Rushed

Tomorrow is seminar and my portfolio is due, along with a 25 minute practice presentation to follow.

I'm only a bit troubled. Two more papers to write, gather the evidence, put it all together and pray that it looks decent.

After that it's back home and then fly out on Thursday morning for D.C. Interview Friday and spend the rest of the weekend in the city enjoying the sites. Weirdly enough this is perfect timing, for I really wanted to go back to the Holocaust museum to get some resources for this summer.

Sadly the portfolio isn't even half of what I need to get written. Stuff for summer, the program that sent me to Cologne, more and more and more.

Back

Back in American, in Georgia, in my parent's house. I'm very glad to be back, though the people I've left behind will be dearly missed.

Spending the day with my parents and celebrating my birthday (I'm going to make Roulanden, a dish Mrs. W's mother made) and then tomorrow I'm heading to Athens for the dinner and party. Very excited.

Eating Cereal

Back from Dingleberry's, eating Kellog's corn flakes with splenda and listening to the Marie Antoinette soundtrack. This is my life.

I've realized a couple of days ago, like being stuck by a bolt of lightinging, that I am not in love. No crushes, no "in likes", no "in loves", no nothing. Marc was great while it lasted, but for once in my life I am completely devoid of affection or inclination towards anyone or anything, save for my family and Indian food. I noticed this while watching several sappy romantic comedies in a row and in all honesty I couldn't be happier.

Being in love (and I say this because I have a tendancy to fall fast and hard) or having a crush on someone at this point in my life would prove to be very difficult. Graduation, summer job, then an actual job (either in Georgia or Virginia) is already hard enough. Adding someone else to the equation-- and their ambitions-- is just too much. I never thought I would be happy to be alone. Ha.

I'll be spending the rest of my days at Dingleberry's, even though Christie is no longer working there (where the hell is my non-existent gun? I'll blow someone's face off for that decision) and I have school early in the morning. 5 more days (4, really, I suppose) then it's back to the good old US of A-- where private property can be bigger than the eye can see, where you can get a decent chocolate milkshake on any corner, and the Chick-Fil-A, Wendy's, and bagles will always be open to me. No more non-skim milk (they have no knowledge of such a thing here in Germany) and cold cuts for breakfast.

I'll miss the bread though. God, I'll miss the bread. If you think you've had good bread then come to Germany. Your poor deprived tastebuds will sing "Hallelujah" upon eating a piece of this delicious wood-oven-baked goodness.

The question in my mind as I go to sleep: Why is there honey in my hair?

Italy: Bushes, 10km Hikes, and Ricky

So much has happened in the past 10 days that this would end up being the longest post ever, so I'm going to be really quick with it.

Italy: Wednesday April 4th-Sunday April 8th.

GROUP DINNER IN VERONA/THE BUS LEAVES US:
Definitely not the Italy I remember from two years ago. Verona is an actual city with roads and highways and absolutely no rolling hills, but instead mountain ranges in the background. The set-up Erin has with her accomdations made me green with envy and I couldn't stop saying so. I mean, the place was covered in marble. The closest thing I'll get to marble in this hostel is the linolium that looks like it. Like I said, I was jealous.

Met all the faces of the people Erin has been telling me about. Had a huge group dinner and met most of the group and nearly passed out with happiness at hearing Southern accents. Who knew. The wine was flowing and the company was grand, so by the time we decide to head out I only have faint recollections of actually getting to the city center. I know I had a pretty intense conversation with Ruma, but then suddenly I hear people yelling and screaming at a bus that's just passed 25 of us waiting by the stop. I wanted to laugh, but the look of Erin's face stopped me. In retrospect that face was foreshadowing for events to come.

Got my picture taken inside a fountain and avoided a drink called a "Spritz" like the plauge. Nearly fell on the bus ride back to the residence but it turns out we still had walking to do. Erin was in a pretty abusive mood (she missed me) and there was a lot of throwing of scarves and verbal lashings. Ruma and Daryl just laughed, but I think the boys were concerned. Or scared.

THE BUSH INCIDENT:
On the way back to the residence Erin has decided to deprive me of my one source of warmth, a scarf. Being the funny girl she is she wraps it around her head stating "What would I do if I wore it like this?" I remark to her that she looks like an old market lady and, in a fit of rage I never knew, she turns around and pushes me into a bush. Hard. I literally flailing around in this hedge and can't get out I'm in so deep. Ruma and Daryl have to help me and all I see (and hear) is Erin about 40ft in front of us laughing hysterically. Like a crazy person. A bit angry, but more itchy than anything, we go to the computer lab and call Lauren on Skype. No idea what we said, but she promised to save the message until we got back. I woke up the next morning to find grass stains on my white sweater and grey shirt. The stains are still there.

WALK AROUND TOWN: PIZZA AND POOP
Maybe it's just in Italy, but there's an obscene amount of dog poop everywhere. I couldn't help but point it out and I've realized that I really don't like it when people don't clean up after their dogs. What's even more disturbing was that during the walk around the city I decide to take some stairs down to a landing right by the water, only to soon discover a horrible smell. That's right: poop. Human poop. Not dogs, not cats, not anything other than human fecal matter baking in the sun. I wanted to vomit, but Erin wanted to get a picture of me by the water with a kayaker going by. The abuse from last night was obviously continuing into today.

Ate at a pretty good pizza place though, very upscale. Accidently got anchovies on mine, but it could have been worse. The rest of the walk was made up of gelato, feeling up Juliet's (of Romeo and Juliet) boob, because apparently it's the only way I'll find true love. Then it was nap time and then out for Indian food and a really great restaurant. We took one of Erin's friends that had never had Indian before and he literally dumped all his rice and chicken curry onto his plate and mixed it all together. I didn't know whether to laugh or be disgusted. I settled with the former.

CINQUE TERRE: HARBOR VIEWS, PRAWNS, AND 10KM HIKES
The hostel we got in Cinque Terre was amazing and had the best location by far. We were right next to the harbor and thanks to Rick Steves we took the tour of Riomaggiore and ate at a pretty decent restuarant in town. Though Erin's meal came with a giant prawn in it, staring right at her as if to say "Eat me!" Suffice to say that she did not, at least not without a bit of help.

Cinque Terre was absolutely beautiful and the weather was perfect (I have the sunburn to prove it). We got to see a Passion "parade" go through town and it was a very nice experience. I made the most out of it, knowing that I wasn't going to church on Easter. That night we called it an early night, talked with the people in our 11 person room, and rested up for the hike tomorrow.

THE HIKE OF DEATH
Cinque Terre is five cities connected by trails and train (and boat), so with Rick Steves in hand we set off to do the trains and tour the towns. I think our group got the most of the experience and my love for Rick increased even more. The trails go from easy to hard, if starting with Riomaggiore and working toward Monterosso. I feel we did it the right way, because if I had started off with Monterosso my legs would have given out completely-- definitely a good idea to warm up with the easy stuff first.

The last two trails were incredibly taxing and I swear I wanted grab a walking stick right out of a German's hand sometimes. Very rocky and steep with lots of stairs. But the views were amazing and I felt like I really accomplished something big by doing all the trails. Having ended up in Monterosso and everyone not agreeing on where to eat, Erin, Daryl and I looked to Rick one more time.

THE BEST RESTAURANT IN CINQUE TERRE/ITALY:
This was a kind of birthday dinner for me and Erin graciously bought a bottle of Cinque Terre for the three of us. I ended up getting an amazing stuffed pasta filled with a mixture of pear and cheese in an alfredo sauce, something I am still thinking about. There were only two other parties in the resatuarant and so our waiter, who is the son of the chef, gave us the best recommendations (one being my pear/cheese pasta). I could have married him. Erin got the best dessert though with the chocolate souffle, though my nuetella cannoli was pretty fantastic. When we discovered that the other parties were there because of Rick Steves recommendation, on of the woman said "Oh, we call him Ricky." Erin and I thought this was a fantastic idea and from now on Ricky will be close to our hearts always.

THE "I LOVE YOU BABY" INCIDENT:
Since we had to wake up at 6am for our train we decided to call it an early night (early being midnight) and after talking some more with our temporary roommates we get some sleep. Everyone else is passed out when I'm suddenly awaken by the sound of "I Love You Baby" (ala Top Gun) being sung in Italian. This wouldn't have been so bad if they had actually known the lyrics, but this group (who I realized were sitting at the restuarant near the harbor) only knew the chorus and kept singing it over and over again. Then chants of "Rio!" started, and then more laughing and singing of "I Love You Baby". I officially have a sore spot for that song now and woke up the next morning with it in my head.

17 HOURS of TRAIN, PLANE, AND BUS
6am-1pm: Train ride from Cinque Terre to Verona
3pm-7pm: Plane from Verona to Frankfurt-Hahn Airport (includes wait time)
7:15pm-11pm: Bus from Frankfurt-Hahn Airport to Cologne
11pm-12:30am: Trying to call parents to let them know I'm alive, finally passing out.

Paris: Crepes, French Kissing, and Rain

Paris was amazing. Sorry I'm so late on the update, but I've been moving pretty fast since Spring Break hit. Went with Judith and Kersten to Paris Saturday-Monday and it was a blast.

Except for the fact that it poured rain all day Saturday. And that a waiter wanted to be in a picture with me and instead tried to lick my face. And that an alarm went off on the Eiffel Tower for about 8 minutes while most people were silently freaking out.

Other than those things the trip was a success. Ate a different kind of crepe everyday. Saturday was spent in misery walking around the city but still in awe of the city. Saw a lot of modern art and stood in a lot of lines. Also went to a piano bar late at night, which is were the incident with the waiter occured. I rather not talk about it.

Sunday was perfect weather and we waited in line for the Eiffel Tower for 2.5 hours. Well worth the wait though. Spent a lot of time walking around the city and taking pictures. Everything was closed (of course) and it was Palm Sunday on top of that, so shopping was a definite no. We passed the time pretty well and had a really nice dinner at a small restaurant. Wonderful.

Monday was check-out day and we spent a couple of hours at a huge market near where we stayed. I've never seen so many fake Converse or Adias products in my life.

Oh! The hotel! So we stayed in a Formula 1 hotel/motel and it was...interesting. Tiny tiny room with a double bed and a bunk bed over that. A barely-there sink and a small corner table. The community bathrooms were the most interesting part-- there was a process to go through if you didn't want to be stuck in stall and have the lights turn off. Also, the knob for water in the shower had to be pressed every 20 seconds (I counted). It was like one of those faucets where you have to push down to wash your hands and then it lets up and turns off after a while. Except this was with a shower. Amazing.

What really struck me was the fact that families were actually living in this motel, some with dogs too. The first time I walked into the hallway I had to side-step a small pile of dog poo. I knew right then that this place was going to be an adventure. I was right.

Currently in Verona at Erin's place. It's about 250 times nicer than mine and I pretty much never want to leave, but I am on Sunday. Last night was a big group dinner (there are about 37 people here from UGA on study abroad) and then we went out. Erin became Ms. Angry-Drunk and pushed me into some bushes, which we laughed hysterically about this morning. All in all last night I had a fantastic time and I knew this was a perfect way to spend part of my break. Tomorrow we leave for Cinque Terre and then back here Sunday afternoon so I can catch my flight.