Our problems with public Italian transportation continued this morning. It's a holiday here, so the schedules are different. We took a bus at 9 am (meaning it left the station at 9 am). I sat on the right side of the bus - the first time I had ever done that. I know all the landmarks on the left side. Apparently no one was paying attention, and we missed our stop. The next stop was about a mile down the road. So then we had to wait 45 minutes for another bus to come. 4 of the Alabama girls decided to start walking... about 5 minutes before the bus came. So even though we left the hotel at 8:45, we didn't get here until 10:30ish. The Alabama girls just got here now after they got lost walking back. So class is finally about to start... oh like 2 hours late.
The grad student is presenting today and then we get to work on our projects. We're having the last lunch at the restaurant today. Then tonight we have a special dinner at a nice restaurant in the plaza in Padova paid by CEREF (the organization here that did everything for us). We're signing cards for Piera (the one in charge), Francesco (works here, took us to hospital and Padova) and Laura (the secretary that organized us breakfast snacks every morning).
It's so humid here, my hair is so ridiculously curly. I had to fan myself when we were waiting for the bus. Gross.
Ok class is starting (I think), ttyl!
xoxo S
Showing posts with label class. Show all posts
Showing posts with label class. Show all posts
Monday, June 2, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Day 7
Super long day today. Test went fine - everyone got an A. After class we took a bus to Padova and got a tour of the University of Padova - the old buildings. aka the ones that have been there since like forever. Galileo taught there. It was pretty cool... felt like we were in ruins. I bought a shirt at the gift shop for myself.
I stuck with 3 Alabama girls after that since everyone else was either leaving for the weekend or going somewhere else. Thanks to directions courtesy of me, we found our way back super quickly. We took the next bus, but it ended up just doing the long way home and it took us 45 mins for about a 15 min bus ride. We got back just in time for dinner. Dinner was gross as usual (pasta with chunks of salmon, grilled pork... ugh) but I was so hungry that I ate it.
Tomorrow I'm going to Venice with the 3 Alabama girls that are staying, Dr. Lange and her sister, and Dr. Alexander. They just came to tell me that we're taking a 7:30 bus. WHAT. Normally I meet everyone for breakfast at 7:45 and take an 8:15 bus. And I'm super tired. Soo... bed is going to be really really early tonight.
Sunday we're going to Verona to see Juliet's balcony, and then to where ever George Clooney has his villa. I don't remember the town, but George Clooney lives there. That's good enough for me.
I can't wait to buy all the things from my list tomorrow! We might take the vaporetto (water taxi) to the island where they make the Murano so we can see it being done. It should be fun! Pictures to come!
xoxo S
I stuck with 3 Alabama girls after that since everyone else was either leaving for the weekend or going somewhere else. Thanks to directions courtesy of me, we found our way back super quickly. We took the next bus, but it ended up just doing the long way home and it took us 45 mins for about a 15 min bus ride. We got back just in time for dinner. Dinner was gross as usual (pasta with chunks of salmon, grilled pork... ugh) but I was so hungry that I ate it.
Tomorrow I'm going to Venice with the 3 Alabama girls that are staying, Dr. Lange and her sister, and Dr. Alexander. They just came to tell me that we're taking a 7:30 bus. WHAT. Normally I meet everyone for breakfast at 7:45 and take an 8:15 bus. And I'm super tired. Soo... bed is going to be really really early tonight.
Sunday we're going to Verona to see Juliet's balcony, and then to where ever George Clooney has his villa. I don't remember the town, but George Clooney lives there. That's good enough for me.
I can't wait to buy all the things from my list tomorrow! We might take the vaporetto (water taxi) to the island where they make the Murano so we can see it being done. It should be fun! Pictures to come!
xoxo S
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Day 5 Highlights
Overslept this morning, but since we have to wake up so early for breakfast/bus/class I was fine. We toured a "nursing home" this morning with Laura from CEREF (the organization thats doing our class). It was not a nursing home at all. Imagine 5 Greenwich Hospitals on a massive piece of property so big that it's like it's own town - that was the nursing home. It was absolutely gorgeous.
After touring the hospital we had lunch at our favorite restaurant. They cooked us pizzas in their brick oven. It took a while because they could only do so many at a time. Tomorrow they're making us chicken and pasta! Yay! Then we had a short quiz that was a little tricky because it was short answer so they could really go either way.
After class Jane, Sarah Fuller, Jess, Michelle (Sacred Heart) and Marisa (Catholic Univ. in DC) headed into Padova. We saw this Basilica that had a car parked in front covered in flowers. Curious we went inside, only to witness a couple being married. Jane got their 1st kiss in a picture - that's a keeper. Took tons of pictures inside there because it was allowed. We then wandered around this giant circle with statues, which was the main plaza. We made our way to the Basilica of San Antonio. Marisa and I had skirts on that didn't cover our knees (the other girls had on bermuda shorts but were allowed in). Marisa and I had to make an offering to San Antonio, and then we were giving basically an orange burlap sac (SEXY!) to tie around ourselves. First we thought we had to cover our legs completely but the security guard just explained that our knees needed to be covered. Since we had to "buy" that, we got separated from the group and were split into 2. We walked around (mass was going on there) but we completely missed the main point of the church - St. Antony's mouth/tongue/vocal chords. Apparently they were in a room but we missed it because we were looking for everyone else. Cameras weren't allowed inside for obvious reasons, but pictures would not do it justice. I have never seen anything so amazing and beautiful in my life. I'll have to search online to find some pictures. I also bought somethings for ahem someone who just had their anniversary/birthday 1 month and 3 days ago and got the same thing except it was in Spanish. wink wink (for those that get this - keep it a secret since I know she won't read this!)
We wandered in Padova after that in search of our bus. After looking at this pretty fountain with a statue of Mary in the middle, we realized we were at a hospital (possibly the one Dr. Gallo works at or the one we're going to tomorrow). We then got lost searching for our bus. We couldn't find it. We saw every bus (3, 11, 12, 13, 18, 22, 24) MULTIPLE times but none of our buses (A, AT, M). We even got on a bus on one side of the plaza, and got off about 1/4 mile down the plaza. We finally found our bus after a very nice ::cough cough: Italian woman explained to us that our bus has been coming the whole time and that we could have taken any of them. Sooo we immediately got on the next one.
We got back to the hotel 10 minutes into dinner, so perfect time. We were all so sweety though! It was 85 today, hot and humid like they've all been. After dinner we worked on our project which is due Tuesday.
Now I've got to finish up my postcards and head to bed. Since Carolyn said she thinks this is like GossipGirl...
xoxo,
Gossip Sarah
(Hi Aunt Joan and Aunt Marty!)
After touring the hospital we had lunch at our favorite restaurant. They cooked us pizzas in their brick oven. It took a while because they could only do so many at a time. Tomorrow they're making us chicken and pasta! Yay! Then we had a short quiz that was a little tricky because it was short answer so they could really go either way.
After class Jane, Sarah Fuller, Jess, Michelle (Sacred Heart) and Marisa (Catholic Univ. in DC) headed into Padova. We saw this Basilica that had a car parked in front covered in flowers. Curious we went inside, only to witness a couple being married. Jane got their 1st kiss in a picture - that's a keeper. Took tons of pictures inside there because it was allowed. We then wandered around this giant circle with statues, which was the main plaza. We made our way to the Basilica of San Antonio. Marisa and I had skirts on that didn't cover our knees (the other girls had on bermuda shorts but were allowed in). Marisa and I had to make an offering to San Antonio, and then we were giving basically an orange burlap sac (SEXY!) to tie around ourselves. First we thought we had to cover our legs completely but the security guard just explained that our knees needed to be covered. Since we had to "buy" that, we got separated from the group and were split into 2. We walked around (mass was going on there) but we completely missed the main point of the church - St. Antony's mouth/tongue/vocal chords. Apparently they were in a room but we missed it because we were looking for everyone else. Cameras weren't allowed inside for obvious reasons, but pictures would not do it justice. I have never seen anything so amazing and beautiful in my life. I'll have to search online to find some pictures. I also bought somethings for ahem someone who just had their anniversary/birthday 1 month and 3 days ago and got the same thing except it was in Spanish. wink wink (for those that get this - keep it a secret since I know she won't read this!)
We wandered in Padova after that in search of our bus. After looking at this pretty fountain with a statue of Mary in the middle, we realized we were at a hospital (possibly the one Dr. Gallo works at or the one we're going to tomorrow). We then got lost searching for our bus. We couldn't find it. We saw every bus (3, 11, 12, 13, 18, 22, 24) MULTIPLE times but none of our buses (A, AT, M). We even got on a bus on one side of the plaza, and got off about 1/4 mile down the plaza. We finally found our bus after a very nice ::cough cough: Italian woman explained to us that our bus has been coming the whole time and that we could have taken any of them. Sooo we immediately got on the next one.
We got back to the hotel 10 minutes into dinner, so perfect time. We were all so sweety though! It was 85 today, hot and humid like they've all been. After dinner we worked on our project which is due Tuesday.
Now I've got to finish up my postcards and head to bed. Since Carolyn said she thinks this is like GossipGirl...
xoxo,
Gossip Sarah
(Hi Aunt Joan and Aunt Marty!)
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Day 4 Highlights
Three highlights of today:
1. Getting on the WRONG bus home from class today. We were walking to the bus stop, and a bus goes by us. Even though it says "22" and we take "A", someone yells "BUS!" so we all started running down the street. We were pretty far, but it stopped, waited. And we got on. We got the exit, but whatever. We then realize that yes, indeed we are on the wrong bus. So we got off the next stop and waited 15 minutes for our bus to come. When it did come, we got on with Dr. Lange and Dr. Alexander (the Alabama prof.). Whoops!
2. Since we got out of class early today, we got to spend the entire afternoon by the pool. And by pool, I mean bath since the water is no lie probably 85 degrees. Our first day here we witnessed a water aerobics class which consisted of all senior citizens since that is 98% of the guests here (us being the other 2%). So when we saw the woman come today to teach the class, we jumped at the oppportunity (and it was free too). The 'class' was hilarious. We were all the way in the back and kept laughing and having fun with it. Everytime she started counting we did our best to count to 10 in Italian, some of the other people that were participating too were helping us with the pronounciation.
3. There was finally chicken for dinner! And it was soooo good. Lunch tomorrow is pizza.. yumm!
I haven't uploaded any pictures today, so this is from the hotel website. Yes it's that gorgeous in real life.
Ok test tomororw, gotta go study! Tomorrow we're going to visit a nursing home that has a spa! Sounds like the hotel :)
xoxo S
Also - some of the people here are going to Rome and Florence this weekend. Leaving for Rome Friday afternoon and coming back Sunday night from Florence. Yes or no do I go? Obviously, it's going to cost money for the train/hotel/food.
1. Getting on the WRONG bus home from class today. We were walking to the bus stop, and a bus goes by us. Even though it says "22" and we take "A", someone yells "BUS!" so we all started running down the street. We were pretty far, but it stopped, waited. And we got on. We got the exit, but whatever. We then realize that yes, indeed we are on the wrong bus. So we got off the next stop and waited 15 minutes for our bus to come. When it did come, we got on with Dr. Lange and Dr. Alexander (the Alabama prof.). Whoops!
2. Since we got out of class early today, we got to spend the entire afternoon by the pool. And by pool, I mean bath since the water is no lie probably 85 degrees. Our first day here we witnessed a water aerobics class which consisted of all senior citizens since that is 98% of the guests here (us being the other 2%). So when we saw the woman come today to teach the class, we jumped at the oppportunity (and it was free too). The 'class' was hilarious. We were all the way in the back and kept laughing and having fun with it. Everytime she started counting we did our best to count to 10 in Italian, some of the other people that were participating too were helping us with the pronounciation.
3. There was finally chicken for dinner! And it was soooo good. Lunch tomorrow is pizza.. yumm!
I haven't uploaded any pictures today, so this is from the hotel website. Yes it's that gorgeous in real life.
Ok test tomororw, gotta go study! Tomorrow we're going to visit a nursing home that has a spa! Sounds like the hotel :)
xoxo S
Also - some of the people here are going to Rome and Florence this weekend. Leaving for Rome Friday afternoon and coming back Sunday night from Florence. Yes or no do I go? Obviously, it's going to cost money for the train/hotel/food.
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