Yesterday... I went to my first lecture at 9am. It went ok, I understood alot of it. We were talking about churches, their forms and about decoration and symbolism. We discussed the greek letters and symbols for christ as well as a generic medieval church layout.
That finished and then I had half an hour to get to my first CILTA lesson. It was raining, and I got all wet. I ended up being 10 mins late for the lesson due to leaving the lesson late and secondly to not knowing where the hell I was sposed to go. In the end I found it. There was a really small room full of people. 99% of them were spanish. This I wasn't pleased with as I find spanish people really hard to understand. They speak such a near language to Italian that they don't bother to work on their accent and are lazy with words that are almost the same in both languages. This makes them really hard to understand. I understand them when they talk English though. So she spent a while talking about part of Italy and bits that talk more than one language. Apparntaly one part near the alps also speaks French, another part speaks German too.
First half of the main part of the lesson was being into pairs. We were then given a picture and had to make up a bit of dialogue for the picture. I was with this Spainish guy who was perfectly fine. We didn't really know what to say, but we managed to sort something out. Everyone said theirs at the front of the class to each other. We got corrected on pronouncation and words a few times, which no one else did so I didn't feel we did very well. The second half was grammar. Very basic, just plural forms of the indefinite article and plural of masulin and feminine. This lesson was from half past 11 until 2! Right over lunchtime and I was starving. This didn't help concentration, but I did the best I could. I'm going to go over the grammar again myself before the next one on Friday.
After that lesson I ate lunch there as I didn't want to go out into the rain. Eventually it died down a bit so I went home. It was so wet and my trousers were soaked. I decided to stay home for the rest of the day as I was tired cold and wouldn't be able to concentrate on my lecture later. Too much Italian in one day. Rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Later while I was cooling the Japanese guy Mas was about! Him and Victor had some rose wine. I declined but let them try my ameretto, which I think they both liked.
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
The Weekend, and Monday
So Saturday nothing much happened. I was still getting over this damn cold. I mostly watched the OC and chilled for the day. Talked to mum on skype and stuff. In general it just wasn't a very interesting day.
Sunday however was interesting. I woke up at half past 6, which was silly. I woke up too early and I needed to wash my hair and shower anyway. I left the house at half past 7! I had given myself ages as it took so long to get there when I went to get mum but it turned out that I got there really early. Feltrinelli (bookstore, but like WH Smith) was open so I went in and got Italian Cosmo and "umoini degli figligo" otherwise known as children of men. Then I went to the train station and met up with everyone. It was packed! Lydia gave me my ticket (you have to get singles) and we got on the train. Lucie was waited for Julia, they got on the train but couldn't find me. It was pretty packed, set the tone for the whole day really.
We arrived, got together and then went up this platform thing outside the station to look at the city. We took pictures and stuff. Then we went down and over the bridge and the main canal. There were so so many people. People selling fake gucci bags and weird balloon sand things made into shapes. The streets were gorgeous, I took loads of pictures. The people kinda spoilt it though. At one point my plastic bag broke and everything fell on the floor. I had to take up half the alleyway sorting it out!! It did feel properly like a medieval city though. The canals every other street were all gorgeous, and the gondoldas also looked lovely. We followed the same route as the main tri organised by the uni (Lucie and Julia went with that trip) but we went at our own pace and gave the queues for St Marcs a miss. Still looked great from the outside while we ate our lunch. After that we carried on wandering about and taking pictures. We sat at a cafe at one point, and had an ice cream next to the grand canal at another. It was a good day, but spoilt by people really. We left at about half past 5. The journey back was very chilled, mostly everyone was tired and listening to their ipods. I went home and made food and slept.
Monday:
Monday (was yesterday) was another day mostly of lessons. Didn't really have time to sort out doctors. Lessons were tiring as normal. Watched OC in the evening.
not much else to say. will update tomorrow
Sunday however was interesting. I woke up at half past 6, which was silly. I woke up too early and I needed to wash my hair and shower anyway. I left the house at half past 7! I had given myself ages as it took so long to get there when I went to get mum but it turned out that I got there really early. Feltrinelli (bookstore, but like WH Smith) was open so I went in and got Italian Cosmo and "umoini degli figligo" otherwise known as children of men. Then I went to the train station and met up with everyone. It was packed! Lydia gave me my ticket (you have to get singles) and we got on the train. Lucie was waited for Julia, they got on the train but couldn't find me. It was pretty packed, set the tone for the whole day really.
We arrived, got together and then went up this platform thing outside the station to look at the city. We took pictures and stuff. Then we went down and over the bridge and the main canal. There were so so many people. People selling fake gucci bags and weird balloon sand things made into shapes. The streets were gorgeous, I took loads of pictures. The people kinda spoilt it though. At one point my plastic bag broke and everything fell on the floor. I had to take up half the alleyway sorting it out!! It did feel properly like a medieval city though. The canals every other street were all gorgeous, and the gondoldas also looked lovely. We followed the same route as the main tri organised by the uni (Lucie and Julia went with that trip) but we went at our own pace and gave the queues for St Marcs a miss. Still looked great from the outside while we ate our lunch. After that we carried on wandering about and taking pictures. We sat at a cafe at one point, and had an ice cream next to the grand canal at another. It was a good day, but spoilt by people really. We left at about half past 5. The journey back was very chilled, mostly everyone was tired and listening to their ipods. I went home and made food and slept.
Monday:
Monday (was yesterday) was another day mostly of lessons. Didn't really have time to sort out doctors. Lessons were tiring as normal. Watched OC in the evening.
not much else to say. will update tomorrow
Saturday, 25 October 2008
Friday
Yesterday was relaxing. I woke up late as I was tired and then immediately had to throw on some clothes as Valeria (landlady) was there and needed to take us to the office place. Tatiana joined us in the car and we had to drive to the engineering department to get Victor. After that we went to the office, it was the same one as before. She didn't know that I already had a codice fiscale, so we decided to double check it as I didn't have the code on me anyway. We waited for a while, then got it all sorted. The code on my uni card isn't the right tax code. We were going to wait to get the subsequent rent forms sorted, but V and T had an exam and had to leave. Valeria dropped me off at Ecu and I did a bit of shopping and went home.
The rest of the afetrnoon was spent doing normal things like showering and internet.
I spoke to Lucie and she said she wanted to go to this bar called Transylvania that we'd seen! We both got slightly dressed up to fit in a bit more then met up. It was actually a cool place, alot bigger than I expected. They even do food! Downstairs is like a small gig venue, like for pub style bands. Its all dressed up like a medieval castle (but v fake, obviously) and theres big screens playing cool music. The cocktails arn't cheap but its a fun place. We want to go back on halloween! haha Downstairs they have tables of coffins! With plastic on top and fake skeltons in it!! I took a photo! It was fun.
Update tomrrow xx
The rest of the afetrnoon was spent doing normal things like showering and internet.
I spoke to Lucie and she said she wanted to go to this bar called Transylvania that we'd seen! We both got slightly dressed up to fit in a bit more then met up. It was actually a cool place, alot bigger than I expected. They even do food! Downstairs is like a small gig venue, like for pub style bands. Its all dressed up like a medieval castle (but v fake, obviously) and theres big screens playing cool music. The cocktails arn't cheap but its a fun place. We want to go back on halloween! haha Downstairs they have tables of coffins! With plastic on top and fake skeltons in it!! I took a photo! It was fun.
Update tomrrow xx
Friday, 24 October 2008
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
I'm doing all of these in one blog as the days were pretty much the same. Dull. They comprised of lectures, tiredness and internet. Wednesday night was cool thou. It was the French week at Hobby One. We got food, not very french he he. There was tomato pasta with parmesan, some weird stuff like looked like beans, toast with spread and salad. Not alot for me to eat due to the cheese, but it was ok. After that there was this "moulin rouge" show, which was basically these girls prancing about in the lingerie they got from the shops! haha It was amusing enough to watch though. There was a guy who also danced. He covered for the girls while they did a small costume change. They danced to Moulin Rouge (voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir? being the only line in french) and some other song that I forget, also in English. It was fairly fun to watch thou, and this time we had a good view. After that it was the normal bad music all in English. It wasn't a bad night though. At the beginning I spoke to all these french speaking Belgians, which was cool. Later on Lydia Hannah and Elosia arrived (just when the Belgians left). Lydia had brought Matt along with her, which was cool. Hes lovely, but alot more rygby type build than I expected for some reason. He'd only arrived a few hours before and was a bit shellshocked really. It was also lovely to see Hannah again. Later there was a big bunch of English as we bumped into Richard (Lydia's friend from Bristol who is here too). I didn't stay really late. Left about 2, and got home at half past.
The morning after was horrible. I got up late, but I had this stinking cold. My throat was sore and my nose was blocked solid but runny. I felt really bad, but I still went to my lecture at 11. I chatted to Nicola for a bit before we realised that it was Thursday and we were in the wrong room. We didn't miss much but I was feeling so crap. I decided to go straight home and miss my lecture later on in the day. I stayed at home and watched alot of the OC. It was great and I got to feel less rank. I went out in the evening despite the cold. Everyone else was going clubbing again! I said that i'd go to the bar and socialise before the club opened. It was good, one of the Belgian girls was there with Lucie, and all the Lydia's flat people were there. I ended up staying quite late, but it was ok. I didn't drink there, just coke.
Update tomorrow hopefully xx
Tuesday, 21 October 2008
Thursday night and the long weekend
Thursday night:
We met up with Julia (Hungarian friend of Lucie's) and Lucie at Bar Lime and got drinks. We ended up staying there for ages rather than just half an hour due to the club not actually opening!! When we got in it was ok, there were these two spanish guys with us that I didn't really know very well. Two guys with cameras came around and took pictures. One of them of me and Lucie is actually nice! Music was crap as ever. I went home earlyish as mum was arriving tomorrow.
Friday:
I had a good mini lie in. Got up and sorted slowly and stayed online (doing my blog). She then called me and I set off. It took me alot longer than I had anticipated and I got confused at one point. Eventually though we found each other and it was great! We went to the hotel, dumped stuff then went to visit my flat. She liked it, but it didn't take long to show her around lol. We then went for lunch at this cafe along my road and discussed things and took pictures. We saw some graduates with their laurel wreaths! After that mum went to have a mini siesta as she had got up early to get here. I stayed at the flat and didn't do much. We spent the afternoon on a mini tour planned by me. We started at Piazza Maggorie, then went to Piazza St Giovanni in Monte (where my lectures are, and there were more graduates), then to the due torri (where we stopped for an ice cream) and down Via Zamboni. Once we had done that we started off towards the restaurant that I wanted to take mum to. We did get slightly confused at where it was, but once we got maps out we realised how near I was. We got a table and were sent downstairs. The last time that I had eaten at this place I had a delicious soup, so I knew this would be good. We shared a salad, which was nice, and then got tagliatelli al ragu (otherwise known as spagetti bolognese). It was amazingly delicious! We did however have quite a depressing conversation about the credit crunch and how it was going to mean a global depression 1930s style. That scared me a bit. Also I got news from home. When we left the restaurant and went upstairs to pay the bill we bumped into Lydia, Christina and Eloisa! They were getting cake lol. After that we went home/hotel to bed.
Saturday:
I actually slept over a bit on Saturday! I met mum outside the town hall and we went to the Morandi exhibition. Mum got annoyed that I kept yawning, but I was just tired. I'm pretty sure after that we went to get a drink in a cafe on Via Clavature. This was basically to kill time before lunch and to be honest I can't remember if that was saturday or sunday! I had this basically pure lemon lemonade that even like 4 packets of sugar didn't fix!! ha ha but anyway after that we went to Bar Lime and got a panini each and a drink. It was nice to chill. After that we went to the Interntational book store and I got a map of Bologna but also the surrounding area. We spent the rest of the day going around places. We went to the Basillica di San Petriono, which was cool, then to the medieval museum. Mum insisted on going down back streets. We also had a look around lots of areas and found a random canal running through. We then went back to my flat, spoke to Iz and Dad on Skype and then got a text from Lydia about meeting up for dinner. This restaurant was nice and it was only Lydia who was there when we arrived. I had Tortellini al brodo (pasta filled with meat, in broth). Lydia had bigger Tortellini with cheese in and with ragu. Mum had some cheese and grilled veg. My food was nice, but the broth was really watery. We had a selection of meats as a starter. Again we went home after dinner.
Sunday:
We met up later today than we had the day before. I still got out of Sunday morning cleaning though haha! We met up and had another drink and lunch at the same cafe as the first day. It was nice. Then we went to San Luca. This involves a nice colonaded walk for half the way then a ugly straight uphill struggle for the rest of it. The chapels along the way are all recent compared to the walkway and are mostly dull. It was tough. The views at the top are good, but not as good as in Tuscany and there are many trees in the way. We had a nice picnic that we got from the deli the day before. Mum tried to take photos of me but they all looked bad. The church on the inside was waaay OTT, in a strange way. Me and mum spoke about why there arn't really equivilents to this in England and about the reformation and all that. Then we walked back down all the way again, past lots of groups of people praying. We decided that the most sensible thing to do would be to get the bus up and then walk down hehe. That evening we went out for Pizza. The place I had been was really nice, and we had good food. I had a ham and egg Pizza and mum had one with lots of veg on. It was a nice meal but I was quite sad that she was going. We talked about alot of emotional things. When we got back to the hotel I said goodbye. I felt really sad and cried a bit on the way home. I stayed a short time online then went to bed.
Monday:
Not much happened on Monday. First thing I did when I woke up was call mum to make sure she got on the bus to the airport all ok. Then I had a shower and dragged myself to my lecture. 9am lectures on a Monday are always as hard as they sound. At 11 I went to see Lucie, but she was slightly late so I got a coke (caffine is goood) and read the newspaper to see how much I could understand. Lucie arrived and we chatted for an hour or so but then she left. I went back, got some lunch and went online. By that time it was time for my other lectures. They were dull and hard work too. Nothing much else happened the rest of the day, normal eating, online kinda stuff.
thats a long blog!! will keep you updated xxx
We met up with Julia (Hungarian friend of Lucie's) and Lucie at Bar Lime and got drinks. We ended up staying there for ages rather than just half an hour due to the club not actually opening!! When we got in it was ok, there were these two spanish guys with us that I didn't really know very well. Two guys with cameras came around and took pictures. One of them of me and Lucie is actually nice! Music was crap as ever. I went home earlyish as mum was arriving tomorrow.
Friday:
I had a good mini lie in. Got up and sorted slowly and stayed online (doing my blog). She then called me and I set off. It took me alot longer than I had anticipated and I got confused at one point. Eventually though we found each other and it was great! We went to the hotel, dumped stuff then went to visit my flat. She liked it, but it didn't take long to show her around lol. We then went for lunch at this cafe along my road and discussed things and took pictures. We saw some graduates with their laurel wreaths! After that mum went to have a mini siesta as she had got up early to get here. I stayed at the flat and didn't do much. We spent the afternoon on a mini tour planned by me. We started at Piazza Maggorie, then went to Piazza St Giovanni in Monte (where my lectures are, and there were more graduates), then to the due torri (where we stopped for an ice cream) and down Via Zamboni. Once we had done that we started off towards the restaurant that I wanted to take mum to. We did get slightly confused at where it was, but once we got maps out we realised how near I was. We got a table and were sent downstairs. The last time that I had eaten at this place I had a delicious soup, so I knew this would be good. We shared a salad, which was nice, and then got tagliatelli al ragu (otherwise known as spagetti bolognese). It was amazingly delicious! We did however have quite a depressing conversation about the credit crunch and how it was going to mean a global depression 1930s style. That scared me a bit. Also I got news from home. When we left the restaurant and went upstairs to pay the bill we bumped into Lydia, Christina and Eloisa! They were getting cake lol. After that we went home/hotel to bed.
Saturday:
I actually slept over a bit on Saturday! I met mum outside the town hall and we went to the Morandi exhibition. Mum got annoyed that I kept yawning, but I was just tired. I'm pretty sure after that we went to get a drink in a cafe on Via Clavature. This was basically to kill time before lunch and to be honest I can't remember if that was saturday or sunday! I had this basically pure lemon lemonade that even like 4 packets of sugar didn't fix!! ha ha but anyway after that we went to Bar Lime and got a panini each and a drink. It was nice to chill. After that we went to the Interntational book store and I got a map of Bologna but also the surrounding area. We spent the rest of the day going around places. We went to the Basillica di San Petriono, which was cool, then to the medieval museum. Mum insisted on going down back streets. We also had a look around lots of areas and found a random canal running through. We then went back to my flat, spoke to Iz and Dad on Skype and then got a text from Lydia about meeting up for dinner. This restaurant was nice and it was only Lydia who was there when we arrived. I had Tortellini al brodo (pasta filled with meat, in broth). Lydia had bigger Tortellini with cheese in and with ragu. Mum had some cheese and grilled veg. My food was nice, but the broth was really watery. We had a selection of meats as a starter. Again we went home after dinner.
Sunday:
We met up later today than we had the day before. I still got out of Sunday morning cleaning though haha! We met up and had another drink and lunch at the same cafe as the first day. It was nice. Then we went to San Luca. This involves a nice colonaded walk for half the way then a ugly straight uphill struggle for the rest of it. The chapels along the way are all recent compared to the walkway and are mostly dull. It was tough. The views at the top are good, but not as good as in Tuscany and there are many trees in the way. We had a nice picnic that we got from the deli the day before. Mum tried to take photos of me but they all looked bad. The church on the inside was waaay OTT, in a strange way. Me and mum spoke about why there arn't really equivilents to this in England and about the reformation and all that. Then we walked back down all the way again, past lots of groups of people praying. We decided that the most sensible thing to do would be to get the bus up and then walk down hehe. That evening we went out for Pizza. The place I had been was really nice, and we had good food. I had a ham and egg Pizza and mum had one with lots of veg on. It was a nice meal but I was quite sad that she was going. We talked about alot of emotional things. When we got back to the hotel I said goodbye. I felt really sad and cried a bit on the way home. I stayed a short time online then went to bed.
Monday:
Not much happened on Monday. First thing I did when I woke up was call mum to make sure she got on the bus to the airport all ok. Then I had a shower and dragged myself to my lecture. 9am lectures on a Monday are always as hard as they sound. At 11 I went to see Lucie, but she was slightly late so I got a coke (caffine is goood) and read the newspaper to see how much I could understand. Lucie arrived and we chatted for an hour or so but then she left. I went back, got some lunch and went online. By that time it was time for my other lectures. They were dull and hard work too. Nothing much else happened the rest of the day, normal eating, online kinda stuff.
thats a long blog!! will keep you updated xxx
Friday, 17 October 2008
Thursday
I woke up early on Thursday because I thought that I had a lecture at 11, when I remembered that I didn't. Lecture had been replaced by this History festival later on in the day. The morning was comprised of the normal checking of 50000 e-mails and general internetness. I had to be at the church place where this festival was at half 2, so I left fairly early and took my time. It was only the road beyond the road for the piazza where I normally have lectures so I found it easily.
It was this massive lecture hall, with a small stage and people milling about. I saw a few of my coursemates so sat with them. It turned out to be really dull. Nothing interesting at all so me and Stephen (american guy) left early and I waited for my lecture.
The lecture was cool. We watched a documentary/drama thing on hominins. It was really funny though as it was not really that much of an archaeology serious type programme and was aimed at entertaining people with a small bit of science. During it I was translating words with my Italian friend, and how I have a larger vocab. I even know what knapping in italian is! It was fun.
After my lecture I went to Lydias and we ate stuff. I had pasta, with bits of paella and various stuff. There was also burnt cake which was more like brownie as it hadn't risen! ha
humm mums arriving soon, will finish later xx
It was this massive lecture hall, with a small stage and people milling about. I saw a few of my coursemates so sat with them. It turned out to be really dull. Nothing interesting at all so me and Stephen (american guy) left early and I waited for my lecture.
The lecture was cool. We watched a documentary/drama thing on hominins. It was really funny though as it was not really that much of an archaeology serious type programme and was aimed at entertaining people with a small bit of science. During it I was translating words with my Italian friend, and how I have a larger vocab. I even know what knapping in italian is! It was fun.
After my lecture I went to Lydias and we ate stuff. I had pasta, with bits of paella and various stuff. There was also burnt cake which was more like brownie as it hadn't risen! ha
humm mums arriving soon, will finish later xx
Thursday, 16 October 2008
Wednesday
So I've already blogged about what happened last night. Sleep has taken the weirdness of it, and i'm feeling calmer about it now.
Yesterday morning was dull, I never do any work in the morning. I spent time online chatting to people when I should have been going to co op really. oh well.
Went to my lecture early and got lunch on the way. That morning I had been in touch with this Phd student who my lecturer said was in Bologna too. Turns out he was going to the same lecture as me. It was cool to chat. Him, me and this Dutch guy went for a quick coffee after. After that we split up and I went to the library. I was supposed to be copying up this Italian girl's notes but I found it too dificult and so went through some grammar and vocab instead. Second lecture wasn't our normal lecturer (I think hes in Budapest for some random reason). Instead it was this really pretty woman who spoke faster than most people drive. I didn't get hardly any of it. It was really short though and I got home early. After that I spent alot of time deciding whether or not I was going to go out. Eventually I decided that I would, the rest is below.
I may do a blog on The Glass Passenger, for all the jm.org people who've seen my blog before
Yesterday morning was dull, I never do any work in the morning. I spent time online chatting to people when I should have been going to co op really. oh well.
Went to my lecture early and got lunch on the way. That morning I had been in touch with this Phd student who my lecturer said was in Bologna too. Turns out he was going to the same lecture as me. It was cool to chat. Him, me and this Dutch guy went for a quick coffee after. After that we split up and I went to the library. I was supposed to be copying up this Italian girl's notes but I found it too dificult and so went through some grammar and vocab instead. Second lecture wasn't our normal lecturer (I think hes in Budapest for some random reason). Instead it was this really pretty woman who spoke faster than most people drive. I didn't get hardly any of it. It was really short though and I got home early. After that I spent alot of time deciding whether or not I was going to go out. Eventually I decided that I would, the rest is below.
I may do a blog on The Glass Passenger, for all the jm.org people who've seen my blog before
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