Oh. My. God. I'm living IN the mountains these next two weeks. Not on, not near, not at the base of, but IN. THE. MOUNTAINS. It's beautiful. Everywhere I look: mountains. And it's like 10-15 C here. There are just no words....
Also, I'm living in a hotel. Hotel Europa, to be exact. It's in a village called Madonna di Campiglio, which is essentially just hotels.
You know, I started this post 2 weeks ago. I'm finishing it now. I'm exhausted. The Dolomites are beautiful. It was cold. Somehow "I don't agree" turned into "I don't like green" and we're still not sure why. My kids did Phineas and Ferb as their final show and it worked out okay (or as okay as it can be when you give an orange group the script on Thursday).
ACLE has no more work for me, so I'm "stuck" here for 17 days. I'm going to Baiardo until at least August 6th with the plan being that I'll bus it to the beach in San Remo every day. After that, I'm either doing a Contiki type tour in London for 5 days. Or I might go to Munich to stay with a BNL friend. Or I might make different plans with someone I meet in Baiardo. Who knows? I sure don't! Isn't it exciting (and kinda terrifying)?
I miss my friends, I miss my family, I miss my dog, I miss my bed.
Ciao!
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Monday, July 18, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
In Italia!
Hey y'all! I'm in Bella Italia! My plane landed in Nice (France) yesterday at 6:30am my time (12:30am Montreal time). I ate an "American breakfast" (3 eggs sunny side up cooked on ham) at a cafe at hopped on the 9:30am train to Ventimiglia (Italy). From there, I got on the 10:30ish am train to Milan. I was on the train a good 4.5hrs: my ass hurt by the end of my ride! From Milan Central Station, I bought a 48hrs Urban Metro pass and took the underground to my hotel for the night. What a nice placed! It was 3 stars, small but very comfortable and clean. Cleaner than some 3.5 or 4 star hotels I've stayed in. The woman at the reception was very nice in answering my 7000000000000 questions about where to find certain things: a phone shop, a supermarket, a good and cheap restaurant (I ended up at McDonald's because I couldn't find it and was mega hungry)... I tried really hard to stay up so that I wouldn't be too jet-lagged today: it didn't really work. I conked out at 9:30ish... and woke up at 5am.
After tossing and turning and drifting in and out of sleep until 9am, I got up, showered, shoved everything from my carry-on into my suitcase and checked out for 11:30am. I hopped back on the underground, back to Milan Central Station to store my luggage... and had to divide my luggage and my carry-on once more (because everything together was more than 20kg which was the storing luggage max weight). I was meeting my camp director at the train station at 2:50pm, so back on the underground I went to kill some time.
Last year, I spent a weekend in Milan with some fellow tutors. One of the tutors' host moms told us about Luini, a hole in the wall restaurant near the Duomo in Milan. We went, we ate, we were happy. I decided to go back this year: why not? It was just as good this time around! I also got some postcards (despite the Post Canada strike (I meant lockout. My dad asked me to correct this.), haha) and some lemon granite (like an Italian slushy). Effing yum, by the way.
At 2:30, I headed back to the train station, picked up my luggage, shoved my carry-on back in my suitcase and headed up to meet my camp director. After a minor miscommunication, she found me and I met the 5 other tutors (3 camp from a camp last week and 2 are straight out of orientation) and my host mom. She's so nice.
I'm staying in a gated community 10mins south of Milan. She works in HR for a telecommunications company. Her husband is a physiotherapist. Both speak English very well. They have 2 kids: and 8 year old girl (who is going to the camp) and a 13 year old boy (who went to camp last year but is not going this year). The little girl is really shy and is always whispering, asking her mom what we're saying. The boy asked me to correct his English homework (yep, they have summer homework) and was very proud of himself when I said it looked good. He's trying to practice his English with me.
Alright, so it's almost 1am here. We just finished watching a movie as a family (Apocalypto!!) and I'm exhausted. Good night!
After tossing and turning and drifting in and out of sleep until 9am, I got up, showered, shoved everything from my carry-on into my suitcase and checked out for 11:30am. I hopped back on the underground, back to Milan Central Station to store my luggage... and had to divide my luggage and my carry-on once more (because everything together was more than 20kg which was the storing luggage max weight). I was meeting my camp director at the train station at 2:50pm, so back on the underground I went to kill some time.
Last year, I spent a weekend in Milan with some fellow tutors. One of the tutors' host moms told us about Luini, a hole in the wall restaurant near the Duomo in Milan. We went, we ate, we were happy. I decided to go back this year: why not? It was just as good this time around! I also got some postcards (despite the Post Canada strike (I meant lockout. My dad asked me to correct this.), haha) and some lemon granite (like an Italian slushy). Effing yum, by the way.
At 2:30, I headed back to the train station, picked up my luggage, shoved my carry-on back in my suitcase and headed up to meet my camp director. After a minor miscommunication, she found me and I met the 5 other tutors (3 camp from a camp last week and 2 are straight out of orientation) and my host mom. She's so nice.
I'm staying in a gated community 10mins south of Milan. She works in HR for a telecommunications company. Her husband is a physiotherapist. Both speak English very well. They have 2 kids: and 8 year old girl (who is going to the camp) and a 13 year old boy (who went to camp last year but is not going this year). The little girl is really shy and is always whispering, asking her mom what we're saying. The boy asked me to correct his English homework (yep, they have summer homework) and was very proud of himself when I said it looked good. He's trying to practice his English with me.
Alright, so it's almost 1am here. We just finished watching a movie as a family (Apocalypto!!) and I'm exhausted. Good night!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Sad Michele is less sad then yesterday.
I'm not going to Hong Kong. I was so sad and upset and frustrated about this yesterday. Why didn't they pick me? I'm awesome! So I thought to myself, "What would Barney Stinson do?" and I answered "Well, I can just stop being sad and be awesome instead." And that's the plan. I'm going to plan to do something awesome and incredible and fantastic, because that's who I am and that's what I do.
I'm going to try to plan a European trip/extended teaching experience. I'll start with a sure
thing: I'll go back to Italy. I'll also apply to this program I know of in Spain, where they pay for your flight. From there, I would like to see Portugal, Amsterdam, Greece, France, the UK, Austria, Switzerland... I want see it all! Yes, I know this is expensive. I don't think I'll be able to do everything this summer, but I'll be able to do enough. Italy, Spain and Greece are the main points on my list. And my main goal is to be in Spain for La Tomatina in August.
Do you know what La Tomatina is? It's a GIANT tomato fight. In the town of Buñol, Spain, THOUSANDS of tourists invade and throw over 50000 pounds of tomatoes at each other.
I don't know about you, but that sounds like a really good time to me. In fact, it sounds like it's a fantastic thing to attend and every one should go at least once in their life.
What will I need to help me with this? A job, for starters. I've applied at a private tutoring company. I'm hoping to hear from them this week. If I don't get it, I'm not worried: I'm getting $30 for participating in a Linguistic study tomorrow. Oh and I won $6 on a Bingo lotto scratch ticket. I did, however, spend $20 on lunch, but that's because we have no food in the house, again. Hopefully, someone will go grocery shopping tonight.
I have my sculpture class tonight: I really like it! I thought it would be awful and too intense, but I like it a lot. I'm carving plaster for now. Then I'll make a clay thing a little later this semester. I'm really enjoying it, but I'm at a loss as to what to carve on a certain section. I could easily do "whatever," but I'm going to be spending a lot of time on it and I'd like to be able to display it when it's finished.
The moral of the story? I think I'll be fine.
I'm going to try to plan a European trip/extended teaching experience. I'll start with a sure
thing: I'll go back to Italy. I'll also apply to this program I know of in Spain, where they pay for your flight. From there, I would like to see Portugal, Amsterdam, Greece, France, the UK, Austria, Switzerland... I want see it all! Yes, I know this is expensive. I don't think I'll be able to do everything this summer, but I'll be able to do enough. Italy, Spain and Greece are the main points on my list. And my main goal is to be in Spain for La Tomatina in August.Do you know what La Tomatina is? It's a GIANT tomato fight. In the town of Buñol, Spain, THOUSANDS of tourists invade and throw over 50000 pounds of tomatoes at each other.
I don't know about you, but that sounds like a really good time to me. In fact, it sounds like it's a fantastic thing to attend and every one should go at least once in their life.What will I need to help me with this? A job, for starters. I've applied at a private tutoring company. I'm hoping to hear from them this week. If I don't get it, I'm not worried: I'm getting $30 for participating in a Linguistic study tomorrow. Oh and I won $6 on a Bingo lotto scratch ticket. I did, however, spend $20 on lunch, but that's because we have no food in the house, again. Hopefully, someone will go grocery shopping tonight.
I have my sculpture class tonight: I really like it! I thought it would be awful and too intense, but I like it a lot. I'm carving plaster for now. Then I'll make a clay thing a little later this semester. I'm really enjoying it, but I'm at a loss as to what to carve on a certain section. I could easily do "whatever," but I'm going to be spending a lot of time on it and I'd like to be able to display it when it's finished.
The moral of the story? I think I'll be fine.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
My goals
My (short term) goals are as follows:
1. I want my room to be perfectly clean.
2. I want to lose enough weight that I feel comfortable in a bikini.
3. I want to write (and publish) a book.
4. I want to go to Hong Kong to do my final field experience.
Let's look at these one by one, starting with... well... the first one.
1. I want my room to be perfectly clean.
Okay, for my room to be perfectly clean, I have to clean it, right? Well, I'm trying. I really am. I'm up to what, part six of my room cleaning saga? This is a goal I can control, and I am controlling it. I'm setting some time aside as often as possible to clean as much as I can. As I clean, instead of just moving things from one side of the room to the other, I'm actually packing it in boxes and reusable bags. This way, I can easily stack, store, and (later) find my books and DVDs (which seem to be the stuff of which I have too much). This way, everything has it's place and it's place isn't randomly strewn around my room. This is a goal that I am in control of. I can (and will) achieve.
2. I want to lose enough weight that I feel comfortable in a bikini.
Ahh, this old thing. Yep, the weight thing. So, I'm fat. I'm not delusional about this, it's a fact and I'm okay with it. Well.. not really, if I want to lose weight, right? This is a health thing, not a vanity thing. I'm out of breath all this time, my knees hurt, my heart beats so freaken quickly... I'm too young to have all these problems. Also, I have an awesome tattoo that NO ONE SEES because I'm too ashamed of my fat belly to show it off. So I'm eating better, not dieting. Dieting is a deprivation of certain foods. I'm not ready to (nor do I think I have to) cut out whole items from my daily menus. Instead, I'm eating less bad stuff and more good stuff and making better choices in my day to day life. I'm also exercising more. I'm not going to the gym because a) I'm poor and b) I don't think I need to go to the gym right now. Gyms are great for those with time and money and I have neither at the moment. We have an elliptical at home and if I use it more and walk the dog more, then I think that'll be enough for now! This is a goal that I am in control of. I can (and will) achieve.
3. I want to write (and publish) a book.
I think this may be the easiest of the goals to accomplish. Now a days, anyone can write and then self publish a book. The thing is, I don't want to be a self-published author. I want to be a real author. A good author. I want to write something that people who are not my family and friends will buy, read, and love. My mom says all I need to do is get an idea and run with it, but that's a lot easier said than done. I mean, if it were easy, I'd have already done it. My mother raised a good point by asking my what kind of book I want to write. Well, I have no idea. Whatsoever. Not a clue. But, if I persevere, I might actually succeed. This is a goal that I am in (somewhat) control of. I can achieve it, if I try.
4. I want to go to Hong Kong to do my final field experience.
Seriously, this is a possibility. It would be a DREAM COME TRUE in more ways than one. I'd be teaching in Asia. This could open up a whole new bunch of possibilities: I'd have my foot in the door of a teaching job in Asia. Also, I'd be going to Asia on my school's dime, which really isn't that terrible of thing, is it? Hong Kong is a beautiful city. I really want to be chosen for this... That's right. Chosen. This is NOT a goal that I am in control of. I've written my letter of intent and all I can do is hope that it gets me an interview. After that, I can just pray that I've impressed them enough to pick me as one of the lucky 8 people from TESL to go. I hope I can achieve it.
1. I want my room to be perfectly clean.
2. I want to lose enough weight that I feel comfortable in a bikini.
3. I want to write (and publish) a book.
4. I want to go to Hong Kong to do my final field experience.
Let's look at these one by one, starting with... well... the first one.
1. I want my room to be perfectly clean.
Okay, for my room to be perfectly clean, I have to clean it, right? Well, I'm trying. I really am. I'm up to what, part six of my room cleaning saga? This is a goal I can control, and I am controlling it. I'm setting some time aside as often as possible to clean as much as I can. As I clean, instead of just moving things from one side of the room to the other, I'm actually packing it in boxes and reusable bags. This way, I can easily stack, store, and (later) find my books and DVDs (which seem to be the stuff of which I have too much). This way, everything has it's place and it's place isn't randomly strewn around my room. This is a goal that I am in control of. I can (and will) achieve.
2. I want to lose enough weight that I feel comfortable in a bikini.
Ahh, this old thing. Yep, the weight thing. So, I'm fat. I'm not delusional about this, it's a fact and I'm okay with it. Well.. not really, if I want to lose weight, right? This is a health thing, not a vanity thing. I'm out of breath all this time, my knees hurt, my heart beats so freaken quickly... I'm too young to have all these problems. Also, I have an awesome tattoo that NO ONE SEES because I'm too ashamed of my fat belly to show it off. So I'm eating better, not dieting. Dieting is a deprivation of certain foods. I'm not ready to (nor do I think I have to) cut out whole items from my daily menus. Instead, I'm eating less bad stuff and more good stuff and making better choices in my day to day life. I'm also exercising more. I'm not going to the gym because a) I'm poor and b) I don't think I need to go to the gym right now. Gyms are great for those with time and money and I have neither at the moment. We have an elliptical at home and if I use it more and walk the dog more, then I think that'll be enough for now! This is a goal that I am in control of. I can (and will) achieve.
3. I want to write (and publish) a book.
I think this may be the easiest of the goals to accomplish. Now a days, anyone can write and then self publish a book. The thing is, I don't want to be a self-published author. I want to be a real author. A good author. I want to write something that people who are not my family and friends will buy, read, and love. My mom says all I need to do is get an idea and run with it, but that's a lot easier said than done. I mean, if it were easy, I'd have already done it. My mother raised a good point by asking my what kind of book I want to write. Well, I have no idea. Whatsoever. Not a clue. But, if I persevere, I might actually succeed. This is a goal that I am in (somewhat) control of. I can achieve it, if I try.
4. I want to go to Hong Kong to do my final field experience.
Seriously, this is a possibility. It would be a DREAM COME TRUE in more ways than one. I'd be teaching in Asia. This could open up a whole new bunch of possibilities: I'd have my foot in the door of a teaching job in Asia. Also, I'd be going to Asia on my school's dime, which really isn't that terrible of thing, is it? Hong Kong is a beautiful city. I really want to be chosen for this... That's right. Chosen. This is NOT a goal that I am in control of. I've written my letter of intent and all I can do is hope that it gets me an interview. After that, I can just pray that I've impressed them enough to pick me as one of the lucky 8 people from TESL to go. I hope I can achieve it.
Friday, June 4, 2010
OMG!!!
It's been a while, I know. Almost a month! Sorry! I had class, and work, and... well... I was lazy.
MY ROOM IS CLEAN! WOO!!! Mission Accomplished, with a week to spare (I finished last Sunday). Now, I just need to get a move on and start packing, seeing as how I'm leaving TOMORROW! Holy crap!
To celebrate my leaving for ITALIA, my most of favourite people and I got together for dinner at Zyng, then for drinks (well, a drink lol) at La Distillerie. I really like both those places. The food at Zyng is so tasty and the drinks at La Distillerie are well worth their price. Not only that, but I had a really fantastic evening with some of my best friends. These ladies have been there for me through thick and thin and I have a feeling that they will continue to support me and love me for a long time. My friend from high school was there for a little bit. She and I used to be inseparable, then lost touch in CEGEP. I'm so glad that we're getting closer again, I know that she was one of the few REAL friends to come out of RHS. Finding such good friends in university helped me realize who my real friends in high school were, and let me tell you: there weren't many of them! But that's okay. I'm a better person for knowing all those people, good or bad.
Speaking of Italy (well, we weren't really, but that's okay), I'm so excited that I'll be there to watch at least three World Cup games in which Italy will be playing. That will be INTENSE! I'm really looking forward to it: hopefully I can actually watch the games.
I'm really excited! And nervous! And kinda freaking out...
Alright, I have to go pack.
Ciao!
MY ROOM IS CLEAN! WOO!!! Mission Accomplished, with a week to spare (I finished last Sunday). Now, I just need to get a move on and start packing, seeing as how I'm leaving TOMORROW! Holy crap!
To celebrate my leaving for ITALIA, my most of favourite people and I got together for dinner at Zyng, then for drinks (well, a drink lol) at La Distillerie. I really like both those places. The food at Zyng is so tasty and the drinks at La Distillerie are well worth their price. Not only that, but I had a really fantastic evening with some of my best friends. These ladies have been there for me through thick and thin and I have a feeling that they will continue to support me and love me for a long time. My friend from high school was there for a little bit. She and I used to be inseparable, then lost touch in CEGEP. I'm so glad that we're getting closer again, I know that she was one of the few REAL friends to come out of RHS. Finding such good friends in university helped me realize who my real friends in high school were, and let me tell you: there weren't many of them! But that's okay. I'm a better person for knowing all those people, good or bad.
Speaking of Italy (well, we weren't really, but that's okay), I'm so excited that I'll be there to watch at least three World Cup games in which Italy will be playing. That will be INTENSE! I'm really looking forward to it: hopefully I can actually watch the games.
I'm really excited! And nervous! And kinda freaking out...
Alright, I have to go pack.
Ciao!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Photo Album assignment
Well, here's a small sampling of some photos I took when I visited my friend Lainie in BC. I miss her so much...
BubbleShare: Share photos - Play some Online Games.
BubbleShare: Share photos - Play some Online Games.
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