I got up at 5 a.m. today, to make sure I would have plenty of time to make my flight to Warsaw. I packed, got ready, ate breakfast, and was out of the door by 6 a.m. I walked to the bus stop and waited about 20 minutes for the bus. Then I took the bus to Termini and walked to the Terravision office. I got there and waited in line. It was a long wait because people that buy their ticket online get to go to the front of the line to get it authorized, and most people had bought their ticket online. Finally I got my ticket and went out to the bus. Their were people waiting in line, so I joined them. People started getting onto the bus, and I noticed the ticket taker turning people away. I saw one guy run back into the Terravision office, I guess to get the correct ticket. I didn't know why she was doing that. I figured the people who bought their ticket online got to get on first, and then everyone else. So I stood to the side, and then the ticket taker waved me forward to get on. So I have no idea why I was allowed to get on, but other people were turned away. Either way, the bus took me to Ciampino Airport. I got through the Visa Check and Security. Then I had to wait for 3 hours until it was time to board my flight. My flight leaves at 11, so I thought I would go ahead and get lunch. The issue is that the only place to eat lunch is a sandwich shop, and they charge a lot for their sandwiches. So instead I bought a ream of Pringles and snacked on that. I figure once I get to Warsaw I can get something to eat. Finally it was time to board my plane, and people started to line up so I joined them. We waited and waited. Finally, 30 minutes pass the time we were supposed to board, they finally started taking tickets. I was supposed to have the window seat by one of the emergency exit, but when I got there someone was in my seat. I just took the aisle seat because I didn't care that much. That was a mistake. I think it was the first time the girls next to me where flying alone, because they were constantly getting up. They must have gotten out of their seats at least 10 times in the 1.5 hour flight. I'm just glad we were buy the emergency exit so I didn't have to keep getting up, I just had to move me feet out of their way. We finally landed, and I was able to leave the airport. This is when all of my plans fell apart. I went to the ATM and got Polish money. Then I tried to get on the Modlin bus to Warsaw (the airport I flew into is located outside of the city), the guy told me the next bus doesn't leave until 5 p.m. It was 3 p.m. So I went to another line, which was the public transportation line. I bought a ticket for a bus that will take me to the train station, and the train will take me to Warsaw. I don't know where in Warsaw, but it is in Warsaw. I mostly just followed other passengers when we got off the bus, because I had no idea where I was going. I tried to look at the train listing, but it was all in Polish and I understood none of it. A train pulled up and everyone that was on my bus lined up to get on, so I got on as well.
Luckily, my hostel is celebrating Halloween tonight at 7 p.m., and there is supposed to be food, so I hope it is good. Free food! The receptionist said that there was no one booked for my room tonight, so I might have it alone, but when I came in there was a suitcase so I think someone is staying here. I was going to go on a free walking tour at 6, but it is dark outside so I think I will postpone it for tomorrow. I am also tired, so tomorrow I will be fresh and ready to explore. Which is a good thing, because I have 2 other tours to do tomorrow so I will be doing a lot of walking.
I met one of my new roommates. It started out good, with us introducing ourselves. Then I send I was from the U.S., big mistake. Every time I say I'm from the U.S. something bad happens. In this case, she started asking me how I felt about the New World Order. I had no idea what she was talking about, and I told her so. She explained that it is the idea of their being one government and one religion, and how it is already happening in the U.S. She also asked me about the 30,000 guillotines that the U.S. government purchased in order to behead Christians. I had no idea what she was talking about so I googled it. The New World Order is a conspiracy theory. I looked up the guillotine thing and it was disproved by Snopes.com. I introduced her to Snopes, so hopefully she doesn't believe everything she reads on the Internet. She is also hearing it from a family (dad is a doctor) who left everything behind in the U.S. to come live in Norway (where she lives). She showed me a YouTube video about a place in Georgia where a guy stores thousands of casket liners for the U.S. government, because they think a lot of people are going to die soon. I looked on Snopes about that, it is a storage place for a private citizen funeral home. The casket goes in the casket liner when there is a risk of harm to the ground, like being close to the water supply. She also talked about how people are getting slips of paper: one red and one blue. The red slip of paper tells people how to get to underground safety bunker, while the blue one tells them nothing. The old, sick, infirm people get the blue slip. She also showed me pictures of half animal half human that they are creating in the UK. She also talked about people in Mexico are getting chips implanted in them, and how the former director of the CIA was murdered because he started telling secrets about the government. I told her I have never heard of any of this before. She was really surprised that I have never heard of any of these things, because it is apparently all they talk about in Norway. Why does this always happen to me? Why can't I have a nice, boring, uneventful trip somewhere? I am never getting a 3 person dorm again, people think they should talk to their roommates because of it. I like the bigger anonymous dorms a lot better.
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Today is judgement day, the day of my test for Finance. I got up at 5 a.m. to start studying. Janelle and Laura left early today to go to Corfu, Greece, so I heard them leave. I also had to read the textbook for my art history class, so I used it as a break from studying Finance. It finally turned 8 a.m., so I went off to take my test. It went as badly as I expected. The teacher says she will give you a formula sheet, and most of the formulas she gives you are not on the test. She expects us to have all of the formulas memorized, which is a problem when there are about 20 formulas over the 2 chapters. And then one of the questions was something she had briefly talked about in class on Tuesday for about 5 minutes. I know I at least got somewhere between a 50-90. This class sucks!
After the stress of Finance, I went to my Art History class. We talked about different religious books, and I was completely out of my element because they were all catholic religious books. We also talked about Catholic religious holidays, like the different saints' days, which I also know nothing about. In other words, I didn't have much to contribute to the discussion. After class I went to the JCU cafeteria. It was all decorated for Halloween. The food was Halloween themed, and it looked good. Looked being the operative word, because it tasted horrible. I took a couple of bites and ending up throwing it away. I hate when the cafeteria people try to be creative, because it always tastes bad. Then I went back to my apartment to do laundry so I have clothes to pack for my trip to Warsaw tomorrow. Then I went back to the Guarini Campus to print out my plane ticket for Warsaw and some other information that I would need. I had my trip all planned out, so that I wouldn't have any issues. Then I went to International Business, Marketing, and Microeconomics. Then I went back to my lonely apartment, ate dinner, and went to bed. I spent almost all day today studying for my Finance test tomorrow. It is going to suck. I also finally started to work on my photo album book of my trip, but for some reason Mixbook is not allowing me to copy from Word into Mixbook, so I am not able to put in my descriptions. Maybe if I actually updated my computer instead keep hitting the Remind Me Later button it would work. Something to think about.
Around 6p.m. I went to the Guarini Campus to meet my study group for Finance. We studied for about 3 hours and then called it quits. On the way back to our apartments we stopped and bought some gelato, because we really needed it. Then I went to my apartment and went to bed. I got up at around 6 a.m. to get ready for my classes. I said goodbye to Olivia, because she had also gotten up so she could go to the airport to catch a flight home. Her best friend's mom has cancer, so she is going home for a week to support her. After she left I got up and did my homework for Art History, then I went to my daily round of classes. My professor of Finance was going to review for the test at 6-7:30. The only problem is that is when my Microeconomics class is. I thought about skipping Microeconomics, but I decided not to. I knew Ryan and Amanda were going, so I was just going to get the information from them afterwards. After class I went back to my apartment and went to bed.
I also decided not to travel again today. I just laid in my apartment all day relaxing and doing homework. Around 2 p.m. I left and went to the Guarini campus for a group study session for Finance. It was Amanda, Ryan, and I. We studied for about 2 hours and then left. So I pretty much did nothing all day.
After all of the strikes this weekend, I just decided to stay at my apartment and relax for a day. I really enjoyed myself, and gave myself a break from all of this crazy traveling. Olivia has been having a bad week. She found out that her best friend's mom has cancer again, and will be undergoing surgery. She is like a second mom to Olivia. Olivia's dad is paying for her to fly back to the U.S. be with her friend and her mom. So she is going to leave on Tuesday, and come back next Monday. Olivia is also getting sick and has been coughing a lot. We were talking and she was saying that she had no food because she just came back from Munich and she doesn't want to buy anything because she doesn't want it to go bad while she is gone. I decided to make her French Toast so that she could feel better. While I was making it, Laura came in. She has been having boyfriend troubles with her boyfriend back in the U.S. and was also having a bad morning, so I made her some as well. I made the French Toast, Olivia made some tea, and we all talked for a couple of hours. We talked about troubles back home and future travel plans. I am traveling to Warsaw, Poland this weekend. Next weekend I am planning on going to Budapest. Laura also really wanted to go to Budapest but she didn't have anyone to go with, so we are going to travel together. So I finally have a travel buddy for one weekend, that should make everyone back home happy. After Budapest I am traveling to Florence with API. I was researching Florence and I found that it has an escape room. In an escape room you are locked in for 1 hour and you have to solve the clues to find the key and escape. I have wanted to try this since I came to Europe, but none of them allow only 1 person, I had to be in a group of 2-6 people. Laura thought that it sounded awesome, so she is willing to do it with me while we are all in Florence. We will ask our other roommate Janelle and her boyfriend Mike, and then some other people in API if they want to join. So I am really excited about that! After Florence I have a weekend off because of my Art History make up day, so I will probably travel to Tivoli and Ostia Antica, which are close to Rome. The week after that is Thanksgiving and I will be going to Romania. Then it is the weekend before finals so I won't be traveling, and then we go home. So sad :(. I have bought my plane ticket to Warsaw and booked my room in a hostel, so that is all ready. I also looked up free tours. There is a company that offers free tours and they are a lot of fun. The tour guide has to be really good because they work off of tips. They have 4 tours going on in Warsaw, so I am going to attend them all. They have tours of Old Warsaw, Communist Warsaw, Jewish Warsaw, and Alternative Warsaw. Now all I have to look up is things to do in Warsaw that are not covered by the tours, and plan my route. At 2 I walked to the Guarini Campus and met some people in Finance group for a study session. We worked through a couple of problems, and then I left to go back to the apartment. It was only 5pm, and it was already starting to get dark. Olivia noticed that the time went back an hour today. It freaked her out originally because she looked at the clock, and then looked a couple of minutes later and she had lost an hour. I met Olivia at the apartment and we went to the store together. She bought some chicken so she has something to eat for today and tomorrow, and I bought the last ingredients that I needed for my meat sauce. My recipe for meat sauce is the most complicated recipe that I have attempted so far. It took me 2 hours to make. I had to chop up an onion, and cook it with some ground meat. Then I had to chop up a green pepper (which I have never done before, I had to google how to do it) and add it to the pan with stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, rosemary, thyme, and some other seasonings. Then I had to let it simmer for an hour and half, occasionally stirring it. When it was almost done I had to cook the pasta. It is the best thing that I have made so far! I love it, but I probably won't make it often because it takes too long. I was able to finish a big chunk of my homework while it was simmering.
Today I was going to go to Ostia Antica. I woke up around 8 a.m., and took my time getting ready. I left around 10 a.m., and caught the H bus to Termini. The problem was that the bus didn't get to Termini. The bus stopped at a random stop on Nationale and everyone had to get off. I new the direction to Termini, but when I started walking that way I found a huge group of people striking. I didn't want to join their mob, so I decided this was fate saying that I shouldn't go to Ostia Antica.
Today is the day of the big strike that is causing so many conflicts in my schedule. My Art History class and the API event were both postponed because of it. I stayed in my apartment most of the day because I didn't want to get hurt by an angry mob. I finally finished my family's travel book with the pictures they took while they were here. That took me almost all day to finish, so they had better like it.
Then I went to the Guarini Campus to scan my Finance textbook. I didn't want to sit at the library and read it, so I decided to scan the 3 chapters I needed and read them at my leisure at the apartment. The problem was that the scanner in the library wasn't working. I played with it for a while, then told the student assistant. She played with it, then called in another assistant. That one couldn't fix it either, and she recommended that I use the copier. The problem with using the copier is that I have to pay for it, and everyone knows I am too cheap for that. Finally I asked if I could restart the computer and see if that helped. It worked! So I copied the 3 chapters that I needed and left. I was going to go to the grocery store, but since I am planning on traveling tomorrow I thought it would be pointless. I went back to my apartment and started researching where I wanted to travel to. I looked at places farther from Rome that I could make a weekend of, and I looked at places that are Day Trips so I wouldn't have to pay for a hostel. I decided to do a day trip because it was cheaper, and I settled on the Ruins of Ostia Antica. So tomorrow I will go to the ruins and then come back to Rome. The ruins are close enough that I don't have to get up super early to catch the train, it is a part of Rome so I can take the metro. I got up just before 6:30 a.m. to get prepared for school. When I woke up, Olivia was still here. She had planned on leaving to catch her flight to Munich at 5 a.m. Her alarm was turned so low that she didn't hear it go off. Luckily she was already packed, so she grabbed her stuff and ran out the door. Her flight leaves at 8, and she might be able to make it.
I leisurely got ready and went to finance. Then I went to Art History. In Art History we talked about a make up day for the book restoration place. We were supposed to go on Friday, but it was canceled because of the strike. We were able to schedule a make up day for November 21. I was planning on going to Budapest that day, but luckily I hadn't already bought the tickets. After Art History, I went to lunch, then International Business, Marketing, and Microeconomics. In Microeconomics I had a test, so I hope I did well. I found out that the API event we have tomorrow has been postponed because of the strike. The place we were going was were everyone was striking, so API postponed it for safety reasons. I am off school today. Yippee! Today is also my sister's birthday, so I hope she is having a good time. I decided that it was time to do the new update on my phone, so I have been trying to clear some memory for it. It takes 4.8 GB, and I only had 700 MB when I started. I deleted some apps, and I have been going through old text messages and deleting them. It is no wonder that I have no space on my phone. I have text messages going back to February 3, 2012. I really need to clean out my Messages more often.
I also found out today that my Friday field trip was canceled because of the strike. We were supposed to go to Patolgoia del Libro, a book binding place. But some of the people are striking, so our appointment was canceled. Now we have to reschedule, which will be a nightmare of balancing everyone else's schedules. I have also planned all the places I was going to travel to for the rest of the semester, but luckily I haven't bought the tickets yet. I was planning on doing that today. So now I have to give up one of the countries I was going to travel to. Italy is crazy. I can't believe how many people jump ship when they hear of a strike. So far, all of public transportation is striking, ferries, Trenitalia (the main train system), and Alitalia (national airways of Italy). Apparently Italy's largest trade union confederation CGIL has called an eight-hour general strike and planned a large demonstration in Rome as well as smaller ones in other cities, as part of a campaign against a labour law reform aimed at simplifying the interruption of employment relations. Good thing I didn't have plans to travel on Friday! A lot of study abroad students are screwed! I guess I will stay in Rome and go to the API event. Sadly, I had class today. I went to Finance and sat through it. Then I went to Art History and we went to the Corsiana Library. It was really pretty, but photos are not allowed. Usually in Art History we study Western European manuscripts, but we were studying Arabic manuscripts this time. The Corsiana library is one of the few libraries in Italy with Arabic manuscripts. We studied one from Morocco and one from Persia. They were both pretty, but very different than European manuscripts.
Then I went back to the apartment to get my stuff for class. We are not allowed to bring bags into the libraries, because they think we will steal their stuff. The maintenance guy from Your Place in Rome was back. They were replacing our sink. I grabbed my stuff and went to Tiber Campus for lunch. Then I went to the library at Guarini to read the textbook for my International Business class. While I was reading, I remembered that I hadn't finished the review for Microeconomics. I then remembered that it was on my bed at my apartment. So I had to go back to my apartment, get my review, and then come back to Guarini. Then I had International Business, and Marketing. In Marketing we just watched 2 more group presentations. Then I went to Microeconomics and we reviewed for the test on Thursday. I didn't have class today, so I laid in bed all day recovering from my family's visit. I worked on narrowing the list of graduate schools to apply to. I now have my top 11 schools chosen. I also had to run to the Guarini Campus to read Ch. 9 for Art History, and summarize it. Usually in Art History we have an 8-minute essay, but tomorrow we have a field trip to the Corsiana library. Then I went back to my apartment and discovered that my roommate had bought me some Lindt chocolate.
While I was relaxing, the maintenance guy from Your Place in Rome came by. He replaced our blankets for our bed with actual comforters. Olivia and I got an ugly mustard yellow comforter. It is also not very comfortable. It has feathers in it, and they keep poking me. We had to get up at 6:30 this morning. Mom and I woke up earlier, so we carried their leftover food to my apartment and then returned. When we got to the apartment we realized that we had forgotten the cold food in the fridge, so I cleaned out my backpack and took it back with us. We were trying to be quiet so we wouldn't wake up my roommates. We got back to the apartment and woke up Kendall and Aunt Carolyn. They got ready, and we did a last minute run through the apartment. I texted the cab company the address, and they sent a cab really quick. By the time we got downstairs, he was waiting on us. They got their things loaded and then left. I walked back to my apartment all by myself. I will really miss them, but I am ready for some peace and quiet. When I got back to the apartment, Olivia was there. She was awake and we started talking about our families' visit. She told me about her Mom's adventures here, and I told her about my family's travels. We talked for several hours. In the course of talking I told her that I had never posted a picture of her on my blog, so now she is upset with me. She threatened not to talk to me, but she wanted to hear about my family, so that didn't last long. She is also very disappointed that she didn't get to meet my family while they were here. Here is a picture of Olivia, my awesome roommate. All in all, I have had a very relaxing day. I have laid in bed all day, not moving except to get food. I researched grad school some, and narrowed down my choices to 11 schools. I will have to narrow it down further, but I will save that for later. Now I am going to start working on a travel book of all of the pictures for Mom, Aunt Carolyn, and Kendall. Maybe tomorrow I will start working on all of the homework I haven't done while they were here.
Olivia said she would kill for Thai food, so I looked up a Thai restaurant and we went for dinner. The place is called Kuriya, and it was very good. It was pricey, but better than Ci Lin. It was also dead, we were the only people there. Olivia said that every time she walks by, she has never seen anyone there. We had a good time, and then returned to the apartment. We were talking about her traveling, and I told her about the Tripomatic app. This is one of my favorite apps, because it shows you where the attractions are and maps it out for you. Apparently I have neglected to tell Olivia about it. I have recommended it to other people, but not her. Oops! So now she is upset at me again. I just can't win today. I really need to stop talking. We got to sleep in till 9 a.m. this morning. Then we started getting ready for our day. Mom and Aunt Carolyn were going to go to Pompeii to tour the ruins. Kendall and I were going to go to Capri to see the Blue Grotto. We agreed to meet up at the train station at 2 p.m. to go back to Rome. Our hostel gave us a complimentary breakfast, so we all had breakfast before we left. Then we went our separate ways. Mom and Aunt Carolyn started their journey, and Kendall and I went back to our room to finish packing. We finished a little after 10, and checked out. We were able to store our bags at the hostel while we went to Capri. The lady at reception showed us how to get to the harbor. We got there and bought a ticket to Capri. The guy pointed where to go but we got a little lost. Luckily we were able to find our way and made it to the boat in time. We were toward the back of the line, so we didn't think we would be able to get a window seat, but I was able to find on. The boat took off, and the gentle rocking put most people to sleep. I stayed awake but Kendall took a nap. The boat ride lasted about 40 minutes. The boat didn't leave until 11:10, so I new we wouldn't have enough time to make it to the train station by 2. I texted Mom and asked if we could meet later. She agreed because she and Aunt Carolyn were lost. I later got a text saying that they were taking a train back to Rome. When we got to Capri we walked down the docks to buy tickets for a tour of the island. There were 2 tours, the Yellow Line and the Blue Line. The Blue Line only takes people to the Blue Grotto and it is an hour long, while the Yellow Line gives everyone a tour around the island and the Blue Grotto, for 2 hours. We decided to take the Yellow Line. I told Kendall that we need to get on the right side of the boat, because when I had my boat tour I made the mistake of sitting on the left side. We had turn awkwardly on the boat, but at least we didn't get any people in our pictures. We sat next to a couple from West Virginia, and they were very nice.
After the Blue Grotto we went back to the docks. Kendall and I bought some gelato, and then bought our tickets back to Naples. We got on the ferry, but this time we didn't have a window seat. Kendall slept on the way back as well. When we got to Naples we went back to the hostel and picked up our bags. We asked the lady at reception where we could buy some nice leather boots. For Kendall's birthday I was going to buy her some boots, but she had a limit of $25. I told Mom and we agreed to go in together, so Kendall's budget was $125. I was going to buy them before she came, but I wanted to make sure they fit first.
The shopping street was on our way to the train station, so we just walked down it. At first, there were very few shops, but then more came. We were able to find a shoe shop quickly. Kendall found a really cute pair and tried them on. They fit and since they are leather they stretch. The ladies at the store were very nice, one spoke a little English and the other spoke none. We were able to communicate through my basic Italian and a lot of hand gestures. Kendall got lucky and the boots were 50 cents under budget. I paid for them, and Mom paid me back. We finished walking to the train station and bought a ticket for Naples. There were no tickets in Economy, so we had to buy 2nd class. It cost 7 euros more. At first we couldn't find the platform number, but we stumbled onto it while buy Dad a souvenir. We found our seats and took the train to Termini. When we got to Termini we got on the H bus. By this time it was 8 p.m., so it was dark outside. The bus was crowded and we were pressed against the window. I watched for our stop, but the bus went a different route. It was very strange. We were on the H bus, but it wasn't H bus route. I told Kendall, and we just decided to get off. We walked towards the river, because I could recognize things there so we could get home. We were taking a break when I remembered that I have the international plan which includes 3G, which means I have Maps. I looked it up, and realized that we were not far from the apartment but we were going the wrong way, so we had to backtrack. We finally made it to the apartment safely. Mom had made tuna fish sandwiches, so we had that for dinner. We found out about Aunt Carolyn and Mom's day. Somehow they missed the entrance to the metro station and just kept walking. They walked on the same road for 2 hours, when it should have taken them only 10 minutes. They kept asking for directions, but few people spoke English. Finally, they were able to wave down a cab and he took them to the train station. It only cost them 5 euros, so they were close but walking around in circles. Since they had been walking for a long time, they decided not to go to Pompeii and just returned to Rome. I felt really bad! I should have lead them to the metro station before going to Capri. While in Rome, they were able to finish souvenir shopping and packing. We all got up around 6 a.m. to get ready to go to Naples today. Mom was up all night, because her face was burning. Her face was all red. We think that she had an allergic reaction to the detergent on the sheets. I felt really bad for her, because she didn't feel well at all. We got ready and went to the bus station. From there we went to Termini and bought the tickets. When we were buying the tickets, a message popped up saying that there was a delay of 5'. I didn't know if that was a delay of 5 minutes or 5 hours. We were discussing it when a lady came up and helped us. I thought she might be one of the Indians looking for change. She helped us and then walked off, so I couldn't tip her. We got to the platform okay. While we were waiting for the train I saw the McDonalds across the isle. I was going to run over there to get some food because I hadn't had breakfast when the train showed up. I decided to forgo the food in favor of getting on the train. We picked an empty seat, and put all of our stuff in an overhead bin. We were just waiting for the train to get going. While we were waiting, an Australian sounding lady came up and said that we were in her seat. She showed us on our ticket where the assigned seating is located. We got up and ran down the train to the 7th car. We found our seats and got settled in. We had 3 seats of a 4 seat section. Kendall sat in another section. After the train started moving, the guy in our section got up and moved to another section. Mom and Aunt Carolyn caught a nap on the train. It was about 1 hour and 10 minutes. When we arrived at the train station, we got off and went looking for the metro. The hostel instructions said to go outside and get on the metro. The problem was that there was a lot of construction outside, so it took us awhile to find the metro station. Mom found a pharmacy, and went in looking for some allergy medication. She tried to pay with her debit card, but their card machine was broken. We left and got on the metro. We had some issues finding where to get on the correct train, but we did eventually find it. We got on and got off 1 stop later. Then we just had to walk up the street to the hostel. The hostel was located on the 5-7 floors of a random building. We tried to get on the elevator, but it charged us in cents. I thought we had to pay 50 cents in 5-cent coins. It took us awhile, but we finally dug out enough change. Kendall thought we were taking too long, so she went up the stairs. When we got to the top, Kendall was waiting on us. We went in to the reception area, and the lady at the desk was really nice. She welcomed us in and gave us our keys. Mom and Aunt Carolyn just wanted a nap, so she escorted us to our room. She told us to come talk to her before we left so she can show us some places to see. We got settled in our room, and Kendall and I took a 10-minute break. We decided to go to Mount Vesuvius, and then swing back to the hostel and pick up Mom and Aunt Carolyn to go to Capri. We went to the reception, and the lady told us how to get to Mount Vesuvius. She told us that we wouldn't have enough time to go see Capri, but that we should go on to Pompeii. We went back to the room and told Mom. Then we left. We walked to the metro station, and took the metro to the train station. At the train station we followed the signs pointing us to the Circumvesuviana Railway. We bought our tickets and started walking toward the train. When we got to the place where we validate our tickets, one of the gates was open and everyone was going through, so we just followed the crowd. When we got to the platform, our train was already there so we got on. It was crowded and there were no seats available, so we stood by the door. Suddenly another train pulled up on the platform next to ours and there was an announcement on the intercom in Italian. Everyone jumped out of their seats and started racing for the other train. We had no idea what was going on so we followed them. We got our own seats. The train we were on was broken, so they had sent another train. The train started moving and I tracked our route. The lady at the hostel said to get off at Pompeii Scavi, and catch a bus from there to Mount Vesuvius. When I had researched getting to Mount Vesuvius from Naples, the instructions said to get off at Ercolano Scavi. The map that we got at the train station said the same thing. We decided to chance it and get off. When we walked out of the Ercolano station, there was a lady there pointing to a building and saying they take people to the volcano. We went in and bought our tickets. The guy at the desk originally told us that the bus left at 2, but then later he came out and said 1:30. When it hit 1:30 p.m., the bus still wasn't there. Two of the people waiting left because they thought the guy was lying to them. At 1:45, the "bus" came. It was really an 8-seater van. The problem was that there were 9 of us. So Kendall and I were smushed in the back seat with another couple. There were 4 of us in a seat made for 3, so I was on the edge of my seat the whole ride up. Luckily it only took about 30 minutes to get to the top. At the top, a van was trying to back down the mountain. It was scary because it was in front of us, so our driver had to back up as well. Our driver kept honking and cussing the guy out. However, we finally made it to the top safely. The driver got our tickets, gave us a 90 minute time limit, and we started our treck up. Kendall was moving way too fast. She kept wanting to go faster, while I was dragging my feet. Where are Mom and Aunt Carolyn when you need them? They could have slowed us down enough that I wouldn't have to gasp my way up the mountain. On the treck we met some nice people from Indiana. They were funny. Kendall made a comment about burning off the burger she ate for lunch, and the guy said that we was burning off his whole week's food. Up ahead we could see a stop station, and they thought it was the top of the volcano. They were making comments about seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. It wasn't. It was just the first station. We took a little break and then continued on around the crater. The good news is that it was relatively flat from that point on. The bad news was that we were in a cloud, so we couldn't see any of the beautiful scenery. That was disappointing. We finally got to the end of the line and took a short break. Kendall bought a rosary, thinking that it cost 5 euros. It cost 15. She also bought a necklace, and then we headed down the volcano. Going down is way easier than going up. We got to the bottom with plenty of time. Our group was all down there, so the driver took us back early. Kendall and I were smushed in the back seat again, but this time with 2 guys in our group. We got to the bottom safely and went back to the train station. Everyone else in our group had to buy a ticket, but Kendall and I used the ticket we had bought previously. We waited about 10 minutes and caught the train to Pompeii. When we got to Pompeii, we had no idea where to go. We asked for directions and the guy pointed right. So we started walking and the entrance to Pompeii was right around the corner. We paid the entrance fee and then started wandering around. We had no map, so we just took whichever path looked good. After a while I started recognizing some of the surroundings from my tour. I showed Kendall the sights that I remembered. We visited the Red Light district, some nice fountains, the old baths, and the market places. Kendall's battery on her phone ran out about halfway through, but luckily we still had my battery. I liked this trip to Pompeii a lot better than my last one. With API our tour was so rushed that we didn't get to see anything. Kendall and I walked around Pompeii for about 2 hours. We only left then because it was getting dark outside, and the sight was closing.
I had class today, so I had to get up early. I had to take a shower and read my Art History textbook. While I was looking at the 8-minute question for the day, I realized that I was supposed to have turned in my topic for my manuscript essay on Tuesday. I hadn't even looked for which manuscript I was going to write about. I read the assigned chapter and took notes on it for the essay. Then I looked for a manuscript. I found one that I wanted to write about. It is "The Hours of Queen Elizabeth." The illustrations are beautiful. It was once the book of Queen Elizabeth of York, consort to Henry VII. It is also rumored to have belonged to Mary, Queen of Scots. I emailed my selection to my teacher and then went to school. I had to return the Art History textbook to the library before my Finance class. I sat through Finance, and then went to my Art History class. At the end of class I talked to my professor about submitting it late, and she told me that no one in the class had submitted theirs yet. In other words, I am good.
We got off the bus and Mom, Kendall, and Aunt Carolyn bought another day ticket. I had already finished the transaction in ordering and paying for the train ticket at Termini and was just waiting for the tickets to print when one of the Indians came to "help" me. They "help" tourist in exchange for money. The ticket system is self explanatory and I don't need any help. All he did was hold open the slot while I took out the printed ticket. Then he expected me to pay him for his "help," which I didn't. If I don't have a problem, I don't need any help and I not going to pay for help that I don't need. We went over towards to subway to the Spanish Steps, which is close to Via del Corso. On the way there was a pillar with a mirror on it. Kendall was busy admiring herself in the mirror, and walked into the edge of the pillar.
While we were at the Spanish Steps, I gave Aunt Carolyn detailed directions on how to get back to the apartment. Mom and Kendall have no sense of direction, so Aunt Carolyn was the best bet to get them back. Then I took them to Via del Corso and left to get back to my class. I got back at around 2 p.m., so I had an hour before my class started. I went back to my apartment to pick up my stuff, and I remembered to grab the box of Twinkies for Microeconomics. Then I went to the school and printed the review for Microeconomics and some information for our trip to Naples tomorrow. The Microeconomics review was really long. I printed 2 to a page and it was still 11 pages for the first chapter, and there were 4 chapters. I sent them to the printer, but it wouldn't print. So I sent them to another printer, and they started to print. While I was there researching how to get to Pompeii, Mt. Vesuvius, and Capri a guy came and fixed the printer. So all the pages that I had accidentally printed, started to print. So now I have 2 copies of my review. I usually wouldn't mind having 2 copies, but we only get to print so many free pages at John Cabot. Once we hit the limit we have to start paying .07 euro cents per page, which I don't want to do. Then I went to International Business. He gave us back our case study, and I got another B on it. No matter what I do I can't seem to make an A on that. The last case study I also got a B and I started working on it a week in advance. This case study I did the day before, and I still got a B. I was apparently missing an example in one question to explain something, and wasn't descriptive enough in another question, but that is really hard to do when you have a word limit. I talked to other people in the class and they also got Bs.
After International Business I went to Marketing. We had one group presentation, and I thought they did really well. Of course, I wasn't really paying attention because I was working on my Microeconomics Review. The first chapter alone had over 100 questions to review. Luckily, we only had one presentation today. We also got back our grades on the mid-term, and I got a 87. Not bad, but not great. I should be able to bring it up on the final. We only had one presentation today, so we got to leave early. So I continued working on my review. I was able to finish 2 chapters, so I knew which questions to ask about. I went to Microeconomics, and sat through the lecture. I tried to show the teacher that I had brought Twinkies at the beginning of class, but he was deep in his laptop and didn't here me. So I waited. After the lecture, he let us ask questions about the test from the review. When I asked my question, I held up the box of Twinkies. He got really excited because he had never seen them before, they don't sell Twinkies in Italy. He took the box and talked about how the whole class would eat them later. I had actually intended to give him 1 and keep the other 9 for myself, but I couldn't say that after his announcement. He answered my review questions, and then he gave out the Twinkies. There were 10 Twinkies and 19 people. So everyone split a Twinkie, and the professor took the whole one. A lot of people thanked me for sharing. Since it might have been the first time for some of them to eat them, I guess it was okay that they ate my food. I went back to my apartment and packed an overnight bag for the Amalfi Coast. I also grabbed all of the souvenirs that I had collected so far. Mom is going to take them home for me, so I can collect more. Then I lugged all the stuff to their apartment. They did not have as nice a day as me. They only went to a few shops and got really lost on the way back because they missed their bus stop. They didn't know exactly where it was, so they didn't hit the Request Stop button. If no one hits the button and no one is at the stop, the bus driver will keep going. So they wondered around Rome, lost. They didn't know where their apartment was because they were using the new map. They also didn't have the address, so they couldn't ask for directions. Somehow they stumbled onto to it. By that time they were too tired to go to the grocery store, so they just had left-overs. I looked up train tickets from Rome to Naples (Napoli in Italian). There was a train leaving at 7:30 a.m. and one at 8:45 a.m. I wanted to be on the 7:30 train, but no one liked my idea. We decided to shoot for the 7:30 train, but be prepared to accept the 8:45 train. I had today off of school, so more time to spend with my family. I had slept at my apartment the previous night because Kendall wanted to go out with my roommates. She came back at about 2 a.m. She woke me up long enough to tell me that Mike and Janelle were walking her back to her apartment. She also took the keys. Right after she left I fell back asleep. When I woke up later, I texted Mom to let her know I was awake and to find out when to come over. I wanted to make sure someone was awake before I headed over because I didn't have any keys. She texted me asking to meet at the grocery store. We went there and shopped for breakfast and dinner. Tonight for dinner we are going to make the Italian version of tuna helper. I have made it before and it is good. Then we headed back to the apartment. Of course everyone else was still asleep. We made breakfast again, eggs and potatoes. We had spices this time so it wasn't bland. After breakfast Mom woke up Aunt Carolyn and Kendall. I knew the Pope does a public blessing at noon, but I didn't know that it started at 10:30 a.m., and you had to get there at 8 a.m. to get a spot. In other words, we missed the Pope. We finally left around 12:30. On the way to the bus station, Mom, Aunt Carolyn, and Kendall were discussing ways to kill me for the insurance money. If I die in Rome, Kendall gets $100,000, and Mom also has death insurance on me. I told them that the Italian justice system is different from the American one, and they didn't want to be Amanda Knox.
We arrived at Piazza Venecia, and went to the bus station. I couldn't find a bus heading to Termini directly. I saw a bus that should have circled back to Termini, so we got on it. It led us outside the city to some area. By this time we were the last people on the bus, and the bus driver was leaving. It would have eventually circled back to Termini, in a couple of hours and our bus ticket would have expired by that time. Aunt Carolyn asked the bus driver and he said to take the metro (subway) to Termini. Then we couldn't find the subway station. Mom and Kendall just wanted to hop on another bus and see where it took us. They hopped on and Aunt Carolyn asked the bus driver how to get to Vatican City. He didn't really speak English and had no idea what she was asking. I clarified by asking how to get to Termini. He pointed toward the subway and we went that way. We bought each bought a day ticket for 6 euros a piece. This allowed us to hop on and hop off any form of public transportation. We took the metro all the way to Vatican City.
We rested a while. While Kendall and Aunt Carolyn slept, I made dinner. When it was ready, Mom woke them up, but Kendall didn't feel like getting up or she didn't wake up enough to understand Mom. So we ate without her and then Aunt Carolyn woke her up and she joined us. Everyone was a lot less cranky after they had rested/napped a bit. The original plan was for them to travel to Florence tomorrow. However, they would have to get up around 5 a.m. to catch the first train out. That would have them in Florence by 8 a.m., and give them time to explore. The wine tour was from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., which would have them back in Rome around 9 p.m. They didn't really want to do that. Kendall really wanted to do the wine tour, but decided to wait and do it in the Hill Country area. There are a lot of wine tours around New Braunfels or Frederricksburg. Instead, they decided to stay in Rome and go shopping. I have class tomorrow, so I can't go. After all of that was decided, I had to run to the Guarini Campus to copy Ch.8 of my Art History textbook. Everyday in Art History we have a 8-minute essay, which counts as a portion of our mid-term and final grade. In order to do the essay, I have to read the chapter first. There is no BS these essays. So I walked all the way over to the Guarini Campus in the dark. When I got there, the lady said I could check it out, I just had to return it by 9:30 a.m. the next morning. So I checked it out, walked back to my apartment, and went to bed. My family is wearing me out.
I had to stop at my apartment to get some things for school, so I sent Mom and Kendall on ahead to go to their apartment. Then I went to school for my International Business class. When I got to class, I rushed through reading the case study and did the assignment. Then I went to my Marketing class. I had a presentation over United Airlines Economy class. Our group presented first. I don't think our presentation was that great. I was the last one to present in my group, so I was waiting my turn. Then I noticed that no on was speaking and realized it was my turn, so I jumped in to present. I forgot that it was my turn. Oops! After Marketing I sat through my Microeconomics class. When I got there I realized that I had forgotten my box of Twinkies. Since my professor has never had a Twinkie, I was going to give him one. I thought about going back to my apartment, but I decided to wait for Thursday. It was good that I didn't skip class because I found out that next week we have a test, so the review days are Thursday and next Tuesday.
Then I went to my family's apartment and we, meaning me, cooked dinner. I made my lemon sauté chicken. As a side we had left-over pasta from Sunday's lunch. Everyone liked it, but it was a little too lemony. For dessert we had gelato. Then Kendall and I went back to my apartment. Kendall wanted to go out dancing with my roommates. I had forgotten that Janelle's birthday is tomorrow. I introduced them and stayed awake until they left around 10:30 p.m. Then I went to bed.
We found some stairs that people were heading down and thought that it might be a cut through. Kendall and I went down it first and looked around. It wasn't a cut through. However, Carcere Mamertino was there. This was the prison where St. Peter was imprisoned in before he was killed. Another famous person that was killed there was Vercingetorix. Kendall thought that Aunt Carolyn would like it, so we went back up the stairs to tell them about the tour. They thought it sounded interesting, so we bought tickets. The tour was really weird, not what we expected. It talked more about water than it did St. Peter. It went on and on about how water gives life, but prisoners were also drowned in it, so it killed people. It was definitely different. After we left we finally found a cut through to the street that the Colosseum was on.
I met with my marketing group. It took about an hour, and everything still wasn't completed when I left. Since the presentation is tomorrow, I hope everything gets done. After the meeting was over I hurried back to my apartment to get some spices we would need for dinner tonight. I hurried as fast as I could and packed everything into my backpack. When I got to my family's apartment, Mom gave me a slice of pizza. I was upset because I had stopped to bring everything over. The pizza had sun-dried tomatoes on it and it was very strong. Aunt Carolyn and I didn't like it, so we peeled the tomatoes off. I was really pouty because they had ruined my schedule. I had spent days working on that schedule, and they weren't following it. Mom sucked up to me by making gelato. I forgave them and then went back to my apartment. I have to get up early tomorrow for class.
My family comes today! Yippee! I got up early so I could put the itinerary on a map. I wanted to print it at my school, but they are closed on the weekend or have weird hours. So I just looked up all of the addresses and marked them on a free paper map I have. Then I left for the airport. I took the H bus, and for once it wasn't crowded. I went to Termini Station and walked to the Terravision buses. I tried to buy a ticket to the Fiumicino Airport, but they said their next bus doesn't leave until 10:35. My family arrives at 9:45. So I went back in to Termini and looked at the train times to get to the Fiumicino. There was a train leaving in 30 minutes, so I went and bought a ticket for that train. I had to pay for first class and it cost 14 euros. The problem was that I didn't know where first class seating on the train was, so I sat in coach. I also had no idea where the train got off, or if there were any stops, so I decided to just follow the crowd. The only stop on the train is the Fiumicino Airport, so everyone got off at the same time. Then I had no idea where the Arrivals section was. Everyone was heading towards the Departures Terminal. I tried looking at an Arrivals board, but it was broken. So I just started wondering around, hoping that I could find something. All I could find were Departures terminals. Since I couldn't find it on the street I was on, I decided to cross the street to the other side and look there. The issue was that the Departures terminals was on a bridge above the street, so I had to find stairs to go down to the main street level. I finally found the stairs, and it lead me to the Arrivals terminal. So I walked down the terminal, and found an Arrivals board that was working. Then I sat and waited for Mom, Aunt Carolyn, and Kendall to arrive. Mom texted me when they got to baggage, so I went and waited by the doors they were supposed to come out. And waited, and waited some more, for about 10 minutes before they finally arrived. Since I had spent so much time wondering around, I knew where to lead them to get a bus to Rome. We got a bus ticket, and then wondered around trying to find a bus station. I had to ask for directions. And then we waited for the bus, it was late. Kendall and I went on early to save us all of us seats. I had Mom's carryon, but the bus driver said I couldn't take it on the bus. So I gave it to Kendall, and she tossed it to Mom. It landed with a clunk. Apparently Mom's iPad was in there. Oops! We reserved the whole back role. The bus started going, and Kendall was looking out the window asking me about the sights. At one point the bus driver slammed on his brakes and everyone shot forward. Mom, Kendall, and I slammed into the seat in front of us. Aunt Carolyn didn't have a seat in front of her, so she shot forward into the aisle. A taxi in front of the bus had slammed on its breaks to pull over and talk to some people. Our bus almost hit him. We finally made it to Termini Station safely. My original plan was to walk to the bus station, and taken the bus to my apartment. Mom and Aunt Carolyn wanted to take a taxi, so we got in a taxi. The guy was nice, but I think he is operating an illegal taxi. I forgot to check to make sure it was legal. He didn't take us the long way to my apartment, that I was sure of. Mom didn't have the address to their apartment, so I gave him my address. When we first got in and got settled, the taxi wouldn't start. The taxi driver had to push it into the street and then jump in. Mom, for one, didn't appreciate his driving skills. Roman driving is not as safe as U.S. driving. It is pretty much a free for all, whoever gets their first has the right of way. The taxi driver went in tram lines, went the opposite way on one-ways, and drove fast. Mom was petrified the whole way, just staring blankly straight ahead. But we got to my apartment safely. Then we had to walk from my apartment to their apartment. They didn't appreciate it. It is only 6 blocks, slightly up hill, and on cobblestones. They did not like carrying their 50 pound suitcases all that way. Then we got slightly lost, so I went off on my own and found the apartment. We got everyone inside, and up into the apartment. One of the owners was there, but he didn't speak English so he had a friend with him that did. They showed us around the apartment, took their money, and left. It is a really nice apartment. There is a door leading to the roof, and it has a view of all of Rome.
Most of the sights were closing, so I took them to Hadrian's Temple. All you can see are pillars, and you can't go inside anyways. We took some pictures, and then I led them back to the apartment. Mom and Aunt Carolyn did not like all of the walking we were doing. They are getting old, so their feet and backs were hurting while Kendall and I were ready to see more sights. They were ready to hop in a taxi back to the apartment, even though it was only a 30-40 minute walk. On the way, I showed them the Victor Emmanule monument at night. We finally made it to my apartment, and I took them to the gelato shop. While they ate gelato I went up to pack an overnight bag. Then we walked back to their apartment, talked for a while and went to bed. My family is coming tomorrow! I can't wait! But today I had to work on all the homework I am not going to be able to do while they are here. I finished my part of my group project. I also started researching graduate schools. I looked up the top graduate schools in Texas, Oklahoma, and the world. So now I just have to go through about 100 schools and start eliminating them. My dilemma is the price. To attend UT Austin for a year costs about $34,000, and I have to attend for 2 years, for a total of $68,000. If I get my degree abroad, it may cost $34,000 a year, but you finish their Masters program in 1 year, so I would actually save money. So many decisions to make.
I finally finished my family's itinerary today. They had better hit the ground running so they can see all of the sights I have planned for them. It took me all day to plan it. I also finally met my cousin on my dad's side. She is my Dad's mom's cousin's stepdaughter's daughter. I have no idea what that makes her in relation to me, but we will just go with cousin. We met at the Guarini campus at 7 p.m. and went to a restaurant that was close. When we got there they told us they didn't open until 7:30, so went ahead and sat down and started talking. She is really nice. She is a degree seeker at John Cabot, which means she will be there for 4 more years. She is majoring in Art History, and her advisor is my Art History teacher. She was able to pay for most of her expenses (tuition & fees) with scholarships from John Cabot. I should have done that, maybe in graduate school...We ended up talking for about 2.5 hours while we ate dinner. By the time it hit 9:30, I kept yawning because my bedtime is at 10, so we left.
My morning started out like the typical school day. I had to get up early for Finance, as usual. The cool thing about today is that for my Art History class we got to go to the Biblioteca Angelica. We met in the lobby at the school, and our teacher led us to the library. It is the second oldest public library in Europe. It was really cool. We had to be very quiet when we walked in, because it is a research library. The librarian met us at the front and let us to a little classroom underground. She brought out 2 manuscripts and a catalog book, and we got to study the manuscript. I wasn't allowed to take pictures, so I downloaded this one off the Internet. On the way to the library, I talked with one of the other students in the class, Lindsey. She is from Chicago and is seeking a degree in English at John Cabot. You can get that degree anywhere, so I asked why she chose John Cabot instead of a college in the U.S. She gave me the short version. In high school, she was in an accident and was paralyzed for a year. All she could do was lay in bed and think. The doctors didn't think she would ever walk again, but she did. She thought a lot, and when she could finally walk she wanted to travel and not be stuck in one place. That is why she traveled to Italy and attends John Cabot. Last summer she got an internship in Thailand and stayed there for several months. Her dream job is is working at National Geographic, because she wants to be a writer and travel. Only Professor Yawn was allowed to handle the manuscript, but just seeing it in person is very rare. Usually students don't get to see a manuscript until they are in doctorate level classes. The manuscript we were studying was an Italian Giant Bible. From identifiers like the handwriting (Caroline minuscule) and the layout of the pages (humanist), we were able to date the manuscript to the 11th century, that is in the 1000s. I felt like Nancy Drew, looking for clues to figure out the date of the manuscript. The manuscript we were studying was about 1000 years old! Still, it was in incredible shape. You can still read the words, and see the pictures. The detail in the illustrations are amazing, even after 1,000 years!
My Marketing mid-term didn't take long, so I had about 45 minutes of free time after class. Then I went to Microeconomics. Last class there was a big argument about the area of a triangle, and I found out that the guy had won. The area of a triangle is (Base x Height) / 2. After class I went to the store and bought some tuna fish and eggs to make a tuna fish sandwich. Now I can enjoy my weekend!
I got to sleep in today because I had no classes. I figured out my schedule for next semester at TWU, and took my time. At 2:30 pm, I finally got to meet with my Marketing group. Our project is due Tuesday, so we have less than a week to complete it. I showed up early, everyone else showed up late, so I had to wait on them for a little while. Then we found an emptily classroom and went in there to work. There are 5 tasks that needed to get done for the project, so we divided them up. I have to research the Positioning of United Airlines Economy class. Then the group spent 2 hours researching their parts. We have a Google doc for powerpoint slides, so we just added our slides to there. I am almost done with my part, I just have a little bit more to do and I am done. After the group meeting I went to the library to study for Marketing by reading the textbook. It is a huge textbook! I ended up just skimming the pages. Then I went back to the apartment to cook dinner. I made Pasta & Potato Neapolitano. It is just pasta, with potatoes, onion, and cherry tomatoes. It is not bad. I should have cooked the potatoes first, because they weren't cooked all the way through. My pan wasn't big enough for all of the ingredients and they kept going over the sides. After I ate I had to prepare for my projects due tomorrow. I had a short essay due for Art History, which I completed. I also completed most of my project that is due for International Business today, all I have left to do is edit it. Then I went to bed.
I had to get up early to work on the school work that I had delayed while I was in Bratislava. I was able to finish most of it, and make it to class. Then I had a full day of classes. I was right, I failed my Finance test. It's a good thing that I can drop one of the test grades. I have never scored so low on a test. I talked to other API students in the class, and I made the highest grade, which is really bad. I am going to have to study a lot for the next 2 tests.
In Marketing, we reviewed for the Mid-term next Thursday. Oh joy! Then I went to Microeconomics. This class was the highlight of my day. We were talking about surplus in the Demand and Supply curve as related to taxes. The way to calculate this is by taking the area of a triangle. The professor just made up numbers, and the numbers didn't work. This confused some people in the class, so then 2 people had a big debate over how to calculate the area of a triangle. They took the professor's dry erase marker, and started marking on the board, while arguing with each other on the proper way to calculate it. The whole issue was whether or not to divide by 2. The formula to calculate the area of a triangle is base times height divided by 2. The girl did not believe this, and the example the professor chose supported her conclusion. They were still arguing about this when class ended and I left. It was really amusing to watch. |
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June 2022
AuthorThese are details from my adventures around the world. |