Today's been a good day.
I went to the 8:30 yoga class this morning, then went on to the drudgery of classes. But that was all right. I worked on my Marketing write-up in-between history and math. Okay, so the day wasn't so exceptional, at least to begin with. But after classes things started making me smile.
As I was walking back down the hill today, toward Girasole, the crosswalk-man was there. He's pretty much always guarding the crosswalks, since there's an elementary school nearby. He also does all sorts of other odd jobs for them--I've seen him washing windows, pushing the lunch cart, etc. He always says "bongiorno" (sp?) when any of us Franklin kids pass by; he's just a very nice, old Italian man. In any case, today as I passed by him he said "buona sera" and I replied with the same, and then he handed me a Mars bar! How random is that? So then I was rather surprised and smiled and said "grazie" and continued on. I think this happened to another girl too, to whom he gave a Lindt chocolate.
I eventually made it back to Girasole and waited until it was a decent hour back at home and called Baba and Angi, since they're going on their cruise in a few days here. That was nice! I got to talk to Oma too, except with a much better connection than usual. And then I called UPS and talked to my academic advisor, who helped me register for classes. I was on the phone with him for almost an hour. Things went really well though, and I'm feeling a lot better about next semester, even as I start to get a little sad about leaving (not so sad as to dampen my excitement to go home, however). There are a lot of people I'm going to be missing though. :-(
So here are my classes for next semester:
Contemporary Economy
International Political Economy of Southeast Asia
Pre-Calculus (yet again, you'd think I would have escaped by now)
Spanish Writing Seminar (I couldn't fit German into my schedule, but there's still hope of things moving around...)
And then I'm trying to decide on a Phys. Ed. class. If you have any recommendations, please do let me know. (I've been toying with folk dancing... just kidding...)
Then I walked up to dinner with Keely and we had 4P, which people always get really excited about for some reason. It's essentialy pasta with creamy tomato sauce and chicken. Then we went and saw the Variety Show, which was very happy. There were a lot of good acts, even though the show was pretty short--around 40 minutes. But everyone was really supportive and enthusiastic and it was fun. I'm quite pleased that I went. Plus, we had the chance to have a Barcelona-Trip-Reunion!
And I also found out that Alyssa and I are going to be on the flight back from New York to Seattle!
So many happy things today. And Alauna and I are going to Ponte Tresa (in Italy) on Saturday, then I'm going to spend part of the day shopping with Keely and Deniz (Keely wants to buy a beret...).
Life is happy. :-) Ari
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Back from Barcelona
Hello all,
I've had quite the time of it the last few days--the excitement really hasn't stopped until just now, since I've returned to the ever-peaceful Lugano. Barcelona was a wonderful trip, riddled with little problems (I assure you they didn't dampen our enthusiasm for being in Spain, they were just a bit inconvenient). Where to start, where to start? At the beginning, I suppose.
Wednesday night/Thursday morning:
Following the Thanksgiving dinner up at the North Campus Dining Hall, our little group (Alyssa, Alyssa, Alauna, Marcel, and me) headed down to the train station to catch the 9:48pm train to Milano. The train was late, but that was fine; no big deal. From Milano, we took a bus to Bergamo airport, arriving there around midnight or so. Bergamo does not stay open at all hours to its fliers; instead, they corral all those who need to spend the night at the airport (like ourselves) into a cement, holding tank of sorts. (And just to clarify, we had to spend the night at the airport in order to catch our 8:45am flight to Girona. We took the last train to Milano.)
Now Bergamo was quite the place. We ended up being shut into this cement tank filled with probably near a hundred or more fanatical Portugese football fans, all decked out in team colors, and faintly smelling of both urine and vomit. There were very few women about, and we were the only unaccompanied-by-a-male-companion girls in the place (aside from a few other girls from Franklin, who also had to sleepover). Really, it ended up being quite the adventure. There was a man with thet most enormous belly I've ever seen--he could've been carrying triplets--who was walking around shirtless showing off his football-fanaticism with the tattoo on his back. There were a number of men sleeping on their team flags on the floor, or curling up around their team scarves. At one point, a few of us decided to head over to the vending machine--this was around two or three in the morning--to get a snack and move around, since the floor was so darn cold. The vending machines were where the most lively of the fans had positioned themselves, ready to chat up anyone silly enough to try and purchase something. I think I will summarize this anecdote with the following few lines which were shouted after us after we decided it was time to book it: "Where are you running my prey?! Come to Portugal with me!" Yeah.
At around three-thirty or four they let us into the actual airport, which was really only a slight improvement--we were awarded with metal chairs, but were still freezing. We waited around until finally we were able to check-in, go through security, and wait it out on the other (heated) side, which happened around 7:00am. Not too much interesting happened after that...
Thursday:
Our plane arrived at Girona (about an hour outside of Barcelona) at about ten in the morning. We walked off the plane and to the side Alyssa (Roland) spotted the burnt-out skeleton of an airplane. Comforting, I know. RyanAir is slightly sketchy, admittedly, but cheap, nonetheless. They also have fend-for-yourself-seating, which requires that you sit in any seat that's open. They were actually incredibly efficient, both of our flights with RyanAir ended up coming in at least twenty minutes early. After we arrived in Girona, we took the bus to Barcelona, which took about an hour, and we checked into our hostel. We decided it was naptime after our serious lack of sleep. We met up with Alyssa (Roland)'s dad and his cousin, who had come to meet up with Alyssa and travel back to Lugano with her. We ended up walking around La Rambla for a while, then wandering around the side streets, and eventually ending up at a Mexian bar/restaurant where I had a chicken burrito, and we they had dolls, flip-flops, and garden gloves posted on the walls as decoration. It was more tastefully done than I am sure my description makes it out to be. We also went and saw a really cool opera house from the outside, as well as some palace/castle of some sort, that may have actually been a cathedral (we were tired). We turned in pretty early.
Friday:
We had a pretty late start since everyone was pretty exhausted still. We met Alyssa (Roland)'s dad and cousin at the Templo de la Sagrada Familia at around one in the afternoon, after doing a few hours of browsing and shopping in Jaume, just off La Rambla. We had our first metro ride of the trip on our way to the Templo, and we were not very successful to be quite honest, but we eventually got the hang of it. The Templo was spectacular! We also checked out the Gaudi museum housed underneath it. We then went to lunch, I'm pretty sure, although I don't quite remember where. Then us girls went out and checked out another museum, which had more crucifixes than any of us had ever seen in one place. It was incredible, and a little bit scary... Then we headed over to Barceloneta and visited the beautiful beach at around twilight--it was so wonderful! And there were still surfers out, which was pretty cool. Eventually we went and found dinner at a sketchy little place that served paella, pizza, and pasta... An odd combination to be sure. Alauna couldn't get into the women's restroom because, as we later discovered, one of the waiters was in there smoking. Awkward...
So here's where the real excitement begins. We went to Starbucks around nine, since Alyssa (Roland) had been having a real craving. So we all got something or other, and sat down at a little table that had walls on three sides, with Alyssa (Jeter) and Marcel sitting on the "outside" side. We had been about to get up and go and Alyssa (Jeter) had reached down to pick up her backpack, and it was there. But then we got to talking some more, so we sort of re-situated ourselves and, ten minutes later, her backpack was gone. This struck us all as quite absurd. Alyssa (Jeter) was quite justifiably freaking out a bit, and the rest of us were just trying to figure out exactly what this entailed. We told the people at Starbucks about it and gave them our contact information in case the bag showed up, then Alyssa (Roland) and Marcel went to search for the bag in hopes that someone took the cash and tossed the rest, and Alyssa (Jeter), Alauna, and me went to search for the police station, since I'm the one with Spanish, supposedly. After going up and down La Rambla asking the people at the kiosks where the police station was, I finally found a policeman and asked him and he pointed us in the right direction. It was way far down a very sketch side street. But we found it. They gave us the number to cancel Alyssa (Jeter)'s credit card, and then we had to wait to file the police report. In the meantime, I tried to ask them about the number for the American embassy. There was a fair amount lost in translation however, and it took a while before they figured out what I was talking to--it required the help of an English-speaking policeman. While there is no embassy in Barcelona, there is an American Consulate (thank goodness!). So we picked up those numbers.
By this time, it was way past the time that we were supposed to go back and meet with Alyssa (Roland) and Marcel, who we had agreed to meet back at the Starbucks. So Alauna and I left Alyssa (Jeter) at the police station, and we high-tailed it back to the Starbucks. We found Alyssa (Roland) and Marcel and Alyssa (Jeter)'s backpack--albeit empty. Alyssa (Roland) and Marcel had found two boys, one wearing the backpack and had grabbed it off the kid's back. They tried to question the boys, but it was to little avail, since the girls only spoke limited Spanish. The boys told them they had "found" the bag, and that they had seen the passport and camera a way down some road that they later found had a great number of male prostitutes...
So we all went back to the police station, eventually filed the police report, and got a taxi back to hostel at around two in the morning. Then Alyssa (Jeter) made various phonecalls back home and to the embassy hotline.
Saturday:
We were determined to get this business straightened out as quickly as possible, so we went to the consulate first thing on Saturday morning. It was closed. Consulates, apparently, are generally only open from about 9/10am to 1/2pm, Monday through Friday. Good piece of information to know. Going there on Saturday proved to be invaluable yesterday however, as we were able to pick up the forms that needed to be filled out and find out about getting photos taken, etc. So then we trekked back down to meet Alyssa (Roland)'s dad and cousin at the Plaza Catalunya, near the fountains. Then we headed over to Park Guell, one of Gaudi's many masterpieces (see photos). Had lunch at a quaint little place called El Fornet, which had nice little sandwiches and pastries. Then, I guess, we spent most of the rest of the day wandering about. We had a gelato and met a girl who worked there from Holland, who had spent a number of weeks in Wisconsin this last summer, so she spoke better English than Spanish. Then we walked down La Rambla trying to find a place to eat, and ended up with Chinese food. We also went down to the end of La Rambla, to the port, and poked around at the mall down there, look at the outside of the Aquarium and so on. Just sort of hung out. We ended up getting back pretty early since Alyssa (Roland), Alauna, and Marcel had to take the 3:45am bus to Girona on Sunday morning. We had decided that I would stay with Alyssa (Jeter) until the passport business could be figured out.
Sunday:
Alyssa (Jeter) and I found ourselves stranded in Barcelona on Sunday, but we made the most of it. We meandered along La Rambla and into Jaume. We went to the Textile/Clothing Museum in Jaume, right near the Museu Picasso. It was so cool! Soraya would have loved it. We continue to poke around that area and explore. Eventually we ended up going to the Aquarium, which is supposed to be the biggest in Europe. It was fun. Then we went back to Jaume area and had falafel for dinner and then got a pastry at a cappuccino place. We also went over the little outdoor market that they have on La Rambla on the weekends, and I bought a couple of things. Then we headed back to the hostel. You know, I may have things out of order here...
Monday & thereon:
We went first thing to the American Consulate, and got Alyssa's passport. The whole process was expediated greatly by having all the forms and photos and whatnot ready. That sort of killed our day, though. We got back down to La Rambla area around noon (it was a fairly substantial bus ride up and down to the Consulate). We went back to the hostel directly, and booked our tickets back to Bergamo. Then we went back into town, and we kept getting lost, which didn't make any sense since we'd been getting around just fine. I think we were just a little exhausted and distracted by everything that had happened and all the schoolwork we were missing and needed to get done... We went over to La Boqueria (the big market on La Rambla) for lunch and had some sort of organic burrito, then had a gelato. Then we walked around a whole lot more, found a few things that I had wanted to get before leaving... Eventually had an early dinner on La Rambla, then headed back to the hostel. We met a lot of really nice/interesting people at the hostel, and we talked to them for a long time last night. But we still went to bed early and then got up at 2:45am and left by 3:15am to find the bus station. Of course, we got lost. But I was determined that we would not miss that bus, so I hailed a cab that was going by and we hopped into and took the 3Euro drive to the bus station, and just made the bus with a couple minutes left to spare. (When we got to the station everything was locked up, and we had to go around and down to find the buses, then we hadn't bought a ticket yet so we had to go back up and buy one, etc. etc.--it was quite nerveracking.) But we made the bus, and we made our flight, and now I am safely back in Lugano. And have a ton of work to do. And some sort of dog crap on my shoe that I think I picked up this morning in Barcelona. Pretty much almost anything that could have gone wrong this trip, really did indeed go wrong. Well, not everything. But it was still a wonderful trip and we had an excellent time--and learned a whole lot about travel...
And do check out the photos. I'll write more soon. :-) Smile, Ari
Barcelona Adventure Album: Part One
Barcelona Adventure Album: Part Two
PS If you have e-mailed me and I have not responded in ages, I promise that I will soon! Things have been a tad crazy...
I've had quite the time of it the last few days--the excitement really hasn't stopped until just now, since I've returned to the ever-peaceful Lugano. Barcelona was a wonderful trip, riddled with little problems (I assure you they didn't dampen our enthusiasm for being in Spain, they were just a bit inconvenient). Where to start, where to start? At the beginning, I suppose.
Wednesday night/Thursday morning:
Following the Thanksgiving dinner up at the North Campus Dining Hall, our little group (Alyssa, Alyssa, Alauna, Marcel, and me) headed down to the train station to catch the 9:48pm train to Milano. The train was late, but that was fine; no big deal. From Milano, we took a bus to Bergamo airport, arriving there around midnight or so. Bergamo does not stay open at all hours to its fliers; instead, they corral all those who need to spend the night at the airport (like ourselves) into a cement, holding tank of sorts. (And just to clarify, we had to spend the night at the airport in order to catch our 8:45am flight to Girona. We took the last train to Milano.)
Now Bergamo was quite the place. We ended up being shut into this cement tank filled with probably near a hundred or more fanatical Portugese football fans, all decked out in team colors, and faintly smelling of both urine and vomit. There were very few women about, and we were the only unaccompanied-by-a-male-companion girls in the place (aside from a few other girls from Franklin, who also had to sleepover). Really, it ended up being quite the adventure. There was a man with thet most enormous belly I've ever seen--he could've been carrying triplets--who was walking around shirtless showing off his football-fanaticism with the tattoo on his back. There were a number of men sleeping on their team flags on the floor, or curling up around their team scarves. At one point, a few of us decided to head over to the vending machine--this was around two or three in the morning--to get a snack and move around, since the floor was so darn cold. The vending machines were where the most lively of the fans had positioned themselves, ready to chat up anyone silly enough to try and purchase something. I think I will summarize this anecdote with the following few lines which were shouted after us after we decided it was time to book it: "Where are you running my prey?! Come to Portugal with me!" Yeah.
At around three-thirty or four they let us into the actual airport, which was really only a slight improvement--we were awarded with metal chairs, but were still freezing. We waited around until finally we were able to check-in, go through security, and wait it out on the other (heated) side, which happened around 7:00am. Not too much interesting happened after that...
Thursday:
Our plane arrived at Girona (about an hour outside of Barcelona) at about ten in the morning. We walked off the plane and to the side Alyssa (Roland) spotted the burnt-out skeleton of an airplane. Comforting, I know. RyanAir is slightly sketchy, admittedly, but cheap, nonetheless. They also have fend-for-yourself-seating, which requires that you sit in any seat that's open. They were actually incredibly efficient, both of our flights with RyanAir ended up coming in at least twenty minutes early. After we arrived in Girona, we took the bus to Barcelona, which took about an hour, and we checked into our hostel. We decided it was naptime after our serious lack of sleep. We met up with Alyssa (Roland)'s dad and his cousin, who had come to meet up with Alyssa and travel back to Lugano with her. We ended up walking around La Rambla for a while, then wandering around the side streets, and eventually ending up at a Mexian bar/restaurant where I had a chicken burrito, and we they had dolls, flip-flops, and garden gloves posted on the walls as decoration. It was more tastefully done than I am sure my description makes it out to be. We also went and saw a really cool opera house from the outside, as well as some palace/castle of some sort, that may have actually been a cathedral (we were tired). We turned in pretty early.
Friday:
We had a pretty late start since everyone was pretty exhausted still. We met Alyssa (Roland)'s dad and cousin at the Templo de la Sagrada Familia at around one in the afternoon, after doing a few hours of browsing and shopping in Jaume, just off La Rambla. We had our first metro ride of the trip on our way to the Templo, and we were not very successful to be quite honest, but we eventually got the hang of it. The Templo was spectacular! We also checked out the Gaudi museum housed underneath it. We then went to lunch, I'm pretty sure, although I don't quite remember where. Then us girls went out and checked out another museum, which had more crucifixes than any of us had ever seen in one place. It was incredible, and a little bit scary... Then we headed over to Barceloneta and visited the beautiful beach at around twilight--it was so wonderful! And there were still surfers out, which was pretty cool. Eventually we went and found dinner at a sketchy little place that served paella, pizza, and pasta... An odd combination to be sure. Alauna couldn't get into the women's restroom because, as we later discovered, one of the waiters was in there smoking. Awkward...
So here's where the real excitement begins. We went to Starbucks around nine, since Alyssa (Roland) had been having a real craving. So we all got something or other, and sat down at a little table that had walls on three sides, with Alyssa (Jeter) and Marcel sitting on the "outside" side. We had been about to get up and go and Alyssa (Jeter) had reached down to pick up her backpack, and it was there. But then we got to talking some more, so we sort of re-situated ourselves and, ten minutes later, her backpack was gone. This struck us all as quite absurd. Alyssa (Jeter) was quite justifiably freaking out a bit, and the rest of us were just trying to figure out exactly what this entailed. We told the people at Starbucks about it and gave them our contact information in case the bag showed up, then Alyssa (Roland) and Marcel went to search for the bag in hopes that someone took the cash and tossed the rest, and Alyssa (Jeter), Alauna, and me went to search for the police station, since I'm the one with Spanish, supposedly. After going up and down La Rambla asking the people at the kiosks where the police station was, I finally found a policeman and asked him and he pointed us in the right direction. It was way far down a very sketch side street. But we found it. They gave us the number to cancel Alyssa (Jeter)'s credit card, and then we had to wait to file the police report. In the meantime, I tried to ask them about the number for the American embassy. There was a fair amount lost in translation however, and it took a while before they figured out what I was talking to--it required the help of an English-speaking policeman. While there is no embassy in Barcelona, there is an American Consulate (thank goodness!). So we picked up those numbers.
By this time, it was way past the time that we were supposed to go back and meet with Alyssa (Roland) and Marcel, who we had agreed to meet back at the Starbucks. So Alauna and I left Alyssa (Jeter) at the police station, and we high-tailed it back to the Starbucks. We found Alyssa (Roland) and Marcel and Alyssa (Jeter)'s backpack--albeit empty. Alyssa (Roland) and Marcel had found two boys, one wearing the backpack and had grabbed it off the kid's back. They tried to question the boys, but it was to little avail, since the girls only spoke limited Spanish. The boys told them they had "found" the bag, and that they had seen the passport and camera a way down some road that they later found had a great number of male prostitutes...
So we all went back to the police station, eventually filed the police report, and got a taxi back to hostel at around two in the morning. Then Alyssa (Jeter) made various phonecalls back home and to the embassy hotline.
Saturday:
We were determined to get this business straightened out as quickly as possible, so we went to the consulate first thing on Saturday morning. It was closed. Consulates, apparently, are generally only open from about 9/10am to 1/2pm, Monday through Friday. Good piece of information to know. Going there on Saturday proved to be invaluable yesterday however, as we were able to pick up the forms that needed to be filled out and find out about getting photos taken, etc. So then we trekked back down to meet Alyssa (Roland)'s dad and cousin at the Plaza Catalunya, near the fountains. Then we headed over to Park Guell, one of Gaudi's many masterpieces (see photos). Had lunch at a quaint little place called El Fornet, which had nice little sandwiches and pastries. Then, I guess, we spent most of the rest of the day wandering about. We had a gelato and met a girl who worked there from Holland, who had spent a number of weeks in Wisconsin this last summer, so she spoke better English than Spanish. Then we walked down La Rambla trying to find a place to eat, and ended up with Chinese food. We also went down to the end of La Rambla, to the port, and poked around at the mall down there, look at the outside of the Aquarium and so on. Just sort of hung out. We ended up getting back pretty early since Alyssa (Roland), Alauna, and Marcel had to take the 3:45am bus to Girona on Sunday morning. We had decided that I would stay with Alyssa (Jeter) until the passport business could be figured out.
Sunday:
Alyssa (Jeter) and I found ourselves stranded in Barcelona on Sunday, but we made the most of it. We meandered along La Rambla and into Jaume. We went to the Textile/Clothing Museum in Jaume, right near the Museu Picasso. It was so cool! Soraya would have loved it. We continue to poke around that area and explore. Eventually we ended up going to the Aquarium, which is supposed to be the biggest in Europe. It was fun. Then we went back to Jaume area and had falafel for dinner and then got a pastry at a cappuccino place. We also went over the little outdoor market that they have on La Rambla on the weekends, and I bought a couple of things. Then we headed back to the hostel. You know, I may have things out of order here...
Monday & thereon:
We went first thing to the American Consulate, and got Alyssa's passport. The whole process was expediated greatly by having all the forms and photos and whatnot ready. That sort of killed our day, though. We got back down to La Rambla area around noon (it was a fairly substantial bus ride up and down to the Consulate). We went back to the hostel directly, and booked our tickets back to Bergamo. Then we went back into town, and we kept getting lost, which didn't make any sense since we'd been getting around just fine. I think we were just a little exhausted and distracted by everything that had happened and all the schoolwork we were missing and needed to get done... We went over to La Boqueria (the big market on La Rambla) for lunch and had some sort of organic burrito, then had a gelato. Then we walked around a whole lot more, found a few things that I had wanted to get before leaving... Eventually had an early dinner on La Rambla, then headed back to the hostel. We met a lot of really nice/interesting people at the hostel, and we talked to them for a long time last night. But we still went to bed early and then got up at 2:45am and left by 3:15am to find the bus station. Of course, we got lost. But I was determined that we would not miss that bus, so I hailed a cab that was going by and we hopped into and took the 3Euro drive to the bus station, and just made the bus with a couple minutes left to spare. (When we got to the station everything was locked up, and we had to go around and down to find the buses, then we hadn't bought a ticket yet so we had to go back up and buy one, etc. etc.--it was quite nerveracking.) But we made the bus, and we made our flight, and now I am safely back in Lugano. And have a ton of work to do. And some sort of dog crap on my shoe that I think I picked up this morning in Barcelona. Pretty much almost anything that could have gone wrong this trip, really did indeed go wrong. Well, not everything. But it was still a wonderful trip and we had an excellent time--and learned a whole lot about travel...
And do check out the photos. I'll write more soon. :-) Smile, Ari
Barcelona Adventure Album: Part One
Barcelona Adventure Album: Part Two
PS If you have e-mailed me and I have not responded in ages, I promise that I will soon! Things have been a tad crazy...
Monday, November 20, 2006
O, Happy Day
I've really had a wonderful day today; I just had to write and tell you. I've finished six magnificent pages of my Flannery O'Connor paper, without too many stumbles. Every time I actually sit down to write it, my inspired analysis is fluent as I listen to Enrique and the Mexican Institute of Sound. I'm having a party over here. The weather was beautiful today too--no rain, just beautiful blue sky and sunshine, along with a bit chilly weather. But all the better, I got wear my scarf! I went o classes this morning, then chatted with Christina about my O'Connor paper and how to better focus it. Then I came back down the hill, worked for a bit on various things, went back up to the school for yoga, talked to Alauna until dinnertime. Had an unsatisfactory dinner with many potatoes, then went to the gym and kept Keely company for a bit, until we got kicked out by the basketball team. Then talked to my mom on the phone for quite a while about all sorts of things, then I've been writing ever since.
But for some reason I'm having a party and a half all by myself. Writing a research paper. That doesn't sound right. Maybe I had better stop. Ah well, more soon! Hooray for happiness. Miss you! Smile, Ari
But for some reason I'm having a party and a half all by myself. Writing a research paper. That doesn't sound right. Maybe I had better stop. Ah well, more soon! Hooray for happiness. Miss you! Smile, Ari
O, Happy Day
I've really had a wonderful day today; I just had to write and tell you. I've finished six magnificent pages of my Flannery O'Connor paper, without too many stumbles. Every time I actually sit down to write it, my inspired analysis is fluent as I listen to Enrique and the Mexican Institute of Sound. I'm having a party over here. The weather was beautiful today too--no rain, just beautiful blue sky and sunshine, along with a bit chilly weather. But all the better, I got wear my scarf! I went o classes this morning, then chatted with Christina about my O'Connor paper and how to better focus it. Then I came back down the hill, worked for a bit on various things, went back up to the school for yoga, talked to Alauna until dinnertime. Had an unsatisfactory dinner with many potatoes, then went to the gym and kept Keely company for a bit, until we got kicked out by the basketball team. Then talked to my mom on the phone for quite a while about all sorts of things, then I've been writing ever since.
But for some reason I'm having a party and a half all by myself. Writing a research paper. That doesn't sound right. Maybe I had better stop. Ah well, more soon! Hooray for happiness. Miss you! Smile, Ari
But for some reason I'm having a party and a half all by myself. Writing a research paper. That doesn't sound right. Maybe I had better stop. Ah well, more soon! Hooray for happiness. Miss you! Smile, Ari
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Four Pages Down.
Have not been up to too much this weekend. I've been working on catching up on my 123 pages of outstanding Western Civ reading. It's done now, thank goodness. I've been prioritizing my homework schedule by which classes are going to transfer over to UPS as more than elective credit (ie WesternCiv, German, and Marketing)--the three classes I am doing the most disappointing in right now. I have the "first version" of my Flannery O'Connor paper due on Thursday (although mine needs to be done Wednesday, since I'll be in Barcelona); so I've been doing a lot of research reading on that, and I now have four pages done. I have no idea how I'm going to contain it to only ten pages, seeing as I have only written about half as much as I need on O'Connor's biography, about half as much as I need to on "A Good Man is Hard to Find," and I haven't even started writing about "Revelation," comparing and contrasting the stories, and relating it all back to O'Connor's Catholic background, and then concluding!! I'm going to need more than six pages to do all that in. Ahh, I think I might need to cut down my topic, but I'm not sure how. Maybe I should just use "A Good Man is Hard to Find?" I would, except that I love "Revelation." I'll keep you updated.
I also went and saw the school production of Dracula; it was all right, but I still think that CWA's production was better. They also used a different script for this one. I also watched Love Actually last night; that was good; also did some cleaning. And I decided today that something had to be done with the rest of that cookie dough that I made last Sunday, so I finished baking it. I went down and turned on the oven to preheat it, and when I came back five minutes later, someone had stolen it from me. So I went back upstairs, and I came down again, ten minutes later, and someone else had stolen it from me! How terrible is that?
There's going to be a Girasole Thanksgiving Potluck Dinner on Tuesday, so I think I'm going to bring mashed potatoes and gravy. Then on Wednesday night the school dining hall is putting on a Thanksgiving dinner, so I'm going to that too. I really want my Flannery O'Connor paper to be done. I think I might talk to Christina Bell (the writing center director) about it tomorrow when I'm technically supposed to be working--I only "worked" on Monday last week; she had nothing for me to do on Wednesday or Friday, so I just left. And tomorrow I need to go to Agno, where the Lugano Airport is and have my ticket changed. I am going to get this done before I go to Barcelona! In any case, I think I'm going to take a break from writing and work on the Marketing reading I need to catch up on. Time to work again.
Ah, but I forgot to mention that I went for a walk for a little more than an hour today. It was nice; although I spent a fair portion of my walking time contemplating why the tens and tens of toddlers I was surrounded by were better dressed than me. I guess that's what I get for being a Washingtonian in Lugano. Miss you! Smile, Ari
I also went and saw the school production of Dracula; it was all right, but I still think that CWA's production was better. They also used a different script for this one. I also watched Love Actually last night; that was good; also did some cleaning. And I decided today that something had to be done with the rest of that cookie dough that I made last Sunday, so I finished baking it. I went down and turned on the oven to preheat it, and when I came back five minutes later, someone had stolen it from me. So I went back upstairs, and I came down again, ten minutes later, and someone else had stolen it from me! How terrible is that?
There's going to be a Girasole Thanksgiving Potluck Dinner on Tuesday, so I think I'm going to bring mashed potatoes and gravy. Then on Wednesday night the school dining hall is putting on a Thanksgiving dinner, so I'm going to that too. I really want my Flannery O'Connor paper to be done. I think I might talk to Christina Bell (the writing center director) about it tomorrow when I'm technically supposed to be working--I only "worked" on Monday last week; she had nothing for me to do on Wednesday or Friday, so I just left. And tomorrow I need to go to Agno, where the Lugano Airport is and have my ticket changed. I am going to get this done before I go to Barcelona! In any case, I think I'm going to take a break from writing and work on the Marketing reading I need to catch up on. Time to work again.
Ah, but I forgot to mention that I went for a walk for a little more than an hour today. It was nice; although I spent a fair portion of my walking time contemplating why the tens and tens of toddlers I was surrounded by were better dressed than me. I guess that's what I get for being a Washingtonian in Lugano. Miss you! Smile, Ari
Friday, November 17, 2006
Why does die Schweiz stink when it rains?
I have come to the conclusion that the German name for Switzerland is much more concise and user-friendly; plus it sounds so cool--die Schweiz! I live in die Schweiz! I wish I knew how to say that whole sentence in German. Alas, that's why I probably didn't pass that German test today... Actually it had nothing to do with that kind of vocabulary... But still. In any case, that's why I'm not a fluent German speaker, if you hadn't already made that assumption. Okay, this paragraph needs to end.
So not too much has been happening over here. I went and saw Ivan Cooper speak last night, he's an old friend of Professor Matthews. He helped to organize a number of nonviolent marches in Northern Ireland demanding equal rights for Catholics and Protestants, including the march on Bloody Sunday--he was there. Mr. Cooper was a phenomenal speaker--by far the best we've had so far. So that was quite nice and refreshing.
There were many quizzes this week, one in every class minus English. I really didn't do very well on any of them, so I've decided that I need to use this weekend to redeem myself. Hence, I've been studying for the last few hours even though it's Friday night--but let's be honest, what else would I be doing on a Friday night? Sleeping? That's what I thought. Read a number of sources on Flannery O'Connor for my paper that's due next Thursday; I need a draft of that by Sunday night...
Oma just called a bit ago. That made my day! I love hearing from people. I leave for Barcelona with Alyssa, Alyssa, Alauna, and Marcel on Thursday morning, early, early. So that's exciting, but I'm not quite excited yet. Although I know I will be. I'm going to the airport tomorrow to have my ticket changed for my flight from Zurich to New York. I need, need, need to get that out of the way. Deniz is going to go with me, and then we might get Turkish food afterwards; remains to be seen. And then there's Dracula tomorrow night up at the school (well it's tonight too), and I'm going to go see that with Katie, Keely, and Deniz. Then Sunday is back to the books, and then Alauna's hosting a fondue party up at North Campus with an exclusive viewing of Finding Nemo, so I think I'll be attending that as long as I can manage to complete this paper, which I think I will be able to. I have all the information, I have my outline, I just need to sit down and write it all down. It's all in my head, I swear. And then I'll be home four weeks from tomorrow.
Oh, and it's back to rain outside. It's quite nice, actually--I love the sound of it. Although I went into downtown this afternoon, and I probably shouldn't have, as it started sprinkling by the time I got into about the center of town, then I couldn't remember where the ATM I needed to use is located. I decided to turn back and use the ATM tomorrow morning, since I knew that it was going to be pouring by the time I got back up to Girasole. And indeed it was--my clothes were quite soaked. And I know, I should have taken my umbrella--but I was out jogging and was not convinced that it was going to rain, since it had been threatening all day, but nothing had happened. I also went grocery shopping earlier today. I went fruit-crazy; I bought six tomatoes, a 2kg bag of clementines, a cucumber... in addition to the nine apples I already had on my counter. I think that's a lot of fruit for me to consume before it goes bad. I've eaten four clementines since I got back. And I made dinner for myself tonight rather than going up to North Campus and partaking in yet another dissatisfying meal of potatoes and pasta. I bought itty bitty vegetarian spring rolls, which were pretty all right; I don't think I baked them long enough. Better luck next time.
Hope everyone's having a happy Friday. Smile, Ari
So not too much has been happening over here. I went and saw Ivan Cooper speak last night, he's an old friend of Professor Matthews. He helped to organize a number of nonviolent marches in Northern Ireland demanding equal rights for Catholics and Protestants, including the march on Bloody Sunday--he was there. Mr. Cooper was a phenomenal speaker--by far the best we've had so far. So that was quite nice and refreshing.
There were many quizzes this week, one in every class minus English. I really didn't do very well on any of them, so I've decided that I need to use this weekend to redeem myself. Hence, I've been studying for the last few hours even though it's Friday night--but let's be honest, what else would I be doing on a Friday night? Sleeping? That's what I thought. Read a number of sources on Flannery O'Connor for my paper that's due next Thursday; I need a draft of that by Sunday night...
Oma just called a bit ago. That made my day! I love hearing from people. I leave for Barcelona with Alyssa, Alyssa, Alauna, and Marcel on Thursday morning, early, early. So that's exciting, but I'm not quite excited yet. Although I know I will be. I'm going to the airport tomorrow to have my ticket changed for my flight from Zurich to New York. I need, need, need to get that out of the way. Deniz is going to go with me, and then we might get Turkish food afterwards; remains to be seen. And then there's Dracula tomorrow night up at the school (well it's tonight too), and I'm going to go see that with Katie, Keely, and Deniz. Then Sunday is back to the books, and then Alauna's hosting a fondue party up at North Campus with an exclusive viewing of Finding Nemo, so I think I'll be attending that as long as I can manage to complete this paper, which I think I will be able to. I have all the information, I have my outline, I just need to sit down and write it all down. It's all in my head, I swear. And then I'll be home four weeks from tomorrow.
Oh, and it's back to rain outside. It's quite nice, actually--I love the sound of it. Although I went into downtown this afternoon, and I probably shouldn't have, as it started sprinkling by the time I got into about the center of town, then I couldn't remember where the ATM I needed to use is located. I decided to turn back and use the ATM tomorrow morning, since I knew that it was going to be pouring by the time I got back up to Girasole. And indeed it was--my clothes were quite soaked. And I know, I should have taken my umbrella--but I was out jogging and was not convinced that it was going to rain, since it had been threatening all day, but nothing had happened. I also went grocery shopping earlier today. I went fruit-crazy; I bought six tomatoes, a 2kg bag of clementines, a cucumber... in addition to the nine apples I already had on my counter. I think that's a lot of fruit for me to consume before it goes bad. I've eaten four clementines since I got back. And I made dinner for myself tonight rather than going up to North Campus and partaking in yet another dissatisfying meal of potatoes and pasta. I bought itty bitty vegetarian spring rolls, which were pretty all right; I don't think I baked them long enough. Better luck next time.
Hope everyone's having a happy Friday. Smile, Ari
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Pelf.
It has not been a very exciting week (and I think I use that word way too much, maybe one day I'll take the time to find some new words to add to my vocabulary). Funny that I should bring up that topic so soon because I really wasn't planning on telling you about my work at the Writing Center on Monday until much later on in this post. Ah well. So, Monday, since I really have very little purpose at the good ol' Writing Center, Christina had me make (English) vocabulary cards to expand people's vocabularies. Or, if they're bored they can just flip through them rather than looking at decade-old copies of the Gazette (the alumni magazine). So I made two sets--one of useful vocabulary words, the other with obscure words--examples for the latter might be cowcatcher, crackerjack, pelf, etc. The best part of this story is that I loved making silly vocabulary cards, and if I were actually paid to work at the Writing Center I would be thrilled.
So that was my Monday for the most part--that and I went to yoga and mailed my first box home. I packed a second box today, which I think will be my last. I packed up pretty much all my summer clothes, my sandals, two books, two photo albums, my fleece blanket, my big pillow, two teddy bears (that were gifts), and various other articles of clothing. So, I'm hoping two boxes mailed will be enough and that I won't need to mail any more... Especially since I'm probably going to have to take a taxi up to La Posta with this second box, it's a bit of a monster. Maybe I'll try carrying it... Hmm, we'll see how cheap I'm feeling. (I carried the last one up just fine.) Yesterday I was pretty busy with classes and homework--I was somewhat productive. It helped that I stayed in the library for the two hours between my last class and dinner. Worked on my Flannery O'Connor paper and finished my math homework. Now I should probably start studying a bit for my Western Civ quiz tomorrow. And my German quiz on Friday. I had a Marketing quiz today that I did decidedly so-so on. And I should probably also pick up the miniature whirlwind created by packing that box up.
And in case you were curious, I now receive dictionary.com's Spanish Word of the Day. Yoga tonight, I'll post again soon if anything miraculous happens.
Smile, Ari
So that was my Monday for the most part--that and I went to yoga and mailed my first box home. I packed a second box today, which I think will be my last. I packed up pretty much all my summer clothes, my sandals, two books, two photo albums, my fleece blanket, my big pillow, two teddy bears (that were gifts), and various other articles of clothing. So, I'm hoping two boxes mailed will be enough and that I won't need to mail any more... Especially since I'm probably going to have to take a taxi up to La Posta with this second box, it's a bit of a monster. Maybe I'll try carrying it... Hmm, we'll see how cheap I'm feeling. (I carried the last one up just fine.) Yesterday I was pretty busy with classes and homework--I was somewhat productive. It helped that I stayed in the library for the two hours between my last class and dinner. Worked on my Flannery O'Connor paper and finished my math homework. Now I should probably start studying a bit for my Western Civ quiz tomorrow. And my German quiz on Friday. I had a Marketing quiz today that I did decidedly so-so on. And I should probably also pick up the miniature whirlwind created by packing that box up.
And in case you were curious, I now receive dictionary.com's Spanish Word of the Day. Yoga tonight, I'll post again soon if anything miraculous happens.
Smile, Ari
Sunday, November 12, 2006
More Photo Links...
Okay, so Facebook, where I normally upload all my photos for my friends to look at, now offers the possibility of linking my albums here. So that's what I'm going to do. You should be able to click on the links before to see more of my photos than ever before:
Munich Photos
Sicily: The First Part
Sicily: The Penultimate Part
Sicily: The Last Part
Swiss Adventure Album
Swiss Adventure Album: Part Two
Swiss Adventure Album: Part Three
Okay, let me know if these work... I'm not sure if they will or not. So please do let me know.
Smile, Ari
Munich Photos
Sicily: The First Part
Sicily: The Penultimate Part
Sicily: The Last Part
Swiss Adventure Album
Swiss Adventure Album: Part Two
Swiss Adventure Album: Part Three
Okay, let me know if these work... I'm not sure if they will or not. So please do let me know.
Smile, Ari
ChocolateChipCookieHeaven
To be honest, it has not been a very productive weekend. Goodness, I hate that. But it's all right. I've started cleaning my room compulsively. Yesterday was pretty chill... went grocery shopping, putzed around, etc. Then last night when everyone else at the school went up to Greek Night, Alyssa, Alauna, Deniz, and I had crepes. I made them for the very first time. It was exciting, and they were quite delicious, if often clumpy and irregularly shaped... Then we sat around and chatted and ate clementines. I took some pictures, so I might post them tomorrow. We had a good time, in any case.
Then I slept in later than usual today, had breakfast... Cleaned the kitchen yet again. Surfed the internet for a while for my Flannery O'Connor paper, made chocolate chip cookie dough... Did more homework. I went walking in downtown today, but there far too many people for my taste. Probably because it was so nice outside--about 60degrees and sunny. I went to an ATM to get some cash for the post office, so I can finally mail all those letters that I wrote to all of you! And then I came back and did laundry and baked a dozen of my precious chocolate chip cookies, and dropped a few off with Deniz and Keely. That was probably the highlight of my day. Oh they're so delicious! In any case, that was my weekend. And now I'm heading off to bed to start another week. :-)
Smile, Ari
Try this link to look at CREPE NIGHT photos: http://fc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2001917&l=73204&id=84200446
Then I slept in later than usual today, had breakfast... Cleaned the kitchen yet again. Surfed the internet for a while for my Flannery O'Connor paper, made chocolate chip cookie dough... Did more homework. I went walking in downtown today, but there far too many people for my taste. Probably because it was so nice outside--about 60degrees and sunny. I went to an ATM to get some cash for the post office, so I can finally mail all those letters that I wrote to all of you! And then I came back and did laundry and baked a dozen of my precious chocolate chip cookies, and dropped a few off with Deniz and Keely. That was probably the highlight of my day. Oh they're so delicious! In any case, that was my weekend. And now I'm heading off to bed to start another week. :-)
Smile, Ari
Try this link to look at CREPE NIGHT photos: http://fc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2001917&l=73204&id=84200446
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Fibrous Cereal w/o Milk = YUCK.
Okay, so I've only been awake for about 45 minutes, so not much has actually happened--yet--but I thought that I had better update the world on a very bad decision. This morning I attempted to eat ceral, but, alas, there was not enough milk to make it delicious. Especially since it's the healthy kind of cereal, high-fiber with lots of unappetizing dried fruit and nuts (now I normally like dried fruit, but it's really not very good when found in cereal boxes). So, after I had picked out all the cereal's accessories, it came to my attention that I had maybe one or two tablespoons of milk left in my milk jug. I poured it on anyway, but there simply wasn't enough to make it appetizing. To be honest, it sort of reminded me of when Angi used to be really economical about pouring out milk, so she would give us just barely enough to cover the bottom of the bowl. And it would always be the Frosted MiniWheats cereal, so without enough milk it would just be really dry and difficult to swallow. Cereal NEEDS milk people. I don't understand how anyone could just eat it spoonful by dry spoonful. Yikes.
I am also using this post to procrastinate (of course). I have a lot of things that I want to accomplish today, and I'm not sure I have enough motivation. Ah! Oma just called--it's so nice to hear people on the telephone every once in a while. Makes me believe y'all still exist. It's rather foggy today. I think my motivation has been restored. Amazing what an Oma-call can do. :-) Okay, I've got to put this motivation to work while it's still available, more soon.
Smile, Ari
I am also using this post to procrastinate (of course). I have a lot of things that I want to accomplish today, and I'm not sure I have enough motivation. Ah! Oma just called--it's so nice to hear people on the telephone every once in a while. Makes me believe y'all still exist. It's rather foggy today. I think my motivation has been restored. Amazing what an Oma-call can do. :-) Okay, I've got to put this motivation to work while it's still available, more soon.
Smile, Ari
Friday, November 10, 2006
One box packed, five weeks to go...
I just finished packing my first box to be sent in the mail. It might be one of two--I just checked on shipping charges, and they are incredibly expensive (I mean, I knew that already, but I can still be shocked). In any case, to send 10kg, it costs 86CHF. And that's "economy" shipping. To give you a better idea of the exchange rate, 86CHF = $69.53. Yikes, I know. But I don't think this box is too heavy--I focused on packing bulky, but light items. My next box will probably include my big blanket (the one that Erin gave me that one year), as well as my extra set of sheets. I don't know if I should pack up some of my photos and mail those too? Or if I should just pack them? My closet seems a lot emptier since I took out most of my summer clothes--got rid of all my brightly colored tanks, shorts, capris, skirts... Shouldn't be needing those. Darn, I forgot to pack my little white sundress; I'll have to stick that in with the sheets. And don't worry Oma, I put so much tape on the box it looks like graph paper (especially since the tape is brownish, rather than clear).
And I received the package of all packages today!! From Oma. It's filled with chocolate chips, cinnamon, vanilla, and just about everything else I need to bake the best chocolate chip cookies of all time! Hooray! This worked out perfectly since some of my Sicily-trip friends were going to come down on Sunday for some cookies and milk, with or without chocolate chips. My exaltation knows no limits.
And now that I know that I'm not going to be needing all those boxes that I've been sent things in, I should probably start getting rid of them--rather than getting rid of them all at once at the end of the semester. Have I mentioned that my stack of boxes reaches the ceiling? Because it does. Even though there are sitting on top of my suitcases, that only gives them a couple of feet. THEY REACH THE CEILING, PEOPLE. That's crazy. My door doesn't open all the way, since I've been storing them behind it. Tee hee.
In other news, I had a German quiz this morning, which I'm pretty sure I didn't fail. I cannot believe I only have five weeks left here! I must admit, there are a lot of people I'm going to miss...
Oh, Enrique, you are my hero! (My iTunes just started playing "Escapar." Genius. On a stick.)
And I received the package of all packages today!! From Oma. It's filled with chocolate chips, cinnamon, vanilla, and just about everything else I need to bake the best chocolate chip cookies of all time! Hooray! This worked out perfectly since some of my Sicily-trip friends were going to come down on Sunday for some cookies and milk, with or without chocolate chips. My exaltation knows no limits.
And now that I know that I'm not going to be needing all those boxes that I've been sent things in, I should probably start getting rid of them--rather than getting rid of them all at once at the end of the semester. Have I mentioned that my stack of boxes reaches the ceiling? Because it does. Even though there are sitting on top of my suitcases, that only gives them a couple of feet. THEY REACH THE CEILING, PEOPLE. That's crazy. My door doesn't open all the way, since I've been storing them behind it. Tee hee.
In other news, I had a German quiz this morning, which I'm pretty sure I didn't fail. I cannot believe I only have five weeks left here! I must admit, there are a lot of people I'm going to miss...
Oh, Enrique, you are my hero! (My iTunes just started playing "Escapar." Genius. On a stick.)
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Hands and Knees100
Oh, English class--today, we really did accomplish close to nothing. I think this is as close to a conversational class as I've ever been in; maybe even more so than when I was taking Conversational Spanish. Today Professor Matthews told us all about how he had proposed, at one point, to have a class called "Hands and Knees100." The class would consist of crawling around looking for various insects and... then... well, this is where I got confused. Learning to communicate with their simplicity? Translating their simple elegance into English? I don't know. In other news, I turned in my The Big Lebowski paper today.
Today was almost stressful, but that's only because that I wasn't really prepared for it, but I still wasn't actually stressed out at any point. Maybe a little disappointed with myself, but in a very aloof sense.
I went to yoga this morning with Alauna (we were two of the three attendees at the 8:30am class). It was wonderful! Perfect for the morning, not quite so tough as the last couple of days have been, but I'm starting to get better at it again. Thank goodness. After class, Alauna and I went to change into school clothes, since we have a class immediately following. When we went up the stairs to the exit, we realized that we had been locked into the gym. Natalie didn't realize that we were still down below in the locker room, and she accidentally locked us in. We proceeded to bang and knock on the doors for a solid fifteen minutes before we were finally rescued by a rather bewildered looking man from the Bursar's office. Even though it was passing time (between classes) and there were plenty of people about, no one would recognize us in our time of need. It was a little bit strange to be encased like that. But it was also highly entertaining. Then we went onto to Western Civ and life as usual. Today we discussed barbarians and time of Charlemagne. Then I had a couple hours beween classes, so I finished my English paper and did my math homework, then went onto math and then English.
I went up to dinner at 6pm, and met with the girls that I'm going to Barcelona with. I ended up staying there and chatting until almost 8pm--we definitely strayed from our original topic... I've just about convinced EVERYONE that they need to come and visit me, and it sounds like they're all going to do their best to make trips out to to see me. :-) Hooray! So that made me happy. And it sounds like my weekends from here on out are going to be quite busy (with the exception of maybe this weekend, during which I'll actually need to work). Here's a plan for the next few weekends of my life:
This weekend, Saturday: crepes for dinner with people not attending Greek Night, Sunday: cookie and milk night with Sicily friends
Next weekend, go to Milan to see the Last Supper, do some random, cheesy Christmas shopping, Sunday: hike San Salvatore with Katie and Keely
Thanksgiving weekend, BARCELONA!
First weekend in December, Neuchatel to visit Bardia (if that works out)
Second weekend in December, Zurich for the Christmas Bazaar
Third weekend in December, head home!!
And somewhere in there, of course, I'll have to do write my Flannery O'Connor paper, a paper for math class, a case study for Marketing, etc. etc. You get the idea. Lots of quizzes next week, come to think of it. And sadly much German vocabulary on a quiz tomorrow. I'm not very good at German, at least so far.
All right, more fascinating tales from the Life of Ari coming soon. I know you can't wait for more... Just kidding... I might go to the grocery store tomorrow. I'll make sure to detail every movement of that adventure.
I miss you dear family and friends. Smile, Ari :-)
Today was almost stressful, but that's only because that I wasn't really prepared for it, but I still wasn't actually stressed out at any point. Maybe a little disappointed with myself, but in a very aloof sense.
I went to yoga this morning with Alauna (we were two of the three attendees at the 8:30am class). It was wonderful! Perfect for the morning, not quite so tough as the last couple of days have been, but I'm starting to get better at it again. Thank goodness. After class, Alauna and I went to change into school clothes, since we have a class immediately following. When we went up the stairs to the exit, we realized that we had been locked into the gym. Natalie didn't realize that we were still down below in the locker room, and she accidentally locked us in. We proceeded to bang and knock on the doors for a solid fifteen minutes before we were finally rescued by a rather bewildered looking man from the Bursar's office. Even though it was passing time (between classes) and there were plenty of people about, no one would recognize us in our time of need. It was a little bit strange to be encased like that. But it was also highly entertaining. Then we went onto to Western Civ and life as usual. Today we discussed barbarians and time of Charlemagne. Then I had a couple hours beween classes, so I finished my English paper and did my math homework, then went onto math and then English.
I went up to dinner at 6pm, and met with the girls that I'm going to Barcelona with. I ended up staying there and chatting until almost 8pm--we definitely strayed from our original topic... I've just about convinced EVERYONE that they need to come and visit me, and it sounds like they're all going to do their best to make trips out to to see me. :-) Hooray! So that made me happy. And it sounds like my weekends from here on out are going to be quite busy (with the exception of maybe this weekend, during which I'll actually need to work). Here's a plan for the next few weekends of my life:
This weekend, Saturday: crepes for dinner with people not attending Greek Night, Sunday: cookie and milk night with Sicily friends
Next weekend, go to Milan to see the Last Supper, do some random, cheesy Christmas shopping, Sunday: hike San Salvatore with Katie and Keely
Thanksgiving weekend, BARCELONA!
First weekend in December, Neuchatel to visit Bardia (if that works out)
Second weekend in December, Zurich for the Christmas Bazaar
Third weekend in December, head home!!
And somewhere in there, of course, I'll have to do write my Flannery O'Connor paper, a paper for math class, a case study for Marketing, etc. etc. You get the idea. Lots of quizzes next week, come to think of it. And sadly much German vocabulary on a quiz tomorrow. I'm not very good at German, at least so far.
All right, more fascinating tales from the Life of Ari coming soon. I know you can't wait for more... Just kidding... I might go to the grocery store tomorrow. I'll make sure to detail every movement of that adventure.
I miss you dear family and friends. Smile, Ari :-)
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Rabid Jackals Full of Lice.
Ha ha. So. Back to not taking school seriously. Example A: I am writing a paper on The Big Lebowski for English class. There are a number of scholarly articles written on it, actually; so I should have a fair amount of material, outside the movie, to work with. I am supposed to be writing an evaluation essay--evaluating anything, something of my choice. So there it is. The best thing that I could come up with was The Big Lebowski.
So I had a number of very amusing things to write to you about. I know it because I've been writing things down (in my head) all day! I just wish I could actually remembe them when I sit down to write. In any case, I went back to yoga for the first time in three weeks yesterday (I hadn't gone for two weeks because of Academic Travel, then I was sick last week). And sometime during all those missed classes, we went from beginning level to intermediate, I swear. Long story short: you know that woman in the Aerobics class who can't keep up with everyone else? She's always a step behind... can't quite keep up... always a little confused about what's going on and very prone to falling over? Now, let's imagine: Ari is that woman, except instead of Aerobics, she's doing yoga. Yes, I know, I should probably start charging admission. My arms are sore today. At least it makes me feel like I actually accomplished something with all that falling over and whatnot.
In other news, apparently there is a lice scare over at Lewis & Clark and Erin's semi-freaking out about it, although I haven't actually talked to her about it. In better news, a new, more effective method for de-lousing was introduced yesterday. If you would like more information on it please visit: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/07/health/07reme.html. Thank you. Apparently it blows hot air and kills those darned lice. Take that! No lice over here in Switzerland, at least not to my knowledge... Hopefully Girasole's not next.
Hmm, Professor Matthews (my English teacher), spent a solid eight minutes or so talking about having a rabid jackal rip out his larynx out today. Then discussing how there should be a newspaper called "The Rabid Jackal," with a drawing of an Irish English poet professor having his larynx ripped out by a rabid jackal. And that is what my English class consists of--wow. I know. Makes for good blogging, I must admit.
All right, I cannot think of anything else so very thrilling to write about. I had a very normal day of classes today, which I sort of wish I hadn't had because I don't feel that I was supremely enlightened... More soon! Miss you, love you, smile :-)
So I had a number of very amusing things to write to you about. I know it because I've been writing things down (in my head) all day! I just wish I could actually remembe them when I sit down to write. In any case, I went back to yoga for the first time in three weeks yesterday (I hadn't gone for two weeks because of Academic Travel, then I was sick last week). And sometime during all those missed classes, we went from beginning level to intermediate, I swear. Long story short: you know that woman in the Aerobics class who can't keep up with everyone else? She's always a step behind... can't quite keep up... always a little confused about what's going on and very prone to falling over? Now, let's imagine: Ari is that woman, except instead of Aerobics, she's doing yoga. Yes, I know, I should probably start charging admission. My arms are sore today. At least it makes me feel like I actually accomplished something with all that falling over and whatnot.
In other news, apparently there is a lice scare over at Lewis & Clark and Erin's semi-freaking out about it, although I haven't actually talked to her about it. In better news, a new, more effective method for de-lousing was introduced yesterday. If you would like more information on it please visit: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/07/health/07reme.html. Thank you. Apparently it blows hot air and kills those darned lice. Take that! No lice over here in Switzerland, at least not to my knowledge... Hopefully Girasole's not next.
Hmm, Professor Matthews (my English teacher), spent a solid eight minutes or so talking about having a rabid jackal rip out his larynx out today. Then discussing how there should be a newspaper called "The Rabid Jackal," with a drawing of an Irish English poet professor having his larynx ripped out by a rabid jackal. And that is what my English class consists of--wow. I know. Makes for good blogging, I must admit.
All right, I cannot think of anything else so very thrilling to write about. I had a very normal day of classes today, which I sort of wish I hadn't had because I don't feel that I was supremely enlightened... More soon! Miss you, love you, smile :-)
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Just got to keep that kitchen clean
Hi there. Still not much to report as I've been in hibernation in my bedroom for most of the weekend--done a bit of cooking, lots of cleaning, and I should be starting on homework any time now. I think Deniz and Keely might come over for dinner. And I'm feeling much better, as soon as this cough clears up I should be just like new.
I have a couple of pictures from Gabi and Salvatore's, but my internet connection is too slow to upload them right now, so I'm going to post them tomorrow. I watched Remember the Titans with Deniz on Friday night, the "Director's Cut" version. I think I like the original much better... without all the added, previously cut scenes. It's just much better that way. And not so long. But I do love that movie! And yesterday morning I watched Some Kind of Wonderful. Oh, and I talked to Mom, Soraya and Oma.
It sounds like everyone is doing well. I'm finding it difficult to motivate myself to do homework, but I am going to begin as soon as I finish this post. So you should be hoping that this is a short post... I did do my German homework. Funny enough all the stuff that I missed in class on Monday, was stuff that I learned while I was visiting the family! We went over days of the week and months--both of which Onkel Tobi and Tante Rosie were trying to teach me while I was there. This chapter we are going over the family tree and possessives...
Oh, I also caught up on some snailmail correspondence this weekend... Got to send that out tomorrow or Tuesday hopefully. Okay, to work I go! For real this time! Miss you!!
Smile, Ari
I have a couple of pictures from Gabi and Salvatore's, but my internet connection is too slow to upload them right now, so I'm going to post them tomorrow. I watched Remember the Titans with Deniz on Friday night, the "Director's Cut" version. I think I like the original much better... without all the added, previously cut scenes. It's just much better that way. And not so long. But I do love that movie! And yesterday morning I watched Some Kind of Wonderful. Oh, and I talked to Mom, Soraya and Oma.
It sounds like everyone is doing well. I'm finding it difficult to motivate myself to do homework, but I am going to begin as soon as I finish this post. So you should be hoping that this is a short post... I did do my German homework. Funny enough all the stuff that I missed in class on Monday, was stuff that I learned while I was visiting the family! We went over days of the week and months--both of which Onkel Tobi and Tante Rosie were trying to teach me while I was there. This chapter we are going over the family tree and possessives...
Oh, I also caught up on some snailmail correspondence this weekend... Got to send that out tomorrow or Tuesday hopefully. Okay, to work I go! For real this time! Miss you!!
Smile, Ari
Thursday, November 02, 2006
My voice sounds funny.
Just an ordinary day today. I had Western Civ today, then College Algebra, then English. I picked up a sandwich for dinner, walked down the hill, and have been working on cleaning my room. I cannot believe it's only 6:45pm because I am totally ready to go to bed and it's pitch-black outside. I also picked up my withdrawal form today from Dean Guggiari's office. So I've got to start working on that. I've been feeling a bit under-the-weather since I got back from Munich; I had been pretty sick in Sicily near the end, had started feeling better, then started feeling yucky again on about Monday. So I'm hoping lots of sleep will help. I'm just going to take it easy and do some studying this weekend. Maybe do a little packing and shipping? In any case, back to cleaning--still need to wash the dishes. Miss you guys!
Smile,
Ari
Smile,
Ari
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Ari is Loved. And everyone knows it.
So, I'm back in Lugano.
And I had quite the armfuls of booty waiting for me in the Reception!
What was the count you ask?
Four packages.
Seven letters.
Ha ha! How wonderful is that? It made me so happy! My thanks to the following Ari devotees... Oma, Soraya, Mom, Baba, Angi, Guity & Baba Amir, Anita & Chuck, David, Mr. Middlebrooks, Cary... Hooray! Thanks everyone!
In any case... Halloween was last night, and I'm not so sorry to say that I did not doing anything to celebrate, other than going over to Deniz's room and chatting with Katie and Keely--and watching Keely attempt to construct a toga for the Halloween Party at the Falcon's Nest. It was probably a good idea though as I was very congested/tired following my flights back to Lugano from Munich, which were both glitch-free. And right now I should be cleaning up the enormous mess that is my room, but instead I'm typing out my excitement.
So on Monday, I went to Munich with Tobi and Gerlinde for a weisswurst breakfast and some sightseeing. It was a lot of fun. Found a couple of gifts for Soraya--she's going to have quite the spread at Christmas, at this rate. We saw all the big sights of Munich, which I've never done before (neither had Tobi or Gerlinde), so that was nice. And we did some shopping around the Mariensplatz (sp?) and around various other shops. Unfortunately I can't tell me about my purchases because they are to be gifts... We got back to the house around 5:00pm, I want to say. Maybe a little earlier. Then later Tante Anni, Onkel Tobi, Tante Rosie, Melanie and Florian came over, and that was fun too. I showed Florian some pictures, videos, and music that I had on my computer and talked to Melanie about all the things that I should send her from the States. I like that the Germans have a sense of humor; funny people are more fun to be around.
Then yesterday morning Tobi went into work around 7:00am, and he woke me up before he left in order to say goodbye. I ended up getting up around then anyway. Gerlinde and I had breakfast together, then I worked on the computer (on some photos, which I'm going to post in a second here) and packed up all my stuff (including all the extra lebkuchen and chocolate that was gifted to me). Then Gerlinde made lunch, and I went and said goodbye to Tobi and Rosie, then we Gerlinde took me to the airport, and I was off. I had the best time! I really had no desire to leave... I can't wait to visit again; maybe Soraya and I can go together next time. And I'm so excited for Gabi and Salvatore to come and visit too!
All right, I'm going to post some pictures so you can see what I've been up to...
I miss you guys!
Smile :-)
And I had quite the armfuls of booty waiting for me in the Reception!
What was the count you ask?
Four packages.
Seven letters.
Ha ha! How wonderful is that? It made me so happy! My thanks to the following Ari devotees... Oma, Soraya, Mom, Baba, Angi, Guity & Baba Amir, Anita & Chuck, David, Mr. Middlebrooks, Cary... Hooray! Thanks everyone!
In any case... Halloween was last night, and I'm not so sorry to say that I did not doing anything to celebrate, other than going over to Deniz's room and chatting with Katie and Keely--and watching Keely attempt to construct a toga for the Halloween Party at the Falcon's Nest. It was probably a good idea though as I was very congested/tired following my flights back to Lugano from Munich, which were both glitch-free. And right now I should be cleaning up the enormous mess that is my room, but instead I'm typing out my excitement.
So on Monday, I went to Munich with Tobi and Gerlinde for a weisswurst breakfast and some sightseeing. It was a lot of fun. Found a couple of gifts for Soraya--she's going to have quite the spread at Christmas, at this rate. We saw all the big sights of Munich, which I've never done before (neither had Tobi or Gerlinde), so that was nice. And we did some shopping around the Mariensplatz (sp?) and around various other shops. Unfortunately I can't tell me about my purchases because they are to be gifts... We got back to the house around 5:00pm, I want to say. Maybe a little earlier. Then later Tante Anni, Onkel Tobi, Tante Rosie, Melanie and Florian came over, and that was fun too. I showed Florian some pictures, videos, and music that I had on my computer and talked to Melanie about all the things that I should send her from the States. I like that the Germans have a sense of humor; funny people are more fun to be around.
Then yesterday morning Tobi went into work around 7:00am, and he woke me up before he left in order to say goodbye. I ended up getting up around then anyway. Gerlinde and I had breakfast together, then I worked on the computer (on some photos, which I'm going to post in a second here) and packed up all my stuff (including all the extra lebkuchen and chocolate that was gifted to me). Then Gerlinde made lunch, and I went and said goodbye to Tobi and Rosie, then we Gerlinde took me to the airport, and I was off. I had the best time! I really had no desire to leave... I can't wait to visit again; maybe Soraya and I can go together next time. And I'm so excited for Gabi and Salvatore to come and visit too!
All right, I'm going to post some pictures so you can see what I've been up to...
I miss you guys!
Smile :-)
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