Un Petite Update

I know it has been ages since my last post, but like a genius I left my camera on the train coming home from Milan and didnt want to post without pictures. But my new camera has arrived so here I go!

Life in Aix is pretty simple right now, I am getting into a rhythm and it definitely feels like home. School is getting more and more boring, basically all I want to do is move to the Alps and go skiing! But the tests are hard and long. I took a theatre test last week that was as hard as a test I would have taken in english! And I have another test tomorrow morning that I am probably not prepared enough for, but oh well.

The weather has been amazing. Blue skies everyday and mostly warm during the day. It gets really cold at night time though which is a good sign that winter is actually coming. But Christmas is already here. This town is so lit up at night time it is gorgeous. Pictures and explanation to come.

I have plans to go to London with my roommate Kinvara for Christmas and New Years and I am very excited about that. She has a very large family so it should be a great time.

For now that is all. I will write more and add pictures later. Bonne nuit!

Arrivaderci Milan

So my very late night turned into a later morning wake up that I had to rush to check out in time. I walked to the train station with the two guys from the night before (I dont even remember their names...) and we parted with hugs and kisses like old friends.

 On my own again, I stowed my bags in central station and went back to the Duomo to explore it my way. Guide book in hand I spent an hour in, around, and on top of the Duomo. It is a seriously impressive piece of work that 500 years to build. It is the 4th largest cathedral in Europe, built to hold 40,000 worshippers. It has thousands of statues on the outside and inside and has 52 hundred foot tall pillars to represent the weeks in the year.

 The Piazza del Duomo would have been beautiful, but the massive statue of Victor Emmanuel was hidden under construction tape, the weather wasnt great, and the number of Africans trying to tie bracelets around your wrists is awful. Along with the disgusting pigeons and Arabs who grab your hand, put seeds in it, watch as the pigeons land on you and you giggle and scream, and then demand money. Thankfully I was not one of those people, I managed to avoid the pigeons and the harassing men, but viewed all of it.

  There was mass going on inside which was great to see, there were probably 1,000 worshippers plus as many tourists, but it was beautiful. The roof is the real beauty though. Up about 1000 stairs, you come out into what looks like a stone forest. The spires, buttresses, gargoyles, and statues were so impressive. And the view of the city was great as well, I just wish it was better weather (it was a bit foggy). 

 From the Duomo I walked down the Via Dante to the Sforza Castle. There is very little auto traffic in the center of Milan and many of the streets are pedestrian only, like that one. I got a gelato and walked through the castle. It is a massive accomplishment of brick which was once the city gate, then the Sforza castle, then a place to house foreign soldiers, and now a building of museums.

There are 14 museums inside the castle! One of them holds Michelangelo’s unfinished pieta which I could have paid to see, but I didnt. Instead I walked around the castles huge grounds, the equivalent to Milan’s central park and admired the thousands of knockoff purses, wallets, flying toy helicopters and other worthless memorabilia that are on display wherever tourists flock. I wish I could have gone outside city center a bit, but I had a train to catch to Villefranche which I am now currently on. And I cant believe I just wrote all that because it took about 3 hours. And now I only have 20 mins left until Vintemiglia. Ciao!

Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween! At first I was nervous when I thought I would be spending Halloween alone in Milan, but instead I spent Halloween with 3 foreign girls (Sarah, Maya, and Shen Shen) in Lake Como. There are 4 lakes north of Milan, Lake Como, Lake Lugano, Lake Maggiore, and Lake Orta. The first 3 are huge, I mean they make Tahoe look like a pond. Lake Como is over 30 miles long but very thin. They all border Switzerland and the Alps. Lake Como has tons of little villages up and down its shores. It has three legs, like a peace sign. 

Only an hour ride from Milan, the train dropped us off in Como where we caught another hour long ferry up the lake to Bellagio. It was a very enjoyable ride on the lake and tons to see. There are beautiful homes from the 18th century (including Richard Branson’s and George Clooney’s) and every village is precious.

 I thought every town was cuter than the last until I got to Bellagio and completely fell in love. The houses and shops and streets and cafes were all amazing. Out of everywhere I have been so far, I could see myself living there the most, probably because its so similar to Tahoe. An hour from Milan, an hour from skiing, and stunning.

You can see the Alps in the distance and the mountains jut out of the lake. And the color!!! We were so lucky to be there in the fall because all of the leaves were different colors. Ivy completely lining the narrow cobblestone paths were 10 different colors.

The views and the people, awww, it was amazing. We just walked and explored, the stores with the scarves and silks were my favorite, and had lasagna and local wine for lunch. Since we got a bit of a later start than planned... we had to get back on the ferry at 5:30.

  It was very cold and mountainous and they were giving away roasted chestnuts and spiced hot wine right in front of the port. We bundled up and enjoyed every minute of the ferry ride to Varenna.

We would have loved to explore Varenna, but it was freezing and dark and we had an hour train ride back to Milan.  Once home we changed and got ready for Halloween on the town.  Since none of had costumes, we made due with makeup. I wore a mustache:)

We went back to the neighborhood along the canals because we were told the bars wouldn't have a cover. Apparently some of the Discotheque’s had €25 entrance fees! We started out back at the StraRipa again and were greeted with kisses and free shots from the waiters from the night before. We stayed there for a long time because they were all dressed up and the place was decorated and the music was so much fun. The music they play in clubs in Europe is hilarious. It would never be played in the States. Its a cross between oldies, euro club music, 80s and 90s super over played songs, and songs I’ve never heard of. We danced and drank and ate and it was super fun. But we wanted to see more so we kept going to another bar which was in a boat on the canal.

This one was full of very young people dressed in witches hats smoking cigarettes. I think that Italian youth think that halloween means witches because literally every other person was dressed as one. Meaning the girls were wearing very skimpy black outfits with heels and a witches hat. But hey, they tried. I was actually blown away by the number of people that did dress up, there were quite a few. Not even comparable to the US but it was better than nothing. It was very late but our goal was to stay out until 4 so that Sarah could go straight to the train station for her 5:30 flight back to Paris. And we did.

We caught a taxi from the canals to the train station to drop her off then back to the hostel. When we got back, a German and Guatemalan guy were having a couple bottles of wine on the back deck, so I joined them for a bit and we talked and laughed as strangers who dont speak the same language do. Once again it was a combination of English, Spanish, French, hand gestures, and alcohol. I am figuring out that I might speak a universal language better than I think. It is so fun to communicate this way and amazing when you figure out that you can actually understand each other. Language is beautiful, and very confusing. 

Off to Milan

Anja had to catch a 5:30 am train to milan to get to her plan on time so Emilee and I slept in a little and cleaned the house before leaving. We were sad saying by to Sestri, even though the trains had been infuriating and we didnt have much to do, it is a beautiful small town that felt familiar after 3 days. I would love to go back in the summer and really get to experience it. The train ride was easy enough, we chatted with the old man and his wife who told us the history of Milan and Genova in a mix of English, French, and Italian. Everyone speaks another language here so thankfully I can get by asking people “Ingles? Francais?” And they will most likely answer in one of them. 

 Emilee had a train from central station at 4 and we arrived around 2:15 so we quickly got on the metro to the Duomo. Neither one of us had ever been to Milan but we figured out where we wanted to go. We walked around the Duomo for a few minutes and then explored the outrageous shops of the Gallery Victor Emmanuel.  The most beautiful shops are flanked by the most incredible cafes, none of which were even close to our price range.

  By this time it was time to say goodbye to Emilee and she went back to central station, which I might add is absolutely beautiful. The prettiest station I have been to in Europe yet.

 So there I was! Once again alone with all my bags, but this time I had no where to go... Since we didnt have internet and I only decided to come to Milan on a whim, I didnt have a hostel. Thankfully one of the cafes in the Piazza del Duomo had wifi so I was able to sit there and surf the internet for the first time all week. It really is weird being so disconnected from the world like that, especially since I had no phone or anything. I checked my emails and lollygogged not realizing it was getting darker outside. When I finally looked up, I panicked to see that it was sunset and I had no hotel, no map, and darkness. I did not want to walk around Milan alone at night. So I picked the first hostel that came up on the webpage, wrote down directions, and hightailed it to the metro. It was easy enough to follow the directions of where to get off and which streets to walk down, but when I came to the cross streets, the house number was no where in site. I must have walked down the street it was on three times before asking an old woman walking by if she knew it. She only spoke french and had never heard of the hostel before. At this point I was panicking because I hadnt passed anything even close to a hotel on my walk there. I asked if she knew where there was free internet or wifi but instead, she invited me into her house to use her computer. She lived right around the corner with her super old mom that she took care of. She let me into her house and on her computer where she recognized the picture of the building the hostel was in and walked me there. She was so nice and I was so absolutely appreciative I didnt know what to do. It was great.

 So I made it to the hostel which thankfully had room because I didnt have a reservation. Ciao Bella Milan is in the student neighborhood and the hostel is run by international students. An American answered the door and 2 Aussies checked me in, and was I happy to hear English. Italian is hard! I was hungry but I didnt want to spend my whole trip to Milan alone so I walked upstairs to the girl dorm and asked the 4 girls inside if they wanted to join me. Turned out, they were about to go to the bars and have dinner and invited me along. Only 2 of them knew each other, Sarah (German working in Paris) and Maya (Canadian working in Paris). The other two, Anita (Austrian working in Switzerland) and Shen Shen (Singaporean studying in Sweden) just happened to be traveling at that time and agreed to come out as well.

 So we all took the metro to the neighborhood of canals. Milan is home to the Aperitivo, which means that in most of the bars, if you buy a drink for €7-10 then you get to eat at the buffet. The food ranges from cold cuts and cheese at some places to lasagna, pizza, pasta, bread, and meat at others. We luckily found a good place and had a buffet of pasta, salad, pizza, potatoes, and dessert with a cocktail for €8. Its a great idea, super cheap, and delicious. The canals are lined with bars, art studios, and antique shops which were closed at night. Its one of the oldest neighborhoods in Milan and very historically important for transportation. The girls were all very nice and it was great to go out and get to know them.

We went to another bar along the canals called StraRipa. It looked inviting and had live jazz music. The waiters inside were all so nice and the bar gives out play do when you get a drink. What a great idea, give people alcohol and let them play with silly puddy. It was great. We ended up making dice out of the play do and playing drinking games with them. The staff got a kick out of that because they had never seen anyone actually play with the dice they made. It was a really fun night and we ended up having to take the tram back to central station at 3 am and walking 30 mins from there... I was very happy.