Finally

I've been without internet for days because something was messed up at the school. I would have went to an internet cafe but its soo expensive here. 4 euros for an hour was the cheapest I could find. I still have a cold but the medicine I bought is amazing (I even went back to the pharmacist and told her how great it was... she laughed in my face). The weather here is still foggy and cold but slowly getting better. I visited the church Santa Maria della Salutle. It was gigantic and beautiful with ostentatious/Venetian mosaic floors that were magnificent. It was built to celebrate the end of the plague in Venice in the 1600's and the main alter has three statues depicting the Madonna with "Venice" on the left (represented by a beautiful, ornately dressed woman) and "The Plague" on the right (represented by an old ugly hag) with an angel chasing her away from Venice with a stake. I also went to the Peggy Guggenheim collection. It's not huge but contains some great pieces and some so-so pieces that I really like anyway... For instance Mondrian's "The Sea", Brancusi's "Bird in Space", and Magritte's "Empire of Light". She is also buried there beside her beloved babies.... apx 15 of her dead dogs.

Caution: listen to at low volume because my voice is horrendous and whinny. 

Update

The weather here is crazy cold. :( ... and foggy. The fog does make Venice look very erie and cool though...

I just finished my book... \/

...and started a new one\/

Weekend in Florence

This weekend I went to Florence and discovered that it is a city to which I MUST return. Firstly, I was only able to see a limited amount of sights because of my time constraints and because Meg and Alli have a great social life and great friends that I enjoyed spending my time with J. Let me introduce you to them. Betty, who I had met before in Venice during Carnevale, is Megan’s apartment mate from Panama. She’ super sweet and enthusiastic about seeing sights, absorbing culture, and food. It was great to see her again. Meg’s roommate Kelly is an American who’s sarcasm is so sharp that even I have a hard time deciphering truth from joke. She was also a gracious host (I shared her room while Megan slept on the coach) and blast to be around. Jimmy, I’d mention you but this blog is quite popular and I wouldn’t want Kelly’s parents to realize you are where you should not be. Their other friend Emily, was also super nice and beautiful and welcoming…. I loved them all and the whole weekend.  

 

In terms of sightseeing, I saw the following churches: San Lorenzo, Santa Croce, and Santa Maria del Fiore, aka the Duomo. We attended mass on Sunday at the duomo. In San Lorenzo, the most memorable things for me were two pulpits by Donatello, his last works before he died. Santa Croce was just increadible because of its arcitechutarl beauty, the wealth of art that it houses, as well as the many notable people buried there. I saw the tombs of Galileo, Michelangelo, Machiavelli and Dante Alighieri. I also roamed around and saw the Ponte Vecchio, viewed the city from Piazziale Michelangelo and from Fiesole. When I say that I saw/did all these things I really mean that I did them in the company of Megan and Alli and their friends. I almost forgot!!! We also had some great food!!! The first night Alli cooked Indian food for all of us (it was great), and the second night we all went out to this crazy amazing restaurant where we spent a fortune on an incredible meal. I’m so happy I went because I had a great time J J J. 

\/ The hotel we stayed in 6 years ago... \/

\/ Santa Croce \/

\/ Meg and Machiavelli \/

\/ Duomo \/

Update

This week has been a very good one… basically because I’ve been eating out a lot, which means good food, great company, lots of money, and obesity. But it’s worth it. J I went on one great walking tour this week but missed out on some of the others because I wasn’t feeling 100% so I took many (too many) afternoon naps. Tuesday night I went out to watch the Liverpool-Inter[nazionale Milan] football (soccer) match (game). It was fun because the people here are great. I have some really bad pictures of people that I won’t put up because it would upset the people in the photos but I’ll try and get some better ones soon and then tell ya’ll who everyone is. Anyfoof, today (Thursday February 21, 2008) I had my first session of my Venetian history class. In my opinion, secondo me, this program just keeps proving itself better and better than the traditional study abroad program. This class meets once a week for 1.5-2 hours. It is a one-on-one session with the professor where we just discuss the course material. Half of the “classes” are going to be “on-site instruction” where we (me and my personal professor) discuss the lesson at a museum, at the Palazzo Ducale, walking near the Rialto, etc. Next week I begin my 3^rd class, an art history class, which is conducted in the same format as this one. After I finished at school, I met Signora Crill at the Rialto. She arrived in Venice yesterday with a group of students for the trip she does with the school almost every year. For those of you who don’t know, Mrs. Crill was my Italian teacher for 4 years in High School. Rockwell, my former HS principal, is the other chaperone. After Mrs. Crill instructed Rockwell on how to get back to their hotel, she and I walked around a bit and then she treated me to a cappuccino. It was a very nice afternoon and I wouldn’t pass up any opportunity to see her. She was a great teacher and will always be wonderful lady!

P.S. My German friend, Friedrich has been calling me G.I. Joe for a week now because in class I attempted to talk about what kind of toys I played with as a child. I mentioned G.I. Joe because I thought it was well known but apparently I assumed wrong. He’s also giving me a lot of sit for accidentally referring to Cappucceto Rosso (Little Red Riding Hood) as Cappuccino Rosso. As you can see he’s a very funny man. J

Changed my mind. Here are some pictures. 

\/ Mrs Crill \/

\/ what I cooked the other night... mid-devouring \/

\/ a drawing on the street outside my window \/

\/ hilarious \/

\/ Erin and me... a terrible picture \/

\/ Friedrich, Jana, and Sara \/

Padova and Island Hopping

Pictures from the weekend and other stuff I came across on my computer...

\/ Basilica in Padova \/

\/ Burano \/

\/ Burano \/

\/ Murano \/

\/ Old Pics \/

This past Saturday I visited Padova. It's only about a 30 min train ride from Venice. It is a very nice town but I wasn't able to see all of it because a lot of time immediately after arrival was spent roaming around/figuring out where we were... but its okay because it allows you to see things in passing that you otherwise wouldn't have seen. The highlight of this day trip was by far the city's basilica, Basilica of Saint Anthony. It is HUGE! It houses many relics which is definitely the most amazing thing about the Roman Catholic Church. It is a popular destination for pilgrims because some of the relics include Saint Anthony's tongue and jaws, as well as the rest of his body which is in his tomb. The church has an alter with reliefs by Donatello and another Donatello statue out front. Both were pretty amazing but i have to admit that I didn't know the statue was a Donatello until after the visit. We also visited the Scrovegni Chapel which is decorated completely with fresco's by Giotto. It was beautiful. Both the Basilica and Giotto's fresco's are must see's!! Sunday I went to Torcello, Burano, and Murano in that order. Torcello was very interesting. It was so nice to see grass and open space because both are pretty limited in Venice. Torcello was one of the first islands inhabited in the lagoon when people were driven from the mainland by Barbarian invasions in the 5th century. In the 14th century, Torcello was the dominant island of the lagoon and was inhabited by more than 20 thousand people. Today that number is less than 20. People left Torcello for the other islands because they were more easily defendable and because of an outbreak of malaria. Today you can see/ Sunday I saw the campanile and the two churches on the island, Santa Maria Assunta and Santa Fosca. I only entered the later because you have to pay to go inside Assunta. It was yet another incredible church. The island of Burano is know for two things, its lace and its colored houses. The lace museum didn't sound too interesting and because of the time of year and day of the week I didn't get to see any old ladies making the lace but thats okay because I was so amazed at the beautiful houses that all Erin and I did for hours was gasp at one house after the next. Not only were the houses beautifully painted but they also had beautiful front doors, most of which are one of a kind. Most people who know me understand how much I love unique front doors! The third and final island of the day was Murano, know throughout the world for its glass. The glass furnaces were all moved to the islands of Murano in 1291 because of fear of fire in the city center. The one disappointment of the day occurred when we discovered over lunch at 4:30 that the Museum of Glass closes at 4. BUT, lunch was very good and the two churches we saw on the island, San Piertro Martire and Basilica Santi Maria e Donato were both remarkable. Once back at home I did a lot of cooking then a lot of eating. Monday afternoon I went on another interesting and informative walk with the school and friends. Attending another today...

**** Project Runway ****

Christian can suck it! He is a pompous, self-cherishing, little twit who, when not plagiarizing, is boring and unoriginal.  "Anyone who quotes Tyra Banks is not cool!" AD. I agree!!!

UPDATE

These past few days have been business as usual. Class, walk/tour with classmates, so forth. I came across a store with magic lanterns, my most recent unnecessarily expensive obsession. I gave in and bought one that projects scenes of Venice. Bellissima. Last night I went to see Across the Universe, in Italian. It was better that I expected. The whole movie plan was organized by this girl Rachel, the only other American college student here. My friend Erin and I were supposed to meet her at the theater at 7 and meet our other friend Loris for drinks before hand. He ended up changing his plans and we couldn't find Rachel at our meeting place. So basically it was a date with Erin. A classmate of mine, whose last day is today :(, gave me a few recommendations for restaurants. Exciting because I'm planning on indulging for the first time this weekend. This weekend I'm also planning on going to Murano, Burano and Torcello (some islands of the lagoon), and maybe Padova. 

***Presidential Candidates***

I'm trying not to hate on Barack too much because he may end up being the Democratic candidate but Hillary is right on... This is a race about answers not promises. 

If I were John McCain, I would reject that endorsement from jerk-face Mitt Romney.

*** Beyonce vs Aretha***

In my opinion Beyonce will never have as much talent as Aretha Franklin of Tina Turner. The fact that Turner even participated in that duet with Beyonce was a disappointment for me. They don't belong on the same stage together and although Tina rocked as she has for like 50 years, I think that performing with such a mediocre artist such as Beyonce was a step down for Tina. Also, I don't want to her Beyonce or any other Knowles "fire back" at Aretha. Franklin's comment was towards the writers of the award show who proved themselves once again ignorant and worthless.

Ghetto And My Apartment, some might consider them synonymous...

disclaimer: for some reason the font and stuff is all messed up and i couldn't figure out/ didn't want to deal with fixing it

I am writing this before I do my homework because it takes so much out of me… the coursework… and I want to be able to blog and do my homework.

Today after school I hung around to go on the internet, checked my email and so forth, wrote some pretentious stuff on the blog and then went home to have lunch before going on the walking tour of the old Jewish Ghetto. BTW there have been some major change ups in terms of my classmates. The amount of people in my level almost doubled this week!! It is bitter sweet. Anyway, a Japanese lady sat next to me today and I noticed/snooped in one of her notebooks in which she makes beautiful drawings and sketches of all sorts of cool yet strange stuff. For instance today I viewed a watercolor painting of her imaginary encounter with 90’s “super star” Coolio.

 

The tour was good and informative as usual and very helpful for improving my listening skills in Italian. I think the girl who gave this tour is going to be my Art History instructor. Many students went on this tour but luckily I was accompanied by some of my favorite peeps/new friends. Names and such will be included when I eventually upload a photo of everyone.

 

It’s not a lot of info but this is my recap of the Ghetto tour ***I came across the office for Chabbad, soon I will return. I also plan on going back to the ghetto for a full-blown tour of all the synagogues, there are 7, and the Hebrew Museum *** The word “ghetto” is actually of Venetian origin as Venice was the home to the first ghetto in Europe. Although throughout its history Venice has been rather accepting and even welcoming to many cultures, due to uneasy political situations and wartime craziness, in 1516, the doge forced Venice’s Jewish population onto this group of islands that was the old iron foundry… a place where iron was cast/gettato. Other than the unfortunate cramped conditions of a ghetto, Venetian treatment of Jews was not as harsh as in many other countries. Perhaps a reflection of Venice’s diversity and the fact that it was always a safe haven for those seeking safety. Jewish artists confined to the ghetto produced much of Venice’s greatest art. Secular art, certainly something fresh in Italy. Confusingly, the community started in the Ghetto Nuovo (new ghetto), then spread to the Ghetto Vechio (old ghetto), and then some more into the Ghetto Nuovissimo. Despite the expansion of the ghetto, living space was still tight. This lead to vertical expansion of buildings creating the first high-rise blocks in Europe. If I understood correctly, existing inhabitants would sell the space above their homes before anything was even built their… essentially selling the air to people who would then build on top. This architectural aspect was prominent but not easy to see or capture on camera L. Also the Jewish community is no longer thriving, rather it is very small. Much of the old ghetto is currently inhabited by the general population. The restrictions placed on Jews, which forced them to live in the ghetto, ended with the arrival of Napoleon in 1797 when Jews were granted full citizenship. During the Nazi occupation in 1943, 202 Venetian Jews were killed at concentration camps.

\/\/Some pictures from the ghetto \/\/

\/"Eggplants Ghetto Style" I thought it was funny\/

\/\/\/\/\/ from my apartment \/\/\/\/\/\/

\/\/\/my bathroom \/\/\/\/

\/ the washing machine and kitchen sink\/

\/\/\/\/\/ the kitchen \/\/\/\/\/\/

\/\/\/\/\/ the dryer \/\/\/\/\/

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ by bedroom \/\/\/\/\/\/\/

A Taste of The States

Politics 

Virginia, Maryland and DC hold primaries Tuesday. Kick butt girl!!

Clinton homeboy Al Gore wont endorse her?!?!?!? or Obama? That upsets me. In my opinion, he has great ideas and sees the realities of Global Warming but half asses everything. Endorse Hil for god's sake and in reference to Global Warming... here are my ideas (for the US anyway)

-Eliminate use of all foreign oil of any kind immediately and use of domestic oil within one year of TODAY. Develop the EXISTING technology for alternative fuels so that we can actually use them, and in the meantime, build some nuclear power plants. Anyone who doubts that the money for this exists can kiss my @$$. Its all being spent in Iraq. This is how Al Gore should be talking... not his prissy bull shit. ACT NOW ppl. 

P.S. My new Japanese roommate, who once lived in Washington DC, claims to have been the neighbor of none other than Al Gore. 

---------------------------------------------------------------

The Grammy Awards/ gathering of the worlds most ridiculous people (with few exceptions of not brain dead attendees) 

What a fucking loser this guy is. 

"It would be in good taste to stop the music."

- Kanye's words to the orchestra as he gave an acceptance speech at the Grammy's. 

This asshole wouldn't know what taste OR music was I ripped off his hideous sun glasses and showed him myself.

I just don't get it. No human being with the gift of sight can deny that this guy is good looking while Fergie will forever be, at her best, gross.

More Pics From The Weekend

\/\/\/\/\/San Giorgio from La Giudecca\/\/\/\/\/

\/\/\/\/\/From the Belfry of San Giorgio\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

\/\/\/\/the fallen angel\/\/\/\/\/\/

Just a few more pictures from my sightseeing this weekend. Today, Monday, I am going to go on a walk with the school and explore the old ghetto. 

San Giorgio and La Giudecca

\/\/\/\/\/\/Basilica di San Giorgio\/\/\/\/\/

\/\/\/\/\/\/Isola di San Giorgio from San Marco\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/near the Canal Grande\/\/\/\/\/

I had a whole trip planned for Saturday but I slept late so I have to do it next week. What I did instead was grocery shop and roam around. I was in search of a particular restaurant that I read about in Let’s Go Europe on a Budget. I couldn’t find it because on the map in the book it is improperly identified. I later found it on the map according to the directions that the book gives and it is nowhere near where they have it on the map. The book contradicts itself. Anyway the roaming was successful because by the end of the day I found a wine shop that a friend had told me about. This man makes his own wine, about 20 different kinds, red and white, and then sells them in his store. When you tell him what kind of wine you want he just fills up an empty water bottle from the barrel of the wine you selected. It is dirt cheap and really good. Less that 3 euros for 1.5 liters.

This morning, Sunday February 10, I went to mass at the Basilica di San Marco. I was told, and then saw for myself, that the best way to see the incredible churches is to go to Sunday mass. You can sit down and look at everything, you can hear the organ and/or choir (if there is one), and there is no rush because a service takes at least an hour. As you can imagine, the church was beautiful. The entire ceiling and top portion of the walls is mosaics all with a background of solid gold tiles. The whole time I was hoping that one little gold tile would fall off the ceiling into my hands. Then I had to contemplate if I would pawn it for cash or keep it as a memento. I determined that I would need to take into consideration its cash value in order to make the best decision. The organ and choir were very nice to hear and will probably draw me back for another service. There were a lot of priests but only three of them handed out the body of Christ for communion. One of these guys had to be AT LEAST 300 years old. He couldn’t walk down the steps from the altar on his own and you could see his entire body struggling every time he had to lift one single communion wafer. Anyway, there is a concert tonight at the basilica featuring the music of Johan Sebastian Bach. Bach for short I think. I am planning on attending. Between the mass and now, I did a little sightseeing. Unfortunately it was cold out with a brutal wind. Such conditions are not ideal. I figured that I should tackle the city by area and see all the sights of one area at a time. *** Venice proper is made up of six sestieri or sections, San Marco, Castello, Cannaregio, San Polo, Santa Croce (where I live), and Dorsoduro. But the lagoon is filled with many more islands, for instance Murano and The Lido, that make up the total 118 that compose Venice.*** Today I visited the island of San Giorgio and the honorary seventh sestieri, La Giudecca. Isola di San Giorgio is home to the church of San Giorgio Maggiore and the accompanying Benedictine monastery, established year 982, and learning center. The church is one of Venice’s most recognizable landmarks. (The islands I visited today have extensive and interesting histories/futures of which I will highlight some of the things I found interesting.) In 1800, Isola di San Giorgio hosted the conclave that elected Pope Pius VII, after the cardinals had been expelled from Rome by Napoleon. The church houses one of Tintoretto’s Last Supper’s. Venice is home to seven painting by the artist on this subject alone. The church also has a bell tower from which it is said one can view the city best. On the top of the bell tower, or belfry, used to stand a huge statue of an angel. The statue was struck by lightning in 1993 and now lives inside the church. ***Because of Venice’s imminent demise due to abuse by tourists and the money hording people who cater to them, as well as the incident involving this statue, since 1993 Venice has often been referred to as the City of Falling Angels. Other than global warming, one of the factors that contributes most to the sinking of Venice is the huge, deep and vast dredging of the lagoon that was done to allow large ocean liners to sail there. These have destroyed the natural salt marshes and sea beds of the area and cause sea water to flow into the lagoon in amounts higher than the city can handle.*** La Giudecca was also a very interesting island. One possible origin of the islands name is that it used to be a place of exile for people who had been judged. Those people were called giudicati. Michelangelo moped around on this island when he was banished from Florence. Shaped like a gondola, it has a MUCH more modern feel than almost anywhere else in Venice. Although it is also home to grandiose pallazzi of for instance Elton John and Giorgio Armani, many of the old factories and storehouses that used to operate on this island have been turned into modern hotels and housing. There isn’t a huge amount of stuff to see on the island other than two churches that I visited and a few other interesting places… but I wanted to start of easy which is why I chose to visit La Giudecca and San Giorgio.

i really want to keep the photos on my blog but it takes soo long that my battery is almost dead. i will upload more tomorrow...