Londra

Well, at least you can't say I didn't warn you that I would be terrible at posting! My mom has emailed me several times now, reminding me that she has had many people complain about my lack of faithfulness in updating this blog :)

So here we go - trying to make a fresh start:
London! Two weekends ago!

When we got off the plane, we walked over to the ATM machines, and laughed at what was written: "Free Cash Withdrawals." Yeah! Free money! We were to find out over the course of this trip, that money is far from free in London. We hailed a cab (you can actually do this in London, unlike in Italy, where they just drive right past you like you don't exist), and made our way to our friend's house, where we were staying. The cab was the typical model like you see in the movies...aww! and our cab driver was the typical cab driver like in the movies...our first impression of London was fabulous! He was cracking jokes and telling us the history and interests, or the lack thereof, of the streets we were driving on. When we got to our destination, he said, "that will be 12 pounds for the foursies." Four of yous? hmm... We thought they spoke English. Actually, it was funny because sometimes the people would ask a question, and we'd just stare at them, like, "uh, did you just speak in the same language as me?" But we constantly found ourselves wanting to say "Grazie" or "Scusi." We were shopping one day, and I almost asked the lady at the front desk "Quanto costa?" She probably would have looked at me very strangely when she realized that I was american, asking her in Italian how much something cost.

*This is a side note - we saw a comedian on the street one night, and he was imitating the different ways that people around the world count. So he asked if there were any americans in the group. We timidly raised our hands. He asked us, in front of this huge crowd of people, whether we came to London to visit or to learn English. Ooohhh low blow. Then he imitated how we count in America: "One......anudder one........and anudder one." Wow, they must think so highly of us.
Then on the Tube the next day, there were a group of students our age who were talking to us, and asked where we were from. "America?" they responded to our answer. "Well, I guess nobody's perfect." Ouch. vicious. haha we're used to the Milanese, who adore us. We're basically worshipped here. I guess God wanted to humble us a little. :)

Friday morning we got up and walked around the city - went into shops and took the "Tube" - the metro system. We just had fun exploring the city that day. That night for dinner we went to the original Hard Rock Cafe and had hamburgers for the first time in forever, and huge brownie fudge sundaes. Yum! Friday evening was another exploring adventure. We walked through this huge fashion district, and saw all the shops lit up at night. We also went to Piccadilly Circus - basically the "Times Square" of London. (Isn't that a cute name? Piccadilly Circus. How can you not have fun at a place with a name like Piccadilly Circus?) We also saw Buckingham Palace all lit up at night. It was a good thing we went that day, because the next day...well, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Saturday! We went on one of those bus tours with the double-decker bus and saw all the famous sights. Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, Tower Bridge. We took a video of us singing "London Bridge is falling down" on Tower Bridge, even though it's not the real London Bridge. The real London Bridge is now in Arizona, because some man wanted to buy Tower Bridge, but he asked for London Bridge and had it shipped to Arizona, brick by brick and rebuilt. Poor guy found out after he spent some $2 million on this bridge, that it was NOT Tower Bridge, but instead, this old bridge that was always "falling down." That's how the legend goes, anyway.
When we got to Buckingham Palace, it was packed outside with tourists for the changing of the guard. Packed. It seemed like all of London was there, but obviously it was only tourists. They do it at the same time every day, and there is a marching band, and horses, and a big huge deal made out of changing the guard. I assume they do it for people like us who want to say we saw a cool parade for the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace while we were touring in London. Sounds more impressive than just saying that we saw the guards who don't smile at Buckingham Palace.
For dinner we - I'm EMBARRASSED TO SAY THIS - we ate at Pizza Hut. Yes, I do live in Italy. Yes, I do have the most amazing pizza in the world at LEAST once a week. and Yes, I did travel all the way to London to eat Pizza Hut. I am ashamed.
That night we went to Harrods, this HUGE department store. 7 stories high, everything that you could imagine can be bought. Clothes (many of which didn't have price tags - which means that if you're going to buy them, it doesn't matter to you how much they are - that's how rich you are), big screen TVs, books, chocolate, ham, diamonds, pets, perfume, grandfather clocks, pianos.

London, we loved it. It was an amazing city, little apartments and shops lining the busy streets, red telephone booths, beautiful architecture, people speaking in english accents...how could it be better?

That night, we hung out, relaxed, and packed for our early flight the next morning. Since we had to leave at 4 am, the logical thing to do was to just stay up all night talking, right? Of course. So that's what we did. 4 o'clock comes around, and we make our way to the bus station where we're supposed to catch a bus to bring us to the airport. But it didn't come. So while we're waiting for the next one, we start talking to these two british guys who seemed to be waiting for the bus too, asking them if they had any idea what was going on. No idea. Well finally, we decided that in order to make our flight, we were going to have to get a cab. The other two guys offered to split a cab with us, so we made our way to the airport. Did I mention that nothing in London is free? Well, let's just say that we had to spend an insane amount on a cab, only to get to the airport FIVE MINUTES after check-in closed. We begged, we pleaded, we thought about bribing. No use. Had to buy another ticket for the next morning.
London....we love it. Especially the buses.

So although it ended on a rather sour note, London is an AMAZING PLACE - everything I expected it to be - actually it was BETTER than I anticipated. Put it on your list of places to go to!
And be sure to check out my pics!

rude? or not rude?

in Italy....

eating in public......rude
For example, no one walks down the street with coffee, snacks, anything. You eat in private, or where you're supposed to eat, such as at a restaurant. So today when I was eating a candy bar in the metro station, I felt really weird.

sitting on stairs or on the floor........rude
The first day, we had just gotten to the school building from the airport after a 15 hour trip. We were waiting for a bus to take us on yet another 2 hour trip to where we were staying, and we were exhausted so we sat on the stairs. oops...we were told to get up.

walking down the street and expecting everyone to get out of your way.........not rude.

bumping into people...............not rude.

making eye contact with a stranger and responding with a blank stare...............not rude.
no one smiles at strangers.

cutting people off in traffic, driving recklessly or aggressively.................not rude.

killing pedestrians..................not rude.

there is no such thing as a line here....not when you wait for a taxi, not when you are in a restaurant, not when you buy tickets at a train station. there's no such thing as a line, and if you act like there is, and patiently wait your turn, you'll die before you get what you want.

strange.

I'm HERE!

Well hey friends! I'm officially here, in Milan Italy, and this is my first attempt at writing a blog for all of you who have asked to follow my trip. We'll see how it goes :)

Follow the link on the right that says "picasa" to view pictures of my trip.

Okay, here's the first week......

On the way to school from the airport, we took a train, and then decided to walk the last 3 blocks to school instead of pay for a cab. Bad idea. There were 7 of us, each with backpacks and 2 huge suitcases. In Italy, pedestrians don't have the right of way. So a long train of tourists with rolley suit-cases are targets for crazy italian drivers. The adventure begins!

As soon as we got to school, they took us up for orientation to a little tiny town to stay at a farm with a vineyard. Every meal was 4-5 courses and they served the wine that they made. yum! The pasta is unbelievable. Lots of meetings and information for the first two days. Jet-lag combined with sitting down listening to 3-hour presentations or meetings is not good.

Wednesday - we came back down to the city and moved into our apartment. Kelsey (my friend from school) and I were in the taxi on the way to our apartment with all of our luggage when we got in a car accident. yup. Crazy italian drivers.
Our apartment is really nice and big and super cute. But there's only one bathroom for 6 girls. Oh, and you have to turn the key 6 times to both lock and unlock the door. :)

Thursday - we went on a tour of downtown Milano, and saw all the beautiful old buildings and churches. We also walked through a fashion district and saw Armani, Gucci, Prada, & Louis Vuitton. You have to have an appointment just to go into the store. Thursday night we all went to an "aperitivo," which is a restaurant where you buy a drink then get unlimited appetizers.

Friday - Classes started! Our Italian teacher speaks mostly Italian in class, while she's teaching us Italian. Oh well, I guess we'll learn fast.

Saturday - walk around town, see La Piazza del Duomo and go inside the Duomo (see my pictures). This is the biggest cathedral in Milan. When you walk inside the door, it's absolutely breathtaking, with huge marble pillars and rows of enormous statues and stain-glass windows several stories high. Saturday night we went to watch the Italy vs. France soccer game with the local Italians.

Sunday - Go to mass at the Duomo, then walk to the top - see pictures!