2005-12-20

The Votes Are Counted, The Awards Are Ready...

And now, I know, it has been so long. I'm so sorry. But I had to spend some time decompressing and gathering my life together again and seeing friends and being with family and wearing different clothes finally that make me feel like a princess..... BUT! I am here now, and theres still a few entries in the works, promise. Theres really no excuse, I barely even got jet lagged... but you'll have to excuse me anyways. I'm sorry!

As a teaser, I now present to you...

Nik's Top Three Extravaganza! (Not Necessarily In Proper Order)

Countries:

1. Italy
2. Scotland
3. Spain

Cities:

1. Levanto
2. Barcelona
3. San Sebastian

Meals:

1. Dinner with Kai in Levanto.
2. Paella in San Sebastian. (AND THAT PASTRY!)
3. Pretty much anytime Stefan and I ate chicken somewhere. The desperation made it taste that much better.

Cheap Travel Food Must Haves:

1. Brie and a baguette/ Tuna and crackers.
2. Kababs
3. Paninis (which I am currently so sick of.)

Vitamins and Minerals Now Missing From My Body:

1. Iron
2. B12
3. Definitely not Vitamin C

Australians:

1. Kai
2. Andrew
3. Suzanne

Fellow Travellers (Aussies Aside):

1. Stefan
2. Matt the Canadian
3. Tim

Hostels:

1. San Sebastian's 'Olga's Place'
2. Valencia's 'Home Backpackers'
3. Menaggio's 'La Primula'

Showers:

1. Ferrara.
2. The bathtub at the hotel Patrick and I stayed at.
3. Sam's house.

Random Adventures:

1. Van Tour 2005, without a doubt.
2. Nice with Matt.
3. The Danny Wallace Tour with the Welsh boys.

Worst Train Stations:

1. Milano
2. Barcelona
3. Como North

Places I Hit My Face:

1. Bute
2. Bute
3. Bute

Strangers Who Gave Me Random Acts Of Kindness:

1. The German Gauze Woman.
2. The Neosporin Couple.
3. Amy and Yanni, The Take-Me-To-The-Spainish-Hospital Couple.

So Beautiful I Was Overwhelmed Moments:

1. Walking into the Santa Maria Del Carmen in Firenze.
2. Being blessed by the priest in Padova.
3. Walking the Cinque Terre.

Translations To English:

1. 'I am impatient to reexamine you, Nicole'
2. 'It is forbidden to introduce animals in the breakfast room.'
3. Pretty much anything on a Spanish dinner menu thats been translated into English.

Best Things About The Van Tour.

1. The stay in the random town of Canet-- beaches, yacht club.
2. Le Pirate Creperie
3. Everything else, except for Perpignan. But that had Fanny Coiffeur, so we can't hold too much against it.

Weirdos:

1. Carlos
2. The woman from the Modena hostel.
3. Mr. Szeckly look alike on the bus to Milano.

Emails Recieved:

1. Email updates from home/family--- Davis's, Uncle Danny, from my parents (except when they talked about how much money I was spending).
2. Stefan's email after I flew from Barcelona.
3. Nasim's major Kelowna gossip emails.

Message Board Entries: *bonus top five*

1. Anything from Auntie and Joe. Not only am I so proud of them for using a computer, but the fact they seem to have broken the CAPS LOCK button made my freakin' life.
2. Anytime Tyler wrote something, because they were always smart ass and made me laugh.
3. Melanie's messages about how much she loves me. Because she does and I bet you're jealous.
4. Mo's health tips. I felt taken care of.
5. Every single other one--- you have no idea how much those made my day!

Umbrellas:

1. Gay Pride, 2005
2. Aussie Yellow.
3. The plaid number I bought in San Sebastian.

Top Three Things I Eat Now:

1. Goose Liver
2. Mushrooms
3. Increasing amounts of red food.

Moments With Family:

1. Zio 'OK!'
2. Dinner with the Cescons and actually being able to communicate and learn and talk with my cousins.
3. Waking up to Debora and Alisia singing and clapping their songs from music class incredibly enthusiastically.

Events With Patrick:

1. The day of and day after I hit my face.
2. My first Celtic game.
3. The week in Barcelona in general.

Once-in-a-lifetimeish Awesome Things:

1. Mass with the Pope.
2. Getting a guided tour of Padova at night by a local and experiencing a whole other side of the city.
3. Making a friend completely in the French language, and being able to actually speak proper Italian.
*bonus* 4. Getting to share a day in Nice with a Canadian counterpart, eat a delicious picnic and feel like I was just really... alive.
*bonus* 5. Pirate Bar Night!
*bonus* 6. Patrick, straight up.

Fish Children:

1. Lola
2. Rosie
3. Umberto

Places I Didn't Go But Wish I Had:

1. Salzburg
2. Interlaken
3. Split

Fashion Lessons Learned:

1. Don't bring white clothes.
2. No matter what, I will always look slightly homeless while I travel.
3. You'll never look in style, so you should just not try.

Colours I Will Never Wear Again:

1. Green.
2. Bright Green.
3. Forrest Green.

Things I Learned While Travelling: (A Special Top Five!)

1. It's okay to go out for a meal by yourself.
2. No matter where you are in Europe, there will always be an Australian, a Canadian, beer, and good conversation.
3. I can seriously handle any situation I get thrown into. Officially. I might not do it with grace, or style, and my voice is certain to get deafeningly high pitched, but I can do it.
4. As soon as you buy an umbrella, it WILL stop raining. The bigger the umbrella, the longer the dry period.
5. The French should only be hated for their bloody keyboards.

Random Things You Can't Live Without While Backpacking:

1. Notepad.
2. Flip Flops.
3. Scissors.

Reasons It's Good To Be Back In Canada:

1. My Bed.
2. Snow.
3. Cuddlin' with the girlfriends and watching movies and being haphaphappy.

Biggest Disasters:

1. The Green Tennis Shoe Extravaganza.
2. The Entire Journey From Firenza to Terni.
3. The Stuck In Spain Train Situation 2005.

Unexpected Suprises:

1. Alberto's joy and memories of the last stay.
2. FLAMINGOS IN FRANCE!
3. The first class train from Roma to La Spezia!

Hardest Goodbyes:

1. Patrick in Paisley.
2. Dorina and Zio Sergio in Milano.
3. Stefan in Barcelona.

Books Read:

1. Tie: 'Yes Man' and 'Join Me'.
2. 'The Time Traveller's Wife'
3. 'An Italian Education'

Things That Will Influence My Art:

1. Masaccio's work in real life.
2. The millions of antique book and illustration open air markets.
3. Donna Donne- the exhibition I saw in Firenze.
*bonus* 4. The Lion Penis.

Places People Should Go:

1. San Sebastian.
2. Cinque Terre.
3. Alicante.

Aquariums:

1. Valencia
2. San Sebastian
3. Barcelona

*Phew!*
Alright, so thats update #1. I'm still working on another entry full of photographic evidence that I was, infact, in Europe.

I hope everyone is happy and healthy and generally loving life. It feels great to be back home, but there are definitly some things I miss about the old Europe. Thats okay though, hopefully, I'll be back there soon!

I'm sure I'll update before Christmas, but if that proves to be a lie, have a fantastic Christmas everyone, and lots of love!!

love, nicole 6:35 p.m.

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