Notte Bianca and more

Notte Bianca was yesterday, where the museums in Rome were open all night. We tried to go to some of them but the streets were just packed with people. Especially on Via del Corso. We were trying to get to Piazza del Popolo and we had to walk up Via del Corso and I swear, it took us 2 to 3 hours. Normally, on a regular day, it would take us only 45 minutes to walk up there.

Nav and I managed to see one museum in Villa Borghese. It was nice and small. There was a modern art exhibit displayed there, which was really nice to see for a change, in a city where ancient monuments are just about everywhere you go. We tried to look for other museums in the villa, but we had no such luck. We were called by some other people in the class to go meet at the bottom of Via del Corso (AHHH!) and that took us another hour, luckily we took another path to get to our destination. But still, it took a long time.

I don't think anyone in our class was very successful in seeing any museums that night! Just too many people! If you get stuck on a busy street, you just end up getting herded to the flow of the crowd. The very very slow flow.

I just couldn't believe how many people were out! Mostly young people.

The night before that, we did go see the new Richard Meyer building. It was interesting to see a modern building in the centre of Rome. Unfortunately I didn't take any good pictures of it. Maybe I'll go back to take some again.

I'm so bad! I don't know the name of the church this is from. Nav and I just walked in and there was a small musical performance going on. The church was beautiful, and this was the ceiling.

Via del Corso. So many people. See where vanishing point is? We had to go further than that.

Look what I saw in the DIOR window.

This was the second time I made it to the Spanish steps, but I never actually walked to the top. The first time was because the sun was shining onto it, it was too hot. This time..well, you can see there are no steps, just a wall of people.

We finally made it to Piazza del Popolo!

Today I woke up at 1 pm cause I didn't actually go to bed until 5 am (I had to call Jinny before shutting my eyes. He had to know about the crazy streets of Rome). Nav and I went to the piazza in front of the school and sketched for a bit. Here's Ms. Meep, she finished her 4 euro freshly squeezed orange juice. Man she has expensive taste! But we later found out that the restaurant across the piazza sells freshly squeezed orange juice, double the size, for one euro more. We'll try that another time.

Sept 10 '06

Roma Bike Tour 2006

Our italian studio profs took us on a bicycle tour along the Tiber river today. It made me want to look into buying a bicycle for the four months I am going to be here. It's such a better way to travel the city! We had 70 people on bikes, blocking traffic in Rome! The tour took 7 hours to complete, and I am so tired right now.

Near the end of the trip, Navjeet fell off her bike. I'm not quite sure how, or what caused her to fall, even though I had a clear view of her when it happened. When she picked herself back up, it looked like she just scraped her hands and also her camera was clearly busted. But 2 minutes later, she blacked out and FAINTED on Lisa!! I was so scared she hit her head somewhere on her previous fall. The funny part was that we were all talking about how we were baking in the sun and Nav said that she wanted to faint so that she could get an excuse to stop riding! She was like "I've never fainted before!".

Now you have!

She was a real trooper. She still rode till the end of the bike trip. Nav, you should've said you wanted a gelato instead!! I so would have come!

We had to carry our bikes up and down many flights of stairs in order to get close to the river sometimes.	Me! Beside one of Mussolini's statues in his forum.
Nav, after her second fall. We really made sure she was alright before leaving this time.	Ian showing off his no hands skills beside the Tiber

Sept 06 '06

Bonjourno Bella!

I'm in Rome! I came into Rome on the night of the 2nd, and I had a 24 hour journey coming in here. I was so tired and dirty from walking around everywhere, I felt disgusting! I went to Vienna on a 7 hour stop-over and we explored that amazing city for a couple hours. I still cannot believe I'm in Rome though. It all seems like I'm in one large Hollywood set or something. Not that things look fake or anything, but since I've got here, I've been like a major tourist, looking at things from a tourists' eyes. I think things might set in a bit more when classes start.

I miss Jin so much. I've never been this far away from him before. I've been lucky and have been able to call him from my friend's apartment, but I cannot wait until I get this SIM card cell-phone thing figured out!! It's really annoying that I can't call him whenever I want. I almost cried on the phone when I called him today, I miss him so much. He's such a sweetie. And I'm realizing it more and more when I am away from him. I can't wait till he comes to visit me in Rome, it'll be so much fun. I know he'll love it here!

*muah* love you forever Jinny.

While we were looking to fix our cell-phone situation (and miserably failed at it because no one works on sundays in Rome), we went site-seeing as well. We saw a cat sanctuary (which is actually one giant litter-box), went to Piazza del Popolo and saw the grand axis of Rome, the Spanish Steps (but I didn't go up it. I'll do it some other day) and walked inside the Pantheon. It was pretty awesome. I think I'm still getting used to the time change though, I'm just tired all the time. I do love my sleep. But the church bells kept ringing today!! I hope they don't do it tomorrow....

Tomorrow our first day of classes start and we're meeting at the capitoline hill at 10 am. Awesome eh?? I better sleep.

Sept 04 '06

Almost Time To Go....

So much has happened! Lets go in point form

* I finished work last wednesday. That is also when I recieved Bon Bon's BOMB of a care package!

* Karaoke with all my friends last Thursday! I had sooo much fun!! Thank you for all who came out! After karoake, Rob, Vanessa and Markus made us go to Madisson. Wow, what an evil bar! It's totally filled with jocks, frat boys and girls and cheerleaders. Jin was so bored that he was falling asleep on their picnic tables. I was trying sooo hard to keep him awake! Then security kicked us out because they caught him sleeping and Rob became really angry. But we wanted to leave. Jin was sooooo drunk!

* Jin took me to Canoe on Saturday. (pictures coming soon!) If you don't know Canoe, it is only the restaurant on the 54th floor of the TD towers designed by Mies Van Der Rohe. (hehehe! sorry that was snotty wasn't it?). I had such a good time, because the staff there was incredible. They were not snobby at all, very welcoming and friendly. And, we never had to ask for the servers to come, because they watch us ALL THE TIME, in a non-obvious way. I went up to go to the bathroom, and when I came back, my napkin (whatever you call that thing you put on your lap) was folded back for me in a neat triangle on my chair! It was like they were performing for us that night.

Jin got us a window seat (overlooking the Toronto Islands), and he got it because he mentioned a couple times that this is a special occasion, that I'm going away for study. And once we got there, the hostess was asking me where I was going for school, what I study...bla bla bla. I thought that was AMAZING. To top it all off, when the dessert course came, the staff wrote "all the best" on the plate with chocolate syrup to wish me luck on my trip to Rome. I just loved it there!

I'm blabbing all about the people who work there...but what about the food eh? hehe! the food was AWESOME!!!! All the sauces were amazing, it made my mouth water. Maybe I had such a good time because they fed us so much alcohol! But it wasn't enough for Jin! He has the tolerance of a horse I say! It's definatly worth going to for special special occasions.

* CUPCAKES anyone?!! See in pictures below!

OOOH! such pretty colours!

You think I could open up a bakery? It's much easier making the mini cupcakes. And not to mention, they are easier to eat! My big ones got a little messed up, I was impatient and iced them too quickly. The icing started to melt off the sides! But a success overall!! Do you see your sprinkles Bon Bon??? I love them so much!

OKAY. I need to get off my website. I really need to start packing! See you all in Roma! Wish me luck!!!!!

Aug 28 '06

SCHOOL NIGHT KARAOKE

We're going out for Karaoke. This is what me and Colin and Elaine made at work. We were so productive.

Aug 16 '06

BONZA!

Bonza, my friend from Edmonton makes me laugh at my computer screen, making me look like a complete iiiidiot. And she completely inspires me to constantly create.

I just found her Flickr page here . I think I'm addicted to flickr. It is where I was fueled with bag obsession. Bonnie has her sweet obsessions showcased here. I think they're intelligently amusing!

ENJOYZ!

Aug 14 '06

Forget Anything I said

I hate you OSAP. The government is more helpful than you are. The russians in the cold war would be more helpful than you are.

This is my last week of work. I don't really want to be here anymore. I feel like my time is up. I just want to do nothing, doodle all day and get paid for it. Oh wait, that is what I do sometimes.

I'm getting nervous about Rome.

I started a bunch of things on this website. I made a new photo's section in Click and I actually put some projects in the hand made section.

Most importantly, we got our camera back. Thank you baby~

Aug 13 '06

Maybe I will be ok...

Slowly I am getting all the documentation I need to recieve student loans. This week, I recieved my replacement citizenship card that I applied for 3 weeks ago. They said it would take 5 months (but I begged them for the favour). I am so surprised they actually granted me the favour! THANK YOU.

Now I'm getting my loan papers in order, and I just might be ok to go to Rome. And thank you Jinny for helping me do all this. I couldn't have done this without you. Love you Jinny-poo.

Now all I need is our camera for Rome............when will that come?...............JIN!

Trust me. I will go camera crazy when I get that thing back.

Jin is thinking of having a farewell party at our place before I leave. I'm suggesting drinking at our place, then karaoke until our throats hurt in k-town. One more time before I go guys.

Aug 01 '06

My Disaster

I tried to sew a passport pouch on the weekend and it turned out horribly. I have always been afraid to use the sewing machine because it takes too much planning. Unlike a website where results come instantaneously, and the option of ctrl-z is available, it takes a lot of preparation. Which, I am not prepared to do.

There were moments where I cut something and immediately I was said in my head "undo undo! ctrl-z! ctrl-z!!!!". I haven't quite adopted the carpenters rule of measure twice cut once. I'm more the measure once cut twice kinda girl.

I am way too embarassed to show what I made, so instead I'll show what a mess I made. Love my scanned picture? That is what I am reduced to since my camera is STILL NOT BACK from being fixed.

July is OVER ALREADY. Tomorrow is exactly one month away from when I fly off to Rome for 4 months. I have gotten nothing done. I was talking to a co-worker today and I almost had the chance to go visit him in Budapest in September. But I checked my school schedule and I have a studio deadline the monday after. I know for sure I will be rushing that deadline that weekend and will not have time to visit him. I AM SO UPSET.

Jul 31 '06

these are a few of my favorite things

I don't know what these flowers are called, but they are my favorite. I first saw them at movenpick marché and I instantly fell in love with them. Now I know I can find them at any convenience store on my walk home. Some convenience stores sell them at ridiculous prices, which I think is silly since I think they are wild flowers. But if I am wrong, and you know the actual name of these cute balls of flowers, please correct me.

I found this picture while rumaging through my digital pictures. This was taken by my friend Gabe with his awesome camera. It's so clear, you can see every single hair on Mea's cute paws. My favorite thing here is her paws. So perfectly round and innocent, until she whips her claws out to scratch you! This was taken all the way back in May at my housewarming! Mea was the star of the party for sure.

Jul 24 '06

Site Launch

Just like moving into a new apartment, everything is not quite in it's place just yet. But things will slowly start to shape up, and have that nice lived in feeling. It might take me awhile to settle because I'm not so good with the website software. My poor Jinny has to endure my evil wrath of grumpiness everytime I cannot figure something out.

Stay tuned for the next couple of months of pictures and updates of my happenings in Rome. Till the summer ends, I'll be sticking around T.O.

July 21 '06