Travels of a Small Town Girl

Welllll this is it! My LAST DAY in Milan! I can't believe I have been in Europe for almost six weeks. Only one last stop, Venice, Italy this weekend before hopping a plane to New Amsterdam and then from their back to good ol' Washington DC. I'm going to start from Tuesday and fill you in on everything up until today! Then my Venice post will most likely be the last, when I get back to the states. Tuesday was Duomo Day. We have been in Milan for almost a month with the 4th biggest Duomo in the world. It's a very Gothic style building and extremely extravagant. A few years ago when TRL was still on, the Italia version of TRL was hosted right outside of the Duomo, soooo of course I have some pictures to show you. We had a tour of the building and there is even a pope who's crypt/tomb is in the basement of the church. You can go down and actually see his body in the glass tomb. Kinda cool.. really creepy. Milano Duomo I kind of think this Duomo looks out of plac...

Not a real blog entry.. but I am so proud of myself. I just killed an entire cheese pizza by myself. Now I feel sick. Time to put on the fat pants and chill!

#1. Duomo=Church. There are about a million of them (on per major city)--all dedicated to the Virgin Mary. #2. Women ride mopeds and motorcycles here... IN HEELS. #3. Dogs are allowed with their owners pretty much anywhere including and not limited to Public transportation, food and grocery stores, clothing stores and gelaterias #4. Most of the male dogs are NOT fixed.. #5. The people who sell things in Italy to the tourists are persistent. About 6 will line up the same merchandise approximately 10 feet apart from each other and EACH one will ask if you want whatever they are selling. This gets old quick. They don't like when you yell at them. (Not that I know or anything..hehe) #6. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT let the men with the bracelets tie one on your wrist.. THEY ARENT FREE and once it's tied you either pay or run.. #7. The pigeons in Italy are HUGE and are not scared to fly a hairs length above your head.. also, watch out for the bird poop. #8. For Europe in general,...

Wow. I don't even know how to explain to you all the places I have been, all the people I have met and all the things I have done in the past three days. The whole weekend is crystal clear and a total blur at the same time. Friday night, Stephanie, Theresa, Heather and I went to the Milan, Lambrate train station to get on another (yet, again) overnight train. After last weeks experience to Rome, it was the last thing I wanted to do, but I hoped and prayed that this train would be better (but at least I knew what I was in for if it wasn't). We got onto the train at about 12:30 at night and were pleasantly surprised to find that this train was nicer with individual seats and AIR CONDITIONING. But what we also knew, was that this train was taking us to another train station to make a switch at about 3 in the morning. We slept on the train for about an hour, woke up and got off at the appropriate train station. We waited until 3 for the next train to come. Having prepared for a h...

Helloooooooo all you beautiful people! I hope you have enjoyed my blog so far because I have a lot more stories to fill you in on now! Starting with last Wednesday (the days seem to fly by here and I don't even believe it's already my last week in Italy!), after I wrote my other blog. First we went to a modern art-ish museum for a little bit and walked around. It was pretty cool because the whole concept was that the artifacts and things that were in the museum were people's perceptions of what things in the future would be like (but now that it is the future, these things are just funny or interesting to look at). Here is a picture of the museum from the outside (Chelsea a girl on the program took some of the pictures I'm using in this post, so I'll make sure to credit which ones are hers). Outside of the Modern Art Museum (Chelsea's pic.) Following the museum at about 6 in the evening, we arrived at the church that housed the one and only LAST SUPPER...

On the boat to the islands Fun. Fun. Fun. So I have left out some very important details of a few highlights in the last week and a half that I am going to try to bring you up to speed on starting with the eventful last Wednesday. Last Wednesday, we didn't have an in-class lecture, rather we went to Lake Maggiore which is one of the lakes that separates Italy from Switzerland. It's funny because these lakes remind me of what I imagine the Great Lakes to be which separate the U.S. from Canada. But anyway, we got on a train to Lake Maggoiore to visit some pretty famous places. We took a boat ride to two separate islands. Both hosted castles from famous families of Italy. Not only were these castles on the Islands, but the Islands were homes of beautiful botanical gardens. We spent a majority of the day in the castles and gardens of the two islands. On the second island, there was a watercolor painter who was painting a scene of the day (might I add it was gorgeous). He was ...

Angry. Again. I need more right now. I'm frustrated. Tired. Upset. Aggrivated and somewhat just over it. Have you ever fought with anyone and no matter how much you say, what you explain or how many different ways you say it, you realize you aren't getting anywhere with that person? Well, that's how I feel. It's frustrating and annoying. It makes me question things. I hate when I say something, someone criticizes me and then turns around and does or says the exact same thing that they just criticized me for. Also, how can someone expect me to talk to them and be honest with them, when every comment I make has a counter point or argument? I can never truly express myself if I am always getting shut down for what I am saying or being told that what I am saying is wrong or inaccurate. It makes me think so hard about what I am saying, how to phrase it and then despite all the effort its broken down anyway. I know I am a smart girl. I know I think logically and fluidly. I am...

Thaaaaat's right folks. I did NOT see Michelangelo's painting. :-( Sad face sad face tear tear. Halfway around the world, in Italy, in Rome and Vatican city is closed on Sundays. I feel like we should have all known that, but ALAS, we didn't. Yes, I am bummed. No, I didn't cry. I will live... and it gives me a good reason to go back! Although the town was closed, the Vatican has its own guards who stand and block the gates. I must say, I think these guards are way more tortured than the London ones. They looked like clowns hahaha. And they were young guys. But here is what we had to take seriously when they said the Vatican was closed... (You try not to laugh, I dare you.) HAHAHAHA. Okay, but onto a more serious note. Before the Vatican, we went to this church for Capuchin Monks. What is a Capuchin Monk you ask? A Capuchin monk is a monk who wears a capuche. A capuche is a hood.. soo a Capuchin Monk is a "Hooded Monk" roughly translated. This church that we we...