So whilst in Italy, I did get a few things besides food. I mean, I must've spent what, at least 50 Euros on food. We ate through tube after tube of Pringles and drank what felt like ten 2L bottles of Coke/Diet Coke as well as bottles of water, Nestea Iced Tea, Ritz crackers, chocolate chip biscuits, the occassional piece of fruit(!) and not to mention the delicious ice creams!
However, I did not come back with only the gaining of pounds (weight-wise) but also the loss of pounds (or Euros, money-wise) - I did actually buy a few little items.
Without wanting to be totally touristy, I didn't bother buying an I Heart Roma t-shirt. Instead, I got a caricature done of me, in the Piazza Navona, after visiting the Vatican and climbing the Bell Tower and St Peter's. This caricature holds many great memories and I definitely won't forget it in a hurry. It was reasonably priced at a discount of 5 Euros and I love it! (It doesn't look that much like me but caricatures normally don't.)
Whilst in Sorrento, we were allowed time in the evenings to roam round and go shopping. Luckily, there was a fantastic leather goods shop in Sorrento, so we were free to check out all the beautiful Italian leather. Not many bags took my fancy and the ones which did were way out of my price range so I stuck to a nice, brown leather belt for 15 Euros, which I thought was a reasonable price for real leather.
Now, the last thing was a completely impromptu purchase at the Bay of Naples airport. We had some time to spare whilst waiting for our plane, so we all went to the gift shop. Looking at the various magazines on offer, I thought it to be a waste to not buy an Italian Vogue! So I did, and with an extra Home magazine with it, 5 Euros wasn't too bad either.
But it's not just these materialistic things that I cherish most from the time I spent in Italy. It was the whole experience of going to a new place, spending time with friends and also spending time on my own. Looking back, the places, the architecture, the art, was all abundantly there, so real, just there. I had such a good time experiencing the culture of Rome. Climbing the Bell Tower, wandering around St Peter's Basilica, the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, the Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, the Forum, the Castel Sant Angelo, Pompeii, Bay of Naples, Sorrento, Herculaneum, climbing Vesuvius...
Everything was on such a huge scale that it wasn't hard to feel pallid and insignificant in comparison. So ornate, grandeose and intricate, the difference couldn't be easier to distinguish. I can't describe any of it, really, in words and the whole experience was one of the best I've ever had. I wish I could express it better, but it's probably something that only one can experience. No doubt, I will be getting back to Rome somehow, some way. If any of you are struggling to find some place to get to, I urge all of you to visit Italy (most notably Rome and Pompeii).
If any of you are interested in finding more about Roman architecture and the like, there's a great short TV series of the Grand Tour, hosted by Kevin McCloud (from Grand Designs, which I also love) and he goes around Rome, Pompeii and Herculaneum in two of the episodes: here and here.
With that, a very belated Merry Christmas to all, whether you're here in England, or Rome (if you are, uhh, I'm jealous), America, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, NZ, Africa, France, Mexico, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, Hawaii, the Gobi Desert, Timbuktu, the Moon... WHEREVER! I wish you all a (belated) Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year; best wishes for 2010 (I almost wrote 2009 then..!)
Also, I've just spent the last few days in London so expect a future post and some nice pictures; I also got a few things and I'll get some pictures of my new buys!
Chloe
Hello fellow bloggers! So it's been the Christmas holidays for nearly a week already now and I bet everyone's extremely excited about the snow! :-)
Well I'm planning on doing more blogging and I will, I will, I will! I just didn't these past few days because I've just been chilling around the house, not doing much, but it's been good just Guitar-Heroing and watching loads of TV with my sister and brother, so s'all good. But, it's Christmas Eve today, meaning that it's Christmas tomorrow. Try as I might, I'm still not in the Christmas-y, festive mood. Not a good sign when Christmas is fast approaching and it'll be here in less than 9 hours.
Here are some pictures from the last few weeks, or so:
As you can see, lots of snow present here. I went to town with friends on the last day of school (half day!) and we planned to see St Trinian's but couldn't be bothered in the end. We went shopping and ended up wandering to Digbeth, where we popped into COW which is a vintage shop, with a huge array of clothes ranging from shoes to shirts, from bags to belts... You get the idea. I purchased a blue checked shirt for £5, which was a great bargain. I'll get a picture up another time. The night finished with a hot chocolate and marshmallows, which was perfect.
(I wore a checked jacket, Gap jeans, Gap scarf, Gap jumper and Converses. Can you tell I like Gap?!)
Ice-skating is so much fun!
I was in Manchester here, for a get together with Chinese family friends. It was so so so amazing because there was a twelve course meal with lobster, shark's fin soup, bird's nest soup, duck, etc. Alright for carnivores like me, but don't try this if you're a strict veggie, haha :-) I had such a great time, despite the early start for school the following morning.
(I wore a Burberry blazer, Zara jumper, DKNY jeans, Costume National brogues and also a black Gap coat)!
Merry Christmas for a few hours time, everyone!
Chloe
So I know that this is way way way overdue. So it's like over a month since I got back from Italy, but it's better late than never I suppose.
Basically, I returned from Italy waaaay back on Thursday 29th October but I was just getting back into the swing of things at home, hence the overdue recap of Italy. Then, I started school again on 2nd November so I've been a busy bee, what with lots of homework/coursework but I'll make up for it by writing a really long blog post. So here's a run down of everything that went on in Italy, accompanied by some pictures.
P.S. Please excuse the atrocity of what I was wearing in some of the pictures. Unfortunately, comfort came before looks in Italy due to the horrific amount of walking that had to be done. Converses were practically glued to my feet until I couldn't actually remember what having feet felt like. This is such a long P.S., sorry! Back to Italy...
Friday 23rd Oct: So I was really quite tired but decided that there wasn't much point in sleeping, to just be woken up again at 2 am to get ready to get to school for 2.45 am. I stayed up and read some of my book, double checked my packing and hand luggage and chatted with a few people on MSN who were also going on the Italy trip. Then got to school and then a coach journey for 1-2 hours to get to East Midlands airport. Then, we hung around and caught our flight to Ciampino airport at 6.30 am.
My sister, Christy, and I at East Midlands Airport
We arrived in Ciampino, Italy sometime in the early afternoon. We had to wait a pretty long time for the coach because there was a political demonstration thing going on hence loads of traffic. We got on the coach, to go back to even more traffic. When the coach journey felt like it would never end, we finally arrived at our destination: Hotel Touring. It was a nice hotel and my sister, Christy, and my friend, Bethan, were in a room together. We were the only people on floor two meaning that we were apart from the rest of the group who were on the floor above. Our room was big compared to the others but it would've been nice to be on the same floor as everyone else; however, we got ourselves freshened up after all the travelling and got properly settled in (we laid out all our shoes and had a table full of food and everything!)
We changed into more fashion-worthy clothes and then we all met up with the rest of the group for a walk into Rome and soak in some much needed culture. The weather was a lovely 20 odd degrees Celsius, much warmer than the weather that England was experiencing. We walked to the Spanish Steps (don't ask why 'cause we were in Italy, not Spain) and were just generally taking in the whole of Rome. The atmosphere was so amazing; touristy but not too touristy. Next, we went to a Piazza somewhere, with lovely buildings and steps which seemed to be asking to be sat on.
After being completely ripped off by the vendor and buying a Sprite for €3,50, we got the chance to go to a small supermarket to stock up on some much needed carbonated beverages, i.e. Diet Coke! Next stop was the Trevi Fountain! Because of its immense popularity, it was absolutely jam-packed with tourists (hello, us!) so even though the fountain was really quite something, distractions were all around us; the main one being the several ice cream parlours dotted around the Trevi Fountain. We all decided to get some ice cream; we deserved it after all that walking! I got a very standard vanilla, which turned out to be not so standard in that it was sooo yummy. It has to be said that Italian ice-cream is amongst the best in the world! We stayed there for a while, eating our ice-creams and generally chilling. The sun was shining and we were in one of the most cultural and magical cities in the world; what could beat that, really?
Blazer - Marc by Marc Jacobs (Hand-me-down); Top - Gap (£5); Shorts - Gap (£7); Tights - Random; Shoes - Faith (£5); Messenger bag - Gucci (Borrowed from my Mum)
After the hectic and tiring day, having a few hours to chill in the hotel was exactly what we needed. After a little more sorting out of our possessions, we had dinner at Al Nuovo Fagianetto. After dinner, it was wash time, chatting, reading magazines, chilling and after a truly exhausting 20 hours of so, it was time for bed. What a way to end our first day in Rome.
Saturday 24th Oct: After a much needed night of rest, we got up bright and early for breakfast. After that, we met up with the group and made our way to a little supermarket to get some drinks (PEACH ICED TEA<3 absolutely="" after="" alt="Photobucket" amazing="" an="" and="" another="" border="0" colosseum="" cool="" data-orig-src="http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x219/chloAYE/P1110940.jpg" day="" enormous="" forum="" headed="" history.="" hung="" iconic="" img="" in="" it="" on="" out="" place.="" place="" really="" roman="" src="//images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Fi186.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fx219%2FchloAYE%2FP1110940.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" such="" that="" the="" this="" to="" visit.="" was="" we="" which="">
Shirt - Gap (£30), T-shirt - Random; Shorts - Levi's (Hand-me-down); Tights - Random; Shoes - Converse (£20)
Sunday 25th Oct: On this day, we had breakfast and then braved the metro in Rome (definitely an experience, envision the entire group clutching our bags to our chests in fear of pickpockets) to the Vatican, where we joined the queue to get into St Peter's. We were moving up the queue but it was here that we found out that the Pope was inside St Peter's for mass. The cathedal was already full and so, we were turned away. We saw the Pope on the big screen which was pretty cool and the Vatican itself was just absolutely immense. The place was huge and the sun was shining so brightly; the place was magical, seriously. I'm an atheist and I can honestly say it was amazing. We were all boiling to death due to having to wear jeans (no shorts/skirts/tanks) and I was wearing all black, clever me... But it wasn't too bad, so anyway, we went on to go to the Castel Sant' Angelo, which had amazing views over the River Tiber. After a packed lunch in a park, we went back to St. Peter's where we waited for an hour or two to get into St Peter's. We were all getting restless but finally, we got the chance to walk up the 551 steps to the top of the bell tower, which had AMAZING views of the whole of Rome. It was absolutely amazing, albeit extremely crowded, but it was so beautiful and the views were breath-taking, seriously. We then made our way down and could actually see inside the dome to the alter, hundreds of feet below us. Then we finally got to the actual basilica which was huge and I was just going around on my own in this enormous building which so much history and religion which was just baffling to me. I also got asked by two couples for my to take their photo inside the basilica, haha.
After wandering around the St Peter's, we left the Vatican and went across the Tiber to the Piazza Navona. Here, we had the chance to walk around and my sister and I decided to get caricatures! They were originally gonna be €10 but the caricaturist gave us 2 for €10 which was a great deal. After this, we went to the Pantheon with the oculus at the top to let light in. It was such a brilliant building and I loved it here too. Then, one final stop to the Trevi Fountain again for ice creams and souvenirs! We had our final meal at the restaurant and did some late night packing to get ready for the early start the next day.
Monday 26th Oct: I felt really sad leaving Rome on this day. Even though we still had like 3 days left of the trip, I knew that I would really miss Rome with all its lovely buildings and the hustle and bustle of the city. We were on the coach for about an hour or two and arrived at Ostia, the port of Rome. Unfortunately, the site was closed so instead, we went to Oplontis, an ancient villa near Pompeii. To be honest, I wasn't that bothered by this place as I just wanted to get to the hotel in Sorrento. Anyway, after a few more hours travelling, we arrived at the Hotel Londra in Sant Agnello, near Sorrento (there was another school from Birmingham there). We got settled in again and then took a walk to see the sunset and then a small shopping trip in Sant Agnello where we got stocked up on lots of drinks and snacks! It was also Miss Griffith's birthday so we had a cake and everything, but we didn't like it so we kept giving it to the other table. It was a 'you had to be there' kind of thing but it was hilarious at the time. After another day of travelling and walking, I was glad for the sleep time.
Beautiful sunset! (Sorry about it being so blurry though!)
Tuesday 27th Oct: This was the Pompeii Day! Possibly the hottest day of the week and we took a coach to Pompeii and spent the whole day there. We looked around the whole place and I mean, THE WHOLE PLACE. It was pretty interesting stuff with the amphitheatre, baths, forum, theatre, villa of the mysteries, even Caecilius' villa as well as ice cream stops, etc. However, by the end, I was completely exhausted and after staring at the cobbles for too long, I was seriously ready to go. I occupied myself with running without stepping onto the cracks of the cobbles, prompting comments such as "run, Chloe, run"... Overall, the day was so interesting and it was fascinating to see the casts of dead Pompeians who had been preserved perfectly due to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius covering the whole of Pompeii in ash. After a nice snooze and chillin' on the coach, we were finally back at the hotel.
After a nice hour or so, we went to have dinner and then we all went on a walk into Sorrento for a shopping trip! There were actually a few decent shops so it was a really nice shopping trip; it was our friend, Lily's birthday the day after (on the 28th) so it was in this little jewellery shop that we bought Lily a beautiful cameo brooch/pendant which was lovely and we all chipped in for that which was nice :-) As well as this, we had some more ice cream (Nutella and Lindt!) which was all kinds of yummy. Back to the hotel for another night of chatting in our room and just chilling before bed.
Wednesday 28th Oct: Today was Lily's birthday and it was also the day in which we took a coach to Mount Vesuvius, the volcano which erupted in AD 79. It was pretty cold at the top, which was quite amusing as so many people were just in shorts/bare legs/t-shirts. I was wearing a Bape t-shirt, Gap shorts, tights, Converses, H&M cardigan so I was fine. It took about half an hour to walk to the crater of Vesuvius and the views were sooo incredible. Seriously, I was so amazed and it was just amazing up there. I was just toddling along listening to upbeat songs (i.e. Kid British, James Brown, etc.) to power me along. On the coach journey, we went to have a pizza lunch at a reastaurant on the coast at Torre del Groco. It was the first time I'd had pizza whilst in Italy - we were starving and it was so nice. Finally, the last tour was to see the ruins of Herculaneum, a smaller version of Pompeii basically. It was nice but instead, we mostly just sat around taking pictures and chatting :-)
Finally, we got back to the hotel and had our final dinner in Sorrento. Then, we took a second walk into Sorrento, where we got some other buys and said goodbye to Sorrento (we also stocked up on some Coke and Pringles)! However, we actually had a very exciting event ahead for Lily because we held a surprise birthday party for her in our room! We made sure that she and Louise were in their room whilst we went around knocking on all the rooms telling people to come to our room and we borrowed some speakers from Steven, and prior to this, we stuck up banners (with chewing gum from the assistance of Chris, we tried toothpaste as well 'cause we had no sellotape or Blu-tack) and blew up balloons and stuff so yeah, it was good! With the help of Louise, Anisha and Beth, they stalled Lily until it was the actual party and we had a blast! Most of the people just came for food and then went but us girls stayed to chat and it was a really nice end to the trip.
It was pretty sad times though and I was sad to be leaving Italy the next day. Packing went on into the night and finally, I had my last sleep in Italy.
Thursday 29th Oct: After an early wake up and trying to desperately unload lots of sweaty cheese rolls (with bread like leather, no less) onto other people and being harshly rejected, we were good to go. I felt sentimental, leaving Italy and after the coach ride to Naples airport, a lot of waiting around was to be done. Once we were checked in for our flight back to Gatwick, I bought a ridiculously overpriced latte Americano (very nice though, Italians make nice coffee) and bagel thing, spending the last of my Euro coins. Finally, we got on the plane and settled in for a pretty chilled flight which I actually enjoyed. I just read a bit of Catcher In The Rye and bought a cup of tea (I felt like such a noob for spilling some milk on the dude next to me though, ha - *facepalm*) and stayed awake the whole time. Finally, after the 2-3 hour flight, we arrived in England! By this time, all I really wanted was to get my hands on a massive burger of any kind. I was in desperate need of junk food!!!
Sadly, didn't see any fast food places but managed to buy some Thai Sweet Chilli Sensations crisps (my favourite) from Sainsbury's and also a pasta pot from M&S Food which was nice (I fed everyone else pieces of pasta on the coach later, haha). We read newly bought magazines and chilled on the coach, generally having a good laugh and talking 'street'! After a few hours, we stopped at the services in Oxford where there was actually fast food! My eyes lit up at the sight of KFC and managed to devour a Boneless Banquet box as well as a humungous latte too. After a few more hours of sitting on the coach and taking hilarious pictures of people with the ridiculously bright flash on, we finally arrived back in Birmingham. I was so happy to see my family again.
It was just such an amazing trip with so much culture, architecture, history and more. It really was a trip of a lifetime and everyone got on with everyone else so I really did have an amazing time.
I have to say, I've never spent so much money on food in my life... It seemed like all we bought were endless bottles of Coke, Nestea iced tea, Pringles and Ritz biscuits. They weren't the only things I bought though but I'll elaborate in a future post because this one has gone on long enough and is threatening to take over my whole blog..!!! Honestly, I recommend Italy to all of you as it's such a fascinating place and I'm so glad I got the chance to go.
Chloe
Hello! Here's an update on what I've been up to in the last month or so:
Here are a few pictures of me and some friends at the Birmingham Christmas Lights Switch On three weeks ago, on Saturday 14th November. If any of you watched the news in the U.K, you'll know that the whole event failed. Epically. The whole thing got cancelled because of the poor planning done by the Birmingham Council who anticipated for 5,000 people to be there but about 30,000 people turned up.. I went last year and it went really well so it was a bit crap that it was cancelled. 60 people were injured too as the barriers went down, it's a shame as I was looking forward to it.
But the day wasn't at a total loss because instead, my friends and I walked to the Bullring in town to sit in Starbucks; I got a nice, hot coffee. We all got some drinks and chatted... Then we went to the German Market which was really nice too. We saw a lot of people from school and I also saw some people from out of school which was really nice. I got some food from German Market and then we went to sit in the nice and warm, in Waterstones.
Then we went back to my friend's house for food... The others made hot chocolates and I made a latte - then we just chilled and sang/screamed/shouted along to songs like Jay-Z - Empire State Of Mind and other 'skanking' songs, haha. It was hilarious and I had a really good time. We then ate even more food... pizza and chippy chips, I was stuffed by the end.
Although it wasn't quite what we'd planned, I had a lovely day on Saturday.
(No outfit post, but I wore a black knit dress from the Topshop sale (£15), a black V-neck jumper from Zara (£9), belt from Moschino (hand-me-down) and my Doc Martens (hand-me-down). Very very black but brightened up by my Burberry red duffel coat (another hand-me-down).)
As many of you may know, New Moon came out on 20th November came out and so, we went to town and chilled out for a while and then went to see the film. The queue and cinema was packed full of 'Twi-hards'! I really did prefer this film to the previous Twilight installation. It was amusing in parts and I was happy with how closely it stuck to the book. The day was also brilliant due to a major pigging out fest in the German Market; bratwurst, garlic bread, fried potatoes, etc! Then, back to our favourite Starbucks in Borders to get a nice drink and sit down. We got a few little Christmas presents too, which triggers the whole Christmas spirit, I guess. Finally, I went to Waterstones to get a book, Man and Boy, by Tony Parsons. I'll try and write a little something about the book in a later post, as I thoroughly enjoyed it. Finally, back home I went to enjoy some sleep with the rest of the weekend ahead of me.
Duffel coat - Burberry (Hand-me-down from my mum, bought at a warehouse for around £40); Shirt - Gap (£30); Top - Gap £5); Jeans - DKNY (Hand-me-down); Brogues - Costume National via eBay (£20)
Finally, last week on 27th November, it was Non-School Uniform day at school. I didn't try very hard due to the insanely cold weather. Therefore, I wore my favourite jeans which I always wear, black DKNY skinnies. I also wore a grey Gap jumper and another hand-me-down - this time an amazing amazing amazing deep purple Burberry blazer, inherited from my mum. She has sooo many great clothes that I love to find in her wardrobe. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to get a picture of this outfit, but will have to do so soon! I also wore my Burberry scarf (present) and Burberry red duffel coat (hand-me-down)! Very casual and wrapping up warm was my main priority, but yeah, I went with some friends to town to do some more shopping and yes... you guessed it, STARBUCKS! I swear, the Starbucks in Borders is mine and my friends' second home. We go there all the time and I love it there.
Unfortunately, Borders may be going into administration! If it closes down, we may have to find a new second home... Bad times. However, I've had a good few weeks and these outings to town have kept me sane from all this work at school..
Tonight, I've got a birthday sleepover to go to which will be nice, with some friends. Then, tomorrow I'm going ice skating which will be cool as I love ice skating and roller blading.
The not so much anticipated Italy post will be coming your way soon anyhow, it's in my drafts and it's nearly done... So I'm off to do some work and I hope you've all been well.
Everyone getting into the Christmas spirit? I finally am, now that December's well and truly here. I have to admit, I was being a complete Scrooge figure in November. I've still been reading all of your blogs and I'm loving them all too. Thanks so much to my followers and sorry I'm being so rubbish with posting!
Chloe
