DIE DIE DIE

I just died a little this morning...
Mueslirigel, Honig, Brot, Prosciutto Cotto, Soyamilch (endlich) und MUESLI!

well worth the 20 min hike and 20 catcalls.....
but why why why don't they accept credit cards?
anyways.
I just gave my greek presentation and got an A!!!! I did not try to get an A ( my goal grades for this semester range from B- to C+) but damnnn it feels good to be a gangsta... I mean, get praised for a ppt presentation. And everyone else got A-'s hehee. But oh well. I actually have to write a 5 page paper for that same class now due the 5th.


It's monday once again and I've had one of the more exciting weekends. Friday we took a little trip to Piazza Armerina and Morgentina with Art and Arch. Morgentina is an excavated town that was settled in pre-Greek times. We mostly found random piles of rocks, and a couple of mosaics, a kiln and a theater. Piazza Armerina has a Roman villa with partly very well preserved mosaics, including the famous bikini girls in the palaestrum (the gym) of the villa. Bummer # 1: the majority of the villa was under restoration and blocked off. Bummer # 2: my camera's batteries died and I took one meager photo of a mosaic. But never fear, dear readers, I will steal some of Brie's pics and post them on webshots.
The busride there took 2.5 hours, and back 3.5 hours. I'm glad I took dramamine but I guess that's also the reason why I sleep like a baby on the bus and have no energy/eat like a pig during the field trips. Merrrr toss up :/
Saturday we took our bus to Mount Etna for some "fun in the snow"....luckily we left at 10 am, not in the ridiculous early hours. We went to visit the Lava Museum and then proceeded to a restaurant to have the most DELICIOUS meal ever. I'm talking antipasti times 10, 2 primi piatti with different pasta, mixed meats ( I had horse meat and it was very tasty... sorry!) The dessert consisted of cannoli (ricotta and chocolate) and marzipan cookies, followed by a strong espresso. I have never been fuller in my life! Luckily I wore three layers and a sweatshirt. hehe.
Two minutes after our meal (ever heard of siesta? no? ...) we were up on Etna, hiking up 400 m through slippery snow and extremely thin air. I brought two little pieces of Lava as souveniers (hey, they were free).... walking down was the funnest part, we decided to slide down the trail and at some point there were 5 of us holding hands and sliding down on our stomachs... pictures follow because the crazy German volcanology professor took them!
The last stop was an ice skating rink, where we skated for probably an hour and a half. All the italians there were constantly falling, and most of the people in our group didn't stay on their feet either.... hahhaa good times!

Sunday was a really nice day, sun and all, check webshots for the pics at the rocks!

Ciao a tutti!

food, etc

Hello there,
I'm generally too lazy to go and get internet on weekends, but since I have a 10 min ppt presentation due for Greek on Wednesday. Ew, HOMEWORK?
After much frustration we told Ramzi (our housing coordinator/socccer team player) that our bombola "Caty" sucks. We pretty much turn on the gas and switch the thing on - and it still doesn't heat although there is a flame. And the apartment smells like gas. yuck! So anyways, Ramzi called the bombola boy (the gas can delivery man, he always has at least three of those things on the back of his vespa!) who came over quickly-ish and ended up giving us a new heater and bombola ("caty" is apparently old and needs to be cleaned)
In any case, meet "Bartolini":




This weekend we're going on a "fun in the snow" trip on MOunt Etna. This includes snowballfights, a Lava Museum and ice skating. I'm also excited for the Etna typical culinary adventures.
Speaking of food, I made delicious Fettucini with Salmon and mushrooms (in a creamy white wine sauce). Molto delizioso and very quick.
In the biggest supermarket (which is at the mall, where the buses don't stop ><) there is everything anyone would want. They even have oreos (bah) and skippy peanut butter. But screw the peanut butter, in the NUTELLA isle I found a pistacchio spread, which might be somewhat pricey at 4 euros, but probably worth trying... next time I go. Which will be as soon as we make friends with cars. Trying to hitchhike with grocery bags at the traffic circle in front of the mall is not fun, and won't be repeated. We were made fun of, and generally unsuccessful, until a Bus pickd us up that went half an hour into the outskirts all the way to eastbumf** Siracusa, and back. Well, at least we didn't have to walk back (we would have died, perhaps).
There is another mall with does have a busstop. We're going to scout it out and I'm praying that it will have the same big walmart-like supermarket. Otherwise we'll have to keep buying food at the Conte, which is more of a Tante Emma Laden with little variety. I did get Monte von Zott there today though ;)
As I'm speaking of food (stay on topic ;) I guess there is this "cold chocolate" that is really frothy and creamy, and a must-try. It's probably better to eat myself through the entore spectrum of pastries instead of just going for Cannoli, my all-time favorite.

I don't eat 24/7 though, never fear. There is plenty of time to walk around/sit in class too.

I have a midterm in ecosystems and -ohhh- that presentation in Greek on wednesday... aka tomorrow! With this note I should probably say "a presto" and check out those ecosystem notes.
Luckily we won't have ecosystems for 2 weeks after that, Ricardo is in Germany for that time. Free tuesday/thursday nights hello!!

PS: In Noto, I could not contain myself when I saw a little vending machine that sold "Happy Feet" cell phone charms. Hello, LOVELACE:

Thursday!

Today after classes 1 + 2, I bought my lunch (I euro and 25 cents for a piece of spinach mozzarella pastry) and headed back to the apartment. Classes were chill as always. We combined the advanced and beginner's Italian classes and played 20 questions :) Art and Architecture was a tad sleep-inducing as always, and I spent most of it daydreaming/fantasizing about food. Anyways. I also still have an artichoke. Apparently they are good chopped with lemon and parmesan. Hmmm sounds good.
I cleaned the apartment, dusted, and cleaned the kitchen. The roomies are cooking tonight (chicken and couscous and veggies!) so I thought I'd be nice and make the kitchen sparkelicious!

Last night we went to the "cafeteria" that the University of Catania students use. For 6 Euro 50, you get the Primo Piatto, Secondo Piatto, Contorti, a drink and fruit. You have one of three choices for each. I had "Penne Siracusa," then a funghi omelett, and a salad. And a mandarine. The portions are so tiny so it just fills you up.
Our attempts to make Italian friends failed, I think they were weirded out by our loudness. Oh well.
I also had a delicious desert after, "bianco e nero" - pretty much Windbeutel with chocolate mouse around them!

Our neighbors have the funkiest granny panties hanging off their balcony. I couldn't help but take a picture.

I was tightening the belt part of my shoes and established that they must be leather after all - I saw the leather part around the edges - and the shoes smell pretty leathery. Not that I wouldn't have liked them if they weren't.

Today is Singles Awareness Day, and all the Ladies are going to "Sale" where there is life music. And there will be Cannoli after. Hah!

I'm innamorata with Laura Biagiotti's new perfume, DONNA.
I'll buy it eventually.

HUH?

I did the unthinkable today and stepped on a scale.
I lost 1 pound since being here.
How the heck did I manage that, considering I average 1 cannoli and 3 Kinder chocolate products a day, in addition to normal foods like pizza and pasta and the amazing risotto brie makes?


Geez!

Rants, Raves, Palermo, Pantalica...

So this weekend was filled with various activities, aka FIELDTRIPS. For ecosystems I hiked with the group on friday through the Sicilian countryside at Pantalica... the bu ride took about an hour, but it was raining and cold. So the group started hiking on the trail, Ricardo pointing out various shrubs, dwarf shrubs, and all that other schnick schnack he tries to educate us about every Tues/Thurs from 5-7:30... He is useful though, I collected some rosemary and calendula (the latter dried and shriveled up though... ><)
We sought shelter in a cave in a limestone wall. Pantalica is pretty much all about the tombs/catacombs that Christians carved into the limestone so that they could be laid to rest. There was even a little church behind a tiny opening in the limestone. The trail was pretty much all limestone, with little pools that collected rainwater. We were stuck in the cave (Ricardo and Simone, the archeology prof didn't want to leave) but eventually kept on walking. I will post pictures that show the landscape ... it was very pretty. Less pretty was the amount of bitchin and moaning that could be heard throughout the trip. If we are going on a HIKING trip, with RAIN in the weather forecast, don't wear just a light knitsweater and clothy van shoes... yikes! Or at least, don't complain when you do.
It was getting uncomfortable after 2 hours or so, and I was glad when the field trip was over. While we were marching through the mudd, my roommate who wasn't on the trip engaged in a CRAZY shopping frenzy at the local mall - which *gasp* I haven't been to.

Anyways, on saturday we were ready at 7 am sharp at the parking lot to embark on our trip to PALERMO!! Of course Brie was in her element (she has family there) and we were all excited. Especially since we had booked a hostel a day earlier and planned to separate from the group ;) After the three hour busride (I slept through all of it and missed some of the pretty countryside, but I'm very glad about the dropamine pills I found in the farmacia!)
Our first stop in Palermo was some sort of Palazzo where we could really just see one room because there was some judicial schnick schnack going on in the rest of it. We pretty much sat around doing nothing for a while and then were released to find some lunch somewhere. The roomies, Rachel, and I went to this tiny Pizzeria and I decided to be adventurous and try Pizza Gazella. Bad idea. The pizza was topped with eggs, cheese, tomatoes, olives, and "wurstel". I kid you not. "wurstel" was really just sliced hot dog, and the olives tasted very bitter. The pizza was also covered in decent sized pools of grease... OH WELL.
For the afternoon part of the trip, the roomies and I escaped and did our own thing, such as finding the hostel and checking out shoe stores. Sales are still going on.
Who would I be kidding if I said I don't need to buy a pair of ITALIAN BOOTS while in Italy. Anyways, I purchased these babies that were marked down to 55, from 139.
ta daaa:

Exhausted, we lounged in our hostel room (looked more like a hotel) and watched TV. They only had German channels :P Hella von Sinnen lost weight and overalls. -- Quick digression -- Berlin Berlin is dubbed and shown as "Lolle", and Tuerkisch fuer Anfaenger is dubbed as "Kebab for Breakfast" , both are on MTV Italia. hehehe

Anyways, we got ready to go out at around 11:30 and hit up the infamous Palermo nightlife. What happens in Palermo stays in Palermo.
This morning Ashley and I got up early to catch the 9 am Bus back to Siracusa, and here we are.

I'm getting increasingly annoyed by the tag-along-society in our group! Originally, half the group wanted to stay the night in Palermo, and we were the only ones who actually did (which is a good thing!!!). It's all talk, no action for most of them. I guess no one signed up for a personal travel agent who is available for all things that you are too chicken to do or not inventive enough to find out. Because my roomies and I seem to be more assertive in getting things done/doing things we want to do, we get the tag-alongs alot and actually sometimes just feel the need to sneak off. Which is probably a good thing because I don't think that I'll be able to listen to complaints anymore. You miss American FOOD? Why are you here? You're telling your mom to send you gum? You complain when British profs use British spelling? You complain when your restaurant bill is high because you accepted all the "free" food and champagne that the waiter brought to the table? Well, the TANSTAAFL rule applies to all areas in life, esp. while studing abroad -- (the rule is: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch")

SIGH. I just don't understand why some people are here.


Quick before I'm done - in the current Spiegel (well, the one from 1/28/08) there is a good article about the recession, credit crises, etc, very insightful!

Cheers!

INternettt

OK, so apparently the internet is working again... let's see for how long....
Carnevale was super fun, and I bought the carnevale food, sausage and mushrooms in a bun. The vino they gave us with that was gross... but oh well. Good times dancing to Disco music at the Piazza with all those Italians.

I could boast with de-regionizing our dvd player, but now it has issues and won't let dvds out of the tray ! grrrrr

I also bought the most recent Spiegel, and read it while eating Kinder Choco Fresh.... boo yeahh.

Fieltrip to some ecologicla shizzle tomorrow all day, and fieldtrip to Palermo with a probable stay over until sunday! I'll be exhausted after this weekend, and I have to read Hesiod until Monday. shikes..... I should have brought some motion sickness stuff for the bus trips (after the Catania trip almost did me in)... how do I ask for that stuff in a local farmacia? Hmmmm quando sono nella machina, non STO BENE .... quale potrei?

uhmm I think that's wrong..... :/ I don't want to order viagra in the end or some'n like that....

Palermo wird sicher lustig! Voll Ghetto und das Nightlife (dass es ja in Ortigia nicht gibt) soll super sein!

Sobald ich Zeit hab, kommen wieder Photos! Ciaoo

PS: WO sind comments?

Boat Tour, Catania, going out flop, etc

Ta daaaa - new pictures are up - check the webshots!
So Saturday was our Catania fieldtrip. We met at 8:30 AM with Metcalf (Greek Myth and Religion prof) and hopped on the Bus to Catania! I thought I could go and read some - aka do some homework, but I felt sick after a page and a half so I stopped.
On our way along the coast, we could see Mount Etna, the snowy tip above the clouds. cool site! We first went to a Museum about the Allied Invasion in Sicily - it was an interactive museum and we had a very good tourguide :D The market was insane - A Ton of clothes, shoes, BOOTS, bags (fake), food, etc.... NICE .. and a nice shopping mile! I couldn't contain myself, and bought a nice bag on sale at this cute store, I forgot the name. Pictures will be on webshots~!
Speaking off, webshots is having issues and that makes me cranky... after all, Im sitting outside here... ON THE STONE ..... where it's cold.... to upload these pics. Argh.
Mann, frustrierend!
Ich update spaeter aus dem Warmen...