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
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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