BACK FROM LOST IN ITALY

Okay, so we're back from our big Italy trip... and it almost seems overwhelming to me to begin describing it. and probally boring to give a detailed account of itinerary.

PART 1: VENICE

Venice... beautiful venice! actually Verona was cleaner, but venice's canals are really what you would expect them to be.

The picture on the left is our first dinner. following the LETS GO book recommendation, we tried this BLACK SPAGHETTI which is NOT jajang muen haha. made of squid cooked with the ink. i had the same dish the next night, and really this place is better.!

Friday, February 8

BAD NEWS: Fuse broke. I' m actually really sad! My hair straightener --__- poofball hairday tmr.

We came back from Verona. Which was AWESOME! The perfect day trip. Right when we got there we made a mad dash all across the city (which is quite small) to make it to the riverside to eat some italian pizza!3/4 were pretty good, but the SARDINES one was.... well it depends on your taste.

The city is beautiful. So clean, and you can see the mountaintops. If you take the time to stroll, you can really relax, browse at shops, and stop for a cappucino. I can't wait till Bergamo, which will be a change of scenery as it is a mountain itself.

The Romeo & Juliet balcony really is quite small and not what I expected. The tour books describe the graffitti on the wall as 'a shame', but I find it quite sweet. Couples also put locks with their names on it for good luck. I want to put one with Alex :( That's OK. Just let it be noted.

What a romantic day! Oh- Today (friday) was pretty boring. we bought tickets to a SOCCER GAME!! Even though I'm not too into soccer, I'm getting pumped to go. I heard its craaazy! I wanna see how nuts these Italians go.

Other than that--. Good stuff :)

Wed, February 6, 2008

Haesu:

Yesterday was Chinese New Year! Xin nian kuai le everyoneeee :)

Our first visit to Bocconi was quite an experience. An important lesson to be noted! - DONT walk through the "lions" @ Bocconi - otherwise, you will never graduate... This is an urban legend that everyone in the school knows :)

I finally met my friend Stephane from HEC Montreal. He's been so kind to me through facebook/msn, and last night he introduced us to more than 20+ exchange students. We went to a Chinese restaurant with a bunch of people, visited Arcobaleno (residence) for the first time, and then went to Old Fashion (club). It was the first time we hung out with a bunch of people in Milan... :)

We're going to Verona today! We as in: Cherie, Haesu, Naser, and Paul. Paul is an exchange student from Singapore :) We met Paul yesterday too.


Random fact of the day:
- I met an exchange student from Singapore who reminds me of ALISON KOH soooooooooo much!! I miss you Alison!

February 5, 2008

Cherie Writing: feb 6

FABULOUS MORNING

- OUR FUSE WORKS!! I've never been so excited about electronics in my life!!! FINALLY we can use our rice cooker and hair straightener!!!

- Got a phone! 333 3924379

- cleaned the fridge, which smelled poorly of CHEESE

- bought some sweet italian groceries and made pasta! which was pretty good!

But most of our day happened at night. Met up with Naser again and went to his first aperitivo. I'm getting used to the concept

Apertivo means: you buy a drink, and then eat a buffet for free

This one was pretty fancy! I thought it was free because of the exchange group ESN, but apparently not. -__- and no one was even there! Probally because people have exams the next day. I wanted to meet people! But no hassle. there is 5 more months!

Started to plan upcoming trips. Really... to get cheap air deals you ACTUALLY have to plan 3 wks in advance:

Lesson #1: When planning for trips, the prices can fluctate by 200% over a period of one day!

Lesson #2: Planning is really difficult! Begin with just getting transportation

We're thinking of Paris for sure with Alex and England friends for January 21. and Lake Como hopefully this weekend!! Depending on if we can get our shower fixed. so far that is the biggest problem! We are showering out of a TUB and a BOWL! Naser says that bad water pressure --> will lead to hair loss.

*** Also found out that Edison had a big sex scandal. Gross!! and sad. What a playboy! *** Courtesy of weird skype conversation with Leon.

MOVE IN DAY!

February 4, 2008

Cherie: Woke up after something like 17 hrs of sleep.. but got my fever down to normal termperature WOOO!!!! Go Italian Farmacia. Feeling alot better minus fever pains and sore throat.

After many hours of postponement... we jump ointo the taxi (which charged us for being late) and arrive at our new house! Initially we thought it'd be super ghetto, but after' a bit of cleaning, its not so bad! The landlord is a little nutty. She's a 'theatre artist' with wild artist bushy hair and had quite alot of stuff to move away. On a +, she did leave some paintings and incense and spices!!

Our beds are really flat, so we're going to call it 'japanese style' its pretty much on the floor. But at least the linens are colourful!

GOTTTA DRINK TEA NOW

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Today's a gloomy day.

Cherie is sick and I've been running around all evening trying to find a bank machine that will accept my debit card.

Cherie is sick because... the weather sucks. But it seems like she'll recover quickly. She had a really high fever - going up to 39 celsius, which is really dangerous! Giulia gave her a medicine and I made her some vegetable porridge so that she'll digest it without much trouble. I'm glad she was able to eat a whole bowl and fall back asleep. She prolly thought I was crazy cuz I wouldn't let her take her sweater off even when she was sweating. But if she took the sweater off, her body would have cooled down immediately and make her really cold again. HOPE she understands my intentions when she reads this blog later on - BOO Cherie Lui. Good thing I brought a pack of porridge powder from home cuz it was very useful (you wouldn't know what porridge powder I'm talking about unless you're korean hehe).

Anyhow, I'm currently working on a rent contract. I can't believe I'm writing my own rent contract for the apartment... This exchange is definately teaching me a lot of new things that I would have never imagined I'd experience.. ever. lol... such as writing a rent contract in Milan..haha

We are moving to our own place tmr. It's a cozy place that's really close to school. Hopefully it'll be safe, warm, and fun. Wish us luck!

Random fact of the day:
- Italian is the easiest/nicest language to sing songs in (thought there's no objective way of proving this lol)
- One can order sushi from home in Milano - I would have never imagined!

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Haesu:

So, this was our third day in Milan and we're trying hard to get used to the local time here. I mean, 6 hours is not a really huge time difference to overcome, BUT we didn't start the sleep pattern correctly when we arrived - we had a huge nap when we arrived AND went out until very late...but its okay :) We don't have school till Feb 18th, so its alllllll good.

We are planning on going on a trip with some exchange students from Aix ex Provence, where Jeff and Celine go to school. They're planning a HUGE Italy trip that's about 12 days long, and Cherie and I are planning to join for about... 4-5 days. Cherie and I are planning to join for Florence, Venice, Verona, and Pisa. It's really exciting. Oh, Naser and Alex might join us too!

With some trip planning in the morning & early afternoon, Cherie and I went shopping to the Duomo area! There's this street called Via Torino, and it has tons of stores. I have a feeling we'll be visiting that area frequently... :)

At night, we met up with Naser - who JUST arrive in Milan! We walked around the Navigly area to find a crepe place. Navigly area is one of the nicest areas in Milan with tons of bars, cafes and restaurants. There is a small canal that runs through the area, which is what makes the area so cool :)

Random facts of the day:
- Italians have a saying that if you don't eat the crusts of your pizza, you're not good in bed.
- Pepperoni refers to PEPPERS. Pepperoni that we use for pizza toppings are actually called Salame. Italians find this funny :)

Cherie:

Waking up earlier really pays off. You don't waste your day and actually get to explore the city. We went shopping today, but strangely enough we ended up going to stores that we already have in canada: Mango, Zara. On a positive note stores like ENERGIE seem much cheaper! All I got was some wicked purple capris. I really like colourful shorts. I have a pair of turquoise ones at home. mmM it'd tempting to want to buy alot of htings fort he sake of being in italy, but really, the stores which actually offer 'fashionable italian' clothes are really expensive... so I'm thinking of not buying so many Items, and saving up for some great pair of heels or some dresses that will actually merit a comment 'whered u get that?'

I'm starting to miss my dogs as there are so many here in italy! All very cute. We made 'friends' i guess you could say, with one on the tram on our adventure to find a FUSE since our converter isn't working. I spend alot of time skyping with my dad for electronics advise. Its really helpful! I really hope we can get it working so I can plug in my ipod speakers and rice cooker. I love pasta... but i also LOVE MY RICE.

Heard a song today that said "she's the chinatown queen!!" which made me miss chinese food alot. Korean bbq too! Thanks nikki for taking us out before I left... I'll have a craving till I come back!

Tomorrow To Do: Visit some more 'cultural' areas of milan

Feb 02 , 2008

Day starts @ 3:00pm... Ok so we slept in. Giulia has wooden blinds that cover the windows, she says its because theres this maniac who lives across and always tries to peeps in. The windows are really dark though, so we got a great nights sleep.

Lunchtime: Pasta made by Giulia. Amazingly good!!! 2 kinds. Cream and Tomatoe-- apparently 'alfredo' doesn't exist in Italy

Didn't start on our excursion until 6 pm and went to the Duomo. A great first excursion! The central is beautiful at night and the timing was perfect. We live very close, so we're sure to visit again.

Met up with Danny and Christina for dinner and ate at a pizzeria. Very good!!! and very different from pizza pizza hahahha. took some good pics with the pizzashopboys with lip piercing awesome.

REALLY TIRED TODAY---> Posted pics on HAESU's faceboo!K!!! Take a look!

Random facts:
- pharmacies advertise using sex appeal

- one can get around the city by tram ticket scamming
- margherita pizzas require a dousing of olive oil after the pizza is made
- haesu wants to buy leather gloves