The end of the first day, and Milan! Plus a small side adventure :)

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Ahhh it feels so good to be sitting. Thought I'd update you all on what has happened since yesterday, there has been so much!!

Lets see....yesterday, we had a short orientation and an assignment that was kind of ridiculous, we're all skeptical of it, but oh well. After that, we had a little spare time, then we headed downtown so we would know where we were going for our tour later, but it has been very, very hot here-I'm talking 85-90 degrees and sunny, thank god i brought lots of sunscreen. While we were there, we were outside the arena, which is like a small colosseum, this one dates back to the year 74 A.D., its amazing, I'll have pictures up sometime soon i hope!! Anyways, while we were there, i happened to look over, and sitting on a bench by the fountain is a guy in a Drake t-shirt!! Leave it to me to find Americans! Especially ones that study 4 blocks away from my house halfway around the world 😊 anyways, we talked for a bit, because there were 4 people total, and two were from Illinois, the same as the rest of my group. They gave us some helpful tips, especially the guy who has been studying here for months and is fluent in Italian, he also told us some bars we are going to visit on Tuesday for my BIRTHDAY! We headed back a bit after that because we needed to get ready for the night, and shower-I've never felt so gross so many days in a row! And my feet have been filthy, I've been wearing flip flops because it's so hot, its really yuck though.

Then, last night, we headed back out after some quick showers for our tour, but we've been having a lot of trouble with language barriers and misinformation-this trip hasn't been the best planned, its very fun, but they have some things they need to fix for next time, i'll explain more later-we decided to take the bus down there (which we have to pay for, another problem with the trip I'll explain more about later), and we had been told it came every 15 minutes. We went down at 540, because we were supposed to be down there by 6 at the Piazza...the bus didn't show up til 6! So we were late, but it was okay since most of the class was with us. We had a walking tour of Verona for about an hour and a half, where we learned a lot of really good facts-there are 7 layers to Verona, the bottom one being the layer from Rome, which is why there is no subway or underground system, every time they build they find old artifacts and the government stops them. It was cool to see, the photos don't explain it as well as being there though!

During our tour, we also saw some romantic spots. Europe is definitely a place for lovers and couples, they are everywhere, from teenagers to much older couples. We visited a well where couples write their names on a lock and lock it onto the grate that goes over the top for good luck, and also Juliette's Balcony, although that had just closed so we didn't get to go in yet, some of the other girls and I are hoping to go back to both and get a little good luck ourselves-at Juliette's Balcony, you are supposed to rub the statue of her, and write your names on the wall outside, which is covered in bright colored graffiti from thousands of couples, its actually really cool.

After that, we had dinner at a restaurant, with a cute waiter who had an even more adorable baby! All the babies here are cute, and the only obese people you see are foreigners, I feel they are much healthier here than we are in the states. Our dinner was, first, a bread with a cheese and herbs that was very green, which wasn't bad, along with white or red wine-i tried the red, and it wasn't really my style, at least that one. I prefer a lighter, sweeter taste-such an American! Second, there were two pastas, but one had mushrooms and the other a meat, and me, being the picky eater I am, didn't really take to either, also because the noodles were much harder than I'm used to. Third, we had a steak on salad with balsamic vinegar, some vegetables (which i gave away) and potatoes that were AMAZING. i mean A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. They were sweet, almost like a french fry, but much healthier and lighter tasting. The steak was good, but since I'm not a big meat eater I didn't have much. Drank lots of water though, also unlike me. Dessert was the best part-strawberry tiramisu. The tiramisu was normal, with a strawberry cream sauce and diced fresh strawberries on top. I wanted to like the dish clean, it was so good. We wandered a bit more after that down the expensive street, which feels more like inside than outdoors, especially with a beautiful tile ground, til just after 11, and stopped for some gelato, then attempted to plan our trips since one free day was today. All in all, i didn't end up getting to sleep until after 3am! I was too wired, and I'm still halfway on Iowa time. We also saw a gypsy last night who looked just like the hag with the poisonous apple in Snow White. Just. Like. Her.

Today, I was supposed to get up at 6-630 am so we could catch the 730 bus to the train station. Turns out, both my roommate and I like to turn the alarm off a lot, and then it stopped going off-we woke up at 710, supposed to be ready at 720, and ran downstairs. Didn't have on makeup, or time to find my tennis shoes or anything like that-then it turns out the bus doesnt even run over here on sundays! We walked most of the way downtown, and found some Americans who told us which bus we could take, and it conveniently showed up then! So, we make it to the station, and paid 15 euro for the ticket. there was an 8 euro ticket leaving ten minutes later, but we werent sure it went to the same place we needed to go, so we didnt take it although we later found out it does. oh well!

Now, onto Milan! We rode the train next to more Americans, from Florida. It was an express (hence the price) so we were there in just over an hour. Right away, we bought a map and check times back, then headed off to find our way around! The station itself is very neat, and then we went to the Giardini Publicci, or Public Gardens, sort of like Milan's version of Central Park. It also reminded me of the rain forest exhibit at the Omaha Zoo a bit, I think it was the trees. After that, we started trying to find the Duomo, and we weren't really lost, but we weren't sure where we were going-instead, we ended up at the castle next! It is called Sforzesca Castle, I believe, built by and for the Sforza family who ruled Milan in the 14th/15th centuries i think. It was beautiful and impressive, with frescoes all over the outside walls, but very hot and crowded, too. There were also lots of Nigerians trying to tie bracelets on our wrists, one even asked me if I was looking for a husband. French also came in handy a bit here because the museum guides were out in English, but they had French! Surprisingly, it translated for me pretty well. We also briefly talked to some kids because one dropped his ticket, and he knew a little French.

We got to the back of the castle and found a wading pool-type fountain/pond and cooled and cleaned our feet, then we briefly went in the castle, but as much of it is closed over lunch, we didn't see any exhibits and it was a long climb up the stairs-we saved it for another time!

After the castle, we headed straight down the main way and finally found the Duomo! It was breathtaking. As cynical as I am about organized religion, especially periods where it was very corrupt and about the money, their dedication and how they built these without any of the modern equipment we have now is astounding. The Duomo in Milan is the third largest in the world, and the outside is gothic architecture with beautiful floors and stained glass windows inside. Unfortunately, I only took my small camera with me because the large one would have required my backpack, and the battery on it died shortly after we got to the Duomo, so I didn't get many pictures of the outside and I took a video of the inside until the camera shut off. Once the video is on YouTube, I will post the link for all!

After the Duomo, we went to one of the Palazzos next to it, with their arch of triumph, and briefly walked around before taking a cab back to the train station. We took the (cheaper) train back, which took a little longer, and all fell asleep at some point along the way, which made my wrist ache and fall asleep, it was pretty awful! Once we got back, we headed over to find trains, and here's where the true adventure started, since everything else had been going so well all day and we didn't even get lost in Milan. We took the wrong bus, because we recognized the street name since it was what we had been walking on the past few nights. Apparently, we were wrong-if Verona has a ghetto, we went there. To make it worse, our driver only spoke Italian-something we've discovered a lot of here, there aren't that many people fluent enough in English to fully carry on a conversation with. We'd gotten back to the train station at 530-what should have been a 5 minute bus ride took over an hour. We were sitting, in the ghetto of Verona, on the bus-our driver got off and left! Thankfully, my French made it it so I could understand he said he'd be back and we'd be leaving in seven minutes. Thank god it was light out!! Eventually, he dropped us off near the Arena and Piazza Bra, where we can easily find our way back in ten-fifteen minutes.

We stopped off at a restaurant to eat, and we tried a "spritz"-Italian, and supposed to be very refreshing, it is white wine, ginger and sprite-the ginger is not like ginger ale, though, and it is very, very bitter. It was too much for us, so we're assuming its an acquired taste. Instead, we have some Bellini we will probably try tomorrow night, and possibly hit up a few local bars either tomorrow, or definitely Tuesday for my birthday! It's now in less than 24 hours our time here, I'm excited to not be a teenager anymore!!! Our waitress didn't speak english, and the other person only spoke minimal english, luckily she spoke some french though, and we were able to ask questions and order (how we found the ingredients of the drink out). I'm glad this minor is coming in handy somehow, since i havent made it to France yet! After dinner, we walked back and stopped for some gelato on the way. I've now tried three flavors. I think it'll become a daily thing!

Since we've been back, I've just been relaxing and working on this! I'm off to bed shortly, because tomorrow we are going to Lake Gardi, and also up the mountain there to get some panoramic shots. Hopefully I'll have time to update tomorrow, if not, then on Tuesday because we'll be here in the afternoon!

Ciao!!

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