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.
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