Globalisation... Travelling Friend or Foe?

Monday to Friday afternoon this weekend wasn't great. The novelty of my location had worn off, lessons dominated the days, and still I couldn't make myself understood in our adventurous class exercise of asking for directions to the city library. We did have two outings, however.

Note 3D appearance of character in reflection

The first outing was to Mogan Mount, which is a popular honeymoon destination. Three hours later of city traffic followed by windy roads up the side of the mountain (with obligatory horn honking throughout, of course) and we had arrived - literally - in a village in the clouds. The sides of the mountain are covered in bamboo. Fun Fact: there are 100 different types of bamboo. After a traditional lunch of fish eyes and chicken feet (attached to the rest of the animal, admittedly), we went for a walk to a lodge Mao once stayed in, a nice view point, a waterfall with the painting of the character for 'green' painted on the cliff face, and a lodge where Chiang Kai-Shek once stayed. The lodges themselves were very dull - nothing inside other than photos. The afternoon was much more enjoyable though as we continued walking down the mountain. It was so peaceful, and nice to be surrounded by nature rather than traffic for a bit.

Throughout the walk, the guides weren't very good at keeping the group together and I was slightly concerned we were losing people. We got to an interesting-looking spot, and the guide said we had one hour to look around. However, as it turns out, he then changed his mind and told other people that they had only half an hour. Unsurprisingly, some of us got left behind. All turned out alright in the end, and it was a good example of the laid-back nature of the Chinese tour guides.

Badly translated signs at Mogan Mount

The first was an evening performance at Song Dynasty Town. On our schedules, what was listed as a 'theme park' turned out to be a 'themed park', of Chinese life at the time of, you guessed it, the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD). The evening performance was awesome though - various dances based loosely around folk stories, like the Butterfly Lovers and the White Snake Lady, and locations in Hangzhou, principally West Lake (which people around here consider to be the most beautiful place on earth, and it attracts many Chinese tourists). There were gorgeous Chinese girls shaking their booty, crazy contortionists, and Kung-Fu / warrior dances among others.

The only annoying thing about the evening was that the vast majority of the Chinese audience sitting in front of us were OBSESSED with capturing the show on various tablets, mobiles and cameras, rather than just sitting, watching the performance and enjoying the moment. The stewards had to keep telling them to sit down. (Note my lack of pictures for this section of blog.)

This roughly leads me on to a discussion of something I had been thinking about throughout the week: globalisation makes travelling more boring than it might otherwise be. Hangzhou is a city, full of traffic, noise, concrete buildings, restaurants and shops. Replace 'Hangzhou' with an British city name, and you see the same characteristics. What I find particularly disappointing is the presence of brands like KFC, Pizza Hut and McDonalds. I know that we have them in Britain, and that they're originally American brands, but I find it depressing that these giant corporations have spread their greedy reach to the other side of the world. 

It confirmed for me that language is an essential component, at least for me, for successful and worthwhile travel. If you can't interact with the local people, ask their views, appreciate and engage with their perspectives and habits, then you end up spending a lot of time walking around looking at things...

And then I went to Shanghai.

I do not retract what I have written above, but a whirlwind two days has managed to reintroduce me to some of the things that I find fascinating about China.

Shopping and Haggling
In the Old Town part of Shanghai, there are so many little shops selling all manner of things, from the cheap decorated chopsticks, bracelets and wood carvings to the hugely expensive gold shops selling moulded gold dragon necklaces.
I haven't quite sussed the rule for when you can haggle in a 'proper' shop (as one person managed to get real Beats headphones from the technology dept. of a shop for a dramatically reduced price), but at stalls you should just let your hair down and go for it. I find it most fun when you don't actually want the thing they are trying to sell, as you are more willing to walk away and thus get the price reduced.
In one of the subways there is an enormous underground market, with fake brands like Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister and Superdry knock-offs everyway you turn. It is so, so cheap - especially if you haggle well.

Old things hidden in amongst the new

'Gods' in City God Temple

Hidden amongst some of the tacky stalls was the City God Temple. It is a reasonable size, with people burning incense, and praying and worshipping the three city gods: a chancellor, a civil servant and a general (all previous). Strange to imagine a temple in London for British equivalents, and people praying to Churchill for good fortune.
Another thing was the Yuquan Gardens. Once belonging to an official long ago, these are beautifully maintained traditional gardens with weeping willows, bridges, terrapins swimming in the lake with the fish, rock formations and so on. There was also a jade and an antique exhibition. They were surprisingly peaceful, given their proximity to the bustling streets.

At one point, we ventured off the beaten track for maybe only 30m. What greeted us was a maze of small, dirty, dishevelled backstreets. Electricity wires criss-crossed the street in the drizzling rain, and the locals stared at us with intrigue. Sinks stood outside buidlings every so often, serving the local communities' washing and cooking needs. Soon we had left the backstreets, and were back into the more 'respectable' looking parts of Shanghai. It really was like chalk and cheese. I don't mean to come over all romantic or clichéd or anything, but I feel like the lifestyle of those communities is a rare sight. In France, if you're poor you're either in government accommodation or you're homeless. The back-street communities are sort of in a no-man's-land in terms of housing: they have accommodation, but of an extremely low standard. I wonder how much longer such areas will last before they are bulldozed and replaced by new developments.

Osmanthus tea, alongside quail eggs

Moving on.... Whether or not the tea house we visited was old or not, what I do know is that the Queen has
taken tea there. We had two types of tea, a more normal one, and a special one where the dried tea/flower (we had Osmanthus) parcel put in the water slowly expands in the hot water and opens up, like a blossoming flower. Lovely. The teas were served with quails' eggs (cooked in tea, it seemed - very nice, in any case), bean curd squares, and a couple of Chinese sweets.

All of this took place against the backdrop of....

The bright lights and Shanghai World Financial Centre (SWFC)
Shopping aside, I think that Shanghai is coolest at night. Walking along the Bund, looking across the (tidal) Huangpu river at the skyscrapers all lit up, flashing slogans like 'I LOVE SHANGHAI' was pretty cool. (Side story: both times I went to the Bund I was asked by tourists to have my photo taken with them. I was sort of flattered, but also sort of creeped out at the idea of being in a stranger's holiday snaps... in any case I acquiesced. I was also told by someone else that I had beautiful skin; it seems that Chinese women want to be pale. I have been told that umbrellas are most used in the summer by women wanting to ward off the sunlight...)
Being driven around by taxis at night was exciting, as all the bright lights passed us by.
On the first night I went up the SWFC. It was quite foggy, but still - it was cool seeing all the buildings lit up, and looking down and through the glass floor. The SWFC is the current tallest completed building in the world, and I went up to 474m.

So, given how I started this blog complaining about how globalisation makes everything equally dull, and then exhorted the merits of the most westernised and international part of China (excl. Hong Kong), what note to finish on? Visit Shanghai, and more generally, China, too. But also, seek out the differences. Look for the dirty, smelly bits; the dodgy streets where you get stared at; the traditional food-stuffs. Ultimately though, learn the language. People are all different and unique, and will always be so. We can realise this best if we can truly communicate with them. I think that interacting with local people is where we find the true cultural differences, and thus where hides the most exciting part of travelling.


P.S. Food
Sadly I didn't get to try much Chinese food as we ran out of time. However this just means that I have another reason to return to Shanghai so as to sample Din Tai Fung's steamed buns (with hot soup in the middle) for which there was an enormous queue. There is also a recommended dumpling house I wish I had visited...

Week 1: Culture Shocks? More like the Culture Rocks!

So I have now been here for seven full days. There is so, so much to tell, so I'm going to break it down into categories. Enjoy!

Food

My delish (forbidden) fruit skewer

AKA my favourite thing, besides food. The food here is AWESOME. On Monday, I bought a fruit skewer coated in a sugar syrup. Three wonderful, juicy mouth-fulls into it I suddenly thought: I am going to get food poisoning. On my first full day. Why?! Why did I pick this fruit??!!
Nonetheless I also tried some free tasters of Chinese sweets (not that sweet, but instead they're like a stretchy goo covered in sesame seeds) and some of Evie's deep-fried crabs on a skewer. Equally delish.

On Monday we also visited a tea farm, complete with talk and demonstration (using iodine) of how green tea cleans out your insides, where we got further free samples of biscuits, sweets and nuts. I didn't buy any, as they weren't particularly special, but I did buy some gut-scourging green-tea miracle pills.

Having noodles for breakfast was weird, but tasty. Lunch's excitement has worn off. Rice every day, with assorted bowls of things from the canteen. The biggest disappointment are the meat dishes which look nice, but then are distinctly worse-off for being cold.

Two lovely fish heads. 

In the evening we go exploring. Everything is SO CHEAP. On Monday, we went to this crazy place where you cook your own selection of dishes in a pan of flavoured water/soup-like stuff. £13 for five people. Two consecutive evenings but with different people I went to an awesome, authentic restaurant where we ate stuff like pak choi, broccoli, chicken feet, fish heads, sweet and sour pork etc. First night: selection of ten dishes, rice, and two beers = I paid £5.50. Second night at same place: selection of 14 dishes, rice, and two beers = I paid £4 (as was split between more people).
A bottle of sprite is 20p in the canteen.
Yesterday, we visited the largest campus of Zhejiang University, and I had an amazing noodle soup full of yummy stuff, and dumplings (dumplings are WONDERFUL).

Haagen-Dazs afternoon tea

Today, we spent the day with families. I was with Katie, and we got very lucky with our family. They were SO generous! Mum, Dad and Daughter (13). Lunch: we went to a western-style restaurant and ate with cutlery for the first time in a week! I had seafood soup (Chinese bread was better than my experience of Italian bread), then cod on a bed of tomatoes, then a weird cake I didn't like so I shared Katie's lemon marscapone cheesecake thing. I had green tea and a mango smoothie (which came in a bowl). Weird cultural observation: the Mum ordered for the Dad and Daughter while the former was off picking up the latter from school, and the waiting staff brought out their food even though they hadn't yet arrived. And the staff brought out all of food whenever it was ready - so barely had we started our soups that Katie's main course had arrived! My dessert was sitting opposite me all the way through my main course... Then we went to a famous market street, and I tried a 'sweet'. Not very sweet, but had a rice exterior and a bean-paste interior. Could have been worse. Then (after buying a pretty fan) I got some 'medical' green tea. Then we went to a Haagen-Dazs store, and had a three-tier of desserts and fruit and ice cream. I also had Earl Grey tea. Delish.

THEN we went and had dinner which was the BEST thing I have sampled so far. Simply amazing. Again, the waiting staff just brought out dishes as they were ready rather than serving it all at once but making us wait. I suppose there's a logic in that. We had sunflower seeds to snack on, then our dishes were: prawns in sauce (eat everything, shell and all, except the head, which 'proper' Chinese people spit onto their plate); meat skewers (meat, then fat, then meat etc.); some weird sweet pastry thing served with tomatoes, cucumber and dressing; 'Cantonese kale stems' - really nice; things similar to kidney beans; a salt bone / yam soup - delish; and then.... piece de resistance.... the family had ordered an entire duck for us. We watched the chef carve the entire duck. First, you eat the skin dipped in sugar - scrummy; then, you eat the parts he has cut off for you like duck pancakes - pancake, ducks, sauce, cucumber and spring onion. But that's not it. Then they take away the carcass, cut it up with all the remaining bits of flesh on it, and they deep fry it with spices and small morsels of HEAVEN. Then they bring it back and you eat that. I genuinely could not stop eating.
Simply wonderful, and the restaurant looked out over the tea-fields.
So, so far in my culinary experience I am putting on weight, rather than losing it as I expected. I have also eaten fruit, salad and ice-cream despite guidebook warnings that you are not to eat such things. I could actually do with some food poisoning, to ease things up, if you get my drift... You may not be such a food fanatic as me, so I'll move on....

Teaching/ Mandarin
In total we're going to have 40 hours of Mandarin lessons here, which is pretty cool. So far, we have gone from knowing nothing, to knowing how to greet, numbers, asking when someone's birthday is and what someone is going to do at X time of day. Our laoshi (teacher), JinJin, is excellent. Enthusiastic every day, and helpful, and interesting to talk to in the breaks about how characters work, for example (we're only doing pinying (phoentic Chinese), not characters). She lives at home as she is unmarried - as she said, 'why would you not live at home? It's free!' - and is TINY, yet she said she is considered 'a bit fat' by Chinese standards. Daughter in family visit was also concerned about putting on weight, aged 13, so I think there is pressure on unmarried women to 'fit the mould' and not squeeze over the edge, as it were...
Anyway, back to the Mandarin. The hardest thing is getting the tones right and pronouncing the pinying correctly, as a 'zh' is pronounced as a 'j' sound. So you have to concentrate. But I'm really enjoying it. The grammar is also a lot easier; there are no tenses or subject conjugations in Mandarin which makes things a lot simpler! I won't be anywhere near a confident speaker-level by the end of my time here, but this experience is giving me a flavour of the language, alongside the culture, which is enhancing my experience.

Traffic/Roads
Traffic rules? Highway Code? Not in China. Scooters go down roads the wrong way. Bicycles do whatever they like: no helmet, instead people wear coats on their fronts and oven gloves (no jokes) to protect their hands, while children ride between their knees or on the back. Taxis stop wherever they like. Gone down the wrong road? Do a U-turn at the next available enormous cross-roads with traffic streaming towards you, why not? Oh, and it's obligatory to use your horn if the person ahead of you isn't nearly touching the car ahead of it. Or even if there's nothing for metres around you, just honk: you'll blend right in - honest. I tried asking Chinese people what the road death rate is, but they either didn't understand or they avoided the question. In any case, I asked if they were scared when cycling in the roads and they looked at me like a crazy person: why on earth would anyone be scared, cycling surrounded by lunatics?
I find it all very entertaining, personally.

Hygiene/Toilet paper
Toilet paper doesn't go in the loo here, it goes in an open waste paper basket next to the loo. Lovely. There is no soap available in public loos. Equally lovely. Apparently water does the trick here (although since you cannot drink the tapwater in China, maybe it has enough harmful bacteria in it to kill the loo-germs... take your pick). Loos are also backwards-facing toilet seats in the ground, so you squat and wee facing the hole.
The cleanliness of the streets though is impeccable. Hardly any rubbish around. Lots of street-sweepers though, which is probably the reason. They were large, circular, straw hats to keep the rain/sun off, and have homemade-looking brushes to sweep with.
I've no idea what the cleanliness is of the people cooking my food, but so far I haven't got food poisoning, so it can't be that bad.

Umbrellas in museum.

Other activities
I realise that this post is food-dominated. Other things I have done include: visiting the Botanical Gardens; having our opening ceremony at the university; visiting West Lake and going on a boat trip; finding WalMart and Pizza Hut/McD's in case of emergency; having a taster session of Kung-Fu and Tai-ji; and with the family today we visited an umbrella museum (umbrellas symbolise happiness and completeness due to their circular shape, and so are used at weddings regardless of weather). They were first made of paper, then covered in oil to make them waterproof, then they were made of canvas covered in the oil. Then 'modern umbrellas' came along and stole the show, unfortunately. That is one of the more disappointing things here: I was hoping it would look more like it does in Mulan.... We also went to an art museum which was the best activity I have done yet: we saw decorated paper fans, drawings, paper cuttings, STUNNING embroidery which I would happily have spent £300 on if I had it on me, carvings in wood and stone, lace... it was all absolutely beautiful. So yeah, I'm not just eating here. Promise.

Decorated paper fan. Pagoda overlooking West Lake.

Work ethic
People work so much harder here. Mum of family visit is a lung cancer specialist, and she works 12 hour days Monday-Friday, and also takes calls from patients (who may be depressed and wanting someone to talk to, she said) outside of hours. She said the hospital she works in has 10,000 patients PER DAY. Her daughter (13) is at school from 8am until 8pm, and then does homework until 10pm. She also has school on Saturday mornings, and the parents are very ambitious for her to go to university in the UK.

People
Everyone that I have been able to have a decent conversation with (yes, it's my fault for not speaking fluent Mandarin) has been lovely, welcoming, friendly and kind. This ranges from the staff organising this programme, to my teachers, to the students guiding us around campus, to a boy who helped me in the phone shop, to the woman in the panini/wifi place, to the family we spent the day with today. Yes, people who don't speak English find us a bit of a plague (i.e. trying to fix SIM cards, or order in a restaurant when all we can say is 'yes', 'no', or 'my name is Suzie', and we understanding nothing), but understandably so. One boy here says he finds the people very rude compared to people in India; yes, people here burp and spit right beside you, and shout and stare, but so what? I'm a weird white person in their country. Again, all those I have spoken to have been very welcoming and hospitable.

I feel like people work a lot harder for their livelihoods here. Stuff isn't guaranteed. Life is a gift to be treasured, not squandered lying in bed watching TV... When's you're one in 1.2 billion, you need to struggle to keep ahead of your game...

Looks like I'm off on another adventure...

Hello Blogger audience. Long time no posts, eh? That's probably because British Girl Abroad hasn't really been abroad since Italy (excluding two WONDERFUL, sun-drenched and food-fuelled weeks in the south of France with my favourite French family). 'So where are you off to now?' I hear you all clamouring. Well, my virtual friends, I am off to China. I am participating in a programme called 'Study China' which involves three weeks spent at a Chinese university (I'm going to Zheijang University in Hangzhou), including 40 hours of Mandarin lessons, a university module (I'm studying a politics module called Nation and Nationalism), and extra-curricular activities.

'Why? Why go to China? Haven't you got finals exams to prepare for?' Yes, dear reader, I do. However I am pretty confident about doing well in the exams, they're nicely spread out, and if I don't go to China now, when else am I going to go? When else am I going to be able to learn Mandarin IN CHINA? Especially given how the programme is free (excluding flights, visa, jabs and spending money). Life is too short not to take opportunities handed to you on a plate, I have decided.

I leave on 5th April, and after 11 and a half hours on a plane I expect to land in Shanghai. After navigating the airport, there will be a meeting point for Study China students for us all to get on a bus for the 2.5 hour journey to Hangzhou. I hope I meet some nice people. There's a Facebook group, and some people seem to be proper, real-life morons. 'What jabs do I need?' GO AND ASK A QUALIFIED TRAVEL NURSE. 'When do we get free time?' YOU WERE TOLD, AS WERE WE ALL, THAT YOU WILL FIND OUT WHEN YOU GET THERE. Hopefully all the smart ones have been keeping quiet and we can find each other when we get there and make a cult.

Moving on from my intolerance of (most) other people... What am I expecting in China?
* Being stared at.
* Having to eat weird, unpleasant food.
* (As a girl:) Not being treated as well as men are.
* Not understanding what's going on most of the time. (Although I'm sure this won't hit home til I actually get there, since in France I spoke the language. Even in Italy it felt OK after a while...)
* A mind-broadening, enriching experience.

I think everyone's a bit racist, and certainly at Exeter there are an awful lot of Chinese students who can't speak English. Now I'm going to be in their shoes (although hopefully without my toes taped to the soles of my feet - JOKES!). I wonder how it will feel at the other end of the linguistic and cultural barrier.

I've always thought Chinese culture was pretty cool, too. Probably ever since I first saw Mulan. Love that girl. She's my favourite Disney heroine. And just the values of respect, loyalty to your family, and personal honour. Too many people seem to have lost sight of their inherent value, instead preferring to invest that value in a group, like a gang or clique, and instead lose it completely.

What am I taking with me? Thanks to my Saturday shopping spree I am now happily equipped with an extensive first aid kit, complete with Imodium and Pepto-Bismol for the anticipated D & V, and an awful lot of anti-bacterial handwipes. I also indulged in a bountiful supply of Cadbury's chocolate and some Maoam. I'm also taking with me a book called 'China: a History' for the plane (better late than never). Other than that,  I'll be accompanied my trusty travelling-brain, common-sense and un esprit ouvert.

ITALY Part III: Naples/Napoli

My Naples apartment was shared with the owner, Carlos (who was lovely, but whose part of the apartment was DISTINCTLY nicer than what he made us live in); a Dutsch 30-something called Kim who spoke no Italian, but English very well; a French/Italian 50-something called Ivano who was in Italy to make pizza; and a late 20s Polish guy. The least said about him the better.

A typical, narrow, dark Neapolitan street

Sunday evening Kim and I did a small excursion into Naples town centre to find food and get a brief idea of the place. What we encountered was: over-flowing bins, rubbish all over the floor, and Italians spilling out of restaurants and pubs (shouting? it's difficult to tell with Italian). My first reaction was dislike after the neat, organised and tourist-centred universe I had left behind in Florence.

Monday morning (and every morning afterwards), Kim and I went for a coffee/cappuccino/orange juice and a pastry in a bar across the road. Again, about as nourishing as the tea and biscuits I had been having in Florence.

I then had to do a written test to decide which class I would be put in, and an incredibly brief 'speaking test' in the halfway break. My classmates were to be 27 year old Glaswegian Clare, 18 year old Swede Lovisa, and 66 year old Australian Margaret, and we all rubbed along quite well together. We studied the imperfect (again) and the imperative, as well as just having general chats to make our speaking abilities more well-rounded.

Naples felt much more 'alive' than Florence.
As if 'real' Italians lived there, not just tourists. 

There were a few noticeable differences with the Italian school in Florence, too. Firstly, in Florence lessons started bang on 9am. In Naples, the teachers found their way into the classroom at about 9.10am. They were also reluctant to be punctual to class after the midway coffee break. Secondly, in Florence the lessons were more structured, and the teacher made a great effort to get us to talk as much as possible by constantly asking us questions. In Naples, and with one teacher in particular, our general chats extended to hearing much more about the teacher's own life.

Nonetheless, this was a distinctly positive opportunity to learn about Italian culture:
* The food; one teacher said Italians only ever go to a pizzeria to eat pizza, due to the need for a large, wood-burning oven. Food was also clearly an important time to convene as a family, sometimes with the addition of friends
* Transport; apparently taxi drivers here will even try and rip off Italians, and I am told there is a knack to validating your transport ticket just as you see the conductor getting on the bus...
* The economic crisis; to save money, the government have dramatically reduced the bus services available from Naples to nearby towns. I saw many people begging for money, or walking the streets in the rain selling umbrellas for 3€.
* The crime in Naples compared to elsewhere. My Italian family in Florence had warned me to take care in Naples, which did unnerve me a bit before I arrived. Yes, I did see teenagers riding a scooter in a packed alleyway, with the aim of snatching handbags off the shoulders of unsuspecting women. But no, it wasn't apparent that the Mafia and other criminals were strolling around in broad daylight (although the impact of their power over the rubbish collection of the city was evident everywhere). I assure you, I was not mugged, stolen from or attacked while in Naples.

In the afternoons, I did a mixture of my own thing, and activities organised by the school.
Monday: after wandering the narrow, dark and shop-infested streets of Naples, narrowly avoiding being hit by impatient Vespa drivers, we visited the Museo Archaeological di Napoli which had Roman statues, mosaics rescued from Pompeii, and paintings also taken from the aforementioned and Herculaneum.

The Paticceria at Caffe Gambrinus.
A Neapolitan speciality is Rum Baba, but I personally
recommend Sfogliatella. 

Tuesday: I had a lazy afternoon before going for a walk with Kim to see Piazza dei Plebiscite with a church at one end and Palazzo Reale at the other. We visited the Palazzo (and in doing so fortunately avoided the downpour which shortly followed) which was full of paintings (framed and ceiling frescos) and sumptuous decoration, all kindly explained by the audio guide. Afterwards, we also saw Teatre San Carlo and Caffe Gambrinus which has a lovely interior, before heading back to the flat.
FUN FACT: Naples was the capital of southern Italy / the two Sicilies before the unification of Italy.

Wednesday: the school organised a 'walk along the seafront', which actually transpired to be a guided tour through Naples, finishing at the sea front and being left to our own devices. We then went up Castel dell'Ovo (legend has it that an egg is buried in a chest beneath the castle, and if it breaks Naples will fall) and we had nice views of Vesuvius and Naples town, lazily stretching itself along the coast.

A view of Naples from Vomero.
Note: Mt Vesuvius rising up on the right.

Thursday: the school organised another guided tour up to Vomero, a small settlement perched on a hill over-looking Naples (to save walking, we took the Funicular which is a sort of cable car). Bruno, our guide, was incredibly enthusiastic as he showed us the church there that had been part of the San Martino monastery there. It was one of the most beautiful churches I had seen, and there was a room where if you whisper into one corner, someone in the other corner can hear you perfectly! It was very, very cool.

I then rushed back down the hill to see Verdi's opera 'Rigoletto' at Teatro San Carlo. It was MAGNIFICENT and only 30€!! And I sat on the 3rd floor next to a lovely Italian lady who explained the storyline to me in the first interval, so after that it made much more sense... Afterwards, we were also able to earwig Bruce Springsteen's concert which was going on opposite in Piazza dei Plebiscite! It was wet, so we didn't stick around for long, but on the way back I bought myself a Sfogliatella which has crispy pastry outside and a soft, cinnamon flavoured middle. Amazeballs.

The Royal Box at Teatro San Carlo.
The exterior of the theatre is unassuming,
but the interior was magnificent. 

Friday: Kim and I went for pizza after school with three other girls. Sadly the Sorbillo pizzeria had an enormous queue so we went to Il Presidente. Again, signage: our receipt just said 40€. Didn't say what we had or hadn't eaten OR explain that there was a seating charge included. Had that been advertised? Don't be ridiculous.

Kim and I then went on an underground tour of Naples. We had an excellent (English-speaking) tour guide, and it was really, really interesting. We were told about how the Greeks had mined the stone under the city in order to build it, then the Romans had used the space as water tanks, then there was a cholera outbreak in 1884 which seeped through the permeable rock and the aquaducts had to be closed. In WWII, the spaces were used as an air-raid shelter. Naples was the first liberated Italian city, and it was liberated by an anti-fascist faction made up of ordinary Italians. We also were shown where the original Ancient Greek agora was, and the original columns from the temple there are part of the current church opposite! Then we went 'backstage' of the Roman theatre which was found underneath someone's

Part of the underground tour;
you can see how small the passages are!

house. Sadly you can't see the actual theatre because it was filled in and houses built upon it (and the Italian government has no money 1. to pay the occupants of the houses to leave and 2. to finance the excavation).

Early Saturday morning I was catching the AliBus all the way to the airport and getting on the plane that marked the end of my Italian adventure. I had been from the tourist-centred city of Florence, to the 'Real' city of Naples with a bad reputation (separated by a brief stop-over in Rome). In Florence, I was able to appreciate the architecture and the art surrounding me, and enjoy the relatively tranquil company of an Italian family. In Naples, I saw a city full of noise, food, and everyday people going about their lives.

Two weeks in this country gave me an insight into its variety and liveliness, and re-ignited my enjoyment of learning another language which has enabled me to talk to, and hear the opinions of, another nation. I am sure I'll be back there again.

A Short Suzie Guide to Naples:
Things to do and see:
The underground passageways, San Martino monastery in Vomero, the Museo Archaeological di Napoli, Palazzo Reale, an opera at Teatro San Carlo!
Food:
I visited two pizzerias: Brandis is the birthplace of the Margherita Pizza, but I would recommend the Il Presidente for the same great authentic taste with a cheaper price tag.
La Campagnola is a trattoria (less formal than a ristorante) and I had the most amazing antipasto there: fresh mozzarella and parma ham, stuffed and fried courgette flowers, bruschetta, and pickled fish and octopus. Lush.
Safety:
Naples is apparently the Crime Capital of Italy, but if you are sensible and smart no-one should fear visiting this city. However, even guide books advise tourists to stringently avoid the Quartiere Spagnoli and Piazza Garibaldi near the train station after dark. In my experience, the main thing to watch out for was hidden charges in restaurants, and the odd car not following the Highway Code.

ITALY Part II: Rome/Roma

At 8.30am, we had our tea/coffee and biscuits for breakfast like usual. At 9.30am, I left to walk through the streets of Florence one last time on my way to the train station. The highlight of this walk was a church recommended to me by Elisabetta, called 'Orsanmichele'. The outside is a huge hulking building, but once you find the entrance, you find yourself in a small square room, with beautiful old delicate paintings covering the walls. The main attraction is a sort of ornate stone altar with a roof, and there's a painting of the Virgin and Baby Jesus, with shining gold halos, set into the back of it. Beautiful. Definitely worth seeing.

The Roman Forum

My Alta Velocità (High Speed) train that took me to Rome was brilliant, whizzing me past the hills bordering the  green valleys. After arriving, I had to take a metro and then had a short walk to my hotel. Again, the Italians need to sort their signs out. I walked down the street. No sign of a B&B. I asked at the florist, and they said I needed number 19. I found number 19's large wooden doors firmly locked and in my way. I looked at the doorbells for the various apartments, and couldn't see any for the B&B where I was apparently spending the night. A nice lady let me into the building, but she let herself down dramatically by telling me to go four floors (with all my luggage) up the wrong staircase. Another four floors up the other staircase and here, I did actually find the B&B.

I knocked on the door and popped my head around the corner. A smiling young Italian man appeared.

The Pantheon
Rebuilt circa 126 AD by Emperor Hadrian

'Andrea, right?'.... 'Er, no, Suzie', I replied. 'Andrea' persisted the Italian. 'No - Suzie', I maintained. To be brief, il centro italiano had booked my hotel room through an agency who had not then relayed the room booking to the B&B. Smooooth. In the end, my tour guide arrived at 4pm as previously organised and took me to a new hotel. In the two hour wait I tried to visit the Sistine Chapel, but failed because a German man was visiting the Pope and the place was absolute chaos. Nonetheless, my guided tour was excellent, and I was showed many interesting things tucked away in Rome's backstreets away from the tourist masses. These sights included beautiful churches (stunning on the inside, but very plain on the outside), tranquil piazzas / courtyards with carved fountains, and viewing points over ancient Roman remains.

The three hour tour finished at 7pm. I had seen a lot, but not understood a great deal of what she was saying. We parted ways and I found a trattoria (family-run restaurant) where I had pork with prunes and potatoes. In the hotel, I watched Italian 'Deal or No Deal' which has an equally annoying presenter as Noel, and then had the worst night's sleep of my life on a bed seemingly made of asphalt.

The Colosseum

Sunday dawned sunny and hot. I then spent the rest of the day getting lost in Rome in the vain effort of 1. trying to re-find some of the places I had seen yesterday and 2. trying to find anything not on a main road. In the end I gave up, hoisted my heavy baggage onto my shoulder yet again, and set off for the Colosseum. Which was awesome, but the novelty of old crumbly buildings was beginning to wear off...

I caught my afternoon train to Naples, again enjoying the view. In Naples I needed to get a bus to my apartment if I wanted to avoid dodgy taxi drivers and hefty price tags. I found the bus station without problem, bought a ticket, VALIDATED IT (I wasn't risking it twice), and was then squeezed on to the bus like a sardine. To my astonishment, at the next stop the waiting passengers just shoved their way on to the bus!! Stupid me, thinking there was no room! What a ridiculous notion... Typical foreigner. Thankfully no-one touched me up, stole my stuff (although that would have been quite a feat given how none of us could actually move) or injured me. Especially since I subsequently learnt that the train station and bus stop area is perhaps the most dangerous part of Naples. Excellent. Nonetheless, I managed to prise myself out of the soup of sweaty Italians at the right stop, took a deep breath, and then set off in search of my apartment for the next five days. I had a feeling that Naples wasn't going to be quite so refined as Florence...

Suzie's Number One Top Tip for Rome: have a private tour guide. You will see an awful lot (without having to worry about map reading) and learn a lot (without having to wade through the guide books). But maybe I'm just lazy...

Suzie's Number One Favourite Thing in Rome: the water fountains. This sounds ridiculous, but I just loved how there are water fountains scattered around the city. They are constantly running with fresh, cold water, and have holes drilled into the tap, so that if you stopper up the end with your hand, water spurts out of the hole at a level perfect for drinking from!

One such piazza: Piazza Navona
(which has a fountain of the 'four rivers' in its middle)

Why are there so many...: piazzas? Rome (and other Italian cities) are full of piazzas, which are essentially huge public squares. My guide told me that it's because they were the main place for the conduct of public life. Since in the summer it gets too hot inside, trade and other business would have taken place in the piazzas. Nowadays, piazzas are hotspots for small-scale traders and cafés.

An Archaeological Observance: One of the things my tour guide pointed out, is how Rome is a perfect example of stuff just being built on top of everything else. For example, there are big pits full of Roman remains, and around them are modern streets with shops and traffic. There is one small excavated area, where you can see Roman remains, and on top of them there is a medieval chapel (complete with original wall painting of Christ!), and on top of that is a gigantic, looming, blindingly white museum!

1.                                                      2.                                                                  3.

ITALY Part I: Florence/Firenze

So before I went off to France in late September, I was already looking forward to returning to Britain after having finished the cumbersome and annoyingly obligatory Year Abroad. Eight months later, I would be returning home for the grand total of 10 days before jetting off to the previously unexplored land of Italy.

Venture 100m off the beaten track, and I guarantee that
you will find the gelateries with the best value and flavour

The roots of this decision lie in my disappointing AS Politics exam results, which led me to ponder if I should changed from "French and Politics" to "French and Something Else". Enjoyment of A Level Classics (based on two very enthusiastic teachers and basically reading stories for two years) combined with an enjoyment of FOOD led to the possibility of the "Something Else" being Italian. Nonetheless, history's course was maintained with a dramatic re-mark and an exam re-take, and I found myself at Exeter doing the degree I had originally intended upon. Three years later, however, a curiosity to explore this country, its language and its cuisine was still lurking in me.

So, on Sunday 12th May I flew out to Pisa from Gatwick, with my stomach full of nerves and my rucksack full of bits of paper with maps, addresses, emergency contact numbers and prepared conversations for scenarios in Italian. It was like starting out on my YA again, but this time I couldn't speak the language... Yes, I had bought myself a grammar book in France and been quite enthusiastic at the start, but then the Final Month in France kicked in and completely pushed Italian into a corner of my mind's priority department. Not least because my Oral Exam in September '13 will be in French, not Italian!

The Italians just LOVE their scooters

After soaring over the snow-topped Alps and the blue Mediterranean sea, I was in an arrivals lobby buying a train ticket from a woman who clearly wished everyone would just leave her in peace. Upon asking where the train station was, a hand was flung in my general direction from which I understood it was behind me. I left her in peace. I did find the train station (after asking for directions again) and was presented with a departures board asserting that the train to Firenze San Marco was leaving from Platform 12. In front of me were platforms 1 and 2. There were no others. Above Platform 1 was another sign, saying the train there was heading to my destination. I got on. The driver announced he was going to Pisa Centrale. Firenze SM wasn't mentioned. In the end, thankfully, the driver did admit he was also going to Firenze SM. Italy was clearly going to be a bit different to France.

I arrived in Florence to the pouring rain and a long taxi queue. When I reached the front of the queue and was asked my destination, my throat closed up, my mind blanked and I resorted to thrusting the written address in the driver's face. I had never known such shyness on my own part, and it made me feel pathetic!!

The view from the family's terrace

(Not to mention mean for getting frustrated at identical behaviour on the part of my students...) I was dropped me off at the apartment which would be my home for the following five days, and Bernardo (the son of the family, aged 21) showed me around. The apartment had excellent views of Florence - although I only discovered this later due to the storm still raging - and my bedroom and ensuite were perfectly alright. The family was completed by parents Elisabetta and Dario, and the family are 100% my FAVOURITE ITALIANS EVER. They were constantly kind, welcoming and helpful.

I thank my American Biffle for suggesting the accommodation of a half-board stay with a family for Florence. On the first night two of the family's friends joined us for dinner, and we muddled through conversation with a mixture of French and English. We ate gnocchi cooked in broccoli; then turkey cooked with mushrooms, and courgettes, and cress stuff and cured ham; pudding was a fruit tart and then home-made ice-cream! We also had some nice wine (although not as good as in France!). It was an excellent start to my Italian experience. I was regretting not having done more language preparation while in France, but felt very excited for starting lessons the following morning.

The classic Florentine image: Ponte Vecchio
Note: shops bursting over the edege, and the Medici
family's private walkway running along the top

We had a breakfast of tea and biscuits at 8.30 on Monday morning (and I would be having this highly nutritious breakfast for the rest of the week) and I arrived at Il Centro Italiano di Firenze at 9am. I did a short test to ascertain my level, then just got bunged in a classroom with the teacher, Elenore, and the only other student, a 50 year old American called Isabel. My level in Italian soared over the five days I was at the school; it was incredible how much vocabulary I learnt just by listening to the other two. We had four hours of lessons per day, 9am-1pm with a break in the middle (to give the teacher her coffee fix), and we focused on learning the imperfect tense (thankfully I had mastered the present and past on my own) and situations to teach us vocabulary.

Me on Ponte Vecchio

Throughout the week in the afternoons, I explored on my own:
Monday: (after returning from school and setting the apartment's burglar alarm off, nearly getting the police sent round) was spent wandering around Florence in the blazing sunshine, drinking in the sights, some of which I had seen in the film 'Room with a View' the night before I left. I wandered along Fiume Arno, looking up at Fort Belvedere (one of the Medici family homes), and went along to Ponte Vecchio (the only Florentine bridge not blown up in WWII by the retreating Nazi forces) and up to Palazzo Vecchio and Piazza dell Signoria. I bought an over-priced melon gelato for 4€. The afternoon was spent at the church of Santa Croce with an audio guide, admiring the frescos, the marble patterned floor, the decorative tombs (some filled, some not) and much more.

In the evening, Bernardo gave me a moonlit tour of the town, including the ancient centre of Florence (Piazza della Republique) where the two main Roman roads cross, and culminating in Il Duomo (the cathedral), bathed in floodlights. It was magnificent. Not so great were all the men selling junk and pestering everyone.

Firenze's cathedral (with dome) and tower,
infront of which is the Baptistry 

Tuesday: I went inside the cathedral, empty and vast, but with a beautiful fresco within the dome illustrating hell, heaven, and those excluded from both. I also walked up to the church of Santa Maria Novella, but was all church-ed out so didn't bother going inside. I tried to find Museo di Firenze, and failed. I had been told it was near the town library. I found the library, but could not for the life of me find the museum. Upon reporting this to the family that evening, I was told that you have to go inside the library to get to the museum. Is this signed? No. Don't be silly; I was in Italy. In all honesty, one of my greatest criticisms of Italy was its signage (ranging from advertising seating charges in restaurants, to its supposed tourist attractions and monuments). I saw the outside of Dante's house and peeked inside his personal church opposite, and I bought another gelato (half white choc, half milk choc) from 'Perché non?' which translates as 'Why not?'



Wednesday: this was guided tour day, as arranged by the school. We chatted in Italian all the way around, and I learnt quite a bit but also just chatted in general. She led us to the BEST gelaterie in Florence, where a small tub was 1.50€ and the quality was beyond anything imaginable.

View of Firenze from Piazza Michelangelo

Thursday: The day started in a most positive fashion. I successfully caught the right bus up to Piazza Michelangelo which is a viewing point over the town. I then got on another bus to go and see Fort Belvedere. Now, I suggest future Italy travellers listen to the following with care: you MUST validate bus tickets. To cut a long story short, I had my ticket checked + I hadn't validated it = 50€ fine on the spot. Rest of day was ruined as I didn't have the cash so I had to wait on the bus beyond my stop, then the bus conductor marched me to a cash machine (like a criminal!). I was so angry with myself I went straight home. At dinner that night, the family had put two little chocolates in my place at the table to try and make my feel better, hence part of the reason why they were my favourite Italians! The following day I explained what had happened at school, and Isabel reassured me by saying that if that was the worse thing that was going to happen to me in Italy, it was OK. And she was right. It was my contribution to the Italian economy.

San Miniato (the interior is amazing)

Friday: I visited Palazzo Pitti (another former Medici family residence) and its gardens, and also Giardino di
Boboli which had nice views and kept me occupied. I then re-visited the amazing gelaterie and the cathedral. After returning to the apartment, Dario asked me whether I had been able to see Fort Belvedere or San Miniato after my humiliating fine experience. I said no, and he said that they would take me there. So Dario, Elisabetta and I went out in the car to see the old city walls (now mainly destroyed to make way for the roads), Piazza Michelangelo, then the walls of Fort Belvedere, and San Miniato which is one of my favourite churches in Florence. It's interior is so old and beautiful, and there was a service going on with some monks when we visited which made it feel even more special. It also has a stunning view over the rest of the town: red rooftops with the Duomo rising up in the middle, and the green hills looming over everything else.

Almost before I knew it, it was time to say goodbye to my favourite Italians. I had had an incredible five days in Florence, made all the more authentic, worthwhile and enjoyable by the family I stayed with. By the time Saturday arrived, my Italian had already progressed considerably, and I felt like I was going to Naples with a good basis for the challenges which would undoubtedly arise there.

A Short Suzie Guide to my Highlights of Florence:
Churches: Santa Croce, the Cathedral, San Miniato, Orsanmichele
Gelateries: Perché Non? and the most amazing gelaterie I visited... and whose location I do not know.
Museums: well, I didn't visit any, but I can tell you that you can see a replica of Michelangelo's David for

Hello there, David

free by visiting Piazza della Signoria, without queueing for hour upon hour at Gallerie dell'Academia. I also advise a portable seat for Galleria dei Uffizi, judging on the queues I saw.
Food: I didn't eat out anywhere (since I was staying with a family), but I can tell you what we ate at dinner:
* Pasta in bolognaise sauce to start, then chicken cooked with courgette, accompanied by bread (again, I think the French do a better job), and strawberries for pudding.
* Asparagus risotto and salad, then pudding was ricotta with nutella / coffee / jam (as you please)
* Taglietelli with spicy sausage and tomato sauce, then a variety of plates including baked artichokes, thick, crepe-like things, beetroot, and sardines in a tangy marinade. Ricotta and nutella for pudding.
* Bean and pasta soup, then slithers of cured pork carved off a huge slab with tomatoes and raw artichoke. Finished off with biscotti dipped in very strong alcohol.

Final three English-filled days in France

Chaumont Château

On Monday, I had a super-busy morning putting postcards in pigeon holes for my favourite three college classes, buying stamps and sending letters to friends back home, and buying a traditional French lunch for my parents who arrived at noon. We immediately tucked into fresh French baguette, pork pate, duck mousse pate, ham, and three types of cheese. The weather was a delight to behold, so we then made our way to Chaumont Château which was complete with lovely gardens and stables.

In the evening, we dined in the restaurant of the hotel where my parents were staying. I had a tiny salmon quiche, followed by steak, followed by a crumble. Delish. The waiter needed to cheer up, however. What greatly amused me was his announcement, upon the serving of our main course, of 'Good following'. This perfectly highlights the problem of literal translation. In French, you would say 'Bon appetit' at the start of the meal, and 'Bonne continuation' (which he translated as 'Good following') for each following course. Someone clearly didn't pay attention when their English teacher gave that lesson...

Interior courtyard of Chaumont Château, with a view
across the valley behind us.

On Tuesday, the weather was foul and disgusting. I checked out officially at the MAJO (since the following day was a bank holiday), and received a weighty envelope full of my leftover housing benefit and my deposit. Too bad, France, this money is going into Italy's economy in a few weeks, not yours! After depositing the loot at the bank (and feeling relieved it was no longer my responsibility), we went to Langeais Château.

Langeais Château is a medieval château, and as such is the last example of a château built in a fortified-castle style before the change of fashion and the new preference for châteaux in the style of a stately home. We ate our boulangerie lunch in the car, before braving the rain to make our way in to the château. It has thick stone walls, and you have to go up some steps and across a small drawbridge to access the 'house' part. You can walk all along the battlements of the château and look precariously down at the drop beneath you, if you fancy it! We had hoped to go and see Ussé Château later on as well, but the weather was simply too disgusting.

Langeais Chateau in the rain.

Mum and Dad dropped me at home where I had two hours to sort myself and my remaining luggage out before we went out to a crêperie for dinner. It was the same crêperie as I had visited with my American biffle, and it didn't disappoint. I ordered exactly the same crêpes as last time I had visited. Why try and improve on perfection? It was a lovely way to end my last-ever-full-day-in-France-for-my-Year-Abroad, and shortly afterwards I was snoring away in my bed, with strict instructions to be ready to leave the house with all my stuff at 7.45am the following morning.

Wednesday morning dawned, bright and spring-like. In my infinite wisdom, I had accidentally set my alarm clock for 8.30am, not 7.30am (clearly too much cider at the crêperie), but thankfully God woke me up in a state of shock and panic at 7.30am. I managed to get dressed and lug everything downstairs in time for the arrival of my parents and the car that would be taking me home. We left at 8am on the dot after I had put my house keys through the letter box of the MAJO's office. I knew I wouldn't be returning, but somehow it didn't feel weird. It felt right.

Bye bye, Romorantin house.

Four hours of driving later and we were having a boulangerie lunch before seeing the Bayeux tapestry (which actually isn't a tapestry, it's an embroidery) and its museum. The 'tapestry' has narrowly avoided destruction several times in history, and is quite lucky to still be in existence!

A short drive later and we were queuing for the ferry. We had a cabin again, and had dinner in the ferry's restaurant which was very good! Mum and I shared a prawn cocktail starter, then I had sole in a delicious sauce for mains, then Mum and I shared a chocolate and passion fruit trio of desserts. They were incredible!
Off the other end at Portsmouth, and an hour and a quarter later I was walking in the front door of my HOME!!! and being greeted by my favourite boy, Alfie, my brother and my Grannie. I couldn't have wished for a better welcome.