Cultural Tangents (read this one second)

(CT#1)
It's funny how important walking down the Mall to look for guys is to everyone here. Maybe because real relationships are so constricted (the normal reason for two teens to break up is "her parents found out, now her brother's probably going to come and try to beat me up," as Rahul Nidhi's friend put it, and the idea of a girl calling a boy or vice versa is almost unheard of) so things that to me seem fit for middle school - crushes, friends-as-messengers, code words ("one-four-three" means "I love you", for example), etc - are common among 17-18-year-olds here. And relationships that actually do occur are far more low-key than at home - many people won't even kiss before marriage, and the farthest you'll go is maybe seeing a movie together and (*scandalous!*) holding hands. So girls will walk slowly up and down the Mall for hours waiting for their secret -or not-so-secret - crush to pass by and then when he does, not say anything except maybe "Hi". It all seems very juvenile to one who comes from a culture of 14-year-old mothers and abstinence being prudish, but I guess it makes sense here.

(CT#2)
At Nidhi's friend's house, we watched an amazing movie called (translation) "Color Me in Saffron" (Saffron is the color of sacrifice in India) about a British woman who goes to India to film a documentary about the freedom fighters of the revolution. In the process of filming, the actors (a bunch of carefree and careless college students) begin to understand the passion of the revolutionaries they're acting, and then when one of their friends is killed in a government oversight they follow their characters footsteps to fulfill the words of one of them: "Our country isn't perfect, no country is. We have to work to make it perfect." It's the most Hollywood-ish Bollywood movie I've ever seen, and it was really powerful.
But I'm enjoying Bollywood more and more here, it's truly a completely different genre than Hollywood and can't be judged by the same standards, because the mentality of the people is different. While with Hollywood we want something that will remind us of our own lives, the Indians crave an ideal world where the only troubles are who's marrying whom and when they'll realize that they're in love. (Ok, that's an oversimplification, but in general, the world of Bollywood is more idealized than that of Hollywood) Almost exclusively the movies end happily with a marriage or two, even if the movie isn't supposed to be about love, so the term "Hollywood ending" seems pointless - it should be Bollywood Ending, because Hollywood doesn't end like that nearly as often. And since every movie is peppered with songs and dances, it's more important for an actor to be a good dancer than a good actor, and (for guys at least, sigh) looks come third on the list. There are maybe seven actors of each gender that do basically all the movies, so you see the same combination of actors many times playing different characters. Many of the stories are universal, cheesy romantic comedies in Bollywood are basically cheesy romantic comedies in Hollywood - except they're probably about 5 x up on the cheese factor - but the story's the same. I love Bollywood style though, and I'm going to miss it when I get back to a Hollywood-dominated culture.

Festivals (read this one first)

In the past 2 weeks there have been two super-cool festivals in Solan. The first was a dance/theater festival with participants from all over the country showing their traditional dances and competing with one-act plays. There were performances in the evenings for a week and on the last day all the groups paraded down the Mall of Solan. The Mall is the name of the main street, every town/village/city has one (at least in the hills, I'm not sure about the bigger cities in the planes) where most of the shops/street stalls are and where the old people goes for their evening walk and where the youth (male and female) go to scope out the opposite sex. (Cultural Tangent #1)
Anyway, the parade was very cool, as each group passed by Nidhi explained to me where they were from and some specifics about their dance. I think my favorites were the Punjabis, with their brightly colored, starched turbans and distinctive rhythm.
I also loved the Hijiras, cross-dressers: two men dressed in pink and red saris laughing and dancing seductively down the street. They were incredibly ugly, but I guess that was the point. And of course there were the Himachal dancers (from this area). Their traditional dance is very simple, basically swinging your hips and turning your hands in the air, but it takes a lot of skill and balance, because the cool thing about the dance is that you do it with stuff balanced on your head √ a tall stack of rings for the women and a candelabrum of sorts for the men. And then you have to pick up a handkerchief off the floor with your teeth while staying balanced. It's really interesting to watch and I'd like to try it sometime.
Then there was the annual Shulini fair, celebrating the time that Solan's patron goddess, Shulini, went to visit her sister. I don't know why that was so important, or what she did with her sister for those three days, but hey, it's cool anyway. It began with a parade - no, it began a couple days before, when the city began showing lights and tinsel everywhere, and people set up tiny stalls selling everything from plastic dolls to wooden flutes to peacock fans and the city got really crowded. But the festival itself began with a parade, bringing the statue of Shulini down from the temple to the center of the city. First came all the other gods, represented by people dressed up and posing (sometimes uncomfortably) on floats and giving out blessings in the form of bindis and handfuls of sweets. We had a great view from the cloth shop of Nidhi's friend's uncle, and we watched and laughed as the huge devils (Bread and Puppet style) danced and spun drunkenly down the street. Finally the little statue came in a covered litter and people surged forward to make offerings and touch the holy object. It was covered in flowers and people were throwing more (marigolds, the most common flower for blessings) from balconies.
Then that evening was the opening performance at the fairground. We had VIP seats - front and center - because Nidhi's best friend's father is the District Public Relations Officer, so it was a great view, but a little loud. It started out with traditional music and dances and then came to the main performance (at around10:00 PM) - a Bollywood playback singer who alternated with a little-known singer whom we actually liked more because he sang better songs. The playback singer had crazy outfits, things you could only get away with on stage (but would be normal in the states) and all sparkly and glittery. She was backed up by five dancers doing funny only-in-Bollywood dance moves - they're too corny to be done anywhere else.
We got back at around 1:30 AM and didn't go the next day because we spent the day/night at Nidhi's friend's house. (Cultural Tangent #2)
On the last day of the Shulini fair two of Nidhi's guy friends took me to the fair (because Nidhi was sick) which was really fun, because most of her friends are girls and it was refreshing to have male company again. It was funny, they walked on either side of me, like bodyguards, and glared at any guy who looked at me too long (which were quite a few, because I'm the only foreign girl for miles and miles, so everyone's looking at me around here). They guided me through the insanely crowded, mud-filled fairgrounds and then one of them got his friend, who worked one of the rides, to give us free tickets and so I got to go on a smaller, faster-spinning version of a Ferris wheel and had a great time. They were really nice and great to talk to, and I hope to see them again, though the gender barrier could pose some problems in that regard - how do we plan a meeting if it's socially unacceptable to call? Sigh...
And that night we went to the performance again, it was a Punjabi singer this time, and I've now decided that I like Punjabi music the best - it's so much fun, and such a beat to dance to. I've vowed to get some and bring it for the aerobics class at UWC - what a change that will be from the ever-repeated 80s rock we're always jumping to!
And next week we're going to Delhi and we're going to a wedding! I'm so excited, I've heard/seen so much about weddings, and I want to see how real ones compare to the Bollywood type. And lots of sight-seeing of course, so next time I get online, I'll have lots to write.

Journalism Workshop

Nidhi and I spent the past week with a group from an organization in Delhi that serves underprivileged girls who were here for a workshop on journalism that Nidhi's father had organized. There were about 40 of them, and they were all around 16. They were really nice, but unfortunately couldn't really speak English, so I wasn't able to communicate with them. The workshop was held at a private school up in the mountains, about 10 km from Solan called KTS (they said it stood for "Know Thy Self", interesting name...) and the 30 some-odd students there also participated. Nidhi and I went there every day and listened to the presentations (or fell asleep, in my case, I couldn't understand them, and so it was sort of boring) in the morning, and then in the afternoons we led Creative Writing sessions. We all waked out into the woods and sat down to write stories and poems and relieve the tedium of old people talking about their jobs. Nidhi and I split the group into two groups, those that could speak a little English (about 7 of them) and those that couldn't (the other 30ish).
My group was fun, I explained in English and then one of the teachers translated for them just to make sure it made sense. Then they translated their stories/poems for me and read them in Hindi for each other. Some of the stories were really nice, and I could tell that the poems were too, but those were harder to judge because so much of poetry is in the language, which I couldn't understand.
And afterwards we would play games, they taught me Cricket (everyone's obsession) which I've decided is the lazy man's baseball - you only have to run between two posts instead of all the way around the bases, and if you hit the ball far enough (the equivalent of a home run) they just assume that you would have run back and forth six times so you don't even have to move at all. But maybe all the sitting around and not moving was because half the time the kids couldn't hit the ball (not like I was much better. Whatever).
We also played Anthakshi which is a fun game in which one team sings a song and then the other team has to sing a song that begins with whatever letter the first song ended in. Of course I couldn't participate, but it was fun to watch.
The girls were really nice, even though I couldn't really communicate. They were all about our age, 16-17, but they looked so much younger. Maybe it's because Nidhi and I feel/look more mature after UWC (I have noticed that, even with other people. I think UWC does something to us, more than other places) but it did seem strange. There was one girl who looked especially young - she said she was 16 but I would have sworn that she was half that.
Sadly, they left a few days ago, and they were all tearful to go, but we promised to visit them in Delhi, so we'll get to see them again in July. Yay!

My 18th Birthday in the Himalayas

On Monday the 12th, we went to Nidhi’s grandmother’s village with Nidhi, her father, her cousin, and of course, her grandmother. The bus ride there was agonizing –hot and incredibly crowded. People were sitting on the engine, standing in the aisles, and even sitting on the roof! (I actually envied them – at least they got the breeze to cool them off) We were stuck together, hot and sweaty (in my case – I never thought I sweated that much, but apparently compared to Indians I do. It’s annoying.) I was sitting down, thank god, but my leg was pressed against the engine, which was scalding. Near the end of the 3 hour ride the man next to me got off, so I was able to sit comfortably next to the window and enjoy the view. And what a view it was!
Mountains and mountains, getting bigger and bigger as we drove on, so that I felt oxygen deprived just by looking at the distance to the valley. It was beautiful, but it would have been more so if the mountains hadn’t been so covered in clouds/haze, I felt like I was missing something.
We got to the village, a small little collection of houses in the middle of the mountains, and met Nidhi’s great-aunts and –uncles and cousins and many other friends and relations. It was so sweet – everyone knew everyone because the village was so small and the houses were so close together, you were never quite sure when you left one family’s quarters and entered another’s, and it didn’t really matter anyway, because people visited so often. Every single family had a little garden where they grew potatoes and garlic and other roots, and a couple cows that lived in a mini-barn below the house. The houses were so cozy, with low slate roofs and wooden interiors, and floorboards that creaked comfortingly, as they do in really old, loved and lived in homes. I can’t describe the warmth that radiated from that house and the people in it, laughing and talking all the time (even though I didn’t understand more than the basic words I’ve learned: so, and, very, ok, good, etc. and those don’t help much in comprehension). Nidhi’s great-grandfather looks so much like my grandfather (except with darker skin) it was scary, every time I saw him I almost cried; I hadn’t realized I missed them so much. And I wanted to talk to him, because I could tell that he had many stories to tell, but I couldn’t. I’ve never hated the language barrier so much.
We slept there, and the next morning (the day before my birthday) we got up dark and early (4:00 am) to hike to a temple on the top of a 12,000 ft. peak. It was around 25 km round trip, but wonderful. We kept passing cowherds with 6-7 cows ambling in front of them, walking along the narrow paths up and down the mountain. I never knew cows could be so agile as to get up those steep rocky paths, but maybe these are special mountain cows and I’m used to spoiled, sedentary Vermont cows. I couldn’t believe that people still lived like this, spending all day on the mountain, following the small herd of cows and then coming home to a tiny house at least a 15-30 minute walk from the nearest road, let alone civilization.
Because we were in the mountains it was cool all day, and the hiking was fairly easy, though long. What I’ll remember most about it is, not the views (though those were amazing) but the encounters we had with the nomads. If I thought cowherd/farmers were behind the times, these people were stone-age – they follow the seasons and spend about 3 months in each camp that consists of a grassy area for the cows to graze and a few crude stone houses with tin roofs for them to live in. It was a surprise to come out of the dark forest to a grassy field, like we’d stepped into a completely different world, one that hadn’t changed for hundreds of years – except for the radio we could hear from one of the houses playing Punjabi pop songs.
The faces of those people! I know now why the National Geographic portrait books always show faces of rural India and Tibet. It’s not just that we Westerners want to see something foreign and exotic, it’s that they have so much character. If I live to be 100 I’ll never be able to fill my face with such down-to-earth reality that these people have. Maybe there’s something about the soft American lifestyle that makes our lives and faces so bland, but if I had a choice between studying the face of a random American and a random Indian nomad, I’d choose the nomad immediately, there’s so much depth there…There was a little girl there with a look in her wide eyes that I can’t describe – one of wonder and understanding and an endurance I can’t believe. Unfortunately my camera chose that moment to die and not accept the kindly offered replacement batteries, so I was left photoless. I’m sorry.
Finally, after a very long journey, we reached the temple at the top of the mountain. We all took off our shoes, washed our feet, and entered the tiny wooden building that had stood there for hundreds of years, on a spot to which people had climbed for millennia. It is believed that it was Lord Shiva’s home at one time, and that a priest once went there thousands of years ago, and went into such a deep state of meditation that his bodily functions slowed to a minimum and he lived for a thousand years, until he finally attained nirvana, and the people built a shrine in his honor.
We rang the four bells at the doorway and stooped to enter the dark room. A priest sat there, and when we had knelt, prayed, and made an offering to the god, he blessed us and painted a bindi on each of our foreheads and then gave us a handful of rice as a symbol of his blessings. Then we went down to a smoky room where they served us rice and watery curry (which we ate with our hands – ick!) and then we headed back.
We timed it perfectly – we arrived at the village right as it got dark, and went to a different house (Nidhi’s grandmother’s other brother’s) to spend the night. When they heard that it was my birthday the next day they insisted that I celebrate it with them, but we said we had to get back – we had plans.  So we made a compromise: We stayed the morning with them, and then went back for the evening. So I woke up to a spectacular view of the Himalayas on my 18th birthday, had a kind of porridge for breakfast that was delicious, and then relaxed for a few hours, gazing at the mountains and enjoying the sun. Then they took us to another temple nearby that had been built 700 years ago with a tree next to it that had been planted the same time. It was huge; the trunk had split into 3 parts and was so wide the five of us probably couldn’t have reached around it. And it towered over the tiny temple where we went to pay our respects.
The bus ride back was much better, fewer people, and we got good seats all the way. Nidhi and I talked and sang and looked out the window, and it was great fun the whole way. When we got back Nidhi and her mom took me out to buy a suit salvar – the traditional dress that everyone here wears. We bought the fabric in a shop with rows and rows of brightly colored cloths, and a salesman who would take out a bolt of fabric and sweep it out onto the cushioned floor to display its full pattern. So many fabrics! Each one hid the ones before it, so I had a hard time remembering what I liked. But I finally chose one, and we brought it to a tailor who delivered it 3 days later, so now I have an Indian dress!
We were going to get my hand henna-ed, but it was raining (it was auspicious, they insisted, and I liked it) so we went to the mehendi man the next day, and now my right hand is covered in beautiful brown curls and it smells fabulous.
We came back home to a small cake waiting for me (not particularly tasty, but hey, it’s the gesture, really.) and, according to tradition, I fed the first piece to everyone –Nidhi’s family and her neighbors – myself. Then we had celebration puri – like chapattis but smaller and puffed up and really, really good. And we watched Bollywood TV (amazingly entertaining, actually) and went to bed. And so now I’m 18, legally an adult, and ready for all sorts of new adventures.
I have pictures that I wanted to add here, but the connection is too slow. I'm really sorry. I'll add them later if I get the chance.

India: First Impressions

Before I describe this indescribable country, I’d like to note that Virgin Atlantic has the best safety manuals ever. And I know, because I’ve read and assessed every single manual from every single plane I’ve been on, and this on outshines them all. It’s accompanied by a safety video and they both are animated wonderfully, with specific characters – the smoker dude, with a goatee who gets caught trying to smoke in the bathroom, the teenage punk who has to take off his high healed boots to slide down the ramp (the businesswoman and the fashion model are fine with flat shoes), the black Southern Baptist preacher, complete with gold earring, cross necklace and shades, who tries to steal the manual by hiding it in his jacket, etc. – it’s so funny.

Anyway. On to India. My first impression was brown: through the airplane window all I could see of Delhi was a disorganized patchwork of brown dusty buildings as far as the eye could see. As we came off the plane, we passed a “welcome torch” – an ornate golden pillar carrying a candle with the elephant god blessing it – the first taste of a culture vastly different from my own. We were met by Nidhi’s father and uncle, who’d brought me flowers (that didn’t survive the trip, sigh) and they took us to the bus station. Crowded, hot, and loud is my summary of that place. We stood in line for the air conditioned coach bus that would take us the 6 hours to Chandigar where we would change busses and take another to Solan, Nidhi’s city. But the bus was full, so we had to take the budget bus, you know, the one that’s falling apart with dirty, rattley windows and seats that have seen better days, maybe those of Queen Victoria. But it was fun, it was an adventure, and I entertained myself by trying to read the Hindi signs (Nidhi had taught me the alphabet in Duino), until I got tired and fell asleep.

When I wasn’t sleeping, I was staring out the window, both to find easy Hindi words to read, and to take in the astonishing surroundings. I think I can describe my impressions with colors: the women all wore such bright dresses, seeing a group of them was like walking into one of those Hippy Flower Power pictures – orange and lime green and blue and pink and teal and magenta, all dyed as bright as the could come – even the men were colorful, because all the Seik men wore brightly colored turbines, I never thought I’d see a guy in a pink turbine, but there he was on the bus, perfectly respectable, with a grey beard and a knowing eye and … a pink turbine. And the busses and trucks were all brightly painted with designs and messages “Blow Horn!” “Use Dipper At Night!” “India is Great!” and stuff like that. And flowers and pictures of gods everywhere…

The other color, or rather absence of it, was the grey/brown of the buildings. I’ve never seen a city in such disrepair. I thought that the few people living with their kitchens open to the streets in Vietnam were terribly poor, but that was the general standard of living in Delhi, that or one room brick house/apartments that were obviously falling apart. And these were the middle class, as Nidhi said. What were the lower class living like? Of course I saw that too, people cooking chapattis (the Indian staple food, like a tortilla but smaller and thicker, they have it breakfast, lunch and dinner) on open fires in the streets and then retiring to corners to sleep, people digging through the endless piles of trash to find recyclables with flies buzzing around their heads, people burning cow dung for fuel because fossil fuels are too expensive.

The thing is, though they were all obviously very poor, they seemed perfectly happy. It’s one of the things I’ve discovered, both by experience and because everyone says it: Indians have very little, but are some of the happiest people on the planet. They are content with what they have, and have such a strong community (especially in the villages) and are so generous that they don’t need anything more. It makes me wonder why we westerners have such trouble with depression and materialism. I mean, sure, I like my laptop – without it you wouldn’t be reading this – but do I really need it, or anything else I have? How essential is running water? Everyone here bathes with buckets and cups, and it seems unnecessary now to have a full-blown shower, and such a waste of water.

After about 4 hours though, our bus died. So we all clambered out and waited on the side of the road for another bus, which came after not too long, and we clambered on (a lot more crowded now) and went another 2 hours and then that bus broke down too, so we all got off again. Nidhi was so embarrassed (“this never happens. Really!”) but I was having fun – an adventure on my first day! Nidhi’s dad went and found a car and so we were driven the rest of the way in a tiny car that took hairpin turns at breakneck speed while passing huge trucks. Way fun.

Solan, Nidhi’s city, is in the middle range of the Himalayas, so not too high, not too low. Lots of mountains everywhere and misty clouds and tiny bumpy roads. I’ll post pictures when I can. Her family is wonderful. Her mother and grandmother cook fabulously (spicy Indian food eaten with your hands – I’m actually getting quite good at it, you use your chapatti as a spoon and dig in, it’s still strange though, to have no forks…)And her little brother and sister are really cute (but a little shy with their English, hopefully they’ll get over it. And in the meantime, I’m working on my Hindi.)

These are just my first impressions. More to come in the ensuing weeks, I’ll tell everything, but maybe a bit later than it should be, internet is not as accessible as it was at home…

The Visa Ordeal

If ever any of you decide to go to India (or anywhere else, for that matter) be sure to follow their advice on the website and go to get the visa months in advance. I learned this the hard way, and you can rest assured that I will never make that mistake again. Ok, so I had a fairly valid excuse – the Indian Consulate in Milan (where I had to go) was only open Monday to Friday from 9 – 12 am and I happened to be in school at those times and it would have been hard to make the 5 hour journey during one of my free blocks. And they said it should take 2 days, so I wasn’t that worried: I went a week and a half early and figured it’d be a done deal long before I flew. To use the cliché, “How very wrong I was.”

I went to Milan on the evening of Monday the 29^th, stayed the night, and went to the consulate in the morning. I got to Milan in a thunderstorm, rain pounding the streets and lightning cracking the sky every other second. I made my way to the hostel without too much hassle and thankfully they let me stay there, though technically I wasn’t allowed to since I wasn’t 18 yet. And I woke up bright and early to wander my way to the consulate. The Indian Consulate in Milan is a small, crowded room on the fifth floor of a tiny building off a back alley, but I didn’t have to wait too long in line before I was up against the sweaty glass and pushing my papers through.

But no. For them to process my visa I had to be a resident in Italy for 2 years and my Permesso was only valid for a year and 10 months. So they would have to send my application to New York, who would reply in around a week. Then I should come back and they would have it ready for me in 2 days. Oookay, that’s cutting it a bit close now. I asked if there was any way they could do it faster – I had to leave in a week and a half – couldn’t they make an exception and do the visa themselves? No. Ok, could they ask New York to be extra quick about replying? Sure, we’ll tell them, (but they didn’t do anything) call this number in 3-4 business days to see if it’s in.

I left feeling sort of worried and disappointed, but I figured, it could still work out if I was lucky – 3-4 days left me with getting it on Friday or Monday at the latest, and then I could go back and still have it with time to spare before I flew on Thursday – so I went and watched Ice Age 2 in Italian and relaxed until my train back to Duino left. I was not lucky. Neither that day nor later.

My train back was late by 20 minutes, which was ok – I had about that much time to catch the connecting train in Venice, if I ran, I’d be fine. But when I got to Venice, the other train was about to leave, so I jumped on without having time to validate my ticket. Big mistake. When the conductor came along and I showed him my printout from the Internet, he said, “You can’t use this. You need a real ticket. Pay 25 euros, plus the original ticket price again.”

“But I didn’t have time to validate the ticket, and I don’t have any money (not technically true, but hey…), please, isn’t there anything you can do?”

“Ok. Get off at the next stop, validate the ticket, and get on the next train. I won’t fine you this time.”

Yay! So I spent half an hour in a tiny Italian town, and got on the next train to Udine. It was a nice ride, but a little long. I kept looking at the stations, waiting for Monfalcone, but it never came. And then, as I was getting annoyed and tired and ready to be home, came the sign: Udine. Udine? I’m not supposed to be there!!! Apparently I’d either gotten on the wrong train or missed the stop early on. So I got off, bought a ticket back to Trieste, and for an hour, wandered Udine. Nice city by the way, some really pretty buildings, only marred by the fact that they weren’t the Duino Castle or the Al Castel café where I should have been.

The train finally came and I got off at Monfalcone without any problem, and ran down to the bus stop in case it came soon. Umm… no. The bus didn’t come for another hour, so I decided I’d rather walk the 10ish kilometers back than wait at the bus stop with nothing to do. That was scary. It was midnight and there weren’t streetlights, though there were lots of crazy Italian drivers speeding by. I spent my time saying prayers in Italian: “Per favore machine, lasciami vivere. Per favore, dio, non voglio morire. Il visto non e tanto importante, solo voglio vivere…” (please cars, let me live. Please god, I don’t want to die. The visa isn’t that important. I just want to live…)

I finally got back, and had to climb the wall to get into Beth’s (my English teacher) house at somewhere around 12:30. I fell into bed thinking, “phew. The ordeal’s over. Next time will be much easier.” Once again: How very wrong I was.

I called on Monday but they never answered all day. So I decided to go anyway and hope they had it. While I was using the secretary’s phone, though, I found out that Lorenzo, a Milanese boy I’d met during the Italian first year selections had been accepted, so I emailed him saying, “Congratulations! By the way, I’m coming to Milan tomorrow, want to meet somewhere to talk about the college?”

Another train to Milan. Another wait at the consulate. And another dismissal. Apparently New York hadn’t responded and I was to come back in 2 days. “But I’m leaving in 2 days! I can’t do that. Isn’t there anything you can do?”

“If you’re leaving, we can give you the visa the same day, if you show us the ticket. But only then.”

“My flight to London leaves from Venice at 10:30 in the morning, can’t you give it to me tomorrow?”

“No. Only on the day of the flight to India.”

So I left feeling angry/sad/worried/stupid/hated by fate. What was I going to do? Go back to Duino? I couldn’t no train would take me back in time. I had to find a hotel or something here. But I had no money. Help! My prayers were answered by Lorenzo, who came to meet me where we’d arranged. I think that was the only truly good thing that happened in this entire story, but it was so good, it made up for at least 2/3s of the bad things: he said, “Where are you staying? Because my mother said that you could stay with us if you wanted.” Grazie a Dio! So I spent the afternoon with Lorenzo, sightseeing and telling him about the college. Then I went home with him and met his wonderful family who fed me dinner, gave me a bed, let me use the internet, and helped me decide what to do. We’d try the consulate again in the morning in case New York had replied, and if they had, all was well. If they hadn’t, I’d change my flight to leave from Milan instead of Venice (it was more expensive, but there was nothing we could do.) and go back to Duino to get my luggage, then come back that night, stay with them again, and hopefully get the visa in the morning and leave in the afternoon from Milan to London.

The next morning Lorenzo’s mom took me to the consulate early to ask again, but the answer was no. Again. So we went to the station and I bought a ticket to Duino and back again, and said thank you, see you tonight.

The train ride was uneventful, except for the deep feeling of despair and angst – everything was going wrong! – but I managed to sleep through most of it. I got to Duino and found Beth, so though the computer room was closed, she opened it for me and I was able to get online to change to airplane tickets. But the price had doubled since the morning, and suddenly I wasn’t sure it would be best to change the tickets – maybe it would be cheaper to just by another ticket? But Beth had to go and so I didn’t have time to check or change the ticket. I did have time, though, to read an urgent email from Jesus, my Secondo, saying he’d be in Milan that evening, could we meet? Oh, cruel fate! Why did he have to come at exactly the time that I wasn’t in Milan? But there was nothing I could do. I went to Beth’s house, hurriedly packed all my stuff, said goodbye and thank you to Beth and ran back to the bus stop to get on the train again. (Ugg. I’m so sick of trains…)

This train was more fun though, I met an Iranian family and spent the hours entertaining their 5/6 year old daughter as the parents slept, drawing, watching a movie on my laptop, playing cards, making faces, etc. and got into Milan at 11:00 pm. There was Jesus, waiting for me, the poor guy. We had all of five minutes together while we walked to where Lorenzo and his mother were waiting to take me home. Then we said goodbye again and I went back with Lorenzo. It was so sad to see him and then leave him again so soon…

By the time we got back it was too late to change the tickets, so we had to wait until the morning. So the next morning (this is Thursday, the 8^th, by the way, the day I leave) I went with Lorenzo’s mother to her office at 7:30 to check tickets (all of them insanely expensive because it was the same day) I ended up buying the same tickets I was going to in the first place, but it was too late to change tickets, so I ended up paying about 200 euros extra. Damn. (another lesson: get tickets when you can – don’t wait.)

Then at 9 I went to the consulate again. They told me to wait because the person who was supposed to handle my visa wasn’t there then. So I waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, after an hour and a half, I asked, “excuse me, but exactly how long am I supposed to wait?”

“oh, another half an hour, maybe.” (Thanks a lot. You could have told me that before! Oy.) So I went outside and wandered around Milan again, looking at the churches and University buildings and not thinking about the future. I returned to the consulate right before it closed, and made my way slowly to the window. And, miracle of miracles, they took my passport and money and said they would do the visa! I don’t think I’ve ever been as happy to hand over 75 euros in my life. “Come back at 4 to get it,” they said. Ahrg, another problem. My flight left at 4:50, I had to be at the airport at 4. This wouldn’t work. I asked if they could do it earlier and they said, no, come back at 4. I was about to leave in dejection and hope that I would be able to make the flight, but then I turned around again, I wouldn’t take defeat that easily. “You said you could make an exception if it was really necessary, and this is very important. Could you please do the visa earlier than 4? I absolutely have to be gone by 4.” And the blessed words, “Alright. I’ll do the visa now, come back at 2 to pick it up.” I nearly skipped out the room and did a little happy dance in the elevator. I met Lorenzo and we had lunch together before I went to get the visa. I was so happy and carefree then, it was wonderful. I went in at 2 and – joy and rapture – they produced my passport with a page full of a sparkly purple visa. So we went back to his house and I packed and said goodbye and thank you for saving my life and stuff, and then I went to the airport. Funny, how once I was in the airport I felt safe and at home: I know how to do airports. My visa was done and I was on my way.

Finito

It's been a week since school's ended, but I couldn't stand the thought of writing about it until now. I think I'm ok now. Maybe.
The second years are gone!!!! :'-(
The year ended with a bang - the first years put on our last show for our secondi, which was great, the usual material: funny (battle of the bands: The Spice Girls vs The Backstreet Boys) and beautiful (Marco and Margerita did a ballet dance that was gorgeous. Wow.) and sweet (Alvaro, Vanessa and I sang a medley of songs (with changed lyrics) commemorating our second years' leaving, ending with Friends Will Be Friends, by Queen) and sad: our last song was Aloha Oe:
"Aloha Oe, Aloha Oe
The wind will carry back my sad refrain
One fond embrace
Before goodbye
Until we meet again"
Then the second years all came up on stage and we hugged and cried and cried and hugged...
That night (Tuesday the 23, for reference) there was a huge party in Mickey's (the bar) with everyone dancing one last time. The first half of the dancing was Latin - Tango and Salsa and Samba etc. and the latinos took the floor and danced (showing some of the rest of us how to do it), with spins and twirls and fancy footwork. Then the music changed to normal pop music, and everyone got up and danced, it was soo hot and crowded... but a good way to not think about the next day.
The next day was Closing Ceremony, which was nothing particularly special, a lot of Italian politicians talking about our importance to the community (blah), the choir sang, Vanessa did a speech on behalf of all the first years saying Thank You to our secondi, some music scholars played, and all throughout the ceremony we signed yearbooks. Then we had the best mensa food we've ever had - buffet style nice red rice and vegetables and pasta... and really good dessert, too.
Then it began. The first people left right after closing ceremony and then it was a constant stream for the next 2 days. Every half hour someone was at the bus stop, crying and blindly hugging anyone and everyone who came near to say goodbye. One by one my Secondi ( and the ones that meant the most to me and became my "adopted Secondi") left - Deanna (my real Seconda, who's going to Middlebury, so I'll see her soon) and Isaac (from Spain, a wonderful dancer and singer and such a kind-hearted person) left the first day without me being able to say goodbye, Yusaku (I'll always remember how he dressed up as me for the Nordic show - he did it so perfectly! And his cooking...ahh) and Doba (the computer geek, my Secondo-in-law - he was going out with my co-year, Leah) and Diego (who taught us the "beaver cheer", I can't relate it here, ask me to perform it when I get home, it's so funny...)
The weather was strange that day, it reflected our feelings exactly. All morning it was raining and very windy - sometimes we couldn't even hear the speeches because the tent was flapping so hard - but the grey clouds were the perfect backdrop to our sadness. Then the rain stopped and, just at sunset, a beautiful double rainbow appeared. The image of people saying their last goodbyes under that arch of color was so powerful - sad and beautiful at the same time.

The next day was the worst. My 2 first year roome left early in the morning (5 am for Nevin, and 8:30 for Marta) Then Jesus...Lisette and I went with him to Sistiana for one last coffee before he left and we promised that Lisette and I would return next year to remember him. We talked and laughed and bullshitted (he won the yearbook award for best bullshitter, and he was so proud...) and then he had to go.
Let's skip that part of the story, ok? He's the one I/'ll miss most, his bullshitting, his philosophy (talking about the merits/theory of anarchism, the US's involvement in Latin America, God, etc) his jokes, his absolutely horrid conduct with girls (I think "player" is the correct term - he would go through his picture album and say, "I got with her, her, her, her, not her - sigh - she was too far away but I wanted to, her, her...") which, though it sounds bad, is actually probably quite a good thing - it's one of the only things that kept me from wanting to fight my Seconda for him ;) (he was my Secondo-in-law too) the other thing was my Seconda herself and his devotion to her, - apparently, once he found the right girl he'd stick to her like glue - and how incredibly sweet they were together. And, of course, I'll remember his egocentric (sometimes faked, sometimes real, I don't know) how he loved being vain and singing, "I Feel Pretty" and taking pictures of himself...
Next most missed person is probably Cosy, though she left on Saturday and so I had time to talk to her before she left. Her laugh, her way of telling stories so that even if it's the most mundane occurrence - making omelets for example - it's hilariously funny, her voice - wow! sometimes I wish I were African too... - and all our inside jokes from Project Week. I think that week was one of the best in the year, and much of it was because of her. Memories of singing "Under the Sea" in Italian, of walking up the hill to our host family's house and talking about UWC/the world, of teasing Alvaro about his accent (whenever he asked for the ramp for Dana's wheelchair he'd roll the R and we'd all laugh - "la rrrrrampa!") of getting lost, and she was always there, smiling...
Thursday afternoon 2 more of my secondi left, Terence (the real Secondo) and Leon (the first adopted Secondo) I'll miss Leon's ever ready advice and listening ear, the conversations we had at the beginning of the year when we literally recounted our entire life stories to each other over cornflakes, how he was always available for a hug when I was feeling down...
Friday was a bit better. Lelde (our choir director) left in the morning, but after that everyone stayed, so we just lounged. All my latinos stayed (except Jesus) and the Russians, and we had a great time going through the clothes that people left behind and dressing up.
And that night we sang and played Latin songs together for the last time... and watched a movie and talked.
Slowly they all trickled away, and as my last Secondo left (Rene, on Monday), a crowd of Italians came for the first year selections, so I went smoothly into being a Seconda myself, showing them around Duino and telling them about the college.
And so here I am, a quasi-Seconda, lying in the sun and looking forward to going to India in a week!!!!!

The End of the Year

I'm truly sorry it's been so long since my last post. There hasn't been that much happening, except for the slow march of the year towards the finish line. And here we are at the last days and I can't believe it. All our amazing second years are leaving us and we're taking charge, hearing from our primi (I have a prima named Lucy from Colorado who's in Thailand right now on an exchange trip - wow! and a primo from Virginia and another prima from Oregon). All the girls are complaining that there are no guys coming (which is sadly true - the vast majority of primi are girls. *sniff*) and all the guys are, obviously, extatic.
Hmm, what else has been happening?
I went for a hike in the Alps with a group of first years, we're going to have a hiking club next year.

And we had a concert for the music activity, I played rock music with the latinos - Renato, Rene, Alvaro and (not latina) Anja, which was super fun and everyone loved it. And then I played a Mozart sonata with Alvaro which we played pretty well, but it got boring for the audience because we didn't think and took all the (many) repeats. Oh well, we had fun, and people said they liked it.

And a lot of packing/studying for exams, but I won't talk about that. Ick.

Theater Week

Last week was Theater Week, and Oh So fun. Every day there was something theaterish going on, at break, in Mensa at dinner time, at College Assembly...wow.
On Monday in Assembly, Cosy (Swaziland) made an announcement that went, "I'll keep this short. I just wanted to say: NAAAA-siguetenya..." and burst into Circle of Life. We all got up from the sidelines and started singing backup(inganama-inganamababa) to a spectacular performance of African singing (Cosy and Ayanda, from South Africa). Wow, but those southern Africans can belt it out!
And that night some students got up on the table and sang/acted Summer Lovin' from Greece (unfortunately no pictures, it was awesome...) "tell me more, tell me more..."
Tuesday evening we got Jesus Christ Superstar performed for our dinner, and I did bring my camera that time.
And then Wednesday Haley (Canada) and my second year, Terence did (I don't actually know the title. hmm) the song that goes "Anything you can do, I can do better. I can do anything better than you."

And Thursday break was Terence and Ayanda doing the "Who's on First" skit, which was hilarious.
Wednesday and Thursday nights the Drama group performed Blood Wedding at a theater in Monfalcone (I helped with costumes). It was amazing. It was so powerful to watch them get so completely into their characters - before the last scene all the actors were literally crying backstage because of the events in the play. Wow.


And the grand finale was the Theater Week Show, which was great fun. Alvaro (Spain) and I sang Last Night of the World from Miss Saigon:

Eduardo's friends all laughed when Alvaro and I were performing ("you should have seen his face!" they said afterwards...) because (it being Theater Week and all) we acted and danced the whole song.

I was in Vanessa's national costume, which people said I looked good in (though it doesn't look like that in the picture, does it? sigh.) and it was Blue!! (yay).
Anyway, that was Theater Week, and it was loads of fun. I can't wait for next year.

And last night something amazing happened - it was raining/sunning all day, and in the evening we got some sort of triple rainbow - one that repeated twice and then another, fainter one above it. The first one was a complete half circle that ended right in Trieste. And if you looked past the castle there was a gorgeous sunset out over the Adriatic... sigh.

And so Eduardo and Marta and I ran down to the sea and took pictures...

yes, it's corny, but hey - he's Latino. ;)

Spanish Immersion

I'm now having an intense Spanish immersion experience, and I'm enjoying it immensely. I've found a wonderful Latino to spend my time with - Eduardo from Peru - and now the world is beautiful and bright, even on cloudy days.
It started on Sunday, when we took a walk down the Rilke Path (the classic romantic spot in the college) and sat on the cliffs, looking out at the sea and talking about life. At some point in the three hours we spent there we changed from being friends to something more, and the rest of the story is private ;) and not for public posting. Suffice to say that I don't think I'll make it in for curfew very often in the future, and my Spanish is going to get really good. (this is where I get mad that blogger doesn't have emoticons, because I'd put a huge grin here)
Our friends are having a blast with it - teasing us to no end - but we don't mind whatsoever. The college tradition in this respect is for each person to adopt the other's secondi, co-years, and especially roommates, so now Marta, Nevin, and Giulia are happily discussing their new Roomo and Rene is my new secondo (though he basically was before anyway, by adoption).
Sigh...He's so sweet, and his language is sooooo gorgeous - having "te quiero" whispered in your ear is an experience every girl should have.
This is him, in case you can't find him in the pictures I've already posted:

I know I've said Life is Good before, but I was mistaken - Life is Fabuloso. :)

Random stuff

There are all these little things that go on without being big enough to warrant a full post, so I'll bunch them up here.
on March 10th we had a Model United Nations conference. It was really fun, I was Haiti. The latinos made fun of me for being the poorest country in the western hemisphere (which actually isn't that funny) and hating the Dominican Republic (represented by my friend Bulat from Russia, so we had a lot of fun insulting each other's countries). I made a joint resolution with Trinidad and Tobago (represented by Camilla from Italy) on the nuclear crisis in Iran and it got passed! (over the US's haha.) Yay.
My poor friends though: Ying Xin (Hong Kong) and Vanessa (Singapore) and Martin (Slovakia) were saddled with being America. Martin did it impressively - he talked about freedom and evil and spreading democracy in all his opening speeches, it was hilarious.
here they are:

I wish we had been able to represent our own countries though, it would have been really interesting to do a true cultural MUN - when else are we going to get this opportunity? oh well, maybe next year.
And then there are the random happy moments of the college that I happen to have photos of:
The day Marta (polish rooma) and I climbed down to Fore Beach and lay there basking in the beautiful sunlight and view and laughing at how wonderful the world was:

And the night (1:30 am ish) Nidhi, Vanessa and I painted henna on each other's hands to match:

Speaking of Nidhi, I officially got tickets to India this summer! I'm going with her and we're going to tour the country, do presentations in schools in her area, and hopefully do some volunteer work while we're there. And so I'll come home on August 1st - I can't wait! Or maybe I can, because it seems like the end of the year is coming mighty quickly and I'm not ready for my first year to be over or (worse) my second years to leave.

Then there was Purim, and the Jewish taster session. It's like Jewish Halloween, so we all came dressed up and had cookies and hot wine and cake and the Israelis performed the story of Esther and how she saved the Jews from yet another extermination:

And the cultural visit to Mantua (where Romeo went, remember?), which was great. Henry gave us the full tour, including the details of the Marquis' scandalous pleasure palace, in which the dining room is covered by huge frescos of an, umm, feast/orgy at Cupid and Psyche's wedding.

(I love this picture of Henry, I think it captures his essence perfectly.)
And in our free time we went to a fair that was happening right outside the gates of the palace and had cotton candy and went on bumper cars and stuff. It was great.
I participated in a science cafe which was themed on the relationship between poetry, music, and science. So I played a cool flamencoish song with Rene (bolivia) and read Recuerdo (by Edna St Vincent Millay). We had so much fun.

Ok, that about sums up the special events of my life recently. Now I have to do a presentation for Environmental Systems on US Immigration (with a Chinese and a Latino - how perfect is that? I love UWC)

Project Week

Every year (except last year because of financial difficulties) UWC has a project week, –a week when all the students scatter to community service projects around the area -– Croatia, Switzerland, Bosnia, Slovenia, Austria, etc, and Italy, of course. I (and Alvaro, from Spain) organized a project to Florence, to sing in elderly homes and do presentations in the International school about UWC and issues around the world. It was wonderful. We stayed in host families for the week, and mine was perfect - the mother was German and the father Italian, so we spoke a combination of Italian (mostly) and English and German. There was a 15-year-old son too, named Carlo, who was the sweetest boy imaginable, we had a great time talking in Italian/English about school, life, religion, growing up (he showed me his toy car collection and where/how he used to play with them and lamented how hard it was getting to play like that now, somehow it didn'’t have the same magic. I could sympathize perfectly, the same had happened to me with Legos and magic princess games, and I was surprised how easily we talked about it, two teenagers who should be "too old for that". It was good for me). On my last night there, we (Carlo, his friend Charlie, and I) played hide-and-seek all around the house and had a great time, another unexpected trip into childhood.
This is them:

And this is us, except Leni, who was taking the picture:

Leni didn't spend much time with us anyway - she had different priorities. For us, the project came first ('cause it was Project week), preferred touring Florence. This led to some social difficulties, quite a bit of animosity, and a formation of 2 groups: her, and the rest of us. The climax of this difference in priorities was her laryngitis to get out of the last concert and then going around Florence all day. We found out about it the next day when our host families said, "Oh, yeah, she went out with us and was perfectly normal and healthy..."ahrg. oh well. The rest of us had a fantastic time, so I don't really care. Wednesday was Cosy's birthday, so as a surprise, we took her to Pisa:

We had so much fun, laughing all the way. Pisa was great, I didn't expect it to be awesome - it's just a big tower - but it was, the feeling of being there and seeing it for real was really cool.
And we went Uffizi, the Piti Palace, and the Academia (Mama, you missed soooo much! how could we have thought that it wasn't worth the exorbidant entrance fee? It is!) My favorite was the Piti Palace - it was so amazingly decorated, and the art there was my favorite, Neo-classical covering the ceilings.

La Primavera and the Birth of Venus were awe-some as well, but on the whole Uffizi had too many Jesus-orriented rennaissance paintings. Amazing, yes, but not quite my taste. Anyway, this is a view Uffizi - very pretty.

And David was fantastic, really. You don't truly understand what is so powerful about a block of shaped marble until you stand at his feet and look up at his troubled eyes, his relaxed but still tense posture, his almost transparent skin...
Our concerts went well, there were some really sweet moments, like when this little old nun started dancing to our songs, and when the people started singing folk songs for us... wow. But we all swore to commit suicide as soon as we came even close to that state - it was so sad, seeing them all degenerating together... I would never want to be like that.
We had a couple mishaps, like the time we arrived an hour and a half late because the place we thought was in Florence was actually in Capalle - a little town 45 minutes away, and then we got lost... I officially hate the Florentine bus system, it's so uncooperative. Unlike Prague (Ah, Prague...). Anyway.
The trip back was awful - we took a night train (2 am-7:30) but didn't reserve seats and got the wrong tickets (for youth instead of adults, apparently it's only up to 12) so we had to pay an extra 64 euros total, and slept in the corridor because people were taking up 2-3 seats to sleep. Ugh. I hate night trains.
It's so nice to be back though...I missed Duino so much. It was great to greet everyone again and hear/tell all our stories. I love this place. Life is Good!!!!

Ski Marathon

I skied 28k last weekend. It was awesome, we spend the whole weekend out, traveling all day Saturday and then skiing a little and lazing about. We went to dinner in a great restaurant that had such good food (or maybe it was just that it wasn't mensa. hmmm...) Anyway, we loved it.
And when we got back, we had the greatest hour+ long snowball fight. It was perfect conditions - snowing, so we had a constant supply, and the snow was the perfect consistency, and we had 3 vans to run around and hide behind and ambush people from. And great snowbanks to throw people in and bury them in snow. The equatorial people were pretty good at it too, considering they hadn't ever seen snow before this year. We were all soaked when it was done.
And the next day we went skiing. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful track and we were dead last. We watched as everyone sped ahead, and then plodded on ourselves. We had so much fun, Leah (my co-year), Marta (polish rooma, you should know that by now), Renato (Guatemala), Eduardo (Peru) and I laughed and discussed the meaning of life and the existence of love and our aching legs.
We came in dead last, half an hour after the gates had supposedly closed. But hey, who cares? We're not competitive. We would have been second to last, but Assumpta (Uganda), Tara(Sri Lanka) and Vanessa (Singapore) cheated. Grr. They skipped a 4k loop and then got a ride for the last 10k in someone's car. I guess that's good, and they're happy, but it makes us look worse, being the absolute last people through the gate. We're still happy though, see?













All in all, it was a great way to end the ski season.

Valentines day

Ok, so this is a little late, but I figured y'all would like to hear about my Valentines day.
It was really fun - I dressed all in pink, make-up and everything, and put my hair in a semi-ponytail. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture, though I meant to. sigh.
In TOK (Theory of Knowledge - a cool class about critical thinking and perception, etc) I convinced the teacher to let us discuss love ("what is love?" as my co-year puts it) and marriage instead of Reason, as was scheduled (reason, can you imagine? On Valentines day? Eru's song.)
I baked cookies with sweethearts in them for all my friends and spent the evening distributing them, which was great fun. I gave roses to my closest friends as well and little notes saying, "Roses are pink (they were), Violets are blue, Cookies are sweet and so are you!"
And I got some sweet Valentines in return: One of the classic American mini-cards from Nik, my co-year saying "hope this helps you reminisce about the good ol' days of 2nd grade!" (us Americans are cool - I made cookies etc. And he gave a bundle of roses to his girlfriend, who was mighty pleased) A little blue heart from Renato (he's from Guatemala) and a pop-out blue heart-card from Nidhi (India)
And the Latinos gave every girl in the school a (uniquely composed for her) love poem (and there are a lot of them). So cool, so Latino... Mine was:

Little Princess from the sky,
Your magic smile
Brings every day happiness
To every place in my soul.

You should know, my little princess,
That you are not just pretty,
Because when I see you and listen to you,
I could die for you.

Isn't that sweet??? I love Latinos.
And Rene (one of the Latinos who wrote the poems, I think - they never would tell) gave me a red rose. ;)
So, all around, a good day.

Skiing

So I did get snow after all.
I joined the x-country skiing activity and am having a blast. It's so funny to see all these equatorial people trying to ski... It makes me feel much better about my moderate ability. And now that they've had 3 times to practice, they're really good and we have a lot of fun.
(That would be Assumpta(Uganda), me, Giulia (rooma/Italy), Domenica(cecz republic, Vivian(Hong Kong), and Marta (other rooma/Poland))
I'm on skate skis, but I switch with lots of people because they see me and others speeding along and want to try. And while I have classic skis, I go off into the woods and do a little trekking, it's awesome.

Last Saturday I went 20ish kilometers, and ended up 45 minutes late for the ride back because I was going with Assumpta, Renato and Edurardo and we took a wrong turn and went on the long loop, not the short one. Oh well, it was fun, and they didn't leave without us, so that's good.
And now it's gorgeous and sunny and 60-65° and we're out on the grass basking in the sun. Sigh, it's a hard life, y'know?

Another Unhappy Update

Hamas won the Palestinian elections yesterday. I don't know if you guys heard or knew what it meant, but I do (having a Palestinian roommate and Israeli friend) and it's bad. At least from my point of view. Hamas is a group, classified as a "Terrorist organization" by US, mainly because they are the ones that organize pretty much all the bombings that happen in Israel. They have a huge amount of support from the Palestinians though, because not only do they kill the occupiers, but they have many service programs - schools, hospitals, charity, etc - so everyone thinks (and, I guess to their minds, rightly) that they're a wonderful, caring organization that is devoted to Palestine and its people. They've never entered into an election before, because they don't consider Israel a state and refuse to talk to them. They say Fatah (the other party) is corrupt (probably true) and also unpalestinian for dealing with the invaders.
Then this year they decided to enter - I don't know why - and boom! They now control almost all the Palestinian government. The old Prime Minister who had worked so hard for peace (and gotten criticized by the people for giving in too much) resigned and Hamas has everything. What's going to happen when there are two governments within the same country (and one "the size of my pinkie" as Michael put it) that refuse to acknowledge that the other one exists, let alone talk to them. Oh, and by the way, they're both actively and openly trying to kill eachother.
And all the Arabs here are so happy! At mensa this evening they started a cheer (along the lines of We Will Rock You, with table banging and all) "Hamas! Hamas! Hamas!" they're so excited, can't they see this will bring only destruction? There's no way that Hamas will get all the Israelis to leave, and that's what they're asking for, nothing less. And the peace talks were going so well, with the Army out of Gaza strip and all... Now the Israelis will probably occupy it again, which is not only bad for those people there - destroyed houses/people/lives - but a more personal connection is that if they re-occupy, my rooma won't be able to get back to UWC next year. And if this is one of the key conflicts between Middle East and West, what does it foresee for the rest of the conflict? How can these people cheer for something that will produce more war, more suffering (especially for them) and more mistrust? I find it so hard to believe in my optimistic "it'll all work out somehow, someday" view of things when I keep hearing news like this. How do I respect and try to in some way help people that act so stupid sometimes? (this all applies to US and our last election as well)
I can see where they're coming from, I really do understand their hatred and anger (I hear it enough from my rooma), but...

Sigh. I guess this is the cost I pay for getting too close to people from conflict areas.

Please Allah/God, these people obviously care about you (praying that much, they gotta;) ), please help them/us/everyone see reason.

Back Home

I'm Back!
It's wonderful to be home (and it really does feel like home). The first day was filled with hugs and "wow, how was vacation?!" My secondo went to South Africa, so though people said I looked tan, he looked very tan. And so many people went home and came back to share stories of their friends. A lot of them said that they felt different going home, that their friends (or they) weren't the same, that they didn't have quite as much to connect with, or that they missed the international aspects of the college. I'll agree with the last part, but I hope the first 2 don't happen when I go back.
We all came back with new and wild New Years Resolutions, mostly about eating and studying - "Not to eat when I'm not hungry" is a common one, as is "Study harder and stop being lazy" and Nidhi even said "Not eat chocolate". Fortunately I talked her out of that one (for her own good, one simply cannot survive without chocolate).
Mine are along those lines, as well as "Go out of my room and socialize more" (because, although my roommates are amazing, there are more people in our school) and "only eat 3 meals/day" (or at least try. Make an effort, y'know?) and "be nicer to my teachers and pay attention in (specifically math and English) class" but that one's going to be really really hard. Especially since we're only just starting on the Unit circle in Math now and English is English. I don't really mind though - I'm reading Jane Eyre now, and it's fabulous. I feel very nicely Englishified.
Oh, and "Be more socially active". I figure if I get one of these done, I'll be doing well, and if I improve all of them, that will be best.
I'm sort of annoyed, because I have all these pictures I want to take, but no camera. Oh well, it'll come in a week or something.
Nevin and I went down to Fore Beach (a fairly steep climb with some rock scaling at the end) and she was terrified. Apparently they don't have cliffs in the Gaza strip. But we made it and it was so beautiful (camera!!:( ). She was really happy we'd done it in the end, and I was as well, (Eru's song, though, that took a lot of coaxing)
I have homework to do now (resolution#2) and I have to write something up for Nidhi (resolution#6) and then socialize (#4). Hard life, ain't it?

Holidays

So I'm in Taiwan. What a strange place to spend Christmas! It's worth it, though, to have my family again.
Christmas was both incredibly different and completely familiar at the same time. Our tree was different - a tiny potted cedar that we brought into the living room and decorated with paper cranes and mini lights - but the presents underneath were the same, from all our beloved friends back home. The weather was different, but since we stayed inside most of the day, we felt the same. We had the familiar tradition of getting Nana's presents on Christmas Eve night, but the presents were different - fuzzy blankets instead of the customary pajamas. And although Christmas morning and early afternoon were the same - opening stockings, eating breakfast, opening presents, then spending the next couple of hours reading our new books - Christmas evening was not: we went to a hot spring instead of the Meeting House and our Christmas dinner consisted of Chinese take-out noodles. Oh well, at least it was memorable.

New Years was likewise very different: we performed Handel's Messiah, which went wonderfully. Mama and Papa sang in the choir and I played in the orchestra. I'd only played the piece 4-5 times before performing, and I hadn't been able to practice it, but I think I pulled it off well. The sound of the choir and orchestra together were awe-some, though. Truly inspiring. Then we went home afterwards and watched fireworks from the roof. It was great, they were popping all around us, and whenever one set stopped, another started. We put up the tent on the roof and slept out there that night, and woke up the next morning to a new and wonderful (though cloudy) day, in which we went to the beach and got rained on and had a lot of fun. A great set of holidays, all around.

Winter Break

I'm really sorry for not having written for so long, the beginning of December seemed relatively mundane (relatively) with little time. And then I went on the Street Performing trip and didn't have internet for 10 days.
But oh, what a 10 days they were!!
The General Premise: Elliot, a Hong Kongese second year, organized a trip for the choir (and other interested people) to go to Vienna, Bratislava (Slovakia), Prague, and Budapest and sing on the streets and in concerts, promoting UWC and getting money for the earthquake in Pakistan. I was a part of the choir, and we had a fantabulous time. We started out as 40 people but by the end we were only around 20, because people dropped off in various cities, some people couldn't get visas to Czech Republic and Hungary and some people lived in the places we went and just stayed there when we left.
Vienna is officially my favorite city now.
Perhaps it's because of the glorious (and so un-Italian! Not that Italian is bad, far from it) architecture - everything in that city breathes grandeur, from the shop fronts to the Christmas decorations (think: huge chandeliers of Christmas lights suspended between the buildings of the main pedestrian avenue with stars and bells and banners of light everywhere) to the opera house (gilded and filled with statues and wide, velvet covered stairs) to the museums to the cathedrals. Stefansdome, in the center of the city, is the most magnificent, awe-inspiring, and I'd almost say terrifying, cathedral I've ever seen. You enter and suddenly you feel so small in the face of whatever it was that created or inspired this. I'm assuming that's the intended effect of all gothic cathedrals, but I've never felt it more keenly.

Perhaps it's that, or perhaps it's the music. We stayed there for three nights, and each night I went to a concert. You would think this would have put a strain on my little blue wallet, but no, the most I paid for a ticket was 4 euros. 4 euros to see Tibor Kovak play (on Kreistler's violin) Paganini and Bach and Bartok in a small but ornately carved and painted and gilded music hall. Sure, our seats were above the stage so we couldn't see a thing, but once we moved down the balcony to stand behind a Viennese man's chair (for which he paid 36 euros, I saw his ticket) we had a perfect view.
That was the second night. The first night we (Yusaku(Japan), Sara(Italy), Juan Chi(Argentina), Nidhi(India), Julia(Slovakia) and I) went to see "La Nozze di Figaro" at the Vienna Opera House. To get standing tickets, we had to get there at 4:00 and stand (or rather sit) in line until 5:30 when they let us buy the tickets (2.50) and then we stood in line to get good standing places (which we did) we tied our scarves around the bar and went out to get dinner (ridiculously expensive! I got a mediocre hot dog for 3 euros, and that was the cheapest thing around.) When we'd finished, we went back in and stood through the opera: Amazing! We had a perfect view, we were eye-level with the performers (though a ways back) and because we were standing there were no heads in the way. And the opera itself was incredibly well done. What voices! Such power, such beauty. The orchestra was wonderful as well, and of course, the music they were working wasn't half bad.
And the last night Juan Chi and I went to see the Vienna Philharmonic. Wow. I have never seen such perfection live. I kept having to remind myself that I wasn't listening to a CD, that this was real, because everything about it was precise and exactly what the conductor motioned for. Of course the surroundings reflected the music glory - the hall was covered in paintings and sculptures of angels and down the stairs were depictions of the nine muses. In the lobby there were statues of great composers and flowers and chandeliers...Wow.
So, yeah. I like Vienna. We had fun there as well, the choir sang in the street and we made 40 euros in half an hour. (I wanted so much to play my violin - I would have made a killing - but it was too cold. Maybe in the spring I'll take a trip north.) We sang in the UN lobby as well, which was cool, underneath all those flags spread out in a circle, and the others talked to some of the people who came to listen.
Then there was Bratislava. That was fun as well, but not as beautiful. We did presentations in an IB school (I did one on American Foreign Policy. Ableaghydug. (a word that pretty much sums it up. It went ok, I guess, but oy, what a subject.)) then sang for them, then went out and toured the town. I went with a Slovak student who showed me (and Marina and Julia) around and took us to a pub to have the "national food" (some sort of mashed and fried potatoes in cheese sauce with bacon on top. Really fatty, but sort of good). That night (at 12:00, we were all really tired) our hosts set up a game for us, in which we had to run around the school in the dark with candles, trying to find scraps of paper ("lost souls") and return them to our bases before the other team caught us and stole our souls. It was fun, but it would have been more fun if we hadn't been dead tired.
The next day we went to Prague.
If Vienna was grand, Prague was mystical. Tall, dark statues of saints and martyrs line the main bridge, one I wouldn't want to cross alone at night. They seem to be watching you as you go, though the effect is somewhat diminished by the souvenir shops and tourists taking pictures (yes, I was one of them. Oh well). The main cathedral is also awe-inspiring, especially as you approach it from a small street: normal houses, normal shops, then ...!?! It rises into the darkness of the night, illuminated from below to fully show its glory. One has to merely stand there for a minute, shocked into silence.
The inside's not too bad, either. It's not as frightening as Stefansdome because it's illuminated by myriad stained glass windows in all different styles. Beautiful, all of them.
Prague's transportation system was the best I've ever seen. It was redone 2 years ago, and there were lots of punctual, frequent, clean metros, busses, trams, you name it. And the metro stations were even nicely decorated (with Narnia posters! I want to see that sooo much, but none of the cinemas showed it in English). Unfortunately, the weather was awful there, so we couldn't really street sing. But we did some nice wandering, and generally had a great time.
We took the night train to Budapest. Big, Big mistake. It was easily the worst night I've spent in years, if not ever. First of all, the compartments were crammed (6 to a room) and the they were little more than padded benches - we didn't even get our own seats. And they didn't recline like the ones to Florence. There was lots of baggage, so we were all really crammed and uncomfortable. That would have been bad enough, but then the heater started going full blast. Now I know what hell's like, I'll start saying my prayers.
Strangely enough, I wasn't actually that tired the next day. Which was a good thing, because we were booked to the gills that day. Budapest was the most organized stop of the trip - we had street performance, a scheduled lunch (that I didn't appreciate, because we'd been fending for ourselves and I'd been doing a lot better than the mildly overpriced mildly tasteless food we got there), a concert, a tour (spectacular, of course. I love Europe), and a Christmas party. The party was for all Hungarian UWC students, past and present, and they had great food, a trivia game (which my group won. Booyah. Cake for everyone!) I had fun talking to an ex-UWC-USA student and we compared campuses and alcohol policies (basically nothing allowed vs. Everything fine and even almost encouraged. Guess which country hosts which policy?)
The grand cathedral of Budapest was very different from the other cathedrals I'd seen. It was warm and beautiful and inviting, all pink and white marble and gold and glass windows placed so that it was filled with natural light that, in once case, streamed in from the window in such a way as to illuminate a sweet little statue of two angels in the corner. I think I like it best, it's so comfortable. I prefer a religion that makes loveliness rather than grandeur, as I prefer a god that welcomes and accepts to one that condemns and judges. Don't get me wrong, I loved those gothic giants, and would gladly return to them, I would merely prefer to worship in the cathedral in Budapest.
The other thing I liked best about Budapest (closely followed by Prague) was its Christmas Market. If anyone's been to Europe around Christmas you'll know hat I'm talking about, they're everywhere, these piazzas (or whatever) filled to bursting with stalls covered in wreathes and selling everything from hats to crepes to candles to glass ornaments to hot dogs to cups to jewelry, you name it. And all around it is music of one kind or another (sometimes performed by us) and people warming their hands on mugs of hot punch and huge Christmas trees covered in lights. Everywhere has at least one (even Venice, as I saw while I was there connecting to Taiwan) and most cities have two or three or five. Budapest's market was the most original - it had brightly colored felt hats and booties and beautifully glazed ceramics and glass candle holders. But they were all beautiful, and each had its trademark - the candles of Vienna, the wood-working of Bratislava, the little painted mugs of Prague, and the pottery of Budapest.
My last night on the trip I went to a concert at the National Concert Hall. Beautiful space, that, very modern, but very tasteful. And the music was great. We saw a Tchaikovsky violin concerto and Mahler Symphony #1, I was sooo happy. Unfortunately, my camera didn't seem to like it as much. We were on the 5th floor (having paid 80 cents to get in) and my bag was hanging over the edge of the balcony. I thought that was a little unsafe, and was moving it back behind the bar and the camera jumped. All I saw was a flash of movement, wasn't sure what it was, and then heard a clunk! far, far below. I thought, "oh, something must have happened down there, I wonder what..." And looked down to see a man waving something black at me. Needless to say, my next word was not particularly suited to the surroundings. This is the last picture of the ill-fated camera.

Fortunately, it was the end of the trip, and the card was saved.
And Finally, that's the end of this post. Eru's song, that took a long time. I hope it's worth it.

Good Bye UWC

And here comes Christmas break. So much to do, so little time, packing and arranging travel and presents...And tomorrow I leave for my grand tour of Eastern Europe: Vienna, Bratislava, Prague, Budapest.
More on that when I've actually been there.
And after that? Family!! Christmas! Yay!
So here I am leaving UWC for the first time. only two more goodbyes and I'll be going for good. Strange, how quickly it passes.
Ciao, Duino!