I cannot speak Spanish !!!!

 Welcome to Espana, bitches (where's the Italian? :-( 
 On the beach, squinting in the hot Spanish sun.

 More beach.

 I am not normally one  to pose in clothing, but I had to for this one. That vest is baller, and I bought it in Barcelona but it's Italian made.

 Near the main port of Barcelona, where the cruises go out from. This is a monument to Columbus.

 The port. Beautiful, PERFECT weather.
 Casa Battlo, another work of Gaudi.
 The Barceloneta stop beach!! Many, many naked people.

 Remembering Italia always! No I was not wearing this when the guy came up to me to ask a question.

 Art of Joan Miro, Barcelona's main artist (other than Dali)

 The various olympic torches, in Barcelona's olympic museum. When I was done with this, I watched tennis live from Beijing on a 100" TV :-)

 Outside Barcelona's olympic stadium.

 Inside Barcelona's olympic museum. The shoes and cleats of some of the world's finest in soccer, including Ronaldinho and Beckham.

 The Olympic Stadium in Barcelona. The olympics were held here in 1992, summer games.

 My friends, on our last night out in a pub.

 La bandiera italiana - at a parliament building, Piazza Venezia

 Helen and me...at Rafael's tomb in the Pantheon - Rome.

 Bienvenidos a Espana, gente

 These pictures are clearly out of order. This is from the Sagrada Familia - Barcelona and Mont Juic.

 Last pictures of Italy.... sadly. Look, it's the leaning tower!
 The Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's masterpiece and still under construction.  Gaudi = Barcelona's defining architect, his stuff is all over. I waited 50 min to climb to the top (well, to take the elevator, then climb up)

 This is one of several pics that I could've shown to you LAST YEAR had I not lost my camera. Amazing views of Barcelona from the Sagrada Familia. 

 Going down the Sagrada Familia....narrow staircase, and my shoe.
 Futbol Club Barcelona - - - the home stadium

This is bad. I went to a cafe yesterday and couldn't get like 3 words out without an 'eh.' The woman started LAUGHING at me and asked if I was learning Spanish. WTF? In the end, she prepared me a great dinner. It's freakin impossible to find ANYTHING to eat here without HAM or SEAFOOD in it. Spanish cuisine was never my favorite. Tomorrow evening I fly to Paris - - - first time, and I am extremely excited. Today I went to the beach and walked around town more. I got a sick tan today at the beach, and saw lots of topless people...yes people, not just males. Europeans are very 'free' with their bodies, probably the one thing I miss about America. The more time I spend out of Italy the more I wanna go back. Yesterday I searched high and low for a pizzeria, and eventually found one. Today at the beach, I don't know why, but a man came over to me and said "italiano?" and asked where he could rent a chair (in italian). I was not wearing anything screaming Italian, but that was cool. Yesterday, I bought lots of clothes in Barcelona....75% of it was made in Italy. Great stuff. Today, I came home at 4 to pack and do some secondaries. Here's some photos, and next time I write it'll be from France. Let's see if the French live up to their stereotypical obnoxiousness. Yesterday, I washed my 2 pairs of clothes that I have in my knapsack for the next 7 days. Pretty gross, eh? Guess how I did it? YES, I bought detergent in the market and washed my clothes in my hotel sink. Funny eh??? You'll be glad to know, the Spain pictures (obviously, as this post shows) are LOADED on my computer. So in the case that I god forbid am so stupid to lose my camera in this country, I have the proof I was actually there!!!!!!

Ciao ciao.

David

Spain I love you, but you are no Italy

Barcelona is great. The weather is perfect, plenty of tourists, and lots to see. I got in last night at around 1030 and immediately took a cab to my hotel bc I had no idea how to use public transportation to get there. It was only 10 euro cab fare. I saw Helen and Florine in Rome from Sunday to Monday, and on Tues morning I went with them to the airport to see them off, then went by myself ona train to Pisa where the airport was to go to Spain. In Pisa I had a few hours so I walked around, saw the tower, etc. It´s a quaint town, but really nice. I liked it. Of course the tower was magnificent, and it leans! WOW! If I saw one more tourist doing the stupid ¨pose¨of holding up the tower, I was gonig to shoot them. Seriously, so annoying and cliche. Enough. The flight was short enough, I slept. When we landed, they turned off the cabin lights and the Italians all on board started cheering and screaming. Typical. I have a video of it, it was hilarious. I was happy I had no baggage to check --- it made leaving the airport easier, and now all I Have is a knapsack. Fantastic to travel light. I never knew, and now I love it.

Today I saw the sagrada familia, (I almost just wrote famiglia by mistake) the ramblas, the port, the joan miro museum, the Barcelona Olympics 1992 museum and stadium. It was a great day, and there are really very few Americans here this year. Its all French and Italian, which makes me feel like I´m back in Italy :) I can´t believe I go back and only have 1 day there before I go home. Fucking sucks. I´m already working on my next trip back. I am really excited to see Paris though. Tomorrow I will be gonig to the beach here and gettnig some sun for my pasty American\ashkenaz skin. Another thing: I totally forgot how to speak Spanish. This is bad, considering I need to write an 80 page paper this year in the language. I´ll have to work to pick it up. Then again, I am in Barcelona so it´s Catalan which is totally different. I MISS ITALY!!!! I tried to find an Italian restaurant in Barcelona tonight...Yes, I am re-experiencing my hatred of Spanish food. I freakin HATE it. But everything else here is beautiful :)

A presto,
David

Arrivederci, Firenze

 The Ponte Vecchio, from afar.
 michelangelo's tomb, in Santa Croce
 Santa Croce, rear side.
 Firenze...I'll miss you
 The Arno river.
 Where many crappy, sub-par papers that I never would have turned in were this a class in NY, were written.
 Our bathroom.
 The 25 line bus stop, right down the block from our dorm.
 From the top of the Uffizi, the Duomo
 Near Santa Croce, quaint bar.
 Elinor tries her luck with Senor Pig.
 The Conversations in Italian summer class
 The Duomo - night time. Spooky.
One of the last walks up Via Bolognese...AKA Death Hill
 My bed. Obv. the lower, messy bunk.

So I leave tomorrow, and I'm sitting in ym room now packing up. I put in some pictures of my room before I started packing, which I probably should have done when I first got here, no? I always get nostalgic at the end. I spent the day today on my own, finally saw the Uffizi, Santa Croce Church (where Galileo and Michelangelo are buried), and another museum. Also did more shopping to get my list more completed. I have my final exam in Italian in an hour, but I'm not neervous for it too much.

Last night my Italian class went out with our teacher for gelato downtown. We saw this statue of a pig which is apparently famous. It has a mouth and water dribbles through the mouth - you make a wish, and put a coin in the pig's mouth, then let go. Right beneat the pig is a small grated area where your coin will or will not fall into. If it falls straight in, without bouncing, your wish will come true easily. If it bounces all over before going in, it'll come true - but not right away. If it bounces off, and does not fall through the grate - - - forget your wish, it ain't happening. I (stupidly) wished for med school acceptance, and tried THREE TIMES. It wouldn't freakin' go in!!! Everyone laughed, and it sucked. But then I tried again, without telling people what I was wishing for (actually, I didn't tell them before what I was wishing for,t hey guessed on their own) and I thought of a specific school I wanna go to... I put the coin, and it went straight in. :-) It was a cool night. Tonight, we're all going to go out together for one last hurrah before everyone leaves tomorrow morning. The group flight is at 5:30AM. I'm not on it, but 75% of the people are, and will be leaving the villa early tomorrow. I think I'll go with them, just bc I don't wanna be left alone here. I have to buy a third suitcase because I bought so much shit here. I also have to store it in the Florence train station for 2 weeks while I travel, because I don't wanna lug three bags all over Europe. Va bene, we'll see. I don't want this to end.

David

Last 2 days in Florence...

 A branch of the supermarket chain I volunteered at for the past 6 weeks.

It's been a weird kind of week. Leaving soon, but it doesn't feel such. On friday I'm going to Rome early in the morning for 4 days then to Spain. After that I'll only be in Italy for 1 day before I head back to NY. I just can't believe it's over already - final exams are today and tomorrow and then everyone's going home. The time passed really quickly, and I'm not ready to leave. At all.

I had my last day at the supermarket yesterday, and it was a really, really good ending. I went in, got my own cart and list, and I walked up and down the aisles and was for the first time able to find everything on my own without asking for help. As I did this, the supermarket (like in America) plays music, mostly Italian, and I recognized a few of the songs they played. It was just a really cool experience, in general. To walk up and down the aisles, knowing the music... I feel like I used these 6 weeks for maximum exposure and gained A LOT that I wouldn't have otherwise gotten from just learning from books in NY. I also delivered yesterday for the first time in a couple of weeks. Spoke to some of the elderly people. Usually, the volunteer group is short-staffed and the people who deliver themselves are in their mid-sixties. When I went yesterday, I went with another 30 year old or so guy, and we delivered to 10 people. Every person we delivered to just BEAMED when we walked in with the food. "RAGAZZINI!" (translation: young guys); they were just really excited to see us, and it made me feel good to know that with what I was doing, I was making them happy for a few minutes and making things easier for them. There was Mrs. Necioli, upset that we brought her the wrong peaches but still making me crack up when she reverted to joking and flashing a smile with many gold-capped teeth. Then there was Cicioni, a woman who had TB as a teenager and will breathe through a tube permanently. Actually, many of the clients have health issues, mostly respiratory, and use oxygen tanks and cannot leave home. I'm grateful for going through with this experience in conjunction with my studies; I gained something. It was an emotional and gratifying 'extra' process that I don't think many study abroad students could say they've had. I think my upbringing -my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings- emphasized the value of community service, not just to fulfill 'chesed hours' in school, but to really give something back to people who can no longer do everything on their own and need our help. I left the market yesterday with a feeling of fulfillment, knowing that waking up every Tuesday at 6:30, while not easy, had a greater purpose in the grand scheme of things.

At the end of yesterday's events, I also realized that this really is the end - well, for this summer at least. The nostalgia is starting, and it's already becoming hard for me to come to grips with the idea that I will be going home soon. I could totally picture myself staying here long term, I've said it before and now that I've actually been here for awhile (well, 6 weeks is short, but still) I have some legitimate reasoning to make this conclusion. I plan on coming back here next summer, maybe not to Florence, but definitely to Italy. I'm also cancelling my elective course for this fall and taking an Italian lit course instead; I'm just not ready to give the language up, and when I first came here I kind of knew this would happen. Living here has made my grammar and speaking skills improve on so many levels, and to leave it behind now would be an injustice to all my effort and all that I've taken in thusfar. It's nice to know that some people love math, some people just can't get enough of history - I've found what I love to do. I want to be a doctor, and while biology and anatomy fascinate me, foreign language and culture is where my real passion lies. I really don't know why - I just really love it (try putting that on a med school application, which I've been doing as of late :-). Need to be a little more convincing and eloquent).

David

The Venice Hookup

 A memorial to the victims of the holocaust from Venice, and all of Europe at large.
 The apartment/tenements in the ghetto. Look how the windows are placed right on top of each other. Imagine how low the ceilings are in those buildings.
 Within the door that's in the next picture. You can see where the gates were bolted into the wall, to prevent people from leaving. When Napoleon came and took over, he had the gates ripped off and the Jewish people were allowed to travel whenever and wherever they pleased. Interestingly, most of them stayed within the ghetto, and kept that mentality because they had been previously conditioned to accept it as a permanent and acceptable lifestyle.
 The entrance to the ghetto; this tiny doorway was the only way in, and out.
 She doesn't want to go back to Florence. Oh well.
 Inside the Jewish ghetto of Venice. A bakery.

 an alleyway, pretty empty on Shabbat.
 Look how CLOSELY these buildings are placed together!
 Barbed wire, to prevent exit?
 A sign.
 On the way to San Marco, one of the biggest squares in Venice (probably the biggest). This was taken from the mainland, and that is one of the Venetian archipelago small islands.
 In front of Duomo di San Marco
 In Piazza San Marco - PIGEONS everywhere and these people put crumbs on themselves. WHY ?
 Taken from a main bridge, somewhere in Venice. Chissa! (who knows)

 The first Hebrew I've seen in Italy - No I did not see any, even at the synagogue in Florence.
 Kirsten and our gondoliere. She had a crush, especially when he whistled.
 On the gondola, more touring.
 The sides of the buildings. Note the dark area near the bottom; Venice, being based within canals that are filled by the sea is susceptible to the rising and falling tides that occur naturally.

 Going under a bridge in our gondola.
 The Rialto bridge, taken from the Canale Grande in our gondola.
 The Canale Grande
 On the top of the Rialto Bridge
 A lone gondoliere - from the Rialto Bridge top.
 The Rialto Bridge - Pretty much tourist central, and where you get a gondola for 3x the price.
 Venice is faaaaaaaaaaaaaaantastic
 First pictures in Venice; right near the entrance to the city, near a small random canal. Near Tolentino Church.
 On the way to the city center; a narrow canal. There are probably 6000 such scenes.
In a mask store! Carnevale is the Venetian tradition started in the medieval times and continues to this day in February.
 Like I told you! You take one step out of your house too far, POOF, you fall into the water!
 The directions in Venice are a little hard to understand, especially with vandals :-D

Venice...I kinda don't know where to begin. Got there on Friday, left Sunday morning. I also left roughly $1200 poorer, thanks to my fine taste :-D

We stayed 15 minutes out of Venice proper (the hotels were cheaper, and from the looks of it a lot nicer also). Went right away to the city, and shopped. Like a lot. Saw the Rialto Bridge and the Grand Canal. I just can't really describe it, the pictures do a better job. In my opinion, the most beautiful city in the world. No, really. It is. VERY humid (more than Florence) but that didn't bother me really. Apparently Murano glass is a big deal? I had never heard of it before coming here, and before my mom told me from Las Vegas that the Venetian there sells it and maybe it's cheaper here (nope, it's not). I bought basically everyone souvenirs here, because in Florence there really is nothing besides "ITALIA" T-shirts, which I did buy 1 or 2 of for people, but that gets old real fast. Lots of beautiful paintings (oils, acrylics) in Venice and also beautiful people. I'd have to say, it's the best looking population in Italy, def. better than Florence which for the most part has not impressed me looks-wise. 

We took a Gondola ride! Of course, how can you go to Venice and not take a gondola ride? It lasted about 30 minutes and cost 100 euro - that's roughly 175 dollars. Totally worth it though; the views were amazing, and we were in the water in VENICE, haha. So crazy and such a good time. The city is, as you know, within the water. Literally, you walk out the front door and BAM water. People said the water was green and dirty; I personally thought it was really pretty looking, and was so hot that I wanted to dive in it. OH they are BIG on seafood there (you think?!). Like lobsters-still-alive-in-the-window-of-the-restaurant style. It was freaky when the antennas and eyeballs were moving...and thinking people like 45 min later might be eating it. Ew. I'm happy to be Jewish sometimes, no offense to anyone. Well I will not reveal the gifts I bought you fine ladies and gents, but as for myself I got sneakers, 2 football jerseys, a MAP (I finally found a nice, antique-style map for my room), a Ferrari T shirt. Yes there was a Ferrari store; everything was red, and really cool (why didn't I take a picture of this?). 

Later in the day, my friend and I went looking for the Jewish ghetto - the first ghetto ever created in history. When we got to the area (after crossing about 5 bridges and hearing Hebrew/Israelis everywhere, seriously, they all come here) we walked into a tiny door (pic below) into the ghetto. We later learned this was the only way into and out of the ghetto, so the Jewish people were really locked up from 12AM-6AM. The only way out was if you were a doctor or someone else needed by the aristocracy. Hey, if I lived in Venice then I'd have been allowed out! We walked further and a guy with a beard and black hat comes up to me (sweaty and with 4 shopping bags) and my friend (blond haired WASP in a jean miniskirt): "ARE YOU JEWISH?!" I said "I AM!" and they like, carried us into this room where a shabbat meal was set up (oh, this was on Saturday, btw). It was cool to see that there; none of them were Italian (they're chabad) but we got a short history ont he ghetto and some much needed water, challah. Then we walked out, walked around and saw stuff. The buildings were really close together, the windows right on top of each other; in other words, low ceilings and cramped, shitty conditions. We later walked into a broad piazza where 5 synagogues are, still functioning. Greek, Spanish, Italian, Ashkenaz, and one other. We couldn't get in because it was shabbat and I was a little disappointed; but I will go inside the one in Rome next Friday night when I'm there alone, to pray a little. That will be amazing, I'm sure. The ghetto was a really emotional experience for me. Everything was dark (except that one piazza) in the middle of the day when the sun was shining everywhere else around the ghetto area. There were numerous plaques for the 200 Venetian Jews who were deported to Concentration camps in the holocaust. The population in the ghetto was completely decimated in the war; after it ended, only 8 Jews returned there. After this, we ate somethign then went back to the hotel where I read, did some paper work, and went to bed early to catch my 8am train this morning. It was a great way to end a busy, hot hot hot day in a beautiful city.

David