only one week of courses left...

Looking back at my last post (below), I felt very blessed.

I have accomplished all the 'goals' that I hoped to do, minus of course gone back to Conegliano for Christmas (flight on Dec. 18).

I think I successfully managed to count my trips during 2011 (up to today). If anything, I've underestimated the number of trains I've taken, but here are the stats:

planes taken: 14
trains taken: 44

Which, by the time I return home, should be 18 planes, and 47 trains.

So, the Christmas markets in Grenoble are gorgeous. The town is really well lit up with Christmas lights, and since it gets dark shortly after 5pm these days, you really absorb the spirit. Not only Grenoble, but I've been able to see lovely Christmas markets also in Marseille, Aix-en-Provence and Nice. I did these three diverse cities last week: Marseille and Aix with a dear friend, and Nice on my own, thanks to CouchSurfing! I was hosted by a really nice young couple (French + Spanish) and was lucky to arrive on the weekend of the opening of the Christmas village... Nice definately beat them all, the lights, the fake snow, the wooden huts, the Chrismas music, ice-skating ring, mulled wine, rides and more... the amosphere was absolutely magic.

I haven't done this much but here are some photos to get the idea across.











It's been 10 years since my last Christmas in the cold, and I must say since then I haven't felt the Christmas spirit in the Australian summer. So this period is really special for me, and I really look forward to spending it with my family in Conegliano and friends in Milan.

Speaking of which, I decided to be lazy about my NYE destination.

So in fact from December 18th to January 4th I'll be away from Grenoble... it's study period until my exams, which I'll finish on January 12th. Unfortunately the following day I'll have to rush off back to Italy to say goodbye to loved ones and get ready to head home to Australia.

I'm avoiding thinking about my return too much for the moment because I know it'll be extremely sad to leave. I have made a small number of incredibly deep bonds here and I'll be heartbroken to leave.
Then again... I'm happy to return to real life and find a place I can call home. Literally actually, because I need to find a house to rent for next year. After the three I've found this year, hopefully it won't be too hard, though I'm getting scared about Perth rent rates :/
I can't wait to see my dog Skipper, the one gorgeous little thing I've truly missed about Australia. And to work at my parents' cafe again, spending time with them in a pleasant and productive way... eating gelato... the beach... gorgeous UWA...

sigh :(

Things I'm looking forward to :

http://web.mac.com/otgrenoble/MARCHE_DE_NOEL_2007/le_march%C3%A9.html

and watching some nice Italian films this week for the Italian Film Festival.

And eating the chocolate I bought at today's Chocolate fair.

And going to Aix les Bains on Tuesday to go to the thermal bathss.

And going to Marseille and Aix-en-Provence a week later.

And going to Nice a few days after that.

And returning to Conegliano for Christmas.

And deciding where to spend New Year's Eve.

amoureuse

This funny thing happened yesterday.

I assisted a course I've never been to before, because it's given by a professor I really like and admire, and thought I might as well learn something new as I had enough time.
The course is given in English, and is mostly for international students.
It was so... strange... to hear so much English. It felt wrong to speak English. The first few notes I took from his lecturing, my mind automatically translated them to French, because it was easier. Not to mention hearing myself speak English, it's now bizarre.
Funnily, it's not strange at all to write in English - I do that occasionally chatting to people from Oz, and of course blogging (even though Etienne, probably my best Grenoblois follower, kindly reminded me that I've been neglecting this activity!)

What's been happening? This month I'm more grounded in Grenoble.
With the exception of the weekend I spent in Switzerland to catch up with Alizee. It was lovely, we spent a day in Lausanne and admired the renownedly gorgeous lake and came across cute markets, then returned in Geneva. There we stayed with her cousin, who treated us to a lovely dinner of raclette, red wine and ice cream. We discovered Geneva's most Latin American salsa bar that night, and watched a movie on our return. The following day we had a big breakfast at a special bakery and tried all sorts of breads with butter/jam/nutella. We explored the centre of Geneva a bit, admiring the huge water jet in the lake and the cathedral, and before we knew it, it was Sunday evening.

The workload here has not been to heavy, but I'm starting to really revise now in my free hours, spending more time at the library with a bunch of other Italians. I'm enjoying all my courses.

It's getting cold!! I don't like it at all.. but at least it's still sunny. That being said, we're drawing up an autumn which has been really gorgeous a bit everywhere that I've been, Grenoble included of course. Unfortunately, the heating in our (old) apartment is not working at the moment, so I bought a heater for my room, but the rest of the house is still quite cold.

All good with the house, apparently we can have two parties in the same night, as I discovered last week - I "attended" the first party, from about 9pm to 2.30am, then as I almost was diving under my sheets, I hear the second party of friends coming over, who stayed a couple of hours more. Weird! :)

It's lunch time... belly says bye!

holidays!

It is undeniable that this semester I feel much less “grounded” in Grenoble than I did last semester in Milan. I guess in the end it is a more foreign country, but I’ve also travelled a bit more than I did last semester. October was an interesting month, during which I attended university only 8 days.

I took a couple of days off to see Nancy and Strasbourg, which was worth it as they were fascinating cities and I went with a very interesting, clever and ambitious girl from the Chec Republic, and we had interesting Couch Surfing experiences. I also appreciated being at the house of the European Council and Parliament, and the Human Rights building; unfortunately, we didn’t realise we should have booked a visit ahead, and we didn’t really get to see much of the insides. Another (stupid) highlight was walking to Germany! Having never crossed an international border by foot, it was worth the rushed walk to Khel which nearly made us miss our (6-hour) train back to Grenoble ;)

Being (already!!) half way through the university semester, we had about 9 days off at the end of October. I took advantage of a rare opportunity of going on a 7-day cruise: from Italy to Greece and Croatia. Well... this was a dream come true, and a very affordable one considering the last-minute buy and the off-peak season. The ship was 4 stars, and included numerous restaurants and bars (both club and live music), a theatre with nightly entertainment, a gym, a spa and a few pools, a casino, etc etc. The food, all included in the price, was amazing, a true highlight. Breakfast until 11.30, lunch from 12.00 to 14.00, pizza and afternoon tea from 16.00 to 19.00, dinner from 8.45 and even a midnight snack! It seems like their goal was to ensure that every guest put on at least one or two kilos during the week. Dinner alone consisted of: entree, soup, first and second courses, salad, cheeses, and dessert (a-la-carte).

The destinations were we stopped: Mykonos, Athens, Corfu (Greece), Dubrovnik (Croatia) and Venice. Mykonos was the typical Greek island village, consisting of solely white houses with flat roofs. Athens, a little too cemented and civilised than I’d hoped, but the temples in the Acropolis were of course charming; we also visited the Modern Museum, recently voted the world’s best museum. Corfu, where I’d been over ten years ago, was... ok; the centre was full of shops, quite small. Dubrovnik was a total surprise, a really unique place for the town centre is enclosed by the walls of an ancient fortress. Furthermore, it is on a rocky coast, which slightly elevates it and the locals have taken advantage of the rocks to place little bars and cafes right on the shore.

I disembarked the ship in Venice, stopping by in Conegliano for a few nights to see Nonna Gina, which made her very happy, as well as my auntie and my friend Silvia.

Tomorrow I’m heading back to France, and this weekend I’ll be visited by Alizee, a French friend from UWA currently in the Netherlands for her own exchange (she’s already come to see me in Barcelona!). We’ll probably also spend a day visiting Switzerland (Geneva and/or Lausanne).

time flying

Life has been getting better at Grenoble. Admittedly, I have had a few small issues connecting with people here, as the students I've met and hung out with have actually been of my age, or thereabouts. For the past few years I've tended to be close to people a few years older than me, and in Milan particularly so, hence now it's taken me a while to adjust to being around younger people. It's really really hard to connect with the boys especially. But I figure I'm never going to connect with everyone, I just have to find a handful of people I really get on with. And I think that's very manageable :)

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to a hiking weekend organised by the uni's Sporting Association, to a mountain nearby. It was definately a great experience: Saturday we did a huge hike from 9am to 6pm (although fairly slowlly and with numerous stops), then had dinner followed by drinks and games, and another more tranquil hike on Sunday. It was a great way to get to know other French students, there were around 50 of us sleeping in a hostel accommodation.

I've been going to a couple of salsa places and had a few good dances, which has kept me happy. Found out that in December there is a big Bachata festival in Paris one weekend, very very tempted to go.

I've dropped my workload to 24 ECTS instead of 28. Still quite manageable, but my two-hour-a-day timetable is pretty annoying.

Speaking of uni, honestly I didn't expect to feel so so ignorant when surrounded by political sciences students. Wow. They know a lot more than me about what's going on around the world politically. Yesterday a French guy told me about Berlusconi's (groan!) latest moment of brilliance. Yes, let's change the name of the PDL (his party) to "Forza Gnocca". Ma vaffanccccccccccc.....!!!!!

What I'm loving is that it's become part of my almost daily routine to switch between the four languages I "speak" during the one day, often even by lunchtime. I wake up and often speak Italian on Skype, go to uni for a course in French or Spanish, speak French with most people, speak Italian with other Italian students and this Mexican guy trying to learn it, with whom I also speak Spanish. Refreshing, fun, but sometimes confusing!

Today I'm going to Milan for a long weekend. Taking the one hour plane trip which cost me 50 E (return) instead of the train, which is 120 E for 5.5 hours of travelling (one way)! I'm catching up with a few good friends from last semester and going to see Bruno Mars in concert (only 35 E)! Should be great =]

Other plans... next week, shortly after getting back from Milan, I'm taking a trip to Nancy and Strasbourg (France) to see Laure, a nice French girl I met in Milan. I've always been curious to see Strasbourg so I'm really looking forward to it.

Towards the end of the month we have 11 days of holidays. I have a brilliant travel option half in mind, but more on that when it's confirmed :)

Following that, the first weekend of November I'm getting a visit from Alizee (whose birthday is today!! joyeux anniversaire ma chere), currently studying in Utrecht. We're hoping to spend a day in Genevra also.

Also very happy at home. I'm getting on very well with Claire, I feel like I can talk and joke with her about almost anything. One day we went for a 3-hr hike together and yesterday we even did our nails together (omg!! :p). The boys are fine... boys are boys... they're good for a laugh. The house is a social meeting point. We often invite our friends over for pre drinks, and last night we had a party which saw 60-70 people. Man I still haven't published photos of the apartment (maybe I'm trying to show you how messy it normally is?), but it's quite ideal to host social gatherings in the large living room. Only thing is, the rooms can't be locked so we have to be fairly careful with out precious stuff, hiding it just to be sure. We're also lucky with neighbours. The only other apartment on our floor is of 3 male students. Underneath, we have a studio of lawyers which is empty past 7pm. The family who lives above us can't actually hear much of the noise at all (4m ceilings!), except if people are noisy going up and down the stairs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuQyQTD3bw0

That is all for now, I have a plane to cath! A toute :)

locked IN, locked OUT!

... Title referring to the outcome of a busy first week of uni at Sciences Po, Grenoble. A Grande Ecole which, may I mention, accepts only around 7% of French applicants, many of which take an extra year of preparation to pass. So it's quite an honour to have the chance to go on exchange here.

Where do I start... I've been so busy the last two weeks. I finished my enrollment, I opened a bank account which is pretty cool because the bank gets you to choose any picture to have printed on the card, so I have a pretty one of a picturesque morning in New Zealand. The reason why I opened an account was that the French government will need it to give me a small but appreciated amount of money to go towards my rent. Merci. I also have had to go to the renting agency of the apartment I'm staying to change the contract and include my name... so that it can be proven I'm not sleeping under a bridge.

Speaking of the apartment, it's going very well, I've bought a desk from Ikea and dark blue bed sheets (in my biiiiiiiig double bed!! I've never had a double bed before.) and a mirror and I've cleaned up a bit so it feels simple and welcoming. We also have a new kitchen table, and this weekend we'll have a new oven/stoves. And I'm gonna buy a vacuum cleaner! The broomstick just isn't enough for this old floor.
I'm also enjoying the exercise that I get from jogging up the stairs to get to the apartment - it's only on the third floor, but the ceilings are 4 metres high, so the stair is a nice workout for the (currently!) lazy like me.
What else.
My flatmates are nice, I probably said it last time but they're very cool, they're introducing me to a few people, advising me on courses, giving me some of their notes from previous years and making me jump long lines to get hot dogs. Hey, it all counts ;)

Apart from the house, the weather has been very warm here, today and yesterday we had around 27 degrees. Unfortunately I was indoors a lot, checking out all possible courses to do this semester. There was a lot of indecision - it's an important choice! - but I've made up my mind and I'm very happy with the following choices:

1. Sociology
2. European Union: actor of peace and security in the world
3. Franco-germanic relations of the XX Century: political, economic and cultural aspects
4. France, Europe and the challenges of the contemporary world
5. French language, written and oral methodology
6. Literature, cinema, history and memory in contemporary Spain

2. Very very interesting! Not easy but good to know and interesting to the extreme that I'm accepting going to uni on a Friday. Had I not chosen this course, my weekend would have commenced at 11am on Thursdays!
3. Have not yet been to this course for the room was changed last week, but it sounds promising.
4 & 5. Courses obligatory for international students, classes with other internationals with about the same level of French. 5 is quite an up-to-date and interactive course, quite like a workshop.
6. Course in Spanish! It's exciting. This one as well I've found really interesting, it's about how many aspects of Spanish life during the Franco dictatorship were willingly ignored after 1975, but how some artists have caused the re-birth of these painful memories. And just the fact that it's in Spanish makes me happy. I understand it more clearly than French actually.
Needless to say, the other courses are in French.


Already compared to last semester in Milan, I feel this will be a different experience. Not knowing anyone else in Grenoble, I've already spent a lot of time with international students, which I hardly did in Milan, and I've been a lot more open to meeting other (French) students - this probably because of the lack of snobbyness of the Milanese, and me attending more student events. And younger people! I hardly hang around anyone over 23 years old. There's a heap of Italians here on exchange, of course... met a girl from Turin - now that's just lazy. Turin is about 2.5 hours away from here on train ;)

"Social evenings" here start and end really early. Often we meet for aperitif/dinner before 8pm, and linger around the centre, or bars, so by the time they close (1, maximum 2 am) it feels really late, but is in fact not. It's not bad, you get more hours of sleep in the end, and don't return home as your flatmates are showering or having breakfast (*cough*Milan*cough*), but it leaves a small feeling of unaccomplishment. But that's just me! Unfortunately, the French (and of course the internationals) youth still do drink a fair bit.

I feel younger. I don't think I like it... but it's an interesting change :p
(that frustrating moment when someone younger than you thinks they're old)

Soooooooo, I'm very content, and excited about the challenge of doing this semester in France. Sorry about all text and no visuals, but if you scroll down a bit you'll see pretty things :)
Ciao =]

Return to Chambery

Last week I part of a day in Chambery, a lovely and typical smaller city (~100,000 people) one hour from here. In 2008, I spent 5 weeks in Chambery (another, less mature blog may or may not exist about this experience!!) studying French, and was quite enchanted with the city, the first big experience alone away from home and everything. So it was gorgeous to go back and visit the places I remembered surprisingly well!

the Elephants ("les quatre sans cul") - icon of Chambery




oh! the castle I studied in ;)


my favourite baaaar - Cafe du Theatre!





When I was in Barcelona my closest friend was Lucie, who actually studies in Chambery. So I hope to return there soonish and see her again :)

Grenoble: photos taken in the very first days...

This is on the way to the college Le Rabot.


Also ascending towards Le Rabot - notice "Les Boules" in the background: a telepherique dating back to 1934 which takes you to the top of the mountain.


Again the telepherique, from the other side of the river at the feet of the mountain, hence the side of the town centre.



Views from the mountain, walking down from Le Rabot.



The river at night.


This is a quiet day at uni! Very gorgeous. It's autumn, although it's still pretty warm!

Grenoble

Now I'm here!

Took the TGV Paris-Grenoble and was met by a student of the Sciences Po university, the one I'm attending, who helped me carry my things uphill to the student residence/college Le Rabot.

Honestly... in the running for the world's most uncomfortable college ever. Situated on a hill, it is accessible by a very infrequent navette (has 3 hour periods during the day when it doesn't come, doesn't come Saturday nor most of Sunday) or by a 15 minute walk up/downhill one an isolated and poorly lit street. Furthermore, the navette stops running at 20:30, so going out at night ensures you that walk (impossible with heels! :o) which isn't really ideal in the cold winter that's coming.

The first night I was in Grenoble, as I was walking home after a bar, a huge storm happened. Boom, I got slightly drenched and broke a shoe running :(

Furthermore... as much as I was looking forward to being independent again in the kitchen after a month of living with the family, I was disappointed to see this residence's definition of "kitchen": 4 gas stoves, two sinks, a table, 2 chairs. And, that is is. No sign of pots, cutlery, utensils... nothing. I mean not even an oven or a microwave. This "kitchen" is to be shared amongst around 20 people, all of whom are expected to buy all the things they need to cook and eat, and each time take them to the kitchen.

...

Moving on to the bathrooms (also in common of course):

Could you do this for five months?? And you'd also be taking toilet paper with you every time you need, for there is none provided :/
The showers, meanwhile, have a button to press for the water, to press each 10/15 seconds in fact, otherwise the water stops. And each time it makes suuuch a painful noise, seeming to plead: "nooo please don't use another 10 seconds of water... paaaaaaaaaaiiiiiin!!"

I'm not gonna talk about the room itself, because its faults are relatively insignificant. I could mention I'm surrounded by Koreans. So, really not ideal.


As I mentioned, the first night I was here I was invited for drinks at a bar, and I explained to a couple of people that I was hoping to move out of this prison. I had the luck of my life to run into people who had friends looking for a flatmate. They saw a few other people as well but I have just been confirmed that I can move in! I'm over the moon because this apartment, which I will share with two french guys and a girl, is truly amazing.

It is here: 2 Rue Vicat
If you can interpret the map, you'll see that to the west and to the north-east there are two pedestrian-only zones, which means the apartment is found bam, straight in the centre of the city. It is directly above the tram stop which takes me directly to uni.
It's 130 metres squared, very big and comfortable for 4 people.
It has a kitchen!! And a proper toilet!
There's a large lounge room with a bar and a balcony, which is quite regularly used by the guys for pre-drinks and/or after parties.
It's only around 250 euros/month of rent, including bills... very cheap for Grenoble considering the size and location.
There's heating in the room..... and a warm blanket =]
There's wifi.
The guy I'm replacing is leaving his bicycle which means I can use it if I need!
And did I mention I share it with 3 French? :)


So, I'm =] =]
Grenoble is a great city as well. I was told it only had 150,000 residents, but in Fact the shire includes around 400,000! It is the city in France with the highest number of bars & restaurants proportionate to its residents: there are over 400. The student population is enormous, at night you see hundreds of youth. It's really refreshing (brrrr... I keep thinking of how cold it's going to be in a few months!!)
So apart from having lived on sandwiches for 5 days and feeling a bit imprisoned, I've had a nice time here. I've met already a lot of people, and most of them French. I'm managing very well with French, I understand everything and it seems that becoming trilingual might be a concrete possibility by January 2012 :)

Ok, enough for now. Au revoir!

la belle Paris...

Paris

I was in Paris 8 days altogether, to round off nicely the month of August, quite enough to get a good taste of the city that's supposed to be the world's most beautiful.

The first five days I really enjoyed, as I was with my parents whom I hadn't spent much time with in the last 7 months ( - a slight understatement). We did lots of nice things!

- Notre Dame & Crypte
- Tour Eiffel
- L'hopital des Invalides
- Louvre
- Moulin Rouge
- Champs Elysees
- Montmartre
- L'Arc du Triomph
- La consiergerie
- Le Pantheon
- Cathedrale du Sacre Coeur
- Quartiers Latin et Marais
- Les Egouts
- Hotel de ville
- Jardins des Tuillerie
- boat cruise on la Seine
- Palais Royal
- Grand & petit Palais
- L'Opera

We also ate lots of nice things, like:

- Fondue traditionelle et a la Bourguignonne
- Lots of cheeses and pates on baguettes
- Escargots!
- Omelette
- Crepes
- Lots of pastries and croissants
- Creme brulee
- Onion soup
- Duck
- Beaujoulais & Bordeaux
- Raclette
- Creme fine

We were luck to stay in a lovely apartment with all the comforts, so although we did lots of walking, it still felt like a holiday - although not quite like we were in France, as we heard more Italian spoken anywhere than French.
We taught my father how to say one sentence in French (although he's quite convinced he can almost say anything): "Peux-je avoir la note, s'il vous plait?" - strategic teaching, I call it ;) but it was quite funny him associating the pronunciation of peux-je to pesce ('fish' in Italian).
Other nice memories were of the cute restaurants we endulged in, and after-dinner walks in nice quartiers, which proved that Paris is, really, undoubtedly beautiful, more than I expected. No extremely snobby Parisians encountered, although there seemed to be an unexplainably disproportionate amount of urine on walls and footpaths.


I also spent 3 more days in Paris with Patrick, a good friend from Austria, who joined me there the day my parents took off for Perth.... sniff sniff! On my own again :(
Anyway we had a good few days wondering around the city, using the Velibs, eating baguettes, and going out a bit (shame it was the start of the week!). We were able to stay in a cute studio, also leased from the guy who gave us the other apartment, and slightly cheaper than a hostel bed would have been. So, if anybody has plans to go to Paris, ask me for accommodation contacts :)


Here are photos!


And right now I'm in Grenoble, where I'll be the next 5 months or so doing my second exchange. It is now rather past my bedtime and I shall blog about Grenoble in the next few days. The arrival has not been as I expected so keep an eye out for news!

Well... another couple of weeks in Conegliano have been quite nice. Feeling the immense guilt from endless strings of big lunches followed by big dinners, I have taken many long walks through town and around, discovering new charming sides of the city.

Mary came to visit us and stay for a week, and unfortunately brought with her a small virus, so at turns, we were FORCED to stop eating for a couple of days. We had a few outstanding dinners, one where an old guy came to cook for us, so passionate about cooking meat on the spit that you could absolutely taste it. Another, at a traditional agriturismo where we were welcomed by a Tanzanian woman, who'd moved to the area aged 18, and treated us with four courses of meat from her own animals, cooked on a fire in front of us as we were eating. Ab-so-lu-te-ly amazing, melting-in-the-mouth organic produce.
We also had Ugo, a family friend passionate about making gnocchi, over to cooks us his speciality one lunch.

I spent a couple of days at the beach of Lignano with my auntie, uncle and cousin.
I'm now getting organised to go to France, as I'm leaving in less than a week! I'll be flying to Paris with my parents on August 23rd, they will return to Perth a couple of days later, and I'll be staying on until the 31st, with Patrick, my good Austrian friend. Should be just lovely!

I'm quite worried about Grenoble, as I'm really not as organised as I should be. I don't know what to expect from the university, but UWA has informed me that it's one of the hardest and most selective French institutions, which makes NO distinction between French and international students. This, added to the fact that my current French has been infested by Spanish, is a bit worrying. But, give it a week or two and I'm sure I'll settle in fine.

Must go. Cheerio! =]

Northern Italy again.

After Barca I returned to Venice Marco Polo, to be welcomed by a very happy mother and father (and of course, nonna Gina). We're now spending a few days in the nothern Italian region called Trentino - Alto Adige (Sudtirol), visiting my mum's extended family. This was a big change of scenery as you find lots of little Austrian-style villages with just a few dozen houses, surrounded by mountains and lakes and vineyards... very different from the artificial chaos of Barcellona and Milan!

It was lovely to have lunch at Fonteklaus, a renowned and unique restaurant just oustide of Bressanone, where half the family lives. We have, however, been EATING TOO MUCH, As meals are some sort of currency amongst our relatives, for them to show how happy they are that we're visiting them.

It's really nice to be back in Conegliano, even though the town is swamped by mosquitoes and humidity. If all goes well, I'll be lucky enough to be visited by MJ and Luis from Milan, and will catch up with Fede (whom I visited in Valencia) later on, as well as some friends from Conegliano.

News is, I've been granted a roof under which to sleep in Grenoble! Because I hadn't had much time to look up an apartment with other French students, I've decided to accept a place at a student residence - it'll be a different experience, but I guess a change from living in flats (which I have for the past 7 months) will be nice. So I'm staying at the residence LA RABOT, situated on a hill in Grenoble, on the other side of the river to the university. I'm REALLY hoping there won't be many exchange students staying here, but I think the solution will be fun, although very similar to St George's College in Perth, where I stayed the past two years.

Barcellona - over :(

Hola! Last night in Barcellona, this month has FLOWN.

I'm very happy with my level of Spanish, it's enough for me to have decent conversations. Actually, I fear it's better than my French, which I've been studying for the past three years. I would have REALLY liked to stay a bit longer to get more fluent though. My big fear came true, French has almost entirely slipped out of my brain in the last four weeks. The course has also made me get to know a few people from Eastern European countries, of which I hadn't met anyone before.

I spent five lovely days in Mallorca. Visited the island a fair bit, beached, visited the charming capital Palma, siesta-ed, enjoyed the numerous free chupitos offered by clubs near my hostel.

In Barcelona, I also caught up with Tom again (we've now caught up in 4 countries together!) and my friend Alizee from Oz and her friend Anne-Marie. We went to watch a 1960 French film open-air film with Spanish subtitles, interesting. To ensure I didn't miss out on enjoying Barcelona, I rode my bike for numerous hours around the city, exploring its most unusual quartiers and sometimes snacking on churros whilst riding.

I also visited a lovely nearby beach town (and gay holiday destination), Sitges, the Casa Battlo, and finally the Sagrada Familia, which was totally worth it.

The last night, my flatmates cooked me dinner and we enjoyed some last times together... packing my suitcase again was a bit sad, but less than when leaving Milan.

I haven't posted any photos on the blog, but there are some wonderful ones on my facebook page which might be worth a look - the link is in a previous blog post.

Tomorrow I'll be back in Conegliano, my parents are waiting for me! After seven months it'll surely be nice to see them, get spoilt and most of all RELAX. Oh, and I'm REALLY looking forward to a decent pizza and gelato, of which I've been deprived for a whole month.

Hasta luego ;)

Holaaaa...
before I run off for a few days to the island of Mallorca with no net, I'd better briefly update about Barcelona :)

Things are going just as well as I expected here. I'm enjoying the beach, the Spanish nightlife, the uncountable places to eat around the city, have made friends with a group of interesting people, have ridden a bicycle with no breaks, managed to survive a whole week without a map, and after two weeks advanced to the most advanced Spanish class my school has! I do wish I could stay a bit longer... there are so many things to do here.

Then again, I'm looking forward to seeing mother and father in 3D version after 7 months.

That's all I think! Sorry :p
Hasta luego... when I return from my island getaway ;)

images

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150696192990035.706097.852995034&l=09eb298572

hola...

I'm not going to write much, because during this month I'm trying to use as lease English (or any language other than Spanish, for that matter) as possible.

Barcellona is great. I'm living with a Spanish chica and two chicos, who are all very relaxed and friendly. My room is cosy and lovely, as is the flat, so I'm happy with the housing solution I found. I've also adapted to Spanish times again like in Valencia... finishing lunches at 4pm, and dinners at 11pm ;)

Every (week) morning, from 9am to 1pm, I go to a Spanish school with 8 other students in the class. I'm learning a lot obviously and it's a nice way to meet other people; I find however they move a bit slowly through the content so I'm investing in some private lessons a few times a week.

I'm very pleasantly surprised at how much I can understand and make my way through long conversations. It definately is confusing as I expected, in the sense that when you're talking Spanish (half guessed based on Italian) to a Frenchie, in the company of English speakers... it's common to not notice the change in languages, or respond to someone in another language! Very interesting and fun.

Also, I've had Mary over lately, she's "couch-surfing" with me for 6 days. We had a fun weekend which included some beaching, a very relaxed pool barbecue with about 20 people at a beach town just out of Barça, and a massive free music festival at the Montjuic park, situated on a small hill in the city along with a castle, museum and other charming things.

Y ahora me voy, hasta luego :)

5 days back in Conegliano... before barça =]

After leaving Milan last Wednesday and managing to carry all my stuff back on a train, I spent five days in Conegliano with nonna Gina. It was lovely to go out with a few friends and be surprised about just how many youth reside in this small town! :)

Conegliano is hot, summer is pretty much here.

I also spent a little bit of time "studying" the Spanish pocket dictionary I was given from Barbara, and packing my suitcase for Barcellona!

I'm meeting Agnes, one of my two Spanish roommates, at the train exit from the airport. I'm excited!

Updates soon :)

ciao ciao Milano... :(

Nonna Gina... arrivo.

I am soon to sit my fourth and last oral exam which concludes my semester at the Catholic University of Milan.
I will then return to Veneto for five days, before heading to Barcellona for a month of learning Spanish, and a little bit of beach and dancing :)
Looking forward to having MJ come stay with me one week from June 30th... and Alizee and her friend from July 21st!

It does sadden me to leave Milan, a bit more than I first expected actually.
Coming from such a sunny, friendly and clean city like Perth, it's strange how much this smoggy, cold, often snobby city has drawn me in, intrigued me, almost made me fall in love. It's like that attraction towards something you know you shouldn't be attracted to, because you think you deserve better, because that thing doesn't make you feel wanted, maybe it teases you, or plays hard to get. That is Milan, personified. You have to have a strong character to dominate it.

Soooo on the other hand, I've had a lovely time here.
Especially on this street, via Sforza, which is on one of the main canals in Milan and is lined by my favourite bars and clubs.


... and cool people :)



Especially here:


The city looks to pretty at night, and alive.



I've never uploaded pictures of where we live!
So, this is the view from via Solari, our street. In between the two trees is the entrance to our block of apartments which surround an internal courtyard.



And here are some photos of the flat that Stefania (the third housemate) sent me before I'd confirmed moving in here.








And this is a snap of the markets which kept me busy and spending money every Tuesday and Saturday! It's one of the biggest market in Milan and happens to be a block away from our house. Lots of clothes etc but I mainly visited for fresh fruit and vegetables, cheese, hams etc. Have made friends with a few of the regular sellers. There I go, turning into my grandmother ;)



I'll miss the majesty of the city centre.





But probably the thing I'll miss most about Milan:


MJ <3

hair mystery!

What's going on with my hair?

I keep getting called a blonde.

Sure we've had a few weeks of sun in Milan, but I've hardly caught enough to make any sense of how light my hair has become lately.

And so you can see the change... transition photos! This one was taken in Australian winter, 2010.



This second one was in mid-March 2011.



And here are two snaps I got today.






Not sure if there's something in the water here but I think that once exams are over I'm going to dye my hair a light brown, so I have a uniform colour at least. Opinions?

BAH! Mysteries of life.
...
or, petty things we notice when open to any banal distraction after hours of studying.

Berlin with the Floh-fish

Berlin, Germany.
Mary Mary Mary... she'd informed our poor host that we'd actually be arriving the week after we did! So in fact, he was only with us the first day, as he then headed to Strasbourg (hitch-hiking) and to Sicily by plane for a few days.

Still, this guy was amazing. An extremely experienced Couch Surfer, who has hosted hundreds of people from all over the world, Floh is one of the most down to earth and generous people I've met, though I only "knew" him that one day. Just the fact that he opens his apartment (which he shares with an Estonian guy) to so many people passing by in Berlin, even though he is unemployed, says something about his mentality.



He has a "time machine".
This is a shower.
Except... it's in his kitchen.
Amazing.
He has no bathroom, except for a toilet down a long corridor.
One of those old houses where you turn the hot water switch on 20 minutes before showering... in the kitchen!

So the day we got there, Floh took us around Berlin for many hours, ensuring our first meal would be the famous Currywurst, and Berlin's best Kebap. Food is extremely cheap in Berlin, as are most things actually.
Anyway, Floh accompanied us through some less touristy sides of his city and amazed us with never ending knowledge about the history and future plans of the city, he showed us some "empty" grounds and told us what buildings were destroyed during WWII, why they haven't yet been re-built, and whether there were any plans to re-build something on the sites. All this in a day when he wasn't really expecting us, and had to submit two job applications, AND pack to go travelling early the next day.





..... snow?!



In the evening we went for drinks at a Couch Surfing catch-up, and met some really interesting characters, namely a nice Oxford graduate in literature, turned poet, teaching English in Berlin... a Colombian/Ecuadorian tattoo artist... an American girl travelling around Europe by herself for three months... a gay German fascinated by the Italian film industry of the 70s, and a few other Berliners.

We also travelled a bit out out of the city and visited Großer Wannsee, a river/lake.



We caught up with a friend of MJ's, who showed us a busy neighbourhood with cool bars.
We went to an intense Turkish market! It was easy to forget which country we were in with all the interesting breads, dips, olives, types of feta cheeses, fabrics etc... so we didn't resist buying some curious products for lunch on the river.
We found Berlin's hottest Latin American / hip hop club, and found some interesting differences between the Germans' and Italians' approach.
MJ and I had a romantic dinner at a typical German restaurant, with truly lovely food.
We got absolutely astounded to find that all buses arrived perfectly on time, on the dot, in what seemed to be a nearly faultless public transport system.


My highlight was by FAR visiting the historical five-storey Kunsthaus Tacheles. Tacheles, from Yiddish, = "straight talking", and there seem to really be no limits to the art exhibited in the many rooms inside. In the 1990s it was occupied by activist artists who opposed its demolition... thank God they succeeded.
Anyway the history is quite fascinating, if you have 2 free minutes read up on it here: http://super.tacheles.de/cms/
I don't think I've ever felt so powerless, almost scared, walking through a building. Not that there was anything dangerous about the place, but the dim lighting and unfiltered art had a very particular effect on me.
Unfortunately some heartless bank has too generously paid off someone for the building (who never officially owned the building but simply gained control of it over the years), and it seems it'll get demolished.

I took a lot of pictures: