Spring break: Day 2: Make Your Own Style Whatever

Garance I devoted most of Saturday to exploring Paris. Or, rather, Garance showed me a bunch of famous sights in Paris while I trailed behind her and took a bunch of pictures of random French streets.

The Panthéon, where there are the remains of several notable French citizens.

Notre Dame!

Garance and I being cuties but also freezing

We also went to a mall with Garance's friend Capucine, and first of all, there's a store named after me.

And you know how sometimes American stores will have clothes with words in other languages on them that don't quite make sense? Well, France does the same thing with English words. They end up with things that nearly make sense but not quite. And it's hilarious.

We went out to meet some of her friends that night, before bed and we watched a little of a TV show she's been trying to show me. Tomorrow: Versailles!

Spring break: Day 1: Flying is losing its magic

Now that I'm back in Rome and the internet situation here has been worked out, I can finally make my posts about spring break! I'll be doing this day by day.

Now, I have a friend in France that I've been talking to online regularly for something like two years now? We met when she found something I'd written and really liked it, and I found something she'd drawn and really liked that. We skype, text, and snapchat mostly. When she found out that I was studying abroad in Europe, she suggested I come see her in France sometime. One thing led to another and I ended up staying with her and her parents in their apartment in Paris for spring break!

My flight didn't leave until nearly seven, but I left the apartment near three because Rome is infamous for not being reliable for public transportation. Sure enough, the train I was taking to the airport got delayed on the way there. But I still had a comfortable amount of time to figure out where I was going. This was the first time I've ever flown alone! Even when I came out here I met Kasey near the gate. But I managed not to get lost and got on my plane just fine.

It was a little nerve-wracking meeting Garance for the first time and she was wearing heels so I just remember her being taller than me the first time I met her. (She's actually my height- well, 0.5 inches taller) Then her parents both did that European double cheek-kiss thing that you see in movies? Now that's never happened to me in America or Italy, so I was kinda thinking it was an exaggeration. Nope. That's apparently a French thing. I was still sorta groggy from the plane and kinda confused and probably super typical American like "whaaaat is happening".

But anyway, they were all very nice, and by the time we got to their apartment, I was so tired that I was beginning to go cross-eyed, so Garance and I just went to bed and decided to rest up to hit the town the next day!

Buses are even less glamorous than you think; also Pisa

Last weekend I embarked on my Tuscany trip! Leaving the apartment at 6am wasn't very fun, but once I settled on the bus I read for about ten minutes then fell asleep. After roughly two and a half hours we stopped at a rest stop, which Italy takes very seriously. I got a cappuccino and a pastry there. I'm quickly becoming hooked on cappuccinos, which out of all the Italian vices, is probably the best one I could have picked. At least I'm not smoking like most of the students here. Italians smoke a lot.

We arrived in Pisa and took a quick walking tour. The thing about Pisa is that it's a lot smaller than Rome (obviously) and all of their monuments- like, four of them- are in one area, then it's all town around it.

Naturally, I found the tower, and took the obligatory tourist photo.

The other monuments were mostly churches, and then we wandered a bit and found the house that Galeleo grew up in, which was really cool.

We also got to see a college- Pisa has two colleges, basically. One super crazy elite one that only takes the top of the top and it only has like four departments and they only take I think five students in each department a year and it's super competitive. The other is buildings scattered all over the city and it's where everyone else goes. However, the unemployment rate in Pisa is crazy high so if you get into the super competitive school you're pretty much guaranteed a job.

Pisa was sort of uneventful. We saw the big monuments, got some pizza, wandered around for a bit, and then got back on the bus. Honestly, I wish we had only an hour or two here and then more time in Florence.

We got to our hotel in a smallish town near Florence. I ended up rooming with some people I didn't know, but they were very nice. A bunch of us went out to find something to do- we were thinking a bar somewhere- but this town was small and apparently super catholic, so after walking around for 45 minutes, we conceded defeat and went back to gave a glass of wine at the hotel bar.

After a disappointing dinner, some people hung around the lobby, but I went up to shower and go to bed. I was exhausted, and we had an early morning tomorrow.

Meat and Beer: The Prague experience

Okay friends prepare for several posts in a row since I finally have time to sit down and upload some travel photos.

First off, Prague! I know I talked about our first night there with the creepy hostel (which ended up being totally fine, but look at this front door.)

Do you blame me for thinking I was gonna be a little murdered?

The second day in Prague we decided to do this walking tour. We'd gotten a shuttle from the airport that took us to our hostel, and part of the deal was they offered a free tour. It was a really great experience! It was nearly four hours and our guide really knew what he was talking about. He gave us a lot of history info as well as the state of the Czech Republic today. I think the most interesting parts of the tour were the parts that dealt with WWII. We've been learning about it in Italy, but understandably, Italians were sort of preoccupied with Mussolini at the time to deal with much else. But the Czech Republic really got a lot of problems from Hitler. The Czech Republic once was one of the most Jewish-populated countries in the world, but due to a mass exodus and the sheer amount of death brought by the Nazi's, more than two-thirds of the population were gone. Then after the war, the Czech people were so upset that they kicked out all the German citizens, even if they'd been in Czech for centuries. 

Then the Czech Republic was occupied by Soviet Russia who forced communism on them through force and violence for years (I don't remember the exact year that communism ended in Czech). So the Czech Republic has sort of had a rough time of it. But they're doing pretty well now.

Another weird thing for me was that after being in Italy which is all about catholicism, going to the Czech Republic where something like 80% of the population is atheist. Basically they were caught between a bloody tug-of-war between Protestantism and Catholicism for years until finally they were like "we're just gonna be over here having no god and not killing anyone, okay? Okay. Bye." I guess after the seventh massacre or so you'd start to get really tired of religion in general. The thing is that in Italy, every big cool building is usually a church. All of them. In Prague, you'd be like "is that a church?" and the Czech people are like "No? Why would you assume it's a church?"

But when the Czech people do have churches, they do them right.

Check that out. It was built by King Wenceslas- like the Christmas song.

Also, as my French friend puts it, "Prague looks like something out of a Disney movie". Fun fact, that castle/church thing was actually the inspiration for the Disney castle at the beginning of the movies.

I also saw the astronomical clock, which tells the time (measured in hours since sundown), the sign that the sun and moon is in, and the astrological signs.

 On the hour, the windows at top open up and there's a procession of disciples.

One of the things I loved most was the Lennon wall. After John Lennon died, someone painted his portrait on this wall. Other people started to paint other Beatles lyrics. Then, when the Czech Republic was occupied by the Soviets, students and other youths started to use the wall to criticize the government. It was painted over multiple times but new lyrics and words would appear immediately again. Eventually this wall was a major factor in a clash between soldiers and students on the Charles Bridge.

I even added a little something.

On the Charles Bridge there's a small plaque-thing commemorating a martyr- the story goes that this king was really jealous about his wife possibly cheating, so he went to the priest who heard her confessions and demanded that he tell him what his wife said in confession. The priest refused. The king had him tortured, and still the priest wouldn't tell him. Finally he had him killed and his body thrown off the bridge, right where this plaque is now.

Legend says that if you touch the figure and make a silent wish, it will come true.

And of course there's the food in Prague too. I mentioned earlier that it's a lot of meat and bread? Well, that's exactly what it is. This time out I ordered a "skewer", which is supposed to be another Czech tradition. That's all it said on the menu. Skewer. It was...well, it was a skewer. It was chunks of beef, chicken, bacon, pork, fat, and onions all on top of french fries. It was all good (well, I didn't eat the chunks of fat) but man was it a lot of meat. And of course the beer was excellent. Also as I was eating the french fries I realized that I hadn't had ketchup since America (they're not big on it in Italy).

Then these guys came out every now and again and played music on the bassoon and accordion. They didn't ask for tips or anything, just played and went back into the kitchen. We're pretty sure that they just worked in the kitchen and got bored.

That night we also did a pub crawl, which we thought would be better than it was. I mean, the Czech Republic is famous for beer (they drink more beer per person than any other country- and that figure includes infants) and we'd had a beer at a Irish pub the other night that was really nice, so we thought this would be great. Sample all kinds of Czech beers, go to nice pubs with locals, sit and reflect on things. Fun, right?

It was more of a club crawl than a pub crawl. The only beer included was basically Bud Lite. The clubs were empty except for our tour group and we'd wanted to go where the locals go, not where the tourists go. Plus everything was loud and flashing and people were dancing and we just looked at each other like "this is not what we wanted". So after the second place we skipped out and found a quiet little pub where we could sit outside and nurse an actual Czech beer. So, this is my official recommendation. Don't waste your money on a pub crawl in Prague.

The next day we just walked around and got this traditional Czech dessert, which is dough rolled in cinnamon and sugar and roasted over a fire. It was sweet and crunchy, but not like Italian desserts. Italy is way more into dessert than the Czech Republic is.

And of course, right before we left, we tried some Czech street food. In this case, a bratwurst. It was enormous and a mess and served with hot wine, which is another big thing here in Czech that I think Italians would be horrified at. It was really nice because the day was rainy and cold and it warmed you up just right.

Then there was a plane ride and a train ride and I collapsed onto my bed when we got home. Traveling is fun but exhausting.

In which I (nearly miss) go to the opera

If you're wondering why I haven't uploaded anything from the Prague or Tuscany trip yet, it's because my last few days have been INSANE. I haven't even had time to go grocery shopping. I'm existing on espressos.

I had a midterm report due yesterday, and I was up so late working on it that for the two days before I got approximately three-four hours of sleep each night. Last night I canceled all my plans after class, ate, showered, and slept for nearly eleven hours straight. 

So. About the opera. At home, anyone who's heard me talk about Italy knows that one of my must-do goals here was to see an opera. I like opera. I especially like Italian opera. Puccini's "La Bohemè" is my favorite. So I said, while in Italy, I was going to see an opera.

One of my friends decided to see Puccini's "Tosca" a few weeks back. I thought, hey, I love Puccini, I'm not traveling this weekend so my week is more relaxed, and I can see an opera! Let's do this! I didn't go with my friend, we went separately, but still a good idea. The ticket was around 40 euro, which is like 45-48 American dollars, but you know what, for me, it's worth it. To see an actual opera in Italy, it's well worth 50 bucks.

So tonight comes, I put on my black dress that my aunt got me for Italy, because I wanted to dress up a little. I do my hair and makeup all nice and put on a scarf and my coat, and I'm ready to go.

Here's where things started to go wrong. I was planning on taking a bus straight down here from the apartment. Google maps says it will take a little over a half hour. I'm not taking chances. I leave with an hour and ten minutes to get there.

Right away I realize that I don't know exactly where the bus I need stops (I usually prefer to walk rather than take public transportation, so I've taken a bus only once before, and that was easy because all buses seem to lead to the train station, where I was going). I know my bus number, and that it stops near here, but that's it. So I wander around looking for the bus stop. I find it not far away, but after twenty minutes.

Whatever, I've still got twenty extra minutes than what Google maps says I need. I'll be fine. So I wait at the bus stop.

...and I wait.

....and I wait.

Everyone here makes jokes about how unreliable the buses are, but people here tend to exaggerate a bit, so I thought it was just another exaggeration.

IT WAS NOT.

The bus- one of the main buses that is supposed to come every ten minutes- didn't come. And didn't come. I kept waiting. I started getting impatient. And worried. My other option was taking the tram all the way down, then walking for another twenty minutes to the opera house, and that was cutting it closer than I'd like. Finally, with only about eight minutes leeway, I see a bus. I step off the curb and wave the driver down, to make sure there's no chance of them missing me.

They didn't even slow down. I had to hop backwards to keep from getting hit.

Now I'm trying to hold it together. I'm angry, I'm wet, because it's raining, and the one thing I've been looking forward to through this tough week is slipping away. I'm gonna be out fifty dollars because the buses here don't work right.

I waited another few minutes, hoping in vain there would be another bus right behind the first. There was not. I was sure I was going to miss my opera now. All my leeway time was gone, and that was for the fastest route, the bus. The tram would take me way longer.

I teared up a little, said a few very colorful words, and stormed towards the tram. I'm sure I had murder in my eyes.

A half hour before curtain. The tram felt like it was taking forever. Twenty minutes. Fifteen minutes. I could walk fast, right?

Now I've been using Google maps to help me find things. How it works is that you can't look up directions with your WiFi off, but the little blue dot still moves on the map with you, so you can tell if you're going the right way. Now, it's raining, it's dark, and I've never been to this place before. I'm using that blue dot to guide me. But the rain kept getting between my case and the screen and making my phone freak out and the screen kept bringing up things I didn't press, so I was walking blind for awhile.

Five minutes to curtain. I'm power walking. Two minutes. I'm running now. One. Curtain. One minute late, and I'm praying Italians let people in after the show starts. And then this seller guy- one of the guys who is always walking around touristy areas selling umbrellas or selfie sticks and getting in people's faces- steps in front of me, trying to sell me umbrellas. I go to dodge, but he shoves umbrellas at me. "Miss," he says, "umbrellas. Good price. Very cheap, miss. Only-"

I am done. Done. I snap "basta!" ("Enough" in Italian) with more venom than I knew I was capable of.

It is 8:06 at this point and I hate everything. This bus system, these slow sidewalk walkers- I dare another seller to come at me right now. Finally, eight minutes late, wild-eyed and sweaty from running, I get to the opera house. I've already decided that if they don't let me in and won't give me a refund, I'm going to start crying right there in the lobby and make them feel bad.

However, it seems that they are used to people coming in later, and are very polite as they show me to my box. The opera had started, but I only missed the first few minutes. There were four people in my box already, and I had a chair but I couldn't see a thing sitting, so I stood for the first act. (The boxes provide five chairs of varying heights and patrons rearrange them as they wish) At first intermission, one man in my box rearranged the seats so that I could sit and still see. He's a saint. I hope he finds money on the ground. Another woman was glaring at me, I think because everyone in this box knows each other and then there's me and I interrupted the family box.

And now it is second intermission. Act 3 will start soon. This is a very good opera, and I will write about it later, but I just wanted to tell that story. The moral is NEVER TRUST ROMAN BUSES and if you want to get anywhere, leave at least an hour early.