Happy New Year!

Hokey, so an update--PAris kinda sucked, Cinque Terre was beautiful, I'm in Firenze, and my family seems to be trying especially hard to piss me off.





Okay, well I've already talked more than enough about Paris so we'll skip that and go to Cinque Terre--I'm so happy that people had recommended going there to me. Unfortunately, one day it rained, so going during the summer would have nicer weather, but I was pleased that there weren't very many tourists. Everyone liked some aspect of the towns, but the entire family complained about how there was nothing to do. I don't understand why we need to be running around all the time. Thankfully, one night we all drank a bit too much wine and so I wasn't quite as irritated by them.





Now Firenze--we've been here for like 12 hours, so I don't have much to write about yet. But the New Years celebration happened a few minutes ago (and actually some fireworks are still going off). It was amazing. Even though I live so close to S.F. I've never done anything for New Years other than going to friends' parties. I really wish that I had gone out to the bars, but Kyle doesn't drink and Brian can be really embarrassing, and I wasn't about to go by myself. Anyways--our hotel is on the Arno river-right where the fireworks are set off. So they were flying around from all angles. The blasts from the fireworks rang throughout the city. It really sounded like it was under seige. I like how the Italians celebrate. I'm already trying to think of ways to just move here. Oh, which brings up the whole language-barrier thing. So, I'm doing alright. I was able to figure out the train reservation issue with this guy who spoke absolutely no English AND I've been approached by a couple (mind you far less than in Paris) of people asking me questions in Italian--AND far more exciting, I have been able to answer them--perhaps with imperfect grammar, but well enough. The downside of knowing a bit of the language--I am now everyone's go to person for translations. And they are trying to get me to translate things like food and toiletries. Those arn't the kind of things you learn in the first couple of chapters of an Italian textbook and I keep on telling them that, but I get badgered every couple of hours on words that I already said I didn't know. Oh, and I left my dictionary in California, oops! I'll go buy a new one tomorrow.






Last thing is something I just remembered. And this was in all seriousness--when in France Brian read a sign for restaurante and asked, "What, is that like French for restroom?" ...and I'm related to him. My god.


I'm gonna try to post pictures tomorrow or the day after. Also, I'm gonna start downloading pictures from Kyle's & Dad's cameras onto my snapfish account so that you guys can see more than just landscape shots.


Sarah

Paris

So, the first day we went to the Louvre, but whereas Kyle and I went to cafe and grabbed a quick lunch the rest of the family decided to have a sit down lunch that took nearly 2 hours. So, by the time they got out we would have only have a few hours at the Louvre, and so we left. Then walked down to the Effile Tower. I was smart enough not to climb up the damn thing. I read in a guide book that it was created for a World's Fair. And a couple of years after the fair, the French wanted to tear it down. BUT they realized that the top of the tower was the perfect spot to put radio antennas. So, they kept it.

The next day was Christmas and everything was closed. Mom and I headed up towards Notre Dame and got the worst meal I've had in a very long time. I didn't know what I was ordering...but I ended up eating a tuna quiche. Now, I like raw tuna but cooked tuna is foul. And that shit was stuck in my teeth all day.

Today we went back to the Louvre. It was underwhelming. Especially after the British museum. The Monna Lisa isn't impressive. I've taken many art classes, and a number of them have spent significant time talking about her, and I still don't understand why people think she's so great. A lot of the paintings were by renaissance French artists, but I've never really been all that into the French art movements besides impressionism, which they had absolutely none of. There were a couple of pieces by Giovanna Paolo Paninni that I really liked. And there was a statue of Cupid and Psyche that was moving. But the rest blew.

Tomorrow we head back up to Notre Dame and then on to Musee d'Orsay (post-impressionist, impressionist, and modern). I'm really excited for both. Then tomorrow evening we take a sleeper to Monterosso (the most northern town of Cinque Terre). I'm excited to be back in a country where at least I can understand a few phrases and where I'll actually know what food I'm ordering.

Now, to leave you all with an amusing story. So, on our first outing to the Louvre we had to walk through a park to get to the Louvre. On this stretch to the Louvre stood a bunch of vendors trying to sell their junk plastic Effile Towers and people trying to scam dumb tourists. I walked past--Kyle didn't. I turned around and noticed him standing with a guy wrapping floss (the kind you use to make friendship bracelets) around his fingers. So I went back. The guy is really friendly--we tell him we are from California he tells us he's from Kenya. Besides that he's gonna demand money for that piece of crap bracelet he is making, he's enjoyable enough to be around, and not yet strange. But then he asked Kyle if I was his wife or his girlfriend. Kyle: "Neither, she's my sister." Kenyan: "Oh, well, she's sexy. Very sexy." And from there the awkwardness ensued. wherever there was a break in the conversation or an awkward pause he'd let out a little "Hakunamatata" or "Boom-jiggy-jiggy, sex machine!". Then he comes over to me to make me a bracelet. Before I can protest he's already hooked the damn thing on my finger.
Kenyan: "So, you have boyfriend?"
Me: "No."
Kenyan: "Oh, then girlfriend. Lesbian!!"
Me: "No, not lesbian."
Kenyan: "But you are from California!! So lesbian!"
...then after all this strangeness the guy tried to demand 5 euros for these bracelets that had about 10 cents of material in them. I gave him 1.20 and told him that was all we had. He was not pleased. Oh, well.

I'm not really sure how this works. But I made the group room's code "travel".

Let me know if this isn't working for you. I've never used the program before.

sarahstravels.snapfish.com/snapfish

London

Kyle and the character he played in his production of Nicholas Nickleby.

So, my family and I arrived in London on Wednesday evening. In the last couple of days I have seen many of London's most famous landmarks: the Tower of London, Big Ben, the Eye, the Houses of Parliament, the British museum, Harrod's, Buckingham Palace, and Sir Ian Mckellen's penis. Yes, that's right, I saw Magneto's penis...jealous much? Why/how you ask? We went and saw King Lear tonight and well, Lear went so mad that he just decided to take off his clothes. Of course my mom slept through that part and has been asking nasty questions about the details ever since.

London has been fun. Earlier today my mom and I went for afternoon tea. It was ridiculously expensive. But was a nice experience. Oh, and I've tried to take up sketching again. Thus far, not so pretty. But I haven't really been all that into sketching since like sophomore year of high school, so maybe the little skill I had will come back...Fortunately, I have been able to get away from my family a bit (since they often drive me crazy). Kyle and I have decided to be best friends this trip which has been nice. Ewww...and Brian is being even more disgusting then usual, or maybe I'm just noticing it more. Of course he never showers or changes his clothes (and when he does they are always inside-out). But he has also been running around doing fake British accents, belching, and being loud. I'm not really sure I want to travel with him ever again. I like the idea of trying to respect others' culture. Whereas, I don't really think he does.

Tomorrow we wake up early, head of to King's Cross (and therefore platform 9 3/4!!!!) and then onto Paris. I know like 3 phrases in French (and one of them is "I am a mustache") and that's about the most that any of us know. I have the feeling I'm going to have to be the one who talks to everyone. I feel bad about butchering their language. But at least I'm gonna try, right?

I'll upload my photos to my Snapfish account in the next couple of days and post the link soon.

S

Testing, testing, 1-2-3.

Alright, so this is an experiment. Will I continue to update this blog? Well, we'll find out.


The whole idea of this blog is to share my experiences of traveling and studying abroad. I will be studying everything Roman (well kind of--art, architecture, etc) for ~ 5 months in Rome. Prior to this, I will travel for a month with my family to London, Paris, the Alps (to ski), Cinque Terre (I think we are staying in Monterosso), Firenze, Venècia, and end in Roma. After my studies end in early May, I will travel all over Europe with my good friend (CORRECTION: Emily was upset that I only called her my good friend instead of my best friend, so now, just pretend that it reads "with my bestee testee Emily") Emily for a month and a half. Hopefully we'll run into some other friends along the way (this means you, Will!).

I've been to Rome once before, for about a week. I fell in love with the city then, but put it out of my mind for a couple of years. Then I took Hendrick's classics course on ancient Rome at UCSC and had this huge urge to go back. I was learning about these interesting and amazing things and just wanted to see them in person again. That's what drew me to this program. One day in class, I will be learning about something, for example the pantheon or the forum. And the next time the class meets, it'll be for a field trip at these places.

These classes won't benefit me in the slightest, none of my credits will go to my major. But really, I just like to learn and this seems like an amazing educational opportunity. I'm a bit nervous though, because the classes are supposed to be quite hard. And in all honesty, I know next to nothing about Roman art.

Before even getting there, I know I'm gonna fall in love with Rome and not want to leave. I'm not looking forward to culture shock, but I'm so ready to get out of Santa Cruz. I've never lived outside of California. I'm ready for something new. I'm terrified, but I'm ready. I have so many goals for this experience. I want it to help me grow, become more independent, more self-assured, I want to learn a new language, become friends with Italians (as well as make some new friends in the UC system), learn now to cook better, and learn about the Italian culture. I want this experience to be the beginning of my life as a world traveler. I'm afraid I won't have enough money to ever travel as extensively as I'd like to, but there are some many places I want to go, and so many things I want to do. I hope this will give me the confidence to follow my travel dreams. I need to prove to myself that I can live somewhere else. I need to prove to myself that I don't need a crutch. I need to stop relying so heavily on my family for support, I need to find strength in myself. And since I'm going to be so far away, I think the independence I long for will be achievable. It will be interesting reading this in 8 months from now and seeing how much I do change.

Anyways, I leave on my flight to London on the 18th of December. That's a week away. I'm freaking out. I'm so excited and nervous and scared all at the same time. Well, hopefully this all will be the amazing adventure I long for it to be.

Sarah