Ciao famiglia! Or should I say bonjour since I was in France last weekend! Friday night we stayed in and Micki and I attempted to make the gnocchi we learned in cooking class! We didnt have a masher but were proud of our first attempt there were a couple of lumps but not too many! Getting the shape down was hard but my dad always says its not about how it looks its about how it tastes and it was good! Hopefully I will be able to perfect it before I get to America so I can cook for everybody! We left early on Saturday morning because we had a long weekend (no school Monday--president's day? who knows!) and went to Nice for 2 days! The train ride there was SO GORGEOUS we went through the alps and there were the thickest blankets of snow and the mountains were HUGE! at one point i even saw a waterfall! Except there were a lot of tunnels which was annoying because I have an extremely irrational fear of those but I just tried to close my eyes and get through it! Trains actually aren't that bad they are pretty relaxing and lots of crazy people on them haha. When we got to Nice it was so weird all of a sudden everybody spoke French (who woulda thunk it!) and I was desperately trying to remember my French but all I could come up with was "bonjour" and "parlez vous english" haha. we got off the train and there was a tourist office thankfully the lady there spoke english and showed us how to get to our hotel. we took the tram which was REALLY nice feels like space mountain! they are building one in torino which i have been on once but it only has a couple of stops most of it is still under construction. when we got off we walked to our hostel and were able to make our way up the gigantic hill with our stuff there! when we got there they thankfully have a shuttle that takes you to and from the tram any time which was really nice and convenient! The hostel was the Villa St. Exupery and it was voted Best Hostel in France and I think we were very spoiled by our first hostel experience! It was really nice and clean, the staff was really accomodating and there was a "chapel" which was like a lounge/hangout that had computers, food, drinks, music, etc. We got to our rooms and were freaked out because it hit us that we would be rooming with a bunch of people we didnt know! She was showing us our room and we heard something and looked down and someone was sleeping right below us on a bunk bed haha so weird! They all have lockers for people to put their personal stuff (passports, valuables) so it was okay. We dropped our stuff off and went downtown to a cafe and all got quiche because we didnt know what else was on the menu! Then we started walking around and Kelly reallllly wanted a crepe haha so we were searching for one and come across a puppy shop!!! It was closed or else I honestly think I would have bought one (sent it home with some air holes as a surprise for mom?) they were sooo cute!!! Then we walked to where the carnival was it was a flower carnival but it cost money to get in so we watched it from the beach but it was cool! There was an Obama float (we are pretty sure it is him but couldnt tell if it was just a black guy in a superman costume at first haha) and he was grabbing trees? Dont know if that is a good or bad opinion towards him, hmmm. But the carnival was really cool the only thing you have to watch out for are the demon little kids who attack with silly string! We ran into a couple of guys from our program and they were lost and didnt know where to go haha so we told them about our hostel. Then we walked around, shopped (after 4 or 5 stores I couldn't resist and got a sweatshirt!) and then got dinner with the guys from our program. I was encouraged to try rabbit and figured I should just go for it (after refusing horse it didnt seem so bad) and it actually does taste like chicken! Weird. Then there was the night time part of the carnival in which the huge floats started moving. It cost money to get into so Kelly and I and some friends decided to go in the 10 or 11 story ferris wheel to watch it. It was so amazing! Got a whole birds eye view of the carnival, Nice and the French Riviera! I loved it! After that we were pretty tired from traveling so we went back. When we got back to our room my friend Sarah's bed had been taken over by some asian person they moved her stuff and took her name tag off the bed! We were weirded out/nervous at first but the joke was on them because we ended up getting our own room and didnt have to share! On Sunday, Valentines Day, we went to Monte Carlo for the day. I am literally in awe of that country! Not one piece of trash on the ground, the cheapest store is probably Louis Vuitton, and lamborghinis (sp?), ferraries, porches everywhere! All the women there are so fabulous and just sit out in their fur coats, huge bags, chanel sunglasses and just talk and smoke cigarettes all day. We got lunch at the Cafe de Paris (a hamburger was 22 euro, aka 30 dollars...needless to say I got the soup!) and just to put a mental picture in your head it is filled with FILTHY RICH couples mostly 70 year old men and 50 year old women and they are getting so much, all dressed in their true religions, gucci, prada, louis vuitton bags, and then one table with 4 college girls who order water and soup! We walked through the mall which was closed but of course the doors are unlocked because why would anybody worry about theft or vandalism in Monte Carlo! The picture with the chandelier is the inside of the mall!!! Haha it was very fun though. We went into the "open part" of the casino it was crazy! Felt mom's itch to try out a slot but resisted, I am stronger than her! The really cool part has a dress code which is similar to that of the Oscars! After that we went back to Nice and watched the sunset on the beach. I am literally obsessed with the town I want to move there the language is so pretty and it's a city with lots to do good shopping but at the same time right on the beach and right next to Monaco where I can find a nice rich husband! Sounds good to me! It really is one of the most gorgeous places I have seen and when the sun sets it shines right on the whole hill it is so pretty! Monday morning we took a train back to Torino. My roommate and friend that I came with woke up in the middle of the night sick to her stomach but we all felt fine which was weird because she didnt eat anything out of the ordinary and the whole way home she was so sick and said that it felt like something was grabbing her stomach (which happened to me last semester and I was so miserable, called my mom bawling and literally thought I was dying and my organs were failing!) but she was afraid to go to the hospital where she wouldnt know what was going on. When we got back she was not feeling any better and had been running to and from the bathroom for around 16 hours at the point and she finally gave in and decided to go because it wasnt getting any better. I called our housing coordinator, Daniele and he took us to the hospital so he could talk to the people there. Poor thing has a really bad flu and she is still not feeling much better and she had to spend the night there. Daniele and I were there from 10 o clock to around 4 in the morning when they finally got the blood tests results back and decided to have her stay there. The hospital was scary since it is a socialized health care system there is not enough room for anyone so she was in a hallway lined up with all of these old sick people who were coughing and puking and I wasnt even allowed to go in there to talk to her I could only go in once. I kept talking to her mom but of course there was no cell phone service in the hospital so she couldn't even talk to her. I went back at 10 in the morning and she was so distraught because she had been awake since 5 and couldnt eat or drink anything and nobody asked her how she was doing and nobody spoke english so when she finally broke down nobody could help her because they couldnt speak to her. Hopefully she will get better soon though. Yesterday in Ivrea was an orange throwing battle I couldnt go cause I wanted to make sure my friend was all right but I still wanted to show you all pictures! My roommates and friends said it was crazy and so much fun! I will definitely have to go back they drive in trolleys over and over again through different piazzas and just chuck oranges and you chuck them back and there are like teams so my friends went into the most intense piazza where there were no kids and they were the only ones out of the whole program who participated! They all have huge welts and bruises, a couple of kids have black eyes, cuts on their faces and swollen body parts but they all said it was the BEST day ever! A couple of guys got "initiated" onto the teams where you get on your knees and the team members chuck oranges at your neck from about a foot away! When my roommate got home she was COVERED from head to toe in orange remains and who knows what else! she said it was the best day ever though so it is all worth it in the end! Besides my roommate being sick everything else is great mom says she is waiting for the postcard that says "send my stuff im not coming back" haha:) I have a phone interview for an event-planning internship for the summer for a company that rebuilds communities in Palestine and Israel so hopefully that goes well! I miss all of my friends and family so much I wish you all could visit!
Ciao Belli
Caitlin Jayne
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