I had my first Finance test today. I am almost positive that I failed it :(. She is a really hard teacher. The good news is that I can drop one of my test grades. I also know how she formats her tests now, so I know what to study in the future.
I found out in Art History that we get to have field trips to 3 different libraries during class time. Yippee! They are going to show us their manuscripts. I wonder if I can get a library card... I also found out that there is going to be a public transportation strike tomorrow, so there goes my trip to Tarquinia. I'm glad that I hadn't bought my ticket yet, because I have no way to get to the train station unless I take a cab. Marketing was boring, as usual. Microeconomics was also pretty boring. It was funny at one point because one student kept answering a question wrong, and the teacher kept telling him it was wrong, and then the teacher got frustrated and threw the dry-earase board market at him. Also, my life changed today. Previously I thought that I had all the classes I needed to sit for the CPA exam, but I was looking at them and I am at least 2 classes short. The ethics course that is required for my major doesn't count, and I need one more course of upper-level accounting. I thought about dropping my third major and taking those courses, but I decided to google is I needed a Masters first. Basically, people are divided. Some say to go ahead and get your Masters so you don't have to get it later, and it is recommended to have it if you want to be an upper-level manager one day. Others say that having a CPA speaks for itself and a Masters is not required. However, to get a CPA in Texas requires 150 hours (5 years of school) and most people get their Masters to fulfill this requirement. I have the 150 hours because I came in with a lot of credit, but everyone I would be competing against would have a Master's degree. So I have decided to go ahead and get my Master's degree. Now I have an additional 2 years of school left. :(
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I finished the last chapter for my Intermediate Accounting class! Yippee! Now all I have to do in finish citing my report, proofread my report, and do my last Discussion Board. And then... FREEDOM!!!
I also walked all the way to the Guarini Campus to study the Finance book for my test tomorrow, and that book SUCKS! All it tells you is how to plug it into your calculator, or how to set it up on Excel. On the test we have to be able to write out the formula, and we can't use a computer. So this didn't help me at all. Then I went to the grocery store and bought Pringles, gelato, milk, 2 potatoes, and bread (all I need for the week) and it only cost me 5.77 euros ($7.50). If I hadn't bought the Pringles I would have saved $2. Is it just me, or is that cheaper than the U.S.? I was able to finish another chapter of Intermediate Accounting today. I only have one more chapter left! Then I am done!!!!! Liv came back from a weekend in Budapest, and she says it is the greatest place she has ever been. I saw some of her pictures and they were beautiful. I wasn't planning on going, but now I think I will. She also says it is ridiculously cheap. She exchanged $100 when she got there and the she still had the equivalent of $30 when she came back, and that was after eating out every meal and buying souvenirs.
I was able to finish my rough draft for my report. Now all I have to do is proof read and cite my sources. Since I was finished, I decided to travel tomorrow. I wanted to go to Tarquinia to see the Etruscan necropolis. Then I got distracted and started planning my trips for the rest of the semester:
I was so distracted planning those trips, that I didn't plan my trip to Tarquinia. I went to bed and started thinking about it, and I decided to just go on Wednesday, since I am free and hopefully there will be less crowds. Today was supposed to be the day for me to travel to Verona, but I have to finish my Intermediate Accounting report. I cooked another meal today: Lemon Chicken Saute. It was really good. I also learned some new things about cooking. When I made my lemon tuna pasta a couple of weeks ago, I zested a lemon. I didn't want to waste the lemon juice so I kept it. Who knew that lemons without a skin would decompose? Not me. So I had to throw away my decomposed lemon, but I had several more. I got out all of my ingredients for this recipe, and started out by frying my chicken in butter and olive oil. While it was frying I was zesting another lemon. In the process I managed to zest my thumb. It started bleeding, so then I was trying to cook while making sure not to get blood in my food. It was very difficult. I kept having to stop and wash my thumb off in the sink. I hope the sink water is clean, because I don't have a band-aid or disinfectant. Ah well.
I also decided to throw out my remaining lemons, because they were starting to go bad. I didn't want to waste them so I decided to make lemonade. The only problem is that none of my roommates have bought sugar I could borrow, so it was very acidic. I ended up pouring it down the drain. So much for lemonade.
Today I have to go to class because it is a make-up day for Thanksgiving. So sad :(. It has been the usual boring day.
I went to Pizza and Politics for lunch, because I thought "Free pizza." It was actually pretty interesting. We talked about the ISIS conflict in the Middle East. One girl is from Libya but has friends in Syria, so she gave a personal perspective on the issue. I also found out the basics of the conflict that I didn't know about before. I also found out that ISIS has threatened the Vatican. Should I be worried? The other good news is that I now have a favorite Italian pizza! The pizza over here has been okay, I prefer American pizza more, but at the Pizza & Politics discussion they had this pizza I call the french fries pizza. It is pretty much pizza bread, with some lightly fried potato strips, and a little bit of cheese. It is awesome! I was also reminded today why I hate hate HATE group projects. On Tuesday I friended all my group members for Marketing on Facebook and created a group for us. I posted, on Tuesday, asking if the group wanted to meet on Wednesday. After I posted I realized that that might be too short of notice, so I posted again asking if they wanted to meet during class time on Friday, in the classroom, since class was canceled. No on responded. I know everyone saw the post, because Facebook told me, but no one has responded to any of my posts. I even showed up in the classroom just to make sure no one showed up. They didn't. So I now I don't know how we are going to do the group project if we can't even meet. I was the good girl, going to all of my classes for the make-up day. In all of my classes, most of the people showed up. But not in Microeconomics. Only half of the class showed up. So instead of moving on and teaching us, and letting those that didn't come fall behind, he went over the test that we took on Thursday. I don't remember the answers I put on the mid-term, it was really long. So this didn't help me at all, because he hadn't graded them yet. When he finished going over the test, it was 25 minutes before class usually let out, but he wouldn't release us because that was too early. So he reviewed taxation for 10 minutes, and then finally let us go. If I had know this was going to happen, I would have skipped class. I would have been done with school at 4:15, instead of 7pm. Well, I survived my first mid-term today. It was for Micro-economics and I hope I did well enough to make an A because you only get 2 grades in that class: the mid-term and the final. I guess we will see.
I learned an interesting fact today in Marketing about salt in Italy. Every Italian home has at least 2 kinds of salt, sale (which is salt in Italian) grosso and sale fino. Sale gross is only used with pasta, while you use sale fino for other things. Heaven forbid you try to put sale fino on pasta. There is also sale marino, which is sea salt. Now there is Himalayan salt, which is pink. So some homes have 3 different kinds of salt. Also, they have come out with dishwashing salt. But if you look on the ingredients of all of these different types of salt, they are all the same! There is no difference in the salt. Salt is salt. I also found out in International Business that it is a grave insult to ask for coffee and a panino. Some Italians get very upset if you do this. It is also an insult to ask for ice, but it is not as grave as coffee and a panino. I worked all day long on my report for Intermediate Accounting, and I only got about ¼ of the way through. Now my choices are to stay in Rome this weekend, or probably stay next weekend. This weekend I would only have 3 days free, while next weekend I will have 4 days. So I decided not to go to Verona this weekend and I am going to stay in Rome and complete my report. So sad :(. If I finish early, though, I may take a day trip from Rome to Tivoli or Cerverteri. I hope I finish early!
I also had to go to International Business class at 7:30 pm. That sucked. I still think teachers shouldn't reschedule class because the had a conflict. It was also funny because I was the only person in the class that actually did the reading of the case study. He asked if everyone had read, and I nodded, but no one spoke up saying that they hadn't read. So he broke us up into groups, and everyone in my group admitted that they hadn't done the reading, and eventually the other group admitted they hadn't done the reading. So then we had to devote some class time to read the case. I had class all day today. This week sucks because we have to have a make up day for Thanksgiving on Friday. But the good news is that my Marketing class was canceled for that day because Professor Signorini has a conference to go to. He better not arrange for a make-up day for it. It was funny during Microeconomics. Today was a review day for the test on Thursday, and apparently no one did the review except for me and another guy. I would ask a question, and then he would ask a question, and then I would ask another question. We were the only 2 asking questions the whole class.
Today I did some more homework. I finished my chapter for Intermediate Accounting, but didn't have time to do the quiz. I also completed my Finance and International Business Projects. I had to go to the school so that I could print my Finance project because it is due at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow, and the school doesn't open until 8 a.m. I didn't want to rush it. I also had to go to the school to copy some pages for my Art History class, because I couldn't buy the book last week. My original plan was to stop at the grocery store afterwards, but all this took too much time. I left the school around 7:15 p.m. and the grocery store closes at 8 p.m., so I didn't have enough time to stop. These grocery stores aren't like our where they allow you to finish shopping before closing. If you are at the store at 8 p.m., they turn out the lights on you and you run to the register to buy your stuff before the cashier leaves.
We got to sleep in this morning until 8:30 a.m. We left the hotel around 9:30 and traveled to Siena. Siena is very beautiful and I can understand why it is a UNESCO world heritage sight. We got a 2-hour guided tour of the city. Our first stop was a church, but they are really strict about the dress code. Shoulders and knees had to be covered. No one had told us this so most of our group was wearing short, which were above the knee. Luckily the tour guide knew a local artist and she had enough scarves for our whole group. I tied the scarf around my waist and draped it over my knees. It wasn't the best job, but it worked as long as I was holding it up. We got to see the skull of Saint Katherine inside the church. She is one of the patron saints of Italy, and was just named one the patron saints of Europe. All she did to get sainted was convince the pope to move back to Rome from Avignon.
After that I went to the Museum. This is filled with the original statues that are supposed to be on the outside of the cathedral. They were removed to protect them from the elements and pollution. I wasn't allowed to take pictures in here, but it was really interesting. I walked around looking for the entrance to the wall outside but I couldn't find it. At one point I stood in this line, but I didn't know what it was for so I got out of it. Unbeknownst to me, that was the line for the entrance to the place I was looking for. I finally left the museum and went back outside. I saw a sign that said the wall entrance I was looking for was inside the museum, so I went back inside and climbed all the stairs again.
While on the bus they talked about the meal plan. Apparently API provides us with 20 meals, and then we can pay to have additional meals. I had paid $195 to have an additional 20 meals but now that I only have 2 classes a week I don't need them. The API plan will last me for 10 weeks, and then we only have 4-5 weeks left. And I have a 3 hour break for lunch so I can easily walk back to the apartment for food. Once we stopped I asked Alessio if I could cancel my meal plan and he said I could. API would either refund me the money or give it to me in cash. Either way works for me. I just have to send API and email to remind them. Yippee! I have another $200 to spend!
Now I am back at my apartment, relaxing in bed. Laura just brought me her cough medicine since she doesn't need it anymore. She had been sick for the last few weeks and finally went to a doctor. She has bronchitis. The doctor gave her antibiotics, but she can't take cough medicine with it. I have been coughing the last couple of days, but I am getting better. We had to meet at the Piazza Trilussa at 7:30 a.m., so I had to get up early after going to bed after 2 a.m. When Laura and I got to the Piazza, it was a mess. There were beer bottles and trash everywhere. There was a party last night and I wasn't invited. :( While we were waiting one of the street sweeper came and started to work on cleaning it. He started at the top and instead picking up the unbroken bottles he just pushed them down the steps with his broom. They went crashing down the steps and shattered. Note to self: never sit on the steps again. Finally the bus arrived and we boarded for the 3 hour bus ride. I got my own seat! The countryside was very beautiful. I thought it would be more like Spain, where the whole land is farmland and the trees are in nice even rows. It wasn't. There were lots of forests, although a lot of land was cleared for farms.
Next we went to the public baths for a spa day. The baths were really nice but not what I expected. It was all outdoors and everyone was wearing bathing suits. My roommate, Laura, had an extra bathing suit that she let me borrow, but it was a bikini. So for the first time I actually wore a bikini. I thought I would be awkward, but everyone was wearing one. There were about 6-8 main pools, but they broke off into small sections or rooms. The pools are fed by hot springs, so they were pretty much large hot tubs. So we just hopped from pool to pool checking them out. Each pool had a different temperature, and they were very relaxing. I just wanted to fall asleep in them. The only thing I didn't like was the smell. It smelled like hard-boiled eggs everywhere. The smell clung to me after we left. I was so upset that I forgot to take pictures of the public baths! After the baths we went to the hotel. Dinner wasn't until 8 p.m. so we had an hour to take a shower. I really needed one. I smelled like hard-boiled egg, and my hair felt stringy. It still feels stringy because I wasn't able to get all of the sulphur out. Dinner was an interesting experience. I couldn't decide whether to eat the food or not. In the first course I found a piece of bone in my pasta dish's meat sauce. One table got up and left except for one person because there was mold in their cheese. The chicken for the second course was undercooked. And one girl at my table found a piece of hair in her salad. However, the dessert was excellent! After dinner I went to bed while my 2 roommates went out.
So, I forgot to pack my bathing suit for this adventure. I figured I wasn't going to need it because I am not much of a pool person. Wrong. Tomorrow we are going to the public baths, and apparently we need a bathing suit. So I am like, okay, I'll just run to the store and buy one. There are not any bathing suits in Rome right now. Ovese, where I shop for food didn't have one. I also needed to buy 2 books for a class, so I decided to combine the trips. Close to the bookstore is the main shopping street in Rome, Via del Corso. Olivia and I left around 3 and walked to the bus stop to go to Termini, where we could catch the metro to the Spanish Steps which is where this street is. As we were walking up to the bus stop, our bus was driving away. So we waited another 20 minutes for the next bus. That bus was crowded! With each stop more and more people got on until we would make a stop and no one would be able to fit on, although they did try. Everyone was pressed up against each other. Finally Liv and I just got off, we couldn't take it anymore. It was the stop before Termini and we were just going to walk. Then we saw on a map that the distance to Termini was the same distance to the Spanish Steps, so we just decided to walk to the Spanish Steps. We finally got there, took some pictures and then I went to find the bookstore while Liv went to Sephora. I of course got lost. I somehow ended up at the Pantheon, which is in the opposite direction. So I walked back and was finally able to find it. I used there wifi to look up the books that I needed and the guy told me he had just sold the last one of one of my books 15 minutes ago. So I bought one of my books. Luckily the book I bought is the one we are using for the next 2 weeks, so I have a little time to order it from Amazon. Then I headed back to the Spanish Steps. The bookstore was literally down one street, take a left, and it was 2 blocks down. I looked for Liv and I couldn't find her. I walked around Sephora, still couldn't find her. So I called her, and she was in Sephora. So I went back and found her. Then we went to H&M looking for the bathing suit. We walked all around H&M, and no bathing suits. Liv made me try on some outfits, "just for fun" and I bought a shirt. Then we went to Zara's, and they didn't have one either. Liv found a place on her phone that was supposed to sell them at Termini Station, so we took the metro there and found the place. No bathing suits. When we got on the metro it was crowded so I was right by the door. This idiot had his head out the door looking down the train. Then the doors started to close on him so he whipped his head back into mine. It hurt! I'm lucky I don't have a concussion. We walked all around Termini Station looking at random stores. No bathing suits. We made a pit stop and McDonalds and got a chocolate milkshake. Finally we gave up and went to find our bus. I felt so bad for Liv because her ankle is still swollen, and it was really hurting her by that point.
We found the bus station and took the bus to Trastevere. We walked back to the apartment. While at Termini there was a Chinese and Thai restaurant, and I really wanted sesame chicken, but they didn't have it. Liv orders a lot of take-out, and she said there was some Chinese restaurants on the list. I looked at the apartment, and no sesame chicken. Liv found a restaurant, Ci Lin, that in the reviews said had great sesame chicken. So we rested about 30 minutes and then Liv, Laura, and I went there. It was a pretty nice restaurant from the inside. We got a table. The menus were in Italian and English. The only problem was that there was no sesame chicken. The waiter came by to take our order and I asked if they had sesame chicken. He nodded his head and smiled, so I assumed I had just missed it on the menu. He didn't speak much English. We also got rice with our meal, so I got fried. Laura got white, and Liv got Fried Cantonese. They brought out my rice, and then Laura's rice. We kept waiting and waiting for Liv's rice. Laura asked 2 different waiters about her rice, and Liv also asked a couple of time, and they never brought it. They brought our food, and it was not sesame chicken. There was a big plate of chicken and a little container with sauce. I assumed it was there sesame sauce. It wasn't, it was spicy sauce; and man was it spicy! Liv asked them to take the rice off the bill, but we don't know if they did because the receipt was in Chinese. We just gave up and left. I paid, so the other girls owe me some euros. Afterwards we walked back to the apartment and started talking. We talked until 1:30 am, and then we finally went to sleep. Scotland is voting for independence from the UK today! I can't wait until tomorrow, I want to know what the result is! If I was there, I would probably vote for independence. Of course, this might be bad for me because it will cause the exchange rate to rise, meaning I will have less money than I had planned on. I will have to stop at an ATM on the way back to my apartment tonight, just to be safe.
I had to go to school early today to talk to my professor about our project. She made some changes and my Balance Sheet balanced, so all I have left for my project is to do a memo, which should be easy. We got assigned groups for a group project in Principals of Marketing. I hate group projects! I was able to finish my Intermediate Accounting homework. I can't wait until it is over. I only have 3 weeks left! Of course, that means I need to start on my report that is due in 2 weeks. Maybe it will get done Friday. I also started on my Pro Forma project for Finance. My balance shed it off by about $6,000 so I will have to go to class early tomorrow to ask the professor for help. :(
Usual boring school day. The highlight of my day was in Macroeconomics. A student was using Twinkies as an example, and the professor didn't know what they were. Apparently there are no Twinkies in Italy. Throughout the rest of the class he kept using Twinkies as an example, but he kept calling them Twinkles. It was so funny.
Today is my day off, or in other words the day I do homework. I got through another chapter of Intermediate Accounting, which took me most of the day. Olivia had come back from London and she had an interesting trip, much like my trip to Oslo. While in Rome she tripped on a cobblestone and now her ankle is all swollen. There is nowhere in Europe you can buy ice, so she has been buying cold water bottles to put on her ankle. It also didn't help that she walked all over London on her ankle. And her hostel didn't have running water, so she wasn't able to take a shower for 3 days. She was visiting her friend who is studying in London, but her friend's roommate didn't want her in the apartment at all, not even to take a shower. On the way back from London her flight kept getting delayed. Her taxi driver to Rome was drunk, but at that point she didn't care. She got back to the apartment around 2 a.m., but I was asleep so I didn't hear her. She told me the whole story when she woke up. Then she had to go to class, so she walked on her ankle even more. We don't have ice in the apartment, but we don't have ice trays. To drink cold water I usually put some water bottles in the refrigerator. While Liv was at class I put one of my bottles in the freezer, so I could make ice. It was her surprise when she got back from class. She was really excited. I also went to the grocery store again today. Last week I looked up some Italian recipes and I decided that I was going to (try to) cook one today. I only needed a couple of things from the store and I was able to find them pretty quickly. Then I got back to the apartment and started cooking. I made Lemony Tuna and Olive Oil Pasta. It was pretty simple to make. All I had to do was boil some water, add the linguine, and wait for it to soften. Then I chopped up some garlic (first time I have done it), added some olive oil and crushed red peppers and put that on the stove for a couple of minutes. Then I added that mixture to the pasta, added some tuna, some lemon zest, and basil leaves. And I was done! It actually tasted really good. I was quite proud of myself. The kitchen was a mess, but I had cooked a meal! I even have a lot left over for the rest of the week!
Today we got to sleep in to 9:30 a.m. I woke up around 7:30. I read for a while then decided to go to the bathroom. The door was closed and the light was on and I noticed one of my roommates was not in bed. So I went back to my bed and waited for her to come out, thinking she had slipped by me while I was reading. I waited about 30 minutes and then decided to go in. I knocked and she didn't answer so I opened the door. She was curled up on the floor asleep with a pillow and comforter. I closed the door and went back to reading. Later she came out and said that she had been throwing up all night. She didn't want to wake us up so she stayed in the bathroom. She is really sick. Naike (one of the tour directors) came by a little while later and took her to a pharmacy for some medicine.
I really enjoyed the tour but I wished they had given us some time to explore on our own. The tour lasted for about an hour and then the tour guide led us back outside the ruins. We then had an hour to eat and souvenir shop and then we had to leave. I wish I had more time to explore on my own. I feel like we just saw the main highlights and even that was rushed. I can always go with Mom, Kendall, and Aunt Carolyn when they go. I hadn't planned on it, but I didn't get to really see Pompeii. I also didn't get to go to the cameo store which I heard was really good. We loaded back on the buses again and made the long journey back to Rome. It was another 4 hour trip. We got back around 5 p.m. The trip had exhausted me so I just laid in bed reading and surfing the Internet. I was going to wait for Olivia to get back from London (she was supposed to be back around midnight) but I was just too tired so I went to bed around 10.
Once I got to the bottom I decided to wonder around. I went to some souvenir shops and bought a salad fork and spoon with "Capri" written on them. It was only 5 euros and I figure one day I might want to use them. I don't know when but sometime over my life I will need them. Then I headed to the bus stop and waited. A bus came pretty quickly and I got on. They told us when we arrived that there are only 2 cities on Capri island: Capri and Anacapri. Since I was in Anacapri I figured I was supposed to go to Capri. I figured wrong. I was supposed to take the bus to the Harbor. I of course didn't figure this out until I had left the bus stop and was wondering around Capri lost. I finally backtracked and figured out the problem. I didn't want to buy another bus ticket so I decided to walk. I found a path that said it was a pedestrian street to the harbor so I started walking. It pretty much a huge stairwell. The steps just kept going on and on until I finally reached the harbor. I saw one couple who had walked it and were sitting down exhausted. They asked me how much further to Capri and I told them it would be awhile. The guy said I was supposed to tell them it was close. I finally reached the harbor. I decided to walk around and find somewhere to eat. While I was walking I saw that they had a market day going on. I looked around and found some cute shoes that I wanted to buy, but I didn't know my shoe size. The European shoe size is different from the American one. All their sizes were in the 30s and 40s, so I couldn't buy any. I found the same problem with the clothes. Note to self: google my shoe and clothing size. I eventually found a little diner to eat at. It had food for 8 euros and I was starving. It was around 3 p.m. I ordered some gnocchi, which is apparently pasta made from a potato. It was different, but not bad. I still had an hour to kill so I decided to wonder around the market again. On the way I found some girls that I knew from API, so I joined there group. They were heading back to the beach, so I went with them. I laid on the rocks (no sand) talking to Vicki until it was time to go to the meeting point. We got on a ferry and went back to Sorrento. In Sorrento I got separated from the main group. We were going up this huge flight of stairs and by the time I got to the top they had disappeared into the crowd. So I walked up and down main street looking for the cheap clothing store that Sarah and Vanda found. I couldn't find it. All I could find were stores were a shirt was 80 euros, which is over a hundred dollars. I found a little souvenir shop and bought an oil and vinegar dispenser. Maybe when I learn how to cook I will actually use it. Then I went back to the hotel and went to bed.
We had to get up early today because API is taking us to the Amalfi Coast. We met at Piazza Trilussa at 8:45 a.m., and got on a tour bus. The bus took us to Mount Vesuvius. It is a 4 HOUR drive! We stopped after 2 hours at a hotel that had a restaurant and convince store. I stood in the long line and got the last turkey panini. Then right after I paid they brought out pizza. So I got in line again and got a slice of pizza. Then we got on the bus again.
I had class today. So sad :(. The good news is that my International Business class was canceled so I had a huge gap until my next class. I went to the library and actually got some homework done. Then I had to go to Marketing and Microeconomics. We are still talking about economic principles in Micro, all of which I learned in Macroeconomics. I hope we start talking about something else soon. During Micro I realized that I had forgotten my umbrella at the Guarini Campus, which is a 10 minute walk from the Tiber Campus. So after class I had to run over there, and then go back to the apartment. Now I have to pack for the trip to the Amalfi Coast! I get to see Pompeii tomorrow! I heard rumors that it is supposed to rain this weekend, but I hope it doesn't.
Today was my day off. I laid in bed, bought a new book through Amazon, and did my Intermediate Accounting homework. I had to read a chapter, do the homework, and take the quiz. I also did some homework for my art class, and finished reading chapter 1 for International Business. So today was somewhat productive.
I had to get up early for class today. It was boring, My art class was fun. We are learning how to make ancient books, which I find interesting. Then I had my 3 hour break. I went to the JCU cafe for lunch and decided to eat a salmon steak. Big mistake! After pulling the sixth fish bone out of my teeth I decided it was too dangerous to eat. With my luck I would probably end up choking on it. In International Business I found out that we won't be having class on Thursday. Yippee! Marketing was boring and hot. Apparantely the AC is not working in the room we are in. The teacher didn't want to kill us so he let us out early. Microeconomics was a waste of time because we are still talking about the basics of economics, all of which I learned in Macroeconomics. So all in all a very unproductive day.
My roommates in the dorm were not as respectful as the previous night's. A group of people came in around 11:30 p.m., after everyone was already asleep. They turned on the light, which I would expect because they needed to see, but then they stood there talking in loud voices. If you are sleeping in a room with other people and everyone is already asleep, you need to be quiet when you come in. They could have taken their conversation to the hallway where they wouldn't have disturbed anyone. I had no idea what they were saying because the were speaking in another language, but someone in the dorm got pissed at them and started yelling at them. Occasionally they used some English, so she was yelling at them about not being respectful. Finally, everything either quieted down or I passed out. I kept waking up every couple of hours because I was afraid I would miss my bus. My alarm was set for 4 a.m., but when I woke up at 3:30 I decided to go ahead and get up. There was no reason to allow my alarm to go off and wake up the dorm. Although, those people that came in at 11:30 deserved it, but it would have woken up the nice quiet people also. I went down to the lobby to wait for my bus, because it didn't come until 4:33. About 15 minutes before my bus was supposed to come I went outside to the bus stop across the street. It was raining, but it was close enough that I wasn't too worried about it. I got to the bus stop, waited awhile and realized I was at the wrong bus stop. By the time I got to the correct bus stop it was 20 minutes later and the bus was gone. I looked at the schedule and couldn't find the information about the bus I was supposed to be on, so I had no idea when it was coming again. I went back to the hostel to use their wifi to find another bus. Of course, by this time I was soaked and someone forgot to pack their umbrella so all I had was a light jacket to protect me. At the hostel I found another bus that went to the train station, so I walked to the that bus stop. The problem is that their are 2 stops with the same name, so I didn't know if I was at the correct one. The train I had to be on left at 6 a.m. I looked at the schedule at the bus stop and didn't see anything about the night bus on it. So I decided to go to the other bus stop, which was close. But, surprise!, I got lost. So I was wondering around the dark streets at 5 o'clock in the morning in the rain and I decided it wasn't worth it. I saw a sign that said Oslo Taxi with a number and I called it. A taxi showed up, and I took it to the train station. I think the taxi driver to took me the long way, but at that point I didn't care. It cost me about $30 but it was worth it. At the train station I wondered around looking for a place to buy my ticket. I finally found a self service ticket machine, so I tried to buy my ticket there. I didn't have any more kronor so I tried to use my debit card. The machine wouldn't take it. I think it is because European cards have a chip in them, but American cards don't. Luckily I was able to find an ATM and withdraw some cash. I got my ticket, found the train and settled in for the ride to Rygge.
At 8:15 am the check in counter opened and I checked in, went through Security and got to my gate. The Pringles didn't fill me up and I was still hungry. I still had some kronor left from when I went to the ATM so I counted my money and bought a water, yogurt, and 2 donuts. I went back to my seat and starting eating them. As a I was sitting there I heard someone calling me. I looked around and it was the lady at the food counter. She wanted to know if the paper she was holding was my boarding pass. It was! I ran over there and she said that Ryanair charges 500 kronor to replace it, that is about $80! I got on the plane, landed at Ciampino, and got on a Terravision bus to Termini Station in Rome. I got to the station, bought a train ticket and went to find the metro. I am looking at the stops, and on of them in the Victor Emmanuel stop. That monument is closer to my apartment than the Colosseum stop. So I decided to go to Victor Emmanuel so I could find out where the metro entrance is. I went there, and it is nowhere near the monument. I couldn't find the monument. So once again I was lost, but this time in Rome. And smart me decided not to bring a map of Rome with me, because I wouldn't need it in Norway. So I start taking random turns and somehow end up at Termini station. I had to buy another metro ticket because you can only use it once, and this time I went to the Colosseum stop. I then walked the 20-30 minute walk back to my apartment. I am so glad to be back! I took a shower and then tried to make a burger. I went to turn on the stove, and the lighter didn't work. I gave up and just had some gelato I still had in the freezer. I told my roommates my public transportation adventures and they couldn't believe what happened to me. Lauren said she would have called API from the train station and had them come pick her up. Why didn't I think of that? Of course, with my luck they wouldn't have a car. Olivia said she couldn't believe that I just kept going. She felt really bad for me, so she said I needed something to brighten my day. She got out her box of brownie mix and attempted to make me brownies. She didn't have vegetable oil, so she used olive oil. We also don't have an oven pan, so she used a stove pot. We don't have measuring cups, so she guessed on how much water to add. The brownie batter was very liquid, so she added the frosting. She also guessed on what temperature to put it on. The brownies were in the oven for at least an hour and they still didn't cook. So we ended up just eating the batter out of the pot. I love my roommate! Actually, sleeping in a hostel was not that bad. It reminded me a lot of camp. I slept in a big room with about 15 bunk beds. By the time I got there, most of the beds had already been taken, so I got a top bunk close to the door. This is not a favored spot because when people leave, you can hear the door open and the light from the hallway shines in. A difference from camp that I noticed was that it was dead silent. No one was talking, because we didn't know each other and didn't have to spend a week together. So I claimed my bed, put my bedding on, and climbed the ladder. I had left my shoes on the floor so I wouldn't get the bed dirty, but the ladder hurt the bottoms of my feet. I don't remember it hurting that bad when I was in camp! I slept through the night, and woke up around 8 a.m. I finally decided it was time to get out of bed to go exploring. So, as quietly as I could I grabbed my backpack, snuck down the ladder, put on my shoes, and went to the door. The problem with the door is that you have to hit a button on the wall to get it to unlock, and it was dark in the room because of the black-out curtains. So I am feeling around for this button, and I think I have found it. I press it, and the lights come on! When they came on, I saw that there was another button right besides it, so I turned off the lights, hit the correct button, and ran out. I went to the bathroom, and while I was washing my hands 3 tired looking girls came in. I think they were from my dorm. Oops! I left the hostel to start my day. My original plan had been to walk to my first destination, but my feet were still killing me from yesterday. And right across the street was a bus stop with a lot of people waiting at it. This had to mean a bus was coming soon. My Oslo Pass is good for 24 hours and includes public transportation. So I join the other people at the bus stop, and I am digging around in my backpack for my pass. I couldn't find it, and the bus was coming! I didn't know if I was supposed to show it to the bus driver so I just decided to get another bus. They only problem was that I didn't know when another bus was coming because I couldn't read the bus schedule (it was set up weird). Right after the bus left I found my pass.
Ways Norway is not like Europe: 1. No cobblestone 2. Lots of space 3. No small alleys 4. Parking lots 5. Everyone has a car 6. No water fountains 7. Doesn't smell |
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June 2022
AuthorThese are details from my adventures around the world. |