Monday, June 25, 2012

Free Travel 1: Paris

6:50 came quickly and I rolled off my bed, put on my hat, and my jeans, and my shoes. Then I brushed my teeth, packed my backpack back up, documented with a couple pictures, and then headed to the lobby to meet everyone and check out. We were out of there before the sun was fully up! We walked a few blocks away and got out our maps to try to figure out where the Etap hotel was, and how to get there from where we were. Maggie called and found out that they had five rooms left, so we booked four of them. We still weren't sure how to get there though, and due to the lack of sleep, lack of food, and abundance of stress, tempers were short and tears were abundant - at least with some of the people in my group. We decided we were going to take the metro, so a couple people found maps of the metro - but they couldn't find the corresponding street with the right metro stop. It may be that I'm a third born child, it may be that I was with William, or it may be that I was in a  group of ten people.. but whatever the reason, I was probably one of three or four people not freaking out. Luckily, God is GOOD! He decided to send us an angel and out of nowhere (literally) came a sweet lady who spoke English, had a map of the metro and the streets above, and was able to tell us exactly how to get to where we needed to go. She walked right up and offered her assistance, and then was gone as soon as we were oriented. To celebrate God's goodness, we went to Starbucks. :) I got a donut and a vanilla frappuccino. We all relaxed a bit while we ate, and then we headed out to give the metro a try. We bought 2day passes and then took our first ride. We all had our packs with us, and since it was "rush-hour" the first two trains we passed up because they were stuffed full. The third train came just as full, but we manned up and shoved our way on. These crowds were unbelievable - they literally just packed in right up against each other. They didn't smell good whatsoever, and personal space did NOT exist. If you've ever been caught in a crowd in Vegas outside oh, say, the Pirate show at Treasure Island... multiple that by four or five and you've got the metro in Paris. Multiple times I had to press my face in against Will's arm to get a breath that didn't reek and remind myself I was OK. After that lovely ride, we got out and walked about a half mile or so to our new hotel. When we got there most of us hadn't showered for a couple days, we were still wearing our clothes from the day before, and honestly we would have liked to have freshen up a bit before hitting the city. The lady at the desk gave us an option - pay twenty euro to check in early, or pay twenty euro to store our bags. Tough choice.. right? Well, in the commotion and stress we somehow ended up paying the 20 euro to store our bags. HA. Life went on, and we headed back down to the subway. We took a couple trams and finally got into the middle of Paris! We walked to the Opera house and took some pictures. Half of the group wanted to pay to go in and look around, and the other half was ready for lunch. So we split into two groups and went our separate ways. I was ready for lunch, and so was William, Kelsey, Jordan, and Britt. We decided to meet back up with the group at 2, and went and found a little Chinese restaurant to eat at. After we met back up we headed to Musee D'Orsay which is famous for it's impressionism collection. On the way there we stopped so that William and Jordan could get crepes. Once we got to the museum and got in through security, (an adventure since Britt liked to store all his food he traveled with in the many pockets of his red jacket and his cargo pants... lol) we split off into little groups to look at whatever we wanted. William and I set off in search of Monet since this museum housed many of his original works and I love Monet... but he was very elusive. We saw a lot of the galleries, but couldn't find his. Until thirty minutes before we were supposed to meet up, of course. If you ever go he is on the fifth floor ;) It was really cool seeing his art work in person. When we left Musee D'Orsay it had started raining. We headed to the Notre Dame but by the time we got there it was pouring rain. We spent over an hour inside, and I took a TON of pictures. It was incredible, I loved sitting down during a service and just taking it all in. Great experience. The rain was still dumping when we left, so we ran across the street to a restaurant for dinner. Will's order got messed up - actually they just forgot to put it in, so he didn't get to eat. After dinner we split up into three groups. Some of the girls went to see the Moulin Rouge; Jordan, Britt, Brandi, and Kelsey headed back to the hotel to try and check in (but weren't able to because the reservation was under Maggie's name), and William and I went to get him some dinner. We went to a pizzeria that took FOREVER to make him some pizza. It was still raining when we were done, and the wind was blowing hard and was bitter cold.. so we ended up heading to the hotel to wait with the others for the girls to get there to check us in. They had decided to go to the Arc di Triumph and the Eiffel Tower so we waited for a while, but had fun just hanging out in the lobby. It was an exciting and exhausting first day in Paris. I made some incredible memories, and that night I got to sleep in a double bed and I didn't even have to share it with anyone. (p.s. that shower felt SO good after a couple days no showering and walking around Pari!!) Up next... Paris day two!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Switzerland And One CREEEPY Night In Paris!!

Tuesday morning I got up around 8 to get ready, and then met everyone in the lobby around 9:30. We headed to the train station and got our reservations for our train to Paris, and we got some Franks out of the ATM. Then we split into two groups and set out for our day. When we walked out of the grain station we found a lake with some swans and ducks. We stopped to take pictures and a couple of them came over towards us looking for a snack. I got some of my smooshed crackers out of my bag and threw the crumbs out towards them. Pretty soon there was probably a couple hundred birds begging to be fed. The swans were probably my favorite part of our stay in Luzern(Lucerne). Then we walked around and took some pictures until we came to a Rolex/everything expensive store. Katie and Maggie wanted to get some knives (Swiss army knives that is), so we headed into the store. At 11:30 we headed out to find something to eat, but every restaurant we came to was super expensive. We ended up stopping at a cafe, where I purchases (what was supposed to be) a cinnamon roll, a normal, delicious-looking roll, and a piece of pizza. I ordered cheese pizza and was given a piece of pizza with a bunch of vegetables on it. I ate it anyway, though after a couple bites I peeled the peppers and cheese off. I was a little offended when the little waitress lady told me I couldn't drink my water bottle in there, simply because I didn't buy it there. Rude. The "cinnamon" roll was very lemony and gross, but I ate at least half of it. The roll, however, was amazing. One of the most delicious things I'd had to eat in a long time. (Maybe not, but it was SO good) After lunch we went to a chocolate shop where I treated myself to some delicious Swiss chocolate. After we were done shopping there we headed to a souvenir shop and bought some little trinkets. Once we completed our shopping excursion we headed out across a really old bridge. I took a lot of pictures, and we played with the swans again. Then we decided to get some Starbucks while we sat in the sun and soaked up some vitamin D. After a half-hour or so we headed back to our hotel to pick up our backpacks and then headed to our train station. We took a hope on train, and then we switched over to a French train that we had reservations for. Upon arriving in Paris we first went in search of an ATM so that we could have money to pay our Taxis since we were staying out in the boonies. Unfortunately, we couldn't find one because they don't apparently have an ATM in the Paris train station. Anyway, we caught our taxis and headed to our hotel. We drove for about 15 minutes and even though my group of three was not in the first taxi to leave, we were the first to arrive at our "hotel." It was off one of the bigger roads, but it wasn't in a very pleasant area. My first impression was "this is sketchy." We waited outside for about five minutes before the next taxi arrived. We waited another few minutes and when the other taxi still hadn't shown up William called to make sure they were okay. (Mostly because that taxi had left first and was a group of three girls). He finally got a hold of Maggie who said that the driver had taken them to the wrong zone, but that they were on their way. Once they arrived we went in and got our rooms. The hotel didn't look any better on the inside. The whole building seemed to be caving in, the stairs especially leaned in towards the middle. There was no elevator, it had a tiny lobby, and the whole place smelled bad. My "intuition" wasn't very happy, and when the gentlemen checking us in reminded us three or four times to leave our keys with him while we went out for the day I instantly feared leaving my things in my room. Britt (who joined our group the evening before we left for free travel, so wasn't included in the number we gave the hotels for our reservations) was supposed to get a room at the same hotel after we checked in. We had one room of three, one room of four, and one room of two. William and Jordan were in the room of two; Brandi, Kelsey, Amanda and I were in the room of four, and Katie, Maggie, and Jenna were in the room of three. While we were getting our bags put into our smelly, very red rooms, Britt came in and said that the gentlemen at the desk told him all the rooms were booked. Either he had to sleep in one of our rooms or he was going to have to go to a different hotel. I told him not to worry, that we would figure it out. In our room we had three single beds and one double, so I knew we could rearrange to make it all work out. We went to the room of three girls with all three guys and told them the situation. We decided to put the guys in the room of three, and two girls in the room of two, with five in the room that had originally held four. Crises averted. It was getting late and there was wifi in the lobby, so almost everyone was down there. Most of the group wanted to leave at 8 in the morning, so I decided I should probably go to sleep. I was talking to Jordan on the stairs when Jenna came up and said that we were going to have a group meeting in the guys room upstairs. When everyone got up to the room, Katie got everyone's attention and said, "We need to checkout in the morning. This needs to be the only night we stay here." Turns out there were almost 50 reviews of the hotel and all were negative reviews. (Apparently the hotel bookers forgot to look at those before booking us for three nights) There were multiple reviews complaining that the hotel workers would go through their stuff while they were out for the day, and a couple even said that they stole some of their things. Some we all agreed, we should probably get out of there. That and a few of the other hotel guests was enough to give us all the heebie-geebies about staying there for very long. Luckily we found an Etap hotel and decided to try our luck there for the next few nights, so long as they had rooms available. Unfortunately, when we called them that night the desk worker didn't speak any English, so we couldn't see what they had available. (Not to mention it was after midnight). We changed the sleeping arrangement yet again, and put Jordan on the floor of Brandi and Kelsey's room to be their protector. The room with five girls put a table in front of the door, and William and Britt (both over 6'2) were together in their room. The girls in the big room tried to decide what to do for the five hours we might sleep. After pulling back the covers and finding someone else's hair in my bed, I decided to sleep fully clothes on top of the covers. Call me crazy, but that is just one of those things that makes me go EWWWWW. Then I laid down and slept curled up in a little ball for a couple hours..
Paris Day One next ;)

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Free Travel Day Two: Salzburg, Austria

Monday morning I slept in until about 8:45, then I got up and started getting ready and packing up my stuff. Check out was at 10 o'clock that morning, but thankfully the hotel had a storage where they let us keep our backpacks (with no additional fee). Kelsey, Brandi, Katie, Maggie, and Amanda went on the Sound of Music Tour, so they had to meet the group for pickup at 9 o'clock. William, Jenna, Jordan, Britt and I took care of checking out of the hotel, and then we went to get our train reservations for later that evening. We met in the lobby and headed back over to McDonalds to get breakfast because the hotel breakfast (which coast an extra 5.50 euro) was closing down as we were about to eat. Unfortunately, McDonald's stopped serving breakfast just as we got there, so we all had lunch for breakfast. Well, except for Britt because he had gone down early to get breakfast at the hotel, and I bought a donut as we were heading out. After breakfast we walked to the train station which took us probably about forty-five minutes. The latest train we could book left at 4:02, and since we were supposed to meet up with the girls at 3:00 we didn't have a ton of time on our hands. So we walked through town and did some shopping in the pouring rain/snow. My pumas were completely soaked through, as were the socks I was wearing (two pairs of wool socks!), so I was feeling pretty miserable. Luckily we walked past a store having a huge sale on shoes, so I got a pair of boots for 5 euro and felt much better after that. We kept walking until we found a restaurant that looked decently priced and that had wienerschnitzel. Then we stopped and had lunch probably around 1:45-2. It was funny how our first reaction was to answer our waiter's questions in Italian, even though we were speaking English to one another, and he clearly spoke German. I was pretty happy I remembered how to say a couple simple things in German from two summers ago! He asked Jordan a question, and when Jordan answered in Italian he (Jordan) got the funniest expression on his face. He turned around to the rest of us after the waiter had left and said, "I've probably got this guy so confused! He doesn't know what language he should be trying to speak to me!"After lunch we walked back to the hotel to meet the up with the girls, pick up our backpacks, and head to the train station. I loved watching the Austrian countryside flashing by out the window as we went zipping by on our train heading to Lucerne. The clouds and rain and fog made it look so cozy out! I wanted to take pictures but the train was moving too quickly. It's a wild, mystical beauty with the huge mountains the shoot up from the flat countryside. It's so striking! Also the huge pine trees that make up the dark patches of forest, like a fairy-tale. I love Austria; I wish I could have spent a few more days in Austria. We got off of our Austrian train and hopped on to a Swiss one - apparently on Swiss trains you don't get to make reservations. You just jump on and hope to find a seat, which we did. Our second train was only 50 minutes long. When we got on the train I started to not feel very well, and when we got off I was feeling even worse. The group stopped at a burger king right at the station when we pulled in, but it was really expensive and they wouldn't let me get a kid's meal. So William and I didn't get dinner that night. When everyone was finished eating we got taxis and headed to our hotel. We had three rooms of three at this hotel, which was an Etap Hotel (college kid friendly). It was funny, I walked in and I saw the bed, and the sink, and the shower all in one room. I was like.. OH. Luckily the toilet was closed off, though the door was missing it's handle so there was a big ol' hole in the door. Privacy was clearly not a top priority in the room, but at least it wasn't a communal bathroom! I went to bed pretty early, and fell asleep quickly.

Looking back, I really wish I could have done more in Salzburg. Yes, I was there, but I didn't get to see anything. I enjoyed being there, despite the rain, but I'd definitely like to go back.

Free Travel: Venice - Saturday & Sunday

(from my journal) Saturday afternoon we made our way from the Villa to the train station in Florence. I'm proud to say my backpack really isn't that heavy! I will probably run out of clothes before the end of the week, but I plan on re-wearing some things! My "frontpack" is really heavy right now because it's got my telephoto lens, my wide-angle lens adapter, and all my snacks. Anyway, we took a train to Mestre, the station right outside of Venice, because our hotel was located in Mestre. In our group of ten, we had to take three cars. There were seven people in car four, William and I were in car five, and Britt (who got his reservation about an hour before the train left) was in car six. I don't know if he fell asleep or if he just didn't understand us when we said get off at the stop before Venice, but when the rest of us got off, he did not. So when we all met up, the first thing we noticed was that Britt was missing. We decided to try and figure out the best way to get to our hotel while we tried to get ahold of Britt, who wasn't answering his phone. We figured that he would probably try to get ahold of us once he got off in Venice and realized none of the rest of us were there. At the station they only had maps of Venice, which didn't really help us navigate Mestre, so we ended up taking three taxis to our hotel. We checked into our rooms, and then took the hotel shuttle into Venice. Britt was supposed to stay at the station in Venice until we got there, but he misunderstood us again and ended up back in Mestre. He eventually met up with us in Venice though, and after that he paid very good attention to where we said our stop was. Poor guy!! Even though it was dark, we walked in across the big bridge by the train station and stopped by the water. William took me to a ristorante/pizzaria right on the water while everyone else ate their "sack suppers." (Will and I ate them pretty early on the train ride over because we were hungry!) We finished dinner about nine and then went to get some gelato!! After gelato we walked up and down the main street by the water and looked at shops. We ran into Mont, Possey, Barrett, Weston and Emily on the way, and they seemed to be enjoying themselves! They were taking a night train out of Venice a few hours later. A couple minutes after saying goodbye to them we ran into Emily, Karli, and Abby. We talked to them for a minute or two, and then continued back up the street. Once we got back close to the restaurant we ate at, we ran into Kyle and Summer, and then the rest of our group, and then Alex and Lynn. We hung out and talked to everyone for probably almost an hour before we split off again to go look at some more of Vince before we had to meet the shuttle. We sat in front of a church on a bench for a little bit, but when a lesbian couple started making out on the steps in front of it, we decided to head back towards the bus. We met back up with our shuttle, which was kind of like a party bus - it had blue lights on the inside, a sparkly floor, and they were playing popular American music. We got back to our hotel, Villa Dori, hung out for a while and then headed to bed.
We got up about 7 the next morning and took the shuttle (and our backpacks) into Venice about 9. First we got our train reservations for a 1:30 train headed towards Salzburg. Then we broke up into two groups and walked around Venice. We saw some big, special bridge and then went to San Marco church. It was HUGE and really pretty, but since it was Sunday we just took a few pictures from the outside. After that we went to get some lunch and stopped so a couple girls could shop, on the way back towards the train station. We caught our first of two trains without any issues. It was about a five hour train ride, and it was exciting because we had two compartments to split between our group. It reminded us all of the Hogwarts Express. I really do enjoy traveling by train! Good thing too because I will be on them a lot this week!! We switched trains after five hours, and then took a two hour train ride into Salzburg. It was a lot of fun watching everything go from Italian to German, though it was a little harder to decipher the messages. It was also fun going through the alps, I LOVE the mountains, though they always make me feel homesick. Once we got to Salzburg we took taxies to our hotel, got our rooms, and then some of us went out to get dinner. Since it was around ten when we got in, there wasn't a lot close by that was open. We ended up eating at a McDonals, but it was an awesome McDonalds. They had free wifi too, which was a plus. I got to text my family and that was a nice little treat :) After McDonalds we went back to the hotel and went to bed!

A couple of details that I left out:

While in Venice, William, Katie and I decided to skip down the street, we actually got a lot of smiles and it was fun! hahaha :)
When we first got there and we were standing on the huge bridge, I waved at a boat going bye. A guy on board started whistling at me, and then waved back! Aaaaand then.,.
While we were walking by some restaurants on the way back to the train station in Venice, there was a friendly host/waiter guy who said to me, "Ahh, Bella! Can I come with you?! Just say yes!" As we were walking by, so I said "Yes!" to which he said, "Ah, Mia! My last day to work here! Let me hang up my coat!" And started taking his little jacket off hahahaha.. silly lil guy!

Well, I had a great time in Venice, though another day or even a few more hours would have been nice!! Beautiful, fun place! Next up - Salzburg!

Kortney Alacyn

Saturday, March 3, 2012

FREE TRAVEL

Hey all!

I'm about to go on a big old adventure!! In about 30 minutes I'll be leaving the Villa and taking a train to Venice! I'll stay there tonight and spend most of tomorrow there before catching a train and heading over to Salzburg! I'm really looking forward to being back in Austria, even though it's supposed to be pretty chilly! After a day in Salzburg I'll be on my way to a day in Lucerne, Switzerland!! And last but not least I'll jump over to Paris, France! Spend a couple days in Paris and be back here next Friday/Saturday! Between now and then, WHO knows what could happen?! It's going to be exciting no matter what! We're setting out today as a group of ten: Katie, Maggie, Kelsey, Brandi, Jenna, Amanda, William, Britton, Jordan, and me! :)

I'm really excited, but I only have ONE memory card to get me through the whole week. AHH. that's probably what I'm the most anxious about, the rest I know is going to work out :) Keep me, my group, and the other groups all in your prayers!! I'll do my best to journal about everything we do so I can share it all with you later! Thanks for hanging in there with me and my sporadic blogging!!!


Lots of love,

Kortney Alacyn

....Joshua 1:9; Jeremiah 29:11....

Monday, February 27, 2012

San Valentino ♥

Okay, so Valentines Day! 

Valentines Day we started out with classes. Then we had an INCREDIBLE chapel, with the message presented by Jordan. It was so good. I recorded it and I am so glad that I did. Jordan is one incredible young man, I'm really glad to be getting to know him. He's been a great friend so far!! And his message was heartwarming. In fact, it brought Robbie to tears. Jordan is just so very genuine! 

After chapel it was time for lunch. We were instructed to dress nice for San Valentino, so the guys were looking spiffy and the girls pretty classy. (or at least we weren't in t-shirts). The ladies went in and were seated (there were name tags), and then the guys were announced by Kyle piccolo. (That's how we distinguish between Kyle who works here {piccolo} and Kyle the student {grande}). They walked in with roses for each of the girls, and serenaded us with HUF Girls (My Girl) before presenting each of us with a rose. After lunch we had some free time, where we did some homework and hung out. 

For dinner William took me out to a cute little ristorante near the Duomo. As we were walking in he bought me a couple of roses from a street vender. We had some good pizza for dinner and then walked around Fiorenze for a while. We stopped and got some gelato on our way back in. Overall, it was a very nice night. :) 

When we got back, it was bed time! I think.. it's been so long I don't really remember. But I know nothing more eventful happened after that. 

And that's what happened on Valentines Day in Italy! 

I'm about to run into town (well, walk into town) to get some groceries. I'll try and get on soon, but the rest of the week is super packed and starting Saturday I'll be gone on my first FREE TRAVEL!!! SO excited. But I do have to tell you all about Rome and about the Opera and everything else that's happened in the last two weeks. I'M SO BEHIND!!! 

Until next time... 
Ciao!

Kortney Alacyn

Friday, February 17, 2012

"I'm Behind, Rewind"

WHOA WHOA WHOA....

Welll. So much for staying on top of this whole blogging thing. It's definitely been over a week now. And, of course, so much has happened in that small amount of time! Let's see... where did I leave off.

Okay, Thursday.
Thursday I woke up early(ish) because we had to be out of our rooms by 9 o'clock. I got up and got ready and took my bags to the room where we were storing them. Then I went downstairs and got some breakfast. The rest of the day I spent eating, taking pictures, and relaxing. Katie, Maggie, Amanda and I took a nice walk and had a snow ball fight which was fun. After that we spent some time in the TeaRoom just talking and relaxing. When it was time to head home, we all piled on the bus. I sat up close to the front, and let me just say, that was a terrifying experience!!! I do not know how we got home without hitting anything because it was close just about every single turn we came within inches of a wall or a car or the edge of a cliff. Eventually I had to just close my eyes, and turn on my music. I sat by William on the way home, and he slept most of the ride too. (though he had a bit more of an excuse since he'd actually been skiing all three days, and took a pretty rough fall on the second day).
When we got home we had dinner and unpacked. The rest of the night... I honestly don't remember. But I know I was exhausted for some reason.

..Friday..
Friday morning I had my first class at 9, and finished up with classes by lunch time. After lunch I got ready and then my group was shuttled down to the bus stop where we took Bus 6 into Florence. We waited in a piazza for our onsite teacher to join us, and then we headed to an artisan's shop. The artist that we visited works with metal and has some big clients in the US. He makes logos for clothing companies and designers, makes jewelry, and SO much more. It was really neat to see his shop where he has worked since he was between fifteen and seventeen years old. He was the sweetest man, too! I loved looking around his shop, and I loved listening to him talk about his work. He didn't speak English, the passion with which he spoke made it obvious that he loves what he does. After we were done at the shop we went to get a cappuccino while we waited for our next onsite teacher to meet us. When she arrived we finished our drinks and then headed to the shop to make our Carnevale masks. The young lady who was the master at the shop had already prepared the masks for us to decorate. She showed us the steps in creating them, and it took me back to making the plaster balloon when I was five. Decorating the mask was a lot of fun. I wish I were more artistic because some of the designs people made were so cool, but overall I was pretty happy with how mine turned out. :) After we were finished with our masks, about 7:30 if I remember correctly, we were free to go get dinner in Florence. Me, Kyle, Katie, and Maggie headed back to Scandicci where we had pizza at one of our favorite little pizzarias. We went back to Scandicci because I was supposed to meet up with William, but I couldn't get my Italian phone to work. We ended up running into him and Jenna at one of the bus stops on the way back to the Villa, so it all worked out.

Saturday...
What happened Saturday. I can't remember.. THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING!! I know we had classes until lunch, but after that I have no idea what happened. Hmmm. It's possible that I went and got groceries with Amanda and William Saturday afternoon and made it back in time for dinner. After that... I don't know.

Sunday!
Sunday we were going to go to Florence for worship, but we ended up staying in because of the snow. We had our own church service at the Villa and then Bible. At six thirty we had a song night with some members from the Florence church and the mayor and his family. Then we had dinner with a ton of people, and then we had a concert. A band called Metamorphosis came to the villa and played for us. They were wonderful!! They played jazz and some traditional Italian songs for us. Afterwards we had snacks and just socialized for a while.

Mondayyy
Monday morning we headed out to one of the local high schools in Scandicci. We had a "language exchange" with them. They helped us with our italian homework, and we helped them with some english homework. We also taught them a song. Lean On Me. haha. It was an interesting experience. I got paired up with a young man named Mirko.  He was nice, but shy. His English was good, but he seemed a little hesitant to use it. As the class went on he seemed to get a little more comfortable with it, and he definitely helped me with my Italian homework. After that we headed back to the Villa for the rest of our classes and lunch. After lunch we had a few "free" hours before we had dinner. Dinner was basically a party! The kids from the high school came and had dinner and played games with us. It was a lot of fun. I met some friends, and even got invited to go to a pub with some of them. I played soccer with one of the guys for a little bit and found out that apparently girls don't really play soccer in Italy. It's a guy sport. SO he was impressed ;) haha. Another thing that I've noticed is that EVERYONE in Italy smokes. We walked out of class while everyone was on break and probably between 70-80% of the kids there were smoking. Some even took smoke breaks during class. It seems to crazy to me. Anyway, Monday was a good day.

TUESDAY - SAN VALENTINO
Actually, I have to go get ready, so I'll tell you about Valentines Day next time!!! :)

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Abetone Adventures

Italy 2012
HUF Spring 2012
Tuesday, 8th February – Abetone
5:15 am
Well, I woke up this morning around five fifteen, because I had set my alarm in order to wake up and shower before we left for our three day ski trip in the Italian Alps. I woke up, shut off my alarm, went back to sleep, luckily woke up fifteen minutes later, showered, and then went back to bed.
6:45 am
About six fortyish I got back out of bed, (we were supposed to leave at 7) and finished packing, ate breakfast, and got ready to leave (brushed my teeth and went to the bathroom).  A couple minutes after seven I ran out to try and get my bag on the shuttle down to the bus, but it was full. I ended up riding with Lynn, Jordan and Kyle down in Kyle’s car and it worked out just fine. I was going to ride with William on the way up, but Lynn sat with him instead. So I sat in the back seat and slept most of the way. We stopped for the bathroom and to get cappuccinos and pastries about half way from Florence to Abetone. I went to the bathroom (twice), had two sips of Will’s hot chocolate and a bite of Kyle’s pastry. Then we loaded back up the bus and started up the mountain. The roads were pretty bad and there were a few times when I wasn’t sure the bus was going to be able to make it up. But we did finally make it to our hotel. The quick run from the bus to the hotel is the only time I’ve spent outside so far. The cold here is painful; it’s a bitter cold that pierces right through me and starts freezing me from the inside out. My fingers are always cold and white. Not much fun. So I’m hanging out inside the hotel as much as possible on this little excursion. 
10:00 am
We arrived to the hotel, Excelsior, grabbed our bags off the bus and piled in to the lobby. There we got our keys, room assignments, and found out who we would be living with the next couple days. Luckily, I get to be with one of my good friends (and roommates from the Villa) Katie. Our room is little, with one full-sized bed, an ancient chair, two tiny night stands, and a closet thing. Our bathroom is about the size of our bedroom, it’s got a table and a chair, the toilet, the little poop cleaner-toilet-looking-thing, a sink with a mirror above it, and a bathtub. Although we’re inside and there is a small heater in our room, it’s still about 60 degrees. Apparently they turn the radiators off throughout the day and on at night. (However, it’s night and it’s still pretty chilly in here.)  
10:30 am
Everyone who was skiing met and headed out to get their equipment. Those who were not staying headed out to check out the shops, bars, and cafés. I, however, decided to sit it out. I didn’t bring any waterproof boots or anything. Plus, the cold is just awful. I miss Colorado cold. So I read some of the notebook, and then just as I was falling asleep the girls who had gone out were back. We grabbed our sack lunches and went down to the TeaRoom where we hung out for the next three plus hours. We ate and talked and just relaxed while we watched the snow fall - I will give them that, the snow is very pretty. But the wind has been howling all day long!!! And the drifts are HUGE. 
3:15 pm
About three we headed back to our rooms to take naps. Which we did. I slept for about forty minutes but I didn’t want to sleep too much. So I woke up and read some more and then worked on my computer. Maggie left the room about five, and about five-thirty I got up and went downstairs to see if there was anyone hanging out in the TeaRoom or the other lounge. Found a group that I sat and talked with for an hour or so. About 6:30 I went upstairs to get ready for dinner. 

7:30 pm
For dinner we had lasagna, and then some kind of pork with melted cheese on top. After that we had some french fries, and then we had a fruity, pastry, cake thing for dessert.  Afterwards we brought in the chefs to thank them, and after we applauded them, they wanted us to sing for them. So we sang a song for them, and at least one of them cried. It was touching.
8:30 pm  
About 8:30 we met for a devotional. We talked briefly, and sang quite a few songs. It was a lot of fun. After that people broke off and played games. A few girls went out to get some drinks, but pretty much everyone else played games. I watched Kyle and Jim play Kyle and William in dominos. Then I played some nertz with a few of the girls and Possey. 
12:00 
About curfew I headed up to my room where I hung out with Katie and Jenna for a while. Then I went to sleep and slept very well
Wednesday, 9th February  
9:15 am
Katie woke me up at 9:15 so we could go down and get breakfast before they put it up. We had pastries and fruit. 
10:00 am
I took a bubble bath. It was an interesting experience.  My first European bubble bath.. our hotel is a little old, but the heat was still pretty good. However, as the water was filling up in the tub I noticed a rather green/brown tint to it. I put in some bubble to try and hide the color so I could relax and enjoy it. I did enjoy it. I played some music and I read my book, The Notebook, it was just what I needed. 
11:00 am 
After my bath I got ready and Katie and I went out in search of boots for me. I ended up finding some cute, warm, waterproof boots for 35 euro, and then an adorable hat for 5 euro. I was happy about it :)
12:30 pm
We met up with a group of girls, and Jordan, for lunch. We went to get pizza at a café. It was a little place that Brooke had found and thought was the greatest thing. They ran out of cheese pizza and apparently weren’t making more, so I got margarita pizza. It wasn’t very good though, and I was kind of disappointed because I spent about 7 dollars on that and a sprite. I ate as much of it as I could, but it wasn’t very filling. After we were done eating we walked around and looked at the little shops, then headed back to the hotel to warm up.
2:00 pm
At two we met with (most of) the group for a group picture. I found out that William had taken quite a spill, and broke his stick and his goggles and injured his nose. He was okay, but had a pretty bad headache. We took pictures and hung out for a little bit, then headed back to the hotel. 
3:00 pm
From about three until five we hung out in the TeaRoom. We talked and relaxed, I edited some pictures and ate crackers, while William and Katie watched. Amanda and Maggie were in there with us too. At five we went to get ready to go find something for a snack. 
5:00 pm
We went to a little “dance” bar. There was music playing quietly in the background, but no one was dancing. I got some chocolate cake which also wasn’t really that great, but it was kind of tasty. We stayed there until almost 7 o’clock. We basically just sat there and talked; it was Kyle, Katie, Maggie, Amanda, William, and me. It was a pretty good group. 

7:22 pm
Dinner time. Tonight we had spaghetti, turkey, beef with lemon dressing (which I actually kind of enjoyed, shocking), salad, bread, and for dessert... GELATO! It was funny, I was talking to Maggie and saying how I really wanted some Gelato, and out they come with trays of Gelato. AND I got chocolate which was spectacular because at first all they had was vanilla and peach.  
9:00 pm  
After dinner we headed to the lounge where the internet is supposed to be. Well, unfortunately they had decided to shut it off. Which meant no talking to my mommy :( I seriously wanted to cry. It was working earlier today so why they turned it off is beyond me. But I edited pictures and watched the guys play dominos. 
11:45 
Bed time. :)

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Gelato ♥

Hello again =)

Let me tell you about my "weekend" so far. Friday morning dawned cloudy and frigid. I woke earlyish for classes, and instantly realized I was absolutely exhausted. After my adventures of Thursday, everything had finally caught up with me. The long days of walking mile after mile, and the nights of squeezing in just a few hours of sleep finally said "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!" and my body screamed "LET ME SLEEP!" I tried to wake up as I went downstairs for a quick breakfast and Bible, my first class. Unfortunately, we were using the projector which meant, lights were off. Long story short, it was a struggle to keep my eyes open. As soon as class was done I got up and walked around, trying to get myself to wake up. Sadly, my next class we spent most of it with the lights off too. It was the hardest thing to stay awake, but eventually we finished Humanities too. We had two guest speakers who were giving us a lecture about artists and artisans, and about how many skills and "guilds" are becoming extinct, if you will. (hehe, I just said, if you will) Anyway, they had interesting things to say, but it was hard to listen to them talk for two hours straight with the lights off when I was exhausted and feeling a little sick. Finally classes were over and I went and took a two+ hour nap. After that I was feeling a little better, but I stayed in bed and did some homework for most of the afternoon. Not the most exciting thing, but it needed to be done and I think it definitely helped. Once I was feeling better, it was time for dinner, so I went and had some dinner. Half of the group was gone on a tour, and a good chunk of the other half of the group was at the library in Scandicci reading with the local kids. Did some dishes (I've totally got the kitchen cleaning/dishes doing thing down to an art hehe), and then went to do some studying.
Got up this morning and went to aerobics class. We worked on legs/butt for the entire class and may I just say, I AM SORE. Already. Next, I took my Humanities quiz, and went over the Scavenger Hunt in IES. Next we were going to have Italian, but because of the weather and car issues our teacher wasn't able to make it. So, it was free time until chapel. We had split chapel today, and in the ladies class we're going to talk about the women's role, about how we can be supportive and encouraging and do God's work without being in leadership positions in the church - that kind of thing. I think it'll be good.
Then it was time for lunch, and then I got ready to head in to town. I went in to Scandicci with Katie, William, and David. We went to the Scandicci market and Katie got a dress and a scarf. Then we went and got some gelato, in the freezing cold (like the American's we are). After gelato we went to the coop (grocery store) so I could pick up some snacky-foods for between meals. While we were browsing this cute little, old Italian lady walked over and asked William (who is 6'3) if he could get something off the top shelf. It was SO adorable :) We also ran in to Peter (who is an American who lives/works here in Florence - he helped us get to church last Sunday). and talked to him for a little bit. Kind of cool seeing someone we recognized at the store.  After groceries we were walking past a pizza store and I had to get a slice.. Then we caught the bus and headed back to the villa.
We got back just a little before dinner, so then I had dinner! hehe..
After dinner I played some ping pong, watched Hercules for THE FIRST TIME, played some basketball, and some soccer.. and THEN I took some pictures. I have also skyped, and now I'm blogging. I should really go to sleep... because I have to get up for church in the morning. SO, I'm going to bid you all a fond farewell.
Arrivederci!!

Kortney Alacyn

Thursday, February 2, 2012

An Eventful Three Days

Well hello there!

Okay, here's a quick recap on the past few days:

Tuesday: Classes from 9-1 and then our first "free" afternoon! However, after four hours of classes there was about 12-14 hours of homework. (They class load goes heavy at the beginning of the semester and then lighter towards the end, supposedly.) So after class I did about ten minutes of homework, hehe :), and then I headed in to Scandicci with four friends. It was Jordan, Kyle, William, Amanda, and me, and we took the bus to the train station which took us to the Coop, the grocery store. I got some shampoo and conditioner I was needing, and Kyle got some things he needed. Then we headed into town and I exchanged some money, finally. After that, I had to stop and get some Gelato (of course), and Jordan tried some, too. It was absolutely delicious!! From the Gelato shop we headed back to the restaurant we ate at the first night in town. Kyle, William, and Amanda got crepes. We walked all the way back to the villa from there, up hill, in the snow/rain. By the time we were half way back my shoes were completely soaked through, but it was a good time anyway. When I got back, I got cosy, had dinner, and then did some reading, played some Nertz, and then went to bed. (more or less haha - didn't get much homework done!)

The rain/snow quickly turned to SNOW, and we got quite a few inches. (or so I'm told, I never ventured out to check for myself).
Wednesday: We were supposed to go in to Florence to do a scavenger hunt, and then tour a church or something. However, when my alarm went off and I looked out the window, I shut my alarm off and went back to sleep. About an hour later someone came in to let us know that the trip had been cancelled for the day. We had breakfast at 9 and then we started class at 10. Robbie and Mona couldn't make it down from their house until about 1:30; I guess they got about a foot or more of snow. There was no one on kitchen duty for that day because we were supposed to be out in Florence, so I did lunch dishes with Weston, Emily, and Barret. That took me until almost three and then I had Italian class at three fifteen. Mona made a big pot of hot chocolate for us all to have with our Italian class, it was yummy! About four thirty we finished up with class.  I made my way upstairs and did a little more of my reading I needed too. Dinner was at 6:30 and then I had dinner dishes after that. So about 8 I went upstairs to try and work on some homework. However, there was chocolate cake served with our dinner and I maybe had like two pieces. So I didn't have much luck with focusing right away. I eventually got my Italian homework and my Bible homework finished up (I'd started it on Tuesday night). Then it was Tea Time (or for me, another piece of cake time and a cup of water!). It was a lot of fun, and everyone enjoyed it. After tea, I went back upstairs with a group of friends to work on Humanities homework, but my three pieces of cake REALLY hit and I was on a sugar high. I could NOT focus at all... I did eventually get that assignment done though. Turns out, down stairs a full blown dance party was breaking out. Eventually it was sounding crazy enough that I had to go down and check it our for myself. Sure enough. EVERYONE was dancing! It was crazy :) Even our sponsor was dancing haha!! From the electric slide to the Cupid Shuffle, to a couple of the guys perfecting lifts (with other guys, lol), dance skills were breaking out left and right. David was acting as DJ and everyone was having a good time. I took some pictures and a video or two, which I'm really glad I did. About 12:30 it was time to wind things down, so Reid played guitar and everyone else sang Wagon Wheel. After that I stayed up until about 1:30 talking with my roommates, and we made some crazy connections by people we know. Crazy how small the world is, right?

Thursday: Woke up bright and early, 7 o'clock that is, for some yoga with Kyle. It was a great way to start the morning. After yoga, got some breakfast and then put on as many layers of clothes as possible. Once I was all bundled up I headed into Florence with my group (Katie, Amanda, David, Jordan, Brandi, Kelsey, Paige and Jenna!) to start the scavenger hunt! We left about 9:20/9:30ish and didn't get back to the villa until after 4!! We took the bus, then the train, and then walked. And walked. AND WALKED. Oh, then we walked some more. About halfway through we stopped for lunch and had some pizza (FINALLY! it's crazy that I eat pizza more in America than I do in Italy). We actually ended up eating at the little pizza place where Jersey Shore is/was filmed. Not that any of us knew that at first. It was a nice little meal, and it felt so great to sit down and warm up!! After that we headed out again for the next half of our journey. Once we finally found as many as we could, we headed back to the train station to go back to the Villa. We stopped at a little gelato shop on the way there and got some gelato to eat in the snow. (Yes, the Italians did stare and make fun of us - apparently they don't eat ice cream in the snow. crazies.) There are two stops you can get off to catch the bus to get to the villa. For some reason, certain members of my group decided to get off at the stop furthest from the villa via the bus. And of course, we missed the bus. So we ended up walking from that stop and it was another good walk. (And I needed to go to the bathroom the whole time, all the way through town, up the little hill and then up THE BIG HILL, but I made it!) Got home, took a nice, long, hot shower (no one else was back yet), and then skyped with my Mom and Drake. Then had dinner. NOW it's time for some homework.

Funny sayings from today:

Jordan (passing hundreds of Asian tourists): Wow. Are there any people left in China?

Jenna (Standing in the street with her hands in her pockets, not moving as the car came at her): Ahh! Don't hit me! (luckily, it did not hit her, hahaha)

Random things I forgot mention:
First night we were here we were having a meeting with Robbie. He was calling people out by name as he was saying things about them and some how forgot that Jordan's name was Jordan. Instead, he called him Randy, and people still call Jordan Randy at times. Kind of funny.

Today, while we were walking along the sidewalk, some random snow ball hits me in the arm/chest. I look around but no one has snow, and behind me Jordan is laughing. Turns out, either snow on the car or someone from inside the car through a snowball at me. lol.

WELL. I have to do homework now.. because I'm pretty sure I have two quizzes tomorrow. OOPS.

Until next time!

LOTS OF LOVE FROM FLORENCE,

Kortney Alacyn

Monday, January 30, 2012

Lunedi!

Sheesh.. if these days get any longer, I don't know what I'm going to do with myself! It's incredible how much we've crammed in to each of these days so far!
Today was Monday, the first day of classes, the first day of work for me, and the first day of official on-sight class.
Monday started off bright and early, had a quick breakfast and then classes started. Bible was first with Dr. Miller. I'm really looking forward to my first class with him, he seems like an awesome teacher. I also think the material is going to be a lot of fun. We'll be studying the life of Paul. :) in Italy. ((so cool.))
Next we had our first humanities class which will normally be with Robbie but he had to be at a meeting today, so we watched a movie on the Medici family and the construction of the Duomo. It was SUPER cheesey, but it had a lot of interesting information that came in handy when we actually went to the Duomo later in the afternoon. It helped me to appreciate it even that much more, so all in all, it was a good humanities class.
After humanities we had our first Italian class with Mona. Learned the alphabet, we learned to count (to 49), we worked on our pronunciation of many different words. It was a lot of fun. We also learned another song... and it was hilarious. It was similar to Old McDonald had a farm.. but it was about Uncle Tony or something like that and we listened to this high childlike voice singing it and then we had to sing along. Good times :)
So this is completely random, but I'm sitting at the cute little table in my room looking out one of my windows at the city lights and it is just breathtaking. It distracts me, and I end up just staring out the window trying to wrap my head around the idea that I'm living in Italy. THe city looks awesome at night, and the twinkling lights makes it seem even more like a fantasy.
Back on track now! When we were finished with Italian we had an abbreviated chapel and then it was lunch time. It was a four cheese pasta today, with roast beef and bread and fruit and green beans.
I was on clean up duty for lunch, and so I got my first day at working in the kitchen. It is pretty simple work, the process they have for washing dishes is an interesting one. They fill up the sink with soapy water. You wash the dirty dishes in the water (which quickly becomes disgusting because there is only one sink so you can't rinse them before you wash them, it all goes into the water), and then you put them in little trays. Once the tray is full you put it into a steam cleaner similar to a dish washer, which takes somewhere between 3 and 5 minutes. Once that is done you take the tray out and let the dishes air dry. The you put them away. There are always plenty of dishes so one person usually washes and puts them on the tray and the other person puts the trays in and takes them out of the steam cleaner and puts them away when they're dry. You also take out the trash when you're done with the dishes.
I didn't get to finish because we had to leave for the duomo but it was a good first day. :)
I ran and grabbed my stuff and then headed out to the first van down to the train station. Dr. Miller was driving us, and he is still getting used to driving the vans. He's doing good, he just doesn't go crazy fast like Robbie and Kyle. He had to run inside, so he parked the van and just as he got back in and sat down, Kyle was behind us and feeling impatient. He was driving the other van, and about a minute later while Dr. Miller was getting situated he gave us a little bumper bump. Okay, he ran into us, but it wasn't a hard hit. It was a love tap. Or a GET GOING tap. lol. Dr. Miller turned around with a funny look on his face and asked us all, "Did he really just hit me??!" It was pretty funny, crazy Kyle.
We took the train in to the last stop and walked to the Duomo. OH. And may I just say, the wind here is like nothing I have ever experienced. And that is saying a lot considering I lived in Wyoming and played soccer at PPCS in Colorado Springs. (if you've ever been to a game up there, you know how wicked the wind can be.) It is bitter and comes in HUGE gusts that knock the breath out of you and blow the hood of your coat off and threaten to blow you off in a direction. Not my favorite part of the day, ha!
We waited for the rest of the group to join us outside the baptistry, and attempted not to freeze. We took a group picture, which I think this is the third group picture where you can't see me and honestly, it's okay haha. Then we met with our guide, Cindy, who was actually a HUF student herself before she decided to move to Italy and is now a tour guide. I learned a lot and it was INCREDIBLE.
Today, I got to see the works of Donatello and Michelangelo. I also got to stand in the exact place where Michelangelo commissioned the original David. The thought gave me chills when she told us that fun fact. It's crazy, being here. I've learned about these artists and now I'm walked the streets they walked and seeing the work that they created and left for us so many years ago.
We saw the baptistry and the inside of the Duomo and the museum of the works of the Duomo. It was incredible. If you can, check out some of the pictures I posted on Facebook. Unbelievable..

Just a thought, but the dome of the Duomo (which doesn't mean dome, it means cathedral I believe) is huge, freestanding, and 250 to 300+ feet off the ground; can you imagine being one of the artists hanging by a rope painting the fresco on that? You were literally risking your life to paint. Or the men who built the dome? With the bricks? If you get a chance to research how the ended up completing the Duomo, do it. It's incredible.. especially considering when they were finishing it, and the lack of modern technology.

Anyway, we finished up the tour at the museum and then headed to a restaurant for dinner. And guess what... WE HAD HAMBURGERS!!! hahaha :) oh cooked meat on a bun, how wonderful thou art. lol. :) just kidding, not that dramatic, but it was nice to mix it up. (it's a good thing I love italian food!)
After that, we had the choice of hanging out in the freezing cold Florence or head home to the nice, warm Villa. After a long day, and considering the fact that I'd just downed a glass of water and a full can of sprite {if you know me well, you understand how important this small detail is in my decision making} I decided to head home to the Villa. And I still haven't got any dollars changed to euros and it was so incredibly cold and I was exhausted (excuses, I know). Anyway, Jordan and I decided to head to the train station and try and catch Kyle or Robbie with one of the vans before they headed to the villa. So we took a nice (freezing cold) walk to the train station and then up to the vans. We met up with Kyle and Britt on the train (as we were walking off, haha) and headed up to the villa.
I've been relaxing and uploading pictures (and playing ping pong & piano with Grant and Laura (the Miller kids) since I got home. Now, it's got to be close to bed time. 11:30 is a reasonable time to go to bed when you get up at 6ish and have a day like this, right?

Welllllll.. I suppose it is about that time. Hope you enjoyed hearing about my day!!

Buona notte!

Kortney Alacyn

Sunday, January 29, 2012

First Day in Florence

Buona sera!

OH magracious!!! What another incredible day. Today, being Sunday, was our first day of church. We went into Florence (the Villa is in Scandicci) to worship with a small congregation. So, I woke up this morning, got ready for church, had a quick breakfast, and then got shuttled down to the train station. There we waited for all of our group and the correct train to arrive. After our train, we walked about a half mile to a mile and then took a bus to the church. The church was located in the renovated remains of a 16th century wealthy home. The room was dome shaped and the acoustics were incredible. We arrived about 20 minutes before the service started, and so we sang some hymns in English. It was awesome. The service was held mainly in Italian, but Robby also spoke and he did both languages for us. We sang a bunch of Italian songs, but the first one was the Italian version of Holy, Holy, Holy. So we sang one verse in English, and then three in Italian. Sometimes we just listened, sometimes we attempted to join in, but regardless it was incredible to listen to. It was one of those moments when you go, "Wow, Lord. So nice of You to join us here!" because His presence is literally tangible. After church we walked a ways to a nice restaurant for lunch. Our first course consisted of two pastas, our second course was some kind of meet (can't think of what it is at the moment), then we had fries, and salad. It was a great meal! The bathroom was interesting. You walked in and there was two sinks, and two single-toilet rooms. One for the boys, one for the girls. So you kind of share the main area of the bathroom. Oh, and there are not seats on the toilets. So you have to squat over it. (I'm going to be in SUCH good shape at the end of this adventure!) 
Okay, you're going to have to bear with me because I can not remember the names of anything yet, sorry!!

We took a bus ride after lunch and went to the look out, which is the most photographer area of Florence. It is INCREDIBLE. Robby is a fast walker, and for a photographer that's bad news. However, here, he had to tell just about everyone to stop taking pictures so he could talk to us and then he gave us time to take pictures. I took 415 pictures today. Needless to say, I got some pictures at this spot. Then we walked us to a church/chapel thing that was over 2000 years old. Walking in was like walking into a different era. It was escaping everything of todays world to just be still. Though it was a Sunday and there were some people inside, we walked down underneath to the tomb/burial area of a Christian who was beheaded because of his faith is. There we sat down, and we started to sing. We sang three songs. Three incredible songs that gave us all goosebumps and brought some of us close to tears. It the dark, cool area we drew a crowd. It was one of the neatest experiences I've ever had. 
After that we kept walking. (We walked SO much today!!) We walked all over Florence. Over two bridges that were destroyed during wars that have been rebuilt. There is so much history everywhere we go here!! 
After walking for like two hours it was starting to get really chilly, mostly because of the wind. We headed in towards the center of town, to one of the squares, (wherever the original David was) and saw the many statues that are there now. We went to a little bar that was located there, and got cappuccinos or gelato. I, of course, got some gelato. FINALLY!! :) haha. We sat outside but they had some heaters out there so it was nice. After gelato we went to the Pig and rubbed his nose so we would have to come back some day :) (Kreg, this made me think of you!) After that we continued our walk and saw the Duomo (ha! a name!!) and one other cathedral on our way to the train station. Robby talked to us about how to navigate the train station and then we headed to the shuttles to go home! When we got back to the Villa we had some dinner, and then everyone has just been hanging out since then. We've played cards, ping pong, a bunch of the girls have been dancing and singing (LOUDLY! haha), and then I played sardines with a few of the other students. It's been a great day, but I am exhausted! Tomorrow I've got classes from 8 until 12 or 1 and then we're heading back to the Duomo for some on-sight schooling. 
The school here I think is going to be very challenging, but I'm looking forward to it! 
It is still a little surreal that I'm actually here. That this is my home for the next three months. How crazy is that? I think it will.. eventually! 

Well, thanks for tagging along with me. Hope these blogs aren't too dull, and I hope my thoughts aren't too jumbled. There is so much to take in, sometimes it's hard to remember it all and even harder to get it all down on paper or a blog. But I'll do my best!

Ciao!

Kortney Alacyn

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Greetings from Italy

Ciao!

That's right, I am in Italy!!! How insane is that? Completely. Incredibly. Amazingly. I'll try to tell you all about my journey, but I don't know how frequently I'll be on blogging! I plan on at least journaling everyday to keep track of what I've done! (otherwise, I know I will forget things. )

So I set out on this incredible adventure early Thursday morning. I woke up at 6 o'clock (after getting about three hours of sleep) and was on my way out of Colorado Springs by 8! My plane left (a little late, thanks Delta) at 10:55 and I arrived in Atlanta around 3. At the airport I met up with the other members of my HUF group, grabbed some lupper, and then boarded the plane for Paris around 5:30. The plane left somewhere around 6:40 pm and we arrived in Paris about 8:30 am on Friday. Boy was that a fun ride. ;) I sat next to one of the girls in my group that I still don't really know, she was on my right, and a frenchman was on my left. On the far right (we were in a row of four) was another frenchman who apparently had a very bad cough. The frenchy on my left was a nice man, and a VERY heavy sleeper. We talked once, briefly, and smiled at each other. When it was time to try and sleep on the plane, I had very little luck. However, my little friend did not. He fell asleep, because he got very comfortable. How did he get so comfortable, you ask? Well, he put his feet where my feet were supposed to go, and then curled over into a little ball on my side. Wellllll. Needless to say I wasn't very comfortable. I pulled my feet up onto my seat with me and tried to sleep, ha! Then, the inevitable time came when I had to go to the bathroom. So I gently shook my little friend's shoulder so I could get out. Well. He didn't wake up. So I tried again with a little more force. Yeah, still nothing. So I coughed AND shook his shoulder. He sat up a little straighter and continued to sleep. The two people to my right were also sleeping, and I really didn't want to have to wake up both of them. So, I just stood up on my seat and jumped over. Got an applause from my fellow HUF buddies David and William, cause they are awesome and were laughing at my misfortune. Had to jump back into my seat, too. Got maybe 30 minutes of sleep total on that plane ride, but it wasn't too bad.
My next flight was about an hour and a half from Paris to Florence, and that one I got a half hour to an hour of sleep on. It was splendid.
Once we arrived in Florence we sat at the airport for another hour and a half, we had to wait for some people's luggage to arrive and for two of the boys because they missed their second flight due to delays of their first flight.
Next we took a bus to Scandicci, and then walked up the hill to our home away from home. Let me just say, living in a villa that was made in 1492 is basically awesome. It's so cool!!! My room is the best of the girls room, (I may or may not be biased), because there are only four girls in it instead of six, and we have two awesome windows with incredible views.
When we first arrived we had a quick little meet-and-greet with the staff at the Villa and then we got our room assignments. We got some... well, interesting instructions from the lovely Mona :) haha two of the first things she told us were: After you shower, clean out your own hair with a Kleenex or something, AND if you have to do a number 2, "line the runway" with some toilet paper, or make sure you use the brush afterwards. hehe. After that we took our stuff up to our rooms and started unpacking and getting settled in. Then we had dinner, (I think, sadly I can't remember much from yesterday!) and it was delicious spaghetti and bread and fruit and meats and vegetables. It was wonderful!
Then we cleaned up the tables, and got ready for our meeting. We learned a lot, I'm sure, I just don't remember it all ;) We learned about some student work positions available, and learned what we were going to do today. Besides that... I couldn't tell you much. ha! (Keep it mind I'd been up for 28+ hours at this time on about 4 hours of sleep total).
I got on facebook, put up some pictures, and tried to stay awake a while longer.
Today we got up. Got ready. Had some breakfast. Then started orientation.
Orientation lasted for a long time. Like.. five hours. But we went through a lot of information about a lot of different things. I have so far learned how to sing two songs in Italian! I still don't really know much about my classes or anything, but hopefully I'll get that figured out before Monday. We had lunch here at the villa, then got ready for the Scandicci Walk. We walked from the villa into town and then all around town. We looked at shops and saw the library, went to a bar to order a cappuccino in Italian, and then walked around some more and saw town hall and a bunch of other stuff. Including a castle. Pretty awesome.
Then we had an hour to shop. I went to the market with Amanda, Jenna, Kyle, William, and Jordan, but it was closing up for the evening so we didn't stay for very long. We met for dinner at 6 and had these sandwich taco things... The place was packed and there was only one person working when we got there, so Kyle (from HUF, the worker, not the student) hopped behind the counter and started helping her out. We ate our food, and some of the Italians (either in high school or college) who were in there put on one of their iPods and were playing all of their American music (like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and a bunch more) All the guys (both Italian and American) were singing along. It was a good time :)
Since I was in group 1, I was one of the first people done eating, so I was one of the first four people home. (me, Amanda, Jordan and Kyle). So I checked/updated Facebook and this little blog. Then it was time for our PARTY!!
It was a WELCOME TO ITALY/GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER party and it was SO much fun! hahaha.. Mona did her "little bunny foo foo" and it was so funny. We played a bunch of games, including The Name Game. In this game it started with four people in the middle, and a bunch of people sitting in a circle. Each of the four people had to run over to someone, yell at them "WHAT'S YOUR NAME?!" to which the person would scream their name at them, then the one who asked would dance around in a circle while chanting their name eight times. Then, the one who told them their name would stand in front of that person (you made a train) and run over to someone else and ask (yelling, of course) what their name was. With four teams going, it was a mess and a lot of fun!
I had a great time, and I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone in my group more!!

Until next time my blog followers! (hehe)
Ciao!

Kortney Alacyn

CIAO!!