The People I Have Met (Some of them anyway)

"People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. When you figure out which it is, you will know what to do."

- Michele Ventor

At the beginning of a new friendship, there's no telling how long you'll be friends with someone, how great your friendship will be or anything about the relationship for that matter. Regardless, you continue to meet new people and make new friends. Why? Overall, the people you talk to shape the person you are becoming. I have met so many people here in Europe. There are some people that I would love to see again, but they probably won't even remember me. There are those people that probably want to continue a conversation with me, but I might not even remember their names. There are those people that really want to keep in touch but just aren't good at it (like me). There are also those people that really do become friends for life, and whether you see them all the time or not, you keep in touch because you genuinely care about what's going on in their lives and they care about you. Ten years from now, maybe I'll know how to categorize each of these people, but right now, it doesn't really matter. Without going into too many details (for their privacy), here are some of the people I've met and what I'll always remember because of them. 

Jasmine - my first friend in Europe! Our trips to Florence, Milan, Venice and Lido will never be forgotten. This girl helped me transition into the slow-paced lifestyle in Roma because I'm not as relaxed as I should be. She also allowed me to break out of my shell and experience being a different person. 

Megan - She made me do the craziest thing I've done thus far (canyoning) and as much as I hated her during those few hours, I am so grateful. She's been making me push my limits to see what I can really do, and I love it! She's also taught me to just deal with things when you can't change them. I really admire her ability to just "suck it up" and "go with the flow." Hopefully that's something I can take back with me! 

Jim - I met him while I was at Rutgers because he came to present at the pre-departure meeting. I ended up seeing him at least 5 times in Roma before he headed back to the states. What have I learned from him? Be opened minded. Things are different--that doesn't mean that they're bad. Take in as many experiences as possible, and don't forget to share them with others because that's the only way they'll be able to understand you.

Alex, Robin & Hasan - I guess I'll give in and say that awesome conversation I had in Barcelona was with Alex. I learned from these three guys that it's okay to be a normal person that has fun in life while having a professional life. Once you start working, it doesn't mean that everything's over...Back at home, I feel like my friends forget about experiencing new things after they start working, but now I know it's possible to have it all! 

Andy & Quintin - These guys have jobs in the states and they just decided to leave the country and travel for a month! That's awesome! It made me realize that this isn't my last chance to do what I want. There will always be time if I make time...it's up to me. I guess I never realized how much control I have over my life and what I do with it.

Sarah (and Megan, Andy, Quintin, Daniel, Isaac, Simone, Timmay, Helen, Jon) - I'll never forget them because of our absolutely awesome canyoning experience together. It showed me that you can trust people within minutes after meeting them only because they saw you fumble, trip and fall! 

Professor Serafino Amato - I haven't really learned much about photography from him but when he talks and is taking pictures, I can feel his passion. I know that if I truly want to be happy in life, I need a passion like that...and I don't need to know what it is yet, but I do need to start working on it and figure it out by exploring my options!

I have to leave my apartment in five minutes to head out to Berlin but I hope to continue growing this list :) 

So long!

Canyoning

"Even if you stumble, you're still moving forward." - Unknown 

For those of you that are not so up to date with the lingo, YOLO means "you only live once" and is becoming a popular "word" to use among youth. I am usually not one to jump on the bandwagon, but during my amazing experience this past weekend, I kept reminding myself that you really do only live once, so why not live it up? Before I tell you details, you must watch this video because this is pretty much what I did while in Interlaken, Switzerland. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC9VPAcIskU 

That is just a quick video for those of you that are in a rush. If anyone has more time, please check out the crazy things we did in the following videos! (Don't watch all, some are repetitive. I can't filter them because my Youtube isn't working so well here.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T0deljq_jw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4-h4-LoMf0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAlDYS-s7MU

Here are a few pictures of us before we went canyoning:

This is the team before we started. We barely knew each other at this point, but were pretty much best friends after such an experience! 

Megan (who is awesome!), Sarah (studying in Florence, from NC) and me!

After watching those videos, my quote seems to make more sense, right? In the literal sense, it makes complete sense. But that's not how I meant it. This past weekend, I did something that was completely out of my comfort zone. I was scared like you won't even believe, I honestly thought I wouldn't make it, and I simply didn't want to do it at some times. But after every big jump or repel or slide, I realized that I can conquer anything. I might not have been the most graceful or the happiest doing it, but I was able to do it regardless! 

I wish I could properly explain what I feel right now. There will be a million times in life when you just want to quit-when you think that you've had enough. But find a friend that will push you or a quote that will inspire you, and keep on pushing because there's more to you than you even know. And until you actually push yourself to your limits, you won't even know how much you can possibly do in life. 

I really wanted this post to be extremely motivational but it's so hard to express how I feel. I repelled 150 feet down a cliff. I jumped 30 feet into a body of water off of a cliff. I jumped onto a rock just to slide down it. I zip lined without properly being tied to anything, and let go half way through to fall into a body of water. I got pushed down a rock to slide sideways and fall into a body of water. I did all of these things and became a new person. Sound ridiculous? Maybe, but don't judge until you try it out. 

Quick promotion for Interlaken: Go! Why? You can go skydiving, canyoning, bungee jumping, canyon jumping, hang gliding, paragliding, go to a chocolate show, whoa...just so much! It's a beautiful little town with beautiful mountains and lakes and rivers. I loved it! 

That's all for now!

So long.

Busy, busy, busy!

"Most of us spend our lives as if we had another one in the bank."  ~Ben Irwin


But not anymore! I'm trying to do anything and everything I can to make the absolute most of this little time I have in Europe. To re-cap what I've done thus far:

• Florence (since we were off on the 4th of July!)
• Milan
• Venice
• Lido
• Barcelona

And what's next on the agenda?

• Interlaken, Switzerland this weekend! Leaving in a few hours :) going CANYONING! (Youtube it)
• Berlin, Germany next weekend! Yet another experience alone...I doubt my roommates will be as awesome as they were in Barcelona 

A total of 4 classes + 1 final exam left! I officially finish on August 3rd and then fly out that night to go to...

• London! I will spend time with friends and family here (which is good-that means I don't have to pay for living!) 

Although I haven't planned it yet, I am 90% sure I will go to...

• Edinburgh

...while I'm in London because it's nearby and apparently just beautiful! Including Rome, that'll be 10 cities I've visited in Europe in the span of 6.5 weeks. That works for me :) Expensive, you ask? Yes, a little bit. But when am I returning to Europe? Not any time soon, so I might as well make the most of it. 

I must go grab some food if I want to catch my ride to Interlaken :) 

So long!

P.S. My NEW camera won't work...and I refuse to buy a new one since you know, I'm spending so much money traveling. The pictures you'll see from now on will be the ones taken on my iPod Touch. The quality isn't so great, I can't really zoom in and it's obviously automatic so the pictures won't be as great as my memories. Just a heads up!

Barcelona

It's not the places you go but the people you meet that make an experience - Not an official quote but that's exactly how I feel now that I've been to Barcelona!

I know that I've totally skipped everything I wanted to blog about but while this is fresh in my mind, I just wanted to share it with you! In Barcelona, I ended up spending more time with my roommates (strangers in a hostel from London) than actually walking around and exploring everything. Maybe one day I will regret that, but at the moment, it seemed like it was the best decision I ever made! (Well, maybe I won't because I spent a whole day just walking around alone discovering new things before I met them so technically I got a taste of both!) Before I skip to the important part of this post, here are some google images of what I saw (since I have yet to upload my pictures and don't want to forget later).

 

The cathedral that I stumbled upon on Day 1! There was an orchestra playing beautiful music...and about 100 old people dancing to it! Very relaxing environment - a great place to people watch.

The work of Antoni Gaudi. So much to learn about him! Although he only built a part of this building (because he had no funds), it is still gorgeous because they are using his designs. Hopefully in the next 10 years they will finally finish building it and I can go back to see the finished product! If you're in Barcelona, definitely take a look inside because your contribution will go directly towards building it!! 

Anyway, I will spare you useless details but I would like to share some conversations I had with my roommates. I will put them in conversation form, labeling the roommates as A, B and C as to protect their privacy! To give a little bit of background information, A is a cardiologist, B is a physiologist and C is a recruiter for a pretty big firm. All of them are situated in London, love to travel when they get the time off and are very open to meeting new people and doing new things. 

My absolute favorite conversation with the cardiologist, who has many patients from the UK, other countries in Europe, America and Asia frequently. 

A: So want to hear a funny story from today? (This was an hour or so after I met my roommates.) We were on the bus and I wanted to ask someone how to get to the beach but none of us know how to say that in Spanish and can't say much else but "hola" (hi) and "habla ingles?" (do you speak in English). After looking around, I saw a lady without headphones and tapped her on the shoulder so I could see if she could help us out. I expected her to turn around smiling and thought she would want to help us out. Instead, she slowly turns her head and looks at us with disgust, fear and surprise. After looking at me for a few seconds, she slowly walked away from me and stood behind another person. I just stood there. I was so confused. I still don't really get it...it was the weirdest experience ever. 

(Yes, quite interesting isn't it?)

Me: Well actually...haven't you noticed how people are just so different everywhere? For example, in certain places in India, it is not typical for someone to approach a woman. It's looked down upon, makes her look bad--even if she's not at fault, and makes her extremely uncomfortable. It's also not typical for a woman to approach others depending on where you are. 

A: Really? As a doctor, I'm always trying to learn about body language but the more I practice, the more I realize that it's almost impossible to know everything about everyone because there are just so many cultural differences. When I was a junior (which is equivalent to an American intern), I only dealt with people from the UK so it was easy treating every patient the same. They reacted similarly and I fell into an easy routine. Now that I have many international patients, I get so confused. Let me explain. So with someone from the UK, I can check them out and then say "I'll call you in 2-3 weeks if it's anything serious, otherwise you'll be fine" and they'll be happy and walk away. But the first time I had an American patient, she just kept asking me exactly what was wrong, what the medical terms were, what she could do until I gave more results, if I could call her regardless of the level of seriousness, etc. It took me by surprise and I had to walk out for a second to take a deep breath because I was definitely not used to it! No offense or anything but why are you Americans so detail-oriented?! Why can't you just relax and trust the doctor?

(Side note: by this point, I was so interested in the conversation because I'm pretty sure I would have done exactly what that American lady had done. If I'm not wrong, most of you would have also done the same.) 

Me: We're so used to knowing everything. I bet that she went home and Google-ed everything to make sure that you were accurate, and then even asked a few medical-field friends of hers to get their opinions as well. That's just the way we are! 

A: So can I ask you something that you don't have to answer? (Sure...) You are from India but you live in America. What does that make you? Does that make you the American lady in most aspects or the Indian lady in most aspects? You seem to actually connect to the Indian people...I'm Chinese but I was born and raised in the UK so I don't really associate myself with that culture. When asked, I state that I'm from London and that's it. 

...so I don't want to bore you guys but to sum it up, we spent the next hour or two discussing different cultures and what we know about people. We talked about how important body language is, how much it can tell you and how much it varies in places. We also tried to figure out why it's so different in so many places. The cardiologist has been studying body language in different cultures for a few years now but even that hasn't helped much when it comes down to real life because there's just so much to accept and understand. After that first night, we would always take note of how people reacted to us (the American and Britishers), how they behaved in groups, who was the Alpha in the group, etc. It always added lots of flavor to our conversations. 

What's the point in sharing this with you? I'm not sure. It was my favorite part of Barcelona and I just wanted to invite you to also think about this and learn more about it! 

Besides hanging out with my roommates in Barcelona and visiting those two major places, I didn't do much besides talk to strangers on the train or walk around and explore the city. Oh, no offense to absolutely anyone, but every single person we met that was born and raised in Spain did not like us...they refused to help us because they just didn't want to associate with us. On the other hand, every "outsider" that had been living there for 5, 10, 15 or even 20 years from Cuba, England, Argentina, Ecuador, etc. LOVED chatting with us in Spanish and English! I was always looking for ways to use my Spanish skills and I surprised myself when I realized how much I really knew. There were some people that told me about their families, why they're in Spain, how long they've been there, where they live, what they do, where they travel to, etc. in Spanish and I understood it all! Overall, we learned a lot about people and the way they are. I know that this one trip will enhance the rest of my stay in Europe because I will notice many details! I think it will also come into good use for when I'm back in the states! 

Anyway, I'm exhausted! I hope to blog more tomorrow :)

So long!

Firenze (Florence)

"...the ends justifies the means..." - You should know who said this!

Guess where Niccolo Machiavelli was born? That's right: Firenze! We actually saw a statue of him and I thought it was fascinating being in the same place his ideas originated from. 

(Here he is!)

But before I go into all of that...here's something I've been thinking about. Whenever we think about Italian cities, we say Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, etc. Why? Their original names are Roma, Firenze, Venezia and Milano. What gives anyone the right to change a name into their language? I never understood this about Mumbai/Bombay or Bhaarat/India either. I mean first of all, it just makes it confusing when you're trying to buy tickets to go somewhere...you can't find it because you don't even know the original name. But more importantly, it just takes away from the beautiful name that a certain place was originally given. That's like saying my name is Dhara in India but everyone else can call me Dora. (Please don't.) I don't think I'll ever understand this...

Anyway. Firenze! We had off for the Fourth of July because JCU is an American University. Instead of sitting around in Rome waiting for our trip to Milano and Venezia, we decided to take a two day trip to Firenze. Not expecting much, we arrived to our tour location ready for it to be over before it even began. We didn't expect much from Firenze, but wow was it beautiful! Every corner we turned, we saw something new and intriguing. Here's a quick re-cap of what we saw with pictures instead of boring you with written details...

The Medici family's palace or Church...can't remember specifically. The Medici family is one of the most important families of Firenze! We had one whole 2 hour tour dedicated to learning about their history. 

The most beautiful building I've seen yet...not sure what it is though. =/ 

Columbus on the right side! 

Recycling is very big in Italy (maybe even all of Europe). They have intense machines like this with instructions on what the place where. At my school, the city of Rome can actually fine us if we mess up too many things. They are environmentally friendly! 

Michaelangelo's famous David!

An extremely crowded Piazza...one of the common places to people watch in Firenze.

Part of a gold door that took 27 years to build...

My favorite "hang out" location in Firenze. So relaxing and so much to see! 

Street artists!

Santa Maria Novella Church

Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge)!!

A creepy looking thing I drank water out of :) Unfortunately, the water in Firenze was not as cold as Roma or Venezia! I wonder why...

My absolute favorite street musician

A server we became friends with one evening...he was trying to entertain us without hurting himself!

So what did I learn from Firenze? Don't judge anything based on what others say. We fell in love with a place that we didn't think we would care for. It's a simple lesson that teachers tell you all the time (don't judge a book by its cover) but until we experience things like this, we don't  understand it. 

What else did I learn here? Do NOT take a lot of money with you because I guarantee that you will spend most of it at the famous leather market...which is HUGE! Image an extremely large street market. Now multiply that by 10. YES, that large! You can walk up and down these markets bargaining all day because there are just so many vendors selling the same exact things...I must say that it was a great place to buy souvenirs for everyone!

If you're ever in Firenze, I would recommend the hotel we stayed at: Hotel Spagna. The rooms are rather small but the location is fabulous and the price is great. Their service is fantastic and the rooms are super clean. 

Anyway, it's time to go to bed...unfortunately I didn't post as much as I wanted to but I'll just have to start taking out a lot more time to do this. 

So long!

Ciao!

"Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own." - Johann Wolfgang von Geothe

This will be the one post that I constantly keep updating because I intend to learn a lot more Italian and build my vocabulary. Anj, I've kind of being doing what you said; I'm trying to learn at least one word or phrase per day. I really want to learn more, but there isn't enough time or memory space, haha. When I had originally decided to come to Rome, I tried learning it on my own but it wasn't that easy and I honestly wasn't that motivated. Now that I'm here, I realize that I want to improve my Spanish and Hindi while learning Italian. I also want to learn other languages! They're all so beautiful and unique. Well here's my growing list:

Ciao! - Hello, goodbye (pretty much any greeting)

Buongiorno - Hello (good morning)

Buona sera - Good night

Grazie - Thank you

Prego - Your welcome, welcome (into a home or building)

Come stai? - How are you?

Quanto costa? - How much does it cost?

Conta - Check

Per favore - Please

Scusi! - Excuse me!

Permisso - Excuse me 

Come ti chiami? - What's your name?

Mi chiami Dhara - My  name is Dhara

Molto liedo - Nice to meet you

Vivo in Roma - I live in Rome

Dov e - Where is

Salute - Bless you

Come si dice - How do you say

Si - Yes

No - No <-- haha love it!

Guarda - Look

Ti amo - I love you

Working on this list! We'll see what happens :)

So long!

Things to Blog About!

"There are a million ways to lose a work day, but not even a single way to get one back."  ~Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister

Speaking of which, I have so many things to talk about with you! So many experiences that I want to share...but there just isn't enough time. I really hope to sit down and blog a few things tonight. In order to get myself started, I just wanted make a quick list of what I want to share with you so hopefully I can catch you up before my weekend trip this weekend. Guess where I'm going? I'll tell you later! :) 

• Firenze (Florence)
• Milano (Milan)
• Venezia (Venice)
• Lido 
• The People I've Met
• The Places I Want to Go 
• The Things I've Seen
• What I've Learned Thus Far
• A Quick Comparison of the US and Europe
• Why I Think Traveling is a Must
• How This Trip Has So far Affected my Future Plans...if at all
• The Little Italian I've Learned :) (and what else I want to learn)
• PICTURES! Actually, I'll add a few now just to show you some things I've seen! 

 

Our Roman friend, Gabriel

  

The Spanish Steps

 

The Whiffenpoofs from Yale!

 

Sunsetting while riding a ferry from Lido to Venice

The most beautiful thing to see in Milan!

So long! 

Breaking Free

"A mind is like a parachute. If it is not open it is not working." - Frank Zappa

One of the first things someone said to me after I settled into my room and stepped into Rome was "hey, you are not an a-hole." Why am I sharing such a comment with the public? Because once she explained herself, it made so much sense. After I looked at her with a confused look, she went on: "You're from New York. Everyone in my state thinks that they are all horrible people. You're actually really nice, and very easy to talk to. I guess I'm going to have to forget everything everyone has told me and just experience everything for myself now, instead of just believing in these stereotypes." What a great first conversation to have with a fellow student! 

After that, we decided that we have to be extremely open-minded in order to have a wonderful experience in Rome. The three of us that had arrived to the airport later than the rest decided to explore on our own in order to find food and just check out the city. We found a little pizza place where I personally was not happy with what I got because it was difficult conversing with the server. Look at this...

It was still a fun night because during dinner, Italy won against Germany (as I said in my other post)! The rest of the evening you know about...we just walked around, watched everyone, went by the riverside and then sat at "the steps". I'm sure I'll be talking about them a lot during the next five weeks so here's a picture of them:

We have been to these steps at all times of the day...between 8am to 3am. And honestly, they are pretty packed all the time! During the day, there are families and tourists that rest and just look at the city from these steps. Around 10:30pm, the crowd becomes a lot younger. But seriously, no one really does anything here. They just sit and relax...which is something you don't see in a town like New Brunswick or NYC. Luckily, these steps are right by our school! They are conveniently located between the two campuses so we pass them so many times a day. This works out well because if we make some local friends, we are likely to see them again on random days by these steps! It's pretty cool. Rutgers needs a place like this!! 

Speaking of local friends, here's a quick story! On our first night, we made a friend named Frederico because we wanted to know more about Rome. His English wasn't that advanced, so he called over his friend Gabriel who had actually been to the states. We spoke to the two of them for awhile, learning what everyone does all day and all night. We all struggled to speak to each other, but a combination of English, Spanish and Italian helped us have a 2 hour conversation with them. After saying our goodbyes, we were sad that we would never see them again but hopeful knowing that we could speak to people! We used this experience to motivate us when we met others and realized that we don't need to know every word to speak to someone as long as we care enough to get our message across. With this attitude, we've spoken to many others and it makes our day better! Luckily, we ran into Gabriel the second night as well and he recognized us! He took us around town to meet people (we were being very safe, I promise) and we had so much fun. 

So much more I could say, but I have to get out and do more so that I can share even more with you! Tonight is the final soccer game against Spain and it will be wild if we win! We're going to grab a nice dinner and then go watch it out in the open with 1 million Romans...it will definitely be an experience. I promise to take pictures (I don't promise that they'll be great). My class starts tomorrow so I'll share that experience with you as well...

To recap: Rome is amazing. I am in love with it and its people. I really need to figure out a way to eat because I typically only eat once a day around 8 or 9pm...which is very unhealthy. But I stay hydrated all day which is good! Overall, I love it so much that I don't think I'll be happy in New Brunswick once I'm back!! 

*I apologize for any incomplete sentences and my child-like writing. Being out of the country is extremely exhausting and I am struggling to stay awake and write this, but I REALLY want to share my experiences with you all! I wish there was a better way of expressing my feelings and learnings, but I don't know what else I can do. Please give me feedback (especially you, Anj) because I really do want to express all of this better. Should I post more pictures? Should I post more conversations? What should I do? What would help me transfer my thoughts to you better?!

So long :)