Trying to come up with names for my new car :-)

This is the soon to be mine Mini Cooper.  I'm planning on spray painting the backs of the side mirrors teal and adding watercolor rose vinyls to the car doors because I am NOT a white car person.  I normally go for blue.  However, it was the right price, right size, and it's an automatic.  Finding an automatic in Italy is an interesting adventure in itself. 

Right now, I'm thinking Ghost as a nickname for the car.   Maybe Casper?  We'll see when it's officially mine on Friday!

Until then, I have the loaner vehicle.  I refuse to call it a car because it's not.  It's a death trap. 

Death Trap is a DUMBcar and it's a semi-automatic.   It gets me from point a to b but it has zero actual power, and it feels like I'm driving a go kart on the highway which is not fun.  I believe I have cursed more driving this vehicle in the past two days than I have driving my truck in the past two years. 

The roads in Italy are interesting it that you rarely just turn left or right.  Almost everything involves going around a circle - which is okay until you get off the wrong exit from the circle.   The streets aren't on a grid system like in DC and there aren't easy turn arounds.  Miss your exit?  You can easily add 20 minutes to a 5 minute drive that way.  At least I'm learning my way around!

I just need to remember, this is only for two more days then I get the Ghost!  Or maybe Casper...  Or maybe Marshmellow?

Italian Driver's License!

I have my Italian Driver's License!  Technically, it's only good inside of Italy but, hey, that works!   I also have my International Driver's License that you can pick up at AAA for about $20.

I did have to take a test for the Italian one - the hardest thing to remember is that there isn't a right turn on red in the rest of the world.   :-)   The test was multiple choice, true and false, and match the signs to the meaning, basically.   I got a bit confused on the signs but, well, I have my license so it was fine.  :-)

Now, to find a car.  That part is proving difficult.   The biggest issue is that I refuse to drive a stick.  I'm sorry but I'm just south of the Alps and I know better than to even attempt to drive a stick in the mountains unless I actually want an accident.  I get that manual has some advantages but I do.not.care.  I want my automatic and not have to worry about ramming the car behind me when I'm going up a hill.

Because I refuse to get a stick, finding an automatic in the city has proven a bit difficult.  Now, I've seen them in other cities nearby and I might just have to suck it up and do a lot of the paperwork necessary myself but I'm trying to avoid that.   However, I really REALLY want a Mini because they are awesome.  I have found one in the city that is automatic but it take GPL which is a liquid petroleum fuel that we just don't have in the States.  

Oh well, I have the weekend to figure out what I really want in a vehicle.  

I am studying Italian.   My biggest issue with studying is that my BA is in Latin, I have an elementary understanding of Spanish, and I've picked up a few French words as well over the years.   In other words, although I am learning Italian, I'm confusing Italian words with words from other, related languages.  For instance - counting.  I can count in Spanish without any issue.   In Italian....the numbers are, of course, very similar but it's really hard not to say "Uno, dos, tres" and, instead say "Uno, due, tre".  When people count back my change in Italian, I don't have any problems understanding them, so there is that.

Jasper, my cat, has been sick.  He's doing better but he's a HUGE pain in the back side when he's sick.   Il gatto era malato.  

I found a yarn store and I'm knitting a new scarf.  :-)

Possibly, my new home!

On Monday, I get to go for "negotiations" on what, hopefully, will be my home while I'm in Italy.  The house isn't ancient - I originally wanted something more medieval or renaissance- but it is late Georgian (late 18th/early 19th) so I'm okay with that. There is a fireplace inside but it's closed up for now (I mean, the fireplace itself is visible but the chimney isn't open for smoke right now).  

I'd get the first floor.  The second floor as a separate entrance and is already rented out to another couple.  The house has a fabulous fenced yard and a garage - no fighting for my parking space in the city center!  Also, it's about a mile from work and only a little over a mile from the center of town.  I walked down to it today and it's a very easy walk.   Abigail was quite excited on our long walk around town.  :-)

The first floor apartment (it really is the entire first floor!) has a small kitchen (about the same size as mine at my house in Maryland for those that have been to my house) but has a stunning large entrance, two decent sized bedrooms, a separate living room, a large dining room, and a decent sized bathroom.  There is also plenty of storage in the cellar.  Overall, it's much larger than my home in the States.  

I've been looking up negozi dell'usato or thrift stores in the area.  There are, somewhat predictably, a lot!  Luckily, a few of them do carry furniture so I can probably get a few nice things to have in the house for a decent price.  Also, Ikea is only 20 or 25 minutes away.  I am very much going there to buy the mattresses and probably a few more things for the house.  :-)    My parents are sending me a few boxes of my stuff, but nothing too large.  The biggest furniture items are my favorite bench I take with me to SCA events, my two folding savonarola chairs, and my mother of pearl in lay table I got in Egypt.  Everything else are items like my pots and pans or my fabric.  BTW, one of the first major purchases here in Italy will be a new sewing machine.  :-)

For now, I'm hanging out at the hotel with my animals and we'll see how negotiations go!

Vicenza Italy - My new home

The above pictures are of the center of town. Friday night, my parents took me to dinner in my new town. Dinner itself was hilarious as we need to get used to the new style of service. The waitress was anything but attentive - if we said to wait a second, she'd leave the table and not come back for ten minutes!

I've been practicing the few bits of Italian I know. Luckily, the waiters and waitresses seem patient with me - probably because I'm trying to use Italian. My Dad didn't bother and, when ordering a bottle of wine and opening the menu to point out which one, the waitress just left! It wasn't a lack of understanding the language - most people do speak a bit of both in Vicenza due to all the Americans about- it was just funny.

So far, the food has been decent and I love being able to order coke-cola without any worries (no GMOs!). Monday, I start work at 9:30 am and will get my orientation done this week. We'll see what kind of housing I end up with and what kind of car. :-)

Abigail is not too pleased about her walks. Normally, she LOVES walks. However, here in Italy, she will just suddenly stop and refuse to go any further unless I coax her a bit. She was fine Saturday in the Alps but here in Vicenza? Nope! It's probably because there isn't a lot of green space where we are at the hotel. Hopefully, any apartment I get has a nice garden area for her.

MADE IT!!!

Abigail in her bag on the right, my carry on and two purple bags on the left.

I am currently sitting in my hotel in Vicenza!!!!! It's pretty basic hotel room but it is very clean and the animals love staying underneath the "king" bed. (It's two metal twin beds pushed together with a king mattress on top.) So, first, the trip report!
I didn't get nearly as much done as I wanted to. All the boxes I wanted to mail to myself are in my living room. I didn't get to clear out the closet under the stairs, the hutch, or most of the kitchen. Really, all of those just need to be put into boxes. Everything left in the kitchen just needs to either be thrown out or sent to me. I cleared out the food and gave it to my brother and sister in law. I figured they could use the various spices and 5lbs of rice. I also had a surprising amount of beans in my pantry.
So, when I left my house, there was still work to do. I know my oldest little brother is going to hate that so my Mom and probably my "baby" brother will go finish up what I just couldn't. My baby brother drove myself and Abby to Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) with my two huge purple LL bean bags (46 and 48 lbs each!), my blue ll bean carry on, and Abby in her soft sided bag (27 lbs). I know the blue bag was slightly more than Abby.
I got to the counter quickly only to be told that my flight to Newark was late (knew there would be a problem because it's me) and they were going to put me on a completely different flight to Venice, leaving from Dulles. For those that don't know the DC area, Dulles is roughly an hour away from BWI in no traffic. Since it's DC, there is always traffic; and it was 1:30 when I left for Dulles, about a half hour before rush hour starts.
I was very worried about the flight itself though. I purposefully booked with United because of Abigail. As long as the pup can comfortably fit (ie, can move around a bit) in a soft sided pet carrier that fits beneath the seat in front of you on the airplane, she was fine. United partners with Lufthansa which doesn't allow animals more than 8kg (17.6 lbs). Abigail is more like 11kg on her own. The second leg of our journey would be on Lufthansa now, rather than United all the way. Still, I realized that being stranded in Frankfurt- where the new flight stopover would be- wasn't exactly the worst thing in the world and I could find about ten different ways out of there and down to Italy. Also, Abigail's paperwork was only good if we left the US on the 21st. So, as long as Abby left on the 21st to go to Europe, we were good. Otherwise, it was another $300 for her paperwork alone and three or four days of waiting to get that paperwork back from the USDA.
The drive to Dulles was uneventful. However, the driver left me and my bags right inside the door - no cart. One of the big purple duffel bags has wheels so I had Abby on one shoulder, the blue duffel on the other, and kicked the other purple duffel into the line so I could check in. Once checked in, they took the two purple duffel bags, of course, and ticketed Abigail. Having the ticket stapled to Abigail's bag proved important at one point in the journey. For the rest of the trip, I had to carry Abby on one shoulder and the blue bag on the other. Basically, I was running around various airports with ~60lbs (27 kg) on my shoulders. Yes, my back and shoulders HURT today from that.
Security was actually kind of awesome. Since I had Abby, TSA didn't want her near the bomb sniffing dogs, understandably, so I got to go through the fast track lines. Also, since I had the pup, I carried her through the metal detector since TSA had to screen her bag. It was all pretty easy and Abigail behaved wonderfully. We left Dulles from gate C2. C2 is all the way down at the very end of the terminal....and the pet relief area, as I learned once I got to C2 was all the way back to the middle of the terminal. I wasn't about to have Abigail get on the flight without some sort of bathroom break so I huffed it with Abby one one shoulder and the blue bag on the other back to the middle of the terminal. Near gate D2 is a small room which has astroturf and a fake hydrant with a tiny gate at the entrance. Abigail found this all completely weird but quickly figured out what I wanted her to do. Once the pup is done, you are supposed to push a button on the wall that "cleans" the floor under the astroturf. All and all, it wasn't a bad pet rest stop.
We made our way back just in time to get in line. Abby and I ended up with a great seat - I had an aisle seat but there was no one in the middle sea; just one guy at the window seat. The only issue with the flight really was the turbulence. It was so bad at one point, one of the overhead storage units popped open. It was like going over a dirty road with potholes in a beater car without 4 wheel drive at points. Most of it was just the remnants of former hurricane Jose but the turbulence and the people in front of me constantly chatting made sleep pretty much impossible. I think I got an hour of sleep in. I did watch Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Wars on the way to Frankfurt.
Frankfurt- we had to come into a "outside" terminal which meant we had to walk down stairs and take a standing room only bus to the actual terminal. So, with Abby and my carry on (and my purse), I tried my hardest to make sure that Abigail would not get crushed in all the people around. That was not easy. It wasn't that anyone was trying to crush up against anyone else, it was that the bus driver had to take some crazy turns around the airport. This, of course, made it not fun. I had to balance the close to 30lbs each bags on my shoulders plus hold on for dear life to a pole and try to make sure I don't accidentally crush my dog if I do fall.
Once at the terminal, we had to go through customs. I now have a stamp to prove I've been to Germany! :-) Okay, so I'll probably got to somewhere other than the airport at one point during my living in Europe but, hey, it's a stamp in my passport! Really, customs was pretty surprisingly quick. They didn't ask for Abby's papers (I had them in the blue bag) and just wanted to know how long I'd be staying at my final destination. I pointed out my visa and...then I got the stamp. After that, I made my way to the departure gate for our flight to Venice.
I already had the boarding ticket - I got that at Dulles from Lufthasna. I decided that, if I didn't point out Abigail, maybe they wouldn't notice and I could just hide her under the seat. So, we got in line at the boarding gate - it was already loading- and...I put her under the seat in front of me. No one questioned her being there and we didn't have any issues. Really, there was some slight issues with the overhead baggage as there wasn't enough room. I had to put my blue bag ten rows in front of me. However, that I could deal with.
We got to Venice in one piece! My purple bags came quickly and they have WONDERFUL large carts at the Venice airport to use. I found my station at the airport I was supposed to check in with. The guy there was quite nice and let me leave my big bags there so I could go to the cargo part of the airport and go get Jasper....
Now, Jasper's story: I left Jasper with PenderAir on the 20th with his paperwork and his food. He had his kennel/box/cage thing and I wrote his name on it. After paying $1300 (€1088), they promised an uneventful journey for him. I am NEVER doing this to him again. Ever. I may grumble about the idiot constantly, but he had anything BUT an uneventful journey.
The lady at flight information in Venice told me my cat was already at Cargo and I just had to go through a tunnel and around a roundabout to get to him. I took at taxi and ended up walked the entire length of the cargo place three times. He wasn't there - I spent €30 on a pointless taxi ride to get a cat that hadn't arrived yet. All I really learned was, where the cargo was (it was NOT walking distance) and what office to go to get my cat (I went to five different ones!). I carried Abby with me the entire time.
Eventually, my parents came to pick me up and take myself and Abigail to Lunch. We went into Venice somehow only to turn right around and end up at McDonalds. ...I would try to explain this one but it was pretty typical for my family. :-) After that, we went to go get Jasper who did show up at 2pm.
Paperwork. Remember, no one cared in the least about Abigail coming into the EU, however, Jasper was a completely different story. His paperwork was copied in triplicate, stamped, and copied again. It took a half hour just to get the paper work done. When that was done, there was MORE paperwork when I got down to the actual cargo area. I also had to pay €60 for taxes or something - I didn't really care at that point and I'm sure they were taking advantage of that. All I knew was I was tired and I wanted my cat.
Poor Jasper! When I finally saw his very taped up cage, it smelt horrible. I mean, it completely reeked. On top, there were tons of stickers and taped up plastic bags - his food, divided out for each day he would be flying out. Each bag had a date and time (like Sept 22/AM or Sept 21/PM). In other words, he hadn't been fed since the 20th. I was so angry when I saw that. My poor cat was starving! It looked like he did have water though.
We had the car windows rolled down the entire journey home because he stank so badly. Once in the hotel room, I yanked out the blankets from the carrier and hosed down the cage in the shower. The blankets are now wrapped up in a plastic bag and I'll wash them on Monday. I gave Jasper food and more water - which he was grateful for. Abigail had plenty of food and water - I'd give her a bit of my bread or whatever else I was eating and the stewardess was always kind enough to give me a cup of water when I asked for it for the pup. Also, Abigail had a couple of chicken nuggets and French Fries at McDonalds before we got Jasper. Not the best food for a dog but it was food.
Right now, both animals are fine. Jasper is nervous about everything except for me. He slept on the bed last night with myself and Abby and he's been trying to climb in my lap.

A hiccup

The original plan, on Friday morning, was to leave for Venice on Sunday. That died due to a mixup with the US Government. When the Italian Embassy called the US Gov't, the guy in the US gov't called me and told me the Visa my company was sending me on was the wrong one. Um what? I had no idea what to do so I frantically emailed my new bosses and didn't get a reply. I went to the Italian Embassy and they said there was nothing they could do - I needed the correct paperwork from my company which could take another week. Er, no! So, pretty much in tears because I am supposed to fly out in 48 hours and I don't have the proper paperwork done, I manage to bombard every person that I know is even slightly associated with the new job on email. While at my parents house (they are 15 minutes from the Italian Embassy), I talk to one of my new bosses on the phone and I give him the phone number of the US gov't guy that called me. My new boss explained that it was that guy's fault and the paperwork was fine. I am the 89th person they've brought over with this same paperwork and I'm the first to have this issue. He also told me he left the guy a screaming voicemail and he hoped the guy wasn't a pansy and would shrink away from that. I think I'll do fine at the new job. :-) Saturday, I called up to change my flight - which should be easy and was anything but. I also called up my bank when I finally remembered to get my new credit card that should have come a month ago. Actually, I had to call up Visa because my bank couldn't print out the credit card at the branch and I need it before Tuesday now. However, it was a constant back and forth between the bank and Visa most of the morning. It finally got sorted around 1 pm or so and the card should be here Monday, I hope. United was a different story. At least Skybooker, the travel agency I was working with, was honest. They really couldn't, on their system, change me. There was an issue when they tried to book a seat for me. However, I didn't find that out until 3 pm. I had been calling since 10 am. I kept calling United and United told me to call Skybooker. Skybooker would tell me they couldn't do anything because of the type of ticket and it being less than 7 days out so to call up United. I must have repeated myself ten times, I swear. United did try to do a three way call with Skybooker but they didn't answer. I tried to get Skybooker to call up United with myself on the line but they said they couldn't - it was against their company policy. Fun! Eventually, I started just calling up and telling whoever got me to just send me to a supervisor because I had already called 4 or 5 times. The second time I did that with United I got a lady who, God bless her, told me "Well, if the travel agency can't, I can!". After 6 hours of back and forth, she managed to switch me over to the Tuesday flight for $300. I am perfectly fine with that! At one point, I was told I'd have to cancel the Sunday flight, which would be over $300 charge, and I'd only get $17 back on my ticket of $750. Not only would I lose the $125 I paid for Abby and the $129 I paid for Economy plus, but I'd have to pay to cancel my ticket. Yeah, I know. Just skip the flight rather than lose out on another $300! At least that didn't happen. Abby's ticket transferred. I only paid $300 to get the flight switched to Tuesday from Sunday but I'm rather disgusted that it took SIX hours of my time to get that done. I have grad school and packing to do! Gah!

New Bags and Other Sources of Procrastination

I've bought two new pieces of luggage for my journey to Italy. All my old luggage is completely destroyed except for the indestructable LL Bean bag. That being what it is, I, of course, bought two more bags from LL Bean.

Medium Adventure Duffle in Arctic Blue

Extra Large Adventure Duffle in Antique Plum

I already have one body bag...err...extra large duffle in the Plum color from LL Bean but, seeing as I'm moving to Italy and it's $100 up to 50 lbs for a second check in bag...I'm bringing a second check in bag.   The medium adventure duffle is for my carry on in addition to Abigail.  I double and triple checked the rules - Abigail counts as one and I can bring another carry on.  Since the color Arctic Blue is being discontinued, it's on sale.  Also, it's honestly not a bad color and looks like it will go rather lovely with the antique plums.   Everything that is on sale on the website gets an extra 20% off until the 30th if you use the code LL Bean gives you in their top banner.   Basically, the medium duffle ends up costing about $40.  Considering how hard it is to destroy an LL Bean bag, that $40 will go a LONG way.  

Seriously, LL Bean bags are pretty much indestructible.  Most bags, I look at them funny, and they fall apart.  I've had ripped seams, ripped handles, and broken zippers after only one or two uses from most bags and luggage.   My purple body bag from LL bean?  I've had it since the last century, I think.  It has survived Egypt, Ireland (both times!), Las Vegas (all three times!), England, France (taking it on the Paris Subway was fun...), and many other adventures.  It does not break.  It's still in good shape.   Considering they are only $80 for the extra large, that's well worth the price.   

So why am I posting this?  I'm avoiding grad school work....  :-)  Yes, I'm moving to Europe while still doing Grad School online.  This will be fun!   *headdesk*

Traveling with Animals

My greatest worry about moving to Venice hasn't been the moving of stuff but of my furry family members, Abigail and Jasper.

Jasper in the Carrier

Abigail looking confused

Jasper, I'm sure, will be fine in a box surrounded by boxes in the hold of the plane. He's a brat like that. Abigail, however...not so much. Abigail is terrified of loud noises.

 Let me explain: While I was at Pennsic, my Mom took care of Abby. Of course, my parents are huge Game of Thrones fans. Being huge Game of Thrones fans, they were watching the new episodes while I was at Pennsic. Quickly, Mom discovered that Abigail is *terrified* of dragons. The second the dragons came on, she would tuck her head into Mom's elbow and shake. It got so bad, according to Mom, Abigail started to hiccup! Have you ever heard of a dog being so terrified of something on TV that they started to hiccup?!? So yes, Abigail is terrified of dragons. Personally, I believe it's an understandable fear. I mean, to a baby dragon, Abigail is a roast your own chicken nugget.

 Anyway, here I am about to take Abigail on board a mechanical dragon. I finally got my flight information sorted and I'm allowed to take her on the plane, in cabin. (She fits into one of the soft sided sherpa carriers easily). I will be with her the entire time because I honestly don't think it would be kind to put her in the cargo hold. ...Then there is Jasper. Putting a cat in a box surrounded by boxes may be cruel only in the sense of putting a kid in a candy store and saying you can't have anything other than the jelly beans. It's not terrifying.

 However, United is now telling me that they won't allow pets in the cargo hold to Venice. Umm...what? I was not told this at any point when I started calling up and asking 20 million questions to make sure that, when I booked, myself and my fur family members could all move to Italy easily. Sure, Abby is fine in cabin but they only allow 1 animal per a person. .... I've emailed United to see if there is anything they can do to get Jasper to Venice with me rather than forcing me to book a separate booking with another agency just for him. (The guy on the phone said that British Airways and KLM will do it. I don't think he understood the problem. I want my animals on the same flights I'm on, darn it!) Luckily, there is time to get this sorted. Not much, but I'm hoping and praying that Jazz will be my checked baggage while I carry Abigail on board with me.

Since I'm carrying Abigail onboard, I've been getting her used to the soft sided carrier. She's okay with it - she'll sniff it and let me put her in it. However, she finds it a bit embarrassing. She'll make dramatic sighs while in it and only do half hearted barks at people she sees while inside the carrier. It's all very teenager angst-y and hilarious.

I took Jasper in the carrier today because I had to take them to get microchipped. If anyone is worried about getting their animals microchipped, don't be. According to Abigail's wagging tail, it doesn't hurt in the least. Jasper was far more upset about everything - but he also had to get his rabies vaccination so I think that didn't help at all. He whined, profusely, from the backseat on the way over to the vet. Not a peep out of him on the way back. The vet thinks that the shot scared him straight. Lol! He was fine when I let him out of the carrier when we got home. Correction: He was fine when we got home. Even still in the carrier, the second he saw where we were, he because to whine again. He was not pleased that I waited until we were inside to let him out of the carrier. However, he did demand pets almost immediately so, clearly, not traumatized.

Hopefully, I can get the Jasper situation resolved quickly so I can move both my furballs to Italy with me. Next on the list, selling the stuff! Anyone who needs fabric, you need to come to Greenbelt, MD labor day weekend.

A week of changes

Today is Friday. (You'll probably read this on Monday but I'm typing it up on Friday) It's only been four days but it feels like a month. On Tuesday, I was offered an opportunity that was far too good to refuse. I was offered a new job in Vicenza, Italy. It pays a bit less but it's ITALY. As in, the place I've studied my entire adult life. As in the land of the Romans and the place that birthed the Renaissance. Not only that, I will be pretty much between Verona and Venice! ... Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. Yes, please! Where do I sign up? Of course, now that I've taken the super crazy off the cliff plunge, I realize how much I have to do (on top of finishing my course for Grad school!) I'm having an estate sale on labor day weekend which means figuring out what I want to keep and what the heck I can live without before then. I'm putting all the "keep" stuff in the guest room and every thing else will go. Every thing. It's going to be hard but I need to clear house....and I'm selling the shepherd's hut. Yes, it is my most prized possession (outside of my grandma's engagement ring) but I can't justify keeping it in storage without use for 18 months when, already, it's a bit too small. I need something slightly bigger so when I invite people to come with me to events, they also have crash space that I can share. Basically, I need something that has something bigger than a twin bed. I'll worry about that when I get back. I'll be overseas for 18 months. Of course, I'm taking the animals. They are my greatest worry in the move. I'm trying to get Abby to lose a pound (she needs to anyway) so I can take her in the cabin and put Jasper in the crate. Jasper will be fine in a box in the checked luggage - he's a cat. Cats are practically agoraphobia. The smaller, more closed in the box they are, the happier they seam to be. Abigail? If I'm not right there with her, she will be terrified. This is the dog that gets so scared of dragons on TV, she hiccups. Seriously. I'd rather have her in the cabin and Jazz in the hold. There are a couple of international carriers that don't have weight limits and have fairly lax rules on soft sided carriers. I'm hoping that they'll let Abby on, no problems. And then there are the EU pet rules. Abby and Jazz are getting microchipped on Tuesday as well as getting all their vaccinations done. I've also contacted Friendship Animal Hospital in DC about getting all the paperwork done as soon as possible. I want to be able to step off the plane, hand over their paperwork and my own, and just get a car....after retrieving my bags, of course. I also will have to actually learn Italian rather than just having it yelled at me by Great Aunts or my Mom when she was learning Italian. Since it's a Romance language, I don't think I'll have much of an issue. I still have Latin in my head somewhere and I yell at co-workers all the time in Spanish.... After a couple months, I'm sure I'll be fine. :-) The company is helping a bit with moving expenses and is paying for the airfare to get over there. Also, I will go through an orientation and find a house or apartment to rent through the housing office for all of us silly Americans. Really, the biggest thing is getting everything packed that I want to take and sell everything else. And yes, ladies, that means I will be selling some of the fabric. :-)