Saying Goodbye..

Carina, Justine, Belinda
Carina and I
Ville and Heikki at the family dinner, ha, wine and beer
Belinda and I at our family dinner, on the table after dinner
One half of the table
The other half of the table
Heikki's view of the table (behind Floris, who is at the other side of the table, there was another table full of us)
More dinner fun :)
Farewell dinner and a dancing Floris :)

I included some of the photos from our last Saturday night out, we went to dinner then to Pitcher and Piano.

For the past two past weeks I have been saying goodbye as my housemates have been leaving, but it hasn't really been hitting me until this past week and we had our final dinner. It was so much fun and very eventful but it really hit home that we were all leaving, yesterday my flat lost Mikael and today we lost Rasmus. Yesterday was my only exam and so the only thing I have to do is pack and that's what I've been attempting to do, but I've actually accumulated quite a few things and am having a bit of difficulty packing things up. So I thought I would take a quick break and write up a quick message. I'm leaving Friday morning at 5 a.m. with Alix, Jenny and Belinda. Jenny and Alix have early morning flights and they won't make it if they take the train and Belinda and I had already considered taking a cab with all of the luggage that we have and we weren't to keen on the idea of changing trains with it. Belinda doesn't have to check in until 2 p.m. so we'll have time to stop crying only to begin again when we part ways, her to check in and me to go check into my hotel. I leave Saturday morning at 9 a.m. then arrive in the states at 11:50 a.m. Then will be back in PA around 5 or so. Can't believe it's only 3 days away. *sigh* I should go and finish packing though or at least attempt to continue, the big game is on tonight Liverpool vs Milan. While I'm NOT a Liverpool supporter it is an English team and gotta go and at least watch, plus Brett is leaving right after the game :( Another one down....

My last days in Worcester

First off let me start by saying, I hope this doesn't offend anybody. I'm simply writing exactly what I feel as my final days are here and this will be one of my last entries here.

I leave next Friday morning which is only 9 days away and today as I began to throw things away and pack certain things up, I got extremely sad. I've been here nearly 5 months and I'm not ready to go yet. I've had the most incredible experience of my life and I've been the happiest I've ever been. I'm not ready for that to be over, I've made some of the best friends over here and leaving them is going to be so hard. I knew before I came over here that traveling is something that I've always wanted to do, that living overseas is something that has definitely crossed my mind, but being here and living it and doing it cemented those feelings. I'm so happy to live here and work and travel and be happy. I know that people may not understand how I could be happy to live so far away from my family and friends in the states, but truthfully I'm quite content and happy over here. It's not that difficult for me, I adapt quite easily to new situations. When I graduate next year, there is nothing that would make me happier than to be able to come and work somewhere back in Europe. I want to do international work, I'd love to be a war correspondent or work in an Embassy or be able to work in an International Organization that allowed me to bring the truth into peoples homes.

As I said before I hope this doesn't offend anybody, I just was/am writing what I feel. I'm so happy here and it's truly the happiest I've ever been, something that I don't get to say very often. I have grown in so many ways as well. I'm living overseas by myself now, I know how much I'm spending, I know what I need to do and I'm doing it as best as I can. I'm making mistakes and fixing them. I'm not an irresponsible 21 year old, I make mistakes that I regret and then I learn from then. It's called growing up and I love doing it on my own, with my friends around me. I'm not saying that I don't love my family and their input, because that would be ludicrous, but I am saying that I am an independent woman, I always have been and I always will be. Much love to you all and see you soon......

Italy Photos

Lift off and bound for Italy
LAND! At this point I was getting quite excited and the couple next to me were laughing
The coastline!
At last I have arrived in Pisa!

The very popular Leaning Tower of Pisa
One of many views that I managed to take from the Tower
Yay for mountains and Pisa football
Looking out over the Cathedral and Baptistry
My attempt at a self portrait on the 2nd level of the Tower

Boboli Gardens one of the beautiful shots you can get after climbing the crazy hill
Looking down
Another view from Boboli Gardens to Firenze
A view from the Tower in Firenze
Another view from the Tower in Firenze

This was the view from one of the levels in the tower in Firenze
The Tower
Il Duomo
The Ponte Vecchio
View from the Ponte Vecchio

How could you go and not see the fake David? Especially if you can't see the real one!
View from the Ponte Vecchio
S. Marco
More of S. Marco
The Tower that I would soon be going up




One of the many views from the tower
Another view from the tower
The Rialto Bridge
The boat that would be taking me to Burano
Hehe, the tug boat leading the cruise ship out to sea, they followed us for quite some time

Yay for Burano and their coloured houses
Burano Bridge
The bridge in Burano
Rialto at sunset
Flying home over the Alps, BEAUTIFUL!

I did take 320 photos, so this is just a portion of what I took... if you would like to see more let me know and I can email you them or put them on a disc when I get back in the states and mail them to you. (Also I apologise I know my photo's got a bit messed up in the middle as far as ordering goes!)

The rest of my Italy trip

May 6, 2007
My morning started at 7:30 a.m. when I decided to turn off my alarm clock and reset it for 8 a.m. at which point I begrudgingly got up and got ready. I realised that so far I've taken 214 photos, haha, I'm a little camera happy. I wanted to head to the Ponte Vecchio first, so I left my hotel and went to the left followed the river passing the Ponte Vespucci and Ponte alle Carraia as well, when I finally made it to the bridge it was definitely a sight to behold. Since it was so early there weren't that many people out, so that was really nice. Although, there was a random race going on as I passed the bridge, it was pretty cool, I think it was sponsored by some fitness organisation and it ended in Piazza Duomo, which is where I wanted my next stop to be. I know the race ended there, because as I was climbing the 414 steps up Campanile di Giotto, or Giotto's Bell Tower, I saw the race end. At any rate, I am getting a bit ahead of myself, I went in search of Il Duomo but managed to come across Piazza Signoria and Palazza Vecchio first, so stopped off there first and took loads of photos of the statues. The line for the Uffizi was outrageous, so I did skip that, BUT I did end up seeing both replica's of the David. After I left Signoria, I went to Il Duomo and it was pretty incredible. I saw everything and as I said before, I went up the Tower, all 414 steps, and let me tell you that the Italians were not the ones to believe in lifts, nor do they seem to have a problem with heights (yes I have met some actual Italians in my adventures). I, on the other hand, am doing everything that forces me to face my fear of heights and well the results both times have been spectactular. Though one thing I've realised is that none of the musuems take credit cards, only cash. At any rate, definitely went for a bottle of water after that little journey, then went to the museo dell'opera di Santa Maria del Fiore. I spent a good bit of time in there listening to the guide and taking photos. It was then I realised that I was pretty hungry, so I headed to a serve yourself lunch bar and that was really good, but a bit more expensive than I wished. I then went off to Piazza S. Croce and saw a few things there and then was ready to move onto Giardino di Baboli. Of course, by this time it has decided to thunderstorm, oh well, I went anyway!! The garden even in the rain is beautiful. Of course the garden is not actually paved, so the bottom of my pants got soaked and my sneakers got trashed, but that's quite alright, because it was well worth the view and there were cats just randomly wandering the garden! I was going to go to Piazzale Michelangelo, but there's not sunset and it's already 6:35 p.m. I think that I'm just going to change and go explore the city centre a bit and get food. I know now why the Italians eat late and eat so much. They eat late because they're to busy shopping and walking around their beautiful cities and they eat so much because they eat late and they eat leisurely and because they've done so much walking!
Later: It would figure that when I went out for dinner it was absolutely gorgeous again. Oh well, such is Italy. I walked all the way back to the Ponte Vecchio before realising the prices back at the place I had eaten the previous night, and tried to to eat at the previous night, were cheaper. I tried the first place I went last night but it was closed, so I ended up at the same place, but it was absolutely incredible food and the servers and manager remembered me from the previous night and were really nice to me, ha... not that they weren't the first time, but they stopped over to see how I was etc. Now it's 10:23 p.m. and I've got to read my lines a few times through then off to bed, I think I'm more exhausted today than I was yesterday!!

May 7, 2007
My alarm went off this morning at 7:45 a.m. and I fell back asleep until 8:30 a.m. Hahaha, oops! Well I was definitely exhausted! Once I started moving I did it quickly. I had a quick breakfast before checking out and heading out to catch the bus to the train station. I caught the bus and got off at what I thought was the appropriate stop and then questioned myself because the train station doesn't have its name sprawled all over it and it looks completely different in the daytime. However, I was correct and I got my ticket to Venezia Mestre instead of Saint Lucia, (Saint Lucia is the main stop, they're one stop away from each other), for 30 euro. Then waited to see a bin number come up for it, it still wasn't coming up at 20 after so I was getting a bit nervous as were a few others. So I went to ask and apparently it wouldn't come up until 7 minutes before the train came, which of course would make for a mad dash to the train plus it's an Italia Eurostar. So of course when the bin number came up it was a flood of people to 9, I finally get to my assigned seat only to find that there is somebody in it. Of course the Italians speak Italian and I know a bit, but they speak fast and it's hard to catch every word or even know every word. So I politely explained that I knew very little Italian and was not very good, did he know English. Of course he didn't, so I struggled through a detailed conversation about how there was another woman in my seat, but she disappeared, we could figure it out when she got back. She finally got back and turns out she had a cast on her foot and she did speak English. I looked at her ticket and found that she was definitely in the wrong seat, so after a very lengthy (but friendly) conversation, it was determined that she would move and I would help her with her luggage when it was time to get off at the stop. Right now we just made our first stop at Bologna, the ride has been gorgeous from what I can see, loads of trees and a crystal clear sky then the rest of the trip has been spent in tunnels. As a side note I love Italian TV with American shows with Italian voice overs and Italian radio.
Later: As I was riding the bus back from Venice to my hotel, I realised that I had definitely taken 3 forms of transportation in one day: train, bus, and traghetto. At any rate, back to the train. The woman from first class, the one who was in my seat earlier, came back to 2nd class and sat behind me and I found out that she was from Russia and that she was doing two different cruises and that she broke her foot over here, she talked a lot. We ended up getting off at the same spot and I stayed with her until we got to the taxi's,then she thanked me and we headed our seperate ways. I was going to take a taxi, but the driver told me it was just as easy to walk. So walked under the underpass, found the roundabout but took the wrong left 3 times, lol. I wouldn't have minded so much had it not been 70+ degrees and I didn't have so much weight on my back! Yeah, the weather is absolutely gorgeous, I'm tanning as I walk. I hope that tomorrow I'll be a nice golden brown. I found the hotel and was a bit worried just by looking at the exterior, but never judge a book by it's cover, because it's absolutely gorgeous inside and my room is adorable and has a balcony. I dropped my stuff off, changed my shirt, then went off to catch the bus. I headed to the island and enjoyed the view, falling even more in love with Italy. I arrived in Piazzala Roma and bought my ticket from the ATVO office for my trip home Wednesday morning. Then I went and bought a ticket to the island of Murano. It was so nice being on the water and there are boats and bridges everywhere! LOVE IT! I got to the island and walked into all the glass shops, everything was beautiful and unique. I headed back to the main island around 5:02 p.m. and then walked around a bit more and decided to head back to the hotel to get an early night, so I could get an early start. now I'm off to look at an itinerary for tomorrow and read my script a few times before bed. I want to see as much as possible and be in the sun as much as possible, therefore BIG bottle of water and an early morning!

May 9, 2007
I went out in true Venetian style, lol, 3 modes of transportation: train, traghetto, bus. Ha, I figured instead of catching a bus and potentially missing my bus to the airport, I should probably just catch the train instead. Then of course I needed to go by traghetto to get to Piazzala Roma, but was a nice way to say goodbye. I am seriously going to miss that place. So I am now sitting in Treviso airport with about 40 minutes til boarding and there is absolutely nothing to occupy my time with, so I figured I would write. I didn't write an entry last night because when I got back to the hotel at 10:30 p.m. I passed out, mind you, that was after a 12+hour day.
May 8th in review: I awoke at 5:38 a.m. thinking my phone had died because there was sunlight poking through the windows. I was apparently wrong and woke up at 7:30 a.m. with my alarm. I got ready fairly quickly and was out the door a bit after 8 a.m. I got the 6/ bus instead of the 6, either one takes you to Piazzala Roma, but I apparently caught it the wrong way, it still went just took the long way, 45 min or so, but that's okay, because I was in no hurry. I got there and my goal was to find San Marco. I knew it was going to be a long walk, considering it is across the island but I was ready for it and loving the sunlight. So off I headed following the signs and ended up finding Rialto first, which was absolutely gorgeous. I took several pictures from the bridge and bought a new pair of sneakers from a shoe store, since mine were ruined by Firenze thunderstorms. I spent a fair bit of time wandering Rialto before continuing my search. Eventually I found my S. Marco, but I truly think the signs take you the longest way possible, ha. Though by the end of the day I was a pro at navigating from Rialto to Marco to Roma. I was quite shocked at how quiet Italy is in the morning, 8-9:30, but by 10 a.m. or so the streets are filled with tourists and tour guides, it's crazy! The first thing I saw was the main square with the bell tower etc. I decided to go up the bell tower because it had the shortest line and I was thinking to myself, very sarcastically, I wonder how many stairs this one has, BUT this one had a lift! It gave a beautiful view of Venice and the surrounding islands and if I can remember their proper names I'll label them in the photos. After I got done in the square I just wandered up and down each way as far as I could go. I got a slice of pizza from a vendor, which was very good and very different than american pizza. It was getting quite warm and I was getting a bit tired of walking so I decided to catch a boat to the island of Burano. I caught the boat at 4:15 p.m. and it was about an hour long ride. The ride was really beautiful and I got to see loads of islands and be on the water, I loved it. Then as we pulled into Burano my batteries died, go figure. So I went off in search of batteries and explored the island at the same time. I didn't stay to long, only an hour and ended up catching the next boat back. It was another hour long boat ride and I arrived back in S. Marco around 7:30 p.m. By that time I was tired and hungry, so I walked back to Rialto and found a restaurant right next to the traghetto stop. I had dinner and really surprised myself with this choice, pasta with lobster and when the dish came out, it came with half a lobster. Good, but interesting, especially since I just tend to stick to shrimp. Then I grabbed a vaniglia gelato (actually quite nice, I was hesitant because I don't like gelato in the states, but completely different in Italy) and headed back to Piazzala Roma. By the time I got back to the hotel it was 10:30 p.m. and I was completely wiped! A few things I realised on my trip to Italy 1) public restrooms close at 8 p.m. and cost 1 euro 2) it gets light really early 3) there is always traffic, so if you're a light sleeper bring ear plugs 4) museums only take cash 5) Venice is beautiful 6) Italy is truly my new love

So it is now 10:10 a.m. and I am on the plane back to the UK, flying over the Alps which is truly a sight to behold, and I can't believe that I just spent the most incredible 4 days ever in Italy. I can't believe it's over, I'm already contemplating when I can go back.

Today: I apologise for how long it took to get this up, with everybody getting ready to leave and people leaving, it's been a bit crazy around here. Hope you enjoy and should have the photos up soon too.

Italy Update... It's a long one!!!

I have a new love in my life, it's name is Italy. I had the most incredible time when I was away in Italy, to be honest it was the first time I've wanted to share a trip with somebody. It was so beautiful and the people were great... it was just amazing. I shall do a daily recap for you based off my written journal. I apologise for the delay in the post, but I had been up since 3:30 a.m. the day I left Italy and then had a meeting at 6:30 that night, so I just couldn't make the post that day, then I had my presentation for my Social Psych and the Media class today so am finally able to get around to it now. Here it goes:

May 5, 2007
My day started... well, actually, last night. I never actually got to sleep. I crawled into bed around midnight assuming I would be able to fall asleep. Of course, I was wrong. I tossed and turned for about an hour and a half, worrying about things I probably didn't need to, then the boys came back and of course they were loud, but there loud upstairs so that was okay. BUT then they wandered down into my flat a bit after 2 a.m. and it wasn't like I was asleep, but I was trying! They were going to play poker in my kitchen, but they decided to go play in kitchen 4. Of course this was after much discussion from Susan and I and many 'I love you's' from them to us, no matter what I'll always love them... I'll miss their craziness, but I could definitely still hear them in the kitchen from my room and they were upstairs!!!! So I wrapped up in a blanket, put on my slippers and headed upstairs. Somehow, I got roped into talking and staying and before I knew it, it was 5 a.m.; time for me to get ready to go. So I got ready to go and finished packing and was ready to leave by 5:50 a.m. My train, however; didn't leave until 7 a.m., so I managed to find the boys or rather Fridg and Sepo and chatted with them for a bit before heading out and still made it to the station by 6:30 a.m. I waited for the train and ending up dozing between stops an caught an early bus over to the airport and got a much needed coffee! I was finally able to check in at 10 a.m. and then went to buy batteries for my camera, but of course I got the wrong size. This flight I was determined to get photos, so I did. At this very moment, I'm just in shock that I'm actually en route to Italy! I kind of keep mini-freaking out about and I think it's because it's the farthest I've gone away... I mean minus the whole England thing, but I knew where I would be going and what I would be doing and everybody spoke the same language. For this it's a total new and exciting feeling, I mean the mini-feeling is definitely not a bad feeling! It's quite difficult to explain, just know that it's good. Well the flight is 2 hours and 50 minutes long and we've been in flight for an hour-ish so an hour left and I've got to move my watch ahead! However, I should read over my Hamlet a bit, so as to not neglect my studies!

Later: I arrived in Pisa without a problem, the flight down was gorgeous and I got some really good photos. I handed my passport to the person behind the counter and he just stamped it without question, apparently I don't look very threatening! Hahah! I went to information and asked the best way to see the Tower, Baptistry and Cathredal and then how to get to Firenze (Florence) and the woman behind the desk told me to take the bus to the Towers then catch the bus back to the main station and then to catch the train, so I bought a .90 euro ticket and did exactly as she told me. I took loads of photos once I arrived at the Tower, 60 in just that area! I walked around a bit and went to go into the cathedral but it was closed, so I decided to go up the Tower, unfortunately the next tour wasn't until 6 p.m., but that was ok, I just wandered the shops a bit. When it was 5:30 p.m. I had to go and put all my bags in a lock box because the only thing we were allowed to take up was our camera. The stairs were many and were ridiculously steep at some points and it was funny because there were times when you could tell how tilted the tower was as you walked up, but I made it to the very tip top and when I say tip top I mean very tippy top!!! I did a few photo's of myself then a nice guy, on holiday with his family, offered to take my photo for me on the tip top. After that journey, and my legs finally stopped feeling like jello, I caught the next LAM alla bus back to the main train station. I arrived around 7:10 p.m. and got in line to ask for the next bus ticket to Firenze. It really wasn't to bad a price, I got the ticket for 5.20 euro and the next train to leave was at 7:29 p.m. It took about an hour to get there including stops. I was absolutely shattered and it was dark and I wasn't exactly sure where I was going, so I just took a taxi there, turns out I'm really not that far from the hotel! Oh well! I checked into the hotel and my room is HUGE! It's absolutely fantastic!!! This time I'm sharing a bathroom, but that's quite alright. After I briefly unpacked I realised I had not had dinner so I went in search of a place. I found one was just standing in line when this couple behind me came in and we got to talking and they decided to leave and try another place their hotel had recommended. I asked if they minded if I followed them to it and they didn't and we ended up chatting all they way there. They were from the UK as well and when we arrived at the new place we ended up sitting together. It was a really nice restaurant, all 5 courses, though we only had one and wine; which was incredible!! I had a great time speaking to them, we split the bill and the conversation was easy as if we had known each other for ages. At any rate, we finally left the restaurant a bit after 10 probably closer to 10:30 p.m. and people were still filling the restaurant!!!! Their hotel is just a bit away from mine and we eventually parted ways. Now off to plan tomorrow and SLEEP!

Hope you enjoyed day 1 recap... I'm now off to sleep. I shall post the rest tomorrow and hopefully pictures as well, I'm sorry I'm so slow to post this, but 5 days is a lot and a lot happend! Plus 320 photos to sift through and decide what to post and what not to post, lol. Hope this tides you over until tomorrow!

Italy Itinerary

Saturday May 5
-Leave Worcester at 7 a.m
-arrive in Pisa 4:10 p.m. (they are 1 hour ahead of the UK)
-check train times to Florence since that is where I'm headed after my brief stay in Pisa
-dinner (depending on train times)
-train to Florence
-check into my hotel in Florence and wander about a bit


Sunday May 6
-have an early morn
-all day in Florence
--definitely seeing Il Duomo, the baptistry, the fake David (because the line to get into the museum for the real one is hours apparently if you don't reserve tickets in advance, but we shall see), and loads more
-sunset at Piazzale Michelangelo (if missed the previous night)

Monday May 7
-another early morning
-say goodbye to Florence, head back to Santa Maria Novella train station, catch the train to Venice
-check into my hotel
-off to Venice!
-get to the island of Murano before 4:30 (glass blowing island)
-more exploring before the day is over

Tuesday May 8
-early morning
-ALL DAY IN VENICE!
-semi-early night

Wednesday May 9
-back in Worcester by 1 p.m.
- flight from Venice Treviso leaves 9:50 a.m.

So that is my whirl wind 5 days in a nut shell... haha. I'm looking forward to it! Today has been pretty productive as well; I've edited a paper that I shall shortly be turning in, created this itinerary, then will pack and will have class this evening. So an overall good day. Wooo!