If I were to live in Italy...

Tuscany. Definitely. As I am writing this post mortem. I think I could see myself living in Florence if I were ever to move to Italy. It´s literally just soooo pretty! I love the architecture and the rivers just all over and the streets are so lively. In Florence I was impressed with the amount of study abroad students from the United States. Literally everytime I heard someone speak in English it was with an American accent and they were in their 20s. That´s normally a turn off for because when I go to other countries I want to feel like I am, but there was something about Florence that made me loveee it. And I was traveling by myself and stayed at hostals. But we will get into that.

I arrived late to Florence. A three or four hour train ride from Verona which was like 30 euros. Not having my phone is like the worstttt. I had my ticket code on my phone so getting my ticket printed took some maneuvers having to call like 3 people until someone got onto my email account to get it. Thank you Juliana for letting me use my phone. Finding my hostal wasn´t too difficult and it seemed really cool, but I was like beyonddd exhausted so I decided to be that unsocial person that goes to bed at like 1130.

April 11

Day one in Florence I decided to wander a bit and stop by the grocery store for some breakfast. Nutella wafers and milk, yumm I am the healthiest.

 My first mistake was waking up at 9 and not leaving the hostal till 10… and then not getting to Ufizzi Gallery, which has one of if not the largest collection of Renassiance Art in Italy, until 11. The line… was miserable. Like ridiculously long. On top of that it started to POUR.  So there were like two lines: one for normal people, then another for groups and people that have like reservations. Once it started to rain, the groups and people that want to spend 30 euros for a ticket instead of 15 started coming… which then affects everyone else because they only let in a certain amount of people into the museum at a time. At first we were moving like maybe every 15 minutes, then it got to 30, and finally like an hour. I was in line for over two hours and the worst part is we weren´t even moving. Just stand in place for like an hour. Miserable.

When I got into the museum, it was still super crowded! I compare it to when I went to el Prado in Madrid. The line was super long but we (Nicole, Jean Luc, and I) got in within half an hour and it wasn´t very crowded. Italy, get on Spain´s level.

I was in the museum for like 4 hours until my stomach began to eat itself. It´s always really fun to see paintings that I have studied J Art History for the winnnn (SHANNON wish you coulda been there, would of contemplated the art and felt so cultured).

There was a really pretty view of Ponte Vecchio from the museum and then I wandered around the main Piazza in front of the castle. 

Muesums are both mentally and physically exhausting so I headed back to the hostal round 6 or so and got some sandwich stuff and saat in a park close by. I felt like the weird bird women in the park… people took pictures of me because I was literally feeding birds from my hand.

April 12

I learned from my mistakes and woke up at like 830 and headed to the Galleria Academia around 9. And I brought my Ipod to make the hour wait so much more enjoyable. Dane Cook was such a good decision. I would be laughing out loud in line and get the strangest looks from people around me. Sawyy.

but yeah I did a lottt of walking around and taking pictures of things I find interesting...

 

Phi Mu love from Florence :)

I actually accidentally snuck into a Basilica and convent..and muesum. I originally had gone in through the private prayer and sat in there for a bit and admired one of the side chapels a bit. I walked a bit further (AFTER FINDING THE MOST PERFECT PHI MU SYMBOL EVERRR) and then there was this sign saying something about a leather workshop. I bought a leather coat and a leather purse while in Italy so why not see what that was about. Then I went up some stairs and all of a sudden I was in the gift shop, then Medici´s side chapel and then the basilica. Oops…. The basilica itself was pretty reg renaissance style but there was a super gorgeous courtyard though.

My favoriteee part of the day was when I made it up to Piazzalo Michelangelo. I walked across the Ponte Vecchio (hey future hubby, maybe take me to Florence and let me choose something pretty from one of the jewlers on this bride… justttt saying J) and then up like a mountain haha. It kind of reminded me of what I walked up when I was in Bolonia. TOTALLY worth it. Seriously you could see the entireeee city. After this view I knew I didn´t have to walk up to the top of the Duomo because you could see everythinggg from this piazza: the countryside and the city, including the Duomo itself. So saved mahself 8 euros hehe If I had been with friends, I would of totally stayed up there to watch the sunset with a nice bottle of Sangria J

this guy was awesome. making some legitimate
music with glasses of water

Ponte Vecchio

That night I ended up Couchsurfing with this 38 year old guy that lived close to Piazza Sant Espiritu. Sounds sketchy I know, but he was really nice. I was like deadddd tired though, because I seriously walked the entireee day so we just hung out in his apartment and chatted. Sorry I didn´t want to go out for drinks Franchesco!

April 13

Friday morning woke up decently early and headed to the Duomo which I still had yet to visit. The line to get in had always been sooo long like every other attraction in Florence. It actually wasn´t very impressive on the inside. The outside is absolutely spectacular and is full of quatrefoils (the Phi Mu in me remains) but the inside was kind of plane, but looking up at the dome was pretty neat.

My next stop was Pisa! Seven euros and two ish hours later I arrived to this little town that is so well known for it´s architectural mishap. I actually really really liked Pisa even though there wasn´t necessarily that much to do. Until you got to the main square where the cathedral and tower were, it was really authentic and cute and  one of the few cities I had been to where most people spoke Italian! When I got to the Leaning Tower area, completelyyy different story. I literally sat in the grass with a sandwich I bought at a deli for like two hours just people watching and laughing at everyone´s poses with the towers. It looks really funny when all you see is someone leaning awkwardly hehe

this actually wasn´t on purpose! I just put my hands out to do a different pose but there must be something about Pisa that makes these pictures just happen.

but you gotta do it, I mean when else will I return to Pisa?

Last stop of the day (it was quite a marathon day…) Siena. Again, not having a phone made for a miserable time to get in contact with my Couchsurfing  host. I was originally suppose to stay with this Iranian guy but then this Spanish girl around my age messaged me saying should could host me too and so I sent a message to the Iranian guy telling him plans had changed but then I wasn´t sure when slash where the Spanish girl was going to get me and I had no way to call either one of them. I had to go into this bullshit fancy restaurant for wifi. I asked for the cheapest thing, they gave me a 4 euro glass of wine. I was so pissed off I didn´t even drink the wine. I ended up meeting with the Iranian guy because he hadn´t gotten my second message and from his phone I called the Spanish girl but she and I made plans for later that night. Stress on stress, wtf I was on vacation.

Sienna is GORGEOUS. My hosts name was Mostaba and he was so gentle and nice and showed me around some. 

After I dropped off my stuff in his apartment, which was kind of a long walk from the center so with my backpack I was huffing and puffing, we went to get pizza. Seriously the best pizza I had the entire time I was in Italy. He invited me to gelato also, and I can never say no to gelato. In Mostaba´s words, it was a perfect J and definitely got me back on the happy.

After noming a good bet, we went to one of his friends birthday parties. He is a PhD student, so there I was spending my Friday night with a bunch of late 20 year olds that were all pretty drunk. A lot of people were kind of confused as to why I showed up with Mostaba, haha Couch Surfing is a wonderful thing.

So I ended up meeting the Spanish girl, Ainhoa, around midnight and actually sleeping at her apartment, I know bizarre. When she picked me up, she definitely sported the grungey Spanish look: dreads, plus have her head shaved, a nose ring a tongue ring and walked as if she was on a mission. Here I am dressed in skinny jeans and a flowery shirt… We bought two 1 liter beers and went to her apartment. We seriously talked until almost 5 in the morning, and this was the first time I have ever met her. She was seriously one of the most inspiring and interesting young person I think I have ever met. She is only 23 and has traveled and seen so much, and not in the most “standard” way. She does hitchhiking a lot, worked at a hostal in Germany for a summer, now doing Erasmus in Siena but travels most weekends. On top of that she is finishing her degree in journalism and works independently on side projects AND is helping to organize this worldwide protest in May (Check it out:) The main thing that stuck out to me that she said was something along the lines of people wanting to be good. That´s why she likes couch surfing and hitchhiking. It was a good mid travel pick up hanging out with her.

April 14

Next day, unfortunately, it rained the ENTIREEE day. Poured actually. I only did the main cathedral and treasury and stuff but I had plans to meet up with Mostaba at 2 for lunch. Plus, my stuff was at his apartment.

I personally liked the cathedral of Siena more so than that of Florence. The inside was really incredible.

so wet.

Mostaba cooked Iranian food for me! SO good J It was a nice change up from pasta 

Ermannooooooooooo´s Hostal!

April 8

So Venice take 2. This time I was supposed to end up in Venice. I missed my original train but no pasa nada when you get a ticket it is validated within a 6 hour period so win for meee.

I arrived to Venice around 11, and guess what day it is—EASTER! It´s weird because this was the first first first time I have spent Easter without several members of my family. I wasn´t like, awww so sad, it was just very strange to be on a holiday so family oriented all by my lonesome self.

Anyways, I had gotten the for sure okay to stay with this guy named Ermanno in Venice. He is 28, had excellent references on CS (couch surfing, no computer sciene-come one tech people) and he was in Venice so all great great things. Unfortunately, I wasn´t sure when or what time I was to meet him but around 1130 I decided I would deal with that little struggle after going to mass. I ended up going in this basilica named San M.. It was really nice. I understood at least some of what the readings were about and what the priest was saying, but what´s really cool about Catholic mass (I am sure most other denominations and religions are similar but I don´t have much experience with those) is that the protocol of mass is always the same. So even though I don´t understand what they were saying, I knew what was going on.

Ermanno y GIAMBATISTA

After that I finally got in contact with Ermanno (by stealing free wifi from some overpriced ristorante-sanksss) and he told me that his friend Giambattista (how much more Italian can you get that that? Over the course of the next two days, whenever I said his name I would always almost yell it and say it very Italianesque with lots of exaggerated hand movements: GIAMBATTISTAAA!) in front to the main plaza of Venice, San Marco. Finding Giamba wasn´t too hard, he had a leather jacket, beard, sunglasses, a “rocker” as Ermanno described him when he messaged me. We said our hellos and then off we were to Ermanno´s place. Through the narrow streets of Venice I was running after this dark hairded Italian man attempting to avoid tourists, vendors, stands. Needless to say I ran into a few things a couple times. 

 When we arrived to Ermanno´s, it really was a like a hostal. There were like 10 other people there! Ermanno, with the help of this other Italian guy Paolo and then Giamba, were cooking pasta for everyone (SO GOOD, carbonara again yummm), there was a group of 3 girls from GA state that were studying in Venice (small world!), a Scottish girl and an Italian girl. Lots of good food, lotsss of wine, and shots, and beer, and then crepes with Nutella…. Oh, it was like 5 o´clock in the afternoon.

drunk decisions. keep in mind it´s like 6pm

Around 8 or so the executive decision to go to the bars was made. Venice doesn´t really have much of a “night life” persay. This normally close around midnight or so and it´s mostly just bars and restarants that have live music. That does not mean we did not have fun. I drank my first (of many) spritz! It´s like sparking white wine, tonic, and this liquor named aperol. I was a responsible individual and did not allow myself to get more than a buzz seeing I had to do all the touristy things of Venice the following day since all I had done was eat and drink (and enjoy) since in Venice. Wonderful, but I Venice was waiting for me. Everyone else around me was hammeredddd. It was quite funny actually. This one girl, Brittany, that is from GA state also, becomes Italian when drunk. Literally she would speak Italian only and all the hand motions and everything. At one point I got into a conversation with this Polish guy that was hanging out with us named Robert. I was telling him how in Spain cat calling is superrr common and annoying but I have learned to just ignore. I think he misunderstood cat calling for boys like approaching me because he then compared me to this 47 year old woman that is all alone. He was like (in his typicalll Polish accent), “EEt takez a lot of courage for a man to speak to a woman. I can zee it in your eyez you want a boyfriend. Don´t be so closed or you will be alone”

I was like, whatttt is going on? I am 20 and quite content just chilling in Europe. Regardless it was entertaining.

our group of hoodlums

We didn´t end up going to bed until after 4 (and a lot of drunk eating-which here btw is salami, cheese, and crackers). I have no idea how I got myself to wake up the following day at 9.

April 9

GIAMBATTISTAAAAA

After a healthy breakfast (crossaints, chocolate chip biscottis, and of course copious amounts of Nutella), Brittney was so kind as to make us a list of what to do and where to go in Venice. GIAMBATTISTAAA offered to be our guide (when I say our, I mean this other couch surfer that ended up coming later the night before named Lisa. She´s from Florida).  We just walked around, went to all the main things, and of course took lots of pictures. Literally, around EVERY corner there is like a post card scene. If you actually look at the buildings, you notice they aren´t that pretty-kind of old and paint chipping etc. But the combination with the water is incredible.

San Marco´s Interior

San Marco´s Exterior

We let Giamba off so he wouldn´t have to wait in line to get into San Marco. Then we walked back by the water and stopped by this old man doing water colors. Lord knows I have no money or space to buy any type of unnecessary object, but Lisa really wanted a painting, and more specifically the painting the man was currently working on. So we stopped and watched him and I talked to him, things I do. We spoke a combination of Italian and Spanish and then I realize he was asking me to go out for aperitvos and dinner. He was like too old to be creepy so I just smiled and was like, Uhh no can´t have plans. He was a very sweet old man and so I was going to try and help him out and buy a small painting for it. He wouldn´t let me pay. I got a hand painted watercolor from an artist in Venice. My mother will be so excited J

When we got back, again more foodddd. Seriously at Ermanno´s, we were treated better and fed better than any hotel I have been to. And it was all home made J Pasta with pesto y pomodora. I had to force myself to leave his home though because I was more than content just hanging out and talking with everyone and eating and drinking.. but I made the decision to go explore Venice a little. Got lost in the little streets finding seriously the most beautiful sceneries. And the best part is that I was far enough from the center that I could take pictures without ANYONE else in them! Yayyy found the authentic Venice J

 

Unfortunately during my admiration of the view from a bridge I was sitting on, I somehowww got my phone stolen. I moved from the bridge to like 5 meters away to some steps. Then I realized it was missing, literally less than an hour ago I had checked the time. Some Italian old ladies let me call my phone but someone answered and hung up. Bastards. Have fun with the millionsss of alarms I have set for the next four months.

The night again we went out for a few Spritz and spoke with Robert about the wonderful Italian culture and hospitality—I´m telling you we have deep conversations when he is drunk haha. I also packed my stuff and left Ermano´s place because he had another surfer coming, but Juliana, who I had gotten to know of the course of the two days told me I could stay with her. Sad to leave Ermanno´s though. Thanks for a WONDERFUL stay in Venice!!!!

April 10

The next day, Juliana got all her work done on time so was able to accompany me to Verona! She´s Colombian and lives in Atlanta and studies at Georgia State, so we had a lot in common J I love traveling by myself, but it´s nice to balance it with other people. And of course, because I traveled by  myself and couch surfed, I  met Juliana. I am telling, traveling by yourself makes meeting people sooo much easier! And she spoke Italian so it was great.

is it bad i think about how many of
these people probably aren´t together anymore?

Verona was nice but there really wasn´t thaaaat much to do. It´s more of a city to just walk around and admire, because it really is quite pretty. The main attractions are Giuliette and Romeo´s house, the arena which is where gladiator fights would have been held (arenas are to Italy as plazas de toros are to Spain).

And we also walked around the castle. SUCH a nice view.

Then it started to rain which was a bummer… but we got some gelato to make everything better.

Leaving Verona was a struggle though. My next destination was Firenze/Florence/Florencia. Sooo not having a phone has been a struggle more than one time. It was litearlly my life line. I had everythinggg on it. Including the ticket code for my ticket for Florence because I bought it online… So Juliana tried to help me talk to the Customer Service to explain the situation but they were like, Oh, just buy another. Ummm I spent 30 euros on that, no sanks. So then, thanks to Juliana´s help, we called like 3 of her friends so they could log onto my TrenItalia account to get the ticket code so I could print my ticket out. Finally, Eramano was the savior, however giving him the password was a struggle between my English and his Italian accent. Eventually I got it and Juliana just made her train back to Venice and I had some time to kill at the train station. People watched at McDonald´s for the win. This guy was literally eating his fries with two hands. Like a continuous feeding motion. And this other like homeless guy would fall asleep at a table, and then get asked to move. He would walk around and then sit down again and fall asleep again. Bizarre.

Made it to Florence kind of late, but I was staying at a hostel. I didn´t want to be like rude to the Couch Surfing community and be like YEAH I be arriving at 10 kay sanks. I was exhausteddd when I arrived so I was lame and just got in bed around 11. I got woken up about a hundred times cuz I was dumb enough to pick the bed right by the door. Oh well, (hashtag)hostelproblems.

Padova´s series of unfortunate events…

I left Bologna early early Saturday morning. Caught the 8 15 train Padova bound! It´s this small town about 30 minutes outside of Venice that is suppose to be one of those places that not many tourists know about but it´s quite pretty. One of the main reasons I decided to come here was because I still wasn´t sure where I was going to stay in Venice. I had been looking up hostals and there were seriously ZERO on the main island. These hostals were also not very cheap… and you had to take a vaporetto (water taxi) to the main island. I was waiting to hear back from a  Couch Surfing host but I had found a hostal in Padova that was in my budget so decided why not.

I was SOOO tired that morning though. No coffee or breakfast and was out with Giuli, Giuli, Marco, Andrea, and Fere until 1 or 2. So, smart me decided it would be a good idea to nap.  I looked at my ticket and registered that I was to arrive in Padova at 948, so I set an alarm  at 9 40. When I woke up, I was in Venice. Howww did this happen??? My ticket actually said 928. Oops way to be observant. Oh well, not the worst mistake. Now that I was in Venice I might as well explore some.

The first thing I noticed is that it was FULLLLL of tourists. Like I think I heard maybe 3 people speak Italian within the first half hour I was there. The rest was German, French, Spanish, and of course English. I came for Semana Santa (Holy Week-the week before Easter) and so all Europeans have vacation. And Venice being Venice always attracts lots of tourists.

  

I mostly just walked around until my backpack started weighing me down and I couldn´t handle pushing through the crowds of people with my pack. I didn´t feel the necessity to explore too too much seeing I was planning on Couch Surfing. Regardles, nice morning (and lunch) in Venice, now off to Padova.

My hostal didn’t open for check in until 1530, and I arrived around 1430 or so, sooo I decided to go chill in a park for a while and enjoy the wonderful weather! It had been raining on and off in Bologna so it was a nice change J

 When I did get to my hostal, I really was not impressed at all. The way my travel book described it was pretty dead on:

Ate a salad and took a shower and decided to explore what Padova had to offer.

 

My favorite part however was when I kind of got lost (not on purpose). I stumbled upon this park that had like canals around it. Decided to take some night pictures…

 

On one of these occasions, I SOMEHOW knocked my leather bound journal (yeah I got a journal, whatofit) along with my map into the canal. Shit. I was like trying to figure out how on Earth I would retrieve it because losing it to a canal would have been a bummer… As I´m stretching my legs tryinggg to reach it, this young Italian boy (maybe like 17) jumps off his bike “Ah tu folio??” –Sii… Even after he realized I only understood every third word he said, he still managed to rescue it! I was tempted to take a picture but I wasn´t sure if that would be rude… My journal (present from Mini!) is like a warped messed. But hey, it´s got some character now J