Internet crisis part Dos

So, currently the internet it down at the hostel. Thus, I am unable to update unless I borrow someone's computer and find a bar with Wifi. Why bars have wifi, I do not know.

Currently, I am sitting in the hotel lobby in Venice with 15 minutes left of my internet. 4 euros for 30 minutes. Crazy prices! Ah well.

Venice is crazy. I like it but I never know where I am. I feel like I am walking in circles and dark alleys and suddenly you are back in a tourist area that is across the island from where you started.

However, this leads to walking past many cute shops and spending money. I bought a nice shirt today in Venice, and a coat and boots yesterday in Piran. Everything is half off because of the New Years Sales. Good time of year to visit, despite the rain and cold. (Still, I'd rather have a dreary, rainy trip for a month than subzero, blustery January days in MN).

I will make a post for each day I miss. This is not Day 8s entry. I will elaborate more on today once I have free internet again in the hostel, but currently everyone who walks by on the street looks at me through the hotel door here, so it's kind of creeping me out.

Anyway, ciao from Venizia!

Day 6 - Trieste/Trst

Today, we went to Trieste (or Trst), Italy for the day. It was jolly good fun!

We left at 9am, and took the bus. It's about an hours drive, but you can see Piran from Trieste and visa versa. The best news of the day? It was sunny! We could see! Yesterday at lunch, the ceiling was painted like sky, and we joked it was our first blue sky of the trip! But today, it was actually sunny. Still cold, but sunny.

We went to language building of the University of Trieste for a couple lectures by Slovene professors on Trieste's history and then on Slovenes in Italy and Italian-Slovene relations. After, we ate in the University's cafeteria. It really made me appreciate St. Olaf's caf! There was one line, and you could get lasagna, penne, torellini and 4 or 5 different sauces and either an apple strudel or cold steamed vegetables.

Yum... <.< >.>

Anyway, then we went to another lecture room and a professor of politics explained to us about the Italian perspective of our morning lectures. He is a friendly, generous Italian man, and all that goes with that. He took us on a tour of Trieste and ate dinner with us after.

We went to a castle built in the 19th century by Maximillian of the Austro-Hungarian empire (the second son who went on to become emperor of Mexico), the main square in Trieste (where Stefano, the politics prof, arranged for us to go on a tour of the swankiest hotel in Trieste), then an amphitheater from the Roman times that is still in use, then a cathedral and old castle from the early Austro-Hungarian rule.

Then we went out for pizza, real Italian pizza. It was pretty good. They could not put pineapples on pizza, though. After, we were treated to a shot of this sweet yet incredibally strong lemon liquor. It was described by someone as ˝Mikes Hard Lemonade on crack.˝ I'll have to find more of it somewhere, because unlike most strong alcohol which tastes like nothing then tastes bad, this tastes bad then tastes great! I like that better! Just a few minutes after drinking the one shot and my fingers were tingling.

Anyway, fun day all around. Tomorrow we stay in Piran, but then we get a free weekend in Venice!

Trip Day 5!

Today, we had an early departure of 9am! We boarded the bus and headed to Koper, the main port town on the Slovenian coast. I should mention that the Istrian region of Slovenia has 2 names for everything: an Slovenian name and an Italian name. This is because on the Istrian peninsula, there has been a lot of intermingling of Slovenes, Croats and Italians, and there is a large Italian minority on the Slovene part of the Istrian peninsula. So Piran, our main town is Pirano in Italian. Koper is the Slovene name, and Capodistria is the Italian name. It means ˝Capital District˝as in the capital district of Istria.

Anyway, we went to our lecture at the University of Koper, where we first listened to a talk from the Rector of the University. After he gave his brief introduction of the school, a professor of anthropology gave a lecture about Istrian identity. Then one of the American Foreign Service Officers from the Embassy gave a little talk about American-Slovenian relations. Finally, we met with the staff at American Korner, the office for students who want to study abroad in America. Considering college is almost free in Europe, and they are less strict about attendence, not many students want to travel to the US.

We then went to lunch in Koper as a group and after went for a walking tour of the city. It is really small. It used to be an island, but they filled it in about a hundred years ago. The bus then drove along the coast back to Piran, with our talkative tour guide narrating our journey. There were some great views of the vinyards and valleys next to the ocean. The hairpin turns in a coach bus were a little weird, but Boris the Bus Driver is capable and we are still alive.

There are also these super tall clumps of grass. They remind me a little of pampas grass, only way taller and in smaller clumps and without the fuzzy tops. I'll post a picture if I can get one, but it's hard to do from the bus.

For dinner, we went to this place where you can get a 5 course meal for €7. We didn't do that, but it was still pretty cheap (€12) for spaghetti with salmon, wine, a crepe with chocolate and tea. I would get something else for an entree next time I go there, but it was very delicious overall.

Piran Day 4

This morning was unfortunate. I had trouble sleeping from 3-6 again. At 7, I woke up, went down to breakfast, ate a delightful meal (although the eggs were scrambled with ham this morning instead of sunny side up, so I did not eat them). Then I went upstairs to see if my last grade has been posted yet.

All that showed up on my computer was a blue screen. A blue screen of death more specifically.

It was a disappointing morning. Now I won´t be able to use my own computer until I get back to school in February. Alors, I am using the computer in the hostel, which has a slavic keyboard. Easier to use than French because most of the letters are the same, but the Y and Z are switched around, which is surprisingly more annoying than I imagined. Also, it took us about an hour to find the @ symbol.

You must hit ˝Alt Gr˝ + ˝V˝ @@@@@@@ I found it!

Anyway, if there is a random z in my post, please forgive me.

Back to Day 4, now. We went to class, in the warm and humid classroom at the Institute. Interesting lecture, but warm and humid and full and tired = one sleepy Catey!

We ate a quick and filling lunch after in a hotel's cafe. I don't really know what I ate, but it tasted good. The waiter said it was like soy cakes, but they tasted like crab to me. It was served with some sort of mashed potatoes or polenta or something. Plus we had a delightful appetizer of brown bread, lettuce, tomatoes and some sort of potato salad/cole slaw/something. It'd be nice if menus are in English or French but it tasted good even if I didn't know what it is! I'll upload pictures to facebook once I get my computer working again.

Then we watched movie about the 12 day war of independence in Slovenia. I didn't really know who all was talking, so I was kind of confused. The fact that the warm, humid, dark room + food in my belly made it hard to stay awake.

Then we went to the market and bought stuff for dinner. I made penne with diced tomatoes and peas with some sort of cheese (like gruyere or something). It was pretty good. The kitchenette is limited, but nice to have.

Piran day 3!

Today, I woke up at 3:20, and after that I stayed awake til late in the 5'o'clock hour, when I woke at 6, dozed off again til 7:10, when I just got up. I took a shower, then went to eat breakfast.

It was resplendent! I had some sweet star-shaped bread, soft bread with cheese, more bread with nutella/some other nut spread, tomato slices and tea, lots of it. It was fantastic. I can't wait to eat breakfast tomorrow! It lasted well through lunch time, too.

We went to the classroom today at the Institute of Mediterranean Heritage, which is a college for archaeology, part of the regions university system. It's a nice classroom, just very warm and sleepy, and on jetlagged sleep, many of us were nodding off. I think the professor at the institute who was lecturing today understood. He kept it light, and gave us breaks in between powerpoints.

Then we had a break for lunch, the two hours during which were spent mostly trying to avoid the giant puddles in the cobblestones. It was raining/snowing quite a bit today, and probably will for the next week or so. My feet are cold.... : (

Lunch was okay, though. We stopped in this bakery and got these pastry pizza things. Mine was like spinach pie in a pastry instead of a pie crust. Cheap too. Just €2.70. Also at the bakery, a duck egg machine (or gumball/bubble machine, if you prefer) which sold Pokemon zipper pulls for €1. I got Pikachu. Meichen got Magnezone. Good times.

Then we went to the town hall in Piran for a quick tour/art history lesson. Omg, our tour guide does not shut up! It sounded like she was going to stop, but then she would keep going! Hopefully I get more used to her as the month continues, as she'll be coming with us to Trieste and possibly Venice. She's really nice, just long-winded.

After that, everyone went back to the hostel to sleep. Best nap ever!

Then it was up and off to dinner. Two others and I went to a seafood place. I ordered spaghetti and scampi. It was really good! Instead of marinara like I was expecting, it came with a garlic butter sauce, and delicious shrimp, including one still whole. I didn't eat that one. She was pregnant when they boiled her alive. That was a little too disturbing. Anyway, after that, I ordered tiramisu for dessert. Delicious!

I've posted some pictures on facebook if you want to see. I'll try to remember to take more. I forgot to take pictures of my meals today. I'll try to remember to do that in the future.

Arrival in Piran!

I left home today at 1:30pm to go to MSP airport. Paddy, our prof, got stopped going through security because of his artificial knees. Rather entertaining, I must say. Our plane left for Chicago at 5:45pm (it left later than we thought it would, which is why we had to be there at 2:30). That flight showed 30 Rock. Then it was dinner at Chili's in O'Hare, and off to Munich. That flight was super long, but it was pleasant.

If you're going to travel overseas, take a foreign airline. They feed you. A lot. We got beverages, dinner, beverages, snack, late night juice, breakfast and more beverages. Even in our 1 hour connection to Venice, the airline served us dinner at 4:15pm. It was nasty and gross, but still, not bad.

On the way to Munich, I watched 500 Days of Summer, This Is It, and 2 Discovery Channel Documentaries. I slept for a few hours (I slept through the second half of This Is It). The girl next to me kept elbowing me in her sleep, and my neck kept tipping to the left. Super annoying.

I slept the whole way from Munich to Venice though, until they brought the food out. I had a window seat and everything. Alas, I missed most of the Alps.

After that, we ate in the airport as we waited for another of our group to join us who had a later flight. It was not very good, and difficult to order in Italian. Ah well. It was only €7 for the meal. The gum I bought in Munich cost €3.60. Rather ridiculous.

Luckily, I'll be traveling in cheaper countries than Germany and Italy for the most part. I'll save my money as much as possible for when I do travel to Venice on the free weekend.

Anyway, class starts bright and early at 10 tomorrow, so it's bedtime. I haven't taken many pictures, as we arrived at night, so I'll have those up tomorrow or the next day.

Decade/Year in Review

I was going to review the year, but it wasn't that great. I guess I successfully completed my sophomore year of college, helped restart the non-religious student organization at St. Olaf, coordinated a lot of events for GLOW and the GSC, played in a Scrabble tournament, got a DS Lite, rented my first apartment, got a new cell phone, turned 21 (and survived), got my wisdom teeth out, became a supervisor at work, got a second job, and actually read books that I enjoyed not just academic texts.

Now that I think about it, it was decent. Still spent most of it stressed out to the point where I wasn't very happy. My only solace was hard work and Pokemon.

The decade overall was good. Just think, 10 years ago. I was 11, just beginning my life in middle school. I think it would be impossible to get worse than middle school. In the past decade, I have got my first email address, started getting my period, stopped getting my period, had crushes, kind of had a boyfriend, dumped him, had a boyfriend, got dumped, traveled overseas to England, France, the Bahamas, and Monaco, traveled over land to many different states, lived through middle school, graduated high school (with highest honors), was accepted into a prestigious liberal arts college, loved it (so far), drank my first alcohol, avoided smoking anything (including oak leaves, my first experience being pressured to smoke), avoided any grade lower than a B-, had my first surgery (wisdom teeth), drove for the first time, disliked driving for the first time, rode a train for the first time, cut my hair, wore my first bra, stopped shaving my legs, got my first tattoo, avoided any cavities, saw the Lord of the Rings (several times) which is still my favorite movie ever (yes, all three just make one big epic movie), became extroverted (but only just), became interested in clothes and appearance, became disinterested in clothes and appearance, got my first pimple (and have had them ever since), wrote a novel, tried to write more, had my first political discussion, came out as bisexual, then pansexual, and genderqueer, realized I am an atheist, started an online diary, a facebook, a deviantart and a blog, alienated a couple people, networked with countless more, and many other interesting milestones that I could list forever.

Yes, the decade overall was better than the year.

Next decade, I'm kicking it off right! Tomorrow I leave for Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia for a month. I am going with a class, and we are studying political identity in Central Europe by looking at former Yugoslavia. I am extremely excited and I hope I am one of the lucky people whose lives are changed by their travel abroad experience. Also, I hope to take an awesome picture so I can win the photo contest when I get back in February.