Spring Break: Location 3

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Yup, I am now back in Italy! I'm only spending the night in Milan, then heading up to Geneva tomorrow to visit a friend. It was a little stressful getting here, but I'm here. I'm safe. I'm probably going to be going to bed super early.

So, the last two days has been spent in Athens. On Sunday, I did most of the sights and museums because they were free! Apparently, in Greece, besides the daily shut down of everything from 2-5:30, Sunday is supposed to be a legit day of relaxation. This means that the cafes are full the entire day and families that don't want to sit at the cafes take to strolling all the parks and all of the ancient ruins that are just lying around Athens. That is one thing I love about a lot of these old cities that have been around for centuries...you can just walk around and you are bound to run into some type of ruin. For the Acropolis, because I have a student ID card, I can get in free any day.

This leads to Monday! On monday I took the walking tour that the hostel provides. I had already seen most of the sites, but it was great to meet other people that were in the hostel and hear about the history behind the ruins. After the tour, I went back to my room, grabbed a book, and decided I was going to go read on the Acropolis...how many people can say they just chilled on the Acropolis reading a book?!?! I can! Then, to bid farewell to my last night in Athens, some of the group went to dinner, had some great souvlaki and gyros, and then went to pub quiz night in the sports bar beneath the hostel. Our team, Rockin' at the AcROCKolis, did horrible. We even had a doctor in our team, and he got the answer about skin layers wrong...But Sporcle (a great website with mind games and such) paid off for me because I could answer the three point question about the countries that border Suriname in S. America! Boo-ya!

This leads me to today, and the little time I am in Milan. I said farewell to everyone at the hostel this morning, and took the metro/train to the airport. It was interesting going through security. For one, there was no customs or anything to go through like what i had to do when I left from Pisa to go back to London. It was just regular bag scanners and metal detectors. I had two trays, one for my laptop and the other for my jacket, belt, and liquids, and then my back pack. For each thing that came through, they wanted to look at it. I had to open my laptop, they had to look at all my liquids, and then they wanted to search my backpack. Apparently, a plug adapter looks and a computer charger looks like a bomb or explosive triggering device. They understood the computer charger, but the plug adapter took some explaining. I will admit, it does look a little suspicious because it has about four different parts to it...but I got through security in time for my flight and wasn't detained, so it was no big deal.

Once I arrived in Milan, I was slightly grateful to be back in a country where I could at least read some of the signs and speak some of the language. It was a little confusing on how to get from the airport to the center of Milan, but i ended up taking a shuttle bus to the Central Train Station. Once here, I got my ticket for going to Geneva tomorrow, but not before being annoyed by this bum for money. Thank god for police. The metro in Milan is a lot more disgusting then Athens, but only a little bit worse then some of the ones in London. Once again, while I was trying to figure out how to work the ticket distribution machine, another guy came up...it was slightly annoying and creepy. This was probably the only time that I have been alone that I have felt a little unsafe. But it passed quickly due to the lovely Milan police again! I'm glad they are everywhere!

The hostel I am staying at in Milan, I probably wouldn't recommend to many people. In order to get there, you have to go through a slightly sketchy part of town. And you have to pay for wi-fi....usually you only pay if you are using their computers, but oh well. I found a wireless that was open, so they don't really know I'm going around the system. Yay me!

So, I probably won't be exploring Milan. From what I have read and seen, it's a lot of shopping mainly. There are a few churches and a museum or two that are supposed to have some awesome things in them, but I just want to go and meet up with my friend. Also, from the bus ride from the airport to the city, Milan kind of reminds me of a a smaller and slightly dirtier Rome...Maybe I'll come back some day. But this means probably no pictures from this part of my trip!

So that's about it! Tomorrow I am off to Geneva! So excited!

Cheers!

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