Florence, Munich… Memphis?
Hey Everyone! I saw some of you this weekend at Cynthia’s wedding and it was wonderful to see you! Yes, if you did not know, I went home (Memphis home) for the weekend. Perhaps that qualifies me as an international jetsetter.
I was very happy to be there for Cynthia and Brian’s big day. It was a wonderful ceremony and reception. A beautiful wedding, with enough funny parts to relieve all the tension and enough romantic parts to remind everyone what the celebration was about. I am so happy so many of Cynthia’s family were able to come from California. If you were there you might have noticed me holding on to Lauren and shaking. After ten minutes of standing in my heels, my legs were hurting and shaking. I was still paying attention to everything going on and thought it was lovely, but then I started to feel like I was going to faint. Blackness started to creep into my vision and I seriously almost passed out. I did not want to fall down, or even sit down, or do anything that would distract from Cynthia and Brian. I guess some people noticed I was shaking and holding on to Lauren, so I just wanted to say why. I feel very bad that I did that, even though I had no control over it. =( That was the only problem with the wedding, but thankfully it was only my problem and not theirs. I am sooo happy for those two!
The weekend before that I went to Munich for one day and stayed in Salzburg for the rest of the weekend. My time in Munich was spent at museums of Modern Art looking at German expressionist paintings and laughing at the guard who was listening to a Munich football game. The Munich art field trip was useful for my class but not very exciting to talk about. Munchen (Munich) is a nice city, and I especially love the airport. Everything there is orderly and labeled and you can easily find your way through the airport. If you get confused or have a question you can ask because everyone speaks German and English. I looove Munich’s airport. I tell you this so I can compare my experience there (flawless) with my experience in Atlanta. Atlanta’s airport on a scale from one to ten would be about a 3.5. While I was there someone stopped me as I was about to go through passport control and asked me where my luggage was, as if I had forgotten to pick it up from baggage claim. After I made it through passport control we were herded, literally herded, through to security. The airport employees were yelling at people telling them which direction to go. I found this extremely ridiculous, especially since we were in the international terminal and yelling English at people is not helpful. Sign with English are easily understood but screaming airport employees are not. The Italian couple behind me seemed just as confused by the yelling and also by the fact that you have to take your shoes of during security. As of today, I have only had to do this in US airports.
I don’t remember if I emailed everyone about Florence. I know I have tried several times but I don’t know if it ever worked… My time in Florence was one of my favorite experiences in Europe so far. I went on a weekend trip with the “Southern Girls” from Ouachita Baptist University. Everyone calls them the “Southern Girls” and I, the only other Southerner in the school, am not included in that and I am ok with that. We took an overnight train to Florence during Carnivale weekend. It was an interesting time to go to the city. Tons of people were there because there is no better place to be for Carnivale than in Italy. Lots of Asian tourists, some of whom took pictures of us and then with us when we asked whz they were taking pictures of us.
We went to a Carnivale celebration on Sunday that was part parade, part concert. The parade was an international parade and every country represented had a float decorated in the country’s colors. After each float went through the city streets they ended on a stage and did some type of performance. Most groups sang songs but the Filipino group did a hip-hop dance to a song from the Disney movie “High School Musical” (which is really popular here… at least in Italy). A Chinese dragon weaved through the crowd while people dressed as Austrian nobility marched through the square and a Swedish float advertised an ABBA musical. Kids in the crowd were all dressed up as princesses and cowboys and pirates, etc. They had bags of confetti they threw on the ground and at people in the crowd. I ended up in a tiny confetti war with a Disney princess while her mom watched and laughed.
We wanted to rent mopeds to ride around the city but settled for bicycles after the people at the shop said it would be safer. We spent hours riding around the city taking pictures and getting lost. It was the best way to explore the city. I hope that I will get the chance to rent a bike in another city. We went through the city and stopped to eat pizza and repeatedly to get gelato. Who doesn’t love gelato? Bikes also came in handy when Italian boys kept talking to us and following us… we could make a quick getaway. I can’t have too much attention; it will go to my head. =)
Well, I think I am all caught up on my adventures. I want to send a lot of pictures, but that never seems to work. If you don’t look at Facebook I will try this week to put all the pictures on a website for photos. I will send you the link in the next email.
After this week of midterm exams (sadness!) I am headed off for my two week spring break. My plan so far is to travel with two people, Adam and Alisha, for the first week. We are going to Brussels, Belgium; Milan, Italy; Rome, Italy; and Athens, Greece. After that I will be leaving them and traveling by myself for a few days. I will fly back to Milan and then travel by train to Switzerland. My plans are not made for this part of my trip but I might go to Zurich or Geneva. Then I will go to Basel, which is not exciting but I need to go to the art museum there for my art history class. I then will travel to Luxembourg because I have nowhere better to do and it is on my way to Paris, which is my final destination. I will spend 2-3 days in Paris with the Southern Girls and then head back home to Salzburg. Sounds nice, eh?
Well, everyone have a good week. Email me if you get the chance. I would love to read emails for you lovely people on rainy days like this one!
Ich liebe euch (I love yall).
