HANNAH!

Sorry it's been so long for a post to come up, I've been pretty busy with school and whatnot. I just finished two finals today and have one each of the next three days. Last week Hannah came on Wednesday and we had a great time. She got in late on Wednesday and we went to the Tea Room for a while and closed it down, it was really great to get to talk to her some more. The next day we had class but for our lunch break we went to the hot sandwich place where I hadn't been in a while. We went to cooking class right after Italian and made meatloaf and ravioli and cream and fruit cake. It was delicious and I was stuffed again. We went out at night to the Galeria by our place because we know the bouncer because we work out with him so we got discount cards there. It was fun and we were out til three. We woke up the next day and we went wine tasting with the group. It was fun we got to tour the castle and then taste a couple wines from there. It was where Chianti Classico was started, which was immortalized in Silence of the Lambs. We went out again that night and then had a picnic the next day in the park. We walked Hannah to her train and her short trip was over. It was great to see her and I'm excited to see everyone when I get back.

Amsterdam

We woke up early with aforementioned feelings of unwellness and made our way to the train station. Oz had told me that the tickets from Brussels to Amsterdam would be about 40 Euro, but we got there and the lady told us 75. I freaked out on her and we got it down to 45 with much pleading and begging. We got to Amsterdam after the three hour voyage and went to find our hostel. Our hostel was in the middle of the Red Light Distrcit, which is actually the safest part of Amsterdam with all the police and security cameras. The hostel was a bit sketchy because we had to lock our things in oil drums to keep it safe, needless to say I kept my things on me the whole time. We walked around in all of the very liberal town that is Amsterdam, we went in a coffee shop and also got the best Chinese I have ever eating, called Wok to Walk. We took in the sights and smells of Amsterdam, we went to the Anne Frank House and then went home to take a nap. We got up and went out for a night on the town. Amsterdam is actually one of the cleaner cities I've been to, no really sketchy people or bums as far as I saw. We went to a bar and met some people from Texas and hung out with them. We woke up the next morning and decided to take the free three hour tour that our hostel offered. It was really good and I learned a ton about Amsterdam, not just the sex and drugs part that everyone thinks of. We returned to Brussels and had a few more beers and some more fries then got on the plane and headed back. This was a really relaxing weekend, filled with fun and food.

Brussels

We flew into Brussels on Saturday morning. We had to get up very early for our flight at like 4 or so and walk the 40 minutes to the train station because the buses don't run in Siena at night. We thought that the girls were going to miss the train, but they made it just in time and we got to the airport and settled in like we always do. We flew into Charleroi, which is 40 minutes south of Brussels so we had to buy the ticket to the central station. We got out into the center Brussels and Oz had given me a ton of stuff to do while we are there. We checked into our hostel, which is the coolest one I have ever stayed at. It had a cool lobby and bar downstairs and our room was really nice and I wasn't worried about people taking my stuff like later in the trip. We left here and went exploring, we saw the really big palace and then got into the middle of town and there was a huge parade going on. I don't remember the name offhand but I will when I get back, but it was just like people who dressed in the same theme and made their floats out of papier mache. There were fish and pirates and skeletons and tall people but mainly pirates. We left here and got down the best part of the trip: Eating. We went and got the famous Brussels fries, covered in sauce, I got Samurai sauce which was pretty hot. Then we got a belgian waffle for dessert, it was unreal. We walked around a bunch and then headed out of town to see the Atomium which housed the 1958 World's Fair. It was cool but it was closed by the time we got there. Apparently it has simulations of many European countries in it. It is hard to describe, just check it out online. Then we went back and started to watch the sunset next to the justice palace, but we were all pretty tired from the day and took a nap. We woke up and decided we didn't want to go out but we wanted to sample the famous Belgian beer that we had heard about earlier when we where checking out the Mannekin Pis, which is the symbol of Belgium. It is a tiny statue of a little boy peeing, and was kind of funny. But we went to a place across the street for our first taste of the beer. I had the Gueze, which is a sour beer. It was really good. Well that night John and I went out and bought a bunch of beer each so we could really test all of the different kinds. Apparently they are much higher alcohol content but you can't taste it, because the next morning did not find us very well.

Last day in Spain

I woke up early because I had to check out but the people let me keep my bags in the hostel because my flight was at like nine PM. This day I hung out with people at the hostel and then went to the science museum. The science museum was the coolest ever and it was just really hands on, I put a bunch of pics up on facebook that would be a lot easier to see than for me to describe I guess. I left here and made my way back to the airport. I made my flight just fine, and got an emergency exit seat. I can never sleep on planes and this ride was no different. I got back to Pisa and met up with some girls from my program randomly. We realized no trains left for Siena until like 5 30 the next morning, so we made a midnight Leaning Tower run. I didn't have a place to stay so I slept in the train station. I tried actually. A crazy lady kept yelling at me so I went away and did the reading that was do in class in like 6 hours. I finally got into Siena at like 7 30 AM and then realized I had class at nine, by the time I made it to the bus stop to take me home, it was 7 45 and the next bus didnt leave until 8 15,s o I just went to AHA and slept in front of the door, since it didnt open until 8 45. I was woken up by my teacher and then went to class. I was fine through this class, but I kept falling asleep in the middle of Italian. I would honestly be talking and then fall asleep, it was bad. I went home and slept from 6 PM until 10 AM the next day. It was a great trip and probably the best time I've had since I got back from Greece.

First Full Day in Spain

This day was a pretty relaxing one during the day. I woke up and made my normal meal of traveling, which is bread and nutella, and orange juice. Mom, I would suggest trying some it is delicious. I finished the meal and made my way on the Metro to the beach. I hung out there for like six hours, and got a little color. I met some German girls who I hung out with for the rest of the afternoon. We had late lunch at a good place where we got sandwiches and drinks. One of them had pretty much perfect english and had studied in the US for a long time. We parted ways and went back to the hostel to hang out for a little bit. I met some girls from Canada as well as people from other parts of Spain. I translated for them for a while then went out to eat. I finally had real meal of Spain. I had Chicken Paella, which was delicious and Horchata, which was ok. Horchata isa milk with sinnamon in it. Paella is a rice dish. I walked around the old city a little while longer, then made it back to the hostel. Where we had a few drinks then went out for Tapas. Tapas are like hors d'oeurves. Just small things that you eat before you go out. We got to the bar at like midnight, which is customary here. It was really fun. The bar had all types of flags up on the ceiling but we did not see a Canadian flag, so the girls drew one and the bartender hung it up. I met some really cool Spanish people and talked to them about what disco we should go to. We went to the dance club at about three and then stayed til five, which is pretty normal for students. It was really fun and I went home and crashed.

First Night in Valencia

I got into Valencia, after sitting next to a very nice Italian women and talking for a while in Italian on the plane. I found my hostel after a bit of trouble, I was pretty rusty with my spanish so I had a hard time thinking of the words to say at first to find directions. I found it and it was the coolest hostel I have been in. It was run by Australians and British like many of the ones that I have been to. This one was very clean and had tons of services that can be used for free, except the internet, but that was very cheap. It had five floors and the top one was a lounge with pool and foosball and books and TV and an outdoor porch to hang out on. There was a huge kitchen with some free food and lots of tables to hang out on. My room had almost all Italians in it, and I talked to them in Italian as much as I could, but it usually goes to English after I have exhausted my vocabulary, but they are more than welcome to help me out. For the whole weekend I spoke Spanish, unless I met people in the hostel who spoke English and not Spanish. After checking out the hostel, I went to the old district of town where all of the old moorish and arabic buildings were. This type of architecture is typified by its geometrical designs, which are really intricate. I went in cool church with a nice altarpiece and roof from the 15 century. It looks a lot different than Italian art, a lot more advanced and realistic for the same time period. Also, in the church was a relic. It was someones arm from the 14th century, it looked really old and wrinkled. After this I just wandered down to the river area which is really developed and has tons of public paths. It has a fountain just like the Ballagio in Las Veags, where the water fountains are synced with music. It also has a really cool children's park with lots of hands on activities and learning stations with mini golf and life size chess and a big play station. After this is a series of waterfalls and cool landscaping that leads to the City of Arts and Sciences. The first one is the Museum of Art, which looks very futuristic and looks like a killer whale to me. The next building is the Hemisferic, which is a hemisphere of dome of glass and underneath is a dome of plastic or metal where they house meetings and conferences. Next to this is the science museum, where they have the coolest science museum I have ever been in, but I will explain that later. Next to this is a really cool Aquarium that is really futuristic looking to, you should check it out on line if you can. They are building more stuff next to it that looks pretty cool. After walking down this big strip I decided to walk back. It started to downpour so I jumped from awning to awning making my way back in the rain. I got online when I got back and wen tot bed early because I was tired.

First Day in Valencia

So I woke up Friday morning and I still had to buy my train ticket to get to Pisa and pack, I managed to both in quick time and then made the train that was just leaving to Empoli, the changing point. I met some really cool people on the train from Michigan and talked to them for a while. They were going to Pisa Centrale and I was going to Pisa Airport. I assumed that since they were so close that they would be on the same train so I mindlessly followed them on the train, bad idea. After their stop I rode the train for a half hour and then had to get on the train going the other way to get back to Pisa Centrale. I got out and caught the bus taht was just leaving to the airport and then sprinted into the checkin area where I caught the person before it closed. Due to the Ryan air policy of free seating I still got an emergency exit row. Nice, More to come later.

8th(?) Week

Eighth week was pretty calm for the most part, I was a pretty big bum and didn't do much exciting. We have started to watch a movie in Italian and it is very European, with random nudity and lots of swearing in other languages, I like it. We had a presentation in art history that was really easy, I just researched one of my favorite paintings and talked about it to the class. We were going to go in the tunnels beneath Siena but it was too rainy, so we couldn't. Weak sauce. I think everyone is pretty sick of art and science, it is just a really boring class, but oh well its almost over.

Padua and Venice

We had to get up early once again to make the trek to Padua. Padua is a hideous city that does not have very much going for it besides a very beautiful chapel. The chapel had some of the coolest frescoes I had every seen though. They had a great big fresco of the last judgment with a lot of cool art of both sides of the judgment. This was all painted my Giotto, a person I had never heard of but have heard plenty about since I have been here. He essentially started renaissance art, no small task. After this we had free time. I went and shopped for groceries because everything in Venice would be so expensive. We took an hour bus ride to Venice, which just looked industrial and ugly at that point. Then we got on a boat and started to get out to the island of Venice. It kept getting more and more gorgeous as we moved up the canal. We finally got to our hotel which was very close to the main square, St. Mark’s. We had dinner when we got there and it was pretty disappointing because we usually have a meat course, and there wasn’t one. We had really good tortellini and tomatoes with mozzarella, but no meat. I couldn’t believe it. After dinner, we decided that Kristen would close her eyes and point to a spot on our map and we would walk there. This is a lot harder than it sounds. Venice is actually criss crossed and cut up by canals and very few of them are crossed at regular intervals by bridges. There are many dead ends and paths that go nowhere. There are no cars there, only handcarts to move products around. We saw the Rialto Bridge at night and it was gorgeous. We hogged the best view point for a long time and the people behind us were getting impatient.

On the first morning that we were there, John and I, who had our own room, woke up early for breakfast. This hotel was amazing because it actually had a good breakfast. Italians normally only have a croissant and some coffee for breakfast, so I have been hurting for a good breakfast for a long time. This place had everything besides bacon and sausages, which I am not going to get greedy for. We explored for a while and then the whole group went to St Mark’s Square and we toured the Duke’s Palace. Our guide was very interesting because he lied a lot about how awesome Venice was. He was telling us it was one of the oldest cities in the world, even though there are probably 100 cities in Italy that are older than it. He was also telling us about this naval battle that was the most important in world history that none of us had ever heard about. After we did our group stuff, some of us split off and went to the islands that are around Venice. We decided that we wanted to go to Burano, which is the place where they make cool doily stuff. We purchased our boat tickets and hopped on the boat. We got off at the stop and walked around the island. I would have never realized it, but we got off on the wrong island. This island was ok, but there was really nothing on it besides some tourists shops and the like. We hopped back on the next boat and went to Burano, which was a very pretty colorful town where we all bought some good gifts for our families. We realized that our boat would be getting back with very little time to spare so we had to hustle back. We raced back and had group dinner, with meat this time, then had free time again. I really didn’t feel like going out due to my lack of sleep recently, so Liz and Dani and I hung out in my room and had some quality time.

The next morning we went to the Museum of Venice where we had the quietest, most boring guide ever. No one really paid any attention to her and we all just kind of wandered off. Nicole’s boyfriend, now fiancée, had flew in and surprised her by proposing in the middle of St. Mark’s Square the day before, so the girls all had something to talk about and were pretty preoccupied. I have heard plenty about everyone’s wedding plans and ideal rings and all that for a while now, but I doubt these chats will abate. After the tour, some of us went for a gondola ride. Our gondolier was cool and I asked him a lot of questions about gondoliering. There are 427 gondoliers in Venice and they all pretty much have their own boats. It is passed down from father to son and you start to learn at about 13. We passed the houses of Mozart and Goethe on the ride out and then crossed the Rialto Bridge, and headed back. It was a lot of money, but it was relaxing and beautiful. It was kind of a rainy day and after our ride we just walked around and window shopped. An island very near Venice, Murano, is world famous for their glass-making abilities, and every shop has unbelievable glass works in them. We took the boat to the bus and then drove four hours home. I finally was able to sleep on the bus so the time passed very quickly. I fell asleep pretty quickly when we got home.

7th Week of Classes

This week was short and pretty easy. We had reading about Galileo for Art and Science, so those were actually interesting and we had some legitimate class discussions, finally, it only took 6 weeks. For Art History, we went to the Church of Santa Maria della Scala, which used to the biggest hospital in Siena. It housed one of the nails from Christ on the cross. This isn’t true at all, but people believed it back in the day, so it brought this place a lot of money and it was a very big political player in the scheme of Italian politics. I have started to go to the University to use their internet because it is free. They do not have very convenient hours though, so I don’t have much time to use it for. It has been a rough week of sleep for me, with a few people very close to me having problems that I am so far away from. They are always in my thoughts and prayers and I will be home soon.

6th Week of Classes

This week was another pretty standard week as far as classes go. We had a paper due in Cross-Cultural studies that I typed during class and handed in, which I got an A on. For Art & Science, we had some longer readings about really boring stuff that is almost completely irrelevant to what we had been learning before. Art History was fun because we got to go out and learn about the big fountain, Fonte Gaia, instead of sitting in class. Then on Wednesday we went to the Piccolomini Library, which I was really excited to go to because it is a library. Unfortunately it is not known for its books, but for its amazing artwork, which was pretty cool, I guess. In Italian we are learning things at a pretty good rate and we had our midterm and oral midterm this week, which I think I did pretty well on. We have to start writing journals for Italian and Matteo, my teacher, wants me to write almost a page a day to keep my improving and trying new grammar styles out. It has finally started to warm up here, so that is nice. We spend most of our time between classes hanging out in the Campo and getting gelato. I went and saw a movie in Italian, Ironman, and could understand most of it, so I was pretty proud of how much I have learned so far. I have been going to the Tea Room a lot lately, and the manager is really cool guy that I have been able to speak to in Italian quite a few times. On Friday we went to Monteoliveto and Pienza. Montooliveto was a cool monastery that had a drawbridge and a big spawning pool for fish. It had a huge renaissance refrigerator and a nice library as well. On Saturday we went to Assisi, where we saw the upper and lower church of St. Francis. The churches were cool and pretty, but I have seen so many that they just kind of run together for me. The town of Assisi was having a reenactment that day so there were tons of people dressed up in period costumes. It was funny to see them all hanging out on break because they were just smoking and talking on their cell phones. We also went to the church of St. Clare, who was a contemporary of St. Francis. We saw many of both of their relics, including tunics and both of their bodies. Their influence on Christianity was their focus on poverty and humanism. So instead of having all of the riches of the Catholic Church, they gave everything away, and focused on the humanity of life and how everyone and everything is equal in God’s creation. It was really interesting to learn about this departure from the norm. After we got back, everyone went to buy tickets to go to the beach on Sunday. After two days of traveling with everyone I decided that I was not going to go again. Liz and I decided to have a picnic at a park near my house. We went to Conad on Sunday and bought a bunch of food and just hung out all day at the park with Italians being very publicly romantic with each other. You can’t escape it anywhere you go, in the campo or anywhere. That night I went to the Tea Room again.

End of Ireland

We went to the Comedy Club, and it was amazing. The MC was a really funny guy that was from Dublin, and he had plenty of inappropriate jokes and funny things to say about everything. He was calling people out in the crowd who were here on the Bachelor or bachelorette parties and it got pretty funny. The first guy on was from Australian, then a guy from Scotland, who was my favorite. He looked like sloth from the goonies. The last guy on was a guy from Dublin, but he wasn’t that funny to me because it was all about Irish history, which I knew very little about, but more than I had because of all of the touring that we had done. After the comedy, the place turned into a night club, where we hung out for a while. After that we walked around Temple Bar area, in and out of a few clubs and pubs. I decided to stay up all night since we had to leave the hostel at four to make our flight at six AM. I hung out with the Dutch girls that we had met the day before. The trip home was exhausting; we had a layover in Birmingham, England for a few hours before we flew back into Pisa, and then took the train, via Empoli back to Siena. We got in at about six PM and I went right to bed.

2nd Day in Dublin

We had a very relaxing day yesterday, Hanks and I just went to the Dublin Writer's Museum and walked around for a few hours. I knew nothing really about most of the authors there. It was pretty cool to see all of it. Then we went to the Remembrance Pond which was neat. Then we went to the parks in the south of Dublin which are really cool and have swans and all sorts of cool water things and stuff. Our hostel is kind of a dump but there are so many international people staying there it is cool. Our roommates are French so we talked to them for a while. We met a guy from Canada that does a lot of stuff with the environment and he was really interesting. Then we met a girl from Spain who I could actually talk to for a while. Then we met some guys from Brazil and Portugal, and they taught us some Portughese, which is very similar to Spanish as well. Finally we met a group from Holland and talked to them about all sorts of things about Holland and Amsterdam and tons of stuff. They study Journalism and are here doing a piece on Dublin. We ended up going out with them and they taught us a bunch of Dutch phrases. Dutch is a very cool sounding language. We went to a bar on the Temple Bar district and just hung out and talked about American politics and other stuff. Today we went to the National Museum, but I was really tired and museumed out so I didn't last very long. And the Museum of Natural History was closed: Bummer. We walked all the way out to their 97,000 seat stadium to check out the Gaelic Athletic Association, it was really interesting and we learned a lot about Hurling, Gaelic Football, and Handball. We also got to do some interactive stuff and got to try hurling which is similar to lacrosse but with a mallet so the ball is hard to control. We also got to try Gaelic Football which is complicated but the ball is a lot like a soccer ball. There were booths to try out you vertical and your balance and your reaction timing too. We walked back and tried to nap but that didn't work out the best, the French girls were being loud in the room. We are going to a comedy club tonight and then to Cobblestone for some traditional Irish music. Our flight leaves and 7 tomorrow from the airport so I think we have decided to just not sleep and stay up until then. Until next time.

First Day in Dublin

We didn't go to class on Wednesday and made our way down to Pisa early so we could check out the leaning tower and everything else Pisa has to offer. Turns out that its not really that much. The tower was cool and we took the typical corny tourist pics, then we decided to get more creative. We got to the airport and figured out all of our plane stuff, Ryanair is a lot more legit that I was told it was, just very low frill. The flight was good, I got cognac in a baggie, which was two for one. It was almost as bad as the Absinthe I drank. I could barely choke it down. We got to Dublin and found our hostel, called The Shining. Not very promising. The lady at the front desk was cool though, our room has 18 beds in it but for the most part we have our own room because it is split in half. I got top bunk. We went out and got Tex-Mex, and man everything is so expensive here. Hanks and I decided that since there isn't really traditional Irsih cuisine that we would just buy some bread and nutella and live off of that, and that is all I have eaten so far.
When we woke up the next day, we had a full day planned. Hanks and I went to Trinity College and checked out the Book of Kells, which is an ancient manuscript written in the 9th century. There was a really cool exhibit in front of that that showed how they bound and made all of these books and with the history of influences on Irish style. At the end was my favorite part, the Long Library of the college, which was amazing, I would suggest that you look it up online because it was like the ideal library. We then met the girls, who did not share our enthusiasm for books, at Dublin castle, where they reserved us a spot on the last tour of the day. It was really cool and our tour guide was funny. He took us through the mediocre past of Irish politics. Not that they don't have any exciting times, but they really don't have much of anything that people want so it hasn't been a very hotly contested piece of land. We got to see the base of the old castle which was built in the 12th century. We then stopped by St. Peter's cathedral, which was cool on the outside, but some people didn't want to pay to get in so we did not go. I will go at sometime because I would like to compare the differences between Irish and Italian cathedrals. Like everything else I have been to this place is under renovation. We then went to the Guiness tour, which is amazing. They just made it and it is quite the impressive building. It takes you through everything that goes into beer and then all of the steps that make up the process of making it. There is a small sample room halfway through, but then at the end, you get a free full pint, which was delicious. I had been building myself up to drinking Guinness since I got to Europe, trying stronger and stronger beers. We re met some girls that were on our plane from Minnesota and Hanks and I got some extra beers because the girls didn't like theirs as much. After that we went to my favorite place yet. We took the tour of the Jameson Whiskey distillery. The tour was guided and the guide was really cool, and since I read my Rick Steve's Tour Book, Hanks and I knew to volunteer enthusiastically to sample the wares. They had mini models set up everywhere about the 8 steps that they take to make this triple distilled Whiskey. In comparison, scotch is distilled twice and American whiskey once. At the end, everyone got a free glass of whiskey, but since I won the rock paper scissors between Hanks and I, I got to be the on the taste testing panel. In front of everyone, they gave us a small shot of the three best Irish whiskeys, Paddy's, Power's, and Jameson's. We had to compare the flavors of all three of them. Jameson is actually very good and doesn't have much bite at all. We had to pick our favorite and then compare it to a small shot of Scotch. Scotch is made by roasting the barley with smoky fire, so it has a smoky, peaty taste to it. It wasn't very good. Then, finally, we had to drink the Jameson against the best selling whiskey in the world, Jack Daniels. After drinking those good whiskeys, the Jack was absolutely unbearable. There was a French guy and some Australians on the panel and they were making fun of me because we drink Jack at home, I looked at them and proudly said that I drink only the best Evan Williams. They laughed pretty hard because apparently Uncle Evan doesn't have the best rep here. After we were done tasting, they gave us another glass of whiskey, I tried mine with ginger ale, it was good. Needless to say, after the two tours, Hanks and I had a slight buzz going. We went home and had some sandwiches and the girls had found a good pub to hang out at for the night. The drinks were really expensive there so we snuck in our own and kept pouring it in the one glass that we had bought. The place was called Fitzsimmons and it had four floors, one had live music, one had another classier bar, and the top floor was a rooftop bar that we hung out on for a while and met a dude from Amsterdam who was fun to talk to. We then headed to the basement, where the club was, and danced until four or so. Today the girls, Piper, Emily, Danielle, and Kelsi, went to the coast, I didn't really feel like going, so Hanks and I are doing all the nerdy things that they don't want to do today. We got kicked out of the hostel at 11 because they close it from then until two to clean I guess. I have loved the emails and would love to hear from more people. Peace, love, and gap.

4th Week of Classes

This week of classes was good, we really didn't do too much new stuff. We made gnocchi and faggioli and tiramisu last night for cooking class and I thought I was going to explode. It was one of the best meals I have ever had, maybe the best. I am excited to come home and cook for everyone. Today is a national holiday in Italy. I did not want to go anywhere really today so I decided to take the weekend to explore and see the sites of Siena and try to find anything cool that no one really knows about on the trip. I was exploring to the south of the city and I ran into some lost 40 year old married women. They had turned the wrong way out of their hotel and were trying to get into the walled part of Siena. I hiked them the 2 miles back and took them to Il Campo, where they bought me an expensive lunch at one of the restaurants on Il Campo. There was the Campo Comedian messing with all of the tourists today. He is a random guy that has a lot of props that squirts people with water bottles and all sorts of weird things, it was really funny. We parted ways and I have been exploring since, I have found some cool picnic areas and some other cool restaurants that I will try out in the next few weeks. It has been getting warmer and warmer here so we are finally hanging out in Il Campo with all of the Italians our age. I am finally getting to be able to converse in Italian so I can almost hold a very elementary conversation. Keep sending emails, I want to know how everyone is doing.

Urbino, Remini, & San Leo

This weekend we took a class excursion to three coastal cities of Italy. We had to get on the bus at eight on Friday morning, the day after Brian, my roommate’s 21^st birthday. I got up a lot easier that he did. We took a four hour bus ride to Urbino, where most people sleep, but Italian buses are smaller than American buses so I have a little trouble getting comfortable but on this ride I did fall asleep, but woke up with a horrible crik(?) in my neck that I still haven’t gotten rid of. We arrived in Urbino and took a little walking tour of the city, which reminds me of Siena quite a bit. We went to the home of Raphael, the master, and also my favorite ninja turtle. We got a break for lunch and we found this gorgeous hill that overlooks the entire town, which has a giant palace that we visit. Since I am not an art history major, nor do I know much about art, I cannot appreciate all of the hundreds of Madonna with Child, Annunciation, and Crucifixions that we see. The palace was cool and really big. We got to go underneath and check out the older stables and how a castle like that was really like a small city with all of the servants and people that kept it running. We left this city after I consumed a gyro, reminiscing of Greece, when I realized I was there a month ago. We took a two hour drive to Remini, a city known for its beaches and clubs. We got to our hotel, where Hanks and I were roommates, and ate a big 3 course meal, and plenty of wine. We took full advantage of both of the fames of Remini, going out to a cool outside bar and then going night swimming in the frigid Adriatic Sea. The next day we went and saw a classic Roman Arch, a medieval church, and a Renaissance temple of a man that reverted to Paganism and made a whole church to himself. There was a market outside after we were finished but most of us were excited to get to the beach in the daytime. We spent a few hours there, building a sand castle and getting sunburnt. After eating a good pizza for lunch, we took an hour drive to San Leo, a community on top of an intense rock formation. The town was quaint with a really old tower. It was ridiculously windy up there and some people got windburn while listening to the lecture. We walked even higher up to the castle on top of the rock, La Rocca. It was impressive and had a torture exhibit, with pictures and diagrams. It also was the place where a famous alchemist was interrogated by the Inquisition and eventually killed. It had a huge exhibit with a lot of old chemistry stuff and how they did these kinds of things in the 15^th century, which you can imagine I was enthralled with. We left here all very tired and I grabbed some road Coronas. I really enjoy these excursions because there are some really cool people on this program and sometimes its hard to hang out in Siena because we all live all over the city and I don’t really like hanging out with big groups. I think that it will get better and better as time goes on though. I just wrote this and the previous two because I am procrastinating writing papers, which I excel at. I have loved hearing from many of you and would love to hear from more.

3rd Week of Classes

I know that I don’t update this blog very often but it is very inconvenient because AHA isn’t open that often and people are always waiting to use the internet and the wireless connection is shoddy. We are working on meeting some kids from the University so that we can use their wireless password. As for school:

Cross-Cultural Studies: This class is cool, we’ve only had two meeting and we just kind of learn about how things work in Siena. We have a paper due today about a gender or sexuality difference that we have seen here in Siena that confuses us or strikes us as different from the American way. There isn’t really any homework for this class, so I don’t really do too much with it.

History of Art and Science: I thought that this class would be the coolest by far, but unfortunately the Professor just kind of asks questions of us about the reading and doesn’t really teach too much. We have readings every once and a while but we have to journal about every excursion that we take and also about every reading, which naturally I have not done and will have to do at the last minute before the first round is due on Wednesday. Hopefully the class picks up because I think that I will go crazy if it doesn’t because class is two hours long and my patience doesn’t last that long. I usually just doodle, I’m getting pretty good at drawing things in the room.

Art History: I really like this class. Our teacher is a funny little man who knows everything about everything art. Almost too much sometimes. He swears a lot and knows what he is talking about is boring when we are just sitting in class so we get out a lot and walk around and study the Art of Siena. We have a paper due on Wednesday about a painting or art work that we have seen that we really liked. I don’t know how I am going to write two pages about it but I think I’ll be able to.

Italian: I really enjoy this class because our teacher is cool and we learn at a pretty good pace. I was allowed to join the second level class, but then I realized that I didn’t want to do all the vocabulary catch up and dropped back down to level one. We have homework every day, which takes like 15 minutes. We have quizzes every Thursday, which I have gotten one question wrong so far so its not all bad. We have learned all the basics, verb conjugation in the present, introductions, ordering in restaurants, getting hotels, household things, and basic vocab for walking around in Siena. The best part of the class, different from the US is that we always have questions about how to say things because we have to use it every day. I’m learning quickly and have just been asking the teacher for other tenses and more vocab so I don’t go stir crazy in the 2 and a half hour class.

As you can see I rarely have homework so most of my day is spent walking around and just relaxing in Il Campo or a park. Hanks and I work out every week day, then I have cooking class every Thursday night. Last week we made our own tagliatelli noodles with a basic sauce, a quiche like thing with potatoes spinach and zucchini. We also made bruschetta as an appetizer. We made this delicious apple cake for dessert that was amazing. The lady that teaches us teaches completely in Italian which we can all pick up on pretty quickly, even if we can’t speak it back yet. This week we made risotto with saffron in it with a beef broth. Then we made kind of a beef meatloaf which is the best I can describe it as. For dessert we made a custard cake. I love making everything completely from scratch and then eating it at the end. The lady buys like 3 bottles of wine for the six of us so we just sit back and eat through our 4 course meals. We get there at like six and leave around 10 or so.

Rome

We decided to go to Rome for the weekend. There were about 12 of us and we stayed in two different hostels. I was in the M&J Place with Emily, Piper, Kelsi, Danielle, and Nicole. We had a roommate that was about our age and one that was a really old guy. We got in late on Friday night because the bus took about 3 hours, so we just did the American thing and went to McDonalds, which was delicious. Piper gave me a cheeseburger to buy her a McFlurry with her own money so that she didn’t look like a whale. It didn’t make sense to me but I was fine with it. The next morning we woke up early and started down towards the center of classic Rome. Our hostel was conveniently located next to the central train station which is only about a mile from Rome, so it was an easy walk. We went to the Coliseum first, which was pretty amazing. I got left behind because I did the audio tour because I am a huge nerd. They also had a very cool collection of Roman processional things from around the time of Christ. I knew that the Domus Aurea was very close so I went to find that next. I did a project on the Domus Aurea for my Classics class in college so I was very excited to see it. I was disappointed to find that there is not much written about it in the place that it is because the emperor Nero, who built it, was a huge jerk who pretty much catalyzed the fall of Rome, and there wasn’t much of it left. After that I went over to the Roman forum and attached to a tour group so I could hear tons of stuff about it. We walked through the old palace of Augustine. The coolest fact about this place was that his dining room was absolutely enormous with a moat inside it which surrounded an island with a big tree on it, I hope to put pics up on Facebook soon. But next to this dining hall, there was a giant pit which used to be filled with water and slaves would stage mock naval battles for intermissions from courses. It used to be considered rude to reject food from the emperor so they had a vomitorium right next door where people would go puke and rally. After walking around all these rooms and hearing more about the vestal virgins and everything I made my way over to the museum of the risorgimiento, which is a relatively contemporary museum that was dedicated to a United Italy. There were a ton of cool pictures and a movie that I watched about Italy until World War I, after which this place was built. A lot of Romans hate it because it sticks out above everything else and is bright white. It was pretty interesting with a Tomb to the Unknown Soldier in the front above which is an absolutely enormous Memorial to Vittorio Emmanuele II, who is seated on a giant horse. I walked over to the Teatro Marcello, which looks kind of like the Colisseum but much smaller. Then I walked over the smallest inhabited island in the world, which I was skeptical about, but whatever, it had a gelato shop that I stopped in, but didn’t buy anything because it was so expensive. The other side of the Tiber river was very quaint and had some cool shops to walk around in. I got to enjoy it at my own pace because of my nerdiness at the Coliseum too. Then I walked around some more and saw some cool fountains, my favorite one over there was the Fountain of Pope Paul, which also had a gorgeous view of the city that I have video of that I hope to put up on Facebook or youtube or something soon. Then I took a wrong turn looking for the statue of Garibaldi and walked through a cool little park. I made it to the statue, which also had an amazing view of the city. I was pretty tired by then and wanted to walk back to my hostel, which was now like three miles away. I walked past Vatican City but did not go in because we planned to go the next day. I went back across the river over a cool bridge with statues every twenty feet. Then I stopped by Piazza Navoria which was like a big open air market. I met some kids who were from New York. One kid had gotten hit by a Gypsy and was trying to talk to the police about it. I think that the cops just didn’t want to do anything about it because they were pretending the didn’t speak English, so I stepped in with my sketchy mix of Italian and Spanish to help them out, even the cops didn’t do anything. The next stop was the Parthenon, which I wanted to get an audioguide to but they were holding Mass soon so I had to leave. Then I saw the Palazzo Montecitorio which had a really cool obelisk with a procession of people going to the top wrapped around it. Right about here my camera died so I did not get pictures of the Fontana di Trevi, which you should look up because it is gorgeous. After that I went to the Fontana di Tritone, where the girls saw a really crazy man. Then I went to Piazza della Repubblica, which had a cool fountain that I sat by for a while and rested because it was a really long day of walking. Then I made it back to my hostel and took a little nap because that night we decided to go out on a Roman pub crawl. We met at the Spanish Steps which were really cool then proceeded to the first pub, we got free pizza and beer there, so we took full advantage. I took second place to Hanks in the beer chugging contest so we had a clean Carleton sweep. We went to two more bars after that then ended up at a club. The club was fun but I decided to leave by myself and proceeded to get lost on the streets of Rome for three hours, eventually wandering in at about 3:45 when everyone else was getting back from the club. The next day we woke up at 7 to get over to Vatican city. We were disappointed to find out that the Vatican Museums are closed on Sundays so I will just have to make it down some other weekend. The Vatican is absolutely unreal though, we got there really early so there was almost no one in the piazza when we were there, it has an unbelievable amount of statues and cool fountains in there though. We went inside and my breath was taken away, the amount of art that is jammed inside the main hall of the cathedral is unreal. I think that Pope John Paul is lying in state there but I couldn’t tell if it was wax or not. We stayed for mass which was all in Latin and we had to stand so it wasn’t very exciting. Then we went outside and hung out for a while and the Pope came out his window and gave a blessing in like eight different languages. By then the piazza was full so it was an amazing experience with different groups cheering for every language. After Vatican City we went and so the fortress that the Pope goes to if Rome is under attack, we almost went in but decided not to. After that we went and got lunch/dinner at Hard Rock Café. Kind of lame, but I needed something with big portions and something that wasn’t either pasta or a panino. Then our time in Rome was up and we took the bus home.

2nd Week of Class

The second week of class was pretty awesome. On saturday we went to Florence and visited their large cathedral. Florence is the rival of Siena so it was funny to hear our Sienese guides talking about the art. The statue of David was in front and it is impressive. It was gigantic, a lot bigger than I thought. We stayed after the excursion and walked to a cool Chinese place. We were all a little cranky after we got back so we decided to go to the bar. We ended up having a great time and Piper and I tried Absinthe. On Sunday we went to the soccer game which was really fun and there were some awesome plays. The crowd was lively and singing the entire time. Hanks bought an entire soccer outfit, which only 5 year olds were wearing so that was pretty funny, I just bought a scarf. The week has been good so far, I don't really like my Art and Science class it has potential but the teacher is a little scatterbrained. Our cross cultural studies class is interesting and we get to go to the university and meet with italian students who are learning english and we help each other. I really like Italian and almost moved up to level II because level I was pretty easy, but decided against doing that much work. I love art history the professor is really cool and he knows so much. On tuesday we went to il Duomo and he explained so much of the art to us. Looking at it closely opens up so much more of the stories that are behind the art. There was usually only one giant window that shed light inside the cathedral, so there was a lot of new testament were the light would be, then farther away was the old testament, and further away was pagan art, so it is an entire progression of the rise of Christianity. Today we went to the crypt and the museum of the cathdral, which were cool too. We got a great panoramic view of the entire city and Tuscan landscape. We are going to Rome tomorrow and it should be amazing. I have my cooking class tonight, we are making our own noodles and a bunch of stuff. I would still love to hear from anyone so give me a shout out.

First Week of Class

This will be short because I am on my 15 minute break from Italian. Class has been good, we have been mainly walking around Siena for class and learning tons about all of the art and architecture. The city is split into 17 different contradas inside the walls. Each of these contradas is represented by an animal and colors, so as you walk through the city, the colors and depictions on the wall change. Italian is pretty easy so far because it is so similar to Spanish. Hopefully we pick up the pace soon. If anyone actually reads this besides my family, not that I don't love to hear from them, I would love to get some emails of how things are going wherever you may be. We went out last night for Nicolas's birthday so that was fun, the bartenders are starting to know us, our favorite place is Masgalano. I have been working out with John a lot so I am pretty sore, but its good.

Happy Birthday Amelia

Happy 18th birthday kiddo, Im proud of you and hopefully I figure out the phone so I can call later. Go smoke a pack of cigarettes. JK mom.

Siena So Far

I have been in Siena for three days now and it is amazing. I have an apartment with Hanks, Nicolas, who is from Oregon, and Brian who is from Oregon. The only other guy on the trip is Steven and he is living with a host family. Our apartment is cool, we have a big 15 foot door that automatically opens when we use are magnet card. Our rooms are on the second floor, where we have a kitchen and a bathroom, no common room but Nicolas and my room is pretty large so we can hang out in there. Nicolas taught us how to play the Korean jacks game called Kongi, which I have struggled with. We had our orientations, which were very boring but it was ok because I just doodle anyway. We got walked around town so we saw Il Campo, which is the main gathering space next to the town hall. We went in to the town hall and saw all the beautiful artwork in there, which are one of the first example of secular works to be depicted in an administrative building. Siena used to be one of the powers of Italy, but when the black plague worked its way through Europe, around 90 percent of the population died as opposed to 50 in most other places. It was because Siena had such a great drinking water system that the rats that carried the plague swam in and got everyone infected. We then toured Il Duomo which is the Senese cathedral, which was also noted for its secular art right where the Cardinal would make his entrance. Then we got served our gigantic three course meal, which started with prosciutto and salami with toasted bread with a oil and mushroom combination, then a pasta dish, which was ravioli with cheese inside, then the meat dish which was pork wrapped in bacon with a crust of bread, absolutely amazing. Then for dessert we had a tort with raspberry sauce. I didnt have to eat for the rest of the day. We were introduced to the cooking class, which will end up being 250 Euro but it will definitely be worth it, since we are learning how to make pasta and all sorts of dishes. I have been spending a lot of start up money recently and I feel terrible but once all the preliminary stuff is over it should be fine. Hopefully I will be able to get Skype running soon, but since we dont have wireless in our apartment yet I cannot. Cant wait to talk to everyone.

Travelling

Athens metro is nice. My flight was a little delayed, but it was fine and I got on the bus to the central station in Milan. The ride there sucked because the little Italian kid behind me wouldn’t stop yelling and his parents wouldn’t say anything and I was about to be that American. I missed my first train so I had to sit there for three hours, which sucked because it was cold but I read one of the books that Uncle Mike gave me. I went from Milan to Verona, no Montagues or Capulets, then got a connector to Florence. This ride was interesting because I was in a cabin car with five Italians, who talked for the entire time, even though it was from 3 AM til 7 AM. I didn’t mind that much and apparently they thought that I was Italian or something because they decided to ask me a question in the middle of their conversation and I’m sure my face just went duhhhhhh. They didn’t speak much English or Spanish so I was SOL. We communicated that I was tall and where I was going, but that’s about it. I could understand a lot of what they were talking about but definitely couldn’t contribute. They were talking about the regional differences in dialects which was interesting, because sometimes someone would use a word and the other wouldn’t know what it meant. Then I got to Florence and got my connector to Siena and slept the whole way. I took the bus to my hotel and it is amazing. The streets are so narrow and the buildings are pretty tall so it feels very crowded. I met some girls from the program and we went to breakfast, then walked around for a while, so the Campo and Il Duomo. I decided to come back and take a nap before we were all supposed to meet at four.

Athens

Today wasn’t very eventful, I slept in for the first time and went and got a gyro. The guy at the shop knows me now. They are only a Euro seventy so definitely worth it. I talked to Galen today for a while and he gets to go visit CERN, which makes me very jealous. I talked to an Aussie couple today who had there boat ride to Mykonos cancelled and they did not get a refund from the boat company or the very expensive hotel they had booked. They decided to stay in the Student and Traveller’s Inn again and try again the next day. Cassie left and Oz took her to the airport. When he got back we went to the Hill of the Muses, and it was so windy that I got wind burn on my face. We randomly ran into some people that Galen and Oz had met before so we walked with them to the original 1896 Olympic Stadium. We went back to the courtyard with some Mythos and the Aussie couple and some other Anglicans were already pretty deep into the sauce. They were loud and hilarious and entertaining to watch. There was a lady that was probably about forty that decided to climb up a pole and hang upside down by only her feet, pretty impressive. The next morning we went and got some delicious crepes and hung around until I had to leave, then Oz and the Eau Claire girls escorted me to the Metro.

Second Day on Hydra

We woke up early and it was a great day. Went and got an Omelette, which was the size of a dinner plate and stacked high. We walked around to the shops so that we could see if there were any presents to be found. We hung out on the beaches, which are actually made of cement and built into the side of the mountain like terraces. We took another Flying Cat back, this trip was not bad at all. We tried to get into the Athen’s backpackers but it was full so they suggested Student and Traveller’s Inn, which turned out to be pretty cool. We got there and got the last five beds in the dungeon, which I think might have actually have been a dungeon at some point. Oz’s buddy Galen came late that night, he’s a nuclear engineering major at Madison. There was a big open air courtyard at this place, so we deicded to get some Mythos and hang out with all of the people there. We met some girls from Michigan and a couple from Eau Claire and played some King’s. We took a walk around the perimeter of the Acropolis, because it is closed at night. I did almost bribe a guard to let us in for 50 Euro though, which would have been sweet.

First day on Hydra

We woke up early to walk to the port, which was about 2 miles away from our hotel/apartment deal. We took a Flying Dolphin this time, which was not even close to as bad as the last one, much to our relief. We got to Hydra and realized that it was just as beautiful as Poros, but an entirely different type of beautiful. Hydra is built on a mountainside and the houses are a lot older than on Poros. It is the traditional white buildings with blue trim and narrow streets. Every person we talked to told us that when we got there we had to ride the donkeys up the mountain, because they do not have cars on Hydra. There is one Garbage truck. There was a gathering of gentlemen who were peddling donkey rides at the port so we decided to take one right after we bartered for a hotel. We asked the ass man how long the ride was and he said fitee minutes, which we all took as fifty, but naturally it was only 15 minutes for ten Euro. Damn. Fun ride though. We stopped at a bakery after and had some great ham and cheese sandwich things. We decided to take a walk to see some of the views that Hydra has to offer. Hydra is much bigger than Poros, so we thought we would walk around only part of it. The problem was, the trail is not marked, so we walked for two and half hours and we got to a gate that said we couldn’t go any farther. Bennet was feeling really ill so we just decided to walk back, dejected and very tired. There were some beautiful views, but we saw the same view for like an hour because we had to make our way up a steep hill. We got back and the weather had cleared up quite a bit, so Cassie, Oz, and I decided to check out the other side of the island. We made it about a quarter of a mile and sat down and waited for the sunset, which was kind of disappointing, but fun to relax and watch and polish off a bottle of wine. Then we went to Lulu’s where I had the best Carbonara I’ve ever had, I’m pretty sure the guy used a whole stick of butter in it. That’s ok, we walked like 10 miles that day. After that we just went and chilled on the dock and talked for a while, and polished off another bottle of wine.

Second day on Poros

It’s been a while. The second day on Poros was amazing. We got up early and rented four-wheelers for the day. We zipped around all of the island that was paved. It is kind of mountainous so we had to do a lot of switchbacks and stuff. Bennet and I continued our domestic partnership since Jessman and Heather left and its only us and Oz and Cassie, and for whatever reason they always do things together. Heather barely made her boat, the gate was raising when she got there. Lucky. The first really cool thing that we saw was a monastery that was tucked into the side of the mountain. We wanted to go inside, but it was siesta hours so we could not. Our hotel was on the south side of the island so when we got to the north side of the island we were confronted with an absolutely amazing view. It was too gorgeous to describe with words or to portray with pictures, so you’ll have to go for yourself. We made our way down to the rocky beach, and I decided I wanted to do some climbing. Not like straight up but we made our way around the cliff and there was a group of Parisian students that were hanging out on a big rock about 25 feet above the water. A few of them jumped off and I enjoy a good rush, so I did and it was amazing, Oz got a good pic. We jetted back up the mountain and explored Poseidon’s Sanctuary, which was kind of disappointing, but we got some good senior pics in. We returned our four wheelers, and the lady that worked at the shop had lived in America before and she decided she wanted to talk to us for an hour straight about a lot of things. She was really interesting but she repeated herself a lot. She made fun of emo people, so that was funny. She talked a lot about how she wanted to kick her kids out of the house at 18, but that is against the grain in Greece and she says she gets a lot of flak for it from her neighbors. We left the conversation and walked by a soccer game to get some food for the night. We got a new wine from our neighbors and it was even better than the night before. Another early night.

Second Day on Poros

We woke up early today and decided we were going to 4-wheel around the island, we went and got them and then I decided to check out the Internet cafe. More to come later.

Ride from Hell and the First Day on Poros.

We woke up late. We pretty much had to sprint out of our place and go run to the hostel to check out, then hail cabs and we barely made it on time to catch the hydrofoil to Poros, which was about an hour away by these speedboats. We got on the boat and it seemed pretty cool, I bought a meat thing that was pretty good, which I would regreat later. The boat started to go, and everytime it hit a wave, it was like we hit a jump. We got the willies everytime and me and Heather and Jess were enjoying it, but we looked over and Bennett sprinted back to the bathroom area. Since it was Oz's 21st the night before he was not in great shape and this ride was probably the worst thing that he could have done besides taking the tilt-a-whirl to Poros. He also went towards the back. Cassie said she didn't feel well at all, so I decided that we were going to play Survivor to see who would not throw up. It was honestly like torture, getting the willies every five minutes for like 30 seconds in a row. We could not do anything about it. People all over the boat were throwing up and I thought the old man next to us was going to die. Jessman folded first and went to the back, so it was only me and Heather left. Heather said she didn't feel well so I decided that I won and went to the back to check on the guys. Jess and Bennett were just standing and Oz was sitting on the steps. We hung out back there the whole time, with lots of people coming back to throw up, it was so bizarre. We were so relieved to get off the damn boat. It was raining when we got to Poros, so we ate a little cafe. It was actually Oz's birthday so Cassie got him a really good chocolate souffle. The rain let up so we decided to walk around. THis island is exactly what you think about when you think of Greek islands. Absolutely gorgeous. It was raining but that did not hamper our spirits or our view. We went and got ingredients to cook with and on the way back got gelato. We got back to the room and cooked our meal of rice, greens, sausage, pineapple curry and garlic. One of the better meals I've had. The people across from us make their own wine, so we bought some from them and it was good, very earthy but good. We just relaxed for that night and hung around our room, talking about funny stories from high school and drinking wine. Great day.

Second Day in Athens

We woke up and everyone was excited to go see the Acropolis and other sites. We checked out of the main hostel and stored our stuff there because we decided to upgrade to a flat for only a few Euro more. We went to the Acropolis again and it was crazy packed, the day was a little overcast so it wasn't quite as cool as the day before. We saw everything again and had lunch at the same cafe I had eaten at the day before. After exploring the city some more we tried to figure out what we were going to do for the next few days, because we wanted to head to the Islands. Since Jess and Heather, who wasn't even here yet had to leave soon we decided that we would stay at the close islands and not head out to Santorini which is very far away. We went to a travel agent and he was a jerk so we looked around for more. The lady at the tourist information site was awesome so she convinced us to go to Poros, Hydra, and Egina. We went and booked our stay with a guy that was also awesome and knew people on every island and got us some great deals. We got a ferry over and a hotel to stay at for the night for only 35 Euro. We decided that we had had enough of eating out so we were going to cook that night in our flat. We went and picked up a bunch of supplies and made a good pasta dish and had local wine with it. I also found a new drink that I enjoy that I think is Greek, it might not be but I haven't seen it in the states. It's called Gordon's Space and it tastes like Mike's Hard Lemonade. After dinner we went to our old hostel for a while and then our bartender took us to another place where he knew the people. It was pretty far away so we took cabs. Our cabdriver was awesome and I asked him a ton of questions about Greek. He explained the Greek-Turkey rivalry, why all British people are the thieves of history, and the belief system of the Greek Orthodox, so it was a good ride. We got to the bar, and the next day was Oz's birthday, so we bought him drinks. I met some really cool girls from Latvia and we talked a lot about American music and life in Latvia, which, thanks to playing dumb games on the internt, I knew where it was, so I made a good first impression. They did not know where Minnesota was so I was a little mad. When we left the bar, we decided we didn't want to take a cab and we were going to walk. It was fun, but it took a long time because we were probably four miles away. It's a good thing that you can see the Acropolis from everywhere so we just followed it, much like moths going to a light, which I'm sure is what we looked like. We walked back with some girls from Austria, and we talked about school in each place and tons of other things. It is awesome to here so many different perspectives on living from people my age. We got back to the hotel at like 3:30AM and we realized that we had to wake up in like 4 hours because we had to get to the port to catch a ferry. We got to bed quickly.

Rest of the First day of Greece

After I found the internet cafe and watched the strike., I had some exciting times. Since I had plenty of time I decided to just walk and see what I could see. I walked through the steets and came upon some archaelogical sites. The first one, which I could go into for free because I am a student , so I'm glad I packed my student ID card, was Hadrian's Library, which was pretty amazing to look at. Cool columns. The Acropolis was visible from here so it was almost overwhelming. After the library I walked past a little idyllic cafe, so I thought I would sit down and have a beer and soak in the city a little. The guy gave me a Mythos, which is the local lager, which was delicious, even if it was two in the afternoon. I found this and the Roman Agora before I climbed up to the Acropolis. I got up to the Acropolis a little late in the day so there were very few people there. It was awesome to be able to just check everything out without crowds of people there. I went down the other side of the mountain because I could still not find where I had to stay that night because no one I talked to knew where Makri Street was. I got down and the street was right there so I checked in my hostel. I was the first one there out of our group, so I decided to talk to some people. I met these girls and asked them where they were from and one of them was good friends with Oz's girlfriend Cassie, who would be there a few hours later. After saying "What a small world" a few times, we talked to some other people. The next people we talked to went to Hawaii Pacific where I played last year for bball. I met a cool guy named Allen that I hung out with for the afternoon, we found a good Gyro shop with the girls for dinner, and then went back to the hostel. THe hostel had a bar in it, so we started to have some drinks when it opened at six. Oz and Jessman made it there at like 10 so I was very excited to see them. We went to a bar with the rest of people in the hostel and it was cool because the hostel bartender knew the people and got us some great deals on drinks. Because of the strike that day, it was hard to get to our place from the airport so Cassie and Bennett got in very late and we were all just relaxing back at the hostel when they came in. Great first day.

Milan and First Day in Greece

I have found a internet shop right next to a smut store so I thought I would update before I forgot anything. After Philadelphia, I had a long plane ride to Milan, I can never sleep on planes because I have a terrible time equalizing my ears. I got to Milan and stored my big checked bag so all I have to carry around for the week in Greece is my backpack. Once arriving in Milan I realized that I shouldn't have left 12 hours between my flights. After cursing my idiocy I bought a ticket into Milan, which actually took about an hour to get into town, so that wasted some time. Once I got there, I was frustrated out of my mind with the impossibility of finding my way around. I realize that Milan was not built so that I could get to where I needed to go, but there was no tourist info area (so I thought) and the streets are not labeled conventionally(American conventions of course). The Stazione Central was a great big building with cool artwork and a cascading train update board. I finally stopped walking around the Stazione after about an hour and purchasing a map that I couldn't even read. I finally found the unmarked tourist info area and went inside and the man inside was great and he gave me a map and drew all the directions I would need and where I should go see. Promptly throwing out my old map, I took off towards Il Duomo. Since I had plenty of time, I decided that I did not want to take the Metro bus to Il Duomo, which was about 2 miles away. I am very glad that I did not, because walking through this part of Milan was gorgeous and relaxing. I stopped at the classiest McDonalds I have ever seen, it had all gold lettering and was inside a really nice station, I forget the name, but I will remember it once I have everything on hand. I stepped out of the other side of the station and saw Il Duomo. I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped. I have never seen architecture like this before, it was absolutely amazing. It is covered with thousands of spires and the front doors are probably 30 feet high. I was taking pictures from the mall in front of it and a guy puts some corn in my hand and a flock of pigeons flies at me and covers me and he takes my camera and starts snapping pictures. I brushed them off and got my camera back and he tries to tell me that it was 20 Euro for the service he provided me. We (I) decided that .50 Euro would be better and I went inside. I'm sure I will top this on my stay in Europe, but Il Duomo is the most beautiful building I have ever seen. I could not believe all of the stained glass, and statues, and paintings that were all in one place. I took pictures because I can't even describe it right now. I went downstairs and saw the resting place of a 16th century cardinal. I left and was amazed for a while. I walked back to the bus and it was only 3 pm, I still had 2 and a half hours before I could even check-in for my plane. I got back on the bus, and I just crashed. I slept the whole way back, then woke up and slept in the airport. I got my ticket and then got on the plane and came to Greece. Once in Greece I had to find my hostel, which was actually a decent hotel. It had TV and my own bathroom so I was happy. I woke up this morning after having slept for the first time since I left Carleton and I felt great. I have been walking around downtown Athens all day and there is a strike going on so none of the buses are running. I hope Oz can get into Athens. I ate at a small Gyro place and it was absolutely delicious. Those are all the updates for now. Everyone should message me on facebook with your numbers because I forgot to write them down and I want to call people, while I have downtime.

Illadelph

I have made it Philadelphia. They have a program where college kids get free wireless so I thought I'd take advantage since I have a 3 hour layover here before flying to Milan. The flight over was really bumpy and it was a tiny plane so it wasn't that great. Since I got maybe a half hour of sleep last night, I just knocked out for the whole ride. The Philadelpha airport is pretty cool, it has some cool art.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, I'm not sure, this place is staffed by about 30 of the guys from My New Haircut, which is pretty fun to walk around and see that these people are actually real.

Well, I'm going to get some Hibachi now. Peace

The Worst Day Ever

It's been a long day. Of course the only time that I lose my wallet is the Friday before I go to Italy. I didn't want to report the wallet missing yet, so I didn't do anything Saturday, in case it turned up. By today, today being Sunday to me, as I am up late packing, I needed to figure out what I was going to do because my Driver's License, Credit Card, and Check Card were all in there. My Grandma called a bunch of people and found out that there was a Wells Fargo that is open on a Sunday, but it was in Chaska. I finished moving out of my house at Carleton and started to drive to Chaska. I got to the stop light and my car sputters out. I figured I just didn't warm it up enough. It sputters out next to QB club and I was freaking out because I didn't think that I would be able to get to Chaska. Thankfully the Eckhoffs came to my rescue. Annie came and picked me up and Ellen let me use their car to go to Chaska and then the mall to pick up some last minute things. Since the rest of my family is in Mexico, I was in a pretty bad mood today. It's all over though, and I got to hang out with Herm, Karnick, and Tommy tonight, so that was cool. Tomorrow I will be flying to Milan Malpensa, then to Athens Greece, I need to figure out which Hostel to go to in Greece or I am in trouble because I will not have met up with Oz and them.