When I woke up, it was 2:50pm. I’ve never slept in that late in my entire life. I messed around on the computer for an hour, then finally got out of bed at 4pm to go to the bathroom and eat. The rest of the day I uploaded pictures to facebook and read Machiavelli. We tried to do dishes after lunch, but we don’t get hot water long enough to fill the sink with more than an inch of water, which is obviously not enough to wash anything. Then we discovered our sink leaks! Another thing that doesn’t function in our apartment! It took them a week to get our internet to work, we have no hot water, we have no water pressure in the shower, our windows won’t close to block out the sun/noise/mosquitoes, only one stove burner even turns on, and when it does, it turns off as soon as we let go of the button, and now our sink leaks. At least our toilet and fridge work, and we have electricity. Also, we can sleep in our beds, but I feel like they may have bed bugs. And anytime we try to tell Accent about these problems to get them fixed, they assume we’re being petty Americans and complaining because things are not up to American standards, but what they don't understand is that things that are essential to living that should work don't. They’re completely unhelpful and even mean and rude when they talk to us, and they don’t seem to understand that we literally cannot cook a meal in our apartment and have to mooch of the boys, which is really annoying for everyone. Anyway, we made dinner around 9pm, and I got to eat my black olives and it was delicious! Then I read more Machiavelli and went to bed.
Michigan State University: Classical Republicanism in Rome and Florence, Italy, Summer, 2011
Monday, June 20
Venezia
Day 30: Saturday
Woke up at 6:00am for the train to Venice with Elli! Despite being so tired, I was excited to go, and we got ready and headed out for the train station in no time. We found the train and our seats just fine, and it was a short ride to Bologna, where we had to get off and change trains. We found our other train and some seats right away, and the train was completely empty when we got on. We fell asleep right away, and I drifted in and out until we finally arrived in Venice two hours later. We got off the train and, in case we forgot where we were, the grand canal greeted us as we walked out. We put some sunscreen on, had a nice chat with a couple from Maine, and decided to just wander through the streets until we found San Marco. And that’s what we did. Venice is the most beautiful city I’ve ever seen, but its beauty is impossible to capture through photographs or completely soak in. The streets are narrow and confusing and winding because there are no cars or vespas whipping around corners about to kill you. We ran into dead ends because we would hit the water, and we’d have to back track and go a different way. If we were actually trying to get somewhere and not just wandering it would have been frustrating and annoying, but I loved it. We grabbed a slice of margherita pizza and sat on the steps of a church listening to a cellist and violinist while eating. We wandered for about an hour until we found the harbor. We knew we were getting close when we saw a giant cruise ship going by completely taking over the entire city. We wandered down it a ways until we encountered a gondola and decided to go for our ride, despite it being 80euro. It was completely worth it! Our driver was really nice and took us through the city and showed us Mozart’s house, Napoleon’s house, and Ponte Rialto. He also gave us a bit of history, telling us that Venice used to have 1,000 gondolas and they were historically the limo of the rich, but now they only have about 400 because motor boats have taken over. The ride was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done. It was just so peaceful and perfect, and it’s no wonder people wait their entire life to do it. Sadly, our ride had to end eventually, and our driver let us off right by San Marco square. All morning we had been alone and completely away from all the tourists, but now we were surrounded, and it seemed we could not escape them the rest of the day. We saw San Marco church, which looked very Russian/Eastern European compared to all the other Roman churches I’ve encountered. We decided not to go inside due to the line, the fee, and our dresses. We wandered down a bunch of touristy souvenir shops, but they were all so overpriced. Then we were hungry so we wandered down some smaller streets and found somewhere to eat. It was hard to find a place that wasn’t ridiculously expensive or that had nothing but seafood, but we found a nice little place and had pizza with fries. My waiter even told me I was eating my pizza wrong because I cut it instead of folding it! After lunch we wandered across Ponte Rialto and through more shops, wondering what we were going to do for four more hours. We found a piazza, got gelato/grinita and ended up taking a nap on the steps of a fountain in the middle for about a half hour. When we finally decided got get moving again, we walked back to San Marco, resigned and bought some overpriced souvenirs (because I really wanted a Venezia shirt), and then decided to start heading to the train station. We knew we had enough time so it was ok that we got lost somewhat, but we just followed the signs, and we found it without any problems. We were about an hour early, so we decided to sit on a bench in a park, but some guy started talking to us and seriously creeping me out, so we moved to the stairs of the train station. He followed us over there, but he finally went away. We sat on the steps for about a half hour, then went inside to find our train. We got situated in our seats, and a woman was nice enough to switch so we could sit together. There were some annoying American guys sitting behind us, shouting loudly at each other about stupid things like bars and chicks. I put my headphones in to escape the stupidity, and began to force myself to read Book III of Machiavelli. I finished by the end of the train ride, and it was about 9:30pm when we pulled in.
When we got home we found everyone getting ready to go out. I decided to go out with them, but I made a quick dinner first. We went to a place Kellie recommended for me, called the Lion’s Fountain. We found it overpriced and empty, so we decided to go back to the place we always go to by the Duomo, but not before we found the MSU t-shirt on the ceiling. We hung out at the Old Stove for a while (which has a really attractive bartender) then headed home for bed.
When we got home we found everyone getting ready to go out. I decided to go out with them, but I made a quick dinner first. We went to a place Kellie recommended for me, called the Lion’s Fountain. We found it overpriced and empty, so we decided to go back to the place we always go to by the Duomo, but not before we found the MSU t-shirt on the ceiling. We hung out at the Old Stove for a while (which has a really attractive bartender) then headed home for bed.
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| Elli and I on our Gondola |
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| Gondola Driver |
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| "Streets" of Venice |
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| San Marco |
I throw my hands up in the air sometimes
Day 29: Friday
Sorry about the lack of posts, time to post dump to catch up! Class/lecture from 9am to noon. We had a half hour break and I was able to refill my phone with money, and I saw a kitty on a leash at the tabacchi and he was sooo cute. After class we learned that our internet at home was finally working, but they refused to believe that our stove didn’t work. They said they were just there and it worked fine. So helpful. After class we went home and hung out/had a jam sesh/made delicious spiral mac and cheese for lunch, then siesta-ed for three hours. It’s been a busy week so we were out of energy, and finally had time to sleep, so as a result we passed out. After we woke up we made kebabs and mashed potatoes for dinner. We didn’t have enough milk so the potatoes weren’t that good, but we were so full after and it was yummy. Then our two apartments plus Kari all got ready to go out. We went to a karoke place that Breanne’s friend showed us, but we got lost on the way. I liked the place though, but Elli and I had to leave early because we have to get up early to go to Venice tomorrow. I got to watch Kari and Breanne sing Dynamite, and it was awesome. Chris kindly walked us home, then we got ready for Venice/bed.
Sorry about the lack of posts, time to post dump to catch up! Class/lecture from 9am to noon. We had a half hour break and I was able to refill my phone with money, and I saw a kitty on a leash at the tabacchi and he was sooo cute. After class we learned that our internet at home was finally working, but they refused to believe that our stove didn’t work. They said they were just there and it worked fine. So helpful. After class we went home and hung out/had a jam sesh/made delicious spiral mac and cheese for lunch, then siesta-ed for three hours. It’s been a busy week so we were out of energy, and finally had time to sleep, so as a result we passed out. After we woke up we made kebabs and mashed potatoes for dinner. We didn’t have enough milk so the potatoes weren’t that good, but we were so full after and it was yummy. Then our two apartments plus Kari all got ready to go out. We went to a karoke place that Breanne’s friend showed us, but we got lost on the way. I liked the place though, but Elli and I had to leave early because we have to get up early to go to Venice tomorrow. I got to watch Kari and Breanne sing Dynamite, and it was awesome. Chris kindly walked us home, then we got ready for Venice/bed.
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| The Girls |
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| Kari and Breanne singing Dynamite |
Friday, June 17
Art or Jersey Shore?
Day 28: Thursday
Fell asleep early again, then woke up for class from 9-11am. After class we stuck around Accent for a little bit to use the internet and figure out what to do this weekend. We wanted to go to Milan, but it was too expensive, so we decided Cinque Terre, but we couldn’t find a hostel, so we decided Venice, but we couldn’t find a hostel for that either, so we decided to go in the morning and come back at night spending the entire day in Venice. So after we figured that out we went home and made sandwiches, then siestaed and read for about an hour and a half before we had to head to Piazza Signoria by the replica David statue to meet for our tour of the Uffizi Gallery. On our way, we were walking through a market and it got crowded and everyone was taking pictures all of the sudden, and we realized the cast of Jersey Shore were standing right next to us. Even though I’ve never seen the show, the camera crew, trashy clothing, and the number of times I’ve seen them on magazine covers were enough to know that it was them. I took a quick picture and then left. They came over by us later when we were waiting for our tour guide, and I saw the future generation of America run toward them as if they were the greatest thing in the piazza, superior to the 14 foot David and the imposing façade of the Palazzo Vecchio with its hundreds of years of history and republicanism. No, America’s teenagers ran to see Snooki’s short skirt. Hanging our heads in shame we moved on into the Uffizi, where we hoped to be surrounded by more high-minded people, and we were, in fact, in the company of Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio, etc. Our tour guide was very spunky, with an Australian-sounding accent (to me), leopard print glasses, and awesome shoes. She talked quickly and enthusiastically, and I really like the tour. We sped through the place and she told us a lot about art history and how it reflects the history of humans and how we think about ourselves and our world. There aren’t many paintings that I find as impressive as Bernini’s sculptures, but there was one painting that I liked a lot after I looked at it for a while. We also got a nice view of the city from the windows.
After the tour was over, Elli and I went home, made some of the Ramen my parents brought me at the boys’ because our burners don’t work, then got ready to head out to run errands. We went to the train station (which is SO much closer than in Rome) and waited in line for forever to buy our tickets for Venice. Then we walked over to the grocery store, which was far for Florence standards, but normal for Rome. It was a real grocery store though! They had so much! And it was crazy busy. But we got everything we needed and it was pretty cheap. They also had Oreos and Twix! Then we carried our groceries all the way back home, and got ready for Shwolf pack dinner, which Mike decided to crash. Elli, Breanne, Sarah, Mike, and I set out for Kari and Kelly’s place, met up with them, then found a place for dinner in a piazza near the train station with the view of a beautiful church. Dinner was good and the red wine wasn’t bad, then we went home and I decided to go back out with David and Andrew. We went to a small bar right by the Duomo and chilled for a tiny bit until we were joined by Breanne and her friend from another study abroad. Later we dropped Breanne’s friend off near the Duomo with her study abroad people, then went home and it was time for bed.
Fell asleep early again, then woke up for class from 9-11am. After class we stuck around Accent for a little bit to use the internet and figure out what to do this weekend. We wanted to go to Milan, but it was too expensive, so we decided Cinque Terre, but we couldn’t find a hostel, so we decided Venice, but we couldn’t find a hostel for that either, so we decided to go in the morning and come back at night spending the entire day in Venice. So after we figured that out we went home and made sandwiches, then siestaed and read for about an hour and a half before we had to head to Piazza Signoria by the replica David statue to meet for our tour of the Uffizi Gallery. On our way, we were walking through a market and it got crowded and everyone was taking pictures all of the sudden, and we realized the cast of Jersey Shore were standing right next to us. Even though I’ve never seen the show, the camera crew, trashy clothing, and the number of times I’ve seen them on magazine covers were enough to know that it was them. I took a quick picture and then left. They came over by us later when we were waiting for our tour guide, and I saw the future generation of America run toward them as if they were the greatest thing in the piazza, superior to the 14 foot David and the imposing façade of the Palazzo Vecchio with its hundreds of years of history and republicanism. No, America’s teenagers ran to see Snooki’s short skirt. Hanging our heads in shame we moved on into the Uffizi, where we hoped to be surrounded by more high-minded people, and we were, in fact, in the company of Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio, etc. Our tour guide was very spunky, with an Australian-sounding accent (to me), leopard print glasses, and awesome shoes. She talked quickly and enthusiastically, and I really like the tour. We sped through the place and she told us a lot about art history and how it reflects the history of humans and how we think about ourselves and our world. There aren’t many paintings that I find as impressive as Bernini’s sculptures, but there was one painting that I liked a lot after I looked at it for a while. We also got a nice view of the city from the windows.
After the tour was over, Elli and I went home, made some of the Ramen my parents brought me at the boys’ because our burners don’t work, then got ready to head out to run errands. We went to the train station (which is SO much closer than in Rome) and waited in line for forever to buy our tickets for Venice. Then we walked over to the grocery store, which was far for Florence standards, but normal for Rome. It was a real grocery store though! They had so much! And it was crazy busy. But we got everything we needed and it was pretty cheap. They also had Oreos and Twix! Then we carried our groceries all the way back home, and got ready for Shwolf pack dinner, which Mike decided to crash. Elli, Breanne, Sarah, Mike, and I set out for Kari and Kelly’s place, met up with them, then found a place for dinner in a piazza near the train station with the view of a beautiful church. Dinner was good and the red wine wasn’t bad, then we went home and I decided to go back out with David and Andrew. We went to a small bar right by the Duomo and chilled for a tiny bit until we were joined by Breanne and her friend from another study abroad. Later we dropped Breanne’s friend off near the Duomo with her study abroad people, then went home and it was time for bed.
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| Pont Vecchio and Florence |
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