Thanksgiving Without a Family

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!! 

 Obviously since Thanksgiving is an American holiday we don't celebrate it here in Italy. Everyone here is busy getting ready for Christmas, but I'm missing out on what is going to be a rather epic Thanksgiving for my family. 

    First off, my family is full of amazing chefs. We generally spend holidays with my mom's side of the simply because we're on the same coast. We've got the southern cooking gene en masse. We have recipes that have been in the family since the flood. And then you throw my British uncle into the mix who makes the best Yorkshire pudding. The result is the best food you have ever eaten: creamy mashed potatoes, savory turkey, green beans that have been cooking all day, the best stuffing in the world, and the coveted cherry cheese pie. It's so good that there are fights over who gets to take leftovers of what.

    Another great part of the holidays is that my family is absolutely crazy. Honestly, we need our own reality show. It's like a tele-novella in there. But they're my kind of crazy. It's like watching the Kardashians all day. We would have our own catch phrases. But I do feel bad for my brother, he's the youngest and the only male grandchild. My family functions as a matriarchy, so this might be rough for him.

    Alas, I am rather homesick today. I want to cuddle with my dogs and hug my family (which is something I hardly ever do - I'm not much of a touchy-feely person but right now I just want a hug). I'm not sad, but I do wish I could be there. Instead I am having Thanksgiving dinner with my flatmates. I am so blessed to have ended up in this flat where all of the girls click on some level. We all get along and have formed a support group for one another. We celebrate each other's birthdays and have regular family dinners. So each of us are making a dish in our ridiculously small kitchen and will have as close to a real Thanksgiving as we can. A lot of the ingredients we use in the States are hard to come by over here. I spent an hour today going to Chinatown to the international market at Piazza Vittorio Emmanuale II by Termini (the train station) hunting down brown sugar. I'm making my favorite Dutch apple pie! But because they really don't have turkey here we'll be eating chicken. You make do with what you've got.

    A tradition with my family is to go around the table and say what you are thankful for. So, I would like to say that I am so thankful for this opportunity in my life: that I am able to live my dream of studying archaeology and art in Roma. I am thankful for my wonderful family who supports me in good times and bad, for my friends who never waver and bring out the best in me, for my teachers who have not only taught me academically but also given me life lessons and spurred me to work harder, and for my dogs who see me as the best person on the planet and make me think that maybe I could be. There were times a few years back where I was almost certain that I wouldn't see my twentieth birthday, but to have made it through all of that and to be not just living but thriving is what I am most thankful. I know it may sound arrogant but I am most thankful for my strength (which is in part given to me by my parents and tested every day by my siblings). 

    So here's to you! I hope you are having a wonderful day with the people who matter to you. Family isn't just about blood, it's about the people who love you unconditionally and who make you feel safe. I know I have adopted family members all over. Take the time to tell those people that you are thankful for them, because although they may know it, it's always nice to hear it!

I'm such a nerd... Couldn't resist.

Birthdays, Vampires, and Doona parties (part 2)

Wow, I am such a slacker on blogging. Mea culpa! My issue is that so many things are happening, but then I think about all of the things that I'm going to have to write about and blogging becomes an arduous game of catch-up. So, I am resolving to do better with this.

    In my last post I alluded to the horrifying train ride to Bucharest from Budapest. It was awful. I had to take a decent train to the Hungarian-Romanian border that stopped at Arad, Romania and then a 'sleeper' train to Bucharest. The first train ride was manageable, but the night train left from Arad at 9pm and I was in one of those Hogwarts Express-like compartments with a bunch of really old creepy looking Romanians, none of whom spoke a word of English. 

I was completely exhausted, but also scared out of my wits. On both trains the ticket inspectors were terrifying. I felt as if I were in an old Bond movie about communist Russia with how brusquely they would ask for tickets. I was constantly worrying that I was going to be thrown off the train in the middle of nowhere and left to freeze to death at night. So needless to say, when I finally reached Bucharest I was a very relieved, albeit stressed and exhausted smelly traveller.

    I stayed at the Cozyness Downtown Hostel, which was fabulous! It is run out of an apartment in the city center, right outside of old town, by Marius, who is hilarious and so kind. I got there at about 6 am and Marius welcomed me, showed me around and then I showered and passed out. I spent that day exploring the city a bit, but the best part was when I came back to the hostel. Since it is a transformed apartment it only sleeps 12 guests. A group of us gathered in the very modern and zen family room area to just chat. I made friends with a Russian girl, Tanya, who had grown up in Siberia but now lives in Moscow, and we went on a wine run. I really clicked with Tanya. She is so amazing! She just travels all the time; she decided to up and move to Thailand for half a year and then spend some time in Indonesia just for fun. Tanya inspired me to go out and have my Eat, Pray, Love moment in Bali.
    When we got back to the Cozyness a bunch of the guests were all sitting on the floor of the family room in duvets from their beds. Tanya and I fetched our own and joined in the doona party (I was corrected by the Aussies that a duvet is called a doona). After a few hours of amazing conversation about experiences that we had had or would recommend and discussions about cultural differences Marius fired up the wii and challenged various brave souls to a match of tennis. Marius is the reigning champ of wii tennis, so most of us were shamefully thrashed. Finally, we all settled down with our wine to watch Alien 2. This was probably one of my favorite nights in Bucharest.

Welcome to the Cozyness Downtown Hostel

The zen family room

Me, looking ragged in Romania

    The next day, Halloween, Tanya and I set out on a day trip to Transylvania. We took a train to Brasov and then 2 buses to Bran. The trees in the Carpathian mountains that we traversed were so beautiful. They had all of the colors found in a New England autumn and the trees were perfectly spaced so that they were welcoming. I wanted to just run off into the forest and get a little lost. Amongst those trees one could believe in fairy tales and ghost stories. Anything was possible. But once it darkened I could see why Bram Stoker chose this location as the home of Count Dracula. During the night train ride back I could almost see Jonathan Harker peering wild eyed out the window of an onyx carriage driven by the devil himself. This place held something old and untamed.
Tanya and I ended up at Bran Castle, which is also known as Dracula's castle. Although Vlad the Impaler, Prince of Wallachia, never actually inhabited the castle, Bram Stoker was inspired by its complex construction of mismatched levels, secret passageways, and placement on the height of an outcropping in the Carpathians. Of course, I loved it. It was actually well preserved for a castle of its age; even all of the wooden stairs and flooring were intact and usable. 

Bran Castle exterior

Cross on the way up to the castle.
Guard your mortal soul!

A secret passageway!

Beautiful traditional Wallachian/Romanian daggers.

I'm pretty sure I walked into a story book.

Jack-o-lanterns at Bran Castle

Bran Castle from the interior courtyard.

Tanya and I made friends with a couple of strays by feeding them pastries.

Tanya and I decided to go out that night when we returned to Bucharest. It was Halloween after all. So we ended up in old town, which is this beautiful section of streets with buildings built in the baroque style that have all been turned into bars, restaurants, and more bars. It's actually kind of insane how many bars can be in the same area. We went into a few places, but they really weren't our scene... apparently it's not a party in Romania if someone isn't dancing on the bar. We eventually found a really cool place called the Bordello Pub that had live music (that wasn't trance or dubstep) and got some drinks and danced the night away. It was a complete girl's night and all Tanya and I wanted to do was listen to some good music. I had a complete blast!

Just a bit of old town at night.

Inside Bordello.

Romania was actually wonderful... until I had to leave. This is why economy airlines are awful. I booked an 'evening' flight for 6:20. But apparently they were on 24h time, so evening 6:20 meant 6:20 am the next day. 

I arrived at the airport at 2 in the afternoon, waited around until 4:30 pm, discovered my misfortune, had a quick cry in the ladies room, and steeled myself to wait for 12 more hours in the most uncomfortable chairs known to man. I was never so happy to finally get back to Roma. 
When I did get back I got a wonderful birthday card from my family. It's Vincent Van Gogh, which is perfect because: 1) I absolutely love the impressionist movement, 2) Van Gogh's life really resonates with me, and 3) The episode of Doctor Who called Vincent and the Doctor was the first episode that I showed my mom that eventually led to her and the rest of my family getting hooked on it! 

I got my own mini Vinny!

Birthdays, Vampires, and Doona Parties! (Part 1)

I just got back from my latest break from school. We had a week off after midterms, which just so happened to coincide with my 21st birthday. So, me being my odd self decided to go to Budapest and Bucharest for a week. Why? Why not! My friend Danielle had just gone to Budapest and said that she absolutely loved it so I decided to give it a go. And if I spent the middle of the week in Bucharest then I could spend Halloween in Transylvania! Unfortunately everyone in my program had decided to go to Paris or Barcelona and I was left conquering eastern europe all by my lonesy onesome. But hey, I'm an independent gal, it would all be fine! Right?

I flew to Budapest, Hungary Thursday night after class and arrived at the Wombats Hostel. It is actually ridiculously nice for a hostel. The building used to be a hotel so every room has a giant, wonderful bathroom and there is even a bar on the ground floor! The only down side was my roommates. I got stuck in a room with 5 Italian guys who were awful. They slept all day because they would be out partying until 6 am and when they finally decided to go out they hogged the bathroom and even were blow drying their hair. Honestly, Italian men spend more time on their looks than most women... The worst was when they came back at 6 am and decided to continue partying in the room blasting Gangnam Style and dancing about like modern bacchantes. Someone even came to the door at 7 am and started asking them to turn it down, but he ended up coming in to dance. All this time I'm huddled under the covers in my top bunk trying desperately to ignore the noise and get some much needed sleep and the newcomer notices me. He asks the Italians who I am, to which they respond that I am female, and of course the guy wants to know what I look like so he asks the Italians. They just start saying, "Ohhh, è brutta! È brutta!" At that moment I wanted to yell at them and inform them that I speak Italian as well and could understand everything that they were saying. But I decided it would be wiser to keep quiet and ignore them (besides, my ego was now irreparably damaged) . By some miracle I fell asleep and when I woke I went straight to the front desk and got a room change. I got lucky and ended up with a quiet Korean guy and 4 German girls.

After that fiasco I went out to explore the city. It was beautiful, but gray and freezing and wet. I walked around the Pest side (Interesting side note: Budapest is actually 2 cities - the hilly Buda and flat Pest on either side of the Danube river) and found a Hard Rock Cafe. I know, I should eat the food of the area. I did on all of the other days, but after more than 2 months without a burger and minimal red meat I could not resist. And wow, what a burger!! They had heinz ketchup and french's mustard. I appreciate the little things so much more! I then went and explored the oldest cemetery in Budapest which had some really wonderful funerary sculptures. And the colors of the trees made it so magical.

This one legitimately creeped me out.

DON'T BLINK!

Another rather frightening one, this one in mosaics

The next day I went to explore the Buda side. Specifically Buda Castle and Matthias Church and Fisherman's Bastion. The castle was first completed in 1265 by King Béla IV of Hungary. In 1526 Buda was sacked, burned, and captured by the Ottoman Turks after the Battle of Mohács causing the fall of the Kingdom of Hungary, but the palace was left unharmed. Allied Christian forces endeavored to drive out the Turks in 1686 but in the midst of the fighting ended up inadvertently blowing up and destroying the medieval castle. The current palace was built in the baroque style in 1769. Some parts of the medieval palace have been reconstructed and can be seen on the path leading up to the castle.

Rawr!

Ruins of the medieval castle

The reconstructed medieval turret. 

Buda Castle

Matthias Church

The beautiful roofing

Fisherman's Bastion

 Ending my stay in Hungary I celebrated my 21st birthday by going out to Spinoza Cafe. It's a wonderful cozy little restaurant that features live piano music and a relaxing twenties vibe. I ordered steak and potatoes au gratin with a nice white wine. It was divine! Sure, being alone on my 21st birthday was not how I envisioned spending it, but this was pretty wonderful. The most magical part occurred while I was eating my apple strudel with vanilla ice cream - the pianist began to play a jazz version of A Whole New World from Disney's Aladdin. Not only is that my favorite Disney film, but it came out on vhs on my 3rd birthday and my party consisted of watching it with the neighborhood kids. It also seemed like a sign for me to buck up and take on the world. It was just so unexpected because all night the music was jazzy and classy. It really was amazing.

(I'll get to Romania and the train of horrors in Part 2. Ciao for now!)