La primera settimana

The first week is already over. And my head is full of bits of Italian, mixed with French, Spanish, English and German. I'm spending a lot of time studying (really! although I try to do it on the beach whenever possible), so there's not sooo much going on. Having said that, we had a good meal last Wednesday at Alle 2 Torri and an excellent aperitivo on Friday night (have to recheck the name of the bar). Aperitivo in Italia is really good: before dinnertime, many bars have a buffet where you can help yourself to unlimited snacks (for free) while you drink. The one we went to was amazing, they kept bringing new, freshly made stuff all evening, and we didn't even to go to dinner afterwards.

On Saturday, the weather was great, so we decided to go to Portofino. When we got off the train we were a bit disappointed. Yes, it was a nice little town, but really not much different from many Italian seaside towns. It only took us a couple of hours to realise that we weren't in Portofino yet ;-) To get there, it was another 5 km. Ramses (one of the guys in the appartment) and I decided to walk it, while Lada and Nicky (the other two) decided to just relax on the beach in Santa Margherita (which was the name of the town we were actually in). It was a lovely walk along the coast, and when we finally arrived, we understood what all the hype was about! It's a tiny fishing village (400 people live there) in a bay - and just picture-postcard-perfect. I think we were lucky in that it was probably the last weekend when it wasn't too overrun with tourists. Unfortunatly, I forgot my camera and can't get the pics from my mobile on here (yet).

On Sunday morning it started pouring and hasn't really stopped since. Very good for studying Italian!

Buongiorno!

This is the view from my room in Genoa. I arrived on Suday afternoon (not sure whether I would be able to get into the flat, because I'd neglected to tell anyone when exactly I was coming - but I was lucky). It's a very nice old building with very high ceilings and lots of space. So I think I'll be quite happy here for my 8 weeks. Only, my pillow- and duvet covers really stink. Like, when you wash something, then leave it in the machine for a week and then hang it up to dry in the rain. You get the picture. I think a trip to IKEA is called for to buy my own stuff... Apart from that, tutto benissimo. I'm sharing with 4 other language students, and we've bravely tried to speak Italian. After the second day, though, we all knew each other's names, ages and countries of origin and so had to switch to English ;-)

Genoa is a great city! Except for the motorways running right along the water by the harbour -but I think they did this on purpose so that people from the cruise ships would be discouraged from coming into the old town. Good idea! This way, there are only about 5 tourist around, and they don't really bother anyone ;-) (I of course am not a tourist, I'm a student!).

Did I mention that I looooove spring?

I can't believe it: This time tomorrow, I'll be landing in Genoa - and starting to make my way to the appartment where nobody will be waiting for me, because I didn't let anyone know my arrival date and time. (Note to self: Next time, why not read the language school's instructions more than 1 day before I'm due to get there? Just a thought...)

I almost don't feel like leaving, 

the last couple of weeks have been lovely:

I visited the picturesque town of Wetzlar, had barbecues in my friend's garden, and spent hours lazing in the sun. Now I'll have to get used to a schedule again - on Monday the language course starts. Getting up early every morning - can I still do it?

Happy Easter!

(c) Alke Gröppel-Wegener 2009

This Easter Frog was created by my dad in co-operation with my sister Alke. Cool, isn't it?

P.S.: The tune from the last posting was "Que sera, sera". The ambulance in the background was not supposed to mean anything sinister, it just happened to come by when I recorded it.

So this is my life

Well, this plus some furniture. 

Moving yet again. I'm a bit sad now, because the flat was great! But only by letting go of it, I can open myself to maybe even greater places, blablabla, om, shanti, shanti. But there'll be a few things that I'll miss regardless. The ice-cream parlour on the corner. The easy connection into Frankfurt on the U1,2 and 3. Jogging along the nidda. But above all, the chimes. Quite surreally, the turkish supermarkt, which used to be opposite me, installed this very elaborate carillon on its front. Every day at 9, 12, 3 and 5, tunes would sound - a lively mix between opera, musical, christmas songs, popular 50s-70s hits or the odd German folk song. The supermarket has since left, but the chimes remained. Click here for a little example - if you can guess the tune, it's the perfect answer to the questions: What will I do next? Where will I end up? What will become of me?

Things to do in London

So I once again shamelessly neglected my blog. To not lose any more time, here a short version of what I did while in London:

Walked around the city:

Drank a glass of wine (0r two - or three, in cases of extreme emergency...):

(In Fortnum and Mason's 1707 Wine Bar, you can order "Wine Flights", 3 glasses of the same region or grape to compare. Good idea and good value for money, we found!)

Had the odd cocktail (or four...):

But not that one:

That's a 1,865-Pound cocktail, in case you can't read it!

(Both photos from the Artesian bar at The Langham: Great atmosphere and great cocktails! And we even got a rum tasting on the house.)

Saw amazing art:

(At the Saatchi gallery. The exhibition Unveiled: New Art From The Middle East is great! Also went to V&A (mainly the shop, though) and Tate Britain.)

Was happy about Sam's success! Whoever she may be, and whatever she does - it must have been the first fourd place in history:

Had a little nap after all the excitement (and therefore couldn't blog):

P.S.: I also ate quite a lot, saw friends and a show, almost had dinner with Rod Stewart, bought loads of books, and went to Bath and Poole.