Salute me, bitch

wow. so much can happen in a day when you travel. I arrived in madrid early morn yesterfday after 7.5 hours sitting on a bus beside a fat, mustached spainard. needless to day, after not sleeping for 5 days, i was not in the best of moods. but i repressed by exhastion and drank more espresso. i found my way to the hostel after 15 min of staring at the metro map.

then i checked in, went to bed and spend the day sightseeing. except all the museams are closed on monday and xmas, so i just walked around saw beautiful buildings and went browsing. madrid looks like a great city. i was surprised and expected it to be dirty and sprawling.

but it has tiny street, bakeries and large sqaure buildings that are still white which i think means that they are new.

i went to the palace, which was nice obviously. madrid was created as a captial fairly recently, in the 16th or 17th century.

its doesnt have wide blvds like barcelona does, but it def. has its own charm.

and my hostel is AMAZING. okay its not that good...but its a hertiage site. ith as stained glass windows, a giant atrium, very bright and cheerful. and my hostel room has no windows which means that i m not woken up by sunslight. suprisingly, this is the first hostel ive been in where ppl dont wake up at 8am. n my room of 14 beds ppl are still sleeping at noon. its great.

so after a long day i went to go check my email on the comp im on now, in the bar downstairs.

i heard the americans before i saw them.

there was a wait for the comp so i had to sit near them, but i specifally angled myself away from them. then an argentian girl started talking to me and introduced me to the americans.

great i thought, just what i need, loud, obnoxious american frat boys.


oh....but it is so much more complex then that.

so much more.


i will have to give this in point form. otherwise i wouldnt know where to start

1. im a jew magnet, this is just a fact
2. the first american i spoke to is a jew
3. he was traveling with 6 friends, they live in napes
4. they live in naples beacuse....they sailors
5. as in they sail for a living? a hobby? they are crew? oh no...they are in the American NAVY.


so obviously we got to talking. and i warmed to them after they immediately assured me that they were not stupid americans and understood that they were at war over oil not WMD etc.,

i started drinking wine out of a nalgene bottle.

things progreesed.


2 more ppl joined our table. guess who?Jews!!
I should advertise my jew magnet services.

A guy introduced himself as a philosopy major, named david. i mean....duh...
he was sitting beside this short dark haird girl in a hoodie. i mean...duh...


Then one navy boy...SaltnPepper (gray haired) started rilieing me up about canada. oh my. I got frustrated. becasuse WE ARE A DIFFERENMT COUNTRY DAMMIT AND OUR CURRENCY IS HIGHER THEN YOURS SO SUCK MY BEAVER TAIL ASS.
But he taught some things i didnt know. like the canadian army trains with the american army. and we apparntly actually DO have a good army! we are good at special forces apparntly. boy was I proud of canada then!


i thought our army was only good to shovel snow...

I will give each drama action by character...it would get to messy chronologically..and these navy boys..trust me, they love drama


2ADays

then this girl named Knee Dropper...for reasons that will soon become obvious.

she and her BOYFRIEND joined the table. immediately she started being ALL OVER 2ADays (this guy looks made to vbe an american football player)

eventually...she told him that she would give him a blow job. with her boyfriend sitting beside her. totally. bloody. serious. he slipped her a note saying he would meet her in the 2nd floor bathroom at 4 30 am. she nodded.

430 am rolls around. he goes to meet her. but....the 2nd floor is closed!
what does he do_


He mopes around the hostel like Heathcliffe, circling the balcony.

I inisted that her bf was in on it and they are swingers. cuz this girl was practically on his lap...with her bf beside her.

This guy could have also gtten Argetnians, because....her husband had LEFT her that night. i think they were only married so he could get an EU pasoprt though...but still...but apprantly her ass was too big. and the other girl said she would blow him which is a 100% best pick up line ever.

are you listening ladies? if yuo ever want to hook up with a guy...just tel them that you will blow them. it is a garuntee.

Smart Minority

Token minority in the navy. 1600 SATS. Knew about religion, Israel, educated, wellread, sleeps with a different hooker every night.

SaltnPepper

31, smart,sexy, friendly pays 2300 rent a month, the prettiest, was caught in a Spanish bathroom that had no doors banging a chick doggy style.

AlphaJew

36, Jewish, Married (but....they haev spend years apart so apprantly it doesnt really count), the wittiest, never slept with a hooker, the one who tries to be the matchmaker, the one i spend 3 hours talking to in a laundry room until he tried to kiss me at which point i said..."úm...no.."

That is the lowdown children.

From these Navy Officers, i learnt moer about men in 10 hours that i did in the past 10 years.

THese boys, all good looking, get laid on an extremely regular basis. they know their shit. and they enlighted me more then a philosophy degree ever could. i will impart some of their wisdom to you faithful readers-


there are apprantly two types of girls.Otherwise a guy will not hang out with you.
Girls that guys want to have sex with, and girls that are bait to get other girls.Luckily, they told me that i was in categry number 1. i think my self esteem raised like 20 points.


Guys love women bodies. and sex. and appranlty paying for sex does not diminish from the wonders of sex.

offering a blow job, is the best pickupline hands down that will work . all . the. time.

after spending xmas eve. in a chinese restrauant, with 4 jews, the american army and a depressed argentians, im not going to lie. it was a bloody good xmas.

yes..there are more details children. but....im fucking tired. but...so much more to tell...

Meeting Greeting Leaving

The problem with going by yourself is that though you meet a lot of ppl, its only for a short time. and the whole time you are thinking that these people are really cool and you wish you had more time to get to know them better.

But you cant. and its depressing. well not depressing, but its like having a string of friendship flings. constant abondonment.

Today I went with 2 great Australian girls around the city look at Gaudiçs things. They know how to read maps, and that is really valuable| i need to learn so i dont waste all my time roaming around. They are going to a Spanish cooking class now, which is super cool. I´m going to start doing cool things like that. I think Im going to go wsurfing in Morcoo with the same company. I wanted to got, but i have to take a night bus to Madrid and FINISH THIS GDDAMNED ESSAY. ruining my bloody life.

I also havent really slept for 4 days and i stayed up late talking to the Australian girl so I am beyong wiped.

but on the bright side, i had starbucks today||||

and today was a gourgous sunny day, so rare for Canadians during xmas. I was wearing a tshirt, but one aussie girl was wearing a longsleeved shirt, a sweater and a puffy vest. just goes to show how everything is relative.


Im still amaaaaazed by Gaudis masterpieces. the Famila will still take 30 more years to finish|| probably because they cant work with all the tourists seeing it.

We went to the museam and learnt where he got his influences from, and he got them from nature. that is why you feel such a connection with his work. its very personal. he modeled, for instance, the pillars, on the way tree branches split.

Too bad a tram crushed him to death.

So ill be on the bus tonight from 11 until 6 45 am, but the good thing is an american boy lent me a converter which i left at home. so at least ill have music|

I wonder how madrid will be like on xmas...if ppl still party or whatnot. hope so. if not maybe i will FINALLY get the essays done and be free to enjoy my life.

Flasher

After being exhasted i had a really long convo with a new american girl. then i decided to check out Gaudis park. remember that that is the articture guy that i love who creates fantasy buildings. well he also designed a park with buildings that are basically ginger bread houses. I went here and decided to go for a stroll in the wooded grassy areas.


there was this guy there and he was trying to tell me something in spanish but i obviously had no idea what he was saying. he ketps using his fingers in the walking motions so i thought he was lost or something. then i saw this other guy. and i jsut didnt get a good feeling about him so went the other wya. then he followed me.

i tried to tell myself that maybe he was just searching for a way out too.

and then i looked behind me.


and his penis was out of his pants. ´
and he was stroking it.

my heart skipped 3 beats. I was alone, in a wooded area with a man who thinks it is okay to jack off infront of young girls. i imagined the headlines CANADIAN GIRL FOUND DEAD IN GAUDIS NOT=SO FAIRYLAND PARK.


i started screamings ÇFUCK OFF YOU DISGUSTING AHHHHH FUCK OFFç
and ran the fuck out of there where i ran into a tourist looking guy and he told me how to get out of there but didnt seem overley concerned about what i had seen.
i dont think he fully got it, he wasnt a native speaker.


i almost started crying.

i went to the museam shop guys and told them what happened and you know what they said ?

oh yea, we get this every day.

WHAT. like is he a fixture of the park or what the fuuuuck. you can go around doing that. its harrasment. and disgusting. and makes people feel horrible and gross nd hate barcelona.

so they called the cops, btu they told me it prolly wouldnt help´.

as pathetic fallacy would have it, it started pouring and i went home. now im going to try really hard and finish my essay and go to madrid on the night bus tmrw.

Harry Potter, Per Favore

Day 2 in Barcleona:

>I heard this distinctive voice outside my dorm room int he early morning. It could only mean one thing; än American.

I walked outside and said without thinking ¨Hi my names danielle, where in new york are you from?¨ç

YOu know why?it was my subconcsious telling me how Jewish this kid was. But it turns out he was from arizona...but common...i was close. and he WAS jewish. Wanna know how I found out?

Him; Oh, Ive been to canada before
me; how?
Him; Oh, a youth group trip

subtext; wow your hair is really curly. i wonder if your jewish

Me;mhmm..which one
subtext; bingo..this kid is defnitely jewish. i´m thinking USY
him;NIFTY
subtext; she knows what i just said.aha! i knew she was a jew too. it is so obvious i have amazing jewdar
Me; Yea i went to arizona on NCSY, they just switch us, eh
subtext; reform! wait...why do i only keep meeting jews no matter whre i travel? are we really everywhere?


So after that I went to the fämous street; La Ramblas.

Maybe in the summer because of all the tourists it is crazy, but it was just a nice street. no artists, a few street perfromas, but not insane like id been lead to belive. everyone spoke spanish, except for a few tourists with their maps and cameras out.

on the side of La Ramblas was a famous market.
I nearly threw up.

The market started off nice by selling chocolate and nuts and quickly detieroated into animals. and not Loblaws animals. full. animals. the only wya you could tell that they were dead is becuase they wernt moving.

it was disgusting.

chickens with their heads still on with their feathers. baby pigs that still had their eyelases. my friend told me she even saw rabbits there. the poor lobsters were moving their ineffectual claws just waiting to be dropped into a pot of boiling water.

it was a depressing place.

but everyone else seemed to love it.

if iw asnt already a vegitarian, that would defintiley be the turning point for me to become one. i still have nightmares about it.

the chickens hanging by a hook from their neck...oy

I walked down to the port, then up into the Gothic area. Tiny cobbled alleywys where potters and cotteners used to live. adoarble. except for the sketchy youth that were hanging around. i think there are housing projects there. europe is kind of turning me into a xenophobist.

I went to the Picasso museam, and i have to say, im not a huge fan. im nore into ancient sculptures and renissance art then modern.

I just dont see the depth to it.

i did like tho the part where there were this old magazine cuttings of women, advertising for perfume in a bathing suit in 1940, and he would draw grffiti on it of a weird man looking up or down at them.

i found it satircal. and funny.

and the fact that these women in the ad must have been a size 8. isnt that crazy¨. i coudnt even see their ribcages.

i then walked nd walked and walked around for more. it rained off and on for like 30 seconds at a time. i did a little browsing on p.Garcia, a shopping street with wide bolavards and palm trees. it must be sooo nice in the summer. everything is nice in the summer though. i saw more starbucks there, but have yet to have any. im trying to stay on budget here||

I went back to the hostel at the same time as the Israels who told me they tried to go to shul so they would get invited to a shabbas dinner, but the shul was closed...on a friday. so sad. once spain was the centre of jewry. now you cnt even find a shul open on shabbas in a major city.

then american jew from this morning told me it was his brothers 21st birthday and they were all going out. but the israelis were also going out. and they were being relaly tense about it like wnated to go out really early. and i would have rather spend time with the americans_no thanks to the 2 giant smirnoff bottles they had_ but i didnt want to ditch the israelis so i went with them to a shot bar promising to meet up with the americans later.

this shot bar.....has like...100 shots at least all printed on the wall for 1.80 euro. i ordered a harry potter. delish. then babylon. delish. then the bartender lit my thumb on fire.

seriously.

Danielle,what did you learn in spain
Well, mom, i learned how to set my thumb on fire and then put it out in my mouth.

then we went to this hip hop club. non of them wanted to meet up with the americans. and the hostel worker guy was with us and was majorly macking on this american girl.=

akkkkwaard.

so we had to take a cab to this bar. cabs START at 4 euro. i was kinda pissed.
we totally could have wlked but whatever. so we get there and it is the worst myusic on the top floor. like seriously it was funny, like all 70s to 90smusic. but the place started filling up a lot at 3. i put my money and keys into americns girl bag for safekeeping. and then she dissappered with hostel worker. well...4 hours later....where the fuck were they? thats right. they LEFT. and one israely guy went off with a really ugly columbian girl.

and the other israeli guy had given his keys to the night hostel worker. dammit.

second bloody time ive been locked out of my hostel. first time was in amsterdam.

so we walked home at like 5 ish am and the other hostel worker let us in . and then i stayed up a few more house reaserching train rides. crashed asleep.

then woke up at like 10 becuase i couldnt get back asleep.

Shouldn´t have left the compass at home

Okay so after not sleeping for likie...a bajillion hours, I am writing this post. be happy.

I am a firm believer in trains over planes. not only are they better for the envinronment, but they are actually faster and not that much more expensive.

Sure you can get a ryanair flight for one cent, but when you add on taxes, time spent getting to airports practially in a different city, credit card fees, baggage fees, food fees, you´re looking at the same price as a train and a hell of a lot less hassle.

take the trains kids, listen to david suziki.

I woke up (ok, fine, i didnt go to bed) at 6, left my house at 6¨45 and didnt get to my hostel until 2 pm! Hate. planes.

bus__train___train__bust___Plane___bus__walking for half an hour takes a fuking long time. sooo happy im flying into BRU instead of out the way hole in the ground charleroi.


so i got to barcelona, and i really had no idea what to expect. ive never seen pictures or anything.

its a pretty city.
not sprawling and dirty like milan.

There are palm tree and boardwalks. Its kinda like florida actually.

the people aren´t rude, there are almost no gypsies selling anything (maybe in the summer?) and there are almost no tourists.

after going to my hostel and almost KILLING my sleeping bag (long story short i lost the sleeping bag bag and it wont scrunch small enough to attach to my backpack anymore) i set out for walk.

Footprints guidebooks are supposed to be the new lonely planet, but lonely planet is much clearer and well organized i think. i just gave up and started to roam.


well actually first i was starving because ryan air is too cheap to get food so i went to a cultural icon: mcdonalds.

dont stone me now. mcdonalds, as i think ive said before really represents a culture. for instance, here they gave me SALSA instead of ketchup.

but i actually would have gone anywhere but i was so hungry i went for the first place i saw.

then i went back to my hostel---which is super adorable and has free internet.

then i decided to go to a famous streed ¨Ramblas



SIX hours later. SIX hours. I find it.

and then find out it was the same street i was only earlier in the day where mcdonalds was.

i almost shot myself.

i think the part of my brain that has spatial sense is missing. for the life of me i cannot read or understand a map. it is ALWAYS the op`posite direction.

on the plus side, i got to see the ´real´barcelona.
for 6 bloody hours.

but the highlight of my day were threefold.

1. I happened to run into Gaudi´s articheture.

I was surprised, but I was blown away. it looks like a children did it. it is such a creative twist on gothic artchicheure. all round lines and blocky figures. This is the first real artichure that seems...authentic. not like somebody wanted to impress the pope, but just....real. like somebody actually loved buildings. it for some reason reminds me of a gingerbread house. i know im not explaining what Gaudi´´s buildings look like, but they are so playful and weird. usually i feel kind of let down by buildings, becuase they all look the same after a while. but his were truly unique. im going to go back tmrw and take some pictures.

Google¨Gaudi for info.

2. had a converstaion with someone

i asked this man on the street where Ramblas was. he responded in perfect english! and he was SUPER hot. and we talked for 15 min. AND he lived in toronto for a year. did i mention how hot he was? after walking in a lululemon sweater in 5 degrees for 6 hours, it was like have a refreshing sip of diet coke. it went straight to my brain.ç

3. back in my hostel, after getting lost for another hour trying to find it ( I NEED GPS) this guy sat down beside me at the computer station (where I am writing an environmental essay) and asked me my name blah blah blah.

then he said ¨thats a common name in my country, israel¨

uhhh hu. thats right. im a fucking jew magnet. i think we will party later. we will see. ill blog tmrw

right now its back to essays!!

and mini grilled cheese with salsa sauce...

Pre-Departure

I'm going away on thursday!!

Where am I going to ask? Good question!

Spain, Morocco and Portugal.

And because I take the saying 'To Life" very seriously, I refuse to wait for someone else who wants to travel to those places, so I am going myself.

Yes, I know. I'm crazy. Its dangerous. I'll die, get raped, vomit and have no one to hold my hair back (G-d forbid).

But I did it when I was 18, so hopefully I can do it when I'm 20, older and wiser!

And it really opened my eyes to a lot of things. That North America kind of fear mongers.

That tonnes of people travel solo.

That as long as you go to a lonely planet hostel you will always be with young
travelers.

You meet people that you would never have met otherwise. And it's so spontaneous. You can do whatever YOU want. If you decide on a spur of a moment that you want to go somewhere else you can. If you meet someone on a bus and decide to travel with them for a few days, you can.
It's like total freedom.

So hopefully, becuase I;m going in the low season, there will still be some travelers.

Because I don't speak Spanish and my French is disatourous.

I will be sure to update regulary! If I don't update regularly, please call the Canadian Embassy and alert them.
joking. Or not.

Im SUPER excited for Morocoo.


I have no planned itinerary yet, just flying into Barcelona and out of Lisbon.

We will see what happens in between those 2 flights!


I'm hoping to do a trek in the Anti-Atlas but there is scarce info about it, and I think I would have to bring my sleeping bag.Which would be fine, I just want to be sure im trekking before doing it, but i wouldnt trek alone so i wold have to find a trekking buddy in the country.

details details details.

So bascailly i got some guidebooks from the library and scanned through them. So far my iten looks like this:


Barcelona--> Madrid--->Grenada-->Some port city where I ferry to Tanger--> Marrakesh-->Ouzazzatte (Western Sahara)-->surronding dunes-->Fez--> Tanger back to Spanish Port-->Seville-->Faro on route to Lisbon


If any one has ANY suggestions comment! Like "Danielle you are insane please take immodium tablets" or even better train timetables..

I have to pack all my shit in my adorable MEC bag, but that means I have to do laundry. and write a 9 page essay. no biggie.

End of Semester

Can you believe that the semester is over already???? I can't! But then I figured it out and realize that if school starts sept 25 and ends Dec 18...then thats like...almost zero classes! What can you actually learn in just 13 class?

26 hours of class i mean...that's nothing. I think they should increase it to like 40 hours!

I mean...I know i'm a huge nerd and all, but I like school (when i got to classes) and I get really bored only haveing 2 days of school.

There is not really a school-life with clubs and stuff. Maybe there is but its in Dutch though.

Like I finished class today, I go on vacay from Dec 20-Jan 11, I have 3 exams from Jan 14-Jan 18 and then I don't have school until Feb 11!!!


FEBUARY 11!! I am going to die of boredom. I am going to try hard and get a job and maybe go to Ireland.

They should really not call this school...this is a traveling/drinking year abroad.

UNless G-d Forbid...I fail my exams. LIke 50% of Belgians. Then I might kill myself. And then my parents would kill me.

I have 3 essays to hand in before I leave on thrusday and I actually finished 2.

I remember last year I would stay up for 36 hours the day before the exam drinking red bull, finally printing it at 6am.

And that system worked for me!

We will see how this early non-procastination thing works out this year.

BUt the essays are soooooo stupid. No joke. FOr my Media Ethics class I had to write about "What I learnt in Media Ethics this year". Am I 7? LIke "what did you do on your summer vacation"

I hope I don't fail though, I only went to 2 classes. (it was 9am tuesday!!!)

And then for my environmental essay we have to write about "Whatever you want".
Um...Excuse me? Whatever I want? What is this? I thought you were a professor..teach me..direct me..

I also hope I don't fail that, since I only went to 2 classes as well (9 am Wed!)

And finally, my Philosophical Anthropology Seminar, taught by an American has the only good essay! School at home makes just so much more sense to me, and apprantly him too.

For all my other classes the essays are worth 100% and you have to do a presentation that apparanty isn't worth anything since the profs never bother to learn your name.

For the American class we have to write about specific things concerning mind-body problem, consiouness, personal identity with Descarts, Locke, Hume, Lebz etc.

It's still not...inspiring though. I don't know, last year I grew so much academically, I really peaked. This year I just can't get into it. The profs don't make anything come alive. All the work is totally independant, no dissucsion even in seminars b/c ppl are afraid of their english skills.

You really have to take the learning until yourself. Which can be a good thing I guess, but it makes it way more boring then it should be. they need to revamp the insides of the classrooms and the library. Hard chairs-hard tables doesn't make anyone want to study.

People only learn to pass their exams.

Oh well.




They need couches and a coffee bar.

Venice

Ohhhh the city of lovers.


And water.

I figured I had to see it before it sunk.
We took the train there where some old Italian guy was laughing at me for sleeping on the couchette.

I think Midwife was ready to shoot me at this point. To much shopping for her. Although I think we saw an equal amount of sights! But she doesn't think so.

I kinda make her walk around for hours trying to find the Jewish Ghetto. We met a nice man named Luigi, who actually spoke, not only English, but also Dutch! Most Italians don't even speak English...nevermind Dutch.

The Jewish Ghetto kind of sucked...except for the Giant Menorah in the centre. But they also had a giant Menorah in Milan. Pics will be up soon!

I bought a 'Chi" necklace and a Mezzuah from home.

Venice is renowned for it's glass made from Murano. So it was made out of a nice blue glass.

I like reading a book or watching a movie about a place before I go, but it's hard to do that in Belgium with not much English books in the library and dvds are expensive. Then I remembered that I had once seen the begining of the "Merchant of Venice"

Shylock probably lived there!( I know he was fake, but whatever)

Of course the Jews lived in a ghetto, but appranlty it was much better conditions then other euro cities. I dont think that says much though...
NOw there are about 50 Jews in Venice. The total population is only 65 000.

Which explains why, if you go of the tourist street, the town is EMPTY. Its nice. No cars...just emptiness.

but truthfully, everyone makes such a big deal about Venice.

But it's not THAT great. I mean I didn't have an urge to become romantic or anything. There was water...and houses...and toursists...and churches...but I wasn't like

OMG I CANT BELIVE I WAITED MY WHOLE LIFE WITHOUT SEEING VENICE.

But i will be sure to tell you when I do feel like that! Possibly in Paris or Rome....hopefully..if I ever go..

Midwife ate at Mcdonalds again. Which has gotten this classy black exterior.

There are a million more mcdonalds in Europe then In Canada. Seriously. I went to the grocery store, btu she refused to buy a Bellini with me. Bellini's were invented in Venice...it was a cultural experience. But apparntly she "is not like me"

So then we took this water boat for an hour, seeing all the Mansions form the other side.

I read all about the history of Venice from Lonely Planet on the train ride there and it was interesting. Same thing as every other EuroCity.

It came from mud. It rose to be a trading centre. it has it's Golden Age. Built incredible Churches, commissioned art from genuises, stood up against the Vatican, became wonton with booze and ladies, won a few wars. Then it was traded between Empires for a few hundred years, slowly deterioating until being bombed the shit out of in the 2 world wars. And now its a Tourist Amusement park

Still waiting for a city that doesn't follow this history.

It started to rain, of course.

We got to the centre square where Midwife was disapointed because it had 'looked bigger in James Bond'.

But the Basilca was pretty. Had a gold roof. Sparkly. Amazing Mosaics.

Then Midwife reaized that her feet was killing her (She was wearing boots with a heel...duuuuh) and so I didn't want to spend money taking the boat back to the train station, so I told her I would walk and meet her there. And that is what I did.

In the dark, twisiting streets of Venice I walked for a few km. I was great actually.
I found myself on a shopping street and I bought a Gelato.

I miraculous didn't get lost. (I ALWAYS get lost. I have no idea how to read maps. I always say the best way to see a city is get lost. I say this because I always get lost and never end up seeing what I'm supossed to be seeing)

But a great novel could be written about Venice....at night...in the rain.. when all the tourists go home...and all is left is the water..and a gondalier...a horror novel perhaps??

I have a twisted mind. I better become a best-selling horror novelist, I always think of great plots no matter where I go.

Milano

So I decided to go to Milan!

Have you Got Italian lives there and she offred me and Midwife Belgian a place to stay. She had ane xam which she took very seriously so had to study the whole time


Lets just say that me and Midwife Belgian are REALLY different. She HATES shopping. She HATES partying. She dislikes museams. She is tall and blonde and serious. She doesn't even like museams. But she still wanted to 'see things" So I asked her what kinda of things exaclty she wanted to do.

Apprantly she wanted to 'see things'

Yea...but...what kind of things?

She likes eating and seeing....buildings i guess???

So as soon as we got to Milan we had delicious Italian Pizza from the Pizzaria beside HUGI's flat and went to bed.


We bought our day metro pass, which I'm pretty sure we were over charged for. There was small market right outside her house so we went there for a bit. Then I lost the directions for the metro, or they were pickpocketed from my back pocket, but thanks to my brilliant Italian, we didn't even get lost without them. Seriously, I LOVE Italian now. it is such a nice language to listen to and wayyyy easier to understand then French. I could actually communicate in Italian with like...3 phrases. It was great. No one even realized I was forigen and all I knew how to say was: how much, Hello, Good bye, I don't speak Italian, (they knew I was foreign when I said that though) I serioulsy think 10 minuties of learning Italian was equal to 10 years of learning French.

The next morning we went to her university for 'festiviies' (it was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception) but all we saw was a Church.

It was a really nice Church though.

Traveling is just so much better when you can put things in context. Too often it's like..Oh...thats a nice church. yup. super.

But when you understand architecture, or history, or WHY that church was built that way and the significance of it..it is SO much better and so much more interesting.

Like when I saw this Church (Church of Ambrogio i think)I realized that the inscription on the tomb was of Ambrose. Then I remebred from Hums 2000 that St. Augustine in Confessions wrote about a preacher named Ambrose who basically inspired him to convert by his interpretations of the Bible. He was also the first person Augustine had seen read silently. And it turns out that was the same guy!

See..that was cool for me. Otherwise...pretty church..but...thats it.


Oh...and Yea, they have relics freakin relics...actually bones....in the basement. Does anyone else think this is freaky? That Catholicism is possible really freaky? to have bones of dead saints with jewels and luxurious clothing? Isn't that like..pagan..it sounds Pagan.

Then we had some lunch where I went to the grocery store and bought 8 euro worth of food for the week. I lived of bread and espresso.

I personally LOVE grocery stores. I find them one of the most fascinating parts of traveling. You can learn so much about a culture from their food. This grocery store had giant cakes in a box and really cool types of pasta.

Then we took the metro to the centre. There is this Giant Giant buliding called the Dumo. It took 500 years to build. It is covered with crazy statues. SOme of them are really gross! LIke one is a statue of a guy with his intestines coming out. Others depict biblical scenes. I really wish I knew more about the history of Christianity so I could figure out all the biblical scenes on the stained glass windows. Its full of popes and bishops and people in flowing robes. We weren't allowed to take pictures but I did anyways!

Then we went shopping. Or browsing. Armani...yum..
We also went to a castle, and through a bajillllion market stalls. Miwife HATED them because she hates crowds.

Milan is REALLY crowded. Ridiculously so.

There are tonnes of Gypsies all begging for money or selling hats or toys. It's so sad. There was one group and they were dressed up like American Indians. It was cool though. Full costume singing with these strange instruments.

Also the Mcdonalds in Italy has a "McCafe". I know it sounds weird...but Mcdonalds is a good example of the culture. They always change their menu slightly to reflect the culture. So here, they sold lattes and macchiatos. But I didn't get anything because I was on a food budget!!

All the more money for shopping....

So we wandered around the shops. There was this Aramani store where I got caught up reading "100 things you need to buy before you die". I only got to like page 3 though before the store closed. But now I really want to find that book! I don't want to die without buying those 100 things!

Sinter Klauss

at my Rez there was a Sinter Klauss party.

Sinter Klauss is like the original Santa Clauss. You get chocolate. He also has a helper 'Black Pete" Officialy, he is black from the soot he gets from going down chimneys (Sinter Klauss is to old to do this now)

But actually I think that the white Bishop went to Africa and came back with black Pete. or Spain. Either way I have a feeling that there are rasict origins. I mean...the Belgians did colonize the Congo.


So we had a party for this where we had to draw and write something and put it in a giant red box. Also we had to write Gossip about our neighbours. I ABSTAINED from this.(whose proud?) also because they jsut wanted stupid gossip like "He was loud" instead of "He's loud because he has sex with a different girl every night"

So ppl actually dressed up in FULL outfits.

Then we each got a bag of chocolate. And these 2 guys had to make names for everyone in the hall. I could have done better then them:)

But my name was "Miss America". Isn't that so weird? Like I don't know if they wanted to annoy me because I am Canadian or if they think I want world peace.

But it was a fun pre-evening.

10 Years to 30

OKay so sorry I haven't written in a while.

But I will try to start again and write retroactively..


So this is about my birthday. I am 20. No longer a teenager. Bloody hell. Only 10 years to 30. Quarter life crisis. What am I going to do with my life? I'm a 20-something.

All these and more were running through my head on Dec 3. So I decided to drink them away.

The day started fabulously with Chris coming over at 9:30 (the first time I woke up before noon all semester) and making me RUM pancakes!!!


mmmm yuuum.

I left the kitchen a mess, becuase, hey it was my birthday and I come from self-indulgent, narcissitic North America where the day of your birth is free rein for everything.

I don't think that cultural difference transfered over.

Then I went to Biblical Hebrew vocab lesson.


I pronounced the name of G-d in a way that Jews do when they don't want to pronounce the full thing (changing one letter, its really subtle) and the prof actually NOTICED and asked me if it was for 'religious reasons'.

Oh and side note: I have a mini crush on the German guy in my Hebrew class. Basically because he looks like Harry Potter and speaks english with a British accent. And know that he knows I'm Jewish, he always gives me these like private glances in class. or always looks my way when the prof like says something about Christians. And then he'll raise his hand after I ask a question about Christinaty or something and be like "But that would be different if your not Chrisitan" like he's looking out for me. its cute. hes cute. lets get it on! Well actually I will probably never see him since I just had my last class :(

Oh well.


soooo back to birthday.

Then me and Have You Got Italian went shopping for our birthday snacks. I expected to buy some chips and coke and be done with it. But apparantly, when Italians are invited to a party before 10:00 they expect to be fed. So I ended up spending so much money on like....actually food. And like because of the communication problems (she speaks crappy english) I couldn't be like 'nooo just chipps" because she wouldn't get it.

Oh well.but yea its really annoying when ppl don't speak the langugae properly. If they only know a little communication is so hard beyond like 'where is the train station'. I try to ask her a question 3 times, becaus the answer will always be different.

I call her "have you got Italian" because when she is asking for someting that is what she says. Direct translations don't work! like in french ..."tu as poulet?" really means : Have you chicken?

But in English it is "Do you have chicken"

k so after we bought the stuff her italian friend went home to cook it at her house. I went to buy the alchocl. B/c apparntly that is important. I also cheaped out on paper plates which drove her nuts and she went out later to get more. But commmooon.

So I got ready and all the Canadian boys came over early which I loved. Then I got drunk. I didn't realize that I was drunk, but when I saw the empty 24 of Vodka the next morning I ralized that ...oh wait...I was!

It was really cute, the Belgians made us do this thing where they gave us a bowl of animal crackers and every time the song said "Bicycle" we had to eat one. It was that song..ya know...well....it says Bicycle A LOT. And then we got presents which included a plate, a glass, socks and choclate.

And I'm sooo happy that people bought presents! I am also surprised. I got champagne,alcohol chocolates (this guy that I didn't even know from Iraq bought me Leoniada chocolate that are actually heavenly),


My Canadian friends were getting along well with the Italians (wink wink nudge nudge)

Then we decided to go to the Seven Oaks since it was a monday and we didn't want to wake up anyone. So I hopped on the back of this Hungarian guys bicycle and rode there. I didn't know him, but what better way to make friends?


There, I had a few shots of Jenever. don't ask me what this is. I still don't know. But it is alcoholic.

At the Seven Oaks were Sinter Klauss and Black Pete!!(See above pic) I kinda started dancing on Sinter Klauss's pole. Until he told me that he was 42. Then I ran away.

I think I must have fallen like....7 times. It was not good. At one point I was dancing on a barrell. But hey...like i said before..it was my birthday! Immunity from judgement!

At one point this Italian guy handed me a joint on the dancefloor. But it was def. not Canadian weeed and mixed with tabbaco. All Italians are shocked that we don't mix. Mixing is so gross though.

So then I went home early at about 4 am. And I actually made it to class the next day!!!!!!! At 11 am!! But I was still drunk....