Well Italy was almost two weeks ago, but better late then never, right?! Well without any further delay-I present to you Italy by the numbers...
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| Venice |
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| Milan |
We begin with "Otto": (that's eight in Italian)
8 modes of
transportation:
Bus,
Plane, Tram, Metro, Waterbus, Foot, Taxi, Train
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| My first train! |
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| Waterbus! |
You can’t use all of these in one trip and not have a few stories.
The craziest was leaving the island of Venice on Friday to our second
“hostel” aka campsite on the mainland. Due to the sheer size of our group-15
people!- we had to break into little groups. My little group was composed of Brynn, Jacob, Asaf, Josh, and I –“The Cinque.” (cinque is five in Italian)
The story begins when it started getting late On Friday night. So we thought
we should head in for the night. This was good idea until we realized none of
us had directions to campsite for the night or even the name of the place. The
friends who had that information were in the other small groups. So we had to
find a place with WiFi and message the friends. Luckily, that plan worked and
we were on our way with directions and the name.
First, we had to go to the bus station. We bought our tickets and were
told to carefully count our stops. We had to wait 3 stops then get off the bus.
Bus stopped “one”, stopped quickly again-“two,” and stopped for the third time,
“three.” We got off the bus. Wrong stop. Haha! Supposedly the quick 2nd
stop-wasn't really a stop. But how were we suppose to know? So The Cinque is
more or less on the side of an interstate with dumbfounded-faces. Naturally we
decided to wait for the next bus, but it came just late enough to make us a
little nervous that we were about to walk a long way. But gratefully, it came. We
got back on the bus and rode it to the real third stop. At this point in the
journey, we were suppose to get off at the real third stop and change to another bus. So
we went to the next bus stop. Long story short-after waiting a significant
amount of time we decided the bus wasn't running anymore that night. Thanks to a
sweet girl at the same bus stop (who knew 4 or 5 languages) we redirected our
journey to finding a cab. She pointed us
into the direction of the train station where there would be multiple taxis.
We arrived at the train station and found the taxis. But there were two
older guys waiting outside and as soon as we walked outside into “the main taxi
waiting point”-they looked at us and said, “Taxi?” We said yes. Luckily, somewhere
along the way I had learned that you were suppose to ask how much it would cost
before you got into a cab. Gratefully we asked and found out it was going to be
somewhere close to 60-70 euros! We said
we couldn't afford that and he lowered the price to 50 euros- we felt like our hands were
tied because it was just late enough that a taxi was our only option. So we
walk across the street to their cars and there wasn't “Taxi” written anywhere
on the car, it was just a regular car. Needless to say the red flags started
flying. We finally figured out it was a scam before we got into the "taxi", said no way, and ran back across
the street to where all the clearly defined taxis were. We asked a real taxi driver
how much it would be to get to the campsite and he said 30 euros!! That’s quite
a difference.
I don’t think anything would have happened if we had gotten in the
other “taxis” except we would have been ripped off-but what a great learning lesson!
After two hours of battling the Italian public transportation system, we finally
got to the campsite. Yes, I said campsite. Just wait until #6.
If you’re still reading, I promise not all the numbers will have
stories that long. Some of them will be
like this:
Train: We arrived early for our first train-so we spent the hour pampering in Sephora. We were at our best when we boarded the train. All of us had sampled many perfumes and I even had time to paint my nails! :) diva moment!
This moment happened when we walked out of the train station. (Train station, hints why it's included in the transportation section.)Anyway...we walked out and there was Venice in all its glory! We did the giggly-thing again and said, “They aren't lying when they say the streets are made of water!”
7 pieces of pizza:
Continuing with the moments...my second favorite moment was on the train on the way back to Milan. After a whirlwind 2 or 2.5 days in Venice The Cinque were on their way to Milan to continue the adventure for another day and a half. But right before we left had to get lunch. So what else do you get for lunch in Italy besides pizza? So Brynn and I got our own pizzas from a place called 'Ae Oche' and enjoyed our Italian pizza and Pepsi and the beautiful Italian countryside.
This moment kinda sounds lame but when your exhausted and there is food involved-it's always a good moment!
6 blankets on Friday night:
As promised the infamous Friday night story in Italy. So we arrived at the hostel… I mean campsite, after our
Italian public transport adventure. The camp was composed of multiple
mobile-house like structures. So, Brynn and I shared one side and Asaf and Josh
shared the other. #210 Not roommates, but suitemates. There were several first
impressions of this “Camp Fiscina.” First, there was only a small heater in our
room and second the bathrooms were outside.
Of course, we turned on our heater
as soon as we walked in because Italy was a little colder than we expected.
Then, we got all our toiletries together and at the last possible minute went to
the bathroom. Because we were not going to the bathroom in the middle of the
night! We returned and bundled in our warmest clothes-I think I wore 3 layers
of clothes and had 3 blankets. Then we attempted to go to sleep- I don’t think
I fell asleep, if I did it wasn't a good sleep. Because I was FREEZING!
Then around 4 a.m…the worst
happened…I had to pee. I never pee in the middle of the night, but of course
when I’m freezing… on a campsite… in the middle of Italy… with below freezing
temperatures- I have to pee. I tried to think through all the options, but
there weren't many.
1. Wait until morning…Nope
2. Go to the bathroom…maybe
3.
Pee in the trashcan…maybe.
Fortunately it never came to the third option
because I started to hear Brynn shuffling around in her bed. So I whispered,
“Are you awake?” She replied with, “Yes, I have to pee!” PERFECT! “Me too!” I
replied. We seriously discussed the trashcan option and then decided against it
and ran to the bathroom…outside…in Italy…in February…on a campsite. We returned
yet again and discussed how cold we were. We checked the heater…blowing cold
air. That explained it. So Brynn and I became besties real fast. We slept
together in a twin bed with 6 blankets, some of them even folded over twice.
Let me tell you…that was the warmest I had been during our whole Italian
adventure. Two minutes later…we were both sound asleep.
I hope this story lived up to your expectations. And I hope it wasn't too personal, just trying to be real and tell a good story! J
And now I can say I've camped in Italy in February.
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| #210 |
5 fun friends- “Il Cinque”:
I know I’ve already mentioned a couple great moments, but this next moment was my
favorite. Like I’ve said before because our OBU group was so large we had to
break into smaller groups. So this moment included the "Il Cinque." (Brynn, Jacob, Asaf, Josh, and I) So, this favorite moment occurred when we went to get dinner our first night in Milan. After
battling many different forms of transportation again to get to our hostel, we quickly dropped off our bags, and headed to Luini's. Brynn had researched it and was
really excited about it. BUT it closed at 8 and they weren't open on Sundays.
So we HAD to get there Saturday night. We knew it was close to "Il Duomo" (at
this point, I didn't really know what Il Duomo was except it was a big deal and
we were going there at some point.) So the tram stopped and the time was 7:50. We only had 10 minutes
to get there. So what do you do when you’re with a group of hungry boys and the
restaurant is about to close? You run, of course. So we ran. As we were running
we turned the corner, and BAM! Il Duomo! We kinda just laughed and were like,
“oh that’s probably a big deal. I bet it’s Il Duomo” But no time to stop and
take pictures, we were on a mission. So we kept running, zigzagging through the
people, in search of Luini’s. Good news: We found it and it was still open. As
soon as we ran in, they locked the door. Talk about good timing. Had we not
ran, we wouldn't have made it. Now- the food! The food was panzerotti. Probably
the best thing I ate in Italy. (Panzerotti is like this buttery-bread dough and it's folded over with stuff inside. And at some point I think it's fried. It's kinda hard to explain.) Because we were so late, we couldn't make special orders, but there was still mozzarella and tomato panzerotti
left. So we all ordered one or two-and it was DELICIOUS. Ladies and Gentleman-look
forward to Luini’s panzerotti being served in heaven because it was that good!
Mission complete.
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| Yea, can you believe we just ran past this bad boy! Il Duomo! |
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| Making sure it was REALLY closed on Sunday. |
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| It was! |
4 gelato runs:
First night in Venice: Mint Chocolate Chip- 3.5 stars
Second day in Venice: Coffee-Flavored- 4 stars, maybe 4.5
First day in Milan- Bianco Latte- Strawberry, Fresa, Fragola (whatever language you prefer) 3 stars
Last day in Milan- Shockolat, Raspberry and Chocolate-flavored- 5 STARS!!
* I don't know what makes Italian gelato so good-but it seriously is SO good!!
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| Coffee-Flavored Gelato Place! |
3 free maps in Venice:
I don’t know why but our group seemed to attract free maps- we
received not 1 or 2, but 3 free maps. The first night we got a Venice, we got
one from a couple Australian guys. The next morning, we got one from some
American doctors who were traveling Europe before they went to work in Uganda. Nbd.
Third-our free concert music hall stop Friday night included yet another free
map. These are gold in Venice because it's so easy to get lost!
2 cities:
This Italian adventure wasn't all transporation and food-we got to see some pretty cool sights too!
Venice: St. Mark’s Basilica & Rialto bridge/Market
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| Rialto Bridge |
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| Have you seen the movie "The Tourist"? Johnny Depp jumps from this building into the market. |
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| St. Mark's Basilica |
Milan: Il Duomo & Castle Sforza
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| Top of Il Duomo! Check out new pink Italian leather purse. So Hayley! |
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| Castle Sforza |
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| Michaelangelo's last unfinished work. Housed at the Castle Sforza. |
1 great Italian adventure:
I feel so blessed to be able to have these stories to tell and pictures to show. I truly see this as a once in a lifetime experience and I'm beyond grateful! Thanks to all of you for taking the time to read my blog and your continuous prayers. If you don't mind: Please continue to be in prayer for my "Spanish learning" - My big Praxis test is officially scheduled for May 22nd. Also, the peace to fully enjoy my last couple months here and not be counting down the days. Finally, that I wouldn't use this trip for my own selfish purposes, but that there would be opportunities to spread the Gospel!
UP NEXT: Trip to Granada this weekend with Brynn and Asaf. We are going with our school this time, so it'll be a different experience. Looking forward to it! And then next Friday is finals again! 8 credit hours are almost done-time is flying!
