22.01.2009-23.01.2009

TODAY WAS SERIOUSLY THE LONGEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!!!
It started off with Gardens class at 9am, it was the first day so my teacher had a Power Point which had a bunch of pictures of all the places we will be visiting! :) I am excited to travel and see all the gorgeous gardens, we travel on Fridays and leave early in the morning and return at night! :) I am thinking they will be fun days!! When Gardens ended I had a break until 1:30pm, so Cass, Bethany and I went to the train station where we purchased our train tickets for ROMA tonight!! After we purchased them, we went to the mall, which was on our way back to class where we grabbed a slice of pizza and french fries. French fries seriously come with everything, who would have thunk, fries and pizza?? Kinda interesting, but its okay....BRING ON THE CARBS!! Ha! I FOUND PEPPERONI pizza!!! :) I was soo excited!! They call it salami here, weird huh?? O well, I don't care what they call it, I found it and was ecstatic!! While we were eating, we worked on our homework, which was due at 1:30. We finished our homework and had time to kill, so we all figured since we are great stundents, we should treat ourselves and grab some gelati!! :) So we did, I got cappuccino and it was the BEST I had ever had, it melted in my mouth and the taste was fabulous!! It was very exciting to find out that my wonderful cappuccino gelato was only 1,30euro or something like that, which is awesome and the location is very close to the dorms...that might be dangerous!! Ha!! Italiano class was from 1:30-3:30 and it was ok, nothing too exciting, our teacher loves to give us our homework assignments by telling us what they are in Italiano, which is frustrating, because you never know if you are doing the right assignment or not!! Ha, but after class we went into town to help Cass find a pair of rainboots and while we were out, I found a pair of pants!! :) I was excited, and only 15euros, what a steal!! :) I also but an elaborate scarf for only 3euros, I love Italia!! When we got back to the dorms we packed up and were all ready for PARIS!! :) YAY!! Our train left tonight at 7:52pm, so we met Jenny, Amy, Beth and Mike at the train station just before it was time to leave!! The train look longer tonight, because it was behind schedule, so it took us 3 hours to get to ROMA, I didn't sleep AT ALL!! :( I was planning on it, but I couldn't, so when we got to ROMA we tried to find the shuttle which takes you to the airport, and we couldn't find it, it was 11:05pm and I think the shuttle stopped at 11!! :( Too bad the train was behind schedule, so we all got into two taxis who dropped us off at the airport, where we would SPEND THE NIGHT AT!!! WOW, WORST IDEA EVER!!! We got there and we were all starving, nothing was open and NO vending machine, which is unheard of here, because they seem to be everywhere, obviously not!! :( So we went inside one of the terminals, sat on the floor and attempted to fall asleep, definitely didn't happen for me, so instead I played cards with Cass, Bethany, Jenny and Mike. I-t was fun, but I guess we were being loud and you're not suppose to because we got "shh'd" at from this cranky lady who was trying to sleep!! I laughed when she did that, because honestly, was she even enjoying her sleep? Cold and hard floor doesn't seem so comfortable to me!! Finally 4:30AM rolled around, so we all got up and went to our correct terminal, found some food-I had a chicken sandwich at 5AM, it was so great because I was starving, I don't even know if it was chicken though!! :/ Then we checked in and went through security. Finally it was time to board the plane, so since the flights here have NO organization, you stand in line so you can then run outside (once you hand your ticket in) and board the plane....people literally RAN to get to the plane, it was a different experience. Ha, at that point, I just wanted a seat so I could sleep, but I ran because I thought it was SO funny how they do that!! :) The flight was absolutely HORRIBLE!! :( I crashed once I got on the plane, before take-off, but when I woke up half-way through the flight, it was the BUMPIEST flight I had EVER been on, it was soo scary, so I went back to sleep. Once we landed, this horse track sound came on and EVERYONE started to clap with excitement that we landed, WOW, different experience as well, it was pretty funny because I wasn't expecting it!! So we learned for the next flight to 'hoot and holler 'once we land!! :) After we got off the plane, we then had to walk out into the pouring rain and go around this one building to another where we would purchase bus tickets which would take us to the main bus station in PARIS!! When we got on the 2 hour bus ride, I tried to fall asleep, but I couldn't :( Once our journey was over and we got off the bus, it was ABSOLUTELY FREEZING and POURING!! :/ Not good combos for me!! So my first impression of PARIS wasn't that great!! Ha, but at least I saw the Eiffel Tower in the distance. We found a taxi and had him take us to our hostel, it was only 20 minutes away from the bus station. When we got to our hostel, we had time to kill before our 2 o'clock check-in. We went to this little cafe were I ordered a cheese omlette...bad idea...the egg was still running...I was soo sad, because I have been craving an American breakfast since I arrived in Italia!! So I ate the fries off the plate and that’s it, the salad had MAYO as the dressing, DISGUSTING!!!! After my disgusting meal, we went back to the hostel and I crashed for about 30 minutes while we waited to check-in. 30 minutes does wonders, I swear! We checked in, went to the metro and off to Louvre we went!! :) Wow, there was a TON to see there, our first visit was Mona Lisa...she is SMALL!! And she has her own wall, it's ridiculous...I don't see what’s so big about that painting, but I am excited that I saw it because I have learned about it semester after semester!! :) After the Louvre, we went to the Eiffel Tower, WOW, I LOVE IT!! It is soo gorgeous, we got there right as the sun was going down and not even 10 minutes after we first saw it, it started glittering-the lights were flickering up and down the entire tower!! :) It was absolutely gorgeous!!! We went to the Tower and Jenny, Amy and Mike decided they wanted to go up on the second level at night, I was wayyy too cold to even think about going up there were it was windy!! So while they went up, us girls hung out where we got annoyed with all the guys asking us if we wanted to buy any of their souvenirs, I definitely didn't buy from them, or talk to them, they were scary, but I did purchase a little Eiffel Tower-it's PINK and ORANGE!! :) I LOVE it!! Once Jenny, Amy and Mike were done, we left the Eiffel Tower, but didn't go to far, I saw boats on the water and said we should eat on there, not thinking anyone would agree, but we ended up on the closest boat and when we were sitting at our table, you would look up and there was the Tower, I was in 'AWW'...I couldn't believe that I was here, WOW!! :) The meal was only 20euros and it was the best meal I have had all trip so far. I got bread, pasta salad, salmon, green beans, and french fries, HA, told you...every meal!! It was definitely worth it, and the view was AMAZING!! :) Once dinner was over, we were all ready for bed, back to the hostel where 5 would sleep in one room and 2 in the other...hostels are quite an experience...let me tell you! There was this older man in my room and he would cough constantly, it was nasty...I only heard that for about 10 minutes in the middle of the night and I fell right back asleep!! I slept from 10pm till 8 am, it was so great to finally be in a bed and catch up on some sleep!!
CIAO!
Miss you all!