DAY9&10

DAY 9&10: ROMEEE!


It was basically a dream come true. I've been wanting to go to Vatican City since I saw a panoramic view book of Rome (junior year of high school). For me, Rome was a little bit too crowded. It was probably bc we were there the weekend of Easter Sunday. Rome is another one of those cities where it's mostly about checking off the list of famous sites: St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Colosseum.

Again, the weather and airport situation wasn't working in our favor. We got one beautiful day and the next day it rained. Since I had no more room in my backpack/carry on, I opted to buy a poncho. =) Don't judge me. We also found out that the airport we were leaving from closes from 12pm to 6am... so we couldn't sleep there. soooo (after our adventure from Pisa to Naples) we found a hostel near the station and fell asleep immediately (after some wine, of course)..

DAY 8

DAY 8: Pompeii


Pretty much all i got for you is.. pictures! Pompeii is the place where Mt. Vesuvius blew up and preserved an entire city. mas o menos.

a plaster mold of someone who was caught in the eruption

DAY 7

DAY 7: Naples


I was so happy to get to Naples. You have no idea. Basically we got to our sweeet-little hostel.. and fell asleep on their couches for three hours until our room was ready. He even put a blanket on us..

Needless to say, we were exhausted.. but we still decided to walk around Naples a little. We walked to the pier to take a ferry to Capri, but decided not to waste $30 for a round-trip boat ride when it was already 2pm. Basically, all I remember is that in Naples, I ate the BEST PIZZA i've ever had. (better than the one I had John's in New York).

Check it out. The menu said something with 8 toppings. LOOK AT IT! yummmmm. i'm drooling..

there was.. ricotta cheese, mushrooms, bell peppers, eggplant, sausage, ham, olives, and just cheeese

the oven that made our delicious pizza (we are such tourists lol)

DAY 5&6

DAY 5: Cinque Terre

Each day had its own new set of adventures and scenaries. The views at Cinque Terre were probably the most beautiful. We went to the western coast of Italy to do a series of hikes. We hiked 4 trails between the 5 quaint towns: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. In the end, the hikes were totally worth it (we hiked for about 5 and 1/2 hours) and we were saved by the peanut butter (from vlfo and tiff from the states) and jelly sandwiches and pesto pizza.

Riomaggiore

Corniglia

the little bit of sun that decided to come out..

we should have known to turn around...

Of course, our vacation was running too smoothly.. so we hit our series of unfortanate adventures. On the last hike (the hardest one), we started off by climbing mountains and mountains of stairs. I thought of turning around after the first set of stairs, but I wanted to add Cinque Terre of my list of completed hikes. Anyway, it started to mist, and we were sort of relieved that the sun went away for a while bc we were starting to sweat... WELL, the mist turned into a light sprinkle.. which turned into a  moderate rain...which eventually turned into a STORM. or well, i couldn´t even really see what was in front me bc there was always water hitting my face. one of the craziest moments of my life. we stopped on the side of a cliff and i was laughing.. and crying.. and i just didn´t really know what to do with myself. Anyway, we finished the last hike (the hardest one) in less than an hour and a half bc we were practically running (they suggest two hours). We were holding onto each other and inching on the side of a cliff.. and i wish i could say i was exagerrating..but, it was pretty bad. We were soaked from head to toe.. shivering on the train ride back. Ended the day with some delicious pesto pasta and a few glasses of wine. Unforgettable.

beautiful view from our balcony window. my camera makes everything look that much cooler!

DAY 6: Florence? Pisa? Naples?

So when we thought the horror was over.. we were wrong. (okay, not that bad)... but we took a train back to Florence bc we missed the museums on Monday bc they were all closed.. we waited THREE HOURS to get into the Uffitzi Museum (where the Birth of Venus and Spring - Botticelli are). It was nice to go inside... but I would have much rather paid the extra 2 euros to make reservations and get in at a specific time (or I wish I had skipped the museum altogether). We headed to Pisa to catch an overnight train to Naples. When we got there, the train we wanted to take was booked. We debated over a few options, but decided to suck it up and take the overnight train (even though we didnt have seats) since we doubted we´d find a room for four in Pisa with such late notice. It was a Harry Potter style train with cabins and everything! Only, since we didn´t actually have seats.. we were stuck in the hall. all night long. and it was cold. long long long long long long night.....oh, did i mention we didn´t even see the tower of Pisa....

After going to Venice and realizing when you walk out of the train station, you´re already at the Gran Canal. you´d think when you get to Pisa, the tower would be right in front of you. It turns out you have to take a bus there and back and they stop running at 8pm. With our complications, we didnt even get tickets until around 9pm... On the bright side, I was able to find asian ramen at a supermarket nearby. You´d never think you miss those sort of things...

DAY 3&4

I just got back from Morocco!! (another place i want to go back to) and realized that I need to finish updating about Spring Break before I can blog about my other experiences. so here it goes..

DAY 3: Siena

We got a lot of recommendations to go to Siena.. and I'm not quite sure why.. It's a little medieval town outside of Florence where all the streets lead to the same plaza. An interesting fact.. the Crayola crayon color, "burnt siena" is named after the color of the brick in the Piazzo de Campo. Siena also had its own palace and duomo.

Got a chance to try a real espresso shot from the famous cafe, Nannini. When I get back, Starbucks just isn't going to cut it.

I've decided that one of the things that defined my trip to Italy was the amazing food. Everywhere! Hence, Siena did get a little better with our 1euro giant beers (and a view of the Tuscan countryside) and pistachio/creme brulee gelato.

DAY 4: Florence

Tons of history and artwork. Not much to say aside from that. It was a chill day to enjoy the city and finish the night by dancing to the music of Claudio Spaudi (the man that sings with his guitar every night on Ponte Vecchio).

replica of David - his hand was made really big bc it was originally supposed to be a statue on top of a building.

Statue of Perseus after he killed Medusa

small car!!!

ponte vecchio - where the love of my life sings every night.

DAY 2

Venice is just a really cute city.. and I loved it. We decided the first thing we wanted to do was get to the other islands. We only made it to Murano (where murano glass comes from), but when I go back I want to make sure I make it to Burano and Lido, for sure.

We spent the second half of the day wandering around the canals. Maps aren´t very useful in Venice bc the streets are all so small and windy. It was hard to for me to stay out of the shops (bc I was eyeing the jewelry and the masks that they use during Carnavale) so it took a while to explore the city. We went to St. Marks Square to run around with the pigeon, went inside the Basilica, and saw Doge´s palace (looks like the Venetian). Somehow we wandered to the Railto Bridge (one of the more famous on the Grand Canal) and enjoyed the random pizzerias we found along the way.

St. Mark's Square w/ the pigeons! (and a crowd of other tourists)

Doge's Palace (like the Venetian in Vegas)

Rialto Bridge

We are always on the go, so of course, we ran to the train station to catch our train to Florence. It was tough saying good-bye, but I know I´ll be back. Esp. since my trip was incomplete without a visit to the Hard Rock Cafe.

PRACTICA

LOL this was a really awkward spanish class.. but it was pretty funnnny.

anyway, we´re practicing the subjunctive.. and desires.. so we got a worksheet about things that women complain about (when it comes to men).

Lo que ellas esperan de lo hombres. (what women expect from men)
1. que los hombres devuelvan las llamadas (return phone calls)
2. que sean más originales para terminar una relación (to be more original when they end relationships)
3. que si nos piden ´´su espacio,´´ también nos den el nuestro (you want space? give me mine)
4. que aprendan a escuchar (learn to listen)
5. que no intenen lucirse en el cuarto lleno de mujeres (stop trying to be so macho - only in a room full of women)
6. que no se toquen sus partes íntimas en lugares públicos (not to touch your ¨partes intimas¨ in public)
7. que sean originales a la hora de conquistar (conquistar means to flirt.. so, to be more original)
8. que mientan con más creatividad (be more creative)
9. que no subestimen la inteligencia femenina (not to underestimate the intelligence of women)
10. que no sean más rápidos que nosotras en la cama (not to be faster then women.. in bed..)
11. que acepten que conducimos mejor que ellos (to accept that women drive better than men .. questionable..)
12. que no nos comparen con sus madres (not compare us to your mothers)
13. que no las prefieran bobas y voluptuosas (to not go for idiots-ditsy-superficial girls) AMEN.
14. que dejen de tener fantasías sexuales sobre dos mujeres (to stop having sexual fantasies with two women)
15. que acaben con su miedo al compromiso (to stop being scared of compromise)
16. que dejen de ser autisas cuando ven deportes (to stop being ¨autistic¨ aka deaf when watching sports)
17. que no odien a nuestar mejor amiga (to not hate my best friend)
18. que no crean que su ex novia es la mujer más buena del mundo (to not believe your ex gf is the most beautiful in the world)
19, y finalmente, que no nos hagan llorar (and finally, to not make us cry)

hahhaha imagine talking about these things in class...

DAY 1 (Attempt to Update)

So this week, I need to catch up on a lot of work before finals. I have a few essays due... ranging from 1 to 6 pages.. so I´m gonna get on that, but I also want to update about my trip. So hopefully, I can get a post-per day. Some things to look forward to reading about.. my entire 10 day trip to italy, the BULL FIGHT i went to, andddd i´m going to morocco this weekend. yeeee.

DAY 1: Milan

So the metro closes from 1:30am to 6:00am and of course, we book our flight to leave Madrid at 6:25. So instead of paying for a taxi in the middle of the night, we took metro around 12:30 and spent the night in the airport drinking calimochos (red wine and coca cola). not a bad combination.

Anyway, the only thing I saw in Milan, was the train station and McDonalds. It was overcast and starting to sprinkle..so we decided to just find food and a train to Venice. Apparently, there´s a beautiful church and the fresco, ¨The Last Supper¨.. but, other that that I can´t say I really missed out too much. esp since i can only window shop in this famous fashion capital.

looks like Grand Central Station

For some reason, I didn´t realize that Venice is the city filled with canals. So, I was warmly welcomed by a huge canal immediately after we walked out of the train station. AMAZING. We walked around admiring the beautiful masks and murano glass on a mission to find a recommended restaurant. We got a distracted.. and took a GONDOLA RIDE! he dropped the price from 20euros to 10euros... so we got suckered into it. It was the best way to start the trip though!

i was really excited, okay?

my point of view.

For dinner, I wanted a lasagna or meatballs.. but instead, I tried squid-ink pasta. =) and after our first restaurant.. we realized.. we should never eat the bread. The basket was 7.50euros.. (almost the price of my meal).

Antropologia de Danza Oriental

CRAZY stuff.

if you can read spanish. here´s the syllabus: DANZA

sooo i find out that the one girl who was going to take it with me.. felt sick today. so i went alone. all she did was tell me that the classroom is near the cafeteria. aka. i had to go underneath the cafeteria to find a bunch of people sitting in the hallway.. 

i'm glad i'm in the class.. even though i can only understand about 80% of whats going on. my teacher is super animated and excited about dance. i think she's from Brazil, but has been all over to study dance. She really likes.. Indian? dance and likes to talk about the movement of the hips. 

Needless to say, I learned a lot in the 2 1/2 hours. 

Thankfully, I was walking behind two girls in my class and I found out they speak English.. and they've been learning English since they were 3. All their econ classes are in English. Anyway, they were able to sort of clarify the details of the final...

Not the best news I've ever gotten... I understood that for the final we have to write a paper and do something else additionally. I assumed it was just in front of her. They told me it was in front of the entire class.. soooo i'll be dancing awkwardly as my final project. can't wait. 

BURN BURN BURN.

Italy was amazinggggggg. can't wait to go back. i have some funny stories to tell.. (that weren't so funny at the time..) however, those will come later bc i forgot to update about Valencia and las Fallas.

Paella originated from Valencia so our goal was to order one of those giant pans to share.. Well, our first mistake was to look for paella for dinner.. Usually, the custom in Spain is to eat a huge/late lunch and then a smaller late dinner.. which means, we should have been searching for paella at 2 or 3 pm.. anyway, we toured the city around 6pm looking for paella and only found one shop that was sort of selling it on the street. We passed it up and instead we found a cuban fusion restaurant and decided to give up and eat there. It was the best mistake we ever made. We ordered this HUGE rice dish.. and almost died bc we were so deliriously full. We tried some interesting appetizers too. Basically, I was really happy.

PULPO A LA GALLEGA (OCTOPUS)

CALAMAR A LA PLANCHA (GRILLED.. CALAMARI..)

BOQUERONES Y ACEITUNAS (ANCHOVIES AND OLIVES)

ARROZ (with i have no idea what.. we couldn't finish it with 5 starving girls...)

I went a little picture happy (so you can check my shutterfly if you want to see more pictures), but I thought the statues were all really cool. There was basically one on every corner. They're called "fallas." Since usually "fuego" means fire.. my theory is that "fallas" also means fire.. but, in the language/dialect they speak in Valencia. Anyway, they spend the entire year building these things and on the day of the festival.. they burn them all down. It's ridiculous.

We got lost a few times during the day, but there were soo many of them that we rarely saw the same falla twice. At around 11pm we got to see two or three burn down. They call it "la crema." There are firemen waiting at every corner and they even hose down some of the buildings to make sure they don't catch on fire. For each falla, they start with a bunch of fireworks and then torch the entire statue. It's crazy. There are barriers... that don't stop the fire from coming towards you.. lol at one point, we were running away from it.. as it was falling. and the sunglasses were intended to stop the ashes.... we didn't really factor in the fire part...

you can see the firecrackers and fireworks they set off.

the inside structure, burning away

Oh yeah, I felt like I had terrets? or w/e it's called.. bc firecrackers were going off non-stop! worse than Chinese New Years...