abemos papum/abbiamo il papa/we have a pope
ok well guys this will be short cos i am at school and dont have time to write much. i went to prague last week as many of you know, in fact all of you shoudl know if you read my last blog. anyway, i promise a full update some time, and in actaul fact i have started to write a post about it, but had to save it since i ran out of internet time on monday, but eventually i will finish it and put it up for all to see. it will end up being soo incredibly long (like always, tho not like this one!) cos i have just so muchto say about prague and all the other placed i visited, plus, on saturday i am going to ROOOOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wooot! am so excited. we are only going for the weekend but hey, i am not complaining. far from it infact cos i miss a day of school and then monday is a holidays so i will get to sleep in afterall! the holiday is for 'liberation day' not for the ANZACs but i will remember them too.
aanyway, so there is a new pope. not sure i spelt the latin part right, but i am sure the rest is right lol. it seeems a little strange to me that people are so excited about it. i mean....it was going to happen eventually. of course they are excited and i do understand it, but it is almost like people here are surprised about it. maybe that doesnt make sense, probably not, but anyway, that is all i have time for. over and out
un altra settimana (another week)
singin' toora-li, oora-li addity
singin' toora-li, oora-li ay
singin' toora-li, oora-li addity
and we're bound for botany bay
-anonymous
that song is driving me nuts! i dont know if i mentioned ever before that i am probably going to talk a little in some english classes about some aussie literature, and poems mainly, since that is kind of the most familiar to me (eg, my country, clancy of the overflow, man from snowy river etc.) anyway, i need to do some research on it before i try to explain it to people, and so yesterday i typed australian literature into google, (that is google.com.au, not google.it.....cos i catn read it in italain) and on my search i came across botany bay, and the damn song has been in my head ever since! it just keeps going around and around and around.....make it stop!!
moving on, birthday wishes! For tomorrow the 12th April, a huge Happy Birthday for Aunty Alvia!!!!! and I believe that yesterday was Jim Owen's 18th, so tanti aguri jimmy! and for the coming saturday, Buon Compleano Sagie!!! hope you all have terrific birthdays.
hmm. well i actually have a lot to say (how unusual!) but i probably wont get enough time as i am at school. therefore, i am going to try to keep it as short as possible, but lots has happened in the past week. the main thing probably is that i went to milan on a school trip. it was ok. i know that sounds maybe a little too un-enthusiastic, considering i went to milan, and i know, it's milan and i shoudl be really excited. but it wasnt that great a day to tell the truth. first of all, i have definately decided that school trips are NOT the way to see exciting things. for one, the kids generally arent nearly as interested as me, so i sometimes feel like i am the only one listening to the guide, but also the only one who doesnt understand. cruel irony if you ask me. anyway, also, because we are with a guide and have a time limit and stuff, i never really got to look around much, at least certainly not as much as i would have liked. we went to three churches and the castle. the first two churches were fantastic in themselves, the second one being where leonardo da vinci's last supper is kept, but we couldnt see it because it is in a separate place and is booked out until june! so for future reference, if you are ever plannign to come to italy and want to see da vinci's 'cenacolo' book well in advance! anyway, so these two churches we saw before lunch, but i reckon i could have spent all day in one alone! of course the kids were also suprised by how completely awed i was by it all, since for them it is nothing too special. i couldnt help thinking how spoilt they are and they dont even appreciate it, but then i realise that i lived in a paradise and hardly even realised it. i say 'paradise' because really, we are so lucky to live in australia, it is so beautiful and i guess if i had to choose, i would pick the desert and the ocean and all that's in between over davinci's and ancient architecture. anyway, it was still rather annoying to me that there were heaps of fantastic frescos on the walls and rooves of the chapels but i coulndt look at them properly cos we only really sat in the pews in the central hall. actually, for some reason the churches kind of reminded me of yeppoon town hall. obviously our humble town hall is a little less grand....but the way the churches are set out, with the main middle area and then two sort of large halways and then all the little chapels of the side and the stage'like area with the pulpit at the front, it reminded me of the town hall cos you have the main area and the stage, and then through the 'pillars' there is the kitchen/eating area, and on the other side the big hallway thing, and those side areas reminded me of the chapels in the churches. or the other way around actually, but anyway my explailning is terrible. so the mornign was pretty good except that i didnt get to look at muhc that i wanted to.
then in the afternoon we went to the 'castello sforzesco' and 'duomo.' the castle was ginormous and i woudl have liked to spend ages there, but we just stood for aaaaaagges listening to the guide in the middle lawn and then walked through to the other side. it had a kind of mote which was awesome. but i had a headache and was exhuasted and couldnt understand the guide cos the english teacher (who had been sort of translating for me in the churches in the morning) was with the other group, and i was bored. plus, we were standing for what was probably half an hour and i just wanted to sit down soooo badly. and again, we didnt relaly get to have that much of a look around. there were heaps of cats tho, which was kind of strange....ok by heaps i mean about 7, but i didnt expect to find cats in the grounds of a castle. then afterwards we went to the duomo which is HUUUUUUUGE! i cannot explain just how INCREDIBLY GINORMOUS it is! and absolutely fantasticly beautiful. unfortunately the front of the outside is covered in some kind of covering (geez i am good with words arent i!) because they are refurnishing it. but from the other side you cant tell and it is incredible. tried to take photos but it is just so big it is virtually impossible. and then inside was almost bigger (if that makes sense) but again we didnt get to look very much. hardly at all actually. so i was rather disappointed and note to self: if you want to be a tourist, dont go on school trips. and then we had about an hour free time and that is where the day really went downhill. i already was exhuasted and had a bad headache, but i ended up with these two girls and we got lost! i wont go into the story, cos i still get rather annoyed just thinking about it, but it wasnt my fault and we were late back to the bus and i was just very very very cranky by the end of the day. cranky, and completely exhuausted. so that is my milan story for you.
and what else has happened? nothign particularly unusual i dont think. just school and conservatorium and italian lesson and hanging around. but i am really enjoying life here now. and actually i am sad to be going to prague tomorrow in a way because i dont want to lose any time here in italy. i am extremely time conscious and i know i still have 2 months but it feels like time is running out in a way, and i dont want to miss anything while i am away. plus, after my milan experience i am not sure prague will be that great for me in a tourist sense, but i guess it will be more specail to the other kids too so maybe it will be better. who knows, i will just have to wait and see. but also, i am not looking foward to getting up at 3am tomorrow. but we stay the first night in austria, in salzburg to be exact and they say the hills are alive there so that'll be interesting! lol. plus, i am going to prague! woot!
so that is the lot for me this time.
love ellen
buona pasqua
it's a beautiful day, yeah yeah,
tell me that it's changing the way i'm feeling
it's beginning today
-alabaster box
well i have just so much to say, as usual! i dont think i ever feel like i say all that i want to in my blogs, even though i know they are like a million pages long. anyway, firstly i will start with today, and then go back to the beginning of the holidays and fill you in on my happenings.
well while all of you in australia are enjoying your last 2 days of the easter break, i have been back at school for 3 days now. ugh. still cant get over school on saturday. ugh ugh ugh. but tomorrow is sunday and i get to sleep in again. god i cant wait. i looove sleep. hehe. well today the sun is shining, the grass is green, and sky is blue, the birds are singing, and there are actaully leaves on trees! it is amazing just how muhc of a difference it makes! everytime i see a tree with allt he pretty little new leaves on it i think, wow that is soooo beautiful. absence makes the heart grow fonder, and i really missed leaves. and i have even seen some flowers in gardns! it is finally spring i think. and it feels especially fresh today cos the weather over the last 10 days has been horrible. always cloudy and threatening rain and for a few days it did actually rain, and to top it all off, it was cold again! :( today wasnt actaulyl very warm unless you were in the sun, and i think they have turned the heaters off in the classrooms so i am back to wearing 4 layers again, but i can handle it. i am used to it now. and school was quite good today, especially since i have been invited to dinner at a girl from the 5th class's house tomorrow night! yay! it is nice to finally get invited to do something with them. and beacuase of that, and the sun shinign and the end of the week, i am feel excellent today. not that i have really felt too bad in a while. so it's all good
well dad, i was reminded of you very much last night and that probably actually was a low point, but it was nice too. i was watching this 90's special on MTV and the song 'keep on moving' by Soul II Soul came on and i was instantly transported home. it reminded me of cleaning up on saturday mornings. i dunno why, but heaps of you music makes me think of that. i heard a simply red song, the one about 'i love coming home to you' or whatever, a few weeks ago, and again i thought of cleaning up the loungeroom on a sat monring. and i alwasy remember that for a long time paul simon's 'you can call me al' made me think of that too, until i listened to it so much that it just became another song with no particular memories. and steely dan's 'aja' album too. man i love that cd. anyway, the point was that i was thinking of you dad. moving on......
ok i want to do some birthday wishes. Happy birthday Ainsley!!! and Happy 18th Courtney!!!! wow, it seems everybody is turning 18. cant believe i am missing all your parties! it sucks. only 2 months til mine tho. not that any of you will be able to be with me, since i will still be here. oh well. we can celebrate when i get home
here is an interesting fact: ever since i have been here i have had this strange, but very strong, craving to go camping. i have no idea why, but i really really want to go camping. especially today cos the weather is great! so who wants to come camping at blackdown when i get home?
hey, does anybody realise that it is a year exactly today since the ralph concert?god. this time last year, my wonderful badn family, we were sitting in a rehearsal. damn i miss that. and since we are on the topic of bands, i will jump back to the where i left you with my last blog....
the concert i went to on wendnesday night was fantastic! i had such a good time! i enjoyed the music heaps and heaps, altho is was strange to be in the audience and not on stage. and i got to meet up with my freinds from the conservatorio, who i can dfeinatly say are my freinds now, i think. so the point is that the concert was excellent, and it just made me miss band and want to play. good luck with eisteddfod guys, i guess that is coming up soon. stick it to the man :)
the next day was my first day of holidays, and i had already planned to devote it to a very important errand: ringing sage and domenic. so i dragged myself out of bed before midday and happliy walked into town, where i found a phone box and dailed sage. unfortunately i got the message bank. so i tried domenic, but alas, twas engaged. so i thoguht, i know, i will ring rebekah power. unfortunately she wasnt home and neither was jane, but meggie, it was great to talk to you for the 4 minutes or whatever it was. i had a phone card that was supposed to allow me to call for an hour or something. it didnt last nearly that long. i thougth maybe it was cos i had already rung sage and dom, so i went to buy another card. came back and treid dom again, and it was great to talk to you too.....except that the card ran out again after about 5 mins. but it was so good to hear your voice! so i walked home a little sad, but not really unhappy cos i was still buzzing from the concert the night before. i got home and 'mamma' told me that dad had called. so i called home with my ekit card thing, only to be met with surprise because nobody had called. it turned out to be sage. so i called him back! and sagie, i think that was the best phone conversation we have ever had!
the next 24 hours were boring and i didnt do anything. lauren and alicia and grace i recieved your letters! grace, i replied to yours by hand, but alicia and lauren, i wrote you really really long letters on the computer, and then thre was no ink in the printer, so i left them there. and now for some reason microsoft word has broken down and so i am praying i havent lost them cos lauren, i spent like 2 hours writing yours (it was very very long) and alicia, your was only half finished and already 4 typed pages, so i intented to email them to you as attatchments, but may be all in vain now since the computer is having a spack attack.
anyway, sunday was easter, and you know how i spent the day? well most of it i slept awawy! literally, i woke up about 12pm, had lunch, watched george of the jungle in italian, cos it was on tv, which was hilarious cos i havent seen it in ages and ages. then i was tired, so i went to read and was lying on my bed. that was about 3 pm. then the next thing i knew it was 7.30! i fell asleep! i guess i needed the sleep, but unfortunately it meant that when i treid to sleep that night i found it very difficult and i am sure i was up until about 2pm tossing and turning. not that it really mattered cos then monday was a hliday so i slept in again. hooray! and that was the day i wrote to grace and alicia. in the afternoon i went to the piazza and omg there were so many people there! but we got icecream so i wasnt complaining, even tho we had to wait in line, which never happens. tuesday i spent with maddie and maria and we wandered around the piazza for a while and then watched zoolander in the afternoon. hahahahahahahahaha. hiliarious movie.
wednesday unfortunately i had to get up early so no sleeping in. i went to ele's house and ele and andrea and i did our english assignment. twas really fun actually. and she had a cat. i miss cats. mum and dad and naomi, give ginger a big hug for me. i miss her lots. i am so sick of the dogs barking all the time, especailyl at meals. but ele's cat was psycho and owuldnt let you pat it for very long before scratching the hell out of you. then on wednesday night i went to daniela's hosue and we watched 'the terminal' with tom hanks. it was really really good. school thursday was ok since i guess i hadnt seen anybody in a hwile, but it was realyl hard to get out of bed early after so many days of sleeping in. and int he afternoon i met up with daniela and nicola at the conservoatorio and we got gelati before nicola went home and i went back to daniela's for a while and then met maddie and maria again for a while. and basta. that is the end.
alicia, i cant believe you didnt have pizza in the italian restaurant. when you come visit me, we are SO going to have a real pizza and then gelati. ughighghg (homer simpson type drool, which is dificult to spell)
to aunty linda, aunty alvia and aunty heather, thanks for your emails/comments. i am sorry i havent had a chance to reply to any of them yet, but i am thinking of you guys too!
well i got nothing else to say and shoudl realyl get off teh interent
love you all heaps and heaps
still thinking of you
hope you all had a good easter and stuff.
ellen
