Day Forty-Seven

I had the best breakfast of my European adventure this morning. I had a fruit salad and orange juice that were both amazing. The fruit was cut up right after I ordered it and the orange juice was squeezed right then and there. I have never had a fresher breakfast.

The weather this morning was quite deceiving. It was really sunny and nice out. By the middle of the day it was down pouring. It also started to hail. Good thing I brought my umbrella, but I had only brought a sweater and not my jacket so it got pretty chilly.

We went into the Colosseum today which was really awesome. It was raining when we were in there and there was even a little lightning and thunder. Once it cleared out though, the sun came out for a bit so we could get some pretty awesome pictures.

The rest of the day was spent in Vatican City. We went into the basilica which was really amazing inside. While waiting in line to go in, a random photographer came up to me and asked if he could take a picture of the basilica in the reflection of my sunglasses. Later I also got interviewed by NBC which is pretty sweet. Hopefully I make it on to the news.

No smoke was released at five-thirty to signify a pope being chosen, so we waited around until seven for the next round of voting. It was really cold and my feet started to hurt really bad. The smoke wasn't released until quarter to eight and it was black smoke so a pope still has not been chosen.

Inside the Colosseum

The Colosseum right after it stopped raining

The plaza in Vatican City

Inside St. Peter's Basilica

Weirdly-dressed guards in Vatican City

Day Forty-Six

There was a plaza in Florence with a panoramic view that we went to this morning. It stayed sunny long enough for us to get some nice pictures and to not get rained on while walking up the path.

Our hostel ended up being only five minutes from the train station which is pretty nice since my backpack is a bit heavy.

We started walking to the Colosseum and ended up seeing a whole bunch of neat buildings and such along the way. When we finally got to it we weren't able to go in because we got the right after closing time. We are going to go back in the morning.

After the Colosseum we walked to the Trevi Fountain and Erin and I made wishes. For dinner I had pesto pasta again. I can't get enough of that stuff. I also had some sort of sugar-coated pizza crust with Nutella dessert which was amazing.

When we to back to the hostel we went up to the rooftop patio and sat around for a while just chatting until it got too cold. Now I am sitting in my room just recuperating because my feet are extremely sore from all the walking I did today. I may need to invest in some better walking shoes while I am here if this continues.

View of Florence from the panorama view plaza

We weren't really sure what this was, but it looked really neat

There are ruins all over in the city like this

I don't even know....

At the Colosseum!

The Trevi Fountain

Day Fourty-Five

It's the halfway point of my trip. I can't believe I have already been here for a month and a half. I'm so excited for the rest of my trip.

It was really nice when we got to Florence on the train. The sun was finally out and it was pretty warm. Of course a couple hours later it was down pouring. The rest of the day was really rainy. Luckily I had my umbrella with me.

At lunch we met a couple that moved to Florence from the east coast of the United States twelve years ago. They told us about all these great places to go in Florence. Apparently the lady does high end renovations in America, but she can do it from here which is pretty awesome.

Our hotel is right next to the large river that runs through Florence which is pretty awesome. The management people were extremely nice. They even explained how to use the cappuccino maker.

We walked around a whole bunch today and saw some really neat buildings. One church we went to didn't let people in unless your entire legs were covered, so two of the guys in my group weren't able to go in because they were wearing shorts. We also walked through a big market that had a whole bunch of neat things for sale.

I had some of the best pesto pasta for dinner. I really want to learn how to make it when I get back to the states.

Playing with the miniature camera setting again

Panorama of Florence

Awesome painting on the inside of a cathedral's dome

Day Fourty-Four

Posting a little late again, but at least I found wifi to post something!

It was really foggy when we walked to the tram this morning. You couldn't even see more than half a mile down the road. It was really easy to find our train to Venice at the station, we just had to wait a bit for the platform number to be displayed.

When we got to Venice we went straight to our hotel to drop off our bags. It's the closest we have ever stayed to a main train station. Directions from the Internet said it was only fifty meters.

We walked around a lot today, but that's all you can do in Venice other than ride a gondola boat. There are no cars or bikes anywhere. I did not expect the city to look this way. There are a lot of really narrow streets and there is no real order to them. We did get lost a couple of times, but eventually we were able to fin where we were on the map.

I had pizza for lunch and pasta for dinner which is exactly what you need to do in Italy. They were both really good. After dinner we found a gelato place for some very delicious dessert.

The main canal in Venice

Gondola boat!

I discovered a setting on my camera that makes things look miniature

Day Forty-Three

Found some wifi finally so I am posting my blog from last night.

This morning I got on a train to go to the Brussels airport. We ended up needing to take a bus from the train station to get there because it's so far out of town. We flew with a company called Ryan Air. The way the do seating on their planes is weird. You can reserve a specific seat ahead of time, but if you don't you just sit wherever when you get on the plane because they don't assign you a seat.

When we landed we ha to get on yet another bus to get into the city. Trying to use the metro was a fiasco because there were a few people trying to get your money. When one of my classmates was trying to use a kiosk to buy a metro pass some guy came up and started pushing the buttons for him and then expected a tip when he was finished. Luckily we had a large group so we huddled around the machine to keep them away.

We had to walk quite a ways to get to our hostel, but when we got there it turned out to be a really nice place. We went to a pizzeria for dinner which was pretty tasty.

After dinner we got back on the metro and got off by this really awesome church. Next to it there was a large galleria where we got some gelato. Mine was mango and it was quite delicious.

An awesome cathedral in Milan

The galleria where we got gelato

Day Forty-Two

A majority of today was spent preparing for spring break. I did have a presentation for studio this morning, but that only lasted until 11:30. I went to a couple stores and got some last minute things for my trip. I also re-dyed the hair around my part on top of my head so that it is no longer all faded. That went pretty smoothly since our shower has a removable shower head. Afterwards I went and watched the boys play basketball with the locals again for a bit.

For dinner we had a family-style dinner again. It was a chicken ceasar salad type thing which was really good actually. While they were cooking I started packing my bag. I have to pack for ten days in my backpack. I am only allowed one carry on. If I bring anything like a purse or another small bag, it has to be inside of my backpack. This is going to be tough.

After dinner I went with to the laundromat again just for something to do and then just hung out for a while. Currently I am procrastinating packing my bag because I don't want to have to try and make everything fit.

Over the next week I may not be able to blog at all. I am hopeful that there will be free wifi somewhere along the way, but there are no guarantees. I will try to blog any chance that I get.

Day Forty-One

I had another group meeting with my professor this morning regarding our studio project. We had a good discussion and afterward my group and I got some pretty good ideas planned out for the design. We are feeling pretty confident about what we have so far.

I went to the post office today after class because I had gotten a slip saying I had a package waiting there. It was a nightmare just trying to find the place. The roads have no general organization and I didn't want to keep taking out my map like some stupid tourist. I found it eventually though. I have realized that if I ever get a package again, I should go in the middle of the day rather than late afternoon. I had to take a number and there were thirty-three people in line in front of me. It didn't take too overly long though which was good.

The boys made tacos for dinner tonight. I asked them why they were making tacos again when they made them not too long ago and they told me that because they had finally found sour cream it meant they had to make tacos for dinner.

I finally did laundry tonight. I went to a local laundromat with two of my classmates. Laundry is expensive in Europe. I had to pay eight euros and fifty euro-cents just to wash two loads of laundry and then I had to pay another two euros to dry it all. Luckily though, I think I may be able to go the rest of the trip without doing laundry. I still had some more clean clothes in my closet, but I decided to wash laundry now since I am going to be on spring break all next week.