The day after I finished mid-term exams I headed off to the Cinque Terre with 5 German friends from Bocconi: Nina and Anne (from my language class), Nina's housemate Hannah, and two other friends, Christine and Eva. The Cinque Terre are 5 very small villages, set along the beautiful coastline south of Genoa. 'Cinque Terre' means 5 lands. The area's a relatively famous part of Italy for its beautiful scenery; the villages are also classically Italian, and there is a walking path from one end to the other which a lot of people from all over Europe do.
My housemate Cristina and her brother dropped me at the station at quarter to 7 in the morning as they were going to meet their parents there - che fortuna! The seemingly interminable train ride (4 hours - we could have done it in two but it's always cheaper to take the slower trains in Italy) took us to Monterosso, the closest of the Cinque Terre to Genova. The first part of the walk, from Monterosso to Vernazza, is definitely the hardest, and involved a lot of clambouring over rocks and heaps of steps. The path is fairly well maintained but gets very narrow at times - we were all surprised (but I think this is quite common in Italy) that there is no railing, fences or anything to stop you falling if you happened to fall off the path! Quite often there was nothing but a 6-foot drop down into grape vines below. It's nice to be free of public liability paranoia - Italy (probably more through laziness than decision) is very sane with things like that.
Stopped for lunch in Vernazza, a town with a beautiful harbour, and we climbed up to the ruins of the castle at the top of the town, looking right over the water, for some great views. The next leg, to Corniglia, wasn't quite as tough but still involved plenty of steps (and the Germans set a cracking pace!). Most of the walking is through or around the vineyards, which have been cut as layers, each about 5 feet high, into the hills.
We got to the town in the middle, Corniglia, by about 6pm, and mindful of having to be in La Spezia (a town further down the coast than the Cinque Terre), to check into our hotel by 8pm we decided to leave it there and get a train to La Spezia. Wandering around La Spezia that night, we had no idea where to go to get dinner, so Nina decided to ask some policemen we came across - I think they were quite flattered, not only did they chat with us for a bit but they rang ahead to a restaurant to make sure there would be room for the 6 of us! (Even though they hadn't heard us speak English they automatically assumed we were Americans - a very common thing for Italians to do (even though there were heaps of French and German tourists doing the Cinque Terre). I found it quite funny because if I hadn't been there the whole group would be German - not even speaking English!) That turned out to be a very good choice, the food was great and we shared a nutella pizza for desert! (not as bad as it sounds - actually really nice!). We were all pretty tired after an early start and lots of exercise!
We started off our second day with a wander around La Spezia, taking in the harbour, and then headed to Riomaggiore, the closest of the Cinque Terre to La Spezia. April 25th is also a public holiday for the Italians - Liberation Day (from the fascists) - and we heard on the morning radio a mention it also being "l'ANZAC day" in Australia and New Zealand! The whole area was packed with tourists. The walk goes past lots of paths leading down the to the rocks by the sea (actual beaches are virtually non-existent, the whole area is lots of cliffs!). There were lots of people sunbaking and having picnics, it would be a great place to spend a sunny day!
The walk from Riomaggiore to Manarola is Via dell'Amore, famous for having lots of names of couples and love messages scratched into the wall, the rocks or even the cacti. When Italian couples get married it is a tradition to write the names of the husband and wife on a padlock and chain it somewhere (e.g. to a bridge). There are hundreds of padlocks along Via dell'Amore.
Manarola was packed with tourists so we paused for gelati and then headed off again on the last part of the walk. Ended up at Corniglia train station again, where we ended the day before, and with an hour to spare we decided to climb the 382 steps up to the town for a snack and coffee!
We all really enjoyed wandering through the little towns in the Cinque Terre. Common local produce (much like Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast) was lemon stuff (particularly Limoncello, a typical Italian after-dinner drink), crockery and cooking products (always with lots of decoration and ceramic work). We came across a shop in Corniglia selling all that as well as beer and wine variously named after Che, Marx, Lenin and various other left-wing figures, as well as Mussolini and Hitler and others on the right! I found it pretty funny but the Germans couldn't believe it - apparently you could never sell anything like that in Germany. They were a bit offended, I think, and even though they all liked the stuff in the rest of the shop they all agreed they would never buy anything there. Typical I think of the kind of German 'residual guilt'.
The Germans headed back to Milan that evening and I left them in Genova and headed to the HI hostel there, up in the hills looking over the port.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Rome
The week following Easter was 'Culture Week', during which all museums and cultural exhibits in Italy were free! If only we'd know earlier we would have planned a lot more for that week and not paid 10 euros to get into Pompeii!
I left Salerno and the Amalfi Coast for a few days in Rome, where the weather suddenly became beautiful and sunny - I wished we'd had weather like that in Pompeii and on the Amalfi Coast! The hostel I stayed at in Rome (M&J hostel) sucked, don't ever stay there.
After exploring St Peter's Basilica (including climbing all 551 steps to the top) I took in the Pantheon and the Castel San Angelo near the river. I wanted to go to the National Pasta Museum but it was closed for renovations! :(
The morning of my last day away was the beginning of daylight savings, so even though I left fairly early I didn't get to the Vatican Museums until much later than I would have liked. On that day entrance was free, so I had to wait in an enormous queue outside for an hour and a half. It was definitely worth seeing though, amazingly decorated buildings. Also enjoyed wandering around some of Rome's piazzas (I couldn't count the number of Obelisks there are in Rome) and seeing more of the Roman ruins in the area around the Colosseum. Got an overnight train back, again in a packed compartment full of chatty Italians on which I could barely sleep, even when everyone was quiet!
I left Salerno and the Amalfi Coast for a few days in Rome, where the weather suddenly became beautiful and sunny - I wished we'd had weather like that in Pompeii and on the Amalfi Coast! The hostel I stayed at in Rome (M&J hostel) sucked, don't ever stay there.
After exploring St Peter's Basilica (including climbing all 551 steps to the top) I took in the Pantheon and the Castel San Angelo near the river. I wanted to go to the National Pasta Museum but it was closed for renovations! :(
The morning of my last day away was the beginning of daylight savings, so even though I left fairly early I didn't get to the Vatican Museums until much later than I would have liked. On that day entrance was free, so I had to wait in an enormous queue outside for an hour and a half. It was definitely worth seeing though, amazingly decorated buildings. Also enjoyed wandering around some of Rome's piazzas (I couldn't count the number of Obelisks there are in Rome) and seeing more of the Roman ruins in the area around the Colosseum. Got an overnight train back, again in a packed compartment full of chatty Italians on which I could barely sleep, even when everyone was quiet!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Salerno and the Amalfi Coast
From Naples, we got ourselves up very early to get the train to Salerno, where we planned to base ourselves for a few days of exploring the Amalfi Coast. Unfortunately, as soon as we got on the train Jess realised that she'd left her iPod at the hostel and ran back (literally, jogged for 20 minutes there and back through Naples!) to get it. Olivia and I got off the train, but it was still at the platform when Jess got back more than an hour later - it never left. We enjoyed the sunshine for a while sitting on the platform, and left two and a half hours later than we'd originally planned on the next train to leave - by the time we got to Salerno the rain had well and truly set in for the day, and we still had to spend about half an hour wandering around trying to find the hostel in the rain!
The HI Hostel in Salerno is a former convent and a decent place. I looked around in Salerno for a bit in the afternoon - the harbour would have been lovely on a sunny day! For dinner we had the dodgiest kebabs ever - they were in mini pita bread rolls, and they tried to put chips in with the rest of the ingredients! It only set us back $3 though. The search for the ultimate kebab continues... We did, however, find some amazing gelati - at Gerry's, all home-made, and only one euro for 2 scoops!
The next morning we headed to Positano, on the opposite end of the Amalfi Coast. We wanted to catch the ferry but none were running because of rough seas and rain all day (by now this was no surprise). Instead we took the bus, which goes through all the coastal towns and has stunning views of the coastline. It occured to me on the drive that the Amalfi Coast is quite similar to the Great Ocean Road, but in an Italian way - with picturesque villas, tumble-down houses, vine fields, ancient walls and roads that are WAY too small! The bus had to stop on almost every corner to let cars coming the other way go past, and meeting other buses and trucks was a nerve-wracking experience! The water was amazingly blue green, and everything is so GREEN!
Olivia and Jess spent time on the beach (nothing special, but they don't live near beaches!), while I looked around the town and walked to the next beach (via many, many steps!). On my way back I saw Gabe & Brittney (and then Logan and Lauren) on scooters! They had all hired scooters for the day and had ridden around the point of the peninsula from Sorrento (where we'd been 2 days before) to Positano (apparently an amazing drive!). We met up on the beach and the boys went for an (extremely quick) dip in the freezing cold water while the 3 girls decided to drive on to Amalfi.
In the afternoon the three of us and Gabe and Logan went for a walk along the coast and found a path winding through a gully from the road. We followed it a fair way along in and up the hill, and were puzzled by the sound of dogs barking in the distance - we figured it was just someone walking a dog or two in the distance until we saw that there were several dogs, barking from somewhere that was obviously some sort of gate, and a man dressed in shabby, ripped clothing, who opened the gate and let the dogs out after us! We ran pretty damn quickly down the path (that had taken us a good half an hour to walk) back to the road after that! We later asked a local about the guy, and as soon as he realised who we were talking about he had a chuckle. Apparently he's a really nice guy. O_o.
We also found the beginning of the 1700-step stairway to Nocelle and the Sentiero degli Dei (Trail of the Gods), a famous walking path that goes along the entire coast. We only got a few hundred steps up when the heavy rain, tiredness and hunger got the better of us, so we headed back to Positano to meet up with the girls.
Logan and Gabe offered to take us for a 'spin' on the scooters and Olivia and I couldn't refuse - even though by then it was incredibly cold and the rain was quite heavy. We went way up into the mountains above Positano (and the crazy dog-man's valley) - the rain was endless and there were rainclouds everywhere but despite that and the freezing cold, the view was amazing! Gabe and I came off the bikes within 5 minutes in a slide around the corner - but it wasn't nearly as dramatic as it sounds! While we were gone the other girls talked to a few locals about the weather - apparently they couldn't believe the rain, they said it only ever rains 5 days in a year, and never like that! Just our luck. By the time we got back to Salerno that night we were all thoroughly soaked; none of us dried out for many hours (and our clothes stayed wet for days!).
The next morning Olivia and Jess left early for Rome but I stayed an extra day for some walking. Catching the bus to Amalfi I met a nice family from Melbourne - we had a good chat about everything from Italy, the footy, and the drought! Amalfi is another very picturesque town, I wandered around a bit in the rain through lots of passageways under houses and stepped streets - very cool! I was planning to walk from Amalfi (at sea level) up to Ravello (way up in the mountains 350m above sea level) but as it was raining hard and I didn't really know the way, I ended up taking a bus about halfway, getting off where I saw a sign for a walk. Even though I only did about half of it, I was exhausted when I reached Ravello after god-knows-how many steps! The town is very cute, with even more steps that Amalfi and amazing views of the coast, the best of which were from Villa Cimbrone, a villa with extensive gardens which many celebrities have visited (including Winston Churchill and Greta Garbo!).
To get down from Ravello I walked down steps for almost an hour straight - by the end of it my legs were ready to drop off - to another town, Minori, and got the bus back to Salerno. That afternoon the weather was pretty reasonable, not much rain (!!!!). Shared a room that night with an American girl who was also, funnily enough, on exchange at Cattolica in Milan, as well as a German girl whose bags had been stolen the night before when she was camping!
Amalfi Coast is definitely somewhere I'll be returning to - it deserves at least a week, as there is plenty of walking to be done!
The HI Hostel in Salerno is a former convent and a decent place. I looked around in Salerno for a bit in the afternoon - the harbour would have been lovely on a sunny day! For dinner we had the dodgiest kebabs ever - they were in mini pita bread rolls, and they tried to put chips in with the rest of the ingredients! It only set us back $3 though. The search for the ultimate kebab continues... We did, however, find some amazing gelati - at Gerry's, all home-made, and only one euro for 2 scoops!
The next morning we headed to Positano, on the opposite end of the Amalfi Coast. We wanted to catch the ferry but none were running because of rough seas and rain all day (by now this was no surprise). Instead we took the bus, which goes through all the coastal towns and has stunning views of the coastline. It occured to me on the drive that the Amalfi Coast is quite similar to the Great Ocean Road, but in an Italian way - with picturesque villas, tumble-down houses, vine fields, ancient walls and roads that are WAY too small! The bus had to stop on almost every corner to let cars coming the other way go past, and meeting other buses and trucks was a nerve-wracking experience! The water was amazingly blue green, and everything is so GREEN!
Olivia and Jess spent time on the beach (nothing special, but they don't live near beaches!), while I looked around the town and walked to the next beach (via many, many steps!). On my way back I saw Gabe & Brittney (and then Logan and Lauren) on scooters! They had all hired scooters for the day and had ridden around the point of the peninsula from Sorrento (where we'd been 2 days before) to Positano (apparently an amazing drive!). We met up on the beach and the boys went for an (extremely quick) dip in the freezing cold water while the 3 girls decided to drive on to Amalfi.
In the afternoon the three of us and Gabe and Logan went for a walk along the coast and found a path winding through a gully from the road. We followed it a fair way along in and up the hill, and were puzzled by the sound of dogs barking in the distance - we figured it was just someone walking a dog or two in the distance until we saw that there were several dogs, barking from somewhere that was obviously some sort of gate, and a man dressed in shabby, ripped clothing, who opened the gate and let the dogs out after us! We ran pretty damn quickly down the path (that had taken us a good half an hour to walk) back to the road after that! We later asked a local about the guy, and as soon as he realised who we were talking about he had a chuckle. Apparently he's a really nice guy. O_o.
We also found the beginning of the 1700-step stairway to Nocelle and the Sentiero degli Dei (Trail of the Gods), a famous walking path that goes along the entire coast. We only got a few hundred steps up when the heavy rain, tiredness and hunger got the better of us, so we headed back to Positano to meet up with the girls.
Logan and Gabe offered to take us for a 'spin' on the scooters and Olivia and I couldn't refuse - even though by then it was incredibly cold and the rain was quite heavy. We went way up into the mountains above Positano (and the crazy dog-man's valley) - the rain was endless and there were rainclouds everywhere but despite that and the freezing cold, the view was amazing! Gabe and I came off the bikes within 5 minutes in a slide around the corner - but it wasn't nearly as dramatic as it sounds! While we were gone the other girls talked to a few locals about the weather - apparently they couldn't believe the rain, they said it only ever rains 5 days in a year, and never like that! Just our luck. By the time we got back to Salerno that night we were all thoroughly soaked; none of us dried out for many hours (and our clothes stayed wet for days!).
The next morning Olivia and Jess left early for Rome but I stayed an extra day for some walking. Catching the bus to Amalfi I met a nice family from Melbourne - we had a good chat about everything from Italy, the footy, and the drought! Amalfi is another very picturesque town, I wandered around a bit in the rain through lots of passageways under houses and stepped streets - very cool! I was planning to walk from Amalfi (at sea level) up to Ravello (way up in the mountains 350m above sea level) but as it was raining hard and I didn't really know the way, I ended up taking a bus about halfway, getting off where I saw a sign for a walk. Even though I only did about half of it, I was exhausted when I reached Ravello after god-knows-how many steps! The town is very cute, with even more steps that Amalfi and amazing views of the coast, the best of which were from Villa Cimbrone, a villa with extensive gardens which many celebrities have visited (including Winston Churchill and Greta Garbo!).
To get down from Ravello I walked down steps for almost an hour straight - by the end of it my legs were ready to drop off - to another town, Minori, and got the bus back to Salerno. That afternoon the weather was pretty reasonable, not much rain (!!!!). Shared a room that night with an American girl who was also, funnily enough, on exchange at Cattolica in Milan, as well as a German girl whose bags had been stolen the night before when she was camping!
Amalfi Coast is definitely somewhere I'll be returning to - it deserves at least a week, as there is plenty of walking to be done!
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Naples, Pompeii, Ischia and Sorrento
On Thursday night before Easter, Jess, Olivia and I headed to Naples on an overnight train. Most Italian regional trains are compartmentalised, and our compartment was full (6 people) until we reached Rome at about 3am. There were two old Italian women who we chatted to for quite a while - initially they were fascinated to hear about where we were from (Australia, Canada and the U.S.), what we were studying, kangaroos, etc etc. Then the conversation turned to how dangerous overnight trains were - aparently there had been some armed muggings on trains - and about how our parents must feel about us girls travelling around Italy on our own. Naturally that made us feel pretty confident.
The conversation continued until very late, probably at least 1am - and Italians do not have quiet conversations - so we were very glad when they finally dropped off to sleep. Sleeping in overnight trains is very difficult if you're not in a sleeper carriage. The cabins are very cramped and although you can move the seats out to be on more of an angle, we were very glad when the other three left us in Rome - we had the 6-seat compartment all to ourselves and pulled the seats forward until they met in the middle - we basically had a bed compartment! Only for a few hours though.
Italy is a relatively young country (united in 1872) and most areas still have very distinct accents and cultures (most cities have distinct dialects, although most are not commonly used). When we got to Naples, Olivia (who speaks Italian as well or probably better than me) and I had a lot of trouble understanding what people were saying to us. Compared to the north, it seemed to us that people pronounced 's' sounds in a very different (maybe soft) way, but the most difficulty came from a kind of slurring that seemed to be really common. After asking for directions or something, we often found ourselves looking at each other saying 'I didn't understand a word of that'!
While our first day in Naples was beautifully sunny, when we headed off to Pompeii the next day the rain had well and truly set in - and wouldn't clear up for about a week! Stomping around in Pompeii in the wet, cold weather wasn't a great deal of fun but I still found it really interesting - didn't even see half of it, you would need to go for a whole (sunny) day to really do it properly. Even so, some of the houses are amazingly well preserved, and much of the town is still being excavated. We were hoping to climb Mt Vesuvius as well but we'd missed the last bus to the summit area (it was about 2.30pm so that was a bit of a puzzle for us!). We tried again two days later but the entire area was closed because of the weather (so we probably wouldn't have been able to do it any time while we were there!). We were disappointed but managed to console ourselves with the best cioccolata ever at the train station in Pompeii!
On Easter Sunday we thought it might be interesting to go to an Italian church service. However, the night before we discovered that a nearby island, Ischia, had hot springs, and all thoughts of church flew out the window, along with misgivings about the weather and any other considerations! We found a place, O'vagnitiello that had a 10 euro deal, made sure that they would be open, and headed off the next morning on the ferry to Ischia. The place seemed impossible to find - we rang three times for directions (and had a lot of trouble understanding what they told us!), asked at least two people on the street and the bus driver. Initially we thought we'd got off at the wrong bus stop so we rang again to be given more incomprehensible instructions. Eventually we found a long and winding laneway going from behind a church ('OH! I thought she said something about a church!'), and after quite a trek we ended up at a place with deck chairs everywhere on 4 levels next to the sea, with three pools, two bars, and even rooms obviously available for staying. The whole place was completely deserted.
We eventually found the guy who was in charge and got into the warm pool (in the rain!) and also the steam room. No hot springs though. The only other people were saw was an Israeli family, who had been living in Italy for years. We all ended up eating at the restaurant there which turned out to be a great idea - we had the best pasta so far in Italy, the Israeli dad bought us a bottle of wine and we had a cake for desert on the house! The whole day should have cost us 17 euros each but the guy in charge only asked $40 altogether! Happy Easter to you too!
We spent the afternoon wandering around Ischia (fortunately the rain cleared up for a few hours) and stealing a few lemons from the trees which were EVERYWHERE! The return ferry ride had been dubbed the 'Ferry Ride from Hell' - the sea was incredibly choppy, the rain returned and the ferry was swaying unbelievably. The previous ferry had been cancelled because of the weather. Good-oh. The boat was moving around in HUGE waves but we didn't seem to be getting anywhere. We were at no stage convinced that the whole thing was under control (but everyone else seemed calm and undisturbed, except for a few people who had to run to the bathroom), the ride took an hour longer than it should have taken, and we were very glad when we made it back to land alive!
After our second attempt at Vesuvius was thwarted we decided to head off to Sorrento for the day. The train was packed with rowdy Italian teenagers being incredibly loud and raucous - we later found out that it was Youth Day or something like that, a day when all teenagers in the area head down to Sorrento. Great timing.
The morning was wet and cold, and the day was looking miserable but things brightened up after lunch, and after spending a few hours wandering around the town looking at the souvenier shops and down on the harbour, we met up with Logan and Katie (friends that Olivia and Jess had met on their ski trip) and three of their friends, Lauren, Brittany and Gabe, all Americans. We went wandering up a hill and somehow found a trail (and a random English guy who gave us his walking map - and completely out-paced us on the walk!) up the mountains. We spent hours spilling around on wet rocks and steps but eventually reached the town at the top, and got some great views both on the way up and down!
The conversation continued until very late, probably at least 1am - and Italians do not have quiet conversations - so we were very glad when they finally dropped off to sleep. Sleeping in overnight trains is very difficult if you're not in a sleeper carriage. The cabins are very cramped and although you can move the seats out to be on more of an angle, we were very glad when the other three left us in Rome - we had the 6-seat compartment all to ourselves and pulled the seats forward until they met in the middle - we basically had a bed compartment! Only for a few hours though.
If you tell anyone in Italy that you're going to Naples (seriously, ANYONE) they immediately bombard you with warnings about being careful of your luggage, watching out for pickpockets and motorcycle thieves, small children who are trained to pick pockets at the train station and in touristy areas.... We didn't feel unsafe at any time but we were pretty relieved when we got to our hostel and got rid of all our stuff! Since we had arrived in Italy (or maybe even starting before) there had been an ongoing strike of garbage collectors in Naples, so the other thing people would talk about was the pictures shown on the news of streets with rubbish piled up in the middle - it looked pretty nasty. We didn't find much garbage in the city though (I think it was much worse in the suburbs) and it didn't seem much dirtier than most Italian cities! Appartently though since then the situation has become a lot worse - people are refusing to send their kids to school for fear of rat attacks or catching disease. I hear Berlusconi has promised to have the situation resolved by 2010. Only in Italy....
Getting out into Naples on Good Friday made Milan feel like a haven of organisation, orderliness and cleanliness - no mean feat! Even getting out of the train station and finding our bus was a nightmare, we asked about 4 different people where the bus left from until one old man (again, only in Italy does this happen) actually lead us the 200 metres or so to the bus stop! The traffic was chaos, and it took us ages to get to our hostel, and the bus was packed. That afternoon we explored Naples on foot - we found a street market (lots of activity!), many narrow streets with washing hanging out every window of the apartment blocks, lots of steps, a fenicular railway taking us up the highest hill, and the Castle of Saint Elmo. We also had our first Napoletan pizza - thicker dough than in the north (but still nowhere near as thick as ours), great tomato paste, and commonly with circular slices of mozzarella (from the balls of mozzarella - often from buffalo milk) placed on the pizza (rather than grated cheese everywhere). Very, VERY nice. Naples is the birthplace of the margherita pizza (which, by the way, is not at all considered boring - it is very common to order just margherita in Italy).
Italy is a relatively young country (united in 1872) and most areas still have very distinct accents and cultures (most cities have distinct dialects, although most are not commonly used). When we got to Naples, Olivia (who speaks Italian as well or probably better than me) and I had a lot of trouble understanding what people were saying to us. Compared to the north, it seemed to us that people pronounced 's' sounds in a very different (maybe soft) way, but the most difficulty came from a kind of slurring that seemed to be really common. After asking for directions or something, we often found ourselves looking at each other saying 'I didn't understand a word of that'!
While our first day in Naples was beautifully sunny, when we headed off to Pompeii the next day the rain had well and truly set in - and wouldn't clear up for about a week! Stomping around in Pompeii in the wet, cold weather wasn't a great deal of fun but I still found it really interesting - didn't even see half of it, you would need to go for a whole (sunny) day to really do it properly. Even so, some of the houses are amazingly well preserved, and much of the town is still being excavated. We were hoping to climb Mt Vesuvius as well but we'd missed the last bus to the summit area (it was about 2.30pm so that was a bit of a puzzle for us!). We tried again two days later but the entire area was closed because of the weather (so we probably wouldn't have been able to do it any time while we were there!). We were disappointed but managed to console ourselves with the best cioccolata ever at the train station in Pompeii!
On Easter Sunday we thought it might be interesting to go to an Italian church service. However, the night before we discovered that a nearby island, Ischia, had hot springs, and all thoughts of church flew out the window, along with misgivings about the weather and any other considerations! We found a place, O'vagnitiello that had a 10 euro deal, made sure that they would be open, and headed off the next morning on the ferry to Ischia. The place seemed impossible to find - we rang three times for directions (and had a lot of trouble understanding what they told us!), asked at least two people on the street and the bus driver. Initially we thought we'd got off at the wrong bus stop so we rang again to be given more incomprehensible instructions. Eventually we found a long and winding laneway going from behind a church ('OH! I thought she said something about a church!'), and after quite a trek we ended up at a place with deck chairs everywhere on 4 levels next to the sea, with three pools, two bars, and even rooms obviously available for staying. The whole place was completely deserted.
We eventually found the guy who was in charge and got into the warm pool (in the rain!) and also the steam room. No hot springs though. The only other people were saw was an Israeli family, who had been living in Italy for years. We all ended up eating at the restaurant there which turned out to be a great idea - we had the best pasta so far in Italy, the Israeli dad bought us a bottle of wine and we had a cake for desert on the house! The whole day should have cost us 17 euros each but the guy in charge only asked $40 altogether! Happy Easter to you too!
We spent the afternoon wandering around Ischia (fortunately the rain cleared up for a few hours) and stealing a few lemons from the trees which were EVERYWHERE! The return ferry ride had been dubbed the 'Ferry Ride from Hell' - the sea was incredibly choppy, the rain returned and the ferry was swaying unbelievably. The previous ferry had been cancelled because of the weather. Good-oh. The boat was moving around in HUGE waves but we didn't seem to be getting anywhere. We were at no stage convinced that the whole thing was under control (but everyone else seemed calm and undisturbed, except for a few people who had to run to the bathroom), the ride took an hour longer than it should have taken, and we were very glad when we made it back to land alive!
After our second attempt at Vesuvius was thwarted we decided to head off to Sorrento for the day. The train was packed with rowdy Italian teenagers being incredibly loud and raucous - we later found out that it was Youth Day or something like that, a day when all teenagers in the area head down to Sorrento. Great timing.
The morning was wet and cold, and the day was looking miserable but things brightened up after lunch, and after spending a few hours wandering around the town looking at the souvenier shops and down on the harbour, we met up with Logan and Katie (friends that Olivia and Jess had met on their ski trip) and three of their friends, Lauren, Brittany and Gabe, all Americans. We went wandering up a hill and somehow found a trail (and a random English guy who gave us his walking map - and completely out-paced us on the walk!) up the mountains. We spent hours spilling around on wet rocks and steps but eventually reached the town at the top, and got some great views both on the way up and down!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Ski Trip!
Bardonecchia: 1312 metres above sea level; host to the 2006 Winter Olympics snowboarding events.
Both ESN and ESEG, the two main exchange student organisations, organise a ski trip, and I'd been wondering for a while about whether or not to go. I'd only been skiing once before and it was a hideous disaster - I spent most of the day lying in the snow, unable to get up after falling over, trapped by the skiis that I couldn't even get off. In the end I sent the ESEG guys an email a week before the deadline to sign up asking if there would be any opportunity for people who didn't know how to ski to learn - and they replied the day before we left, saying that there would be lessons for beginners (run by the organisers) every morning - and if we didn't like that we could always get other lessons from the ski site itself. I decided to go and suddenly I was 250 euros down and had a hell of a lot to organise before leaving the following evening - including buying some ski pants, borrowing some other clothes from a friend, and renting the skis and boots !
The whole affair was 'organised' in typical Italian fashion - I had a lot of friends from our language class who were going but I didn't catch the bus with any of them - the only space left was on the bus later that evening with mainly non-Bocconi people. I met 4 really friendly Brazillians but we spent a fair bit of time sleeping on the 4-hour or so ride - that is, until the bus driver decided to sing along with the radio.... over the microphone. That part really sucked.
Arrived and eventually got my stuff sorted out. My 3 roommates were three Portuguese girls, Renata and Raquel from Porto (both studying Psych at Cattolica, the Catholic University in Milan (apparently there's also one in Porto)), and Silvia (from Lisbon studying design). Neither Raquel or Renata spoke very much English or Italian, but Portugese is more similar to Italian, so we decided we would all try to communicate as best we could in (mainly) Italian - which actually ended up being a really good thing for my language skills! None of them had skiied before either, so we all took the classes together.
The 'classes' were run by Alberto (a former ESEG guy) and his friend Christoph (actually German, but studied at Bocconi and a really good skier - was on his way to professional skiing until he hurt his back). We started off on the baby slope getting our basic skills (stopping and turning) right. Both of them taught us very well, taking us down the slope in a group or individually, or at other times standing at the bottom to watch us as we came down - always ready with some suggestions or scathing Italian witticisms. In the afternoons they went and did their own thing while we struggled on on our own. Others in the beginner group included girls from Latvia and Serbia, and Victor and Andrea, the Brazilian couple from my language class.
Just like my first time ever skiing, that first day was spent mostly on the ground, trying to get myself up after having fallen over. Getting up is a skill that constantly evaded me throughout the weekend - it's a very difficult thing to do when you're not used to skiing! I ended up with some incredible bruises and was really sore for at least a week afterwards!
The first afternoon, four of us tried to tackle an easy (as opposed to baby) slope - we'd gone only about 100 metres when one girl fell over and hurt her knee. Unfortunately she spent the rest of the weekend on crutches and actually had to terminate her exchange and go home for operations which was really sad - and scary for us! They carried her down the slope on a sort of stretcher which two skiiers held between them, we were a bit worried about whether she would even make it down to the bottom! But that afternoon alone I saw at least another 4 people being carried down like that so I gather it's pretty normal.
After the first day of skiing my roommates and I went to the supermarket in the town and got some food, as we were self-catering. I think we saw about half of the rest of the ski trip there as well - in a very tiny supermarket! On the way back we decided to take the (free) bus, and waited for at least half an hour - initially we waited at one spot where we met an old local couple, who were very friendly and suggested we wait around the corner where there were more frequent busses. So we moved over there and met another couple who we (well, Silvia and I) chatted to for a while. All the locals that we met around Bardonecchia were very friendly, and always wanted to hear about the Erasmus students and where we were all from (Erasmus is the within-Europe exchange program).
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights most people went out - Thursday and Saturday to what is apparently the only pub in Bardonecchia (on Thursday I think we were the only ones there, but on Saturday a whole lot of RANDOM people turned up too, including two transvestites! surely the only two trannies in Bardonecchia....), and on Friday to a club which was actually really good (but we were so exhausted we didn't stay for long!).
On the second morning of skiing I was so stiff, sore and tired that I could barely roll myself out of bed - and getting to the shower was a real struggle! That day Alberto lead us down the easy slope that we'd tried so unsuccessfully the day before. It started at 'La Grangia', a restaurant/kiosk up in the mountains (and a good lunch spot!). Even though we'd seen Kate go down the day before, with help from Alberto we figured out a good approach - 'piano piano' (slowly slowly) - to the longer slopes and managed to get down without any harm. From then on we really started to enjoy the skiing!
On the third afternoon Alberto lead a few of us up a ski lift from La Grangia to do another slope. We thought it might be a similar level to the one we'd tried the day before, but watching from the ski lift, Silvia and I soon realised that it was not - not only was it a lot longer but MUCH steeper. We were ready to kill Alberto when we got off the lift - we couldn't imagine how we were going to make it down alive (or at least within 3 days, if we went at the pace we felt we needed to!). But he had faith in us and we all made it down really well, it was amazing. After that we went down the same slope several times, often with other (more advanced skiiers including others on out trip). The only time I fell over the whole day was crashing into another girl who had already fallen over and I couldn't avoid in time! Still wasn't able to get up on my own though.
On the last day we well and truly got the hang of the higher slope, as well as the easy one we'd done earlier. I fell over twice but managed to get myself up again - a big achievement! On one of the runs of the harder slope I had almost made it down to the bottom without falling, and feeling pretty proud of myself, I yelled out to a few of the more advanced skiiers to get going as I headed down the last hill. I heard Alberto say (in Italian) to one of the others 'let her go, she'll fall over within 10 seconds', and no sooner had I started to process that, than I lost control and fell over fairly spectacularly! Naturally the others found this hilarious, and skiied past me really close, splashing me with snow! Funny, but very wet.
On the bus trip back I ran into the same 4 Brazilians (who I hadn't seen for the whole trip!) and had fun chatting to them again. We were all pretty exhausted after 4 full-on days. The bus made a few stops and by the time we got to Bocconi I was one of the few left - and someone had taken my sticks! A few others were also left without sticks (don't really know how that can happen - fixed number of people, fixed number of sticks), and after a thorough search of the bus they found only one stick. I took my skiis and the one stick back the next day, but thankfully didn't have to pay anything as someone had explained the situation earlier that day.
Even a few months later I still speak with the 3 Portuguese girls in Italian - the trip was actually a real boost for my language skills!
Both ESN and ESEG, the two main exchange student organisations, organise a ski trip, and I'd been wondering for a while about whether or not to go. I'd only been skiing once before and it was a hideous disaster - I spent most of the day lying in the snow, unable to get up after falling over, trapped by the skiis that I couldn't even get off. In the end I sent the ESEG guys an email a week before the deadline to sign up asking if there would be any opportunity for people who didn't know how to ski to learn - and they replied the day before we left, saying that there would be lessons for beginners (run by the organisers) every morning - and if we didn't like that we could always get other lessons from the ski site itself. I decided to go and suddenly I was 250 euros down and had a hell of a lot to organise before leaving the following evening - including buying some ski pants, borrowing some other clothes from a friend, and renting the skis and boots !
The whole affair was 'organised' in typical Italian fashion - I had a lot of friends from our language class who were going but I didn't catch the bus with any of them - the only space left was on the bus later that evening with mainly non-Bocconi people. I met 4 really friendly Brazillians but we spent a fair bit of time sleeping on the 4-hour or so ride - that is, until the bus driver decided to sing along with the radio.... over the microphone. That part really sucked.
Arrived and eventually got my stuff sorted out. My 3 roommates were three Portuguese girls, Renata and Raquel from Porto (both studying Psych at Cattolica, the Catholic University in Milan (apparently there's also one in Porto)), and Silvia (from Lisbon studying design). Neither Raquel or Renata spoke very much English or Italian, but Portugese is more similar to Italian, so we decided we would all try to communicate as best we could in (mainly) Italian - which actually ended up being a really good thing for my language skills! None of them had skiied before either, so we all took the classes together.
The 'classes' were run by Alberto (a former ESEG guy) and his friend Christoph (actually German, but studied at Bocconi and a really good skier - was on his way to professional skiing until he hurt his back). We started off on the baby slope getting our basic skills (stopping and turning) right. Both of them taught us very well, taking us down the slope in a group or individually, or at other times standing at the bottom to watch us as we came down - always ready with some suggestions or scathing Italian witticisms. In the afternoons they went and did their own thing while we struggled on on our own. Others in the beginner group included girls from Latvia and Serbia, and Victor and Andrea, the Brazilian couple from my language class.
Just like my first time ever skiing, that first day was spent mostly on the ground, trying to get myself up after having fallen over. Getting up is a skill that constantly evaded me throughout the weekend - it's a very difficult thing to do when you're not used to skiing! I ended up with some incredible bruises and was really sore for at least a week afterwards!
The first afternoon, four of us tried to tackle an easy (as opposed to baby) slope - we'd gone only about 100 metres when one girl fell over and hurt her knee. Unfortunately she spent the rest of the weekend on crutches and actually had to terminate her exchange and go home for operations which was really sad - and scary for us! They carried her down the slope on a sort of stretcher which two skiiers held between them, we were a bit worried about whether she would even make it down to the bottom! But that afternoon alone I saw at least another 4 people being carried down like that so I gather it's pretty normal.
After the first day of skiing my roommates and I went to the supermarket in the town and got some food, as we were self-catering. I think we saw about half of the rest of the ski trip there as well - in a very tiny supermarket! On the way back we decided to take the (free) bus, and waited for at least half an hour - initially we waited at one spot where we met an old local couple, who were very friendly and suggested we wait around the corner where there were more frequent busses. So we moved over there and met another couple who we (well, Silvia and I) chatted to for a while. All the locals that we met around Bardonecchia were very friendly, and always wanted to hear about the Erasmus students and where we were all from (Erasmus is the within-Europe exchange program).
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights most people went out - Thursday and Saturday to what is apparently the only pub in Bardonecchia (on Thursday I think we were the only ones there, but on Saturday a whole lot of RANDOM people turned up too, including two transvestites! surely the only two trannies in Bardonecchia....), and on Friday to a club which was actually really good (but we were so exhausted we didn't stay for long!).
On the second morning of skiing I was so stiff, sore and tired that I could barely roll myself out of bed - and getting to the shower was a real struggle! That day Alberto lead us down the easy slope that we'd tried so unsuccessfully the day before. It started at 'La Grangia', a restaurant/kiosk up in the mountains (and a good lunch spot!). Even though we'd seen Kate go down the day before, with help from Alberto we figured out a good approach - 'piano piano' (slowly slowly) - to the longer slopes and managed to get down without any harm. From then on we really started to enjoy the skiing!
On the third afternoon Alberto lead a few of us up a ski lift from La Grangia to do another slope. We thought it might be a similar level to the one we'd tried the day before, but watching from the ski lift, Silvia and I soon realised that it was not - not only was it a lot longer but MUCH steeper. We were ready to kill Alberto when we got off the lift - we couldn't imagine how we were going to make it down alive (or at least within 3 days, if we went at the pace we felt we needed to!). But he had faith in us and we all made it down really well, it was amazing. After that we went down the same slope several times, often with other (more advanced skiiers including others on out trip). The only time I fell over the whole day was crashing into another girl who had already fallen over and I couldn't avoid in time! Still wasn't able to get up on my own though.
The biggest danger on the slopes seemed to us to be the children - we'd often be overtaken by schools of up to 10 kids who skiied at unbelievable speeds - and what seemed to us as way too close for comfort! We decided by the end of the trip that they must all be either fearless or crazy, and should be eliminated from the slopes for everyone's safety.
On the last day we well and truly got the hang of the higher slope, as well as the easy one we'd done earlier. I fell over twice but managed to get myself up again - a big achievement! On one of the runs of the harder slope I had almost made it down to the bottom without falling, and feeling pretty proud of myself, I yelled out to a few of the more advanced skiiers to get going as I headed down the last hill. I heard Alberto say (in Italian) to one of the others 'let her go, she'll fall over within 10 seconds', and no sooner had I started to process that, than I lost control and fell over fairly spectacularly! Naturally the others found this hilarious, and skiied past me really close, splashing me with snow! Funny, but very wet.
On the bus trip back I ran into the same 4 Brazilians (who I hadn't seen for the whole trip!) and had fun chatting to them again. We were all pretty exhausted after 4 full-on days. The bus made a few stops and by the time we got to Bocconi I was one of the few left - and someone had taken my sticks! A few others were also left without sticks (don't really know how that can happen - fixed number of people, fixed number of sticks), and after a thorough search of the bus they found only one stick. I took my skiis and the one stick back the next day, but thankfully didn't have to pay anything as someone had explained the situation earlier that day.
Even a few months later I still speak with the 3 Portuguese girls in Italian - the trip was actually a real boost for my language skills!
Dogs in Italy
Italians love to have dogs. There is probably at least one dog in every one of the apartment buildings my friends live in here, and (unlike in Paris) there are parks (some with dog-specific areas) in Milan, which are packed with people, children and dogs on most sunny afternoons and weekends. The obsession doesn't end there. It is common practice, everywhere I've been in Italy, to take your dog into shops (yes, even food stores) with you. Some shops have 'no dogs' signs but for most it is accepted that customers might bring their dogs in. Very strange. There are special regulations for bringing dogs (and other animals) on public transport (see my photos for a full translation!). Sadly we have seen a few signs of mistreatment of the dogs around here - not abuse, but just lack of love.
Bocconi and Esselunga
The beginning of classes at Bocconi brought lots of discussion of classes, timetables, textbooks, exams, and many other issues. I have to take 5 classes at Bocconi to get credit for 4 classes in Melbourne, and I am fairly restricted by what I had approved before I left. My five subjects are:
European Economic Policy
Foundations of the European Economy
Management of Fashion and Design Companies
Development Economics
International Trade
The last two are in Italian (but I can do the exams in English); the middle subject is a classic exchange student subject (like 'Australia Now' at Melbourne!).
Each class typically has two one-and-a-half hour lectures per week - and nothing else, no tutorials or any other form of learning. Assessment is typically only by exams; for most, you can choose to take a mid-semester exam, or leave it all until the end-of-semester exam. There are several sittings of each exam, so you can choose your exam timetable like you would a class timetable at home. That part took a LOT of explanations - most of us come from different systems!
Class timetabling here is a basically a nightmare. There are four time slots for classes each day: 8.45-10.15, 10.30-12, 2.30-4 and 4.15-5.45. Only in Italy would you have a two-and-a-half hour break for lunch (as I may have mentioned earlier, lunch is traditionally the main meal and workers often return home for lunch. Most services are closed over lunchtime). Compared to Melbourne where there are about 8 slots per day this means the timetable is very inflexible with clashes fairly likely (and there is usually only one stream per class). On top of this, it is quite common for subjects to change their timetable part way through the semester, or have a week of different class times to accomodate a visiting professor (something common to almost all my classes). Because of my limited choice of subjects I am stuck with a timetable which means that while I should have 10 classes per week, I can usually only go to 6. The first week of May is particularly bad - I should have 13 classes and can only go to 7.
As we were warned, the Italians have a very different culture with uni matters. Most Italians don't work while they're at uni. In class once a lecturer asked how many people worked, and I was the only one who raised my hand in a class of about 50 (that was quite a shock for me!). Lecturers are spoken to in the formal 'you' address of Italian (using 3rd person, not 2nd person).
There is absolutely nothing to do on campus here except for a few sports teams. I guess this could be partly attributed to being such a small university (not sure of the size exactly but it's definitely smaller than Melbourne!), but there is definitely a different culture regarding uni - while at uni, you study. I can't figure out what all the Italian students do all day, but there are always lots of them (especially around exam time) sitting in the cubicles outside almost every classroom with their laptops out, studying together.
As we discovered during the language course, Bocconi classrooms seem to be heated regardless of the outside weather. During winter the classrooms are unbelievably hot, so winter coats and scarves are very quickly removed; when the weather is warmer the classrooms retain the heat and get even hotter than outside - opening windows is not common practice but it doesn't seem to help anyway!
Timeliness also appears to be very important (ironic in a country where otherwise timeliness is not a major priority!). We have one lecturer (although he is definitely not the norm) who gets annoyed if someone is even a minute or two late to class. He will continue to berate everyone who comes in late and has even told people to leave. Once he started class about 3 minutes early and was STILL telling people off who came (in theory) on time. He considers it an interruption but we just find it irritating - he's the one interrupting the class, the rest of us can quite happily ignore latecomers. The worst part is that he himself is often late to class.
Another major component of my life in Milan is Esselunga - the haven of food, only a 5 minute walk from here. Supermarket prices are very cheap here, almost all basic food supplies can be bought for less than 2 euros. Esselunga is enormous, it seems much bigger to me than any supermarkets we have in Geelong or Melbourne, and there is a wide variety of food (except things like sour cream, maple syrup, chips with flavours (not even salt and vinegar!) and a few other basic things that really surprised us!) My favourite part is that the pasta section takes up an entire aisle, both sides. You can usually find a kilo of pasta for less than a euros and there are SO many different types, I don't think I've even tried half of them. I think that generally the food is presented much more carefully here - lots of the fruits, vegetables, salads etc are set out nicely in baskets with greenery decoration everywhere. Almost makes you feel like eating some ;-P
European Economic Policy
Foundations of the European Economy
Management of Fashion and Design Companies
Development Economics
International Trade
The last two are in Italian (but I can do the exams in English); the middle subject is a classic exchange student subject (like 'Australia Now' at Melbourne!).
Each class typically has two one-and-a-half hour lectures per week - and nothing else, no tutorials or any other form of learning. Assessment is typically only by exams; for most, you can choose to take a mid-semester exam, or leave it all until the end-of-semester exam. There are several sittings of each exam, so you can choose your exam timetable like you would a class timetable at home. That part took a LOT of explanations - most of us come from different systems!
Class timetabling here is a basically a nightmare. There are four time slots for classes each day: 8.45-10.15, 10.30-12, 2.30-4 and 4.15-5.45. Only in Italy would you have a two-and-a-half hour break for lunch (as I may have mentioned earlier, lunch is traditionally the main meal and workers often return home for lunch. Most services are closed over lunchtime). Compared to Melbourne where there are about 8 slots per day this means the timetable is very inflexible with clashes fairly likely (and there is usually only one stream per class). On top of this, it is quite common for subjects to change their timetable part way through the semester, or have a week of different class times to accomodate a visiting professor (something common to almost all my classes). Because of my limited choice of subjects I am stuck with a timetable which means that while I should have 10 classes per week, I can usually only go to 6. The first week of May is particularly bad - I should have 13 classes and can only go to 7.
As we were warned, the Italians have a very different culture with uni matters. Most Italians don't work while they're at uni. In class once a lecturer asked how many people worked, and I was the only one who raised my hand in a class of about 50 (that was quite a shock for me!). Lecturers are spoken to in the formal 'you' address of Italian (using 3rd person, not 2nd person).
There is absolutely nothing to do on campus here except for a few sports teams. I guess this could be partly attributed to being such a small university (not sure of the size exactly but it's definitely smaller than Melbourne!), but there is definitely a different culture regarding uni - while at uni, you study. I can't figure out what all the Italian students do all day, but there are always lots of them (especially around exam time) sitting in the cubicles outside almost every classroom with their laptops out, studying together.
As we discovered during the language course, Bocconi classrooms seem to be heated regardless of the outside weather. During winter the classrooms are unbelievably hot, so winter coats and scarves are very quickly removed; when the weather is warmer the classrooms retain the heat and get even hotter than outside - opening windows is not common practice but it doesn't seem to help anyway!
Timeliness also appears to be very important (ironic in a country where otherwise timeliness is not a major priority!). We have one lecturer (although he is definitely not the norm) who gets annoyed if someone is even a minute or two late to class. He will continue to berate everyone who comes in late and has even told people to leave. Once he started class about 3 minutes early and was STILL telling people off who came (in theory) on time. He considers it an interruption but we just find it irritating - he's the one interrupting the class, the rest of us can quite happily ignore latecomers. The worst part is that he himself is often late to class.
Another major component of my life in Milan is Esselunga - the haven of food, only a 5 minute walk from here. Supermarket prices are very cheap here, almost all basic food supplies can be bought for less than 2 euros. Esselunga is enormous, it seems much bigger to me than any supermarkets we have in Geelong or Melbourne, and there is a wide variety of food (except things like sour cream, maple syrup, chips with flavours (not even salt and vinegar!) and a few other basic things that really surprised us!) My favourite part is that the pasta section takes up an entire aisle, both sides. You can usually find a kilo of pasta for less than a euros and there are SO many different types, I don't think I've even tried half of them. I think that generally the food is presented much more carefully here - lots of the fruits, vegetables, salads etc are set out nicely in baskets with greenery decoration everywhere. Almost makes you feel like eating some ;-P
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