Italy Italy Italy. Today is the first day that I’ve actually disliked the country.
Katie and I had Italian class, which is always boring. After that we decided to use the internet because I have to finish writing a presentation I’m giving. Well, I just happened to check my e-mail and we had an e-mail from the program director explaining to use a transportation strike that is going to take place tomorrow. No airplanes, buses, or trains. Tomorrow is Friday, the day that Aunt Missy is supposed to get here. Basically, a lot of phone calls have to be made so I can get things figured out. Poor Katie, though. She is supposed to be going to Germany for the weekend to visit her friend who lives there. No trains means no way to Pisa – where she is flying out of – and then she might not even have a flight! That’s a huge bummer. Refunds are a big question mark, too.
Also, apparently power surges have been an issue around the city lately. A building that we call “the dorm,” because it’s an apartment building of just FUA students, had a power surge and a lot of peoples’ computers are ruined, and basically all of their appliances are broken. When we were asking for traveling suggestions today from our friends in the Study Abroad Italy office, they asked us if we were ready to go home yet. Well, I might be getting there …
Anyway, my whole week hasn’t been so shady. Last weekend was a lot of fun, actually. Friday – Katie, Jackie, and I went to the outlet stores. It was an hour bus ride in a town called Barbiano. The stores were cool to see. They had Prada, Dolce and Gabbana, and a lot of other outlets. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the prices were discounted a lot, but it was still fun to look at. I got a few little gifts.
Saturday was Pisa. Pisa is soooo underrated. We’re always told that Pisa is the “ghetto” of Italy. Well, we took the hour train and looked at a map outside the station to see where we needed to head. (That’s been our strategy since we’ve been here – go places without maps and hope for the best. It usually works out.) We really just needed to take the main street the whole way to the tower. It took about a half hour to walk to the tower, but when we turned the corner and saw it, it was amazing! Jackie was in front of us and said, “I see it … and it’s really leaning!” Pictures do no justice to the tower. It’s seriously leaning. It’s one of those things you just have to see.
We looked around for a little and took the typical picture of holding up the tower. We were that at a perfect time and the tower was so pretty lit by the sun. We had a great time in Pisa.
Sunday was homework day. I put together a presentation for my Environmental Conservation class and finished other little things. This week has pretty much flown by. I’ve been busy picking out my classes for SNC next semester. Things are looking a little tricky. I’ll be taking 5 Education classes and Macroeconomics, if all goes well. I just keep telling myself I only have 2 semesters left of classes. They’re going to be tough, though.
Tonight I’m just planning on cleaning up, maybe going to see Ratatouille, playing in the English theater, and hanging out. Hopefully I’ll be heading to the airport tomorrow morning to pick up Aunt Missy, that is if I can get a taxi. We’ll see!
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