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.
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