allo'-oui?

Talin and I left for Milano on wednesday night, and finally arrived at the malpensa airport around 11pm, and we awaited our 6am flight...we watched the Sex and the City movie for the millionth time and tried to find things to do to occupy ourselves, and did not sleep. we flew out to brussels and arrived in the city areound 9 am. the hostel we had to check in to would not let us check in until 4, so we wandered the city without knowing what to do and nothing being open...

Brussels--we found a place with BAGELS for breakfast and were super stoked since we dont have them in italy...yum! this whole trip was filled with tons of delicious foods that we dont get to eat in italy. then we explored the city a bunch and saw the Grand Place, Palace, Museums that we didnt go into, a giant park, and their most prized monument: Mannekin Pis:  a statue of a little boy peeing that they change outfits for every day... it was raining and freezing cold so we were really happy when we finally got to check in and find our hostel which happened to be right next to the grand place which is the center of the city. we had a private room with our own bathroom which never happens in hostels so we passed out for about an hour nap since we hadnt slept yet and then went out to explore the city at night and have dinner and then we found a place still open for Belgian waffles which were delish and mine had chocolate, bananas, and strawberries on top. we slept early since we wanted to get up early the next day for the 3hr train to Amsterdam. 

Amsterdam day 1--we finally got there around twelve, and began to explore the city/try to find the Van Gogh museum. it was  in this huge and really beautiful park right next to another musuem that was super victorian style while the van gogh museum was super modern and near a modern sculpture/installation that said I (Am)sterdam. the museum itself was really nice and it was cool to read about his life and see all of his famous paintings as well as the not so famous ones, and there was an exhibit with paintings of artists whom inspired his work. after that we meandered back to the train station trying to find food since we hadnt eaten yet and we finally found a fries place, and got the giantest most ridiculous things of fries anyone has ever seen. it was hilarious. then we got on the train and headed an hour away to Den Haag to meet up with Paola.

Den Haag/the Hague--we were an hour late to meet paola and we didnt have her # so we waited by a tram stop shortly til she came out to find us. it was really fun/exciting to get to see her again. we met all the ppl in her model un group from sb and they were all really nice. then we went to the grocery store and they made dinner instead of going out then we went to their goodbye party for the 2500ppl from around the world at a place on the pier. the next morning we woke up early again and the three of us headed back to Amsterdam.

Amsterdam Day 2--we arrived around lunchtime, so we walked around the city a little and found a cafe to have sandwhiches in. then we headed toward the Anne Frank House where we had to wait in a super long line...when we finally got in we took the tour of the house which was sad and inspiring with quotes from her diary everywhere and facts about the holocaust and the people that hid out in the house. i was surprised by how big it actually was. that took a few hours so we walked back through the city one more time and then found a different fry place and they were super good. then we trained it back to brussels and parted ways with paola on the way...

Sunday travel day--our flight left at 10am from Brussels and we got to Milan around 1130, had to take an hour long bus and then a train from milan to verona, and another train from verona to padova...finally making it home around 5pm. we also lost an hour the night before since it was daylight savings time...so by the time we got home we were exhausted, but it was worth it because it was a super fun trip

Ska-P

on wednesday night i went to a concert of a Spanish ska band here in Padova. before the concert, i met up with Liza and two of her friends from home who were visiting to have dinner. they had made a huge meal with two types of pasta, zucchini and eggplant, salad, radicchio, bread, and for dessert homemade tiramisu. it was all amazing and after we finished early dinner we headed to Cafe Madrid to meet up with the others who were going to the concert, and we biked over to the stadium  where it was. this was the first concert i have been to since ive been in italy...so i was really excited. the venue was huge, and we made our way to the front of the floor section right before Ska-p started playing. i hadn't heard of them before coming to italy, but i know a handful of their songs now and all of their music is just fun to dance to. the singer had many ridiculous costumes, including one of an uncle sam type on stilts. overall it was super fun and i was really happy about it. i might go to a killers concert in june and then we are planning on seeing Madonna in july..

the other day on a spur of the moment decision, Talin and i booked a flight to Brussels. we have been trying to find a way to meet up with our friend Paola that came to Padova last semester while she is in the Hague/Amsterdam during her spring break for a conference. so we are going to go to brussels and amsterdam next thursday through sunday. i havent traveled since last semester so i am really excited. also will be seeing two new countries!

a presto

pupazzo di neve

Saturday Talin Steph and I went to see a movie in the movie theater here for the first time since i've been in italy...we were going to see Revolutionary Road but there was only one showing during the day so we ended up seeing the Reader instead. after getting lost trying to find the theater because there was no streetname visible for the street it was on, we finally got there like 10 minutes after it had started. the theater was super nice with huge rooms and spacious chairs and the experience reminded me of being at home. i love seeing movies. this was dubbed in italian and we missed the beginning, but it was a really good movie...but also extremely sad/depressing because it is about a women who has an affair with a younger man and then she ends up being a nazi and going to jail forever and he still loves her and blah blah...

on Sunday, i went to the mountains with Lizelle, her host mom Thea and her friend. we went to Asiago which is a little over an hour away from Padova up in the mountains and it was beautiful. the entire drive i just looked out the window at the views of the super cute houses and then the cabins in the mountains : )

once we got there, Lizelle and i played in the snow while her host mom went skiing. we made a snowman, snow angels, and i dug a hole to lay in, but we never finished the snowman cuz we had to get out of the snow. i didnt have pants for the snow of course, but i also had no shoes for the snow...so i was wearing my crappy payless shoes and i got soaked in about 5 minutes, but i still had a lot of fun! we walked around and looked at the little town in Asiago after this. i forgot to mention but before we went in the snow we stopped at a cheese factory place and Thea bought some cheese and they had Asiago samples out and it was delish. then we also had to go to a grocery store because they didnt have all the cheese that she wanted, haha. we stayed there til about 4pm and then drove home. its been a while since ive been in a car, so i just really enjoyed driving and looking out the window at the amazing italian scenery. we got back around 530 and i met up with Talin and Steph in centro because there were lots of stands with random foods and things because it was "festa della donna", basically a day to celebrate women. we went to Banale later that night and it was the welcome party for the new semester of erasmus students so it was super crowded.

my classes are pretty much figured out now and i only have them on mondays tuesdays wednesdays which is pretty awesome. i am taking a literature/history of popular traditions class which basically just means we are learning about fairy tales fables and legends; and a "modern" art history class which so far is just international gothic art; and an econ of developing countries class...pretty different for me. but i am interested to see how they turn out. i am also trying to find an internship somehow hopefully related to the arts/maybe working with an artist. 

wednesday(yesterday) i had classes as usual but on wednesdays every class is an hour shorter than they normally are so that is cool. Then in the evening i met up with Paolo for tandem and then went home for dinner with Tal while we watched the breakfast club before we went to prato to meet up with Martino and others that did the carnivale card project...then we all went to piazza and met up with Steph, Liza, Larissa and others and hung out before we headed to Fishmarket. we saw a lot of different groups of friends throughout the night and it was fun. 

i was thinking about going to Firenze this weekend to get away but now i am thinking about waiting til two weekends now when every one else is in spain...hmm.

a presto.

sto guardando Lost...sempre

this past week when i was not in classes trying to figure out what to take, or out in centro running errands, i was home with talin watching lost. i have seasons 1-3 on my harddrive from lizelle and i have been meaning to watch it from the beginning for a long time. we started from season 1 last weekend and are already halfway through season 3. it has been taking over our lives...its so easy to get into it. 

other than that lately not much had happened until yesterday when i booked tickets for my spring/easter break trip! the plans are:

April 8th-April 11th: Stolkholm, Sweden

April 11th-April 15th: London, England

April 15th-April 17th: Dublin, Ireland

April 19th: 21

i am really excited to go to all three of these places! it should be amazing, especially since i havent travelled much at all since last semester.

a presto.

non posso credere che e' gia' marzo!!

it's the first day of march, which means i have a solid 5 months left here in padova...and time is going by so fast! this week i need to start planning my trips around europe. last semester i already traved to: Germany, Austria, Spain, and France so the main places on the list that i want to go now are: England, Ireland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, and Greece. i would love to travel to all these places but lately i have been fine staying here in Padova, or at least in Italy. i realized this towards the end of the last semester that where i am has changed from an easy opportunity to travel all over europe to where i live, feeling more like home. i like the idea of traveling but not of being outside of italy most weekends. 

Lizelle and i have been wanting to go visit Estelle in England and this month was supposed to be it because she has to take her last vacation days before april, but now it turns out she has none left. and we also found some Sounds concerts in England around the end of this month that would be super fun to go to...but now i also found out that the last week in march our friend Paola from eap last semester is coming to the Netherlands and we wanted to meet up with her...eh, dilemma. i have to start looking for cheap flights this week.

the classes on friday didnt really work out, so i just walked around centro with Lizelle and Talin and we got gelato at one of the best1euro places in the city, Patagonia. then we came back  to our apartment and Sue and Steph came over to watch Slumdog Millionaire. it was my third time watching it now, and it is amazing every time. i love that movie and i want the soundtrack :) we went for dinner at our fav chinese restaurant Shanghai where i had delish bamboo and mushrooms. a table near us got fried gelato and the waiter lit it on fire so that was pretty sweet. this restaurant has great food and a great ambience, with a glass bottom floor that houses a pond with koi fish...

i am trying to get back into my goal of working on some kind of art each day, so this weekend i have been working on a new piece. saturday night we went to Steph's for a dinner party and she made an amazing meal of herbed polenta, veggies and cheese in a red sauce, and panecotta with strawberries for dessert. it was all so good...and then we watched casino royale.

my internet runs on a monthly amount of hours and i am running low on the amount i have left until it renews again on the 13th so this week when i'm not in classes i will probably spend a lot of time in the study center using the free wireless to look up flights and stuff. enough boringness,

a presto.

ps random thought. i realized that i have not seen any roadkill here...i dont drive but i do ride my bike in the road and i have not seen any dead animals in the road. just a really random difference that i thought of, haha