My Experience with Modern Technology
Now I’m not going to sit here and lie to you people. I love my phone. If that’s even possible, then yes, I love my phone. Ask anyone in my family and they’ll say I’m glued to it. I always find a way to shoot a text to my friends.
Recently though, I’ve had some problems regarding friends and family and I found that my cellular telephone was just adding to the stress. My original solution to my problems was to move, but when that idea got shot down, I decided I was going to give up my phone. Not for lent or anything, but simply because I wanted to.
In trying to decide how long to give it up for, I had a small debate with myself-one week, or two? In the heat of the moment two Mondays ago, I decided two. Right before leaving for dance, I went down to my mother with a huge metal-free grin on my face and said, “Mom, this is my phone,” I put the phone in her pocket and said, “and you are going to keep it from me for two weeks. Hide it and don’t give it back to me no matter what.”
You may be wondering Why? How? How are you able to give it up just like that? And my answer is simply: I don’t know. For someone who is constantly texting and attached to technology, I don’t quite get how I can give it up and not miss it. Literally, I did perfectly fine. I did it because I figured it would help in solving my issues. The truth is is that yes, it did help. Some people I know still don’t believe me that it has helped. I have solved most of my recent issues and its wonderful. I don’t even care that I might have 30+ texts waiting for me when I get home from school tomorrow!
On the other hand though, I haven’t been completely cut off from civilization. There is a wonderful invention out there called Skype. For those of you that don’t know, Skype is something where you can chat, voice chat, and video chat with friends and family across the world. So instead of having my phone I have been communicating through my friends on Skype. As my wonderful step-dad asked me during week one, ‘Are you replacing your phone with Skype?’ And in my opinion I didn’t because I didn’t say I was giving up technology I just said my phone.
A lot of people these days don’t realize what a huge impact technology and electronics have on our lives. Just look out around us- everywhere you look there are people texting or on the phone. Even adults can’t go anywhere or survive without their phones because of jobs. If they don’t get reception I know plenty of people who will freak out.
So my over-all conclusion to these past two weeks is this: I am so proud of myself for surviving without my phone. I have solved a lot of my issues mainly because it gave my time to think on my own without the pressures of friends constantly. Although these past two weeks have been dramatic at school, it’s nice to know that I can leave it at school and just focus on me and my dance at home.
My suggestion: I suggest that everyone at some point during this year give up their cellular telephone for a period of time. Just see how you do. It doesn’t have to be long but see how your life is different or how things change when you don’t have your phone.
My final thoughts: Now, when I get my phone back tomorrow, I’m not going to magically be one of those people who only texts between 2 and 4 PM and turns it off while doing homework or anything like that. I do believe that I will have more discipline when it comes to texting. Maybe (hopefully) I’ll be able to say ‘gtg do hw’ or ‘ttyl im busy’ more often so I’m not over-stressed out. But in the end, I am very proud that I survived these two weeks and I have no regrets.
Friends, Dizzy Stars, and the Bear Room
Personally, I can’t believe that this was our fourth year going to Wyoming. Just four times, 4 weeks, 28 days. The week just flew by. Day one and two seemed like the same day by Saturday and all the events kept combining. When we got there we did the usual greetings of all our old friends and then we went to our cabin and checked out ‘the list’ to see who’s new this year and what ages everyone is. Basically checking for potential friendships. As it turned out, we ended up with 18 teens in the teen group. We had to split up between two wranglers. The kids who have been to the ranch before recruited the ‘new kids’ one by one and by the end of the week our group of friends had doubled.
I can’t completely put into words the feeling that I get when I go out there but I do know that it takes my breath away. The scenery is like nothing out here in Massachusetts. The adrenaline rush I get when we start trotting and loping is right up there with what I feel when I dance. The freedom when I ride through the fields of sage with the Teton Mountain Range right there with me and the sun on my face is exhilarating.
Every night, the teens gather in the Bear Room for a couple of rounds of ‘truth or dare’ or ‘would you rather’ which always get us into a conversation. You wouldn’t think that all these kids who have known each other for one week a year could laugh so much or have so may inside jokes but somehow we make it work 🙂 These people are my true friends and we have such fun every time we see each other. Bonding over how cold we are at 8:00 in the morning, or how much our butts hurt when we get lost and our four hour ride becomes seven and a half hours, and how scared we are of the ranch ghost, Lucy, are moments that you can’t get anywhere else but with true friends.
On the teen overnight, after playing countless rounds of telephone, the starts started showing. Now we have been very lucky because every year we have gone out to the ranch there has been a meteor shower. After a little while someone suggested the dizzy star game (and to this very day my tailbone still hurts) which we played for at least 1.5 hours and our wranglers were not too happy about our screaming. We didn’t even care because we were enjoying ourselves being with our friends.
On our last day there, it was filled with exchanging numbers, hugs and goodbyes, finding out each other’s last names, and making sure that we’d all friend each other on Facebook when we got home. I feel like everyone is really planning on keeping in touch through the year because we do want the relationships to last forever. Even though I know the routine once we step off the plane there, it still catches me by surprise. I mean it’s not very often that you can be within 20 feet of a moose or fully see the milky way or have a ‘family’ place but almost never see you parents. I take it all in while I’m out there and I never miss a chance to take a picture.
Starting school will be especially hard for me this year because I got very attached to Wyoming this time; both the scenery and the people. No matter what goes on at school this year and the drama that plays out, I know I will always have Wyoming to look forward to. And although I do love my life and everything here at home, my heart will always lie in Wyoming.
D.E.P.T 1…get ready cuz here I come!!
I know I haven’t written in a while but I guess there wasn’t much to blog about. Recently, I found something! On May 24th, my dance studio had their annual competition team auditions for the 2010-2011 season. There are 3 teams: DEPT 1, DEPT 2, and DEPT 3. 3 is the youngest and 1 is the oldest.
My first year trying out I got on DEPT 3. Last year and this year I was on DEPT 2 dancing with the same girls. Every single year the drama gets worse and not being included became more and more common for me. I know they all talked about me behind my back but I learned to live with it. This past year was especially tricky however. I suddenly got completely ignored and nobody seemed to like me, and the people that did, well I didn’t give them a chance. On recital day, I was furious. It came to them all teaming up against me. (Keep in mind it is probably 4 or 5 girls who get the others to join in).
This happened in recital A. By recital C, I was over the worst of it and then it got worse because just before we go on stage I get word that some mean stuff was said about me over Facebook. Of course I’m not on Facebook so I had no idea what was going on. By this point I had all the teachers love and support. Now over this past year I have developed many friends on the older team. I was hurt so bad and this pushed me over the edge.
After the whole recital day was over, one of my teachers came up to me and said that she just heard that one of the girls was not coming back and that means that none of them are. The thing with these girls is that they travel together. When one goes-they all go. This is because it’s like a chain reaction. 3 of them have been together forever and then one of those has friends that will leave with her and it just goes on.
So, at auditions of course I tried not to let these girls get the best of me and did my best. The next day I got the email saying I was on DEPT 1. I couldn’t hold it in and I was jumping and shrieking. Of course I was at Amanda’s martial arts and they all looked at me quite funny 🙂 My friend Hannah and I were the only two from DEPT 2 that moved up. As I find out now, 6 people from my old team are leaving Dance Etc and moving to another studio. Probably a studio with more competition. I feel bad for Miss Erin because she is losing so much of the DEPT 2, but then again, I am happier then I have been in a long time because all my drama will probably go away.
As for the upcoming summer, I am taking so many dance classes. Two sessions of stretch and strength, a session of Acro, and maybe classes at another studio and finally a couple weeks of classes at Boston Ballet. I started pointe this year and I love it so I am going to see if ballet is where I want to be.
Everyone was telling me stick with dance and ignore those other girls. They are just jealous of you. And I believe it 100%. All I know, is that I love to dance and I want to dance forever. They can hate me if they want but that’s their problem, not mine. It’s not my fault if I’m better than them. And the girls that just want to compete, let them. They don’t think that Dance Etc is where they belong so they should leave and go someplace that accepts them and their personalities so they can grow as dancers.
I’m glad that I worked through my anger that day on recital day, because it has made me such a stronger dancer and person. As Amanda told me one day when I was in tears ‘Your crying isn’t a sign of weakness. It is your way of learning how to deal with these type of girls in the world.’
One of my favorite jumps at one of my favorite settings
Courtesy of Amanda and her awesome camera 🙂
Dance
I just had a dance competition on Sunday!! My team and I did very well. On our first number, the music didn’t start so we had to go to the last resort which was my dance teachers laptop that had the music on it. It wasn’t ideal, but at least we got to dance at all!
Amanda sat in the audience with my dad and took pictures. My mom, step-dad, and family friends of ours Ann and Caroline came too. Our second dance was a hip-hop dance and it was so much fun. We all performed it perfectly and tried our very hardest. Our jazz number was next, and we were ready for it because we had already done it for people at the Topsfield Fair way back in October. We rocked it! After that one, we had a break, and I went out to the audience with my best friend Maddie. As we sat down with Amanda, she started to show us all the pictures she had taken so far. When we got to the ones of our jazz dance ‘Work me down,’ Amanda said to me, ‘You do know you’re like the star of this dance right?’ And I guess she is right because I am showcased a lot. After the break I had one last dance-a modern dance. That one went spectacular!
Once all the dancing was done, it was time for awards. We did really well! Our swing dance, jazz dance, and modern dance all got High Golds, and our hip-hop got a Gold. The Swing also got a special award, as did the modern dance. My team was so proud of our selves!
When I came home from the competition, I had a surprise waiting for me…a cell phone! I was so thrilled I literally couldn’t stop smiling or jumping! That day couldn’t have been better!
NYC
Hello again!
Every year, my dad takes Amanda and me to New York City for 2-3 days, and we see a Broadway show. We go usually the weekend after Christmas, and it has now become no surprise that we are going. The city continues to amaze me with its grand skyscrapers, and spectacular light shows as you walk in Times Square. This place is really one of a kind. I love getting the chance to go there every year because it’s where everything’s at. I am the type of person that longs to be in a central place, where lots of things happen. Ever since I was little I have wanted to be somebody and do something big, and I think that if I were to do that, why not live out my dream in NYC? Even though every year we pretty much see the same stuff, Rockefeller Center, Dean & Deluca, and Times Square, I still love every second of it because it just is incredible. The city-life is definitely for me!
In previous years for the Broadway shows we have seen Mary Poppins, Grease, and Wicked, which are all truly wonderful shows to see.
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This year however, we saw a play called ‘Billy Elliot,’ which was different for us because not one of us had really heard any reviews about it. It is an unbelievable show that I will never forget. It is about a young boy named Billy who takes boxing, but somehow gets into a ballet class and really enjoys it, and it quite good. This story takes place in England, at a time when the miners are all on strike. Both Billy’s dad and brother are miners. It shows the struggle between the miners and the government very well. Now me being a dancer, I almost cried about four times because Billy’s ability to dance just was incredible. I was just in shock. It is a very humorous show yet serious at the same time, and I would definitely go back and see it again without a doubt. It beats Wicked…which is pretty hard to do.
So with another mind blowing trip to NYC, and an incredible show to go along, I can’t wait to go back next year and see what new things I learn, and how my dreams become bigger with every trip there.
Prank Wars…watch your back!
So on Christmas Eve, and I was pretty pleased with myself. Why you may ask? Because I pranked my sister so bad I couldn’t stop laughing. This all started on Sunday, when I logged on to my computer (Amanda and I share, but have different users) and saw a word document minimized at the bottom of the page. Of course, I clicked on it, and it was a letter to me with the title: YOU HAVE BEEN PRANKED MUAHAHAHA. This is what it reads:
Dear Rachel,
If you are frustrated by your desktop background’s overall stupidity… meaning it won’t let you click on any of the icons, then HAHAHAHAHAHA. Truth is, I was bored and you are currently not home, making you an easy target for a prank.
If you have not noticed the desktop background prank yet, and instead clicked on the first thing that caught your eye (aka a Word document at the bottom of the screen saying: YOU HAVE BEEN PRANKED MUAHAHAHA), then I invite you to now go try and use your desktop. Good luck.
LET THE PRANK WAR BEGIN!!!!!
So me being me, I went to my desktop and tried to click on the icons, and sure enough, they wouldn’t work!!! Now I’m not one who uses her icons much, but it still did bother me. Mandi and I are big fans of an ongoing prank war between these two guys name Amir and Streeter. They work for a place called collegehumor.com and about a year and a half ago they started these terrible pranks to just get each other. I am assuming that Amanda got the idea to start our own prank war from these guys, and just by being home alone and bored.
Anyways, so to get back at her, I ‘flipped’ her desktop upside down and hid the toolbar. It took her sometime to figure out how to get the toolbar back to normal. I didn’t really expect her to take it to the next level so quickly and move the pranks away from the computer…but she did. I wake up Monday morning to saran wrap on the door frame. Of course, to make it worse, she wrote ‘QUARANTINE’ across the top. Now I was supposed to walk into it and I’m really glad I didn’t. For my prank for her, I waited until about 12:45 AM when she and her friend would be almost asleep (they were sleeping over our house). In my closet is a ‘Secret Passageway’ that leads to Amanda’s room. (The girls were sleeping the basement) I crawled through there, stuck a chair under the door, and crawled back and went to bed, pretty pleased with myself.
In the morning, I acted all cool, and just played everything by ear. I really was hoping that they would find the prank before her friend left. Sure enough, when Mom said for them to go get changed, Amanda goes to open the door, and it won’t open! Here is the dialogue that went on:
Amanda: Rachel!! Did you put a chair under the door????
Me: I don’t know what your talking about
Amanda: Get up here and fix it!!!
Me: I’m sorry, but there is only one way to get inside that door and that is through the crawl space and I’m not helping.
She was so mad at me I can’t even put it into words! I was very pleased with myself, and I am watching my back all the time, because I have no idea what she is planning or when it is going to happen. We are heading to NYC tomorrow for a show and to see the city, and I will be sure to blog when I get back.
*If you have any good prank ideas, feel free to comment and post what they are. Or, if you would like to know how to commit any of the pranks listed, also just comment and I will be sure to let you know*
Rent
So last Friday night, Amanda my dad and I sat down in front of our TV screen to watch the masterpiece of a film, RENT. For the past couple of weeks, Amanda and I have been obsessed with the soundtrack because she watched the taping of the Broadway version. She brought home the soundtrack, and we were mesmerised. Dad bought the DVD and I couldn’t wait any longer, I just had to see this film that everyone was raving about then and now.
When the opening song came on, I could barely keep myself from singing along. As it got more into the movie, I was thinking to myself, “I know this is a musical, but I feel like there is no regular talking at all…just music.” This I found very disturbing, because everyone was raving about it and the story line, but I found it hard to…not grasp the concept…but it didn’t exactly elaborate on what I thought it would, such as the AIDS or the drugs involved. So by the end of this 2+ hour movie, I found myself thinking, “The music was incredible..but the story wasn’t because they didn’t exactly get the main point across as much as I thought they would” I was being told its such a powerful movie, and really makes you think differently…but all I saw was something that had incredible music, with an attempt at a moving storyline, but not succeeding.
I know this might not sound like much to you, but it has been hanging over my head for the past week, and I can’t get over how disappointing it was. A RENT song will come on my iPod and I love it, but then the scene from the movie pops into my head, and my heart drops a little. I just don’t see why and what people were raving about so much, and how powerful the topics were. So, I just thought I would clue you in a little bit about what I have been up to, and my recent obsession with an amazing soundtrack.
New Schools…
Last Wednesday, I started Middle School (7th grade). With butterflies in my stomach and a backpack on my back, I headed down the street to the bus stop. After the almost empty bus ride (only 9th and 7th graders), we entered the school being cheered on by the 9th grader’s peer leaders-we thought we entered the wrong hallway!
I got to my hallway, and stood by my homeroom teachers door, waiting for her to show up so we could get our locker combos. The first day went pretty easily, but the coolest part of this whole expierience so far is seeing all of my friends, but more inportantly, seeing my friends from when I used to live in Boxford-5 years ago. All of the kids from my first grade all rememeber me, and I remember them. It is so cool to not have seen someone for over 5 years, and be able to talk to them like I have never missed a day with them!
We had an extended homeroom, figuring out schedules, and comparing classes with neighbors. When we finally left our seats to go to our other classes, I met up with more of my old friends from Boxford-I was so thrilled. I have found that almost everyday at school, I see somebody from Boxford that I didn’t see that first week. This past week has been such a thrill for me, and for once, I am actually happy to be in school again. Not so happy about the work, but about seeing my friends again-old and new.
This week, (almost 5 days) has been such a blast because I love walking the hallways not in lines, and talking all I want to friends. The freedom is so much better then in any school I have ever been in, and the work isn’t too bad…yet! So far, I have seen almost my entire 1st grade class from Boxford, and my two best friends from back then, and we have been best friends ever since the start of school again! This whole expierience has been wonderful for me, and each day I get up and am happy to go to school! All in all, I have concluded from entering the middle school that it isn’t nearly as bad as Amanda and others have said it would be……yet. 🙂
One Amazing Day!
Sunday, was the amazing day, and I had so much fun. We got up and went to Amanda’s Martial Arts Demo, where she had a very well done solo. Then, we went to a cooking class, me, Amanda, and a close family friend of ours Kim. Dad stayed home to work. All that we made there were desserts, and they were delicious. Here is what we made: an ice cream sandwich, with vanilla ice cream mixed with raspberries, and the sandwich part was marble pound cake. The three of us made everything except for the pound cake. Next we made a watermelon granita, which is pureed watermelon with alcohol (we used coconut extract instead), and when it comes out you eat it, and we all thought it was disgusting! Then we made a strawberry tart, which has a pie crust, with a filling, and strawberries on top-so good! The last two things we made were a drink which wasn’t good because it wasn’t sweet enough, and chocolate mousse inside of a chocolate shell! It was perfect! We ended the class by inviting Dad to come and dine with us, which is where we all got to taste it all! It was a really fun class.
So, after the cooking class, we all drove to Kim’s house, changed our clothes and what not, got in one car, and drove down to the Comcast Center in Mansfield for a Bruce Springsteen Concert!!!! I had heard this add on the radio for on sale tickets, and I told Amanda, and we told Kim and Dad, and they loved the idea, so we got the tickets! For someone who is 60 years old, Bruce puts on one amazing show. All of his songs are so fun to listen to, and we had a great time dancing and singing along. He doesn’t even stop in between songs, he just rolls them into each other. When the concert was over, we thought getting out of the parking lot was going to be a lot like going to the Big E fair.
For those of you who don’t know about that adventure- we went to the Big E, and got out of the parking lot only to find that you move about 6 inches every 10 minutes, so we tried taking shortcuts, with below empty gas at 12:30 at night. We thought we were never going to get home. When we got ourselves lost, we ended up back on the main road, where there was no traffic-it had all cleared. Dad, Mandi, and I didn’t even bother taking the hour long drive back home from Kim’s, so we stayed there for the night.
Much to our surprise, it wasn’t anything like that. We got out of the parking lot and the traffic moved right along. Probably because they changed all of the lanes into outbound lanes. 🙂 Dad, Mandi, and I did get home safely at about 1:15 AM, and went straight to bed. I can’t wait to have another fun day like that one.
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We thought we were just going to get ice cream…
Tonight, we took our usual walk downtown to go get ice cream. When we turned the corner onto the street, out of the corner of my eye I saw this little dog on the other sidewalk. My dad called it over and it crossed ON THE SIDEWALK!!!! It kept walking away from us because that is where it thought the sound came from. Dad called it again, and it came scurrying towards us. Mandi and I knelt down, and the dog came right up and laid its paws on me! I picked her up and carried her to the ice cream store with us. She was shaking so hard, it was so cute! Mandi had asked to hold er, and did for about 5 seconds, then the dog crawled right back into my lap! I loved it because I love dogs, and my own dogs don’t exactly like how much I cuddle with them. I have always wanted a tiny dog. This particular dog was a Yorkshire Terrier. But, it was the smaller version, so it is only about 6 inches high and 1 ft. long. Adorable little thing!
As we started walking home with it (still in my arms of course) we saw this beam of a flashlight across from the ice cream shop. We thought amongst ourselves ‘Hmmm, that looks like someone who could be looking for a dog.’ So, we crossed the street and asked the woman if she was by any chance looking for a dog. She replied yes, but she is very tiny. It was so dark out that she couldn’t even see that I was holding the poor little thing. I spoke up and said “We found her!” The lady said really? How did you find her. We said she was walking down the street and she crossed the crosswalk. The woman replied, “Oh my gosh! I can’t believe she was in the street! She just ran away, she is going to be on a leash forever now!
Dad, Amanda and I were very sad to have to give the dog up, but were happy that we found her (Chloe’s) owner. Earlier, when we first found her, we called our Aunt and Uncle in New York to ask what we should do.(They are experts on how to rescue animals) Our Uncle suggested called the Police and asking for the Dog Unit. We were planning on keeping the dog for the night then calling in the morning. We ended up not doing that, and thank gosh we didn’t!
That was my big adventure for the night!
Back home once again…
So, Sunday night at 1:00 AM, we finally made it home from our trip to Wyoming. Out there is just stunning, and unforgettable. I think that this year has definitely made a bigger impact on the four us then usual. Getting on that plane was hard, and some tears were shed. To this day, we are not our normal selves. Everyone wishes they were back in Wyoming riding horses everyday.
On a happier note-more about the actual trip. Every morning we got up and had breakfast at 7:00 AM. Then we went off on our daily morning ride for 2.5 hours. Unreal scenary. My horses name this year was Curly Bill-one great horse! Then, we would come back to the ranch for a 1:00 lunch. If you wanted to (which I always wanted to), you could go on another 2.5 hour ride. You usually go farther away on those rides. In the middle of the week, the teenagers go on a 5 hour ride to a campsite, then camp out under the stars, that was very unforgettable! Then they also go to a movie, and Amanda and I went to see Julie and Julia the cooking movie. I liked it and thought it was ok. She blogs in that movie!! 🙂 After that, the rest of the week was pretty much the same. Eat, ride, hang out, eat, ride, hang out, sleep. Repeat. Fun altogether though.
Being home for the rest of the summer is going to be hard to understand. Because my summer has been travel, unpack, pack, travel, unpack, pack and travel again. Now, I am home for good, and missing Italy and Wyoming more then ever. But, in the back of my head I am saying to myself, home is where I want it to be, and to me, whenever I go away to Wyoming every year, that is where my true colors come out, and where I can be myself, so that is where I choose my home to be…in Wyoming.
Wyoming
Tomorrow, my family and I start our journey to Triangle X Ranch in Wyoming, via Salt Lake City, Utah. This will be our 3rd year going there. Our car to the airport is at 5 AM, not fun!
There is no internet access there, which is why I am writing this blog. Once we get there, we will say hello to new people, and people we already know. After a barbecue later that night, we will all hang around the fire, and catch up, then go to sleep.
Monday-Saturday, we get up and have breakfast at 7, and go for a 2 hour ride. Then come back for lunch, and go for another 2 hour ride (optional). I can’t blog, so I figured I would put a couple pictures up from last year.
The Grand Tetons
Remmy and Me!
The moon, and the Grand Tetons
Hope to blog soon again!
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Back home
Hello everyone!
I am sad to say that I am back home in Massachusetts. I miss Venice very much and I miss the calmness of emotions around me. Nobody there really cared what was going on around them. When we were lost in the city, when we finally got back to the train station, there were tons of people just sitting around by the water with not a care in their minds. Amanda said, “Just look at them, they don’t care.” My dad responded with, “they do care, but only about the right stuff.” That all made us stop and think on the bridge for a while. Just looking out over the bridge, at the water and the night sky. It made me think that in America, we are all rush rush, have to get stuff done, everything matters, but in truth, the Italians are right, care only about the right stuff. Relax slow down, you’ll get there eventually. From then on, and even at home now, I roam about, not really going anywhere, just caring about the right stuff. Slowly moving.
What I have gathered, is Venice is not just a trip to some other country or town, it is life changing. I will never look at the world the same ever again. It is hard to grasp onto the fact that you are actually part of a world, where not everyone is as fortuanate as you. We think flying to California of Arizona is a completely different world then where we live, but really, leaving the country is a different world. It makes you think that there actually is hope, and a different world. There is no better feeling then going someplace, and thinking to yourself, “Wow! The U.S. isn’t your only hope. I can’t believe that I am actually still on planet Earth.” Everyone sees the world on a map and says Ohh, I know that there oare other countries and continents, the world is huge, and we see different pictures. But, you don’t get the true sense of it, until you actually go somewhere out of the country you live in.
Goodbye until my next blog!
Our first Day in Venice!
Venice is unbelievably gorgous!
On our train here, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but when we pulled into the station, and went out to the streets, we all stood there stunned. There are no main road-it is the Grand Canal! Cars are not allowed here, you have to travel by water, which means you are out of luck if you are sean sick-unless you want to walk everywhere.
Amanda and I have decided that we want to live here! Out of the 3 cities, we can all come to an agreement that Venice is the best!
So, onece we found the hotel-thanks to me pointing out the obvious-we settled in and atarted walking down to a Gondola place that the hotel suggested. The hotel Dude did not give great directions so we asked 3 other people along the way for directions. Thank god we finally found it!
We had to wait 45 minutes until the next group headed out. They are group tours with a singer in one. The ride was absolutely beautiful. The sun was just beginning to set, and it refelcted off one of the buildings at the end. Truely unbelievable!
On our way back, we stopped by St. Mark’s Square (San Marco), by mistake. That was a good mistake, amazing. Amanda and I were trying to find the place where “The Italian Job” was filmed (our favorite movie). When we started to leave, we recognized the starting scene. We went back today for our walking tour.
Not surprising at all, we got lost coming back, Dad was leading. Going through dark allyways at 9:30 at night is not fun whatsoever. I was scared out of my mind. Eventually, we got Dad to stop at some hotel and ask for directions. as it turns out, we had made our way to the complete opposite of the city then we needed to be on. You could just see in the hotel lady’s face that she knew we were in trouble, but didn’t want to say it. So, she told us ‘it would be best’ to take the WaterBus. We made our way to the WaterBus, found Line #1, and took it eventually back to the hotel. Imagine a bus, shaped like a Whale Watching Boat (much smaller though), put it on water, and have the many different stops. That is what it is. It stops just like a bus, and you just get off. After, we got home, and went to bed. It was after 10:00 (Ann) 😉
That is why i didn’t blog yesterday, no Wi-Fi in the hotel room. 😦
Ciao!
A tour of Florence
Bonjourno!
On our last day of Florence, we got a walking tour. We learned a lot of history about it, just like we did in Rome. Our tour guide’s name was Yadri. It started out with us walking to a museum next to an academy of arts, so the museum was called Museum of the Academy. It had a mix of paintings, photography by Robert Mapplethorpe, and sculptures.
Some of the sculptures were copies of the originals, but we know one was the original-the one by Michaelangelo-David. Unfortuanately, we were not allowed to take pictures because of some copyright thing. But, later on in the day we went to a Square, and it had a copy of it, so I got pictures of that one.
The statue of David
Yadri also took us to one of the places I saw online back in America-the Ponte Vecchio and those other bridges. The Ponte Vecchio is a famous bridge that had shops on it, and the shops stick out over the water.
The Ponte Vecchio
Another bridge in which the view is called the chain because with the bridge+its refelction, it looks like a chain!
After the tour, we went back to the hotel, hung out for a while, then went out shopping in a market!!!!!! I got a little Colloseum, in remembrance of Rome, and a little pyramid that has different sites from Florence on it. Now all I need is someting from Venice!
My mini Colloseum
2/4 Sides of my pramid-the crest, David, and the Medici Palace
The other two sides of my pyramid-The Cathedral and the Ponte Vecchio
By that point, I could eat Dad, so we tried to find the restaurant that Yadri had sugested to us-but I was so hungry that I couldn’t wait any longer to find it. So, we stopped at an outside restaurant-good food! In Rome, my dad got up and asked for the check and got lechtured by the waitor as to how they do things in this culture-as if we didn’t know. We were hoping not to make waiter enimies in Florence. It was all going great until Dad broke the water glass! We got out of there real fast after that, only to find out that the other restaurant was right around the corner!! 😉
The final part of our day consisted of one thing-GELATO!!! We headed off to the place that Yadri had sugested to us and it was the best gelato we had ever had, and it was from a place called GROM, which just opened up a shop in New York, Yadri told us!
Tomorrow we leave Florence on a train and head to Venice. I can’t wait! The next time I post I will be in Venice!
Ciao!
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When driving in Florence-(day #2)
Hello out there!
After waking up and having to tell our tour guide for tomorrow that she was supposed to come tomorrow, not today, we started driving to a Vineyard in Castelfiorentino to have a wine tasting and light lunch. I had written out the directions to there using my dad’s GoogleMaps off his iPhone because we knew we wouldn’t have Wi-Fi everywhere. Our wine tasting appointment was supposed to be at 11:30 AM, so we left at 9:30. (about a 50 minute drive). With our adverntures of getting to Florence, we wanted to be safe.
We were doing great with me reading the directions and checking maps and telling dad where to go…until we realized that GoogleMaps didn’t know exactly how to get to the Castle, so they sent us to the town center of Castelfiorentino. We thought we had done something wrong, so we found the center of town 3 times, not good! The 3rd time we parked there and asked for directions. By this point is was 11:30-the time we were supposed to be at the Castle.
The lady at the info desk was very nice-and gave us directions with a map, but was very brief. In using her directions, we still got lost. I suppose going up the same wrong street 3 times doesn’t help. Eventually, we went on the main road in hopes to turn left onto the road we sould’ve been on in the first place. But, what didn’t click in was that the info lady said we needed to go under a bridge (under the main road). None of us saw the bridge because we were too focused on the road ahead of us that brought us higher and higher into the beautiful scenic hills with vineyards everywhere. {That is another difference between Rome and Florence-Florence is less ruins, and more Vineyards and like Woming. The houses here remind me of Spain} I finally said turn around, and we went back down that main road, and saw the road below us that we needed to be on. So, we traveled back onto an intersection, and onto the road we had been on 2 times already, and kept going straight, for I had seen this dirt road that we were on before. It led us across the main road and onto the underroad. Finally, we somehow made it to the Castle at 12:45 PM.
A short tour was provided of the Castle, and then we sat down for wine. We young ones (Mandi and me) were provided with 8 types of wine-don’t ask me for the names, I have no idea. All I can tell you is that they all tasted awful!!!!! The bread they provided was delicious though! Amanda and I did not swallow the wine to my parents liking, both here and in America. After that, we all headed back to Florence, an easy trip-just go down the hill. It went much quicker with us reciting jokes, and annoying car songs.
The wine guide sugested we stop at San Gimignano, or San Chimichunga as Dad calls it because he couldn’t get the name right, a nice scenic place with lots of tourits shops. We bought some things for friends there, then really headed home.
Its late here, so I don’t have time to post pictures. Dad has already shut out the lights. I will post again tomorrow, which is when we get a walking tour of the city.
Ciao!
Florence, Day #1
A view of the Alps from our plane to Rome
Ciao!
Today, we got up, finished our packing, and went down to breakfast for the first time. Our non-hisitic jewish friends were not there. 🙂 We decided that we should have gotten up on time for breakfast every morning-it was very good!
Then, we drove to Termini Station to get our rental car that our travel agent was supposed to get for us. Needless to say, AVIS Car Rental had no car for us, and not even a reservation. After being at the station for about an hour and 20 minutes, we found a rental place that would give us a car on the spot-with some bargaining included. 🙂 Our car is a FIAT, which is the European style Mini-Cooper. Very small, and it took me a while to get un-closterphobeied.
Our car, we are riding European Style!
And so, we set off on our 2.5 hour journey to the Hotel Cosimo de’ Medici in Florence. With me reading the maps, Amanda checking the direction and in charge of music, and Dad driving, we made really good time! Once we got into Florence, we had a bit of trouble finding the right road. So, we called the hotel and the front desk lady gave us directions-spelling out every street name, and every little direction. Dad jotted down the notes as she said them. With his messy hand writing and shortened sentences, we had no idea how we were ever going to find the hotel by the night.
Dad's Notes
Our room is quite comfortable with some channels in English for once! It is great. Once again, we have a balcony in our room here too, but it overlooks the parking lot.
Me on the balcony in Florence
Our Wi-Fi searching days our over, we have it right in the room here! After we hung out in the room for a while, we checked out the Florence area and found this gigantic and beautful Cathedral-absolutely wonderful! Dinner was magnificent, and so was the gilato! After not having pasta with meatsauce for about 12 years, then having it the other night, I have decided I will not have it for a while-I don’t like it!
The difference between Rome and Florence is that Florence is definately more popular, and Rome has more old arcitechture. When we went to the Coluseum yesterday, we saw that they were excavating the ruins of Rome. None of that is going on here.
No they are not hisitic jews. Thanks for the Big Brother info!
I MISS YOU TOO NILES AND MAGGIE!!! MOM-GIVE THEM LOTS OF KISSES FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ill post pictures now, thanks for reading, and subscribe over on the right if you please.
Ciao! RB
The Cathedral
The inside of the tiny elavator at the other hotel-the one here is bigger!
Rome Day #3 (final day)
The amazing and ginormous Colloseum
One part of the Colloseum
Mandi and me on the Spanish steps (here you go mom)
This is the really tiny elavator in our hotel, about 2 feet wide. It took 3 days to get me and Mandi into it!
Bonjourno friends and family!
Today was our last day in Rome, and tomorrow we are off to Florence. I heard they have really good shopping there. 🙂
Early this morning we set out on a journey to find an internet caffe to find my sister a place so she could update her blog for yesterday. After sitting there for more than an hour, we set out on our journey.
We walked from our hotel (we got up on time today) to the Colloseum (the big famous building that is crumbling and where chariot races were held….lots of windows) It was truely gorgous!!! Only today, I have taken about 470 pictures!! I have a total of 779, or around. This is only our first city!!! My dad was joking that I took a pictures of every single window of the Colloseum, but when I talked to my mom, she said it was only because of my love of monuments and arcitechture.
After the Colloseum, we walked to the Spanish Steps, which my mom had told us to go see. Once we got there, we realized that we had been there last night, after our search for Wi-Fi, if you read my last post. There are a lot of steps, with what looks like a church thing behind them.
It is 9:17 Pm right now, and we are sitting outside that same internet caffe. We just had dinner and met some English speaking people who are staying in the same hotel as us, we call them our Breakfast Buddies. As I was telling my family, the father of our Breakfast Buddies was listening to our entire dinner conversation.
Well, I suppose I should attach my pictures now, Ciao!
Rome Day #2
Ciao again!
First off, thanks to all who posted about my blog about yesterday, it makes me feel good!
It gets very hot here during the day. After we got up at 12:30 PM, we walked at least 20 minutes to the Vatican Museum. In case you didn’t know, Vatican City is where the Pope lives! When we got there, our English speaking tour guide took us on a 3 hour ALL WALKING tour of the museum. I was barely standing up by the end of it. It is respectful to have your shoulders covered when entering the museum, so I had to put on my sweater over my halter top dress. That made me even hotter.
After the tour, we walked a couple of blocks to a Gilato stand, like ice cream, but richer and better. Although, it does melt incredible fast. Our walk home was good, and hot, and when we reached the Hotel Diplomatic, we all crashed on the beds and didn’t get up for a good 10 minutes.
Once we grabbed our bags for another journey, we set out to find a restaurant with Wi-Fi Connection so we could blog. We found one, but no wireless inside. So after we ate, we searched for a place with it, and came to some front of a building, at 10:40 @ night to blog, which is where I am right now.
After a long day of walking, it feels verrrrrrrryyy good to sit down and just relax. Tomorrow is our last day of Rome, so we hope to hit the Collusem, and then the next day we are off to Florence, with dad driving-O GOD!!!
This is me on our balcony over looking a street of Rome!
A beautiful square on our walk home
I would post more pictures, but dad and Mandi are bugging me to hurry up. Ill post tomorrow!!!
Ciao!!!!
Rome, day #1
Ciao friends!
Today, we arrived in Rome, Italy at around 10:30AM. Our first flight from Boston, was 6.5 hours long and was on a huge plane!We were served dinner and breakfast,.It was actually quite good! Our second flight was only 1.5 hours long, and it was not such a good plane. The drivers here in Italy drive in kilometers per hour instead of MPH. They drove About 150 kph. We finally got to the hotel, still taking tons of pictures, and we crashed for 3 hours. After we all woke up, we walked a ways through Rome. I don’t know how hot it is in America, but it is 80s-90s all the time here. The sun goes down at around 9 or 9:30 here, and drops to about 70. Perfect weather!!! I can’t post pictures because there is no wi-fi in the hotel. I am on my dads iPhone at the moment in the place where we just ate dinner. It is truly gorgeous here, and I can’t wait to see what the tour brings us tomorrow. I will post pictures and more blogs when I get the chance. You can not begin to imagine how beautiful the arcitechture is here. I can’t wait to see the colloseum and more!! i am loving this warm weather, I wish you all could be here with me! Ciao for now!!
Italy!
Hello!
Today I leave via plane for Frankfurt, Germany, and then another plane from there to Rome, Italy. I won’t arrive there until tomorrow, so I will post when I get there. I am going to take a huge amount of pictures, and then I will put some of them on the blog. Wish me luck on my trip, I will miss you all!
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First Post Ever!
HEY EVERYONE!
This is my very first post ever, and I love it! My family and I are leaving for Italy at the end of this month, and I plan to post on this blog what I am doing as often as I can, as well as posting pictures of Italy. I am going to try to comtinue this blog after my trip to Italy as well. Wish me luck traveling overseas!
Be sure to leave lots of comments-I would love to hear from everyone!
Dancer's Life 