Tuesday, March 28, 2006

hey guys i m back fr italy!!!

rather sick of churches/art/musuems.. but was enjoying all the food :D.. but nt growing fat cuz of ALL the walking.. walk walk walk walk walk walk.. haha n sleep soundly like a pig every night after the big dinner (minus the 1st few days la.. when we din noe where to go n eat)

lemme start fr 10 mar.. n my ubs interview.. sobz din get thru it in the end.. :(.. think they sugarcoated everythg la.. i din do too well for the presentation (surprise) but wasnt too bad in everythg else.. so like tat lor no money :(..

anw the trip started off badly.. went down to london.. n the bus broke down (??!!!) so was stranded for like 1+ h in the middle of nowhere.. then nxt day go interview den realised tat the tube station nearest to the ubs building was closed.. so.. wadeva.. lolz

then went bath.. its quite nice quaint little town.. c roman baths etc.. btw.. the warm spring water taste HORRIBLE.. like EWWWWW.. lolz.. din go to stonehenge tho.. but i like nice n relac (n a bit boring).. but i din like the ymca hostel..

n then off to gatwick airport to camp.. cuz we were taking the 6 am flight to rome.. so reached gatwick the night b4 to wait lor.. no pt getting hotel/hostels cuz DAMN ex.. but din feel comfortable sleeping in the airport.. so watched crash on richard's laptop till 1 am.. only slept at like 2+ or 3am.. n then hafta wake for the flight lor

n then we reached rome.. supposed to stay at freestyle hostel.. some recently renovated one with good reviews etc.. n when we reached the place.. it was STILL under renovation n they directed us to another hostel.. n the hostel sux.. haha crammed n it has dirty toilet (note no 's' after toilet).. n on the 1st night i bathed with cold water dripping out for the 1st half of my shower.. 2nd night was ok.. n the last night there was TOTALLY NO warm water.. so yupz bathing in freezing cold water.. (*&@^$&*%#@

rome is one of the places i dun like the most i guess.. all the walls r vandalised (other than those old ancient ones).. but on the whole dirty and messy lor.. n the places we went too all seemed dodgy.. expect for one area which is like high street the super posh shopping area.. else the rest all dark alleys n damn scary at night.. even where my lan hostel is.. n its like 2 streets away fr the train station..

vatican city is like heaven (ignore the pun nt intended) after rome.. nice clean straight roads organized etc.. WAH!! n we saw the pope!!! he was giving a speech tat day.. so we juz waited at the piazza for like 1 h.. the atmosphere was amazing la.. the sch kids shouting pepe pepe pepe pepe.. that eitehr mean father or pope.. n then he appeared in a car nt unlike the president on national day.. wherever he go n waved to the kids will scream like he's some pop star.. n den someone started recitign ALL the groups of ppl who were invited over the PA system.. like ABC church n XYZ school.. n tat probably took like 20 min.. n i couldnt understand anythg cuz it was in italian (I think).. n then someone else came out n read fr the bible in italian.. n another person in german .. n another in english.. n dunno wad other languages.. n finally the pope spoke.. nt tat i can understand anythg.. n den my bladder cant take it anymore n i gtg toilet..

haha the toilet is oso regulated.. got this lady who admit one after 1 person come out.. n after dunno how many ppl she'll go scrub scrub a bit n then continue admitting ppl..

nxt is florence.. haha damn funny we all tot we got the early 7 am train.. but all of us overslept n when chuan xin woke us up we were rushing down to the train station -- to find out tat our train wasnt at 7.. so ended up waiting at the train station.. florence is also very nice!! (i suspect nth can b nt nice aftre rome seriously) nice n laid back n holiday-ish.. :D n piazzas filled with pigeons (classic -- btw dun even noe if there's bird flu in italy.. if there is then probably the virus will mutate in these piazzas) n gelatos.. n food.. n more food.. (and art n more art yawn).. ok i shd mention david.. hmm he's over hyped imo but i guess u MUST go c him when u r in florence..

n i ended up being claustrophobic while climbing up the 400+ stairs to reach the top of the duomo in florence (there're duomos in every place.. juz like there are piazzas n museums n etc).. wah lau.. seriously squished n dark n wadeva.. *&#^$(@#.. so bad tat i dun wanna go down after being up. n i was in my heels cuz my shoes were wet.. double @&$(*%^*#&

n then venice.. hahah its my fave.. tho the guys hated it. oh well but as richard says i always like water bodies.. wunder how i'd like it if it is in summer n it is stale n smelly n breeds mosquitoes (nt very much i'd think).. unfortunately i get a bit sea sick.. so was dizzy for most of the trip (n tat carried over to milan lor so sad).. but one bad thg was tat the small roads feel quite dodgy too.. n it is ESPECIALLY bad when u haf those masks shop ard.. SO EERIE!!!! n the guys hated it when it rained (i like tho it was cold) and that they wanna get fr 1 place to another n suddenly they'll meet with the canal n no bridge n they gotta take a detour (tsk no qing qu lolz -- think i'll get slaughtered soon).. it was COLD in venice cuz of all the small alleys with buildings all over.. so its v windy (think of fluids in phy: higher velocity when area smaller..

n i stayed in lido. tis super far off strip of land fr main venice.. n i liked it quite a bit.. hah the SEA!!! :D tho it's a hassle to travel (esp when i get sea sick).. n the gelato.. 1.50 euro for 2 gigantic scoops.. n greedy richard who got a cone whenever he passed by the shop...

n lastly MILAN.. was so intent on SHOPPING there.. but sorry la.. no money.. haha spent A LOT on food lor.. n then everythg there prada gucci.. sighz.. so walk walk la.. amuse myself.. n spent ALL the money on food. there's a nice place near our hotel tat serves good cheap food tho its ran by chinese immigrants.. its so good tat we re the only tourists there (what we learnt: go to shops with lotsa italians for good traditional food).. din get to seeing the last supper (except for chuan xin who paid 50 to join tis tour that will get him to seeing it) cuz needta book in advance.. n guess how long in advance u needta book it? nt 1 day nt 1 week but 2.5 freaking MONTHS!! haha its prebooked ALL THE WAY to end may.. oh well..milan was warmer than the other places on the 1st day i went.. ie sweating even in 1 layer n my thick fleece coat. n so richard convinced me to not wear my big fleece on the 2nd day.. but 2nd day was gloomy n wet n rainy.. n so i was freezing -_-

n i MUST write this abt the irritating pigeons.. i wasnt tat irritated by them lor.. UNTIL i was eating at macs.. n its damn crowded.. so ended up eating al fresco (is it?) style.. macs is at the main shopping street with a covered walkway.. n so it isnt really outside per se.. n then the top of where i was seating was covered too.. so its like sectioned off.. anw the pigeons n sparrows were on top of the covers n peering down thru the gaps (how disgusting is tat?!!).. n then there was chirping ALL ARD!!! DISGUSTING.. n theres tis guy seated on a table juz nxt to me who was trying to impress his gf i think.. n he kept throwing fries down on the floor/on the table n then the sparrows will fly down n get it.. EWWW.. n there was one DISGUSTING pigeon perched on the pillar.. who kept looking round.. n then it flew down to the floor nxt to my table etc.. can feel the wind fr its wings etc.. sigh.. n the seats were all bird droppings filled.. din noe how i managed to eat my meal.. cuz all i was thinking off was to juz finish n siam asap.. ewwwww... worst meal experience ever..