Dear Reader(s),
I am packed and ready to go and feeling the nerves and excitement that I felt this time four months ago. Tomorrow morning, at the sickening hour of 05.30, my dad and I will be leaving the house for our journey to Limoges. We are flying via Southampton and will land in Limoges at 12.50 local time.
I have already got some friends via facebook, and am pretty excited at the thought that I will have an internet cable in my room, instead of having to go down to the computer room every day, as I did in Modena.
Time to sort out the last minute things, before my last dinner in Jersey, and an early night...
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Thursday, 5 January 2012
Moving on...
Dear Reader(s),
I have completed the Modena part of my YA and, after a very merry Christmas, I am now preparing for stage two of my adventures!
Next stop is Limoges, France, a place which, when mentioned, is followed by one of two reactions:
a) oh Limoges? that's a bit of a dump isn't it? or,
b) Limoges? where's that?
In answer to the first reaction I will say that the YA experience is what you make it, so despite it potentially being 'a bit of a dump' I will try my hardest to make sure that I make friends, join societies, attend lectures and visit nearby towns, as I did in Modena. In answer to the second reaction, it is a bit South-West of the centre of France:
So in a few short days I will be packed and on my way to start a new adventure... wish me luck!
I have completed the Modena part of my YA and, after a very merry Christmas, I am now preparing for stage two of my adventures!
Next stop is Limoges, France, a place which, when mentioned, is followed by one of two reactions:
a) oh Limoges? that's a bit of a dump isn't it? or,
b) Limoges? where's that?
In answer to the first reaction I will say that the YA experience is what you make it, so despite it potentially being 'a bit of a dump' I will try my hardest to make sure that I make friends, join societies, attend lectures and visit nearby towns, as I did in Modena. In answer to the second reaction, it is a bit South-West of the centre of France:
Saturday, 17 December 2011
Traditional Modena Dindins
Dear Reader(s),
So I have officially finished my English lessons with Sara, Martina and Sofia, and after my last lesson with Sofia (my little favourite) I was invited to a meal with her and her family. I went home after our last lesson and put on my dress ready for collection by Patrizia at 20.15.
When we got to the house, we sat in the sitting room for a bit, chatting about different things, Serena, Sofia's older sister who is my age, asked where my perfume was from even (Jo Malone). I really like Sofia's family, Patrizia is the madre, Claudio is the padre, Serena is the oldest and Sofia is the baby. I got along really well with Serena and we're facebook friends now. We talked a lot about when I will return to Modena, and that I can stay at theirs because Serena has a big bed. Patrizia is also desperate to see Jersey and to use me as the guide, something that I would definitely love to do.
So, the food! It was AMAZING. We had a pasta course to start (of course we did, this is Italy) which was tortelloni, which is the big version of tortellini, in other words pasta parcels, we had either spinach and ricotta or pumpkin. Both were beautiful, but the pumpkin was just to die for. Next course was the meat course, we had zampone di maiale con paté di patate, in other words pig's trotter with mash potatoes. This is so traditional of Modena, you just can't get a more Modenese dish. It's also a huge treat, and when it was served Claudio said 'this really is a special meal, we only get this once a year!' so I felt very honored. I ate every scrap of the huge portion I was given as it was simply delicious.
Next course was fruit, I had the traditional Modena option (obviously) but I can't remember what it was called. It's orange in colour, and soft like a plum. You cut it in 4 and use a teaspoon to eat the extremely soft sweet flesh. I loved it.
Next was coffee, I felt so mature having an espresso.
After the meal we went through, Patrizia and Claudio went to the sitting room but the girls and I played with Pepe the little dog for a while (while their new Spaniel puppy, Boss, was in his box and desperate to join in) after that we went through as well and played on the karaoke until 1am! It was so so so much fun, accompanied by whiskey (which I didn't have) and Ferrero Rocher (which I most certainly did have)
The evening was simply wonderful, I loved every second, and I will most definitely be seeing that family again in my future.
A presto...
So I have officially finished my English lessons with Sara, Martina and Sofia, and after my last lesson with Sofia (my little favourite) I was invited to a meal with her and her family. I went home after our last lesson and put on my dress ready for collection by Patrizia at 20.15.
When we got to the house, we sat in the sitting room for a bit, chatting about different things, Serena, Sofia's older sister who is my age, asked where my perfume was from even (Jo Malone). I really like Sofia's family, Patrizia is the madre, Claudio is the padre, Serena is the oldest and Sofia is the baby. I got along really well with Serena and we're facebook friends now. We talked a lot about when I will return to Modena, and that I can stay at theirs because Serena has a big bed. Patrizia is also desperate to see Jersey and to use me as the guide, something that I would definitely love to do.
So, the food! It was AMAZING. We had a pasta course to start (of course we did, this is Italy) which was tortelloni, which is the big version of tortellini, in other words pasta parcels, we had either spinach and ricotta or pumpkin. Both were beautiful, but the pumpkin was just to die for. Next course was the meat course, we had zampone di maiale con paté di patate, in other words pig's trotter with mash potatoes. This is so traditional of Modena, you just can't get a more Modenese dish. It's also a huge treat, and when it was served Claudio said 'this really is a special meal, we only get this once a year!' so I felt very honored. I ate every scrap of the huge portion I was given as it was simply delicious.
Next course was fruit, I had the traditional Modena option (obviously) but I can't remember what it was called. It's orange in colour, and soft like a plum. You cut it in 4 and use a teaspoon to eat the extremely soft sweet flesh. I loved it.
Next was coffee, I felt so mature having an espresso.
After the meal we went through, Patrizia and Claudio went to the sitting room but the girls and I played with Pepe the little dog for a while (while their new Spaniel puppy, Boss, was in his box and desperate to join in) after that we went through as well and played on the karaoke until 1am! It was so so so much fun, accompanied by whiskey (which I didn't have) and Ferrero Rocher (which I most certainly did have)
The evening was simply wonderful, I loved every second, and I will most definitely be seeing that family again in my future.
A presto...
Sunday, 11 December 2011
There is no world without Verona walls...
Dear Reader(s),
Another weekend of Shakespeare, but in a different way; we went to Verona this Saturday. Christina, myself, Dani, Issa, Karim and Vitor. An early start saw us at the train station for our 08.14 train, which was... cancelled. There was a replacement bus, as in, one bus, to replace an entire train, so funnily enough we didn't get on due to lack of seats. We got a later train to Bologna, and then went on from there to Verona which wasn't too bad, but they charged us an extra 6€75 - we should be getting refunds surely! Verona itself is beautiful, officially one of my favourite trips. We did the lot (obviously) colosseum, Christmas Star, mercato, Christmas mercato, the four churches, the river and of course the Casa di Giulietta. At the Casa di Giulietta you can see the balcony, and the gift shop is nice but kind of naff, and there's a statue of Juliet, and the thing to do is put your hand on her boob, no idea why, but I did it obviously. The riverside walk was really lovely, the light was starting to go and the bridges got lit up which was very picturesque. When we walked back through the city to go to the station all of the Christmas lights were on, and they were just stunning. The walls of Verona were simply outlined by white lights, which was beautiful, there were trees giant Christmas trees all of which were lit beautifully.
On returning to the train station there were further mishaps. Our train was cancelled again (!) and the same solution was put in place, a replacement bus, just the one, which again filled up leaving us without a way home. We had to wait a further 2 hours to get the next train, so Dani and Isa (the two spaniards) used the time to complain, cause a fuss, and fill in complaints forms. I was pretty unimpressed by their attitudes and need to cause a fuss, because despite the annoyance of the terrible Italian train system, there was just no need to be so rude to people who were just trying to do their jobs, and then to fill out a complaint form which was probably going to be thrown straight in the bin!
We made it home by 23.00 and our bikes were still where we'd left them (Christina and I had convinced ourselves that they would've been stolen).
We slept very well that night!
That will probably be my last visit in Italy before I go home, I leave here on 19th December, and have already made sure that my mum is cooking my a big fat roast chicken with roast potatoes and lovely thick gravy (something I miss dearly).
A presto...
Another weekend of Shakespeare, but in a different way; we went to Verona this Saturday. Christina, myself, Dani, Issa, Karim and Vitor. An early start saw us at the train station for our 08.14 train, which was... cancelled. There was a replacement bus, as in, one bus, to replace an entire train, so funnily enough we didn't get on due to lack of seats. We got a later train to Bologna, and then went on from there to Verona which wasn't too bad, but they charged us an extra 6€75 - we should be getting refunds surely! Verona itself is beautiful, officially one of my favourite trips. We did the lot (obviously) colosseum, Christmas Star, mercato, Christmas mercato, the four churches, the river and of course the Casa di Giulietta. At the Casa di Giulietta you can see the balcony, and the gift shop is nice but kind of naff, and there's a statue of Juliet, and the thing to do is put your hand on her boob, no idea why, but I did it obviously. The riverside walk was really lovely, the light was starting to go and the bridges got lit up which was very picturesque. When we walked back through the city to go to the station all of the Christmas lights were on, and they were just stunning. The walls of Verona were simply outlined by white lights, which was beautiful, there were trees giant Christmas trees all of which were lit beautifully.
On returning to the train station there were further mishaps. Our train was cancelled again (!) and the same solution was put in place, a replacement bus, just the one, which again filled up leaving us without a way home. We had to wait a further 2 hours to get the next train, so Dani and Isa (the two spaniards) used the time to complain, cause a fuss, and fill in complaints forms. I was pretty unimpressed by their attitudes and need to cause a fuss, because despite the annoyance of the terrible Italian train system, there was just no need to be so rude to people who were just trying to do their jobs, and then to fill out a complaint form which was probably going to be thrown straight in the bin!
We made it home by 23.00 and our bikes were still where we'd left them (Christina and I had convinced ourselves that they would've been stolen).
We slept very well that night!
That will probably be my last visit in Italy before I go home, I leave here on 19th December, and have already made sure that my mum is cooking my a big fat roast chicken with roast potatoes and lovely thick gravy (something I miss dearly).
A presto...
Sunday, 4 December 2011
Exit, pursued by a bear
Dear Reader(s),
During the week, while I was working on my YAWT in piano uno, an Italian boy called Marco came up to me and asked if I was English ('damn' I thought 'I haven't perfected the Euro-chic look') and then asked if I would like to help out a friend of his whilst improving my Italian. He said that he had a friend called Ruggero who was looking for a tandem partner; for those of you that don't know, a tandem partner is a person who you meet up with regularly and half of the meetings are in your language, for the other person's benefit, and the other half are vice-versa. I took Ruggero's number and said of course.
This weekend was an interesting one, on Saturday (after a bit of YAWT, which is going really well) Christina and I went for a coffee catch-up with the only other English (well, Scottish) girl here in Modena, Kelly. However, I tried to kill two birds with one stone by inviting my new tandem partner along. This was a mistake. Ruggero insisted that we speak slowly and loudly so that he could be included, which of course meant that we could not catch up at all. In the end I spoke to Ruggero (slowly and loudly) while Kelly and Christina spoke quickly and quietly to each other. I started to feel like I was in a Monty Python or Father Ted scene when it turned out that Ruggero's English was appalling and, to top it all off, he only had one good ear. We made it through the coffee catch up and got back to the residenza in one piece, however I'm going to have to do at least one more tandem partner meeting before I go home, just to be polite.
Sunday was a much better day! After a lie-in and a lot of reading of 'How to Write Essays and Assignments' I went to the theatre with Christina. The worst seats in the house and a student discount got us some not-too-bad-seats-really for 12€ to see Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale, but wait, it gets better, it was in ITALIAN! After 2 and a half hours our brains were somewhat hurting from the level of concentration we'd needed (a level most recently matched during 2nd year exams) and we were in desperate need of some Tetly. We cycled home through the fog (as per) and had a Tetly tea, a White Twix each and a chat. What a lovely Sunday! We feel enriched and cultural and clever.
A presto...
During the week, while I was working on my YAWT in piano uno, an Italian boy called Marco came up to me and asked if I was English ('damn' I thought 'I haven't perfected the Euro-chic look') and then asked if I would like to help out a friend of his whilst improving my Italian. He said that he had a friend called Ruggero who was looking for a tandem partner; for those of you that don't know, a tandem partner is a person who you meet up with regularly and half of the meetings are in your language, for the other person's benefit, and the other half are vice-versa. I took Ruggero's number and said of course.
This weekend was an interesting one, on Saturday (after a bit of YAWT, which is going really well) Christina and I went for a coffee catch-up with the only other English (well, Scottish) girl here in Modena, Kelly. However, I tried to kill two birds with one stone by inviting my new tandem partner along. This was a mistake. Ruggero insisted that we speak slowly and loudly so that he could be included, which of course meant that we could not catch up at all. In the end I spoke to Ruggero (slowly and loudly) while Kelly and Christina spoke quickly and quietly to each other. I started to feel like I was in a Monty Python or Father Ted scene when it turned out that Ruggero's English was appalling and, to top it all off, he only had one good ear. We made it through the coffee catch up and got back to the residenza in one piece, however I'm going to have to do at least one more tandem partner meeting before I go home, just to be polite.
Sunday was a much better day! After a lie-in and a lot of reading of 'How to Write Essays and Assignments' I went to the theatre with Christina. The worst seats in the house and a student discount got us some not-too-bad-seats-really for 12€ to see Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale, but wait, it gets better, it was in ITALIAN! After 2 and a half hours our brains were somewhat hurting from the level of concentration we'd needed (a level most recently matched during 2nd year exams) and we were in desperate need of some Tetly. We cycled home through the fog (as per) and had a Tetly tea, a White Twix each and a chat. What a lovely Sunday! We feel enriched and cultural and clever.
A presto...
Monday, 21 November 2011
Ferrara, Padova, Vigonza, Venezia
Dear Reader(s),
This weekend I went to 4 different places in Italy; Ferrara, Padova, Vigonza and Venezia.
The trip was arranged by Dani, one of the gang, and there was 10 of us in total. We had to get up extremely early on Saturday morning to catch an extremely early train to Ferrara, our first stop. Ferrara is a pretty and small city which I quite like. There was an outdoor market and despite the freezing cold the place was cute. At lunch time we went on our next train to our next stop: Padova, we ate our packed lunches on the train :) Padova I LOVE. It is beautiful and peaceful and I definitely want to return one day. It was all Christmassy with the outdoor market and Christmas lights. I got myself an icecream which was Ricotta, fig and honey flavoured - absolutely the best flavour of icecream I have ever had in my LIFE.
Next stop was Vigonza, but only for the night, we arrived quite late and Dani had found the best little hostel, it was literally just one small chalet run by the waitress who worked next door in the pizzeria. It had 10 beds, a kitchen and a bathroom and after we'd paid our 12€ each she came back with 2 free pizzas and a bottle of fizzy wine! Again, despite the freezing cold, we were all OK.
Up early again on the Sunday and we got our penultimate train to Venezia. Annoyingly it was an extremely foggy day and, again, freezing, but we made the most of the time there and saw as much as we could. Venezia, as everyone knows, is beautiful. I bought myself an authentic mask for a souvenir and it will forever be on my wall wherever I live, not just as a memory of Venice, but a memory of Erasmus and being a student :)
We got a train home late evening and with extremely cold and tired legs we were back in the residenza by 21.30 ready for a good long sleep!
My next trip is looking like Torino on 9th and 10th December, but we'll see...
A presto!
This weekend I went to 4 different places in Italy; Ferrara, Padova, Vigonza and Venezia.
The trip was arranged by Dani, one of the gang, and there was 10 of us in total. We had to get up extremely early on Saturday morning to catch an extremely early train to Ferrara, our first stop. Ferrara is a pretty and small city which I quite like. There was an outdoor market and despite the freezing cold the place was cute. At lunch time we went on our next train to our next stop: Padova, we ate our packed lunches on the train :) Padova I LOVE. It is beautiful and peaceful and I definitely want to return one day. It was all Christmassy with the outdoor market and Christmas lights. I got myself an icecream which was Ricotta, fig and honey flavoured - absolutely the best flavour of icecream I have ever had in my LIFE.
Next stop was Vigonza, but only for the night, we arrived quite late and Dani had found the best little hostel, it was literally just one small chalet run by the waitress who worked next door in the pizzeria. It had 10 beds, a kitchen and a bathroom and after we'd paid our 12€ each she came back with 2 free pizzas and a bottle of fizzy wine! Again, despite the freezing cold, we were all OK.
Up early again on the Sunday and we got our penultimate train to Venezia. Annoyingly it was an extremely foggy day and, again, freezing, but we made the most of the time there and saw as much as we could. Venezia, as everyone knows, is beautiful. I bought myself an authentic mask for a souvenir and it will forever be on my wall wherever I live, not just as a memory of Venice, but a memory of Erasmus and being a student :)
We got a train home late evening and with extremely cold and tired legs we were back in the residenza by 21.30 ready for a good long sleep!
My next trip is looking like Torino on 9th and 10th December, but we'll see...
A presto!
Roma TOMAAA
Dear Reader(s),
Sorry I haven't blogged about the weekend of 11th-13th November, but I'm on it now.
An extremely early start on Friday 11th November saw me up and ready for the bus to Rome with ESN Modena. It was a trip organised by ESN (Erasmus Student Network) and for 175€ we had 3 days in Rome, all travel included, all tours included, hotel and breakfast included, parties included. Not bad?
The weekend was AWESOME. After a 6 hour bus journey we arrived in Rome and left our bags in the hotel. We went on immediately to find the Colosseum, which was stunning. After that we saw some more sights before the light was gone and we found somewhere for our apperitivi. Dinner and preparation for the first disco then ensued; it was pretty good, far more cosmopolitan than the usual (baluardo) and the music was pretty good. The night ended with our disco bus home straight to our door, at 4.30am.
After minimal sleep we were up for our included breakfast (sugary croissants and coffee machine) and ready for the next day seeing Rome. We saw a lot more sights, including my favourites: Trevi Fountain and the Vatican. The Trevi Fountain is so beautiful, I loved it, and combined with the fact that the weather for the whole weekend was literally perfect (nothing but sun, but still crisp, cold and fresh) meant that photos of the weekend are simply beautiful. The Vatican was amazing, and my only regret of the weekend is that we got the timings wrong and the decision to see the Vatican before the Sistine Chapel meant that we missed the Sistine Chapel. The Vatican was stunning, I made sure that I had photos of the Pope's balcony for Dave (who never says 'yes' but 'does the pope have a balcony?') and despite extremely tired feet we made the most of it and saw the whole thing.
After that we made our way to find a pizza and fanta, followed by shower and disco bus to the second disco, which was AMAZING. Literally the best club I've ever been in. The lights and music and atmosphere was so stunning, I loved every second and didn't even realise the time was passing when people started to leave at 5.30am to get the disco bus home!
Again, only a few hours of sleep later, we were up and sugary-croissant-ing early ready for as much of Rome as we could see in the short time before the bus was due to leave. We saw more sights, mostly piazzas and the like, and then exhaustedly we trooped back to the bus, put our ipods in our ears, and slept the whole way til lunch.
Finally, after the lunch stop, the 3 Italian ESN reps made the weekend Erasmus votes on who was the biggest lad and who was the biggest ladette. I won the title of 'Miss Ubriacana' aka Miss Lad! It was basically because I had taught them all the 'Castle Ranger' chant, and then translated it to fit with being Modenese!
All in all the weekend was AWESOME and extremely tiring. I ended the weekend with a solid 12 hours sleep.
A presto...
Sorry I haven't blogged about the weekend of 11th-13th November, but I'm on it now.
An extremely early start on Friday 11th November saw me up and ready for the bus to Rome with ESN Modena. It was a trip organised by ESN (Erasmus Student Network) and for 175€ we had 3 days in Rome, all travel included, all tours included, hotel and breakfast included, parties included. Not bad?
The weekend was AWESOME. After a 6 hour bus journey we arrived in Rome and left our bags in the hotel. We went on immediately to find the Colosseum, which was stunning. After that we saw some more sights before the light was gone and we found somewhere for our apperitivi. Dinner and preparation for the first disco then ensued; it was pretty good, far more cosmopolitan than the usual (baluardo) and the music was pretty good. The night ended with our disco bus home straight to our door, at 4.30am.
After minimal sleep we were up for our included breakfast (sugary croissants and coffee machine) and ready for the next day seeing Rome. We saw a lot more sights, including my favourites: Trevi Fountain and the Vatican. The Trevi Fountain is so beautiful, I loved it, and combined with the fact that the weather for the whole weekend was literally perfect (nothing but sun, but still crisp, cold and fresh) meant that photos of the weekend are simply beautiful. The Vatican was amazing, and my only regret of the weekend is that we got the timings wrong and the decision to see the Vatican before the Sistine Chapel meant that we missed the Sistine Chapel. The Vatican was stunning, I made sure that I had photos of the Pope's balcony for Dave (who never says 'yes' but 'does the pope have a balcony?') and despite extremely tired feet we made the most of it and saw the whole thing.
After that we made our way to find a pizza and fanta, followed by shower and disco bus to the second disco, which was AMAZING. Literally the best club I've ever been in. The lights and music and atmosphere was so stunning, I loved every second and didn't even realise the time was passing when people started to leave at 5.30am to get the disco bus home!
Again, only a few hours of sleep later, we were up and sugary-croissant-ing early ready for as much of Rome as we could see in the short time before the bus was due to leave. We saw more sights, mostly piazzas and the like, and then exhaustedly we trooped back to the bus, put our ipods in our ears, and slept the whole way til lunch.
Finally, after the lunch stop, the 3 Italian ESN reps made the weekend Erasmus votes on who was the biggest lad and who was the biggest ladette. I won the title of 'Miss Ubriacana' aka Miss Lad! It was basically because I had taught them all the 'Castle Ranger' chant, and then translated it to fit with being Modenese!
All in all the weekend was AWESOME and extremely tiring. I ended the weekend with a solid 12 hours sleep.
A presto...
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