Here are some more pics to go along with my last blog entry. If you can't find how to go to a previous entry, scroll down below all of the pics to "prev entry" [View Full Entry]

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I’m sitting on the train to Sorrento. It’s Sunday morning. The train stations in the bigger cities are much easier to navigate. You go to the station, look at the departures board and find your platform number and walk to it. I got my ticket last night at the train station using one of the kiosks. Pretty slick! Yesterday I went on a tour of Tuscany. Oh Tuscany…….when will I see you again?!?! It was AMAZING. The bus left the train station at 8:30am and we headed to Siena. We had a full coach bus and our tour guide, Becky, was [View Full Entry]

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Ciao Tutti! Here is a map of where I have been. The red dot is where I am now. [View Full Entry]

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Last night, I went to the Duomo at 6pm right before it closed. There were no lines so that was nice. I had no idea that you actually climbed to the TOP! i walked in to get my ticket and it said "463 steps." steps to where i thought. It was pretty cool and scary at the same time. The steps were narrow and there were a lot of spiral steps. I was dying about 1/2 way through and rememberd the sign that said "not recommended if you have heart problems." I thought omg do I have heart problems? But I [View Full Entry]

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I made it to Florence! This time, the train ride went much smoother. I walked out the train station and forgot that, unlike Venice, people drive here. And they drive crazy as usual. There were a million people, but I found my hostel just fine. Up 4 flights of stairs, I found the door and got to my room. The front desk lady didn't give me any info when I arrived. I asked her for a map and had her mark where my hostel was. It kind of put me in a bad mood because i didn't know where to go [View Full Entry]

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I woke up early this morning to walk around Venice before it got too hot. Well, I don't think it ever cooled down last night. at 10pm it was 80 degrees and 80% humidity. Anyway, I walked around Venice and it was kind of nice because it is a lot quieter in the morning. A lot of locals were taking their kids to school. It's easy to forget that people actually live here. Tonight, I might take a water ferry that goes around the canal. Tomorrow I am headed to Florence. [View Full Entry]

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So I decided to grin and bear the heat and take a water taxi to Piazza San Marco. The water taxi was nice as I had the front seat. It felt good to have some breeze in my face. PSM was pretty cool and huge. There were tons of high fashion shops that definitely would not have let me in if I tried looking like I did. Then it happened.....I walked into a venitian glass shop. And they took a crapload of money right out of my pocket. Errr....at least that's what I'm telling myself. ha! I bought this sweet glass [View Full Entry]

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You're in for a crazy ride..... So long story short, I am no longer staying with my host family. Nothing crazy, Velia just chain smoked inside the house which is nasty and they didnt have any other families for me. So 8 boxing rounds later with the lovely folks of my program, I said "I'm outta here!" I'll deal with them after I enjoy my vacation. So I went to the nearest train station, closed my eyes, and walked on to the first train. Uh...ok not exactly. I have decided to do my backpacking excursion now instead of later. I have [View Full Entry]

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ok so i can only upload 21 pics at a time. so here are some more. [View Full Entry]

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Ok I finally got my computer hooked up to internet so I can upload some pics of my nice camera. Enjoy! [View Full Entry]

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