Chatswood

I went in to Chatswood today since it was nice out and I needed something to do. It wasn’t nearly as entertaining as I’d hoped though. Sarah went with her housemates a couple weeks ago and spoke very highly of the “cute little town.” I was surprised when I got off the train (it’s only three stops away) to feel like I was stepping into a dingy Chinatown, kind of like a part of New York City you wouldn’t care to spend a lot of time in. Almost all of the food places had Chinese characters for names and it was really crowded for a Tuesday afternoon.

The only thing it appears there is to do in Chatswood is shop. I found two huge malls that I got lost in, but the most exciting part of that was finding a bookstore that was going out of business so I could look through their books for a few minutes. It didn’t really help that I didn’t feel like spending money. I probably shouldn’t have decided it was a good day to go shopping.

The one success of the afternoon was finding a decent-looking Moscato in a bottle shop that I passed. The guy behind the counter was really nice and offered to help me like four times, probably because I kept opening up the coolers to pull bottles out and read the backs. The Moscato I ended up picking was on special 2 for $10, so hopefully it ends up being good.

Last Day with Our Family

This morning we woke up and had breakfast which included a weird green dish that I have still have no clue what it was. A lot of Ajay and Sangita’s family came over today and visited, so we talked with some of their cousins out on the back patio while they cracked open coconuts for lunch. Rigi and the younger cousin went swimming even though it was pretty chilly out and started to rain.

We came inside instead and had chicken for lunch with custard pie, a traditional desert dish in Fiji known for its simplicity. I didn’t really enjoy it as much as I should have. I just don’t think custard is my thing.

After lunch, we took a taxi into town and looked around at a few of the shops. Not much was open, but I finally was able to see how expensive their books really are. Most of them cost upwards of $40 or $50, which is expensive even if you halve it into what would be about American currency. Magazines were $18 too!

Since it was Sunday and most things were closed, we went to see The Dark Knight Rises at the town theater (tickets were $6). It was alright. It at least moved fast enough to keep my attention but it was a little long. Their popcorn is pretty good here and much cheaper than in the States (only $5 for a small pop and popcorn combo and $7 for the medium), even though some of the other girls said they didn’t like it. They just don’t use as much butter. The only annoying thing was during the entire movie the guy behind us kept putting his feet on our seats. At one point, he toes were literally touching my elbow because he was taking up half of my arm rest. I would have said something if we weren’t there with Raoul, our cousin, and Nina.

We picked up a chicken pizza for dinner and brought it back in the taxi with us. I don’t think they use much sauce on their pizza here, if at all, but it was still good. After dinner, we exchanged gifts with our host family. They bought us bracelets and the older daughter, Shigi, drew us a picture with a little note and necklaces. It was really cute. Sangita also gave us necklaces for our mothers. They liked our gifts too. Deirdre gave them coasters from her school and two Philly baseball caps. I gave them a coffee mug from my school. Then we all sat in the living room and watched a Hindi epic story together that they’ve been watching together. 

Our European Adventure, Day 15

I felt like we woke up at the crack of dawn this morning because I had trouble sleeping last night. It was really already 6:30, but still, that’s incredibly early. We packed up our things, checked out of the hostel, and headed over to the train station to purchase some snacks for lunch before finding the platform for our first train of the day.

Immediately upon stepping on the train, we realized the difference it the older trains we’ve been taking for the rest of the trip and sleek, faster express trains that we took today. Instead of private cabins of six, today’s trains featured airplane-like seating only roomier with a table every few seats. The dining car was also more luxe.

The inside of the first express train - they looked the same

We toiled away the train rides by playing cards, reading, and sleeping. The switch between trains was a pretty high stress event though because our first train ended up getting stuck working its way around construction and we were running about twenty minutes behind. Originally, we had only had about twenty minutes to make our connection in Frankfurt’s Main station. However, our train pulled in two minutes before the second left and we would have needed to run across the station. People sitting in our train car persuaded us to wait until the next stop because they said our second train would be there also, but on the same platform. Luckily, they were right and we stepped off one train and directly on to the next. I did have to kick someone out of our seats though because he thought we weren’t coming we didn’t get on at the right stop.

After we settled in and a round of cards was played, we ordered our lunch from the dining car. I ended up getting a hot ham and cheese sandwich with chocolate cake and an ice cream bar for desert. It was actually really good. I’m surprised at the quality of the food that they sell on those trains. It was really easy to find something on the menu that I would like too.

We pulled into the Amsterdam station about half past four and put our luggage in storage lockers before adventuring into the city. We didn’t have anything specific to do, so after exchanging currency (for a really crappy rate, it would have been cheaper to do at the airport), we wandered throughout the souvenir shops looking for things to spend our money on. I ended up buying quite the collection of things, including a change purse, scarf, t-shirt, calendar and mug. I’m happy with the purchases that I couldn’t make as freely before because I didn’t have a credit card after it was stolen.

We found a Argentinean steak restaurant for dinner. The service was so slow and, while the meat was gigantic, it wasn’t that great tasting. It might not have been the best meal but Madeline and I definitely agreed the bread with garlic and butter sauce was really good. We made sure to order a second round.

Since the restaurant didn’t have a very big drink selection, we decided to get chips at a Mexican restaurant after dinner and try out their cocktail menu. We ended up making friends with the bartender, Victor and he gave us a few free sample drinks. I didn’t really like his mixing as much as everyone else, but maybe I just ordered the wrong things. They just all tasted rather strong to me and I wasn’t in the mood for that. Then Matt, Ben, and Madeline went back to the train station to wait for the next train while I sat outside a McDonald’s and stole their WiFi.

The four of us cheering to Victor's specialty on our last night in Amsterdam - notice Matt looks better today

We took the 12:45 train to the airport and we’ve been waiting there ever since in the downstairs area. Not getting a hotel was a good choice, but at the same time, I’m kind of tired.

Italia: Day Eight

This morning I got up at 7:45 to shower and stuff before we went down to breakfast. I had the awesome bread again and some cheese and ham. For some reason, it didn’t taste quite as good today so I had an apple as well.

Our morning officially started at nine when we went on tours with the students. The whole day was rather disorganized though. It turns out the Italians hadn't had breakfast yet, so we hopped on the bus and stopped at a sit-down restaurant. Once we got there, they realized we didn't want to get anything to eat though and apparently not all of them were hungry, so we hopped on the bus again to go to a croissant shop that also had coffee. The Italians downed their espresso like it was a shot and we were off again.

It didn’t seem like they really knew what we were doing though. We wandered around the town, looking at the views from off the tops of buildings, visiting a park called Monteclaro that had a lot of turtles and odd-looking ducks, and getting on and off the bus. They seem to use public transportation a lot here, which I love. I just wish the buses weren’t so crowded. I like sitting down occasionally, especially when we’re doing a lot of walking.

One interesting thing I noticed though was that to get to the top of the buildings in the older part of the city, they have outdoor elevators built into the side of the wall. It seemed really strange to me. Wouldn’t the mechanical parts erode over time and the elevator stop functioning? It was actually one of the largest elevators I’ve seen since arriving though, so I guess they work quite well.

Views from the top of the city

The confusing streets of Italy

Man-made lake in the city park

I also got to see an Italian driver’s license, which looks a lot different than ours. Their license indicates what level they are at and, specifically, what type of vehicles they can drive on the back. It also includes the basic information listed on ours. They were all really surprised by the vertical appearance of my license and the warnings indicating I was underage. They were amazed that I’m only eighteen and that it isn’t legal to drink in America at my age. It turns out the drinking age is actually 16 here and no one pays attention to it either.

For lunch, we went to a place called La Cantina, where we feasted on fries and breaded chicken sandwiches. The amazing thing was this place actually had ketchup. I was surprised to find it and immediately ordered a healthy amount for my chicken. I swear, living in Europe, the first thing I’ll go through withdrawals of is my ketchup. This place does not appreciate the condiment.

We took a bus to an outlet of the university after we were done. At the university, we showed the students our video of Delaware and recapped our afternoon. After a short question and answer session, we say goodbye to our second group of passing friends and went back to the hotel for a brief moment before going to a shopping street in the city for dinner. We ate at a small restaurant on a side street that had a menu in English and Italian, along with a number of other languages. The waiter was really nice.

How Italians think of American clothing and New York...

The classroom we gave our presentation in

Before they brought out the first course of our meal, there was some commotion outside. It turned out to be a PRIDE parade, so we went outside and videotaped it. While we were watching, a guy heard us talking and asked if we were American. I started a conversation with him because he was cute. It turns out he’s a nineteen-year-old guy from Idaho who is studying as a foreign exchange student in a local high school. It's weird how you can find an American pretty much anywhere in the world.

Idaho

Drag queens in the parade

PRIDE parade

Garlic bread had appeared on the table since we had gone outside, so we indulged. Next came the pasta. Becky, Chelsea, and Pam had all ordered spaghetti, but I was confused when they brought me a lasagna looking dish instead of my cheese pizza. I ate it though because I was hungry and thought it may be some weird kind of pizza that I hadn't seen before. I was even more surprised when, after I finished the lasagna dish due to my hunger, they delivered a pizza to the table. Where did the lasagna come from?!

When the bill came for our meal, I was outraged to find out the lasagna that I didn’t order had been placed on our bill along with my pizza and the bread that we also didn’t order. I complained to our waiter, who had been funny and entertaining the whole meal. He seemed nonplussed to change our bill because as he claims “I ate the dish”. I explained that I thought it was what I had ordered and he lowered the bill by six euros, which wasn’t the full price of the lasagna. I was really appalled by how he handled the whole ordeal. In the States, if something like this would have happened, I definitely wouldn’t have been charged for non-ordered items. I might even have gotten something extra because of the mistake. I think this is just an example of people trying to take advantage of the tourists. While it was awkward at the time, I’m glad I didn’t stand for it.

The waiter playing around before the bill issues

We tried to go shopping after dinner, but everything was already closed, so we turned around and found the only open gelato shop to get our fix. They had terrible choices though, so I ended up with a melon flavor that I didn't really enjoy. It ended up being a disappointing experience all around because Pam didn't like her flavor either. I can’t believe they didn't have any type of chocolate.

We walked back to the bus stop afterward and ended up stumbling upon the PRIDE parade people having a party in the square. There was a stage with a band set-up and the drag queens were all hanging out ready to perform. They kept talking in between each song though and we couldn’t understand what they were saying, so we ended up coming back to the hotel.