So my friends and i like to play this game where we keep track of all the english phrases that we see here, because usually they don’t quite translate/make sense in general. Here is the list so far:

“Nice to love you” – hanging in a gelateria for San Valentino
“Sixth Sense” – Why is this on the back of some guy’s jacket? i don’t know either.
“Long Live to Rock and Roll” – close, but no dice.

and the best so far, courtesy of my friend erica:
“I will take you on a daring love tour” – written on a girl’s shirt.

let this be a lesson to all of you out there who think that those asian tattoos are really a good idea. because they’re not. You’ll look silly.

Moving on..

I hate to perpetuate stereotypes, but italian guys are handsy. there’s no way around it. They just don’t see a problem with reaching out and grabbing you (and i’m talking anywhere on the body. it’s a bit ridiculous). That’s one thing that i’m learning to do – turn down guys blatantly. My tactics in america usually consisted of ignoring them completely. when that didn’t work, i walked away. But they don’t get hints like that here. So i’m learning to be mean and to curse, since a good tell-off usually puts them in their place. i just don’t like doing it all night. I think the fact that they can tell i’m american adds to the unwanted attention.

thursday night was exciting because there was a fight! While i was on line for the bathroom, the four other girls i was with were outside waiting for me. There was a guy out there that we had all repeatedly turned down throughout the night. I guess he got sick of it because he slapped one of my friends in the face! The rest of the girls all came to her defense, and he almost got the crap beaten out of him, but his friends dragged him away.

Isn’t it typical, though? i miss all the action because i’m just standing around on a line somewhere. I feel like it’s one of those little sayings that they carve into wood, paint up and sell in the mall. Like “Life is what happens when you’re waiting to pee.”
(i think there was a “Life is what happens when you’re waiting for a table” episode of Sex and the City – which i miss, by the way, and need to stop making comparisons to.)

the next night we went to a club for karaoke. i sang “satisfaction” by the rolling stones, which was a lot of fun. Italians love american music. not just the popular stuff. even at the trendiest bar, they’ll break out the YMCA. They’re really serious about it – three guys got up on the table and did the choreography for it! Also, because i speak english, a few italian guys grabbed me to sing Oasis’ “Wonderwall” with them, which was fun.

there will be more pictures soon when i can get my webshots to work!

Last Sunday I met my parents at Spitalfields Market, and Cris met my parents. Our combined “London knowledge” ensured that they were given a good tour (though as my Mom will tell you, Cris is the one with the better sense of direction, whatever : P). My mom tried a Spitalfields brownie though they were no match for the tin of homebaked mint brownies she had brought over for me! As we walked around Spitalfields Market and Brick Lane Market, Cris explained to my dad about Banksy (http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/index.html), an elusive graffiti artist. We ate in Spitalfields, I got a chicken tikka roll and my sister got noodles. We all then made our way over to The Cabinet War Rooms. The Churchill Museum was also included in the price of our ticket (with The Ace Card it was two tickets for the price of one, combined with a student discount for me and Cris meaning we paid £9 for both of us), but it was less interesting than the actual war rooms where Churchill held meetings during WWII. He only slept a couple times in the underground bunker, preferring to take his chances above ground although he would go on to the roof to watch air raids! After that we met up with my parents’ friend and his wife who were coincedently in London as well. It was Chinese New Year’s and we happened to walk by Leicester Square and Chinatown where there were big crowds and dragons and decided to get Chinese food that night.
Monday I had class but afterwards I met my parents in Enfield Town, Raggy met us too and then we had dinner at a pub, with Cris and Damon joining us for drinks afterwards. It was strange to be drinking with my parents but I was glad they came and got to meet my friends as well experience a “typical” pub night for us.
Tuesday I met my parents at their hotel, we walked to Paddington station and took the train to the town of Windsor to see Windsor Castle. The castle was alright (it sort of reminded me of Hampton Court Palace in some respects which I visited two years ago) but what made it more impressive was that it’s still in use. In some rooms you could see that the carpet was rolled up in order to make room for the railings that section off the room from the tourists, which can then easily be rolled back when the room is in offical use. They also explained about what was lost, recovered and redone after the fire in 1992. It was also funny to learn that the Queen hosts events called something cute like “dine and sleep”, essentially a sleepover at the Queen’s house! We went exploring and shopping around the cute little town, then headed back to my parents hotel, ate at a Moroccan restaurant then tried to go to sleep as early as possible for the next day.
We woke at 4.30am and took a taxi to Waterloo station to catch our 6.40am train to Paris. I read for class on the way there, fighting off sleepiness (which I would do for the whole week only to crash and hibernate yesterday to make up for it all). We took the bus tour because it incorporated everything we wanted to see and was the easiest most convenient way to get around. Though of course I partially despised being plugged in to the audio tour guide, it felt like a scene from Brave New World. Though I have realized (after going to a couple museums in London, and then after going to Rome and experiencing “real human tour guides”) that impersonal though convenient audio guides seem to be slowly be replacing personable human tour guides.
We went to Notre Dame but I actually wasn’t too impressed by it, perhaps because since I was little my parents having been dragging me to cathedrals and churches across England and after seeing The Duomo in Milan, I guess I now have standards! But the Eiffel Tower was really cool, amidst my fear of heights. We spent a lot of time there and by the time we started to head back to the train station the hop on, hop off bus tour had stopped running. So we had to take the metro (not as nice as our London underground) which was cavernous and confusing and arrived at the train station with not enough time to leave for dinner, so we had to eat a disappointing dinner in the train station. But the whole day was nice, even if just for the aspect of returning to London and saying “I was in Paris for the day” though a day is not enough.
Thursday I went to class, Cris joined me on the tube and met up with my parents in Bond St, walked along Marylebone High St., stopped off at a cool travel bookstore called Daunt Books (http://www.dauntbooks.co.uk/) then headed to Covent Garden. Cris showed my parents a cool tea shop and then after lots of wandering and finally an emergency call to Damon with google by his side, we finally found the Italian restaurant I had been to back in November and my sense of direction was forever tainted in the view of my parents!
Friday I met up with my parents in Camden and showed them Camden Market, we ate there and wandered around. Then we still had some time to kill before I whisked my sister off for a night, so we went to Regent Street and then Carnaby Street, a coffee shop that I had wanted to bring them to was closed but I did find it on my own (eventually, via the long route). Then we stopped off at the hotel my sister picked up her overnight bag and I brought her back to my flat to get ready where we had a quick dinner with Cris then met up with some of my friends in the Forum. While waiting for the train Mel got to experience Will’s dance skills and crazy antics while we egged him on. I was beginning to have second thoughts about exposing Mel to the likes of Cris, Damon, Will and Petros on a Friday night but while on the tube after kicking up his feet, Will switched moods and began telling us about Tibet. We went to Metro for an indie night, though our good indie nights are usually on Saturdays so this was a new place. It was alright but we missed hearing Bloc Party’s “Banquet” along with Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian and Kaiser Chiefs, there was some older “indie”. They played “Rock the Casbah” and then “Boys Don’t Cry”, odd to hear back to back. Afterwards we stopped off for a mandatory kebab, and on the bus ride home at somepoint my phone was most likely stolen out of my pocket, but after awhile I was too tired to care (it’s a cheap phone and pay-as-you-go, there was only £1 left on it).
Saturday we woke up early with our ears still ringing and headed one last time to my parent’s hotel and walked them to Paddington and said goodbye as they got on Heathrow Express. I checked out the Paddington Bear stall in Paddington Station for nostaglia and was happy to discover that the guy working at the stall was enthuisastic about Paddington and that Michael Bond lives around the corner. Cris and I had lunch at a nearby cafe and decided to do on of my London Walks through Kensington Gardens. We bought coffee first and got free croissants which Cris then used to feed the ducks, geese and swans in the park. When one bit his finger we decided it was time to continue on. Ended up walking through the cloisters of St. Mary Abbots Church located off of Kensington High St just as it was getting dark, finished off walking by antique shops and then headed home.

The last few days have been spent again trying to see and do as much as I can before school starts on Monday. Besides the fact that I have to travel an extremely long way to get to campus I am really looking forward to my classes. They seem like they are going to be very interesting.
Saw a great art exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art. I stayed for a huge part of the day. The museum has an entire floor on video work where you can sit down on couches with headphones and watch these great creations. There was such a wide range of work as well. Videos taken in a girls bathroom in a club, to a video done interviewing this Italian family during their everyday lives. I also got to see some Andy Warhol prints which are housed in the museums permanant collection.

Hanne Eva and I wandered around into another suburb of the city called Glebe the other day. It is so so nice! Really cute shops with great food, really fresh fruits, all natural and organic stores, and little one of a kind stores with great knick knacks and things to buy. The houses that line the town remind me of old English cottages with their wrought iron fences overgrown with green tangled ivy. Its only about a 10 minute walk from my apartment, but even though it is right off of the major road through Sydney it is surprisingly very quiet. Popped into a small cafe, it was hot so I ordered an iced coffee…what I got was coffee with ice with ice cream. A little different but really good. MMMmmmmm! When we were in Glebe we were looking into cheap second hand stores, because the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival is next weekend and Eva and this girl Heleen and I have decided to go all out and get dressed up! Looking forward to a fun and long weekend next week.

The last week our friends have all been looking for flats so our couches and living room floor have been filled with many people in and out. Florian’s friend from Germany is here, Yannes, and is traveling for the next 4 weeks in Australia, so its one more added to the bunch. All of the Germans have found apartments and have moved in or will move in, within the next few days. Eva and I were looking for things to do while we are here and realized there are huge events going on. There are Skateboarding Championships at Bondi beach, the Mardi Gras Festival, the Sydney Writers Festival and the Sydney Film Festival. Looking forward to so many great things to do!!
The Uni hosted a free barbeque, cocktail party, and pub crawl for all of the international students. The party was really nice, and again met some great people from all over. We then headed out on the pub crawl in which we went to the famous part of the city called The Rocks. Great bars which are all so different and unique. There was a german bar, an irish pub, and an australian club, and a few more. Loved the irish pub because there was a live acoustic duo playing some great irish music, and a special request from my friends and I, Sweet Home Alabama. Overall had a great night with good people.
Yesterday was a lazy lazy day, spent getting up late…having breakfast made for me by the boys…and going to the beach. I keep telling myself this is the life! I can’t believe I have only been here just two weeks. It feels so much like home and so familiar. I feel as if I have already done so much and I know the city so well now. Its great to have that feeling. I am trying to send some sunshine your way. Have a great next couple of days!

Lauren

So last Friday we ate at the Citadelle. It was, possibly, the most amazing meal of my life (sorry Mom…). Seven courses of pure delicousness. There were two main actors there who acted as our hosts and then all the servers were dressed up too. Before every course it was announced and presented to us. Plus the main actors did random things like playing the harp and having a fake duel.
It was so nice to eat something good. Like I’ve said before, it’s really expensive to eat good food that’s actually french. Plus it was good entertainment, though we haven’t really been lacking in that. It’s amazing the things you can find to entertain yourself without having the internet and a tv in your room. I feel like I don’t even know what I’m doing all the time but it’s all going by so quickly. There’s so much walking around town and exploring and meeting new people. I love how everything here is new so even doing things that are normal at home like buying groceries is exciting.
And traveling….I haven’t really done any yet but we’re getting ready too. SUNY organized a trip for our group to Nice at the very beginning of March for three days and then after that we have five days on our own. It’s so hard to choose something to do though…there are just so many options! I’m looking into going to Corsica but there aren’t a lot of hostels there so it’s pretty expensive. There’s also a possibility of Sardinia or the mainland of Italy. I just need to get all this research done. I’ll figure it out soon though. Hopefully….

I got to see the Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Elizabeth ships docked in Sydney Harbour!!! This is an extremely rare thing to have both ships docked together at the same time. They are enormous!!! The Q2 is 22 stories tall!! There was a great fireworks show and everyone from my building went to the opera house and we sat and watched them. Such a great and once in a lifetime experience.

Two days ago I took the ferry over to Manly beach with my friends and we spent the day there being lazy and lying out all day. I have to work on my tan, coming from winter I am so pale compared to everyone here. The boat ride over in itself is great. You get to go through all of Sydney Harbour and see the opera house and the bridge and take some amazing pictures. The day was 80 degrees and nothing but blue skies and sunshine. Couldn’t have been more perfect.

Paddys Market is the cheap place to get the fruits and veggies like I said before. I went the other day again and it is such an experience. The market is run by the asian population and there are rows and rows of anything you could ever want. People scream at you “one dolla—one dolla”, there are many old ladies with huge pull carts shoving you out of the way, you have to fight your way to get the best apples or kiwis. I came away with enough fruit to last me the week. It is such a crazy and exciting place which gets so so crowded. I don’t mind though because the prices are so great, I would get pushed around by old ladies for that!

With all of the flyers and brochures I got the other day I made a list of everything that I want to do, so far. The list was extremely long but filled with adventures waiting to happen. I have also been keeping a scrapbook as well with journal entries and picutres that I get along the way. Insider information as I call it—the cheapest and best places in sydney to do whatever you want—eat drink sleep etc.

I can’t believe that I still have only been here under two weeks and yet I feel like I have done so much. The people are great, and my friends are great. School hasn’t started yet but will on Monday, when I have to take the train to the other campus called Kuring-gai. It is about 35 minutes outside of the city but I only have class three days a week and only three classes so its really not that bad. Still trying to get a bit more organized and I think when classes start and I have more of a schedule it will be a bit easier. Well I will write soon again. Hope everyone is enjoying the snow!

Lauren

i spoke with other Erasmus students and they gave me the email address of who to contact to get a username. the man responded within the same day, so i am now using the internet for free! no more rationing my food money to keep in touch!

This also means that since i can use my own laptop, you guessed it, it’s PICTURE TIME! Here’s the link to my webshots account, where you can view the photos i have from Venice.

Webshots is a bit slow, though – it only lets me upload 3 at a time. I was wondering if anyone out there has any suggestions for a good site for me to share my photos? I don’t want to do it on facebook because not everybody can look at facebook.

Venice was beautiful. We went during Carnevale, so it was a definitely a sight to see. However, between all the Italians visiting and the cruise-shippers, the place was packed. There was times when the foot traffic was at a standstill. We all had to merge for ten minutes to go over bridges.
I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t get to go into any of the churches or the Palazzo Ducale. There were long lines for everything, Six Flags.
I need to go back to see what i wanted.

Plus, on the way there we got into a bus accident! We were going really fast on the highway and a car cut us off. These European cars are so tiny, that when we tapped it, i think we did some substantial damage, because we were pulled over for about an hour and a half doing police paperwork. However, the time didn’t matter because the only thing we were able to do in Venice is walk around, which wasn’t even that simple, considering it took a half hour to go 50 feet. So 7 hours in Venice during Carnevale was all we could tolerate anyway.

So here’s the pictures!

gabbygrilli

Well I have been doing so much these last few days… the city seems extremely huge on the maps, but everything is a “10-20 minute walk” as you here many people say, and its true.

The last few days have been spent going to the famous Bondi Beach, which is smaller than I thought it would be but in no means is it less than what I expected. The water is a fabulous range of blue, from eggshell blue to this deep dark navy and the sand is so white and fine the two compliment each other quite well. Hanne and I did the walk that goes from Bondi to Coogie along these cliffs, and I can honestly say this was the nicest and most beautiful beach walk I have ever done. The cliffs that drop off to the ocean are wonderful and so calming to sit on and listen to the water. The beaches are scattered full of “bathing beauties” including tons of surfers and extremely tan bodies! When we walked along the beach, there are salt water pools–regular pools but filled with the water from the ocean. The sit right in the water so when a big wave comes it goes directly into the pools. The beaches are so beautiful and I can tell you right now that my free days from class will be spent on them!

The next day I went for a walk down to the Opera house and the bridge…absolutely spectacular. Words can’t describe how beautiful the opera house is. The architecture of each building is so intricate and amazing I don’t even no how one would come up with such an idea. I am planning on doing the bridge climb with my roomie Florian as we are the only two in the house not afraid of heights, it should be extremely exciting.

Yesterday…we went down to Darling Harbour again, and went into the Chinese Botanical gardens. When you walk in you feel like you have just stepped through a portal into another place in the world. You can’t really see any of the city’s buildings from inside and there are all traditional plants and waterscapes, including koi fish in all of the ponds and many iguanas and lizards. There are perfectly pink water lilies in bloom and another wide range of other breathtaking plants and flowers. As you go around there are traditional pagodas and a tea house in which you can have a traditional tea or tea ceremony. Again, being a student helps, it was only a 3 dollar entry for this wonderful place.
That night the roomates and I went up to the opera house at night, it was so beautifully lit up and quiet. It was nice to get pictures of it without any people. We met two people travelling, an aussie and a german and hung with them for the remainder of the night. Got home at 330am and my mom called around 8…(thanks for waking me up). We all picked up tons of free brochures about lots to do around here. On my list…the bridge climb, observatory, 2 art galleries, the blue mountains, the hunter valley wine tour just to name a few.

Australia is such a wonderful place, with such a wide variety of climates and landscapes. I can’t wait to see everything else and to travel up into the desert and the eastern coast, which looks amazing. Two totally different places. I am running off to the Royal Botanical gardens and paddys market to get some cheap fruit and veggies!

Lauren–

This is the link to my pictures…enjoy!
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AbtGzNs0bsmLjo

So, I wasn´t aware that I was supposed to be blogging this whole time! Oops. But here we go for another semester! I´ve already been here a month and I´m just going to briefly mention all the things I´ve done, so no fancy writing this week!

I arrived back Jan 10 and basically caught up and saw all the people I´d missed a lot while home. On Jess´ last day, we went with Maggie to Oxford St and Carnaby St for some last minute London shopping. Then later that night we assembled the whole group and met in Wetherspoons then made our way down to the more comfortable setting of The Goat. The next day Cris and I took Jess and her bags to the airport and said our goodbyes. She was as serious as a soldier or security guard. Maybe it was just really early and she was tired or maybe she was just more than ready to go home. She now says she´s not longing for a pint at The Goat yet, but soon she will. After a month it´s finally hit me that she´s gone and I miss my “partner in crime” flatmate!

Cris brought me to Canary Wharf after we returned from dropping Jess off at Heathrow, which he now regrets doing because I called it a “lame Manhattan” but we had a nice lunch and walked around the eerily empty area (it was a Saturday). After this I went into a brief hibernation period to once again adjust to the time change.

Then I went to Rome for 4 days. Raggy´s sister lives there and her sister and her sister´s boyfriend are not only amazing people and hosts but also tourguides so they showed around their adopted city which they have such passion and enthusiasm for. I saw the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill (where Rome essentially started but few tourists actually visit), the Pantheon (you turn a corner and suddenly there it is!), Trevi Fountain (which was much larger than I expected, after seeing it on TV so often). And that was all in just one day! I also saw St. Peter´s Basilica (which is so HUGE, especially since Raggy and I went through the crypt first and then emerged from below ground into the basilica!), a “bone church” I forget the real name of it but the walls were decorated with human bones, as welll as Santa Maria della Vittoria where we saw the Ecstasy of St. Teresa. Since I was just following Raggy´s sister and listening intently to all that she was saying I feel like if I were to return to Rome right now I probably wouldn´t be able to find half of these places on my own, just because I was trying so hard to take in all the information about history and art!

I returned to the UK and layed low for a bit, recovering from the long days spent exploring Rome from morning till night (it´s an amazing city to just walk around in, let alone the really good cappuccino and wine!). Enjoyed the fact that I was in London and classes didn´t start for a couple more weeks. Then I got predictably antsy and started to get out and do all the things I said I would. I went to The National Gallery, where when I went, at least, it seemed as if they had way more security guards there than they have in the Met! I saw an impressionist exhibition and then walked around the area. Another day I met Cris at Liverpool St. Station (after briefly going to Spitalfields market and picking up a pair of really cool, apparently silver, earrings for £5 and of course the neccessary spitalfields brownie. Cris took me to this art exhibition (if you can truly use that word for this) in Brick Lane. It was done by a guy named Christoph Buchel and is difficult to describe but amazing to experience. It´s like invading someone´s life and looking at where they live, if they were poor and most likely a migrant or illegal worker. (here´s a link, not the best description but perhaps better than mine: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/arts/artexhibition-20632984-details/Christoph+Buchel/artexhibitionReview.do?reviewId=23379680)

Afterwards Cris and I did a London Walk (http://www.amazon.co.uk/City-Walks-London-Adventures-Foot/dp/0811845621/sr=1-1/qid=1171636860/ref=sr_1_1/026-0884564-4537202?ie=UTF8&s=books) however we did it backwards from Liverpool St. Station to Old Street instead of the other way around. Though we sit down at Finsbury Circus for a bit which was a sort of mini park and sanctuary, away from noise and crowds of the busier streets. One Friday night Cris, Damon and I were craving an indie night so we went to Camden and were going to head to one of our favorites (still no “u” in that word, so I´m not native yet!), but we were handed a flyer for a place we had never been to before. The music listed on the flyer seemed good and so we decided to go to Bar Monsta. It ended up being terrible! The music selection was not as they had advirtised and the DJ was most likely amateur, both Cris and I agreed that we could have just stayed at their flat and had Damon DJ for us and it would have been a better night all around! A couple days later we decided to make this night up to ourselves by going to Spitalfields and grabbing a brownie. First I ate some Ethiopian food and Damon had Spanish food (under the close watch and guidance of Cris!) but when we went to go get a brownie the woman told us that she had sold her last one a minute ago! We were crushed! Though made this up to ourselves by walking around Leciester Square, Piccadilly and getting coffee Soho.

A few days later the new NP-ers arrived. Cris and Damon were busy being student helpers again and so Maggie, Will and I headed into Central. We went to Convent Garden so Maggie could buy boots for Russia, then we went to Camden Market and since it was a weekday ended up eating £2 and later on £1 food that would normally cost much more on a weekend. I walked around Camden with Will after me, him and Maggie were persuaded by friendly staff at a new cafe to try their coffee. Cris surprised me with a belated birthday present and took me to see The Arcade Fire at St. John´s, a church in Smith Square near Parliament. Since something went wrong the first time he bought the tickets, him, Damon and I had to stand on line the day of the concert to get a ticket since the band was releasing an extra 50 that day. But it was a really cool venue (especially since their new CD is entitled “Neon Bible”) and when The Arcade Fire first came out they started playing The Clash´s “Guns of Brixton” which sent a chill down my spine because I had just bought and began reading a biography of Joe Strummer that day.

We gathered the group together again at The Goat only this time to temporarily say goodbye to those that will be in Russia for a month for their theatre program. While at The Goat I ran into my friend Rachel (a new NP arrival) and chatted to her, glad to see her out already at our local pub. Then classes started and I like two of mine a lot already since I have the same teachers from classes last semester that I enjoyed (my other class got mixed up and I´m still sorting it out). One night Damon,Erigony, Cris (all flatmates) and I went into Central to Erigony´s friend´s uni bar and we were all extremely jealous of how their uni bar actually looks nice and comfortable and like a real bar, not like an empty gymnasium like ours! A couple days later we had a “snow day”. Compared to what I heard NP got, this was nothing. It was only about 2 inches but campus closed at three and so the second part of my class was cancelled. The snow didn´t last long though, it turned to slush and then to rain.

One day I met up with Raggy in Enfield Town (the place to go to buy things if you can´t be bothered to go into Central!). We got coffee and caught up and later we on met up at the Forum (uni bar) with some friends. Cris and I went to the Design Museum on a saturday, then we crossed Tower Bridge and he showed me St. Katharine Docks across the way which I had never been to before. This past Tuesday I finally met up and caught up with Rachel and she seems to be settling into Middlesex really well. I went on a little shopping spree (okay a pair of shoes for £5 is a bargain not a shopping spree!) to cure the February blues which seem inevitable wherever you are, especially if it´s rainy and overcast London! Wednesday was Valentine´s Day and Cris and I decided to go to Half Time at the Forum, we thought it´d be crazy because it was Valentine´s Day but it really wasn´t that good. We met up with Raggy, her friend Caroline, Bea, Eva, Mike, and Petros which made it more fun though all of us agreed that Friday we should go out for real somewhere good. And that leaves us up to today, as we speak plans are being made for tonight!

Tomorrow my parents arrive in London! They´ve been here before but since I´m living here I feel like I should be able to show them all sorts of cool new things, I´m also a little nervous because they´ll be meeting Cris. Other than that it should be a good week with them here! I just can´t wait to have my mom taste a spitalfields brownie and take my sister to an indie night!

It’s horrible.

So i spoke with the office for foreign students today. They have been trying to get me and the other two girls this semester a username and password with which to use the wireless internet, which means we wouldn’t have to pay. However, simply because we are foreign students, we are not allowed one. So i even have to pay to write this blog. The woman said there is simply nothing she can do, and we can try again in another month.

Consequently, this means i cannot post pictures, since i am in a public computer lab – i can’t upload things. I don’t know if this disqualifies me as a study abroad blogger, but i have no choice in the matter.

Hopefully I will get a cell phone today to contact people, because, since i have no internet, i can’t even use Skype (however you spell it) to call.

I feel like i’m flying blind here. I honestly wasn’t prepared for this with the information i was given. the three of us received only information for general study abroad students going anywhere. i had no idea that i would be so isolated from everyone, with only a hole to pee in.

So now the nice parts.

Last night we met up with my friend Erica from SUNY and her friend Yolanda that she knows through Erasmus and went out. We went to a great bar called Piquero, where the music was great: The Clash, The Cure, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Franz Ferdinand, etc. We met so many other Erasmus students from all over Europe – Ireland, England, Spain. It was lots of fun. They all offered to help us with anything, since they all have felt the pain of trying to work with the university.

Next we went to Glamour Club, where it was a bit less rock and more dance-y. Erica and Yolanda got us on “the list” so we get in free from now on. You get a badge with a number when you go in, and people write you messages which are projected onto a screen. “Num. 45: Sei Bellisma!” (You are beautiful) and things like that. It was a different experience. It’s similar to speed dating, but more creepy, like a speed pick-up.

One of the funniest things that’s happened here is my friend Allison asked some people on our floor to help her figure out her computer, and met Leonardo, who invited us out for coffee, to answer questions we may have. Towards the end we asked him where is the best pizza. He got excited and started giving us directions, frantically pointing to my map. Then he said “Si chiama (it’s called) Mystic Pizza!” We were cracking up.

Other things that made me happy were the fact that bottled water is much cheaper than in America. It’s about 50 cents for a two liter bottle. And gelato lives up to its reputation and then some. It’s delicious and comes in really cool flavors, like tiramisu.

Hopefully at next post i will have more good news than bad. here’s hoping to no bad news at all!

Wow this is so stressful.

I arrived in Urbino on sunday, and got my room in a student apartment building, which has no internet. So i’m in a student internet office paying €2 per hour. I just got an id card yesterday, so hopefully things will start to move foward, like registering for free internet (which in some places, like the library, you have to make an appointment in advance to use. I think if you just wander into their wireless signal outside it’s free, but all the rules are hard to navigate).

I managed to get a calling card for about a half hour for €5. i don’t know if that’s a good deal or not, but i do know that i really needed to call my mom for moral support.

Italy is closed on sunday. I’m talking the whole place. it’s also closed daily from 12:30ish to 3 for lunch break, so i can’t expect to get anything done then. It’s wild – so much different from America, the land of 24-hour everything. After we were picked up from the airport in Bologna, we were driving through on a bus and everything had metal grates over it. It looked like a ghost town. And that’s a major city.

One thing i’m really having culture shock about is the bathrooms. there’s no toilets. Just a hole in the ground and two footprints. I was shocked and amazed to find that there were no sit-down toilets anywhere (except the rare handicap toilet, but none of these old italian cities are wheelchair friendly at all, so i’ve only found one so far). I’ve been doing this the same way for my whole life and this is pushing me wayyy far out of my comfort zone. i know that’s what studying abroad was about, but come on.

Aside from my uncomfortablities, the town is beautiful, and the view from the patio is excellent. just green rolling hills with a sprinkling of castle. Also, Urbino is all hills. If you start walking toward Via San Raffaello, you think, “oh, ok, i’ve reached a wall.” Then you defy all laws of gravity by walking up it. I suppose the benefit of it is after eating lots of pasta and pizza your legs and butt get a good workout.

I promise to post pictures as soon as my laptop can get service!