Greetings one and all-
I have officially been to the most glorious place on earth, coincidentally called Monaco. I promise I didn't enjoy the place just because it's called Monaco. Stick with me on this blog, I think it's gonna be a long one.
A little background information on Monaco itself - it's a 'principality' meaning its government is run by a Prince (Albert, currently), its national language is French and is one of I believe 3 countries who have an established national religion: Catholicism. Monaco is about as big as Central Park (yet I have no clue how big Central Park is, but you get the idea maybe) and is inhabited by 30,000 people. The catch? Only 6,000 of said residents are actually citizens. Yes only 30% of the people who call their home 'Monaco' are actually allowed to vote or claim citizenship in the country. The rest fall to either France or Italy. That's another beauty of Monaco, it's located at the very southeast corner of France (near Menton) but is about a 10 minute drive from Ventimiglia, Italy. Most people in Monaco speak French primarily but all seem to know Italian fluently and very small amount of English. I traveled with my friend Abbey as she had a connection with a 75 year old woman that happened to be Monagasque (a citizen) by marriage. WOW! Her 2.5 million euro condo was just big enough to fit the three of us and overlooks the Cote d'Azur (blue coast - French Riviera). At night or on a clear day you can see both France and Italy from most points in Monaco. And the weather was beautiful. Check my facebook in the next coming days for pictures tagged of me in Monaco, and I'll be sure to bring some home on my jump drive.
Having gone to Monaco I realized it was the first time I've actually spent a significant amount of time with non-native English speakers since my time abroad. What a mistake that has been - I met the most interesting people I've ever encountered in my short time in Monaco and plan on going back in April. Not to mention two of the guys - Marco and Ben - are traveling Route 66 (something most Americans take for granted) in June and I've offered them a good time in St. Louis and Kansas if they so happen to want to stop there.
I've written in a notebook quite literally every detail of my trip to Monaco, but I don't think it would translate well without my verbal excitement, so here I will list a few highlights:
All free meals - I ate seafood for the first time, really, and it was fresh and delightful. And expensive (but free!!)
Everything in sight said my last name on it. Yes I have an ego.
I spent next to nothing there (hi mom and pa!)
Stole lemons from an old man's yard and he made us throw them back. Lemons?! This man makes upwards of 1,000,000/year and I can't steal two lemons?!
Got a private tour of the casino and held 500,000 euros in my hand. Daaaaamn!!
I wasn't allowed in to the Hotel de Paris restuarant because I was wearing sandals. Fuck.
Home cooked meal by two beautiful Frenchman. I now understand the romanticism of the French. It is real, mothereffers! I tell you, it's real.
The problem with Monaco is that it is an attempt at a utopia. There's no begging allowed, there are no poor people, crime is not published in the newspapers, etc. People there are not exposed to much. That's probably unfair to say, but where are the poor people? Visiting there made me realize how much I want to help. I want to take and I want to give back. There are people living the ritziest lifestyles in Monaco while more than half of the population questions their survival daily. It's time GIVE. Thank you, Monaco, for teaching me that.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
It's hard to study when you're abroad.
Let me just start this off on a sad note. I got wind that the Jayhawks lost to Mizzou last night in a basketball game. Now I've been disconnected for a month or so but when I last left the Jawhawks after watching their win against Tennessee at Allen Fieldhouse I thought we were on the upswing. Regardless - MUCK FIZZOU you dirty SOBs. Apologies.
Well I've finally felt a personal connection to the downfall of the economy. Okay that's not entirely true, but I was 'laid off' from that job that I told you all about just recently. That's right, I sent the first leg of the project to my boss (the associate dean of students) and he responded w/ 'Great work, Elise! But I've already handed out the rest of the tapes. I'll pay you when I can this week and will see if I have any work I can find for you over the rest of the semester.' What an ass. I do an excellent job for him and was very excited to continue and complete the project. I also spent a lot of time trying to clean up his reputation w/ the students (he comes off as sort of an...asshole to put it lightly) but I will no longer defend him as he has pretty much screwed me over.
This week I've started to feel the heat - people that have studied abroad in the past rarely ever mention the actual STUDYING part. In fact, if I remember correctly they said school is easy as all get-out and can hardly be taken seriously. Problem is I decided to sort of 'take it easy' these past few years and have no room left to do so. So while everyone else is out taking day trips and drinking Peroni, I'm stuck inside studying when I take breaks from 'surfing the 'net.' It's just hard not to want to plan a bunch of trips when I have kayak.com and ryanair at my fingertips. In fact in two weeks I think I'm going on a long awaited trip to Monaco - one of the richest places on this earth (cue laughter). It's kind of ridiculous sounding and fantastical, but I just have to visit it, if only because of the name. Plus I'm staying at a friend of a friend's condo of some sort and I can't pass that up.
(Side note: my friend Joe just walked in, WASTED, after doing karaoke in the cafe downstairs. He traipsed down the hall in his teeny boxers and low cut shirt. I just want him to read this at some point. He just tried to hop down from my bed and said "Whoopsy, ball sac!" because he fell down. HAHAHA). Okay I'm sorry, that's borderline inappropriate.
Today I went down near the Vatican w/ my friend Mark as we embarked on what turned out to be quite an adventure to the Sistine Chapel. Both of us have very little spatial intelligence, and as Rome isn't necessarily laid out to suit someone unfamiliar, we got somewhat lost. We got to the Vatican and found out that no, the museum which houses the Sistine Chapel is not underneath St. Peter's Basilica. It was closed by the time we figured out where it was, so we made our way to the Napoleon exhibit in Trastevere. But then we didn't know how to get there, either...so we ended up in this beautiful more suburban part of Rome and wandered around in search of McDonald's (the kid loves his euro menu cheeseburgers). Couldn't find it so we headed home w/ just enough time to eat dinner in the cafeteria. Mensa has never tasted so good.
Tomorrow I have class from 8am-6:15pm and then calcio w/ a test on Thursday. That means no beer and pizza tomorrow night at calcio, and I could really use it.
This weekend I'll hopefully take a day trip to Florence to see The David and several other cool things I'm unsure of how to spell. We also - and I'm going to document it here so it's law - are GOING TO THE G.D. FLEA MARKET ON SUNDAY. Hope to find you all some nice treasures.
Till then --
Well I've finally felt a personal connection to the downfall of the economy. Okay that's not entirely true, but I was 'laid off' from that job that I told you all about just recently. That's right, I sent the first leg of the project to my boss (the associate dean of students) and he responded w/ 'Great work, Elise! But I've already handed out the rest of the tapes. I'll pay you when I can this week and will see if I have any work I can find for you over the rest of the semester.' What an ass. I do an excellent job for him and was very excited to continue and complete the project. I also spent a lot of time trying to clean up his reputation w/ the students (he comes off as sort of an...asshole to put it lightly) but I will no longer defend him as he has pretty much screwed me over.
This week I've started to feel the heat - people that have studied abroad in the past rarely ever mention the actual STUDYING part. In fact, if I remember correctly they said school is easy as all get-out and can hardly be taken seriously. Problem is I decided to sort of 'take it easy' these past few years and have no room left to do so. So while everyone else is out taking day trips and drinking Peroni, I'm stuck inside studying when I take breaks from 'surfing the 'net.' It's just hard not to want to plan a bunch of trips when I have kayak.com and ryanair at my fingertips. In fact in two weeks I think I'm going on a long awaited trip to Monaco - one of the richest places on this earth (cue laughter). It's kind of ridiculous sounding and fantastical, but I just have to visit it, if only because of the name. Plus I'm staying at a friend of a friend's condo of some sort and I can't pass that up.
(Side note: my friend Joe just walked in, WASTED, after doing karaoke in the cafe downstairs. He traipsed down the hall in his teeny boxers and low cut shirt. I just want him to read this at some point. He just tried to hop down from my bed and said "Whoopsy, ball sac!" because he fell down. HAHAHA). Okay I'm sorry, that's borderline inappropriate.
Today I went down near the Vatican w/ my friend Mark as we embarked on what turned out to be quite an adventure to the Sistine Chapel. Both of us have very little spatial intelligence, and as Rome isn't necessarily laid out to suit someone unfamiliar, we got somewhat lost. We got to the Vatican and found out that no, the museum which houses the Sistine Chapel is not underneath St. Peter's Basilica. It was closed by the time we figured out where it was, so we made our way to the Napoleon exhibit in Trastevere. But then we didn't know how to get there, either...so we ended up in this beautiful more suburban part of Rome and wandered around in search of McDonald's (the kid loves his euro menu cheeseburgers). Couldn't find it so we headed home w/ just enough time to eat dinner in the cafeteria. Mensa has never tasted so good.
Tomorrow I have class from 8am-6:15pm and then calcio w/ a test on Thursday. That means no beer and pizza tomorrow night at calcio, and I could really use it.
This weekend I'll hopefully take a day trip to Florence to see The David and several other cool things I'm unsure of how to spell. We also - and I'm going to document it here so it's law - are GOING TO THE G.D. FLEA MARKET ON SUNDAY. Hope to find you all some nice treasures.
Till then --
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Buzzkill
Don't mind if I do rant for a moment. You know what sucks about being abroad? I still get all of those e-mails from people like James (my boss at the rec. who, no joke, sends out at least two e-mails/day) and my advisor, Peggy. Now, I love Peggy, and James is alright, but it is SUCH a buzzkill to constantly be reminded that I will one day return to the states and be back to real life. I have no desire to spend time looking at schedule possibilities for my senior year and certainly don't want to begin registration. That being said, those of you that read this - I'd like you to know that I miss you all dearly. If I could, I would bring you all to Rome, but my budget doesn't allow it and one more overdraw fee may give my mother a stroke.
I got a letter from Lara a couple days ago and I don't think I've ever been so excited to receive a piece of mail. Not only is Lara an amazing writer who made the most mundane facts of her life entertaining, but it was nice to have a piece of home here to look back and laugh about.
We've started playing 'calcio' which is the same as soccer (I know! I thought it was called futbol) and I'm on the brown team which is quite fitting as we are fucking terrible. Realize I haven't played soccer since high school and I'm quite positively the star athlete on my team. It's a blast though, even in my ultra-competitive nature. Perhaps because promptly after the games we proceed to 'Beer and Pizza' which is a 3-beer stein and cheese pizza for 10 euro. Truly every person at my school goes and just nearly drunk in a huge restaurant that stays open really late. Problem is it makes getting up for my 8 'o' clock class a real bitch.
Today marks the weekend and I am really excited. It's not so much that I have huge plans (as I'm still at negative something-or-other in the bank account) but some borrowed money will get me a day train to Assisi (hellooooo St. Francis) and then back to Rome for a weekend-full of homework and work-work. Next week starts the beginning of tests so expect me to be baggy-eyed and thin-tailed (get it? Like NOT bright-eyed and bushy-tailed) for the next few days.
Arrivederci!
I got a letter from Lara a couple days ago and I don't think I've ever been so excited to receive a piece of mail. Not only is Lara an amazing writer who made the most mundane facts of her life entertaining, but it was nice to have a piece of home here to look back and laugh about.
We've started playing 'calcio' which is the same as soccer (I know! I thought it was called futbol) and I'm on the brown team which is quite fitting as we are fucking terrible. Realize I haven't played soccer since high school and I'm quite positively the star athlete on my team. It's a blast though, even in my ultra-competitive nature. Perhaps because promptly after the games we proceed to 'Beer and Pizza' which is a 3-beer stein and cheese pizza for 10 euro. Truly every person at my school goes and just nearly drunk in a huge restaurant that stays open really late. Problem is it makes getting up for my 8 'o' clock class a real bitch.
Today marks the weekend and I am really excited. It's not so much that I have huge plans (as I'm still at negative something-or-other in the bank account) but some borrowed money will get me a day train to Assisi (hellooooo St. Francis) and then back to Rome for a weekend-full of homework and work-work. Next week starts the beginning of tests so expect me to be baggy-eyed and thin-tailed (get it? Like NOT bright-eyed and bushy-tailed) for the next few days.
Arrivederci!
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