 frackin days. I am not even thinking about being packed, nor has my backpack come in from my glorious eBay win nearly a week ago. Things are looking up?!
In the words of Aladdin: "I can show you the world, shining shimmering...spleeeenddiidddd". And that's exactly what I intend on doing, beeyotches.
<3Kristine
In the words of Aladdin: "I can show you the world, shining shimmering...spleeeenddiidddd". And that's exactly what I intend on doing, beeyotches.
<3Kristine
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