It is true that at the time of my last blog entry my travels hadn't finished! My uncle pointed out I should write one last piece on my arrival, and although there isn't a huge deal to describe, here it is.
At the airport Marco Polo, a man from Perth started talking to me, small world again. His story was similar to mine in a way, he immigrated in Australia a few decades ago. The plane which I boarded at 3.25 actually left at 4.30, 45 minutes late; the flight wasn't too bad, I watched a couple of movies and read a French magazine. May I mention that I was very happy with the Emirates meals :) excellent desserts! Shame about a group of Arabs, who disbehaved most of the flight and refused to stay sitting during landing! At Dubai, where we landed at midnight, the temperature was 31 degrees! Crazy. I had a couple of hours to walk around the duty free shopping area, but I soon made my way to the waiting area, boarding the second plane for Perth. Having done an online check in before leaving Conegliano, I was spared the hassle of joining long queues. The journey over nations and oceans was loooong... the plane was full and fairly uncomfortable so I only slept 2 hours. Sat next to an English lady who was going to visit some relatives in Perth she hadn't seen for 40 years, and was flying alone for the first time.
I arrived in Perth at 5.20ish, and after the complicated immigration customs, I walked out and got to give Rob the biggest hug, he was speechless and teary as I smiled and found comfort in his arms after so long :)
On Wednesday I saw my brother at his college on Wednesday morning and visited my good friend who lives thereabouts, before heading back to small Busselton. I was happy to see a few changes in my parents' Gelateria, all positive. I got home and although my puppy Skipper was not feeling well (what a scare... ok I call her puppy but she is almost 12 yrs old, and most precious to me), I found my room painted a light blue colour and all the furniture moved around! I also realised just how many clothes I own and don't really need... I will soon throw out some, as soon as summer starts definately. Feeling a bit ill this evening actually, even though I've passed a few days of gorgeous weather!
I suppose this would now be the end of this blog. It feels more appropriate now that I've drawn up a conclusion.
Grazie zii, Tommaso e nonni per tante belle memorie, e' stato un piacere essere tornata e spero davvero di rivederci presto!
Take care you all :)
Elena.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
last entry??
I have been wondering what will happen to my blog page once the magic of being overseas on holidays ends. I guess it'll just be a memory repertoire, who knows if I'll forget about it eventually. I have enjoyed writing on here though. Much faster than a normal diary :)
I believe I last wrote about Thursday, when we visited Venice. Well on Friday we stayed in Conegliano and let me tell you, it was a stressful day! Friday is market day. My grandma always goes to get fresh fish and look around, it's very busy. So today we also took our Australian neighbours, Mirella & Lena Bos, and their delightful relative Nadia. These two women, as much as they're fun to be with and incredibly up-beat, made my neck muscles tense! We had a couple of hours of speed walking around the market stalls, talking loudly and having to reply to their questions at maximum speed, if we wished to prevent them starting to speak again, moving on to the next topic! Um it was funny... :p they did a lot of their food shopping there and definately grabbed people's attention with their loud talking. Unique was the moment when Mirella yelled at the dairy provider if she could have, please, some skinning yoghurt!
Anyway, after lunch (fish, as all Fridays should be according to Gina) I raced off on the bike to an appointment. The weather was hot, like summer hot, and it doesn't look like it will stop till next week! It's been really nice. Went with my auntie and cousin to get some flowers and do some shopping. We stopped in a warehouse like the Australian SPOTLIGHT, provider of all things to do with sewing, I decided that if in my future I have a period of time with A LOT of free time, I will get creative and try create some funky clothes, seeing all the accessories and material patterns was inspiring!
On Saturday, we left by train for Padova, accompanied by Mirella, Lena, Nadia, Ugo & Karin. The last two joined our train in Treviso, and my grandma was noticed by the other passengers as she screamed 'Cari Kariniiii!' trying to get their attention. Ah what a unique woman!
Before lunch we took our time visiting the Church of Saint Antonio, probably one of the most impressive I've seen (if not the), and I've seen a lot of churches in these three months! The skeleton of S.Antonio is still preserved in the church, and not too long ago somebody had actually stolen the skull in order to take it to Brazil... lukily they were stopped at the airport. That was a strange story.
After lunch (dai frati) we walked to find a cafe for a coffee or cocktail (ok that was only me..). We were in front of Italy's biggest piazza, and YES it was rather large. Today there were markets around it, we spent some time looking through. Coming to an illegal sale of fake signiture bags by a couple of African sellers, I was hit by this lovely purple Prada bag... I got a closer look and was almost considering buying it, when all of the sudden the black men (no racial offence intended!!) in five seconds got all the bags together, threw them in a sack and walked away.. aaah, police, I thought. There they were, in fact. I was half unhappy about that pretty purple bag and half relieved to have saved the cash.. plus, where would I have put it? It wasn't meant to be, obviously.
Shame though, that a minute later I walked back to the same spot, and the men were there again, as if nothing had happened. This was torture. I ended up buying the bag. Not bad though, they asked for E40 and accepted E15 :) Bali barganing experience helped! So now I have this lovely medium-sized purple Prada (*winkwink*) bag, which has become my hand bag for the plane. It's quite spacey, so it'll be good for carrying extra weight. Plus, I don't have another purple bag. eheh.
Shortly after arriving to Conegliano, I had arranged to meet Alessandra at hers for a pizza. I there met Martina, another girl I went to school with, whom I hadn't caught up with yet. We walked to the piazza, not too busy for a Saturday night, spent some time there, and then got picked up from Ale's parents who kindly took us to a discoteque about half an hour away. They stopped to sleep at some relatives' until we rang them to go back home. How nice! Anyway, the club was quite big and both its levels were full. The club held an annoyingly sexist blondes vs. brunettes competition, but at least we saw the brunettes win by far! Didn't encounter any bad scenarios during the evening (or morning), I was actually happy to see that barely anyone walked in drunk off their heads. I met a few of Ale's friends and the same two lines were reoccurring: (me:) I'm Elena. (ale:) She's from Australia!
I'm close to saying bye to all important family and friends, many phonecalls have been made but a few visits too. Good news about my luggage weight though, I think I'll manage everything well :) I mean, I don't know how much it weighs, but my packing abilities surprised me! I've decided not to leave behind a second pair of shoes, but I'm sneaking in an extra hand luggage under a jumper, which is only a small travel bag, so it should be fine.
Ok I'm off :)
Hmmm yep.
I think this will be my last entry?
I'm leaving tomorrow.
Or coming home..
.. depending on where you're reading this from.
Maybe I'll take up this blog again during my next travels?
I love life :)
x
I believe I last wrote about Thursday, when we visited Venice. Well on Friday we stayed in Conegliano and let me tell you, it was a stressful day! Friday is market day. My grandma always goes to get fresh fish and look around, it's very busy. So today we also took our Australian neighbours, Mirella & Lena Bos, and their delightful relative Nadia. These two women, as much as they're fun to be with and incredibly up-beat, made my neck muscles tense! We had a couple of hours of speed walking around the market stalls, talking loudly and having to reply to their questions at maximum speed, if we wished to prevent them starting to speak again, moving on to the next topic! Um it was funny... :p they did a lot of their food shopping there and definately grabbed people's attention with their loud talking. Unique was the moment when Mirella yelled at the dairy provider if she could have, please, some skinning yoghurt!
Anyway, after lunch (fish, as all Fridays should be according to Gina) I raced off on the bike to an appointment. The weather was hot, like summer hot, and it doesn't look like it will stop till next week! It's been really nice. Went with my auntie and cousin to get some flowers and do some shopping. We stopped in a warehouse like the Australian SPOTLIGHT, provider of all things to do with sewing, I decided that if in my future I have a period of time with A LOT of free time, I will get creative and try create some funky clothes, seeing all the accessories and material patterns was inspiring!
On Saturday, we left by train for Padova, accompanied by Mirella, Lena, Nadia, Ugo & Karin. The last two joined our train in Treviso, and my grandma was noticed by the other passengers as she screamed 'Cari Kariniiii!' trying to get their attention. Ah what a unique woman!
Before lunch we took our time visiting the Church of Saint Antonio, probably one of the most impressive I've seen (if not the), and I've seen a lot of churches in these three months! The skeleton of S.Antonio is still preserved in the church, and not too long ago somebody had actually stolen the skull in order to take it to Brazil... lukily they were stopped at the airport. That was a strange story.
After lunch (dai frati) we walked to find a cafe for a coffee or cocktail (ok that was only me..). We were in front of Italy's biggest piazza, and YES it was rather large. Today there were markets around it, we spent some time looking through. Coming to an illegal sale of fake signiture bags by a couple of African sellers, I was hit by this lovely purple Prada bag... I got a closer look and was almost considering buying it, when all of the sudden the black men (no racial offence intended!!) in five seconds got all the bags together, threw them in a sack and walked away.. aaah, police, I thought. There they were, in fact. I was half unhappy about that pretty purple bag and half relieved to have saved the cash.. plus, where would I have put it? It wasn't meant to be, obviously.
Shame though, that a minute later I walked back to the same spot, and the men were there again, as if nothing had happened. This was torture. I ended up buying the bag. Not bad though, they asked for E40 and accepted E15 :) Bali barganing experience helped! So now I have this lovely medium-sized purple Prada (*winkwink*) bag, which has become my hand bag for the plane. It's quite spacey, so it'll be good for carrying extra weight. Plus, I don't have another purple bag. eheh.
Shortly after arriving to Conegliano, I had arranged to meet Alessandra at hers for a pizza. I there met Martina, another girl I went to school with, whom I hadn't caught up with yet. We walked to the piazza, not too busy for a Saturday night, spent some time there, and then got picked up from Ale's parents who kindly took us to a discoteque about half an hour away. They stopped to sleep at some relatives' until we rang them to go back home. How nice! Anyway, the club was quite big and both its levels were full. The club held an annoyingly sexist blondes vs. brunettes competition, but at least we saw the brunettes win by far! Didn't encounter any bad scenarios during the evening (or morning), I was actually happy to see that barely anyone walked in drunk off their heads. I met a few of Ale's friends and the same two lines were reoccurring: (me:) I'm Elena. (ale:) She's from Australia!
I'm close to saying bye to all important family and friends, many phonecalls have been made but a few visits too. Good news about my luggage weight though, I think I'll manage everything well :) I mean, I don't know how much it weighs, but my packing abilities surprised me! I've decided not to leave behind a second pair of shoes, but I'm sneaking in an extra hand luggage under a jumper, which is only a small travel bag, so it should be fine.
Ok I'm off :)
Hmmm yep.
I think this will be my last entry?
I'm leaving tomorrow.
Or coming home..
.. depending on where you're reading this from.
Maybe I'll take up this blog again during my next travels?
I love life :)
x
Friday, October 10, 2008
only 3 days left...
Today went rather quickly :o
I left the house with my grandma at 8.05am, due to her hatred of lateness.. we parked our bikes at her niece's and walked to the train station, with a good half hour to wait till the train left. We walked around, 5 minutes to go, we hear an announce regarding the train's 25min DELAY!
Anyway we got to Venice in the end, and met Ugo & Karin there. With our personal Venetian guide (Ugo), we took a ferry or two for Torcello, one of the oldest and quietest islands. The main (scrap that... the only) attraction here is an impressive church from 700AC. That's about a millenium older than Australian settlement... hm! We visited it after lunching at a decent restaurant (oh, the other attraction of the ilsand, if you don't count vast farm lands).
It was already about 3.30 as we got another ferry to get back to the 'main' Venice, walked around a bit more, visited another old church, sat for a coffee, looked at a few shops and admired the unique glass creations and masks of the place.
The weather was kind with us the whole day, I learnt a few historical things and Venetian expressions, it was a fun and pleasant day overall.
We came back on the train on the second storey, it was my first time but too hot for my liking.. I'm tired now, I'm sure through the day I could have told you a lot more interesting things that happened. We do have a couple of things planned for tomorrow so I'm getting to bed early.
Good night Australia :) (e zio!)
I left the house with my grandma at 8.05am, due to her hatred of lateness.. we parked our bikes at her niece's and walked to the train station, with a good half hour to wait till the train left. We walked around, 5 minutes to go, we hear an announce regarding the train's 25min DELAY!
Anyway we got to Venice in the end, and met Ugo & Karin there. With our personal Venetian guide (Ugo), we took a ferry or two for Torcello, one of the oldest and quietest islands. The main (scrap that... the only) attraction here is an impressive church from 700AC. That's about a millenium older than Australian settlement... hm! We visited it after lunching at a decent restaurant (oh, the other attraction of the ilsand, if you don't count vast farm lands).
It was already about 3.30 as we got another ferry to get back to the 'main' Venice, walked around a bit more, visited another old church, sat for a coffee, looked at a few shops and admired the unique glass creations and masks of the place.
The weather was kind with us the whole day, I learnt a few historical things and Venetian expressions, it was a fun and pleasant day overall.
We came back on the train on the second storey, it was my first time but too hot for my liking.. I'm tired now, I'm sure through the day I could have told you a lot more interesting things that happened. We do have a couple of things planned for tomorrow so I'm getting to bed early.
Good night Australia :) (e zio!)
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
random bits (2)
Wow it's Wednesday night already! Hmm.. the past few days have been a bit of a blur, so I'll be mentioning things in no specific order.
Ok on.. Monday night I had dinner with Giulia and her family, at their house. It was nice, I had a little present for her and we got to catch up one last time before I leave. She too was drowned in study and homework.
I had the irritating pleasure of being introduced to a million friends of my grandma's when walking the streets, feeling like a foreigner as I was 'the granddaughter from Australia'.
I got my hair trimmed and streaked today. It was a bit pricier than I expected but I like the final result :)
I finally found my cousin a present!! Just something small but I hope he likes it, but shhh zio, ancora non lo sa!
Mirella and Lena Bos have arrived (to non-family, these are an impressive mother and daughter team who reside in the Gold Coast but are actually relatives of my grandparents, so I went to meet them last year with my parents and brother). Their sweet loud tunes are definately heard through the quiet and conservative Via dei Carpini! Mirella has given my grandma yet another perfume, and a majestic and beautiful book of Australian photography and descriptive text which must weight 5 kgs. Granddad refused to look through it because 'he already knows' Australia...
Saw Stefania and Margherita (my godmother and her daughter), who popped around for a drink. Will see them again probably late Sunday!
Going to Venice tomorrow with Ugo, Karin and Gina :)
Still a bit grumpy about my overweight luggage. I came home and found all the stuff i didn't take to France. I actually have 11 pairs of shoes here!! Ok I'm getting rid of one cos they're only cheap thongs, I have bought 4 pairs during my stay but still thats 6 pairs I brought with me?? And 2 of those are boots! I may feel in a charitable mood and donate some clothes to the church... gosh.
A disco (club) opened in Conegliano last weekend. I've been invited to go this Saturday night. After watching so much negative media reports on these places here, regarding drugs and abuses, I'm a bit hesitant. But I know to behave so I might go and be careful.
Just going to a shopping centre with my auntie and Tommaso just now. Ciao!
Ok on.. Monday night I had dinner with Giulia and her family, at their house. It was nice, I had a little present for her and we got to catch up one last time before I leave. She too was drowned in study and homework.
I had the irritating pleasure of being introduced to a million friends of my grandma's when walking the streets, feeling like a foreigner as I was 'the granddaughter from Australia'.
I got my hair trimmed and streaked today. It was a bit pricier than I expected but I like the final result :)
I finally found my cousin a present!! Just something small but I hope he likes it, but shhh zio, ancora non lo sa!
Mirella and Lena Bos have arrived (to non-family, these are an impressive mother and daughter team who reside in the Gold Coast but are actually relatives of my grandparents, so I went to meet them last year with my parents and brother). Their sweet loud tunes are definately heard through the quiet and conservative Via dei Carpini! Mirella has given my grandma yet another perfume, and a majestic and beautiful book of Australian photography and descriptive text which must weight 5 kgs. Granddad refused to look through it because 'he already knows' Australia...
Saw Stefania and Margherita (my godmother and her daughter), who popped around for a drink. Will see them again probably late Sunday!
Going to Venice tomorrow with Ugo, Karin and Gina :)
Still a bit grumpy about my overweight luggage. I came home and found all the stuff i didn't take to France. I actually have 11 pairs of shoes here!! Ok I'm getting rid of one cos they're only cheap thongs, I have bought 4 pairs during my stay but still thats 6 pairs I brought with me?? And 2 of those are boots! I may feel in a charitable mood and donate some clothes to the church... gosh.
A disco (club) opened in Conegliano last weekend. I've been invited to go this Saturday night. After watching so much negative media reports on these places here, regarding drugs and abuses, I'm a bit hesitant. But I know to behave so I might go and be careful.
Just going to a shopping centre with my auntie and Tommaso just now. Ciao!
Monday, October 6, 2008
October 4th
I know four people who celebrate their birthdays on this day. My good friend Louise, who turned 18 (I hope she had a ball celebrating it!), my friends Dani and Kyle, who turned 19, and my uncle here in Italy... whose youthful age I shall kindly not mention.
So on Saturday when I was collected in Venice by my auntie and grandma, I really noticed how close the end of my 'holiday' is. In the evening we went to a great pizzeria to celebrate my uncle's birthday with his family and best man's family also. We were offered final drinks by the owner (who knows my uncle), so I enjoyed some Limoncello which I hadn't sipped for a while.
On Sunday we had a big lunch with the family and Ugo & Karin, who came down from Treviso. Karin made a lovely apple pie, one the best I've tasted, she even made the pastry! I learnt I'm a bit too spontaneous for today's diplomacy, I shall try filtering my words in order to say what others want to hear...
In the afternoon, my auntie and uncle took me and Tommaso to Oderzo, saw some Roman remains and we sat in a chocolaterie/cafe which didn't serve iced chocolates or smoothies, all advertised on the menu. It did have some interesting cold drink ideas which babbo, I think I'll show you.
I met Alessandra around 6 and we walked around town, quite a busy day, to catch up. There was a sort of market around the centre, cucinavano castagne!! Molto autunnale :) Ho anche incontrato la Carlotta, con cui forse mi ritrovero'. Ah con l'Alessandra ho anche parlato in francese! Lei lo studia da 3 anni pero' non e' tanto piu' brava di me.. ma parla anche lo spagnolo ed un buon inglese. Oh I did find out from Alessandra, who's in her final high school year, about her studies. She has her 6 hrs of school every day, plus on average does homework and studies for an unbelievable 8 hrs in the afternoon! And often she still remains with work to complete! I struggle to imagine how these kids have a social life or fit in any interests. And the school year only started a month ago! The amount of work they're expected to do, plus some ridiculous things they study (as she's studying English, she's currently learning about the Victorian Age. Just like I'm sure all English students bloody do!) are incredible, am I glad I left in that regard.
After dinner (hence after being stuffed) I watched a nice telefilm, 'Coco Chanel', on the life of the famous French designer. Unfortunately the film wasn't in its original version, French, but in Italian. Quite a nice watch. The weather at the moment here is sunny but chilly, overall pleasant.
Until next time!
So on Saturday when I was collected in Venice by my auntie and grandma, I really noticed how close the end of my 'holiday' is. In the evening we went to a great pizzeria to celebrate my uncle's birthday with his family and best man's family also. We were offered final drinks by the owner (who knows my uncle), so I enjoyed some Limoncello which I hadn't sipped for a while.
On Sunday we had a big lunch with the family and Ugo & Karin, who came down from Treviso. Karin made a lovely apple pie, one the best I've tasted, she even made the pastry! I learnt I'm a bit too spontaneous for today's diplomacy, I shall try filtering my words in order to say what others want to hear...
In the afternoon, my auntie and uncle took me and Tommaso to Oderzo, saw some Roman remains and we sat in a chocolaterie/cafe which didn't serve iced chocolates or smoothies, all advertised on the menu. It did have some interesting cold drink ideas which babbo, I think I'll show you.
I met Alessandra around 6 and we walked around town, quite a busy day, to catch up. There was a sort of market around the centre, cucinavano castagne!! Molto autunnale :) Ho anche incontrato la Carlotta, con cui forse mi ritrovero'. Ah con l'Alessandra ho anche parlato in francese! Lei lo studia da 3 anni pero' non e' tanto piu' brava di me.. ma parla anche lo spagnolo ed un buon inglese. Oh I did find out from Alessandra, who's in her final high school year, about her studies. She has her 6 hrs of school every day, plus on average does homework and studies for an unbelievable 8 hrs in the afternoon! And often she still remains with work to complete! I struggle to imagine how these kids have a social life or fit in any interests. And the school year only started a month ago! The amount of work they're expected to do, plus some ridiculous things they study (as she's studying English, she's currently learning about the Victorian Age. Just like I'm sure all English students bloody do!) are incredible, am I glad I left in that regard.
After dinner (hence after being stuffed) I watched a nice telefilm, 'Coco Chanel', on the life of the famous French designer. Unfortunately the film wasn't in its original version, French, but in Italian. Quite a nice watch. The weather at the moment here is sunny but chilly, overall pleasant.
Until next time!
Last days in Chambery..
Apologies for the lack of posts for a few days, been busy packing and unpacking!
Thursday night was lovely.. At dinner Madame Andre enjoyed meeting Melanie, they both liked each other and the pizzas were consumed pleasantly. Mme A insisted on paying for us both, very sweet of her. She then dropped us off at Mel's apartment, where we made some lovely pina coladas before going out dancing.
Unrested, I went to my last class on Friday morning; I was quite sad to say bye to some of the students but very happy to have met all of them. I think Friday afternoon was the slowest, most unwelcome and dragged-out period of time in the past 3 months.. it only took me 2 hours to pack everything calmly but it felt like 4! Emptying all the drawers in my room felt cold, distant and lonely, but I managed. Mme A kindly gave me a nice gift and some photos to remember, I offered her the rape-alarm wishing her to never need it.
On the way to organise Saturday's bus ticket to the airport I admired the city centre one last time and did a last bit of shopping, which kind of helped my mood.
After the 'last dinner', I met a group of students at 'Charly's Pub', a fairly nice English-style bar. Had a few nice chats with some people I didn't know too well... it's jsut in the last 10 days that I'm happy to (and able to, really) have French conversations wish English speakers. Met a bizarre German guy, Marco, who was here for the intensive French course (thats 40 hrs/week) and could also speak English and Italian! Strangest of all, this lingo maniac is an engineer. He happened to live on my same road though, so I didn't have to walk home alone late.
On Saturday morning, after concerned phonecalls from my parents and Rob, I took the bus to the Lyon airport. I'd been kindly stuffed by Mme A one last time with two large sandwhiches for lunch, and given a box of chocolates by two of her neighbours, who were interested in meeting me because their grandchildren live in Adelaide. Saying 'au revoir' to Mme A and Melanie (who'd come to wave me off) wasn't too bad but not a happy time. Anyway, got to the airport and two hours before boarding would commence I'd checked in and was sitting at a cafe. The Lyon airport's fairly large, with 3 terminals, but I was in the newste and probably smalles, so there wasn't much to do but read a magazine and study the French dictionary :p
A while later an Italian man joined my table, we started chatting (he'd been in Lourdes for a spiritual retreat..) and were overheard by an Italian woman, who joined our conversation, so we actually stuck together through the flight as well.
For my first flying-alone experience, I was relieved in not finding it difficult, I think the practice I had in France and Italy using trains and metros helped, after all they're almost the same thing ;)
Thursday night was lovely.. At dinner Madame Andre enjoyed meeting Melanie, they both liked each other and the pizzas were consumed pleasantly. Mme A insisted on paying for us both, very sweet of her. She then dropped us off at Mel's apartment, where we made some lovely pina coladas before going out dancing.
Unrested, I went to my last class on Friday morning; I was quite sad to say bye to some of the students but very happy to have met all of them. I think Friday afternoon was the slowest, most unwelcome and dragged-out period of time in the past 3 months.. it only took me 2 hours to pack everything calmly but it felt like 4! Emptying all the drawers in my room felt cold, distant and lonely, but I managed. Mme A kindly gave me a nice gift and some photos to remember, I offered her the rape-alarm wishing her to never need it.
On the way to organise Saturday's bus ticket to the airport I admired the city centre one last time and did a last bit of shopping, which kind of helped my mood.
After the 'last dinner', I met a group of students at 'Charly's Pub', a fairly nice English-style bar. Had a few nice chats with some people I didn't know too well... it's jsut in the last 10 days that I'm happy to (and able to, really) have French conversations wish English speakers. Met a bizarre German guy, Marco, who was here for the intensive French course (thats 40 hrs/week) and could also speak English and Italian! Strangest of all, this lingo maniac is an engineer. He happened to live on my same road though, so I didn't have to walk home alone late.
On Saturday morning, after concerned phonecalls from my parents and Rob, I took the bus to the Lyon airport. I'd been kindly stuffed by Mme A one last time with two large sandwhiches for lunch, and given a box of chocolates by two of her neighbours, who were interested in meeting me because their grandchildren live in Adelaide. Saying 'au revoir' to Mme A and Melanie (who'd come to wave me off) wasn't too bad but not a happy time. Anyway, got to the airport and two hours before boarding would commence I'd checked in and was sitting at a cafe. The Lyon airport's fairly large, with 3 terminals, but I was in the newste and probably smalles, so there wasn't much to do but read a magazine and study the French dictionary :p
A while later an Italian man joined my table, we started chatting (he'd been in Lourdes for a spiritual retreat..) and were overheard by an Italian woman, who joined our conversation, so we actually stuck together through the flight as well.
For my first flying-alone experience, I was relieved in not finding it difficult, I think the practice I had in France and Italy using trains and metros helped, after all they're almost the same thing ;)
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Autumn has almost come!
I'm afraid I'm going to get corrected by Carolyn for the spelling of this specific season but I honestly can't remember if it's written like that in English?!
So please refer to the picture on the side (I've uploaded a few!), tell me if it's not beautiful! I say autumn's almost come because today the weather was really nice, quite hot even, but you walk through parts of town where the walk paths are covered by brown and yellow leaves.. the park I took the picture at is one I cross on my way to school, so this morning's lack of bright sunshine made it even better. Plus there's lots of benches, a big fountain, and flower beds: it's very picture-perfect.
Anyway that's enough poetry for a while.. back to emotive journalism please. About two hours ago I consumed the world's biggest kebab, I can still feel it. Quite delicious but in fact in two more hours I'm going for a pizza with Madame Andre and Melanie, hopefully it'll be half digested by then. Tonight being my second last night Mel and I will go out and celebrate a little. Tomorrow night we want to go ice-skating, there's a place just next to the school and I've never tried it!
In the last few days I've taken a lot of photos of pretty places in Chamber, just for souvenirs. I'm going now, have a date on the phone with a special Australian friend ;)
Zii a presto! Ci vediamo all'aereoporto no?? Ugo m´ha chiesto se doveva venire a prendermi, ho detto che non e' necessario.. se nessuno puo' posso sempre venire a piedi... basta che seguo l'autostrada no? ho un bel paio di scarpe da ginnastica...
So please refer to the picture on the side (I've uploaded a few!), tell me if it's not beautiful! I say autumn's almost come because today the weather was really nice, quite hot even, but you walk through parts of town where the walk paths are covered by brown and yellow leaves.. the park I took the picture at is one I cross on my way to school, so this morning's lack of bright sunshine made it even better. Plus there's lots of benches, a big fountain, and flower beds: it's very picture-perfect.
Anyway that's enough poetry for a while.. back to emotive journalism please. About two hours ago I consumed the world's biggest kebab, I can still feel it. Quite delicious but in fact in two more hours I'm going for a pizza with Madame Andre and Melanie, hopefully it'll be half digested by then. Tonight being my second last night Mel and I will go out and celebrate a little. Tomorrow night we want to go ice-skating, there's a place just next to the school and I've never tried it!
In the last few days I've taken a lot of photos of pretty places in Chamber, just for souvenirs. I'm going now, have a date on the phone with a special Australian friend ;)
Zii a presto! Ci vediamo all'aereoporto no?? Ugo m´ha chiesto se doveva venire a prendermi, ho detto che non e' necessario.. se nessuno puo' posso sempre venire a piedi... basta che seguo l'autostrada no? ho un bel paio di scarpe da ginnastica...
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
I do have a lovely boss!
La Vie En Rose definately lived up to its reputation! Although over two hours long, it was a very intense and emotional film, with impressive singing and a few heart-tearing moments. ..... I give it.. 4.5 stars! lol.
So I got home a bit late and Madame Andre wasn't there as she slept with some family elsewhere. I enjoyed a bit of pleasant solitude :) watched some horrible Italian tv before dragging myself to my warm bed. Ah it's soo comfortable.. right now it's early morning so I don't think this blog entry will be long nor informative, I shall head back to my nest soon.
Doing my last loads of washing this morning, organising my return to Italy, I think I'll go for the online check in.. not much really.
Going, going, gone.
So I got home a bit late and Madame Andre wasn't there as she slept with some family elsewhere. I enjoyed a bit of pleasant solitude :) watched some horrible Italian tv before dragging myself to my warm bed. Ah it's soo comfortable.. right now it's early morning so I don't think this blog entry will be long nor informative, I shall head back to my nest soon.
Doing my last loads of washing this morning, organising my return to Italy, I think I'll go for the online check in.. not much really.
Going, going, gone.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Last week...
I'm losing a bit of motivation to blog, I don't really want to come back to reality by leaving Chambery.. Then again I do want to pop back to Conegliano and later go back to Busselton!
Yesterday we had the monthly test to divide all students, old and new, into groups. We have been hit by a MASSIVE hit of Japonese and Chinese students, it's crazy.
Melanie and I have completely opposite timetables these last 4 days, not very fun! They must have done it on purpose. But anyway we will go out one last time on Thursday night, and my host has even invited her for a pizza with us one night!
This morning Madame Andre dropped me off to a large shopping centre about 3 km from home... forgetting to mention that the only way to walk back was on the freeway! Scary experience. I bought her a rape alarm, a little plastic box with a string attached to it which if pulled makes a really loud noise. Melanie had one and when I told her about it she seemed to think it was a great idea.. plus she largely travels on her own so you can never be too careful :)
Watching 'La Vie En Rose' tonight at the school, everyone says it's a good film. A bientot!
Yesterday we had the monthly test to divide all students, old and new, into groups. We have been hit by a MASSIVE hit of Japonese and Chinese students, it's crazy.
Melanie and I have completely opposite timetables these last 4 days, not very fun! They must have done it on purpose. But anyway we will go out one last time on Thursday night, and my host has even invited her for a pizza with us one night!
This morning Madame Andre dropped me off to a large shopping centre about 3 km from home... forgetting to mention that the only way to walk back was on the freeway! Scary experience. I bought her a rape alarm, a little plastic box with a string attached to it which if pulled makes a really loud noise. Melanie had one and when I told her about it she seemed to think it was a great idea.. plus she largely travels on her own so you can never be too careful :)
Watching 'La Vie En Rose' tonight at the school, everyone says it's a good film. A bientot!
Monday, September 29, 2008
Lovely Sunday
Almost-perfect weather blessed Chambery again on Sunday.
In the morning I went with Madame Andre to quickly visit the church she attends, it's l'Eglise de St Lemenc and underground it treasures an 8-century-old crypt, I may have mentioned trying to visit it last week, but it had been closed. Madame Andre with her contacts and persuasive manners let me see it, it was quite plain apart from a circular hole where baptism ceremonies used to be carried out, and a larger-than-reality marble monument of a dead Jesus and his disciples, pretty well preserved!
Today all around the centre there were massive markets. Like, HUGE, MASSIVELY POPULATED markets which happen in Chambery once a year, attracting people from all over the Savoy and commerciants from other regions. Most of the stock was ridiculously cheap, food was sold as well as clothes and accessories. I met Mel there and we dreaded spending the little money we have left, but I controlled myself quite well :) Lunch today was Churros, little fried Spanish sticks covered in sugar.
After a couple of hours of exploring, Mel and I went to sit at the park to enjoy the sun and de-stress due to the number of people around. There was this hint of idea about us doing some study for Monday's test, but we survived chatting instead. It was really relaxing after two high speed days to just sit and enjoy the sun.
Around 5pm we went to the Cafe du Theatre for a beer and ice cream (probaly the only decent in town, and I'm not just saying that cos I love the place ;). I was just noting to my English buddy that it had been a shame that we hadn't met many French people to practice our French on... sure enough, two guys soon joined our table and we did just that. Unfortunately the conversation was quite limited as they only had the one topic of conversation most guys would, so we left after not long. Funny anyway.
I'm going to miss it here, I'm just realising how much I've improved after 3-4 weeks of the school, I think I'm at a third of where I'd like to be with the language and 2 more months here would do me sooo good. Mamma di sicuro devi continuare a parlarmi in francese, per favore, almeno proveremo ok :) But I will surely consider coming back, if not for school maybe to visit Madame Andre!
I also am aggravated by how expensive university is in Australia compared to France and Spain (that I've heard of). It would be worth to do my studies here, pick up another language, and save some cash.. then again accommodation might be expensive? Who knows. Its a bit late now anyway...
In the morning I went with Madame Andre to quickly visit the church she attends, it's l'Eglise de St Lemenc and underground it treasures an 8-century-old crypt, I may have mentioned trying to visit it last week, but it had been closed. Madame Andre with her contacts and persuasive manners let me see it, it was quite plain apart from a circular hole where baptism ceremonies used to be carried out, and a larger-than-reality marble monument of a dead Jesus and his disciples, pretty well preserved!
Today all around the centre there were massive markets. Like, HUGE, MASSIVELY POPULATED markets which happen in Chambery once a year, attracting people from all over the Savoy and commerciants from other regions. Most of the stock was ridiculously cheap, food was sold as well as clothes and accessories. I met Mel there and we dreaded spending the little money we have left, but I controlled myself quite well :) Lunch today was Churros, little fried Spanish sticks covered in sugar.
After a couple of hours of exploring, Mel and I went to sit at the park to enjoy the sun and de-stress due to the number of people around. There was this hint of idea about us doing some study for Monday's test, but we survived chatting instead. It was really relaxing after two high speed days to just sit and enjoy the sun.
Around 5pm we went to the Cafe du Theatre for a beer and ice cream (probaly the only decent in town, and I'm not just saying that cos I love the place ;). I was just noting to my English buddy that it had been a shame that we hadn't met many French people to practice our French on... sure enough, two guys soon joined our table and we did just that. Unfortunately the conversation was quite limited as they only had the one topic of conversation most guys would, so we left after not long. Funny anyway.
I'm going to miss it here, I'm just realising how much I've improved after 3-4 weeks of the school, I think I'm at a third of where I'd like to be with the language and 2 more months here would do me sooo good. Mamma di sicuro devi continuare a parlarmi in francese, per favore, almeno proveremo ok :) But I will surely consider coming back, if not for school maybe to visit Madame Andre!
I also am aggravated by how expensive university is in Australia compared to France and Spain (that I've heard of). It would be worth to do my studies here, pick up another language, and save some cash.. then again accommodation might be expensive? Who knows. Its a bit late now anyway...
Saturday - Lyon
I was excited for this trip to Lyon but had no idea how much I´d enjoy it! I completely fell in love with the city from the minute I stepped off the metro.
The day actually started at 5am, me not being able to sleep. A couple of hours later I was having a coffee at the Cafe du Theatre, waiting for the departure. We took the train this time and there I met a French guy my age, who kindly told me a few things about Lyon, and allowed me to practice my French. Arrived at the train station in Lyon we took the metro to the 'old city', boooooooy was it gorgeous! I'm not an over-excited sort of person but the views took my breath away and I couldn't help but whisper 'wow'.
Just 50m from the metro exit was the Cathedral of Notre Dame... the most impressive church institution I think I've seen so far, it was bloody huge. I ventured off into little alleys lined by old high buildings, one of the things I saw was the Museum of Film Miniture, with numerous little film sets, built in miniture but with perfect detail! Amusing.
I soon walked up a hill to view up close the Basilique which over looks the city. That was magnificent too. Must have done precisely 143,000 steps to get there... but it was worth it ;) With a breath-taking view of the city, I had a quick lunch.
For the next few hours, I kept walking around the city, admiring the architecture of something as simple as a post office. The Parliament building, overlooking the river, was being restaured but still looked amazing. In the afernoon we found our way back to the train station, but still had some left over time to visit the shopping centre just next to it- which was HUGE! 4 storeys with as many people as ants in an ants nest. It seemed like being in New York but indoors, after a while it became frustrating because you could hardly get walking space!
I decided that trains are my favourite place to think. Or even, not think. But then if you're like me you start thinking of not thinking. But it's just so nice to sit and stare at the scenery flying past.
On Saturday night I was looking forward to going to the Theatre du Casino in Aix-les-Bains, not too far from here, because Madame Andre seemed like she really wanted to do something together, so we found out that some classical music was being performed there. Unfortunately when she'd rung in the day there were no seats left so we stayed home, postponing our date out :) might very well be a pizza one of the next few nights.
The day actually started at 5am, me not being able to sleep. A couple of hours later I was having a coffee at the Cafe du Theatre, waiting for the departure. We took the train this time and there I met a French guy my age, who kindly told me a few things about Lyon, and allowed me to practice my French. Arrived at the train station in Lyon we took the metro to the 'old city', boooooooy was it gorgeous! I'm not an over-excited sort of person but the views took my breath away and I couldn't help but whisper 'wow'.
Just 50m from the metro exit was the Cathedral of Notre Dame... the most impressive church institution I think I've seen so far, it was bloody huge. I ventured off into little alleys lined by old high buildings, one of the things I saw was the Museum of Film Miniture, with numerous little film sets, built in miniture but with perfect detail! Amusing.
I soon walked up a hill to view up close the Basilique which over looks the city. That was magnificent too. Must have done precisely 143,000 steps to get there... but it was worth it ;) With a breath-taking view of the city, I had a quick lunch.
For the next few hours, I kept walking around the city, admiring the architecture of something as simple as a post office. The Parliament building, overlooking the river, was being restaured but still looked amazing. In the afernoon we found our way back to the train station, but still had some left over time to visit the shopping centre just next to it- which was HUGE! 4 storeys with as many people as ants in an ants nest. It seemed like being in New York but indoors, after a while it became frustrating because you could hardly get walking space!
I decided that trains are my favourite place to think. Or even, not think. But then if you're like me you start thinking of not thinking. But it's just so nice to sit and stare at the scenery flying past.
On Saturday night I was looking forward to going to the Theatre du Casino in Aix-les-Bains, not too far from here, because Madame Andre seemed like she really wanted to do something together, so we found out that some classical music was being performed there. Unfortunately when she'd rung in the day there were no seats left so we stayed home, postponing our date out :) might very well be a pizza one of the next few nights.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Friday - Grenoble
University city of about 170,000, about 40 mins from Chambery by train.
After school on Friday I raced to the train station, also home of the rented-bicycle station, to return my bike, as I'd rented it for 4 weeks only and was in need of my E150 bond back! Unfortunately some idiot must have punched my front light some time when the bike had been parked, so I had to pay E7 for it.
Anyway, getting better with trains, I got to Grenoble at about 2.30 and found my way to the old centre. I'd kind of planned my trip because I only had about 4 hours. The city centre was quite pretty. A lot of the buildings however were grey and dirty because of their age, but this was made up by numerous green and flowery gardens everywhere :) also a lot of large piazzaq, I really like the way cafes have lots of tables outside here (meaning Europe).
I visited a few old churches, the Cathedral of Notre Dame (bit disappointing), and had some time for the museum of Grenoble, where apart from the Beaux Arts I saw Roman, Greek and Egyptian remains. Ancient Egypt always fascinated me a bit so I was in awe at the sarcofages and little sphynge statues! (nope not sure how that was spelt!)
I met a strange lesbian couple, pretty nice really, although both covered by an interesting combination of tatoos and piercings; one of the girls was Italian so we had a nice chat.
There was a great number of one-way roads in Grenoble. To my disbelief, I insisted in looking both ways when crossing every single one of them! Ah, can never be too careful I suppose... hmmmmm...
Oh yeah. On the way back, I decided I felt like visiting the Montmelian trains station! Montemelian is about 15 mins away from Chambery and... well.. ok, I didn't INTENTIONALLY wish to stop there! I felt so ridiculous, you hear of people getting off trains one stop late, but who EVER gets off early??? I'll admit that it was dark and I was tired, but comparing the two train stations is like comparing the Bunbury and Perth bus stations (Perth being Chambery)! But no problem, got the next train half an hour later... Madame Andre was starting to get worried but we had a nice laugh about my stupidity later!
- More tomorrow, once back at school :)
Thursday, September 25, 2008
j'aime faire du tourism!
Left early this morning again, I wanted to go to mass in the Cathedral to hear the amazing organ. Turns out it was only a small ceremony because it's the middle of the week, I had a small chat to a nice old lady next to me, felt weird being the only person outside the third generation, but it was still nice.
I then rode to a small church on a hill, because I wanted to see its underground crypt. The bloody thing was closed and my efforts were wasted (I mean, I had a good workout!). But Madame Andre sings in a choir there and I'm thinking of asking her if I can go with her next week, as the pictures of the crypt looked really magical.
After two more disappointingly closed churches and a closed castle, I headed to the supermarket to buy some groceries, because tonight I offered to cook dinner :) on the menu is.. little sausages and cheese and bread as appitisers, spaghetti with tuna & onion, a warm salad and dessert still to be purchased. Looking forward to it. I was thinking of buying a candle as well but I think that might be a little over the top!
So I still had about 3 hours till my class started, I sat at my cafe for some French study and a chat to Rob on the phone. Hojos, the guy is in a play right now at the Weld Theatre, it's Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, showing till Sunday. If you have some spare time :)
I then rode to a small church on a hill, because I wanted to see its underground crypt. The bloody thing was closed and my efforts were wasted (I mean, I had a good workout!). But Madame Andre sings in a choir there and I'm thinking of asking her if I can go with her next week, as the pictures of the crypt looked really magical.
After two more disappointingly closed churches and a closed castle, I headed to the supermarket to buy some groceries, because tonight I offered to cook dinner :) on the menu is.. little sausages and cheese and bread as appitisers, spaghetti with tuna & onion, a warm salad and dessert still to be purchased. Looking forward to it. I was thinking of buying a candle as well but I think that might be a little over the top!
So I still had about 3 hours till my class started, I sat at my cafe for some French study and a chat to Rob on the phone. Hojos, the guy is in a play right now at the Weld Theatre, it's Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, showing till Sunday. If you have some spare time :)
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
random bits
Gosh it's true, by exposition I've been meaning EXHIbition!! My English is already fuzzying away??? Aaaah. Hm just a quick note as I'm about to go to class, not much happened yesterday except I bought a little pair of black boots.. :) Melanie got back from Spain, we might take a ride to a shopping centre this afternoon. I bought a train ticket for Friday to go to Grenoble, a large city with numerous shops and student-orientated places. I tried recharging my mobile but the damn thing hasn't worked, so I'll attempt living for a week or two without texting Rob. The weather here is a bit chilly, not raining but cold.. will get sunny and warmer for the weekend. I think I will go to mass in the Cathedral one day this week, the organ must sound amazing.
Ho pensato con tristezza 'sta mattina alla mia partenza dall'Italia.. la giornata sara' un po' piu' grigia :(
Ho pensato con tristezza 'sta mattina alla mia partenza dall'Italia.. la giornata sara' un po' piu' grigia :(
Monday, September 22, 2008
Cultural Sunday!
What a big day!
Because it was National Day of Treasures, Chambery like most cities had organised numerous expositions, tours and free visits to cultural places. I had so much to see that I was happy to take my bike out and go on my own, moving on following my very organised schedule ;)
I started at 10 at a protestand church, which had a semi-interesting exposition regarding the persecution of the religious practices and struggles to tolerance and acceptance. Because it was too early to be crowded, a nice friendly lady spoke me through the posters exposed.
I was very eager to get to the Chateau, the beautiful castle quite in the centre of town, areound which the buildings are all in their original state. The church inside it was quite impressive, in mixed neogothic and reinassance styles. Awesome glass paintings. In another seperate building I saw a few photos and read a few facts about Chambery through the ages, the city has changed significantly. Soon I entered the main castle and a tour guide took us around a number of rooms. Part of the castle also houses the regional Parliament (Chambery is the capital of the Savoy), so I saw the main conference room. I climbed the top tower and took some lovely pictures of the town from above.
After the castle I popped into the Museum of Beaux Arts, in the city centre, as there was an exposition by the painter Arcabar (I think?), whose style was quite simple and like Picasso's.
Having heard that the Museum of Charmettes was about 2kms from town, but never been there myself, I followed signs towards its direction. Unfortunately I had not been told that it was situated up a hill so high that I was forcing my bike breaks all the way down! You can imagine how fun it was pushing my bike to the place! Anyway the place, which was in fact the old house of Jean-Jaques Rousseau, a writer, was nothing too special, a wooden house with a few nicely decorated rooms, and a nice garden and vineyard. Voila'.
After a nice hot kebab, which I digested spending a little while watching three guys doing acrobatic circus in a showground, I headed to the Cathedral.
It was beautiful :) surrounded by little chapels and with the compolsory glass paintings, the magnitude of the Cathedral took your breath away. But the most unique thing was the gigantic organ at the back. I was shown how it works a little bit, but most of it now is actually electric. Walking behind the altar stand, I was shocked to see the huge sound systems the place had! Two tall cabinets full of buttons and switches and speakers worth of Southbound! That was when the magic ended :p
At 3.30 I wanted to catch a tour of the Palace of Justice, if that is its English translation. Unfortunately after walking in, I realised that the place was empty. Empty as an eggshell (without the egg in). Apart from a few other visitors who were also wondering what was going on. Dommage!
My bike then took me to the Foire of Savoy, even though she took the wrong turns several times getting there, it was a bit out of town see. The fiera was... I think more a family show than for teenagers, there were stalls of all sorts of things from spas to lawn mowers to food and colthes... I was satisfied with a crepe but left after little more than half an hour. Maybe I should stop writing about all the times that I eat crepes. It makes me feel like a little pig.
Hmmmm! So after the cre- foire.... I went to an exposition regarind natural weather and mountains, and one about Mammoths. I think Tommaso would have enjoyed that one :) that was pretty much the end of my excursional day, as most things were closing down.
Coming home I considered that once in Australia I will think back of Madame Andre with a melanchonic smile, if not miss her. She's become somewhere between a grandma and a friend to me, with her shigh speed way of life and her non intrusive methods of making sure Im having a good time. yesterday she gave me a present which she's bough at a paint exposition on Saturday. It's a poster of a self portrait of the famous French painter (so famous I shan't mention his name..), who died in 1879. So I thought that since she's qutie religious, I'd grab a few prayer fliers from the Cathedral for her.
Last night she was busy with her borther fixing one of the kitchen cabinets which wouldn't remain closed (maybe that's why she doesn't bother closing any of them), she still stuffed me with soup, pasta and steak, plus cheesebreadandwine obviously. I was later watching some tv and she came with a blanket :) Actually, before going to bed last night I was watching the same Zorro tv episodes I used to watch years ago in italian, at my grandma's house. They must be at least 30 years old.
Because it was National Day of Treasures, Chambery like most cities had organised numerous expositions, tours and free visits to cultural places. I had so much to see that I was happy to take my bike out and go on my own, moving on following my very organised schedule ;)
I started at 10 at a protestand church, which had a semi-interesting exposition regarding the persecution of the religious practices and struggles to tolerance and acceptance. Because it was too early to be crowded, a nice friendly lady spoke me through the posters exposed.
I was very eager to get to the Chateau, the beautiful castle quite in the centre of town, areound which the buildings are all in their original state. The church inside it was quite impressive, in mixed neogothic and reinassance styles. Awesome glass paintings. In another seperate building I saw a few photos and read a few facts about Chambery through the ages, the city has changed significantly. Soon I entered the main castle and a tour guide took us around a number of rooms. Part of the castle also houses the regional Parliament (Chambery is the capital of the Savoy), so I saw the main conference room. I climbed the top tower and took some lovely pictures of the town from above.
After the castle I popped into the Museum of Beaux Arts, in the city centre, as there was an exposition by the painter Arcabar (I think?), whose style was quite simple and like Picasso's.
Having heard that the Museum of Charmettes was about 2kms from town, but never been there myself, I followed signs towards its direction. Unfortunately I had not been told that it was situated up a hill so high that I was forcing my bike breaks all the way down! You can imagine how fun it was pushing my bike to the place! Anyway the place, which was in fact the old house of Jean-Jaques Rousseau, a writer, was nothing too special, a wooden house with a few nicely decorated rooms, and a nice garden and vineyard. Voila'.
After a nice hot kebab, which I digested spending a little while watching three guys doing acrobatic circus in a showground, I headed to the Cathedral.
It was beautiful :) surrounded by little chapels and with the compolsory glass paintings, the magnitude of the Cathedral took your breath away. But the most unique thing was the gigantic organ at the back. I was shown how it works a little bit, but most of it now is actually electric. Walking behind the altar stand, I was shocked to see the huge sound systems the place had! Two tall cabinets full of buttons and switches and speakers worth of Southbound! That was when the magic ended :p
At 3.30 I wanted to catch a tour of the Palace of Justice, if that is its English translation. Unfortunately after walking in, I realised that the place was empty. Empty as an eggshell (without the egg in). Apart from a few other visitors who were also wondering what was going on. Dommage!
My bike then took me to the Foire of Savoy, even though she took the wrong turns several times getting there, it was a bit out of town see. The fiera was... I think more a family show than for teenagers, there were stalls of all sorts of things from spas to lawn mowers to food and colthes... I was satisfied with a crepe but left after little more than half an hour. Maybe I should stop writing about all the times that I eat crepes. It makes me feel like a little pig.
Hmmmm! So after the cre- foire.... I went to an exposition regarind natural weather and mountains, and one about Mammoths. I think Tommaso would have enjoyed that one :) that was pretty much the end of my excursional day, as most things were closing down.
Coming home I considered that once in Australia I will think back of Madame Andre with a melanchonic smile, if not miss her. She's become somewhere between a grandma and a friend to me, with her shigh speed way of life and her non intrusive methods of making sure Im having a good time. yesterday she gave me a present which she's bough at a paint exposition on Saturday. It's a poster of a self portrait of the famous French painter (so famous I shan't mention his name..), who died in 1879. So I thought that since she's qutie religious, I'd grab a few prayer fliers from the Cathedral for her.
Last night she was busy with her borther fixing one of the kitchen cabinets which wouldn't remain closed (maybe that's why she doesn't bother closing any of them), she still stuffed me with soup, pasta and steak, plus cheesebreadandwine obviously. I was later watching some tv and she came with a blanket :) Actually, before going to bed last night I was watching the same Zorro tv episodes I used to watch years ago in italian, at my grandma's house. They must be at least 30 years old.
Chammonix
After school on Friday I headed off to the Cafe du Theatre for a crepe for lunch, stopping a bit longer to do some verb studies. For some reason this guy funnily dressed was walking a dog around the centre of town, followed by a group of about 15 ducks, all walking tightly together, wobbly bums, following the dog. It was a funny sight.
For the first time really I did some shopping therapy, not buying much but it raised my mood :) I didn´t get home late but Mme Andre had already left as she was spending the night at her family´s in Grenoble. I rang some family in Italy and after dinner headed out to one of the student flats, as it was one guy´s last night in Chambery.
Met a strange black guy at the bus stop who was excited about telling us how wonderful his home country was, but couldnt answer my question of why he was living in France. Funniest thing is that I saw him again at the Cathedral two days later!
So on Saturday I left for a school excursion to Chammonix, a lovely ski town facing Mount Blanc, near the Italian and Swiss borders. Even though my second alarm oclock had failed (that was my auntie promising me to call at 7am!), I got up in time and at 11ish we were in the mountains. The scenery of the Alps was breath-taking, Mount Blanc looked gorgeous, soaring so high.
I spent most of the day with Browlin, the Australian girl, Teo the Spanish and a Hungarian guy. We took the telepherique up to Flegere and walked up the mountain for about an hour. Feeling good about our workout, we had lunch and a little siesta, discussions about love and marriage, before returning to the telepherique, where we indulged in some chocolate.
I figured loosing weight is impossible if you try. I mean, like we did, you begin a huge workout and at the end of it you think, wow, I really worked my butt off, now I can have some chocolate. And maybe some chips... I´ll work them off later. But if you dont try? Look at me, I have no idea how Ive managed it, but since leaving Australia I lost 2 kilos. (non dirlo alla nonna zio!) Eating cheese, chocolate bread and pastries. ???????
Back to the story telling, we returned to Chammonix and there we looked around a few shops and got a couple of souvenirs... tried in vain to get Teo to understand romanticism.. and ignoring the dozens of pizza and crepe shops! We got home 12 hrs from our depart, too tired to go out.
For the first time really I did some shopping therapy, not buying much but it raised my mood :) I didn´t get home late but Mme Andre had already left as she was spending the night at her family´s in Grenoble. I rang some family in Italy and after dinner headed out to one of the student flats, as it was one guy´s last night in Chambery.
Met a strange black guy at the bus stop who was excited about telling us how wonderful his home country was, but couldnt answer my question of why he was living in France. Funniest thing is that I saw him again at the Cathedral two days later!
So on Saturday I left for a school excursion to Chammonix, a lovely ski town facing Mount Blanc, near the Italian and Swiss borders. Even though my second alarm oclock had failed (that was my auntie promising me to call at 7am!), I got up in time and at 11ish we were in the mountains. The scenery of the Alps was breath-taking, Mount Blanc looked gorgeous, soaring so high.
I spent most of the day with Browlin, the Australian girl, Teo the Spanish and a Hungarian guy. We took the telepherique up to Flegere and walked up the mountain for about an hour. Feeling good about our workout, we had lunch and a little siesta, discussions about love and marriage, before returning to the telepherique, where we indulged in some chocolate.
I figured loosing weight is impossible if you try. I mean, like we did, you begin a huge workout and at the end of it you think, wow, I really worked my butt off, now I can have some chocolate. And maybe some chips... I´ll work them off later. But if you dont try? Look at me, I have no idea how Ive managed it, but since leaving Australia I lost 2 kilos. (non dirlo alla nonna zio!) Eating cheese, chocolate bread and pastries. ???????
Back to the story telling, we returned to Chammonix and there we looked around a few shops and got a couple of souvenirs... tried in vain to get Teo to understand romanticism.. and ignoring the dozens of pizza and crepe shops! We got home 12 hrs from our depart, too tired to go out.
Friday, September 19, 2008
2 weeks to go!
Ieri sera era la prima volta che mi sono sentita triste qui. Zii ho provato a chiamarvi verso le 8 ma per qualche motivo non funzionava?? Uffi. Riprovo piu' tardi.. Zia ti penso tanto :)
They took my Jude Law off the advertising posts a couple of days ago. Replaced him with some half-good looking man.. pfft.Oh I was cast in the annual Panto! I'm happy, the play is Aladdin which I'm not very familiar with, I am the Princess Balroubadour, the 'fiesty and rebellious daughter of the emperor' according to the director Steve, who Aladdin falls in love with. Should be lots of fun!
Quiet weekend ahead I think, apart from a leaving party for one of the guys, will be enjoying lots of cultural experiences around the city, probably will also go see a play at the theatre :)
Bon weekend / have a good weekend / buon fine settima!
They took my Jude Law off the advertising posts a couple of days ago. Replaced him with some half-good looking man.. pfft.Oh I was cast in the annual Panto! I'm happy, the play is Aladdin which I'm not very familiar with, I am the Princess Balroubadour, the 'fiesty and rebellious daughter of the emperor' according to the director Steve, who Aladdin falls in love with. Should be lots of fun!
Quiet weekend ahead I think, apart from a leaving party for one of the guys, will be enjoying lots of cultural experiences around the city, probably will also go see a play at the theatre :)
Bon weekend / have a good weekend / buon fine settima!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
i've finally found 'my' cafe!
Very content right now. The Cafe Du Theatre, very popular amongst young people, has been able to provide me with the perfect crepe. Last night at 11.30. Having a look at their menu, composed not only of affordable crepes but also inviting drinks and ice cream cups, I decided I'll definitely be visiting it again :) it's also situated in the middle of the 'old city', too, so it's a nice atmosphere.
Yesterday, quite a sunny day, I went for a bike ride with Mel and Teo (Spanish guy) to a lake about 40mins from here. Very pleasant! My poor host got home at 8.40pm last night, after having left the house at 7.30am! She is a very busy lady lol. I went to Melanie's for a drink and walk around town as she is leaving today for Spain, going to a wedding and will be back on Monday.
This weekend in Chambery there are a number of expositions and things to do at the Cathedral, castle, museums etc. Should be nice and cruisy. On Saturday I'm going on the famous exursion to Chammonix & Mount Blanc, provided my alarm oclock isn't looking to be smashed.. I think I'll also take advantage of next Saturday's excursion, to Lyon :)
I'm feeling ok about my studies, doing a bit of revision whenever I have free time. The Australian girl I've met studied French at UWA for 3 years, starting from beginners level, and she is quite fluent (in the highest class anyway). So I'm feeling optimistic (ahah I was just reminded of Ian telling me not to be such a pessimist!) about the fact that if I begin studying it at the intermediate level, I will have a sound knowledge at the end of the course :)
Aaaand, following that, I'm told by Teo that in 3 months in Spain I could get a very strong grip of his language. So that could be a plan post-uni! Very funny moments last night as he was trying to teach Mel the 'essentials' of the language, the night before she's leaving for Spain. So she can now count to 19 (20 was a bit tricky) and ask for rum and coke.
So although I'm having a great time here, comfortable with what I'm doing and happy to be opening my eyes, I'm missing a special someone, feeling slightly guilty for doing this to us :s
as much as I'll love coming home I'm dreading the hecticness of the (working) summer life!
Yesterday, quite a sunny day, I went for a bike ride with Mel and Teo (Spanish guy) to a lake about 40mins from here. Very pleasant! My poor host got home at 8.40pm last night, after having left the house at 7.30am! She is a very busy lady lol. I went to Melanie's for a drink and walk around town as she is leaving today for Spain, going to a wedding and will be back on Monday.
This weekend in Chambery there are a number of expositions and things to do at the Cathedral, castle, museums etc. Should be nice and cruisy. On Saturday I'm going on the famous exursion to Chammonix & Mount Blanc, provided my alarm oclock isn't looking to be smashed.. I think I'll also take advantage of next Saturday's excursion, to Lyon :)
I'm feeling ok about my studies, doing a bit of revision whenever I have free time. The Australian girl I've met studied French at UWA for 3 years, starting from beginners level, and she is quite fluent (in the highest class anyway). So I'm feeling optimistic (ahah I was just reminded of Ian telling me not to be such a pessimist!) about the fact that if I begin studying it at the intermediate level, I will have a sound knowledge at the end of the course :)
Aaaand, following that, I'm told by Teo that in 3 months in Spain I could get a very strong grip of his language. So that could be a plan post-uni! Very funny moments last night as he was trying to teach Mel the 'essentials' of the language, the night before she's leaving for Spain. So she can now count to 19 (20 was a bit tricky) and ask for rum and coke.
So although I'm having a great time here, comfortable with what I'm doing and happy to be opening my eyes, I'm missing a special someone, feeling slightly guilty for doing this to us :s
as much as I'll love coming home I'm dreading the hecticness of the (working) summer life!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
bad pasta
Ciao Conegliano! (oppure ciao australiaaaaaaaaaaaaa...!!)
Mi sono appena ricordata che i miei mi hanno lasciato una carta per chiamare in europa dalla francia, quindi vi chiamero' io la prosima volta! Non esitate a spedirmi un sms se volete chiacchierare che ho diversi minuti da usufruire :)
Com'e' andato il rientro alla scuola Tommy?? E il campo d'inglese alla fine e' stato carino? Quando torno facciamo una chiacchierata anche con il papa' in inglese eh.
Secondo voi e' meglio la cioccolata dolce o amara??
Vi dico che ieri sera e' stata la prima volta che la cucina della signora m'ha fatto ridere.. a provato a fare 'pasta'. Che poi credo lei pensasse fossero spaghetti, ma erano tagliatelle. Cmq. Prima ha messo olio dentro la pentola d'acqua, prima che bollisse. Poi ha letto con attenzione il pacchetto degli 'spaghetti' e c'era scritto di farli cuocere 6 minuti. Allora li ha buttati dentro, messo il timer per 6 minuti, e dopo 6 minuti esatti, senza assaggiare, ha spento il gas e li ha serviti, solo con olio e un po' di formaggio (non grana!). Erano mezzi attaccati perche' non li aveva mai mescolati, e un po' troppo 'al dente'! eeeeeeeeeeh comunque... oggi a pranzo mi mangio cio' che e' avanzato, pero' le ho chiesto per favore un po' di salsa al pomodoro. Un po' meglio. Anche se e' dolce...
Ci sentiamo!
abbracci.
Mi sono appena ricordata che i miei mi hanno lasciato una carta per chiamare in europa dalla francia, quindi vi chiamero' io la prosima volta! Non esitate a spedirmi un sms se volete chiacchierare che ho diversi minuti da usufruire :)
Com'e' andato il rientro alla scuola Tommy?? E il campo d'inglese alla fine e' stato carino? Quando torno facciamo una chiacchierata anche con il papa' in inglese eh.
Secondo voi e' meglio la cioccolata dolce o amara??
Vi dico che ieri sera e' stata la prima volta che la cucina della signora m'ha fatto ridere.. a provato a fare 'pasta'. Che poi credo lei pensasse fossero spaghetti, ma erano tagliatelle. Cmq. Prima ha messo olio dentro la pentola d'acqua, prima che bollisse. Poi ha letto con attenzione il pacchetto degli 'spaghetti' e c'era scritto di farli cuocere 6 minuti. Allora li ha buttati dentro, messo il timer per 6 minuti, e dopo 6 minuti esatti, senza assaggiare, ha spento il gas e li ha serviti, solo con olio e un po' di formaggio (non grana!). Erano mezzi attaccati perche' non li aveva mai mescolati, e un po' troppo 'al dente'! eeeeeeeeeeh comunque... oggi a pranzo mi mangio cio' che e' avanzato, pero' le ho chiesto per favore un po' di salsa al pomodoro. Un po' meglio. Anche se e' dolce...
Ci sentiamo!
abbracci.
Monday, September 15, 2008
i will quit on chocolate when i get back.
So first of all, a note for the ladies:
have you come across the new Dior Mens Cologne ads?? It's called 'sport'. Characterised by Jude Law in the advertisements. If you haven't seen it, google it. Either the posters or tv ads. I ride past them at least 4 times a day, the man is gorgeous!!
hm hm..... now about the weekend.
On FRIDAY after dinner I spent some time with Mel & Jess, just cruising. Manged to superglue my ring to my finger, it was a really fast drying superglue!
On SATURDAY I got quite grumpy because my alarm did NOT go off, I woke up at 8 just as I was supposed to meet for the excursion to Ginevra! Very upset about not visiting the United Nations and basically not being able to say 'Ive been to Switzerland' for a few more years.
The day was very rainy anyway, I went around a shopping centre and found for the first time really rude customer service. Met Mel and we visited a museum of Beaux Arts, with a heavy Italian influence as this region has only been French for about 150 years.
In the evening we watched some more horrible American tv, had some warm lasagne for dinner, before heading out to last week's disco, carrying our ver loud rape alarm. I stayed again at her apartment and swore to myself to never live in such conditions.. shared by five students, the place is a mess. Mel cleaned the kitchen floor on Friday night and it was filthy on Saturday morning. Figure that out :s
We were very disappointed on SUNDAY morning to find the creperies we'd looked for CLOSED. Ridiculous, who wouldn't want to eat a crepe on a Sunday morning. Settled for chocolate bread instead. A couple of phone calls home, then I went to the cinema to see 'the First Day of the Rest of your Life', a really worthwhile French film! It made good listening practice as well and only cost Eu3.50.
In the evening, Madame Andre got a quick ad easy dinner readym consisting of the following: soup, ham, bread, three cheeses, grapes and chocolate. Honestly didn't mind!
This morning (MONDAY) we had a new teacher start in our class, it was for the first time honestly challenging and new ground. We learnt some grammar rules which obviously had exeptions, and some words that made complete different senses by changing one letter. I'm fed up with the masters of the French Tongue, if they intended for French to be the international language, why on earth did they make it so bloody hard to learn!
Ok I feel better now :p
Oh another thing, I emailed the director of this year's Busselton Pantomime and expressed interest. I've worked with him before so he may find a part for me, unless he's satisfied at the auditions today. He's soo much fun to work with and really knows what he's talking about, having had decades of acting experience. I've hesitated over a week on this however because this summer (like any, I suppose) is looking very very busy. The panto is a huge committment and I'll be working every day. But, since it might be my last in Busselton... I will enjoy it.
Going to the movies again tonight, the weather's a bit better. Salut!
have you come across the new Dior Mens Cologne ads?? It's called 'sport'. Characterised by Jude Law in the advertisements. If you haven't seen it, google it. Either the posters or tv ads. I ride past them at least 4 times a day, the man is gorgeous!!
hm hm..... now about the weekend.
On FRIDAY after dinner I spent some time with Mel & Jess, just cruising. Manged to superglue my ring to my finger, it was a really fast drying superglue!
On SATURDAY I got quite grumpy because my alarm did NOT go off, I woke up at 8 just as I was supposed to meet for the excursion to Ginevra! Very upset about not visiting the United Nations and basically not being able to say 'Ive been to Switzerland' for a few more years.
The day was very rainy anyway, I went around a shopping centre and found for the first time really rude customer service. Met Mel and we visited a museum of Beaux Arts, with a heavy Italian influence as this region has only been French for about 150 years.
In the evening we watched some more horrible American tv, had some warm lasagne for dinner, before heading out to last week's disco, carrying our ver loud rape alarm. I stayed again at her apartment and swore to myself to never live in such conditions.. shared by five students, the place is a mess. Mel cleaned the kitchen floor on Friday night and it was filthy on Saturday morning. Figure that out :s
We were very disappointed on SUNDAY morning to find the creperies we'd looked for CLOSED. Ridiculous, who wouldn't want to eat a crepe on a Sunday morning. Settled for chocolate bread instead. A couple of phone calls home, then I went to the cinema to see 'the First Day of the Rest of your Life', a really worthwhile French film! It made good listening practice as well and only cost Eu3.50.
In the evening, Madame Andre got a quick ad easy dinner readym consisting of the following: soup, ham, bread, three cheeses, grapes and chocolate. Honestly didn't mind!
This morning (MONDAY) we had a new teacher start in our class, it was for the first time honestly challenging and new ground. We learnt some grammar rules which obviously had exeptions, and some words that made complete different senses by changing one letter. I'm fed up with the masters of the French Tongue, if they intended for French to be the international language, why on earth did they make it so bloody hard to learn!
Ok I feel better now :p
Oh another thing, I emailed the director of this year's Busselton Pantomime and expressed interest. I've worked with him before so he may find a part for me, unless he's satisfied at the auditions today. He's soo much fun to work with and really knows what he's talking about, having had decades of acting experience. I've hesitated over a week on this however because this summer (like any, I suppose) is looking very very busy. The panto is a huge committment and I'll be working every day. But, since it might be my last in Busselton... I will enjoy it.
Going to the movies again tonight, the weather's a bit better. Salut!
Friday, September 12, 2008
this morning I got drenched.
The end of the week has come, accompanied unfortunately by some rain!
Last night Madame Andre had gone out for the evening with her sons, she's incredibly available and gives me free use of her kitchen and food, so I helped myself to some camemberg, a chocolatey dessert, some quiche... the good life. It's nice to be alone every now and then, apart from my blogging times it doesn't happen. I received a nice phonecall from my family in Italy and went to bed early :)
This morning in school we learnt about the old french colonies, aka les Pays Francophonies. Learnt of the project Medicines Sans Frontier, where people (with experience or ability in medicine) spend a period of time in a third world country to help with local issues. You get paid peanuts, but it would be an awesome experience I could reconsider after finishing University. The people accepted are aged between 25 and 35 so it would be perfect. Six months to a year for a start? Speaking french would also be handy if it is in one of the old colonies in North-Centre Africa.
ps. asking around I found a Creperie in Chambery! I have 'booked' it for Sunday breakfast :D
Last night Madame Andre had gone out for the evening with her sons, she's incredibly available and gives me free use of her kitchen and food, so I helped myself to some camemberg, a chocolatey dessert, some quiche... the good life. It's nice to be alone every now and then, apart from my blogging times it doesn't happen. I received a nice phonecall from my family in Italy and went to bed early :)
This morning in school we learnt about the old french colonies, aka les Pays Francophonies. Learnt of the project Medicines Sans Frontier, where people (with experience or ability in medicine) spend a period of time in a third world country to help with local issues. You get paid peanuts, but it would be an awesome experience I could reconsider after finishing University. The people accepted are aged between 25 and 35 so it would be perfect. Six months to a year for a start? Speaking french would also be handy if it is in one of the old colonies in North-Centre Africa.
ps. asking around I found a Creperie in Chambery! I have 'booked' it for Sunday breakfast :D
Thursday, September 11, 2008
per gli zii e nonni
Heyla come va a conegliano?
Mi mancate un po', Tommaso sta per ricominciare la scuola? Zii con il lavoro tutto bene?
E con i nonni come va? La nonna pensa di farcela ad organizzarmi un lettino per quando torno? Se no.. posso sempre stare sul divano, o al limite da una mia amica, magari vengo anche a trovarvi :p
se vi dovesse servire, la mia email e' its_only_el@hotmail.com.
A presto!
Mi mancate un po', Tommaso sta per ricominciare la scuola? Zii con il lavoro tutto bene?
E con i nonni come va? La nonna pensa di farcela ad organizzarmi un lettino per quando torno? Se no.. posso sempre stare sul divano, o al limite da una mia amica, magari vengo anche a trovarvi :p
se vi dovesse servire, la mia email e' its_only_el@hotmail.com.
A presto!
salsannecy (glass + crepes!)
Wednesday was a fairly tiring day, beginning with french lessons at 8.30. Finally the school internet had been fixed, so we stayed back a bit like nerds. At 2pm Mel and I took the train to Annecy. What a lovely city! Although Chambery lacks nothing, Annecy is its more touristy neighbour. There is a lovely lake surrounded by beautiful gardens and mountains, as well as a castle (obviously) dating to the XII Century. We spent a fair bit of time visiting this one, as it was well used for a coupole of expositions. One was an inside look into the world of comic making and animated pictures, another of Beaux Arts, and the most bizzare, a small aquarium with old methods of fishing shown!
We walked through the old city with lovely arches and narrow buildings everywhere, obviously a top tourist walk as we could tell by the number of ice cream places. In the end we couldn't resist and got one which wasn't too bad. This was after we walked past a Creperie. Now Mel and I have been looking for crepes everywhere in Chambery, I even asked my host but it seems there just isn't such a cafe! So we told ourselves, that since weèd be dancing salsa later, we could afford to have the crepe too, just in a while.
So We visited a pretty church and saw the 'French Venice', indeed a few houses in the middle of a river, very picturestic. After walking on the park in front of the lake a bit, we decided to stop for those mouth watering crepes on our way to the train station. Mouthwatering they were!! They were made fresh in the housband-and-wife business and the simple butter and sugar one I chose was amazing. Damn the Chamberians! Then perhaps it's best that I dont have them at my doorstep.. I could risk not only fattening up (my grandma could be happy :p) but not appreciating them as much.
After a light dinner, I met Mel again at the Corsaire, an upstairs bar with white and blue lights everywhere, very modern. Salsa music was blowing all around and it was good fun!
Must go, today there is a Rendez-vous des Etudiants, going to check it out.
We walked through the old city with lovely arches and narrow buildings everywhere, obviously a top tourist walk as we could tell by the number of ice cream places. In the end we couldn't resist and got one which wasn't too bad. This was after we walked past a Creperie. Now Mel and I have been looking for crepes everywhere in Chambery, I even asked my host but it seems there just isn't such a cafe! So we told ourselves, that since weèd be dancing salsa later, we could afford to have the crepe too, just in a while.
So We visited a pretty church and saw the 'French Venice', indeed a few houses in the middle of a river, very picturestic. After walking on the park in front of the lake a bit, we decided to stop for those mouth watering crepes on our way to the train station. Mouthwatering they were!! They were made fresh in the housband-and-wife business and the simple butter and sugar one I chose was amazing. Damn the Chamberians! Then perhaps it's best that I dont have them at my doorstep.. I could risk not only fattening up (my grandma could be happy :p) but not appreciating them as much.
After a light dinner, I met Mel again at the Corsaire, an upstairs bar with white and blue lights everywhere, very modern. Salsa music was blowing all around and it was good fun!
Must go, today there is a Rendez-vous des Etudiants, going to check it out.
Monday, September 8, 2008
today is hot again!
im at an internet cafe right now; the school internets not zorking unfortunately. excuse the spelling mistakes. i actually wrote most of the following txt in french as practice, but i guess i can translate it in english... :p
On FRIDAY we found out that our excursion to Chammonix had been cancelled, due to horrible weather. So after our french lesson, Mel and I went to the train station and decided wed go to Annecy Saturday afternoon, thats a city about one hour from here, with a very pretty lake. We also stopped to buy a little book of conjugations of french verbes, very handy for correct speaking.
Im a bit sad because I know that if i zas to ask an average english person who has never studied a foreign language, 'conjugate an auxiliary verb', hed have no clue what im talking about.. there should be more grammar taught at schools. My friend Mel here studied English Literature in Brighton and even she knows very little!
Anyway, friday night I met a dozen people at the Cathedral bar, it was really nice because we were a random group with all nationalities, fro, english to spanish to hollandaise and dutch, canadians.. and random italo-australians! I spoke to Nadia, a spanish woman in italian, and she answered in her language.
SATURDAY began with rain and didnt stop. i caught up with some friends in the morning to look at the local markets, but wesnt much impressed as 90% of the stalls were only about food, any type you can imagine! Nonna torno volentieri a Conegliano per quello! we went for a coffe (surrounded by english, i was the only one not to have TEA) and then divided. in the afternoon Mel and I were supposed to catch the train for Annecy, but it was still pouring down and cold; so we thought going would be a waste of time in that grey weather. Instead, we decided to buy chocolate, cookies and red wine to have a much warmer and more pleasant time in her apartment. We relaxed, going back to the supermarket 3 times, watching horrible tv and talking about the failure of today's marriage institution.
Theo, Mels spanish roommate (also a student), joined us for dinner and told us about the strange animals he'd eaten.. virtually everything except half-alive monkeys.. mostly in China. Later we went dancing and the place was pleasantly busy. i slept at Mel's that night, as id told my host, it had been a good night.
On SUNDAY I almost fainted, probably due to the drop in te,perature and my low blood pressure. So before meeting Jess and Mel I made a nice omelette. We went to see the impressive museum of the Savoir in town, very interesting. We then moved on to watch a movie at Mel's on a laptop with chocolate, wine and pizza.
Today started school Browlyn, a girl here from Perth! shes just finished studying at the University of WA, which ill also be attending. It was nice to hear the aussie accent again!
The coming week seems exciting, on Wednesday ill be going to Annecy, and at 10pm attending salsa classes at a pub :) Saturday sees an excursion to Genevra to visit the United Nations centre, maybe something fun in the evening.
Must get going now, greetings to all!
x
On FRIDAY we found out that our excursion to Chammonix had been cancelled, due to horrible weather. So after our french lesson, Mel and I went to the train station and decided wed go to Annecy Saturday afternoon, thats a city about one hour from here, with a very pretty lake. We also stopped to buy a little book of conjugations of french verbes, very handy for correct speaking.
Im a bit sad because I know that if i zas to ask an average english person who has never studied a foreign language, 'conjugate an auxiliary verb', hed have no clue what im talking about.. there should be more grammar taught at schools. My friend Mel here studied English Literature in Brighton and even she knows very little!
Anyway, friday night I met a dozen people at the Cathedral bar, it was really nice because we were a random group with all nationalities, fro, english to spanish to hollandaise and dutch, canadians.. and random italo-australians! I spoke to Nadia, a spanish woman in italian, and she answered in her language.
SATURDAY began with rain and didnt stop. i caught up with some friends in the morning to look at the local markets, but wesnt much impressed as 90% of the stalls were only about food, any type you can imagine! Nonna torno volentieri a Conegliano per quello! we went for a coffe (surrounded by english, i was the only one not to have TEA) and then divided. in the afternoon Mel and I were supposed to catch the train for Annecy, but it was still pouring down and cold; so we thought going would be a waste of time in that grey weather. Instead, we decided to buy chocolate, cookies and red wine to have a much warmer and more pleasant time in her apartment. We relaxed, going back to the supermarket 3 times, watching horrible tv and talking about the failure of today's marriage institution.
Theo, Mels spanish roommate (also a student), joined us for dinner and told us about the strange animals he'd eaten.. virtually everything except half-alive monkeys.. mostly in China. Later we went dancing and the place was pleasantly busy. i slept at Mel's that night, as id told my host, it had been a good night.
On SUNDAY I almost fainted, probably due to the drop in te,perature and my low blood pressure. So before meeting Jess and Mel I made a nice omelette. We went to see the impressive museum of the Savoir in town, very interesting. We then moved on to watch a movie at Mel's on a laptop with chocolate, wine and pizza.
Today started school Browlyn, a girl here from Perth! shes just finished studying at the University of WA, which ill also be attending. It was nice to hear the aussie accent again!
The coming week seems exciting, on Wednesday ill be going to Annecy, and at 10pm attending salsa classes at a pub :) Saturday sees an excursion to Genevra to visit the United Nations centre, maybe something fun in the evening.
Must get going now, greetings to all!
x
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
i just realised
Ive posted a lot of photos on a) castles and b) food!
Today has been a pleasant day so far, except perhaps for the 7.30 getup for the lesson starting at 8.30. Thats the earliest I have. Had lunch at the lovely town park with a few students and then Melanie and I (thats an English student in my class, 24) did our homework :p we do get some, which is good, but only about 20 minutes' worth, if that.
I have forgot to mention a key thing about
MADAME ANDRE -
she is very forgetful!
i must have told her that yes, women do work in Australia, three times now. Shes been a crazy worker all her life, still is, which explains her interest. Maybe she has too much on her mind though, she does ask me questions Ive already answered numerous times! I pretend like nothing's unusual like a good girl :)
Last night she bought Crois Frois for dinner, it was lovely! She said the French usually have it on special occations so it was nice. Had a lot of that, and cheese. hmmmm...
Today has been a pleasant day so far, except perhaps for the 7.30 getup for the lesson starting at 8.30. Thats the earliest I have. Had lunch at the lovely town park with a few students and then Melanie and I (thats an English student in my class, 24) did our homework :p we do get some, which is good, but only about 20 minutes' worth, if that.
I have forgot to mention a key thing about
MADAME ANDRE -
she is very forgetful!
i must have told her that yes, women do work in Australia, three times now. Shes been a crazy worker all her life, still is, which explains her interest. Maybe she has too much on her mind though, she does ask me questions Ive already answered numerous times! I pretend like nothing's unusual like a good girl :)
Last night she bought Crois Frois for dinner, it was lovely! She said the French usually have it on special occations so it was nice. Had a lot of that, and cheese. hmmmm...
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
back to (primary!) school..
Monday was the first day I attended the french school. I dont think I would say i was nervous, nervous like you get the first time at school you're asked to read in front of the class, but I was curiously anxious. We were sat in a room and did a written and later oral test to figure out at what level we were. All the students were divided in 5 classes according to levels, I am in group 3. Happy with that.
On Tuesday i sat through the first lesson, which was 4 hrs long and started at 1.30pm, after Jessica and I walked for 2 hrs finding the local university, which was on top of a hill! We stopped there for lunch after a walk around shops. So I didnt get my siesta, AND I was tired :p only 16 students in the class, we did a number of excercises regarding the past and future tense of verbs. Oh the title mentions 'primary school'. That's simply because the teacher we had today was one of those over-excited ones with amazingly childish facial expressions, making us feel like little kids. Funny though.
So Jessica is 21 and from England, she sat next to me on the first morning and I was relieved to find someone who'd speak English. later i found out basically EVERYONE does anyway, so outside the classroom there isnt a great amount of french spoken really. Mum can I please stop you from nagging me about that. Cioe', tranquilla che il francese lo parlo e imparo lo stesso :)
On Monday we did a bit of walking around town, after a 'reception' in the afternoon we stopped at the Cafe du Theatre for a tequila beer, which was not too impressive! When I got home Madame Andre had made a lovely quiche for dinner, the day ended without a worry :)
I'm excited for Saturday because the school is taking us to Chammonix, apparently a beautiful place. We reach Mount Blanc at 4807m, 'living the ambiance of the global capital of alpinism'! Just going to register my interest now. Jess is waiting for me, I think she's had enough time to have that compolsory after-lesson smoke now.
Bye bye american pie!
On Tuesday i sat through the first lesson, which was 4 hrs long and started at 1.30pm, after Jessica and I walked for 2 hrs finding the local university, which was on top of a hill! We stopped there for lunch after a walk around shops. So I didnt get my siesta, AND I was tired :p only 16 students in the class, we did a number of excercises regarding the past and future tense of verbs. Oh the title mentions 'primary school'. That's simply because the teacher we had today was one of those over-excited ones with amazingly childish facial expressions, making us feel like little kids. Funny though.
So Jessica is 21 and from England, she sat next to me on the first morning and I was relieved to find someone who'd speak English. later i found out basically EVERYONE does anyway, so outside the classroom there isnt a great amount of french spoken really. Mum can I please stop you from nagging me about that. Cioe', tranquilla che il francese lo parlo e imparo lo stesso :)
On Monday we did a bit of walking around town, after a 'reception' in the afternoon we stopped at the Cafe du Theatre for a tequila beer, which was not too impressive! When I got home Madame Andre had made a lovely quiche for dinner, the day ended without a worry :)
I'm excited for Saturday because the school is taking us to Chammonix, apparently a beautiful place. We reach Mount Blanc at 4807m, 'living the ambiance of the global capital of alpinism'! Just going to register my interest now. Jess is waiting for me, I think she's had enough time to have that compolsory after-lesson smoke now.
Bye bye american pie!
relaxing weekend + french encounters
On Saturday and Sunday I went with Madame Andre to her second house, with a nice backyard and just 3 km away from the noise of la centre ville. I met her 3 grandchildren and sons/daughters in law. I found it sweet that this hosue is kind of a drop in centre for her family on weekends, its very relaxing. Furthermore, 3 of the neighbouring houses are inhabited by two of her brothers and her sister!
On Sunday night I spent a few hours playing bocce with her... well Im not sure what part of the family they were from, but about a dozen people in their late twenties, who attempted their best English with me :p all good!
Oh, a small note about..
'THE FRENCH'
Ive been pleasantly surprised to meet many nice French people. Everyone Id spoken to about my travels warned me about the snobbyness of the general population, but so far I've found everyone to be really nice. Except a grumpy public servant. Two incidents in particular: we were once needing to make a call, so we walked to a public phone, which was being cleaned by a window cleaner. Found out instead of coins, we had to go to a TABAC to buy a card to use it, which would have been a bother. The cleaner (typical french blonde guy, long scruffy hair, untucked shirt and a smoker) just told us (total strangers) to use his phone. He would not accept money for it, but told us it was 'jesus'.
Again when we asked directions to go to a town, a lady actually got in her car and drove in front of us a fair way to indicate the road!
Even the teachers at IFALPS, my french school, are very available and hmmm.. unracist.
Maybe I had been thinking too much about the French's supposed 'hatred' for the opposition... the Italians lol.
voila, c'est tout.
On Sunday night I spent a few hours playing bocce with her... well Im not sure what part of the family they were from, but about a dozen people in their late twenties, who attempted their best English with me :p all good!
Oh, a small note about..
'THE FRENCH'
Ive been pleasantly surprised to meet many nice French people. Everyone Id spoken to about my travels warned me about the snobbyness of the general population, but so far I've found everyone to be really nice. Except a grumpy public servant. Two incidents in particular: we were once needing to make a call, so we walked to a public phone, which was being cleaned by a window cleaner. Found out instead of coins, we had to go to a TABAC to buy a card to use it, which would have been a bother. The cleaner (typical french blonde guy, long scruffy hair, untucked shirt and a smoker) just told us (total strangers) to use his phone. He would not accept money for it, but told us it was 'jesus'.
Again when we asked directions to go to a town, a lady actually got in her car and drove in front of us a fair way to indicate the road!
Even the teachers at IFALPS, my french school, are very available and hmmm.. unracist.
Maybe I had been thinking too much about the French's supposed 'hatred' for the opposition... the Italians lol.
voila, c'est tout.
Madame Andre'
She is not a neat freak, though she's obsessed with closing doors and leaving the kitchen cabinets open. She loves cooking adn so far the food's been awesome. She insists on feeding me first and second course, plus CHEESE, at every meal, my own grandma would be jealous! She drinks wine with every meal too, though she lives on her own. She tells me the French are all about three things: bread, wine and cheese! Madame calls me 'ma petite', cooks my viande rare, and drives in a way of which most Australians would be scared of!
Although I can't speak as well as Id like to (and boy is it frustrating), we understand each other well enough. She is interested in Australia and tells me she loves Venice.
Its funny (or perhaps sad) that after lunch I'm the one having a siesta, while she keeps going!
Although I can't speak as well as Id like to (and boy is it frustrating), we understand each other well enough. She is interested in Australia and tells me she loves Venice.
Its funny (or perhaps sad) that after lunch I'm the one having a siesta, while she keeps going!
Monday, September 1, 2008
everybody hates tourists.. but its fun being one!
Yesss so, we did visit Grenoble, firstly an old military fort which is now used as a tourist attraction and impressive lookout. The centre of the city seemed to be characterised by piazza after parc, parc after piazza, all contoured by cafes. Quite laid back.
In the evening we felt like trying some Savoyard dishes tipical to our area. Dad ordered a classic 3cheese fondu, I had a Tartiflette (warm dish with lots of melted cheese, potato chips, onions and bacon pieces) in order to try something new, and Mum tried the exotic 'bird' dish from the menu. Not being blown off her face by the taste of this, she asked the waitress what bird she had eaten. 'Chiken, madame', was the answer! Small world after all..
Firday 29th
Aujourd'hui we visited Axe le Bains, only about 20 mins from here. There are thermes from the Roman times in this city, but I think none of us were old and crimply enough to need their services. After a walk around the centre ville, we had lunch at a pretty lake, then headed home as it was time to meet Mme Andre'!
- - to be continued - - how is elena's host?? - - find out tomorrow night on - -
ELENAS TRAVEL ADVENTURES!
:p
In the evening we felt like trying some Savoyard dishes tipical to our area. Dad ordered a classic 3cheese fondu, I had a Tartiflette (warm dish with lots of melted cheese, potato chips, onions and bacon pieces) in order to try something new, and Mum tried the exotic 'bird' dish from the menu. Not being blown off her face by the taste of this, she asked the waitress what bird she had eaten. 'Chiken, madame', was the answer! Small world after all..
Firday 29th
Aujourd'hui we visited Axe le Bains, only about 20 mins from here. There are thermes from the Roman times in this city, but I think none of us were old and crimply enough to need their services. After a walk around the centre ville, we had lunch at a pretty lake, then headed home as it was time to meet Mme Andre'!
- - to be continued - - how is elena's host?? - - find out tomorrow night on - -
ELENAS TRAVEL ADVENTURES!
:p
Friday, August 29, 2008
la france
Let me commence this by stating that my formidable touch_typing skills have been affronted by arrogant french keyboards, and i, now having to LOOK where i, typing because many keys are in different places! So i apologise in advance for any spelling mistakes!
So im in an internet cafe right now, ive just met Madame Andre who ill be living with! She lives fairly close to the town centre, in a 4room apartment, shes very lively and keeps busy by singing in 2 choirs and being involved in sporting organisations.. and has been hosting foreign students for 4 yrs! although she speaks no other languages, im pretty happy and im sure shell be fun- she chats like a chatterbox anyway!
Let me start fro, the beginning. it will have to be in dot forms for now, apologies again:
Monday 25th
last dinner with family all together in italy: it didnt really feel like a goodbye as both my parents and i zill sooner or later go back for a fez days, but i wish i could have taken a bit more than films of it back to Oz with me.
after dinner i joined my friend and her friends in the piazza for a while. incredible how all young people smoke over there, from ages 13 or 14. I had to explain to a smoked up long haired hippy that I was madly in love with my own man, thankyou very much, that was fun.
Tuesday 26th
incredibly quick flight to lyon, france, compared to the 18 hrs to get to australia! walked around Chambéry with parents, found it lovely, theres an impressive castle right in the middle of it, with the oldest parts of the city around it. found out pizza is a BIG thing over here, i guess i will probably resort to it a few ti,es for lunch (i have to find my own lunch, not included with Mme Andre).
Wednesdqy 27th
first stop was the castle which houses IFALPES, the french school for foreigners im attending. it was goregous. not one of those stony cold and sqare castles for battle, but a warm pinky coloyured one, situated on top of a little hill, it used to house a royal family. i met some of the organisers and they informed me that on monday ill be taking written and oral tests to figure out at what level im at with the language. theres 75 students starting with me and we will get places in 5 classes, depending on our levels.
my parents and i then had breakfast zith crossaints and bignes, who cares, it was yummy. found out coffee and gelati cost a bit more here than in italy. i had a little dream of stoppin in a cafe every day to watch people go by with a coffee.. i think i will be drinking wine instead, cheaper :)
anyway we got some information on public bycicles (is that spelt wrong..), as ill be renting one for 5 weeks to get around town. fairly cheap.
we then walked around town like headless chickens trying to ensure my health insurance, which no one wanted to give me; it was all solved in 5 minutes when we asked the school about it!
In the afternoon we drove to Annecy, a city on a lovely lake which was soo relaxing. Have you ever seen swans dive for food, Like they throw their heads under water and leave their white pointy bum in the air. Its quite a show! We also watched parent ducks feed their youngs, how sweet.. the little things :)
We had dinner there, on a bench, with bread and some fish patès we bought from the supermarket.
Can you believe this keyboard is making my left pinkie finger hurt? The letter A, most frequent, is right in the upper left angle. not happy.
Thursday 28th
This town has so many patisseries, what else could we choose for breakfast??
We visited the castle of Vizille, not too far from here, lovely for its 100ha of lawn! There is a small river which meets the entrance, surrounded by tall trees, benches (its open to the public) and areas used for apicolture and development of species of flora and fauna. The castle was also most impressive, with one of those huge staircases on the outside.
We then visited Grenoble, close by,
Whops, im being called, i have to interrupt this, will probably post again on monday after my first experiences of the school?? pray for me!!
xo
So im in an internet cafe right now, ive just met Madame Andre who ill be living with! She lives fairly close to the town centre, in a 4room apartment, shes very lively and keeps busy by singing in 2 choirs and being involved in sporting organisations.. and has been hosting foreign students for 4 yrs! although she speaks no other languages, im pretty happy and im sure shell be fun- she chats like a chatterbox anyway!
Let me start fro, the beginning. it will have to be in dot forms for now, apologies again:
Monday 25th
last dinner with family all together in italy: it didnt really feel like a goodbye as both my parents and i zill sooner or later go back for a fez days, but i wish i could have taken a bit more than films of it back to Oz with me.
after dinner i joined my friend and her friends in the piazza for a while. incredible how all young people smoke over there, from ages 13 or 14. I had to explain to a smoked up long haired hippy that I was madly in love with my own man, thankyou very much, that was fun.
Tuesday 26th
incredibly quick flight to lyon, france, compared to the 18 hrs to get to australia! walked around Chambéry with parents, found it lovely, theres an impressive castle right in the middle of it, with the oldest parts of the city around it. found out pizza is a BIG thing over here, i guess i will probably resort to it a few ti,es for lunch (i have to find my own lunch, not included with Mme Andre).
Wednesdqy 27th
first stop was the castle which houses IFALPES, the french school for foreigners im attending. it was goregous. not one of those stony cold and sqare castles for battle, but a warm pinky coloyured one, situated on top of a little hill, it used to house a royal family. i met some of the organisers and they informed me that on monday ill be taking written and oral tests to figure out at what level im at with the language. theres 75 students starting with me and we will get places in 5 classes, depending on our levels.
my parents and i then had breakfast zith crossaints and bignes, who cares, it was yummy. found out coffee and gelati cost a bit more here than in italy. i had a little dream of stoppin in a cafe every day to watch people go by with a coffee.. i think i will be drinking wine instead, cheaper :)
anyway we got some information on public bycicles (is that spelt wrong..), as ill be renting one for 5 weeks to get around town. fairly cheap.
we then walked around town like headless chickens trying to ensure my health insurance, which no one wanted to give me; it was all solved in 5 minutes when we asked the school about it!
In the afternoon we drove to Annecy, a city on a lovely lake which was soo relaxing. Have you ever seen swans dive for food, Like they throw their heads under water and leave their white pointy bum in the air. Its quite a show! We also watched parent ducks feed their youngs, how sweet.. the little things :)
We had dinner there, on a bench, with bread and some fish patès we bought from the supermarket.
Can you believe this keyboard is making my left pinkie finger hurt? The letter A, most frequent, is right in the upper left angle. not happy.
Thursday 28th
This town has so many patisseries, what else could we choose for breakfast??
We visited the castle of Vizille, not too far from here, lovely for its 100ha of lawn! There is a small river which meets the entrance, surrounded by tall trees, benches (its open to the public) and areas used for apicolture and development of species of flora and fauna. The castle was also most impressive, with one of those huge staircases on the outside.
We then visited Grenoble, close by,
Whops, im being called, i have to interrupt this, will probably post again on monday after my first experiences of the school?? pray for me!!
xo
Monday, August 25, 2008
France is getting close!
21 / 08 - Thursday
It was rather a "it's getting hotter let's go away" morning, so the timing for our mountain break was perfect. Around 9am we left Conegliano and stopped at around midday in Cortina. This is a rich mountain town where celebrities are often spotted. Although I missed out on seeing Johnny Depp (he does have a house in France... fingers crossed), I spotted a shop featuring Billabong products! We stopped in a cafe with a most impressive delicatessen display, so there some of our lunch happened.
Once we arrived in Gais, Campo Turres, we took advantage of the afternoon tea offered. Some lovely deli products and pastries did us fine! Later in the afternoon we took a walk around a nearby castle. Finally the musky, fresh smell of forests I remembered from seven years ago! It was good to get those legs moving again!
At the hotel restaurant were 20+ lovely dishes for us to choose from the buffet. The menu tonight was to be Italian; this may seem obvious but Gais is so close to the Austrian border (the region was formerly Austrian) that the population is largely German and not all signs around town are translated in Italian. Interesting way of life though, because most residents are bilingual. Anyway, the buffet was quite satisfying.
Fools we were!
Following this, we were given another entree, a first course, a second, AND dessert! Best tiramisù I've ever tasted, sorry Dad! Everything was exquisite, and we endulged in this delicious ritual every night; we felt so guilty about how much food we had it was a nice excuse to go out after dinner :)
22 / 08 - Friday
On Friday we visited the castle of Campo Turres. My favourite so far! It overlooked the town and was very impressive, built largely on rocks around 1100. The castle was also well looked after and we took a guided tour around the magical insides. What struckme most was how small the window holes were around the place; situated over 800m in altitude, it could get quite chilli, also due to the stone walls. Furthermore, the absence of windows let all air in. However, very little light penetrated so I struggled to imagine the importance of candles! All doors, chairs and beds were much smaller than these days'. There were no wardrobes. A chapel (which didn't allow the presence of women, who had to spy through a hole in the wall and ceiling) and a priest's residence were within the castle. We were also shown the torture room and some pretty gore and scary ways the prisoners were treated.
In the afternoon, mum and I took off in an exploring entourage, and for some reason I thought it was hilarious to yell 'shark' in the middles of the forest. A few rounds of cards and another glorious meal awaited us.
Following dinner, the group split: my parents and grandma went to see a local orchestra, the rest of us went to a nearby town, Brunico, to see some late night markets and live music.
23 / 08 - Saturday
What a change in the sea! Overnight, a storm made the temperature drop about 15 degrees, and most of this rainy Saturday was with little sun. We decided to go to Brunico again to see its beauty (and shops) in the daylight.. had lunch in a cafe where we waited less than 10 mins for our meal, but over half an hour for three ice creams..
After a much needed siesta I walked around Gais with mum (literally ALL AROUND IT, it's that small) and again found ourselves in a place we were not supposed to be... an old church, in fact, which was being restaured. There comes the priest looking suspiciously at us..
A few more games of cards, dinner, and then we walked down to a local 'show' on the lake, which really consisted only of a stage with live music, a few bars and lots of people drinking beer. We were basically in Austria, remember! It was surprisingly strange though because at some point the Australian 'Land Down Under' song (by Men at Work) was playing!
24 / 08 - Sunday
Today we left Gais, as the sun came out again.
Stopping in San Candido and another town, we made it back home. After about an hour (just enough time to talk on the phone to my man, after four days!!) we had to go visit some people again, the family of a girl who used to go to school with my brother, Silvia. She invited me out for a pizza but unfortunately I had to give her a raincheck for October, since last night was one of the last dinners my family would have all together.
Because TODAY is Monday, and I've been for a ride to the castle of Conegliano, soon I need to get packing because TOMORROW I'm leaving for France!! Scary. Peur. I think that's 'fear' in French. Is that right Carolyn?? :s
It was rather a "it's getting hotter let's go away" morning, so the timing for our mountain break was perfect. Around 9am we left Conegliano and stopped at around midday in Cortina. This is a rich mountain town where celebrities are often spotted. Although I missed out on seeing Johnny Depp (he does have a house in France... fingers crossed), I spotted a shop featuring Billabong products! We stopped in a cafe with a most impressive delicatessen display, so there some of our lunch happened.
Once we arrived in Gais, Campo Turres, we took advantage of the afternoon tea offered. Some lovely deli products and pastries did us fine! Later in the afternoon we took a walk around a nearby castle. Finally the musky, fresh smell of forests I remembered from seven years ago! It was good to get those legs moving again!
At the hotel restaurant were 20+ lovely dishes for us to choose from the buffet. The menu tonight was to be Italian; this may seem obvious but Gais is so close to the Austrian border (the region was formerly Austrian) that the population is largely German and not all signs around town are translated in Italian. Interesting way of life though, because most residents are bilingual. Anyway, the buffet was quite satisfying.
Fools we were!
Following this, we were given another entree, a first course, a second, AND dessert! Best tiramisù I've ever tasted, sorry Dad! Everything was exquisite, and we endulged in this delicious ritual every night; we felt so guilty about how much food we had it was a nice excuse to go out after dinner :)
22 / 08 - Friday
On Friday we visited the castle of Campo Turres. My favourite so far! It overlooked the town and was very impressive, built largely on rocks around 1100. The castle was also well looked after and we took a guided tour around the magical insides. What struckme most was how small the window holes were around the place; situated over 800m in altitude, it could get quite chilli, also due to the stone walls. Furthermore, the absence of windows let all air in. However, very little light penetrated so I struggled to imagine the importance of candles! All doors, chairs and beds were much smaller than these days'. There were no wardrobes. A chapel (which didn't allow the presence of women, who had to spy through a hole in the wall and ceiling) and a priest's residence were within the castle. We were also shown the torture room and some pretty gore and scary ways the prisoners were treated.
In the afternoon, mum and I took off in an exploring entourage, and for some reason I thought it was hilarious to yell 'shark' in the middles of the forest. A few rounds of cards and another glorious meal awaited us.
Following dinner, the group split: my parents and grandma went to see a local orchestra, the rest of us went to a nearby town, Brunico, to see some late night markets and live music.
23 / 08 - Saturday
What a change in the sea! Overnight, a storm made the temperature drop about 15 degrees, and most of this rainy Saturday was with little sun. We decided to go to Brunico again to see its beauty (and shops) in the daylight.. had lunch in a cafe where we waited less than 10 mins for our meal, but over half an hour for three ice creams..
After a much needed siesta I walked around Gais with mum (literally ALL AROUND IT, it's that small) and again found ourselves in a place we were not supposed to be... an old church, in fact, which was being restaured. There comes the priest looking suspiciously at us..
A few more games of cards, dinner, and then we walked down to a local 'show' on the lake, which really consisted only of a stage with live music, a few bars and lots of people drinking beer. We were basically in Austria, remember! It was surprisingly strange though because at some point the Australian 'Land Down Under' song (by Men at Work) was playing!
24 / 08 - Sunday
Today we left Gais, as the sun came out again.
Stopping in San Candido and another town, we made it back home. After about an hour (just enough time to talk on the phone to my man, after four days!!) we had to go visit some people again, the family of a girl who used to go to school with my brother, Silvia. She invited me out for a pizza but unfortunately I had to give her a raincheck for October, since last night was one of the last dinners my family would have all together.
Because TODAY is Monday, and I've been for a ride to the castle of Conegliano, soon I need to get packing because TOMORROW I'm leaving for France!! Scary. Peur. I think that's 'fear' in French. Is that right Carolyn?? :s
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
we're off again
Our last few consecutive days in Conegliano have past fairly quickly.. They have been characterised by visiting friends and family and being visited, literally all day yesterday, going around town, and most of all EATING. Oh I also bought myself a snazzy digital camera, which is so far my most expensive expense. Unless we consider the language course in France I'm about to pay for! I'm beginning to notice the consequences of eating lots and going from a chair to the couch to the car... only occasionally walking or cycling! Feeling very guilty.
BUT! We are off (with my auntie, uncle, cousin and grandma) to Gais, near Campo Tures, the highest (in latitude) point of Italy, on the border of Austria. This place in the mountains should be a fresh change of air and we'll do some mountain walking which should make me feel better :p
will be back on Sunday. On next Tuesday we'll leave for France, as I'm close to starting my language course! I'm torn between excited and nervous right now, not underestimating the difficulty of the french language! :s
Have a good rest of the week!
BUT! We are off (with my auntie, uncle, cousin and grandma) to Gais, near Campo Tures, the highest (in latitude) point of Italy, on the border of Austria. This place in the mountains should be a fresh change of air and we'll do some mountain walking which should make me feel better :p
will be back on Sunday. On next Tuesday we'll leave for France, as I'm close to starting my language course! I'm torn between excited and nervous right now, not underestimating the difficulty of the french language! :s
Have a good rest of the week!
Saturday, August 16, 2008
just a quick note
Because time on this computer flies and I'm about to head out again!
Yesterday was Ferragosto, August 15th. It is a public holiday and, being the peak of summer, everyone usually goes on holiday somewhere, even if it's only for a few days. Two things were a bit different this year; due to a general economic depression, less people were on holidays, and it bloody hailed! In the afternoon, a storm came for a half hour or so to take the humidity away. Grazie! Anyway, I also found out that Ferragosto comes from the Ancient Roman times when Augusto was Emperor. Ferragosto = FERie di AGOSTO, or holidays of August. So initially Romans took most if not all of the month of August as holidays. And Augusto was also responsible for the naming of this month!
Anyway we didn't do much on this day, just went to the markets and had a few people over for lunch and in the afternoon. Today we visited people again and will go out for a pizza with my friend and her family. Should be nice.
Hmmm perfect time and temperature for a siesta, off I go :)
Yesterday was Ferragosto, August 15th. It is a public holiday and, being the peak of summer, everyone usually goes on holiday somewhere, even if it's only for a few days. Two things were a bit different this year; due to a general economic depression, less people were on holidays, and it bloody hailed! In the afternoon, a storm came for a half hour or so to take the humidity away. Grazie! Anyway, I also found out that Ferragosto comes from the Ancient Roman times when Augusto was Emperor. Ferragosto = FERie di AGOSTO, or holidays of August. So initially Romans took most if not all of the month of August as holidays. And Augusto was also responsible for the naming of this month!
Anyway we didn't do much on this day, just went to the markets and had a few people over for lunch and in the afternoon. Today we visited people again and will go out for a pizza with my friend and her family. Should be nice.
Hmmm perfect time and temperature for a siesta, off I go :)
Thursday, August 14, 2008
back from an exhaustingly beautiful Venice!
I have to pick up where I left, so a main highlight back up in Trento was visiting a (very) old monastery which used to keep friars cloistered centuries ago; the most particular thing about the place was its size: corridors were a few metres wide and the large rooms were rather empty or simply decorated, due to the simplistic lifestyle the friars obviously lived. They also grew much of what they ate so to have minimal contact with the outside world. Obviously a lovely church stands out close to the entrance, and if you look closely at the decorative paintings on the round ceilings.. there is a 3-D leg hanging off one man's pelvic area! So, after ignoring a 'PRIVATE' sign and walking upstairs where mum and I met no other tourists... and after being told by a scary friar who walked around the corner dressed in black from head to toe that.. no, we weren't really allowed to be there.. we left to visit more family.
Wednesday, around 7.40pm is when we got home. To my grandma's greatest horror, at 7.50pm we were walking out the door again! Some family friends had gotten together again for us as they were leaving for holidays, and it was our last chance to catch up. The evening was quite pleasant, and a very light snack for dinner was just what we needed.
So, finally catching up to TODAY! Today is Thursday, and we spent it in Venice. We were accompanied by a man who was born there so we didn't waste a lot of time trying to figure out on our own where to go. The glass manufacturing in Murano was amazing as ever (I'd seen it before as a child), the types of things and details these people can create is stunning. Again we walked up stairs we were not supposed to, to find a chamber containing the largest and most expensive chandeliers I've ever seen, with other impressive ournaments. The art of glass making, we learnt, is passed on father to son, there is no school in Murano or nearby to learn it.
We soon walked to a church built in 600AD, which is A LONG TIME AGO, and compared to some others we've seen, it was simple and just as impressive.
Then we split and got lost. And we ran around trying to find each other. And in the end we did. And lunch was at about 2.30 :p we let our legs rest because due to all the walking and the heat, they were letting themselves be heard (or rather felt!).
We then had the pleasure to go for a drink at the Cafe Florian, the oldest cafe in Venice, right on Piazza San Marco. It has been running since 1720! It was also the first cafe in Europe to allow women as customers! Inside the luxury is obvious, the furniture all things you'd think twice about buying for your own house, and paintings of Venetians decour walls. There was even an orchestra playing outside! Indeed, the menu lets you know where you are sitting; a coffee costs about five Euros, and a 200ml juice a ridiculous 8.5 Euros. The waiters are dressed like penguins all day and the service is admirable. It was lovely all the same, something you don't do every day :) oh and may I add that I almost felt like royalty sitting on the red leather in the cafe, with my new jewellery (on top of what I was already wearing lol) and the D&G watch given to me by my godmother! How nice :)
There we are, I think I've noted some of the highlights so far? Have a lovely weekend!
Wednesday, around 7.40pm is when we got home. To my grandma's greatest horror, at 7.50pm we were walking out the door again! Some family friends had gotten together again for us as they were leaving for holidays, and it was our last chance to catch up. The evening was quite pleasant, and a very light snack for dinner was just what we needed.
So, finally catching up to TODAY! Today is Thursday, and we spent it in Venice. We were accompanied by a man who was born there so we didn't waste a lot of time trying to figure out on our own where to go. The glass manufacturing in Murano was amazing as ever (I'd seen it before as a child), the types of things and details these people can create is stunning. Again we walked up stairs we were not supposed to, to find a chamber containing the largest and most expensive chandeliers I've ever seen, with other impressive ournaments. The art of glass making, we learnt, is passed on father to son, there is no school in Murano or nearby to learn it.
We soon walked to a church built in 600AD, which is A LONG TIME AGO, and compared to some others we've seen, it was simple and just as impressive.
Then we split and got lost. And we ran around trying to find each other. And in the end we did. And lunch was at about 2.30 :p we let our legs rest because due to all the walking and the heat, they were letting themselves be heard (or rather felt!).
We then had the pleasure to go for a drink at the Cafe Florian, the oldest cafe in Venice, right on Piazza San Marco. It has been running since 1720! It was also the first cafe in Europe to allow women as customers! Inside the luxury is obvious, the furniture all things you'd think twice about buying for your own house, and paintings of Venetians decour walls. There was even an orchestra playing outside! Indeed, the menu lets you know where you are sitting; a coffee costs about five Euros, and a 200ml juice a ridiculous 8.5 Euros. The waiters are dressed like penguins all day and the service is admirable. It was lovely all the same, something you don't do every day :) oh and may I add that I almost felt like royalty sitting on the red leather in the cafe, with my new jewellery (on top of what I was already wearing lol) and the D&G watch given to me by my godmother! How nice :)
There we are, I think I've noted some of the highlights so far? Have a lovely weekend!
trento trip - change of scenery!
I'm now back from a few days' travelling around the northern parts of Italy, where another part of the family lives. Sunday night, following a pleasant pizza, we drove to the castle of Conegliano, buildt in Medioeval times and now used as a museum, tourist and social attraction. It happened to be the night of San Lorenzo, and traditionally Italians believe that to with on falling stars tonight will make your dreams come true! So the scene was even more romantic than usual; walking around the gardens outside the dimly lit castle under a startty night were numerous lovey dovey couples. Although the cafe was still open, there was an intimate quiet which made the evening magical... without any sleazy magicians!
So, our moonlit walk finished, we ended the night with a gelato and got our bags ready for Monday morning.
It was my grandma's biggest nightmare. Not only were we leaving her guard for THREE WHOLE DAYS, but it so happened that my auntie, uncle and cousin were also on holidays and left for a week at the beach! As a reminder, they live upstairs so she is used to seeing family all the time. I hardly doubt we've heard the end of her sufferings :)
So we were on our way to Trento, about 2.5 hrs from Conegliano, where my mum's extended side of the family resides. Specifically, we stayed with her auntie and uncle in Sant'Agnese, population around 500. A quiet and pretty small town in the green mountains, with most buildings a few centuries old. You see charming houses with wooden balconies decorated by geraniums similar to the typical Austrian house; walls made of rocks and stone which keep the houses cool in summer; then, out of this blinded, falling apart window, blasts lous metal music, indicating the likely presence of a male human being, aged 14 - 18. And you snap out of the fairy tale! It is the kind of place where you go for an afternoon walk and you come across noone, except perhaps your second cousin- which funny enough actually happened to my great uncle.
Anyway, on Tuesday morning my parents and I took a walk around the city of Trento, population around 110,000. Now I thought Treviso was spectacular- and it was- but the charm of Trento, a larger town, was characterised by even more fascinating and impressive sights. The castle tower and ca seen around the town; the cathedral is one side of the largest town square with a majestic fountain and numerous cafes. Lining the pedestrian districts nearby are meanwhile centuries-old palaces once inhabited by rich extended families, most now owned by the shire. Coming from a 200-yr-old Australia, this is all very impressive, however the locals are now obviously accustomed to the town's charm.
At lunch we probably had the biggest meal yet (and that's saying something) at a lovely family restaurant on a quiet lake, in the middle of the forest. The kind of atmosphere which just makes you want to be lazy and enjoy life :) we spent the afternoon with one of mum's cousin and her family, leaving them for another of mum's cousins', Andrea. Him and his wife have three beautiful blue eyed boys, the youngest one, 3-yr-old Alessandro, seemed to take a liking to the 'signorina with the pink top', aka.. me! It was a very romantic night for us as our friendship was born and developed into love at first sight. Or maybe it's the other way around? Anyway as a sign of my love for the boy I gave him one of my hair lackies, which made his night. And it was pretty special, because only Rob and my ex have ever owned my hair lackies! :p
On Wednesday morning we were on the road again to Bressanone, to see some great aunties and more cousins.. a fairly boring day unfortunately, as we had little time to see about a billion people, so we felt like we were diasppointing the three families who asked us over for lunch! It was curious to see the German influence as we were so close to the Austrain border. Most signs around town were written first in German, then (in most but not all cases) Italian. This is because the region has only been officially Italian post WWI, it was before Austria, and the Germans havent exactly switched to italian automatically!
Ok that's all for now because dad's nagging me to leave, we're off to Venice for the day with some family friends :) More later! Ciao carissimi :)
So, our moonlit walk finished, we ended the night with a gelato and got our bags ready for Monday morning.
It was my grandma's biggest nightmare. Not only were we leaving her guard for THREE WHOLE DAYS, but it so happened that my auntie, uncle and cousin were also on holidays and left for a week at the beach! As a reminder, they live upstairs so she is used to seeing family all the time. I hardly doubt we've heard the end of her sufferings :)
So we were on our way to Trento, about 2.5 hrs from Conegliano, where my mum's extended side of the family resides. Specifically, we stayed with her auntie and uncle in Sant'Agnese, population around 500. A quiet and pretty small town in the green mountains, with most buildings a few centuries old. You see charming houses with wooden balconies decorated by geraniums similar to the typical Austrian house; walls made of rocks and stone which keep the houses cool in summer; then, out of this blinded, falling apart window, blasts lous metal music, indicating the likely presence of a male human being, aged 14 - 18. And you snap out of the fairy tale! It is the kind of place where you go for an afternoon walk and you come across noone, except perhaps your second cousin- which funny enough actually happened to my great uncle.
Anyway, on Tuesday morning my parents and I took a walk around the city of Trento, population around 110,000. Now I thought Treviso was spectacular- and it was- but the charm of Trento, a larger town, was characterised by even more fascinating and impressive sights. The castle tower and ca seen around the town; the cathedral is one side of the largest town square with a majestic fountain and numerous cafes. Lining the pedestrian districts nearby are meanwhile centuries-old palaces once inhabited by rich extended families, most now owned by the shire. Coming from a 200-yr-old Australia, this is all very impressive, however the locals are now obviously accustomed to the town's charm.
At lunch we probably had the biggest meal yet (and that's saying something) at a lovely family restaurant on a quiet lake, in the middle of the forest. The kind of atmosphere which just makes you want to be lazy and enjoy life :) we spent the afternoon with one of mum's cousin and her family, leaving them for another of mum's cousins', Andrea. Him and his wife have three beautiful blue eyed boys, the youngest one, 3-yr-old Alessandro, seemed to take a liking to the 'signorina with the pink top', aka.. me! It was a very romantic night for us as our friendship was born and developed into love at first sight. Or maybe it's the other way around? Anyway as a sign of my love for the boy I gave him one of my hair lackies, which made his night. And it was pretty special, because only Rob and my ex have ever owned my hair lackies! :p
On Wednesday morning we were on the road again to Bressanone, to see some great aunties and more cousins.. a fairly boring day unfortunately, as we had little time to see about a billion people, so we felt like we were diasppointing the three families who asked us over for lunch! It was curious to see the German influence as we were so close to the Austrain border. Most signs around town were written first in German, then (in most but not all cases) Italian. This is because the region has only been officially Italian post WWI, it was before Austria, and the Germans havent exactly switched to italian automatically!
Ok that's all for now because dad's nagging me to leave, we're off to Venice for the day with some family friends :) More later! Ciao carissimi :)
Sunday, August 10, 2008
elena the magician
So yesterday afternoon we went to this lovely Show of the Artisan, where there were hundreds of stalls around town with hand-made products, everything from Venetian masks to paper to jewellery (and lots of it) to musical instruments which imitaded nature sounds to toys to food (obviously).. the list could go on. It was a lovely walk around with my parents, uncle, auntie and cousin (even MORE hyper than usual due to his newest purchase- an ultra modern lime green camera responsible for some of the later pictures im uploading).
We happened to run into my godmother Stefania with her family and we had a lovely dinner there with them at the fiera. Following dinner.. there was an entertaining show with a magician, with a crowd of numerous dazzled children looking up at him and the parents at the back. Quite cute. Aaanyway, after a while he threw a ball "at random" at the crowd while aiming at me, and I had to 'volunteer'. So he asked me to tie a knot at the ends of two red napkins. He then told everyone to look away (obviously no one did) and stuffed them down my top! After making the usual magician fuss he pulled two ends out from my top and with them came a lame sexy black bra!! Funny. Obviously not mine, but he then pulled to the side one top of my shirt along with my bra strap, fooling the audience it had been mine.
So there I go to sit down again and he does the classic 'magic fire' tricks, after a while he calls me back up again. This time I was a little bit worried.. He gave me a small balloon and I was to hold the end of it in between my teeth. Between the baloon and my face he put this square protection thing which seemed like a piece of cardboard... So he goes, 'are you scared,' and I'm like, 'nooo... I trust you....' with a trembling voice, and he replies, 'too bad, you should never' eheh. Then he basically made the baloon pop in front of my face with fire!
So there you go. The last time the dude called me up he made me a green and blue baloon flower. He says, 'I wanted to give you a heart, but thought not to!'
So there is last night, quite a memorable one. This morning we were just about to go to church, with next to no willingness, as I wanted to catch up with my old choir teacher. In pulls Lucio, good family friend, to visit us save the day! Mum gave me a lift when mass was finished and I caught up with Angela there. And right now I'm wondering why I included that, because it is really not that interesting and I have probably wasted about 20 seconds of your time. I apologise. Ciao!
We happened to run into my godmother Stefania with her family and we had a lovely dinner there with them at the fiera. Following dinner.. there was an entertaining show with a magician, with a crowd of numerous dazzled children looking up at him and the parents at the back. Quite cute. Aaanyway, after a while he threw a ball "at random" at the crowd while aiming at me, and I had to 'volunteer'. So he asked me to tie a knot at the ends of two red napkins. He then told everyone to look away (obviously no one did) and stuffed them down my top! After making the usual magician fuss he pulled two ends out from my top and with them came a lame sexy black bra!! Funny. Obviously not mine, but he then pulled to the side one top of my shirt along with my bra strap, fooling the audience it had been mine.
So there I go to sit down again and he does the classic 'magic fire' tricks, after a while he calls me back up again. This time I was a little bit worried.. He gave me a small balloon and I was to hold the end of it in between my teeth. Between the baloon and my face he put this square protection thing which seemed like a piece of cardboard... So he goes, 'are you scared,' and I'm like, 'nooo... I trust you....' with a trembling voice, and he replies, 'too bad, you should never' eheh. Then he basically made the baloon pop in front of my face with fire!
So there you go. The last time the dude called me up he made me a green and blue baloon flower. He says, 'I wanted to give you a heart, but thought not to!'
So there is last night, quite a memorable one. This morning we were just about to go to church, with next to no willingness, as I wanted to catch up with my old choir teacher. In pulls Lucio, good family friend, to visit us save the day! Mum gave me a lift when mass was finished and I caught up with Angela there. And right now I'm wondering why I included that, because it is really not that interesting and I have probably wasted about 20 seconds of your time. I apologise. Ciao!
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Photos up :)
Ive uploaded a few pics onto this page, a few more onto my Facebook profile.
Last night, whilst we caught up with some cousins (and I had to endure, WITHOUT A PARTNER, the saddest scenes of 'The Notebook', which was basically suicide...) a fairly big storm freshened up the air and took away most of the humidity.. which is a blessing! Hopefully though it doesn't freshen up TOO MUCH because we are going up to the mountains a few days next week and the following. My auntie and uncle have two weeks' holidays from today so we will go up together a few days as well! Speaking of 'the uncle', he informed me my blog kept him quite amused during his last day of 'work', so he deserves a mention. Coincidence, he was born in Sydney (from Italian parents) and moved back to Italy when he was 10. So my blog also let him practice his English reading! There you go, doing my bit for the community :D
Oki, I'm running off to the next adventure :p
bye bye!
Last night, whilst we caught up with some cousins (and I had to endure, WITHOUT A PARTNER, the saddest scenes of 'The Notebook', which was basically suicide...) a fairly big storm freshened up the air and took away most of the humidity.. which is a blessing! Hopefully though it doesn't freshen up TOO MUCH because we are going up to the mountains a few days next week and the following. My auntie and uncle have two weeks' holidays from today so we will go up together a few days as well! Speaking of 'the uncle', he informed me my blog kept him quite amused during his last day of 'work', so he deserves a mention. Coincidence, he was born in Sydney (from Italian parents) and moved back to Italy when he was 10. So my blog also let him practice his English reading! There you go, doing my bit for the community :D
Oki, I'm running off to the next adventure :p
bye bye!
Thursday, August 7, 2008
8 months today :)
Life is getting a little exhausting.. we are seeing people every day, all with the same curious reaction, all very welcoming and happy to see us.. but from my point of view little of it would be long lasting were we not here for such a short time. I guess I'm just grumpy.. it's the weather/aching tooth/lack of Rob's presence/lack of privacy.. :p
Yesterday afternoon was pretty nice. I caught up with a couple of girls at a bar for a couple of hours before going to visit the house I used to live in. The new owners (a doctor with his wife & 3 kids) have taken good care of the garden, added a pool and furnished the house quite plainly and modernly (that is a word?). Shame to see no pets though, with such a large space. We used to have a wooden fenced area for our old G. sheperd Rex, but unfortunately they haven't gotten around to experience the wonders of a pet yet.
Later in the evening a girl I used to go to school with invited a few of my old school pals over as well as their parents, and we all got together after dinner for sweets and watermelon. It was strange to see Alex again. Back in year 5 he was the 'cute' boy in our class (out of 11 boys, mind you), always chatty and smiling. Now he is very tall, skinny, quiet and introverted, spends hours riding his bike and shaves his legs. His hair has grown (too much) and he parts it on the side. It was quite an interesting sight!
Today I've found out about my home stay in France! I will be staying in Chambèry with Madam Andrè, about a 15min walk to the school. She is recently retired and enjoys outdoor activities and painting. Eheh, sounds interesting.. I'll get in touch with her soon! Praying she speaks English or Italian... ;)
ps. it's our anniversary... <3
Yesterday afternoon was pretty nice. I caught up with a couple of girls at a bar for a couple of hours before going to visit the house I used to live in. The new owners (a doctor with his wife & 3 kids) have taken good care of the garden, added a pool and furnished the house quite plainly and modernly (that is a word?). Shame to see no pets though, with such a large space. We used to have a wooden fenced area for our old G. sheperd Rex, but unfortunately they haven't gotten around to experience the wonders of a pet yet.
Later in the evening a girl I used to go to school with invited a few of my old school pals over as well as their parents, and we all got together after dinner for sweets and watermelon. It was strange to see Alex again. Back in year 5 he was the 'cute' boy in our class (out of 11 boys, mind you), always chatty and smiling. Now he is very tall, skinny, quiet and introverted, spends hours riding his bike and shaves his legs. His hair has grown (too much) and he parts it on the side. It was quite an interesting sight!
Today I've found out about my home stay in France! I will be staying in Chambèry with Madam Andrè, about a 15min walk to the school. She is recently retired and enjoys outdoor activities and painting. Eheh, sounds interesting.. I'll get in touch with her soon! Praying she speaks English or Italian... ;)
ps. it's our anniversary... <3
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
getting wiser by the minute
What is the ultimate way to get really annoyed at your body? When it decides to have a wisdom tooth grow during your holiday, which causes pain when eating, and even in your ear!
I have to include what someone close to me said when I told them I had pain due to wisdom teeth, it is a classic: "My wisdom teeth haven't fallen out yet, that's why I'm so wise!" eheheh.. I do hope they forgive me for quoting them, it did make my day..
Sunday was quite nice as we caught up with a few friends again, and I got to go see a couple of my friends at a bar where there was an American band playing, Boss Tweed. Since it was their last tour stop and my friend made them dinner, they didn't hesitate in hanging around after the show. The 2 guys and girl were around the age of 30 and from New York, we had a nice chat and it was really refreshing to speak some English again!
On Monday we took a train to Treviso, only about 20 mins from here, population of 100,000. Some friends who live there took us around and it was nice to see such old architecture everywhere. There was a cathedral originating from the X Century, with beautiful paintings and statues, and an underground section of it built in the III Century! Fairly well preserved for its age.
Today we are having lunch with the guy (and his wife) who taught dad how to make Gelato; in the afternoon some people are coming over to visit (seriously I can't keep up), then we'll go to visit our old house we lived in, and I decided to let my parents go out for dinner tonight. My cousin needs me for a game of Monopoly ;)
Untill next time :)
I have to include what someone close to me said when I told them I had pain due to wisdom teeth, it is a classic: "My wisdom teeth haven't fallen out yet, that's why I'm so wise!" eheheh.. I do hope they forgive me for quoting them, it did make my day..
Sunday was quite nice as we caught up with a few friends again, and I got to go see a couple of my friends at a bar where there was an American band playing, Boss Tweed. Since it was their last tour stop and my friend made them dinner, they didn't hesitate in hanging around after the show. The 2 guys and girl were around the age of 30 and from New York, we had a nice chat and it was really refreshing to speak some English again!
On Monday we took a train to Treviso, only about 20 mins from here, population of 100,000. Some friends who live there took us around and it was nice to see such old architecture everywhere. There was a cathedral originating from the X Century, with beautiful paintings and statues, and an underground section of it built in the III Century! Fairly well preserved for its age.
Today we are having lunch with the guy (and his wife) who taught dad how to make Gelato; in the afternoon some people are coming over to visit (seriously I can't keep up), then we'll go to visit our old house we lived in, and I decided to let my parents go out for dinner tonight. My cousin needs me for a game of Monopoly ;)
Untill next time :)
Sunday, August 3, 2008
it is too hot.
I mean really. Staying at the beach in Lignano was nice because it was ventilated, breezy, and it lacked the annoying presence of mosquittoes unfortunately characteristic of our stay at grandma's. Strangely enough (when you think of my dad's profession), I have been eating gelato nearly everyday in the past week. Friday night we basically had dinner with a nice sundae cup. It's much cheaper here than in Australia! I was also surprised at how cheap wine is in supermarkets, where you can find a nice bottle for under 1.5 Euros- just over 2 Aust dollars. We spent a couple of very lazy days at the beach reading magazines, chatting, eating coconut (amongst other things) and swimming in the lukewarm water.
We are back now, and that's ok too. I just got to call Rob after a few days of mere texting, which was nice. By the way, I was really lucky to find a phone plan from which I can text to Australia for only 9Euro cents, which is just about 15Aust cents. If anyone needs it, my mobile number here is: 0011393292235103. That should be exactly what you need to type to text me.
Anyway! Busy week ahead, we've been booked by friends and family at least twice a day, plus there'll be a couple of day visits to nearby cities, namely Treviso and Venice.
From the LOGF (... land of good food ;) .... arrisentirci!
ciao :)
We are back now, and that's ok too. I just got to call Rob after a few days of mere texting, which was nice. By the way, I was really lucky to find a phone plan from which I can text to Australia for only 9Euro cents, which is just about 15Aust cents. If anyone needs it, my mobile number here is: 0011393292235103. That should be exactly what you need to type to text me.
Anyway! Busy week ahead, we've been booked by friends and family at least twice a day, plus there'll be a couple of day visits to nearby cities, namely Treviso and Venice.
From the LOGF (... land of good food ;) .... arrisentirci!
ciao :)
Thursday, July 31, 2008
off to the beach
I won't be on for a couple of days as we're leaving town. 'we' is my auntie, cousin and I, who will soon be joined by my uncle and my parentals.
Lately my patience with strangers here has been extremely limited. Let me explain. This town isn't that much bigger than Busselton. People talk like crazy, my grandma in particular (she has not yet gotten over the fact that we left her..). So during the past week, I have had A BILLION nosey strangers want to meet me and give me a cheesy smile, looking at me as if I were a strange, foreign specimen, and daring to ask me if I understood Italian!! It's annoying me, now when we happen to be in big crowds and my family start talking to someone I don't recognise I slowly move away, to avoid having to recount for the hundreth time how YES, I speak Italian, and YES I'm happy to be here, and YES I'm quite happy living in Australia... and then some go on asking about what I'm doing with my life, and there I start again.. grrr.. I mean if they are friends, I understand and I'm happy to explain, but curious 80-yr-old women dressed in black in the middle of summer who whine at me: doyouremembermeeeeeeeeeee?? kind of get on my nerves.
But anyway. Yesterday we did some more shopping, had some friends visit, and went to see an exhibition my cousin was part of. The humidity went down a tiny bit so beach should be nice. It will be good to compare Italian beaches with the ones in Australia. I will try not to step on too many people. I'm thinking of getting a second ear piercing. Yes?
Oki doki george :) have a good rest of the week!
x
Lately my patience with strangers here has been extremely limited. Let me explain. This town isn't that much bigger than Busselton. People talk like crazy, my grandma in particular (she has not yet gotten over the fact that we left her..). So during the past week, I have had A BILLION nosey strangers want to meet me and give me a cheesy smile, looking at me as if I were a strange, foreign specimen, and daring to ask me if I understood Italian!! It's annoying me, now when we happen to be in big crowds and my family start talking to someone I don't recognise I slowly move away, to avoid having to recount for the hundreth time how YES, I speak Italian, and YES I'm happy to be here, and YES I'm quite happy living in Australia... and then some go on asking about what I'm doing with my life, and there I start again.. grrr.. I mean if they are friends, I understand and I'm happy to explain, but curious 80-yr-old women dressed in black in the middle of summer who whine at me: doyouremembermeeeeeeeeeee?? kind of get on my nerves.
But anyway. Yesterday we did some more shopping, had some friends visit, and went to see an exhibition my cousin was part of. The humidity went down a tiny bit so beach should be nice. It will be good to compare Italian beaches with the ones in Australia. I will try not to step on too many people. I'm thinking of getting a second ear piercing. Yes?
Oki doki george :) have a good rest of the week!
x
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
anche le brave ragazze piangono.
So today was a hormonic, up-and-down day which reminded me of year nine. In the morning we did some crazy shopping, then had lunch al fresco (in the backyard) and.. then things went down down, and back up when I went to see my friend Alessandra. She is quite the singer/songwriter these days! I'm impressed, and happy to know she'll try out for San Remo. I'm getting a bit of a tan I must say :) I'll be going to the beach from thursday to saturday with my auntie, uncle and cousin so that should help. Fortunately I'm much too wise to avoid using sunscreen :) aaaaaaanyway. Not much to tell really, we're off to dinner at some friends' house soon so I should get going.
I hope everyone's well?
If you care to drop in a line it would be most welcome, the email address is its_only_el@hotmail.com
Arrivederci!
I hope everyone's well?
If you care to drop in a line it would be most welcome, the email address is its_only_el@hotmail.com
Arrivederci!
Monday, July 28, 2008
today i went cycling!
Just around town, with my grandma's bike. I was hoping to check out a few nice shops BUT I soon found out that most of them close on Monday mornings! What's with that?? They're already closed all Sunday, jeez..
The other day my parents and I caught up with about 25 of our old family friends who were so nice to organise a lunch for us all in a good restaurant on a nearby mountain. It was really hot, particularly after walking up hill after lunch! We kept mingling untill 7pm, when I had to get back home to go watch a movie with some friends. Batman it was, although I'd already seen it- it was as good the second time around though, exept possibly the dubbed voice of the Joker, which didn't meet the standards of Heath Ledger's. After the movie we walked to an Osteria (pub thing) and I was shocked to see a glass of Prosecco, a fine local wine, was half as much as an iced tea! It was nice to see some guys order the one drink and be satisfied with it, instead of getting a dozen or so, untill they aren't able to talk anymore.
We have also been to eat a really good pizza at an incredibly busy restaurant/pizzeria. People were coming in at 10pm to have dinner! eheh
Here are some more things I've learnt:
Distant, boring old relatives are just that.
I like shoes! Especially on sale.
I also like giancanelloni (pizzas folded up like a warm wrap, yum)
Italians have a serious obsession with tanning. It's scary. Like if you're white in summer you're an outcast. No one cares about cancer.
I have an English accent! :s
I'm scared of the sacrament of matrimony..
Just because you're going uphill- it doesn't mean it's going to get any cooler.
Italian roads are bloody scary!!!!
Have I mentioned my granma has a rooster living next door to us? I'm going to kill it. Really. I threatened her that if she doesn't poison it before next time I come back, I'm going to stay in a hotel. It wakes us up at freaking 5am.
All is well :)
The other day my parents and I caught up with about 25 of our old family friends who were so nice to organise a lunch for us all in a good restaurant on a nearby mountain. It was really hot, particularly after walking up hill after lunch! We kept mingling untill 7pm, when I had to get back home to go watch a movie with some friends. Batman it was, although I'd already seen it- it was as good the second time around though, exept possibly the dubbed voice of the Joker, which didn't meet the standards of Heath Ledger's. After the movie we walked to an Osteria (pub thing) and I was shocked to see a glass of Prosecco, a fine local wine, was half as much as an iced tea! It was nice to see some guys order the one drink and be satisfied with it, instead of getting a dozen or so, untill they aren't able to talk anymore.
We have also been to eat a really good pizza at an incredibly busy restaurant/pizzeria. People were coming in at 10pm to have dinner! eheh
Here are some more things I've learnt:
Distant, boring old relatives are just that.
I like shoes! Especially on sale.
I also like giancanelloni (pizzas folded up like a warm wrap, yum)
Italians have a serious obsession with tanning. It's scary. Like if you're white in summer you're an outcast. No one cares about cancer.
I have an English accent! :s
I'm scared of the sacrament of matrimony..
Just because you're going uphill- it doesn't mean it's going to get any cooler.
Italian roads are bloody scary!!!!
Have I mentioned my granma has a rooster living next door to us? I'm going to kill it. Really. I threatened her that if she doesn't poison it before next time I come back, I'm going to stay in a hotel. It wakes us up at freaking 5am.
All is well :)
Friday, July 25, 2008
i've learnt things already!
I learnt that I brought far too many clothes with me
I learnt that clothes shopping CAN be cheap in Italy at the weekly markets
I learnt that my parents knew A LOT of people here
I learnt that A LOT of people know about me
I learnt that my cousin LOVES PS2
I learnt that "these markets are huuuge!"
And that some people just look to make their lives more unhappy
Questa sera we are having dinner (*groan* at 8.30!) at the house of one of my friends from primary school. Looking forward to it lots! It's weird.. without meaning to sound racist at all, I have to say it surprised me to hear a number of Chinese shop assistants speak Italian! By mistake I greeted one in English. Gosh :p
ps. sun's nice ;)
I learnt that clothes shopping CAN be cheap in Italy at the weekly markets
I learnt that my parents knew A LOT of people here
I learnt that A LOT of people know about me
I learnt that my cousin LOVES PS2
I learnt that "these markets are huuuge!"
And that some people just look to make their lives more unhappy
Questa sera we are having dinner (*groan* at 8.30!) at the house of one of my friends from primary school. Looking forward to it lots! It's weird.. without meaning to sound racist at all, I have to say it surprised me to hear a number of Chinese shop assistants speak Italian! By mistake I greeted one in English. Gosh :p
ps. sun's nice ;)
Thursday, July 24, 2008
am i really here??
It's still a little surreal :)
Hello! Well at the moment I'm at my uncle's house, he's been generous to agree for me to use the internet when I wish! He lives upstairs from my grandparents' house, where we are staying. Lovely little duplex! I just met their two pet turtles, Ingeniere (engineer) and Geometra (geometrist)!
So getting here was a long but manageable journey, we stopped for a night in Dubai which was great cos we not only got some sleep, but visited around the gold markets (cheap and very noticeable!). The place is really impressive but I had mixed reactions as you got the impression that a small bunch of people were governing a huge amount of cement- I mean development which had all only recently happened. The rest of the population seemed like some SouthEast Asian populations, poor and trying to sell you anything they posess. The temperature was 45 degrees which was incredible, coming from a chilli Busselton.
So on thursday the 24th we left for Italy, along a large amount of very loud Italians, including a big group who had travelled to Sydney for WYD. It was so strange to hear so many (young) people speak Italian! Funny though :) around six hours later we landed in Venice, where our family picked us up from. Again, a few differences in the local road rules (what road rules?) which could give some laid-back Busselton drivers a bit of a heart attack ;)
So now I am home. Or my grandma's home anyway..? The weather here is really pleasant at the moment, we will go to the markets tomorrow in the centre of town- I'm assured by my gran that she has been busy preparing food for us just in case a sudden famine decides to hit the planet!
Must go now, my gran made sure half of the town knows we are here so.. places to be.. people to meet... :)
ciao.
Hello! Well at the moment I'm at my uncle's house, he's been generous to agree for me to use the internet when I wish! He lives upstairs from my grandparents' house, where we are staying. Lovely little duplex! I just met their two pet turtles, Ingeniere (engineer) and Geometra (geometrist)!
So getting here was a long but manageable journey, we stopped for a night in Dubai which was great cos we not only got some sleep, but visited around the gold markets (cheap and very noticeable!). The place is really impressive but I had mixed reactions as you got the impression that a small bunch of people were governing a huge amount of cement- I mean development which had all only recently happened. The rest of the population seemed like some SouthEast Asian populations, poor and trying to sell you anything they posess. The temperature was 45 degrees which was incredible, coming from a chilli Busselton.
So on thursday the 24th we left for Italy, along a large amount of very loud Italians, including a big group who had travelled to Sydney for WYD. It was so strange to hear so many (young) people speak Italian! Funny though :) around six hours later we landed in Venice, where our family picked us up from. Again, a few differences in the local road rules (what road rules?) which could give some laid-back Busselton drivers a bit of a heart attack ;)
So now I am home. Or my grandma's home anyway..? The weather here is really pleasant at the moment, we will go to the markets tomorrow in the centre of town- I'm assured by my gran that she has been busy preparing food for us just in case a sudden famine decides to hit the planet!
Must go now, my gran made sure half of the town knows we are here so.. places to be.. people to meet... :)
ciao.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
here comes reality..
So if you're one of those people who hates public displays of affection and can't stand close relationships to the point of two people needing each other to feel at home.. you should not read on. Because yesterday I kissed Rob goodbye, a goodbye which we could say is more a 'see-you-later', however 'later' seems so far away that 'goodbye' seems to better express the experience. It was hard, and it's still hard to procrastinate considering how long three months feels, especially without him by my side. Thank God I was brought out that night by Ian, Carolyin and the girls, because had I not been out socialising and dancing with my boss [... that does sound a little strange.. but really there was no one else on the 'dancefloor' and we had lots of fun! ...] I could see myself miserable at home. The night of the 18th I had a really nice get-together over dinner with a group of friends, and we made use of the cheap cocktails during happy hour. So, anyhow, I'm going to use my free time to pack I guess, something I don't really enjoy doing. How am I supposed to not bring my whole wardrobe with me to Europe??
Hmmmm.. I shall see what I can do, until next time :)
Hmmmm.. I shall see what I can do, until next time :)
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
these new feelings!
I have to express these feelings that have brought butterflies of excitement to my tummy! I guess it's because lately I have been talking more and more about my travels, with friends and family.. it's getting closer and closer! I'm looking forward, perhaps seriously for the first time, to go back to Italy, to remember places I used to visit often, to see how much people have changed.. my now 12-year-old cousin, for example! I look forward to visiting Trieste, Trento, l'Alto Adige.. breathing in fresh mountain air.. going to the markets with my cheerful grandma.. waking up and being fussed over for the following 14 hrs, by people saying 'mangia, mangia'! I hope mum and I get around to going to Rome for a few days of mad shopping.. and I look forward to catching up with people who, for a few days, will make us feel incredibly interesting! Oh, and I also really look forward to seriously telling some friends that I used a kangaroo-service to 'hop' to school.
Monday, June 30, 2008
ANTICIPATION
So today I have created my own blog page! In about three weeks I'm leaving Oz for the muchly-anticipated Europe travels which will see me visiting some of my family and friends who I haven't seen for around seven years.. visiting places which will have that familiar feeling about them even though I won't quite remember them.. noticing how different life in Italy really is.. enjoying the freshness of Northern mountains to break away from the unbearable mid-August humidity.. and then finally being left in a [relatively] small town of France, South of Lyon, for five weeks, to experience the fascinating language and culture! Who knows how I will cope? Will I not miss my family, friends and boyfriend (sigh) for so long? But then again.. envy me as I plan on enjoying some of France's most tasty delicatesses, from fresh pastries for breakfast to sweet desserts for afternoon tea! The plan looks a little cloudy and vague at the moment but I have a feeling improvisation and a lack of strict deadlines and rules will make my time so much more exciting!
Keep up with me :)
Keep up with me :)
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