ROMA!

Christine had class at 9:00 am so we got up and she got me a map and we set a time and place to meet up at 12:00. I ate breakfast and headed out to see what I fancied. I hit up the area that is more ancient Rome so I saw a lot of ruins and the Colosseum. Worked my way around along the river and saw a lot of things. Ran into a market at one point so I bought some grapes and an apple and went to a large plaza where I sat by a fountain and ate my fruit. It was nice. The sun was so hot as well! It was in the 70s for sure and I walked around in short sleeves all day - and didn't get burnt! ha.

Met Christine at noon at the Pantheon so we could grab some lunch. She took me to a little restaurant that she likes and we got two plates to share: noodles with goat cheese and pepper (Yum!) and gnocchi with Gorgonzola and spinach (YUMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!) GREAT lunch! The service was kinda crazy though and Christine had to leave me there to pay the check because she had another class and they were taking forever. The waiter started to hit on me after she left which was awkward. I asked him for the check and he started to pout and said "you want to leave me?" and then when he would say something to me he get really close and look me straight in the eye...kinda creepy. Funny though.

Spent the afternoon at the Trevi fountain. I just sat there...and I guess it was for a long time. People watched, ate some tiramisu gelato and made a wish! There were a lot of people there. To make it to Christine and my next meeting point I went up the Spanish Steps and walked along this park that is on a higher level than the city so the road is really pretty and looks over Roma. It was very beautiful.

Heard some woman during the afternoon (guessing definitely American) saying "pair-may-so" instead of "permiso"...little embarrassed.

Sat by the fountain in Piazza del Popolo and waited for Christine. We into the above-mentioned park and sat by a fountain/lake in the grass in the sun and listened to music and fell asleep. Very relaxing.

When we woke up we went to St. Peter's because it was pretty much the only thing I hadn't seen. We walked along the river and saw some market. Good atmosphere. I really liked the look and feel of Rome. Seems like a great city.

After this we went to the hotel to grab our things and went back to Christine's place.
She showered and changed and at 7:30 Bob and Theresa came over so we could go out to dinner. And thus began one of the best nights of my life. We went to this adorable and delicious restaurant. They had messed up our reservation so we had to wait a while for our table, but they sat us by the door for free drinks and an appetizer of mozzarella cheese that was somehow special and needed to be consumed within a certain amount of hours after being made...it was awesome.

When our table was ready we got some more wine and ordered scrumptious pasta. We went through 3 bottles of wine and were in very good spirits. Had some interesting talks and a lot of fun. It was nice to spend some time with the Sorensens. I haven't seen them too much in recent years.

After dinner Christine wanted to show her parents the bar that she usually goes to so we went there for a drink before finally heading home. Theresa and I ate canolis and then Christine and I went back to her place to sleep in her tiny bed.

Woke up at 7:00 to get packed and ready and then Christine walked me to the metro where I had to find my way to the train station, buy a ticket, go to the airport...find the terminal (had a little trouble) and check in. I was under an hour early...kinda freaked out a little bit. Everything worked out though and I made it to Madrid, found my way through the metro to the train station and got back to Avila. Successful trip.

Found that I like being in a strange city alone. It was very enjoyable to walk around Rome solo. Although I really loved being with EJ, Jenny, and Emily too. Maybe I just like traveling...hmmmm. Tomorrow off to Sevilla. ugh.

Also, my camera battery died before Trevi fountain so there aren't as many picture of Rome as there should be. I would shake the battery and get a couple more if I really thought I should document it, but regrettably, don't have pictures of everything I should.

To Christine!!!

Long long long long train ride to Rome. Over 6 hours...blah! Anyways, I got into Rome eventually and Christine was there to meet me. It was soooooooo nice to see her! It is so strange living away from everybody. I have gotten to feel comfortable in Avila, but when I spend time iwth EJ I feel so relieved to be with a friend. When I was with Christine though it was a whole new level of relief and comfort. It was amazing to spend some time with her.

We took the metro to Spagna and came out right by the Spanish Steps to walk to her apartment that she shares with 6 other girls. We dropped our stuff and went to meet her friend Sarah and an Italian guy named Uberto? for apertivo. Who knows if I spelled that right. Anyways, it's "appetizer" but it is just an extended drink and little snack during dinner hours so we stayed there for over an hour having a drink and other girls from her program came so I got to meet a lot of people and we just socialized for a long time. Eventually we got really hungry so Uberto recommended this pizza place with is "the best in Rome" called Monte Cristo. He took us there where I got a sausage, onion, and mushroom pizza. It was delicious. Probably true that it was the best pizza I had in Rome. Christine got hers with Zucchini and Eggplant. It was even better than mine. Soooo good.

After dinner we went to grab our things and went to stay in the hotel that Bob and Theresa were staying at. They were also visiting Christine, but were in Florence my first night in Rome so we used their large bed and free breakfast. It was fun.

Venice: Day #2

This day we woke up to have a typical Italian breakfast: toast with Nutella. They love that stuff in Italy. It is EVERYWHERE! EJ didn't want to wake up so I went out with Jenny and Emily for a walk towards the train station and across a big bridge etc. before we headed back to meet up with EJ.

Jenny and I didn't really want to pay for a gondola ride, especially after already riding in the "ghetto gondola". So EJ and Emily went with the south africans to take a gondola with "Alessandro, Alessandro, Ale-Ale-ssandro." Jenny and I walked across the grand canal to wander around the less-touristy area. Ended up at an Easter mass for a few minutes. We found some very pretty things and somehow ended up at the bus station so we could find our way back. We found the best pizza place on our way back to the hostel where we got spinach and goat cheese pizza (HUGE slices) for 1.5 euro. Delicious.

In the afternoon we took a water taxi (for free as Ahtik advised us not to pay because they never check the tickets - they didn't) to a Island of...Morona? I forgot. It is where they do all the glass work. We saw a demonstration where a guy made a vase and a horse and we ambled through the shops.

Back at the hostel EJ and I watched soccer highlights with Ahtik in the computer and we came to know that he was an Arsenal fan and I am a Barca fan...lots of jabs the rest of the time we knew each other. I believe my last words to him were "When you lose tomorrow, think of me." haha.

It was EJs birthday so we went out for dinner to a cute little Italian place (obviously). We got a bottle of wine and I ordered gnocchi in a salmon cream sauce. It was sooo good. The portions were a little small though so we went and got EJ some pizza and I got some gelato.

Another exhausting day. Passed out when we got back only to be awoken in the middle of the night by EJ's snoring! Emily and I started yelling at him which was kinda funny and then some girls came home from the bars around 5 and someone had taken one of their beds so she started cursing and it was a little uncomfortable, but then we were all awake in our room at 5:00 am so we just started talking, but we were still tired so we were a little giddy and just laughed a lot about dumb stuff. Jenny sang us some good songs. haha. Then at 5:30 someone came home without a key and kept ringing the doorbell, but we didn't want to answer it without access to a window so we just laid in bed laughing about it. Good night.

Next morning we ate breakfast and went out to look at a church quick before we had to grab our bags and buy a slice of pizza on the way to the train station. We were parting ways and the other three went to Florence while I went to Rome to see Christine!!! We ended up being on the same train, but different cars. Sad a little to leave Venice. It was so nice. And WAYYYYYYYY better than Milan.

Venice: Night #1

VENICE IS BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!

When you exit the train station you are on the grand canal. It is crazy. This is tourist season and there are SOOOOOOOOOOO many people. It's pretty fun though. Our hostel is right off of the main "road"? and it is the craziest place I have ever stayed.

It is run by a Hungarian girl and a guy who is Afghani, but has lived in Venice for a long time. We don't want to pay for linen so we don't and we get put in a side room that seems to have been a closet-type space because there are 50 people staying our first night. It is extremely overbooked and a lot of people don't have pillows or blankets (me), but everyone is just very chill and cool and the main room has this long table in it that everyone just hangs around and talks at and the two who run the place made us dinner and we made sangria together and then the guy went out drinking with people at night. It was such a weird situation. I was freezing at night, but I got over it. haha.

The canals are so beautiful. Our first day there we just wandered around, got a piece of pizza for lunch, saw the Rialto, San Marco, took a ghetto gondola across the grand canal to see some statue of a naked boy holding a frog. There were so many people everywhere and masks too. I guess carnaval is a big thing in Venice and they just sell masks year round.

At night we bought a bottle of wine on our way back to the hostel to make sangria and ate pasta that Laura, the Hungarian, had made. It was DELICIOUS! rigatoni with mozzarella chopped up and zucchini. Delicious. We hung around and talked with some other students from the US, Australia, England, South Africa, etc. who are studying in Great Britain and thus have 3 weeks off for spring break! Crazy. The girls went to bed later...it was an exhausting day, but it was EJs birthday at midnight so he went out with Ahtik (I think that's who you spell his name - the guy who runs the place)and some other people from the hostel.

Milan: Take Two

So....wrote that last post late after going out with some people...sorry. Let's try this again.

Met up with EJ and two girls from his program - Jenny and Emily - at the airport. They seem very cool and we all seem to get along from the start.

So we arrive in Milan LATE because our flight was delayed and then we had to take a shuttle to the train station. We get there at about 1:20 and we have to figure out the public buses to get to our hostal. Great thing about Milan is that the buses are super easy to navigate and you don't really have to pay if you don't want to. We get on our bus to find it inhabited by a homeless man and some drunk Italians. The homeless guy in the back has literally shit and pissed his pants and the whole bus smells disgusting. Two drunk guys are running back and forth yelling at the homeless man (who seems to just be passed out in the back seat) and telling everyone that he has pissed himself. Then there is another guy sitting down a couple rows ahead of the homeless guy and every time that the bus stops people get on, turn to the left, smells the guy, and turn to the right to find a place to stand far away. This sends the dude into hysterics EVERY time! He has the craziest laugh to so I start laughing ever time. Definitely one of the most memorable bus rides of my life.

We find our hostal easily though and although the owner is a little mad at how late we are we get our room with our chocolate Easter eggs and go to sleep.

The next morning there is a nice little breakfast of yogurt and croissants and we gear up to head out for the day. Like I said before there is not too much to do in Milan. We saw the Cathedral and after that we pretty much wondered around, saw some shops, got lunch (pizza - like every day), sat in the sun, and took a semi-tour by getting on a bus and just ridding it until we felt like getting off. Interesting day.

We decided to save money and get sandwich supplies for dinner so we went to the supermarket on our way home and there we met two people from Miami who we living in the same building as us. We invited them to come down and drink with us and go out later after dinner. They did and two other guys who were in the hostal joined us as well. We went to some bar down the street, but didn't do too much.

I wasn't a huge fan of Milan. I would have spent more time in any other city...

The next morning we took a bus to a different train station then the one we had been at before and while on it some Italian guys were sitting behind us freestyle rapping...it was interesting.

Milan

So we got in last night at about 1:30 am. Our room is nice. We got giant chocolate easter eggs on our pillows. lol.

Today we wondered around...there is not much to do in Milan besides shop which we did. I cannot spend money because I am on a tight budged for this week, but I wondered around and ate gelato and looked at the cathedral with is Ridiculous. It was a nice time.

We bought foodstuffs for sandwhiches for dinner and met up with a bunch of other people from the hostal to do a bollaton and then people decided that they did not want to go to bar street because they were too drunk. I was kinda mad. I wanted to party in Milan. Will have to wait until tomorrow I guess for EJs birthday.

uhhhh.

I miss Eric.

Silent Procession

Last night was nice...first I FOUND OUT THAT I AM GOING TO BE INTERNING WITH SENATOR CARL LEVIN ON CAPITAL HILL THIS SUMMER! Then I went to meet Courtney and Alex in the center of town to watch the silent procession at 11:30. We followed it until we found Camilia and Raquel and Juan. I was supposed to go out to eat with them, but bailed to watched Barcelona tie Arsenal (???) I think that's a good excuse.

Seriously though, I don't thing Puyol's was a red card and I feel bad for Cesc being out next game, but whatta-ya-gonna-do? It's over. Barca is going to the semi's.

Anyways...there was a procession at 2:00 am that I wanted to see so Camilia, Courtney, and Alex left, but I hung out with Raquel and Juan. First, I bought a sandwich because I missed dinner to watch the game, then we met up with some friends of theirs - Maria, Ana, Jose, and another guy that I don't think I heard talk all night. We went to a bar and got a drink and talked a bit and then we went to a different bar and got drinks and played darts. They are very nice people and it was a lot of fun. It's AMAZING how much easier it is to talk with people from this area than the people who live in the residencia and have accents from the south or the north...weird.

At 2:15 we left and went to the walls to watch the procession...it was silent so there were only drums and no cheering or anything like at the one on Monday. It was freezing, but there were still people walking barefoot. Crazy! When it had passed I walked to Raquel's house with her and Juan and they drove me back to the residencia. Now it's off to Italy in 2 hours!