January 16, 2011

  • Weekend adventures

    I've had a really very nice weekend indeed. A good way to end the first week back at work, which hasn't been too traumatic at all! No new students yet, so there weren't any surprises and it's been a good week. 

    On Friday night, after finishing with the teens and UCAS form amendments (helping out with a personal statement took me back a few years...gosh, to think we had to do it on paper not electronically!), I went with a group to Medeuzza, near San Giovanni al Natisone, to the monthly Taizé prayer there. It was really really nice... especially nice to be able to go - it's the first one I've been able to, as usually on Fridays we have choir and so can't. The fact that choir hasn't started up again yet meant we could go. I would actually go occasionally (missing choir) if I had any way to get there...or rather to get home. Trains go to San Giovanni al Natisone at about the right time, but there aren't any coming back late enough after so I'd be stranded. 

    Another Rotterdam photo, while I'm talking about Taizé things for a change... (oops, sorry!)

    Then, on Saturday afternoon I went, with the same lovely people, to the post Rotterdam meeting. The groups from San Giovanni al Natisone and from Gemona talked about their experiences and showed some photos and video clips. I was the only one who had been hosted in a family in Rotterdam and do feel quite glad that I was! But, of course everyone had had a great time, and it was interesting to hear different perspectives. I chickened out of telling them my experiences which I really regret now, I should have just been brave! But there were about 30 people there and I froze! That said, I did talk a bit about going to Taizé at Easter a bit later on... and could really have just talked about Rotterdam. One day I will have enough confidence to speak Italian in front of lots of people!! Or even in front of just a few people!!! winky

    Afterwards I was invited to Francesco's house for pizza and fun. Bit of a saga getting there... the Taizé meeting was on one side of town, and I thought "ok, I'll get the bus back to the station and then get the bus from there to San Gottardo". Well, I was already late and a bit stressed, and then the bus I was on (which should have gone to the station) ended its course and threw me off...in the middle of nowhere... I had no idea where I was, or where to go, and luckily have very kind friends here who came and rescued me! The evening was really nice. Actually, it was the first time I have really had a really relaxed evening of good fun (I mean in a smaller gathering with select people, rather than with a lot of people in a more chaotic atmosphere) and I REALLY enjoyed it. The game of choice was Monopoly, or should I say "Monopoli".

    Now, I might be a bit biased, but the Italian version isn't a patch on the original! I didn't actually play but it was good fun watching... the boys reminded me so much of playing with my older brother (competitive etc!!). Left about midnight and got a lift home. It does feel strange to have gone from being the one to give people lifts home (in Bristol, for example) to being always reliant on other people to collect me, take me home etc. Buses stop quite early on which is a real pain. I feel like I have lost a bit of independence because of that, and I do hope I'll be able to get a car or some form of transport out here at some point... (but if I stay in this flat next year there's nowhere to put a car as the school car is in the garage...). Ideally I'll be living on my own next year anyway, but that poses problems of its own. Lots to think about for next year! Got to sort out the summer first, as potentially working in the UK might affect what I can do out here (as the plan is NOT to have to take all my stuff back and forth...I've accumulated far too much for that to be practical). 

    Today I woke up really late in the morning. Then I decided I'd better do something with my afternoon, and when I looked out of the window it looked like a gorgeous blue sky day, so I decided to make the most of it and go to Gorizia, a town I've been meaning to visit. It's right on the Slovenian border and has a fantastic castle.

    I got on the train and then realised the sky had turned really grey. When I first got into the town centre (about a 20 minute walk from the station) the sky had actually gone back to being blue, as in this picture:

    While I was up at the castle, a dense fog started falling. The views are supposed to be stupendous back over the old city and over the whole surrounding area,  but I unfortunately couldn't see a thing! I'll have to go back! Still, what I did see was impressive, especially before the fog fell ;)


    Porta Leopoldina  

    The castle before the fog fell


    Looking across to Slovenia

    Cappella di Santo Spirito by the castle

     

    The church of San Ignazio seen through the fog from the castle
     

    The church and the Neptune fountain
     

     Influences of Slovenian and Germanic cultures...

     I also took a detour to visit the Methodist Church.  
    It's linked to the one in Udine (which I didn't get on with).
    A far more impressive church though, this one...

    I also bought myself a book in UBIK. There was a 30% off sale and I couldn't resist when I walked in and saw a book by one of my favourite authors, which I had meant to buy last year but then bought something else instead. The author is the  Norwegian, Jostein Gaarder, author of Sophie's World. I have all of his books in English, but last year I noticed this one in Italian which I didn't recognise, and then discovered it hadn't yet been translated into English (but strangely had into Italian...). I had forgotten all about it until now. I see that it did come out in hardback last year in English, but isn't due out in paperback until May. So, I'll give it a go in Italian...hope my philosophical Italian is up to it! It's called The Castle in the Pyrenees.

    I've discovered that there might be a way to get to Llubjana. The problem I had encountered when trying to find a way to get there before was that for some reason there's only one train a day, even though it's only about a 3 hour journey, which leaves at 11pm and gets there at 2am! Now the last thing I really want to be doing is arriving in a foreign city, in a country where I don't speak the language at all, at 2am. Plus it's difficult anyway as I would have to go on Saturday night, so I'd be arriving on a Sunday morning... not very practical, and getting home would be impossible in time for work on Monday. All very frustrating considering how near I am. But, today I have discovered that there are trains from Villach, in Austria... it takes 1.5 hours to get there, and 1.5 hours (on a fast, more expensive train) or longer on other trains to Llubjana. The timings still might not work, and probably not for a normal weekend, but if ever I have a Saturday off due to cancellations, or a long weekend, then I will look into it further! Would be silly not to take advantage of being so near a border! Then next stop Croatia!!