Happy Birthday Mommy
Today is a special day. Aside from us getting our bikes (yey!, read Via's journal) It is also the birthday of my beloved mommy. Happy Birthday Mommy. We miss you and we shall see each other soon.
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Today is a special day. Aside from us getting our bikes (yey!, read Via's journal) It is also the birthday of my beloved mommy. Happy Birthday Mommy. We miss you and we shall see each other soon.
Noel got us bikes yesterday! "Talponia (where we live) is now motorized!" One of our friends, Des, mentioned last night.
Noel looked so cute yesterday with his bright, shiny red bike as he waited for me at the train station- like a kid with a new toy on Christmas day. We got my bike next at a nearby bike shop, it's a white lady bike with fushia pink trim and a white basket. It's also got little rosettes on it, very girly!
We took it to the grocery and around the Friday market early this morning so I could make it back in time for my 11am train. What with all the adjustments we had to make with the 6-pack of water falling down from Noel's bike, I missed my train!
We had to rush back home to get my schoolbooks so I could catch the next train. I was rushing so much when I put my backpack on, I lost my balance and fell slo-mo from my bike, onto the ground- hitting my foot and part of my hand. Noel and I kept laughing while I alternately clutched at my foot in pain. An old man passing by must've thought we were crazy as we were delirious with laughter, lying on the inclined portion of the road which forms the Talponia entrance. So I decided to rest from school today again.
Both our machines have not arrived yet. Our IBM Thinkpad had a tear in the LCD screen after our horrible train ride from Milan to Ivrea. From Milan we had to change trains in Chivasso. The train was scheduled to arrive 20 minutes after we had arrived there, but our train was late. We were left with 10 minutes to change trains. We were harrassed when we got out the train. The only exit we saw was the stairs. I had to drag all our big luggages down the stairs and up again to the other lane. Whew! I think I broke my arm but I think that definitely broke the LCD screen of our laptop.
All students will be given laptops as part of the tuition. We had to choose between PC and Mac. I reluctantly chose PC since I have been on the PC forever and more or less know the ins and outs of it. Aside from the fact that its easier to get software :) But apparently the orders of the school has not arrived yet. We were all very anxious waiting for it everyday. We were told that the Macs are new (probably the powerbook 15") and would take some time to arrive. For a moment there I had regretted asking for a PC. I mean look at this beautiful piece of equiptment!
These are mostly what has been happening with us here: Ivrea, Ikea, Italian. It is the second week of orientation for me here at Interaction-Ivrea and it has been exhausting. I have been taking italian language classes since Wednesday last week and learning another language can be draining. Aside from the fact that my classmates organize a dinner or an event every night. Whew!
We have also been going to the grocery and buying some stuff from Ikea. It was really nice to walk inside this huge furniture mall. It had everything from small clocks, frying pans, duvet, office furniture to lamps, shower curtains and sofas.
I was feeling under the weather today because I woke up with a sore throat today- something that quite a few students here have had also. (At Noel's school)
My first day at school begin with an Italian proficiency test. (Thankfully I passed, scoring 5.5 out of 10) The direttore pronounced that they were willing to work with me after viewing the test results. Had they not been favorable, it would've been hopeless to teach me Italian, and they would've handed me a refund quite happily. I had no idea it was going to be this serious! Then they showed me a bright red attache case which contained my 2 textbooks, impressive guidebook around Torino and a listing of all the must-see places in Torino with my discount card enclosed!
I told them I would miss school tomorrow as I wasn't feeling well and would continue on Wednesday. Then I got lost in the huge parking lot! Thank God for a nice stranger that helped me along. I was also able to pick up a stapler (pinzetricce) nearby my school. And finally got myself an abbonamento (weekly/monthly pass) at the Porta Nuova station in Torino.
Steven, Matty and Bent were at the bus stop to greet me after my first day of school. They were teasing me about my first day, Steven asking if I had eaten my lunch. Then I had to go since my books weighed a ton. It was wonderful to crash onto our colorful ala-60s couch afterwards, while I waited for Noel to get back from claiming our baggage at the Torino airport with Halley, Giovanni and Christian. Thanks so much guys!!! We so appreciate what you did for us today! :)
We revisit our trip to Barcelona with these pictures. The highlight of that 2 day visit still stands out in my mind: La Sagrada Familia. This magnificent structure by Antonio Gaudi is still a living work in progress.
I'm really glad we bought those Samsonite laundry line thingies so I'm able to do some emergency washing while we haven't yet been able to launder our clothes. I find washing strangely relaxing. :)
It's already our 4th day today in Ivrea, already it is quite chilly. We are slowly making it homier with our magnets already stuck on our mini refrigerator, new wooden mat and throw pillows on the floor and all kinds of scents and sprays imaginable to take away the remnants of the smoke stench.
We've met quite a number of students already from different parts of the world: South Africa, the US, Hong Kong, Iceland, Canada, Israel and the UK. We had a rather fancy dinner (out of desperation, we had walked so far and still couldn't find a place to eat) all together. Everyone's so nice and funny, it's quite comforting we're not feeling lost by ourselves, especially with our ice-queen waitress at the restaurant who wasn't very happy with us.
Yesterday we finally bought some cookware at our all-time favorite one-stop shop, Bennet. We were with Ben, from the UK, who just arrived recently. Everything may be closed today since it's Sunday, so we'll have to cook our own food today. We'll see how that goes. All in all, it's a pretty homey and pretty town where people are friendly and seem to know one another. We like it here. :)
Its now our 3rd night in Ivrea, a small town in Torino, Italy. This will be our home for the next 2 years aand I shall start my masters programme in Interaction Design on Monday. I have already met some of my batchmates and they are all nice, friendly and funny. My name and the my classmates are already in the Interaction Ivrea website, click here to view it.
Its been a fast few weeks in italy and only now did I find time to write again. I have lots of stories to share about Barcelona, Rome, Florence, Milan and Ivrea so stay tuned. I won't be able to upload pictures for a while because of some technical problems.
Thanks again to those who greeted me and wrote comments on my birthday, I really appreciate it.
Thanks to all the emails, text messages, and comments on this site during my birthday yesterday. We spent the day here in florence just lazily going around bookstores and eating lunch and dinner. It was a nice change from our hectic schedule.
So my birthday wish is that all of you reading this entry, please write a comment or a greeting. Just click on the link above called "comments." I really wonder how many people read our website. So please tell me you are there. Thanks :)
We are off to Milan then finally to Ivrea. I have yet to post Barcelona, Rome and Florence pictures, but once I have a decent internet connection I shall do it.
We are sad to go. Barcelona was more our speed than Madrid. And Mommy Vicki was right, it is more organized. Our area was quite nice too, lots to see. We spent this day doing some shopping. My favorite was a very reasonable store called Bershka. Both classics and punk items available. Little did we know shopping in Spain would be so much cheaper than in Italy.
The Barcelona airport was impressive. So many duty free shops, Zara included! The waiting lounge chairs were by far the MOST comfortable we had ever sat in. We were even beside this German that looked like Sting!
We managed fine sans the expensive tours being offered at our hotel. We saved a lot thanks to Noel’s excellent navigation skills. (Little did we know that we would be needing these savings in Rome!)
We hit 3 major spots today:
1. La Sagrada Familia
Probably Antoni Gaudi’s finest work. It’s an amazing creation of extensive architectural detail depicting Christ’s passion. This is by far, my favorite stop. It’s very interesting also because of the story behind it. (Thank goodness for audio guides, and for Noel’s bringing along his earplugs from the train so we could both listen through one guide) A man named Bocabella dreamt of an architect with blue eyes who would build something great. He met Gaudi late on who HAD blue eyes and wanted to build, so he commissioned Gaudi to start La Sagrada Familia. Gaudi was about 30 at this time and got along very well with Bocabella. When Bocabella died, his son-in-law took over the project and also got on very well with Gaudi. Gaudi devoted 43 years of his life to this fantastic work and it is still ongoing today!
2. Porto Olympico and Barceluneta
The former was the area they fixed up for the Olympics. We had a nice seafood lunch in one of the nearby restaurants, inhaling the salt spray from the Mediterranean Sea. Our food wasn’t bad, the waiter was very kind to fix me up a special menu of calamares a la plancha and gambas. The table next to us was not happy with their food, they asked what I was eating as their food was “mala, mala!”
We walked the whole stretch of beach back to the nearest metro stop, which was not near at all! Noel enjoyed this walk as there were women soaking up the sun topless. Two were even playing beach ping-pong! There are pictures of this, to be sure.
3. Barcelona Catedral
We heard our first Mass here, and it was very solemn. The Spanish are really so warm, shaking our hands during “peace” part. “Paz es contigo.”
Nothing much was open since it was a Sunday, but a small section of fnc was. (Thanks Nic for introducing us to this place, we love it!) It’s like a Powerbooks and Music One put together with some tech accessories and a café too. :)
We stopped at VIPS (a cross between a high-end 7Eleven and café) to pick up a few things. We had a very nice dinner at Els Fanals (Rbla. Catalunya, 13 Gran Via 08007, Barcelona). It was French Continental cuisine. Noel had brie salad as a starter and sautéed mushrooms with ham for his main course. I had calamares followed by salmon and bacalao carpaccio. Nice and light meal. We stopped by VIPS again for a few more items.