Italia was quite the trip (part 2)

(ITALIA PART 2- since email couldn't handle 10 pages)

We took the bus to town and went to the Duomo, the biggest church in the area. The line to walk into it was hella long and after like 20 minutes of waiting, we found out that you had to be covered up. Since it was like 85 degrees already and we were all in skirts and spaghetti straps, we called it quits and decided to wait in the line that goes up the dome. And this dome was MASSIVE. Like I couldn’t get the whole thing into a photo unless I was like ½ a mile down the way. So we waited for like 45 min (we took turns to browse in the stores) and finally got in. You had to climb like 41,000 stairs (not really, I think it was like 500ish) up narrow, steep, rock stairs (build in like the 1100s) to get to the dome.

On the way up, we got inside the church on a rim-ish thingy that you could see down like 300 ft to the pews and up like 300 more ft to the frescos and such. It was crazy huge! I bet it echoes a whole lot in there… but anyways so we finally get to the dome and outside and wowzah. Best view of the city you could EVER have. It is the tallest building in Florence so you could literally see the WHOLE city and then some! It was so crazy. We took really good pictures of the view (and us!) and headed down the stairs which was pretty frightening. Some idiot lady had heels on and I thought for sure she was gonna fall and take us out with her! Stupid. So we finally get down and all our legs were shaking from the stairs.

When we were sitting down, we had like 14 Indian begger ladies come up to us. It was terrible but kind of funny because they put padding inside their clothes to make themselves look prego and thus, more money. We didn’t bite so we just ignored them. They are quite aggressive in Italy!! I think everyone is aggressive- beggers, taxi drivers, bus drivers, street vendors, the whole shebang! We walked by a couple of paintings and the dude like basically rolled up a pic and tried to put it in our hands, without us even saying a word! We did get offered a free one if we gave him a kiss… so we all got free paintings!!! Hahahah totally kidding, we laughed and walked away because the art was ugly and screen-printed.

After that we wandered around and dropped Mckenna off at a café cause her feet were hurting so bad… poor thing. So we got into an internet café and went in a few shops before we accidentally ran into the leather market! OH.MY.GOSH. so much fun. They are WAYYYY aggressive sellers as well, but it is too much fun. I almost got a leather jacket for way discounted (originally 740 euros for 128!!! All because I looked like Shakira (?) hahahah riiiight) but decided against it. I did get a purse though… it is super duper cute and smells like a dead baby lamb hahaa. Yummm. So yeah, shopping and bartering was fun, I can’t wait for Morocco!!

After that we went to meet Amanda’s parents for dinner and had a blast. They are super cool and way nice! But better yet, I had the best bite of lasagna that I will ever have. Mckenna ordered it and OMG, so delicious. After that we went to an Opera concert in an old church. We had like 15 minutes to get there and were having the hardest time finding a taxi! I thought for sure we wouldn’t make it, but we did. And it was quite the experience. Opera is… different. I think I liked it though! My favorite part was when the piano guy just played the piano with no singing… it was absolutely amazing. Such god fingers!

 After the Opera it was almost 11, so Nikki and I walked Amanda to her parent’s hotel while Mckenna and Kellie went back to the hostel (so Mckenna’s feet wouldn’t die). We wandered around Florence for a bit and took a few pictures before we heard a free concert going on. He had an angel’s voice, so freaking pretty. He sung “Stairway to Heaven”… drooooool. Then we grabbed a bottle of wine (2 euros!) and sat on a bridge and hung out. We kinda had an “ah ha!” moment when we decided that we have the perfect lives. Like who can go do this?! We are making all these memories that we will never forget with people we have only known for less than a month…. It is insane. We live la dolce vita, the sweet life. New tattoo? Hahahah jkjk

Once we got back to her parent’s hotel it was about 12:30 so we decided to take a taxi back. When we got there, we saw Mckenna and Kellie literally just walk in ahead of us. Since it shouldn’t take 1.5 hours to get back on the bus, we were a tad confused as to what happened. Turns out the bus station we left them at stopped running at 10, so they had to walk across the river to find the nearest one. Then, they got on it and about 15 minutes in, the driver shuts the bus off and goes outside to make out with his girlfriend (Kellie claims it was a prostitute hahah).

And FYI, the stereotype about people making out everywhere is COMPLETE TRUTH.

Then, they sit there for like 30 minutes before he finishes that and they get going again. Then, the driver is going like a maniac to impress his gf, so they get off and take a taxi. The taxi driver drove even more like a maniac, but got them to the hostel okay. So we end up at the same place at the same time, but with less of an adventure then they did. So we walk into our room and BAM, there is another girl in there on the top bunk of my bed. A tad weird when you don’t know someone will be in there.

Turns out we got a roommate!! Vega (her real name was like Rajavegavik or something) from Iceland!! She was super nice and was having a gap year with her cousin. I asked her if they had trees in Iceland (since the Icelandic people at Ryan’s bar in Barcelona made fun of me for it!) and turns out I was right. She said “If people get lost in the forests of Iceland, we just tell them to sit up” hahah. She was real cool.

After talking for a good portion of the night, we woke up, ate our free hostel breakfast (really good bread), and headed to the bus station. We decided we were going to go to the Boboli Gardens to have a picnic and wander around as a chill day since we were totally beat from 6 days in Italy. On the way there, surprise! Our bus broke down. So we walked in the hilly suburbs of Florence for like 20 minutes until we could find a person who spoke a tad bit of English and could point us in the right direction. Once we got going, we picked up some bread, cheese, fruits, veggies, and wine from the markets and shops on the way. We finally found the garden after about 45 minutes of walking and the garden was 8 euros to get in. Bummer. So we walked over to this school/library-ish looking thing and found a nice wooded area with a bench and had the BEST time ever. We all just hung out and had a good time in the peaceful area we were in…. except an old lady sat down on the bench like 10 feet away and wouldn’t stop staring. Slightly creepy. But yeah it was great. We found out that in the summer time, high school aged kids all buy champagne and shake them up and then have a champagne fight…. We wanted to join them cause it looked like soooo much fun!

After an hour or so we decided to walk to this ritzy shopping bridge (Ponte Vecchio) and just wander (as usually). We dropped Mckenna off at another café (since she wanted to sit because of her poor feet!) and headed over. We went into a few gold places because we want to get our 1 cent euro coins made into necklaces, but apparently it is illegal. Croatia better be able to!!! We soon got bored of lame-o fancy stores and went to the city center, Piazza della Signoria, where we were supposed to meet Mckenna at in a few hours. We saw a chalk artist recreating the Mona Lisa and got yelled at for putting out feet up on this concrete wall (it was so lame… it is concrete, not marble! Retard.).

At this point we were soooo exhausted and ready for naptime and it was only like 5. So we sit on the ground and doze a bit waiting for Mckenna. She finally shows up and we got an early dinner and got on the bus to go back. But, surprise! Public transportation SUCKS in Florence.

We got on the first bus we saw because all buses go to the train station, or so we thought. After 30 minutes, we asked the driver and he laughed at us and told us to get off at a certain stop so we could get on the right bus. So we do and are literally waiting for 30 more minutes for our bus to come. The bus we were on before had looped ALLLLLL the way back around and he was laughing at us still sitting there. FINALLY, our bus comes along and we get on. Bus passes only last for 90 minutes, and we are on like 70 at this time…. If an inspector got on and it was expired= 240 euro fine. YUCK. So we sit and wait. And wait. And wait. We are on that bus for a good 30 minutes before we start thinking we are going in circles…. So we sat for another 30 minutes and FINALLY get to our stop. I’m pretty sure we got on like a stop or 2 after our stop… but yeah. So we were on a bus for like 2 hours and it SUCKED. But I laughed, everyone else was a tad annoyed and frustrated with it hahahah. Just our luck. So we completely pass out at 9pm.

We didn’t go to see Michaelangelo’s David cause none of us had any desire. The line was out the building and down the street, so it was totally not in our best interest to visit. Plus, pictures of David are fine with me. Oh well!

The last day we woke up at 5am to get to the bus station at 5:30 to get to the train station by 6 to make our 7am train to Pisa. We made it AND validated our tickets (we so smart!). It was great. So we all pass out on the 45 minute ride and I woke up with about 3 minutes to spare, which was quite lucky. If we had missed our stop… oh gosh.  So we get on a bus and go to Pisa. It’s not even 8am yet so it was EMPTY. We got a few good pics before the crowds started pouring in! People (and us I am sure) looked ridiculous doing poses hahahah. But our pics are way cute. We met a few people from Florida and told them about SAS… their daughters were deff liking what they were hearing haha. So by the time we were done it was only 8:45am and our next train was at 11:30 so we got breakfast and the last Italian cappuccino… :( sooo good.

We decided to head to the station to see if they had an earlier trains to Civitavecchia, but sadly no. So we just stayed in McDonald’s for a long long while. When we finally got on the train, Mckenna, Amanda, and I were so wired we were just goofing off the whole time and being obnoxious. It was great. When we saw the ship from the train it was so wonderful! We were all craving good showers and AC and free water… so we squealed a bit. We ate lunch, made it to the ship by 3, and didn’t get dock time!

We fought Italy, and we freaking won (sorta)!! YUSSS.



Now we are on the way to Croatia, which would be lovely if we didn’t have classes. But we do. Today, I have written 3 papers and studied (sorta hhaha) for a test I have tomorrow. So lame. But after that I’m home free!! We also picked up a Croatian guy from Italy so he can tell us all about his home and…. So cute. When the dean introduced him during Global Studies all the girls were giggling. It was so funny cause Nikki and I did it too hahah. We are so starved from boys on this ship!! 70/30 is NO BUENO. But yeah. Tests and papers due tomorrow, Croatia in 2 days. I can do this!