Buongiorno everybody!!

 

First of all, I apologize in advance for the length of this post.  I might recommend reading it in bits and pieces, or if you have enough free time you can pummel through it, but I will be impressed. 

 

I have finally sat down after 10 days of travelling to update you all on my travels!  I hope everything is going well back in the states; I miss you all already.  Although there are often so many distractions and things to do/see its hard to be homesick at all.  The Opening Tour was a ton of fun, although its interesting how much they just dont tell us (for example: Poland and Czech dont take Euro, how long of a bus ride we have, that our tour is going to end in the middle of the city and you need to find your own way back to the hotel, or even sometimes where we are going).  Im also not looking forward to getting used to paying to use public restrooms and order water.  But regardless, it has been a LOT of fun!!!

 

I will start with Opening Tour.  I flew out on the 7th and arrived in Berlin on the 8th.  Our hotel was NICE!  We had one bus tour of Berlin and other than that, we were pretty much left to fend for our own.  I saw many German Shephards (in Germany!!) and was pretty excited about that.  Although a great number of Germans speak English, I still wished (throughout most of the tour) that i could speak the language.  On the 9th we had a guided tour of Berlin which was very interesting.  Most of old Berlin was torn down, so the city is very modern, with speckles of old.  We stopped at a few places in memory of the Holocaust (a theme throughout the entire tour).  One place was rather hopeful, as opposed to depressing as many of the other places were.  This was a place where thousands of women "protested" and wanted their husbands back.  It was one of the only acts of civil disobedience during that time that actually ended in favor of the people - their husbands were actually released.  We also visited the main Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, which consists of these giant cement blocks that are stacked next to each other and of different sizes, widths, heights, etc.  The entire thing as a whole is supposed to remind you of tombstones, or a graveyard.  The ground is uneven, and as you walk through you are supposed to get a feeling of uneasiness (which, i can say, definitely happened to me).  They didnt write any names on the memorial because they only know names of 3 million, and the other 3 million are still unknown.  I am impressed how much this country owns up to what happened and how they carry it in their memory through memorials, etc.  We also visited the Humboldt Universitaet, which has produced many Noble Prize winners, and is also where Einstein lectured!!!  This university is located in the square where the Burning of the Books took place, and there is a very neat memorial to that which is underground and you look down from the square and see empty bookcases which would hold the amount of books burned.  I also got the chance to see two different spots where the Berlin Wall still stands.  We saw one spot during the tour, and decided to venture out to find the second spot on our own.  So three of us attempted to take the subway and had a little adventure.  We got off at the right stop, but after we got outside we could not find that darn wall!  We had to ask about 7 different people, 3 of which didnt speak English, and all of whom gave us rather disapproving glances.  It took us about an hour and a half in the POURING rain to find the wall, which was only about 100 steps past one of the places we had been.  It literally was right across from the station, we just missed it.  Oops.  The food in Berlin is good but HEARTY!  Good thing we were only there for 3 days and walking the entire time.  I tried Bratworst, Schnitzel, and Curryworst... all of which were delicious.  Funny how a simple thing like sausage can taste so different.  The Germans also have Cake Time, which I kind of love.  Between 3 and 6pm every afternoon is called "Cake Time"... We went to this really delicious place that had a selection of 70 types of cake, and of course split only 1 piece between us.  It was soooooo good!  The Germans also know how to make chocolate.  Ive also found it true in Europe that they are in no rush at restaurants to get you in and out in any sort of a timely fashion.  So we spent a leisurely 2 hours at the cake place before we got our check.  Even then, we needed to ask for the check.  But it was one of my favorite afternoons, sitting outside on the only nice weather we had in Berlin, watching the little birds take over the cake crumbs on the table next to us (and actually land on this womans table while she was sitting there) and we also watched a bee land in our sugar.  Sorry, random.  I also, of course, had to try my first German Beer.  It wasnt half bad, but I dont really like the taste of beer.  There was a giant store called the Galleria next door to our hotel which we explored, and in it we went to the bathroom.  There was an attendant who wiped the seat after each person uses it.  It was interesting. 

 

Berlin was a lot of fun, but it wasnt until Krakow, Poland I really started finding my niche in this group of 140 college students.  It all started out with a 10 hour bus ride (soooo exhausting) which consisted of a lunch break where they literally just dropped us in the middle of a parking lot near an IKEA, McDonalds, and Pizza Hut.  I had to resort to Pizza Hut because we were not informed to convert out money at the border, so I needed to find a place that took cards.  This Pizza Hut, however, was not as you would imagine - it was actually really really nice and restaurant style with a good menu.  The Polish countryside, I might note, really is not all that special.  We finally arrived in Krakow around 7pm, where I entered my very first Hostel.  They divided us into two hostels, one called Nathans Villa, and mine, called MoMo Town!  MoMo Town was awesome and very quirky.  That first night, I hung out with my now two best friends on the trip, Lena and Kristen.  The next morning, we went on a walking tour of Krakow.  This city, compared to Berlin, is extremely old.  We got a change to see the "Jewish Quarters" where arond 60,000 Jews used to occupy but now only around 150 do.  I cannt believe so much of this change has happened so recently.  Our guide talked about changes occuring all the way intot he 90s and some are still even happening today.  After that tour, we scrambled for hot dogs for lunch and jumped back on the bus around 2pm for a trip to Auschwitz.  Auschwitz.  I cannot believe I was at Auschwitz.  It was probably the 2 most depressing and emotional hours of my entire life.  To be standing on the soil where 1.5 million people were bruttaly murdered was not only shocking but chilling.  The grounds are so cold and unwelcoming.  The gate at the main entrance says, in German, "Work Brings Freedom".  Psh.  The whole trip there was a whirlwind of emotion because one minute I was extremely pissed off that this could happen, and the next I would be somber and sad.  How could people be so cold and heartless. We were taken through a couple of barracks, which was a very chilling experience.  They have renovated some to make it more like a museum, but we also saw one that has not been changed.  So the people were apparently separated into groups upon arrival - those fit for work and then the elderly or sick who wereu nfit.  The fit were sent to registration and then  through the gates into the camp.  Those who were not fit were sent automatically to execution.  The execution process included the following: rooms where people were to leave all of their belongings, washroom where they were stripped of clothing and given a bar of soap and a towel (to distract them and make them think they were for some reason not going to be executed?), and then shoved like cattle into gas chambers.  We stood in a gas chamber that held over 800 people at a time.  We saw in the museum remnants of the execution process that have been saved.  We saw a wall of pils and piles of this grey hair... the actual hair they cut off the executed corpses, and which the Germans would use to make blankets with and sell for money.  You could even see some braids in the piles of hair.  We entered rooms which held other remnants found in the "Canada Buildings", which were so named because they thought Canada was very rich at that time.  We saw rows and rows of peopls belongings that were saved in the burning of a Canada Building.  These included piles and piles of shoes, luggage (you could see the names peopple wrote on them), baby clothes and accessories, pots and pands, etc.  It was shocking to stand there looking at the actual belongings of those who were murdered.  The guide also told us what we saw was less than 1% of what occurred.  The one other stricking thing I saw was in the basement of one of the preserved barracks we saw suffication cells, starvation cells, and standing cells.  The standing cells were small tiny places where they shoved 4 people who were left there standing arm and arm until they died.  We also briefly saw Auschwitz II, the bigger camp about 5 minutes away.  Here we saw just rows and rows and rows of barracks.  We didnt get to spend much time there, but the enormity really struck me.  After that rather depressing afternoon, we ate at an adorable Polish restaurant.  They had music playing and it was this wooden little place that was really peppy.  We had an "authentic Polish meal", however this food, like the German food, is ridiculously rich, greasy, and carb filled.  I didnt eat too much of it, but the little I had was yummy.  The next day we saw the big Salt Mine here in Krakow.  That was AMAZING!  We went down 40 flights of stairs down into the earth.  Apparently 2 hours spent down there equates to 2 extra weeks of life.  Wahoo!  I didnt know salt looked like that down in the earth.  They made sculptures out of the salt, and there was this giant church/ballroom we went into which was GORGEOUS!  I guess they hold weddings, etc there.  They even have chandeliers made out of salt crystals.  It was just beautiful and natural.  A quote on one of the walls really stuck out to me "There must be something holy about salt.  We find it in our tears and we find it in the ocean."  My Krakow souvenir is an amber ring because amber is famous in Krakow.

 

The next 10 hour bus ride was long, but I slept most of the way.  The Czech Republic countryside was by far more beautiful than Poland.  We arrived in Prague that night, got dinner at the hotel, and explored the city.  Its interesting traveling in 3 day increments because just as you get your bearings in one place, its onto the next.  We spent the rest of that night just hanging out and bonding at the hotel.  The next day we had a tour of Prague.  What a beautiful, beautiful city.  It was by far my favorite of the three.  It has so much history, and I am basically in love with the castle there.  Note - our tour guide looked exactly like Felicity Huffman.  Sorry.  Anyway, we saw the Castle and the giant chapel, but didnt get to go int he chapel because of the LONG line.  We then saw the gardens at the castle, which also led us to the most GORGEOUS view of the entire city.  AH!  We crossed the bridge, of course, and we heard of the legend of touching the stars on the bridge, and our tour guide showed us the real place (not where just all the tourists go) and made wishes.  Our guide dropped us in the middle of the city and was just like... bye!  We had arrived by bus to her, so we were not informed that we had to find out own way back to the hotel.  Luckily, we jumped on the subway and managed to make it back.  That afternoon we had roommate lottery.  I am living with two other girls, Kristen and Lauren, in a Pensione named "My Friends House".  Hah.  Yes, thats what ist called.  We also signed up for China over Christmas, which I am officially going.  We didnt do a whole lot that night, just hung out and played cards.  The next day we went on a church tour in the morning, which was very nice and the churches were beautiful.  We watched a video on the Nazi occupation in Czech, which was intresting because I didnt know much about it.  We saw a Krypt in this church where a couple of Czech soldiers were hidden who were resisting Nazi rule.  I later found my Czech souvenier, a necklace which is made of swarovski components.  Pretty cheap, but really cute. 

 

We flew from Prague to Florence on Monday, and here I am!!  It was kind of a hectic first 24 hours.  Our luggage did not arrive until Tuesday morning, so we had to go yet another day of reworn clothing and live off our backpacks from the trip. Classes started today and things are definitely very happy.  I am so EXCITED to be here!!!!

 

Now, to tell you a bit about staying at "My Friends House".  Our Pensione is very small... 12 people in total.  Its about a 5 minute walk from school.  6 girls and 6 guys.  We share bathrooms and eat together for lunch and dinner every day.  We have meal times.  Lunch is at 1pm and Dinner is at 7pm.  Our Pensione owners are absolutely adorable and friendly!  We are joined to the Pensione Gallo D'Oro, who have the same owners.  Their names are Sylvia and Massimo.  Massimo takes care of us at My Friends House.  They make the most delicious pasta I have ever tasted, and we get salad and some sort of fruit with each meal.  I can tell its going to be fun getting to know them... they are apparently the most beloved owners of all the Pensiones.  Which makes the following situation 1,000 times better.  Our rooms.  Yeah.  Um, not really up to par.  We arrived to see three beds each about a foot apart, a giant red filing cabinet/locker, one dresser with 4 drawers, one table, and this awkward metal pole on wheels with a few dangling hangers.  Ahem.  Yes.  The big red filing cabinet, that makes a very locker-esque sound when you touch it.  So the first night was kind of depressing, seeing as our other friends have rooms with their own bathrooms, carpeting, multiple desks, and one even has FRESCOS on the ceilings!  Its kind of ridiculous.  We also have to pay 30£ a month for internet, which I should be able to access on my laptop (FINALLY) by tomorrow.  =)  Which means Skype is to come very soon people, not to worry.  Anyway, My Friends House is definitely growing on me.  Massimo told us at lunch today if we had any suggestions or changes we wanted to make we could ask him.  So we mentioned getting another type of dresser thing... and also taking the doors off of the giant red locker.  He was more than happy to hear our suggestions and is apparently going tos tart tomorrow.  Hes even going to attempt to put a rod on my side of the locker so I can hang things up!  Wahoo! We are going to attempt to go with them to IKEA on Friday, and purchase some other necessities for the room.  Such as a comfortable comforter.  Im excited to settle in.  Ive got two of the best roommates ever, as well.  We have had a lot of fun the first couple of days.

 

One last story before I end the longest email ever.  Today my friends and I were wondering about after classes (which went very well, by the way - Happiness is very happy, and Italian is coming back to me).  We found the Duomo and ate some Gelato.  I love this place.  Anyway, I was very impressed with myself because I held an entire "conversation" with someone when I bought a small leather coin purse.  I asked "quanto costa?" and he answered "sei" and we said grazie and I told him "buonasera".  It was fun!  Then I overheard a woman in a store with her dog, who was spazzing out, tell the children watching the dog "vuole giocare" which means he wants to play!!!  And later she looked at the dog while picking him up and said "tu sei un bambino" which means you are a baby!  It made my day.  Many things have made my day today.  Everything has gone just as planned and better.  I couldnt ask for a better group of people to share this experience with.

 

Well I hope you are all doing well and I really do apologize for the length of this, Ive just been having such a good time and wanted to share some of my adventures.  Please email me and let me know what you all are up to and how things have been going!  Also, if you have a Skype ID let me know and we can chat.  I miss you all and think of you as I travel throughout Europe!  I still cant believe I am actually here.  I will send an email later in the week with a link to some of the photos I have taken.

 

Ciao,

Alessandra