Italy by the Numbers

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...

Venice

Milan

We begin with "Otto": (that's eight in Italian)

8 modes of transportation:

Bus, Plane, Tram, Metro, Waterbus, Foot, Taxi, Train

My first train! 

Waterbus!

 This was a trip of multiple uses of public transportation.

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 2^nd 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! 

As you continue to read, you'll notice I've written about my favorite moments. There were three "moments" this trip. The first was similar to the moment in Madrid-a moment when I realize my life at the time is a reality and not a dream.  

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.

#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.

Yea, can you believe we just ran past this bad boy!
Il Duomo!

Making sure it was REALLY closed on Sunday.

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!! 

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

Rialto Bridge

Have you seen the movie "The Tourist"?
Johnny Depp jumps from this building into the market. 

St. Mark's Basilica 

Milan: Il Duomo & Castle Sforza

Top of Il Duomo!
Check out new pink Italian leather purse.
So Hayley!

Castle Sforza

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!