So long, farewell...

A rather sad ending to the month but also another brilliant night was the Erasmus BBQ! It seems as though barbecueing (sp?!) is adored by all nations…the English of course, the Spanish love it, the French were well in there, the Germans and Austrians obviously being meat capitals of Europe, and Argentineans too which I didn’t know until recently – apparently barbecue is like their national dish and everyone has one. Pretty cool I reckon. Slightly amusingly the guys from the Canary Islands weren’t so much into the barbecue but did bring immense amounts of ingredients to make their own mojitos – lush! 

What used to make us cringe a bit about Parma Erasmus are now the most endearing and lovable qualities of the city’s society, and I think we will all genuinely miss this amazing network of people, parties, trips and information thrown at us on a weekly basis! Even at one of the last events we were still meeting new people and finding mutual friends that we didn’t know we had with people. We’re only just starting to feel like we’re getting to know other nationalities and about their life and culture, such a shame that it has to end.

But, all good things must come to an end, and all we can do now is make sure the end is a damn good one!

Dancing in the moonlight

After saying for so long that we’d go to Rimini, we finally made it there a couple of weeks ago. The three hour train journey after Spritz the night before wasn’t ideal, but was definitely worth it!

The beach looks totally like a holiday resort with hundreds and hundreds of sunbeds in lines and only a small area of ‘free’ beach, which it took us a while to find, but which wasn’t too busy. I don’t know how to describe the sheer pleasure we all felt at being able to just lay in the sun for the whole afternoon. Of course we got sand in our sandwiches, unavoidable, and a small amount of burn here and there, but for me, as a resident of a North Sea coastal town, swimming in a sea and not nearly dying was incredible! So refreshing and something I do pretty rarely but would love to do more often!

Santiago’s offering of tunes on the ukulele and Argentinean tea called ‘mate’ as the sun started to go down was just perfect. It all felt so chilled and everyone had such a good day. 

The next night we had a ‘European Dinner’ at our house and cycled out to a party at a club called ‘Mu’ afterwards. We weren’t quite sure what to expect but it turned out to be one of the coolest places ever…just a brick building with a dancefloor and bar inside, then another DJ and dancefloor outside. Throwing shapes to the reggae/afrobeat/funk tunes in the evening heat was pretty exhilarating and we all went a good kind of crazy with our moves. Hilarious, and will definitely be going back if possible!

Oh isn't erasmus life just great

In recent weeks we’ve all been ‘getting on it’ socialising wise and making the absolute most of the last month or so.

Things that have been going on include:
 >  a tea party at mine and Emma’s house, complete with triangular cucumber sandwiches, bucksfizz, and Victoria Sponge Cake. Scrumptious!

the kitchen during preparation

yum yum yum

>     another two prison parties – the perfect excuse for two amazing dance-fests in a row, taking advantage of the warm nights

       >  a spontaneous trip trip to Cremona to see a Tallis Scholars concert (Lyds had free tickets – can’t argue with that!). The concert was amazing; both of us agreed it was a joy to hear an English choir after so much Italian singing this year, and they were all such lovely people, making it even better. The night was so spontaneous in fact that we didn’t actually have anywhere to stay, so praying that the weather stayed nice and that the choir would be up for drinks afterwards, we blagged ourselves through the night until the first train at 6am. Luckily things were on our side, we found a bar that opened later than the rest and even managed to get a good 6 hours sleep when we got in at 7am. Pretty much a normal night’s sleep!

Cremona in the evening

>      a visit to an amazing tea shop in Parma, selling almost every type of tea you can imagine, at only 5euros for a big pot to yourself, and free macaroons. What a treat.

>      saying goodbye to James :( a sad day for all, and the beginning of the end…but let’s not think about that!

Out came the sunshine

and stayed out, the whole week. 


It's been SO HOT, this morning's coolth and showers are very much welcomed, especially by Emma and I.


The last couple of weeks, we have been mostly sunbathing, trying to work, playing the violin (that bit's just me) and partying!

We went to a party in an old prison, it was pretty cool

Giro d'Italia whizzing past on Via d'Azeglio

Dinner and drinks at Eve's

An evening in the sun

Sunshine after the rain

Big H and Sazzle hit Parma and Firenze!

For the first half of this week, Helene has been to visit, and despite some (now quite funny) transport problems at both ends everything was brilliant!

We did the usual Parma sights and sounds, the Duomo, Piazza Garibaldi, Parco Ducale, and had a day out in Florence. On the way our train change was 50 minutes so we wandered into Bologna for a quick coffee and croissant in the sunshine, meaning Helen can tick another city off the list! Then, being the travel pros that we are, we managed to pack a lot into 6 hours in Florence. Having been once before, it was nice to have a vague idea of where everything was and even nicer to discover I wasn’t being optimistic with proximity of things to see…they really are all pretty close. There were, as per, huge numbers of other tourists, but as they say, when you can’t beat them, join them!

Having taken in the Palazza della Signoria, Palazzo Vecchio, Duomo, Ponte Vecchio and all the streets inbetween we got ourselves a good old lasagne and beer for lunch, before setting off on the walk up to Piazzale Michelangelo. The amazing view of the whole city was definitely worth any amount of walking, as was the well deserved ice-cream!

Helene at dinner

Bologna

Firenze

Glass, Lace and a Thousand Colours

Venezia – Murano e Burano

A wonderful day out with wifey Emma. These are some picture postcard reminders of the calm, serenity and contentedness, along with colours so vivid it’s surreal.

Unimaginable but unforgettable.

Canal Grande

Murano

Canal Grande di Murano

Burano

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