Remember that time we went to Lucca & Siena

We started our first big adventure by missing the first bus to the train station, thanks to the boys that took a little too long to pack after class. Not to worry however, we still made it with time to spare. Trains in Italia are the one thing that I really do not like about this country. I don't understand their system of not checking your ticket until you are on the train or halfway to your destination or they don't check it at all. And the whole "validating" it before you get on. I almost forgot one time and had to sprint before our train left. But our trip to Lucca went surprising very smoothley...unlike our trip home (more to come on that later).
Lucca was just the perfect quiet town. I didn't think Verona was very large, but compared to the places we saw this weekend, we are in a very metropolitan city. It was like getting away from the city for the weekend. We were tired from a full week of school, so we found our hostel, met up with the boys who were in a different hostel, and wandered to try and find somewhere to eat. Lucca is strange in the sense that there were very few options for dinner. We found a quick bite, and decided to stay in for the night. While the guys went and smoked cubans and drank their wine, us girls had a fun night in just chatting and deciding the plan for the next morning.
When we got up in the morning, it was not the first time we had been awoken. We had picked a place that was near what was probably the only commotion of Lucca, and had heard crashing and booming and all sorts of things throughout the night. And it was raining. Not a fantastic start to the day, but we got ready, and headed out to find our bar. I had the best chocolate crossaint (it was glazed and still warm) and was even able to practice my Italian with the man behind the counter. We found a church to wander through (see facebook photos) and explored around Lucca some more. Lucca was once surround completely by water. What is left now are the walls. It is actually a walled city and you have to enter through the walls to get inside. They have turned the tops of walls into somewhat like a walking track where people run, walk their dogs, or just hang out.
Lucca was beautiful and a nice escape, but we were excited to get to a more bustling town. And that is what we found in Siena. With train ease, we made it to Siena. Of course there was a McDonalds in a train station we passed through but of course we didn't have time to stop. My mouth was watering.
In Siena, we saw the other group that had stayed there the night before. They told us what we should do and some sights to be seen. We knew we were in a more happening town when we saw Americans in the train station. They were from Oklahoma University. We found our hostel and the woman who ran it was quite possibly the nicest person we've met thus far. She gave us restaurant recommendations, things we absolutely had to see, and even the things she thought we could skip. We got ready, and made our way to "Nonna's," which means grandmother. I was very excited to eat a really great meal. And that is exactly what I did. We ordered the house wine...of course...and some bruschetta while we waited for the rest of our group. The bruschetta was the best thing I have ever eaten in my entire life. (Nana cookies aside) I had pasta carbonara and it was also delicious. Afterwards, we wandered around to try and find a bar. The one discotecta that we had heard about wasn't open yet, so David and I wandered into a bar right next door while the others waited for it to open. And we made the right decision. We got our local beers, with our student IDs for a discount (Athens, could you do this please?) and headed for the back room where we heard music playing. Some Jimi Hendrix and The Who sung by Italian dudes. It was crazy how much they sounded like the originals but then when they spoke to the crowd, it was in Italian. It was a fun night with the group and I was looking forward to seeing more of Siena the next day. I am going to have to postpone the details of the rest of my weekend until tomorrow. I am way too tired and once you hear about our adventures coming home, you'll understand why I'm turning in for the night. But, I'll leave you with a cliffhanger for tomorrow's blog...seeing someone I know in the Pisa train station (who could it have been you're thinking!; being left at a random train station (I might have been alone, I might not have been), and McDonalds...and some shout outs:
1. Saw THE frat mobile. Yes, Frances, this ones for you. I saw your exact car, totally fratting hard in the streets of Siena.
2. Ang & Kristen: Everyone knows what a ranga is and points them out to me. if only I was quicker with the camera.
3. Mom&Dad: Thanks for sending me here...I'm having the time of my life!
4. Hans: Be thankful you don't live here, or else you would have to wear clothes.

Soave

At 4 we all met down in the lobby, everyone looking quite dapper compared to our 'sleep as late as we can and roll out of bed and head downstairs for Tony's class.' We said hey to Marco (our favorite desk man) and headed to the bus. Our bus was great and it is also the bus we'll be taking for our group trips. Martin took us to a spot where we could see the entire city of Verona from above. It was beautiful to see our city from that view. We didn't have much time there but we now know how to get there on the city bus so we can go back. Martin gave us lots of history on the way there and I am looking forward to hearing more of his random knowledge when we travel to Munich and Salzberg in a few weeks.
When we arrived at the winery in Soave, we were greeted by Sara. She said we would have to bear with her, for her english was not very good. Let me tell you, if I could speak Italian half as good as she spoke English, I would be talking to every Italian and translating for the entire group. It was a very interesting tour. We learned that they export more wine than anywhere else in Europe. In Soave, they specialize in white wine, but because the are so huge, they have other wineries where red is produced. I especially liked how she told us about the sparkling wine. She said it is exactly how they make champagne in France.
After the tour, we were taken to a beautiful dinner and wine tasting. It is so far my favorite meal. We had this incredible pasta, veal, grilled veggies, and tons of appetizers. I like this one appetizer that was a crunchy, break stick type deal wrapped in very thin ham. (Uncle Kevin, shout out to you, you would have loved this. Think Nicole's asparagus wrapped in the bacon stuff, but instead of the healthy asparagus, bread. YUM) We tasted three different wines. A red, a white, and a desert wine. The red was my favorite, and here comes another shout out, Mom&Dad, I have 2 new bottles for your collection. The desert wine was good, but I could only take tiny, tiny sips because it was so sweet.
It was a great night and I enjoyed everyones company. It made me very excited for our group trips. Today, we had Tony's class, but he was nice and didn't start until 8:30 (those 30 minutes were greatly appreciated by everyone). We are going to do a trial run to the train station today in preparation for our trip to Lucca tomorrow. It will help us know where we are going tomorrow since we will be a little crunched for time. Here are a few pics, but check facebook for the entire collection.

Monday 2/22-First Day of Classes

Monday, we had our first day of class, Italian history of the Renaissance. I wasn't too sure what to expect, and I definitely was not ready for the Italian Mr. Rogers that walked into our classroom. Tony walked in (cardigan sweater and all) and was ancient. He taught Martin, our trip coordinator, when Martin was in the military. We know that Martin is 68, so I'm guessing that Tony is at least 75. His teaching style is unique. But I have to admit he is getting us to learn the material. His 'textbook' is all of his notes and some random articles. Everything is everywhere and there is zero organization. That is very similar to his teaching method. It is fun being in class with everyone. I wasn't expecting having class in the afternoon and was surprised when I found out we have to meet 3 days at 4 in the afternoon. I am enjoying the material so far and am even more looking forward to going to Florence and Rome in April. OH, and thanks for the easy A, Tony. He put every question (and the answer he is looking for) in the back of our book. Is this guy for reals?
During our break, I took a much needed nap, ate some lunch (the Italian chicken, cheese, and spinach was delicious), read up on Lucca and Siena (our travel destinations for the weekend), hung out with some friends, and skyped mom and dad for the first time. After our second class meeting of the day, a group of us stayed in the class room and ordered Pizza with Tony. Kari and I were trying desperately to find some pizza with meat. Since she lives with a vegetarian, she felt like we have been meat deprived. Without being able to read the menu, we didn't want to risk getting a pizza that ended up having a fish head or something crazy on it and went with a 5 cheese pizza. It was great. Tony told us a little bit about himself. His father came over from Italy and lived and worked in Chicago as a newspaper salesman. Tony has been all over teaching and met his wife in Canada. She is from Poland and they have an apartment there they visit all the time. He lives in Vacenzia (I'm not too sure on the spelling), and teaches on the military base there.
After hearing some stories from our teacher, Tony, we wanted to book another weekend. There is a group going to Paris the weekend after Lucca and Siena, and we decided to jump on it. I was one of the lucky ones who booked first so I got a cheap flight. Some of the others are going to wait it out to see if flights go back down, which we have heard that they do on RyanAir. After the travel discussions, Sammy played us some guitar and we all went our separate ways and headed to bed.

This morning we had our second day of class. I'm surprised how much of the information has already stuck. We are starting with Florence and learning all there is about it. I can't wait to see with my own eyes everything we have been talking about. My favorite religion class in high school was when we studied the old testament and now I'm thankful I paid attention. I know a lot more about the art since most of it is religious. (Thanks for the catholic education, mom and dad). Nana and Papa (I hope you have figured out how to read this), I can't wait to see all of the art work(because most of it is in churches) and I just realized how many wishes I will get to make with each new church I go into.
This afternoon Martin is taking us to a winery where we are doing a wine tasting and having dinner. I am very excited to see what it is like and hang out with the entire group. Before we leave I am going to try and knock out our assignment that is due on Thursday before we leave at 4.

Monterey Jack Monterey Jack CHEDDAR

We started our day around 9:30 at a bus stop that a bus was never going to come to. Because of the Verona Marathon, the buses were not running normally. So we walked, and depended on our trip planner, Baruk to get us to the bus. We found the correct bus station and actually figured out when the bus was going to get there and if we could get to the right place. We hopped on and showed the driver our bus passes.

About an thirty minutes later we got to the lake and drove up the coast about another 30 minutes to the town of Garda. It was a beautiful ride. Once we got off the bus, we walked towards the water. The lake was HUGE! And the water so clean. One thing I've noticed about Italy, it is very clean. The water was so clear and super blue. We were all hungry, some had skipped breakfast to get to the bus, and we sat down at the first place we saw. I had a pizza with ham on it. It was great. I like Italian pizza so much more than the kind we have in the states.

After lunch, we walked along the coast of the lake. It was very pretty and exactly what I would picture as a perfect Italian lake town. I saw a rather large dog that is the Italian version of Hans. No Pickles though. We took lots of photos and shared a lot giggles. The little group we have formed laughs A LOT. After we walked along the lake and on the stone beach, we have some time to kill before our bus was to leave. We grabbed a gelato..chocolate again..and I decided I would not be mad if I ate a gelato everyday until I leave.

Waiting for the bus we played a few games and joined Sammy in the 'cheese rap.' We were all laughing and it is so nice to have people who share a similar sense of humor. We boarded the bus thinking everything was ok until the bus driver came back and asked to see our passes. I was the brave one and handed him my bus pass first. He looked it over and said it was not good. He spoke very good English and I explained to him that we got to Garda with that bus pass from Verona. He said we were not supposed to have done that. Our bus pass is only good for the city limits of Verona, and well, we were about an hour outside of Verona. He said we had to pay but we would have to wait until the next stop. He was very helpful and made sure we all had our tickets. He told me he had been to Atlanta twice. He also told me that if we had gotten caught without a bus ticket, we could have been thrown off and been handed an 100 euro fine (by the Italian police. yikes) Glad that didn't happen.

Everyone was tired and we split up to upload our (awesome) pictures and grab some grub. Tess and I made banana french toast and eggs. Breakfast for dinner is becoming one of our staples. Tonight I am trying to go to bed early for our early morning of class. I am excited to see what class is going to be like, and am hoping it is not too difficult.

Saturday-2/20

On Saturday, Tess and I slept in until about 11 when everyone was going to meet and trip plan. We met up with everyone and a smaller group of us decided we wanted to go see Dave Matthews in Padua. However, trying to figure it all out, logistics was just too much to handle, so we planned a trip to Lucca and then to Sienna. We have our accommodations set and we are going to do a 'test run' on Wednesday to make sure we can make to the train station Thursday by 12:30.

In the afternoon we ventured back to the grocery store. We planned our meals for the week and are looking forward to seeing what we like and what we don't. We came back, put our groceries away and then went to the bus stop to go explore downtown more. It was not the nicest day, but we still wanted to get a feel for the city. We walked through this castle and then got some gelato. Let me tell you, I LOVE gelato. LOVE it. We ran into some others on the trip that had been around exploring also.

In downtown Verona, they were setting up for the Verona Marathon. I considered running it but decided I didn't want to put any Italians to shame...We walked around and I think I somewhat know my way around. I still have no idea where Campus Bar is in reference to our hotel or downtown. We got back a little later than we were planning and everyone was hurrying us to get ready to go out. Turns out, there was no rush, so we got to hang out with everyone a little longer before going out.

We ventured to Campus and there was a futbol game on that a lot of people were into. It was between a Milan team (the favorite in the bar) and a Southern Italy one. We were able to talk to a lot more people than we did on Thursday. I have picked up on some Italian phrases. Some of my favorite include, Prego (it's ok/don't mention it/you're welcome)and scussi. After hanging out there for a little bit, some of us ventured across the bar to find Camelot. It was medieval themed and had a great local beer. They even have pizza in the bar. (Think Boars Head but waaaay better). We split a pizza and came home. We planned on meeting the next morning to go to Lake Garda.

First Day in Verona

After we checked in to the Residence, Tess and I began to unpack. Our room is super nice and has lots of storage for all of our clothes (or Tess's ha). We were so busy unpacking that we lost track of time and were late to our first meeting. We were only 15 minutes late and still got the information we needed. Martin, our trip coordinator, filled us in on the things we needed "to stay out of trouble" for the night and told us tomorrow (which is now today) that he would get us more situated in our neighborhood. We had a group meal that night and took the bus to get there. The bus system seems fairly easy to understand and I'm planning on exploring it more on Sunday. We ate at what is called a 'fast food' place. It was interesting. It was a little difficult to speak Italian and I keep forgetting to use basic things like pleases and thank yous in Italian. Dinner was good-I tried a lot of different things. My favorite was grilled zuchini. After dinner, Martin left us and told us (jokingly we think) to not go to Campus Bar. But, we all knew from others that had come to Verona, that this was THE place to be on Thursday nights. We asked some locals and wandered and wandered and finally found it. It was only 7:30 when we got there and they opened it up for us. Lily, Katie S., and I shared a bottle of wine and we joined some others at a table for some good story swapping and giggles. Katie S. and I got Jack 'n Cokes and laughed when she tried to order in Italian, "Jack and Coca-Cola Light." (Frances, you will appreciate that they came with lemons, a nice touch) We met some local people and Marco, who works at the Residence. We took a cab home. Martin said the cab companies know who we are and are very fair to us and know to always take us to the Residence. A few of us hung out last night when we got home. I had my first chance to email my parents and let them know I arrived safely. I was happy that Tess was still awake when I went up to the room. We shared some more giggles before completely passing out (an inch away from each other because of the way the beds are set up). Getting up this morning was rough. I was so tired. We all met Martin downstairs for some more information. He took us to the grocery store. Some of us weren't in the mood to stock up on grocerys so we got the essentials...bread, pasta, and wine. Tess and I attempted to make grilled cheese for lunch, but we lost the butter somewhere and had some charcoal bread. WHoops. Tonight we are trip planning in our room and staying in with our bottles of wine. So far, I haven't been able to explore because of the cold and rain today. But tomorrow, we are going downtown. When we went there for dinner it was beautiful. Lots of historic building. We are in more of the 'newer' part of town but with all old people. It is called the "explorer" part of town because all of the street names are of famous explorers. I'm really looking forward to seeing the town and learning my way around!

Days of travel

I made it to the airport with plenty of time. Plenty. But it was so great to meet everyone and get to know them. I'm kind of obsessed with them. Katie H. and I met up at a Starbucks to go through security together. When we got to the gate, Jonathan (who I instantly connected with...over LOST of course), Leanna, and Emily were the only ones there. They were easy to spot-partly because of facebook stalking. Which we all later admitted to doing. The group trickled in and we had 16 taking the group flight (we counted so we could always make sure we had everyone). We bonded quickly and it wasn't long before we were cracking jokes with each other and picking on David for accidently sending us all an email that was meant for one our professors. We even had a child traveling with us-Sammy's guitar which got deemed 'the child' because when "families with small children" were called to board, they called Sammy's name as well because of his 'odd' luggage. Tess, David, and I became Team 43 and found our seat in row 43 in the back of the plane. None of us got very much sleep, none really. The flight became very interesting when we were landing. Tess turned to me and said she was going to throw up. It was a good thing I had just flipped through a magazine and had found the life saver of a 'barf bag.' David and I didn't know what else to do but laugh, which got Tess laughing (and vom-ing at the same time). So Tess got the title of 'the girl who vom-ed on the plane." Frankfurt's airport was huge. We had to take a bus from our airplane to customs and our gate. Customs intimidated me when they asked random questions like "What was I doing in Europe" and "When I was returning home." The lay-over was long and it didn't help that our plane was late. But the flight from Frankfurt to Verona was like up and then back down compared to the earlier flight. I slept on that one and it felt like I had gotten a full nights sleep. I was even kindly waken up to see the Alps. Which was a sight!
When we got to Italy, we were joking around and trying to guess which one of us was going to get our luggage lost. I had picked Emily because she had flown into Atlanta. But, to my surprise, all the bags made it! Not too difficult when we are the only people in that tiny airport, however. Then we went through customs, or did we? We didn't get our passports stamped or anything and we were out on the sidewalk and thought it couldn't be right that we were just allowed in to a country that easily. Katie S. and I became the problem solvers to try and figure it out. After many trips back and forth between terminals and lots of false information and waving my arms and yelling "ME ESCUSSI. ME ESCUSSI"(I know you're laughing imagining what I must have looked like), we were told by a politzia (a favorite Italian word of mine) that we did not need to get our passports stamped because we had done that in Germany. I hope he was right...we will see.

I will not over-pack...

I will not over-pack. I will not over-pack. I will not over-pack.

This is what I've been telling myself for the past week and I'm especially feeling it today. I'm in the middle of packing, well middle of doing laundry, but that's the first step in the process, and I know it's going to be difficult to not over-pack. I'm headed west before I head east and one last trip out to my favorite place in the world, Park City, Utah marks my final days before Italy. I couldn't imagine spending them better-skiing all day, eating great food, and watching the Winter Olympics...per-fec-tion. Some people have called me crazy (my flight home gets in late Tuesday night and my flight to Italy is Wednesday evening), but I'm not worried at all. Except for that packing thing.

So I've been trying to do very American things this week before heading to Italy. And this is what I've done so far:

• I've watched American Idol. What is more American than this? Watching it in my Snuggie. Yes, friends, this is the first time I'm admitting I own a Snuggie, in a fashionable UGA style. (how embarrassing...)
• I ate McDonalds french fries. This isn't that out of the ordinary for me, I'm just trying to get in a few more snacks (could be mistaken for meal-portions) before I go without them for a little while.
• Got the biggest possible fountain diet coke from the gas station. And I took a few sips and filled it back up before I paid for it...AMERICAN.

But now I'm gearing up for the Sean Feeney special, otherwise known as the 6:00 AM flight. AM people. I've said my goodbyes to my friends. Got a little teary eyed saying them. Played with the pups, Hans and Pickles. Read up on Italy. Accepted the fact that I'm not going to get to watch the final season of LOST. And considered not over-packing. We'll see how this turns out...

I'm doing this blog to keep a record for myself of all my adventures during study abroad. Also it's a way to keep in touch with everyone back in the states. I'm hoping it brings some entertainment and a means of procrastination to those in Athens. And for those who have ever gotten my emails (and have been missing them, obvi), hopefuly this will bring you a few laughs.

You'll hear from me next from Italia! Arrivvederci!

-Allison "sitting on my suitcase and struggling to make it zip" Feeney