http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Betta/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Betta en-us Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:53:40 +0000 Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:53:40 +0000 From requests from my mom and Sarah I am going to try to do my best to keep updating my blog more frequently with no promises of quality or length of the entries.... I arrived safely in Italy on Monday morning with no problems although it was probably one of my more absurd airport experiences. My roommates and some other friends in Siena had requested that I bring back some different kinds of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-431401.html Herersquos a very belated and sort of abbreviated account of my Easter trip to Sicily last month. Easter in Sicily was certainly an experience I will not forget. I was very lucky to get to experience Sicily within the context of a large and exuberantly welcoming Sicilian family who immediately opened themselves and their home up to me. It was a warm but easy sense of welcome without any huge g http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Sicily/Palermo/blog-399919.html I got back on Tuesday from a very exciting trip to the south of Italy. I went with Samantha one of the students this semester. It worked out really well because we have very similar ideas about how to travelmdashwhich basically means that we donrsquot plan things well because we think it's more fun to explore this also involves getting lost a lot and walking around aimlessly. We also think http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-384945.html Irsquom still recovering a little from my impromptu but wonderful trip to America a few weeks ago. It was wonderful to visit home and see family and friends and although Irsquom happy to be back in Italy Irsquom really missing everyone very much. Herersquos a brief rundown of my trip basically the program director was in the States visiting colleges but unfortunately got pretty severel http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Pennsylvania/Dauphin-County/Harrisburg/blog-382554.html The other day two of my roommates decided to put internet in our apartment. Theyrsquore really excited to blast into 2009 with newfangled downloadingathome capabilities. I came home the other day and Olinda was all in a huff. She told me lsquoI tried to download Happy Feet but instead I accidentally downloaded a porno about a guy with a foot fetish. I sat down expecting to watch a nice lit http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-372626.html Christmas in AustriaI hope that everyone had a wonderful holidayI just made it back to Siena safely after a great week in Austria. I left last Monday night on an overnight train. It was not such a good tripthere was this terrible family in the car with me. The mother kept yelling at the children and she kept telling me that I was on the wrong train. She asked where I was going and when I said l http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/Tyrol/Innsbruck/blog-358187.html Well I am officially terrible about keeping this updated. My goal for next semester is definitely to write more. I decided rather than trying to write everything that has been going on these past few months which is impossible I would include some random photos from various trips and things throughout the semester from the first days to the last. The semester ended last week and all of the stu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-355833.html I have gotten way behind in writing. I am going to give a few random pieces of what has been going on here in the past few weekshellip I am also going to post some pictures soon. To begin with herersquos a random funny language blunder of the week I woke up early and was in the kitchen having breakfast and packing my lunch for school. Typically I either bring some kind of sandwich or leftove http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-332861.html I am having trouble concentrating to write this entry because I think I am delirious from the extreme amounts of pesto I have been consuming in the last week. Over a matter of days I ate an entire rather sizable jar of pesto. Basically the pesto here is amazing. I bought myself an excessive jar convinced that pesto is one of those indefatigable items like peanut butter and honey that you just http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-323935.html I came home late yesterday evening after eating dinner at a restaurant on the piazza with the school. One of my roommates Letizia a law student at the University of Siena was sitting at the kitchen table studying and we were chatting for awhile. We get along well and we were talking and gossiping about our days boys our families and all sorts of things. Well I was telling her that sometimes http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-319612.html Ciao a tutti Here is the long awaited update on my life that I hereby dedicate to Sarah Leslie and Steph for urging me to write. I hope that everyone is doing well and enjoying the end of the summer. After arriving in Italy last Tuesday evening I really have not stopped moving at all and this is the first chance Irsquove had to write. As a result I cannot promise how coherent this entry wil http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-319358.html I think that to really get to know a culture itrsquos quite necessary to pay a nice visit to their medical facilities. For the past little while Irsquove been having this problem with my eye where I really canrsquot see very well especially out of my left eye which is definitely kind of a problem. The school decided it was time to take me to the hospital to have it looked at so I was dri http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-109076.html The weeks are really just flying right by and I canrsquot believe Irsquoll be home in almost exactly a month Although it will be hard to leave it will be really exciting to come home and see everyone and Irsquom also looking forward to chowing down on some foods I havenrsquot eaten in awhile...really high on my list are Chinese food Mexican food bread and butter instead of olive oil http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-106385.html My parents arrived on Saturday the 28th and I took a train Saturday morning to meet them at the airport. Unfortunately I arrived a little later than I had hoped I thought it would be like a movie if I was there waiting for them when they came out of their gate and apparently my father wanted to leave without me and just have me meet them at their hotel sorry dad I just had to include th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-102620.html So last week I got home from school and went into the kitchen to say ciao to Lucia and she was cooking dinner. She was explaining to me what she was cooking and I thought she said lsquocavallorsquo which is horse. She was telling me that because it has an odor after you cook it una puzza she had to put the pot outside. I was absolutely terrified that she was cooking smelly horse for cen http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-97548.html Now for my first entry as my 21 year old self. Hopefully my writing will sound more mature as I think I have gained much experience and insight since turning 21....The weekend before my birthday was a very relaxing and beautiful one. On Saturday I went with school to a vineyard in the countryside to participate in the vendemmia the grape harvest. We arrived energetic and ready to get out there http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-95939.html Ciao a tuttiOur three week intensive language course ended Friday and this week is the beginning of our regular semester classes. I am taking four classes but one of them actually counts as two classes and my schedule looks really great. I will continue to have an Italian language class then I also have an introductory Art History class complete with field trips to Florence a class on Ital http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-91228.html Last week I spoke with Miriam the director of my program about finding a place to practice the piano. Up until then I hadn't played the piano at all in Italy and I really missed it. Luckily Miriam's brother owns a hotel in Siena and after clearing it with him I am now allowed to go to this beautiful hotel and play on the 9 ft. Steinway grand piano in the living room. I went for the first ti http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-88094.html Just a quick update on an entirely strange and exciting afternoon yesterday.... So after class ended I was walking with Hannah my new friend from Bryn Mawr we didn't really know each other before coming to Italy but she's wonderful and I'm glad that Italy introduced us to each other. We are in the process of making plans for a trip on Saturday. We think that we would like to go back to a be http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-87214.html I have to try to remember some of the interesting things that I have done since the last time I updated this...apologies for the disrupted temporality of my thoughts....Yesterday was my first day of school For the first three weeks of the semester we only have intensive language classes so I go to school every day from 930 until between 4 and 5 with a pretty hefty Itlalianstyle lunch break http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-86536.html