Baaa..New Zealand

Settling in
So I've now been here about two days, explored, started to settle and it is AWSOME! I keep feeling a little restless though, like I want to get out of town some and explore. There are so many places I want to see and I can't wait to meet more people and make more friends, especially Kiwis but I keep reminding myself that I just got here and I have time. Its not much like my experience in Italy at all for some reason. This place seems to energize me whereas Italy kind of exhausted me. Maybe its a little because I have grown and changed and the place itself obviously -they do speak English.

Flat and Roomates
My flat is great, I wish they did this in Richmond. We have a great main room downstairs and everyone gets their own fairly spacious bedroom and 3 to a bathroom. You could fit more people in here even. Its just a really comfortable and fun way to live. And there are other students all around. I'm slightly jealous of my flatmates on the other side of the flat who have a better view of the road and beyond, but then again it is much louder for them. My window faces another flat and I'm waiting for the people next door to move in so I can make friends and maybe at some point string a telephone up or something. You know with the cups and string. All of my roommates seem cool so far, we're missing one. We actually don't have a Kiwi, but there is a girl from Poland, and her and her friends are pretty cool. Two of the other girls are from Vermont. Molly, across from me, is pretty cool, she reminds me vaguely of Anna Stuart. I have spent some time with Jenny today out walking around. She is from Salt Lake and goes to school in Hawaii. She seems very down to earth and sporty so thats nice. Also upstairs is Mary from Poland and Kendal who is from Vermont. She's pretty cool too I think. She's pretty into environmental stuff and lived in an environmental co-op last year which is cool. I think we probably have things in common. last night kendal and jenny and I were all here so we all made dinner and are hanging out together which is nice. I am feeling like our flat is more homey, then we hung out with some other American students next door.

Money
I've been working on decorating and being crafty, and I've been walking a lot, all over, which is tough when you're carrying things from the center of town. I think I've done well though so far. They have pretty much everything we have, and the way we would have it. The exchange rate is still pretty awesome, like 1.90 NZ dollar for every US dollar. Which evens out kind of or becomes just a little less for most things. Everything costs more, but because of the exchange is less. Food is kind of expensive out I guess. And somethings are really inexpensive. I don't know psychologically because on the one hand things cost more initially looking at them and I'm like whoa that's too expensive. But if I think of the exchange rate, its like everything is on a half off sale and it makes you feel like its a great bargain. There was a market the other day that was fun. Lots of crafts and things.

Dunedin
I could easily live here. I feel that already and I never felt that way in Italy. I feel comfortable here and like I fit in almost immediately. Even visiting England and Ireland I felt kind of like an outsider. Its a beautiful little town. The buildings aren't too high so you can see some of the rolling mountains most places. I haven't been to the beach yet but I'm thinking this week sometime. The buildings are old mixed with new. Its well lived in, by college students. But its by no means dirty or unkempt. There are gardens and green playing fields around, and the weather has been about perfect. Its a little cold for summer to me, but in general a great temperature. I had shorts and a sweater on today. There was warmth in the sun and a light breeze to cool you off. Everyone walks and rides bikes around it seems. There's a casual soft sort of feeling to the pace of life, we'll see if that changes when the rest of the students get here. I guess its a bit charlottsvillesque. It also reminds me of a brief time I spent in Boone North Carolina.

The People/food
The people are great so far. They generally smile and have a friendly thing to say. I like the accent a lot. Its not so haughty and proper as British English, but not as distinct maybe and rugged as Australian. I'm still learning the slang. People wear casual things, most anything goes I think. I even saw some people walking around downtown without shoes today. I've actually met some kiwis just walking around in stores. A lot of students work there for the summer. I talked to one girl for 10 min or so. You know how in our stores how people casual ask "how are you" and its pretty acceptable to be like fine and walk away. Small talk to get you to feel comfortable and buy things. Well people here are like "how has your day been so far" and you're like, "well pretty good" and then they keep talking to you, ask you follow up questions. I told some people I just got here and they wanted to know how my trip was and where I was from and how I was liking it, and when I asked they told me where a good place to eat or a good grocery store was. We talked about what they were studying somtimes. Its just kind of funny. Food has been good sofar too. I mean they have american things, I went across the street and got a pizza from pizza hut last night. They also have lots of selections with Indian, Japanese, Chinese, and Thai food here. I've been just trying random things which seems to be working. We had lunch out on the main street in this little sidewalk cafe that was really good today.

I think I'm doing well here so far. Kind of opposite of Italy, rather than feeling like I need to be patient with myself I'm finding that I need to be patient with everything else kind of. Theres so much I want to do, I dont know what to do. I just need to stop worrying that I'm going to miss something and go with whatever opportunities come up I guess. I have lots of places to go still in the city but i put up a few pictures of my explorations so far. http://picasaweb.google.com/melaniebeth.martin have a great day everyone!

leaving on a jet plane

I am here in New Zealand! Kiwi Land! Middle Earth! Narnia!- ok i'm a dork The plane ride wasn't too bad. I'm a little thrown out of wack though about the time. Right now it is about 10:45 in the morning here, Sat. the 14th. It feels like the afternoon though. Let me be the first to wish you happy valentines!

I'll put some pictures up when I get a chance, but so far everything seems pretty good. It was a bit cloudy flying over New Zealand, but from what I saw it was gorgeous. By the way I have learned that Dunedin is pronounced Do-knee(like the body part)-din and its O-ta (like la) -go for Otago. I had those a bit wrong. Everyone has been really nice so far, the university taxi guy that came to get me was funny. He said he had a strong accent because he is from farther south, which it is true- I wasn't quite sure what he was saying most of the time, but I've learned quite well how to pretend like I understand.

My flat is really nice too, and I haven't met anyone yet but I see that a few people have moved in. I think I may go out and explore, he said there was a market somewhere today. So anyway I am here- Thank you all so much for your support and I will keep you updated. Right now I might be stealing Internet I'm not sure how that situation will go in the future. Have a great rest of your Friday~ So far sat. is going well, you'll like it. Melanie

Almost New Zealand time!

I will be leaving for New Zealand very soon and I am so not looking forward to the flight~I watched lord of the rings to get pumped... But I'll let everyone know how I'm doing when I start to settle a little. YAY Nuova Zelanda!

Pictures of Paris and vado a casa!

Yay! I'm coming home on Friday! After my 4 exams 1 paper and one presentation....eww....

There isn't really a word for home in Italian. When you say I'm going home, Vado a casa, it translates to 'I am going to my house." There isn't a difference between the word house and home. I feel like there is a big difference though. Forgive me for going sentimental on you, but I've been thinking about the idea of home a lot. When you are young and moving from school to where you grew up to who knows where, you have several homes at once. In a way, home is a transient idea. I think home might mean different things to different people. But to me, home doesn't have to just be a place, though I'd say Virginia, particularly the area of Richmond and New Kent is my home. I think more importantly home is the people that you love and who love you no matter where you are.
One of the other girls and I were talking about our experience here and we decided that we had learned something similar. A lot of people want to travel, which is nice, but why? You may look at that postcard of Tuscany or where ever and feel that a place could release you from whatever you are tired of in your day to day life. "Oh if i could just go there, if I could just be there, live there away from it all. Then everything would be ok." But I have been living "there". And yah, its cool and all. I have been inspired in a way by the beauty of the hills or whatever, but after awhile, maybe after you've had time to yourself to think and reflect, after you've seen the monuments that are so famous and met the locals, you just want to be home. Nothing goes away. Everything isn't perfect, and until you can find the adventure in your own day to day life, getting away to somewhere exotic isn't really going to help all that much.
Some of us have had the opportunity to travel some on our own too, which is good in a way, it helps build confidence in yourself. All that you see and experience is nice, but I think we have learned that no monument or amazing place will mean nearly as much unless you have someone to share it with. It's the people that matter more in a way.
We have this amazing ability as humans to create new "homes" where ever we go. If we have to, we can make that home on our own in a strange place and be satisfied enough for a little while. But once you have a home that's more permanent, whether its a location, or a person or a whole group of people, you don't forget that, and you can't help but miss it when you are far away no matter how many great adventures you have. I can't appreciate the amazing opportunity that I have had enough, its been amazing. I've learned so much and seen so much. But I am ready to come home now. There is a boy here who is going to Australia next semester, but he's traveling around by himself meeting up with some friends here and there rather than ever going home. I think he's pretty brave. I could never go to NZ without at least coming home for a little while.

Anyway, there are pictures from Paris up now~ sorry it took me so long. My friends Leigh has more I can show you too sometime. http://picasaweb.google.com/melaniebeth.martin YAY! I hope everyone is getting ready for Christmas! Mara and I have been listening to Christmas music! I hope every one's exams went well and wish me luck for the next crazy 3 days! Have a great day!

ombrello dodging in the street, friday the 13th and people who are different

Oh my goodness its been raining for days! I think I might float away. Or have seasonal affective disorder. Everyone seems pretty excited about almost being done and coming home though~ Its so funny, when you walk everywhere in a city, even a small one like Siena, it becomes necessary to doge people. Then add umbrellas to the mix and its ridiculous. I find myself weaving and ducking or twirling my umbrella up so as not to hit people. Walking down the street is like a video game...haha.

I forgot about a few interesting things to tell you...Real Da Vinci code stuff....
Friday the 13th!
So everyone has heard about Friday the 13th, supposed to be bad luck or whatever, well I figured out where it came from. There was a group of knights called the Knights Templar who I believe began in France, and were formed to protect religious Pilgrims. You may have heard of them from the DaVinci code, National treasure, Kingdom of Heaven, Indian Jones? Well they are real, and ended up being really powerful because they started some of the first banking systems in Europe. They would loan money, store money etc. They even kind of came up with the first travelers' checks/credit cards for Pilgrims. It was safer to have a piece of paper as a pilgrim that you could redeem places instead of carrying your entire wealth around with you. So they ended up getting too powerful the kings thought, they were actually lending money to the kings for wars. So at one point King Philip of France is in lots of debt to the Templars so he accuses them of heresy. They had secret ceremonies and initiations so that was the basis. Well the Church didn't agree and thought the Templars were innocent, but Philip and the other monarchs in debt to the Templar Knights persuaded the Pope to go along with it, and they were all condemned to death, and their assets seized. They were arrested Friday the 13th of October 1307. The ones who escaped went to Scotland, and alot in Tuscany. In two of the contradas here, there are Templar symbols everywhere and in one there is a meeting room where members still meet today. People think they helped found the first bank of Siena. Later lots of templars, still involved in banking, moved to the US. - I learned this in class, a girl did a research project on it.

Our professor made a great point, because for centuries it was thought that the templers were really condemned for heresy. "You have to read between the lines a little with history, sometimes the ones with the privilege to write the history, only tell you what they want you to know. Of course Philip and the other monarchs condemned the Templars simply because they couldn't pay back the money. But it was widely thought for a very long time that the Templars were rightfully condemned for their corruption." We may never truely know what happened sometimes in history, we can only know some one's version.

Alchemic symbols and Masonry
Alchemy, was as you may know the knowledge supposedly of turning other metals into gold. A study that later became Chemistry. What most people don't see is that the whole purifying metal into gold thing is more metaphoric than anything. The idea is to transform. To transform yourself in order to achieve and obtain enlightenment. It wasn't forbidden to try and perform Alchemy, just illegal to try and sell gold that you "made". Alchemy was banned and became chemistry in 1666, but masonry is connected to it. The free masons are a fraternal secret society, who gained quite a lot of money at one point and were formed on Christan principles. Their main symbols include, a triangle with an eye or light inside of it, and an eagle. Reminiscent of Ancient Egyptian symbols and appearing in other places throughout history. Where have you seen these? In your wallet perhaps? look on a dollar bill~ The eagle is particularly interesting, an eagle flies the highest and represents awareness and the ability to see, often it symbolizes Jesus or John the Baptist. You can find the eagle on various coats of arms, and it was often the symbol of great empires. It was used in Egypt, Persian Empire, Byzantine Empire, by Napoleon, By Rome, and you guessed it.......The United States of America. Interesting.

Etruscans
The ancient people who lived in Tuscany before the Roman empire, were super cool. Very Feminist, women had lots of equal opportunities in society and they had their own names not connected to their husbands or fathers. There were also matriarchal legacies. Its actually a tradition that has stuck in Tuscany some. My Professor Amanda when she was young had like 4 names, b/c she had bother her father and mothers surnames. Another really cool thing, some of their artifacts are really ancient. For example, something interesting. You know how some Catholic paintings and christian paintings in general have halos around some one's head to symbolize that they are holy or a saint or spiritual, well there are Etruscan artifacts with people with the halos, and there are even figures of a woman and child with the halos! This is a culture from like 800 bc. Kind of crazy.

Other great quotes from my professor Amanda, the one that lived all over the world and is now also our new director, she's cool, we all like her a lot.

"History comes from the winners, always be critical. Knowledge makes you free from everything, even yourself. Look, Observe, Connect. Always."

"Yah members of my family were accused of heresy, eh, its a good thing I live now, b/c if I lived then I'd probably been burned at the stake too" -Amanda

something like, "Its hard to be different, but you know, its important that there are people who are different in society. Sometimes there are people who are just ahead of their times. The people who are different help society progress, they push everyone else and shake things up. Its good to be different, because if we were all the same we would never move forward."

So be different, its ok. Really.
Have a great day everyone!- I will try to make myself do work now.

Parigi!

getting ready to come home!
Its a pretty crazy thought actually. Today I went to the laundry mat for the last time, to make my clothes fluffy and dry, and the machine to get the laundry tokens ate my 5 euro bill! But I figured it was just homage to the Italian dryer Gods, the Roman ones that steal money. I can't tell you how ridiculously excited I get about clean, warm, soft, fresh clothes from the dryer. I will never curse a drier ever again I swear, actually I can't remember ever doing that, but now I really never will. I also met some really cool Greek girls there. I helped them figure out the machines and I told them about Siena. At first I thought they were Spanish, because I didn't recognize the Greek. They were so funny, they were videotaping the laundry mat b/c evidently they don't have those on the Greek Island they're from. Very cool. I will miss making random friends from random places, but I guess who says that needs to end.
It really is strange though thinking about coming home, I actually started organizing my things some in order to size up my packing situation. It may not be pretty, but I think I can do it. I am so excited to come home, but at the same time I'm a little rushed and distracted by all the work I'm supposed to be doing. Its also odd that I won't be returning for a very long time. I guess regrets/final thoughts, I still do have a little over a week, so I might be better with this right when I'm actually leaving. I think as of now, this was a great experience, it was tough at times, but all in all I learned a great deal about myself, people in general, the US and Europe especially. I think I said before, I really didn't feel like I clicked super well with anyone in my program, which can't be helped. Maybe I just didn't work as hard as I could have to cultivate relationships? Who knows, I got along fine with everyone, but it would have been nice to have someone here that I was really close to. Its funny how you just don't always find that, and yet you know what I mean I think. There are some people you just immediately connect with in your life. That doesn't always happen when you want it too but maybe it was more about me figuring myself out and gaining confidence in myself on this trip anyway. I certainly feel like I can handle a lot more now. I am not so afraid of the idea of growing up and living on my own anymore, and I know I can go places and do things on my own.
I kind of wish I had explored Tuscany better, but I really just ended up not having nearly as much time as I thought I would what with school and all. This is silly but the only thing that particularly bothers me is that I never got my house to figure out recycling, they kept doing it wrong, I'd put things aside to be recycled and someone would put it in the trash (Maria Francesca). And I couldn't ever find the right colored bags, it was just ahh! And I feel bad every single time I throw something away that could be recycled. So yah I feel a little guilty about that whole thing, I should have tried harder. I mean other than that, I think I should have maybe kept up better with exercising and things for myself. Everything was just so much harder here. I was always so tired from everyday things. So I think I'll cut myself some slack on that one.

Parigi (Paris in Italian)
Paris was awesome! And I had no idea what to expect. I was kind of like eh, and Leigh and I decided to just go and see it. I thought French people would be really rude too. Nope, they are very cool. I mean with any city, you are going to run into at least a few rude people, but for the most part anyone I asked for help was very nice. Even if they didn't speak English they tried to help anyway. I did feel awkward not knowing French. I would like to learn some and go back. It was just such a beautiful and clean city. There is so much culture and I'd even use the word classy. We went to Museums and ate amazing food and and went to cool coffee houses where people sang. We got crepes and crembule, which I'm not spelling correctly. I would suggest it to anyone, but I would say learn some french- they don't really speak English much, its not like Rome or Venice. They do kind of expect you to learn some of their language if you come to visit. They aren't so concerned with tourists. They are kind of like us actually. The stereotype of them being isolationists and having extreme pride in their culture and language. Hello! Americans! We complain like hell when tourists come here who don't speak English and expect us to figure out what they're saying. So I found being polite and trying got me pretty far. I don't say this much about cities, but on first impression, Leigh and I agreed that if we spoke french we'd consider living in that city. I mean french is kind of fun anyway. You just feel silly moving your mouth into the necessary sounds. I walked around mumbling in french, singing flight of the conchords' foux de fa fa, and trying to pronounce things. I was entertained.
Some Crazy examples of how small the world is-So Leigh and I were at the Eiffel tower taking pictures and walking around. It was so cold but very pretty b/c Christmas lights were all over the city. And a girl our age approached us cautiously and asked us to take her picture. Relieved to find out that we spoke English we started chatting. Turns out she is studying abroad too, in Northern Ireland, and she asks us where we're from, we say Richmond. She has a friend in Ireland from Richmond, our only friend that is there is a girl named Britney Johnston. OMG, turns out her best friend in Ireland is our Britney who we've been friends with since freshmen year. She has lost her friend from home so we take her with us because we are going to the Louvre because its students get in free night. So in the Louvre, we see some girls who are in Leigh's art class in Milan, Leigh says hello. They turn out to be cool, so we all stick together and the 1st girl, Courtney, figures out that she happens to go to school back in the states with one of the girls from Leigh's art class! Then! we were walking around and Leigh and I saw a whole group of people from Richmond that we knew kind of, and by that point we weren't really all that surprised. They were going in the opposite direction, but we said Hi. We find the Ireland girl's friend from home as well in the Louvre. So the now six of us who all know each other in very weird ways end up hanging out the rest of the time in Paris. We went to dinner as a big group both nights. I liked all of them a lot and it was just a great weekend. So weird to make instant friends then maybe never see them again?
On the way home I also met some American students in the airport who are studying in Barcelona and they were great, out gates were next to each other's so we hung out for awhile. We swapped stories and ended up talking about Harry Potter. Its just funny how you meet people and quickly get a long like that. In the end, when you have to part, all you can do is ask for their name to facebook them. Its kind of amazing, my generation is so oddly interconnected through school and studying abroad now. People you met and were friends with sort of stay connected all over the country and even the world. I'd love to study the impact of the study abroad combined with tools like facebook phenomena. What it will mean for the future of the world is yet to be seen. So many people my age are not just traveling, but living in other countries around the world for extended periods of time, when even our parents were never offered such an amazing opportunity. Its crazy.

oldie- sorry- dec.3

the platform really exists and my first italian thanksgiving-dec.3
I think after all my traveling this year I'll be ready to take a break, especially from cities. Don't get me wrong I've had some amazing experiences, but I was thinking about it the other day, I will have gone to several major cities within about a two month span of time. Dublin, London, Paris, Rome, then for new years probably New York. Kind of crazy. So tomorrow I am going to Paris and I'm meeting Leigh, so I just wanted to give a quick update about my trip to London. I can't believe its almost time to come home.

Before London
Dad and Carolyn came which was a lot of fun, though I feel bed that they didn't have very good weather, when we were leaving it was snowing north of us. But they did bring me lots of nice American things like peanut butter and cranberries. All of us in our program made thanksgiving for each other Wed. night too, which was really nice because it was most of our first thanksgivings away from home. I think we were all proud of our cooking and organizing abilities. It was a good thanksgiving. Then Dad and Carolyn and I went out to dinner for the really Thurs. night and that was nice, I got some pasta that kind of tasted like stuffing.

LONDON!
I had a great time with Mary in London. We had Thanksgiving again, So I kind of had 3 thanksgivings. During the day Mary had some work to do so I mostly did the tourist thing and went site seeing. There were Christmas decorations up and it was beautiful. English people were cool. I think I like Irish people better though, they were just more fun and entertaining. British people were normal. It was a lot like being home in America. But they did have different words and phrases that were entertaining, I couldn't help but do the accent sometimes when people were talking to me, it was tough..haha. Oh and they have a great underground system, which they call the tube, makes sense. And every time you get off the train they're like, "mind the gap please".....because there is a space between the platform and train. Its amusing/annoying haha after awhile you just don't even hear it. But one time I was waiting for the subway and the doors opened and this little, 5 or so year old girl skips out with her mom, and she skips down the side of the platform singing in her adorable little 5 year old British accent, "mind the gap please!" it was the cutest thing ever.
We watched Love Actually and The Holiday and I drank English breakfast tea for breakfast. I saw all the big sites, and I went to platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross, which was fun, and enforces how much of a Harry Potter nerd I am, haha. I have some pictures you can check out. And I will be sure to write again when I get back from Paris, I'm kind of in crunch time with school though so It might be short. I hope everyone had a nice thanksgiving, and the end of school is wrapping up well! See you soon!!http://picasaweb.google.com/melaniebeth.martinits the Thanksgiving and London ones~