Italian Adventures!

March 9, 2010
- cycled to school with Stevon
- Stevon met one of my mentor teachers and some of my students :)
- went home to pack and get ready for Italy and Greece! (or so we thought)
- got lunch at the train station, waited at the platform, confused our platforms, and missed our train by 2 seconds ---- whoa
- finally arrived at eindhoven, had to take a bus to the airport, arrived at the airport, very tiny airport, security took a while (had to buy a ziplock bag for my liquids), ordered wine while waiting to board
- free seats on RyanAir = chaos
- worst landing ever in Italy!
- rainy and dark already, got on a bus to get to town, got on the metro, and found our hostel (Art in Accomodation)
- Paolo met us at the door, very tiny hostel but very nice and clean, we were the only ones there, they gave us maps and phone number
- went to dinner (Italian food is awesome! cheap wine, great pasta and pizza!)
- went on a night walk to the colosseum and the arc (massive but also very pretty!) --- also grabbed dessert (not so good)
- raining the whole time, my feet got soaking wet, not a happy camper --- our bright yellow umbrellas were the best investment yet!

March 10, 2010
- woke up early to explore, grabbed breakfast (included in the hostel price), breakfast was way too sweet (pastries!)
- the weather was rainy then sunny then rainy then sunny the whole day
- feet were wet once again, very uncomfortable
- went to the colosseum and the forum, gladiators were tourists trap, saw me with my camera and knew that I wanted to take pictures with them === charged me 10 euros ==== ugh, never again
- walked everywhere! found almost everything on the map! very productive! :)
- went inside of Pantheon for free: massive and oh-so gorgeous!
- had lunch beside H&M, waitor didn't give us back any change, ordered a liter of wine
- went to get my haircut (18 euros), Asian cut my hair! cut off split ends and side bangs
- took a nap after a long day
- woke up to use the internet, found out that flight to Greece was cancelled due to a strike - couldn't find another flight so had to cancel the whole trip, very very disappointed
- very hard to find a phone card, a woman shooed us off when we spoke English to her
- internet cafe is full of Filipinos, kept cursing in Tagalog, bothered me a lot but was very interesting that I could understand it all
- Stevon got pushed into another tourist trap with these useless bracelets
- more people in hostel, nobody to ask in hostel
- dinner was great! so much food! :)
- sent postcards to my family and H130 guys

March 11, 2010
- woke up early to grab breakfast at the same place, breakfast was better this time!
- went to the metro station where nobody helped us out even when we were standing in front of them waiting for them to stop talking
- went to train station and lady was screaming, she was just very loud
- another internet cafe, searched for other trips, found Pescara, Italy!
- bought train tickets to Pescara (a whoping 4 hour train ride through the mountains!)
- walked around in Tiburtina (nothing too pretty, nowhere nice to eat), gross restroom in train station,
- ate at a cafe, pizza and wine
- finally got to Pescara, nobody spoke English
- got on a bus, very frustrated because we didn't know where to stop
- it was getting dark and we were still walking around, finally found the bed and breakfast and nobody is there; Stevon and I got very agitated and anxious
- had to search for a phone to call the guy (phone card was another great investment) and finally his sister and mom let us in the bed and breakfast
- Brezza Marina (B&B) absolutely gorgeous!
- dinner was very cheap and the best yet! broccoli was amazing!
- took money out of the bank
- met 2 Italians who were also staying at the bed and breakfast

March 12, 2010
- breakfast, pastries! very awkward since we couldn't talk to anyone in English
- the housekeeper was super nice, though
- walked everywhere! took pictures of everything Montesilvano had to offer
- hiked up a hill where there was a big cross
- gorgeous view! so worth the hard hike
- went to the beach: absolutely gorgeous: learned how to skip stones: picked up shells
- even the weather was cooperating :)
- had lunch at this restaurant where they didn't speak English and the language barrier was super hard
- feet were hurting after so much walking
- walked on the beach again and found this restaurant that had the best seafood ever
- the waitress spoke English! and picked our wine
- we misunderstood her and thought she said the wine was 50 euros after drinking it but it was only 15 euros so we ordered another one
- sat on the rocks on the beach feeling good --- talked about everything
- walked to a supermarket to buy another bottle of wine (that Stevon ended up drinking by himself because I was asleep)
- Stevon went to a bar by himself....hahaha

March 13, 2010
- woke up early, grabbed breakfast, the owner didn't show up so we didn't know how to pay
- we gave the money to the housekeeper and called the owner, he was disappointed that we didn't meet each other (supposedly, he sounded hot on the phone. ha.)
- grabbed the earliest train back to Rome
- train worker walked up to us and started speaking to us in Italian: we didn't speak Italian and he didn't speak English: it was very frustrating: he kept repeating and it was very frustrating so he just gave up on us
- the guy came back with a sheet of paper in English and he took care of us the rest of the train ride
- he was cute :)
- apparently, we had to get off the train and transfer to a bus, we don't know why but we got back to Rome
- had lunch near the Vatican City, went back to the internet cafe
- the guy at the internet cafe spoke to me in Tagalog (really he was flirting, whoa)
- booked a room with Alessandro Downtown: huge hostel, not bad!
- bought an awesome jacket :)
- went back to Vatican City, stood in line forever, then this man goes "oh, this is just a private tour." you clearly saw us standing in line, why couldn't you tell us earlier?!
- saw another entrance to the Vatican City, and was just amazed
- went to the post office to mail postcards to my family and my aunt and uncle
- went on a night walk again, souvenir shopping - spent so much money on religious things! :)
- dinner was great except I ended up throwing up all night because of the food I ate
- last night in Rome = throwing up in the bathroom and all over myself and my new jacket = super gross
- seemed like the longest walk of my life back to the hostel
- the metro stops are so out of the way, might as well walk

March 14, 2010
- woke up early to grab breakfast
- I still couldn't eat because my stomach felt like crap
- went to the Vatican City again to go to mass, but didn't happen that way
- went inside St. Peter's Basilica, absolutely gorgeous
- I confessed my sins inside: after many years of not doing it --- a bit emotional
- rushed to catch the metro and bus to the airport (literally ran down the streets of Rome)
- the bus took forever, we were scared that we would miss our flight
- but got there just before check in was closing....whoa
- the flight was uncomfortable, pretty view though, there was a leak above my seat, the flight attendants were really loud talking about boy problems (quite annoying)
- caught the bus to the train station back to Rotterdam
- talked about life, stomach still felt bad
- dropped off everything in the apartment: great to be back home!
- cycled to go shopping in Rotterdam b/c Stevon needed to spend his Euros
- went back to apartment, watched the new Gaga video (ridiculous!)
- watched more music videos (music makes me happy)
- ordered food, still couldn't eat
- watched Ally McBeal with Stevon: great way to end the night :)
- super exhausted

Observations
- lots of couples making out, no shame in their game
- Italian language is amazing
- Italian boys are pretty
- lots of Filipinos! everywhere!
- Pescara, Italy = no English but gorgeous
- food is great
- can't eat pizza and pasta anymore
- wine is yummy!
- :)