EMILY V. ITALY

During my April vacation, I visited Italy for the first time! I spent a week there, first in Florence and then on to Rome. It was quite the adventure! Somehow, I survived the 10-hour bus ride, managed the Italian rail system, hunted down my hostels, figured out public transport, warded off Italian men... And had a great time :) Traveling alone took some getting used to, as I had never done it before, but once I did, it was just fine.


Florence!! Santa Maria Novella.













Yes, that's me, and yes, I was really in Florence. We climbed up to the Piazza Michelangelo and got the Best view of the city!











Somehow, I hadn't realized just how many mountains there are in Italy. Wow.












The Arno river, which runs right through Florence.












Pizzapizzapizza! SO GOOD (so much so that I took a bite before I remembered to take a picture).











And, after two nights in Florence, on to Rome! Michelangelo's David!
















At attempt to get the three buildings that are in the heart of Florence into one picture, Santa Maria del Fiore, the Baptistery and the Bell Tower. All beautiful and dressed in matching green and white marble.














There was SO much gelato. Oh man. Mmm...













On the northern edge of Rome, there are acres and acres of beautiful gardens. This one was outside the Borghese Gallery.
















The Borghese, possibly my new-favorite museum.













Colosseum! Wow. Can you imagine building that thing sans cranes?
















Me at Saint Peter's Basilica!

















In the Vatican museum, Michelangelo's Pietà.

















Illicit-yet-obligatory photo of the Sistine Chapel. It was incredible... And my neck still hurts.












Pantheon! (Only a half picture because the other half was under renovation).
















On the train back to Florence from Rome. The countryside was so beautiful!

Part II! ('Cause there was just too much good stuff to put into one post).


A few weeks ago, I went to the opera! We saw two short operas, one called "L'Éducation Manquée" and the other, "La Voix Humaine." This was the first time I had been to the old opera house, right in the middle of town.









Ceiling of the opera, with an Amazing chandelier.













Wow. I felt like I had slipped back a few hundred years, by accident!
















Hi!

















In slightly more recent history, the weekend before last contained not one but TWO adventures. I had heard tell of a dance festival that lasted the entire weekend (shades of Flurry, anyone?) and after a bit of persuading, managed to get a ride up for Sunday! It was in a little town two hours from Montpellier called Saint Jean du Gard which had been more or less infested by musician/dancer/hippie types... Basically, it was like stumbling into a little piece of heaven :)

Dancing in the streets!













:)













A group called "Le Cadavre Exquis," which consisted of drums, bass, 2 accordions and a hurdy-gurdy. God, I love those instruments! Unfortunately, it was hard to get a decent photo because it was dark and they were rocking out!








Une danse en cercle, à la Festival de Boulegan (avec Titouan et Nina qui jouent, aussi que deux mecs avec des cornemuses).


So, we stayed overnight at the festival, crashing in a room with 6 other dancers, and then headed back home to next day, via la montagne d'hortus. This is the view, of Pic Saint Loup, and you can even see a bit of the ocean.









It was a spectacular day!

















After a picnic, we went caving (of which there are no photos, for obvious reasons), but this was the aftermath...











So much mud!! Not sure if my chuck's will ever forgive me...












So, the past week has been pretty great, and Sunday was my birthday! Generally, I really dislike birthdays, but this one was perfect: got to spend the day outside in the perfect weather with Manuel (although I was dumb and got a sunburn), and the evening with my friends at a great restaurant. And, my birthday present to myself? Going to Italy on Thursday! I'm leaving in the evening, and rolling into Florence at 8:00 am. I'll be spending two days in Florence and then going to Rome for four days. Let the art-geekery begin!! I'm a little nervous, as I've never traveled alone before, but this is the time to do it, so... Carpe Diem! Stay tuned for the post coming in a week and a half :)

Part I: After a 3-week vacation caused by a mixture of intense laziness and intense business, we're back in business! Prepare yourselves...

So, this was the very first year that I had to celebrate Passover sans both family and the MHC Eliot house which was a bit of a culinary adventure, but it actually worked out much better than I had been expecting (especially since things like matzoh meal and schick's cakes don't exist over here, where the Jewish population is approximately 12). My saving grace was a. quinoa (it's technically not a grain!) and b. the fact that instead of corn syrup, everything has sugar.

Quinoa stir-fry, anyone?













Microwave-Passover-Brownies! God, I'm good!













Matzoh lasagna! It was super good! (Proof: I was still eating it two days after passover ended)











On April 3rd, the MHC program took a day trip to Uzès, a city about an hour out of Montpellier. It's a small city, but it has a lot of history, and is to this day, le Premier Duchy de France!

The castle of the duke (yes, he's still alive (and no, he's not single... Damnit!))












STAIRWAY OF DOOM. Seriously, it was like climbing a ladder, each step was about 6 inches at the widest point. And it was three looong flights!











... But the view was worth the climb.













Hello, pretty ladies!













The lovely little chapel.

















The second part of our trip was to the Haribo Candy Museum. That's a lotta candy.












Group photo! :)













In other news, I officially have a return ticket to the US of A on July 12th! Also, after a few weeks of lots of school work, I'm on vacation! (Yes, again).

Now, if you'll kindly go to part II...

Oh, I almost forgot... So, a few weeks ago I applied for a summer internship at le Chateau de Chantilly, the home of the Musée Condé, which houses the world's second largest collection of historical paintings and manuscripts. The internship is for 7 weeks and the work includes both research and giving guided tours.

The Chateau, located about 20 minutes from Paris by train.










Not half bad, huh?
























A page from the famous "Belles Heures" de Jean de Berry, housed at the museum.
















La Galerie de Peintures











Anyways, I found out on Friday that... I GOT THE INTERNSHIP!!!!

So, it was quite a busy week.

Monday and Tuesday were spent being a hermit and starting/finishing an exposé for my French Lit. class. It was based on an excerpt from Emile Zola's book L'Oeuvre, and the first time I read it through, I was sure I was doomed to a long, boring analysis... Until I realized that it basically consisted of a sex scene between a (male) painter and the city of Paris, his jealous wife and his subsequent impregnation by Paris. No, I'm actually not kidding. This is why French literature is so very awesome.

As you probably all know, Wednesday was St. Patrick's Day, and it was (believe it or not) the first time I'd celebrated it... Guess that's what happens when you're not even remotely Irish, unless you can count Wales as a suburb? So, of course, we went to FitzPatrick's, which seemed like an excellent idea, until we realized that the rest of the city had gone there, too. It was insanely crowded both in the pub and all around the pub... I barely escaped with my life... It was fun, though :)

Thursday evening was probably the best Occitan jam yet. We learned a new song at the beginning, and then danced and played until 9:00 when we relocated to another building, picked up another 50 people (+musicians!) and continued to dance, got kicked out at 10:00 and relocated to the front entrance of the school where we danced in the parking lot for another hour. It was fantastic. Managed to make a few new friends, too, which was awesome.

Saturday afternoon, I had a language exchange with a man named Greg, who I met at the Occitan jam. He wants to become a primary school teacher and needs to pass an English test, and thus wanted a bit of practice. We talked about music and all sorts of other things (new favorite topic: explaining the English measurement system to the French ("So, for you, freezing is 0 and boiling is 100. For us, well... freezing is 32 and boiling is 212. Not very logical. Also, we have 12 inches in a foot and... Well, I don't know how many feet in a mile...") It was kinda hilarious). Then, we left the café and went to one of the public gardens where he taught me a song in Italian, which I believe was arranged and is performed by this group which does some Amazing polyphonic singing: http://www.myspace.com/locordelaplana He also invited me to sing with a small group he just started, and offered to teach me the basics of the... Bagpipe. My joy knows no bounds, and the residents of Montpellier will never forgive me :)

This weekend marked both the beginning and end of my pool-playing career. Sealia is helping me hold the queue... Or trying to molest me. Or both?















Aren't we cute? This was taken while at lunch with Sealia's awesome friends Morgane and Hugo who were visiting for the weekend, who I got to hang out with a lot. (Photos grace à Morgane)










And now, another week has begun... Luckily, nothing due this week, but next week I have a paper and another presentation due on the same day. Yuck. Also, it's officially time to start planning my 2-week long April vacation! Where to go, where to go? Hmmm.... (Suggestions and/or donations welcome!)

So, it has been a really busy two weeks. Last weekend was really (wonderfully) intense, with lots of music, lots of people, lots of friends and interesting people. Last week was also intense, but in a less-enjoyable way, as I had a 15-minute presentation for my art history class on Wednesday, which went alright but wasn't easy, and then a trip to Nimes for another class which turned out to be a bit of a hassle. This weekend certainly had its high points, but I've had a bit of a cold (and no voice), so that got in the way a lot, which was no fun.

At the end of my last post, I expressed hope that the beginning of March meant the beginning of spring. Naturally, a week later, the weather decided to prove us very wrong:
SNOW! Luckily it's a little springier now.

















We decided that to celebrate the beautiful day yesterday, we should have a picnic! At the same time, though, there was an Occitan heritage parade gathering in the park! (It's a little hard to see, but there was a really big crowd, most of them in yellow and red, the colors of the Occitan flag)







Kinda like Halloween for little Occitan kiddies. SO CUTE.












So, for the picnic, there was: Baguette and Gruyere...












... And red wine...













... And we sat at the base of a statue of Louis XIV. It really doesn't get more French than this. For the first time, this afternoon, I felt like a Montpellieraine :)
















Origami dragon! ...'Cause I'm just that cool.













So, for this week, I have an explication de texte due for my literature class on Wednesday, but that's really all I have to worry about, so it's all good. Other than that, should be a good week, and WARM too!