SOrrry I haven't updated in like a.. month :/ haha But things have been a little crazy these weeks. What has happened - Festa Della Donna, Class Trip to Muncich, going to Sicily in 4 days, Easter approaching mad fast, ect. Okay, so from the top
Festa Della Donna is actually International Women's Day. March 8th - I had never heard of this holiday before and am deeply disappointed in the USA because it is just a day where everyone wishes the women best wishes and then they give them really pretty flowers called mimosas and this holiday is excellent. The italians also give special importance to it because in March ( although it happened on the 23 I think, not the 8th) there was an accident in a factory that happened in NEW YORK involving a bunch of jewish and italian immigrant women... they were locked on the factory's 7/8/9 floors because the boss didn't want them taking smoking breaks during the day, but then there was a fire that killed about 150 of them I guess.. they had to jump out the window or be burned to death and it's really sad but i still don't understand why the freaking USA doesn't respect this holiday when hello it happened in NEW YORK what is going on people we are slacking... anyway in Italy the boys give you pretty yellow flowers that stand for womenness. It's nice. A friend in one of my classes gave me these flowers and I was so so so happy because they were so pretty and I didn't even know what they were for.. so I went home and I was like AUGURI to my mom (best wishes) and she had a confused look on her face and then rememebered that it was Women's day. Then i held up my flowers to show her and said guarda! which means look... but it didn't say look at what i got i just said look and her face got so happy and she started saying AWEEE QUANTO SEI CARINA (how cute are you) and took the flowers. I.. ended up just leaving it be hahahah because I didn't want to say ahh em! ehem.. hahahah but it was a really funny story all in all.
Class Trip to Munich
Okay, on the 9th of March I went on a class trip with 2 of my 8 classes that I frequent, it was the funnest class trip i've ever done and they just will never be the same in america :/ First, we met at a wonderful hour of 6 am to get on the buses to drive (yeahhhh) to Ginevra in Switzerland. Super fun 8 hour drive, slept most of the way... When we arrived in Ginevra it was realllly beautiful sunny day, and freezing cold with a wind that blew people over. Me and two of my friends decided to get lunch at starbucks, I almost had a heart attack when I saw it (i'm not kidding there's pictures I am legit freaking out)... I then had my 6 dollar latte (thanks switzerland) and started to cry because it was so... bad. WHAT HAPPENED THE COFFEE HERE HAS CORRUPTED ME. Just kidding.. but literally I was drinking it and could not taste the coffee whatsoever it tasted like a glass of milk. I have no idea how this is going to work when I get home hahaha. Anyways we ate lunch and then went back to the bus because then we got to to visit the united nations! Just a reminder, entry to the united nations is just like airport entry. Meaning if you bring a little swiss knife they probably aren't going to be pleased with you. My friend and I both had them and the security guards had a good laugh at us before waving us through haha. However, the united nations building was so so so beautiful and really interesting and I was thinking about maybe a future job there because it was really just an interesting place that was soooo nice and working overseas is of course.. my dream haha. Anyway, we took a big tour of the place, which was huge, and there was so much art in the building that like different countries donate as presents and respect for being in the UN and it was really beautiful. We also got to see one of the big rooms that you see on like C-Span or whatever where they have the conferences with all the nations.. they are HUGE. After we finished there we went to the hotel (in France, apparently it's a bit cheaper hahahah) where we spent the night. We all ate dinner and then after dinner went in search of a pub or something to have a drink but the town was so tiny so the pub we found was 3 other people and about 30 of us. I went with the quinta classes (the last year in high school here, so all the people are 18-19) because unfortunatly my class didn't get the chance to go on a trip this year but I was lucky enough to talk to my teacher and go with these classes :) So we decided to start the trip to Germany with 4 liters of beer for 6 of us... nice ahahah. We got back to the hotel at about 1 and everyone went to bed. The day after we went to CERN! If you don't know what CERN is, its a huge science center in Ginevra that has the worlds biggest particle accelerator and is also where they study nuclear reactions. We did a tour there for a little while, it was really interesting but kind of for just kids our age because there was a big area with lots of interactive activities where they explained what they did and stuff (in case you didn't know, the World Wide Web (internet) was invented at CERN). I wanted to see more parts of the building but we didn't get to and that's okay I'm guessing we would have broke something anyway :) Anyway after that we had a little time for lunch in Ginevra and then we went to a Red Cross Museum! That was also really cool.. all the exibits here are amazing and full of the most beautiful art. After that we went back to Ginevra... me and my two friends decided to go to an art gallery because it was freaking freezing outside and I didn't really want to (because I don't like art museums that much? Well this gallery was more contemporary and it was FREAKING AWESOME! Some of the most beautiful artwork i've ever seen.. and then there was like a 6 foot fat cat statue that I didn't understand but whatever. After that we went to McDonalds to get tea, but I saw a store next to it with a bunch of cool looking shoes in the windows so I went in and was pleasantly suprised to find like, heaven.. And i got teh craziest 4 inch heels for what is considered really cheap (30 dollars) and i was quite pleased. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy when I brought a shopping bag onto the bus though.. and gave me even crazier looks when i showed them what the shoes looked like hahah. Anyway after that we got in the bus and took a five hour or 8 hour drive to Munich in Germany. We got to the hotel pretty late, ate dinner, everyone went in the hotel lobby and drank really good beer and we finished everything at about 2 am. When I read the itinirary for the trip it said hotel and staying at 8/9 pm every night.. i figured out pretty quick that that was not going to happen haha but that's okay! The next morning we went to the concentration camp Dachau... it was really sad. Not just because it was a concentration camp, but because it was so clean and... didn't seem like anything had ever happened there. We went in the gas room, the crematorium, and it was just so hard to believe that the places where we were walking was where my ancestors walked too.. to their death and i don't know how to explain it but it was really just unbelievable. My friend that went to other concentration camps said that in fact Dachau wasn't that bad.. the other camps were much much worse and it really seemed too nice or something this one. However it really does make you think. Dachau was just for men, it was the first concentration camp and all the other camps were based off of its design. It had a gas room but they never used it for killing people, just for experiements (and some of the experiments they did were excuse me - fucking sick). After a creepy and surreal morning, we went out and ate lunch and then went to the center of Munich and the beer brewery. The people that worked there told us that the brewery had 3,500 seating places and on a normal saturday night served over 20,000 people. That is a lot. of beer. The waiters and waitresses were also wearing like the german laderhosen costumes or how they are called.. it was pretty cool ;) At 6.30 we all went back to the hotel in the buses, and I was laughing so hard because everyone was pretty drunk at this point and my teacher was like SHUT UP YOU DRUNKARDS because we were all singing in the bus and i could not stop laughing haha but it was really fun. We all ate dinner and then stayed in the hotel that night.. talking and drinking MORE beer in the lobby until an angry german came down, yelled at us in german, and the yelled did you understand?!?! (Well of course, happen to have studied german my whole life duh.. haha) anyway then we all went to bed. The day after we went to museums, the Pinotek? I don't know how to write it! Where there was Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, Dali, a bunch of really beautiful art. We then went to another contemporary art museum which was also really cool... it was art all morning :) For lunch we all went to the birriria (not my choice at that point) and then we continued to go to another museum - a science one that had like WW II planes, ships, eletrical experiements, it was HUGE. That night, Friday, was our last night so we split into a couple groups and some of us went to the disco and some of us went to the birriria (AGAIN). I went to the disco :) However, to get into the center we had to take the metro.. that was hilarious because everything was in german so of course we couldn't understand it and then about 3 trains went by without stopping so we were all confused to start with and then the prof was screaming at all the kids that he wasn't letting them go if they didn't show him where the disco was on the map and then all the kids were trying to show him and the other prof was in a corner shouting to himself.. it was a big mess but in the end really fun! The disco that we went to was called Max and Moritz, we tried to go to a really famous disco (there's also one in Ibiza, Spain and New York) called Pacha and it's like known worldwide but they were unfortunately having a private party that night. So we walked past two buildings and we went to the other disco! In Italy discos are kind of expensive, usually 15-20 euros or more. In Munich, it was 5. This pleased me. Also, when we walked in the door they all said welcome! and gave us a shot of some peach liqueur. Dancing in Germany was really fun :) At the end, around 2 or 3 the prof's came to get us and they came inside the disco to get us and I was laughing so hard because we were all just dancing and then the prof was like... everybody needs to leave.. hahaha it was quite funny to see them inside the disco but we all went out and went to the hotel for bed. The next morning we hopped right on the bus and drove to a place that had these really beautiful castles and I can't remember the name right now. However, we hiked up a long winding path to go see this HUGE castle on a hill and it was so so so beautiful probably the most beautiful castle i've ever seen and the view was so stunning and it was a perfect day not too cold with light snow hahha. Once we finished touring the castle we went back down to the buses and drove a beautiful 8 hours to Milan.. where the trip was finallly over at 9.30 at night. It was so much fun and i'm really lucky that I got to go because I made a bunch of new friends and saw some really cool things. I got home at like 10 and then figured I should go to bed.. until I went on facebook and saw that there was a really cool dj playing at the disco so yeah I went to bed at 7 am after that trip... and then slept all sunday. Monday we had to go back to school which was terrible especially after having vacation but there was sun and it was actually pretty hot! Monday afternoon I made a cheesecake for my mom because today (Tuesday) was her birthday. Then Tuesday was all normal, school, gym, sleeeeep haha and it was so hot today (at least for me, not saying much because I'm from Alaska but whatever) and then we had a big dinner because it was my mom's birthday and everyone liked the cheesecake :) Tomorrow (Wednesday) is ST Patricks Day and I'm so excited!!! Not because Italy celebrates it or anything.. haha but because my dad is all irish and english so I am very proud of my heritage and so a couple of us from intercultra are going out for a happy hour to also celebrate being in Milan for 6 months!!! Wow.. time really does fly. Then, this Saturday I will be going to Siracusa Sicily for a week and i'll make sure to update after that and tell you how it all was
COMUNQUEEE arrivaderci!
Festa Della Donna is actually International Women's Day. March 8th - I had never heard of this holiday before and am deeply disappointed in the USA because it is just a day where everyone wishes the women best wishes and then they give them really pretty flowers called mimosas and this holiday is excellent. The italians also give special importance to it because in March ( although it happened on the 23 I think, not the 8th) there was an accident in a factory that happened in NEW YORK involving a bunch of jewish and italian immigrant women... they were locked on the factory's 7/8/9 floors because the boss didn't want them taking smoking breaks during the day, but then there was a fire that killed about 150 of them I guess.. they had to jump out the window or be burned to death and it's really sad but i still don't understand why the freaking USA doesn't respect this holiday when hello it happened in NEW YORK what is going on people we are slacking... anyway in Italy the boys give you pretty yellow flowers that stand for womenness. It's nice. A friend in one of my classes gave me these flowers and I was so so so happy because they were so pretty and I didn't even know what they were for.. so I went home and I was like AUGURI to my mom (best wishes) and she had a confused look on her face and then rememebered that it was Women's day. Then i held up my flowers to show her and said guarda! which means look... but it didn't say look at what i got i just said look and her face got so happy and she started saying AWEEE QUANTO SEI CARINA (how cute are you) and took the flowers. I.. ended up just leaving it be hahahah because I didn't want to say ahh em! ehem.. hahahah but it was a really funny story all in all.
Class Trip to Munich
Okay, on the 9th of March I went on a class trip with 2 of my 8 classes that I frequent, it was the funnest class trip i've ever done and they just will never be the same in america :/ First, we met at a wonderful hour of 6 am to get on the buses to drive (yeahhhh) to Ginevra in Switzerland. Super fun 8 hour drive, slept most of the way... When we arrived in Ginevra it was realllly beautiful sunny day, and freezing cold with a wind that blew people over. Me and two of my friends decided to get lunch at starbucks, I almost had a heart attack when I saw it (i'm not kidding there's pictures I am legit freaking out)... I then had my 6 dollar latte (thanks switzerland) and started to cry because it was so... bad. WHAT HAPPENED THE COFFEE HERE HAS CORRUPTED ME. Just kidding.. but literally I was drinking it and could not taste the coffee whatsoever it tasted like a glass of milk. I have no idea how this is going to work when I get home hahaha. Anyways we ate lunch and then went back to the bus because then we got to to visit the united nations! Just a reminder, entry to the united nations is just like airport entry. Meaning if you bring a little swiss knife they probably aren't going to be pleased with you. My friend and I both had them and the security guards had a good laugh at us before waving us through haha. However, the united nations building was so so so beautiful and really interesting and I was thinking about maybe a future job there because it was really just an interesting place that was soooo nice and working overseas is of course.. my dream haha. Anyway, we took a big tour of the place, which was huge, and there was so much art in the building that like different countries donate as presents and respect for being in the UN and it was really beautiful. We also got to see one of the big rooms that you see on like C-Span or whatever where they have the conferences with all the nations.. they are HUGE. After we finished there we went to the hotel (in France, apparently it's a bit cheaper hahahah) where we spent the night. We all ate dinner and then after dinner went in search of a pub or something to have a drink but the town was so tiny so the pub we found was 3 other people and about 30 of us. I went with the quinta classes (the last year in high school here, so all the people are 18-19) because unfortunatly my class didn't get the chance to go on a trip this year but I was lucky enough to talk to my teacher and go with these classes :) So we decided to start the trip to Germany with 4 liters of beer for 6 of us... nice ahahah. We got back to the hotel at about 1 and everyone went to bed. The day after we went to CERN! If you don't know what CERN is, its a huge science center in Ginevra that has the worlds biggest particle accelerator and is also where they study nuclear reactions. We did a tour there for a little while, it was really interesting but kind of for just kids our age because there was a big area with lots of interactive activities where they explained what they did and stuff (in case you didn't know, the World Wide Web (internet) was invented at CERN). I wanted to see more parts of the building but we didn't get to and that's okay I'm guessing we would have broke something anyway :) Anyway after that we had a little time for lunch in Ginevra and then we went to a Red Cross Museum! That was also really cool.. all the exibits here are amazing and full of the most beautiful art. After that we went back to Ginevra... me and my two friends decided to go to an art gallery because it was freaking freezing outside and I didn't really want to (because I don't like art museums that much? Well this gallery was more contemporary and it was FREAKING AWESOME! Some of the most beautiful artwork i've ever seen.. and then there was like a 6 foot fat cat statue that I didn't understand but whatever. After that we went to McDonalds to get tea, but I saw a store next to it with a bunch of cool looking shoes in the windows so I went in and was pleasantly suprised to find like, heaven.. And i got teh craziest 4 inch heels for what is considered really cheap (30 dollars) and i was quite pleased. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy when I brought a shopping bag onto the bus though.. and gave me even crazier looks when i showed them what the shoes looked like hahah. Anyway after that we got in the bus and took a five hour or 8 hour drive to Munich in Germany. We got to the hotel pretty late, ate dinner, everyone went in the hotel lobby and drank really good beer and we finished everything at about 2 am. When I read the itinirary for the trip it said hotel and staying at 8/9 pm every night.. i figured out pretty quick that that was not going to happen haha but that's okay! The next morning we went to the concentration camp Dachau... it was really sad. Not just because it was a concentration camp, but because it was so clean and... didn't seem like anything had ever happened there. We went in the gas room, the crematorium, and it was just so hard to believe that the places where we were walking was where my ancestors walked too.. to their death and i don't know how to explain it but it was really just unbelievable. My friend that went to other concentration camps said that in fact Dachau wasn't that bad.. the other camps were much much worse and it really seemed too nice or something this one. However it really does make you think. Dachau was just for men, it was the first concentration camp and all the other camps were based off of its design. It had a gas room but they never used it for killing people, just for experiements (and some of the experiments they did were excuse me - fucking sick). After a creepy and surreal morning, we went out and ate lunch and then went to the center of Munich and the beer brewery. The people that worked there told us that the brewery had 3,500 seating places and on a normal saturday night served over 20,000 people. That is a lot. of beer. The waiters and waitresses were also wearing like the german laderhosen costumes or how they are called.. it was pretty cool ;) At 6.30 we all went back to the hotel in the buses, and I was laughing so hard because everyone was pretty drunk at this point and my teacher was like SHUT UP YOU DRUNKARDS because we were all singing in the bus and i could not stop laughing haha but it was really fun. We all ate dinner and then stayed in the hotel that night.. talking and drinking MORE beer in the lobby until an angry german came down, yelled at us in german, and the yelled did you understand?!?! (Well of course, happen to have studied german my whole life duh.. haha) anyway then we all went to bed. The day after we went to museums, the Pinotek? I don't know how to write it! Where there was Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, Dali, a bunch of really beautiful art. We then went to another contemporary art museum which was also really cool... it was art all morning :) For lunch we all went to the birriria (not my choice at that point) and then we continued to go to another museum - a science one that had like WW II planes, ships, eletrical experiements, it was HUGE. That night, Friday, was our last night so we split into a couple groups and some of us went to the disco and some of us went to the birriria (AGAIN). I went to the disco :) However, to get into the center we had to take the metro.. that was hilarious because everything was in german so of course we couldn't understand it and then about 3 trains went by without stopping so we were all confused to start with and then the prof was screaming at all the kids that he wasn't letting them go if they didn't show him where the disco was on the map and then all the kids were trying to show him and the other prof was in a corner shouting to himself.. it was a big mess but in the end really fun! The disco that we went to was called Max and Moritz, we tried to go to a really famous disco (there's also one in Ibiza, Spain and New York) called Pacha and it's like known worldwide but they were unfortunately having a private party that night. So we walked past two buildings and we went to the other disco! In Italy discos are kind of expensive, usually 15-20 euros or more. In Munich, it was 5. This pleased me. Also, when we walked in the door they all said welcome! and gave us a shot of some peach liqueur. Dancing in Germany was really fun :) At the end, around 2 or 3 the prof's came to get us and they came inside the disco to get us and I was laughing so hard because we were all just dancing and then the prof was like... everybody needs to leave.. hahaha it was quite funny to see them inside the disco but we all went out and went to the hotel for bed. The next morning we hopped right on the bus and drove to a place that had these really beautiful castles and I can't remember the name right now. However, we hiked up a long winding path to go see this HUGE castle on a hill and it was so so so beautiful probably the most beautiful castle i've ever seen and the view was so stunning and it was a perfect day not too cold with light snow hahha. Once we finished touring the castle we went back down to the buses and drove a beautiful 8 hours to Milan.. where the trip was finallly over at 9.30 at night. It was so much fun and i'm really lucky that I got to go because I made a bunch of new friends and saw some really cool things. I got home at like 10 and then figured I should go to bed.. until I went on facebook and saw that there was a really cool dj playing at the disco so yeah I went to bed at 7 am after that trip... and then slept all sunday. Monday we had to go back to school which was terrible especially after having vacation but there was sun and it was actually pretty hot! Monday afternoon I made a cheesecake for my mom because today (Tuesday) was her birthday. Then Tuesday was all normal, school, gym, sleeeeep haha and it was so hot today (at least for me, not saying much because I'm from Alaska but whatever) and then we had a big dinner because it was my mom's birthday and everyone liked the cheesecake :) Tomorrow (Wednesday) is ST Patricks Day and I'm so excited!!! Not because Italy celebrates it or anything.. haha but because my dad is all irish and english so I am very proud of my heritage and so a couple of us from intercultra are going out for a happy hour to also celebrate being in Milan for 6 months!!! Wow.. time really does fly. Then, this Saturday I will be going to Siracusa Sicily for a week and i'll make sure to update after that and tell you how it all was
COMUNQUEEE arrivaderci!
