Big Adventure

So today, I went on a mission with two of my roommates. The mission: find bagels and cheesecake.

I saw an ad for a place called California Bakery. It was promoting a new addition to the menu: Philadelphia cream cheese. Needless to say...I was in the mood for a little taste of America. So, we set off.

We took the bus from our house to the metro (a normal, daily activity). Then, we got off the at the metro stop that happens to be where the US Consulate is, so I know it quite well... We had to find another bus, so I asked the Consulate police. I am pretty sure they remembered me. We finally found the bus stop, and waited (and took some pictures).

We got to the Bakery and literally "oooh"-ed and "ahh"-ed. Among various other items, we saw pancakes, chocolate pie, double chocolate cake, banana chocolate cake, chocolate pear pie, cheery pie, etc... There were also quiches, sandwiches and hamburgers. Even though the goal of this trip was bagels, none of us got bagels... There was a delicious looking sandwich which we all got a piece of, along with some sort of chocolate dessert.

The sandwich had fresh mozzarella, tomatos, eggplant, lettuce, and pesto. It was very, very tastey. I think I ate it too quickly, but it was just so delicious. I also had a piece of chocolate pie, which I must say pailed in comparison to Ukrops chocolate fudge pie. I was a bit disappointed, I have to admit.

So after we had lunch, we decided to try and do a little suovenir shopping. For those of you who do not know, Milano is not a very touristy city. The stereotypical Italian tourist stuff just can not be found here. Makes life a little hard for those of us who cannot afford to travel all over Italy.

Anyways, we headed to the most touristy spot available, the Duomo. There are usually little kiosks selling fake jerseys and Venetian masks and such. I was going to buy some key chains, but...they were 3 Euro a piece (about 5 dollars). I am hoping I can find cheaper else where.

Needless to say, souvenir shopping failed, so we resorted to the next best thing. Shopping for ourselves... I finally splurged and bought a pair of shoes. They happen to be bright yellow and I attract a lot of attention, or I attract more attention than I normally do, but they are totally worth it. I decided that since I missed out on the ticket to America, I could stand to spend a few dollars on a new pair of shoes.

We also decided to play in the sculpture near the Duomo. There are lots of mirrors in there. Makes for great photo opportunities.

In other news, I have one more exam and then I am done for the semester. I have not heard anything new about the internship. Hopefully I will know something in another week or so.

Sunny Days in the Countryside

So yesterday I spent the day in the countryside, about 100 km outside of Milano. I went to my friend's house, the same friend who took us to Sardinia. So I woke up really early, met my friends, and rode through the country. We finally arrived and needless to say, I was once again shocked by the beauty of the house and the landscape. We pulled into a dirt/gravel driveway, came to an iron gate that opened for us, and parked the car in front of a water tower... Yes, they have their own water tower.

The house looked like a mini castle thanks to the castle tower in the front. Part of the house actaully was designed to look like a castle tower. You can climb up to the top and everything. So after the initial shock of the front of the house, we walked to the back. Bigger shock. The house is on top of a hill, and below is farmland. Theres a pool over looking the farm... Ridiculous. Just ridiculous. You can see all the pictures here:

PICTURES

There are also a few videos.

So we sat around waiting for lunch to be prepared, ate, and then Arseniy and I decided to go for a drive.. We took our friend's keys and took one Italian with us, then just drove through the Italian countryside. Yeh. It was awesome. Totally renting a car soon.

Then, after returning, we all put on bathing suits and sat around the pool. The girls got in, but I only made it up to the arms. The water was a bit cold..

So the afternoon was spent laying in the sun, reading, sleeping, etc. Then, dinner. Grilled peppers, steaks, and roasted potatoes followed by homemade almond gelato. Yeh...delicious.

This is us waiting for dinner:

After dinner, we filled the car and headed back to Milano. I finally got back home around 12:40. I was really tired, but it was a great day.

I got to watch the sun set over Italian countryside. Mhmm. My life is grand.

My friend invited us back so I am sure this is not my last trip to the countryside. :D

Sunny Days

So we finally got some sunshine here in Milano. On Friday a few friends and I went to the park and lay in the sun for hours. It was a nice relaxing day.

My friend decided to take some pictures:

See the bug on the blade of grass? Its really out of focus...

You can kind of see the red on my face...

I have a feeling that visits to the park will be a staple event in the next few weeks. Classes are over on Thursday, with my first exam that night. The other two exams are the following week, then I am done.

Interview tomorrow...Will update as soon as I know anything.........

Finally have my wallet back, sort of...

Today, I received my new bank and credit cards. As most of you know already, upon my return from spring break travels, my wallet was stolen. Today, I also went to get a new public transportation card, so its like I have my wallet back, although senza the wallet.

The public transportation system in Milano is extensive and quite efficient, at least most of the time, but sometimes seems a bit faulty. For example, I have a card which I can recharge each month. It costs me 17 Euro for one month, but then I have unlimited rides on all buses, metros and trains within the Milano system. The strange part, however, is that I must carry my receipt as proof that I paid the 17 Euro. My first month here, before I was informed of this information, I threw out my receipt. The next time I rode a train, the transportation police came around to check tickets. I showed my card and he said something in Italian which I did not understand at first. Eventually, I gathered that he was asking to see my receipt. I managed to lie and say it was at home, and the guy was nice enough to let me go without a ticket, but I was lucky. For people who do not have one of these electronic cards, they must buy paper tickets for each time they ride any form of transportation. So for me to go to and come back from school, it technically takes 4 tickets, or 4 Euro. The metro, however, is the only transportation where you have to use a ticket in order to get on (unless you jump over the turn style, which I have seen people do). The trains and buses are basically on an honor system. There is a machine on the bus and at the train station, but a lot of people take the risk and do not use their tickets. Thus, why they have transportation police. I have been taking the risk since I lost my wallet because it was actually cheaper then recharging my card for April again. The monthly recharge on the transportation card goes by the literal month, versus 30 days, so if I had immediately asked for a new card, I would have had to pay 17 Euro for only 2 weeks. Long story short, it was cheaper for me to buy the regular tickets when I needed them instead of recharging a new card. But, now that the first of the month has come, I got my new card (replacement fee of 15 Euro) and charged it (17 Euro) for the month of May. I feel a lot more secure now that I have this card back. Dodging the transportation police is doable, but not exactly easy. These police, however, are what I find faulty about the whole system. It takes a lot of money to pay these guys and it takes very little money to install the ticket machines at the front of the bus and make people get on only in the front.... This is how it works in Turkey. You must get on the bus at the front door and swipe your ticket or pay the fee (some buses have a guy sitting behind a change counter selling the tickets). Why on earth would you pay 1000s of people to patrol the transportation system when you could get rid of them so easily?? I would not have to carry my receipt around either....that would be nice.

Anyways, thats my rant of the day...

One more week of classes here, then 3 exams and my semester is over. Shortest semester EVER.

My interview got rescheduled for Monday due to the fact that tomorrow is Labor Day in Europe, so the Consulate is closed.

No real other news currently. I will try to take some pictures this weekend and post those. Apparently I am going to have lunch with my friend in the 'country' on Saturday. We shall see how that goes. Ciao

Sardegna Pictures

Finally posted the rest of the pictures from Sardegna:

PICTURES

I just added them to the Sardegna album, so you will have to scroll down to find the new ones. Also, don't miss the video of Sam jumping into the ocean. It is the last photo.

Turkey Pictures

PICTURES

There are a lot...Perhaps too many...And you have seen most of the places before.

Finally back in Milan

So after a crazy two weeks full of travel on all kinds of transportation, I am finally back in Milan. It will take ages to describe the past two weeks, so expect a few posts.

So the first trip was to my friend's house in Sardegna. I left Milan on Tuesday, April 7, around 8am. The airport, however, is about an hour bus ride away from Milan. And since transportation here in Milan does not open back up until 6am, it was a bit of a challenge to get there. I went to Sam and Arseniy's house Monday night. We left there around 3am. Walked to a bus stop and waited about half an hour for the bus that runs all night, around the city. It should have taken us directly to Central Station, where the bus to the airport leaves from, but unfortunately...It stopped.. So we get off, having no idea where we are or how to get to Central Station... Fortunately, there was a car riding behind the bus, trying to follow it to Central. The two guys in the car got out and went to ask the bus driver how to get there, and when they came back, we asked for a ride. They graciously agreed to take us and we finally got to Central around 430am. Got on the next bus to the airport, checked in, and waited. Sam and Arseniy's flight left an hour before mine because they went to a different airport on Sardegna. Finally arrived in Sardegna and called my friend to find out how to get to her house. She told me to take a bus, which didnt leave for 45 minutes. Took the bus, got off, waited an hour for the next bus. Got off, waited another hour for the next bus, and finally arrived in Palau, Sardegna. From there, I had to take a ferry to La Maddalena, the island where my friend's house is. So after 14 hours or so of travel, I finally arrived. Arseniy and sam arrived a few hours after me. They flew into the airport at Cagliari, while I flew into the airport at Alghero. If you look at the map, you can find Cagliari in the south, and Alghero is in the north east (look for the airport symbol). Unfortunately, my Italian friend failed to tell us that there is an airport directly south of her house, which would have made our lives so much easier. Anyways, so looking at the map again, I had to go from Alghero to Sassari, to Tempio (in the middle of the northern half) to Palau (not listed but on the north western coast. La Maddalena is one of the islands off that coast.

After finally arriving and having a good nights sleep, we did a little exploring. The weather was not so nice, really cold and only one day of sunshine, but the beaches were really pretty. You can see most of the pictures here:

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Then, on the way back to Milan, another fun filled travel adventure. Our flights were for Sunday, April 12.. ie Easter. Silly us planning to travel on Easter Sunday in Cattholic Italy. My flight was at 6am, so I had to go to the airport Saturday night, without a doubt. There was no way I could travel back across Sardegna in time. Arseniy and Sam were also flying out of Alghero this time, but their flight was not until 5pm. So technically they would have been fine, but it being Easter Sunday, the bus schedule was not normal. So instead of risking it, they came with me Saturday night. We got to the last bus stop 45 minutes too late and had to take a taxi to the airport (40 Euro). We got to the airport around 930 or 10... and 4 other travelers joined us for the long night. The benches at the airport were impossible to lie on, thanks to seat dividers. The floor was too cold to lay on.. Needless to say, it was another sleepless night. I finally got back to my house in Milan around 10am, so an even longer travel time if you include the time at the airport.

So in the end, it was really great to see Sardegna, but the trip could have been better. I have more pictures, but they are on my other camera which I let Arseniy borrow. I will post those as soon as possible.

After spending a night in Milan (not even 24 hours actually), a very nice friend took me to the airport at 5am the next morning. My flight to Turkey left around 7am. I arrived in Turkey around noon or 1pm, and waited for my friend, who arrived around 530pm. We spent one night in Istanbul, one night on a bus, two nights in Olympos, one night in Ankara, and then another night on a bus and in the airport. It was a very rushed trip, but I wanted to show my friend more than just Ankara. I think she had a good time, but she may have been a little bored for some of it. I generally speak Turkish with my friends there, so she was left out sometimes. Overall though she enjoyed herself and I got to see most of my friends, though for a very short time.

Pictures from Turkey will be up soon.