Leo Across the Pond

2006-12-21T00:08:00.000+01:00

home!
bye blog!

2006-12-11T17:54:00.000+01:00

well i went to roma and granada, both pretty good times. dont feel like explaining it, mi dispiace.

finals week sucks everywhere in the world (kind of comforting, no?)

all my classes ish for next semester is pretty much figured out meaning i can come back :o) lol

might be in trouble with my program here, we shall see.

im coming home on sunday and im wicked excited. maybe i should start packing. well im happy, but im sad/in disbeliefe. i cant imagine going back and maybe its because ive never really been to where im going back to. everything is different! its not freaking me out, though, which is definitlely a good thing.

i broke my camera, my most prized possession on wednesday! i cant take pictures of my last week here:( i was going to make a movie of my bike home from school because its so pretty in the fog with all the christmas lights... and i definitely wont be getting any christmas presents so... oh well, right? oh. well.

love and guacamole to all

see you soon

2006-11-29T13:51:00.000+01:00

i'm learning so much here

2006-11-23T16:21:00.000+01:00

I AM SO SICK OF ITALIAN GUYS. i had a really bad experience on tuesday and i didnt want to mention it, but there, i have! last night was just another affirmation of my hatred for all men here. NO I DONT WANT TO GO TO A HOTEL WITH YOU AND HAVE SEX WITH YOU AND ...NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ugh. UGH.

i was just talking to my mom on the phone. so i was venting to her and it has carried over to this, although i was not venting about this subject because that would worry her. i was venting about how backwards italy is and how much i hate my program. i apolagize.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING. wish i was home for mexican food and pies. but i am actually just about to make a punkin pie with my friend lisa : ) gia ho comprato una zucca e ho messo nel forno ---- i just bought a pumpkin(butternut squash) and put it in the oven.

oh, but back to how much the guys here suck. they do. and because of this all the girls are really snobby bitches and none of the american guys can even TALK to them hahaha vicious cycle of putane e cazzi (bitches and...dicks, but it means more than dick, sometimes they use it like we say fuck, ya know? no? me either)

im in a bad mood. i need to go cheer up. italy's not really sooo bad. mmmmm good song just came on...

lets see something happy.... hmmm.... GOING TO ROME TOMORROW! OMG THERE WAS JUST LIKE A PIGEON STAMPEDE!

oooh gotta go to il centro and meet lisa
ciao

2006-11-22T17:36:00.000+01:00

well lets see. since i last wrote....
i went to the soccer game and it was so much fun. the italian fans are NUTS. they have drums and fires in the stands! and cannons too! we kept hearing a cannon over from the roma fans

then lets seee..... SCOTLAND
amazing weekend in scotland. just what i needed. ok, getting to and from scotland was kind of a hastle (i have now slept in some kind of station in europe 3 times) but so worth it. bridget and i just hung out like we usually do and it was funny to remind myself that we were in scotland and not boston because i felt so at home with her:o)

im a cheeseball

im going to rome this weekend with kyle and rita and then spain the next weekend to see my COUSIN and then the weekend after that florence for a day or 2.... then...home!

now that it is less than a month till i come home the days are moving SO SLOWLY. i am really looking forward to going home but i know it will be weird to not be here anymore. but, italy is kind of backwards so im sure i'll deal.

mmmm dunkin donuts...what? we were talking about bagels in italian today because our teacher doesnt know what they are.

its been cold and rainy in ferrara

thanksgiving is tomorrow. i miss that feeling that comes with it but it will be there next year:)

2006-11-11T02:29:00.000+01:00

blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

tonight was fun actually, but you know when someone is just in a really bad mood and you cant make them feel better, its a bummer but i had fun nonetheless<--not a word? i mean a real word? ehh who knows anymore. my english is getting worse.

tomorrow is the milano-roma partita di calcio im excited.

things are sitting heavy on my shoulders right now and i am very stressed and feel a weee bit helpless and alone (wow that sounds bad lol). i just wish everything could fix itself.

there are things i will miss about italy. thats a good thing. ma pronto andare.

2006-11-06T05:40:00.000+01:00

scamming the wifi:always awkward because i either have to sit outside (its finally gotten cold), or put the laptop on the window sill in a weird corner of the house...but anyways

amazing weekend with roever. just some highlights

wednesday
-saw my cousin randomly in the Mestre (venice but really far from venice)train station!
-met up with Roever

thursday
-venice with roever! so beautiful again. too many pigeons. tropo pigioni
-dinner with COUSIN.
- gughenheim museum
-movie theatre thats been closed for 15 years?
- we could go out...we could just get a bottle of wine and go back to our hotel...we could just go back to our hotel...and sleep. sounds like a plan :)

friday
-padova...dont go there. no really
- flipped off the arena chapel
-got lost and ended up outside a military base, a trailer park and a stadium 15 meters off of amanda's map
-saw st. anthony's tongue
- last train to milan!

satuday
-milan with jessica!
- il duomo
-agostino the most adorable spaztic waitor ever
-fabio. and his gelato. but mostly fabio
-missed our train to ferrara...because of fabio. and he owes us 40 centisimi
-almost got left on a tram because i fell asleep
- stupid 17 year old italians who think im chinese and wont stop saying hello to me in chinese

sunday
- fabio and his gelato again (best ever)
- uk cosmo
- train home

i miss roever already. gotta book my scotland ticket. and im very annoyed with muhlenberg right now. how am i supposed to fill out a tax form, notarize it, and fax it to the school from here? beauracracy in italy sucks. i might have to go to bologna to get this stupid form notarized.

done with school. mentally.

2006-10-29T11:45:00.000+01:00

yesterday i went to venice with dave. paola was supposed to come but then she had a meeting at school that she couldnt get out of.
let me start by talking about the train ride there. i have been refusing to purchase train tickets and have succeeded all four times, so yesterday we decided not to buy train tickets to venice even though they were only like 6 euro. bad idea. the train was packed so no one could move and both dave and i almost got caught! dave had to fake being sick so the guy wouldnt ask for his ticket. it was so hillarious. he was hiding in the bathroom and the conductor started banging on the door - never happened before - so dave comes out and starts trying to explain that he was sick and then walks away unsteadily so he got off. then the conductor walked by me once and started checking tickets a few people behind me. so i went to hide in a bathroom and when i came out he was right there so just smiled and said ciao and walked by him. PHEW! jeeze, way too stressful. from now on i will freaking buy a train ticket, ok?! gosh

venice is my new favorite place, im so glad that im going back with roever because dave and i didnt see nearly enough of venice. we went to the top of the tallest tower in palazza di san marco and had the best view ever. venice is beautiful and also unbelievably romantic i was feeling really sappy all day, dave was making fun of me haha.

then dave came over for dinner and played ping pong with my host bro (che carina!) and then i went back to darsena with dave to hang out in nicole and val's room. colette was there too. it was a really good time just drinking vino and playing asshole lol...with vino...

oh, i should say, last week val fell off her bike and had to go to the hospital and it was really scary. she pretty much landed on her face. but i saw her last night and she looked really great!

i have to carve a pumpkin today for paola.

also, i am breaking down and finally making facebook albums ok?? ok

ve bene

2006-10-26T14:07:00.000+02:00

i rarely get a chance to update this and i dont really think many people read it which is just fine because very much for me also.
hey so guess what. right now i am sitting in the garden of my house using the wi-fi connection from one of the neighbor's 3 floors up! hehe irish mike just told me about it and so i brought up my computer and we tried it and viola! luckily the weather is still nice and i can still sit out in the garden. it should be getting cold soon, at least thats what i hope :o)

so. ireland last weekend was really really great. i went to see alison for her 21st birthday and megan came too. alisons dad visited also and took us out to dinner which was really too kind of him. but anyways the birthday was the main point. megan got an entire pub to sing happy birthday to alison at midnight. then these 2 irish guys, barry and ciaran took us to a club and bought us drinks including flaming sambuca shots. ciaran lit his hand on fire and had to dance with a cup of ice the rest of the night. silly irish boys.

omg im getting attacked by these tiger mosquitoes - tigre zanzara, they are the worst! they just touch you and bam! little grey devils. oh, last night paola locked me out. i came home at midnight, she never goes to bed that early. and she had locked the door and stuck the key in it from the inside so you cant put a key in from the outside. luckily kyle was still awake and i just biked over there and spent the night.

i love kyle, we had girl talk it was great. right now her and i are both unsure how we feel about the amount of time left here. i cant quite figure out if i want to go home or if im happy here or if everything is just sort of blahh. she on the other hand wants to go home to see a boy. so we're both in a funk- italian style haha. i am happy here i know that, but after seeing my girls in ireland i got a little homesick, well friend-sick...i miss you guys!

i had a dream last night that i went back to the Cafe on the Common and Karen was there! i miss her, i hope she's alright.

this whole entry is so random mi dispiace.

going to venice this weekend with paola and my friend davide. tuesday is paola's bday so she is having a big party.

next weekend i am hanging out with roever! ...and addy is visiting? i dont really know. gotta call her.

about to book my trip to scotland too. :o)

ciao for now

2006-10-17T19:31:00.000+02:00

heyyyy so i was in amsterdam this past weekend and it was absolutely cramazing, to quote the wonderful estv. i went with my friends val, nicole, dave, kyle, dean and nick. we got in late on thursday and went to our hostel, walked through the red light district and went to sleep. the hostel was wicked cool. we walked in and there was this dee-jay playing reggae and just such a cool/funny atmosphere.

then we spent most of friday wondering around the city. we legit got lost in amsterdam for a while ...but it was fun : D. that night we met up with dean and his sister who is studying near there for the year.

the next day we went to the van gogh museum and on a canal tour. the city is so gorgeous! and there are so many different kinds of people and different kinds of foods (was getting a little tired of italian...just a little) we slept in the airport that night because, well, that just seems to happen to us every couple of weeks. haha i just love cities, it felt good to be there, but by the end of it we all felt happy to return to ferrara where "we know things work" as my friend dean said haha.

school work is really piling up. got a mid term on tuesday and lots of other boring stuff i wont go into.

going to Galway tomorrow night to celebrate stag's 21st bday! ahhh and megan is going too! im so excited to see them!

still have to get to
-random places in italy including arezzo and roma...and venice
-SCOTLAND
and
-ESPANA
and
-LONDON
and.......i think thats it? time is runing out!...and so is money...

on the home front, life is good. my dad is doing well, talked to him last night, my mom is liking her new job and cookie is liking the new apt lol. yesterday was Mattie's 17th birthday! i cant believe she isnt 10 still.

gotta go buy some francobolli

it's dark out and i have to bike home :( oh well! such is life in ferrara

ciao

2006-10-09T19:03:00.000+02:00

this weekend i went to Siena, Pienza, Montalcino, San Gimignano and Pisa with schooool. it was a really fun weekend. for some weird reason the girls and guys were in different hotels...8 km apart... so we girls had this whole cute agro-tourismo hotel thing to ourselves and just stayed up late the first night talking and bonding a little, which was nice. the next day (our second in Siena) we just had free time the whole morning so we went shopping... and i ran into Theo and Tori! they scared the crap out of me! see, all the time i think i see people i know but then it really was Theo running up to me! ahhh! so great.

so, in Siena, only the boys bought stuff, which we all thought was funny, so that night we had a guy fashion show so they could show off their new italian duds and it was soo fun. i was the 'attitude/strut judge' a couple of the girls were stylists and said that before the fashion show started all the guys were being really nervous and really cute. awww ragazzi.

i bought my first real bottle of wine in Montalcino because it is supposedly the best place to get wine in Italy. its a real nice one, we did a little wine tasting before mm mmmm mmmm

this coming weekend i was planning on going to amsterdam with a big group but the girls who bought our tickets were a little drunk when they bought the tickets and didnt realize that flying into Frankfurt is completlely useless haha so we are trying to figure something out. then next weekend i am going to galway with some people, but i am going to celebrate Stag's 21st! then the weekend after that....milan, arezzo, florence?? idk but it's Paola's bday by then i think and i promised her i would be here for that. AND my cousin is coming to visit!

i gotta go to Glasgow. Glasgow is def next on my list. and Granada. and London....and...?? running out of weekends which is kind of fun to think about but at the same time its scary to think.

2006-10-01T19:38:00.000+02:00

we had to go on a silly excursion to Verona yesterday and it was the most lame of our trips but it was still fun. i went to Juliet Capulet's house (even though she wasnt a real person?..was she?) anyways, i touched her boob. we all touched her boob, juliet gets AROUND. the trip was lame because we were on the bus for much of it and our tour guide talked about rice for maybe 20 minutes. oh and we ate shredded donkey grion raviloi...hahaha i think our program directors were like "hmmm what can we make them eat today muahaha" they wouldnt tell us what was in the raviloi but my friend dave asked the bartender. yum.

then me and some friends left the F-ing field trip to go to Milan to see the free Jay-Z concert! we were so surprised they let us go. it was so fun! we didnt sleep all night, except maybe a little on a step in the milan train station and a little bit on the train in 1st class until we got yelled at.

we were so close to jay-z. so close! and we met up with our friend jeremiah who is studying here in ferrara, he is not with our program, but we met him and he is really cool. we like jaim-o haha

im really starting to like people here, so thats good. its october! whoa how crazy is that.

oh i lost my cell phone in milan:( bummer but there was probably only one number that i cant get back so im not too worried and yeah idk i will just get another??

we met this random canadian model in milan at one of the metro stations and started talking to her because she spoke english and she said she was going to the after party with jay-z...and beyonce... and "tried to get us in" on the phone. she kept being like "yeah im with these americans... they arent models but..." she was kind of stuck up and thought she was way cooler than she actually was. she couldnt get anyone to send her a taxi to take her to the party so we were thought that she probably wasnt getting in to the party either so we didnt end up going, but still, pretty random.
oh dang it was such a good night.

i have a ton of hw.

my mom officially moved to indiana yesterday lol. so i am now a mid-westerner?

well my computer is going to die soon. so i must be going.

:o)

2006-09-27T19:36:00.000+02:00

hey HEY hey

last weekend was kind of fantastic. i went out on friday night with my italian friend Marcello and his friends, who were all very nice. then on saturday our program took us to Bologna for the day, which was nice but the best part was lunch- not the food but the conversations i had with people, it was just great to finally talk to some people i hadnt ever really talked to yet. that night i went to go talk to irish mike and ask to borrow his computer quickly and we ended up talking for like 3 hours. then we had dinner and kept talking for hours it was so nice. i heart him big time.

i have a flippin sweet class schedule also. i only have class monday, tuesday and wednesday, so i plan on doing a lot of travelling. we shall see.

by now i have had all my classes once. italian will be fine, as will Italian Civilization and Culture (we're required to take this one), my Italy in the EU class is the one i was most excited for but it will def be the most difficult because the teacher doesnt speak english well and ... he just sort of creeps me out... cant sit in the front row next time, and it is 4 hours long! i am really excited for one class in particular: Gender and Race and its Representation in Italy. really interesting so far and the teacher seems really great.

so im at the internet cafe again and my friend kyle just left but i really have to pee...can i just leave my laptop here?! idk idk! ahh!

going to Verona with the program on saturday so my goal is to read the Two Gentlemen of Verona before i go. i might be going to Venice with my host mom on friday but i have already read the Merchant of Venice (duh!) so i am fine with that one

:o)

2006-09-21T15:05:00.000+02:00

hey thurr

i just finished the written and oral part of my italian final. tomorrow we have to give our teacher a tour of the city..sort of... not in italian. so i and this other girl are going to take her to a gelato place i think. (people are taking her to bars, the castel, just random things around town its not a serious thing) wait i dont think my sentences or spelling of words is making sense...sorry. its hard when you're learning another language!

tuesday night was a lot of fun. it was 2 people's birthdays and so we all went out to this really great bar. tried some new delicious drinks. rossini=yummm. our program directors yelled at us that morning, however, for getting drunk so 'moderazione' was the word of the night lol. we got yelled at because one girl gets wasted every time she goes out and one night she got lost and just wondered around the city until a couple of the american guys found her... yeah...

random things: my host mom taught me how to make ragu. Family Guy is called I Griffin here. Walker Texas Ranger is way funnier in italian and the drama of the OC is intensified when you watch it dubbed in italian. right now i am supposed to be doing italian things in the computer lab. i need to have 10 hours total due tomorrow and right now i have 3.5 and counting! eek! oh this is funny, all of us american girls just learned that aparently it means something significant when you give a guy your phone number haha!

got a european drunk dial from my cousin last night, cant wait to go and see her in espana.

we are picking classes today finally.

once irish mike's wifi system arrives at the house i will post some pictures. ooh irish mike.

the guy sitting next to me has really bad B.O. actually he is 2 seats away from me but i can still smell him.

hmmmmmmmmm im not homesick yet but i miss people. but i'm fine.

how are you?

2006-09-18T13:23:00.000+02:00

ciao! i went to Florence for the weekend! it is the most beautfiul place i have ever seen in my life. i visited my mother's best friend Rosetta, who i have never liked...because i was a brat..., but she and i bonded and it was so fun. her house is in the country and she has the most fantastic view. the hills are amazing and you can see il Duomo from her living room. it rained pretty much the whole time i was there which was a bummer but now i know what i want to see when i go back and i am definitly going back. Florence is less than 2 hours from here. i didnt get to see Roever because she was in Rome but it's ok i will see her soon :)

so i didnt really know it because i havent done it much, but i like travelling. a lot! it was great to get out of ferrara for a little bit. still have a lot places i want to go. gotta get my plane ticket to Galway soon! :)

well back on the home front my mother is MOVING today-ish.

ciao ciao ciao ciao ciao

2006-09-15T19:56:00.000+02:00

ciao again!

well so i've been here now about 2 weeks. so far so good:o)

today i had my midterm for my 3 week intensive italian course; the final is next friday...venerdi. the rest of my classes start on sept 25. its nice having class once a day at 12, 1:30, and 2 o'clock everyday. once all the classes start i will only have class mon-thurs.

i am all settled in with my host family. there is Paola, my host-mom, who is an english teacher so she is really great at helping me learn italian. she thinks i am a loser, though because i dont go out every night...oh well. Guiseppe "beppe," the dad is never around; i saw him last night for the 3rd time. and then there is Eduardo, he is 13. he's a good kid... oh! and irish mike! Mike is a friend of Paola's who is living in the little appartment attached to the house. he has a daughter here in italy who is 16 years old. i love irish mike, when i have more time i will go into detail about how grateful i am for Irish Mike.

i'm going to florence this weekend to visit a family friend who lives there.

ahh! i have to go! i am at an internet cafe and i promised my host mom i would put something in the oven for her in 15 min!

umm i miss you

2006-09-02T23:53:00.000+02:00

hey there! im finally in italy! so much has happened lets seee

-every plane i got on was delayed. looong story short i ended up spending about 4 hours in the Paris airport and arriving at my orientation 12 hours late. yes, thats right i missed the entire first day. not a horrible experience just sooooo tiring

-we had orientation weekend at the Carlton Hotel and my roomate's name was Rebecca. she is really nice and we got along well....then.....i found out that she is half brasilian too! weird! she is a good brasilian however and speaks portuguese, but with a different accent than i am used to hearing, but still awesome.

-my homestay situation got a little messed up; i was supposed to move in today but i will move in tomorrow so here i am at the Carlton Hotel all by my lonesome :( but its ok. we all had dinner together and hung out for a while then i just came back to my room and discovered the wireless internet.

-my italian is already getting better! this city is so gorgeous. it looks like the "typical italian city" that you see in brochures as dumb as that sounds. everywhere i turn it is just so wonderful, historic and i cant wait to spend an entire semester here.

-the people in the group all seem nice so far. there are about 26 of us.

-everyone here rides bikes. old school, indestructable-looking bikes. oh and everyone has a cell phone...i got one today and let me tell you as hard as it is trying to find a cell phone in the U.S. trying to get one in italian is so much more confusing. my phone number is (including 001 the US country code and 0039 the italian country code) 001-0039-3490646801 i think. not that anyone should call me i think it would be wicked expensive.

anyways i am having a good time so far. i will try to put up pictures soon.

ciao

2006-08-30T16:14:00.000+02:00

so heres the deal. i leave tonight 7:15 fly to Amsterdam then to Bologna

wish me luck!

2006-08-29T21:25:00.000+02:00

this is my mailing address in Ferrara:

Jane Gomes
c/o Richard Chapman
Via Contrari 15
44100 Ferrara Italy

2006-08-28T01:07:00.000+02:00

while in italy i want to go to a soccer match in a big stadium and experience the excitement....and maybe meet Kaka' he plays for Milan.

2ish days.

2006-08-25T19:03:00.000+02:00

well, in a passing moment of freaking out i officially decided to start a blog for when i am over in italy. i figure i can start writing in it now because i just started packing for italy. its friday and i leave wednesday.

to my newton girls: lately, we have all been saying how we wish we could go back to high school because it was all so great and we were all together, but just thinking about how much things are going to change in the next few weeks i've realized how great things are right now! I mean yes, it has been harder to keep in touch with people in different states and countries, but we almost always came back to boston and saw everyone. i am going to miss being able to call anyone up to get coffee in newtonville and just sit for hours. alright im getting mushy so i will stop before it gets worse :o)

anways i hope people (ncds and berg!!) read this and of course i will be emailing as well. this blog may be more for me than anything else; just the idea of staying in touch keeps me sane.

ciao for now