Spring Break Part 1: London

Hey everyone! I know it’s been a while since my last update, but the next few are going to be really good. This past week was Spring Break here in Italy and it was my first chance to travel internationally in Europe. I’ve done so much in the last few days and I want to write about all of it, but if I did that I have a feeling that you guys would get bored and stop reading…so I’ll try and condense it down to the good stuff. Also, I’m going to try and do a separate blog for each city that I visited so that maybe each update won’t be quite so long.

So, before we even get to Spring Break I have to talk about the adventures before we left. Our break officially started on March 18^th, but we ended up getting the 17^th off because it was the 150^th anniversary of the union of Italy. Seems like a pretty big deal to the people around here. Also, if you were paying attention, the celebration of the union of Italy was on the same day as St. Patrick’s Day. It was a double dose of family heritage and celebration that Thursday, but St. Patrick’s Day really isn’t a big deal anywhere except Ireland and the USA so we ended up celebrating the 150^th anniversary with the Italians more than anything. We had dinner at some friends’ apartment and then walked to Piazza della Signoria to watch the fireworks show and hear the live music. It was really cool to see all the Italian flags all over the place and to see all the buildings being lit up in green, white, and red. Italians definitely love their country and it showed with all the patriotism that night. It was definitely a good send-off for Spring Break 2011.

Our first, destination for Spring Break was London. My roommates and I had to catch a bus at 3:30am to take us to the airport in Pisa for our flight to London, but when in Italy nothing is supposed to be “easy” or “on time.” On our way to Pisa the bus got a flat tire and we were stuck on the side of the road for about an hour before one of the Italians on the bus pulled out his cell phone and called the police and the bus company to make sure that SOMEONE knew we were stuck there and that we really needed to get to the airport as soon as possible. Eventually, another bus came and picked us up and, to make up for lost time, the bus driver went about 140 kph the whole way there. I had no idea charter buses could move that fast.

When we finally got to the airport, we had to rush through security, get our passports and boarding passes checked at least 5 times, and then run to our gate to board our flight to England. But, of course, Italy wasn’t going to let us leave the country THAT easily. We ended up getting stuck on the tarmac for TWO HOURS because of a fog delay. Apparently the Pisa Airport “isn’t equipped” to handle take-offs in fog. My question was this: “If we’re in a plane, why can’t we just take off when there are no planes in the area because it will take us all of 30 seconds to fly above the fog?” It’s fog. It’s just low clouds. Have they never flown through clouds before? But my plan was a no go, we ended up just sleeping on the tarmac for 2 hours before they finally deemed our vision acceptable to take off. We ended up taking off in fog and within 20 seconds we were above the fog and could see everything clearly (imagine that?!)

(finally up in the air and over the Alps)

We finally made it to the London-Stansted Airport and took a bus to the center of the city. We were greeted by the stereotypical cloudy, rainy, chilly weather that London is so well known for. Our first day ended up not being that bad though. We bought Oyster passes for the double-decker buses in London and managed to see most of the major sites in the short amount of daylight that we had left. We went to Trafalgar Square and saw the countdown clock for the 2012 Olympic Games. We made our way to the Thames and saw Parliament, Big Ben, the London Eye, and Buckingham Palace. One of my friends who was traveling with us had a friend who was studying in London while we were there, so we ended up going to a house party behind Harrod’s that night (a super expensive store in downtown London that we Americans had no idea the significance of.) We had fun and, overall, it was a successful first night in London after all the other travel problems we had gone through that day.

Our second day in London was our only full day in the city and the weather was sunny and beautiful, a definite change from what we had experienced the day before. We took the public buses to Camden Lock on the outside of the city and walked around the various markets and souvenir shops in the area. Camden Place is the where most of the “eccentrics” in London hang out, but the it was definitely the place to go for some of the best up-and-coming rock, pop, and alternative music scenes. Somehow we managed to make our way back to Buckingham palace right on time to see the changing of the guards, which was pretty cool, and we took a break to eat lunch and sit in the sun in St. James Park. We then spent the rest of the afternoon touring downtown London where we took a break to see London Bridge, the re-creation of Shakespeare’s Globe, and the Millennium Footbridge.

The biggest differences that we noticed about changing from Italian to English culture were that Italians eat really late compared to everyone else, the bars in London close really early, and that it was so nice to be able to read every single sign for the first time in two months! We had a bit of trouble finding a place to buy fish and chips at 8pm (typical Italian dinner time) because everyone in England eats dinner between 5 and 6 (similar to back home in the US.) We also thought it was odd, even from a US standpoint, that all the bars and nightlife seemed to close down around 11pm in London. We’re so used to everything being open until at least 2 or 3am. However, it was kind of nice to see and be able to speak English to everyone for the first time in two months. Even though they had accents, it was still more comfortable than the broken Italian we had gotten used to in Florence.

Another thing that I noticed while wandering around London was how many really nice, expensive cars there were. I've never been to any other city and seen so many Bentleys, Rolls Royce, Aston Martins, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Mercedes, BMWs, Lotus, Porsches, and Land Rovers. It kind of became a game with my roommates and I to see how many luxury cars we could spot. We definitely weren't in Italy anymore, the land of Fiat. Now I know if I ever become a millionaire and can afford a Rolls I should probably move to London because I would fit right in.

Overall, our trip to London was a nice change of pace from Italian living and it was nice to be able to experience a whole different culture within Europe. London was probably my favorite city during our Spring Break adventure and I would love to be able to go back and spend a day or two more sometime. The modern public transportation made it really easy, and relatively inexpensive, to get around to the whole city, there was so much beautiful architecture, and the parks and green spaces were beautiful. I will admit, it was a little strange being able to speak to everyone in English and I did accidentally say “grazie” and “ciao” to people on more than one occasion.

This ends the first chapter of Spring Break. Up next: Dublin!

Venezia and Vespas

So I planned on doing this blog update a few weeks ago, but it’s been kind of a crazy week with all the preparation for midterms. Also, two of my roommates have friends here for the week from the US so most of our free time has been spent showing them around the city and entertaining them. They are both really cool guys though, and it’s been nice to meet some of the crowd that my roommates hang out with back at home.

Anyways, this past weekend I went with API for Carnivale in Venice. I think the weather Gods have been smiling on my trip here because this is the second big excursion we’ve gone on where the weather has been absolutely beautiful. It was clear, sunny, and not too cold all day long. On the way to Venice it looked like it may not be that nice of weather because we travelled through some of the mountains of central Italy and all we saw was snow for about an hour. If there is one thing I don’t want to see in March, it’s snow. Thankfully, Venice ended up being sunny and clear and we could, for the most part, enjoy our afternoon of tours in the city.

I say “for the most part” because I absolutely loved Venice and getting to see all the sights while also experiencing the city’s unique layout, however, Venice had more people in it than any other place I’ve been to in Italy so far. I guess I’ve been kind of spoiled since I’ve been here because it hasn’t been the peak of the tourist season yet so everything has been relatively quiet and enjoyable. Even Roma wasn’t too packed with people from what our advisors and guides told us. Venice, on the other hand, was swarming with people. It probably didn’t help that we were there for the last weekend of Carnivale, but still, it literally took us HOURS to go from one part of the city to the other because all the streets were so small, confusing, and packed with people that it was impossible to move. At one point during our guided tour we went to the Rialto Bridge and half of our group was stuck on the top for 30 minutes and got left behind. Yes, I was part of that group.

The other thing that I didn’t particularly care for in Venice was how expensive everything was. At least my roommates and I have gotten really good at packing a lunch for the first day instead of paying 15 euro for a slice of pizza. We did end up splurging a bit on an authentic Venetian seafood dinner, but that was about the only thing that we were willing to pay for.

As for the carnivale festivities on Saturday night, it was probably the most fun I’ve had in one since I’ve been here. We wandered around the city, danced in the streets, drank with Italians, and just had the time of our lives. I know I’ve never been to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but I feel like my carnivale experience in Venice was probably just as good, if not better, than what they have there.

We spent Sunday travelling by boat to some of the other Islands around Venice. First, we went to Murano, the glass blowing island, and then to Burano, famous for its silk. The glass blowing demonstration was pretty cool, but everything on the island was so expensive. We also didn’t get to spend much time there so we didn’t really get to see everything that the town had to offer. Burano, on the other hand, was definitely one of the most beautiful places I’ve been in my life. The little island is about a 2 hour boat ride from the main Venice port, and when we finally got there we were greeted by the colorful array of houses. Every single house on the island is painted a very bright, vibrant color and it was just amazing to walk around and see them all. It almost felt like we weren’t in Italy anymore, but some small Caribbean Island. For anyone planning on making a trip to Italy in their life, make sure to go to Burano!

The rest of this week was mostly filled with class and studying. We have midterms next week so all of my teachers have been in review mode. The one thing I did enjoy about class this week is that we learned how to make pasta in my cooking class. Seriously, there was only one thing I absolutely wanted to do while I was here in Italy, and that was to learn how to make pasta from scratch. We made orecchiette pasta, three color pasta, ravioli, and potato gnocchi. The only thing about making past from scratch is that it’s a very labor-intensive process. Somehow I forgot that when you make shaped pasta you actually have to sit down and shape EACH INDIVIDUAL PIECE OF PASTA. It took us 3 hours to roll out and shape each piece of orecchiette. Put I won’t complain too much because the results were delicious. I will definitely be trying out some pasta recipes when I get back home.

The only other event this week was the scooter rental day. Yesterday, my roommate and his visiting friend decided that they wanted to rent scooters for the day to explore Florence. We’ve walked around Florence, we’ve biked around Florence, we’ve ridden buses and trains and taxis around Florence, why not scoot around Florence on a Vespa? Well, being the only one of us three that had never driven a scooter before, it was a bit terrifying to 1. Learn how to actually drive the thing and 2. Not die or kill anyone else in the process. We quickly figured out that downtown Florence is not the best place to learn how to drive a scooter, so we made our way out into the hills and switchbacks outside of Florence. I had been doing fine most of the day (minus one mishap with a wall when I was pulling out of a gas station) and I had gotten pretty used to zipping up and down the tiny streets and around the sharp corners. Apparently, the hardest part about riding a scooter is making a sharp turn form a complete stop.

So here’s what happened: we were at a stop light and the road we were on was cobblestone and the one we were turning onto was just asphalt, well apparently I hit the throttle a little too hard and I tried to turn to avoid a car, but the back wheel slid out from under me and I fell over right in the middle of the intersection. Thankfully, it wasn’t a very busy intersection and I wasn’t going that fast, but I still got scraped up a little bit and I added a few more scratches (120 euro worth) to the front of the scooter. Even though it wasn’t my most graceful moment, and I kind of hated that scooter for about 10 minutes, I’m still convinced that I want one of those things to get around on back in the US. Call me crazy, but the fall and the damage fees were kind of worth it for how much fun I had that day.

Anyways, I’ll close for now. This weekend will be one full of studying for midterms and next week will be awful because I have a different midterm each day, but at least I am right on the cusp of Spring Break. This may be my last post for a few weeks, because I leave for London, Dublin, and Amsterdam next Friday, but expect a novel of a blog post when I get back!

Ciao!