L'ultima notte

So, this is it. The last post from Venice. I'll tell you somethin', it's horrible. We're all leaving. I leave the apartment for the last time about 1:45 today and then get on the vaporetto and then the bus. And that's it. It's ciao, Venezia.

I am excited to come home, but it breaks my heart to leave this city. I really have come to know it as home. I'm going to miss walking everywhere, I'm going to miss the churches. I'm going to miss the bridges. I'm going to miss the water. I'm going to miss the old angry Venetian women. I'm going to miss it all. It's a city unlike any other and I've fallen in love.

I don't wanna write any more cause Allahna and I are going to go get our last cappuccino. I'll see you all tomorrow.

Ciao, Venezia. It's been good.

Per l'ultima volta da Venezia,

Ally

In the Home Stretch

Same old story, Ally didn't blog for a long time. Bad Ally, bad.

So, over Thanksgiving, Mom, Patti and Syd all came to visit and it was fantastic. We had a really, really great time. They got to experience acqua alta firsthand and the ridiculousness that is the Italian train system (if you're really curious, ask about the bug lady on the train... you can watch Patti laugh till she almost pees on herself. it's pretty funny) We hung out in Venice and then went down to Florence and Pisa. the leaning tower of Pisa was really cool cause we got to go up and you could feel the pull of gravity changing as you went up the staircase. Pretty sweet. In Florence, we went to the Uffizi gallery and admired the general splendor. In Venice, we went to the Palazzo Ducale and saw the prisons where they kept Casanova. Pretty cool I think.

Mom took a bunch of my stuff home with her, which was SO helpful cause I'm gonna be cutting it close as it is with the luggage I've got now.

We turned in all our papers last week and we're currently studying for finals and trying to enjoy our last week in Venice all at the same time. It's kinda crazy to think that by the end of the week, I'll be back in the states. I don't know if I'm ready to go back to the US. I'm ready to go home and see my family and friends but not ready to leave Venice quite yet. There's just something magical about this place that makes you fall a little bit more in love with it every day. I have had such an amazing five months here. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Well, I've got to go start studying for our Italian final tomorrow. I have some pictures from Christmas in Venice that I can post. Or I can just wait till I get home, cause it's only 4 days until I leave Venice. How bittersweet!

Tutto il mio amore da Venezia,

Ally

I am the new President of Tri Delta's Gamma Sigma chapter for the year of 2008.

Wow.

Yet Another Long Overdue Update

Wow, that seems to be the theme the last few entries, huh? And this time I actually had things to say. Go figure.

So, I guess starting at the beginning is as good as any other, huh?

For Halloween, which was FOREVER ago, I went to the Padova deaf club with my CODA friends (both named Paola). We had a blast. There was a “haunted house” in the basement and so we just hung out and chatted. It was surprisingly easy for me to communicate with the Italian deaf people, but I still had to have Paola translate sometimes. Anyway, it was a whole lot of fun!

Last week (Friday morning) we all boarded our train from Mestre to Pompeii. Because Colgate is OH-SO-GENEROUS, we took the InterCity instead of the EuroStar. For those of you who are not familiar with the Italian train system, allow me to explain the difference between the two. The EuroStar is a fast train, stopping at only the biggest stops and includes a plug at every seat, spacious seating and a dining car. The InterCity (as you may have guessed) stops at almost every city between Venice and Pompeii. Let me tell you, there are a lot of them. And there’s no plugs, small seats and no dining car. Long story short, we were on the train for about 10 hours. It was awful. The EuroStar would have taken about 2 and half hours less. Ugh.

We finally got to Pompeii and walked to the hotel, which was right outside the ruins. We quickly discovered that there’s not much more in Pompeii other than the ruins. Fine, I guess. We all settled in and fell promptly asleep, as we were all EXHAUSTED. The next morning, we visited the site and hung out there. Then all came back to the hotel, had a lovely evening and turned in for the night. The next morning we went to Herculaneum, which is a site just like Pompeii, but smaller. It was pretty cool. Then we went to Naples, which I am convinced is the worst city in the world. It’s SO sketchy and people steal things. It’s very scary. In Naples, we had pizza, which was better than all the pizza I’ve had in Venice to date. Amazing. We went to the archaeological museum and then had to bravely find our way back to Pompeii. We got on the train with a bunch of rowdy, drunk guys coming back from the soccer game. It was awful. We got back to our hotel in Pompeii and went to bed early so we could get ready for our trip to Capri the next day.

We had a free day on Monday and so a bunch of us went to Capri for the day. We walked around the back of the island, which is much prettier than the front of the island. We got chased by a homeless man at one point. It was really crazy. I’ve posted all the pictures on Facebook, so you should be able to see them. It was an absolutely beautiful day and the island is wonderful. Although I am glad I got to go, I kind of wish we would have had our free day in Rome instead of Naples because there was so much in Rome that I wanted to do, but never got the chance to. Oh well.

The following day we got on a train again and left for Rome. Arrived fine in Rome and walked to the hotel, which was nice. They also had free wireless, which was really good because almost all of us had to register the next night from midnight to 3 AM. Oh, registering for spring classes. How fun. By the way, and this is a bit of a digression, but here’s the list of classes I’m taking next semester: Homer’s Iliad, Vergil’s Aeneid, a class on Comparative Cosmologies, Shakespeare, and an independent study on the Bacchae by Euripides. It’s gonna be a busy, but good semester. I’m excited. Anyway, back to the good stuff. We went around Rome all afternoon and then that evening went to the Hard Rock Café for Molly’s birthday. It was SO nice to have American food again! I had a hamburger slathered in BBQ sauce. It was amazing. The next few days consisted of us getting up early and going around Rome for class. It was kind of rough because all we wanted to do was appreciate Rome, but we had to take notes all day, every day. I mean, I got to spend 3 days in Rome, so I’m not really complaining, but it was still a bit annoying. During our time off from class, I got to go see the Vatican, which I LOVED. The last day we were there was the only bad weather day and we went to the Colosseum. Then, I got on a train to Bologna, and then a plane to London and then another plane to Manchester!

I arrived in Manchester and Kate and Emma (CODAs) were waiting with open arms to pick me up. We had a lovely reunion and went to a bar for a beer or two. Really nice place, cozy and intimate. The next day we just went around their little town and got ready to go to the Deaf Club that night, where there was Snail Racing. Very complicated. Involves betting and animated snails. Hysterical. We also participated in some deaf karaoke. I loved it, basically. Tee hee. The next day we went into Chester, which is an ADORABLE town about 20 minutes from Kate and Emma’s. It’s got this really cool mix between small town and city. It’s very intimate, but at the same time has a really nice shopping center. I also got to have a Gingerbread Chai Latte while I was there. Oh, Starbucks, how I missed you! On Monday, I got dropped off at the airport to make my way to Dublin!

I got into Dublin and arrived at our hostel, which was right in Temple Bar. It was a really nice place and we had a nice room. I hung around the city, walking around and stopping in at different cafes waiting for Amanda to arrive. I went to the airport to get her and the Colts game was playing on the TV! We lost, but it was still nice to watch a little bit. J Amanda and I made our way back to the hostel where we both turned in.

The next day we did a TON of stuff in Dublin. We started out at Trinity College, which was a beautiful campus. Headed over to to the Dublin castle, where we took a tour. It was nice, but not amazing. Then we went to the Jameson Whiskey factory, which we loved! We volunteered to do a whiskey tasting after, which was a lot of fun. I didn’t realize how much better Jameson Whiskey is than Jack Daniels. We even got certificates saying that we’re “Certified Whiskey Tasters”. Cool, huh? After Jameson, we went to lunch and then wandered the city for a bit. Went to St. Patrick’s cathedral and looked around in the park. That night, we went to the Arlington Hotel for a “traditional Irish feast, music and dancing”. It was really cool. We had an awesome dinner and then got to watch Irish dancers and listen to an Irish band play. We went back to Temple bar and hung out there for a while and went back to the hotel to go to bed. We met the other people who were staying in our hostel room with us. 3 guys from Oklahoma (in their 30s?). They seemed really nice and everything. Before we went to bed, one of them said to us “Oh, (insert name here I can’t remember) if he snores, just hit him. We were in another hostel last night and these French girls asked us if we could sleep in shifts.” Now, I thought they were just kidding, exaggerating. They were not. I have NEVER heard anyone snore that loud in my life. It was terrible. Between the two of us, Amanda and I probably slept for 4 hours. I wanted to cry. The next morning, on almost no sleep, we went to the History Museum of Dublin, which was really nice, and free to boot. Tee hee. Went to the airport and caught our flight back to Venice.

I’ve been back in Venice since last Wednesday night, just kind of hanging out with everyone. I did all my laundry and I’m catching up on homework and other things as well. Overall, a good trip. I enjoyed myself very much! Now, I’m trying to get ahead on work so that when mom and Patti and Syd come I don’t have to spend all my time doing work! I’m very excited for them to come!

I guess that’s it! Good update, huh?

Lots of love from Venice,

Ally

pictures now, post later

i'm running out of time on the internet, so i'll post pictures now, go home and write a BIG long post and post it soon, i promise!

love!

http://colgate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2028231&l=499df&id=8703472

http://colgate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2028233&l=bc172&id=8703472

http://colgate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2028234&l=4891c&id=8703472

enjoy!

Long time no blog

Been awhile.. I know. Bad Ally.

Nothing really exciting happening here. We just finished our midterms (finally!) and so we're back in the swing of things, as it were. Get up, get cappuccino, go to class, come home from class, gym, library, dinner, homework, bed. That's pretty much my daily life. I'm not complaining, mind you. Just stating.

We had acqua alta yesterday. It was raining SO hard and there was over a foot of water in San Marco. We had boots, so we didnt have to walk on the silly platforms to get around. It was hilarious. The water was disgusting, though.

We leave for Rome at the end of the week! I can't believe how fast the time is going! AHHHH!! After Rome, Im going to Manchester to visit some CODA friends and then to Ireland with my roommate. I can't wait!

OH! Speaking of CODA, I ran into one of my CODA friends here! She is from Rome and I saw her outside the fruit boat last week. How weird is that?!?

Its still cold here. But, I am not sick anymore, which is good. Umm.. I guess that's it for today!

Amore da Venezia,

Ally

Midterms.. yuck

That's basically what's going on. We have our language midterm tomorrow, lit on wednesday, art history on friday and archaeology next monday. I forgot how much i hate midterms. Boo. It should be fine though.

Amanda's sister and roommate are here for the week. It's nice having new faces about. They're both really awesome too, so we're having a good time. Made dinner last week. Stuffed egglplant with stuffed peaches for dessert. Sense a theme? It was really good. Everyone enjoyed.

Everyone is also getting a little bit sick, which sucks. But it's that time of year. Right now, sitting in the library getting ready to do some studying. Yuck.

The weather has turned definately fall-ish, which is very very nice. I love fall.

Guess that's it! Lots of love from venice,

Ally

Florence, Banfi and Vienna pictures

http://colgate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026607&l=35020&id=8703472

http://colgate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026608&l=4c544&id=8703472

http://colgate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026614&l=2688c&id=8703472

Australians + The Opera

So, I ended up seeing a total of 2 operas and 1 ballet, all for under 15 euro. YES. it was all amazing. I saw Otello by Verdi and then this really weird Puccini opera. It was good though.

I met these Australians at the opera. They were hysterical. So they invited me out to this bar with them. I went and I had a blast. It was the 3 australians, 1 chilean girl and me. We had so much fun. They were playing really bad 90's american music. hilarious. got home really, really late. but it was worth it.

yesterday, i just wandered some more. went to the museum of sound, which was all about viennese composers, music, and the way that humans process sound. it was really really cool. you even got to make your own cd (if you paid, i didnt) and there was a really cool part where you sat in a chair and every move you made corresponded to a sound. i really liked it.

i guess that's it! overall vienna = good trip. but i can't wait to get back to venice and sleep in my bed and have a fridge and just some sense of home.

midterms week after next then rome then mom then home! crazy how fast the time goes!

love love love,

Ally

The Opera that Wasn't Really an Opera

So, yesterday, I went to the opera. Well, it was in the opera house, anyway. We saw Romeo and Juliet, the ballet. YES. It was SO amazing, AND i only paid 3.50 euro for the ticket. Going again tonight.

One of the guys who is staying in the same hostel room as me went with me (name: murray, australian) and while we were in line for the standing room tickets, we were talking about colgate and the girl behind me goes "you go to colgate?! no way! I went to hamilton!" seriously? how weird is that?!?! we talked for a while and all went out for dinner and a drink after the show. good times.

today, murray and i grabbed bad coffee and then went our separate ways. i went to a cheap bookstore and bought some pretty cool books and sat in the park and read. I know, i'm in vienna, i should go out and see stuff, but doing that, with a loaf of bread and some cheese, was exactly what i wanted to be doing. it was a very nice, relaxing day. i enjoyed it.

came back to the hostel to change clothes and then heading back to the opera. it's Othello by Verdi (i think) tonight. Should be sweet.

Guess that's it for now!

Love from Vienna!

Ally

Life Plan

So, while on the metro in Vienna today, I think I figured out what I want to do with the rest of my life. Big day.

Here's the basic plan: I want to teach high school Latin and Greek (not even sure if anyone teaches Greek, but that's totally a small detail right now) and live in D.C. Vienna reminds me SO much of DC its ridiculous. It's not huge, but not small really either. The metro is amazing. Thats what made me start thinking about this. Or, anyway, at least go to Grad school in D.C. and then see from there. Yeah. Woot life plan.

I went to the U of Vienna today. AWESOME campus. It was really beautiful. I also went to the Sigmund Freud museum and saw his old house. Pretty cool. Tonight, in about two hours, i will leave to go to the opera. If you get there at 5:30 (for a 7:30 show) and get in line, you can get tickets for only 3 euro and 50 cents. not too shabby. They are standing room seats, but HOW COOL IS THAT anyway? should be a good time.

Guess that's it for now. I dont know if DC has grad schools for what I want to do, but that's all small stuff. At least ive got an idea, right? i guess i will start looking when i get back to venice. sweet.

Love from vienna,

Ally

Vienna!!!!

Okay, biiiig, long busy post today. I think the best way to do it is bullet point. I've been busy.

Thursday (last week): Packed for Florence and Vienna. Cleaned my room as well as the rest of the house, INCLUDING the bathroom. I think my parents would be proud.

Friday: AM - woke up tooooo early and lugged all of our stuff to the train station (about a 40 minute walk) boo. Arrived in Florence and got lost almost immediately. Our hotel was less than stellar. Get this -- to get to the 3rd floor, where we were, you had to take the elevator to the 1st and then walk up 2 flights of stairs. Go figure. But it was just somewhere to sleep, so it was fine. We saw a few sights -- Uffizi and something else. Then went shopping at the San Lorenzo market. HUGE leather, pashmina, etc... market. Amazing. I bought a lot of pashminas. Turned in early cause we were EXHAUSTED. BUT we got CNN on our TV. Yes.

Saturday: Got up, had breakfast, went on our "Dante's Florence" walk. We saw his old house, his church, another church, a really cool palazzo that would've been around in Dante's time, the Duomo, and the baptistry. We got to walk up the side of the Duomo to get to the top. Mom and Patti, we should do it. It was reallllly cool. Then we went to the Accademia and saw the David and got in trouble for taking illegal pictures. Oops. Then we had planned to go to Pisa the next day, but there was a huge train strike, so we didn't want to risk it. We went shopping some more and i bought some jeans and some leather boots. Yay! We all went out that night with Lisa's (one of the girls we're with) boyfriend and his friends. It was a blast. We went to an awesome two story club and met a group of American Army kids. They were hysterical. Got in super late.

Sunday: Shopped some more, went to the Palazzo Pizzi and the gardens. Beautiful. In the palazzo, they had some rooms left as they were originally. Sumtuous and amazing!!! Then we went to an AMAZING dinner. (Read: best dinner i have ever had) Mom -- got the name, we'll go when we go to Florence. I had an amazing Florentine bread and veggie soup with Steak Florentine and an amazing apple crisp dessert. Yum.

Monday: Went to Tuscany. We stopped at this town that was left as it was in the 1300s. Still walled, it's awesome. Monteriggioni. Then we got to the Banfi Vineyards. We took a tour and saw all the places where they make wine and everything and it was amazing. But here's the good part. We did a wine tasting/lunch thing. But it wasn't so much a tasting as we had a full glass of every wine they brought. Oh. My. God. It was so good!!!! I bought a bottle of Brunello and a bottle of the dessert wine we had. Couldn't resist. I have all the names of the specific wines written down, but i'll let you know later if you want. Then we got home and Chris (one of the guys) and I walked up to Piazzale Michelangelo to see an amazing view of Florence. It was good

Tuesday: Amanda and I got up early to catch our train to Milan. We were both going to Milan and then she was flying to Amsterdam to see her friend and I to Vienna. Well, we were not paying attention and almost got on a train to Rome! Oh how bad that would've been! But we got it fixed and ended up in Milan, she then in Amsterdam and me in Vienna. I arrived in Vienna and took the train here. Walked. Met a really cool Australian girl last night and we hung out. She is leaving today though, so I'm just planning to go into town and wander around. Should be fun.

Oh! I left my phone on the bus in Florence, so I don't have one. The bus driver found it and called our professor after I'd left Florence. I'll be fine, but just FYI.

Okay, I guess that's it! We have really cheap internet in the hostel I'm staying in, so I should probs update often this week!

Love love love love!

Miss you all!

Xoxo,

Ally

Gli Alpi!

Okay, so lots to talk about this weekend!!

Last week, nothing much happened. We went to Padova on Friday to see the Scrovegni Chapel, with the famous ceiling by Giotto. It was beautiful! But, the weird thing is that because of the frescos deteriorating, they have to "de-humidify" you before you go in. You have to rub your shoes on a special mat, and then you can only be in there for 15 minutes. It's very bizarre. You should check it out on Wikipedia, also.

After Padova, Jess and I took the train to Verona and then to Trento. We met Costanza, our Latin tutor, in Trento and went to a REALLY good restaurant where they made the best pizza I have had in Italy and they made their own beer. Yummy. Then we drove from Trento to Predazzo, where her mom was born and her grandpa still lives. We stayed in their apartments in Predazzo, right at the foot of the Dolomites. (See facebook album: http://colgate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025973&l=7fc74&id=8703472)

The next day, we took a long hike through the mountains. It was so beautiful! Costanza has also invited us to come back and ski with her in the wintertime. I think we should do it! There are some pretty tame runs that I could try. We'll see. That evening, we took our Latin exam and had a wonderful dinner. The next day (Sunday) we took a nice bike ride through the valley and saw the corn and the cows! Reminds me of home!!! tee hee

Mom, you have to bring stuff for me to make s'mores with. I was explaining to Costanza and her family that they did not know what a s'more was! Oh no!! So you have to bring stuff so that I can make some for them.

Overall, pretty low key weekend. I wrote a paper this weekend on Dante's inferno. We had to put a modern day person in hell. I chose a man named Primo Levi, who was an Italian Jew. He committed suicide because he said that after Auschwitz, he didnt want to live anymore. Pretty decent paper. I wrote it in tercets (stanzas of 3 lines) too! Not too bad

This weekend, we leave for Florence!!! I am so excited! And then the week after that I am in Vienna!! Sweeeeeeet. Hopefully, I can find some nice leather boots in florence. We'll see. Tee hee.

Oh! I found a really really good restaurant right by my house. It was SO SO good, so we'll have to go there.

Okay, I guess thats it for now! Lots of love from Venice,

Xoxo,

Ally

Trieste

Helloooooo....

Nothing too much happening last week during the week One of my roommate's mom and sister came so we have not seen much of her this last week. She got to go shoe shopping. Me = jealous. ;-)

This weekend, I (along with 8 other people) went to Trieste for a day trip. It was shaping up to be a really good trip until we got stopped in this TINY town. There was an accident of some kind on the tracks ahead and so we were an hour and a hlaf late getting into Trieste. Boo. We were going to go to the biggest cave in the world that's open to the public, but it was closed cause we were so late. :( So we wandered around and went into a really beautiful church. The mosaic, instead of having gold pieces as a background, had blue pieces. It was really neat. Then we all had a REALLY nice dinner together in the square and then got on the train to go back home.

This is when the show began. We all bought tickets and validated them, like you're supposed to, and then got on the train. When the lady came by to check our tickets, she INSISTED That we had bought the wrong ones and made us pay double the ticket price to continue riding on the train. Seriously??? Then, to top it off, no one checked our tickets again. Boo.

But that's not the best part. There was a football (soccer) game in Udine and so at the Udine stop, everyone who was at the football game (drunk out of their minds, too) got on the train. Good, great. This is fun. So they were HORRIBLY loud and throwing water on each other and smoking. BUt that's not the best part. The guy sitting in the clump of seats in front of me tried to spit out the window, but it instead went back in the train and on my face. YESSSSS. So, one of the guys in our group (bless his heart) had had enough of all this and almost got into a fight with the guy who spit. He was angry for many reasons, but he said to the guy "you can't spit on my friend.. ever" which was nice of him... tee hee..

Last night, a bunch of us went to the Fenice, the opera house in Venice, and saw a tribute to Maria Callas, a famous soprano who died young 30 years ago. The woman who was singing is a very famous greek woman. She was amazing!! The concert was 3 hours long, but it was worth it. AAAND we only paid 15 euro for our tickets. Lots of fun.

OH! I forgot about the Ennio Morricone concert. It was in Piazza San Marco and it was BEAUTIFUL. He's the guy who wrote the score for the Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. It was SO cool to see him, the Rome Symphony Orchestra and the Fenice Chorus there. I enjoyed it very much!

Today was our first archaeology class. IT was long, but good. I also booked my trip to Vienna! I will be there for 5 days in October staying in a very highly recommended hostel. Should be pretty awesome.

This weekend, I am going to the mountains to visit my friend Costanza. Should be a lot of fun. We are also going to Padova this friday as a class. Hopefully that goes well!

AND, grandma, I made eggplant parm the other day. You'd be proud of me!!!

That's it for now!!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE from Venice,

Xoxo,

Ally

Croatia and Regatta Storica Pictures, finally

Took me forever, but here they are!

http://colgate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025132&l=fcfff&id=8703472

and

http://colgate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025484&l=81f95&id=8703472

First Week of Classes

Hello!

Nothing too interesting since the last post. It's our first week of classes. It's nice not to have Italian every day for 4 hours and nice to do something different. Our art history class is going to be good and we have the opportunity (possibly) to work in internships for Save Venice, a non-profit that deals with art restoration in Venice. Cool, huh? Our Lit class is going to be good, I hope. We haven't had our Archaeology class yet, so the jury's still out on that one.

Other than that, just kind of hanging out. I joined the library here, which is in an old, BEAUTIFUL palazzo full of books and amazing paintings. It's really cool to study there. I'll have to take some stealth pictures and post them. Speaking of pictures, I promise I'll get around to posting my regatta and croatia pictures. Just taking longer than I'd expected.

I guess that's all for now!

Lots and lots of love,

Ally

Rockin' Croatia and the Regatta Storica

Hello!!

Okay, biiiig post and update today. First and most important:

If you want to send me mail, you've got to send it to...
Ally Dall
c/o Ali Damico
4660 Castello
30122 Venezia ITALY

The reason that you have to send it there and not to my apartment is that it turns out that we don't have a mail slot. If you feel the need to send me a package, send it to the Istituto. For the select few of you choosing to send a package, lemme know and i'll give you the address.

Okay, now that that is done, on to more interesting things. First, Croatia.

We all headed over to San Basilio, which is the port for Venice, and got our tickets. Now, I have no problem riding in boats. I mean, let's be real, I rode in a very big boat from Athens to Naxos (9 hours) and I had zero problem with that. I ride boats all the time in Venice. I had no problem with the boat we were about to get on. It's just that there had just been a storm in Venice and in Croatia. But, that didn't bother me. I had snacks, a fully charged ipod and a window seat.

So, we embark and the first bit of the trip isn't too bad, the part where we were still in the lagoon. Once we ventured out of the safety of our tiny lagoon into the Adriatic, that's when things got nasty. We were pitching and rolling like nobody's business. There were points when you couldn't see the horizon out of the window because it was completely facing the water. Anyway, after 3 and 1/2 hours of horrible boat riding, we arrived in Croatia, no worse for the wear. Well, we were fine. There were a few people on the boat who lost it.. food, that is... lots of sea sickness on the boat.. yuck.

We de-boated and they stamped my passport cause Croatia isn't an EU country. Sweet. Anyway, Rovinj (the city we came into) was amazing. It is this tiny, beautiful Croatian port village that is magical. There is this beautiful church up on a hill and it was all lit up and lovely. See next post for facebook links. (By the way, facebook tells me that if i give you these links you can see the pictures. can you?) We wandered around the town looking for a hotel. Turns out Rovinj, Croatia is a huge tourist destination the last weekend of August. EVERYTHING was booked. Eventually, Ali's dad called some places from the states and got us in at this really cute little hostel. However, we never would have found it cause it was about a mile from town. (I would just like to state for the record that I did in fact find us a place to stay, but her dad had already booked the place. I wanted to do it on our own, but no biggie.) So, we go up to the hostel and turn in, as it was almost 1 and we were EXHAUSTED.

We got up early the next day and our hostel owner made us breakfast. Yeah, it was that cool. We spent the day in the town shopping and wandering. We were on our way up to that really cool church when it started POURING rain. We took refuge in the church for a while and then just wandered in the rain. It stopped raining long enough for my camera to break. Good. Great. I ended up buying a new one (the whole transaction done in Italian, sort of. They speak Croatian and English and Italian, but not everyone speaks English). I bought a new, really nice one that is compatible with my old memory card, so I didn't have to buy a new one of those.

Anyway, after that unexpected financial blow, we discovered that Friday night was, in fact, Rovinj night. It was their yearly festival. Sweet. So there was all this traditional dancing and singing and grilling and there was CORN!! Allahna and I both ate some corn on the cob cause we're from the midwest and we miss corn. It was not as good as home, but decent.

We spent the whole evening in town and went back to our hostel waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay late. We then woke up about an hour and a half after we got home so that we could make our bus back to Venice which left at 5:40. EARLY. We got on the bus and it was a long, hot, long ride. Plus, the kid sitting next to me across the aisle got motion sickness. Seriously? We passed through Slovenia (EU country) and I got my passport stamped (sweet) and we proceeded back to Italy. Got off the bus at Mestre and took the train back to Venice. Got on the Vap. Collapsed at home.

We napped for a few hours and then all headed over to the Colonette, one of the other Colgate apartments, so we could hang out before going to San Servolo for the opening party for the Venice Film Festival. It was basically a huge dance party. We drank prosecco and danced until about 4 am, when we fought for a spot on the Vap back to San Zac.

That was all in Friday and Saturday. Croatia = check. Now, onto the Regatta Storica. Sunday morning, Ali, Kathleen and I went to church at San Zulian. San Zulian is this really adorable little church near San Marco with an english mass. It's so nice. I like it. After mass, went home and packed a lunch and went to the Rialto to scope out a place to watch the regatta. We ended up sitting across the Grand Canal from the Palazzo Ca'D'Oro, so all of my pictures (again see: next post for facebook link) have a sweet background of the Palazzo.

The regatta was so cool! They had the whole canal wired for music and played really cool instrumentals while the boats processed by. They were beautiful and the rowers were all dressed in really cool clothes. I can't even describe them! I have tons of pictures, though.

Today was the first real day of semester. We had Italian, which we have every day, and Italian Lit (in english, thank god). It's gonna be a good semester, i think. I like our professors a lot so far.

I guess that's all for now. I think we're gonna go see the Woody Allen movie that's playing tonight. Nothing else other than that!

Un bacione,

Xoxo,

Ally

to see pictures... click these

http://colgate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024880&l=da6f5&id=8703472

http://colgate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024881&l=e9edb&id=8703472

http://colgate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024882&l=505fd&id=8703472

A Trip to Croatia

Our dinner with our Italian professors went fairly well. We made some really good food and (mom and dad and grandma, you'll be proud of me) cleaned our apartment like it's never been cleaned before. I even did the bathrooms (don't die of a heart attack, dad).

We've been having lots and lots of classes and our final is tomorrow. I'm excited for this class to be done. Our final is going to be tough, especially the oral part, but it'll be good to be done.

Which brings me to our plans for this weekend! We (Kelly, Allahna, Amanda and Ali and I) are going to Croatia! We're taking the boat there on Thursday afternoon and bus-ing it back on Saturday so we can be back in Venice for the Regatta Storica on Sunday (big, famous festival). We're staying on a BEAUTIFUL beach in a hotel with 2 pools (i love pools). It is going to be a ton of fun! It's a little expensive, but I'm only in Europe like this once, right?!?

Kelly, Allahna, Allison and I all went to the Biennale, which was amazing. I'm going to try to post pictures on facebook and then link them to here. or maybe put them up somewhere else. I shall investigate. The Biennale is a biannual event where artists from all over the world come to Venice and put up some kind of art. Some were good, others weird, but overall, really cool.

We also went to Murano and I bought some really beautiful earrings that I then broke. Whoops. I am going to go back and see what they will do for me. Murano was really awesome and, mom and Patti, i found a really cool place for us to see glass blowing demonstrations.

I guess that's all for now! I can't believe Colgate has started school! It's weird to not be there!!

All right, all my love from Venice,

Un bacione (a big kiss),

Xoxo,

Ally

Cleaning and groceries and the opera

hello everyone!

Again, been a while, I know. But without my computer (which should get here in the next day or so!!!) it's tough.

We've just kind of been hanging out. I've been doing a lot of cleaning lately. Whether it be laundry or bathrooms (yes, i cleaned the bathroom. try not to die of shock) or my bedroom (again, don't die) or the common rooms cause we don't really have a TV, so there's nothing for me to do except cook and clean and do my homework. Interesting life, huh? I have been trying to get out into Venice a little more. This weekend we (kelly and i) are going to the Biennale, an art festival here in venice.

We also have been doing a lot of grocery shopping. If any of you were to come now, I could give you a SWEET tour of the Venetian food stores. I know them like the back of my hand.

This past weekend we all took a trip to Verona, which is a 2 hour train ride from here. We arrived in Verona and wandered around the city for a while. We saw Juliet's balcony (!!) and walked through these BEAUTIFUL gardens, where there was a labyrinth. We dominated it. All 4 of us made it to the middle. Tee hee.

Then we saw the opera "il barbiere di seviglia" (the barber of seville) in the ancient roman arena. It was really cool to see and it was fun to watch, but the seats were SUPER hard. tee hee. But it was good nonetheless. the next day we went to two beautiful churches and the castello vecchio (old castle, literally). there was TONS of art and it was all amazing. We took the train back and collapsed! we were exhausted.

We had our midterm last week. I did well. I can't believe we've been here 3 weeks already! and we've learned A TON of italian! we all try to speak it with each other and with real italian people, but the sad thing is that often, people will respond in english cause our accents are bad and we look american - especially my friend kelly who has red hair and pale skin. tee hee.

i guess that's it for now! this friday night we are making dinner for our professors and speaking all in italian. wish us luck...

all right, lots and lots of love from venice!

xoxo,

ally

Thunder and Lightning

We've been in Venice for almost two weeks now. I can't believe it! It feels like forever some days, though. Like when we're walking through the seemingly unending mobs of tourists in San Marco. Boooooo tourists.

Not really much has been going on. As of right now, I lead a pretty mundane life. Consists of the following: Get up, shower, walk to school, stop at the cafe next to school for my morning cappuccino, class, lunch, walk home, do work, eat dinner, watch my show at 8:30, more work/read, bed. Lame, i know. But there are SO many tourists around that I don't really want to leave my house, so we just all hang out together, which is nice too. We can go to a lot of the museums and stuff after the tourists have gone, so we're waiting.

We did get to go on a little trip this weekend. We went to Burano and Torcello. Torcello was the first settlement in the lagoon in the 6th century, I think. We got to climb a HUGE clock tower and you could see all the way to the alps. It was beautiful! Then we all went to Burano (famous for its lace - I got a hanky with an A embroidered... it's very beautiful) and had dinner. Burano was BEAUTIFUL and the famous painted houses only added to the charm of the sleepy summer city. We also were treated to some traditional Italian songs by these old men who were all sitting around a table outside of a cafe and singing. One of them was playing an accordion and they just sang. We watched for a good 45 minutes. We had an amazing dinner all together (paid for by Colgate, yesssss) with an AMAZING seafood risotto. It was SO good! And then came back ot the island.

Tomorrow is Ferroagosto, a national holiday, so everything's closed and we don't have class! Yay! I think we're all planning to go to the Lido (beach) tomorrow. Should be a good time. Tonight, I htink there are fireworks! (I love fireworks!)

I guess that's all for now.. My 10 person dinner turned out pretty well. Not my best, not the worst either. I plan to practice a lot so I can cook for everyone when I get home!!

Lots and lots of amore di venezia,

Xoxo,

Ally

A Long Time!!

Hey!



I know it's been what feels like forever (at least for me) since I updated last, but I am without a computer and have been pretty busy this last week or so. I am using my roommate Amanda's computer right now. She's awesome.



So, update! We have been in classes all week and it's been crazy! We've done one chapter every 2 days, which means that now we're in the middle of chapter three. It's A LOT of Italian to learn in a short amount of time, but the nice thing is that a lot of it is VERY similar to Latin and Greek, so it's easy for me to pick up. I know it's been harder on some of the other people because they haven't had as much experience with languages. Thank God for the classics!!!



We have class in the morning from 9 - 1 (4 hours!!) and then have the afternoon "free" to do wahtever we want. I put that in quotes because usually our afternoons are consumed by doing work, as we have a lot of homework each night. However, we have managed to spend at least one afternoon at the beach! Yay. We also do a lot of walking to the grocery store and back. I think I am going to invest in a rolling bag so that we dont all have to carry everything everywhere. It's a long walk from our apartment to the grocery.

Speaking of our apartment, we are RIGHT next to a restaurant. Literally, our window overlooks it. You would think that was great, except when they're up LATE on the weeknights (late for me = 12 now) and making lots and ltos of loud noise. Plus the big drink delivery on wednesday mornings. That's a lot of fun. Oh well. We're getting to be pretty good friends with the waiters there, though. They say Ciao to us all the time. It's pretty awesome.

I made dinner last night - chicken and musrooms. I rocked it! It was pretty good. I messed up a little bit, but everybody liked it. It's also very hard to cook for 10 people, which is what I was doing, so.... But i am proud of myself!

Hm - here's the NOT so good part about living in Castello, where I live. We're RIGHT NEXT to San Marco, which is the BIGGEST tourist destination in Venice. So, in order to get to and from school, we have to walk through San Marco. In the morning, it's not a big deal because there's no one up yet. In the afternoon, however, the square is PACKED with tourists and pigeons. We have to barrel our way through. And that's just through the Piazza itself. Forget about the side streets!! To get to our apartment, we have to cross the canal that the bridge of Sighs crosses, so EVERYONE stops and takes pictures. They STOP in the MIDDLE OF THE BRIDGE!! It's awful. What takes 15 - 20 minutes in the morning takes 30 - 35 just because of all the people. Out of control! I can't wait until August is over and they're all gone! Then we can have Venice to ourselves! Tee hee.

I think I am oging to plan a trip to England to see Emma and Kate, two CODAS that I met in Barcelona. They sent me an email and said they're already excited for me to come and I hadn't even planned it yet!! Tee hee.. I can't wait

Oh! The other thing aobut our apartment is that we are on top of a gelateria - a place that makes the gelato for the place that sells it. So when you walk into our apartment, it always smells like mint gelato. Mom - you'd love it!!

All in all, things are going well. We are all getting along really well and enjoying ourselves - despite the tourists. My Italian is improving - I can say simple sentences now! Woo!

That's all for now I guess! A long post! I am going to try to post more often, I promise!!!

Love love love you all!

Xoxo,

Ally

More Venice

Not too much to say today. We have all been getting moved in and all those kinds of things. we went grocery shopping yesterday and then we went to the Rialto market today and bought tons of fresh veggies and fruit. We are going to have a big feast tonight! We bought some fresh flounder (it was whole, but the nice man fileted it for us) so we are having pasta with sauted vegetables, white wine, flounder and a fresh fruit salad for dessert. It's going to be yummy!

We start classes on monday and we are excited! It will be good having a routine, i think. I also got to do laundry yesterday, which was nice. I may take my camera out and take picures today, not sure, we will see.

Hope everyone is well and getting ready for the end of summer!

Lots of love from Venice!

Xoxo,

Ally

Return to Venice!

I'm back!!!! And I missed it a lot here. I have FINALLY moved out of my suitcases and I can't wait for everyone else to get here!

The end of the CODA conference was great. I got my bag back (finally) and was able to change clothes. Tee hee. We had a good closing ceremony and I was able to do some really nice sighteseeing. And then, the last night, a bunch of us went to a dance club and had a BLAST!! CODAs from all over the world, aged 20 - 50 went and we rocked it. We stood in a huge circle and signed as many songs as we could think of. It was a blast.

I flew out of Barcelona the next morning. I really liked it there and I think I would like to go back. So, it turns out that my roommate from home, Kelly, will NOT be going to study abroad in Spain (I don't know all the details, as I havent really been able to talk to her for more than 2 minutes) and so I am currently looking for another trip. I met two CODAs who like in England and I think that might be where I'm headed. We'll see.

I arrived in the Rome airport and met Jess and then we took the train to Mestre, the town on the mainland next to Venice. We stayed the night in the hotel tehre an then took the train into Venice this morning. We met our professor, picked up our bags, and moved into our respective apartments. YAY!

I miss you all tons! OH! And I finished the new Harry Potter book. It was SO good!!!

Lots and lots of love,

Xoxo,

Ally

CODA!

So, I took the train from Metaponto -- uneventful except the teenage kids who insisted on making out next to me. From Metaponto, another train to Rome (€ 11!!) and then spènt and uncomfortable night in the Rome airport. Note to self: bring pillow. Then I checked in for my flight and bought the new Harry Potter book! I am already 500 pages in and I am loving it!

I arrived in Spain only to discover that my bag(my one bag, my backpack) had been lost. UGH! So I filled out a missing bag report and they´re supposed to deliver it here if they find it. RIght now, however, I am heading to a store in search of underwear. There are some things I won´t wear for more than 2 days in a row.

But the BIG news is CODA Conference! I am OBSESSED already and it´s only been a day. I met these really great sisters (aged 18 and 20) and they go to Binghamton and Syracuse, respectively. Isn´t that weird? They go to school an hour from me! I feel a reunion in the works.... I am loving being with all of these people and everyone is amazing and nice! I think tomorrow/tonight the girls (Sam, Amanda) and I are going to do a bit of sightseeing. Should be a good time.

Okay, I am going to go in search of undergarments. Wish me luck!

Love from Espana!

Xoxo,

Ally

an update, finally!

WELL! it's about time, right?! my interent access has been "less than usual" to say the least. This is the first time i have been able to be online for more than 5 minutes in the last four days or so. It's ridiculous. Well, we arrived in Paestum the other day and I was able to get online there, but needed to talk to my mommy.. tee hee.. We were in Paestum for about three days. we were supposed to do some digging, but it was more a "political" trip for our professor. she is supposed to be leading the dig but hasnt been back in about 4 years so she wanted to make sure that no one hated her.. legitimate.. we hung out at the beach with Dora (her daughter) and saw some behind the scenes stuff at the museum.. nothing too intense.. then we loaded up for our long car ride to Metaponto, which was eventful. we are driving a manual mercedes station wagon and my professor isnt very good at it, plus it was dark. made for a rather interesting ride, anyway. we arrived and moved into our hotel, which is nice. there ar two rooms, and a kitchen, and a bathroom, so it suits us. the thing that is not so fun is the fact that i was confused about this trip, let me tell you. turns out that she didn't bring a babysitter with her and now we (the three of us girls) are stuck douing it. we have a system worked out where two of us go to the museum with her in the morning (her = prof.) and one stays at the hotel with dora and then we rotate. it's fine, but it isn't. i am not using my AMS money to babysit. the work we are doing with her catalogue is really cool, but you only get to to do that for a limited time. which is why i am going to the CODA conference in barcelona! i figured i might as well do something amazing while i'm here and she (prof.) doesnt need me to be here, so why not?? anyway, i am currently figuring all that travel tuff out now and im really excited!! i miss you all lots and will update as soon as i can!! lots and lots of love! Xoxo, ally

Roma!

So we are in Rome for today. We arrived last gniht via train from Venice. But before all that, I'll do a quick Venice recap. We arrived in Venice and schlepped our bags into the Ammerman's apartment. Only to then put them all back in the Ammerman's boat and take them over to our apartment, which was TINY! It was really made for one person, although there were 3 of us living there. It was me, Jess and Costanza, our Latin tutor. Costanza is Italian andfrom a place about 2 hours north of venice and she's awesome! Shes beautiful and amazing. It was really nice ot have an Italian to wander the streets with. The rest of the week consisted of wandering around, getting lost, getting unlost only to get lost again! It is really crazy there. But we had some really great pizza and food, went to the beach, rode in the Ammerman's boat, some quality moments. Now we have come back to Rome to pick up the last student and this afternoon we will head out to the south of Italy to do some research. I don't like that I haven't been able to post everydday. This is just as good for me as you all! but we don't get internet everywhere, especially in Venice, and cafes are expensive here. Oh well, I will try to write on my computer and then post the poists all together. I hope you all are doing well! Love Love Love you and miss you! - Xoxo, Ally

Quick Post

I am in love with VEnice! I have been wandering around and I like all that I see!! The city is amazing. We went to the beach yesterday and did our latin. The young woman whos tutoring me is named Costanza and she's amazing. She is from Trento which is about two hours north of here. We will continue our Latin lessons after the semester begins and I will be able to go to her house ni the mountains. She has also been helping me with my Italian. Nothing really too much to post on, just wandering the city. Mom - my professor said that she recommends coming in Oct not Nov so if you can i would recommend that, but if you cant, it will still be a lot of fun! By the way, i might need a new keyboard. My enter key is sticking now and there's nothing i can do except wait for it to be done. When it is, i try to squeeze in everything i can. The backspace key is also broken. What should i dO??? anyway, i have to go to latin lessons now, but will try to post again soon. Lots and lots and lots of lo
ve! Ally (that is an
example of it doing whatever it wa
nts
)

Venice!!

Water Taxi - 7/8/07, Venice, 1:13 p.m.

I'm in Venice!! Yay!

I have also successfully navigated all forms of transportation since I've been in Europe. No lost bags, no missed flights/boats/busses. I rock my world.

I spent 27 straight hours in airports the last day or so. I got to the Mykonos airport at 2 p.m. and was there until my plane left at 10 and then went to the Athens airport where I stayed overnight (which A LOT of people do, actually) and then left Athens at 7 in the morning to go to the Rome airport where I was from 9 - 2 and then arrived at the Venice airport where we were until 5. All told, 27 hours. Professor Ammerman and her family didn't get their luggage! It got lost between Rome and Venice somewhere. How much does that suck? We took a water taxi to the apartment. Which is a boat that took us to the door. But they call it a water taxi. Yeah. Cool

Venice is amazing! I love it here already and I can't wait to live here! The streets are really narrow and cool and the squares and everything are wonderful! It's kind of humid, but nothing horrible. We had really yummy pasta for dinner last night and slept very well. The only thing that sucks is that our shower has no water pressure! But the woman who owns the apartment is coming to fix it, hopefully, today. Tonight is pizza for dinner! Yum.

Tomorrow we start Latin classes. Boo. Professor Ammerman INSISTED that Jess and I do Latin while we are abroad so we're starting now. Boo. Although there is a young Italian woman who is tutoring us, Costanza, and she's pretty cool.

All right, that's all for now! I hope you all had fun in Wisonsin at the house!

Lots and lots and lots of love!

Xoxo,

Ally

p.s. Mom and Patti, I'm already preparing an intinerary for you when you come!

5 Hours Later

Around the Island - 7/5/07, Naxos, 5:08 p.m.

Short entry today . All I really did was ride around the island on my 4-wheeler. It was a lot of fun. I stopped at a few sites, but there wasn't much to see, so I just rode around. A total of 100 kilometers. I enjoyed myself.

The plan for tonight is to go out to a nice dinner and then pack up. I have to return the 4-wheeler in the morning and then catch a boat to Mykonos. From there, catch a plane to Athens. Stay in Athens. Fly to Venice!

Probably won't update again until Saturday or Sunday, so hope you all have a good time on the holiday weekend!

Lots of love!

Xoxo,

Ally

The Beach, Again

Sand, sand everywhere - 7/4/07, Naxos, 6:16 pm.

That's all I really did today. Go to the beach. Actually, I am very proud of myself because this morning, I actually did some real work on my Greek play that I'm supposed to be translating. I worked for about 2 hours. Yay for me! And I remembered why I love it so much. So tonight, I decided that I'm gonna grab some food from town and bring it back to my porch and do some Greek. Maybe turn on some bad Greek TV while I'm at it. Tee hee.

Tomorrow's plan is to go around the island again on my 4-wheeler. There are some caves here that my professor would like me to look at for her, so I'm going to see if I can't find them. Then, come home, go to dinner at the Mexican place, pack up, and get ready to go! I leave Friday morning. Take a boat to Mykonos, fly from Mykonos to Athens, stay in the Athens Airport overnight (with Jess), and then we fly to Rome then Venice. It'll be nice to be with people again.

I guess that's it for today! I hope, Mom and Tony, you had a good, safe drive up to Wisconsin and that you're all having a good time up north at the cabin! I'm going to try to call a little bit later and chat with everyone. (I got a new phone card. Yay.)

Lots and lots and lots of love! Miss you all!

Happy Fourth of July!!

Xoxo,

Ally

Boats are fun.

Delos - Myknonos - 7/3/07, Naxos, 7:34 p.m.

Today I left the island. That's a very four year old sentence, eh? I took a boat that would take me from Naxos to Delos to Mykonos. If I'd had my drouthers, I wouldn't have gone to Mykonos, because there wasn't really much to see there and I only had 3 hours there anyway, but that's the way the boat tickets are sold. So, eh. No biggie.

I got off the boat at Delos and through my powers of persuasion (a.k.a. showing my student ID) didn't have to pay for admission to the site or the "tour" I took. It was sweet. The "tour" was anything but. It was this guy talking half in english half in Italian the whole time, talking about Athens, of all things. Thank you, sir, I was there for four weeks. Tell me about Delos. Anyway, I was mumbling under my breath about the columns that this guy had misidentified and this guy comes up to me and goes "what?" I was embarrassed for a minute before he goes, "no, that's really interesting." Anyway, we struck up a conversation and left the lame tour guide and wandered the site ourselves. I told him basically everything I had learned from my extended study and took some really nice pictures of the theater. Then our boats left. We both went back to Mykonos and had lunch together. He was really a very nice guy. From Seattle originally, but now lives in San Diego, here on vacation, late 20's, I believe. We got to talking about my obsession with card games and I ended up teaching him how to play Russian Bank! Tee hee. Then I got on my boat and came back to Naxos.

Tomorrow - beach and laziness is in order! Then on Thursday, another 4-wheeler excursion, and then I leave on Friday! Wow! I can't believe the time is going so fast! It's good in a way, because I'm ready to be with people I know again, but bad beacuse I LOVE the island. I think if I were to come back to Greece, I would go to Athens and then come here. Yes. And I'd bring you all with me.

I guess that's all for now! Hope you're having fun up north! Happy Fourth of July Eve! (I don't suppose they celebrate that here, huh? Sad.)

Lots and lots of love! Miss you!

Xoxo,

Ally

80 Kilometers

Kouros - 7/2/07, Naxos, 2:34 p.m.

I rode around the entire island today on my 4-wheeler. Rocked it. I thought I might run out of gas, but it was just me being paranoid. I went and saw this really cool kouros figure on the northern corner of the island. I spent about 3 hours on the 4 wheeler, just kind of riding around. I only saw one "archaeological" site, but I plan to do more on Wednesday and Thursday.

Tomorrow, I am headed off to Delos! Yay! Basically, all that means is another boat ride, but just for the day this time. Only about 20 Euro, which is nice. I'll be looking at the theater there and the entire archaeological site. You can't actually stay on the island overnight because it is an archaeological site. The whole island!

It's early, but I only have one real opportunity to check email/post for free a day, so I thought I'd go ahead and do it now. I think I'm going to go grab some lunch and head to the temple of Apollo later this afternoon, after it cools down. It's not miserably hot, but there's no reason to go hiking now while the sun is hot.

I know that Mom and TC are on their way up to Wisconsin. Have a great 4th of July, everyone! Mom, I hope you brought Mandy's presents with you. She told me you were thinking about not doing it. Bad, Mom. I am missing you all a lot. It's really nice being on the island - one of my favorite places. But it does get a little lonely when I see everyone at the beach with their families and friends. So next time, I'll have to come with a whole huge bunch of people!!

I guess that's all for now! Have fun up north!

Love love love you all and miss you tons!

Xoxo,

Ally

St. George

Beach! - 7/1/07, Naxos, 6:47 p.m.

That's all I did today! I got up at about 10 and read for an hour and then I went to the beach from about 11:30 to 3:30! Four solid hours there! It was SO SO nice! The water was really nice and warm and there were lots of big waves to go body surfing in. There was a cafe right behind where I was sitting and so I grabbed some lunch and then napped on the beach! Tee hee. I had a beach chair that I paid only 2 euro for, which is a GREAT deal.

I came home and took siesta (read: I napped.). It is surprisingly tiring sitting under the sun! I bought a slice of watermelon that I am going to go eat in a bit. Yum. Then I'll probably wander the town like I did last night. I like this place much more than Tolos. It is more tourist friendly and there are so many different restaurants! There's even a Mexican place that I might go to. Weird, huh? There are lots and lots of ice cream places and they are very good too. Last night, I saw a performance of a traditional Greek dance in the square on the harbor which was really cool.

Tomorrow, I plan to go sight seeing around the island on my 4 wheeler. There is a really cool temple across the island that I want to see.

I guess that's all for now!

Lots of love! Miss you! And YAY JOSIE'S GOING TO THE EAST COAST!

Xoxo,

Ally

Boats Are Fun

Naxos - 6/30/07, Naxos, 8:47 p.m.

I arrived in Naxos safely! Yay! The ferry ride was super long, but I enjoyed it. I was able to leave my stuff in a locked room so I was stuff-free for a little bit anyway. I had lunch in the cafeteria, some spaghetti and bread and peaches. The peaches were delicious!

I also slept a lot on the boat cause I had to get up at 4 this morning to catch my taxi to catch my bus to Athens to catch the metro to Pireaus to catch my boat to Naxos. But I successfully navigated everything! Woot! It was kind of nice to go back to Athens. It was a little like going home. I didn't realize how much I did like it there.

So, I'm in Naxos now. My hotel doesn't have AC or a TV, but I think I'll manage. I am about .2 seconds away from the beach (where I'm headed now to read for a little) and really near a lot of restaurants and stuff. I found a really nice leather store that I am going to look for dad's wallet in.

I rented a 4 wheeler!! I was going to get a scooter, but I couldn't really drive it, so I opted for the safer 4 wheeler. I am stoked. I drove around for about an hour and it was tons of fun. It's not supposed to be too hot tomorrow, so I think I'm going to go to see some of the archaeological sites. Yay.

I guess that's all for now! Lots and lots of love!

Xoxo,

Ally

p.s. Mom, I am still looking for a poster for Jeff. Oh, and on my laptop, my backspace key is broken now too. Boo computers.

Antigone!

Packing, again- 6/29/07, Tolos, 6:05 p.m.

My bag had basically exploded all over my room (surprised?) and so I had to repack again. I'm getting sick of that. I am very much looking forward to the days when we are in our apartment in Venice and can live out of a real closet and have drawers and everything. It sounds small, but I can't wait.

In brief other news, I think I lost my sunglasses. Which makes me mad. Boo losing sunglasses.

I am on my way to see Antigone! I hope it's good. I expect it will be though. I am going to read a quick synopsis to refresh my memory though.

I have my taxi to Nafplion all lined up for tomorrow morning at 4:30 a.m. (wish me luck with that!) and then I grab the bus to Athens at 5:10, then either a bus or another taxi (I might splurge on the taxi) to Pireaus, where I catch my boat to the island of Naxos! Yay!

I gotta get going if I am going to make the bus to Epidauros, so I will let you go. Really nice to talk to you guys yesterday (Dad and Mandy, anyway)! Miss you!

Lots of love,

Xoxo,

Ally

Epidauros, baby

Theater -6/28/07, Tolos, 7:40 p.m.

I didn't do much today other than eat eggs for breakfast again (!!!) and go to the theater at Epidauros. It rocked. I took lots of cool pictures with dad's camera (hope they turn out!) and played with the zoom lens and took some weird pictures. I'm excited to see them though!

Tomorrow night, I'll be going to see Antigone at the theater! Yay! I'll try to check everything internet-related before then cause once I get back, I will have to go straight to bed so I can check out super early and go get the bus to go back to Athens so I can catch my boat to Naxos. Yay islands.

Love love love you all and miss you tons!

Xoxo,

Ally

Another Day

Pool - 6/27/07, Tolos, 7:02 p.m.

Didn't do much today. The family and I didn't end up going to the theater yesterday, but that's all right. I laid out by the pool for a bit. My life sucks. Tee hee. I finished one of my books today, so tonight I'm off to start another one! I was going to go to the beach today, but it was MISERABLY hot again and just walking up the stairs to the pool was kind of draining, so I opted against it.

In other VERY EXCITING news, I had scrambled eggs for breakfast!!!!! I decided this morning because I woke up super early and couldn't go back to sleep that I would eat breakfast at the hotel. Much to my surprise and delight, they had scrambled eggs! I almost cried. And then I ate about 15 eggs. It was glorious. Definitely the highlight of my day. Tee hee.

I also finished all my postcards, so I'll be mailing those today. Exciting. Josie, I didn't write you one yet cause I have all fall to do that. But I still love you. ;-)

I guess that's all for now! Love you all and miss you!

Xoxo,

Ally

Nafplion!

Room 14B - 6/25/07, Tolos, 9:27 p.m.

So I made it to Tolos okay, obviously. There is no internet connection at my hotel, so I have to walk into town to get online. Which is fine, because it makes me do other things than be online and on facebook. Tee hee.

So, yesterday, I got a cab to the bus station and then boarded the bus to Nafplion. From there, another bus to Tolos, where I am now! I had to hoof it up a hill that can only be rivaled by the one at Colgate with all of my luggage. I must have looked like I was going to pass out because the receptionist, when she saw me, immediately told me to sit down and have some water. It was about 4 in the afternoon and VERY hot. I was sweating a lot. I took a swim in the pool and basically passed out for the rest of the night. I thought it would cool down at night, so I turned off my A/C and slept with the door open. Bad idea for two reasons. 1. It didn't cool down. 2. It let in a bunch of mosquitos. Good job, Ally. I woke up hot and with mosquito bites. Good times.

Today, I walked down to the beach for a bit and then sat by the pool reading my book. It was nice. Napped this afternoon. Then, I went up to the pool bar to find the receptionist to ask her where an internet cafe was and she introduced me to this really nice couple from California. They ARE SO nice and have offered (on the condition that I give a tour) to drive me to Epidauros tomorrow! Yay! They were really cool. OH! And I might get to see Antigone at the Theater of Epidauros on Friday!!!! It would be amazing!

That's all for now! This cafe is super expensive! 2 Euros for a half hour! Eek!

Love love love you all and miss you tons!

Xoxo,

Ally

p.s. Congrats to Mandy for getting up on water skis! And I've run out of phone minutes on my cell and phone card. Sorry. Trying to fix it.

Web Cams Rock My World

VPing Galore! - 6/23/07, Athens, 10:56 p.m.

So, today I got to talk to almost everyone in the world. Tee hee. I got to talk to (and see!) my mom, dad, brother, cousin, grandma, aunts, and other cousin. I also got to talk to my sister for a quick bit. Now if Nola and I could only coordinate.. ;-)

It was SO nice to get to see you all today and chat! We'll have to make it a more common occurrence. (By the way, it took me 5 tries to spell "occurrence" right. Who knew there were 2 r's?)

Other than my chats, I was pretty busy today. I went to the Theater of Dionysus for the last time in a while (sad) and the National Archaeological Museum. It was nice and cool in there! It was really nice to walk around by myself and get to see and stop at the things I thought were interesting. Then I came back to the room and did my vping and then packed all of my things. I am storing two of my bags at the airport so that I don't have to lug them all over Greece with me. I was only planning to do one bag, but things happen and you have to deal. I had too many shoes to do just one bag! Tee hee. So instead of 70 euro, it's costing me about 100. But that's all right. I know my bags are safe and stored and I don't have to deal with them. Sometimes it's worth paying for the convenience.

Tomorrow, I am checking out of my apartment and getting a taxi to the bus station, where I take a two and a half hour bus ride to Nauplion. From there, another taxi to Tolos, where I get to stay in my really nice hotel! I'm excited! I am thinking about renting a scooter there. We'll see. I promise, dad, I will call when I get there. ;-)

Well, I'm going to finish my movie and then head to bed, I think. It was so great to see everyone today! I miss you guys so much!

Lots and Lots of love from Athens!

Xoxo,

Ally

Heat Rising

Lazy, Hot Day - 6/22/07, Athens, 9:10 a.m.

Sweet. I just figured out that I use an onscreen keyboard to do my enter key stuff until I get it fixed. Nice.

Didn't do much of anything yesterday. It was miserably hot and so I just lounged around. After our big road trip it was really nice to just sit around. I finished my book and started a new one. I think I like this whole "being able to read whatever I want" thing. It's a nice change from the school year.

Yesterday was Professor Ammerman's last day in Athens so we had a quick farewell dinner for her. Now it's just Jess and I. I think my plans for the day are as follows: I'm going to go pick up all my ferry tickets -- I want to take care of that now as opposed to later, especially because I can't get on the boat without them. Tee hee. And then I'll head over to the National Archaeological Museum for a stroll. I am going to buy film for dad's camera and take some pictures with that. Maybe not, though, because you can't use a flash in there, and I haven't been using it enough to know what will come out or not. Maybe I should then. Not quite sure yet.

I leave for Nauplion on Sunday and I think I've got the bus schedule all worked out. Right after I do this, I'm going to look at it more carefully and maybe I'll try to get a ticket for that today too.

Not really too much exciting going on here, but thought I'd update anyway! Miss you all lots!

Love from Athens!

Xoxo,

Ally

Allllll Over Attica

The Rental Car - 6/20/07, Athens, 7:32 p.m.

SSo... my enter key is very, very broken. Not good.

Anyway, we have had a very adventurous two days! Yesterday, we rented (well, professor Ammerman rented) a car and we drove to the first of two caves of Pan for her research. Luckily, we had another woman from the American Academy here in Athens who wanted to get out of the city for a day come with us and show us the way. Otherwise, we NEVER would have made it. It involved an "energetic scramble" up and down a cliff, but it was a blast! It was also very, very cool inside. Both in the "neat" way and in the "not hot" way. We then drove to the second cave of Pan and saw some engravings and a statuary that was there. I don't know exactly what kind of research she is doing, but it was a lot of fun to do some amateur spelunking.

Then we dropped the other lady off and went to find the theater of Thorikos, one of the oldest remaining theaters. We were driving down the road and I said to my professor "Hey, that looks like a theater." And she said, "That may well be." Then we drove for another 20 minutes and realized that we had passed it. Turns out that I had pointed it out to her earlier and she thought it was a different one. Oops. Then we went to the beach for a quick swim before coming back to Athens.

Today was another early day. We got up at 8 and left Athens to go to Lefkandi, a burial site and possible place of human sacrifice. Professor Ammerman wants to use it for a class that she's teaching in the fall. Cool. We almost couldn't find it! And, it was a good thing we stopped at the museum first because they told us it was closed. She talked them into opening it for us, though. So we walked around for a bit, took some video and some pictures. We had lunch in Lefkandi and then went for another quick dip in the sea before heading out to Marathon. In Marathon, we were looking for another cave of Pan and we looked hard. We couldn't get to it, but I think we found it waaaaaaaay up in this mountain. I thought our little Fiat wasn't going to make it! It came out with some scratches on it (oops) but other than that, it's all good.

Now, I'm going to jump in the shower and then Jess and I are headed over to Professor Ammerman's for dinner and a glass of wine. It should be nice. Tomorrow, I am planning to go to the theater of Dionysus again (maybe) or the National Archaeological Museum in the morning so that I can be back in the afternoon to do some VPing, maybe?? Lemme know.

Lots of love from Athens!

Xoxo,

Ally

The AB

Library! - 6/18/07, Athens, 8:35 p.m.

So, first things first. I think my enter key is sort of broken. It comes and goes.

We had a good day today. I got to sleep until 9, which was really really a nice change! But, there are these kids who live in the apartment next to ours who I think might be the spawn of satan because they were up when I went to bed at 12:30 and they were up when I got up this morning and they were up when I got home at 5:30. It's very, very strange.

We spent our day in the American School library. It's basically the place where any academic goes to have access to texts and other things. It was really cool to see all the books and hear all the other people talk about the work they are doing. It sounds like there are some really cool things that people are looking into!

Tomorrow, we are going to this cave that we have to climb to. The book said an "energetic scramble." It should be a lot of fun, but really, really hot, which sucks. There is a point when you have to repel. Yeah, we'll be repelling down a mountain tomorrow. Sweet. Tee hee.

Hope the race went well yesterday! Thanks for the posts, Nola and Josie. I appreciate them. I hope the summer is going well for everyone!

That's all for now, lots and lots of love,

Xoxo,

Ally

And Then There Were Two

Goodbyes - 6/17/07, Athens, 12:39 p.m.

But first, a recap. Yesterday, we went to Eleusis, which is where there ended a procession that began in Athens during the Panathenaic festival. There would be a huge procession of almost 30,000 people and they would go to Eleusis to witness the Eleusinian mysteries, which were these secret rites that happened on the 7th night of the festival. There were sacrifices and pigs and babies. It was a little strange back then, but everyone did it. Even in Roman times, it persisted very much. We also saw the apparent gateway to hell, where Persephone descended to be with her husband Hades for part of the year and came back to be with her mother Demeter the other half of the year. We came back and Ryan and I went to Kalamaki to meet a friend of his family's here. They were lovely!

Then, we had our final group dinner and enjoyed ourselves very much! We went to the place we went to the first night, and had great food again. I finished up my souvenier shopping and then we all hung out here at the hotel.

And now, everyone is gone. It is only Jess (the girl traveling with me) and I left. And although I am glad for class to be over, it is bittersweet. I shall miss everyone. I shall miss wandering around the plaka with Brianne and getting yelled at by random people. I shall miss being here in the Hotel Pan with everyone, complaining about the heat and how far up the stairs it is to my room. I shall miss them, especially the ones I won't see for a long, long time.

As much as I am excited to continue with my trip, I am sad to see everyone go. I am excited to experience Athens and Greece on my own, but I am jealous of those who got to go back home and see their families. I miss you all terribly, and I know that you miss me too. I know this will be a great experience, but it is bittersweet right now.

Well, I'm going to go grab something to eat. Jess and I can move into our apartment at 3, but we had to check out of the hotel at 12, so I'm king of bumming around.

Oh! I forgot! One of the girls on my trip was nice enough to check a box for me as a piece of her luggage. It contains all of the souveniers that I got for everyone. I am going to tell you what is in it so you don't accidentally throw something away. I gave Susan a blank check and she's going to mail the package on Monday, so it should be home before the fourth of July.

Contents:
t-shirt for dad
t-shirt for t.c.
jacket for mom
chessboard for dad/t.c.
chess pieces for dad/t.c.
earrings for mom (turqoise)
earrings for mandy (mother of pearl)
purse for mandy
pegasus for mom
artemis for grandma
amphora for me! i didn't want to take it with me for the rest of the summer, so i mailed it home!

That's all for now. I'll keep updating! I promise!

Lots and lots of love,

Xoxo,

Ally

p.s. Happy Father's Day daddy! love you!

Hot, Hot, Hot

Pireaus - Hotter Than I Could Have Imagined - 6/15/07, Athens, 9:32 p.m.

So, we went to the Pireaus today, which is the main port city for both ancient and modern Athens. It was SCORCHING hot. Seriously, I haven't sweat that much since last July at the pool. Misery. We walked for a very, very long time before we got where we needed to be. And, to top it off, the ruins weren't even that exciting. But, we did get to have some ice cream on Colgate, which was nice. We walked back to the metro and came home.

Then we went to go meet our guest lecturer at the Byzantine Museum, except Brianne and I got lost. We walked for about 10 minutes in the wrong direction before we realized it and had to go back. We got there in time, but it still stunk.

In other news, the air conditioner in our room is broken -- making it horribly hot in here. We have the door open and a fan on, but it is still very very hot. Hopefully, it cools off tonight.

Tomorrow is the group's last day in Athens. I can't believe it has gone this quickly! Tonight a couple of us are going to Placa to buy some last minute souveniers and go to a bar that we found. Have some drinks, be nostalgic. Good times.

Well, I must away! Lots and lots of love from Athens!

Miss you!

Xoxo,

Ally

Pictures From the Last Few Days

http://colgate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021585&l=848da&id=8703472

A Long, Good, Hot Day

John Camp - Athens, 6/13/2007, 4:27 p.m.

So, today we did some really neat stuff. We met a man named John Camp who literally wrote the book on the excavations of the Ancient Athenian Agora. (Really, it was required reading for the class.) He has just started a new set of excavations and we got to go and walk around the site! We also got to walk where the Stoa Basileus is, which is where Socrates would have gone when he was indicted on a charge of impiety and corrupting the youth. We got to stand where Socrates did! Woo! Then we met an english man who is an epigrapher. Basically, his job is to look at all the surviving inscriptions and translate them and tell us what they mean. He was really, really nice and VERY smart. There is the National Epigraphical Museum and so we went there with him. It was SO interesting to hear what he had to say!

Then we made our last trip to the National Archaeological Museum and saw mostly funerary stele (monuments.) They were very cool. Some of them, huge!

We went to H & M again and i bought a nice shirt. I needed one anyway.

I can't believe our time here is almost up! It seems like yesterday that we got here! OH! This is something I have been meaning to blog about for a while. Apparantly, there are no traffic laws in Greece. Everyone drives as fast as they want down the roads with no real respect for people/lanes. And then the mopeds/scooters! They drive on the sidewalk! The number of times that we have almost been run over is astronomical!

There are also tons and tons of pigeons. I wonder -- where are pigeons native to? I mean, they're EVERYWHERE here and in places like New York, so where do they come from? There are also lots and lots of stray dogs. People feed them and they don't do any harm to people, but they're all over the place!

Well, we've got an exhibition to go to tonight, so I'd better go and shower for that.

Much love to everyone! Missing you all!

Xoxo,

Ally

Another Day, Another Site

Agora Again - 6/12/2007, Athens, 7:49 p.m.

So, we went to the Agora again. Nothing too special. The way the class worked was that we went through things chronologically so today was the agora during the classical period, which was the 5th and 4th centuries BC. It was cool. We saw the jail cell where Socrates would have been held after his trial for impiety. It was also where he ultimately would have died. Love Socrates.

We walked out of Athens proper and into the suburbs to see Plato's Academy. Not much there, but it was a nice walk and we got to walk through a park and see grass!!! I miss grass. As much as I love being here, I do miss the openness of both Colgate and home. I miss having a lawn and trees. I think I've decided that I won't be able to live in a city proper. Suburbs, maybe. But not the city proper. I need grass and trees to make my life complete.

A bunch of us went on a little excursion to the outlet mall by the airport. Apparantly the Greeks have a very different opinion of what "outlet" means. Everything was just as, if not more, expensive than it would be in a store! Disappointing. But at least I didn't spend any money, other than the bus/metro fare.

Tonight, we're going to a quick pita place for dinner. Taking it easy.

BUT, apparantly, Professor Fred Chernoff (a professor who audited, meaning sat in on, our class this semester and came to Athens with us) was our good luck charm. He left the other day and since then, bad things have happened. I slipped in the shower and bruised my butt. (I'm fine now, but it sucked then!) One girl fell at the Pireaus (port city) and knocked two teeth out! She got them fixed, but still! Another girl went to the islands this weekend and fell and broke her nose and possibly her ankle! Crazy!! We've all been taking extra precaution since Fred left to watch our steps.

That's all for now! I'm very proud of myself for posting so much!! Tee hee!

Love love love and miss you,

Xoxo,

Ally

Try These To See Pictures

http://colgate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021364&l=6a38e&id=8703472
http://colgate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021365&l=6abe1&id=8703472
http://colgate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021354&l=ac21c&id=8703472
http://colgate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021209&l=adae9&id=8703472

try these!

Where It All Began

So... today, we went to the holy grail of the theater world: the theater of Dionysus, where it all began. It was there that Thespis took that first step and became the first actor. I also gave a presentation there -- and dominated it! It was really really amazing to be standing where Aeschylus and Sophocles and Euripides would have stood. To know that they were there once, where I was standing, is truly mindblowing. We saw some other minor sanctuaries on the slopes of the Acropolis, but they're not that important. For the record, we saw the sanctuary of Aesclypius, the aeropagus -- where the council of the city of Athens met --, and the pynx, where the whole city met as an assembly. It was a BEAUTIFUL day today so it was perfect for being outside.

After class was over, Brianne and I decided to do a little shopping. We went to H&M (lame, but AMAZING) and then wandered around Placa in search of some specific souveniers. Brianne really wants a kouros (tall man) figure and I really want a replica of the diplyon amphora, which is the funerary vase i did my project on. But... we had no luck. It felt like we went to every souvenier shop there was!

We came home, showered, and met the group for a dinner to say goodbye to Fred Chernoff, the other professor who was traveling with us. He audited our class in the spring and came with us. He is the head of the international relations department and is SO SO smart. It was really amazing to have him come on the trip with us. We had a great dinner and sadly, had to say goodbye.

A few of us went to get dessert (I got apple pie) and then just arrived home. I bought Hercules and so Brianne and I are going to watch it and then head to bed. We've got tomorrow off, so I think we're going to head to the beach for the day. Exciting!

Well, I'm off for a movie and then some much-needed sleep! Good night from Athens!

Missing everyone! Much love!

Xoxo,

Ally

Home, Sweet Home

Back at the Pan - Athens, 6/8/07, 11:26 p.m.

Sorry about that.. I can't seem to get the bold/italics to both turn off at the same time. Strange. We got up early early this morning and went to the museum at Delphi. It was super nice, as always. The boarded the bus to Marathon, where we saw the tumuli of the fallen Greek soldiers from the battle of Marathon. We saw one from the Plateans and one from the Athenians. Very cool stuff.

Then took a bus back to Athens and returned to the Pan hotel. Good news: we're on the first floor. Bad news: we don't get any internet. So right now, we're sitting in the lobby while i post. Tee hee.

Pictures from the last week or so can be found here:

http://colgate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021354&id=8703472
http://colgate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021365&id=8703472
http://colgate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021364&id=8703472

that's all for now!

love you so much and miss everyone!

xoxo,

Ally

Traveling

Winding Roads - 6/7/07, Delphi, 8:22 p.m.

Hello! I know it's been a couple of days, but we've been on the road!

The day before yesterday (Tuesday), we didn't do much. We went to the National Archaeological Museum again and then a bunch of us just wandered around and did some window shopping. Then, on Tuesday night, we went to see Carmen the French opera at the theater of Herodus Atticus on the Acropolis! It was amazing! I mean, the opera was in French and the only subtitles were in Greek, so we only got a basic gist of the story, but it was still a lot of fun. We got to sit in the old theater and watch a real, live play! Plus, Carmen is a really good opera. The woman who played Carmen wasn't the best. The whole point of Carmen is that she is a feminine woman who turns down her lover, which is surprising because she's so delicate (sort of). However, the woman who played Carmen was a mannish looking lady. Not convincing. It was still a great show and a whole lot of fun to see!

Then, yesterday morning, bright and early, we boarded the bus to drive to Olympia. It's about a 5 hour ride from Athens to Olympia, so it was long long long! But we played cards and chatted and napped, so it didn't seem that long. We arrived in Olympia and went to the site. The biggest attraction there is the temple of Zeus Olympios, which was amazing. It was really cool cause we got to walk all over the site and even the temple, which you can't really do anywhere else anymore. We saw the olympic stadium, where we had a foot race of our own. It was a lot of fun. I have some nice pictures from there. We went back to the hotel and took a swim! I forgot how much I love swimming! Brianne and I played around like we were little girls - always a good time. We had a big group dinner and then hung out for a while, before going to bed.

This morning, we got up and went back to Olympia, where we wandered the site again. We saw Phideas' workshop. Phideas was the man responsible for constructing the cult image of Zeus Olympios, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. None of it stands anymore, but it was cool to be where Phideas once was. We went to the newly constructed museum, which was really really nice, and then boarded the bus once again to make our way to Delphi, another 5 hour bus ride.

We arrived in Delphi about 5 hours ago and spent the majority of the time so far wandering around the archaeological site. It's beautiful here! The sanctuary is built into a mountain, so the views are phenomenal! We saw the stadium, the theater, and the temple to Apollo, where the Delphic Oracle would've been. So cool!

A funny little story for you: We have no real access to a washer/dryer, unless you pay 9 euros or something, so we washed our clothes in our bathtub in Athens and then fashioned a drying line out of phone chargers and a usb cord and strung it across the room! i have a really great picture that i'll post later!

Okay, I've got to get going to dinner, but I'll talk to you all later!

Lots of love from Delphi!

Xoxo,

Ally

photos, finally!

you can look at some pictures that i posted on facebook here:

http://colgate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021209&id=8703472&saved


i'll get the rest up soon!

A Whole Lot of Nothing

Lazy Day – 6/4/07, Athens, 7:37 p.m.

So, today consisted of us doing absolutely nothing. We didn’t get out of bed until about noon, and then just lounged around. There aren’t any real laundry facilities, so we borrowed Ryan’s detergent and washed clothes in our bathtub. We made a makeshift clothesline out of our phone chargers and a USB cord that is currently hanging in our room. It’s pretty sweet.

We grabbed a light dinner and are just enjoying not doing anything. I feel a little guilty about just lazing about, but we’ve had a busy busy week, so it has been nice.

Our plan for the evening is to sit around and do more of nothing. It has also helped me not to spend any money!

Quick and boring post for today, but I still wanted to update you all!

Lots of love from Athens,

Xoxo, Ally

A Good Day!

Sunburns – 6/3/07, Athens, 11:06 p.m.

So, today has been one of the best days I’ve had since coming to Greece. We had a free day, so we were able to do/go wherever we wanted. Two of the girls went to Mykonos, a couple of people wandered around Athens, but Brianne, Ryan, Kelly, Whitney, Nate, and I decided to go to Aegina, an island about a 40 minute boat ride from here. We got up early (7:45) and caught the metro to the Pireaus port, where we bought our tickets. It was only 20 Euro for the round trip, so not bad at all. We got on the boat (the Flying Dolphin XVIII) to the island.

It was amazing! The island was beautiful and the people were so so nice. This island was what I imagined Greece to look like. Tons of boats and tons of shops lined the harbor. We walked up to the ruins of the old Aegina. Turns out, Aegina was the first capital of Greece, and it was also a strong port/fort city in ancient times. It was really nice to see a site without (although I love her) our professor. When we go to sites with her, she feels the need to stop at every little thing, but this time we got to see what we wanted in our own time frame. We got to see the ruins of a temple to Apollo and another to Artemis (brother and sister).

After looking at the ruins, we wandered the port city and bought some pistachios. Apparently, Aegina is famous for its pistachios – and I know why. They were delicious! Brianne and I bought 1 kilo to split between the two of us. It should last a few days, we hope. J Then we had some coffee at a little café before heading to the beach.

We set up on the beach and stayed for the rest of the afternoon. The sand was hot, but nice and clean. And the water was AMAZING!! You could see right to the bottom, even in almost 6 feet of water. It was cold, but a perfect temperature because the sun was super hot. It turned out to be clear all day. I was a very good girl and applied sunscreen, but apparently I missed a few spots. Read: I have some pretty nasty sunburns in the spots I missed. Ryan bought some aloe, so I’ll have to use some of that to soothe my burns. We then went and got some ice cream/milkshakes before getting on the Flying Dolphin XIX and returning to the Pireaus.

After we got home and showered, Brianne and I watched a really bad movie. We don’t know the name, but it was subpar. Then, Brianne, Whitney, and I went to find the restaurant that we ate in the other night. However, the last time we went there, it was a Friday night and very busy. Tonight, not so much. Long story short, we spent about an hour searching for this place. However, it was totally worth it and the food was amazing! We had good food, good beer, good company. It was a really nice dinner.

We just got back and Brianne and I are going to change into jammies and watch America’s Sweethearts. We don’t have class tomorrow (another free day) so we’re planning to sleep in. I’m really excited. We have some stuff to do on Tuesday here in Athens and then Wednesday we leave for Delphi and Olympia. It’s a 5 hour bus ride, but it should be really cool.

Hope everyone is well! Missing you here!

Xoxo, Ally