February 14, 2010
craving rocky road ice cream

6 days left

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I’ve been trying to finish my application for this internship for the longest time.  It’s been a struggle, but it really shouldn’t be.  Any application, for a job or internship, should only be an extension of your resume.  All I’m supposed to be doing is talk about myself so that the potential employees get a better picture of who I am.  Then why is it so hard for me to write?  I feel like I know want I want to say, but putting it into words seems impossible. I hate writer’s block.  Before I know it, I’ll have to write personal statements for grad school -_- and I haven’t done that since senior year when we applied to colleges.  Maybe I should take a creative writing class this summer and get my brain going /= Or I should start reading more…

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I can’t wait to go home!  Before I go back to school, I get to baby sit my cousin’s kids on Thursdays and Fridays [=

Ethan- the little one.  I think he’ll grow up looking like his mommy

Ryan- the big bro. Looks just like his dad.

Aren’t they cute?? [=

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I went grocery shopping for (hopefully) the last time in Bolzano.  My room is a mess from packing, repacking and just pure laziness of putting things away.  [=  Gotta go to the chocolate store on Monday to get things to bring home.  Then I gotta get the awesome bread from the stand, pizza, and a kabob before I leave.  OH!  And I can’t forget about Otzi!  I’ve been putting off going to the museum here until the very last minute.

My days here are dwindling, and although I’ve been told to enjoy it, I can’t wait to be home. [=

8:11am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZH8aVyNBg5k
February 4, 2010
So Long, Farewell, Auf Weidersehen, Adieu

Kaitlin, Sam and I went to Malta as our last hoorah in Europe before we leave Bolzano for good.  It’s such a weird feeling to be leaving a place we’ve called home for the past 6 months.  You prepare yourself mentally, physically, emotionally and in all other ways for your excursion out here- to a place you don’t know.  You count down the days until you say goodbye to your family and friends at home, knowing that you’ll see them again.  You come out to a strange place as an outsider and you find ways to adapt.  I knew my being out here was not permanent.  I even moved my return date closer by two weeks, but when it comes down to the time that we’ve accomplished what we’ve gone out here for, it’s a weird feeling to know that the next thing to do is go home.

Last week before Malta, a bunch of the erasmus kids went out to eat and to a couple bars afterward.  It was already a different feeling not seeing the UK students since their program ended earlier (they don’t have finals, but had projects instead since all of them are design students).  Being together, I looked around and realized that this is our future.  If we continue to put ourselves out of our comfort zone and go to new, strange places, I believe that an understanding will come of each other.  We learn about people from far away places that we’ve only dreamed of going to.  Our eyes are opened to new cultures, languages, foods, traditions, opinions, greatness (or lack thereof… haha)… I could talk about this for hours, but I digress [=

Malta was a really chill place to go.  It is such a small island and you go everywhere by bus.  A lot of UK people go there for vacation, especially in the winters to get away from snow and all that sort.  On the ferry to one of the smaller islands, we met a British couple visiting Malta for the second time after 20 years.  Really friendly people intrigued as to what we were doing in Malta (basically the people vacationing there were all old couples… haha) And then we met a Scottish/Irish couple on one of the islands waiting for the bus.  They are such a sweet couple- my role models right now.  They’ve been traveling ever since they’ve been together (45 years).  It’s such an awesome feat to be married so long nowadays.  They were telling us about their children and grandchildren and how much they enjoy life.  Then while we were waiting for another bus, I was singing “Hey Jude” the Korean baby’s version (if you haven’t seen it on youtube, go watch it now!) haha I was totally making a fool out of myself, but I never care.  An Irish man was next to us and started laughing at me wanting me to keep singing the Korean baby’s version (yeah.. right..) Small chit chat here and there- we ended up going to the same site.  I learned the best time to go to Ireland and Scotland is in August/September.  Through this experience, I also learned that you meet the coolest, nicest people when you’re traveling. [=

Spent the night at Treviso airport in Venice when we flew back from Malta.  It was seriously one of the coldest nights… We went from mid 50sF in Malta to about 30sF in Treviso.  Neither of us brought enough layers to get through Italy, but we made due… haha… Each of us bought books in Malta to pass the time (nerds, yes… but books are cool so deal with it).  I had my ipod, but unfortunately, I think it’s dying on me /=  We made it through the night sleeping on the floor and then bought our bus tickets to Venice.  I had a nice 2 hours in Venice lol [= Bought a kick-butt Venetian mask, walked to the Rialto and headed back to Bolzano.

Today is Sam’s last day in Bolzano.  Then Bronwhyn is going to the UK on Monday.  Next is Walter, then Steve.  Finally me and Kaitlin.  I’ve started to pack my stuff… Just need to do some laundry this weekend and then I’ll be heading home soon.

Kinda weird? Yes.

But I’m excited [=

5:14pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZH8aVyM7o-J
January 18, 2010
disneyland pass vs. gym pass?

my two week excursion through europe was intense, but totally worth it [=

i was able to hit up amsterdam, london, paris, barcelona and rome to see all the great sights and taste some awesome food

i only have barcelona&rome left to upload onto the fbook, but they’ll be up soon i hope (i’ll do it while i’m in class because the internet at school is better than kolping -_-)

let’s just say, next time i go through europe, i’m taking more than just my backpack… and hopefully i’ll be rich hahaha

it was fun to finally say “when in rome”… literally

there’s just too much to write about this trip, so hopefully my pictures will speak my thousands of words for me [=

- - - - - - - - - -

this is my last week of school (FINALLY) and im just about ready to go home.  my cousin in germany got a visa for the US, so she’s going to be coming with me for 2.5 weeks

i’ll finally get to be with the new babies in the family and see all my frienad&family again

looking forward to

  • free refills at restaurants, free water and good service
  • a car and the ability to go whenever i want and not depend on public transportation
  • family
  • native english speakers
  • gym/dland time with the besties!!! (maybe get a bike with christian.. depends on how much it costs… if it’s free i’m down [= haha)
  • my cell phone
  • UG/CG/OG/STAFFERS
  • getting my hair trimmed because it grew out horribly since i’ve been here (pssst Melissa, can you help a girl out? [= )
  • my nice big room
  • eating all those delicious looking foods w/ a long lost friend
  • so much more…

but of course i’ll miss everyone here! this semester has gone by so fast… it’s great to know i have friends from all over the world now <3

…. and i’ll miss those german cleaning ladies who never fail to leave my room clean twice a week….. [= hahaha

- - - - - - - - - -

i’ve been thinking

disneyland pass or gym pass?

i need to lose 10-15 pounds… the cheese, bread and chocolate diet didn’t do me any good while over here and i feel soo unhealthy

i could get a disneyland pass and go running outside everyday (or every other day…)

but would i really do it?…. hahaha and what if the weather is sucking?…

then again, if i get the gym pass, i wouldnt be able to afford disneyland

ughhhh

such a CONUNDRUM!!!!!!

anyways… i’m just wasting time writing on this so i don’t have to do my paper/internship application…

so where am i now?

in the clubroom downstairs watching the australian open

and i don’t really understand tennis -_-

34 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10:40am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZH8aVyKKtQI
December 28, 2009
Auld Lang Syne…

*(original version)

Should Old Acquaintance be forgot,
and never thought upon;
The flames of Love extinguished,
and fully past and gone:
Is thy sweet Heart now grown so cold,
that loving Breast of thine;
That thou canst never once reflect
on Old long syne.

On Old long syne my Jo,
in Old long syne,
That thou canst never once reflect,
on Old long syne.

My Heart is ravisht with delight,
when thee I think upon;
All Grief and Sorrow takes the flight,
and speedily is gone;
The bright resemblance of thy Face,
so fills this, Heart of mine;
That Force nor Fate can me displease,
for Old long syne.

On Old long syne my Jo,
in Old long syne,
That thou canst never once reflect,
on Old long syne.

Since thoughts of thee doth banish grief,
when from thee I am gone;
will not thy presence yield relief,
to this sad Heart of mine:
Why doth thy presence me defeat,
with excellence divine?
Especially when I reflect
on Old long syne

On Old long syne my Jo,
in Old long syne,
That thou canst never once reflect,
on Old long syne.

= = = = = = = = = =

Another year has come and gone [=  Spent the week of Christmas in Germany with the cousin and her friends.  I didn’t take a lot of pictures because my hands were kinda too cold to take my camera out, but her friends took a lot of pics- hopefully they’ll be up soon.  Although there was a language barrier (our common language was Vietnamese), I still had fun.  Went to the Christmas Market in Munich during the weekend I was there.  Went to a German mass and didn’t really understand much, but that’s the good thing about traditional Catholic masses; even though it’s in another language, you still know what’s going on.  Had a pretzel, gluhwein, pommes frites… For dinner on Sunday, we went to some German restaurant where i had roasted pork and knodel- traditional dish of Barvaria.  It was too salty for me, and that was the end of my German food for the week (well I had a currywurst, but I don’t know if that’s authentic German…) hahaha [=  My cousin and her friends treated to me all kinds of Asian food (which I’ve been craving for a while).  Got me some bun bo hue, pho, sushi, thai food, and a home cooked meal.

Although it has been almost 14 years since I’ve seen her, she wasn’t shy at all.  She, her friend, and I traveled almost 12 hours from Munich to Cologne to meet up with her friends.  They’ve all been here for about 4 years or so, so this is the last year they’ll be able to meet up because a handful of them are graduating/have graduated and are going back to the home country.  The big gothic cathedral in Cologne is soo beautiful- it reminded me of the one in Milan, but it was darker.  We went to Maastricht, Holland for a day, but there wasn’t much there.  The girls went shopping while I stayed outside and hung out with the only guy there (my cousin’s friend’s husband…)  I’m not much of a shopper if I don’t need anything…

We caught up on family business.  She showed me pictures of back home and I updated her with the cousins in Cali.  We spent the nights watching Vietnamese comedy videos (which I thought were actually hilarious).  It sucked that I couldn’t speak as well, but I understood everything they were saying.

Hopefully she’ll get her visa paperwork turned in and get approved so she can come home with me and visit the family.  If she does come over, she’s already requested to go to Vegas… hahaha I guess Vegas is more important than Disneyland…

= = = = = = = = = =

Not really much going on in Bolzano… I guess everyone vacations because its holiday season.  But it is a small city (one that is very walkable) so I didn’t expect much coming home from Munich.  I’m excited to be going to Amsterdam tomorrow though.  Gotta wake up pretty early, take the 5AM train to Milan and get there around 9AM (not because I really need to get there that early, but that 5AM train is 10euros cheaper than the usual price hahaha [= Gotta be economical and make sacrifices… Then take the bus to the airport and wait a few hours before my flight at 155PM.

Please pray that Ryan and I won’t have any problems during our flights to and from places (delays, cancels, etc).  Ryan’s coming over from Cali and meeting me in Amsterdam.  I hope all goes well… and keep all other travelers in your prayers too- holiday season is CRAZY!

After Amsterdam, we’re going to London on New Years Day (which is also Ryan’s bday)

Then on to Paris on the 4th, Barcelona on the 7th, and Rome on the 10th

Pray for good weather too!!!

[=

2 of the ColdStone crew conquering Europe.  Don’t worry John, Alis, Ericson and Judy- we’ll go crazy for all of us [= hahahaha

= = = = = = = = = =

Can’t wait to go home in February!

7:43am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZH8aVyI933c
December 13, 2009
CG UG YOU KNOW SON UGHH!!!

I am soo proud of my Ground fam for representing at the first Bridge Competition [=

Jr’s Division:

1st: UNDERGROUND!!!

2nd: IDK

3rd: Breakthrough

Sr’s Division:

1st: Choreo Cookies

2nd: CADC

3rd: COMMON GROUND!!!

I am especially proud to be an alumni of CG/director of UG <3

Dude, I swear I was totally dreaming the competition over here while it was all happening over there!  I can’t wait to come home to see all my babies and meet the newbies of CG!  And of course catch up with all the OGs out there [=

I can’t wait to see the videos!! Hurry and put them up already!!!!!

- - - - - - - - - -

I can’t concentrate on studying… I have a final on Friday and I feel okay about it, but I know I still need to study… ughh…

I just finished my last assignment and pretty much finished my video project w/ Sam.  Now I just have 2 management classes left and my final on Friday.

I have my econ and philosophy classes this week too- I think this is the busiest school I’m going to have! haha [=

Then Munich&Cologne for Christmas w/ the cousin!! I’m completely stoked for it!

And my New Years trip with Ryan which is 90% planned!

- - - - - - - - - -

So Sam, Kaitlin and I have decided on going to Malta instead of Ireland.  It’s so cheap and all the signs point there [=

We were considering Sicily or Greece, but price and time points to Malta.  If you don’t know what it is, I really don’t have much idea either.  It’s a small island south of Sicily- so we’ll be in Mediterranean climate (similar to Cali).  Everything is within miles of each other.  It’s known for beaches, but of course, we’ll be there for the sights [=

Then depending on how my funds go, Venice-Florence-Rome in February!  And then I am home bound!!

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Things I look forward to back at home/things I need to do when I get home:

  • GET BACK IN SHAPE! I need to get a gym membership and work out!  This bread/cheese/chocolate combination is deadly.. -_-  I don’t like it, but I just can’t help myself… It’s so gooooooddddd….hahha
  • Get a haircut.  My hair is sooo uneven and gross… Maybe I’ll wait until I get in shape a bit before I cut my hair because my face shape should change a little bit.
  • Go Shopping!  I know it’s not like me to go shopping, but I’m going to need to buy some shirts and stuff since I’m not bringing a bunch back with me (because I will wear them out… haha)  CHI CHAU!! I NEED YOU TO GO SHOPPING WITH ME!! [= hahaha I love having fashionable cousins because I am NOT fashionable at all…
  • Finish up my resume and send out everywhere, hopefully resulting in an internship or job by summer ::crossing fingers::
  • Eat sushi, Korean bbq, Boiling Crab, Banana/Coconut Bay, pho, … well Asian food in general… Can’t forget carne asada fries though [= Good ole’ Mexican food haha

There’s so much more, but I can’t remember…

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I’m watching reruns of America’s Next Top Model instead of studying… haha

oh boy…

5:01pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZH8aVyGqVAU
December 10, 2009
I want a hippopotamus for Christmas [=

Christmas is 15 days away and I can definitely feel it here in Bolzano.  The temperatures are averaging in the low 40F with close to freezing point in the middle of the night.  But I would’ve never though I’d be getting used to this weather.  When I get back to Cali, I’ll be sweating like crazy and dressing like those crazy tourists you’d see in shorts and a T-shirt in the middle of California’s winter…haha maybe that’s too extreme

Went to Florence this past weekend and met up with some old school mates [=  Oh how I miss the architecture talk…. haha [= Zach, Mathias and Ryan (as well as other CSU students) housed Sam and I.  It was a really cool setup they had for housing there with an apartment complex of just CSU students. I got to see all the places I wanted to see within a couple hours of being there- most I saw on our walk from the train station to their place.  I don’t know what it is about Florence, but I just love it there.  When I think of Italy, I think of Florence (I guess it’s the stereotype right?).  Shopping is great- there are deals everywhere on silk, cashmere and leather.  The view from Michelangelo is beautiful, but I have yet to see it at night (I’m coming back!).  But the only thing that sucks is that by the time I come back to visit (like in Feb), is that it’ll be freaken cold…

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Rewinding back a bit, Thanksgiving was a success here [= Had a bunch of friends and made a ton of food- but this time, it was all finished; no leftovers!  From the deviled eggs to the egg nog, I loved it all [= hahaha.

- - - - - - - - - -

Now I’m just trying to get through next week with a few classes, assignments, a video project and a final, then its CHRISTMAS VACATION FOR ME!!

Going to Munich, Germany with my cousin that I haven’t seen in 13 years- that will be very interesting…  And I think we’re heading up to Cologne too.  Then a couple days off and a friend of mine from Cali is coming over for New Year’s festivities- Amsterdam, London, Paris, Barcelona and Rome in 15 days… [=

When I come back, I’m officially starting my unofficial count down home… haha… I just need to decide what day I want to change my flight to (depending on if my cousin’s coming with me)… Canceling the Ireland trip because it will be way too cold and depressing to go there.  Maybe plan a trip to Venice-Florence-Rome instead?  I don’t really know right now…  I don’t really want to go to Venice for Carnivale anymore because there will be wayyy too much people for sight-seeing… -_-  And of course it will depend on how much money I have by the end of it… I just want to survive haha And I can’t forget I’ll have to do my spring registration for school sometime in February too, so I can’t miss that, so I gotta keep an eye out for my registration date…

- - - - - - - - - -

I can’t believe time is flying by- whenever the holidays come around, time just passes in a blink.  I’m hoping to go home for Tet (Lunar New Year)… But since I’ll have a few dead weeks before I come home, any suggestions on places?  Or should I just mellow out?…  There’s always next time- and trust me, there will be a next time [=

1:55pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZH8aVyGZlck
November 26, 2009
No I’m not CHINESE!

I think it’s because I come from a very diverse place that I am able to be open to so many cultures and traditions.

After coming back from London/Paris w/ Serena, I’ve come to realize that the world is not as culturally diverse as the US (or maybe its just CA… okay, its the coastal regions of the US that’s diverse… Don’t really know what goes on in the middle…).

Number 1 thing I hate is people thinking I CAN’T be from anywhere except an Asian country.

LOOK UP THE DEFINITION OF NATIONALITY AND ETHNICITY PEOPLE!

My NATIONALITY is American.  I am a US citizen.  Born and raised in California.

My ETHNIC background is Vietnamese.  My parents immigrated over from the home country.  I am full Vietnamese.

Some conversations with stupid people that either I had or heard about from friends:

=====

You have a really good accent!  Do you practice your English often?  Where are you from?

> California

Oh… really?… *disappointed that I didn’t say some Asian country*

=====

So what are you?

> *after explaining that he wanted to know about our backgrounds* I’m Vietnamese and she’s Hmong

Oh Hmong?  Is that Japanese or Chinese?

> It’s actually closer to Lao.

*Guys is not satisfied that we didn’t say Japanese or Chinese* But Lao, is that Japanese or Chinese?

> Lao is its own country in Asia.

I know that.  But what I’m asking is if it’s foundation/history is Japanese or Chinese.  I know where Asia is.

> Hmong people live closer to China.

Oh so you’re Chinese?  I knew it.  You look very Chinese.

> Well I’m not Chinese.  I’m Hmong.  Or you can say Lao cuz Hmong people live in Lao.  We actually inherit a lot of cultures form other countries.

=====

Are you from Canada?

> No I’m from the US.

=====

Ni Hao

> Buongiorno *thinking: thanks for trying to say hi to me, but I’m not Chinese. -_-*

Ignorant people frustrate me…

10:21am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZH8aVyFPQqN
November 17, 2009
The City of Fashion

Milano, Italia

…really not a place to go if you don’t have money to spend shopping because that’s all there is… haha

But Sam and I went anyway.  We packed a city trip in about 1.5 days.

We arrived in Milan at 9am and walked from the Central Station to the city center.

We walked down Via Buenos Aires- one of the main shopping streets.  It wasn’t much of a sight-seeing place because all we saw were buildings after buildings, very metropolitan.

Eventually, Via Buenos Aires turned into Corso Vittorio Emanuele II- one of the first shopping malls in Europe.  It must have been some art exhibit centering on the fall of the Berlin wall because we saw so many pieces that referenced the wall on the sidewalks.

Found the Duomo- really can’t miss it, its huge!  The architecture is Gothic and it stands out among the buildings it is next to.  Watch out for gypsies though.. they are everywhere.  One guy tried to get money from me because he got pigeons to fly around me for me to take pictures (which was very unnecessary and unappreciated…).  I just told him I wasn’t there to shop and I don’t have money.  Good thing I don’t look rich [=

And as you walk around the city, they have multiple stores in different locations.  I swear we saw like many H&M’s, United Colors of Benneton’s, Intimissi’s, D&G’s, (insert big fashion brand here)… I don’t see why you would need so many of the same thing, they sell the same thing.. -_-

Walked to the castle, which was still in use.  There was a picture of what the castle used to look like back in the day with the moats and everything.

Sam bought some panettone (traditional Milanese Christmas cake). It was soo fluffly and sweet [= yumm

Then we spent quite some time in the cemetery.  It was the coolest place to be in, daunting huh?  [= It was special because every headstone was a special monument.  There are families buried there together, with room for more members… haha…  It was a little eerie walking in the cemetery on a cloudy day, but the monuments were too awesome to not see.

Walked to the Santa Maria delle Grazie to maybe hopefully see the Last Supper but didn’t get to.  I didn’t realized (although I should have because C’MON! IT’S THE LAST SUPPER! ugh..) that I have to get a ticket way beforehand in order to see the Last Supper.  It’s held in the covenant next to the church and tickets were sold out for the next 2 weeks…/=  The Atlantic Codex was in the museum next to the church, but I didn’t want to spend money, so we skipped that… Would’ve spent money on the Last Supper though…

Went through the La Rinascente- the main department store in Italy, like a Nordstrom or Bloomingdales.  It was jammed packed, and when I say jammed pack, I mean that they put about 5 stories in a building that should seriously only have 3 -_-.  The ceilings were very low and it felt like there was only a narrow space to walk…

We eventually met up with our CS host, Andrea.  We went back to his place to rest a bit and met his friend Fabio.  They were so nice and welcoming to us!  We talked about outlet shopping [= and places to see in Milan.  Then we were going to meet up with Andrea’s other friend for aperitivo.  We went on our first Italian car ride- seriously CRAZY drivers there… haha but oddly safe too if that could make sense.  Got to the bar and met his friend Stefana.  Talked about culture, Milan, Italy, Germany, US, fashion… And of course aperitivo- Milanese style.  It’s a form of Happy Hour.  The bars set their drink prices at 5-7 euros for a 2hour block and they give you a buffet of food throughout the 2hour block (like Spanish tapas?).

Andrea and Stefana took us to the columns and ruins at St. Lorenzo and then we walked to another bar where we met a NY-er and and Aussie.  The place was pretty much “the” hangout place.  I tried to take pictures at night, but failed ]= haha

They were telling us the history about Milan during WWII and stuff.  They showed us one of the gates to the city that was left up after wars and a series of governing changes.  The columns at St. Lorenzo were ruins from the WWII bombings.  They left some other buildings in ruins and rebuilt St. Lorenzo.  You can see the different architecture on the church- very interesting [=.

A friend of Stefana’s was calling her to meet up, so we called it a night- I was freaken tired anyway… Got back to Andrea’s place and knocked the heck out…

In the morning, we had tea and biscuits with Andrea while listening to his neighbor practice the piano.  How nice to have free music every Saturday [=

We tried to look for the fleamarket, but we got lost, so we went back to St. Lorenzo to take pictures of the columns during the day.  Then we went to Santa Maria presso San Satiro, but the church wasn’t opened yet.  Andrea and Fabio told us to visit it because it isn’t well known so it’s hard to find and not a lot of people know about it.  The church is known for the structure of the altar- its built and painted in a perspective that makes you feel like its soo big when it’s really small.

Decided to call it a day and walked back to the train station.  Bought sweets - most importantly my first canolli.  Got back to Bolzano before 8P and slept in the next day [=

- - - - - - - - - -

I’m so freaken excited

… just gotta get through today- study mad hardcore

… and pack for the weekend

… final tmorw morning

… then I’m London/Paris bound with Serena!!

[[[[=

6:13am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZH8aVyEkmS5
November 9, 2009
The Game Plan

November 13-14: Milan

November 18-23: London and Paris

December 6-8: Florence

December 19/20-27: Munich, Cologne, and Luxembourg

December 29-January 13: Amsterdam, London, Paris, Barcelona, and Rome

January 17-20: Galway and Dublin

Sometime between February 6-16: Venice

Before I go back home: Milan again for shopping (spend whatever money I have left), Cinque Terre possibility?, go to the Alps and see the snow

March 8 (or earlier): Home

All the while, study and pass my classes

and learn how to cook more things

[=

I’m going to be bankrupt by the end of this semester -_-

Hardcore working when I get back… especially with the sucky sucky dollar to the freaken euro and pound… and the sucky sucky economy…

For now I will live in a bubble… I’ll get out of my bubble when I go home.

<3

Pray for my travels please [=

Is there a saint of traveling?…

4:12pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZH8aVyEDNyY
November 8, 2009
give me earplugs please…

last night a few friends and i decided to join a group of native italians to go torggelen. the group was formed though couchsurfind- which, now i swear is such a great thing [=

torggelen occurs in the autumn in the south tyrol area when the new wine is made.  basically, wine houses open their house (which is kinda like a bed and breakfast) for the public to come in and taste their food and wine.

i’ve always been convinced that good food would bring together good people, and that’s exactly what happened last night.  there were a bunch of people from milan to verona to local bolzano that came out for our nightly excursion.  it started at walther’s square, waiting for about maybe an hour for everyone to show up.  people were mingling with others- complete strangers all there for the same thing.  we were giving numbers and then started our hike to the house for food.  sam and i were hiking with this girl named andrea.  turned out she took a year off to travel the world and she just came back earlier this year.  we were talking about all the different places she’d gone to and all of her experiences.  she told me that the craziest drivers she’d ever seen were from vietnam hahaha!  apparently the vietnamese are able to fit everything that we’d put into our cars onto their vespas! heck yes! that is so freaken awesome!

when we got to the house, it was about a 40 minute hike/walk in the dark. they started calling out pairs of random numbers to switch up the seating arrangements.  i was seated with walter, an IT guy from local bolzano.  soon, another man from verona (i totally forgot his name ughhh ]= ) sat next to me, then we combined 2 tables to seat 5 of us all together (don’t know the names of the 2 people who joined us)

i learned a lot about their travels and culture while enjoying fresh apple juice, fresh wine and a tray of meats [=.  apparently, there are 3 languages in this area: italian, german and ladin. i’ve always thought ladin was a form of latin, but it really isn’t.  ladin is still spoken while latin isn’t.  also, ladin varies according to where you are- it’s different even city to city.

also, it is interesting to note their driving here.  i’ve always thought of them as crazy drivers, but now i know they really are! haha all of their cars here are manual- automatic cars are rare to come by.  when you receive your license, you get 20 points.  as you break the law for various reasons, your points get taken away according to how ever many points each law you broke costs.  when you lose all points, you lose your license.  the couple that was added to our table was talking about it.  the guy had only 1 point left on his license had to drive home, yet we were still sitting there enjoying our wine while he was saying he couldn’t drink anymore… oh italians. haha… also, the more south you go in italy, the crazier the driving is- especially naples.  stop signs are basically suggestions.  if an italian approaches a stop sign and no one is there, they don’t stop, they just go through.  also, if they’re at a red light and there are cars crossing on their green light, then italians would inch into the intersection until it is clear enough to pass.  i was totally shocked because i would think people could get so hurt because of this.  i asked them what would happen if there was a car accident.  the man to my right (the veronese guy) just said that nothing has really ever happened, and if anything did, “hey we’re italian. we’d probably go get some coffee and go on with our lives.” LOL!! i LOVE that! haha

some wine/alcohol drinking tips i’ve learned: when you are pouring yourself another glass of whatever alcoholic libation, make sure there is nothing left in your cup.  it is bad luck to pour “new” drink and mix it into your “old” (leftover) drink.  if you do so, you will have bad sex.  also, in verona, when you toast someone and clink glasses, you take a sip of your drink, tap it on the table, turn the cup a little, then bring it back to your lips and lick the mouth of the glass- this will result in good luck with sex.  haha i guess all of their alcohol traditions have to do with sex. why am i not surprised?

the veronese guy started asking different ways of saying “i love you” and “you are beautiful” so that he could say it to his gf who was sitting at the next table over.  it was hilarious to hear him, because each time he would concentrate so hard to remember the pronunciation of the words and syllables.  he learned how to say it in vietnamese, albanian, bolzanian ladin, and japanese- each time he said it to his gf, she would look at him with a confused face.

soon sam and i were talking to walter and his gf about american foods and american cakes.  his gf LOVES american cakes and is tired of italian desserts haha. i guess because all of our stuff are very sweet and full of fat- which makes it taste ohh soo good…. [= we asked walter where we could get different types of meats because we wanted to cook thanksgiving here. he told us of a butcher in the city center, so we’re going to try to find it.  he said that we can order turkey, but we have to order it days in advanced yay!

the night ended with pastries and apple strudel <3 i was definitely satisfied haha. my first CS gathering was a success.  although i would have loved to sit next to people from milano, it was great nonetheless.

good food, good new friends and i only spent 20 euros

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being here has really sparked my interest in cooking.  now, i’m not saying that i’m going to leave everything and try to become a chef because i don’t like to cook that much lol but having to cook in order to feed myself has got me visiting foodnetwork.com very often.  i’ve been writing down all of these recipes that i want to try here and a lot that i want to try when i get back home.  that’s one thing that i totally miss.  i miss having my stuff and things i need within my reach.  i’m used to having more than 1 pot, or bowls, etc.  seriously took that stuff for granted.  now i’m wishing i could get me some measuring cups, rolling pin, mixing bowls, etc so i can cook/bake.  when i go back home, i hope i keep up my interest of being in the kitchen.  it is so satisfactory to create something out of nothing [=

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