Tuscia

I am at Italy!

My trip to Tuscia starts at 1pm, so we had some time to kill before that, and we just walked around Civitavecchia, ate some gelato and exchanged my money. Note to self: Pistachio Gelato isn’t that great. I should get the Chocolaty ones next time! Exchanged 200 American dollars today. USD1= 0.65 Euros. I was mildly surprised. Within the span of 2 days, the exchange rate actually fell from 0.71 to 0.65!!! Did I get cheated? Ahhhhhhhhh, the Malaysian currency feels so small instantly! I’m burning a really big hole in my pocket here, but like I said, it’s ok! I’m technically on a holiday. Besides, like my mama said (jokingly of course), as long as I marry a rich old man next time, all of my problems will be solved! =p

So apparently, Italians hang their laundry out by the window coz they have no dryer AT ALL! Even during the winter, they do it. My guide told me that his clothes used to covered with ice when they did that during the winter. Seriously, what’s the point of hanging them out then?

We walked on the green grass today, barefoot. It feels really good! The land was scorching hot though, since Italy’s weather is worse than Malaysia’s. I perspired so much and the green green grass was soothing :) We sat for a while, wandered along the small alleys, and then we were herded back to the bus like baby sheeps! On our way back, we saw REAL sheeps, which is really rare here in Italy… There were a few random cows here and there. Funniest thing I saw were actually the grave yards. Mind you, they are not your typical graves with stones. Each of them have their own little “hut" and the graves have covers over them.

So today we had wine tasting again. Seems like the Europeans are really BIG on wine! We had red wine, white wine, cheese, ham and thinly sliced bacon and bread with olive. God, so good! Heavenly! And I think I was a little tipsy after that two glasses of wine… Heh… I swear I’m not turning into an alcoholic though! In my defense, I do not usually like to drink wine, but Italian wine is extraordinary! I kinda want to buy some to bring home, but we can’t even bring an opened-water bottle on board :(

Off to Rome tomorrow!

Conversations for the day

While we were standing on the deck, observing the currents:
Tim: I wonder if you have to swim diagonally if you were to jump off the ship so that you don’t get washed off by the currents.
Vi: Wow, are u some kind of physics major?
Tim: No, I major in common sense.


During my architecture class, we talked about the “Triumph of the Name of Jesus” painting at the Il Gesu Church in Rome and this is how it went:
Professor Vincent: Absolutely spectacular painting! It’s one piece of uninterrupted fresco depicted here on the painting.
(Lots of lots of figures meshed together on the painting and you can’t really differentiate what is what…)
Prof: (while pointing towards the painting): What is this?!! What is this?!?
Dramatic pause….. then 2 seconds later
Prof (in hush hush voice): I’m not gonna tell you -_-


Then, we talked about the Barromini’s San Carlo alle Quatre Fontane Church in Rome:
Prof: The structure is so gluely and you have to see it! You will be amazed why it isn’t made out of …. Marshmallows… (REALLY? SERIOUSLY? MARSHMALLOWS?)
Prof: Baroque art makes everything so overwhelming, and if you’re not affected by it at all when you see it, then you are a …. Carrot! (Apparently, carrots are not human, and hence they have no feelings for anything at all).


I am in love with Professor Vincent!! He is on board with Professor Nalbach (my global studies prof) and i think they make such a cute couple!

Gibraltar Rock

Hooray! I just did my Global Studies Midterm Exam. We were allowed to take the exam wherever we wanted… how nice! But this doesn’t mean we can cheat… University of Virginia has this honor code and they expect students to respect that by being honest. That means NO CHEATING. If you’re caught cheating, that’s it manz. You’re out of the ship and banned from UVA forever. I’m kinda surprised to see so many students being honest about it… All of us were just sitting outside our rooms, at the Union Hall, at the Com Lab etc etc to do it. Actually, would you wanna be kicked out of this awesome trip just because you cheated in a minor exam?

I haven’t been blogging for the past two days because everything was happening too fast. First day when we came back from Spain, everyone was trying to adjust back to the normal routine of going to classes and eating the ship food again. There were so many lectures going on in the evening as well, and we had the Global Studies midterm paper due on top of studying for the exam, hence everyone was hiding in their rooms most of the time.

We passed the Gibraltar Straits the other day and we bunkered there for half a day to fuel up the ship… it was way too cool. On our right was Spain mainland, and on our left was Morrocco. We learnt about the geography of the Mediterranean region in class, but I didn’t expect the Gibraltar Straits to be so narrow! While we were sailing in the evening after that, we passed this famous Gibraltar Rock. Apparently, it has been conquered by the British for 300 years before it was given back to the Spain. The lighthouse on that Rock is the southern most point of Europe I think. My professor stopped lecturing and off we went to Deck 7 to take in that spectacular sight! Somehow the wind was really strong at that time, and I swear I could have been blown off if not for the grip I had. Jackets puffed up instantly. Everyone looked kinda pudgy, which was funny!

Anyway, the rock kinda looks like the rock on the Prudential Logo, doesn’t it? Hehe

So today is the day before arrival at Civattevachia, Italy. I can’t wait to go on land again! I wonder how the culture is like in Italy eh? Time to whip our my sundresses you think?

Stay tuned!

Fuel up!

Right now, our ship is travelling at 0.0 knots per hour. We are parked at the Gibraltar Straits, fueling up the ship! No one's allowed to light a cigarette or a lighter. Also, Spain is on our right and Morrocco is on our left. Both countries are so close to each other. I bet you could swim from one shore to the other shore. TOO COOL TO BE TRUE :)

Off to class now!

Adios Spain!

Went to Arcos today with Angie, Heather and Sheiyenn (I still think his name sounds like a girl! =p). After seeing Ronda, I just can’t help but compare Arcos with Ronda… Arcos is a small little town with castles and churches, not as magnificent as those at Ronda, but most of them were close for restoration, so we didn’t really get to explore that much. An hour would be sufficient there, but we had to stay for like 4 hours because the bus only comes then :P We walked around a lot, took some really silly pictures, talked, joked and ate lunch at this small café. Again, it was all good, since we were away from most of the people from SAS :) Btw, the café waiter who took our orders was really nice and patient with our orders… He even encouraged me to read aloud the Spanish words when I tried to get a glass of freshly-made Orange Juice :p According to the cutie guy, my pronunciation was legitimately accurate and I was learning fast! Hehe… I guess I can consider taking Spanish classes eh?

Took siestas on the bus ride… feels so good to take naps again!

Came back to the ship at around 445pm and there was already a long line. Time to be on board was like 6pm and all of us were afraid to get dock time, so most of us were back at around 5pm. Had dinner on board and the food was surprisingly good! I guess that happens after days of not eating on board. The vegetables were greener than usual and they had bananas! They usually only serve bananas on the day we leave port since those kind of fruits can't be kept for too long... I joined the usual gang for dinners and we all had so many funny stories to tell each other...

Apparently, there’s only 3 kinds of channel at Spain. Spanish channels, Michael Jackson’s death, and porn. Everyone in Spain so open, too open sometimes! They way they dress is absolutely revealing, especially the girls. One of my friends who went suntanning at the beach had the most awkward moment of her life. Literally everyone was nude, and you see everything at the nude beach. Lol! So guys, you know where to go next time eh? I was walking around and most cafes and magazine stands had their “Rated” magazines placed right out. The Spanish greet each other with kisses on both sides of the cheeks. My friend, Molly, is gorgeous and the Spanish guys at the bars went a little bit further. They did the normal pecks on both sides of the cheeks and then smooched her on the lips. Not once, not twice, but six times! MY GOD.

Speaking of Michael Jackson… It’s such a pity, though one of my friends said it’s kinda good in a way because she is so sick of hearing about Michael Jackson and his pedophile ways.

Anyway, the ship’s leaving in like a few minutes. It was supposed to leave at 8pm, but it’s like half past 8pm and it’s still at the dock. Oh wells, don’t think im gonna watch the ship leave Cadiz coz I have so much to do and I have so little time… Exam’s in 3 days. UGHH. That happens when u study on the ship! Schedule is tight as hell, and if u’re lagging behind, that’s it!

Overall, Spain is a beautiful place! I would definitely come back. I kinda want to visit Madrid and Barcelona next year when I’m studying abroad in Italy. Ronda would always be on my list!

Bye bye Spain! Adios! I will be back one day.... :)

p/s: 3 more days to Italy!

A taste of Sevilla

Hola people!

I'm enjoying Spain so much and I don't want to leave tomorrow. I kinda wanna take back what I've said yesterday. Not being able to speak Spanish is actually pretty exciting! I got lost again (why am i not surprised? lol) and I wanted to find my way back to the ship. It took me 15 mins to describe where I wanted to go and the dude finally understood me - the Porto and estacion bus! I did a little bit of shopping as well and the lady was laughing at me as I was Charad-ing to her to indicate that I wanted to try on the dress =p

Fun times!

We went to Sevilla today - it's the 4th biggest city in Spain and again it's gorgeous! So many pretty buildings. the Cathedral was our first stop. It is the BIGGEST gothic cathedral in the world and it is simply breathtaking. If this is enough to take my breathe away, I bet Italy would be even better! So a mosque was built at this place originally and when they demolished it to build the cathedral, they kept the tower.

And let me tell u this, I climbed 34 floors (with ramps only, no stairs) to go all the way up and took in Sevilla's city view. Had a good workout!

So when we were there, there was a group of protesters living in the church. They had everything there - beds, water, toilet, food etc etc. These mining workers are protesting for higher wages and the church is the only place where they can't be kicked out since it's a sacred place. Why do I have a feeling that the Spanish protest all the time? lol

Next stop was the Alcazar, the old royal residence. Interesting stuff. The Christians ruled Spain at one point in time, but the entire building was built after the Arabian style... The Quran scriptures are all over the roof, walls, ceilings and floor...

There you go, the sign of Allah on the windows.

And here's something random: how do you tell that a leaf is bitter? it's supposed to have a separate baby leaf attached at the bottom of the bigger leaf.

Internet time is precious... so I'm not gonna put more pictures up but keep a lookout for more updates tomorrow!

Next up on the list: Acros, Spain.

p/s: leaving spain tomorrow at 6pm!

Getting lost twice in a day

Ronda is a sweet little nice town with touristy-buildings. Most of the people there thought that we were Japanese and started greeting us with Konichiwa, Aligatou etc etc -_- Do we Asians look THAT alike to the foreigners?

Anyway, I really like Ronda a lot! Lots of white houses (that’s why it’s called the White Town), saw the Puento Nuevo (New Bridge), walked through the pretty gardens, took pictures of lots of sceneries, walked around the little alleys a lot, got lost, saw the City Wall, churches and basically more and more sceneries. When we were at the Puento Nuevo, I couldn’t see past the thick walls so Yufei had to take a picture of the scenery down below the bridge so I could take a look at the river and caves and trees that were down there. So much for being a shortie! :P

I have no idea how to go about describing the places that I’ve been to today, but I’m sooooooo glad that I’ve actually taken the trouble to take the 3-hr bus ride to Ronda! Even though both yufei and I were left with only about 4 hrs to walk around the entire town, we did it quick and fast. No time wasted and we didn’t even bother to pay to look at stuff, just walked around, looked at the outdoorish stuff, bought some souvenirs and we covered basically everything!  HOW AWESOME! But nothing beats this most memorable part of the trip: both of us got lost towards the end and we had to run for the last bus that leaves Ronda at 430pm. OMG, I was like freaking out and had to run with flip flops (since I changed out my shoes later) with my bad toe, but nothing was gonna stop me because I had to get back to the ship for tomorrow’s trip. Sounds scary, but I liked it =p

Later in the day, we got back to Cadiz at about 8pm. Though it wasn’t time for dinner, we walked to downtown Cadiz to search for some good food. I have yet to find a restaurant that serves the bull’s testicles and I am highly disappointed :) Had Paella (Spanish Rice) for dinner. I want to say that not being able to speak Spanish makes me wanna bang my head against the wall. I had to take out my purse and point towards it, made the money sign to indicate that I want my bill. And then the waiter would go off babbling something that I didn’t understand at all. Oh wells, shrug. We had our cameras out on the table and the lady sitting beside us was really nice… She spoke Spanish, but she gestured that we should be putting stuff like cameras in the bag because people would just walk past and snatch them. How nice of her :)

After dinner, we walked around a little. The walk back to the ship was meant to last 15 mins, but we got lost again! The Spanish should definitely consider rebuilding their towns in a more structured way. I don’t know if I’m gonna survive in Rome if I were to study abroad there in Spring 2010, but I know I will manage the roads somehow =p anyway, we got lost, and we saw this protest procession against Racism. The guy who was leading at the front saw us (I guess we were Chinese), and he walked up to us, gave us a pamphlet that was in Spanish (like I could read). It says STOP RACISMO (or something like that) and he was pointing towards the date excitedly, as if indicating that we should definitely be there to support this cause. Oh wells, I would love to, but sorry dude, the ship’s leaving way before that date. Then we bumped into a very nice professor who gave us the general directions to walk back. How nice of him to give me his map even though he wants that as a souvenir. Note to self: if I see him at the dining hall, I should give him back his map. I don’t want to be THE ONE who robbed him of his momento from Cadiz =p

Oh did I also mention that I like getting lost in cities. You always stumble across something unexpectedly when you don’t know where you are heading towards.

Next up on the list: Sevilla tomorrow!

Cadiz, Spain

I have thought long about the picture that I want to put up today and I think this would best represent Cadiz, Spain :)

Spain is beautiful! If I were to speak Spanish, I would seriously consider Spain as one of my ideal cities to live in, but nope, that aint' gonna happen. The Spanish hardly speak any English. Thank god I have my friends with me to decipher the uber complicated language. The Spanish lead such luxurious lifestyle. I am so envious! Most businesses are open from 9am-2pm and they close up from 2pm-4pm to have lunch. 4pm-6pm is the Seista Time and dinner comes at about 8pm-10pm. Gosh, I would be asleep by then already! Today, Rachel tried to enter a shop at 159pm and the owner just shut the door right in front of her. It's not like they are rude about it, but 2pm means 2pm and they are serious about the time manz!

That said, I got so frustrated when we sat down at 2pm to have lunch. I am so used to the fast-paced lifestyle back in Singapore and America and I can't stop comparing the services. The waiter took half an hour to serve the drinks, took another half an hour to take the orders and another half hour to serve the food. But it was all good! We had so much fun sitting, relaxing and talking while sipping our punch-like wine (can't remember the name of the Spanish drink). Not gonna lie, this is the first time in my life that I've ever drank in public without having my ID checked :P

Bought a few souvenirs today as well. Sigh, there goes my Euros but I try not to think about money matters while I'm on my trip. I want to have as much fun as possible before I get tied down by my school work again! I found it odd that the el banco officer wanted to see my passport when I attempted to change some money. He kept saying :"paspor, paspor, paspor". So obviously I was an idiot and I got confused for a moment. "Lamento Senor, no entiendo", then it struck me that he wanted my passport, which I didn't have. So I couldnt change anything! Bummer :(

Anyway, the buildings are absolutely gorgeous in Spain! The churches and cathedral are beautiful. I had always approached and visited churches with a half-hearted interest, but (surprisingly!) I have learnt to appreciate the beauty now. The churches are influenced a little by the Greeks and the Romans (prof Vincent would be so proud of me for noticing these elements in the buildings!) The alleys are narrow and are lined with apartments on both sides. Cars and pedestrians share the same path. Because of this, the cars look exceptionally tiny to me!

Saw and experienced the flamenco dance tonight. The dancers have such intense concentration that it was almost scary to look at the lead lady dancer. However, the male dancer was gorgeous! He looked ordinary at first, but after his stunning performance, my heart almost melted. These dancers start training when they are young (about 5 years old). Infact, while walking along the streets, I peeped into the apartments and saw this little girl dancing, flamenco style, while her grandpa clapped his hands to keep the rhythm. This is why I like to travel. There are always so many things to see, learn and take in!

So next stop on the list: Ronda, the famous White Town.

Thank god for sunblock!

Check out the hot babe in the picture! LOL. just jk jk. Did a little bit suntanning today. I applied a ton of sunblock, so I didn't get too tan and dark. My skin is not fried yet, and it's just nice for me to take pretty pictures while I'm at Cadiz! :)

Food for thought

Fact of the day: King Solomon has SEVEN HUNDRED wives and THREE HUNDRED concubines.

MY GOD. I don't think he ever remembered their names. How sad is it to be one of his wives?

Anyway, 21 more hours to Spain! Woohoo! Now we're counting in hours, not days anymore. We dock in at Cadiz port at 8am tomorrow, and I'll be up early tomorrow to watch the sunrise and watch the ship approach the port. Gonna be stocking up on caffeine supply for tomorrow since travelling starts tomorrow! THIS IS LEGIT.

Might or might not be blogging for the next 4 days, since I'll be out and about exploring and making day trips to cities close to Cadiz. The ship's still open for students to come back for meals and for sleeping. But who wants to come back to the dining hall here after eating 8 days of pasta, potatoes, salad, bread? Manz, we got so sick of eating those stuff. Right at the SEA Olmypics committee meeting yesterday, someone suggested that we have Potato Carving competition to get rid of them =p Or maybe have the SEA Olympics theme as Potato Polooza eh? Bring on the Carbs people! We also had a presentation on Spanish food yesterday and Bull's testicles is one of the dishes they have in Spain. I'm all psyched about that! It's disgusting, but I WILL EAT anything that comes my way =p

Buh-bye folks!