Five Mosquitoes Later

All right, so, let’s just say things didn’t go quite as planned. Deniz and I did not go to Florence last night. But we did learn a whole lot about traveling and spontaneity (to say the least). Here follows the chronicle of our adventure:

After much struggling with the electronic ticket machine at the train station, we hopped on the Cisalpino with a few seconds to spare at approximately 14:05. We did not have seats on the train, yet again; it seems to be our curse. So we sat in a little in-between place, where the handicap bathroom was located. I stood for a good portion of the way so that I could see the sights out the window, but my feet eventually got tired. We made a number of stops along the way including Chiasso and Como, and I can’t really remember the rest. We stopped for a way long time at Chiasso, like twenty minutes. Some very official looking people got on the train and started taking people’s tickets and checking things out and that was mildly frightening, only because we had no idea what was happening. They didn’t bother with us, probably because we didn’t even have seats. And I must say, the people watching experience I’m getting out here is priceless. After we pulled out of Como there was this one woman who hopped into the handicap bathroom just before the man checking tickets came through (she must have seen him coming). Then she poked her head out and saw him (the ticket checker dude), so she promptly pressed the door closed button and hid in the bathroom for a while longer. A few minutes later she poked her head out and asked us if he had passed, presumably, as she was speaking in rapid Italian and we can’t quite be sure, but we assured her he had passed and she was quite delighted and trotted back to wherever she had come from.

We finally arrived in Milan. The train station there is enormous, and covered, and really quite cool to look at. But we weren’t so concerned with that; we were far more concerned with figuring out a train to Florence. We saw Firenze on the board for 15:55; and we arrived in Milan just about ten minutes before that, so we frantically soared around trying to determine where and how to buy tickets. And we eventually did buy our ticket, believing that we had about 90 seconds to spare before the train was going to leave. And then we realized our terrible mistake. Firenze was listed on the “arrivo” board for that time, it was not going to be on the “partenza” board until 20:00, when our train to Firenze was to leave. And if weren’t leaving Firenze until 20:00, well we wouldn’t be arriving there until 22:49. Not going to happen. We decided that it was not worth going to Florence for just one day and 60Euros worth of tickets, and 40Euros worth of sleeping, so we made the decision to stay in Milan. It would not have made much sense to get there and turn right back around and go to Lugano. I cannot stress enough how frantic our first fifteen minutes in Milan were, as we sprinted up and down the stairs, from the electronic ticketing machine to the binario (platform?), and back again, etc. etc.

After we decided to stay in Milan, we had to get our tickets refunded. So waited in line at the Subscriptions-Refund counter for quite some time. We waited and waited, and eventually got to the front of the line. We were lucky to be paired up with a very sweet, older woman who spoke just enough English to understand what we needed. And we got our tickets refunded eventually (it took a very long time, as she received a call from someone on her cellphone in the middle of the process, which slowed things down considerably). We still have to pay for 20% of the 30Euro ticket and we won’t be refunded for about 2 months, but that’s better than nothing I guess.

After that we went outside, and I ate the sandwich that I had picked up at school earlier in the afternoon. Most of the public places in Milan, such as the train station and metro underground tunnels, smell of urine, which is not particularly appetizing for sandwich-eating. Although the rest of Milan was quite nice (even if there were a lot of pigeons, yick). We made the decision to stay in Milan for the night, which brought us to the secondary decision: 1) wander around Milan all night and sleep in shifts at the train station, or 2) find a hostel to spend the night at. Are you holding your breath? Do you want to know the answer? We were smart kids, and chose the latter option. We found the tourist office in the train station, and they pointed us in the direction of hostel with some 400 beds, about 25 minutes by metro from the train station, about 10/15 minutes from the Duomo and the main part of Milan. They also tipped us off on getting a 3Euro ticket that lasts for 24 hours and is good for as much and any public transportation in Milan. Once we found our way to the metro (by around 6:00pm, so we’d been traveling for four hours already), we each bought our tickets and hopped on the metro, which we navigated pretty successfully. We did start going in the wrong direction once, but we just hopped off and hopped on the one going in the right direction about 2 minutes later. Luckily, once we got to our stop there were signs pointing in the direction of the hostel. And we made it pretty easily to the hostel. It was sort of cool because it was in a less-touristy, more residential kind of area; it didn’t all feel so contrived, I guess? I don’t know if that’s the way to explain. It just felt like real people lived there. The hostel was very large, and they had room for us. It was 22Euros each for room, linens, and breakfast. It was nothing special, but it was safe, and they had all-female dorms. We were in a room with a woman from Holland who was on vacation, and then sometime around 2:00am, two Americans came in. I didn’t hear them, but they left at around 7:00am, and I did hear them then. They had just flown in from Madrid (we found a leftover baggage claim thing from them).

We tried to find a nearby Chinese restaurant for dinner, but we decided that the walk was going to be too far and too sketchy since it was getting dark. Instead we opted for a nearby Gelateria for dinner. I think they may have been closed, but they served us anyway. The man who served us was one of the nicest people we’ve met so far, and he spoke some English, and we tried out our Italian on him. We ordered sandwiches for dinner (I had salame, pomodoro e fontina), and they were really delicious; and then we each had two scoops of real gelato, which is a good deal icier than what they serve here, which is more similar to ice cream. Then we walked back to the hostel, hung out in the room for a bit hcatting, reading, doodling, then went to sleep. We were quite exhausted. But I must say, we learned a whole lot about traveling on our own yesterday.

We got out of bed this morning around 8:00am, and had breakfast in the cafeteria. Two rolls each with spreads of our choice, choice of coffee/chocolate/etc., orange juice, but no water sadly. It was nice and simple. The bread was good. After breakfast we handed over our keys and got back on the metro. We were accosted by African men, who conveniently spoke English and tied a string bracelet thing around my wrist before I knew what he was doing. Then of course he tried to get me to pay, but I wouldn’t, and we just walked away. Not letting that happen again. The Africans had the string bracelet gig, the Arabs (dressed as tourists with enormous cameras and everything) had the birdseed gig, and the Asians had the little remote-controlled cars and calligraphy. I went into the Duomo, but Deniz didn’t because she thought that we’d have to pay and she was wearing a tank top—you’ve got to have covered shoulders. It was beautiful; I think it’s one of the cooler Duomos that I’ve seen. After that we went shopping, and shopping, and shopping. We checked out all the really high-class stores first, which were gorgeous. Most of the window displays looked like they should be in art museums. Especially the Dolce & Gabbana one, that had these photographs that had had effects done to them to make them look like paintings, then mannequins acting out what was in the paintings. And they were all based on sort of Greek tragedy-type stories. So we did that for a long time, almost checked out a museum. We walked down many, many, many roads full of shops; afraid there’s not a whole lot to report on there.

We had lunch at a café near the Duomo; I had tagliatelle with Bolognese sauce and Deniz had lasagna. It was all right. Our bottle of water cost us 6Euros, just as I predicted it would. We paid 22Euros for lunch, in total. Then we walked and looked at even more shops. We had some amazing gelato somewhere; I had bacio and tiramisu, Deniz had tiramisu and crema. And we had it in a sugar cone. It took us a long time to figure out the procedure; you had to pay first, then had the guy your receipt, then order what you wanted. It was very confusing for us. Then we walked and looked at even more shops. We got closer to the Duomo, and I convinced Deniz to go in with me again, so she put on a shirt with sleeves. It was worth it. There’s something about cathedrals that I just love. It’s so amazing to think of all the history they’ve seen, all the people that have stood there in awe of something—be it the religion, the history or the artwork. All of which are amazing. When I was there early in the morning there were people taking confession. That was cool to see. We took lots of pictures the second time around. And there was more stained glass there than I’ve seen anywhere else. After the Duomo, we did even more walking. There were some street vendors set up for Saturday selling, so we looked over those too. Nothing worth buying. We made sure to avoid the tourist trap bracelet and birdseed people. Oh yeah, there was a protest going on outside of some department store too. We couldn’t make out what it was about exactly, since it was all in Italian, but there was a man with a microphone and everything.

Then we eventually got back on the metro, and to the train station. It took us a long time to figure out which counter to go to in order to buy a ticket to Lugano. We waited at the national ticket line for a while until I realized that we probably needed international, then I went in search of the right counter while Deniz waited in line, just in case. By the time I got back, she was talking to the lady who gave us the same information that I had just found out. Must go to booth 52 or 53 for international tickets today. So we went there and waited in line for quite some time, then eventually bought our tickets. We got on the train as soon as it got there, even thought that was about 20 minutes before it left. There was no way we were being cheated out of our seats. It was nice that most people had gotten off in Milan; by the time the train gets to Lugano, it’s usually pretty well full already. Nothing too exciting happened on the train ride, except that some Italian looking authority figures asked me (in Italian) if the backpack up top was mine, and it wasn’t. And we got back to Lugano, safe and sound. Hooray for that. I watched like six episodes of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as I ate my strange dinner. Then Deniz and I went jogging downtown (after our very full day of walking, which seems to be our number one pastime). There’s some sort of cute little street fair going on in Lugano this evening, with people selling all sorts of cute things. I sort of hope it’s there tomorrow too because we had to money when we went down there tonight. Well I’m very ready for bed now, but be assured that I am safe and sound once more. Can you believe that if you put this into a word document, it’ll go into the fourth page, single-spaced? I know, crazy. I just like to chat it up with my imaginary audience. I miss you guys! More soon!

Smile!

PS I might also add that Milan is probably Angi and Soraya's equivalent to heaven... or shopping heaven at least. :-)

I'm Off & Away! Hooray!

I'm on a travel buzz right now... I've solidified plans for both Florence and Barcelona today--hooray! Deniz and I are planning on taking the 14:05 train to Milan, then taking a train from Milan to Florence, we should arrive there around 18:45. I've confirmed with our hostel and everything. So we'll be there Friday and Saturday night, then we'll come back on Sunday. I'm super-excited. We're planning on seeing the Duomo and Uffizi, and maybe the Accademia. We'll see how much time we have. And I've set up plans to go to Barcelona for Thanksgiving! We bought the tickets and booked the hostel for a grand total of 80Euros each. Not bad at all. So the total group will be Alyssa, Alyssa, Alauna, Marcel, and me. I'm super excited for that too.

So today was nothing exceptional. I stayed up until about midnight working on that darn English essay last night (still earlier to bed than most of my peers, however). I ended up finishing it today during my two-hour break between Western Civ and Algebra. It got turned in, although I forgot to add a Works Cited... Alas. I hope I didn't mess anything else up too badly. It was a very mediocre essay, I'm afraid. After classes I marched backed down the hill, stayed down here for just a little bit, then marched back up the hill with Katie to the Grotto for dinner. They had an "American BBQ" tonight with hamburgers, hot dogs, and french fries. After that we went to the computer lab and booked our tickets and whatnot for Barcelona. Deniz and I just walked back down the hill.

All right, that's all I've got to dish for the time being. More soon. Smile :-)

I'm Being Productive

Not much to report, and I probably shouldn't type too long because I'm trying to get an essay done for Thursday. Look at me, avoiding procrastination... Okay, not entirely, but working on an essay on Tuesday for a Thursday afternoon class isn't so bad. There is someone kicking a soccer ball around the Common Room, and I must say IT IS NOT APPRECIATED. It is rather annoying actually. I just came down here right now... And it sounds like they just went up the elevator and are still kicking it around in there. It really isn't any wonder that things get broken so often and so swiftly here...

Today was an average day of listening. Western Civilizations this morning was actually more engaging than usual for some reason, maybe more sleep than usual? Who knows. Professor Silver finished lecturing on the Hellenistic World and we've just started in on the Romans. College Algebra today was also more tolerable than usual since we spent most of the class working on problems in groups, which was much more helpful than listening to Professor Prisner chat it up for 75 minutes as people ask really silly questions. I know there aren't supposed to be any questions to be embarassed of, or something like that, but I think there just might be... English today was pretty all right too, a little more under control than usual. But just a bit, and it did get a little tiresome at the end. Professor Matthews read us one of his poems, which was interesting. By the way, could someone please enlighten me: if I have a professor who's a doctor, do I refer to him or her as Dr. [insert name here] or Professor? Some of them refer to themselves as Dr.'s and others as Professors... So I don't know...

After classes, which was around four this afternoon, I marched back down the hill, watched an episode of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and got started on my math homework that's due Thursday. Then I walked up to dinner with Katie. There was meatloaf (very sketchy looking) with mashed potatoes, green beans, and gravy. That was good... Keely has decided to swear off getting thirds at mealtimes, just like she swore off getting seconds last week. But after seconds today she started stealing Katie's food--that didn't go over so well. Then I marched back down the hill yet again, and since then I've continued working on my math homework and finished up my German homework and did some test corrections for my German test, which I didn't do so great on. I figured it would be beneficial, since if I can't figure out the basics I'm going to get way more confused later on.

Deniz's brother came to visit her today. I'm not sure if we're going to Florence, we haven't bought tickets yet and we haven't reserved the hostel for sure. It's looking a tad bit sketch. I'm working at the Writing Center tomorrow, and I've got an Academic Travel Meeting and yoga. Yay for yoga. What great alliteration that is. Hope everything's going well at home. Miss you guys!

--Ari

My Prince Has Arrived!

Okay, it's only 2:30, but since the great excitement of my day has already come and gone, I figure it's high-time for me to write my blog entry of the day. Got up plenty early today, went to German class at 8:30am, then Marketing. I did okay on my Marketing quiz, nothing special, but from the sounds of it, I did pretty all right compared to the rest of the class. Sounds like Professor Adams was pretty disappointed with the overal turnout. So that was okay. I went to the Writing Center and talked to Ms. Bell about event ideas, then worked on getting together more undergraduate journals. She liked two of my ideas a lot: 1) have a student event where they get to decorate the writing center, and 2) midterm study sessions. I had a few other ideas, but she didn't really mention them, so, oh well. Maybe some other time they'll come in handy. Having Academic Travel in just three weeks sort of limits us for the time being.

After the Writing Center I had lunch--today there was chicken breast with french fries and broccoli, and salad of course. Then I went and checked my mail, and guess what had arrived! Yup, you guessed it, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: Season Three on DVD! So that's good news. Now I have entertainment any time, I don't have to watch a whole movie necessarily. I walked back down the hill, took out the trash and washed my dishes. And now I'm here, typing away, yet again. There's yoga today at 4:00pm, but I'm sort of intimidated because Natalie (our usual instructor) won't be there, her friend from Taiwan is going to be doing a Power Yoga session, which sounds a little intense. Or just like I could definitely end up making a fool of myself. Maybe I won't be the only one. It also sounds like the entire girls soccer team is going to be there today for conditioning since it's pouring outside again, and they don't want to practice outside. That means I also need to get there early so I don't end up on the gym floor again. Wish I could figure out where to buy a yoga mat.

I have a more average amount of homework this evening--nothing is really due tomorrow... But there is stuff due later this week that I need to get started. I have a compare/contrast essay on two essays of my choice due Thursday, some reading for Western Civ and some math homework. My plan for the rest of the day will probably be to make presentation notes here, get dressed for yoga and head up the hill with my Western Civ book, do Western Civ reading until dinnertime, have dinner, then back down the hill and write my essay. Just in case you were curious as to what the rest of my day might be like. I'm sure there won't be too much deviation, unless procrastination sets in. I had two missed phonecalls on my phone today, and I didn't recognize the number. Does anyone know what country code +44 is from? I think that's what it was from, I'd have to check again. I wonder if it was the Smart Car Rental place calling since Keely gave them my cellphone number, since she didn't know hers...

It's raining very hard right now, which makes the prospect of walking back up the hill, not very attractive. It's also very difficult to find the right temperature, you know? Because if I'm just walking around or in class I'm rather cold, but when I'm walking up the hill I'm hot, hot, hot. Not good news at all. Oh yeah, and I'm not very good at German. I'm feeling like the language dunce that I was when I started taking Spanish--I hate that. I need to get better at German, gah. I really want to take a conversational Spanish class again sometime, that was good. Deniz and I still need to buy our train tickets to Florence. We should get on that. Her brother is coming to visit her tomorrow, before he starts his three-week military service in Turkey, so that he can keep his citizenship. They're going to go Milan, I think.

This rain definitely makes me think of Seattle. And I still need to buy an umbrella. I keep forgetting because whenever I go shopping it's not raining. It's just days like today... I don't even know what happened to my original umbrella. It's in my room somewhere. My deepest apologies, Soraya, I know you gave me that umbrella to borrow, and I'm afraid it's done for. Remember that Swiss monsoon that happened during my first week here? It was so battered by the wind, well, it doesn't do me much good any more. It just sort of hangs limply around my head, and I get a lot of pitying looks.

Miss you guys! More soon... as always...

Top Hats & Tuxedoes

Today was a very quiet day. I had my 6:00am start, and was back in bed by 8:30am... and stayed there for a couple of hours. After which time I had a few rips of bread with peanut butter and jelly. I did a lot reading today of all sorts--largely out of Principles of Marketing, the Norton Reader, and The Egyptian. I took a walk around downtown around 3:00pm on my own, had a one-scoop Nutella gelato that was delicious, kept walking until I got to the park, where I sat and read for a bit. Then I walked back and did some German and Math homework, then did some more reading.

There were so many people in downtown today, it was crazy. It was a total zoo. There was a group of a dozen and half men with beards, dressed in tuxedoes with tails and big, black top hats, and canes. It was very strange. And some of them had different sorts of cards stuck in their hats too. First they were on the Lugano Tourist Train, then they hopped over to a gelato stand. There were many little kids rollerblading today too. Sanaan just came walking down here with the vaccuum, he was bringing it back to Kara, but I stopped him, so that I can now clean my floor. Hooray! I have been waiting for a sighting of the ever-elusive, rare species, vacuum. I came up with a bunch of event ideas for the Writing Center today too. Keely got back safe and sound from Munich, and she and Deniz took the smart car over the Lake Como to check that out.

I watched 13 Going on 30 and made myself 1/3 cup of popcorn (unpopped that is) and ate 3 Starburst sent in my Dees Care Package. Then I came down here and started typing. I'm probably going to go have my floors sucked clean momentarily...

Hope all's well at home! The weather seems to be cooling down a bit here, which is nice. I should probably do laundry tomorrow... Classes/writing center/yoga tomorrow.

Smile,
Ari

Kotlet, My Savior

Hello there.

Today was a pretty good day. I woke up quite early (around 6:00am), stayed awake until I was tired again, and then got back into bed until about 10:40am, and then I made schmaan. I stayed up until about 11:30 last night looking up hostels in Florence. I think I finally decided on one this morning--I booked it, but I'm not sure that it was confirmed, and I didn't want to click the confirm button again, just in case it would charge me more than once. So I'm sort of waiting for something to show up on my bank account. I hope it went through, in any case, I e-mailed the hostel too. So that was good.

At around noon Deniz and I went into town. We walked around a bit, shopped around a bit. I went into an H&M for the first time in my life. They have a lot of stuff in there, and it's all different, lots of variety. There were a few cute things, but nothing cute enough to buy. Especially when I'd rather spend $$ on travels to exotic places. :-) And according to Professor Cappiello, Sicily should be much, much cheaper than our beloved Lugano (which is outrageously expensive for the most part). After H&M we went back to the Turkish place for lunch, where we had Durum Kebab. Then we had gelato, at a different place than usual. I tried caramel and chocolate and Deniz had one that we couldn't identify... and hazelnut, I want to say?

After food, we went grocery shopping at Manor. I bought lots of veggies for the first time, some ground beef, eggs, milk, butter. Basics for the most part. After groceries we walked back up to Girasole, and I booked the hostel (hopefully), then I cleaned my room and kitchen yet again. Then mom called as I was poking around in the kitchen. Just so you know, the stories are true! You really can call my Swiss cellphone from a phonecard and it's free for me! (Rather than the usual 1CHF+ they charge me for calling just about any number.) So do feel free to give me a ring. Oma called me yesterday too, and it was quite successful. I made kotlet for dinner, and Deniz and I ate that with yogurt/garlic/salt/pepper, cucumbers, tomatoes, and bread. It was soo good. Even if the kotlet did need a little bit of salt, and pickles would have been nice condiment. There's plenty left over; we'll probably have it for lunch tomorrow. Ah, I appreciate leftovers so much more now... I bought some eggplant today too, I'm considering making some kookoo. I'm not sure if I have the right dishes for making it though.

So that was my day. Oh and Katie came over and borrowed The Graduate. Tomorrow should be pretty chill too. Hopefully I'll get my English essay that's due on Thursday done tomorrow. I've been working on my plane ticket to Munich too... More soon! (And I promise there should be some pictures of me in my apron coming about soon, Deniz and I were talking about staging them.)

Smile!

Photos: Baba & Angi Come to Lugano Continued....

I'm not sure how my notes will show up in relation to these photos, but, in any case, here we have Baba & me at the Parco Civico (sp?) in downtown Lugano, Giorgio Washington & me, Baba & me next to the Main Villa campus, & Deniz and me at La Gondoletta Ristorante in Melide.

Photo: David the Bear

I was shocked by the resemblance...

Just Another Case of the Fridays

There must be something fundamentally wrong with me--why, oh why, am I not excited that it's Friday? Oh well. Today has been a very chill day so far. My German class was canceled this morning, so I didn't have to go to Marketing until 9:40am. We had a quiz at the beginning of the class; I think I did all right, although I couldn't remember all of the parts of the SWOT analysis... But other than that, I think I did okay. After that I went to the Writing Center and worked there for two hours; didn't do a whole lot. I wrote little notes to all my professors announcing their good fortune that they have a writing consultant attending their classes, so they can refer students to me during my hours. Take note people, if you need some assistance, you may make an appointment with me any time from 10:30am to 12:30pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (that's Athens time). After those were e-mailed out, I worked for about 90 minutes on compiling a list of journals and publications that accept undergraduate work. My kind of job--I got to make a table and everything.

After that I went and had lunch at North Campus--and guess what, they had lasagne today! So I had that, with a salad and two slices of bread. I'm still unable to open the water bottles here, I don't know if I've mentioned that before. But for some reason it's impossible for me to open the bottles here... It's very frustrating, I'm unable to ever eat alone. Or if I do, I can't drink anything. The water bottle collection in my room is getting a little bit ridiculous. They are taking over... I don't have room for any more in my fridge, so now I have about four or five on my desk. Without thinking, I keep bringing them back to my room with me. Gaaah.

So then I walked back down the hill. Stared at my computer screen for a bit, then promptly went over to my bed and feigned sleep for two hours. I think I did fall asleep somewhere in there. I just couldn't think of anything else to do, unless I wanted to start working on my homework. Now, I might a semi-loser-college-student, but I won't do my homework on a Friday afternoon. Not yet, anyway. I might do my laundry though... Actually, I might have to guarantee that I'll do my laundry. Oh right, I forgot! How could I? I received a Fox Island postcard from Oma today, so then I went around waving it in people's faces demanding that they recognize the magnificence of the Pacific Northwest... (okay, it wasn't quite like that, I admit it).

And since my nap I've just been chilling here... Staring at my computer some more, occasionally tapping the keys and making it sing to me. I'm sort of waiting for dinner now. But that's another hour and forty minutes away. And I don't know what happens after that. I guess I'll do some laundry, maybe watch a movie, go to sleep. Man, I wish my Fresh Prince of Bel-Air had arrived. Then I would know exactly my schedule for the evening. I don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow. Maybe I'll go to Ponte Tresa? No matter what, I think Deniz and I might try to do some cooking. That should be good. Maybe I'll make some brownies too. That might be good. Homemade ones. Mmm, delicious sounding. Thinking about maybe walking to Gandria again on Sunday. Oh, wait, actually, the school is having some sort of paddle boating venture on Lake Lugano on Sunday. Maybe I'll do that instead.

And if you're curious, nothing really happened yesterday, except I got very frustrated with how bored I was throughout them. I went to yoga in the morning, that was good. Western Civ was all right, but I felt like glazed bun baking in the oven through my next two classes--math and English. I don't think anything else of note happened... Had meals at North Campus. Might get Turkish food again tomorrow. All right, more as soon as I think of something else to say... Still working on getting David the Bear's picture up. :-)

O Onion, Where Art Thou?

Today was a rather busy day, always welcome in my book. I got up early this morning, went to German class and then Marketing, and then I went for my first two-hour training session at the Writing Center. I learned many important things like 1) never say anything negative, 2) never say bad things about professors, 3) Korean grammar is much more complicated than English grammar, 4) I should visit Berlin, 5) don’t proofread for people no matter what treasures beyond your wildest imaginings they might promise… So that was good. Got done there about 12:30pm, then had lunch, then headed back down the hill to Girasole.

And there was finally an open washing machine! Hallejuah, praise the lord! So my colors are now washed, I just have to wash my whites now. In any case, I am thankful. After I did laundry, I went back up the hill for the second German class of my day. But before that I went to the post office. We had to have a makeup German class today because we’re not going to have class on Friday because Professor Vadilonga has something else she needs to do. So we made up class ahead of time. Having to make up class every time a professor can’t make it, is pretty annoying, if I were to be quite honest.

Keely and I are still attempting to figure out the car rental situation to get ourselves to Munich. You cannot rent an actual car in Switzerland if you are under 21 years of age. This means that we must rent a Smart Car if we are to rent anything. So we’ve been trying to figure out that all day. It’ll cost us $104/car/weekend. So I don’t know if I’m going to make it out there or not. We’re going to have definite plans by tomorrow—sorry about the short notice to all the family over there. Things are a tad bit disorganized. In any case, I’ll be visiting in October after Sicily! Hooray for that!

I really do want to get out of Lugano though, it’s feeling smaller and smaller. It’s a very tiny town in all honesty. And I’ve had my share of walking for the time being. I lost a hairband somewhere near the couch in the Common Room. Darn it. I hate it when that happens. I’ve been trying to upload a picture of the bear that Erin/Soraya/Lauren sent me, but I’ve been unsuccessful so far. Blogger has been rather temperamental, I’ve had trouble even just posting.

I miss Iranian food so much! I was talking to Gabi and Alauna about food today in the common room, when we were originally planning on studying for Western Civ, but it just turned into a “let’s-talk-about-all-the-wonderful-food-that-is-not-currently-available-to-us.” I’m getting rather tired of the Swiss-Italian food—there’s no spice! No onions or garlic. I miss my rice. If I don’t go to Munich this weekend, Deniz and I are hopefully going to do some cooking. She’s going to make borek (salty baklava) and I’m going to make kotlet (and maybe attempt to make pita bread on the stovetop, we’ll see how ambitious I’m feeling). And some yogurt salads of all sorts sound divine. As does just about anything with the slightest bit of normal spice or sautéed onions or garlic. Mmm… delicious… Or goulash! Or something delectable. School food is just a little too bland.

All right, I’m off to bed! Yoga tomorrow morning. I’ll keep everyone updated on the Munich situation.

Miss you guys! Smile!

Promises of treasures beyond your wildest imaginings...

Hello!

Today was quite a nice day. Woke up early this morning—I keep waking up early, I don’t even seem to need an alarm clock any more. I don’t remember the last time that it actually buzzed. I originally woke up at 3:30am for some reason, but then feel asleep until 5:50am. Then I got up and thought that maybe Soraya would be online, and indeed she was so I talked to her and Mom for a bit with AIM. And Cary and Matt too, so that was cool. Good way to start the day. J

It was one of my long days today—but that’s all right, kept me busy. I had Western Civ first, two-hour lunch break, College Algebra, and then English. Mostly I was very bored through all three classes, I’m afraid. Western Civ was all right. In math we’re working on solving equations… it’s a bit boring. But I’m doing really well! I definitely aced my last quiz. People were just giving more presentations today in English and I did my homework (which was a reading assignment on the bubonic plague/Black Death in the Norton Reader, it was really good) while people were presenting. Many of the presentations were repeats; different people, same essay.

After English I marched myself and my three packages (!!!) and two letters (!!) down the hill and to my dorm room, where I promptly opened them. From Oma I received a small case of popcorn; from Baba Amir, Guity and Ladon I received a one-person coffee service (which was quite adorable); and from Erin/Soraya/Lauren/Virginia I received many, many wonderful gifts! Included among them was a bear built by Erin/Soraya/Lauren to look like David (picture included above), and the cutest apron I’ve ever seen made by Virginia. Thanks everyone! I loved everything! I think the other kids would happily vote me most-loved-if-counting-by-number-of-parcels-and-letters-received. Oh, they made me so happy! It was the highlight of my day.

Sometime after that I went up for dinner. It was a not very exciting day for dinner; if anything I’d say it was a bit of a letdown. I ended up eating some sautéed potatoes, a small salad, and two slices of bread; but I wasn’t super hungry. Note to self: don’t try out the Swiss hamburgers (bad idea).

I start my training as a writing consultant/Writing Center staff member tomorrow at 10:30am. Hopefully that goes all right. And it sounds like I might actually be heading to Munich this weekend! Either this weekend or next weekend, but it’s sounding more probable that it will be this weekend. Keely, Kyle, and I are trying to organize ourselves into a little group. Keely and I are going to go into town tomorrow and figure out the car rental. Oh and I cleaned my room again today. Seriously, it seems like that’s all I ever do. But in such a small space, it’s easy for a big mess to form rather quickly.

I’m so excited for Munich! I hope it really happens. And then Sicily is just in a couple of weeks! I need to go to the post office tomorrow… Hey Soraya—have you received your package yet? I wish it wouldn’t take so long…

Thanks again everyone for making me feel so loved!

Why are the cars honking again?

And so I sent them back into the great big wide world...

Quite the day today; it's been a long one with many ups and downs. I got up early this morning and went and had breakfast with Baba and Angi at their hotel at 7:20am. When I pressed the button to call the elevator down, it opened with Baba in it. It was nice to take advantage of breakfast that early--there weren't a bunch of other people/tourists there. Mostly there are many Americans staying there, and so they have a lot of people show up for breakfast about the time they're closing breakfast down at 10am. It was an excellent breakfast. After that Baba and Angi drove me up the hill (hooray!) to classes. I showed them around a bit more of the school that they didn't see when we walked up the first time. Then they considered buying Franklin College sweatshirts, but didn't. Then I said goodbye to them, and they left and I went to German class. It was quite surreal. Just like saying goodbye to everyone at the airport was surreal. So that was a bit sad, but it was all right. Back to life as normal in Switzerland.

I went to German and Marketing then skipped lunch and hopped down the hill, where I promptly took a nap (for some reason I've been quite tired this past weekend--too much walking, perhaps?). Then I went up to yoga eventually, then after yoga I did some reading for Western Civilizations, then I met up with Keely and Deniz and we had dinner. Tonight it was "pork steak" with mashed potatoes, green beans, and a very delicious gravy with apple bits in it. The pork was very, very, very tough. I didn't really eat it--it was too much of a task. And now I'm back down here.

It sounds like Keely and a couple of other kids are going to go to Munich this weekend for Oktoberfest, so I'm trying to join up with them. They're going to be driving there, which is the fastest and cheapest way to get there. In any case, it would be super nice to have someone to drive me there, as I can't drive stick shift. Goodness, that should have been on my list of to dos before I left for Europe. Ah well.

I thought I had lost my laundry card earlier today, which would have been incredibly unfortunate and expensive. But I just found it again a few minutes ago, thank goodness. I REALLY need to do some laundry. I'm slowly running out of clothes to wear... At least warm weather clothes. Although the skies have been threatening rain (and sometimes holding good on their threats), it has still been quite warm, so that I'm sweating by the time I get to the top of the hill. I feel like I should be winded any more when I walk up the hill, but I still am. Actually everyone I walk with is too--that's not bad is it? Does that mean something?

Well I'm going to go attend to my laundry now. I'm planning on posting some more pictures this evening too, so keep an eye out! Miss you guys!

Smile :-)

Pictures: Baba & Angi Come to Lugano

Here are some preliminary photos from Baba and Angi's visit. I'll post more soon, but I have to go get ready for dinner right now! Promise! (By the by, these first pictures are from the hotel they were first put in when they arrived in Lugano, the other one is from the first night that we went to La Gondoletta restaurant in Melide.)

Walking: It's the cool thing to do

Hi folks,

So I haven't had internet for least 24 hours--it was quite the scare. And quite frustrating. Apparently the air conditioning the main computer room where they keep all the servers shut off, and then everything overheated and all the servers shut down. So that was lame. I spent way too much time attempting to recharge my phonecard yesterday because they chose me for a "random security verification," and they wanted the last four digits of my social security number, my birthday date, voice recognition from someone at the home phone number. And then it never went through. Mom ended up having to call them, and they accepted her credit card number with batting an eye. How lame is that? Ah well. I was just thrilled to have some minutes.

Let's see... so what happened yesterday? Saturday. Ah. I remember now. Deniz and I went to town around 11:15am, I won't mention anything that happened before then because it's not really of note. We walked to Manor (grocery/department store), where I purchased a large yellow pot (hooray!). Then Baba called after he and Angi returned to Lugano after spending a couple of days in Ascona. Sounds like they had some excellent food there. Deniz and I had turkish food for lunch from a little place right next to Manor. Then we walked along the waterfront until we ran into Baba and Angi there. Then we took them to the Turkish place for lunch. Then we got some gelato. Then we walked and walked and walked some more. Ended up walking for about five solid hours yesterday. After that Deniz headed back to Girasole and I went to visit Baba and Angi at their hotel and receive many food-gifts from Ascona. Then I went back to Girasole and got dressed, and Deniz came with us out to dinner at La Gondoletta.

Baba ordered a lobster out of the tank there, who he dubbed "Pierre." But we're quite sure Pierre was not actually served to him... Angi had ossobucco, and Deniz had lasagna. And I had cervo with spatzle (sp?). Cervo = deer. It came with a lot of candied fruits too. So that was something new and different. Maybe not either for the masses, but for me at least. Then Deniz and I were dropped off back at Girasole, and I made new popcorn on the stove with my brand new pot and watched The Big Lebowsky. Went to bed around midnight--that's the latest I've stayed up other than Blues to Bop. Yes, I'm a cool college kid.

Then this morning I met Baba and Angi for breakfast at their hotel. It was a buffet, the buns were good. The waiters were not very fond of people. Ah well. After that we went for a walk all the way down to the Lido, where the swimming pool/other swimming recreations may be found. That was 90 minutes, or 2 hours. Something like that. Then I came back to Girasole only for a bit, only to have Baba call and summon me to go on another walk. We walked all the way to Gandria, had lunch a little before we got there, then took a boat back to Lugano. In all it was about a four hour trip--probably 2.5-3 hours of walking.

I am almost convinced at this point that walking is THE thing to do here. I mean, what else is there, really? Other than drinking and eating? Or maybe jogging? That reminds me, there was a 5km and 10km Terry Fox run (for cancer?) this morning in Lugano today. It rained this morning for a bit, but it cleared up a bit in the afternoon, and largely held out until the boat pulled in for the most part. I should probably go get ready for dinner soon, too. I am very tired after so much walking. I think I am going to meet Baba and Angi for breakfast tomorrow morning before I go to classes, and before they leave. They're planning on leaving Lugano for Milan at about 10:30am, I think.

All right, so those are the highlights for now. I am sure there are many more amusing anecdotes that could be provided, except that I have to both finish some homework and get dressed for dinner within the next hour... Miss you guys!

Smile,
Ari

PS I have been receiving all the comments that have been posted--I do apologize for not really addressing them a whole lot. But I do always receive them and enjoy reading them! :-)

Common Room Creep

Hey folks!

Unfortunately, I have absolutely NOTHING to report. At least, nothing of any interest to anyone--even to me. And it's my life at the moment. I woke up to pouring rain and walked to school in pouring rain, and my jeans were soaked up to my knees by the time I got to German class. So I went to German class and then Marketing class, and everyone was so dead in Marketing that we got out ten minutes early. And I was left with little to do except wait around for lunch--I did reading for Marketing. Then I went and had lunch--fish and potatoes and salad. Then Keely and I walked back down the hill, and I've been here ever since. Not doing much of anything, fooling around with my computer trying to make it entertain me.

So yeah. I think Baba and Angi are coming back to Lugano tomorrow. I was going to go to yoga today, but I don't think I am any more. Not sure. I think there are going to be at least 20+ people there, and that's a lot. Deniz and I might go walking instead. Dinner at 6:00pm, probably. Maybe I'll do laundry. I don't think I have enough laundry to justify doing it. Ah well.

Smile :-)

Just a B+ Yogi from the Boonies

I am a very tired version of Ari this evening--and it's only 8:24pm. Pretty normal day. Actually, a little bit different from usual. I popped out of bed at my normal time--6:00am; the alarm clock doesn't even wake me up any more, I just get up. I went up for the 8:30am yoga class, which was really nice because there were only five of us rather than 20 or 25. I really like this whole yoga deal. I'm going to go to a class tomorrow at 4:00pm but it's not with Natalie, it's with Chelsea so that'll be a little bit different... I think I've just about talked Deniz into going with me.

After that I went up to Western Civilizations, had a two-break during which I ate lunch and did my math homework, then went to College Algebra, then heading over to English, where I gave a presentation and got back my first graded, college essay. I didn't do too badly but I should've done better--only a B+. I probably should've written with more time to spare than just the night before. So I guess that's not so bad when you look at it in that light. I'm getting really sick of all the cheesy prompts--describing a moment in which my life changed forever-type-of-thing.

(Have I mentioned that the boys here douse themselves in cologne? Whenever one of them gets out of the elevator, the whole thing just reeks of cologne. It's a very strange phenomenon. Everything always smells very strongly...)

After class I went back down the hill and did whatever for a while, nothing of interest, I assure you. Then Deniz, Keely, Katie and I walked up for dinner at 6:00pm. We spent a lot of time up there--like, I didn't get back to my room until 7:45pm. So that was a long time. We talked to Gio, which was cool; she's from New York. Then I tried to convince Deniz to apply as a transfer student to UPS, so we could be roommates, but I've been unsuccessful so far. All these city people think I'm from the boonies--hey! Fox Island is only an hour away from Seattle, thankyouverymuch! I also get made of fun for not liking to cross streets and freaking out every time a car almost hits us (although they'll say it wasn't about to hit us, but of course it was!). So yeah. I'm a kid from the boonies.

And like I said before, I am very tired now. I should probably just go to bed. I finished my homework on Wednesday. Sadness, not even any homework for me. It's raining here right now; that's nice. It has cooled down a lot. I wore my purple hat today! I think that added to my from-the-boonies image... I've been labeled a Seattle-ite; the fact that I go around telling people that the Pacific Northwest is the only place to live probably doesn't help either.

Oh yeah, Baba and Angi went to Ascona today. The hotel they're staying is apparently very over-priced and their room is very small. I was supposed to stay with them Friday-Sunday, but there is room is barely big enough for them apparently. The earliest they could get out of their reservation is Saturday, so they'll be coming back to Lugano on Saturday and then staying here until their flight on Monday. So that's all right. They haven't been having very good luck with hotels here, quite frankly. I'm supposed to think of something to do on Saturday, but there wasn't a whole lot to in sunny Lugano and I think there's even less to do in rainy Lugano.

I think I'm going buy myself a yoga mat and a big pot tomorrow. The yoga mats they provide are quite dirty and sketchy looking; I guess it's nice that you don't have to carry it up the hill... But most of the time there aren't enough yoga mats to go around as it is. I might as well buy one. Maybe I'll sell it when I leave here.

All right! I'm off to do a little Marketing reading, just for kicks. More soon though; I'm sure you're just dying to hear about more of my Swiss adventures... I must admit they're getting less exciting.

Smile !!

Who Knew You Could Get Paid for Making Flyers?

Salutations!

That greeting always stuck with me after Charlotte's Web... Sorry not to post yesterday, I sort of ran out of time. I attended my three classes, from 10:05-4:05, then ran down the hill and changed clothes then went back to Baba and Angi's hotel and hung out there for a bit. Then we went out to dinner at Ristorante Gondoletta again, except this time we just ordered salad and lasagna, and the chef gave us a free shrimp and fish sampler... Although we may have been taken advantage of the night before, the chef (and adorable, round, tiny Swiss-Italian grandpa type) did extend himself with the free fish. It was lovely. The location of the restaurant really couldn't be any better, right on the lake. Like it's a little piece of dock that extends over the lake, where all the tables are. After that I headed back to Girasole and finished up some homework amidst a fair amount of ruckus. The door was broken again. ::sigh::

This morning I went to German class and then Marketing. What did I learn? Hmm... In German I learned how to conjugate some verbs in the present tense. That wasn't so bad. People keep telling me that German is very difficult to learn, and it's rather intimidating, but so far I think I'm doing all right. In Marketing, we talked more about the consumer market. We took the VALS survey as homework last night to figure out what type of person/consumer we are. My primary type is Innovator, and my secondary type is Achiever. We're going to discuss all that goodness on Friday in class.

Then, after class, I had my very first interview. That was exciting. Unfortunately I wasn't able to print out any of my papers/writing samples/etc. because they never, ever, ever have any computers with working printers open for use at this silly school! So that was annoying. But still, I think it went pretty well. She said I can expect to be getting an e-mail from her once she figures out hours and positions and whatnot. So I could be doing anything from tutoring to making signs (ha ha! perfect job for me, yes? who knew that I could potentially get paid for flyers?). I don't actually know yet if I'll be volunteering or paid, but we'll see. I just want something to put on a resume... Normally, they don't hire freshmen, or even sophomores, they only hire juniors/seniors, but it sounds like I may have wheedled my way in. Thank you Charles Wright!

Then I went and had turkey and mashed potatoes for lunch... and walked back down the hill. But only after receiving yet another wonderful package from Oma! Hooray! And I received a Seattle postcard yesterday too. It made me so happy!

As soon as Deniz gets done with class and gets back down the hill, we are going to go grocery shopping and gelato (if we have enough time). We have Academic Travel meetings at 3:30pm at the top of the hill. And then I think I'm going to go to yoga at 5:15pm before meeting Baba and Angi at 6:45 for dinner. We'll see. Maybe I'll skip yoga today and go to the morning class tomorrow; I might be trying to squish too much in, especially since I have homework to do... Forgot about that. Of course I do have two hours between classes.... Yeah, actually I should probably do homework. Whoops. All right, more later.

Smile :-)

Roadkill a la Carte: Bring It On.

Today was a very busy day. Baba and Angi seem to have that effect. I went to classes from 8:30-10:30, had German and Marketing (we talked about consumer markets today). Then I went to the computer lab to print out my English essay that was due today even though class is not until tomorrow, and dropped that off in Professor Matthews's box. Then I jetted down the hill in order to meet Baba and Angi at 11:00 oustide of Girasole. Then we walked down to where the car was parked and got in and drove it over to Paradiso and parked it at the San Salvatore Funicolare. After that we hopped over to the ticket counter, bought a token for parking and three tickets for the Funicolare, which we rode to the top.

We checked out the views from atop San Salvatore, then we went and had lunch at the restaurant. Angi seems to have a penchant for making simple situations complicated—like after finally ordering a bottle of white wine, she asked our non-English-speaking waiter if he could bring a bottle that was a “little oakey.” Whatever that means. So we finished up lunch, then rode the Funi back down to Lugano. We ran into some people from Orange County on the Funi, and we ended up talking to them for about 45 minutes because of the 30 minutes of waiting for the Funi to move and the 15 minutes of actual travel time. They seemed very excited to meet people who spoke English. They also seemed rather enthused about me getting shoved out of the country to break in my wings, or something like that.

After that we drove back from Paradiso to the parking spaces near Girasole and parked the car, putting enough change in for one hour. We walked downtown to the grocery store, so they could see it, but, unfortunately, I didn’t realize that they had only put in enough change for an hour so we had to really rush… I headed back to my room for a bit after that, but I didn’t stay there long. I went to my first yoga class at 4:00pm, and that lasted until 5:00pm. I came back down the hill and showered and got ready to go to dinner with Baba and Angi at 6:30pm.

We went just outside of Lugano, around the lake a little ways to this tiny little restaurant where we were able to sit right on the lake. Angi had been told by the concierge at the hotel that she should let the cook choose what to serve us. So before Baba or I could order, she understood all of the chef’s Italian and had ordered us a three-course seafood feast… Somehow she figured out the words for “seabass,” “truffle,” and “scallop.” Goodness only knows how. Let’s just say that we probably paid more for our meal than all the other customers of the day did cumulatively (is that correct terminology?). So then we hung around there for a bit, and I took all the leftovers home with me; even the bread that was left on the table. Hey, I’m trying to fulfill the starving college stereotype, okay? The waitress thought I was kidding when I asked for the bread.

Okay, so you want to know where the “roadkill” in the title comes from? This may be the only restaurant any of us had ever been to where we sat across the street from the kitchen. So our waitress had to continually J-walk to attend our table. And you see, in Switzerland, if you’re not walking in one of the yellow crosswalks and you’re hit by a car, you’re charged 10,000 CHF. Pricey, I know. Baba wanted to ask how may waitresses they had lost so far.

I am exhausted! I’m heading to bed. More soon!

Smile :-)

Bellinzona Pictures

Parents: Lost & Found

Hello everyone!

Good news! My parents were found this morning. I called Baba at about 9:50am, and he picked me up at about 10:25am at the BP station right next to Girasole. I went up to the hotel with him and had breakfast with him and Angi (although I had just eaten breakfast, so I just watched, but that was all right). There hotel was hilariously hideous, quite frankly. You see, the Swiss people, being as sneaky as they are, had split the hotel into two buildings. One passably modern and relatively attractive one with a spectacular view of the lake, the other that looks like a cheap brothel. They were put into the latter of the two options. Baba said he felt like he was in a copycat version of Caesar's palace in Las Vegas. All the walls were horribly painted classic fresco/mural type things with lots of naked people in fig leaves and gated gardens. Not to mention all of the marble and plaster busts that adorned the hallways. The place was amazing. I can't wait until you can see pictures. We took lots. Oh and there was this really great head-of-a-horse sculpture that sort of looked like something a cat might cough up--I felt sorry for the thing. It was enormous. It just seemed very silly that anyone would want a hotel to look like that...

So after they had breakfast and straightened out their room situation, we drove down to Girasole (my place!). And I showed them around. Unfortunately the common room wasn't at its best this morning. There were a lot of rather inebriated students in the common room last night who made a mess and happened to break the big, main door (which is a push door) and cracked the window. It was a pretty sad sight. And then someone was burning something in the oven--for the most part, college students don't know how to cook, I've come to find out. But they quite enjoyed my room, I think. You'll have to ask them yourselves. They took a few pictures of my room, too.

After that we walked up to the school, so they could experience the walk up the hill. Took pictures of that too. Then we went walking in downtown Lugano, and had gelato (biscotti and stracciatella for me today, and pistachio and some sort of fruity one for Angi). We spent a whole lot of time walking the waterfront, we went all the way down to the park--sound of like walking around part of the lake. We eventually walked back up to Girasole, where I stayed to work on some homework and then we met up again around 6:30pm. We had dinner on the waterfront--some good pizza. I haven't actually had pizza since I've been here, shockingly enough. Then we walked the waterfront for a bit more. Angi tried out her Italian on our very sketchy looking waiter (pencil-thin chops AND chinstrap with very black, thick, long, greasy, wavy hair). He was not so enthused. Mostly he wanted to pretend we didn't exist... which was okay... Angi capped off the evening by asking for the "check-o." I'm not sure what else to say about that.

We ran into a British guy looking for an ATM and a campground, and I did what I could to help him. As did Angi... she swears she saw a campsite by the Lugano Golf Club today. She's only been here a day, and she's already giving directions. We warned him about that. He was from Cardiff. He was part of some 1500 mile journey from the UK to Croatia--one of 150 other cars. They've been all over the place--they left last Sunday and they've been in a different country every night. He has his ferry ticket for Thursday. Crazy, huh? So that was sort of cool and out-of-the-norm. Then I jumped out of the car at the intersection on the way back to Girasole, so they could just go straight up the hill back to their beloved hotel. I brought some leftover pizza to Keely and Deniz, who had a very disappointing pasta-cooking experience this evening. And now back into my cozy little cubicle. I'm going to call Soraya hopefully, then finish my English essay, and go to sleep!

I miss you guys!

Bellinzona Wine Festival & Potatoes

So Baba and Angi are in Lugano now--they’ve checked into their hotel and everything. I called there but they didn’t pick up the phone, so I’m not sure what I should do now. I guess I’ll write and tell you about my day today.

So last night instead of going out and partying like every good college kid does, I stayed in and cleaned my room--changed the sheets, vacuumed, washed the dishes… you know, the usual. Then I went to sleep by about 11:00pm, just went everyone else was heading out. In any case, I woke up at about 7:00am, had breakfast, got cleaned up, and then walked up the hill with Keely and Deniz. We got up to the school and started waiting by about 9:30. We wanted to make sure that we were part of the first 25 students to get to the Grotto, so that we could go to the Bellinzona Wine Festival for free. And we were, indeed, successful. But then we had to wait around until 11:00 for Jeff to actually show up and give us the plan.

We all walked down to the train station, and we missed the 11:45 train because Jeff wasn’t there yet because there was some problem with the tickets I think. So then we waited until 12:15 for the next train to Bellinzona. And then when we finally got on the train, all the seats were reserved or taken so it seemed, so about ten of us didn’t have seats. But that was okay because it was only a 25 minute ride there. So I took my first Swiss train ride today! How exciting is that? It was quite easy. Bellinzona was a beautiful little city; it’s the capitol city of Ticino (our canton). I think I almost liked it more than Lugano; it was just a bit friendlier. Actually everyone we met there was friendly. We tried out all of our German and Italian skills there and they were happy to meet us halfway. So that was fun.

When we first got there around 13:00, most of the little booths were starting to pack up, which we found rather confusing. I mean, the actually wine-tasting part of the festival didn’t start until 16:00, so we figured they’d be sticking around trying to sell stuff, but no. So everything sort of slowed down for a couple of hours. Kyle, Marcel, and I found a little food place that was set up specifically for the festival and we all ordered maccheroni with Bolognese for six francs a plate. It was a pretty good deal. After that we went and explored the Castelgrande. It was so cool! There were great views from the castle walls, and the castle itself was gorgeous. Part of it was actually just made out of rock that was already there. And there was a moat with actual water in it! How cool is that?

We stayed up there and explored for quite some time. Around 15:00 (the 24-hour clock system really makes a lot more sense, but I’ll try not to get annoying about it), we went and got gelato from this really great little place. I had stracciatella and chocolate; it was excellent once again. We stayed there for a bit, and then we walked around and went into a few shops as we waited for the festival to pick up again. Jeff passed out the wine glasses for the wine-tasting and by 4:00pm, everyone was tasting wines (except for myself; I think I was the only one who didn’t… but I did get a glass anyway, a lovely souvenir). I got really tired for a bit in there. I found a great stand selling breads of all sorts, so I bought one chocolate-filled croissant, two jelly-filled croissants, and four rolls so Baba and Angi could have some snack stuff tomorrow, when everything is closed. I wanted to buy some cheese, but I couldn’t decide what kind. There were lots of different salami stands and cheese stands. Everyone was so nice, too.

We got back on the 5:45pm train, which everyone just barely made (we were in no danger, but a lot of kids cut it rather close…). We actually got seats on the way back! That was nice, especially since we were rather tired. Once we got back to the train station, then we walked back to Girasole. And I made dinner for Keely and Deniz, and then Katie heard there was food up here, so she came and joined us too. We had quite the feast--tortellini with “Napoleonic” sauce (just tomato sauce, pretty much), penne pasta, peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches, and baked potatoes that eventually became mashed. It was fun.

Now I’m trying to figure out how to get a hold of Baba and Angi. I did call the hotel and I know that they’re there, but they didn’t pick up the phone. They’re probably eating dinner or something. Deniz and I were going to go walking or jogging downtown tonight, so I sort of need to know if I’m going to get the opportunity to see them or not (because of course I’d love to!). And plus if they’re going to come see my room this evening I sort of need to make sure it’s in good order. The dishes are washed but they’re on the drying rack right now and I need ot make my bed. It’s really not too bad; I just need to know! All right… well I’m going to try and get a hold of them again.

Miss you guys!

Smile :-)

GELATO POSSIBLE

So I didn't post yesterday, time ran away from me on its tiny little feet. But first I shall explain these magnificent photographs... I received a wonderful package today from Mom. She sent me that great purple wool hat. Some of the cushion packaging was a bit torn so it got covered in like recycled cardboard particles. Now these other pictures are really, really special. After another disappointing night of gelato-hunting (we spent 90 minutes searching without any results), we finally decided to go during the day. And we found gelato! Real, wonderful gelato. I had a wonderful two-scoop waffle cone with cioccolato and biscotti (a gift to humankind).
Anyway, let me start with yesterday, that way I won't leave anything out. Had lots of classes yesterday, and I was getting quite tired of being talked at. Especially by professors with very tiring accents... So I came back down the hill, then went back up the hill for dinner. Then Deniz and I decided to go gelato-searching. Nothing came of it.

So that was a boring anecdote. Today was a bit more interesting, I'd say. I had a quiz in German class this morning and then I had Marketing (another wonderful class period). After that I socialized for a bit (I try not to be too anti-social you know, spend a solid hour or so on lunch chatting it up), then I had lunch with a few people. Then I eventually went back down the hill, where I did laundry and worked on cleaning up my room a bit, since Baba and Angi are coming tomorrow and I'm probably going to be gone for a good part of the day. Then Deniz got done with classes and we did some window shopping and gelato-hunting for a few hours in downtown. Then we came back up and I did my dishes and straightened out my desk area. Then we went up to dinner, where we had "Cuatro P," which is for some reason, everyone's favorite, even though it's just penne pasta with tomato cream sauce and bits of chicken. It's really not all that exciting, even if it is good. Then we came back from dinner, and I've mostly been hanging out ever since then. (A whole bunch of Saudi Arabian kids just walked in--like a whole army of them.)

Now the interesting part of today was probably walking around downtown. Mostly things didn't go so well after we had our gelato; actually I'd say things went steadily downhill. If I remember there were three unhappy events, but I can only remember two now... Oh right, no, I remember now. First we had an Italian woman come and speak to us, she wanted to know where an exit was, I think. But we had no idea. And then she started talking to us in German when we said we didn't speak Italian (in Italian, of course). Then she asked us to get out of her way (we were sitting on some stairs), so we did. Then at "Inter-Discount," which is a cheap electronics store, I (or Deniz, we're not sure) set off the alarm because I touched the cellphone that was on display. They're out to be touched I tell you! Anyway, so some little Italian man came and turned it off, and I didn't know how to say "sorry" in Italian, and he just looked at me really accusingly and followed us around until we left the store (which was relatively soon after; we didn't want to run out of the store by any means, thought that would look suspicious). I felt like such a dirty American. These Swiss people, I'm pretty sure, believe there's no excuse for not speaking Italian. I thought the people here would be a little more welcoming and warm like the Germans, but they haven't been so far. They've actually been rather cold and stiff. After we got done at Migros and whatnot, on our way back/toward the water, we walked past a clothing store. Let's make a long-story short--essentially, there was a middle-aged man with a younger, rather butch looking but very trendy girlfriend who Deniz got in the way of. The man HISSED at her! I didn't think normal people do that. It's not like she got in their way on purpose. You'd think they would be looking too. People are rather rude in the stores here too, just in terms of elbowing their way through everywhere... Maybe they're just more practical about getting things done... So there's that.

I think I'm going to go to Bellinzona tomorrow. I think I've mentioned that in every post this week... It's supposed to be really pretty. Baba and Angi are supposed to be arriving in Lugano around 20:00... I still need to figure out how to get to their hotel. It's only about .6 miles away from here, which is really quite close, but the road I'd have to walk up isn't exactly safe for pedestrians. It's quite the opposite. And very steep. So I might actually have to go up to the school and then start from there... We'll see... Maybe I can just meet them at the school instead. All right, more soon!

Smile!

Blues to Bop Weekend Photos

In these photos we have first the view from my bedroom window. I realized for the first time on Sunday that I can see the lake; I thought all I could see was the intersection of doom...

Then there's a picture of Alyssa (on the left) and Deniz (on the right) as we sat on a bench at Blues to Bop and waited for the fireworks.

And then there's a picture of Lugano at night.

Oh Glorious Travel

Hello there!

I'm quite pumped at the moment because I just found a flight to Oslo for just 0.01 Euros! I mean, once you add taxes and fees it's up to 50 euros, but still! That's ridiculous! You can't find fares that cheap anywhere in the US. So I'm thinking maybe I'll check out Oslo sometime; then again, maybe I'll check out Stockholm. They both have ridiculously cheap flights. Or I could go to Dublin for 20 Euros roundtrip (that's without taxes/fees, but still cheap you must admit). Isn't that crazy? I could travel all over the place!!

I went to my first Academic Travel meeting for Sicily today, and I'm super-excited about it. I am a tad bit worried that I didn't bring enough summer clothes with me, as it's supposed to be super-hot there. I'm hoping things are going to start cooling off here in Lugano; it was 90 degrees again today, and really, really humid. I was just dripping with sweat all day; it was quite gross. Right now my weather report at the bottom of the screen is informing me that there are supposed to be thunderstorms tomorrow, but still in the mid-70s. So far it has predicted everyday this week that it would be mid-70s and it has yet to go under the mid-80s.

Anyway, I definitely need to jump on the traveling bandwagon and figure things out. Munich seems to be the most expensive/difficult place for me to get to at this point. I did finally figure out when I can go and spend a few days of quality time there. I'm going to be in Sicily from October 15 through October 25, but then I'll be free until classes start again on October 30. So I could spend a good three or four nights there; that's really the most I think I'll have a chance to get away. I just found out that we actually only have one day off for Thanksgiving... so it would still be a squeeze. But I'm super-excited about how easy it sounds like it'll be for me to travel around! I really want to go to Scandinavia; I think that would be a lot fun. Cold is sounding very appealing right now, even though I generally try to avoid it at all costs.

Not too much exciting today; I had German and Marketing. Again, I LOVE my Marketing class. So glad I'm taking it. I think I'm going to try and take a couple more business classes next semester because Professor Adams is amazing. I can always take my core/basic classes back at UPS.

OH MY GOODNESS. I can't believe I almost forgot to mention the Club Fair. Ah well, I'll get there in a second. I went to the post office today and mailed my first package for a whopping 18 francs; I'm pretty sure the thing didn't weigh any more than 2kg. It had to have weighed less. I was rewarded with an excellent sense of accomplishment in any case. After that I went to my Academic Travel meeting with Professor Cappiello, he's Italian, and he's really nice. I'm so, so, so looking forward to Sicily! I think it's going to be amazing!

So after Academic Travel, I had some time to kill, so I went to the library and did my reading for Western Civilization. It's a pretty dry read; I miss Palmer... (::tear::) I feel he was so under-appreciated. I wish I had Palmer with me now. Alas. And after Academic Travel, I went to the Club Fair, and my goodness, what a time it was.

I don't know how it happened, but that overzealous, go-getter, Student-Council indoctrinated part of me went nuts; it has obviously been starving since the end of my ASB Presidential days. I signed up for not one. Not two. Not three. BUT FIVE CLUBS (at least that I can remember, for some reason I feel the official number was six...). Included among them: Cooking Club, Smart Car Rally, Latin Club (a fusion of salsa dance and fundraising...), Swim Club, and oh, wait for it, wait for it, Capoeira. Please, someone save me from myself. I signed up for a BRAZILIAN MARTIAL ARTS CLUB. What? What? What has Ari done? Yes, let's all have a laugh now. Go look it up in wikipedia. And Swim Club? Who am I kidding? I've never swum laps up and down a pool before. Oh sigh. I swear peer pressure was my motivation at least for a few of those... I won't say which, right now. Oh and the basketball team wouldn't have me after I told them how experience I am, what with all the one-armed-girl-guarding that I've done. Just in case you were wondering. Oh my goodness, I think I've lost of my mind. Why didn't I just go out for Student Assembly and just left it at that?

And I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that Baba and Angi are coming to visit! All right, I have to go now and finish my math homework, which turned out to be slightly more complicated than expected... but more soon, I promise. And I'm going to try and load a couple more photos, too.

Smile!

I Mailed Some Mail

Hello there.

Busy day, although nothing special, I'd say. I would say that I'm starting to have a bit of scary obsession with the granola bars here, they are oh-so-delicious. And really not so bad for you; they have about the same nutrition as a Chewy bar, they're just way more amazing. So that's exciting.

I had Western Civ this morning at 10:05am, then I went and had lunch with a few people. We had... stewed beef with mashed potatoes and green beas. It was really quite good. Then I hung out for a long time before my 2:50 English class because math was cancelled today. So I spent a few hours checking e-mail and writing letters at the library. Then I went to the post office ready to do whatever it took to get postage stamps, and the woman speak English! So I mailed some letters. Sorry if I didn't get to you in this batch. I'm going to buy postcards tomorrow, so if you weren't sent a letter today you will be sent a postcard shortly. I just have so many fans you know... answering the fan mail is quite a job... just kidding.

I got another package from Oma today, which I was super-excited about. And I put a few things together; Soraya, the lucky girl, will hopefully be receiving a package soon. I hope I didn't mess anything up; although I'm pretty sure I made a mistake somewhere. The Swiss have some very odd rules about packaging. They probably just seem odd because I don't know what I'm doing... Ahhh... The Swissness...

So after the post office, I went to English class, which was largely uneventful. Then I headed back down the hill and Deniz and I went to Migros in Paradiso to pick up a couple of things. I bought some school supplies, mostly folders. As well as some tape and scissors to make me package-prepared. Mailing stuff from here to the US is apparently ridiculously expensive... it might be as much as 40 francs for me to mail Soraya an itty bitty box. Don't worry Soraya it's not that itty-bitty. But it's not large, by any means. Then I hung out in my room for a bit before heading up to dinner with Deniz, where we met Keely, Alauna, and Katie. Then we walked over to the Main Villa to check out Student Assembly speeches, but they were over. I didn't run, shockingly. I'm trying to quit the habit, you know. So we just walked back down the hill, and I just finished cleaning my room. It's quite the task keeping this itty bitty place in good order. I can't concentrate on homework when my room's a mess.

It was super-hot today, in the nineties all day. I was very gross and sweaty by the time I made it up to Western Civilization this morning, quite frankly. It's supposed to start cooling down over the next few days. We'll see. This Saturday I'm planning on either going to the Ponte Tresa morning market or to Bellinzona. Next Saturday I think a few of us are going to head to Milan. And then the last weekend in September there's the Smart Car Rally going all over Switzerland, which I really want to do. It's easy to let yourself get bored here, as most of us noticed this weekend. So we're all trying to think of ways to keep busy now.

I miss you all! Smile!

The Practicality of a Nun

The Practicality of a Nun

Today was by no means what I would label a “productive” day, but it was productive if compared to my weekend. I went to German class this morning at 8:30am, then Marketing at 9:40am. I checked my mail and received two wonderful letters from Oma and Mr. Middlebrooks, so I was very excited about that. I think they actually arrive on Friday or Saturday, but I hadn’t checked my mail since Thursday. So that made my day.

After Marketing I read my letters then went and had lunch at North Campus. More pasta, surprise, surprise. I’m really hoping they serve lasagna sometime; I tried their lasagna at the “Taste of Switzerland” buffet and it was super. It’s nice to have a food to look forward to. I just hope they serve it soon. It was delicious. After lunch I went back down the hill to Girasole, where I spent some time reading e-mails and writing letters. I need to figure out the Swiss post system. I’m assuming it’s going to be very strange and confusing and dominated by a strange, neurotic need to control. I guess that’s why I’ve been intimidated by the idea of purchasing postage. I’m probably going to do something wrong and then they’re going to speak to me in furious Italian, which I won’t speak a lick of, and then I’m going to say “Lo siento. Yo hablo espanol y ingles solamente.” And then they’ll be like “oh you poor sap, you’re in Switzerland, we only speak our languages. If you want to communicate, learn one of them.” But really they only speak Italian in Lugano. I’m going to get on that post wagon tomorrow and hopefully figure things out with too much eventfulness.

Keely came and knocked on my door and we left to go grocery shopping around 3:00pm, even though we were planning on going shopping with a few other girls around 4:00pm. Whoops. But Keely wanted to go into downtown to get groceries since she needed to buy paint and they were just planning on going to Paradiso. Hopefully they won’t be upset. In any case, I did purchase a few groceries, including: eggs, arrabiata sauce, granola bars, 2 packages of soup, milk, bread, and cookies. I’m planning on buying more meat/produce closer to the weekend, when I’ll have to provide more for myself. Plus meat and produce are both super expensive here. That reminds me! Deniz, Alyssa, and I found both a Turkish restaurant and a Persian restaurant last night in Lugano. Actually we don’t know where the Persian one is, but we saw a sign for it. We actually found the Turkish one. So we’re going to get Turkish food next Saturday, methinks.

Now that I’m back in my dorm, I should probably do a smidge of Western Civilization homework. Then I’ll probably go up and get dinner around six-ish. Let us all keep our fingers crossed for lasagna. And does anyone know why the Swiss don’t sell ground pepper?! I can’t find it anywhere, and it’s getting rather frustrating.

On another note, Angi is planning on sending me measuring cups & spoons and an apron, and Erin is also planning on sending me an apron. So those two are covered. I was also thinking that a box of plain old Chips Ahoy would be delicious… Or goldfish crackers. The Swiss don’t seem to believe in snack food. They do have lots of potato chips, but I don’t really like eating those regularly.

Oh and another note! If you are planning on sending me food, don’t mark it as “food” on the customs clearance form. I know that they will send cereals back home. Just mark it as “gift.” From what I’ve heard they aren’t overly suspicious and probably don’t actually care what’s in the box so long as you don’t tell them. I was talking to an upperclassman here and he said to make sure you mark everything as either used personal clothing or “gift” depending upon which category it fits better. That way they won’t return it to sender or tax me. It’s almost ninety degrees today. Thanks for listening to me ramble!

I miss you!!

PS I totally forgot about the title I put on this entry. So I have a tendency to walk around in my hiking boots with my NorthFace backpack, which pretty much labels me as a non-Swiss. (But it really is the most practical way to do things; eventually I’ll get better at dressing myself and being Swiss-like, I promise. And it’s not just my problem, most of us Franklin students stick out from the meticulously manicured and groomed Swiss-Italians around here.) Anyway, that’s all beside the point. I finally found someone else wearing a backpack and solid walking shoes today: a 70something nun.

Gelato Impossible

So I’ll start with last night, since I never gave it much press. I ended up going down to Blues to Bop with Alyssa and Deniz around 9:00pm. We found this little stand with amazing sandwiches, which Alyssa and Deniz bought and affirmed that they were indeed amazing. Unfortunately, I had already eaten dinner, and I wanted to save room for gelato, so I didn’t partake in the eating of amazing sandwiches. After that we walked around for a bit, as we waited for the Fabulous Soul-Seekers (Searchers? Not sure) to come on. We got gelato during the in-between time. I had stracciatella and chocolate, Alyssa had amarena and nocciola, and Deniz had biscotti and nocciola. The biscotti was so good! I think I’m going to have to get it next time we get ice cream. Then we sat on a bench on the waterfront and we watched the fireworks show, which was very cool. After that we went back to the music and saw the FSS’s, who were a band of 12 guys, six or seven of whom were gospel singers. They were a lot of fun to watch; they were all wearing matching suits with green pants and blue jackets. They apparently wore all white on Friday night. So that was fun. Once they were done playing around midnight we found a bench to take a break from standing/walking, had people talk about us in Italian (they pointed out we were speaking English), got really tired and eventually decided to walk home; we got back around 1:00am, I do believe. So Blues to Bop was a lot of fun. It was quite entertaining to listen to all these American musicians singing in English and rocking out. None of them looked like they would really fit in in Lugano. They had some really good shows there. We couldn’t figure out if this was a purely-Luganese event or if they travel around. We’re thinking they must travel around because it just seems like such a misfit, to have all these conservative Italians listening to Americans blues and bop singers. I quite enjoyed it in any case.

Then today I ended up waking up promptly at 7:20am, had breakfast, and then went back to sleep. I woke up around 11:15am, which I was shocked by. It seemed like time travel. I cleaned my room, washed the dishes, took a shower, and proceeded to make some pasta. Alyssa and Deniz came over and we had a potluck. I provided the pasta and olives, Alyssa brought peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and Deniz made French fries. It was sort of an odd combination, but delicious nonetheless. I didn’t realize how much I’ve missed bread until I had a PBJ sandwich. I’m going grocery shopping tomorrow and bread is at the top of my list. Strangely it’s rather difficult to find dark, grainy whole wheat bread here. In German it seems like that’s all that they sell, so I figured we would find it here. But they appear to eat mostly white bread. Maybe I haven’t been looking in the right places.

Oh right, the rest of my day, I’d forgotten about that. So Alyssa and Deniz went back to their rooms around 3:30pm, and I surfed the web looking for train and plane tickets to Munich. Wasn’t overly successful there… I ended up falling asleep for about an hour. I didn’t mean to, it just sort of happened. Not doing anything is a lot of work; I think I’m more tired that way. I met up with Alyssa and Deniz again around 8:00pm outside of Florida and we walked into downtown looking for the amazing sandwiches that they had in downtown last night and the gelato, but neither were to be found. Everything was shut down. We were under the mistaken impression that Blues to Bop was continuing through this evening. Alas, we were very wrong. We walked around downtown searching for about 45 minutes until we decided to turn back up the hill, rather hungry. We went to the BP gas station next to Girasole and got gelato substitutes, which were not nearly as satisfying and made plans to go grocery shopping and gelato hunting tomorrow night.

We’ve had lovely weather all week, and it just keeps getting hotter. It was in the mid-80s today and it’s supposed to continue getting warmer. I’m not sure what to do with the warm weather here except sweat maybe and walk around and sweat some more… And drink lots and lots of water. Good thing I like warm weather. Oh more good news on the phone front! My cellphone is now up and working 100%; I am able to make and receive calls and I know how to check my voicemail now too! So feel free to call and leave me as many voicemails as you like. I’ve had some contact with Skype, but I have not yet solved the problem with receiving calls with SkypeIn. Still working on it. If it ends up really not working I might just cancel it and resort to SkypeOut and phone cards, we shall see. The phone cards cost about the same in terms of cents/minute, and they sound a whole lot better. There’s not so much delay or echo.

I’m off to bed! I’ve got 8:30am German tomorrow. Hope you’re all having lovely Sundays! I miss you!!