PISA

I finally got the chance to go to Pisa. I’ve wanted to go since forever! When I planned the trip with 2 of my friends…we thought that it would be better to go for 2 days. It wasn’t really a good idea!

The city of Pisa is REALLY small. Our Bed & Breakfast was at less than 2 minutes by foot to the piazza dei Miracoli (where the tower of Pisa is). It is AMAZING!  We were able to buy tickets to go at the top of the tower. It wasn’t that cheap, 15€, but I’ve couldn’t imagined myself not doing it! An hour before going up the tower, it started raining! When we killed our legs with all the steps to go at the top, it was so windy and it was still raining! Then, when we got out, it stopped raining! We were so unlucky. And then we wasted time walking around everywhere with no clue of where we were going. For diner, we went in the ‘’other’’ part of the city. I have to say, I didn’t think it was that small of a city!

On the second day. The first thing I learned is that there was a big earthquake in the region where I live. I was told that people felt it in Pisa, but I was sleeping well.

It rained so much on that day! And I didn’t even have an umbrella… After our souvenirs shopping, we got McDonalds for lunch! It always makes me laugh when I eat McDonalds here, it doesn’t belong in Italy, but I have to say, they have some things that are really good. Luckily for us, when we had to walk to the station, it stopped raining :)

My food experience was awful! For my first lunch, I ate a risotto…but it was so disgusting! I didn’t even eat half of it! Then for diner, I ate a pizza, but there was a kind of cheese in it that I didn’t like. Then, for my lunch on the second day, I ordered a burger and asked what was in it. Then when I arrived home to eat it, there was mayo in it…. And they had these weird French fries that looked really good, but the lady mixed up and gave me the normal ones.

Anyway, I have to say that PISA is a really nice small city!

ROMA

For Easter, my host-family brought me to ROMA. We were more there to see their family for Easter, but I still got the chance of visiting Rome

      

Since I was a little girl, I have always wanted to visit Italy, more precisely: Rome. And there I was, in a car, with people I have known for less than a month. Their relatives didn’t really live near the city center, so I think that’s the reason we didn’t see all we could of in 4 days.

On my first day, after we ate diner, we decided that we should go visit the city. It was about 11 pm. We toured the city by car for a while before making our first strop. It was really creepy, because it was really dark outside, there were no street lights and I didn’t really know where I was. So there’s this door up on a hill. When we look in a hole, you can see the dome of San Pietro’s church.  Then, we went to see the Coliseum! WOW. I had brought by Canadian Flag because I really wanted to take a photo with the Coliseum. So it’s midnight passed, I’m hopping everywhere to try to find the best place to take a photo. I pass in front of a bar while hopping with my flag as a cape. It was so funny. Then, when I saw a really good place for my photo, there were two people kissing. A proof that I’m in Europe! After a stop for a coffee, we were heading back. Other than that, I visited the city center of Rome another time. I went to the fountain of Trevi :) I saw a lot more than that, but the fountain was a must! I even saw the Pope in the Vatican City!!! One evening, as were doing nothing, I started to look at was playing on TV! There was the last regular season game of the FLYERS. So for the first time after more than 7 months, I watched an HD Live hockey game!

You may not really see it, but the Pope is on this photo! :)

I had the amazing chance to celebrate Easter like Italians. If I could say one word to describe it, it would have to be: FOOD. I have never eaten that much in all my life! IT IS CRAZY! At lunch, I was already full after the soup, but that was only the beginning! I think we sat at the table for about 2 hours. For diner, I only ate an apple!

I hope that I will have the opportunity to come back at least once in my life!

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

PARIGI

So my friend Maren and I wrote this to resume our trip to Paris! And I have to add, Paris is a BEAUTIFUL city! Personally, because I'm from Quebec, I thought that Parisians would be mean with me because we don't have the same accent and we have a lot of cultural differences! But at the end, they were really nice! I was even said by a Parisian that we, Quebecers, are the brothers of Parisians!

Primo Giorno:

• Stuck on bus in Treviso for an hour or so due to an accident very near to station…Stephanie agrees to watching a stranger’s bag upon arrival-giving Maren a heart attack

• Stephanie and Fabiana lose belts going through security….Fabiana’s-never to be seen again

• Stuffy and hot plane ride….

• Met Parigian woman and daughter on bus….first realization of false stereotypes!

• Fancy Taxi to the wrong address…..driver gives us small tour (Sacosi? President’s house) saves our lives along with Fernando by calling apartment owner BECAUSE WE HAD THE WRONG ADDRESS. (Carlos loses all phone credit …)

• Arrive at apartment….courtyard, red doors, smell of cigar, old fashioned elevator, insane locks

• Search for restaurant…ate extremely well (omelets and duck/potato/goodness) ITALIAN waiter?

• Bought cookies and milk...store under apartment building!

• Ignore luxurious second bedroom…5 sleeping in the living room. ♥

Secondo Giorno: 

(Where the adventure begins….)

• Breakfast of cookies, coffee, milk
• Short lived motivation of cleaning up beds before exiting for the day….
• Bought metro passes….”Photo obligatoire” ?
• TORRE EIFFEL…photos,photos…photos. Tourist mode: ON
• Walking to the Arc…Self-made tour of Hotel…free lotion!
• ARC DE TRIOMPHE- travel under roundabout….bought museum passes…STAIRS, STAIRS, stairs? Panorama view of entire city despite smog
• Already tired…take bus to “Museum”…get lost at “Library Marmottan” instead of arriving at “Marmottan”
• Take bus….get off a few stops early and eat our first baguette sandwiches (ham and butter?) with deserts-meringue and white chocolate pie type thing…Carlos’s camera is stolen*
• Carousel with game…(put the stick in the ring…) Park full of kids. Che coccola. 
• Museum Marmottan and Monet...first “Where’s Gillian”
• Beautiful walk along shops back to Eiffel Tower…take pictures…cute ones. 
• Supermarket…
• Return to apartment….make amazing crepes with ham, cheese, apples, ruccola, wine (juice for maren and Stephanie!) Cute supper table (half of us eating on the couch!)
• What sleep we could achieve…

Terzo Giorno: 

(Gillian sets alarm 55 minutes earlier)

• Wake up early…cookies, coffee, lady fingers, milk….
• Metro to Louvre….
• Cooked alive in the Pyramid…soooo hot!
• Italian renaissance paintings…french paintings…egyptian archaics..(old stuff)..foundations of Louvre/CASTLEEEEE!
• “UFFFFFFFFFFFF”
• Paul’s Sandwiches with drinks and desert-Picnic on the gardens of the Louvre in the sun….
• Maren mistakenly whistles at ILLEGAL keychain seller….  
• Fell asleep in the gardens…
• Witnessed gypsy wedding party walking on the street
• Pompidou!!! Crazy impressionist paintings… Andy Warhol…Picasso…Braque..Delaunay…floating ribbon fan thing…weird black and white cave?....first view of Notre-Dame!
• Buy rings outside of museum…Maren obviously loses hers within two days… 
• STARBUCKS fuel up…Vanilla bean frap, Frapp…..
• Dinner at apartment...steaks made by Carlos! 

Quarto Giorno:

• Metro and Train to Versailles… First E’clair!!!!
• Annoying school groups! Except for the ones dressed in princess costumes… Hall of Mirrors….king and queen chambers…”Ufff”….
• Lunch on the steps of the estate of Versailles (kayaker on lake?)
• Stephanie and Maren initiate fighting in gardens…Carlos our personal pack mule!
• Train station to Versaille –HUGE????
• Walk to Orsay…Monet…Van Gogh…Gaugan…Amazing sleeping flower shaped couch…small nap
• Bought drawings of animals/Eiffel tower… saw people changing under a bridge…
• Vendors onside of the river
• BRIDGE OF LOCKS…
• Beautiful house boats…boat houses?
• Notre-Dame….Unequal door frames…
• “Stephanie is wrong about us!” “Stephanie’s nose is long and wears a dress!”  
• Souvenir shopping…
• FONDUE. 
• The American/Italian/Canadian/Haitian version of Moulin Rouge (Metro Station) Dancing guy, clapping guy….juggling guy…rasta guy(“Meta, meta!”)….creepy dancing guy…hot black guys (Can I follow you?)…singing…overall-we started the party. 
• Take last metro home…

Quinto Giorno:

• Metro ride only to look at Moulin Rouge…Carlos pimpin’ ….”Marilyn Monroe” photos…
• Montmarte…illegal vendors…really pushy bracelet makers!…largest bell in all of Europe…helped people escape the 300 steps to the tower…LES PRESTEEJ Christian music street performers…
• Small art market
• Dali? Nope, too expensive for us students
• Hard rock café….Boulevard Montemart…no where near Montmarte!
• Day of American Food (pulled pork…burgers…(bacon))
• Return to Notre-Dame to view inside…crazy windows…vending machine for coins inside of the church…
• Lafayette shopping…”How to shop when you’re rich”….down right ugly shoes.
• SUBWAY for dinner! (Stephanie and maren sprite gelly-ball/salmon eggs)

Sesto Giorno:

• Market in latin quarter…CILANTRO, FORMAGGGGIO, CHOCOLATE, CREPES, HEADMASSAGER. (sharpie pen….)
• Pantheon…older and wiser stayed outside in the rain… 
• Kebabs for lunch..crazy lighted bathrooms…man praying in basement…
• Traveled over bridge to Eiffel tower…
• Champs Elyses…Disney…H&M….2 euro bathrooms…misshapen statues
• L’ultima cena…. Onion soup, pork pate, salads….salmon pasta, chicken with mushroom sauce, beef bourgeon…ESCARCOTT! Chocolate mousse and crème brulee…Free glass of wine…

• Park across from metro station…cardboard car… 

 
 
 

L’ultimo Giorno:

• Slept in…for the most part! (alarm of owner calling…)
• Cilantro, tomatos, cookies, coffee, milk….(sprite and salmon eggs)
• Cleaned apartment… Pastry runs..
• Last metro ride to the shuttle….circled roundabout….shuttle through the countryside to the airport…
• 10 kilos. 
• Patted down in security…(boob pat-down!)
• Lovely naps on plane. (advertisements interrupting every 5 minutes…)
• Host nonno provides ride for Gillian, Maren and Stephanie to station.

Venezia!

            CARNIVAL! I really don’t know why we don’t do the Carnival in Canada! It would be awesome!

            After less than 5 hours of sleep, Maren, Eva, Carlos and I were on our way for Venice! Unluckily, our train arrived 1h30 later! Other exchange students were already there and waiting for us! The first thing we did was getting face paintings! Then we started walking and us girls, always stopped to look at everything and anything!

            Maren and I wanted roosted chestnuts. So we stop at this little stand and buy some. First one we open is rotten, the second one too, then the third one. We each opened at least 5 without eating one entirely! So we went back to the little stand to have our money back! The man didn’t want to because we bought 300 grams (for 5 €) and there were only 200 grams left! He didn’t understand that we threw away the ones that were rotten! While we were trying to have my money back, people were stopping to buy some, but when they saw that they were rotten they just left! At the end, he gave me back 4€. We were sure the he was going the sell the ones we gave back!!

            Later in the after-noon, it started to rain! But it wasn’t that bad. After a while, he noticed that we didn’t have a lot of time before we had to take the train back home. So we stopped looking in the shops and started walking fast because we wanted to go in ‘’Piazza San Marco ‘’. We were able to go, but we didn’t have the time to stop! At the end, we had to run to take our train! We were able to take it, but we were sitting in the alley because the train was so full! Then we stopped at a little station and we learned that we were stopping for 15 minutes. So Eva and I went at the bar (café) to get water and food. As we were getting out of the bar, we were at the intercom that the train is leaving! So once again, we ran! We were just on time!

            I really think I have to go another time to really take the time to see the city, because I didn’t really see it! But it was still fun!

Trieste :)

            I had the amazing luck to go to Trieste for one week! I remember that in my first few months here, when people would ask me what cities I want to visit in Italy, I always responded: Milan, Venice, Rome, Sicilia and Florence. Then, I would add Trieste. Italians thought it was funny that I wanted to go visit that ‘’small’’ city.

            Now, how I had the opportunities to go. For about two months now, there’s an Italian girl that is living in my house in Quebec. One day, she called her mom (who lives in Trieste) to know if I could go for a few days, go to Venice for the Carnival and at the same time meet the exchange student in her house!. She said yes!

            Trieste is a beautiful city! The view from the train is amazing, the water, the hills, the houses, wow! I remember that the Italian girl in my house told me that she lived in the hill and that she wasn’t that close from the city. So I was expecting to do 20 or 30 minutes before arriving at her house. I didn’t really mind it because it takes me one hour to go to school here. But, after only 7 minutes we were at her house!

            I was really lucky for the hot weather, even if it rained a little bit! So during the week, I visited the city, saw the parade for the Carnival, went to Muggia, I went to Venice, played bowling, played cards, saw an amazing sunset and took the tramway for the first time in my life.

            Now, let’s talk a little about Muggia! We were about ten people to go there together. We were all going by bus. The bus was so full that I thought we would never all fit in it, but we did it. People were drinking and smoking on the bus. It was CRAZY! From nowhere, a big man appeared beside me. Then he stared to rub hi leg on my thigh. I was near the door, so I thought he wanted to get out. But after a minute, I knew it was something else. So I put my hand between us. He looked at me then turns a little bit on the other side. So I was happy! Then, I started to feel this back and forth movement because his arm was touching my arm! I didn’t want to believe that he was masturbating himself, but after a while it was really obvious! I was scared of him because he was tall and like 35-30 years old! Bu after a while, I said: MA DAI! He stopped, turns in the other way and disappeared! I was so traumatized and I didn’t want to take the bus back home, but I had to! Some people told me that it’s impossible to go in Europe without seeing public masturbation…

            It’s funny how after only two days I felt closer to the host-mom of my exchange friend than my two first host-moms! Now I have to go visit every month the see everybody!

            It was an amazing week! I got the luck of meeting other exchange students! I really think that without this trip my exchange wouldn’t have been really fun. Because now I might do other trips out of Italy with the extraordinary people I meet in Trieste! 

Snow...

When I learned I was going to Italy, I was really happy because I thought I would have a year without snow. That was true, until the eighteen of December. It was fun to have a little bit of snow out side to play with and it melted really fast. So I started thinking, this may be my first Christmas without snow. Happily, it snowed on the 24^th of December. At the end of January, all the snow had almost melted.But then, the thirty-first of January arrived. The day before, everybody was talking about this big snow storm that was coming, but nobody really thought it was true. It started snowing at noon, but only started to accumulated it’s self by 3 pm. So from February first to the eight, I didn't go to school. It was fun for the first 2-3 days, but when you are 14 in a house, it gets really hard to endure everybody. On the second day of snow, you couldn't get out of your house by car and all the streets we’re filled with snow.

Because we are so many in the house and that we all wake up late, the mom decided to add a rule: breakfast before 11am. I don’t mind the rule, but I don’t really like how I learned it. Practically, I woke up on the third snow day at 10h45 am. I felt bad because I knew that it was late. So I took the time to dress my self before going downstairs to eat breakfast. I was about to grab cereals, when the mom stops me to tell me this new rule. I look at the clock and it was 11h02 am. So I was two minutes ‘’late’’. I ewas starving because I didn’t eat dinner the day before because I was not hungry! For every other day, I woke up at 10h30am.

After eight days without school and going outside to move all the snow, I finally returned to school. Everybody was asking me where I’ve been and if I felt at home with all the snow. It was funny to see the faces of people when I told them that compared to my home town, there wasn’t a lot of snow.

The morning after, I woke up and the streets we’re white! After 30 minutes asking with other kids in my house if we we’re going to school, we decided that if we would go, we wouldn’t be able to go back home in the after-noon. So I had an other for days without school.

Scuola!

School here is really different from school in Québec. The biggest difference for me would have to be having 6 days of school per week! Here, they don’t know what it means T.G.I.F. They sing the song that Katy Perry did, but they have no idea of the meaning of it.    ahaha

So school starts at 8am and finishes between noon and 2pm. I’m really lucky because I finish at 1pm Monday to Thursday and at noon Fridays and Saturdays.

I don’t how your high school worked, but at mine I could choose from so many options and in my last year. Here by choosing your school, you choose you classes. So every school has the same basic classes. Then there is Classical, Scientific, Musical, Psychology, Cooking, Art... So depending of the school you choose, you get different classes. I have the ‘’joy’’ of being in a Scientific school. This means I have more classes of math, physics and chemistry. So I always end up doing Sudoku, reading a book or just being on internet with my phone.

Here, the people with whom you start your first year of ‘’liceo’’ (which would be our high school) are the same people you finish with. That means, if you have a school trip of two classes of the same grade, you won’t mix with the other group, because you just don’t know them even if you have been at the same school for 5 years.

Now let’s talk of exams. Here they do oral tests and written exams. Basically, for oral tests, depending on the subject, you go sit in front of the teacher and answer her questions or talk about a subject that the teacher wants. For math and science classes, you go to the black board, the teacher gives you a problem and you work on it. It is a little bit stressful, because everybody is watching your ‘’each and every’’ move. Written exams are really similar to the ones we normal do, the only difference, they do two per year per subject. At the level I am at school here (superior school, grade 4), they don’t write text in their mother tongue where you normally try to have the less mistakes possible.

It’s funny how I always hated how school works in Québec, because it is different from English Canada and USA and because we end up doing one more year before going to university. But now that I’ve seen how school works in Italy, I’m in love with my school system. Italians always tell me: Yeah, but we arrive at home between 1h30 and 2h30 pm. It’s real that it’s fun not having school in the after-noon, but having in on Saturdays and waking up really early because school starts early isn’t that of an advantage.