London, London, London...

London has become one of my favorite cities hands down.

It was my second time visiting, and I will be there a thrid time since I have a layover there before I fly back to the states. The city is magical. It feels electric, alive and I love it and could picture myself living there one day.

But the best part about my weekend in London was reconnecting with old friends!! I met up with the BISP kids (British Isles Study Program) from Whitworth and had a blast. It was refreshing to see familiar faces, and though the tickets were purchased last minute and cost me and arm and a leg, it was worth every euro. I needed this as a kind of mid-semester rejuvination. The BISP students were pretty tired and burnt out since they're on the last leg of their journey and by this time they were a little sick of each other--so I provided so very needed entertainment.

The first night I flew in and stayed at a really nice hostel by myself. The next morning I went to the Lancaster Hotel near Hyde Park where I waited around a couple of hours, explore the park a bit, and met up with the backpackin' gang. We went to a Pub that afternoon, got cupcakes and crepes in Covenant Gardens, saw movie premere excitement in Lester Square, and my friends introduced me to the strangest yet most wonderful chain of Pubs/restaurants/lounges/clubs, Yeats.

The next day we got a good breakfast in the lobby (I had to be sneaky since I technically was not supposed to be at this hotel and slept in a bed with Calli) and then Devin, Calli, Tyler and I went to the Tate Modern Museum which was AWESOME. I absolutely loved it. It was a rainy day in London and we warmed ourselves at a cafe after seeing all the cool things the Tate has to offer. Overall the weekend was very relaxing and fun and renewed my love for the city of London as well as my excitment for the day I return to Whitworth. In every way this experience abroad has made me realize what quality people Whitworth produces and what a uniquely wonderful place it is.

I returned to Milan completely exhausted and had to go straight to class (I had taken a 4 am taxi cab to Victoria Station in London monday morning). Classes this past week have been a little nuts with midterms coming up and everything. I feel SO unprepared. But tomorrow which also happens to be Halloween, I am taking a train after Italian class to Bern, the capital of Switzerland where I will stay in a downtown hostel for the night. On saturay my roommates Tara and Rita will meet up with me. In Switzerland I hope to relax, study more for midterms in a coffee shop or something, breathe the fresh mountain air, eat swiss chocolate, feed the bears in the bear pit exibit they have there, see Einstein's house, and perhaps rent a bike to explore the city on. It will be a much needed weekend retreat.

I hope all is well both across the pond and in other various parts of the world. Ciao mi amicas/amicos!

Serbia, the Balkan Adventure!

It's been quite a while since I've given updates. So last weekend I took a 19 hour train ride through Eastern Europe, the Balkans, to Belgrade, Serbia with 7 other people from my program here at Cattolica.

Begrade is just like any other modern European city really, but the looming presence of its communist past is still very evident. There are still bombed out buildings left partially destroyed from the NATO bombings in the 90s that are left destroyed because the Serbian government does not have the funds to fix them. It was also very cool for me personally to see the actual places where optor! took action and marched to the steps of the capitol building. We past intensely impoverished gypsy villages by train and saw the evidence of poverty and gypsy camps in a nearby town we visited just outside of Belgrade. Overall, it was quite eye-opening to see and experience a part of Europe that is rarely visited and that has such recent historical significance.

We stayed at the appartment of Vasa, Luka's grandfather. He was the sweetest old Serbian man ever and we squeezed all 8 of us into his two room one bath apartment in a Belgrade highrise. He cooked for us lots and lots of authentic Serbian dishes which are very fatty, greasy, and meaty.

One day we visited this awesome park in central Belgrade with views of the city and the Danube river. The park had cool old ruins that we walked around and museums and park art and stuff. Also that evening we went to the apartment of Lilly, a Serbian women who used to babysit Luka when he was little. She lives with her 15 year old son, David, and her boyfriend. It was a surreal experience and I will have to explain it in person to you all sometime. During our meal there she dissed big time on the country of Australia which offended poor Tim, the Aussie in the group. But then she played Balkan gypsy music on the record player and handed us all tamborines and other instruments and taught us some gypsy dances and we danced on the wooden floors of her apartment for a while (after sipping some Ratika, an authentic and very strong Serbian drink of course).

The train ride back was pretty long and miserble and we almost missed our connection in Zagreb, Croatia, and then we had to go to class when we arrived back in Milan. Gross.

So that was Serbia....and last night (Tuesday) I attended a play performance here in Milano for my Italian literature class and it was awesome. Even though the entire play was in Italian, we could sort of follow what was going on because we read the play in English beforehand. The play was "Six Characters in Search of an Author" by the modernist author/playwright/director, Pirandello.

Also, I made an extremely spontaneous decision to fly to London this next weekend so that I could visit my dear friends in the British Isles Study Program at Whitworth. It was an expensive last minute ticket, but at this point I feel like seeing Whitworth people will rejuvinate my spirits! I'm extremely excited also because London is one of the coolest cities I've ever been to. After that I have another week of classes, then I go to Bern, Switzerland for the weekend, and then it's midterms. After midterms I go to Amsterdam, then Bratislava/Vienna/Budapest, then probably Copenhagen, Barcelona, then Paris to finish it off. Crazy, I know. And oh, I'm flat broke during the financial crisis. ugh.

Oh, and I started my Italian language class! I'm in a basic level class and there are only four of us in it! Me, my two roommates, and our friend, Devon. It's so nice to get so much personal attention from the professor and be able to ask lots of questions and practice speaking Italian. But it's throwing me off so much because I keep wanting to say things in French and my mind automatically translates things into French....so I need to work on that. It will be so helpful though to be able to communicate better in the city. Milan is the least english friendly part of Italy, surprisingly.

Ciao Ciao, miss you all!!

Dorby Den! Czech it! Praha installment #3!

So this last post on my trip to Prague is a few days late....

but I eventually met up with Caitlin and her friend, Kate, and we had an awesome full day! We walked the Charles Street Bridge early in the morning before it was crowded with tourists and it was still really foggy out which made it a most picturesque sight! Next we wandered more crazy beautiful streets (it's so so clean and every building has such unique architecture) and then we went to Prague Castle! We also went inside the cathedral behind the castle which had some of the most vividly colored stained glass I have seen so far in Europe (Bohemia after all is famous for it's colored class and Bohemian crystal). After touring the Castle and such we ate lunch at this cute little Czech restaurant and asked the waitress for the most authentic Czech cuisine they had. So basically the traditional Czech meal is Pork soaked in some sort of wine sauce with dumplings and this stuff that's sort of like sour kraut.

After that we found another one of Prague's incredible parks with sweeping views. We hiked up a hill with winding stone paths covered with autumn leaves until we reached a tower at the top. Up here there is the 'Hungry Wall' and a mirror maze that we went into.

Later in the day we explored more of the other park that I went to on my first day in Prague, then we went on the bridge some more and heard some live music, and went to this really neat Czech market. We walked around late into the night, enjoying the sights, sounds, smells of this incredible city! Oh and we had free glasses of wine that night which was quite enjoyable and was a relaxing way to top off an exhausting day.

The next morning we woke up early, ate breakfast at the hostel and checked out, then did a tour of the Jewish quarters of the city and it was amazing. We bought tickets that allowed us to enter different synagogues and the Jewish cemetery which was one of my favorite things that I saw here. The graves were a jumped chaotic mess of stones covered with ivy and moss in a tree covered area in the middle of the Jewish quarters surrounded by high ivy-covered walls. It was a beautifully sad sight and very moving.

The Jewish Quarter was the final thing I got to see in Prague because it was then time for me to depart from Caitlin and Kate and catch my flight and return to Milan.

So I'm back in Milan now and I had classes earlier today, and I am already thinking about the adventures planned for the weeks ahead! To give you guys a heads up.....expect blogs in the future on my adventures in Croatia and Serbia, Switzerland, Amsterdam, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Spain, Denmark and Sweden. Ahhh crazy. Travels every weekend! I will return to the States a changed person for sure and this has truly been the experience of a lifetime!

ciao my friends! I miss you all!

Czech it again! Praha installment 2!

Hello again from Prague! SO much has happened already today and it's only just past 3 in the afternoon here!

So last night I walked the city streets of Prague which are gorgeously lit up. I had a conversation with a Czech girl who work at a Starbucks here (yes, even here). I asked if she was from the States because she had a perfect American accent but she informed me that she was native to Praha but she had lived in Oregon for a short time and learned English. She got all excited when I told her I go to school in the Northwest and that I was from California. She said she'd kill to switch places with my life! I told her I'd gladly switch because I find Prague absolutely captivating and she didn't understand how. We come from such different worlds yet we both want to find some distant far off place to belong to--there's always some place we'd rather be no matter where we are from.

In the morning I met up with Caitlin and her friend, Kate, who is studying along with her in Hungary! We've had a jam packed day so far filled with more beautiful park sights, some cool Jewish Synagogues, and Prague Castle! I will fill in the details later....because my friends are waiting on me.....so another installment is to come!

peace from Praha!

Czech it out!! Praha installment #1

Greetings from Praha! The beautiful city of Prague, the capitol of the Czech Republic!

Holy cow. This city is extraordinary, magical, stunning! No wonder it's known as "the gem of Eastern Europe." At every corner, every street, every bridge, or every park bench, there is something unique and aesthetically pleasing to the eye in this city. The architecture is other-worldly. The canals, the parks, the monuments.....I could go on and on raving about the beauty of this place!

I think I'm truly becoming an adult as weird as that sounds (I know you're all thinking, "yeah right Dani...we know how you really are"). But no really! I booked this flight all by myself, took my bus to Cadorna Station in Milan, took the Malpensa express, changed planes in Zurich, took a bus from the Prague airport to a metro station, took the metro to the city center, then navigated my way to the hostel where I am staying tonight, and I explored the city all day today. An d I did it all BY MYSELF. And I felt totally natural doing it. I'm a little proud of this as you can tell. But tomorrow morning I'm meeting my wonderful friend from back home, Caitlin, who's studying in Budapest, and we will explore Prague more together (though it can be cool to explore solo, it's always more fun with good company!).

My favorite part of my first day in Prague was wandering in one of it's majestic parks. I crossed a canal bridge, not the famous Charles Street Bridge (I went there later), but one of Prague's many bridges to this park that's located on a hilltop. From this park are scenic panorama views of the city (the vantage points where most popular postcard photos of Prague are taken from). Since autumn is in full force here, my personally favorite season, the park just blew me away. My camera photos do not do it justice. The trees where all yellow, orange, and red, the grass a lush green, and it was that time in the afternoon when the sun is beginning to set and is casting shadows on the ground. Fall leaves where on the ground everywhere (reminding me of the fall on the beautiful Whitworth campus). The ground was damp and that fresh scent of clean air and crispness was everywhere.People were leisurely walking dogs or sitting on park benches. The park has many winding pathways that all have sweeping views of the city, the river with the great canals. It was simply to die for and it was a much needed change from the mugginess and grime of Milan.

After exploring the park, I walked across the Charles Street Bridge, walked back, saw the city center and Old Town, and eventually after much walking, I took a break at a coffee shop after purchasing a really neat Prague postcard that I'm sending to my family.

Some friends that I had met up with at Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, are studying in Prague (but they are traveling this weekend so I was unable to meet up with them) warned me about Czech people. They are very quiet and soft spoken, very casually dressed (a nice change from the pretentiousness of Milanese fashion), and well, a little bit cold. I don't mean to say that they're flat out rude or anything, but let's just say I was warned. And yes, I encountered some very rude people today, startlingly rude actually, but a few people seemed genuinely friendly as well. So I guess it's hard to categorize the friendliness of an entire country. One street artist czech woman I met was very nice along the Charles Street Bridge and I bought a piece of art from her (the Charles Street Bridge has lot's of cheap, good street art).

The hostel I'm at is very nice and located right in central Old Town Square. Not bad. I'm waking up very early tomorrow to meet Caitlin and though I'm sure she'll be exhausted, we're going to have a very full day. We'll probably see the park (again for me, but I don't mind at all), walk the bridge, see Old Town, and hopefully some sweet looking cathedrals and Prague Castle!

My second Praha installment is in the making....so until then, ciao ciao!

Bonjour Nice et Monaco!

So on the eve of my 21st birthday, my roommates and I went to our favorite restaurant around the block from our appartement. The restaurant owner who is always there (in Italy, if you own a restaurant, the restaurant owns your life) has become our neighborhood friend. He gave us tons of free food and free drinks for the special night. We then looked up train ticket prices and decided to go to the south of France which is only a wonderful 27 euro for a five hour train ride. Not bad at all. We packed that evening, slept only a couple hours, then woke up early to get to Stazione Centrale. The ride there was great--we watched the Mediterranean out of the window. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and the air was clean and fresh along the Italian coastline in the province of Liguria--a drastic contrast from muggy, polluted, congested Milano.

Once in Nice, or Nizza as the Italians call it, I felt so much more at home in regard to language. Since I've taken five or so years of French, I felt more confident navigating the city since I could actually read the signs and communicate more effectively. Even though we were only in France three days, I felt as if my French language skills got better in that short mount of time, and I was able to recall words that I haven't used in a really long time (it's been 2 or 3 years since I've taken French).

Nice is a beautiful city! It felt so much more quaint and friendly than Milano and the people seemed more casual in this touristy beach town. We stayed at an awesome little hostel where we made friends with our hostel roommates. There was Sarah who was a 27 year old elementary school teacher from Switzerland who was on break and traveling teh Cote D'Azur, South of France, by herself. There was also Salpin, a 34 year old from Hamburg Germany, though she is Turkish by heritage. Salpin ended hanging out with us in the city of Nice and in Monaco for the weekend and she was tons of fun to have along. She too was on vacation and traveling by herself and we had lots of great discussions with her. We talked about everything from European and American politics to veganism and vegetarianism (she herself is vegan). One night we went to an organic gorchery store, bought some pasta, sauce, bread and vegetables and brought it all back to the hostel and cooked ourselves a meal in the hostel kitchen. I loved the kitchen at the hostel! There were so many people, both young and old, cooking and sharing meals together and all sharing leftovers and talking in different languages. We also met Claudia at breakfast one morning--a young Brazilian girl who has spent the last couple of years living in Ireland and now she is moving to Dubai. She's moving to Dubai to learn Arabic and to overcome any stereotypes she holds, or so she told us. She was extremely kind and I admired all of these women we met while in France who are living independently, traveling alone just because they want to. There was something so free-spirited about these women and there were things I greatly admired in all of them and learned from their lives. So basically, I really live the vibes that hostels have goin' on!

While in Nice, we climbed to the top of this hill where there was a park with a waterfall, some ruins, playgrounds, a Jewish cemetary, and breathtaking views of the city and sea from all angles. That day we also hung out at the beach (despite the fact that we were inappropriately dressed and not wearing beach attire of any sort) and relaxed as we watched the gentle waves of the bluest water I've ever seen. We wandered some of the city streets, ate delicious French crepes with nutella, and looked at some cool street art and used books in an outdoor market. Later on that evening, we went to this place called Le Six. We spotted this place during the day, and there was a sign saying it was a musical pub so we thought we'd check it out. Well as it turns out, Le Six is not so much a musical pub or piano bar as we were expected, rather it was a very contemporary erotic gay bar. Oops. So we left and walked along the seaside where there was some live music playing. There were these really old drunk guys dancing like maniacs to the music and my roommates Tara danced with them as we watched and laughed heartily. By then we were very tired, went back to the hostel and crashed. The next day we had breakfast then took a very crowded bus ride with beautiful views of teh coastline to the Kingdom of Monaco. Monaco is technically under its own juristiction, it's not a part of France and it has its own ruling Monarchy. So we visited the famous Palace on the hilltop with more incredible views of the sea from this little park and botanical garden. Later we grabbed some lunch accross from the docks where all the multi-million dollar yachts are parked, then went to the train station and rode home. The train ride was pretty legit (we had our own box all to ourselves where we could fold the seats down into beds and close the curtains).

Overall my time in France was very relaxing and refreshing--we didn't want to come back to Milano and go to class the next day. Next week I'm going to Prague which is exciting--it's one of the places in Europe that I'm actually most excited to explore. Even though I'm just about flat broke, I feel so incredibly blessed to have these opportunities to travel!

c'est la vie!

ciao!

21!

Hello all!

So I am officially 21 years old! woohoo! It's bizzare to be celebrating a birthday here...especially when I am already old enough to drink here in Europe!

After class I am going out to dinner with the roommates to a restaurant around the block where the owner has become our friend. Afterwards, there's a birthday party going down at another friend's appartment....then this weekend....hopefully we'll be headed to France! Celebration!


Ciao Ciao! I will write of the birthday/weekend adventures next time!