I've almost been here a month. This is going by way too fast already! 27 out of my 180 days are already behind me. That's 15%
In my last post, my debit card had just been cancelled. I just got my new debit card yesterday. The week and a half in between was a little stressful. It was a challenge to figure out how to stretch the few Euros I had in cash to last until the unknown arrival of my new debit card. But, that segment of my trip is over, and hopefully never to be repeated. Knock on wood. Now that the dust has settled, I think it's safe to say that Bank of America sucks. They suck at allowing me to access my money. Which is the sole reason that I'm trusting them with it in the first place, right? Now I've got a new card. I'll be content with them until the next time something goes wrong, which will probably be in about two months. Did you know that B of A will only let you put a 90 day notification on your account saying that you're out of the country? Hey guys! I'm living over here! After that 90 days is up, I need to call to remind them that I'm still over here. In the case that someone else truly gets my card, I really hope they'll be as swift to shut down my account when someone else is using it as they are for me.
Two weekends ago I went over to Milan for the day to see a few sights and to watch Ac Milan play Cagliari. Milan had a few sights worth seeing, and it was definitely an amazing experience to see a Serie A Italian soccer game. The stadium they play in holds about 80,000 people. The stadium was surprisingly dirty and plain though. We sat on newspaper because our seats were crusted with dirt. It was very different from going to sports games in America. You go to watch the game. Nearly all the vending and decorations that I'm used to seeing at Giants games was absent. The stadium was truly gigantic and the game was very exciting, I'll definitely give it credit for that. Oh, and it was absolutely freezing! We were on the top row of the second deck and the wind was howling in from the Northern side of the stadium. During the day I went to see Il Duomo di Milano, which is one of the largest gothic cathedrals in the world. It took about six centuries to build. From front to back, it is the length of about 1 and 2/3 football fields. It was absolutely enormous and pictures really cannot capture it.
Two weekends ago I went over to Milan for the day to see a few sights and to watch Ac Milan play Cagliari. Milan had a few sights worth seeing, and it was definitely an amazing experience to see a Serie A Italian soccer game. The stadium they play in holds about 80,000 people. The stadium was surprisingly dirty and plain though. We sat on newspaper because our seats were crusted with dirt. It was very different from going to sports games in America. You go to watch the game. Nearly all the vending and decorations that I'm used to seeing at Giants games was absent. The stadium was truly gigantic and the game was very exciting, I'll definitely give it credit for that. Oh, and it was absolutely freezing! We were on the top row of the second deck and the wind was howling in from the Northern side of the stadium. During the day I went to see Il Duomo di Milano, which is one of the largest gothic cathedrals in the world. It took about six centuries to build. From front to back, it is the length of about 1 and 2/3 football fields. It was absolutely enormous and pictures really cannot capture it.
In front of Il Duomo
Inside il Duomo
AC Milan vs Cagliari
3 - 0
In the last week, the Earth's axis has tilted in a way that has placed Europe at the top of the world. Europe is the new North Pole. Santa has packed up his workshop and called U-haul (the reindeer are on their 364-day holiday, Christmas was over a month ago!) to move on over to somewhere in Central Europe. Now that Europe is on top of the world, it has launched from a mild winter to a harsh one. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit. Only a little. Earth's axis may not have shifted (Yet! It's 2012!), but it is definitely very cold in Europe. Right now Europe is in the middle of one of the harshest cold snaps it has had in a long while. It snowed in Torino all last week, which was something new for me. I've never lived someplace where it snowed. It was fun...for about a day. Then I realized how much it sucked. It's way too cold all the time. I have a bunch of widgets on my Mac dashboard that show me temperatures of different locations. I have one for the location of each of my roommates back in chico. I'm in Italy. Brett is in Spain. Trevor is in Costa Rica. Nate is in Chico. Today's high temperature in Torino: 36°. Alicante, Spain: 50°. Chico, California: 66°. Heredia, Costa Rica: 77°. Who made the right decision? I can't wait for it to be summer. It's very cold over here right now. I just did a quick google search and now the death toll is around 400 over the past couple of weeks. Most of the reported deaths are homeless people, which is very sad. I feel very lucky to have a place to stay.
- - On a side note, I was walking down Via Roma yesterday and there was a man walking in front of me. Let's call him Salvador. There was a homeless man sitting with his dog (which was wrapped in a blanket) about half a block ahead of us. Salvador started to slow and reach into his pocket as we approached the homeless man. I kept walking ahead, but I turned around and watched Salvador as he walked towards the homeless man and his dog. The dog started barking viciously as Salvador got closer. Salvador put a coin or two in the homeless man's hat. The dog kept barking as he walked away. Made me think.
This blog has been taking me a while to write. I've written it over the course of three days, I just can't seem to finish it! Last weekend, Bryan Steele and his buddy Reid came and stayed with me for two nights in Torino. We had a blast. It even stopped snowing when they got here. On Saturday, I traveled down with them and my friend Cory to the Cinque Terre. We stayed in Riomaggiore and it was absolutely deserted. There were only locals there. The Cinque Terre is not really a wintery place to visit. Most of it closes down in the winter. But it was still amazing to see, and we got to stay there for much cheaper than we would have if we had gone in the summer. I hope that I'll be able to go back when its warmer. I think the best way to describe the weekend was, "I feel like we got dealt a really good hand with nothing in the pot." Which was fine with me. I had a blast, and the photos are phenomenal. The first night we got there, we picked up a few Birra Morettis and climbed out onto the rocks to watch the sunset.
We were only able to walk from Riomaggiore to Manarola. From Manarola we took the train to Monterosso al Mare. There was a lot of damage from the flooding that happened a few months ago. If you haven't heard of it you should go check out videos on YouTube. It's really scary. We went out to dinner our first night there at a little restaurant on the water called La Lanterna. It was delicious. I had Pesto Gnocchi and a plate of pasta. I thought that was a good meal, but the meal we had our second night somehow managed to eclipse it. We went shopping on Saturday so that we could make dinner Sunday, and we went all out. We found these delicious sausages at a shop in town and we picked up 3 bags of pasta. Cory, Reid, and Bryan cooked up an amazing feast, and we did just that. We feasted and talked and told stories for about 3 and a half hours on Sunday.
I've been feeling a bit under the weather lately and I was absoulutely exhausted after I got back on Monday. My train back to Torino was delayed for about an hour and a half due to electrical problems. We were stuck in the middle of no where. The Italian train system is notorious for their tardiness. But we made it back to Torino eventually. And that's what matters.
Ok, well I've got class in a few minutes now, and I think I've dragged this blog out long enough. Until next time, Ciao.
Shout out to Mom! Thanks for all the help, I know you were stressing about me starving or getting stranded somewhere in Europe.
This blog has been taking me a while to write. I've written it over the course of three days, I just can't seem to finish it! Last weekend, Bryan Steele and his buddy Reid came and stayed with me for two nights in Torino. We had a blast. It even stopped snowing when they got here. On Saturday, I traveled down with them and my friend Cory to the Cinque Terre. We stayed in Riomaggiore and it was absolutely deserted. There were only locals there. The Cinque Terre is not really a wintery place to visit. Most of it closes down in the winter. But it was still amazing to see, and we got to stay there for much cheaper than we would have if we had gone in the summer. I hope that I'll be able to go back when its warmer. I think the best way to describe the weekend was, "I feel like we got dealt a really good hand with nothing in the pot." Which was fine with me. I had a blast, and the photos are phenomenal. The first night we got there, we picked up a few Birra Morettis and climbed out onto the rocks to watch the sunset.
We were only able to walk from Riomaggiore to Manarola. From Manarola we took the train to Monterosso al Mare. There was a lot of damage from the flooding that happened a few months ago. If you haven't heard of it you should go check out videos on YouTube. It's really scary. We went out to dinner our first night there at a little restaurant on the water called La Lanterna. It was delicious. I had Pesto Gnocchi and a plate of pasta. I thought that was a good meal, but the meal we had our second night somehow managed to eclipse it. We went shopping on Saturday so that we could make dinner Sunday, and we went all out. We found these delicious sausages at a shop in town and we picked up 3 bags of pasta. Cory, Reid, and Bryan cooked up an amazing feast, and we did just that. We feasted and talked and told stories for about 3 and a half hours on Sunday.
THIS is Riomaggiore. When I did a google search for my last blog, I accidentally posted a picture of Manarola. What an amateur.
View from my apartment in Riomaggiore
Lunch in Monterosso
Ok, well I've got class in a few minutes now, and I think I've dragged this blog out long enough. Until next time, Ciao.
Shout out to Mom! Thanks for all the help, I know you were stressing about me starving or getting stranded somewhere in Europe.
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