Pigeon blood and other unforeseen adventures ...

I'm in Venice right now. Just stopped into an Internet cafe because we had some extra time before dinner in San Marco Piazza. I still feel like I'm swaying back and forth from the water taxis that you take down the Grand Canal to get around the city ... but it's a nice feeling. We arrived in Venice yesterday morning, all bleary-eyed from the night train. If you're ever considering a night train somewhere, RETHINK the idea. Unless you know everyone else in your little coach, and even then, it's a pretty bizarre and icky experience. In a tiny coach, they fit SIX beds, three bunked on each side, with maybe a 1x3 foot extra space in the middle. It's really tight quarters, and a few of my friends and I were stuck with a sick family with a small infant who was also sick. We stayed in the "lounge car" for as long as we could stand up. It was like a violently swaying snack bar - a gross one. But we met other French people heading to Italy, and other Americans from different colleges. Overall, it was interesting ... but a bumpy ride and difficult to sleep.

At any rate, we got into Venice, checked into our hotel, and then went right to Venice. We rode in a water taxi all the way down the Grand Canal, a snake-like canal that goes all the way through the middle of the city. We got off at San Marco Piazza, where there's a famous basilica, and thousands and thousands of pigeons. You can feed them and they just jump into your hands. So, of course I was game to do that - but one of the guys in our group decided it would be a really fun idea to take off his shirt, lay down in the middle of the piazza, and have us pour bird seed all over him. It was a sight to behold and we laughed like crazy. However, after that some of us noticed that because the pigeons are fighting each other for the food we give them, they are bleeding in places. A few pigeons flew into my hands and got blood all over my arm! That was one of the weirdest substances I've ever had on my body ... I paid a euro to use a bathroom to clean off.

The pay-bathroom in San Marco Square was another experience in and of itself ... we saw that it cost a euro to get in, so we paid it to a man standing right outside. However, once we walked up the stairs to the bathroom, we saw that you had to pay THERE, to an actual official attendant ... so the guy outside taking our money was a total con artist. My friend and I RAN back down the stairs and found him just about to leave, and we got our euro back. Not so for some of the other tourists though. I thought it was extremely funny, though, as I'd never come into contact with such a con artist before.

Also, the food here is better than it was in France. I was losing a lot of weight in France because I didn't really like much of the food there - it's very fatty or just bland or the bread was really hard. But here, everyone makes cappuccinos all the time and it's just amazing. Also, the gelato is delicious, and the paninis are to die for ... I could get very fat staying here much longer. It's like my appetite's finally come back - I haven't seen it for awhile!

Today is a national holiday in Italy, so we're hoping for something interesting to happen in the square tonight ... we'll probably be here late after dinner. A gondola ride is planned for tomorrow ... so romantic, so beautiful, so ancient.

Time to go find some gelato, eat something cheesy and delicious and pasta-y ... and wait to see Venice at night.

Grazie - Bonjourno - Prego!

Jennie

Night train to Venice ...

We're leaving on the night train tonight at 11 pm and will arrive in Venice first thing in the morning. I don't have a lot of time to update but wanted to keep you posted on the travel plans! I will try to write again today, but if it doesn't happen, I'll try to write a big post when I get back with pictures too!

Jennie

just a-journalin'

Since I've arrived, I've been journaling constantly ... there's so much going on that there's always something new for me to process or think about or observe. For a writer, it's exciting because there's a lot of grist for the mill, a lot of new, meaty experiences to sink my teeth into. And right now all of my groupmates are searching the internet for hotel deals in Venice, which I'm hopeless at. Clearly. So here's a transcription of some of my recent journal entries.

From May 26, near midnight:
I think photographs can say so much more than my utterly incompetent words ever could. In fact, as I journal, I'm feeling extremely frustrated. The words won't express how I feel at all. So, let me try to set this small scene: it's near midnight, downstairs in the lobby/kitchen area of the Villages Hotel; the night manager has one of the glass doors open and he's talking loudly in French on the phone ... two of my classmates just came in from dinner and said they tried some bizarre mixture of liquer and beer. The outside street is quiet, but over my iPod I can still hear the clinking of tiny espresso cups from the neighboring cafe, and I can hear chatting and coughing wafting in along with a cool breeze from the open door ... a small red motor scooter revs down the road, past the red sign on the door to the hotel that says Bonjour! Entrez vous etes les bienvenus. As well as variations on that theme in German and English. My body is sore, my head is hot, I'm a mess ... but I'm also completely peaceful.

A castle, a hotel and a lake - it's Switzerland!

More pictures ...



For some reason, I've been taking pictures of every weird sign I see ... this one is probably my favorite. I'll have to post my Strange Sign Series at a later date, when I'm less scatter-brained.



Geneve, Switzerland ... everyone rides motor scooters around Europe.



The famous Lake Geneva. It was big, it was watery, it was a lake. It was beautiful, sure, but everything else was more interesting than it, really. Such as the chocolates.



Montreux, Switzerland ... I really, really loved Montreux. If I could go back, I'd skip Lake Geneva and just spend an entire day roaming the waterfront in Montreux. It had such an easy, breezy feel, and was just gorgeous. Plus, there were so many different types of people and foods and trinkets ... very cool.



The mountainous, watery vista on the cobblestone path toward the castle ...



The castle in Montreux ... it cost 12 euros to get in, and the line was enormous, so I had to enjoy just the outside. Which was amazing, in and of itself.

I promised it, so you get it ...

Pictures! These are of Dijon, the city where we're staying...



Set for dinner ... about 6 blocks from our hotel.



The biggest, oldest, and only "official" cathedral in Dijon. The size is intimidating.



A close-up on the detail of the underside of a staircase in the cathedral.



A building front on the street ... very old, medievalish and well-preserved.



The Palais du Ducs Bourgogne, or in other words, the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy. Facing it is several cafes, and it's so beautiful at night when there are hundreds of people out eating dinner in the evening hours.

switzerland, truffles, and wee-fee!

Yesterday we went to Switzerland - specifically Lake Geneva and Montreux. I have no non-generic terms for it at all. It was beautiful, it was a lot of walking, and I took an entire gigabyte of pictures. Let's just say: Lake Geneva - beautiful lake, strange architecture, banks and watches; Montreux - like a Suisse Monterey Bay with crepes, breathtaking cloud-shrouded mountain vistas, and an ancient castle set near the water up a winding, lakeside cobblestone path. I will post pictures as soon as I can ...

While in Lake Geneva, we stopped in a tiny gourmet chocolate shop run by the sweetest, funniest Suisse woman. We complained about the conversion of the Euro from the dollar, and she said, "Oh, well it is all your fault!" In a funny way, not rudely. I got some of the most beautiful, delectable truffles (raspberry, strawberry, and my favorite, champagne!) ... I haven't dared touch them yet. Plus, I was so tired after our long, long day in Switzerland that I didn't even eat dinner before falling asleep at 10 p.m.

Also, I finally got an internet connection through my laptop ... so I'm not hunting and pecking anymore. It's reaaaalllllyyyyy sloooooooowwwwwww ... but it's there. Also, those of us with laptops met up with the college's IT guy to get our internet set up. He had trouble saying Wi-Fi (he said, wee-fee), and the guy from Oklahoma (that was also getting his internet connection set up) knew way more than the Frenchman did. It was just a funny example of how the French are a little ill-at-ease with computer lingo ...

Also, I didn't really mention it before, but I'm here with about 20 other students. It's been interesting getting to know everyone. After our whirlwind weekend, I know them all a little better. It was hard going without knowing anyone, but it's also forced me to make new friends; I see some of the others who came with one other friend, and they're not venturing out to meet some of the other people in the program. However, my own roommate is very reserved and goes to bed early. So, I've been out in the kitchen/lobby area with my journal in the evenings.

Today was our first day of class. It was really strange to sit in our classroom and look out the window at all of the old brick chimneys and cathedral peaks (we're on the third story, which is really the fourth, since they consider the ground floor the first - make sense?).

Well, I think it's off to the hotel room for a bit and then see about dinner somewhere ... I miss everyone but homesickness hasn't set in yet.

bon soir!
Jennie

bunk beds, sweat, and bread

i dont have much time to update. and the keyboards here are different. all of us are at the school right now hunting and pecking out emails back home. a few things: there are bunk beds in the rooms, no air conditioning to speak of, and most of the proffered food has been baguettes, toast and biscuits. its truly an old city here, there are rules against changing the fronts of the buildings ... so a very modern clothing store like H&M still has a very gothic face. i woke up early this morning to explore and found a broken down carousel, a fountain with a statue covered in a mcdonalds advertisement ... very surreal. i also met some very friendly frenchmen. no other comment on that right now. i will take my laptop to a caffe soon and will write more later...

bonjour
jennie