(I am writing this on a computer in a hostel in Portugal, as we are on day 6 of our trip we needed a night in and I decided to use it to catch up on my blogging... however the computer is set to spell check in Portuguese so it is saying that every single word that I type in English is wrong.... so basically this blog is going to be a hot mess of spelling mistakes!!! )
February 1, 2011
Train to Pesaro, Italy
so where did we leave off... I feel like the father from How I Met Your Mother telling the never-ending story. We were meeting up with my music class is Pesaro Italy which is on the East Coast of the country on the Adriatic Sea. I had just found out that I had gotten an internship with Nielsen (I officially signed last week before I left for Spain and Portugal and will be working in Wilton CT this summer). I was literally on cloud nine and skipped all the way to the train station. In my excitement however I completely forgot that we needed to validate our train tickets. Validating is one of the most annoying things that Europeans have devised (right behind charging for using the bathrooms, not giving ice and managing to make every toilet in the continent flush a different way). Validating requires you to put your ticket in a little machine right outside the train before you leave the station.... why I don’t really know but if you don’t do it they can fine you up to 200 Euros. As I am generally in charge of transportation getting from point a to b remembering/ figuring out if we need to validate is generally my responsibility. About 30 minutes into our train ride we remembered which resulted in Nicole Catherine and myself freaking out and debating what we should do... do we get off and buy another ticket and take a latter train, should we try to jump off the train really quickly at a station to validate it there, should we act dumb, cry, explain ourselves.... this went on for over an hour. We did however prove to be a great sense of entertainment for the Italian man (who had of course validated his own ticket) sitting next to me... he promised that if the conductor started to give us a hard time that he would vouch for us and tell how we weren’t trying to beat the system had recognized our error and literally worried about it for over an hour. In the end that wasn’t necessary as the conductor really didn’t care and even helped us with directions on where and how to change trains... go figure.
After an easy connection (I don’t remember where it was some tinny tiny town in Italy) and remembering to validate our ticket we arrived in Pessaro around 7 pm, as we weren’t entirely sure how to get to the hotel and it didn’t really seem like it was in walking distance we decided to take a taxi... which was amazing... I have forgotten what its like not to have to schlep all my stuff. Nicole deserves some kind of award for finding this hotel as it is beautiful and only 22 euro per persona night. We went upstairs to drop off our stuff where we had a collective blond moment. The girls were staying in a quad but when we opened the door there were only 2 twin beds... we were heading downstairs to check with the front desk when I realized that there was an adjacent room who’s door was concealed when the outer door was open.... I can only imagine the reaction of the women at the desk if we had gone... "excuse me" our room only has two beds.
We had another great meal of pizza (this time I tried cappers) after which we went for a walk along the Adriatic Sea which was exciting as it was my first time on or at this body of water. Exhausted we headed to bed ready for tomorrow when we technically start our "field trip" aka we don’t have to pay for everything!!!!!
February 1, 2011
Train to Pesaro, Italy
so where did we leave off... I feel like the father from How I Met Your Mother telling the never-ending story. We were meeting up with my music class is Pesaro Italy which is on the East Coast of the country on the Adriatic Sea. I had just found out that I had gotten an internship with Nielsen (I officially signed last week before I left for Spain and Portugal and will be working in Wilton CT this summer). I was literally on cloud nine and skipped all the way to the train station. In my excitement however I completely forgot that we needed to validate our train tickets. Validating is one of the most annoying things that Europeans have devised (right behind charging for using the bathrooms, not giving ice and managing to make every toilet in the continent flush a different way). Validating requires you to put your ticket in a little machine right outside the train before you leave the station.... why I don’t really know but if you don’t do it they can fine you up to 200 Euros. As I am generally in charge of transportation getting from point a to b remembering/ figuring out if we need to validate is generally my responsibility. About 30 minutes into our train ride we remembered which resulted in Nicole Catherine and myself freaking out and debating what we should do... do we get off and buy another ticket and take a latter train, should we try to jump off the train really quickly at a station to validate it there, should we act dumb, cry, explain ourselves.... this went on for over an hour. We did however prove to be a great sense of entertainment for the Italian man (who had of course validated his own ticket) sitting next to me... he promised that if the conductor started to give us a hard time that he would vouch for us and tell how we weren’t trying to beat the system had recognized our error and literally worried about it for over an hour. In the end that wasn’t necessary as the conductor really didn’t care and even helped us with directions on where and how to change trains... go figure.
After an easy connection (I don’t remember where it was some tinny tiny town in Italy) and remembering to validate our ticket we arrived in Pessaro around 7 pm, as we weren’t entirely sure how to get to the hotel and it didn’t really seem like it was in walking distance we decided to take a taxi... which was amazing... I have forgotten what its like not to have to schlep all my stuff. Nicole deserves some kind of award for finding this hotel as it is beautiful and only 22 euro per persona night. We went upstairs to drop off our stuff where we had a collective blond moment. The girls were staying in a quad but when we opened the door there were only 2 twin beds... we were heading downstairs to check with the front desk when I realized that there was an adjacent room who’s door was concealed when the outer door was open.... I can only imagine the reaction of the women at the desk if we had gone... "excuse me" our room only has two beds.
We had another great meal of pizza (this time I tried cappers) after which we went for a walk along the Adriatic Sea which was exciting as it was my first time on or at this body of water. Exhausted we headed to bed ready for tomorrow when we technically start our "field trip" aka we don’t have to pay for everything!!!!!
Wedensday February 2, 2011
Pesaro Italy, Rossini
After a wonderful night sleep we woke up at 7:30 as we had to meet our professor promptly at 9 am. Breakfast was included with the room at which point the hotel went from great to amazing. There was so much food all of which was great in particular the coffee! After eating a lot which has become my method in Italy/Europe we headed out.
Everyone at MUDEC takes a mini field class which includes a five day "field trip" where we cover material through practical experience, my class is music 189. The next five days are very band trip-esque and yet at the same time entirely different I mean we are all mostly juniors in college and therefore old enough to go places without parents in bright yellow coats.
We met our class in the town square unfortunately the amazing spring like weather that we enjoyed in Rome was gone and it was absolutely freezing... I guess it is only February 2, and we have been incredibly spoiled thus far. We then took a tour of Rossini’s birth house which was interesting... Rossini is a famous Italian opera composer. After lunch (I had pizza I told you I am literally eating my weight in pizza in Italy) we left Pesaro for our 3-hour bus trip to our next city Arezzo, which is famous because it is where Guido of Arezzo the man who invented musical notation lived.
We however almost didn’t make it to Arezzo our quick 3 hour bus trip aka nap time turned into a harrowing experience at one point I thought we may be recreating the Doner party. Apparently the bus driver had missed a sign that had said that the mountain pass was closed for the winter so the bus had continued up a narrow winding mountain road that was becoming increasing snow and ice covered. I have no idea how but the bus driver managed to turn the bus around on the tiny road and we headed back down the mountain .. however we had to subsequently had to take the long way around and the bus trip took nearly 6 hours. I did manage to win the trivia question of the day, which qualified me for a free drink with the professors (told you no yellow coats).
After a wonderful night sleep we woke up at 7:30 as we had to meet our professor promptly at 9 am. Breakfast was included with the room at which point the hotel went from great to amazing. There was so much food all of which was great in particular the coffee! After eating a lot which has become my method in Italy/Europe we headed out.
Everyone at MUDEC takes a mini field class which includes a five day "field trip" where we cover material through practical experience, my class is music 189. The next five days are very band trip-esque and yet at the same time entirely different I mean we are all mostly juniors in college and therefore old enough to go places without parents in bright yellow coats.
We met our class in the town square unfortunately the amazing spring like weather that we enjoyed in Rome was gone and it was absolutely freezing... I guess it is only February 2, and we have been incredibly spoiled thus far. We then took a tour of Rossini’s birth house which was interesting... Rossini is a famous Italian opera composer. After lunch (I had pizza I told you I am literally eating my weight in pizza in Italy) we left Pesaro for our 3-hour bus trip to our next city Arezzo, which is famous because it is where Guido of Arezzo the man who invented musical notation lived.
We however almost didn’t make it to Arezzo our quick 3 hour bus trip aka nap time turned into a harrowing experience at one point I thought we may be recreating the Doner party. Apparently the bus driver had missed a sign that had said that the mountain pass was closed for the winter so the bus had continued up a narrow winding mountain road that was becoming increasing snow and ice covered. I have no idea how but the bus driver managed to turn the bus around on the tiny road and we headed back down the mountain .. however we had to subsequently had to take the long way around and the bus trip took nearly 6 hours. I did manage to win the trivia question of the day, which qualified me for a free drink with the professors (told you no yellow coats).
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| In front of a statue honoring Guido of Arezzo in the city center of Arezzo Italy | . |
We arrived at the hotel very nice there was even a heated towel rock and we then walked to the main part of the town that is behind a ancient fortification and up a giant hill. A group of us got dinner with the teachers and the dean, even though I was the only one who won the trivia question the teachers paid for all of our drinks (even water I am always dehydrated in Europe as the principal of the fact that I have to pay for water pisses me off). It was a very interesting evening and we had a great time.
Thursday February 3, 2011
Pisa, Italy
I wasn’t sure what to expect with Pisa as I knew that the tower is actually very small and in a very industrial area. We took a tour with Dr. Hagg who is my history professor and who is absolutely amazing... he is the kind of person that you can sit down to have a cup of coffee with and end up talking with all day.
I wasn’t sure what to expect with Pisa as I knew that the tower is actually very small and in a very industrial area. We took a tour with Dr. Hagg who is my history professor and who is absolutely amazing... he is the kind of person that you can sit down to have a cup of coffee with and end up talking with all day.
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| Dr. Hagg leading a tour in Pisa Italy. |
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| Front to Back: The Baptistery, The Duomo (cathedral) and and the Leaning Tower |
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| Jasmine, Catherine and Me in sunny Pisa Italy |
I actually loved Pisa the weather was beautiful and really interesting. Henry VII who was a king of Luxembourg is actually buried in the Duomo and we even convinced the security guard to let us go see his tomb as it is not opened to the public, which made us feel very VIP.
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| Tomb of Henry VII, King of Luxembourg in the Duomo (Cathedral) at Pisa |
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| Beautiful Pisa Italy, with an obvious leaning tower. |
For lunch Nicole, Jazzy Catherine and I decided to eat at an adorable cafe as the weather was beautiful and spring like we ate outside again. After lunch we headed back to the bus which was the perfect amount of time in Pisa. While I wasn’t surprised by the size of the tower I was shocked by how much it was leaning... they really aren’t exaggerating about that
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| Nicole and Catherine enjoying our delicious lunch in Pisa. |
I think that it is amazing how many different places that I am going to be in over the course of this trip I am also getting great mix of history, music, touristy areas and smaller cities. After Pisa we traveled to Lucca, which is, were Puccini was born. Lucca was really cute with a lot of shopping although I managed to fight the urge. Everyone was absolutely starving the only problem for all the Ohio people is that Italy eats on Weinschenk time (aka late)... and nothing was open yet. As we wanted a nice meal (I have been in Italy almost for a week and I have yet to have pasta yet which is almost a cardinal sin) we ended up at one of the nicer restaurants. The menu had a lot of pasta items for 10 Euros however after we sat down and were given complementary champagne we realized that the pasta was probably just a first course and you were suppose to order a main dish as well. The waiter however was very nice and didn’t show that he was annoyed at us. I had an amazing meal of homemade pasta with a delicious cream sauce and shrimp.... oh the food in Italy is amazing.
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| The girls from Music 189 in front of a statue of Puccini. |
Friday February 4, 2011
Torre Del Lago and Busetto, Italy
Torre Del Lago is where Puccini had his villa and wrote the majority of his operas. We arrived a little early to the quaint village as we walked into the main center of the town everyone had the same reaction, where are we. Breathtaking doesn’t completely describe the graceful mountains towering over a peaceful crystal blue lake with fog lingering over the water. The snow capped mountains stood in stark contrast to the palm trees lining the square. The tour of the villa was great just the right amount of details. I was actually surprised about the villa as Puccini was at one point one of the richest men Italy I was expecting a grand and extravagant home but it was actually to an extent modest although filled with amazing art and was a high tech house when first built... it was an amazing look into Puccini’s life an I loved the tour.
Torre Del Lago is where Puccini had his villa and wrote the majority of his operas. We arrived a little early to the quaint village as we walked into the main center of the town everyone had the same reaction, where are we. Breathtaking doesn’t completely describe the graceful mountains towering over a peaceful crystal blue lake with fog lingering over the water. The snow capped mountains stood in stark contrast to the palm trees lining the square. The tour of the villa was great just the right amount of details. I was actually surprised about the villa as Puccini was at one point one of the richest men Italy I was expecting a grand and extravagant home but it was actually to an extent modest although filled with amazing art and was a high tech house when first built... it was an amazing look into Puccini’s life an I loved the tour.
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| Torre Del Lago Italy, absolutely beautiful. |
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| Palm Trees in February, Just like West Palm Beach. |
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| Torre Del Lago, where Puccini built his private villa and composed the majority of his operas. |
We then continued on to our next stop which is Busetto where Verdi was born. The hotel where we stayed in Busetto was absolutely amazing and from here on will be referred to our as our princess hotel. Part of the hotel was an old castle and it’s in a beautiful part of the country that is very different than where we have been so far. Its relatively flat (people started calling it the Ohio of Italy) although there are mountains lining the horizon in the distance
Jazzy, Catherine, Nicole and I are all roommates, it’s a legit suite with a kitchen, with a beautiful rustic table, living room with two bathrooms and really nice rooms. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay in our Princess suite as we had more touring. We had a tour of Verdi’s villa, which while nice and grand I didn’t like as much as Torre Del Lago. We then went on a tour of a cheese factory, which while interesting the smell was absolutely horrible. The best part was when we went into the warehouse and saw where they store the cheese while it ages - over 12 million Euros in inventory... that must make accounting interesting.
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| Busetto Italy, view outside our princess hotel |
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| Our beautiful princess suite... sure beats hostels |
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| 12 million euro in cheese... (this is only part of the storage room) |
After a final tour of another museum on Verdi we headed off to the part of the trip that everyone as looking forward to the dinner that Miami pays for. We proceeded to enjoy a delicious traditional five course meal complete with 3 different types of pasta delicious homemade bread and 3 different types of wine. The meal lasted over 3 and a half hours which is one thing that I am going to miss from Europe... actually enjoying meals. We then headed back to our princess hotel, I will admit though that I never imagined that I would be staying in a five star suite while in Europe which is a very welcomed surprised.
Saturady February 5, 2011
Milan, Italy
Final day in Italy, I can’t believe how fast my time went and how many cities, and places that I went. After dropping our stuff off at the hotel which seems like a dumb after last night we headed the Duomo which is the massive gothic cathedral (which is a very unique different architecture style than most of Italy). I found the Duomo interesting, as St. Charles Borromeau was one of the influential arch bishops and they were celebrating the 400th anniversary of his birth.
Final day in Italy, I can’t believe how fast my time went and how many cities, and places that I went. After dropping our stuff off at the hotel which seems like a dumb after last night we headed the Duomo which is the massive gothic cathedral (which is a very unique different architecture style than most of Italy). I found the Duomo interesting, as St. Charles Borromeau was one of the influential arch bishops and they were celebrating the 400th anniversary of his birth.
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| Duomo one of the only Gothic Cathedral in Milan Italy |
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| Milan Italy |
We then had a couple hours before we had to meet up again for a final museum tour. Milan is the most modern city that we have been to so far. All the shops also remind and felt like Î was walking down 5th avenue, which I could do in New York. I also dislike Milan as I felt like everyone was judging me (more than the normal amount that an American tourist gets). For example we found a relatively inexpensive cafe when we walked in they waiters assumed and then basically forced us to carry out our food. If given the option initially I probably would of selected carry out a couple euro cheaper but the fact that he assumed made me angry... maybe I want to pay the incredibly over priced sandwich.
After lunch we met up at a "retirement house" for musicians that Verdi built and hat is still primarily paid for and funded by his estate. The tour was very interesting the director of the facility and his translator were great and we met some really interesting residents... the only problem was that the tour lasted nearly 2 1/2 hours which was a little excessive. After surviving the world’s longest tour we headed back to take a quick nap before the opera. I was just settling down to take a quick nap when I started to hear shouting and yelling which kind of sounded like a party until I looked outside and saw a huge Egyptian protest. (we later found out that the Egyptian embassy was down the street from our hotel). Some people were really nervous.. I wasn’t really the protest while loud looked and was completely peaceful there were about 200 police officers and we were after all on the 5th floor of an inconspicuous hotel... although I guess that you never know. All in all it was more exciting as I can now say that I was somewhat directly involved in the Egyptian crisis.
After lunch we met up at a "retirement house" for musicians that Verdi built and hat is still primarily paid for and funded by his estate. The tour was very interesting the director of the facility and his translator were great and we met some really interesting residents... the only problem was that the tour lasted nearly 2 1/2 hours which was a little excessive. After surviving the world’s longest tour we headed back to take a quick nap before the opera. I was just settling down to take a quick nap when I started to hear shouting and yelling which kind of sounded like a party until I looked outside and saw a huge Egyptian protest. (we later found out that the Egyptian embassy was down the street from our hotel). Some people were really nervous.. I wasn’t really the protest while loud looked and was completely peaceful there were about 200 police officers and we were after all on the 5th floor of an inconspicuous hotel... although I guess that you never know. All in all it was more exciting as I can now say that I was somewhat directly involved in the Egyptian crisis.
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| Grave of Verdi and his wife at the Casa Verdi, the retirement home Verdi built for retired artists |
We then got dressed my black dress is arguably the most wrinkled thing ever after being rolled in a hiking backpack for a week. I can only imagine what the snobby people from Milan are going to think. I was not sure what to expect from the opera, I was absolutely exhausted and don’t think _I would of made it through any kind of a 3 1/2 hour show... in any form or language.
The Scala is often regarded as the world’s best and most famous opera house and being able to go to a show is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity and definitely a different European experience than I would have had if I weren’t traveling with our class. I really have no idea what the show was about.... but it was great (I am chocking it up as a once in a lifetime experience and going to leave it at that). The opera ended around 11:30 and just to add to the strangeness of the night we then went to dinner as a group... one last Italian pizza at 1:30 am we headed back to bed.
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| La Scala, never thought that I would be going to a real Italian Opera |
Sunday February 6, 2011
The journey home - five countries in 10 hours
All that was left was a 10 hour bus ride back to Luxembourg, we were planning on leaving around 9:30 am however we fond out last night that as a measure to curb pollution Italian cities have a driving ban on Sundays starting at 8 am which meant that we had to be out of the city by 7:59, so much for sleeping in. This week was absolutely amazing... its hard to believe that a week after arriving in Italy most tourists are either leaving for home or are in the final days of their vacations we however are on our way back to Luxembourg will be traveling in only 5 days and will be leaving in less than 2 weeks for 10 days in Spain and Portugal. We arrived back in Luxembourg at 5:04 and subsequently missed my bus home by about 30 seconds, as I didn’t feel like waiting a half hour and it was actually very nice I decided to walk home which was actually a bad decision as my bags weighted a ton and after sitting on a bus all day my legs were really stiff. I then spent the evening skyping mom and dad, uploading pictures and just relaxing, which was good considering the whirlwind Italy adventure i had just had.
It was also the night of the super bowl... MUDEC students and by MUDEC students I mean Kat convinced a local bar owner who has satellite TV and gets ESPN America to open up for us so that we could watch the game, however I was too tired to be out till 3:30 4 am ish so mom skyped me and put the computer in front of the tv, and was then subsequently refered to as the "flat daughter" all evening. I didn’t make it very far into the game as I was absolutely exhausted how ever falling asleep to the super bowl is a pretty surreal way to end a week in Italy.
**** as I am not on my computer I can’t upload any of photos, sorry, they are all on facebook though.
Love you all
Katie
All that was left was a 10 hour bus ride back to Luxembourg, we were planning on leaving around 9:30 am however we fond out last night that as a measure to curb pollution Italian cities have a driving ban on Sundays starting at 8 am which meant that we had to be out of the city by 7:59, so much for sleeping in. This week was absolutely amazing... its hard to believe that a week after arriving in Italy most tourists are either leaving for home or are in the final days of their vacations we however are on our way back to Luxembourg will be traveling in only 5 days and will be leaving in less than 2 weeks for 10 days in Spain and Portugal. We arrived back in Luxembourg at 5:04 and subsequently missed my bus home by about 30 seconds, as I didn’t feel like waiting a half hour and it was actually very nice I decided to walk home which was actually a bad decision as my bags weighted a ton and after sitting on a bus all day my legs were really stiff. I then spent the evening skyping mom and dad, uploading pictures and just relaxing, which was good considering the whirlwind Italy adventure i had just had.
It was also the night of the super bowl... MUDEC students and by MUDEC students I mean Kat convinced a local bar owner who has satellite TV and gets ESPN America to open up for us so that we could watch the game, however I was too tired to be out till 3:30 4 am ish so mom skyped me and put the computer in front of the tv, and was then subsequently refered to as the "flat daughter" all evening. I didn’t make it very far into the game as I was absolutely exhausted how ever falling asleep to the super bowl is a pretty surreal way to end a week in Italy.
**** as I am not on my computer I can’t upload any of photos, sorry, they are all on facebook though.
Love you all
Katie
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