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28 Days In Italy: Day 28

All Done!

We are back in the U.S. now!

I didn't get a chance to write during my last two days in Italy so I'll reflect.

We went to the Duomo finally on our second to last day in Milan, even though we had to walk by it every day.  It was so huge and beautiful inside.  It's weird - that's probably one of the first things that people want to see when they go to Milan - but because we saw it every day on our way to class it became more of a normal sight.  On our first day, when we walked past it I remember saying "Can you believe we get to walk by this thing every day?!".  

We took a train to Lake Como on our last day.  It's not touristy where we were at all and no one spoke a lick of English.  We went to the lake so we could lay on the beach on our last day.  We got off the train and began trying to ask people where to go to get to the beach.  No one could tell us anything but they all pointed us in a similar direction.  How did we ask for beach?  We played charades - and "swam" with our arms.  It came to that!  We walked along a road near the lake for about 15 minutes or so and we started to hear splashing sounds.  Yess!  Beach!

Wrong.

It was a pool.  A fenced in pool.  Outside of the fenced area was a makeshift beach with rocky chunky "sand" and people sunning themselves on chairs.  No beach.  We find out that you can't actually swim in the lake there... so there are pools.  We had to pay 6 Euro to get into the beach/pool area, 3,50 for a mandatory bathing cap to go in the pool and 4,50 each for a chair!  For an umbrella it was another 3,50 so we just roasted in the sun.  14 Euro was way more than I had planned on paying that day for anything, including food.  Luckily the snacks were cheap.  I got a nice burn but it's okay because I was lacking any sort of tan from the whole month of sitting in class while it was sunny.  

When we tried to pack our suitcases to go back home it was beyond amazing that we even managed!  I left a few things behind that I just couldn't fit - like my shampoo & conditioner, soap, towels, magazines that I didn't want as bad.  Stuff like that.  The plane ride back home was fine.  Same movies as last time but I didn't really watch any last time because I was too tired.  I sat by a southern lady who was in Romania and a guy from Illinois who was in Poland - both missionaries.  It was so great to finally hug Evan after that long month.  It was the best feeling.  The best hug I have ever felt.  

Overall I think Italy, Amsterdam and everything was just an incredible experience and it was so worth it!  I would go back in a heartbeat.  I will never forget all the interesting people we met, things we saw, food we ate and how we learned so much about the world and about ourselves!

..........

A List of Things to Remember

The Alexander McQueen Store

Sunflower Bar & their chocolate brioches

Solero Red Fruits & Magnum Bars

The guys who sell roses

The lady with big ankles we saw everywhere

Crowded tube that smells like B.O.

Guy who was peeing outside

Umbrella salesmen who appear at the first drop of rain

Acqua Naturale

People that talk on their phones and stop walking in mid sidewalk or escalator

Guys in business suites on mopeds

Ladies in stilettos on mopeds!

Kickstands of mopeds that sink into the blacktop

Heidi tripping over nothing every day

Paying 5 Euro to rent a movie from the front desk 

Hollywood, not Loolapalooza

Bruschetta from the Royal Restaurant by the Duomo

Italian McDonalds = yucky

The Italian "save-a-lot"

Wine for only 1,75 Euro

Never being able to switch from saying dollars to euros

Military time isn't just for the military

Medicine comes in powdered form

Italians laughing at us all the time

Italians saying "Bon Appetite!" if we carry food down the road

Thinking that we could cheat the system with re-using train tickets = bad idea

Never getting carded to get alcohol

Slot machines in cafes

Cigarette vending machines outside

Accordion player and little singing gypsy girls on the subway

Not being able to NOT shop

Great advice from travel mates... "Get it!"

Street performers like the hula hoop girl or the xylophone guy

Seeing America/Americans from another perspective

Finding really long Dutch words with 22 letters in them

Seeing the same annoying commercials on TV every day 

and still never getting them because they're in Italian

British Pimp My Ride double decker bus

Avoiding the vents in the sidewalks for a whole month, successfully

9 pairs of shoes, one suitcase

28 Days In Italy: Day 26

July 28, 2005

Day 26

Today we got up, crammed all our new junk into our suitcases and realized we bought way too much, had a quick breakfast (yay toast!) and checked out.  Besides for the fact that my bags were so heavy and crammed that they are bursting at the seams literally and my duffle bag broke a wheel so I have to carry it - the trip back to Milan was fairly easy.  No getting lost or running late or making expensive mistakes for once!!  So proud of us.  So proud.  

On the plane I sat by this guy that is from the states but he is a college professor in the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi.  He told me that the next big money maker in fashion is the city of Dubai because the Arabic women dress in expensive YSL silk scarves and dresses.  He thinks it is a growing market and very "promising" for me and other future designers with a business mind.

I went on the internet today and checked my credit card balance and savings/checking account balance and I have $1000 on my credit card and $880 in my savings/checking accounts.  Shit.  And the savings is for bills when I get home!  Ahh!!  Debt!  It's worth it.  I will just keep telling myself that.

28 Days In Italy: Day 25

July 27, 2005

Day 25

Today was our last day of fun in Amsterdam!

We fly out in the morning to be in Milan for 2 days and then have to fly back to Amsterdam to fly home!

Today we didn't have any running water because they were working on the pipes in the street by our hotel so we were all dirty all day today!  We just did some more shopping and I got some new shoes because they were on sale for really cheap!  Okay I got like... 4.  One pair was only 5 Euro!  Score.

We went to Boom Chicago tonight for their other show.  It was more funny than last time because it was scripted.  And I didn't get picked on.  ;)

That's all for Amsterdam!  Back to Milano in the mornin!

28 Days In Italy: Day 23

July 25, 2005

Day 23

Today was a very big busy long day for us!

We made a little tentative list this morning of things we want to see/do within the next 3 days we are here.  We accidentally did everything on the list - TODAY - except for go to an Irish Pub (we saw a cool looking one down the street).

We woke up at 10AM and had breakfast downstairs (it's free!).  I loved it because they had toast and I love toast!  I live on it at home (poor college student) but haven't had any the whole month of July until this morning because all they have in Italy is brioches!  After breakfast we headed out on our adventure.  We walked everywhere we went today which was a LOT of walking but it didn't seem like it (due to all the excitement and newness).  It didn't seem like a lot of walking... until we sat down.  

The Anne Frank House was amazing.  It was so moving to be there where she really was and still see pictures she had pasted up onto the walls herself.  Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures inside in order to keep everything totally preserved.  I think they learned that the hard way - because my Grandma has pictures of the inside from visiting it in the 80's.  We had to stand in a line (in the pouring rain) half way around the block to get in but for the experience it was well worth it.  It rained the entire day so we bought ponchos and umbrellas and were still looking like wet rats by the end of the day.

An unpleasant order of events... the next stop was the Torture Museum!  Talk about sick.  Mostly there were weird metal and wood contraptions for punishment in Mid Evil Times.  What a screwed up time to live on this Earth.  We also went into the Hemp & Marijuana Museum.  It was interesting because they had the whole history of it throughout the place.  They had a case of different things made out of hemp, including some Adidas shoes!

We went out to dinner at a steak place and then went on a Canal Boat ride so we could see Amsterdam from the water's view.  It was really cool (much better than the rip-off gondola ride in Venice).  Amsterdam has so much interesting history!!  That was one really great part of taking the boat ride - they told us what we were looking at and all the history behind it all.  It's amazing to hear the stories behind the city.  There was a story for everything.  

After the boat ride we found our way back to the hotel and then went to a cafe to go on the Internet for awhile.  On our way back to the hotel, a group of break dancers were just starting up a performance on the sidewalks so we stayed to watch.  It's so fun to have little stuff like that going on all the time.  I love cities with a nightlife!  

We went back to the hotel after watching the amazing performance and decided we were too tired to even go back out.  We just relaxed, rested our tired feet, and looked at some new fashion magazines that we had acquired.  We did so much today that we don't even know what we want to do tomorrow.  Besides shop.  We always want to shop.  It's bad.  But how often do I get to shop in Europe??  I just won't buy anything new all year to make up for it....

28 Days In Italy: Day 22

July 24, 2005

Day 22

We just boarded our plane to Amsterdam!  We took a train to Centrale and I just used one of the tickets from Renee's booklet because she had extras.  I threw it away after I used it because I thought we were done with it.  It's what I've been doing every day since I've been in Milan.  Well, today there were police checking people for their tickets after they got off the train before they entered Centrale.  I had already thrown mine away!!  So I was fined 37 Euro!!  I was so so mad!  That was basically all of my cash and now I am broke.  That was the cash I needed to use for train tickets and food for the next couple of days.  So then something even worse happened!  Renee had to get on her plane earlier because the one Heidi and I bought was sold out - or the other way around - but it wasn't that big of a deal because she would go in right before us and wait for us to get there.  But on the bus to the airport she looked at her e-ticket and saw that it said she was supposed to be at the other airport in Milan and it was wayyy too late for her to get there in time!  So when we got to the Malpensa airport we wandered around aimlessly in a panic until we found a KLM Airlines desk.  The guy spoke great English - thank god! - and he said he could bump Renee onto our flight but it would cost 80 Euro.  Of course she was going to pay it though because what else would we do?  So, another very expensive mistake under our belts!  

In 2 hours we will be in Amsterdam trying out another adventure of finding our hotel - which consists of 2 train rides and some walking!  Hope for the best!

.... Later on ....

So, we are in Amsterdam now!  We just got home to our hotel from our first night in Amsterdam and I love this city!!  It's so excellent!!  We found the hotel really easily.  We read through some of the brochure ad books to find some stuff to do.  We found a comedy club called "Boom! Chicago" and it's a restaurant/comedy club in English and it is right around the block from the hotel!  We went to that and had an awesome dinner and then watched the comedy act which was a whole lot like Whose Line only they said more swear words talked more freely about sex and drugs and mocked America a little bit more than we might do.  At the end they all came out and were all dressed up crazy getting ready to sing their end of the night song which was "Guess who's sitting in the front row!" and I was definitely in the front row.  And I got picked on.  Me and 2 other random people.  It sucked - but - it's all in fun.  They told me I was going to be designing stripes for K-Mart.  Oh god!!

We headed back to the hotel and got into our puffy comfy beds.  We are getting up early to go to some museums and see more of the city!

28 Days In Italy: Day 21

July 23, 2005

Day 21

We went to bed really early last night.  We were so tired for some reason.  Finally done with class and spent all day stressed out trying to make our plans for the week.  We went back to Bar STRAF for another (free dinner) happy hour.  They have the best food.  And guess who we saw there... none other than Massimo!!  So were were chatting with him for awhile while he was waiting for his friend to get there.  He told us about his job as a Design Director for a line called Acerbis Republik.  He gave me his business card with his email on it, so maybe I can get him to help me find an internship!

Today we slept in until 2 and now we are all trying to do our laundry and get ready for Amsterdam.  There is only one dryer and two washers in the whole place - and they suck.  Other people are trying to do their laundry too so it's hard to get one and keep it.  Someone took my stuff out of he washer because I guess I didn't get it out the second it was done.

28 Days In Italy: Day 20

July 22, 2005

Day 20

Today was our last day of class.

All we had to do was go and "present" our projects to some of the teachers.  I thought it would be hard or scary but it was so easy.  The only teacher that spoke English was Massimo so it was good because he already knew what I was going to say about my collection.

Then we got on the computers to start searching for tickets and hotels for our trip.  We finally made plans!  After hours, literally, of research, we decided on going only to Amsterdam for 4 nights.  We're going from the 24th - 28th and will be staying in Hotel La Boheme.  Amsterdam!!!  I am so excited!!

28 Days In Italy: Day 18

July 20, 2005

Day 18

I skipped class today.

Renee and I both decided not to go.  Last night, school threw us a party at this restaurant/discotheque called Old Fashion Cafe.  First there was dinner and then dancing.  I met Massimo's boyfriend last night too!   It was pretty fun.  We got free food, wine, then a free drink ticket.  I like free!  

Today there was three sessions of class but we didn't know it.  We all skipped the first one because it was a lecture on Economics (in Italian) so it was pointless.  But then Renee and I slept in too much on accident and so we were just going to not go to the second session either but meet Heidi at the computer lab at 4 when she got out.  So we went shopping at H&M and I got a couple of shirts and 2 belts.  Yay!  So we get to school to see Heidi and she says there is a 3rd session!  We didn't bring our school stuff so we had to skip again!  Oooops.  Tomorrow is our last day of actual class and Friday we present to the teachers.  We still don't have our last week planned out yet.  Yikes.

Waiting In Line

This is what the clouds were doing while I was driving home from work today.

28 Days In Italy: Day 14

July 16, 2005

Day 14

Today was our full day of Venice!

It was awesome!!  

I woke up this morning and felt like crap.  I couldn't breathe all night because my sinuses and nose were stuffy and I had a sore throat.  Now my throat is sort of feeling better but I still can't breathe out of my nose.  :(

Oh yeah!  I never wrote about last night once we arrived!!

Okay so last night the train pulled into Venice at about 10ish because it makes so many stops.  We get off and were so excited because it totally looked just how we pictured Venice to look.  It was beautiful and calms with happy little tourists wandering the shops.  So we start walking down the first road we come to because the hotel is supposed to be right by the train station.  We go up to a restaurant and ask someone for Hotel Piave and he is like "no, no Hotel Piave in Venice.  Hotel in Mestre." and we're like.... huh.... so we didn't even know what he said!  So we run back to the train station and ask another guy "Mestre?" and he says "Yes, 10 minute, train S".  We find train S and above it does not say Mestre but we ask one more person and they say yes so we get on and sit forever and wait for the train to turn on.  Forever was probably 10 minutes as the guy said, but we were nervous.  No one checked for tickets so we basically rode for free - it was only 1 Euro so oh well.  That seems to be happening to us a lot.  

We get off at the first stop which was Mestre and the first street we see is Via Piave!  Good!  But we're starving because we've hardly eaten all day and nothing is open because it's 11 at night.  We find our hotel and get up to our room.  It's kinda crappy but not dirty or anything so it's okay.  Not beautiful like the Milan rooms, but you get what you pay for.  The only bad things were the teeny tiny shower and the really flat pillows on hard beds.  And cold tile floors.  

We went back down to the front desk to ask the guy if there was anywhere to go eat and he said no unless we want to walk down a few blocks to the pubs.  What choice do we have?  We started walking and we saw a lady standing on the side of the road wearing black high heels and a short black skirt and she had really big hair.  Yikes, our first prostitute encounter!  We started walking really fast.  About a block later we saw a pizza place that looked open so we went in and got pizza and some wine.  It was about 11:30 or 40 and they closed at 12 so when we were about half done, they were putting chairs away and really wanting to kick us out.  We finished up the wine and headed back.

When we went back into the lobby the guy at the desk saw I had a pizza box in my hand and he asked us if we wanted some beer.  We were like "nooo, water!!".  So he gave us a big thing of water and then he said he could make us a Venetian Cocktail.  We had one and then went up to bed.   

We slept until noon and then headed out for our first day of Venezia!  Like I said, I was really not feeling well so it was hard to feel excited at first.  We walked all around and did a lot of shopping and picture taking!  There are also things going on in the streets like musicians, guys from Africa selling fake designer purses, people that look like statues with the Venice masks on, and also lots of beggars.  Not as many as Milan but we saw the worst one here; it was a guy with arms only down to his elbows and he was sitting there waving his stubs around and yelling things in Italian.  It really sucks seeing all these poor people and I wish I could help them.  But If I helped every one I saw I would become one too because I would run out of money!  

I really wanted to take a Gondola Ride while we were there so we found one but it was 80 Euro.  We ended up doing it anyway because you can't really not do it.  And guess what?  It totally wasn't worth it!  He took us down a bunch of side streets so we didn't get to see tons of big cool things.  We did see a UPS boat though!  That was funny.  After that we got dinner at a place where you get all the "courses" for only 13 Euro so we were definitely excited.  It was really good for the most part.  I got lasagna, roasted chicken, salad and fruit salad.  The fruit salad was from a can so that was sad.  I went to Venice and all I got was this canned fruit salad!

After dinner we went to San Marcos Square for the festival.  It would have been cool but there were just SO many people there that we were shoulder to shoulder even though the place was huge.  We took a bunch of pictures because the buildings were beautiful.  It was so hard to be in that big crowd because we were all carrying a bunch of stuff from the whole day of being out.  The fireworks started and people literally started charging forward toward the water to try to get a look at them.  They were apparently shooting them off from an island so we really couldn't even see them.  People were seriously running and pushing like they had never seen fireworks in their life!  So we stayed for a little bit but we decided to just go back early to avoid the rush of people leaving.  The festival apparently lasts into Sunday!  After the fireworks they go to this island and party on the beach and then go swimming at sunrise!  I can't really imagine that would be that much fun with so many people though.  We went back to the hotel and went to SLEEP.