Waffles and Canals in Brussels and Amsterdam!

The weekend before I left for break I traveled to Brussels and Amsterdam with my roommate Alyssa, friends Ben and Phil and then Danielle met us at the Brussels airport. On the way to the Pisa airport, we almost missed our flights because the trains were not running on schedule but of course through some luck we caught our flight. Once we got to Brussels the first thing that we were in search of was a true Belgian Waffle. Once we got one it was delicious, and it was in the Elsene part of town where all the restaurants and bars are located. On the same street were about 10 different gourmet chocolate shops that all had crazy chocolate sculptures within them. More specifically it was called Galeries Saint-Hubert-Sint. We saw The Saint Michael and Saint Gudula Cathedral on Treurenberg Hill which was typical Gothic style and completely massive. It was night so it was a little bit harder to find the famous statue of the little boy peeing so that was disappointing that we did not get to see it. That night we went to this pub called Delirium that boasts that it has at all times 2004 different kinds of beer to choose from. When you walk into this gigantic 3 story pub you see on the first floor over 60 different kinds of beer on tap and this is only one floor. The menu is a 3 inch thick album of different kinds of beer which was completely overwhelming so we just tried a bunch of Belgian beers together until we finally found some that we liked.

The next morning bright and early we took a bus from Brussels to Amsterdam which took about 3 and a half hours. The arrived in the train station on the edge of town and so had a long walk to our hostel but we were not complaining. Our walk was beautiful, I had no idea Amsterdam was so pretty with all of the canals and all. I actually found out that Amsterdam has more canals than Venice. Also it has more bikes per square meter than any other city in the world. We decided not to take the trams because we wanted to see the city and went finally arrived at The BullDog Hotel which was on Oudezijds Voorburgawl haha isnt that a ridiculous street name. This hostel is world famous and there are also a bunch of BullDog cafes and bars on the same street which is right on a little river. The hostel was incredible inside the man at the front desk was fittingly Rastafarian and the restaurant in the lobby was packed with kids. Afterwards we went to go explore the area and stumbled upon the Red Light District. I was definitely not prepared for what I was about to see. In broad day light most of the windows had girls standing in them in just lingerie and highheels. I felt really uncomfortable and tried not to look, it was really sad in fact. One of the girls that I saw still had braces she was so young, it was absolutely shocking. When we came back to this area at night it was completely different and super-sized. The couple of streets really are completely lit up with tacky red lights above the transparent doors. To my surprise men were actually going into and coming out of many of the door/windows with girls in them. Also not all the girls were thin or young or good looking in the least. I guess you can say there is a prostitute in the red light district to suit everyone's taste. Along with the prostitutes were numerous sex shops, Erotic museums and even sex and pep shows that you could go into for 2 minutes for a mere 1 euro, this was all a bit disturbing to me since above many of the shops and windows were apartments with people living in them. In the Red Light District we also saw the narrowest street in all of Amsterdam and it was very very crowded.

On a happier and less disgusting note, the area of the city that I liked the most was Dam square which happened to have a carnival in it with waffles that were even better than the ones in Belgium, who knew? In Dam square is a national monument in commemoration to the victims of World War II, the Royal Palace once used by Napoleon, and Nieuwe Kerk which is a famous church built in the 15th century. We visited the Albert Cuyp market which has the famous Dutch singer Andre Hazes statue and the Flower markets as well. There is also the mulit-cultural part of town called the Pijp which was very interesting to see. Amsterdam in general is a beautiful city averaging with about 5 coffee shops per block were people can freely buy and smoke marijuana, weed, pot, grass, hash, dope, etc call it what you like. This was very crazy to me because if you looked into a coffee shop you would see all kinds of people from young tourists being obnoxiously loud and getting high to middle-aged women sitting by themselves reading a book and smoking a joint. It is a completely different way of life.

The next day we woke up early and heading over to the Heineken Factory. Here we learned how Heineken was made, were able to attend a tasting, and actually were able to mix the hops in a big barrel ourselves! You had the option of bottling your own Heineken beer and getting your name engraved on it along with a ton of other souvenirs. We saw the Heineken Clydesdale horses and a huge database of all the amazing Heineken commercials that everyone loves from the Super bowls. It really was a cool experience because it was just a brewery it was very interactive and really showed the whole process of making a little home brewed beer into an international product. After the factory we went in search of the famous I am Amsterdam sign. We asked a good number of people where the sign was and everyone kept looking at us like we were crazy or telling us that it no longer existed, however we refused to take no for an answer. Eventually we climbed onto a tram and found the letters in front of the Van Gogh museum and the Rijksmuseum which are situated right on a pond and fountain in a park. The letters were pretty and of course we took our pictures on the appropriate letters for each of our names. We also got to see the Zuiderkerk church and many other squares that were all very cute. The weather was great the entire time even though one night it did drizzle a little bit. We ate lots of fries with a weird mayonnaise sauce and waffles, in general the food in Amsterdam was nothing unique or even good.We did not make it to the Anne Frank Huis which was a bit of a disappointment but I would love to come back to this surprisingly beautiful city and then I will go.

Weekend in Prague

There have been a bunch of weekends that I have not written about yet due to lack of time. I will tell you about this past weekend in Prague and then after my semester break will fill you in on my other weekends, what I have been doing and visited during the week as well as my travels within Italy.

This past weekend I left on Thursday for Prague. We look an over night bus there which took us 12 hours, I mostly slept. In the morning we arrived at the Czech Inn which is a beautiful hostel (never thought I would describe a hostel that way but it really was very high tech and clean) two tram stops away from the old center of town. The group that I was traveling with was 24 girls 1 boy and our group leader. I went with two of my girlfriends Merritt and Ewilena from Syracuse. Prague is in the European Union but does not use the Euro yet so we had to exchange our money to get Koronu which are worth about 25 koronu to 1 euro. We learned very quickly that everything in Prague is very inexpensive. We were able to get settled in and then right away met a tour guide to go on a full city tour. We first took the tram (which is all on the honor system and no one checks the tickets so we got around town for free) to the National Gallery Museum. The first thing that everyone notices about the city is the incredible architecture, every building even the McDonalds are unique and impressive. We went to Wecslaw square which when you walk down the main avenue leads to the the old center of town. Everywhere you look are shops selling crystal and marionettes, these are apparently the two things that I was told you must buy as souvenirs in Prague. The old town square has the famous clock/zodiac sign/ astrological counter on the church. At the top of the hour figures come out of the clock and move around, this very much reminded me of clock in Marienplatz in Munich. After seeing this we walked to the outdoor market which sold all the best goodies from a funnelcake type of dough with cheese to sugared nuts to many many varieties of sausages. We of course bought a little bit of everything and continued our tour to the old Jewish quarter of town. Here we saw a 12 layer cemetery with thousands of graves on top of one another from the Holocost. Then we continued by crossing the Charles Bridge, which had many painters and knicknack stands on it and kept walking towards the Prague Castle. We were able to visit the Lenin Wall which truly was incredible. The colors and messages on the wall were inspiring and comprised of Beatles quotes and other cries for peace. On the way to the Prague castle we walked on a few canals and passed an Absinth store which was completely green and even sold Absinth ice cream! (which looked gross by the way). Another interesting thing that we learned was that before there were building numbers each building had to identify itself with an image and so while walking sure enough some building still had either a flying horse, or a blue pig or some other kind of symbol above its doorway which it used as its address in the past. When we got to the top of the hill we entered the Prague castle complex which had many buildings, the castle itself with guards outfront and then the Church of St. Vitus. Inside the church was some very nice stained class and somewhat reminded me of the inside of St. Patrick's Cathedral.

After our tour was over my friends and I went to an authentic Czech restaurant for lunch and I had chicken soup and goulash, which was exactly the way we make it at home ( a nice break from all the pasta in Italy). Then we shopped around the center of town and went to this place called Bohemia Bagels, where I was able to get my first bagel since leaving New York. At night we went on a Pub Crawl, which apparently is the thing to do in Prague because there are so many of them and if you are only in Prague for a short amount of time there is no way you could possibly know which pubs are worth going to. This was alot of fun since our group was about 200 people of all ages and places but many of them were from Australia and Germany. We had a great time out with everyone including our tour guide from during the day. The following day we came back to the center of town to get the breakfast donuts that are made over a fire on a long skewer, very yummy. Then we visited a few galleries in the artsy part of town and stumbled upon one with unseen photographs of Paul McCartney and the Beatles which was very cool. The streets of Prague were also packed with very roudy Polish futbol fans and we quickly found out that night was a Czech Republic vs. Poland game and they were long time rivals. That same night there were in total 5 futbol games on television and so the riot police were out on the streets just in case. We were told that we had to be very careful but we went to the Beer Factory to watch the games anyways. Here there are taps of Pilsner beer built into every single table at the bar which was very convenient. We watched a bunch of the games but once the fans got too intense we had to go back to our hostel but it was ok because we were exhausted. Overall the city was stunning and very interesting and I would love to come back and spend more time there. Tomorrow I am leaving for Brussels and Amsterdam but soon after you will hear of all my adventures.

Ciao with love,

Tania

OKTOBERFEST!!!

After some minor set backs such as being flown into a tiny airport on the boarder of Switzerland due to fog, realizing that I do not have my pin code for my cell phone that is not working in Germany, and a few trains, buses, S-Bahns and U-Bahns later I arrived at the infamous Oktoberfest in Munich. We right away headed to the Hofbrau House ( the very firts original beer house) to get our first beer which of course was delicious. The entire city is packed with drunken idiots... I don't even know how such a holiday could exist or be legal. Usually it is the tourists who get drunkest when they travel but definitely not in this case, the locals take off from work and visit the tents almost on a daily basis for the two strait weeks in their lederhosen and dindrls (traditional outfits that they were everywhere not only to the tents during Oktoberfest). I then met up with all of the German Ukrainians that I know and we went to my friends Sonja's house because she was cooking all of the Ukrainians dinner. I was pleasantly surprised to find ukies from the United States, Paris, England and Germany, there were about 25 of us.

The next morning we woke up nearly at the crack of dawn in order to make sure that we got a table in the Paulaner Tent which I guess is an annual tradition because the ribbons on the top of the tent are blue and yellow (Ukrainian colors). I stayed with the Sammer family (which has six kids and is clearly a great time) they even had an extra dindrl outfit that I was able to borrow to wear to Oktoberfest, I looked like a true Bavarian girl. As we weaved through Oktoberfest to reach the Paulaner tent my german girlfriends and I were stopped several times by tourists asking to take their picture with us. I used what little German I remembered from freshman year and was able to fool them... they thought they were getting an authentic picture with German beer girls but little did they know that I was from New York, I thought this was hysterical. The general atmosphere of Oktoberfest is happy, people do not seem to have a care in the world besides drinking steins of beer. Each tent has extravagent decorations and some have amusement park size mugs on top of them... tents that were included were Paulaner, Spaaten, Augustiner, Hofbrau, Fischer, Braursol, Hippodrome just to name a few. There were stands with any German food that you could think of from chocolate covered fruit to bratwursts that are a foot long. There were also roller coasters and other rides and outside every single tent is a little beer garden to sit in if you do not want to go inside or cannot get in. Inside the Paulaner tent were thousands of people all packed into wooden tables absolutely covered with steins of beer. The waitresses were the most impressive, they were able to carry 6 steins in each hand, I had a hard time just holding one. There is a live band in every tent and they sing alot of German songs but then randomly break out into The Twist or other classic American songs to which everyone sings along. Every half an hour they sing a song to which you are supposed to chears you neighbors called "Ein Prosit" its bizarre, you jump up on your bench and then just clank mugs with everyone around you singing the song. In the tent I had the largest most delicious pretzel, the Germans definitly do it right. After about seven hours in the tent we came out for fresh air and headed to the Englisher Garten where the true Beer garden is outside. Here we had dinner and another stein and then later in the night still in our German get up heading to a club where my friend Edgar works. Everyone there was in German traditional costumes.

The next morning we went to this beautiful lake called Starnberg Lake where apparently all the upscale Germans have houses. Here we had lunch on the water and took a break from the craziness of Oktoberfest. Later on in the day we headed back to the tents and hopped around a bunch of the tents then went to the Hofbrau house and then came home. I left very early the next morning and I know I must come back for the amazingly fun holiday and this time I will come prepared with my very own dindrl.

Tschoss ( its a form of goodbye in Deutsch),

Tania

The Amalfi Coast

This weekend I traveled with a group of about 30 students to the Amalfi coast. We took a bus to Sorrento where I stayed in a Bungalow with 5 of my other girlfriends. On Friday morning we left bright and early by ferry to Capri which was about 20 minutes long. When we arrived, the port was filled with exquisite yachts and little cafes. We right away headed toward the Capri Centro, this neverending set of stairs that takes you to the top of the island. After climbing for about 20 minutes and breaking a thorough sweat, we made it to the top only to be greeted by Prada, Gucchi, La Perla and every designer imaginable as well as Limoncello shops every couple of stores. The little aristocratic village, as I would probably describe it, was not at all what I imagined would be at the top of all those steps. We continued walking to end of the town and down the backside of the island where we were told was a hidden beach not well known to tourists. Winding down the mountain we saw so many amazing private villas which I was tempted to sneak into but didn't. Finally, when we made it to the beach it was the clearest water I have ever seen. There were stone beaches that turned into sand once you entered the water. Little jumping rocks and natural stone arches were scattered along the beach where we were able to explore and jump off of into the water. The beach was called Piccolo beach and sure enough there were mostly Italians there. We all ordered Caprese salads because we figured this was the place to do it and I have never had such delicious tomatoes in my life and I dont even like tomatoes. After a long day at the beach we climbed back to the other side of the island got on the ferry and came back to Sorrento.

The next morning we took a local bus to Positano which was surprisingly close to an hour but nevertheless beautiful because we were climbing up the side of a mountain overlooking the ocean. Positano is a beach town situated on a mountain leading into the ocean. You have to weave through narrow shop-clad streets in order to make it to the beaches. The Amalfi coast in general is known for its lemons and there are tons of lemon trees everywhere except these lemons are gigantic they are about the size of grapefruits. We ordered a lemon granita (kind of like a slushy but made from fresh fruit) from a street vender and he made it right on the spot. It was very very hot out and so my friends and I decided to go on a boat tour. There were 30 of us split among two boats with 3 very funny guides. They took us to an area where they anchored the boats and we were able to go cliff jumping. Mama and Tato dont be mad but I climbed and jumped off the highest cliff that they said was still safe to do. When you got to the top of the cliff and looked out onto the water you were unable to see where the ocean ended and the sky started. After jumping a few times we got back on the boats and took them to these caves in the water close to the town of Amalfi. There, we were able to explore the caves which you had to swim in but when you got to a certain point were actually able to walk. The way that the sun hit the rocks and then reflected on the water made everything look turquoise. It was hard to believe that all of these tunnels and passages were natural and not part of some adventure water park. By the time the tour was over it was late afternoon and the waters had become pretty rough so our little boats had to go back to the port. At the port we all went shopping for linens and lemons and then ate right on the water, most people ordered seafood and I tried some but I still didn't like it. We were able to see the sun set over the water from the top of the town and during this there was actually an all-while linen wedding occuring on the beach between a Spanish and an Italian noble families. Most of the guests came over on private boats but the town was still scattered with guests in all-white linen. The bus ride home was less than great, it was so crowded that we had to sit on the floor as the bus winded down the cliffs overlooking the ocean, which was a bit scary.

In Sorrento all the study abroad students hung out together, the next day some people went to Pompeii but my girlfriends and I stayed in Sorrento. We shopped around the town which had some very trendy boutiques but also some hole in the wall markets and crafts stores. I loved this town because of that reason, the limoncello shops made all the side streets smell of lemons and sugar which was so unique. The center of town or the square looked pretty trendy but still had some statues as well as a tram. The entire weekend we had perfect weather which was in the high 80's, this was an amazing weekend and I can't wait to come back at some point in my life which I know that I will make a priority to do.

The Tuscan Fairytale

This weekend was full imerssion weekend with our host families. Yesterday Alyssa and I decided to explore the area around our house, we got lost for 2 hours but let me tell you Florence is not a bad place to get lost in. Finally we made it back home and were able to go for a run which is so nice to do because our neighboorhood is at the foothills of Fiesole. Today we went to some small villages in the Tuscan hills outside of Florence. The main town was called Fiesole and it has the most amazing views of Florence. There was a flee market and then we were able to climb up to the church and monastery of Fiesole. Driving up there you see the countryside scattered with olive trees and hidden villas and sometimes even horses roaming the countryside. We then stopped in a tiny litte town named Cambottini where we had potatoe chips and Proseco with our host parents overlooking the countryside, it was so peaceful and quiet. Back at the house I am getting frusterated that I do not know Italian. The little boys Pietro and Dario play with us constantly but we cannot understand them. They sing, dance and tell us stories and all we can really do is smile or make hand movements. Today we attempted to play cards with them but who knew that in Italy the Ace is the lowest card and not the highest. My host mother Caterina made homemade pizza for us tonight. There were four different kinds some with her own housemade mozzarella others with prosciutto and basil, all which tasted amazing. I am slowly learning to cook... mama you will be proud. Caterina has shown we how to make spinach gnochi, homemade pesto sauce and this tradittional Tuscan torte with Uvas (those are grapes in Italian). Tomorrow is my first day of class and I am thrilled to finally start them. I have Italian every morning at 845 but then I finish my day early so that I can explore the city. I am also trying to plan my trips so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

Buona Notte,

Tania

The Mediteranean Odyssey

Sorry this has taken so long for me to finally post something but I have finally gotten all settled in with my host family in Florence and set up wireless.

So let me tell you a little bit about Greece. After many hours of traveling with the group of 30 of us including Professor McClean whom we call Alick and our TA Sarah we came to the town of Sounion. This is the location of the Temple of Poseidon and is located on a cliff overlooking the ocean. We went swimming in the crystal clear water where the beaches are at first rocky but then turn into sand once you enter the water. A bunch of us had dinner on the beach and this is where I had my first authentic greek salad, which by the way dont have lettuce! The next day we visited the towns of Mycenea and Epidaurus, Mycenea is where the tombs of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra are located along with the city of the Myceneans which is located on a hill that we had to climb. Epidaurus had a theatre where when you stood in the middle and yelled upwards the entire stadium heard you. Here fig and olive trees surrounded you in this location for healing during the ancient times. We stayed in the port city of Nafplion, which I did not know but was a former capital of Greece. The next morning we woke up at 5 am for a grueling and terrifying bus ride up the side of a mountain to the town of Bassae. I forgot to mention that traveling with us as tour guides and aides were our bus driver Dimitrios and his wife Rebecca who translated in all the small towns we visited. No one spoke English in this little town which only had one road going through it. Goats and sheep roamed freely because of the remote location of the town. We drove to the top of the mountin where the Temple of Apollo at Epidaurus was located. There we were actually able to work along side the local masons and restore a few parts of the temple. The next stop was Olympia where we sprinted in the stadium and were able to see the Temples of Zeus and Hera. We had our first real gyros and baklava in the town which itself was very touristy. Athens was the only real city we visited... it is pretty dirty and a bit rundown but the ancient sites really make this place so fascinating. We saw every site possible including the Parthenon on the Acropolis. Greeks are very welcoming in general but at times Athens seemed a bit dangerous. My favorite part of the seminar was our trip to Naxos the largest of the Cyclades islands in Greece. We took a 5 and a half hour highspeed ferry here and when we arrived at the port all we could see was what I imagned Greece would look like... the blue ocean and the white houses with blue shutters. All the streets were cobblestone and wound up the hills in a maze like fashion. We had a tour of the town which had beautiful flowers everywhere and incredible views. We went swimming on an incredibly warm and sandy beach which had a shelf that extended so far into the water. At night we attended a cultural fesitval where there was greek music, dancing, and culture which was amazing because for the first time I did not feel like a tourist but instead part of the general population. I was surprised at how similar some of the greek music was to Ukrainian... literally i was able to humm along with some of the tunes. The ferry ride home from the island was extremely sad but we were heading to Rome for a day and then finally to Florence. Rome was exciting as always and I do believe that I had the best espresso, or caffe as the refer to it in Italy of my life.

What I wrote above does not give justice to the amazing time that I had in Greece but I just wanted to update you and give you a quick summary. Now onto my first 3 days in FLorence. Syracuse's campus is five buildings located at the Piazzza Savanarola. They have gorgeous architecture and a garden between them where all the students hang out. I have registered for my classes and start on Monday!

My host family is more than what I could have asked for. I live about a 20 minute walk from campus in a stone townhouse built by my host mother's grandfather in 1935. It is at the foothills of Fiesole and is on Via Augusto Baldesi. I live with my host family the Meluccis on the 3 and 4 floor the second floor is rented out and the first floor is occupied by my host mother's parents whose father was a professor of Economics in Princeton and Berkley. The basment has my host mother's brother and his two boys who are the same age as my host mother's children. And next door are my host mother's cousins who are hosting students from Syracuse as well. My host mother's name is Caterina and she is a graphic designer who speaks fluent English. Her husband is named Alberto and he works but I dont know what he does but climbs mountains in his free time. They have two boys Pietro who is 6 and Dario who is 4... they do not speak any English but make sure to teach me things in Italian and have me play with them any chance they get. My roommate Alyssa and I have our own wing in the house with a spacious bedroom, our own bathroom, and an extra room to hold our belongings. I am really so happy and enjoying myself in Italy and cannot wait to start my classes and get into the groove of things.

Sorry for the long message but alot has happened in the last two weeks. Pictures are coming soon!

Ciao and with love,

Tania

Getting Ready to Leave

This blog is basically a place where i will write what I have experienced, visited, seen and how I am doing in general when I am aborad. When I can I will post pictures and hopefully write as often as possible. Feel free to read my blog as frequently as you would like... believe me I will not be insulted if it is on the less frequent side... but you will be missing out! I am getting ready to leave tomorrow for Greece. I have tried to fit as much possible stuff into my two pieces of luggage under 50 lbs that we are allowed to check. My professor for my 10 day seminar in Greece has assigned me to do a presentation on Delphi... i have some reading up to do. Maybe I should review some common Italian terms as well? Alright well thats it for now and the next time I will write will be from Europe!

Ciao,

Tania