"...do as the Romans do"

The City of Fashion

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:13:41 -0500

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!!

[[[[=

The Game Plan

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:12:01 -0500

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.

Pray for my travels please [=

Is there a saint of traveling?…

give me earplugs please...

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:31:55 -0500

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 [=

schnitzel is NOT made with noodles

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:35:00 -0400

hello world

its been a while

where did i leave off?

i’ll just do a quickie of the important stuff and put a few pictures that matter

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OCT 8-ARRIVAL OF MY CARE PACKAGE

i asked for a few things from home.. snacks, ethernet cord, lotion…

this is what i got

gummies on top, beef jerkey, gum, juice powder/vitamin mix, granola bars, ramen, and pho

best care package ever

its been almost 3 weeks since ive gotten it

and its about halfway gone -_- hahaha

IKER’S BDAY PARTY

so the university has 3 different living areas for their students and at one of the other places, an erasmus student was having a bday party. of course we decide to go over and wish him a happy bday. it was about a 20 minute walk or so.. nothing horrible

we got a nice couple to open the door into the building for us since it was locked

the part was on the 2nd floor

there were 11 of us total now (with the couple who opened the door for us) and the couple was nice enough to show us where the outdoor terrace was

there was an elevator

that fit 8 ppl max

so 8 ppl went in

3 ppl walked up to the second floor

and we were joking about the elevator, saying things about it getting stuck

and it did -_-

walter opened the inside door for ventilation… we were literally less than a foot away from being fully on the 2nd floor

walter and tobi opened the drinks… freaken boys..

freaken german engineering… hahha

we got out 20 minutes later…

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OCT 9- CABLE CAR, HIKE AND CAR SHOW

i had to invest in a good pair of shoes (bought addidas because they were the cheapest here.. sorry xtian… but i’ll use them and ruin them here so that i won’t have to take them home). kaitlin, sam, steve, and i took the newest cable car in bolzano up to the mountain and hiked to another small town. the ride was about 15 minutes and it was awesome [= not for people who are afraid of heights though

the views we amazing and the air was fresh and crisp. this place really isn’t typical italian culture that you think of. everyone thinks of rome or florence or venice or tuscany when they think italy. i like being in a part of the country that is not as well known because i don’t expect anything i see.

we passed by a bunch of bed&breakfasts and farms. i saw trees with leaves that are actually changing colors! haha we don’t really get that in cali. i think we walked for a couple of hours and went back into town.

then on the way back to our rooms, there were a bunch of cars in the piazza. i’m not a car person, but i can recognize nice cars when i see them. all german cars [= oh soo pretty… i wanted to drive them, but of course i couldnt

in the cable car

we had no idea where we were going, but there was a trail [=

really interesting fence- imagine making it with the vines

the donkey was staring at us so we started petting him. the horse got jealous and came over to be petted [=

pretty car [=

inside of one of the cars

a nun came out with a whip and started swinging that thing in circles… no idea why

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OCT 10- FIRST VENETIAN

finally had my first venetian drink here. i swear you see EVERYONE drinking these EVERYWHERE.

italians have an obsession for plain potato chips… i miss my flavored chips though

typical italy… a venetian and a cigarette… (not my table)

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OCT 12- CANADIAN THANKSGIVING

since bronwhyn is canadian, she asked the erasmus students at kolping to celebrate it with her and of course we did! i mean cmon… good food=good company [= hahah

i helped her with the chicken (cuz they didn’t have whole turkey) and marinated it. i didn’t know what i was doing but it was edible [=

the stuffing walter made was soo good too

and the tiramisu kaitlin made was bomb.com

bronwhyn made so much food omg… total food coma afterwards

this made me really excited for american thanksgiving [=

yummm

we killed that [=

the aussie w/ his inflatable kangaroo named kev

yummm tiramisu….

the kolping kids

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OCT 15-17- SALZBURG, AUSTRIA

there is so much to say about this trip! ughh i’ll try to keep it short because 1) i kno no one wants to read anything long and 2) i dont feel like typing so much… soo OVERVIEW!

left on thursday with sam in the morning and got to salzburg by 3. met really nice people. found out that europe actually has a nice perspective of americans saying that we’re always smiling and we say hi to strangers- they don’t really do that here.

had schnitzel [= it doesn’t come w/ noodles

met up with alex- a former lexington lion that i never met in jr high but randomly met up with him cuz we have mutual friends. went to an irish bar and found a beer i actually liked

next day it snowed in the morning. we took the sound of music tour and hard core walked through the city for sights. had apple strudel - delicious

kaitlin met up with us. hiked up to the fortress that took 10 minutes NOT 20 minutes (ahem ALEX haha) cooked for host family. more hard core touristy stuff

saturday, we ate sachertorte (OMG YUMM!) and the original mozart chocolate balls.

all of the pictures are on my fbook. i cant post any here cuz i cant choose! too hard hahaha

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OCT 23- CASTEL FIRMIANO

sam, kaitlin, bronwhyn and i took a 40 minute walk to castel firmiano. it was really interesting because when you walk up to the entrance, there are a few oriental/tibetan statues as well as those chinese celebration flags hanging outside.

the castel was made into a museum which walked you through the history of the castel, tibetan artifacts and the history of climbing

we learned that the person who bought the castle a long time ago and restored it was really big on climbing. he wanted the history of the castle there (of course) and the history of climbing. and since climbing was big in tibet, he had some artifacts. also, tibet gave him some to hold on to until they settle political disputes

*pictures on fbook*

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OCT 24- VERONA, ITALY

so we took a day trip to verona (about 2 hours away from us)

its known as the setting for the old romeo and juliet movie

when we got there, we bought a pass to get into 14 places and to take the bus

we saw the 3rd largest colosseum in the world, a bunch of churches, juliet’s balcony, juliet’s tomb, romeo’s home, the roman theater and the cathedral.

it felt like everything was under construction

actually, it feels like europe is under construction (or the places i’ve been to so far)

-_-

the artifacts are amazing! the paintings, sculptures… its incredible to imagine how people created that

we were there walking around for practically 12 hours

*pics on fbook

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school officially officially kicked into gear on monday [=

yay im learning (imaNERD)

i really like the class im in - global business

but this class is gna be intense cuz its only for 3 weeks with a final right after

- - - - - - - - - - -

going to london and paris in november w/ serena! im soo excited!

i have another final coming up in december

just waiting to hear back from my cousin about christmas plans

and i officially planned my new years trip to amsterdam, london, paris, barcelona and rome!

then 1 last final (don’t know when it’s scheduled yet) - im not taking a final for 1 of my classes cuz im not getting any credit for it at cal poly.. im basically taking a class for fun

and then depending on when my last final is, im planning on venice for carnivale

stick ireland in there somewhere hopefully if i have time

and go home early? i don’t know.. we’ll see [=

i technically have a visa until march 27th hahaha

ok sorry for sucky update.. im tired… gnite

Oktoberfest 2009- Conquered

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:12:00 -0400

Blogging daily is a complete nonsense…

So I’ll try to make it a weekly thing, unless I’m absolutely bored and I have nothing to do. Which brings my attention to Doogie Houser and Carrie Bradshaw- how do they do it? Maybe because they are fictional characters and have it written in their script to blog daily.

*I’m saving the “best” for last, so if you want to read about my Munchen/Oktoberfest adventure, just scroll down. If you are bored in whatever class you’re in, can’t sleep, or really want to read a blog, then you can read this in it’s entirety. If you do read the entire thing, I applaud because I wouldn’t read my entire blog… -_- I just don’t make sense sometimes.

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Samantha, Kaitlin and I did our laundry yesterday. Yes, the whole day yesterday was dedicated to laundry. Not because we had a lot of clothes, or because they were really dirty, but because they only had 2 working washers and 2 dryers. (I don’t have any pictures of them because I forgot my camera like a stupid Asian tourist)

What equals 1 load in the states has to be separated into 2 maybe 3 loads here. It might be because we’re in a hostel and they have any kind of machine that works, but I think it has more to do with the fact that we’re in Europe and everything here is smaller. It must SUCK to have a kid here because washing would be a daily chore more so than it already is in the US.

We literally sat there staring at the 2 washers, wondering how many times it has to spin one way, then another, then back again as it only poured in enough water to wet the clothes, drained, then poured water in to repeat the cycle. I was seriously afraid that my clothes wouldn’t be washed and that I’d have to pre-hand wash everything -_-

And the 1 load here (which, if you remember, equals roughly 1/2 a load according to what I can fit in my US washer) takes roughly 1 hour to wash. 1 hour for each load. I had 2 loads to begin with, then had to divide my colors into 2 because my load was too big. = 3 hours of washing, not including the drying time.

But thank goodness for dryers here. In most parts of Europe, they hang dry their clothes. How uncomfortable…

Now take my 3 hours of washing and multiply it by 3 people= 9 hours spent on clothes…

Laundry is definitely for a day when nothing is going on = Sundays

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I finally started 1 class: Introduction to Philosophy. I think its interesting to learn Western Philosophy in Western Europe. But my professor has no idea what he’s talking about. Or maybe he does have the idea (in his mind) but the process of him thinking in whatever native tongue in his mind to translating it into English is lost somewhere. I get most of what he’s saying, but he mumbles words to get by sometimes.

And his slides are FILLED to the margins with text. I’m used to PowerPoints being specifically POINTS 1, 2, 3, etc. I think I actually have to do some outside reading for this class in order to follow along with whatever he’s teaching.

One good thing about this school system, my next class isn’t until October 26th with Global Economics (this of course doesn’t include my optional Italian class), so I have the next 2 weeks off [=

The Spanish kids are going to Venice for the weekend, but I don’t know if I remember enough of my 3 years of high school Spanish to hang with those cool kids. I think I should save my excursions for my 2 weeks off and save this weekend for rest.

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Cooking is becoming a daily task for me. I’ve never really cooked, even when I lived at my apartment, I never really cooked. But now, to keep myself from buying food all the time, something maternal (or maybe even primitive) clicked inside of me.

Grocery shopping is a biweekly thing at the least. Everything here comes in such small sizes (I definitely miss the Costco bulk, and even the regular sizes at Staters or Albertsons). I find myself trying out spices and things, hoping to make something edible to digest and provide nutrients for myself.

I’ve recently discovered the mensa (cafeteria) at school that I’ve fallen in love with. You can get a 3 course meal for 3.10euros=roughly $5. That shall be my best friend whenever I have class [= I can seriously eat enough there to last me an entire day.

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Internet here sucks. Don’t expect to video chat with me or a video message from me anytime soon. I’m waiting for my ethernet cable from my parents. Hopefully the internet will get a little better.

Thanks for the emails and messages though. It’s nice to know what’s going on over there. As soon as I figure out how the post office works, I’ll be sending post cards (Lora Lae, I haven’t forgotten. I just haven’t figured out the post office and they only speak Italian, so I need to learn enough to get by first)

- - - - - - - - - -

There is something wrong with my Italian phone. Whenever I try to make a call, I get a text/message saying that it is busy and I need to try again. And people can’t call my phone. I tried to go to the Vodafone store here (My plan is with this company. Its like Verizon/AT&T) but they were so shady with their business. I was there for almost an hour waiting to talk to someone. I even took one of those stupid numbers.

Screw you Vodafone, I’m going somewhere else.

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Oktoberfest Adventures

We only spent a weekend in Munchen (Munich in German), but it was enough for Oktoberfest. I want to go back to visit my cousin there though, hopefully sometime soon.

The girls: Samantha, Bronwhyn, Kaitlin, and I, bought our tickets for the bus from Bolzano to Munich, leaving at 5:30am on Saturday. The morning of when we were getting snacks together in the kitchen, Tobi and Steve saw Sam and decided they wanted to come along as well. They were also pretty intoxicated from going out, but hey, the more the merrier. Also, it was a plus that Tobi was going since he is German, therefore he could translate everything for us.

Here, we have the Canadian, Socal, Aussie, German, Norcal, and Washintonian [=

In 4 hours, we were in 3 countries: Italy, Austria, and Germany. I don’t remember much of the ride, because I was asleep.

The bus drop off area was a freaken mess, so we ended up being dropped off a couple of blocks away and walked in.

This was the entrance to Oktoberfest. I would describe it as the OC/LA fairs, but with giant beer tents. The actual thing wasn’t that big. One side had carnival rides, the other side had souvenir stands, food stands and beer tents.

We got there around 10am and started walking around. We tried to get into the Paulaner tent, but we weren’t allowed in with backpacks/bags. So Tobi called his aunt, who he hasn’t seen for 3 years, and asked if we could leave our stuff at her place. She was awesome! When we got there, she gave us a room and we ended up staying the night there, but I digress from the story.

I had one of those on Sunday. (I didn’t take a lot of pictures, so check my facebook tagged photos for more)

There was a giant statue near the location. I’m thinking it has something to do with the history of Oktobefest and the marriage between the people which prompted the start of the celebration.

Gingerbread hearts with messages on them. The tradition is for the guys to give his heart to a girl.

Oktoberfest hats. I swear this place reminded me of Disneyland, but an adult version LOL. I wonder if Disney is German…

Some famous breweries:

Okay, so like I said, we couldn’t get in with our backpacks, so we left Oktoberfest to Tobi’s aunt’s place. The transportation is so convenient there. We took this underground subway system called the U-Bahn I believe.

Gothic Cathedral (I think it was Orthodox) outside of Oktoberfest

We dropped off our stuff and only grabbed the necessities. In an hour or so, we were back. We stood in line to get into our first tent.

Pretty cool sundial on the tent. You look at the shadows for the time (it was 1:15pm)

Trying to take a picture MySpace status

We stood in line for a total of 30 minutes and called it quits. It was just too frustrating, so we walked around the place a bit more. Tried to get into other tents, but to no avail, our attempts were not followed by success. What did we do next? Blow off Oktoberfest completely and decided to do the tourist thing in Munchen for the day. We still had Sunday for Oktoberfest right? [=

We went back on the U-Bahn and ended up what I gathered to be the center of Munchen, but since I was never in Munchen before (much less Germany itself) what did I know? Some locals told us they were going to eat at this cool place, so we decided to follow. Not the smartest idea, but hey, we were a big group. The German spoke German (duh) and the Aussie understood enough to get by, so I felt safe.

Eventually, we were in the English Garden. It is this absolutely BEAUTIFUL garden in the middle of the city. There were people sitting around enjoying the place. Streams, trees…

We were eventually led to the Chinese Tower for a late lunch.

There was a band playing in the tower. The place had a great ambiance [=

The Aussie had this thing for Hofbrau beer. I Wikipedia-ed it last night and learned that it was famous in Australia, go figure. So the table had a round of Hofbrau. The girls opted for dark, while the boys got light.

Poor Steve was still a mess from the previous nights… But when in Rome, do as the Romans do… Or when in Munich in this point…

We ate. I don’t know what exactly I had. But it was a pretzel and some sort of white sausage. Then we chilled in the English Garden for a bit.

We were sitting under a tree talking about our countries/states/randomish, when we realized that there was complete nudity allowed in Germany. Tobi told us that it was allowed until you reach the age of 30.

Seriously, these men were just walking around flaunting themselves. It was freaken gross, but also very funny. I think it’s interesting that no matter how liberal you believe you are, but if you’re from North American/the US, you are very conservative compared to the rest of the world.

Then we decided to venture to the Hofbrauhaus- the actual Hofbrau brewery in Munich. If we couldn’t get into Oktoberfest, might as well go somewhere Oktoberfest-like.

Passed by the center square place. Ran into a Cuban (on the left) and Italian (on the right). I think they were students at some other University too.

Pretty things they don’t have at home…

They were building a giant Lego tower

…and then we arrived…

There was security (of course) and we couldn’t get in at first because there were too many people. They let people in in waves as other people left. But this drunk guy taking a smoke helped us sneak in. Thanks Mister, whoever you are, I’m sending you good vibes.

Oh the happiness…

The Hofbrau Band

We got a table with some other people. At crowded places like these, it is common to share tables with others.

Me and my Liter which was almost half foam anyways. I ended up jacking one of those mugs, which got taken away when we went to the Oktoberfest Hofbrau Tent, but jacked another one, but I digress from my story. Continuing…

Trying to make sense of the German menu…

It was a really cool place, one that you beer drinkers definitely need to come to (BK, Andy, Carl, Cousin David, William anyone else who drinks beer…). A random person would start a beat and others would join in, because why the heck not? Soon the entire place would be making the same beat and then someone would start singing. The band would play and people would sing along. Doesn’t matter if you know German or not, you just can’t help but to sway to the music. If you have the balls, you stand up with your Liter and skull (chug) it. Once you stand up with the mug in your hand, people take notice and instantly cheer you on. BUT you have to finish it because if you take the smallest of small breaths to get yourself going again, you are embarrassingly boo-ed. I swear every other song played was the “Ein Prosit” song- I think its Bavarian German?? Basically you’re toasting everyone, so when it’s played, grab your mug, sing along and share a toast with everyone around you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR8VmCDdt5o&feature=PlayList&p=93C9C6CA8F95D611&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=4

Then the singer/leader of the band would say “Eins, Zwei, Gsufor!” (One, Two, Drink! in Bavarian German) and you clang your mugs with whoever you see. Keep in mind that in Germany, whenever you share a toast, you have to keep eye contact or else you’ll have 7 years of bad sex. And it is also bad luck to cross over another person’s arm to share a toast. Interesting, no?

A song that the Germans seem to love at the Hofbrauhaus was a Bavarian/hip version of “Hey Baby” by Bruce Channel

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

You hear the Germans singing the “Ooh Aah” and you can’t help but join along. Soon the band starts up the music, and you just know the song. I don’t know how you know, but the words are simple (and in English lol).

There is a restaurant upstairs, but that was too formal of a place. This room is definitely THE place to be. And you could still order food if you wish [=

I guess the cool thing to do was to build a tower out of your mugs before the security tells you to take it down or the waiters take away the mugs. They’re cool about it though.

We ended the night at around 9 with some desserts there. I’ve noticed that dessert type stuff in Europe aren’t really sweet. But it was good anyways. Since we’ve been up since 4am (and the boys basically had an all-nighter), we were on our way hope after stopping by a Starbucks for a quick night cap. They DO NOT know how to make a Passion Tea Lemonade though. ]=

Getting to his aunt’s house was a mini adventure itself. The boys were drunk and following us to the U-bahn, but they went the wrong way somewhere at one of the stops. We couldn’t call them because Tobi didn’t have his phone and Steve’s phone was dead.

Sam and I stayed where we were SUPPOSED to go while Bronwhyn and Kaitlin went looking for the boys.

Sleeping at Tobi’s aunt’s place.

We woke up at 730am the next day and by 930am, we were back at Oktoberfest, ready to go. Hardcore isn’t it? hahaha

The Hofbrau Tent- the Aussie couldn’t get enough Hofbrau

Early morning and people were already getting smashed. The tent was already half full by the time we got there.

I think it was a restaurant type thing upstairs.

Me and my giant sugar/cinnamon coated donut [=

Doesn’t Steve look ready for the day? hahaha After 3 straight nights of alcohol (I think it was actually 4 nights), he’s still up and good to go. He said “I think I’m just going to buy my 1 Liter of beer and let it sit there for the rest of the day. I’m done for this weekend.” Did he really stick to that? C’mon, it’s Oktoberfest. What do you think?.. lol

Cheers!

There were a couple girls who tried to skull their Liters, but they didn’t really succeed. The crowd was a bit lenient on the girls, but if you’re a guy who can’t skull, then don’t even try standing up.

By noon, more people came and it was definitely a party. The band was up playing music and these Italians near us were going crazy.

Crazy Italians… haha

Put one of those babies in my bag to take home as a souvenir [= haha

Old lady was selling those stunna shades and devil’s horns

We loved our brezel and bier (actually, I liked the brezel; not very fond of the beer, but hey, it was Oktoberfest.)

These people next to us were dressed up. I guess it was Halloween for them…

Around 1, Jeremy and the Spanish kids met up with us. When they heard we were going to Oktoberfest, they bought tickets for the midnight train.

Sam and I decided to leave the tent around 2 because we needed fresh air and wanted to do some souvenir shopping.

On our way to the restroom, the crazy Italians were trying to catch girls under their flag. We ended up pushing the drunks. Those guys remind me of Tuan; but Tuan on a daily basis, not drunk… haha

First thing we bought were those gingerbread hearts. We bought 1 each to take home and another one to eat and try.

I really wanted to get a meter long bratwurst, but decided a 1/2 meter would suffice.

yummm.. With ketchup and mustard…

Then we went searching for Sam’s pickles. I will never understand why/how people would eat straight up pickles. Or what’s the deal with fizzy water? aka sparkling water?

Her pickle… haha

Walked around more. Sam bought couple shirts for herself and her sister. I bought these lighter holders for my brothers. Took a while to meet up with Bronwhyn and Kaitlin. Took even longer for Steve, Tobi and Diego to join us.

Toby was the only person who could speak German, so he was the only one who knew where to meet the bus. But that dude was all over the place -_-

I got a bit annoyed with the drunk “but I’m not drunk” people… let’s leave it at that…

We were waiting for a while for the bus, so Kaitling decided to get a pretzel. I don’t know what the heck she was doing that took her so long because there are pretzel stands everywhere, but while she was gone, this random guy came up to us and started talking. I swear he was on something because everything he was saying didn’t make sense. Here’s how the conversation went: (he’s bold and we’re italicized)

Do you speak English?

Yea. Do you speak English?

Yea. I’m from Canada and they’re from the States.

Oh so you speak English.

Yea

So like do you speak Italian?

Not really. We’re going to learn.

So you don’t speak Italian?

No, we speak English.

Oh, so like you speak Italian?

…

Where are you from?

I’m from California, you know. The US… South America… Socal.. like in LA.

You mean North America?

Oh yea… like LA. You know LA?

-_- Don’t do drugs kids…

After a while of waiting (Italians are never on time…), the bus finally came around 7 (and they were supposed to pick us up at 6). It was a double decker. The girls got seats on the bottom deck and the boys were sitting at the top.

We find out at the pit stop that Steve threw up on himself. That’s what happens when you party for 4 nights straight.. lol poor guy… haha

One of the men who left at one of the stops forgot his wallet. It took me a while to try to translate that to the bus driver. By the time I ran out to try to give the wallet to the man, he was already gone.

When we got to our stop, I asked Tobi to return the wallet to the man since there was a number in it and he spoke German. Because the man was so grateful, he gave me a 20euro reward. It isn’t much, but hey, 20euros can last me a week here [=

It was 11 when we got back to our rooms at Kolping. I took a shower and went down to the kitchen to eat a late dinner that Tobi promised to cook us.

By midnight, my Oktoberfest excursion was over [=

we've discovered asian life in bolzano...

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:47:40 -0400

not gna lie, i got pretty excited when we found the asian store in bolzano. about a 10-15 minute walk. its really small, but it has everything that reminds me of home… well… not like literally home… but the fobby parts of little saigon haha [=. now i can buy spices and sauces to make things i actually know how to make. not gna lie, i thought i would have to learn every italian food, but now i can make my fried rice and noodle dishes. (of course i’ll learn how to make pastas and risotto too, but i need my asian food fixes)

and there’s also a thai cuisine restaurant that specializes in thai, japanese, and chinese food… we’ll see about that… haha

- - - - - - - - - -

the university system here is totally unique. because of its unique history of where/how it was founded (lets keep in mind that this school is barely over a decade), FUB is influenced by the US, UK, Italian, German, and Austrian systems.

Unique thing #1

you have 2 weeks to sign up for classes when school starts. meaning, you don’t pre-enroll into classes like we do in the US. you can literally attend any class you want for the first 2 weeks and by the end of the 2nd week, you enroll in whatever class you want. of course, some people would enroll right away to secure their spot, and others would wait to see how the teachers are. you can try out a class/teacher and not add the class if you don’t like it…. but this brings me to Unique thing #2

here, they hire teachers from all over the world. but the teachers are hired on contracts, not exactly full term teachers. for example:

the university wants to hire Prof. Bob to teach Financial Management. Prof Bob is from the UK and teaches at Oxford University. every class is given a mandatory 30 hours of teaching within a 15 week semester. Prof Bob gets to choose when he wants to teach his class within the 15 weeks. He can have 10 classes at 3 hours a class or 15 classes at 2 hours per class. these classes can by anytime during the 15 week period. if he wants, he can have a class every week. or a class the first month of school. or a class at the end of the semester. he can schedule it however it wants so that he can fly in from the UK, teach his class, and then leave. isn’t that cool? because of this i get random breaks within the semester, granted i do have a few saturday classes, but i think its worth it. the only thing that sucks about this is that if he wants his class to start after the 2 week add period, then you can’t try out his class before you sign up.

- - - - - - - - - -

kaitlin, samantha, and i took an excursion during siesta to Torre Druso [a tower] and Castel Roncolo [a castle] (or what we thought was Castel Roncolo)

that was what we had our eyes set on…

and that random tower in the middle

so we followed this trail that went along Fiume Talvera (a river)

when we got closer to the tower, we realized there was no path from where we were directly up to the tower. you have to be on the other side of town to get on a path to the tower… womp fail #1

vineyards everywhere…. we are definitely in wine country

when we walked further along in the trail, we realized we had our eyes set on the wrong castle the whole time. the one on the hill was wayyyy too far by foot…. (fail #2) but the trail led us to the real Castel Roncolo

uneven, steep walkway to the entrance

not gna lie, when we got up there, i was freaken tired… wow im so out of shape -_-

view from the castle

there was a restaurant and stage there. we decided not to buy the ticket to go into the castle cuz we didnt have enough money on us. we’re gna try to budget museums and stuff when it gets too cold to do outdoorsy stuff. this castle was literally not more than 2 miles away

at the castle, i saw one of the brochures that there is a castle in the city centre not far from where we stay, so on our way back, we went searching for Castel Mareccio. it was freaken confusing trying to find it. we tried asking someone, but he kinda gave us vague directions and then told us to ask someone else to make sure…….. womp…. it felt like we were walking in circles heading back towards the town center until we finally found the street… it was weird cuz there were houses all around, nothing like the other castle in the middle of vineyards.

this castle was tinyyyy… smaller than Roncolo… hollywood, you have ruined my imagery of castles…. maybe the bigger castles are in mother england?…

this place has been totally refurbished and is not being used as a convention center. they hold meeting and banquets here… even weddings

and it only took 2.5 hours to go to both castles by foot [=

we ended our excursion by buying bread at the daily market… yumm fresh bread. i got tomato bread.. which tasted like pizza w/ tomatoes.. haha

- - - - - - - - - -

yesterday, we found a 99 cent store (but it was really $1.66 to us americans…..) thank goodness for this place… [= got some snacks and necessities (like post its! haha) but the trail mix here is not the business.. i miss costco and chex trail mixes… oh well.. that’s why i brought 10 packs of gum to hold me over…

- - - - - - - - - -

we bought a bus ticket to munich this weekend of the end of oktoberfest festivities [= it was relatively cheap (49 euros round trip) because a train ticket one way is about 50 euros. i know i know.. me+beerfest when i dont even like beer what the irony… but hey, when am i ever going to be here again? much less be here during oktoberfest?

“when in rome…”

- - - - - - - - - -

grocery shopping again tmorw… i swear we’ve already gone twice in the week that we’ve been here. italy needs to invest in a costco or bigger shopping markets with bigger sizes of everything…….

- - - - - - - - - -

week 1 down, 23.5 more to go [=

tired from doing nothing...

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:00:02 -0400

on saturday, kaitlin and i met up w/ lu- a lady i met through the couchsurfing website. she showed us around bolzano- places to eat, places to shop, etc. she showed us how to shop… haha. she was so nice. gave us coffee&sweets at her apmt before she took us out. then we had lunch at her place- risotto w/ mushrooms, hugo (elder flower juice and prosecco wine), ricotta salad w/ tomatoes and carrots, and horse sausage (yes as in nehhhhh horse… haha)… well i only had a little bit of the latter to say i’ve tried it.

bread and salad

risoto w/ parsley and mushrooms

hugo

horse sausage

as a thank you, kaitlin and i helped lu put her bed together cuz she just washed all the sheets. it was interesting cuz her bed was laid on 2 crate boxes- she made her own bed i guess

- - - - - - - - - -

sunday

ugh its so dead on sunday… like a ghost town. nothing was open… walked around, but nothing

there was loud music coming from a hall in kolping, but it was a get-together for a bunch of old people of some club…

my first gelato in italia [=

bacio (chocolate w/ caramelized hazelnuts)

- - - - - - - - - -

and then…

today’s the first day of school, which really wasn’t much of anything. had to go to school early to get my certification of enrollment at the office that is only open 3 hours on MWF and 2 hours on TTh… and of course everything was so slow… i guess italians love to take their time w/ everything… or their computers are slow… or… a mixture of both?

i had to go back a second time for my student card, but they forgot to give me my account information so i have to go back tmorw for that… ughh what a waste of time

then an appt to get forms in order to register in the city

then wait more at the post office to send the forms

ughhhh

met a few other exchange students from germany, argentina, us, n austrailia.

met a girl from UW- Sam Lim. she’s pretty cool, lives in the same place and shares the same kitchen w/ us. she spent a month studying in rome before this and it seems that she’d be a great friend here. we’re gna try to tackle oktoberfest, but we’ll see how it goes

bought some stuff at the groceries and at this store called Uptim

its b/w a walgreens/cvs and target. we needed to get plateware and utensils

going to the supermarkets and places like uptim makes me realize that the us is really a consumer country. everything we buy is in bulk, or bigger sizes than what they have here. it feels like everything here is travel sized or between that and our normal sized stuff.

i really miss my target and costco ]=

- - - - - - - - - -

if you wanna send me anything, my address is:

Kolpinghaus Bozen

Largo Adolph Kolping 3

39100 Bolzano

Italy

just put somewhere on it that its for Tracie Ninh, Room 513

ok let's recap...

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:24:00 -0400

giorno uno

it took a total of 24 hours to get from LAX to our final destination in Bolzano, Italy

i couldnt imagine doing it alone -_- so thank you so much to my international counselor who introduced me to Kaitlin before we left. 2 CPP students [=

**i’ve posted all pictures on my facebook**

9am flight from LAX to Detriot, MI

landed about 430pmCST (1230pmPST) and raced to my next flight

this airport wasnt really that big.. not like LAX but it was ONE LONG strip of walking before i got to the next terminal

i sat next to a gay couple, Randy and Gerado (it was a row for 4, so we had an empty seat b/w us)

i had so much fun w/ them for the next ~6 hours. they shared their snacks w/ me and Randy was so funny w/ his comments about everything. they were on their way to a 20 day cruise that would circle the Mediterranean and go trans-Atlantic to Florida. Randy told me that they’ve been going to Europe every year for the past 15 years of their relationship and this year they wanted to do something different, so they opted for a cruise. i told them my family has land (literally land.. no house.. just land) somewhere in florida, but ive never been there. by the end of the trip, he gave me their business card (they own a hair salon together) so i can look them up if im ever in florida

each seat had its own monitor to watch movies and such, so i watched ghosts of girlfriends past, the hangover, i love you man, and part of 17 again. i finally understood all of the jokes everyone was saying from those movies (i hadn’t watched a movie since yes man during holiday break). and i got to read all the messages from the ug kids <3

landed in Amsterdam and before we parted ways, Randy made sure to tell me that it is legal to smoke weed in the cafes. hahaha

next was a flight at 940amCET (1240amPST) into Milan. i was finally a foreigner and definitely stood out like one. i felt like this airport had me going in circles forever and ever -_-

i landed in Milan at 1125amCET(225amPST), got my luggage, met up with Kaitlin at their food court, and bought our bus tickets to the train. it was about a 40 minute bus ride from the airport to the train station. then almost a 5-6 hour train ride?? ughh we had to pull around our luggage from the front of the station to the entrance which was in the back since there was construction. then our ticket was for 135pmCET(435amPST) but we missed it so Kaitlin had to exchange them for the 235pmCET(535amPST) train. we got on the wrong train, but a nice man was able to translate that to us (at least someone spoke english…) then we were finally on our way. had a connection train in Verona to Bolzano and from there, it felt like forever. we both fell asleep, but woke up just in time to hear the conductor announce our arrival.

got off the train, wandered through the Piazza Walthers, met some tourists that showed us to our hostel. by the time we made it to our rooms, it was past 6pmCET, almost 7ish (8-9amPST)

so in total, my trip lasted 24 hours… and i dont have to repeat that again until i leave… hahaha

my room:

on the 9th floor (top floor)

im right next to Kaitlin. they’ve kept us together as much as possible here haha its really nice though. we share our fridge and pantry in the common kitchen

address:

Kolpinghaus Bozen

Largo Adolph Kolping 3

39100 Bolzano

Italy

i guess if you wanted to send me something, you’d just write my name and Room #513

everything here is technologically advanced (or i think so)

their room keys/card are inserted into this holder whenever you enter the room in order to turn on the lights. [= and the lights automatically turn off once you take your room key out and exit

first thing i thought of was ikea when i stepped in… very ikea-esque in the look and smell

my own bathroom

of course God is present [= haha

my desk/workspace

my closet

my bed

- - - - - - - - - -

giorno due

Kaitlin and i decided to walk around to get more of a feel of the city

asians in bolzano: population 2 hahaha or at least that’s what it felt like there…

we went into 2 churches and there’s a gothic cathedral here too but its under construction. however, apparently the bells still work cuz they go off every hour

finally got a map and were on our way to the daily market

we stopped at a restaurant in behind this stand. the flies here are ginormous! they must have mutated or something… or if they originated from here, then the devolved into smaller creatures… lol

where we had our first meal

everyone around us was having beer for breakfast. and we noticed while walking around that they have alcohol at any time of the day. i guess they dont go by the saying “no alcohol before noon”

so if everyone was doing it… “do as the Romans do” i guess. and it was the “official beer of bolzano” haha

but it was past noon by the time i got it

kaitlin’s macchiato shot. it came with chocolate and sugar

hungarian goulash w/ assorted breads, bruschetta with tuna, tomatoes, and cheese

you could see the other side of kolpinghaus, the gothic cathedral (left tower) and church (right tower) from outside my window

the cobblestone streets are pretty narrow. people walk and bike basically everywhere and just cross streets whenever, even though there are crosswalks. i think i saw a total of 5 street lights around the city. this is a picture of typical parking in the street… err the sidewalk… wtvr…

dinner. apparently they like their water bottled and sparkling… i’ll never understand sparkling water…

- - - - - - - - - -

giorno tre

we went to the market and tried to buy stuff but everything was in italian LoL.. we were trying to decide if we wanted fresh cold cuts, but we didn’t know how to order, so we went with meats that were precut. maybe when we learn a few words, it’ll get easier. for once, i cant wait for school to start!

then we had orientation for school. it sucked that they didnt give us a campus map, so we basically wandered around the school building for an entrance. ran into a fellow exchange student, Aiste from Lithuania. and we found our way together.

if i only remember 1 thing from orientation, it would be that party life is important here… lol so i guess you go to school for the social aspect and you study in your spare time…

we walked around the city and decided to have a small snack/lunch

stopped at a restaurant on Kaitlin’s list of places (forgot what its called) and ordered pizza

i noticed that all of the restaurants here have open seating outside- makes me wonder what they’ll do when it rains. and you just seat yourself at an open table, no need to wait to be seated

in the condiment caddies, they had half filled with ketchup and mustard, the other half filled with mayonnaise

Aiste rolled her own cigarette which totally intrigued Kaitlin and myself. i’ve never seen anyone do that. is that common in the States?

she said it was cheaper to do this and its very common in England. and the tobacco smelled like grapes so it was like hookah (or a water pipe as they call it here)

the white label in front of the tobacco pack is translated to our equivalent of the Surgeon General’s warning. Aiste told us that in England, there would be pictures of people suffering from lung cancer or something next to the cigarette/tobacco products as a warning… interestingggg… haha

my drink. i forgot what it was called.. Spitz or something? its basically half Coke and half Lemonade, a common drink here

our pizza for 2, eaten by 3 people w/ leftovers still

it was actually really good. i loved the bread. definitely fancier than pizza hut or dominos [=

after our late lunch snack, we decide to walk around more. ended up at this cafe Aiste went to on her first day in Bolzano and had a cup of coffee “Latte Macchiato”- basically coffee w/ milk haha. talked a bit more about our countries, mostly about the difference in weather and how we traveled to Bolzano. then we parted ways.

im hoping to go to this pub right around the corner from where we stay. its supposedly an authentic irish pub (specializing in guiness). every night they have a band singing very loudly (or the past 2 nights they had a band) but we’ll see. im kinda hesitant to spend money here. whenever i do, i calculate the exchange rate and its like OMG! ive spent that much on a drink? haha

but i guess

“when in Rome…”

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hope this post holds you over until my real adventures begin [=

ughh

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:46:41 -0400

i had a post ready to go

but something happened to firefox so it quit w/o me posting it

all wells..

summary of what i wrote: my trip took 24 hours total from LA to Bolzano because of all the connections and such

asian population in bolzano= 2 (me and a fellow CPP student studying here this semester as well)

i’ll redo my blog later when i feel like it.. im too lazy now [=

look through my facebook for pictures