As I am writing the beginning of this blog, I am sitting in a park near the colosseum drinking a bottle champagne with the girls!
I love Rome; it's beautiful today. I've been walking around in jeans and a sheer top. I brought my light pea coat with me but I've been holding it.
Days like today makes me so happy to be studying abroad in Italy. I'm in love and am so fortunate to be here.
Jessica, Hannah and I got here last night (thursday) around 7pm. We had to take the train here, took 4.5 hours. Our flight was out of Milan and was at 3pm. We didn't get out of class until 11am and then would have taken the train to Milan, which takes almost two hours. Then with our smart brains, picked the airport that is an hour away from the train station. So we wouldn't have gotten to the airport in time for our flight. But we made it to Rome which is all that matters!!
Our hostel is pretty nice as well. We have a private room with 4 twin beds, desk & closet. The heater is on constantly and we have a window with a nice view. The bathroom is shared with the other 4 private rooms. It's actually not that bad!
Hannah's friend, Elaine, is studying abroad in Barcelona right now and came to Rome with us. She came with her friend Laura. They are both super nice and easy going. We are having a great time together (luckily)!
Thursday night, we went out to dinner where we got 25% off our meal. The dinner was pretty good and was right down the street. Then we came back to the hostel and waited for the 2 girls to arrived. Then we all passed out.
Friday morning, we were up at 8am. Got ready and went to get breakfast that came with our hostel. Breakfast was at this cafe around the corner. It was pretty good! We were able to get real coffee (like cappuccinos) and a brioche (croissant). Then we headed out to explore Rome!
Before it even hit 12, we had already seen: the Trevi fountain, the Pantheon and the Colosseum. We've been really productive which makes me happy. Then we got lunch and are now sitting in the park!
We left the park 2 hours ago and are now back in the room. The sun + champagne really made me sleepy. Everyone is going to try to nap now.
Wow it's been two hours! That was such an excellent nap. Clearly I needed it. I'm refreshed now and am getting ready to go out!! It's 7pm and we met this guy, John Carlo today who was promoting a pub crawl for tonight. He said to meet at the coliseum metro stop at 9pm and that he will take us to the party.
I'm home now, it's 2:30am and tonight was soo much fun!! The pub crawl ended up being a lot of fun. We met John Carlo and he with some other people all took the bus to the first dance place. There we paid our €20 and got unlimited drinks. Plus pizza!! We were there for probably two hours. Then we headed to the next discoteca which was 20minutes away. Such a joke! We had to take the metro then walk forever. I lost my buzz quickly.
Finally made it to the 2nd bar which was promoting Bacardi. There was 6 ladies walking around in dresses (clearly not wearing bras) handing Barcardi things out to people. It was fun but I got kind of left out, being there is 5 of us, I was the 5th wheel. It wasn't too bad since everyone was dancing but still.
Once that got boring we all kind of hit a wall and decided to just head back. We hopped in a taxi and are now home! We also got a t-shirt for the pub crawl.
Tomorrow we plan on going to the Vatican and seeing the Spanish steps.
Saturday, we didn't get up until 9:30am and that is because I had set my alarm knowing that breakfast ended at 10am. 4/5 of us got up to get food then when we got back, I showered and got ready. By 11:30am we were out of the room.
We headed straight to the Spanish steps then we walked down the street with Gucci, Dior, Fendi and more of my favorite stores. (Dad, I only spent €3500, don't worry hahaha) Then we walked to Vatican City. It's such a beautiful area. I could stand in the middle and stare all day. Also the weather was breathe taking. I was in jeans and a top all day, not cold at all. Love love love this perfect weather!!
No one wanted to go into the Vatican but Hannah and I went to see the sisteen chapel. After that we got lunch then headed to Gioletti (famous gelato place) which was delicious! The biggest gelato I've had since being here. We went shopping to a few places but I didn't get anything special.
Now we are back at the hostel getting ready for dinner and going out. We are meeting up with 3 boys from our USAC program who also came to Rome this weekend. Then we are going out to a discoteca but probably aren't going to stay out late since we are waking up at 5:45am to catch our plane!
I'm not excited to leave Rome but I'm happy to be heading back to Torino. I love going back "home". Plus I know I'm coming back to Rome before I come back to the states. This is just too beautiful of a city!
Saturday night, we came back to the room and got ready to go out. We headed out around 8:20pm and called the boys who said they were going to meet us for dinner near the traction. We got to the train station, called them and they were in a group of 6, we had 5 so they didn't want to go find a restaurant to accommodate the 11 of us...so we just headed to this nice restaurant called Florian's. It was really good, I was very happy with it (I picked it for once). We got 3 liters of white wine and were feeling no pain. But it was 11:30 and no one wanted to go out knowing we had to wake up at 5:45. The girls wanted something for dessert so we walked around trying to find a place but nothing was open or it was too expensive.
Instead we headed back to the room, got our phones and got some wifi. Then all headed back up and were asleep within 10min of laying down. It was nice to just have gone out to dinner then come home.
Waking up wasn't bad at all either. I was already packed except for my pjs and a few toiletries. We, of course, were late to the airport. We had to go to the front desk and cut the line so we didn't miss our flight. I hate traveling like that.
But we caught our flight and are now in Milan because when we bought our tickets, there were no flights to Torino. Now on a bus to the Milan train station to catch a train to Torino. Probably won't be home until 1:30pm and it's 9:30am now...longer day than I expected!
I'll post pictures when I get home!! Miss you guys so much xoxo
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Ivrea Festival 2/21
Today I went with USAC to Ivrea for the famous orange battle. It was a free trip for all of the USAC students. The bus picked us up at school and dropped us off there. Ivrea is luckily only an hour away so we were there quickly.
The battle didn't start until 2pm and we got there around 12 so we had time to kill. Daniele walked us to the main piazza and on our way there we walked through all of the different territories of the teams. I took tons of pictures which I uploaded onto Facebook. In the piazzas there were stacks of crates filled with oranges. Sooo many oranges, probably 18 crates high. Unbelievable, I don't know where all of these oranges came from. Apparently, years ago they use to use apples. Good thing they changed to oranges or everyone would have black eyes and bruises.
We walked down to the street where they had trucks with food (kind of like taco trucks but they had panini and desserts, man I love Italy). I got this delicious pork sandwich and Hannah & I got some french fries to share. Constantly stuffing our face with food, nothing new there!
Around 1:30pm was when the horses and carts started to make their ways up to the various piazzas. The cart holds 10 people it looked like and had 2-4 horses pulling them. There are 9 teams that all have their own colors with special uniforms and sections through out the town. Their names: Chessmen, Arduini, Ace of Spades, Death, Tuchini, Devils, Mercenaries, Panthers and Credendari. I am not sure how they pick a winner or if there even is a winner.
Before we knew it the battle had begon! We some how ended up right in the action in one of the piazzas. Oranges were being thrown from every which direction. I had worn this sweater, which I thought was red but people were telling me it was brown/burgundy/maroon...but it didn't even matter if you were wearing a true red dress; you had to have a red hat one!! So many people were yelling at us in Italian saying we needed to leave since we didn't have a red hat on and that we were going to get hit. Hannah and Liz were throwing oranges at everyone. Then they would get upset when the boys would throw them at them haha
We left that one piazza and moved on to another one which was a bad idea..the guys there had NO mercy on us girls. They would rip open the oranges and just squeeze them into our hair. Actually, I shouldn't say "our" because when they would come to me, I would grab both of their hands and tell them I'd kick them in nuts if they did that. But Monique, Kaitlin, Hannah and Liz were getting orange juice EVERYWHERE. Down their shirts, in the hair, on their jeans..Hannah actually slipped down the stairs so her butt got covered in orange.
The battle came to pause but we first thought it was over. They had been throwing oranges for over an hour and half so we figured they were tired and it ended. Oh no, they came back 20 minutes later. At this point, we were standing in the middle of the piazza where they come walking around. The oranges on the floor are indescribable. It was really disgusting and hard to walk around in plus the horses were pooping everywhere so it was mixed with that. Pretty picture, huh? I got a few pictures of it all.
Once the battle started again, we ditched the piazza and went down the river which was in the direction of the bus. There we saw some more of the parade and was throwing confetti around. The bus left at 5:30pm and we were home at 7pm.
Overall the day was amazing and I am so glad I went. Today was a memory that I will never forget. Crazy how these littles towns can have such huge festivals that are famous! I am one lucky girl to be in Italy :]
Miss you guys so much!!
The battle didn't start until 2pm and we got there around 12 so we had time to kill. Daniele walked us to the main piazza and on our way there we walked through all of the different territories of the teams. I took tons of pictures which I uploaded onto Facebook. In the piazzas there were stacks of crates filled with oranges. Sooo many oranges, probably 18 crates high. Unbelievable, I don't know where all of these oranges came from. Apparently, years ago they use to use apples. Good thing they changed to oranges or everyone would have black eyes and bruises.
We walked down to the street where they had trucks with food (kind of like taco trucks but they had panini and desserts, man I love Italy). I got this delicious pork sandwich and Hannah & I got some french fries to share. Constantly stuffing our face with food, nothing new there!
Around 1:30pm was when the horses and carts started to make their ways up to the various piazzas. The cart holds 10 people it looked like and had 2-4 horses pulling them. There are 9 teams that all have their own colors with special uniforms and sections through out the town. Their names: Chessmen, Arduini, Ace of Spades, Death, Tuchini, Devils, Mercenaries, Panthers and Credendari. I am not sure how they pick a winner or if there even is a winner.
Before we knew it the battle had begon! We some how ended up right in the action in one of the piazzas. Oranges were being thrown from every which direction. I had worn this sweater, which I thought was red but people were telling me it was brown/burgundy/maroon...but it didn't even matter if you were wearing a true red dress; you had to have a red hat one!! So many people were yelling at us in Italian saying we needed to leave since we didn't have a red hat on and that we were going to get hit. Hannah and Liz were throwing oranges at everyone. Then they would get upset when the boys would throw them at them haha
We left that one piazza and moved on to another one which was a bad idea..the guys there had NO mercy on us girls. They would rip open the oranges and just squeeze them into our hair. Actually, I shouldn't say "our" because when they would come to me, I would grab both of their hands and tell them I'd kick them in nuts if they did that. But Monique, Kaitlin, Hannah and Liz were getting orange juice EVERYWHERE. Down their shirts, in the hair, on their jeans..Hannah actually slipped down the stairs so her butt got covered in orange.
The battle came to pause but we first thought it was over. They had been throwing oranges for over an hour and half so we figured they were tired and it ended. Oh no, they came back 20 minutes later. At this point, we were standing in the middle of the piazza where they come walking around. The oranges on the floor are indescribable. It was really disgusting and hard to walk around in plus the horses were pooping everywhere so it was mixed with that. Pretty picture, huh? I got a few pictures of it all.
Once the battle started again, we ditched the piazza and went down the river which was in the direction of the bus. There we saw some more of the parade and was throwing confetti around. The bus left at 5:30pm and we were home at 7pm.
Overall the day was amazing and I am so glad I went. Today was a memory that I will never forget. Crazy how these littles towns can have such huge festivals that are famous! I am one lucky girl to be in Italy :]
Miss you guys so much!!
Monday, February 13, 2012
Venice & Verona 2/11-2/13
First day/night in Venice was a lot of fun! We took a double decker bus from school to Venice in the morning. We left around 8:50am and got here in Venice to our hotel at 3:15pm. There was a 45min lunch break in between.
The ride wasn't bad at all, except I was sitting on the top deck and it got really hot, then someone took off their shoes so it started to smell bad!! Let's say I was glad to finally get off of the bus.
The weather wasn't that great, it was SUPER windy. My hair in all of the pictures I took is a disaster from the wind. Plus it was over cast which made everyone sooo cold! I hate the cold, puts a damper on everything.
After we checked into the hotel, we ran over to Piazza S. Marco (famous square of Venice) to meet with your guides. We literally ran haha Daniele was so upset because we were already late to meet then. Plus our hotel is at one end of Venice and the piazza is on the other. When we finally got there, we split into 3 groups. Hannah and I went off to meet Kristen Alton (my grand big from the sorority) as we came back, we ran into a group but realized none of our friends were in that group. So we ran to a different group where we found everyone.
After the tour, we went to dinner. We walked down random allies and found this little piazza where we found a place to eat. Everyone got pizza but I got lasagna which was the best dish out of their pizzas. It was soo good and I don't say that about other people's lasagna.
After dinner, everyone got 3€ bottle of wines and was drinking from them in a white plastic bag (super classy but I didn't get one). We were heading back to Piazza San Marco. On our way, we heard music coming from a random street. We of course followed it and luckily we did because we had soooo much fun!!! It was a huge dance party in this mini piazza. No one was really dancing when we got there so us being American, jumped in the middle and started the whole dance scene. The music they played was pretty old..Fergalicious, Single Ladies, My Humps, music along those lines. But it was still a lot of fun. We were all dancing so much that we started sweating but once we stopped we got cold quickly since we were in an open piazza. Once everyone got cold, our drunk buzz died down so we headed home.
The first night in the hotel was awful!! The room itself was nice and had 4 twin beds for us 4 girls but it was freezing. Pretty sure it was the same temperature as it was outside. I lied in bed for two hours until I fell asleep. But when I moved in my sleep, I would get cold again so I'd wake up. I think I got two hours of sleep.
Sunday, we had the whole day free to do what we pleased. In the morning we had breakfast at the hotel then went to Piazza San Marco. There was the ceremony of the flying angle across the piazza. That was a site to see it, it was the kick off for carnival. I took pictures plus a video which I'll post on Facebook!
After the angel we went to lunch, once again we found this cute place down some allies which was really good. Got a glass of wine and a pizza. I love being able to order wine at any meal. Once lunch was over, Jessica and Sara were tired so they went back to the hotel to sleep. But Hannah and I wanted to go to the Murano Island where they have all the shops with the hand blown glasses. I've been before but wanted to go back. Sadly it wasn't as cool as I remembered when I came with my family. But it was nice to go back and see everything.
Before we knew it, it was 5:30pm and we took the boat metro back to our hotel. Went a little souvenir shopping. Only got postcards and magnets. We all got back to the hotel, freshened up and then went to get some wine. Got some boxed white wine with sprite, dad are you proud? Hahaha went back to the hotel and hung out with the girls before dinner.
We wanted to go to dinner and have a long 3 course meal. But that didn't happen. People say things and never follow through with them sadly. We just went to little restaurant and got pasta. I got the gnocchi which were good but the cream sauce was a little much. Hannah got this spinach and ricotta lasagna, it was soo good!!
After dinner we were so cold we just went back to the hotel. Finished up our wine and were asleep by 12.
Monday morning we got breakfast again at the hotel, needed to check out by 9:30 and went walking around until 11am where we needed to be back at the hotel so we could get on the bus to Verona!
Verona, the city of love!! Sadly we only got to be there for 2 hours but I saw the two main things to see; the Arena and Juliet's balcony. Oddly I felt like I had already been to Juliet's balcony. I don't know if it's because I've seen it in movies or because I've seen a lot of my friends pictures or what because I've never been. Seeing those two attractions took 20min.
After we touched Juliet's breast, we headed to lunch. Stopped a cute cafe where I got lasagna (for some reason in on some lasagna kick). Stayed there for the remaining time. Just got 2 keychains, one that says "Verona" and another says "I love (heart) Italy".
Now we are back on the bus headed to Torino. Everyone is silent. With full stomachs, people passed out. I did too for a hour. We've been driving for almost two hours and I hope we are back in a hour.
The days here in Italy have been going by SO fast. It's hard to believe I've already been here for a month, Monica's birthday is tomorrow and yet I feel like I haven't done much! I need to step up my game because these next 3 months are going to fly by and I have a lot of places that I want to see!
I got a few post cards in Venice so I'll be sending out those this week. Then I'm going on a mission to find some Torino ones so I can send them to all my friends!
Miss you guys so much!!!
The ride wasn't bad at all, except I was sitting on the top deck and it got really hot, then someone took off their shoes so it started to smell bad!! Let's say I was glad to finally get off of the bus.
The weather wasn't that great, it was SUPER windy. My hair in all of the pictures I took is a disaster from the wind. Plus it was over cast which made everyone sooo cold! I hate the cold, puts a damper on everything.
After we checked into the hotel, we ran over to Piazza S. Marco (famous square of Venice) to meet with your guides. We literally ran haha Daniele was so upset because we were already late to meet then. Plus our hotel is at one end of Venice and the piazza is on the other. When we finally got there, we split into 3 groups. Hannah and I went off to meet Kristen Alton (my grand big from the sorority) as we came back, we ran into a group but realized none of our friends were in that group. So we ran to a different group where we found everyone.
After the tour, we went to dinner. We walked down random allies and found this little piazza where we found a place to eat. Everyone got pizza but I got lasagna which was the best dish out of their pizzas. It was soo good and I don't say that about other people's lasagna.
After dinner, everyone got 3€ bottle of wines and was drinking from them in a white plastic bag (super classy but I didn't get one). We were heading back to Piazza San Marco. On our way, we heard music coming from a random street. We of course followed it and luckily we did because we had soooo much fun!!! It was a huge dance party in this mini piazza. No one was really dancing when we got there so us being American, jumped in the middle and started the whole dance scene. The music they played was pretty old..Fergalicious, Single Ladies, My Humps, music along those lines. But it was still a lot of fun. We were all dancing so much that we started sweating but once we stopped we got cold quickly since we were in an open piazza. Once everyone got cold, our drunk buzz died down so we headed home.
The first night in the hotel was awful!! The room itself was nice and had 4 twin beds for us 4 girls but it was freezing. Pretty sure it was the same temperature as it was outside. I lied in bed for two hours until I fell asleep. But when I moved in my sleep, I would get cold again so I'd wake up. I think I got two hours of sleep.
Sunday, we had the whole day free to do what we pleased. In the morning we had breakfast at the hotel then went to Piazza San Marco. There was the ceremony of the flying angle across the piazza. That was a site to see it, it was the kick off for carnival. I took pictures plus a video which I'll post on Facebook!
After the angel we went to lunch, once again we found this cute place down some allies which was really good. Got a glass of wine and a pizza. I love being able to order wine at any meal. Once lunch was over, Jessica and Sara were tired so they went back to the hotel to sleep. But Hannah and I wanted to go to the Murano Island where they have all the shops with the hand blown glasses. I've been before but wanted to go back. Sadly it wasn't as cool as I remembered when I came with my family. But it was nice to go back and see everything.
Before we knew it, it was 5:30pm and we took the boat metro back to our hotel. Went a little souvenir shopping. Only got postcards and magnets. We all got back to the hotel, freshened up and then went to get some wine. Got some boxed white wine with sprite, dad are you proud? Hahaha went back to the hotel and hung out with the girls before dinner.
We wanted to go to dinner and have a long 3 course meal. But that didn't happen. People say things and never follow through with them sadly. We just went to little restaurant and got pasta. I got the gnocchi which were good but the cream sauce was a little much. Hannah got this spinach and ricotta lasagna, it was soo good!!
After dinner we were so cold we just went back to the hotel. Finished up our wine and were asleep by 12.
Monday morning we got breakfast again at the hotel, needed to check out by 9:30 and went walking around until 11am where we needed to be back at the hotel so we could get on the bus to Verona!
Verona, the city of love!! Sadly we only got to be there for 2 hours but I saw the two main things to see; the Arena and Juliet's balcony. Oddly I felt like I had already been to Juliet's balcony. I don't know if it's because I've seen it in movies or because I've seen a lot of my friends pictures or what because I've never been. Seeing those two attractions took 20min.
After we touched Juliet's breast, we headed to lunch. Stopped a cute cafe where I got lasagna (for some reason in on some lasagna kick). Stayed there for the remaining time. Just got 2 keychains, one that says "Verona" and another says "I love (heart) Italy".
Now we are back on the bus headed to Torino. Everyone is silent. With full stomachs, people passed out. I did too for a hour. We've been driving for almost two hours and I hope we are back in a hour.
The days here in Italy have been going by SO fast. It's hard to believe I've already been here for a month, Monica's birthday is tomorrow and yet I feel like I haven't done much! I need to step up my game because these next 3 months are going to fly by and I have a lot of places that I want to see!
I got a few post cards in Venice so I'll be sending out those this week. Then I'm going on a mission to find some Torino ones so I can send them to all my friends!
Miss you guys so much!!!
Monday, February 6, 2012
Brussels, Belgium 2/3-2/6
My first trip outside of Italy was a success!!
I went to Brussels, Belgium with some of the USAC kids this weekend. Over all it was a good trip but I don't see myself going back anytime soon.
Friday morning we left at 4:30am and arrived at our hotel in Brussels at 1:30pm. To say the least, it was a long day! Hannah, Jessica, Lauren and I were roommates at the hotel. It wasn't really a hotel. There was one full bed which Hannah and Jessica shared then there was 2 twin beds that I got and Lauren. The blankets on the beds were giraff and zebra print. Pretty sweet if you ask me but a little gross (who knows when they were washed last). Also the bathroom door was an accordion, which broke. The "cleaning ladies" put it back on when they came to make our beds but the minute we tried closing the door, it would pop right off. I guess that is what you get for 70 euro for 3 nights.
Anyways about Friday, we left the hotel around 2:45pm and ventured off to find the main square. On our way there, we got lost down the muslim area of Brussels. One of the girls was starving and couldn't want to eat so we stopped at this one restaurant. In Brussels they don't speak English...I still don't know what they speak. Super culture shock reading a menu and not being able to pick anything out. The guy gave us this "deal" where we got soup, some random type of meat and dessert for 9 euro each. Seriously have no idea what type of meat I ate. Luckily I didn't get sick but I also didn't finish the plate.
It ended up being perfect timing because once we finished lunch, it started to snow! Yay, I love the snow!! (No, I actually hate it). Of course none of us had umbrellas so we were freezing. The snow made it really hard to site see because when I would lift my head to look up, my face would instantly freeze up. On our way to the square, we met up with Krista, Chelsea, Manya and Marcella who had the room right next to us. They were in a bar which had a big fire. Since it was snowing, we just hopped from store to store trying to stay dry and warm. We ended up stopping at this one cute bar which had a fire and got some cheese and salami. Plus a beer! We were there for probably two hours until we decided to go to the Delirium Cafe. (This cafe is in the Guinness Book of World Records for having every type of beer, vodka, tequila and rum). It was super cool!
When we got to the Delirium Cafe, there was a convention for computer nerds. The drinks were 3 euro each if you were apart of the convention, so of course we said we were! Hannah and I went to get 5 drinks for 15 euro but the guy gave us 6 drinks! We were pretty stoked. Mandi and Cameron told me to try the La Rulles beer and take the glass home. Sadly I didn't get a cool La Rulles glass and it wasn't my favorite type of beer. I did get a Delirium glass though, it has red elephants all over it. After 3 drinks, we were all tired and headed back to the hotel.
Saturday morning we jumped on the train towards Brugge which is a city about an hour and 15min away from Brussels. There was a huge beer festival there for the weekend. Tons of people were on the train who were going there. Hannah sat next to guy who was going with his friends, when we got off the train, they took us to the festival which was super nice of them! Once inside, there was two options for getting drinks. You could pay 10 euro, get a glass with 4 beer chips or pay 20 euro and get 2 glasses with 10 chips. Hannah and I did the 20 euro so we each got a glass plus 5 chips. This place was huge!! Plus there was about 60 stands that all had 4-5 beers that you could taste. I am not use to Belgium beer, it's very good but thick! After 3 beers I felt so full. Jessica and Hannah ended up buying my last 2 chips from me. We met a lot of people who spoke english as well which was a nice change! Lauren and I met these two really nice guys who live in Brugge, they already found me on Facebook.
We shopped around, got lunch and tried a bunch of chocolate in Brugge until we got on the train around 8:30pm to head back to Brussels. It was so so so cold when we got home. I couldn't feel my toes or fingers and my head my frozen. The girls were saying they all wanted to go out but the last thing I wanted to do was venture off into the cold. Luckily once we got back to the hotel, everyone started to get tired and no one went out. Which was nice because we slept in and went site seeing on Sunday.
Sunday we woke up and got ready to really see Brussels since it wasn't snowing and the sun was actually out! Felt good to get some Vitamin D on my face. We walked down the main square and got a famous Belgium waffle. It was a heart attack on the plate but it was worth every bite! I took pictures of everything (I'll post them on Facebook). After our waffle, we went to see Manneken Pis which is a little boy peeing statue. It was super little...not what I expected but it was still nice to see. Then we took the metro to see the Atomium. The Atomium is "A seminal totem in the Brussels skyline; neither tower, nor pyramid, a little bit cubic, a little bit cubic, a little bit spherical, half-way between sculpture and architecture, a relic of the past with a determinedly futuristic look, museum and exhibition centre; the Atomium is, at once, an object, a place, a space, a Utopia and the only symbol of its kind in the world, which eludes any kind of classification" according to the little pamphlet I took. The Atomium was as a super cool place. The pictures are unreal!
After the Atomium we headed back to the square for dinner and then went back to the Delirium cafe where we instead of hanging out with all of the beers, we went to the Absinthe room. I took a shot of 70 proof Absinthe. It was green and we got a sugar cube with it. You dip the sugar in the Absinthe, then place it on this little spoon with holes and lit it on fire. The fire melts the sugar into the Absinthe then you put the rest of the sugar in the shot and crush it up. 1, 2, 3 and you take the shot! It wasn't bad at all, my heart was just racing before hand! Just knowing it was 70 proof made me more anxious! After that shot, we headed over to the tequila room (yum, I love tequila) and made friends with the bartender who gave us 9 shots for 20 euro. Krista, Manya, Jessica and I had two shots and Hannah had one. Again, not bad at all. But after those two shots I was feeling good and warm which was a nice change.
We left the bar at 10:30pm knowing we had to wake up at 2:30am to get a taxi to take us to the bus which took us to the airport. I got two hours of sleep which was rough. Our plane boarded at 6:15 and landed in Torino at 7:50pm. It was about 20 minutes early which was great because I had class this morning at 9am. We all ran to a taxi when we got off. Still in shock that I made it to school on time. But i am now exhausted and can't wait to sleep tonight.
This trip gets 7.4/10 rating!
I went to Brussels, Belgium with some of the USAC kids this weekend. Over all it was a good trip but I don't see myself going back anytime soon.
Friday morning we left at 4:30am and arrived at our hotel in Brussels at 1:30pm. To say the least, it was a long day! Hannah, Jessica, Lauren and I were roommates at the hotel. It wasn't really a hotel. There was one full bed which Hannah and Jessica shared then there was 2 twin beds that I got and Lauren. The blankets on the beds were giraff and zebra print. Pretty sweet if you ask me but a little gross (who knows when they were washed last). Also the bathroom door was an accordion, which broke. The "cleaning ladies" put it back on when they came to make our beds but the minute we tried closing the door, it would pop right off. I guess that is what you get for 70 euro for 3 nights.
Anyways about Friday, we left the hotel around 2:45pm and ventured off to find the main square. On our way there, we got lost down the muslim area of Brussels. One of the girls was starving and couldn't want to eat so we stopped at this one restaurant. In Brussels they don't speak English...I still don't know what they speak. Super culture shock reading a menu and not being able to pick anything out. The guy gave us this "deal" where we got soup, some random type of meat and dessert for 9 euro each. Seriously have no idea what type of meat I ate. Luckily I didn't get sick but I also didn't finish the plate.
It ended up being perfect timing because once we finished lunch, it started to snow! Yay, I love the snow!! (No, I actually hate it). Of course none of us had umbrellas so we were freezing. The snow made it really hard to site see because when I would lift my head to look up, my face would instantly freeze up. On our way to the square, we met up with Krista, Chelsea, Manya and Marcella who had the room right next to us. They were in a bar which had a big fire. Since it was snowing, we just hopped from store to store trying to stay dry and warm. We ended up stopping at this one cute bar which had a fire and got some cheese and salami. Plus a beer! We were there for probably two hours until we decided to go to the Delirium Cafe. (This cafe is in the Guinness Book of World Records for having every type of beer, vodka, tequila and rum). It was super cool!
When we got to the Delirium Cafe, there was a convention for computer nerds. The drinks were 3 euro each if you were apart of the convention, so of course we said we were! Hannah and I went to get 5 drinks for 15 euro but the guy gave us 6 drinks! We were pretty stoked. Mandi and Cameron told me to try the La Rulles beer and take the glass home. Sadly I didn't get a cool La Rulles glass and it wasn't my favorite type of beer. I did get a Delirium glass though, it has red elephants all over it. After 3 drinks, we were all tired and headed back to the hotel.
Saturday morning we jumped on the train towards Brugge which is a city about an hour and 15min away from Brussels. There was a huge beer festival there for the weekend. Tons of people were on the train who were going there. Hannah sat next to guy who was going with his friends, when we got off the train, they took us to the festival which was super nice of them! Once inside, there was two options for getting drinks. You could pay 10 euro, get a glass with 4 beer chips or pay 20 euro and get 2 glasses with 10 chips. Hannah and I did the 20 euro so we each got a glass plus 5 chips. This place was huge!! Plus there was about 60 stands that all had 4-5 beers that you could taste. I am not use to Belgium beer, it's very good but thick! After 3 beers I felt so full. Jessica and Hannah ended up buying my last 2 chips from me. We met a lot of people who spoke english as well which was a nice change! Lauren and I met these two really nice guys who live in Brugge, they already found me on Facebook.
We shopped around, got lunch and tried a bunch of chocolate in Brugge until we got on the train around 8:30pm to head back to Brussels. It was so so so cold when we got home. I couldn't feel my toes or fingers and my head my frozen. The girls were saying they all wanted to go out but the last thing I wanted to do was venture off into the cold. Luckily once we got back to the hotel, everyone started to get tired and no one went out. Which was nice because we slept in and went site seeing on Sunday.
Sunday we woke up and got ready to really see Brussels since it wasn't snowing and the sun was actually out! Felt good to get some Vitamin D on my face. We walked down the main square and got a famous Belgium waffle. It was a heart attack on the plate but it was worth every bite! I took pictures of everything (I'll post them on Facebook). After our waffle, we went to see Manneken Pis which is a little boy peeing statue. It was super little...not what I expected but it was still nice to see. Then we took the metro to see the Atomium. The Atomium is "A seminal totem in the Brussels skyline; neither tower, nor pyramid, a little bit cubic, a little bit cubic, a little bit spherical, half-way between sculpture and architecture, a relic of the past with a determinedly futuristic look, museum and exhibition centre; the Atomium is, at once, an object, a place, a space, a Utopia and the only symbol of its kind in the world, which eludes any kind of classification" according to the little pamphlet I took. The Atomium was as a super cool place. The pictures are unreal!
After the Atomium we headed back to the square for dinner and then went back to the Delirium cafe where we instead of hanging out with all of the beers, we went to the Absinthe room. I took a shot of 70 proof Absinthe. It was green and we got a sugar cube with it. You dip the sugar in the Absinthe, then place it on this little spoon with holes and lit it on fire. The fire melts the sugar into the Absinthe then you put the rest of the sugar in the shot and crush it up. 1, 2, 3 and you take the shot! It wasn't bad at all, my heart was just racing before hand! Just knowing it was 70 proof made me more anxious! After that shot, we headed over to the tequila room (yum, I love tequila) and made friends with the bartender who gave us 9 shots for 20 euro. Krista, Manya, Jessica and I had two shots and Hannah had one. Again, not bad at all. But after those two shots I was feeling good and warm which was a nice change.
We left the bar at 10:30pm knowing we had to wake up at 2:30am to get a taxi to take us to the bus which took us to the airport. I got two hours of sleep which was rough. Our plane boarded at 6:15 and landed in Torino at 7:50pm. It was about 20 minutes early which was great because I had class this morning at 9am. We all ran to a taxi when we got off. Still in shock that I made it to school on time. But i am now exhausted and can't wait to sleep tonight.
This trip gets 7.4/10 rating!
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