Blogs from Campania, Italy, Europe - page 96

Tuesdays LOW: Having my college career blow up in my face and trying to fix it. Tuesdays HIGH: Toss up between the McHotties and our fabulous dinner. We got up on Tuesday, found a place to do laundry (though it was 21 euro for 3 loads…that guy saw us coming) and got breakfast across the street. We then went back the hostel to figure out our plan when I realized I missed my date to choose classes for UConn. I freaked out and tried to figure out what to do all morning. I went to the internet point in the laundry place and tried to figure out what to do since I had forgotten the papers I needed at the flat. I frantically contacted Peter and tried to sign up for as many classes as I ... read more

Hello everyone! We finally made it to Italy! It took over 30 hours to get to our hotel, but it was all worth it. Yesterday morning we arrived in Frankfurt around 10am (3am our time) and decided to make the most of our day by venturing out into the city. With very little knowledge of the city we found the subway train and headed out to the city center. I was trying to bring the group to the most famous section of Frankfurt, but apparently my directions were a bit off and the group ended up walking about 3 miles. Finally we decided to split up for lunch and a few of us finally made it to the Romer, which is the "old" section of Frankfurt. It was so beautiful. We walked around a bit while ... read more

Simply telling the bus driver where we wanted to be dropped off indeed did work (thank you thank you thank you Steven and (lady friends whos name I cannot spell) for your abilities to speak italian. We would never have made it to this hotel in the middle of nowhere without you. We found the hotel and damn it was nice.... actually a real hotel. We had clean rooms with big comfortable beds, tv (I love it in other languages), private bathrooms, and balconies which in the morning would reveal fantastic views of the mountains. Not wanting to brave the outside (cold temperatures, high winds, and light rain...... which I hoped would not hold into the morning) we ate at the hotels restaurant. We seemed the only people staying there.... and were certainly the only people ... read more

This leads me to my next point. I hate Florence. It is a terrible, aweful city. Sure, the museums are full of much of the worlds great art and the array of streets and squares and buildings are like one huge outdoor museum.... but the city itself has no soul. It has nothing. The people have nothing. It is fake and condescending. The only pieces of reality are hundreds of years old and lie in buildings behind glass and on pedistals requiring 5 to 10 euros to view. Its full of Americans studying abroad. There is something horribly wrong when they get mad for not assuming that they speak English in Italy. The place is stuck up and boring. Which brings us to the next stop..... I love Rome. It is entirely the opposite (except that ... read more

So our night in Naples (Friday) Bradley and I meet Steven (just out of class and in for the weekend) at the train station. In twenty minutes, twenty bums come up to us. Such is Naples. I like to think that our savy looks and decent Italian phrazery (yeah its a word, look it up) keep the attempted pickpockets at bay. (And yes, they are pickpockets, and not genuine unfortunates). We see Steven, we meet his lady. Dang Vesuvius is close to Naples. And its still active. Honestly, theyre asking for it again. We chat and sleep. In the morning, Bradley and I have more conversation with our Dixie-whistlin pal. Mostly he want to talk monster movies. You should have seen his eyes light up with Bradley convinced him that we really had seen most of ... read more