Thursday, May 29, 2008

Hairy chests galore!

I'm in Madrid, Spain now!
It has been a rough couple of days. We had 2 flights in 2 days! Or was it 3? I can't even remember anymore. We're just on the go a lot and it finally caught up with me. It took me a whole month to get america sick, but it's official. I'm America sick. I miss watching movies and eating a salad. I saw a package that looked like poptarts and I'm embarrassed how excited I got. What's more embarrassing is how disappointed I got when I realized it wasn't a poptart.

Beside that whole business I'm not ready to come home. I'm having SO much fun! We went to a modern Museum today and I fell in love with Monet's "Charing Cross Bridge"

I loved Barcelona. We were only there for a day, but we really made that day count. We were out all day looking at Museums, which I loved, and Gaudi architecture (I have mixed feelings about it. You'll see why, it looks like Candyland Architecture). We went to Gaudi park, which served as a runway for the wonderful America's Next Top Model. I find solace in standing in the place where Tyra Banks and the gorgeous Nigel Barker have stood. The park had a beautiful view of the city. I even got to play a rock game with a little Italian boy. It was fun and he was so excited when he saw that I was playing his game with him. After that we went on a stroll off of the Liceu metro stop and walked to the pier (gay men galore at the pier) where Ricky got stuck hanging on a pole under the pier (over the water). She realized too late that she would have to do a pull up to get back onto the pier without falling in the water. We all had to grab a limb and pull her up. It was highly entertaining. Ricky's histerical.

Oh yeah. How could I forget to write about my Ipod incident. So I went running and I was stretching on my balcony 8 stories up when my Ipod toppled to the ground. I think it bounced off the building a couple times on its descent. I stood there in awe for a second not knowing if i should stand their and wait or run down and get it. Before I oculd make that decision some old lady had picked it up. I yelled "hey!!!" She kept walking. I yelled again and she looked around. I yelled again and she looked up. I motioned for her to go into the hotel and she kept walking. grrrrr. I was getting so annoyed. Finally it looking like she was going into the hotel but then she came out from under the ledge in too short of a time to have given it to the receptionist. I ran to the elevator and asked the recetionist for my ipod. No dice. I ran out of the hotel looking for someone with grey hair. A lot of people had grey hair though. I found myself giving the stink eye to every old lady! I gave up and headed for the hotel. All the sudden a waitor was waiving at me and there I saw it. My Ipod. On the tray. It turns out that the waitor saw me waiving from above and took my ipod for me. The lady was going to steal it. I turned it on and it was broken. I walked into the hotel defeated and just as I was telling the receptionest that I would rather have had my ipod stolen then it be broken, it turned on!

Well this is a really long post so I'll leave it at that.

ps. Spaniards are the most beautiful men.

Psst..If anyone's reading this say something because I don't want to keep posting if noone's reading.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Picture gallery

This is a fountain at San Carlo Alle Quattro Fontaine in Rome. I took a picture because part of me is left behind here. This is really gross but lets just say that I sneezed and got an unexpected surprise and the group was leaving me and I didn't know where to put the "surprise" so I had to wipe it on one of those columns as I went to catch up..
These are the Italian men we met when we were hanging out on the Spanish steps in Rome. They bought us roses. Franchesco bought me a bracelet. So romantic.
Waiting to get to the top of St. Peter's Dome.
Our last night with Giolitti's. YUM! I miss it.
Me pointing at Vatican City.
Venice at night.
A dead bird we found in S. Marcos Piazza. Just in case you weren't paying attention. It still boggles my mind how it died.
I'm touching the Duomo in Florence
The view from the most romantic spot in Florence.


Florence.

Hehehe...it says commando point


But I wasn't commando at that point. What a shame.




This is Capri! It's an Island off the coast of Sorrento, Italy. We took this picture on our hike to the top. It was a LONG hike, but totally worth the view.





I took this picture in the Museum elevator in Florence. I think it was the nicest elevator in Europe. I love this picture. It's trippy.
Getting some Italian action on a bridge in Florence.
This is us in Venice



I've been having so much fun that I haven't really missed anything American until the other day. Me and Natalie were sick of our hair being curly, so we finally straightened it. I feel like me again. I'm still a little sick of the same 10 shirts but at least I can run my fingers through my hair.


So I was doing a little thinking and I realized that I haven't really talked about the art that I love here. Here is my list of favorites:

*Anything by Bernini (especially at the Borghese museum)


*Michelangelo's Pieta

*The Pantheon

*Zeus's Temple

*Saint Costanza church (mostly because it named after George from seinfeld)

*Vatican City


*Colluseum


*Sistine Chapel


*Saint Marcos


*Michelangelo's David


...I'll add to the list when I think of more.


We're in Venice now! I love it here. It competes with Rome as being my favorite. It is so strange to think that I'm walking around on little islands connected by bridges and that the foundation of the city is on mud. It is beautiful.



The last night of Florence we hiked to the top of a hill across the river at night. It was SOO beautiful, as you can see by the pictures. I loved it. I'm coming here with my husband one day.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Rain Rain...GO AWAY!

Florence is beautiful! But it wont stop raining. It is making me so sad. My shoes and socks are soaked and they are squeaking like a ruber duck. They are ruining my game. What Italian man is going to talk to the girl whose shoes make noises? I even got made fun of by 2 guys. They mimicked my squeak. haha.
I bought a leather jacket at the leather market today..it is hotttt. Good purchase.
Random though..People here smoke WAYYYY tooo much. I wonder how their lung cancer rates compare to the US.
The river is gorgous at night with all the buildings surrounding it!
ahh i am running out of time.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Just in case you were wondering if I was still alive...

I have been a little distracted lately. Plus you have to pay for internet her. lamo. I am in Florence now! Before we went to Sorrento. It was a cute little seaside town. Since I am boy crazy I must give an update on the men in sorrento. They are sleezy. Torrie can attest...they stroke her hair like...um...she was their pet or something. The island Capri is off the coast..it was a fun island. I got an Italian Stallion tshirt there.
So...florence...The architecture is really cool. The weather is CRAZY! Today we got mist, rain, pouring rain and sunshine all in a 15 minute period. Ok..well, i am not talking about the weather cuz i am boring. i am talking about it because it is crazy.
I wish there was time to tell all the funny stories, but this will suffice for now.
PS. our hotel here is like an orphanage. you can see through our bathroom door. I donàt know how many of my roommates have seen my butt through it. Lucky them.
Ciao!

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Run to Vatican City

I just got back from a run to St Peters in Vatican City! It was so awesome. How many times can you say that you jogged to vatican city? It was beautiful in the night lights.
After that we went to a local restaurant and had some authentic pasta. I couldn't even read the menu. I just pointed it out to the waitor...who didn't speak any English. It was a fun experience.

Note to self: Giolitti's gelatto is the best gelatto in italy. i tried others and they are not even close.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Rome










I love it here. Something eventful happens every day.

Yesterday we went to a bunch of museums which were cool, but by the end we were pooped. So we meandered down the road and ended up napping on a random patch of grass byt the mouth of truth (the one from roman holiday) It was bliss. When we woke up we were walking to th emetro and found a group of Norweigan guys playing frisbee. So I joined them. One of them was trying to tan in the middle of Rome with his shirt off. I guess it was funny to me because most people tan by a body of water, not famous monuments. I was wearing a skirt that day with my running shorts underneath...just in case. So we were walking down this path and there are a bunch of runners and all the sudden I yelled "transition" and started running with the runners while hiking up my skirt so only my running shorts were visible. Well we wanted a picture of it so we waited. It just so happened that a runner came by when I was playing frisbee. Torrie yelled "noelle!" So mid throw I look over and see the runner, so I run over really fast while pulling up my skirt. The boys probably thought I was nuts. Torrie snapped a pic and then I went back to playing frisbee.

Today we went to St. Paul cathedral in Vatican City. It was AMAZING. It is the most ornate building I have ever been in. It was huge too. I do not know how the Romans nailed the architecture to be able to create such wide open spaces with all the domes. It took my breath away.

Later in the day I was looking at a street vendors art and I got to chatting with him and told him that I wanted to be his apprentice and move to Rome to sell art. He said okay, but all he could make was spaghetti and pizza. I was fine with that, but before I agreed to any deal I said "I need gelatto too!" He was so funny, he says back to my in this thick italian accent "No you will get fat!!" haha. I said "No deal! I need gelatto" Now that I think about it, it would never have worked between us. He was too old.

Tonight we are going to my teachers brother in laws restaurant. I am so excited. It is authentic Italien in the heart of Rome and it is a really nice place. He said 70 euro a plate, but lucky for us we get a major discount.

One thing is for sure. I absolutely love the city. Getting lost and then finding my way, realizing that I was never really lost. I also love talking to the locals. Well I cannot really talk to them but I say bonnasera and stuff. They love it when I try to speak their language. Today in the market I said bonnasera to the checkout lady and she thought I was italian, she started a convo with me and I didnàt understand. It was fun.

Well that is it for the day.

Ciao!

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Eurotrash














Oh wow europe is SO amazing! It's not really what I expected but in a good way. I didn't expect to be meandering down the street and turn the corner dodging tourists and look up to see the pantheon. It's HUGE! No picture does it justice unless you see it.

Another thing I didn't expect was to fall in love... with gelatto. It's soo good. I can't even describe it. I guess I just can't really describe most things that I'm experiencing here except that it's all amazing.

My other love is Alexander. He's an Italian man that I ran into at the end of the day today. We were so tired today because we've been walking around all day and not really sleeping because we're too excited. So we're looking for the metro or bus and Alex (we're on a nickname basis I guess) asked natalie if she was lost, because she looked really lost. Well we got in this conversation and next thing I knew he was inviting me to come stay with him in his apartment and kissing my cheeks.

Okay so I have tons of other loves, like the Roman forum, the colluseum, the metro, zeus's temple...the list goes on. But here are some pictures for now! I LOVE IT HERE.

PS. I graduated. I'll have to post those when I get home.

Okay so here are the picture descriptions. One is of all of us chillin in front of the pantheon. We were SO tired.

The other is an old man and his son. It was the cutest thing ever. The dad was reading about the pantheon to the little boy.

Another is Theodore, our Greek love. He was a soldier. He's so charming

One is us and the Greek church.

One is me and Jackie in the colluseum. She's beating me up.

One is zeus's temple. It's the columns. They used to be a temple...they're huge!! I love this one because we're all looking up at how big it is and Jackie's looking at the ground. haha

Well I gotta go. This is taking longer than I thought it would....