Pictures from the travel week

Here is a link to my photos from Vienna, Prague and Munich. I changed my settings so everyone should be able to view them regardless of whether I "invited" you or not. I also added pictures to the "Intro to Paderno" photo album, including one of my room mate and me at our etiquette dinner (we're both sitting down) and one with my friend from GSP 1West freshman year, Kim (we're standing up). I will post descriptions for all the photos when I have more time.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jachawk3/my_photos

I left...and I'm back.

The adventure has begun before I've even left. If you're keeping score at home, I technically should be in the Bassano del Grappa train station waiting for my train to Vienna. however, Corinne and I (alone with our huge backpacks) went took a bus to the train station (the normal city bus was transformed into a school bus because of all the loud, chattering 13-17 year old italians. corinne thinks they were making fun of us and our big bags).

I was prepared and printed out the timetable because the ticket booth man doesn't speak much English. Things were fine until he realized the computer wouldn't let him give us tickets for the train because we didn't "reserve" it in time. The next train is 5 am. We bought tickets for that one (they ended up being half the cost of the night train tickets we were trying to get) and we trekked our way back to Paderno. The same bus driver who dropped us off was the one who took us home, and he asked why we were back. Corinne explained the ticket drama.

God bless a boy named Tim (who reminds me very much of my cousin Michael and is very nice) who called the taxi to make a reservation for 4 am. Corinne speaks a little more Italian than me, and the extent of mine is ordering a beverage at a cafe and introducing someone (thanks to all the dialogue practice in class). We will be getting up extremely early, but at least we can catch some sleep in our beds and nap during the nine hour train to Vienna.

Everyone warns you that something will happen and things won't go as planned. During our Town Hall meeting Wednesday, the director of the program said he wished for us to be on the wrong train going in the wrong direction at the wrong time because you learn a lot. We didn't exactly get that far but we did learn a shortcut to figuring out which buses go to Paderno, and that overnight train tickets can't be purchased on a whim.

I still have my money belt neck pouch on under my clothes, so I'm gonna take off the bull's eye that says I'm a tourist. My room mate Carolyn and I are going to watch The Apprentice on the Armed Forces Network. Just be jealous you aren't having the opportunity to watch commericals about putting your 4 foot 8 inch child in a booster car seat.

I'm out like a fat kid in dodge ball

T minus 3 hours until I head out for my 9 day travel break.

I am taking an overnight train (assuming I get the ticket this evening) to Vienna. Staying there Saturday and Sunday nights. Headed to Prague on Monday. Spending Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights there. Leave Thursday for Munich and stay there Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Head home Sunday.

All these train rides last five to 10 hours...so that should be interesting. I hope I will be able to catch up on sleep and do a little homework...I have a lot due when I come back so we'll see how that goes.

I have seven minutes to get my laundry from the dryer, take it back to my room and go to class.

I'm hoping that I will be able to check my email from an internet cafe at some point during my trip, but I'm not sure. It will be weird to not check it religiously.

A big shout out to some lovely ladies celebrating their birthdays on Feb. 19 (which also happens to be my half birthday). Happy 21st birthday to Kami Colyer! I'm so glad you're finally legal. And to the best pledge mom ever, Miss Stephanie LeClaire, I hope you have an equally memorable celebration.

God bless America

Punishment seems to be a big deal for Italians. Earlier this week, some students in my dorm returned to their rooms after catching the KU basketball game highlights (and it was on at 3 am). Apparently the brother on my floor didn't appreciate being awoken by them and at 7 am, he started banging on our rooms and yelling in the hallway. Nice behavior from an elderly man in a religious order.

The computer lab (with the printers) has a line of students waiting to get a computer (and here I sit procrastinating from working on my resume and cover letter since the printer my computer is hooked up to is jammed by some idiot and no one knows how to fix it.) We're not allowed to use the Italian student's computer lab today from 5 pm until midnight like normal because we're being punished for leaving it a mess last night.

I guess the Italians don't realize it's a select few problem children who eat in the computer lab and noisy talk in the halls with paperthin walls and I find it unfair I should suffer the consequences of the punishments they are misdirecting.

Obviously the Italians have not gone through extensive Mind Based Management like we have. Otherwise they would have come to the conclusion that these actions do not cause the greatest good for the greatest number of people and there are other options available to get their point across that don't involve punishing the entire program.

Fine dining...at last

The dinner excursion Tuesday night was the most delicious food that I do not eat on a regular basis. The appetizers included a vegetable quiche, some sort of mini crescent roll with a purple vegetable that looked like blueberries but the taste proved otherwise, artichoke rice with was creamy and amazing and I loved it. The pasta had duck meat, which we didn't know until we had finished eating it. We had white wine up to this point. The director of the program emphasized the correct timing of certain wines with food...that he and Anna, the officer manager, had ensured the wine matched the food. The white wine was good, but the red wine was too strong and I didn't drink much of it with the main course...which consisted of four small pieces of meat (about the size of those pink erasers you used in elementary school to fix all the math problems you got wrong). The potato cubes were semi-American tasting, but I passed on the odd onion looking vegetable (after trying a bite, of course).

My favorite part of the meal by far was the dessert. Who knew fruit could be such a treat? Kiwi, peaches and bananas were glazed with an orange sauce. The best part was mixing the fruit with the creme brulee\custard type concoction. Of course this was the one thing they didn't offer seconds of, but it was the type of food that you want to keep on eating because it's so good but you don't want to finish it because then it's gone. The dessert wine that was served was much too sweet for most of us.

We arrived at the restaurant around 7:15 and didn't leave until 11 pm!! We received new plates and silverware for each course. The director informed us on Wednesday night that the wait staff at the restaurant complimented how courteous we were and that that were really impressed. Apparently we all do know some etiquette! He said this was the first time in his 15 years with this program he's had such raving reviews. I think this also means we've proven we can be responsible drinking wine on a school function and we'll get more at the next dinner.

It's a bleeder!

My luck has been running out the past few days. Sunday night, as I was closing my shutters to my window, the metal bar that secures them together fell on my head. This is not a flimsy metal bar. This is a heavy metal, severe pain, serious injury kind of item and coming into contact with my head was not a pleasant feeling. I felt my head for a bump and realized I was bleeding. My room mate Carolyn immediately got some toilet paper (no paper towels in Paderno!) and I held it on my wound for an hour before the bleeding stopped. Of course I had to change the tissue because of the steady flow of blood seeping from my head. It took two aleve and two hours before the pain subsided. I think it is safe to assume I suffered no permanent damage, but my head is still sore, like the soft spot on newborns.

All my excitement to see the KU game was for nothing because we don't receive the correct Armed Forces Network. We have Atlantic, it was airing on Sports. I guess it's a good thing I didn't get up at 3 am to see it when it was such a heartbreaker. Sadness.

Monday night we had an etiquette seminar in preparation for our first dinner excursion tonight. It will be a five course meal, complete with wine for each entree. Our director has emphasized that the meal has been specifically designed to coordinate with wine and go from white to red and it is important we have the correct food with the correct drink. He made it sound like we would internally combust if a drop of the vino bianco stayed in our classes past the third course. Since I don't know much about wine, it doesn't matter much to me, but this dude made it sound like a matter of life or death. I'm very excited for some fine cuisine. I'm not sure how, but the cafeteria managed to make spaghetti disgusting today. The meat sauce had some offensive taste. I don't understand how you screw up spaghetti, but alas, these Italians have.

Hopefully I will also get in a balanced meal tonight since I have become a vegetarian by default. I rarely eat meat and when I do, it's usually a minimal amount in a sauce. Atkins would be rolling in his grave at the amount of carbohydrates that make their way into my mouth, but I would self-destruct if I didn't have the saltine crackers, pasta and rolls.

The past two days I've received emails from the System Administrator that my account has exceeded capacity. I have no clue what has found it's way into my Inbox recently and taken up so much space, but I had to transfer 24 massive emails of quotes to a Yahoo account with more room. Hopefully my email will not reject anything and I can continue on in my world wide web bliss. But if for some reason you try sending me something and it doesn't go through, my other email address is jachawk3@yahoo.com. Same prefix as my current email, just through Yahoo.

Oh Romeo...

Fast forward version of the weekend...
Verona was a good day trip. We toured through 3 churches, saw the Colliseum, the Roman Theatre and Juliet's balcony.

The soccer game in Milan was amazing. They played Rome and the fans were out of control. We'd been warned that our cameras may be confiscated so we should hide them in our pockets. Once we made it safely inside (cameras in tact), I wondered how they could possibly not permit cameras when fans were lighting fireworks in the stands. I'm not sure how fire could be less harmful than photographic equipment, but that's just an example of how confusing Europeans can be. Luckily Milan won 2-0. No full out riots started, but fans from both sides threw bottles and Clemintine oranges at one another. As a victim of low quality cafeteria food, I found the usage of food throwing an outrage.

Our long day was extended even more when two girls failed to return to the bus to go home. One strayed back, crying that her friend had been kidnapped and all their belongings (passport, cell phones, cameras, money) had been stolen. These girls started drinking before we left Verona at 3 pm, continued drinking on the bus even though we weren't allowed, and tailgated once we arrive at the stadium. After 90 minutes of confusion and police backup, the missing girl was returned to our group. Apparently the two were returning to the bus and a group of Italians stole their stuff and separated them. It was very dramatic and we don't really know what happened since these girls were so incredibly out of control drunk. I'm not sure why they would put themselves in a position like that in a foreign country and unfamililar place, but it definitely served as a warning to the rest of us.

We didn't return to Paderno until 3:30 am and we were all exhausted after our long and very eventful day.

Sangria, sore throats and soccer

Last night was our first advisory meeting. All the students were divided in groups and assigned a faculty adviser. We went to Panic Jazz in a nearby city for mexican food. Our bus witnessed a car hit a motorcyclist as we were leaving campus! My Taco Supreme, which sounded like a safe choice, had chunky sausage-like meat. Everyone else liked their food. One teacher told us we were allowed to drink, but not get drunk. Some girls kept on ordering Pina Coladas, only to realize they were non-alcoholic. My strawberry daiquiri and sangria were quite delicious and made up for the sick food.

I feel worse and worse since I returning from Florence. Today I got a sore throat and checked out the tabacchi for their medicinal selection. They did have Riccola cough drops (i bought three boxes) but that is the absolute extent of the medicine in this town.

I just had my first dose of television in 18 days tonight. we only get the air force network here, but it has shows from different networks back home. The apprentice was on. Maybe I'll be able to catch the West Wing!! I'm not sure if it's good or bad, but the commercials are all made by the air force, so it's low-budget public service annoucements with bad actors and cheezy messages, including Wear your seatbelt!!!! (shouted by an intimidating man in uniform)and lock your car and protect your stuff (yes, they said stuff.) My favorite is "If your child is under 4 foot 9 inches, they need to be in a booster seat." Does that seem a little extreme? That's five inches shorter than me. if i didn't have any kneecaps, there's no way i'd be in a booster seat.

Saturday I'm off to Verona (the setting of Romeo and Juliet), followed by Milan (for a soccer game).

Is it too much to ask for soft facial tissue?

First off, I must take this opportunity to wish the lovely Catherine Bockenfeld, also known as KT Bock, a most joyous 21st birthday. I wish I was there to partake in the fesitivies! Have fun and drink lots of water.

Yet again, it is impossible for me to have an undisturbed sleep. Last night I woke up with a runny nose. After fumbling my way to the bathroom, and knocking into a chair on my way there, I had to use toilet paper to blow my nose. Apparently Kleenax, Puffs or the generic facial tissue, like soap, are not customary items Italians have in the bathroom. I don't care what culture you are, you need to wash your hands, and you are bound to get a runny nose. My room mate had trouble sleeping too and kept coughing.

I went to the tabacchi today in search of facial tissue. I stared at the toilet paper and napkins forever trying to see if a little tissue box was hidden amongst them. The organization of the tabacchis really doesn't make sense to me so I strolled the aisles. Of course it makes sense for the tissue boxes to be mixed in with the feminine products (which are a hoot on their own to figure out what they are, thanks to the interesting pictures).

The highlight of the day was definitely the big package from my parents. I think my wardrobe has doubled now. A hooded sweatshirt, polo, tons of t shirts and some warm soxes will definitely tide me over between using the semi-working washing machine. I'm also very excited about the flat iron. It's been 2.5 weeks since I've straightened my hair!

Tonight my advisory group is taking a bus to Castelfranco to eat at Panic Jazz. Whatever images conjure in your mind from the restaurant name, I'm sure you didn't think Mexican. Well, that's what it is. I'm just excited to not eat dorm food and have a field trip out of town.

The school organized a field trip for Saturday. We're headed to Verona for a few hours before making our way to Milan for a soccer game. Since I purchased an ''Italia'' shirt in Florence, hopefully I'll be able to blend in the crowd. Wishful thinking since none of us looking anything but touristy.

Cock your doodle elsewhere

The computer labs are seriously a vortex which sucks me in and consumes my day. I spent two hours after lunch catching up on emails. Slightly out of control, no?

Here's a link to my photo album from Florence. Like before, you may have to create a yahoo id if you're unable to view them. I had to break the link in two so it would fit, so pay attention that it makes it in one piece in your browser when you copy and paste it. My favorites are the ones with water. http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jachawk3/ album?.dir=/2f54&.src=ph&.tok=phKkjfCBLn93iPLa

I made a little trip to the tabacchi after I got my email fix. Oh what a joy it was to find color safe bleach in Italian brands. I came prepared, armed with a sticky note with translations of stain and bleach so I wasn't searching blindly. My recent attempts at putting food in my mouth which ended on my shirt left me with some undesirable red-orange spots on my clothes. Finding a stain remover was impertaive to my wardrobe. I'm sure the owner thought I died I spent so much time staring at the soap/cleaners/laundry dtuff (although I didn't realize it until I was at the front counter, he was watching me from the hidden security cameras the whole time and knew I had not fallen ill). Tons of Mr. Clean products cluttered the shelves, and if I had any plates or glasses, they would most certainly be clean thanks to the array of dishwashing soaps, but the choices for laundry soaps were not impressive. I finally found a box with the Tide multicolored bull's eye (but not the Tide brand) and although I couldn't understand any of the words on the box, I thought it was the closest thing I could find. I also purchased some hair ties, although I should have known they wouldn't have the Goody Ouchless brand. Hopefully these generic rubber bands won't tear my hair.

I think I may be getting sick, which isn't surprising considering quite a few other people are. With everything that we share at school (most germably...the computers), germs must breed like no other. I'm not a big fan of sharing (i.e. my food) but in Florence, my friends would ask for a bite of my crema and chocolate gelato, and offer me some of theirs. If I had wanted Snickers, I would have ordered it. And if you really want chocolate that bad, you should have picked it instead of spreading your sick germs on the tiny spoon into my cup. But it's not like I'll say no. Really, though, I do not want to part with my nutrients, even if you offer up yours.

Contributing to my weak immune system would be the inadequate supply of soap in bathrooms. None of the bathrooms at school have soap (or towels) for you to wash your hands. They do have towel racks... I bought soap last week at the tabacchi, although I couldn't find hand soap and settled for dish soap. And while my hands smell like a dish washer when I'm done, it's better than having germy hands.

I have also yet to sleep in since I've been to Italy, and I still haven't caught up on all the sleep I missed because of Florence and traveling. Of course, the roosters crowing hours before my alarm is set to go off doesn't exactly start my morning off right. I am not kidding. There are roosters. And not just one. There are a lot. And it's not like the movies where the just crow at the strike of 6 am like an alarm. They crow all day. Forget an afternoon nap. Don't plan on concentrating. No matter the time of day, a rooster will be creating an offensive noise nearby to bother you. My room mate Carolyn thought we should devise a plan to poison the local roosters, but thought that since their meat would most likely be served up and called chicken the next day in our cafeteria, it wouldn't be a wise choice.

I took some Sudafed and need to take some Aleve for my headache. Hoping a warm shower and going to bed early will cure my ailments. As a last resort, I do have the option of visiting the school nurse. Her hours, like all places in Italy, are insufficient. She doesn't work every day, and of course she doesn't work all day. She also doesn't speak English. We've been told she's gotten pretty good at watching us act out what's wrong and going from there. I've never really liked school nurses, so I doubt I'll be paying her a visit.

Tomorrow I have my first Italian presentation. Each group has to act out friends meeting at a cafe and ordering drinks. I serve as the barista (waiter) for the skit. Following what I can only assume with be exceptional acting on the part of my not so thrilled classmates speaking in butchered Italian, we have our first test. Which seems a little presumptous considering all I know how to say, with the aide of my book open in front of me, pertains to saying hello, ordering a coffee, introducing friend A to friend B and what kind of wine I want. I have yet to learn the correct pronouncation of thank you in Italian. You see, we have been misinformed in american that "grazie" is how they say thank you in Italy. Reality check... that is actually the informal tense. Which means if you bust that out at a restaurant or to an adult, it's actual impolite. Unbeknownst to most Americans, the act of gratitude turns into one of ignorance. But for whatever reason, I can't remember how to say the correct conjugation. It's either grat-z-ay or grat-z-uh. But someone else said you don't annunciate all the syllables and it's more like gratzuh. I think I need to figure this out soon, because smiling and nodding won't do me any good much longer. And it's just ridiculous to not know how to pronounce such a necessary word.

Ciao ciao (spoken mostly by women, or younger Italians)

side note: the title of this email is in reference to the cockadoodledo noise roosters make (which is actually a commercialized sound someone who didn't actually get awoken by roosters made up.)

Damage control

After a fair amount of emails, I figured I needed to clarify my previous comments on the description of David. When I said it was large, I was referring to the entire statue as a whole...it is not a small three foot tall man you can miss when you walk by. It is overshadowing in height. And the veins and muscles that are so detailed are on the arms and legs. I think quite a few of you have very dirty minds.

If you had seen the work up close, you would realize it's not the nudity that stands out (because just about every piece we saw had some nakedness, whether man or baby) but that someone so long ago with not much technology was able to craft such a realistic looking man (hence the comment on the veins and muscles appearing real). It is impressive that Michelangelo did such detailed work on such a large scale, not opting for a midget, but a strong man.

But he did have a firm ass. I will own up to that.

A day of walking, sitting and waiting.

We checked out of Alex House at 10 am and headed to the train station (across town) to leave our bags until our 4:39 pm train. After that hike we headed back over the bridge to the Ponte Vecchio for some more breathtaking pictures. My cousin Kristin planned on meeting up with us, but encountered some transportation problems. She and her friend hadn't yet validated their bus stubs when an official requested to see them. Since they didn't validate their tickets immediately after entering the bus, the official fined them each 45€. Kristin didn't have enough money to pay it all so she has to go to the police station and pay the rest. Because of this confusion and delay, I wasn't able to see her, although I did learn the importance of finding the little yellow box and sticking my bus ticket in it!

After aimlessly trying to find things to do on Sunday (which is impossible when 88 percent of the stores are closed) we headed back to the train station (some backtracking, walking in circles and general lostness helped us pass the time). Most of the students who had gone to Florence from our school were on the same train from Florence to Padova. Halfway through the train ride the conductor notified us there would be a 20 minute delay. After that was over, he then said there was a medical emergency. (well, i roughly translated what the conductor was saying. he didn't repeat it in english so i just guessed.) All during this delay, we felt as though our train car was slanted sideways and we would soon be falling off track. I pulled out my phrasebook and spoke a few broken sentences to the nice Italian woman sitting next to me. After 45 minutes of stillness we were moving again. This delay caused all of us to miss our train in Padova to Bassano and the next train wasn't for 2 more hours. A train to Bassano left in 30 minutes and we all trekked over to the bus station.

By this point we had accumulated some more students and there were probably 50 students, clad with enormous backpacks. Although the bus was one of the biggest I've seen, there were already people on it and we were worried we wouldn't all fit. We did all make it on, but half of us had to stand for 30 minutes until seats opened up. Upon our arrival in Bassano, we got on the bus that our school chartered to take us home. Halfway to Paderno, the bus pulled to the side of the road and couldn't restart the engine. He got it started again and we all joked how horrible it would be if the bus really broke down.

We spoke too soon.

A few minutes later our bus was officially stopped in the middle of the road, blocking traffic. Our Italian bus driver didn't speak English so no one knew what was going on. For some reason we were moved to get off the bus and all the guys had to push it. Yes. A big greyhound like bus filled with 50 students' luggage up a little hill. They actually moved it, but not enough to get us anywhere. It was absolutely hilarious and we all took lots of pictures. After that attempt proved unhelpful we sat and the bus, unsure what was going on. Some people proposed just getting our bags and walking the rest of the way home. Another group retrieved a bottle of wine from their luggage and drank on the side of the road. We were notified another bus had been sent to save us, but it took forever. Once it arrived we transferred all our stuff and were excited to get back to campus.

Of course this wasn't the end of our obstacles. The bus had come from the other direction and just pulled right in front of our first bus. In order to go to Paderno, it had to back up and turn the other way. While such a feat is impossible for American bus drivers, Italian bus drivers are incredibly flexible and it is no big deal to perform 3 point turns in such large automobiles. What proved to be a challenge was the gate and house millimeters away from the back of the bus. A 3 point turn turned into an 8 point turn and the homeowner's stood in their front door, staring at this huge bus about to back into their house. The man, god bless him, was able to open the gate so the bus could back out a few more inches.We couldn't go forward anymore because of a brick wall. We were all on the bus laughing at the state of our transportation and how long it was taking us to get home. We had actually caused a traffic jam in rural Italy...and when i tell you this, you must realize that there is no one out here and we had cars lined up on both sides. It has hilarious. We all bonded during while stranded on the side of the road. And while I was extremely exhausted by the time we got home Sunday at 11:15 pm (2 hours later than planned) it was quite a memorable experience.

Day 2 in Firenze

Saturday I met up with my cousin Kristin who goes to Mizzou and is studying this semester in Florence. I can not tell you how wonderful it was to have a close friend to hang out with in a foreign country. We spent the day wondering the streets of Florence, eating lunch on the steps on the Duomo and staring at the very large and very naked David sculpture at the Accademia. I enjoyed the Accademia more than the Uffizi (and yes, I enjoyed the art museums in general). I didn't realize how large the David sculpture was. And it is definitely something you need to see up close. Michelangelo's detail with muscles and veins is amazing (not to mention David has quite a firm behind...) I also enjoyed being able to read the art work's descriptions in English. Kristin and I went over the bridge to the Ponte Vecchio, which has an amazing view of buildings near the water front. I was able to get some gorgeous pictures.

After an enjoyable and random day with Kristin, I met back up with my travel mates. We went to a restaurant near the Duomo (by this point, everywhere we went had to be referenced by its location to the Duomo) and met up with MaryBeth, Brynn and Nori from our school. It was hilarious that 4 groups from our school walked by the window and stopped in the restaurant to say hi.

Once our leisurely dinner, complete with red wine, was complete, we gradually started meeting up with more people from CIU. We headed to one bar, not thinking if the 20 of us would actually all fit inside. Some people just decided to go back to Red Garder and a group of us headed to YAB. We had fliers to get in without paying the 13€ cover, thank goodness, because every drink cost 8€! YAB, which apparently stands for You Are Beautiful, was a true Italian club, unlike the Americanized bar we took over Friday night. We were the only Americans in the bar. All the Italian girls looked as if they had forgotten to finish getting dressed and were missing important articles of clothing. There were all the size of my left calf and wore shirts with the back cut out (revealing their stringy bras) and skirts the size of belt. I have never seen so many girls spent such a long time staring at a bathroom mirror and primping. It was out of control. The men that were there were 14 and just looked silly. The part I found most amusing was watching the Italian guys dance. One looked like he was on an elliptical machine, he just kept skipping/dancing in place. I suppose the odd dancing is a result of the horrible music the club played. It was not true techno, but more of a blend of Italian mariacchi music with techno on crack. Thank goodness some girls requested American hip hop and we heard some normal music.

Besides the high school boys, a few creepy old men loomed around the bar. One sketchy dude, who was at least 37, balding but still with a low ponytail and large glasses, would not leave Kelly and me alone. He tried talking to me but I pretended I didn't speak English. Then he tried Italian. Then he said he was just trying to introduce himself but by this point Liza pulled me next to her on the couch and talked to me until Jon could distract him. It's times like this when it's very handy to have your male school mates around to look out for you.

By 2:30 am Sarah and I were exhausted and headed back to the hostel. We thought once we followed the signs to the Duomo we'd have no problem getting home. We were wrong. We stopped so many randoms in the street to help us find Borgio de' Greci. Some had never heard of it and we couldn't remember all of the extensive directions that the others gave us. We stopped into a bar when an very nice English speaking Italian bartender tried helping us and then had another guy in the bar show us where to go. This only got us so far. We saw another group of people but it was their first night in Florence. Two guys were from English and when we said we were from Kansas, they yelled for their friend from Tennessee to come say hi. It turns out he lived in Ft. Leavenworth for awhile. Despite our immediate bond in a foreign country, these guys proved no help. After wondering for nearly an hour, Sarah and I gave in and got a taxi. Our feet were throbbing with pain, which overshadowed the fact that we paid 9€ for a two minute ride home.

Florence, Day 1

At the lovely hour of 4 am, I awoke from a nonexistent sleep to get ready for our 4:45 a.m. bus to catch our 5:30 am train. The first train (from Bassano del Grappa to Padova) was entirely all CIU kids. Our next train (from Padova to Florence) was a EuroStar train, which was had much nicer seats and made less stops. By 10 am we were in Florence and on our way to our hostel.

Alex House was located on Borggio de' Greci Street in the central part of Florence. It essentially was a residential apartment. We were excited because 2 guys, 3 girls and another group of 7 girls all from our school were staying in this same hostel. But due to a "computer error" the 2 guys and 3 girls were overbooked and sent down to another hostel with bedrooms like caves. We were much more fortunate. Our bedroom had 4 twin beds, a dresser and vanity. The bathroom was next door and we shared it with two other rooms (which was a little bothersome when 3 people in a row would take showers). Overall, my first hostel experience was positive and I have not been scarred for life like the group of 10 guys whose hostel manager was named Jesus. Jesus overbooked their room and when they requested a refund a few hours after checking in, Jesus said he had spent all but 50 of the 300 euro they paid. The boys were a little freaked their money had gone to feed Jesus crack addiction. I'm not kidding.

Once we were rid of our heavy bags, we went to the Duomo, which is a beautiful, huge Cathedral. The dome was intricately painted, some parts in an almost 3-D way that you couldn't tell which was a painted dome and which was the actual building. This was my favorite sightseeing destination of my trip to Florence (or Firenze as I should properly say). After that we went to the Uffizi museum. We walked up a ridiculous amount of steps (a few flights of stairs in what looked like a palace) to get to the floor with art work. There were tons of portraits, many of which looked alike. Unfortunately, the museum didn't have the art work descriptions in English, so I really had no idea the meaning behind what I was looking at. When we were done with the day's art appreciation, we wondered the streets of Florence browsing through stores. Stuff there is either boutique expensive or off the street from a questionable vendor. By 5 pm, having been up since 4 am and walking around since 10 am, we were officially exhausted and returned to the hostel to rest and get ready for the evening.

Jenny, Sarah, Liz and I had a nice dinner (a first course, second course, salad and wine) for an affordable 12€. After which we met up with the CIU crew at a bar called Red Garder (although it sounds like a strip club, I assure you it is not). It is quite possible it's really named Red Garden, but none of us could figure it out. As an "american bar," there was a live band singing songs in English from the early 90s and they had special drink prices for students (which is much appreciated since 4.5€ for a drink is much better than the 8€ we had to pay Saturday!)

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

Some things I've neglected to mention...
The Filipin Instituto (the prestigious private Catholic high school whose facilities we use) has Brothers living on campus (not full blown priests, but some do wear robes). It just so happens one lives across the hall from me. I thought it was weird that an old man was roaming our halls! Right now I'm in the italian kids computer lab (which we're only allowed to use in the evenings) and two brothers (in street clothes) are chatting and peering at us.

Our campus has a tollbooth and huge fence/gate that closes at night. This is the only entrance on campus. In the evenings the little level is always down so drivers must speak with the gatekeeper to enter. At night, big iron gates protect us (and no cars can enter). There is a corner section of this fence-like protection device that is really a door we enter through if we're returning home late from the Orchidea :) (side note... the Orchidea, one of two bars in town, is closed on Thursday. Not a smart business move based on the habits of KU kids in Lawrence!) There's always someone at the gate, and we're supposed have ID ready (in case some crazy Italian tries to follow us home, we'll be able to get in and the gatekeeper will kick them out!)

My mp3 player is fully functioning now! My dad sent instructions and I basically rebooted it and now it's fine. Although my inner ears are starting to hurt from the earbud headphone things since I'm falling asleep in weird positions and they dig their little selves into my cartiledge.

In sad news, I spilled some pasta and red sauce on a white KU basketball t-shirt at dinner. I washed it in my sink, used one of my room mate Caroyln's ShoutWipes and soaked it in the sink for awhile, but the sauce still remains. I'll have to investigate the tabacchi's laundry products to see if they have any clorox bleach pens or stain removers. It's way too early to be ruining clothes!!

When I was asking for broccoli at dinner Wednesday, Bing (a grad student from the nearby Asolo campus who also serves as one of our program coordinators) told me I just cursed the lunch lady in Italian. I tried to ask for the vegetable by pointing and apologize at the same time, but she didn't speak Italian and gave me the most perplexed look. It wasn't until after I felt like an idiot that Bing said he was just kidding. I think the two grad student program coordinators are lacking in normal social interactions, possibly from being cooped up in small towns like Paderno and Asolo since the start of the school year. During our Mind Based Management workshop last week, Jeremy came up to me and said I needed to leave the room since I looked at the other team's analysis. I guess I was a little more shocked than he expected and he said he was just joking. Let's not play jokes on the CIU students, per favore.

Wednesday night we had our first European Professionalism Seminar, which is required for all students. It will be most Wednesdays from 7:45 pm to 9:15 pm. Later in the semester we'll have a wine tasting in the cafeteria and a trip to a local plant. Did you know that it costs 1500 to get your driver's license in Italy!! The highest speed you can go without getting a ticket is 110 miles per hours, but even going one mile over results in a steep fine so drivers around here program their cruise control to prevent this.

I almost forgot! Today we had chicken nuggets for lunch. We were skeptical...not sure if they were actually rabbit and the lunch ladies were lying to us, but they didn't taste odd after I dunked them in ketchup, so overall it was a delightful lunch experience.

I packed my bag for Florence and I feel as though I'm taking entirely too much. It's not nearly as heavy as when I traveled here and it's only three days. We leave bright and early at 4:45 am from Paderno to get to the train station in Bassano, where we'll have a three hour ride to Florence. We don't get back to Paderno until 10 pm Sunday night, but I'll fill you in on Monday about my weekend.

PS - hey room mates... how is trash duty coming along now that i'm not there to enforce the trash duty schedule? kaitlan...i bet it's your turn! HAHA.

Study, study...school's your buddy

A great travesty has occurred...my mp3 player is not functioning! I listen to it every night while I fall asleep, partly to get in my much missed American music and partly to block out all the echoing sounds of the dorm like voices, hair dryers and keys jingling in doors. I plugged it in the charger before I went to bed, set the sleep timer and when I woke up this morning, the screen was frozen and nonresponsive to my unplugging and plugging the charger back in. I didn't have time to deal with it this morning before the maids came and I was off to my three classes, but my dad emailed instructions to try and fix it and I will perform emergency maintenance repair shortly. Please pray for my Phillips Jukebox Media Player.

I managed to finally go to the bank when it was open. I'd been warned the doors open one at a time, so I was prepared for that. Fortunately, there was a couple that waited in the middle doors with me while we waited for the permission buzz into the bank. Another girl said the teller spoke English so I wouldn't have to worry about the language barrier, but I'd already flipped through my handy phrasebook and wrote down on a sticky note "I would like to exchange money and traveler's checks", which was a good thing because the man didn't speak English...well, he knew enough to joke about Jimmy Carter when looked at my passport.

Homework has actually been keeping me pretty busy, even though I'm only taking 13 hours. Ethics and contemporary media issues overlap a lot with content, and involve lots of reading and case study analysis, supplemented by work sheets. Unlike classes at KU, this reading is necessary in order to discuss in class and write your analysis. No waiting until the last minute this semester! For italian, we're supposed to use the listening lab and repeat what the speaker says. Although I did listen to the homework, I would've felt like a huge dork saying uh, ooh, ah outloud while people were typing papers and emailing. I just said them aloud in my head, if that counts :)

Tonight we have our first European Professionalism Seminar class from 745 to 915. We have to wait until Feb. 17 for our first dinner excursion, but the wait for a true multi course italian meal will be worth it.

Say cheese.

I've uploaded the pictures on my digital camera of my dorm room, campus and Paderno in a Yahoo photo album. You may have to register with Yahoo to get an ID in order to view them. If you know of a better free service to post pictures, let me know. You can check them out by copying and pasting this link into your browser:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jachawk3/album?.dir=/
4fbe&.src=ph&.tok=phxPldCBHnQ.jRgq g

(the link was super long so i had to break it into two lines and you may have to copy it in sections. if you're having a lot of problems, email me and i can forward you access to the photo album)

Lunch today was LASAGNA! It was probably the best cafeteria food they've served yet and I left the meal full (a feeling I haven't experience too often in Italy). They brought back the yogurt today, and we were all really excited. The "pudding" here (vanilla, chocolate and caramel) is a mix between jello and pudding, so the weird consistency, along with the slightly different flavor combine to make an avoidable dessert.

I reserved a block of time for the female washer and dryer today (There is one set for boys and one for girls and you must always reserve a block of time. These are the rules and we will follow them). Thankfully, the washers are just like the ones at TriDelt, so I knew how to use them (even though they're not that great, at least I didn't end up with suds or pink clothes and the instructions were in English). The dryers suck, so you can't wash large loads, but I'm quite excited to have at least one pair of clean jeans again.

The weather has been beautiful today. Still a bit chilly, but at least my toes aren't frozen. After the Italian kids get out of school, they crowd around the tabacchis or smoke on campus. They all smoke!! A partner in one of my groups went to the bathroom during class and said she had to wait so long because the Italian girls were smoking in there between classes. We don't really have much interactions with the Italian kids, and sometimes they'll just stop talking when you walk back, which just enforces that they are totally making fun of you behind your back. Maybe by the end of the semester after I'm armed with Conversation Italian 107 I'll be able to understand what they're saying.