Basically if you read all of this you deserve an award or something...yeah for sure.
So back on Thursday March 4th we went to the Opera to see the ballet. We all got dressed up and were really excited to go. The Opera house was beautiful. But we were all very disappointed. We paid ISA (the program we're all here through) somewhere around 10,500 euros to be here. They bought us the CHEAPEST tickets they could for the ballet. The girls I sat with and I were in the VERY BACK of the entire Opera house. Our knees were in the people's backs in front of us and our backs were killing us the whole time. For the money we're paying we deserve better seats than that. The ballet, La Dame aux Camélias, was beautiful. The ballerinas were top notch. But ISA? Really, get your shit together. I'm blessed to be here but we got ripped off. For real. 
The next morning it was off to Ireland. I think I got up at like 4:30 to make sure I was ready for the metro. I managed to still get there super early though so waited like 40 minutes before the girls got there. It was cold but no big deal at all. We got to the airport at like the perfect time to board almost right away. Security was super easy which was weird to me but they were SOOO anal about the size of our bags. But all went smoothly. We got into Dublin and headed to the hostel, Abigail's Hostel. It was a really nice place and the people were super nice. We couldn't quite check in so we left our bags and went to explore. On our way in either Julie or Tanuja said "we should get tattoos" soooo of course we went to check out tattoo parlors and made an appointment. We grabbed some pizza (and I got jalapeno bites yum) and headed to the parlor. We found out that the tattoo shop was the first in Ireland and had just been the now owner's grandfather's house before because tattoos were illegal. Patrik, our artist, was so nice though his English was fairly limited. We all got 4 leaf clovers on our hips. They are tiny and very well done. If anything for me it represents how much I totally fell in love with Ireland. It was like as soon as I got there I felt like I was at home. The other girls totally love Paris, and I mean I like Paris, but Ireland...wow I could really be happy there long term. That night we were supposed to meet up with Julie's friend but he was running late and we were hungry. So we ended up finding a chinese buffet for like 9 euros. It was pretty decent and her friend ended up finding us there. From there we tried to see Alice in Wonderland but it was sold out so we bought tickets for the next day and headed to meet him friends. One was spanish and one was french. Absolutely hilarious. They took us to a traditional irish pub where some guys tried to teach us to Irish dance and we got to listen to some traditional music. It was a lot of fun. We got to see the famous Temple Bar area which was a lot of fun. There were people everywhere just having a good time. From there we went a more "modern" club. It was like 6 floors or something ridiculous like that? We stayed for a while and danced. Drinks were ridiculous so I didn't bother and since we had been up since 4-430 am we were getting pretty exhausted. We ended up losing the guys and headed out for the hostel, and most importantly sleep.
The next morning we grabbed what was left of breakfast, not much, and headed out for the Guiness Factory. Here came the next big difference between Paris and Dublin. We got on a bus and weren't really sure where to get off. The bus driver was so nice! He leaned back over to make sure we got off where we needed! I was shocked. In Paris it is really every man for himself. Let's think back to the noctillien bus where they looked at us and drove off. But anyway we finally got there and explored the factory. It was set up really well and I know I learned more than I could have imagined about Guiness. Guiness (arthur I think might be his first name?) leased the land that the factory is on for 9,000 years. How crazy is that?!? There were sample of nearly everything. At the top there was what they called the "Gravity Bar." Absolutely beautiful. It sat at the top and was glass all the way around so we got a 360 degree view of Dublin. A free Guiness was also nice. We bought some souvenirs and headed to the bus stop again. There was the next kind of shock. Several people stopped to make sure we knew to stick out our hand, like you would with a cab, to get the bus to stop. In Paris...yeah people would watch you struggle. It was very nice. I seriously love this country.
From there we wandered around Dublin more, not making it to the Dublin castle unfortunately. We found a rock that we THOUGHT was the rock youre supposed to kiss for luck...yeah not the right rock. We got cute pictures though, haha. There were random street dancers, leprechauns, and other random Irish things everywhere. We stopped into a few shops where I mostly just stood there. I just don't like spending money on clothes...even at home...so abroad I'd rather spend money on seeing things. But I didn't mind the other girls wanting to shop some and we did find an Urban Outfitters which I haven't been able to find since I lived in Texas. After we headed back to get ready for dinner and the night. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner which was pretty nice. It was the smallest one I've ever been in but the people were nice. It did take FOREVER though. But I have come to figure out that that's the European way in general. I got a veggie burger which was really good. The problem was we then had to run across Dublin to make our movie. On a full stomach it wasn't so much fun. We made it just in time though. The weird thing there was that they have assigned seats for inside the theatre. It's actually kind of nice because you can get them before and get better seats. Also then you don't risk not being able to sit by the people you are there with. The movie was in 3-D and decently good. I thought the story line was rushed and it wasn't really what I expected. But at the same time Johnny Depp was absolutely amazing and the graphics were beautiful. At that point we were pretty exhausted though so we headed home.
Okay so Sunday. Sunday was my absolute favorite day of the trip. We had to get up early and for some reason I couldn't sleep so got up and started getting ready but didn't want to wake the other girls if they could get an extra half hour. It was like 7:15 when I decided to get up after all. We had booked the Wild Wicklow Tour on Friday when we got in and had to be at the bus at 9. We made it maybe a minute or two late and could already tell it was going to be fun. There was a bottle of Jameson Whiskey sitting right next to the driver's seat. It was going to be a good day. Our tour guide, Steven, was amazing. First we went around Dublin where he told us some random facts that we might not have otherwise known. We stopped by the water to walk some and get some good pictures. It wasn't cold out...but by no means warm either...but there were several groups of people swimming. The water was beautiful. A bright blue that I didn't think was actually possible. From there we went to see the Avoca handweavers little town area. We got coffee (which Steven put some whiskey in back on the bus) and got to shop some. I found a really cute little notebook to keep in my purse for when I get inspired to write and don't want to forget my ideas. I also got love letters by great women and men which was inspired by the book in Sex and the City. Looking forward to reading it. After we went into the countryside. We got to see the Guiness Lake where the water that goes into the beer comes from. Steven gave us all shots of whiskey to do over the lake. So cool haha. We saw where Excalibur, Braveheart, and P.S. I love you were filmed. Pictures on the P.S. I love you bridge were definitely a highlight. We saw the bogs and learned a lot about Ireland's past. This is also when I definitely decided I was head over heels for the country. Lunch was in this little part of town and Steven sat with the three of us. We all exchanged stories and he bought us chocolate. Always a good way to a girl's heart. He is one of like 8? I think and plays soccer. Very nice guy. I had vegetable lasagna which was delicious. After the bus took us (I'm trying to not say "we" so much) to the Glendalough area where there are the upper and lower lakes along with a really old monastery. If you can ever make it there, seriously go. The lakes were breath taking, my absolute favorite pictures from the trip are there. If the blog agrees with me I'll post some of them. The monastery was also amazing. There was a tower that single girls are supposed to run around three times in order to be married in the next year. We did it. I don't want to be married in the next year though. There's also a huge cross that you try to reach around...looks easy...not so much. I got some pretty pictures of the old graves as well. From there we went back to the hostel to meet up with our new friend, Ben, to go to dinner. We went to a little Irish restaurant that the hostel recommended. It was a nice end to the weekend. They made their own beer which was pretty good. I had pasta and stole some of Tanuja's AMAZING salmon to put in it. We went to the Temple Bar and bought an over priced drink before heading back to get some sleep.
Our flight was super early and by then we had definitely all worn at each other. But the trip was definitely worth it. I absolutely love Ireland and if I could go to graduate school there I might seriously think about it. Monday all day I worked on unpacking and relaxing. I had a paper to do, but I of course put it off until late that night. Typical.
Quickly the next week: Tuesday I had french and then my midterm in Advanced Critical Thinking. (5 questions: 1. an example of a closed question 2. an example of an open question 3. give an example of a quote 4-5 two questions about the book we're reading) Kind of a joke but appreciated that it's relaxed. I actually really liked the paper I wrote for the other part of it, so we'll see. That night I attempted to study for the midterm the next day. Wednesday midterm in Post-Impressionism that totally kicked our asses. We had seen like 700 paitings...so we attempted to study them. Not a SINGLE one we studied was on the test though. We'll see how she decides to grade that since every one felt the same. After we grabbed sandwiches and Sasha had to work. That week wasn't very exciting because I didn't want to spend a lot since we were headed out of the country for a week. Thursday I had class and then Maggie and I went to the Frog for dinner because Dany had a meeting. John, Sasha's manager, didn't realize who we were and screwed us into buying a bottle of water. When we called him on it he said we were the one's lying. Thankfully Sasha kind of called him out on it when he was bragging about it out back. Not impressed. So we went to the Little Temple Bar to have a cider before heading back.
Friday was just studying all day and then a quiz that afternoon in class. I didn't go anywhere that night. Saturday Sasha got her tattoo, I couldn't watch though so I went shopping with Maggie. I finally found a lighter jacket that was only 30 euros and I got a hat and two tank tops...all very reasonably priced. It takes a lot for me to shop but these were actually things I needed. I've realized I didn't bring much for clothing and I don't know what I'll do when it's warmer. That night I ate alone because Maggie went out and Dany wasn't hungry or something. Yet Dany still made me like a full 5 course meal. I ate bits of everything to try to make sure she knew I tried. I packed and finally made it to bed around three...had to get up at 4:30. Good job Jenn.
I woke up at 4:30 just as Sasha was coming home from work for us to head out to the airport. Needless to say we were both pretty much dead. We got to the airport kind of early so we got some overly priced breakfast food at the airport and hung out before going to the gate. And then not only were we early, but our flight was delayed "at least 30 minutes." It is quite amusing to watch who moved from the gate and who stood there confused. Clearly some did not know English, Italian, or French...or just chose to ignore it. After a while though most did go sit. When we finally got on the plane Sasha and I passed out immediately. I woke up about an hour later to find that we were STILL sitting on the runway. I've never understood the point in making people wait on the runway...especially while running the plane and wasting gas. But whatever we finally made it. From the airport we took a 30 minute bus to the center of the city. Oh I forgot an important part. Sasha forgot to write down our hostel name, location, all that jazz. So all morning I was frantically trying to get a hold of people via facebook on my kindle (thank god for the kindle on this trip I might add) so they could log onto Sasha's email. Luckily Devan sent us the initial information and then Maggie sent us not only the phone number and all that but how to get there from the train station. Thank god for good friends. So after the bus we took the Rome metro to our hostel. I might add that their metro is only a euro whereas Paris is 1.60 euro. Our hostel was adorable. It was called the Rome Student House. It was only a little common room, a tiny "kitchen," two small bathrooms, and three rooms with 6 beds each. The man that was there most of the time was awesome. One night he gave us brandy and the next he came in to give Sasha and me tea he had made along with chocolate. Anything we needed help with he was awesome. If you go to Rome stay there. It's not the top-notch luxury, but you'll feel at home. After we tried to go to the colosseum but with all the delays it was too late. So we wandered for a while, grabbed our first Italian pizza...and searched for about an hour for an ATM. Of course when we finally found one there were like 10. We also saw strange seagulls standing on each other's backs...nope not doing anything...just standing there like he wanted to see more. So weird. After we headed to the hostel and got ready for dinner. We went to a little restaurant that turned out to be amazing. I got rice with seafood (muscles, clams, shrimp, etc) and Sasha got pasta with mushrooms. We ordered a bottle of the house red and sat there for quite a while. The house red proved to be stronger than we thought, especially when combined with our exhaustion. We were supposed to try to find Sasha's friends but since the directions they gave us (get off the metro and go up the hill) were less than perfect we gave up quickly and went back to the hostel for some much needed sleep.
The next day we were off to the ruins. We got gelato milkshakes for breakfast...haha. They were good but not worth the price to be honest. First we went to the colosseum where we were immediately harassed by street vendors. So annoying. It might actually be worse here than it is Paris. They try to make you feel guilty for ignoring them in Italy, "excuse me miss...miss? MISS?" Yes I'm ignoring you, you can stop trying now. We finally got to the line where people tried to sell us guided tours...ignoring them we were finally in. The colosseum was pretty cool. I wish we had been able to see more of it...more down below and above...but it was still nice. It was also nice that the sun was out so we didn't mind walking. There were cats everywhere too...and people feeding them which made me happy. From there we grabbed lunch on the street, kind of a mistake, not the best sandwich, but not the most expensive either. We headed to Palentine Hill and the Roman Forum to sit and eat. I hadn't realized how horrible the weather in Paris was until being here. We would just stop and sit for 20 minutes at a time and just enjoy the weather. The hill and forum were amazing. It was crazy to try to picture what used to stand there. The other nice part was it wasn't too terribly crowded because there was such a large amount of ground to cover. We found more cat friends along the way and just enjoyed the afternoon in the sun. After we got ready for dinner and headed towards where we thought the Trevi Fountain was. Most amusing dinner ever. Let's start with the fact that our waiter's name was Darwin. Okay, if that isn't enough to make you laugh. In the course of our meal every single guy, except the dark handsome one in the corner, came to our table to introduce themselves. One said his name immediately followed by "you come back later and we go disco." By the end of dinner we'd been given free shots (though mostly juice I think), met the manager, and been given large conolis for the price of little ones (we ordered little ones which were 2.50 euro and when they came out were the size of our pinkies). Sasha was definitely the hit of the place. An amusing dinner nonetheless. From there we found the Trevi Fountain and took some pictures. Once again harassed by street vendors...these ones had large cameras that they wanted you to pay them to take pictures of you with...like really? Can you see that I have my own camera and it's working just fine? I threw a coin in the water to make a wish, we'll have to wait to see if it comes true ;). There was a church right behind the fountain that we went into which was beautiful. Any church you walk into in Europe I swear will be breathtaking in one way or another. After I headed back and got some rest for the great migraine that decided to set on and Sasha went out for a city tour with a friend from home that was studying there.
The next day was Vatican day. I must say when you walk up to the Vatican it doesn't seem like it could possibly be what it is. We actually didn't have to wait in line like at all to get in and bought our tickets easily too. The biggest problem here was the tour groups. They forget that there are other people there...I won't mention which type of groups are the worst... So we got to see Raphael's work, the Sistine Chapel, and some modern relgious art among many other things. It was kind of rushed through because of all the people that it was almost suffocating if we tried to stand there any longer. It was very cool seeing the Sistine Chapel but I think I would have been more impressed if I'd been able to stand there and see it alone or with maybe 5 other people. So many people and it just loses it's glorious nature. I mean don't get me wrong it was amazing to stand in front of, I just wish there was a limit to the 5000000000000 people standing in the room. From there we saw the tomb of the pope's, not too terribly exciting and kind of creepy when they made the tombs look like the dead pope laying there. Was kind of interesting to look at how short some of their reigns were considering the age they take it on. The tombs led up to St Peter's basilica. The church was amazing. The architecture was astounding. There is a center area where the gold from the Pantheon was formed into part of the church that was beautiful. But Sasha and I got to talking about the money. Like when you get down to it how many millions upon millions of dollars have gone into these churches and monuments that could have gone to really doing some good for people. Yes churches are beautiful and often people find peace with themselves or whatever else is going on while within them. But isn't God's work really outside those walls? I definitely appreciate the old churches and their beauty. But a simple four wall church without mile high arched ceilings does the same thing. And that church could actually be doing a lot more for its community. Gah I sound like such a cynical traveler. Don't be fooled I appreciate everything we saw. And I think it's actually better that it makes me think about all this. It's better than just standing in awe for 5 minutes and then just moving on to the next thing. Either way it was beautiful. And it also houses, in my mind, one of the most religious pieces of art, Michelangelo's Pieta. I think it's because I read The Agony and the Ecstasy, but I have such an appreciation for that piece of art. I just think it's beautiful and it really stirs any and every religious bone in my body. Ironically we met up with a group of our friends in the Vatican so we all met up again to go to lunch. After searching a bit we got a deal for lunch. It was interesting to hear about everyone else's stories and traveling mishaps. We intended to meet up with them again that night but between cell phones not working and whatever it didn't end up happening. After Sasha and I went to the Pantheon. I didn't know Raphael was buried there. I really like the quote by his grave "Here lies Raphael, by whom Nature feared to be outdone while he lived, and when he died, feared she herself would die." Pretty cool. I feel like we saw our fair share of bodies on this trip though.The Pantheon's architecture was again amazing. There was a lot of restoration going on for the outside of it though, clearly not in it's best condition. All over Rome there is construction though. Grace, when we got to Florence, was saying that Italy puts all of its money into things that it believes will make it money. And it's sad but true. I guess it's probably the case everywhere...you don't preserve the history just to preserve it but because it will continue to stimulate your economy. Either way I'm glad things like the colosseum are still visible for us.
That night was an adventure in itself. Sasha's friends told her a part of town that was supposed to be good for bars and dinner. Well we thought it was on the metro. Nope. Then we thought we could walk from the metro. Nope. We ended up taking two metros, asking for directions, not being able to find the bus given in the directions, taking a cab, asking for more directions, taking a tram, and walking before we found the area. Come to find out it was only a 25-30 minute walk from our hostel. Oops. But anyway we had a good dinner. We split a couple things along with a bottle of red wine. Behind us there was an Australian and a British guy, the only two others speaking English in the whole place, that we made friends with. We sat there until they had literally packed up all the tables around us. They were the ones to inform us we should have just walked so they agreed to walk us back. Along the way we stopped a couple times, chatted a lot, and got to know each other. The guys were there on business, accounting business, therefore they were intrigued by Sasha and my extreme interest in the humanities. Can't get much more for opposites. We stopped by the colosseum and the guys bought us drinks. Somehow we were there again until the place had closed and packed up everything around us. They gave us the extra pizza they had left and one thing led to another but somehow we ended up having a pizza fight. Well mostly Sasha and I got pizza smeared across our faces by Joe (the Brit). I was still picking sauce off my face when we got back. I'm not sure what she said, but something sparked Joe to then throw Sasha into a dumpster filled with pizza boxes. Overall a very successful last night in Rome.
The next morning we experienced the Italian post office...waited forever I might add. Grabbed some food and headed for the train to Italy. Oh what do you know...it was delayed. Haha. Not too bad though and we just hung out by where it was supposed to be coming in. When we got to Florence the real fun began. Grace was supposed to "pick us up" at the station. Well when she wasn't there we figured she was just running late but I decided to write on her wall just because something told me that she was at the wrong station. And she was. Thank God for the kindle. She gave me her address via facebook and Sasha and I managed to get there. I must add that Florence does not know how to count though. We wandered down the street like three times watching the numbers jump from like 33 to 17. Really? I know you say them differently than we do but that doesn't mean they go in a different order. All was well though and we finally found it. After settling in we found dinner at a buffet style place where it was only 8 euros for food and one drink. The drinks left a little to be desired but it was still a good deal. After meeting Grace back at her place we then decided it was St Pattys so we of course had to find something to do. We found the Dublin bar which Grace suggested. It was fairly empty and I didn't think we'd be there long. I was wrong. First we had a cider each. We were never asked to pay for it. Then we had a beer each and paid for those. Then a random guy walked up and asked if he could buy us a drink...well of course you can! And he didn't even harass us after, just bought us the drinks and walked away. We talked to the bar tenders the whole time and even got one to color our drinks the appropriate green. I went to use the bathroom only to come back to find out that a very drunk American had been leaning on Sasha and almost knocking over my drink. She asked him to watch out...nicely at first. Then he took my drink off the bar, looked her square in the eye, turned around and smashed my beer on the ground. Well Sasha jumped up pushed him back and slapped him before two guys managed to hold her back. He clearly bought me another drink. THEN we were leaving and the manager saw us putting on our jackets, he asked where we were going. We said we didn't want to spend anymore money (not that we had spent more than 5 euros) and he looked at the bartender and had him pour us another round on the house. Drinking 5 and buying 1 is a very successful St Pattys. We walked home, I had to call Maine on the way, and passed out on Grace's floor, which actually wasn't so bad to sleep on.
The next day we first went to the Santa Novella Maria. It was pretty but most of the museum part were relics that people's bones were put in. A lot of it was closed. The church part was beautiful. There was a ceiling done like the night sky which was amazing. From there we found Grace and bought some postcards. Then we went to see David. There was a lot of the older religious art that I don't really like in the museum and it seemed like they tried to cram way too much art into a small place. Like we'd go to the other side look across and realize we'd missed pieces simply because they were too far up. David was amazing though. I snuck some pictures of course. He really is beautiful in person. The art around him was amazing as well. The colors were just amazing. There was a whole room of sculptures too, but again WAY too much was stuffed into one room. Grace took us to get iced coffee and lunch from there. My salad took forever but it was definitely worth the wait. I'd been craving a good salad with egg, cucumbers, peppers, etc. After we went to the Duomo. It was beautiful. You stumble upon in it in a similar way you would stumble upon the colosseum in Rome. The church had some of the most beautiful ceilings I had ever seen. We wanted to go to the top...but 8 euros and a huge line were not appealing at all. The best part about Florence is that you can just wander. There is no metro so the city is clearly kind of small. And no matter what we stumbled on I never felt like we were in any danger. So Sasha and I wandered for a couple hours. We found churches that we still don't know that names of and a whole square full of fountains and sculptures. There is a lot said for not having a plan and just seeing where the streets take you. We came across a shop full of the coolest pastas. Like the most bizarre colors...too bad a suitcase would have killed them. We also found one of the many protests that were going on while we were there...no idea why it was happening though.
After we went back to Grace's so we could go to dinner with her and her friends. She was leaving that night for her spring break. We ended up hanging out for a few hours before it was time and then headed out. Dinner was delicious. I got some sort of pasta stuffed with veggies and tiramisu (sp?) for dessert. It was nice getting to know some of Grace's friends. We headed downstairs and had a drink before a mini photo shoot before Grace had to head off to her train. I wish I had been able to see her more, but it was nice to just see someone from home. We got to talk about our mutual feelings of how weird it is that life just keeps going back home. It feels like everything there should just be on hold till we get back. I can't imagine how different things will be. By then it was around 1 so we headed back to Grace's, I talked online for a bit, and then passed out. In beds this time which was kind of nice to be honest. Haha.
The next morning we grabbed sandwiches at a place that Grace suggested. It was only 4 euros and we got to pick whatever we wanted on it. Then the wandering started again. We tried to go to the museum where "The Birth of Venus" is, but once in line we discovered it was 10.50 euro. Yeahhhh painting you're not on enough of my top list for that much money. So we ended up going to Ponte Vecchio, the oldest bridge in Italy. It was pretty. That's about all I've got. We went across it and looked at the jewelry. There were locks on the birdge just like on the trees in Moscow where couples throw the key in the water after they get married. After we went to Santa Croce to see the burial site/memorial site of several important names. For one Michelangelo is buried there. Machiavelli is also either buried there or has a memorial. We weren't sure who exactly was actually there. Either way it was pretty neat. The problem was that it was under extensive renovation. At first we were a little frustrated by it all. But then we learned that the church was flooded in 1966 and most of the place was ruined. A whole new front was put on the church and they continue to try to fix the mosaics and paintings. Photos of the flood were devastating. I wish they told about the flood before going into the church because there are like graves or memorials on the floor and many of them looked ruined. Either way it was interesting to see all the work they were trying to do to bring the place back. 5 euros to go through this now seemed like nothing. Capella Medici is also within the Santa Croce. After we got the most amazing gelato ever. Grace was again right. The places that have the gelato covered so you can't see it are better. That means that they make it right there. The ones that look amazing and have it all out to see are still delicious but this one was so good. After we got terribly lost and finally found the piazzale michelangelo. I still don't know how we ended up where we did but we finally made it. The view was incredible. My purse broke the last night in Rome so we headed to the market so I could look for a new one. Wandering around Europe with a purse that doesn't zip is never a good idea. Luckily in Florence I had borrowed one of Grace's but I needed something for the trip back. I ended up finding a leather purse...got it for 35 euros off the price it was marked. I love it. Black and simple, but nice. We headed back for a quick nap and to change before dinner. Dinner took forever!!! In Italy they charge you just to sit down in the restaurants. 2.50 euro a head for instance. We waited forever for the guy to take our orders, then it was another 10 minutes before we got our drinks, dinner came fast, then it was another 1/2 hour before he came back for us to order dessert, we ate that and then waited another 40 minutes before he finally decided to bring us our check. We decided we didn't want to pay the cover. He had ignored us half the time and everyone around us had come and left in the time it took him to pay attention to us. Well the guy chased us out of the place and threw the money at us...not making sense since it was 2 euro short. (2 euro that's it not even the whole fee). Sasha tried to explain what had happened but got nowhere. We didn't fight him on paying it, at all, but he somehow grew to be more and more of an asshole before throwing the check in our faces. Restaurants, service in general, are a reason I don't know if I could even live here full time. At least even in Ireland when Tanuja and Julie weren't happy with their meals they either got them something else or took it off the bill. Nope we were American so this guy was just a total ass. Not a great experience for our last day, oh well. It was also this night that I found out on facebook that my sister had to put down her dog...so not the best ending to the day. Oh well. We packed and went to bed decently early.
The next morning we headed to the train. It luckily wasn't delayed. We had a connection (after 4 hours) in Milan and then it was another 7 back to Paris. Nothing very exciting. Seeing the country side was nice, but once it got dark we couldn't see outside. There were obnoxious people on cell phones and children that tried to act like monkeys...to be expected I suppose. I can tell you after 11 hours, the last thing I want is to see a train. Yesterday we slept in. I've been getting progressively sick so I slept much of the day and unpacked. Today I've been attempting to get homework done. Most of the day has consisted of tea though. I hope I can shake this before tomorrow...back to classes it is.
Wow...if you made it through this I'm very impressed. I'm also sorry for any typos because I've just been writing to write and get it all out there. Some of the details I might add later as I remember. But overall my travels have been nice. I am struggling with this whole blog thing...do I write the full fledged memories? Or do I write what people want to hear? I try to balance it between the two but there are some things missing that are probably only appropriate frustrations for a personal journal...nothing serious and nothing pertaining to anyone but my own thoughts on things...it's just interesting when you have a blog that your family and friends read vs one that no one close to you even knows you have. Either way I hope you enjoyed this. Let me know if you made it through it :)
Au Revoir. Until the next adventure.
