Wednesday, March 27

 
i leave for home in 29 days. it is getting crazy here. also i think that out of those 29 days i spend 13 of them not here. wowzers.

sometimes i feel guilty about wanting to come home after this is over. apart from my overwhelming desire to see my loved ones and california again, there really seems to be no reason to stay, even though i like italy and italian a lot - everyone i know here is leaving, i don't feel the need to travel, especially not with anyone here, etc. - but still i feel like it is wrong to go home so quickly, you know? not that i am changing any plans, so no one worry. anyway, if anyone has any valuable insight on this emotion, please let me know.

tomorrow early i leave fora weekend in reggio calabria to meet my italian family. this is exciting but a little bit scary.

um, the end.
posted by from shannon at 1:37 AM

Tuesday, March 26

 
i swear to god i have blogged a couple of times since last friday. these italian computers are eating my entries. damn this country.

now there is so much to say that i don't even know where to begin. okay, got back from paris yesterday morning. highlights:

*overnight trains: 50+ college students in this lockdown-type enviornment for 14 hours with nothing to do but eat bread and cheese and drink lots of wine and cause havoc = fun for all.
*louvre: we got lost in the egyptian section for about 20 minutes, which angered everyone but yours truly, who imagined she was being escorted through by brendan frasier, slayer of mummies. however, when i got carried away and started hiding behind sarcophagi, yelling out phrases like, "this is bad!" "we've seen bad before!" "this is worse!", my friends were less than amused. oh yeah, i saw the mona lisa here, too.
*walking along the seine: i think this was maybe my favorite thing that i did in paris, even though it was so simple. i just strolled around and was amazed by the charm and romance of paris and parisians. i can't wait to go back someday and just walk around more.
*notre dame: prettiest church i've ever seen, though it was a lot smaller than i thought, there were not as many gargoyles as i had hoped, and there was no hunchback that i could see - i'm pretty sure that's just a myth.
*disneyland paris: just getting there was a huge accomplishment (shannon not speaking french = trouble; the fact that i couldn't even get a ticket without the ticket guy having to make mickey ears with his hands to confirm the order indicates just how poorly that went.) but finally arrived, and was in rapture to be there - best decision i ever made, even though i had to go alone while my foolish friends were buffaloed into checking out versailles. ha. simpletons. was a fun day alone, but real highlight was making friends with three funny british fellows in line for space mountain, and then hanging out with them for the rest of the day learning british slang and having my pronunciation made fun of.
*fondue: who doesn't like gorging on a potful of melted cheese?
*doubledecker bus tour: it was bright green and had matching headphones. enough said.
*champs elysses: cool even though the shops were all closed because it was sunday. also went into the disney store for five minutes. sick obsession, i realize.
*eiffel tower: bigger and cooler than i even imagined. listened to the get up kids' "alec eiffel" on my headphones as i chilled on the lawn, even though i'm pretty sure the song and the tower are unrelated.
*paris opera house: one of my life's fantasies realized. imagined myself to be christine daae; sang in the direction of box 5 and sneaked around the lower levels in a fake trance, singing "phantom of the opera", pretending to be led down into the phantom's lair by erik himself. was politely asked in french to leave the building.

i (heart) paris. the end.

posted by from shannon at 5:49 AM