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. 

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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...

 

Sprizz

Today was a good day but not so much that I can write about because the good parts were simply hanging out with people… not something that can be easily or accurately recounted with any justice to the actual occurrences. Blah blah blah.

School is still good and will, in the future, only be written about when that situation changes or something special happens. I don’t want my blog to simply read “school was good” everyday. More blah blah blah.

After school, one of my classmates asked me to have lunch with her and we ended up eating together with four other people. It was fun and not terribly expensive. I feel horrible that I am constantly talking about money so this is my confession to get it all out!!! I am poor and I’m okay with it!

After lunch I sat in the computer room of school. Did some research, my homework, some chatting, some emailing, some blogging, some bull shit and so forth. One of the drinks of choice for the Venetians is called a Sprizz or Spritz. It contains proseco, sparkling water, and one to two liquors: aperol or campari. It's not bad. In the evening, most of the same people from lunch went out for a few drinks (including i sprizz), had a good time, and retired to their respective domiciles. Pictures soon. Maybe a video... 

Seacrest out

Speaking of Seacrest, some interesting idol updates would be much appreciated. 

So Far In Venice

In response to Alli's comment/question, it got sunny in Venice on Tuesday. 

Until today I have had mixed feelings about the ongoing experience. But I have realized and determined that any negative or apprehensive thoughts I may have had are now eliminated after a bit of adjusting and finally meeting new people. Let me recap everything (actually only some stuff) from the beginning. 

I arrived in Venice on Thursday, January 30^th. Basically that day I went immediately to sleep. But not before meeting my roommates. The way it works here is this program specializes in one month Italian language education. So, while I am here for four months, other students will come and go. Anyway, when I arrived there were two other students living in my apartment. Joan from Australia and Kiko from Japan. Both very nice women of approximately 50 years of age. Yes, I know. It is strange for me to be sharing an apartment and a bathroom with two middle aged women but imagine how strange it must be for them. When I arrived, Joan was just finishing her month at the school but she and I walked to school together on Friday because she has class and I had orientation. We stopped and she bought me breakfast at my new favorite place in the f*@%ing world. I don’t understand how a cookie can taste so good. 

The orientation session was just me. *** That is my favorite aspect about this school as opposed to other study abroad programs. It is very personal and one-on-one. There are maximum 70 students in the entire school. Most of the staff already knows my name.*** My orientation was guided by one of the teachers who’s name I have forgotten. But I will soon remember it and then devote an entire post to this woman because she was incredible. She showed me around the school, Campo Santa Margherita (where the school is located), and other important stores and places in the neighborhood. 

So that takes us to the weekend… The final weekend of Carnevale. It was pretty cool. The parties in Piazza San Marco were not terribly exciting; rather they were touristy and ended early. The parties in the smaller campi had better performances, lasted longer and were frequented by local Venetians and people from the surrounding towns on the mainland. Basically they were better parties because it wasn’t just a bunch of drunk American bitches. ***BTW there is only one piazza in Venice, Piazza San Marco. Every other square is a campo (plural = campi)*** 

I started class on Monday. I have two Italian classes every day. 9-11 with Elisa and 11:20-1 with Rosanna. Both are super nice and I like the other students. After class each day I go online because as of now, school is the only place I can access the internet. Many students stay after class to do the same thing and this is where and when one can socialize. This is how I met the few people who I’m sorta friendlier with at the moment. It’s good J. 

Every afternoon, the school organizes an activity for the students in the city. Today was the first day I attended one. It was just a guided walk from school to the Rialto but a lot of the information was interesting and it was more time to get to know peeps. Also today I had to submit my “permit of stay” to the officials at the post office. What a mess that shit was. The Italians are, without question, the most beautifully disorganized people in the world. It seems to me that we are approaching the end of Kiko’s stay here because she just gave me a beautiful postcard from Japan as a gift. Oh, Joan was replaced by Jo. She is an author from Denmark and also very nice. 

Ciao

P.S. everything I write is apx one day delayed because I write at night in my apartment and post in the morning at school. 

/\/\ gift from Kiko/\/\

Carnevale

I don't think I can describe Carnevale so I'll just but a bunch of pictures...

Milano

This happened on January 31^st. The post is so late because my internet access in Venice is limited to Monday thorough Friday, before 5 o’clock. There are plenty of internet points but I refuse to pay for it so am using the WiFi at school. But this post is about Milan…

I only had one day to see the city and I was doing it alone and in the rain. I went with Nicola because his metro stop for work is very close to the Duomo. It was an interesting commute. No Italian suburbanite drives into a city; a lesson that we Americans should learn and follow. Comparisons of Milan to NYC are partially accurate, but Milan is not nearly as big. One similarity I noticed is that around 3 o’clock, Italian teens crowded outside the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II hoping to be on TV or called up to the studio for TRL. It was just as pathetic as it is in Times Square. (I can’t bad talk TRL without admitting that I have been… twice. Shout out to Kate and Rich!!!!) The city is very cosmopolitan and doesn’t try to hide it behind centuries of art like other Italian cities do. Still, the art and the history exist. The city is centered around the Duomo, the third largest church in the world, and surrounded by landmarks of Italian and European history. For instance on one side of the city is Il Castello Sforzesco, a 12^th century castle built as a defense against Venice, and on the other side is the one time home of Napoleon, where he lived while Milan was the capitol of his Kingdom. The city is also the fashion capitol of the world, with posh designer shops throughout as well as home to a colossal football stadium and enormous Stazione Centrale (central train station). I think the city of Milan was perfectly reflected in my visit to the Chiesa di Santa Maria Della Grazie. Attached to the church is the refectory that houses Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper and until February 16^th, Andy Warhol’s version of the same painting. It was pretty moving to view da Vinci’s Ultime Cene at the same time as Warhol’s Last Supper and as I mentioned, I think it was symbolic of Milan’s integration of old and new. 

**Travel Tip** If you are going to Milan and want to see the Last Supper, call and reserve a spot for the tour. It’s the only way you can see it. I was lucky that there was a cancellation. Other than that one ticket, they were sold out for 2 weeks (I got the last ticket to the Last Supper).

 

Then I met Nicola at his office and got a first hand viewing of how the Italians work. One man was watching movies on YouTube, another was playing Pinball, everyone else was on AIM or something but nobody was doing any work…? I will never understand how this place can sustain it’s self as a country with such a laid back lifestyle. We had dinner out, Chiara, Donato, Nicola, and me. It was mostly seafood and a lot of wine and very delicious. The next day, I left Milan and arrived in Venice. 

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