siena, san gimignano, pisa

best trip so far. a weekend in the medieval part of italy, immersed in the countryside, the simple life, the gorgeous views, and the fun times with people from all over the world. it was a trip organised by Erasmus Student Network (ESN) milano and everyone on it had only been in italy for as long as i have. the 3 little cities we visited were so quiet, so pretty, so friendly, i felt like i was in a Tolkien story the entire time.
it started out pretty bad with me going to the bus stop at 6 am and waiting in the rain after returning from the club at 5:30am. but all the bad start was worth the amazing time i had there. best part of the trip was a wine tasting session in san gimignano at a traditional facility that bottles their own wine. the bread, the olive oil, the cheese and of course the wine were extraordinary. i actually know now how good wine tastes like.


the last part of the trip was in pisa, where i was so eager to go and take a picture with the leaning tower. i have never seen a place where people do funnier poses than in front of this special tower which by the way you have to book in order to climb up.




now i understand why everyone i told i was going to milan told me that i would like the rest of italy much better. it was really sad going back to the city and school after such a fun weekend. however, ESN is having a t-shirt competition for all erasmus students and my submissions are totally going to win. the price the next trip for free. i can't wait for the results.
i started out on this trip all by myself, like coming to italy was too, but by the end i was really good friends with 15 people in the bus and we did everything together. i met 4 americans form new york, and they told me there is 50 people from their school here (why is there not from mine?), 2 canadians, 1 german, 1 french, 1 israeli, 3 turks, and some italians. we have already agreed to 3 different events to go together to in milan. i am really excited about taking advantage of all these friendships and visiting all their countries, too. i think it is the most awesome thing to have connections throughout the world and right now i feel like i have a lot.

random

i have been traveling so much lately. out of all the people that decided to come to europe from iit i thought i would be the one traveling the less but not true at all. so far i have been to athens, venice, roma, and istanbul. this weekend im going to see 3 more italian cities on a quick tour, pisa, siena, and san gimignano. cant wait to take a picture holding up the leaning tower. the trip that i want to do the most though, i can not do.

i finally realize how easy the english language is and also how unnecessarily complicated other languages, like italian, are. there is no reason for more than 8 tenses or silly phonetic changes to words. in other words, i don't want to learn italian. speaking english with all the foreigners here is making me forget my english. if you hear wrong english for a long time, can you think it is right afterwards?

also i have this one huge complaint about albania not being recognized as an important country in europe. i was the only one that had to get a visa to get in turkey. not even the brasilians do! brasil is really far away damnit. it seems like a really trivial thing to mention but i am always last in all the lines, and i always have to wait the most, and they always have doubts and check my passport like 300 times. if i am to travel so much, i need at least to be allowed to do so. i really can't wait to get my american passport. its like my ticket to traveling freedom, more than anything else.

it's freaking cold out.

what exists in europe

things i knew:

-coca cola
-mc donalds
-cosco

things i didn't know

-remax (the real estate company!!)
-UPS (isn't this like totally american?)
-foot locker (omg it is everywhere!)
-hard rock cafe!!
-the body shop
-burger king (wow!!!)
-halloween, big time drinking involved (so americanized)
-blockbuster???!!!!

i have a feeling there is more to be added to this list.