so, i am aware that i have not written in over a month and that is ridiculous. my apologies. i def have a lot to catch everyone up with so i am going to split these next posts up into different categories so that whatever interests you, you can read and you dont have to read everything else.
i figure i will start with italy since that is the first interesting/important thing that i did after my last post that i can remember...
for fall break at the end of october i traveled through italy with a couple of friends, sean and christina. turns out, all three of us are afraid of flying, but thankfully christina had some xanax and i have finally learned the joys of taking xanax with a gin and tonic. best. flight. ever. we arrived into venice pretty late that friday night. after missing our hostel/hotel twice we finally got off the bus (the bus driver dropped us off on the side of the road not at a real stop because he was tired of dealing withus) and we trekked to our hostel. we were able to still eat dinner in the dining room and actually, it was a pretty good meal. our trip was off to a good start.
the next morning we got up relatively early and headed into venice (we stayed on the mainland). venice was colder than what i was expecting, but it was very beautiful. everywhere we looked resembled a postcard. we walked around and went to the rialto bridge, st. mark's square and the bridge of sighs. unfortunately, the bridge of sighs was ruined by a car advertisement. yep. they are doing construction or so im assuming and to make it look better, they put up a car advertisement. it was horrible. after that, we just walked around the city and had the best meal i had in italy (which was kind of a shame since it was only our first day). we found this little family restaurant tucked in a side street not frequented by tourists and had this amazing gnocchi in cheese sauce and vino. delish.
after lunch we walked around some more and stopped to get a coffee. this would be my first of many experiences of not being a law abiding citizen. we ended up not paying for our coffee. although, we had every intention to, but he guy thought we had already paid, so who were we to correct him when we dont even speak tha language? we continued to just walk around and saw an older man singing opera on the street. that was very enjoyable and afterwards went into a music museum. it was free which i always enjoy. by that time it was time for us to head to the train station and hop on our train to florence.
we arrived to florence again at nighttime. we took a bus to our hostel without ever paying the fare (naughty us!) but the bus driver didnt say anything, so we hopped off feeling pretty smug with ourselves. although, i did feel a little badly, but im going to say that i needed that 1.30 euro more than the florence bus system.
we made it to our hostel which was interesting to say the least. im not sure if any of you have ever seen the french film "l'auberge espagnol" but that is what this hostel reminded me of. we walked into this tiny apartment and were immediately greeted by about 15 people. we were shown around and met new people in every room. there were people on laptops checking e-mail, others smoking and chatting in the kitchen, and some others that were just chilling in their rooms getting ready for bed. we dropped our stuff off in our room and then were asked how we felt about dogs as a black lab came bounding in. it was overhwelming and intense as a first impression, but everyone was very friendly so it was all good. we pretty much just went to bed right away.
the next day we got up and headed off towards the city center. we got lost on our way to see michaelangelo's david, but since we were in florence, i didnt really mind. again, everything was BEAUTIFUL and i apologize for not being able to be more descriptive, but i really dont know how to describe most of italy without using that word. we finally found david and luckily for us, we were early so we had no wait. i thoroughly enjoyed david. he was much larger then i had expected and there was lots of other great artworks in the same museum. it was a highlight of the trip for sure.
after david, we saw the duomo which unfortunately wasnt open for us to go in. so we ended up walking around and went to see michaelangelo and galileo's tombs. those were also very cool. we then stopped at a supermarket and headed up to the piazza michaelangelo to have a picnic. the piazza michaelangelo is this area up above with great views of the city. a lovely place to have a lunch of bread and cheese and salami and some vino. gotta love that cheap delicous vino in italia.
after lunch we headed back to the city and just bummed around. we saw the only bridge to not be destroyed in WWII which was cool. ate some gelat (it came with a waffle) and ran into a kid from IES.
after shopping around the leather market it was almost dinner time and we were exhausted. we just went back to the hostel where we were fed dinner and chilled there all night with people. we met this one guy, adam, who is from australia and really nice. he had been traveling through europe since september and was headed to rome the next day (as were we) so we made plans to go together.
so the next morning we got up and got on the train to rome with adam. rome by far was my favorite place in italy. we went to our hostel, the wow roma, and dropped our stuff. we then walked to the coliseum (a 10 minute walk from our hostel if that) and looked around. i really enjoyed it. after walking around all afternoon we went to the hostel, took a nap, and got ready for dinner. the three of us, sean, christina and myself, got dressed up and went out for a nice dinner. we went to a place near the spanish steps and ended up seeing the ex-prez of italy. that was pretty cool.
the next day (our first full day in rome) we got up and headed towards the vatican. we went and saw the sistine chapel which i must say, was not what i was expecting. it ended up being very dark and after all of the other artwork (because you walk through a crazy amount of other chapels and art pieces before you get to the sistine chapel) it was kind of a let down for sure. i was expecting to feel awe and inspired and instead i felt like i wished they would turn the lights up. also, sean got kicked out for taking a picture. it was comforting almost, like being on vacation with my dad, not abiding by the rules. what? DONT take pictures? ok. snap snap.
after walking through the vatican we were exhausted (it is very tiring being a tourist!) so we napped and then grabbed dinner with adam that night. oh i forgot to mention about my hostel. shortly after we arrived some other girls came and i went out into the common room to check my e-mail and they were there, so i made conversation with them. turns out, they're form northwest indiana and all go to valpo. they also all knew one of my good friends, lynn, so that was pretty cool.
anyways, our last full day in rome we spent doing all historical stuff. we did the coliseum and actually got a pretty sweet deal. for 20 euros we got tours of the coliseum, palatine hill, and the forum. we also didnt have to wait in line to get into any of those places which was nice. i was really glad we did it because im kind of a nerd and love history (especially greek and roman) so to be there in person was an amazing experience for me. after our coliseum tour we got lunch and met up with my roommate, piyal, who was also in rome. she did the other 2 tours with us which was nice because as much as i love christina and sean, theres only so much you can discuss with 3 people. needless to say, it was a nice change of pace having piyal around for a day.
the next morning we headed to naples, or hell, as i like to refer to it as. we got into naples early afternoon and christina and i just looked at each other and were like "this cant be naples can it??" it was disgusting and i do not recommend anyone to go there EVER. we got off the train and headed towards the metro (if thats what they want to call it) and we all immediately noticed the amount of stray dogs that looked like they were going to keel over any minute. it was really very sad. and the metro trains were so old, i seriously felt like i was being deported...it was scary
we then got off the metro and the directions for our hostel told us to exit the metro and walk through a garden...if by garden they meant crack park then yes, we walked through a garden. it was horrid. there was waste everywhere (we're talking garbage, animal waste, human waste, all of it) and homeless people and it was sketchier then any place i've ever seen/been. we also got lost on our way to the hostel and after seeing some of the things we did (for example a homeless man sleeping on the steps of an old church with human waste on the stairs) we were ready to head back on the train and go back to rome. but, we didnt because our friend jill was coming to naples to meet us and we had plans to go to pompeii.
poor jill. she got into naples that night and we were really worried about her making it to the hostel ok especially since we couldnt call her, but thankfully she made it to the hostel unscathed. surprisingly, our hostel was really nice. there were strange people there, but it was clean and cheery. which was kind of bad because i never wanted to leave the hostel.
the next day we went to pompeii which was really cool and i totally recommend to anyone that likes history, but do it as a day trip from rome do NOT under any circumstances go to naples. the ruins were very well perserved and i was surprised at how large pompeii was. and they are still uncovering stuff. there were a lot more stray dogs, and this time packs of them which was kind of strange and sad. but it was an enjoyable day at pompeii checking out their houses and such. it really was amazing to me all of the color. there were these beautiful murals in all of the houses with marble or tile floors. also, the toilets were just holes, but they were in what looked like modern counters with these beautiful tiles and such. kind of crazy but really cool.
we also got a chance to see the dead people. that sounds creepy. in retrospect it was really creepy and sad. it was so weird though because they have some people in cases where the bodies were found and others in this area with a bunch of pottery and stuff. i thought that was really random, all this pottery and then a body.
that night was halloween and our hostel had a party with a dj and everything. we totally rocked out to a "Grease" montage which was AWESOME. we then went out with some of the people from the hostel (like the owners son, Davide, who is around our age) and we were under the impression we were going to some bars near the university. well, we did go to the university. in fact, davide took us to a political rally at the university. apparently they were trying to privatize the university in naples, and the students were not happy with this, so they had taken over the university and were doing a sit in. it was really scary at first because, well, people in naples and naples is just a scary place. but i thought it was really cool, like we were helping this cause or something, i mean i know that i personally did nothing, but i was there and it was an intersting epxerience for sure. especially since going to that rally is exactly the opposite of what IES wants us to do. but, you know you're in a bad city when we asked davide if we could walk back and the response is "oh no. i wouldnt go. in fact, its really a bad idea for you guys to try to find your way back without us." but we did go back shortly thereafter.
the next morning we got back on the train and headed back towards venice since we were real dumb about our flight and did round-trip from venice. but it was ok, we didnt mind leaving naples at all. so that day we spent 7 hours on the train to get back to venice since there was no night train from naples to venice, although again, we didnt mind cuz we wanted out of naples as fast as we could.
we ended up sleeping in the airport that night which wasnt soo bad at first since we got a bottle of brandy and shared that. but i woke up around 5 am and was freezing and not feeling well which was not good. christina and i ended up getting up around 6 and people watched in the airport until noon. im still not sure how sean was able to sleep that long, but he did. we then got on our flight with a bunch of other IES kids and came back to barcelona. however, this flight, was not as enjoyable. i slept through the first half of it, but then we hit a bunch of turbulence and i seriously thought we were going to die. i mean, i know turbulence isnt that big of a deal, but we were all over the place; up, down, being thrown to the left and right, it was crazy. and then the flight attendants got all nervous and were pacing around and checking stuff, and then the captain started playing music which i thought was weird. and then we saw the ocean and were much lower then we should have been, and then after awhile we went back up. it was crazy and scary. but i made it home ok so thats all that matters. although i guess sean saw one of the flight attendants open the cockpit and say something to the captain who responded with a thumbs up and then she looked relieved. so i guess we really were in trouble for awhile...
so that was my trip in a nutshell. i know that was long, but i tried to keep it as short as possible
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