I apologize it's been a while since I've last posted. I've been pretty occupied lately with school, amazing Parisian weather, and my recent encounter with the stomach flu, but I am no recuperating and writing a long-overdue post.
First thing first, BERLIN! I've never been to Germany before, I knew nothing about Germany, or the sights in Berlin, and did not speak a single ounce (or gram... metric system) of German, but this just made our adventure so much more exciting.
Here are some of the sights we saw: Parisplatz, The Reichstag, Hitler's Bunker (which is now turned into a parking lot), Many sides of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, The Theater House/University/Area where the infamous book-burning took place, The Holocaust Memorial, and Museum Island. My friend Leah commented about how deserted and lonely the city seemed, we stayed in East Berlin, and I have to agree. Just walking around the city, you can see the way it went through so many drastic changes in government systems in just the last 100 years. I think one of the best things about the city is the fact that they don't hide it at all, they fully embrace their history which I find entirely commendable. The French, as well as America, seem to try so hard to hide their lower points in history, so Berlin was quite a different setting.
The Food. Of course. I'd just like everyone to know that really the only reason I studied abroad was to eat. But another nice change from french culture was the transition from sweets and bread to meat, cabbage, and potatoes. Brautwurst, currywurst, pig knuckle, sauerkraut, yum yum and yum... I'd be concerned about my arteries had we not walked so much.
Another hidden little fact: Berlin's Museums are incredible. We visited the Pergamon and Neues Museums. The Pergamon hosts an incredible amount of ancient Greek Architecture including several mythological friezes and the temple of Zeus! I'm starting to wonder what will be left for me to see in Athens after everything I've seen in London and Berlin. The Neues has an incredible collection of ancient Egyptian statues, including the bust of Queen Nefertiti which was absolutely amazing to see.
After Berlin I came back to the best weather I could ever hope for in Paris. Since last Wednesday it has been sunny, cloudless skies in the mid-sixties, and I've been walking absolutely everywhere. I spent so much time outside I think I even got a little tan. I walked along the bank of the Seine, I've walked from the Eiffel tower to the Arc de Triomphe, I've walked through gardens and down Canals and have eaten so many picnics that I may attribute my recent stomach flu to an excessive diet of baguettes and goat cheese. Tomorrow is supposed to be the start of an ongoing, very rainy week (which I will be narrowly missing by traveling to Marseilles this Friday). It's probably a good thing, I need to take it easy and get all my work done before I embark on my Grecian/Turkish Adventure!!!
Pictures, of course, are soon to come.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Des Photos: Avignon
Pont de Gard
Van Gough's Garden
Saint Remy de Provence
Olive Trees
Roman Ruins
Pope's Palace in Avignon
Avignon from the Seine
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Paris! I've Missed You!
And yes blog, I've missed you too. I've been running around all week like a chicken with my head cut-off. It seems I was under the misconception that NOT traveling for a weekend would be relaxing and care-free. As my professor would say, " (long silent french glare)...Non."
Since my last blog I have taken 4 midterms and 3 papers. So far, my grades have been good but I have yet to receive my dreaded Art History midterm back so fingers crossed. If I may toot my own horn for a moment, I was quite impressed with the amount of art history knowledge I now have permanently stored in my brain. I have memorized 70 pieces of art, their artists, their dates, their genre and techniques, and their historical contexts. My friend from high school, Kjerstin, came to visit this weekend and I pretty much talked her ear off at every art museum we went to. The fact that this knowledge didn't leak out of my brain the second I handed in my test makes me very excited to go home and apply this knowledge to the Minnesota Institute of Art and the Met. Guess Nicolle's taking a little slice of Paris back with her.
Speaking of a little slice of Paris... I had the most lovely bonding moment with my host mom this Sunday over, what else, food. Kjerstin had just left (my other friend from high school, Emily, and I passed her between our two host families which worked out perfectly) and I was finishing up lunch when my host mom came in, grabbed a slab of meat from the refrigerator, and threw it in a pan and said "The Duck. Our Dinner." She then walked me through all the steps to make this beautiful dish made with shallots, pears, and (of course) duck. I had no idea that duck was red meat, nor did I realize that pears can cook down to the consistency of delicious apple sauce. We talked about school and Paris and the US and food and I must say that I struggled quite a bit writing my paper in English after having spoken so much Francais!
Kjerstin and I did everything Paris. We went to the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Mont-Martre, Sacre Coeur, Tuileries, Orangerie, Place de la Concorde, and Versailles. It was nice to reconnect with Paris, and treat it the way I've been treating these cities I've been visiting. I'm now much more motivated to get out and go places (which might also be due to the urgency of my realizing I only have 5 weeks left).
Tuesday was one of those incredible, "I'M IN PARIS" days for me and was so amazing to the point that I almost upset myself on the metro home thinking about leaving. I woke up to a beautiful, 65 degree-sunshine-blue-sky-fluffy-white-clouds day and decided to wear my most Parisian dress. My class had an excursion at the Louis Vuitton store (they house a modern art gallery sponsored by LVMH Corp.) on the Camps-Elysee, so I took the Metro to the Arc de Triomph. I found out that this was one stop too early and then ran, dress and scarf flying behind me, my half-eaten baguette hanging out of my bag, from the Arc down the Champs-Elysee to the enormous Louis-Vuitton Flagship Store. The art gallery was... interesting (it may be my art history class, but I just don't understand any art pieces made after 1960's) but most interesting was the fact that to get up to the gallery we had to ride, 5 persons at a time, in a black padded elevator box where they turned off all the lights and we had to ride in pitch black silence. Whatever, L-V.
That same night I went to the Opera Cendrillon, which in English is the beautiful timeless amazing classic CINDERELLA. I describe it as channeling the era of Louis XIV since everyone wore wigs and heels (men and women alike). Let me list the Amazing-ness: The Sets, The Costumes, The absolutely stunning use of lights on her dress and the scenery, the Fairy Godmother was incredible, The Stepmother was Amazing, Cinderella sounded like an angel, French Subtitles allowed me to know what they were all saying, Being Sung in French meant I didn't always have to look at the subtitles, and my 2nd Balcony Seats. Some discrepancies from the Disney classic we all know and love: (1) The Dad is still alive in this version and plays a key role, (2) After the Ball, Cinderella runs away to the woods and with the help of the fairy meets prince charming, (3) The stepmother is elated at the end that her step daughter is marrying a prince, (4) oh yeah... Prince Charming is played by a Girl. Not just a Girl, but a Soprano, meaning that Prince Charming and Cinderella singing together was the most incredible set of harmonies I could ever hope to hear.
I'm off to Berlin this next weekend and cannot wait. I also, of course, will upload pictures from Avignon and this weekend... (I unfortunately don't have any pictures of my amazing Tuesday).
ONE LAST NOTE: I find that it is just a habit that the D'Onofrio's keep some type of log of our foreign travels for all the public to see. I find it is, in many ways, obligatory. I see absolutely NO reason why my parents are exempt from this, as they have just come back from amazing MEXICO and are headed to Paris and Prague soon. Mom and Dad, follow the trend, start a blog (and no... hour-by-hour trip itineraries and Thousand-Picture-Large Picasa links so do not count).
Since my last blog I have taken 4 midterms and 3 papers. So far, my grades have been good but I have yet to receive my dreaded Art History midterm back so fingers crossed. If I may toot my own horn for a moment, I was quite impressed with the amount of art history knowledge I now have permanently stored in my brain. I have memorized 70 pieces of art, their artists, their dates, their genre and techniques, and their historical contexts. My friend from high school, Kjerstin, came to visit this weekend and I pretty much talked her ear off at every art museum we went to. The fact that this knowledge didn't leak out of my brain the second I handed in my test makes me very excited to go home and apply this knowledge to the Minnesota Institute of Art and the Met. Guess Nicolle's taking a little slice of Paris back with her.
Speaking of a little slice of Paris... I had the most lovely bonding moment with my host mom this Sunday over, what else, food. Kjerstin had just left (my other friend from high school, Emily, and I passed her between our two host families which worked out perfectly) and I was finishing up lunch when my host mom came in, grabbed a slab of meat from the refrigerator, and threw it in a pan and said "The Duck. Our Dinner." She then walked me through all the steps to make this beautiful dish made with shallots, pears, and (of course) duck. I had no idea that duck was red meat, nor did I realize that pears can cook down to the consistency of delicious apple sauce. We talked about school and Paris and the US and food and I must say that I struggled quite a bit writing my paper in English after having spoken so much Francais!
Kjerstin and I did everything Paris. We went to the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Mont-Martre, Sacre Coeur, Tuileries, Orangerie, Place de la Concorde, and Versailles. It was nice to reconnect with Paris, and treat it the way I've been treating these cities I've been visiting. I'm now much more motivated to get out and go places (which might also be due to the urgency of my realizing I only have 5 weeks left).
Tuesday was one of those incredible, "I'M IN PARIS" days for me and was so amazing to the point that I almost upset myself on the metro home thinking about leaving. I woke up to a beautiful, 65 degree-sunshine-blue-sky-fluffy-white-clouds day and decided to wear my most Parisian dress. My class had an excursion at the Louis Vuitton store (they house a modern art gallery sponsored by LVMH Corp.) on the Camps-Elysee, so I took the Metro to the Arc de Triomph. I found out that this was one stop too early and then ran, dress and scarf flying behind me, my half-eaten baguette hanging out of my bag, from the Arc down the Champs-Elysee to the enormous Louis-Vuitton Flagship Store. The art gallery was... interesting (it may be my art history class, but I just don't understand any art pieces made after 1960's) but most interesting was the fact that to get up to the gallery we had to ride, 5 persons at a time, in a black padded elevator box where they turned off all the lights and we had to ride in pitch black silence. Whatever, L-V.
That same night I went to the Opera Cendrillon, which in English is the beautiful timeless amazing classic CINDERELLA. I describe it as channeling the era of Louis XIV since everyone wore wigs and heels (men and women alike). Let me list the Amazing-ness: The Sets, The Costumes, The absolutely stunning use of lights on her dress and the scenery, the Fairy Godmother was incredible, The Stepmother was Amazing, Cinderella sounded like an angel, French Subtitles allowed me to know what they were all saying, Being Sung in French meant I didn't always have to look at the subtitles, and my 2nd Balcony Seats. Some discrepancies from the Disney classic we all know and love: (1) The Dad is still alive in this version and plays a key role, (2) After the Ball, Cinderella runs away to the woods and with the help of the fairy meets prince charming, (3) The stepmother is elated at the end that her step daughter is marrying a prince, (4) oh yeah... Prince Charming is played by a Girl. Not just a Girl, but a Soprano, meaning that Prince Charming and Cinderella singing together was the most incredible set of harmonies I could ever hope to hear.
I'm off to Berlin this next weekend and cannot wait. I also, of course, will upload pictures from Avignon and this weekend... (I unfortunately don't have any pictures of my amazing Tuesday).
ONE LAST NOTE: I find that it is just a habit that the D'Onofrio's keep some type of log of our foreign travels for all the public to see. I find it is, in many ways, obligatory. I see absolutely NO reason why my parents are exempt from this, as they have just come back from amazing MEXICO and are headed to Paris and Prague soon. Mom and Dad, follow the trend, start a blog (and no... hour-by-hour trip itineraries and Thousand-Picture-Large Picasa links so do not count).
Monday, March 7, 2011
On y Danse On y Danse...
Last weekend NYU was kind enough to fund a weekend trip to beautiful Avignon in Provence. The weather was absolutely incredible, cloudless skies and 60 degrees, and we all had an amazing time taking in the great views. Here's a little run down of our Itinerary:
Boat Tour on the Seine: We soaked up some sun and had an extremely high-volume loudspeaker shout us fun facts about Avignon in French. From here we saw the "Pont d'Avignon" where that lovely song originated (if you don't know what I'm talking about, please don't look it up. It's one of the more unpleasant songs to get stuck in your head).
Palais des Papes: In case you forgot, there was a point in time where where the Pope moved to live in Avignon in the 14th century. Later, of course, the Vatican decredited all popes who lived there, but they did leave a rather nice palace full of medieval and gothic architecture. The view from the top was absolutely breathtaking and the sky was the most perfect shade of blue.
Liqueur Tasting: While Provence is known well for its vineyards, the distillery we visited was known for its quality liqueurs made from lavender, violet, and thymes. Theire "vineyard" was a field of pear trees and we learned all the facts about making a liqueur from pears (apparently it is first made from pear wine, something I've never tried but sounds delicious).
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence: This is the area where Van Gough lived and painted some of his most notable works. They displayed pictures of his favorite paintings right in the areas that inspired him most, so I would look at a picture of his olive trees, look up, and there they were! We also saw the bedroom that he painted in his studio and his garden. I think my parents would very much enjoy this area, I hope I can take them there when they come to visit in April!
Pont du Gard Roman Aqueduct: Beautiful, ancient bridge with a very interesting museum that has given me more information about Aqueducts and Rome than I'd ever expected to learn in my lifetime. Again, the view from the bridge was incredible, and we walked down the fields to the river which was about as close to la plage as we were going to get.
We then all hurried home to spend a full Sunday studying for midterms. Tomorrow is Mardi Gras, and also my last day of midterms, and I can only hope that I'll be able to soak up an authentic French Mardi Gras during my stay. Other than that, I've been cramming my brain full of paintings, artists, dates, and techniques for the midterm that I completed today. You may notice but my English is starting to fall apart, which hopefully is an indication that my french is improving tremendously (although I just get the feeling that I'm just no longer able to communicate in any language). I am now going have a nice relaxing night, drinking Orangina and studying for my Fashion and Media midterms tomorrow. À Bientot!
Boat Tour on the Seine: We soaked up some sun and had an extremely high-volume loudspeaker shout us fun facts about Avignon in French. From here we saw the "Pont d'Avignon" where that lovely song originated (if you don't know what I'm talking about, please don't look it up. It's one of the more unpleasant songs to get stuck in your head).
Palais des Papes: In case you forgot, there was a point in time where where the Pope moved to live in Avignon in the 14th century. Later, of course, the Vatican decredited all popes who lived there, but they did leave a rather nice palace full of medieval and gothic architecture. The view from the top was absolutely breathtaking and the sky was the most perfect shade of blue.
Liqueur Tasting: While Provence is known well for its vineyards, the distillery we visited was known for its quality liqueurs made from lavender, violet, and thymes. Theire "vineyard" was a field of pear trees and we learned all the facts about making a liqueur from pears (apparently it is first made from pear wine, something I've never tried but sounds delicious).
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence: This is the area where Van Gough lived and painted some of his most notable works. They displayed pictures of his favorite paintings right in the areas that inspired him most, so I would look at a picture of his olive trees, look up, and there they were! We also saw the bedroom that he painted in his studio and his garden. I think my parents would very much enjoy this area, I hope I can take them there when they come to visit in April!
Pont du Gard Roman Aqueduct: Beautiful, ancient bridge with a very interesting museum that has given me more information about Aqueducts and Rome than I'd ever expected to learn in my lifetime. Again, the view from the bridge was incredible, and we walked down the fields to the river which was about as close to la plage as we were going to get.
We then all hurried home to spend a full Sunday studying for midterms. Tomorrow is Mardi Gras, and also my last day of midterms, and I can only hope that I'll be able to soak up an authentic French Mardi Gras during my stay. Other than that, I've been cramming my brain full of paintings, artists, dates, and techniques for the midterm that I completed today. You may notice but my English is starting to fall apart, which hopefully is an indication that my french is improving tremendously (although I just get the feeling that I'm just no longer able to communicate in any language). I am now going have a nice relaxing night, drinking Orangina and studying for my Fashion and Media midterms tomorrow. À Bientot!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Des Photos: Barcelone
My friends and I in front of the Fountain at Jardines de la Ciudadela
Churros con Chocolate: aka Yummy con Delicious
Oh yeah, did I forget to mention we were within walking distance to the OCEAN?!
One of the Many Mountains of Fruit at the Market
Parc Guell
Sagrada Familia
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Barcelona!
Another weekend, another fabulous voyage. This last weekend 3 friends and I packed up our carry-on-sized backpacks and spent the weekend in beautiful Barcelona. I will say that we didn't do as much sight-seeing as we did in London, but that decision was made by choice. Comparing London to Barcelona to me is like comparing vacation in New York City to Florida (a spectacular Florida with beautiful parks, a fabulous metro system, and tasty Sangria). The city is much smaller than Paris and with the beautiful weather, we stopped taking the metro and just walked everywhere. Barcelona was also significantly cheaper than Paris, which meant we didn't mind stopping often for a delicious bite to eat!
One of my favorite things about being a young student studying abroad, is that fact that we are always staying in hostels. I'm sure my mom is shivering at the thought, but so far all the rooms have been clean, safe, affordable, and full of fun and interesting people! One amazing thing that I never realized about learning French is how many doors it can open to making new friends from all over the world! We roomed with 3 people from Strausbourg, and met a group of students from Réunion (a little island off the coast of Madagascar). We also met a group of people from Georgia Tech studying abroad in Paris as well. We kept laughing that we were speaking more French than in Paris, and I am happy to report that all that practice is improving my french significantly. After London, going back to classes in French was very difficult and I kept getting tongue-tied while having dinner with my host-mom. But after Barcelona, my classes were easy and my host-mom and I couldn't stop talking!
Here is my Barcelona Top 5:
1) Sagrada Familia: This enormous Chapel designed by Gaudi has been under construction since 1909 (and we heard rumors it is to be completed in 2015! Anyone up for a return trip?). We may live in a city with Sacre Coeur and Notre Dame, but this Chapel is on a completely new level. The Stained glass was beautiful, the carvings were incredible, and every inch is Guadi-fied. I took at least 50 pictures just of this church alone.
2) Jardines de la Ciudadela: A beautiful park with an enormous fountain built by Guadi. This was our first day and we just sat in the park and soaked up with mid-60's weather and just kept saying, "I can't believe we're in Barcelona!"
3) Unidentified Market: We found a huge market off Las Ramblas (the most lively street in Barcelona, also very close to where we were staying). This market full of fresh fruit, vegetables, baked goods like empanadas and other delicious things I don't know the name of, chocolate chocolate chocolate, fish, meat, and amazingness. I bought myself a kilo of strawberries for less than 1 euro!
4) THE FOOD!: Paella (rice dish with seafood, so incredible), Churros con Chocolate (fried, crispy pieces of sugared dough that you stick in a melted fudge-like cup of hot chocolate), Olives (which are amazing in Spain), Chorizo (spanish sausage). YUM!!!
5) Parc Guell: A giant park designed by none other than Gaudi. While the Gardens were full of grass to lay on and trees to sit under, parc guell had dirt paths surrounding cactus patches and beautiful mosaics. There was a band playing in the area with the long, Guadi bench, and everyone was dancing and laughing and having a great time.
One thing that is interesting, that I'm sure my sister will love to hear, is that a lot of my Spanish came back. For those who don't know, before I started spending my summers at Korean Camp, I went to Spanish Camp for five years starting at the age of 8. Because these camps are immersion camps (and because I only went for two weeks at a time), I never learned proper grammatical formulas: conjugations, verb tenses, etc. Yet when speaking in Spain, the phrases just came out, which surprised both myself and my friends (who did not speak any Spanish at all). One night, my friend Jess pointed out to me once that I had been, rather unconsciously, translating from Spanish to French for our new-found friends, which was probably one of the most exciting things ever. Sadly, when trying to demonstrate Korean for our friends from Réunion, I could only say "ahnyonghasaeyo" with an awkward, french-ish accent. C'est la vie.
Update: This weekend I am going with my school to Avignon (by weekend, I mean leaving Friday morning, return Saturday Night). Next week are my midterms that with a little studying I am feeling quite confident about, and then on March 18th I am off to Berlin!
One of my favorite things about being a young student studying abroad, is that fact that we are always staying in hostels. I'm sure my mom is shivering at the thought, but so far all the rooms have been clean, safe, affordable, and full of fun and interesting people! One amazing thing that I never realized about learning French is how many doors it can open to making new friends from all over the world! We roomed with 3 people from Strausbourg, and met a group of students from Réunion (a little island off the coast of Madagascar). We also met a group of people from Georgia Tech studying abroad in Paris as well. We kept laughing that we were speaking more French than in Paris, and I am happy to report that all that practice is improving my french significantly. After London, going back to classes in French was very difficult and I kept getting tongue-tied while having dinner with my host-mom. But after Barcelona, my classes were easy and my host-mom and I couldn't stop talking!
Here is my Barcelona Top 5:
1) Sagrada Familia: This enormous Chapel designed by Gaudi has been under construction since 1909 (and we heard rumors it is to be completed in 2015! Anyone up for a return trip?). We may live in a city with Sacre Coeur and Notre Dame, but this Chapel is on a completely new level. The Stained glass was beautiful, the carvings were incredible, and every inch is Guadi-fied. I took at least 50 pictures just of this church alone.
2) Jardines de la Ciudadela: A beautiful park with an enormous fountain built by Guadi. This was our first day and we just sat in the park and soaked up with mid-60's weather and just kept saying, "I can't believe we're in Barcelona!"
3) Unidentified Market: We found a huge market off Las Ramblas (the most lively street in Barcelona, also very close to where we were staying). This market full of fresh fruit, vegetables, baked goods like empanadas and other delicious things I don't know the name of, chocolate chocolate chocolate, fish, meat, and amazingness. I bought myself a kilo of strawberries for less than 1 euro!
4) THE FOOD!: Paella (rice dish with seafood, so incredible), Churros con Chocolate (fried, crispy pieces of sugared dough that you stick in a melted fudge-like cup of hot chocolate), Olives (which are amazing in Spain), Chorizo (spanish sausage). YUM!!!
5) Parc Guell: A giant park designed by none other than Gaudi. While the Gardens were full of grass to lay on and trees to sit under, parc guell had dirt paths surrounding cactus patches and beautiful mosaics. There was a band playing in the area with the long, Guadi bench, and everyone was dancing and laughing and having a great time.
One thing that is interesting, that I'm sure my sister will love to hear, is that a lot of my Spanish came back. For those who don't know, before I started spending my summers at Korean Camp, I went to Spanish Camp for five years starting at the age of 8. Because these camps are immersion camps (and because I only went for two weeks at a time), I never learned proper grammatical formulas: conjugations, verb tenses, etc. Yet when speaking in Spain, the phrases just came out, which surprised both myself and my friends (who did not speak any Spanish at all). One night, my friend Jess pointed out to me once that I had been, rather unconsciously, translating from Spanish to French for our new-found friends, which was probably one of the most exciting things ever. Sadly, when trying to demonstrate Korean for our friends from Réunion, I could only say "ahnyonghasaeyo" with an awkward, french-ish accent. C'est la vie.
Update: This weekend I am going with my school to Avignon (by weekend, I mean leaving Friday morning, return Saturday Night). Next week are my midterms that with a little studying I am feeling quite confident about, and then on March 18th I am off to Berlin!
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