18 May 2009
Travel Time
So my friend, Tammy, is coming to Europe. I worked with her at Red Robin. Her mom surprised her and her sister with a graduation present: trip to Geneva, Switzerland. It is only a 4 hour train ride from Milan, so I am going up there tomorrow. I have another friend who actually lives in Geneva, so I will be staying at her house. Another friend, Cat (the one I took to Turkey) will be arriving on Tuesday. Then, Wednesday, I will be following Cat back to her house in Chambery, France. Then, either Thursday or Friday, I will head back to Milan. Its really nice to have friends all over the world. Makes for cheap traveling. Anyways, expect pictures sometime this weekend.
13 May 2009
Big Adventure
So today, I went on a mission with two of my roommates. The mission: find bagels and cheesecake.
I saw an ad for a place called California Bakery. It was promoting a new addition to the menu: Philadelphia cream cheese. Needless to say...I was in the mood for a little taste of America. So, we set off.
We took the bus from our house to the metro (a normal, daily activity). Then, we got off the at the metro stop that happens to be where the US Consulate is, so I know it quite well... We had to find another bus, so I asked the Consulate police. I am pretty sure they remembered me. We finally found the bus stop, and waited (and took some pictures).
We got to the Bakery and literally "oooh"-ed and "ahh"-ed. Among various other items, we saw pancakes, chocolate pie, double chocolate cake, banana chocolate cake, chocolate pear pie, cheery pie, etc... There were also quiches, sandwiches and hamburgers. Even though the goal of this trip was bagels, none of us got bagels... There was a delicious looking sandwich which we all got a piece of, along with some sort of chocolate dessert.
The sandwich had fresh mozzarella, tomatos, eggplant, lettuce, and pesto. It was very, very tastey. I think I ate it too quickly, but it was just so delicious. I also had a piece of chocolate pie, which I must say pailed in comparison to Ukrops chocolate fudge pie. I was a bit disappointed, I have to admit.
So after we had lunch, we decided to try and do a little suovenir shopping. For those of you who do not know, Milano is not a very touristy city. The stereotypical Italian tourist stuff just can not be found here. Makes life a little hard for those of us who cannot afford to travel all over Italy.
Anyways, we headed to the most touristy spot available, the Duomo. There are usually little kiosks selling fake jerseys and Venetian masks and such. I was going to buy some key chains, but...they were 3 Euro a piece (about 5 dollars). I am hoping I can find cheaper else where.Needless to say, souvenir shopping failed, so we resorted to the next best thing. Shopping for ourselves... I finally splurged and bought a pair of shoes. They happen to be bright yellow and I attract a lot of attention, or I attract more attention than I normally do, but they are totally worth it. I decided that since I missed out on the ticket to America, I could stand to spend a few dollars on a new pair of shoes.
We also decided to play in the sculpture near the Duomo. There are lots of mirrors in there. Makes for great photo opportunities.
In other news, I have one more exam and then I am done for the semester. I have not heard anything new about the internship. Hopefully I will know something in another week or so.
03 May 2009
Sunny Days in the Countryside
So yesterday I spent the day in the countryside, about 100 km outside of Milano. I went to my friend's house, the same friend who took us to Sardinia. So I woke up really early, met my friends, and rode through the country. We finally arrived and needless to say, I was once again shocked by the beauty of the house and the landscape. We pulled into a dirt/gravel driveway, came to an iron gate that opened for us, and parked the car in front of a water tower... Yes, they have their own water tower.
The house looked like a mini castle thanks to the castle tower in the front. Part of the house actaully was designed to look like a castle tower. You can climb up to the top and everything. So after the initial shock of the front of the house, we walked to the back. Bigger shock. The house is on top of a hill, and below is farmland. Theres a pool over looking the farm... Ridiculous. Just ridiculous. You can see all the pictures here:
PICTURES
There are also a few videos.
So we sat around waiting for lunch to be prepared, ate, and then Arseniy and I decided to go for a drive.. We took our friend's keys and took one Italian with us, then just drove through the Italian countryside. Yeh. It was awesome. Totally renting a car soon.
Then, after returning, we all put on bathing suits and sat around the pool. The girls got in, but I only made it up to the arms. The water was a bit cold..
So the afternoon was spent laying in the sun, reading, sleeping, etc. Then, dinner. Grilled peppers, steaks, and roasted potatoes followed by homemade almond gelato. Yeh...delicious.
This is us waiting for dinner:
The house looked like a mini castle thanks to the castle tower in the front. Part of the house actaully was designed to look like a castle tower. You can climb up to the top and everything. So after the initial shock of the front of the house, we walked to the back. Bigger shock. The house is on top of a hill, and below is farmland. Theres a pool over looking the farm... Ridiculous. Just ridiculous. You can see all the pictures here:
PICTURES
There are also a few videos.
So we sat around waiting for lunch to be prepared, ate, and then Arseniy and I decided to go for a drive.. We took our friend's keys and took one Italian with us, then just drove through the Italian countryside. Yeh. It was awesome. Totally renting a car soon.
Then, after returning, we all put on bathing suits and sat around the pool. The girls got in, but I only made it up to the arms. The water was a bit cold..
So the afternoon was spent laying in the sun, reading, sleeping, etc. Then, dinner. Grilled peppers, steaks, and roasted potatoes followed by homemade almond gelato. Yeh...delicious.
This is us waiting for dinner:
After dinner, we filled the car and headed back to Milano. I finally got back home around 12:40. I was really tired, but it was a great day.
I got to watch the sun set over Italian countryside. Mhmm. My life is grand.
My friend invited us back so I am sure this is not my last trip to the countryside. :D
I got to watch the sun set over Italian countryside. Mhmm. My life is grand.
My friend invited us back so I am sure this is not my last trip to the countryside. :D
Sunny Days
So we finally got some sunshine here in Milano. On Friday a few friends and I went to the park and lay in the sun for hours. It was a nice relaxing day.
My friend decided to take some pictures:
See the bug on the blade of grass? Its really out of focus...
You can kind of see the red on my face...
I have a feeling that visits to the park will be a staple event in the next few weeks. Classes are over on Thursday, with my first exam that night. The other two exams are the following week, then I am done.
Interview tomorrow...Will update as soon as I know anything.........
30 April 2009
Finally have my wallet back, sort of...
Today, I received my new bank and credit cards. As most of you know already, upon my return from spring break travels, my wallet was stolen. Today, I also went to get a new public transportation card, so its like I have my wallet back, although senza the wallet.
The public transportation system in Milano is extensive and quite efficient, at least most of the time, but sometimes seems a bit faulty. For example, I have a card which I can recharge each month. It costs me 17 Euro for one month, but then I have unlimited rides on all buses, metros and trains within the Milano system. The strange part, however, is that I must carry my receipt as proof that I paid the 17 Euro. My first month here, before I was informed of this information, I threw out my receipt. The next time I rode a train, the transportation police came around to check tickets. I showed my card and he said something in Italian which I did not understand at first. Eventually, I gathered that he was asking to see my receipt. I managed to lie and say it was at home, and the guy was nice enough to let me go without a ticket, but I was lucky. For people who do not have one of these electronic cards, they must buy paper tickets for each time they ride any form of transportation. So for me to go to and come back from school, it technically takes 4 tickets, or 4 Euro. The metro, however, is the only transportation where you have to use a ticket in order to get on (unless you jump over the turn style, which I have seen people do). The trains and buses are basically on an honor system. There is a machine on the bus and at the train station, but a lot of people take the risk and do not use their tickets. Thus, why they have transportation police. I have been taking the risk since I lost my wallet because it was actually cheaper then recharging my card for April again. The monthly recharge on the transportation card goes by the literal month, versus 30 days, so if I had immediately asked for a new card, I would have had to pay 17 Euro for only 2 weeks. Long story short, it was cheaper for me to buy the regular tickets when I needed them instead of recharging a new card. But, now that the first of the month has come, I got my new card (replacement fee of 15 Euro) and charged it (17 Euro) for the month of May. I feel a lot more secure now that I have this card back. Dodging the transportation police is doable, but not exactly easy. These police, however, are what I find faulty about the whole system. It takes a lot of money to pay these guys and it takes very little money to install the ticket machines at the front of the bus and make people get on only in the front.... This is how it works in Turkey. You must get on the bus at the front door and swipe your ticket or pay the fee (some buses have a guy sitting behind a change counter selling the tickets). Why on earth would you pay 1000s of people to patrol the transportation system when you could get rid of them so easily?? I would not have to carry my receipt around either....that would be nice.
Anyways, thats my rant of the day...
One more week of classes here, then 3 exams and my semester is over. Shortest semester EVER.
My interview got rescheduled for Monday due to the fact that tomorrow is Labor Day in Europe, so the Consulate is closed.
No real other news currently. I will try to take some pictures this weekend and post those. Apparently I am going to have lunch with my friend in the 'country' on Saturday. We shall see how that goes. Ciao
The public transportation system in Milano is extensive and quite efficient, at least most of the time, but sometimes seems a bit faulty. For example, I have a card which I can recharge each month. It costs me 17 Euro for one month, but then I have unlimited rides on all buses, metros and trains within the Milano system. The strange part, however, is that I must carry my receipt as proof that I paid the 17 Euro. My first month here, before I was informed of this information, I threw out my receipt. The next time I rode a train, the transportation police came around to check tickets. I showed my card and he said something in Italian which I did not understand at first. Eventually, I gathered that he was asking to see my receipt. I managed to lie and say it was at home, and the guy was nice enough to let me go without a ticket, but I was lucky. For people who do not have one of these electronic cards, they must buy paper tickets for each time they ride any form of transportation. So for me to go to and come back from school, it technically takes 4 tickets, or 4 Euro. The metro, however, is the only transportation where you have to use a ticket in order to get on (unless you jump over the turn style, which I have seen people do). The trains and buses are basically on an honor system. There is a machine on the bus and at the train station, but a lot of people take the risk and do not use their tickets. Thus, why they have transportation police. I have been taking the risk since I lost my wallet because it was actually cheaper then recharging my card for April again. The monthly recharge on the transportation card goes by the literal month, versus 30 days, so if I had immediately asked for a new card, I would have had to pay 17 Euro for only 2 weeks. Long story short, it was cheaper for me to buy the regular tickets when I needed them instead of recharging a new card. But, now that the first of the month has come, I got my new card (replacement fee of 15 Euro) and charged it (17 Euro) for the month of May. I feel a lot more secure now that I have this card back. Dodging the transportation police is doable, but not exactly easy. These police, however, are what I find faulty about the whole system. It takes a lot of money to pay these guys and it takes very little money to install the ticket machines at the front of the bus and make people get on only in the front.... This is how it works in Turkey. You must get on the bus at the front door and swipe your ticket or pay the fee (some buses have a guy sitting behind a change counter selling the tickets). Why on earth would you pay 1000s of people to patrol the transportation system when you could get rid of them so easily?? I would not have to carry my receipt around either....that would be nice.
Anyways, thats my rant of the day...
One more week of classes here, then 3 exams and my semester is over. Shortest semester EVER.
My interview got rescheduled for Monday due to the fact that tomorrow is Labor Day in Europe, so the Consulate is closed.
No real other news currently. I will try to take some pictures this weekend and post those. Apparently I am going to have lunch with my friend in the 'country' on Saturday. We shall see how that goes. Ciao
22 April 2009
Sardegna Pictures
Finally posted the rest of the pictures from Sardegna:
PICTURES
I just added them to the Sardegna album, so you will have to scroll down to find the new ones. Also, don't miss the video of Sam jumping into the ocean. It is the last photo.
I just added them to the Sardegna album, so you will have to scroll down to find the new ones. Also, don't miss the video of Sam jumping into the ocean. It is the last photo.
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