Just remember, Gelato has twice the sugar of ice-cream, which means twice the crash later on!

Well the past couple of days certainly were an adventure. It started out with miscommunication between Kori and I on where we would meet in the bus station, in order to catch our bus to the airport. After an hour and a half of panic, we found eachother and made it to the bus just in time!We made it to Gatwick and spent the night in a near by hotel, that normally I would have run away from, however I was too tired to move (still it was not as bad as that hotel in Montana!). We then dragged our tired butts out of bed and were at the airport and waiting for our plane. We hopped on it and in no time we were in Italy.
Now is where the fun begins. First of all, did you know that they all speak Italian in Italy. It was the weirdest thing, and really hard to communicate. Didn't see that coming. We found a tourist information desk, and she gave us specific instructions on how to get to our hotel: take a bus to the train station, and then a train to Magliano. Sounded easy enough. We hopped on the bus and had a carefree bus ride to the train station. However, when we got there we asked the girl who worked in the booth where we go next (she said si, when we asked "Parlay ingles?") and she sold us bus tickets. I was weary, but vulnerable and trusting. We were so stupid. We hopped on the bus, and after a little less than an hour, and asking countless other passengers where our hotel was and getting no where, the bus driver turns around and says that it's the end of the line and kicks us off the bus. He is not my favorite Italian.

Now we were in the middle of an industrial/residential neighborhood, and the prognosis was looking grim. I literally held back the tears while I sat with all of mine and Kori's junk while she went into a nearby store to ask for help.

We then walked, and walked, and walked, to the town center where we would suposedly have a clear view of our hotel. When we got there, though, no hotel. And by the way, there were no canals, no friendly gandaliers, no italians sipping on cappuccinos; we were not where we felt we should be. The tears were getting a lot harder to hold back.

We finally got some better directions and happened to stumble into a hotel to ask them where ours was. Turns out, it was our hotel, just a different name than the one Kori had. What a mess. After we where in the room and composed ourselves we learned that all you had to do was catch a train, and two stops later you would be standing in front of the Grand canal. We were so there!

Yay! We're finally here! Don't we look so European with our matching scarves? Anybody? No...we still look American?

Oh just wait...

There's that American! Reading her guide book! Hey tourist!

Our first plan was to eat and then we just walked around and got lost. It is so beautiful there. Exactly like pictures and movies, only in real life. It's hard to explain, but don't worry I have plenty of pictures that will help!

Isn't it beautiful! Just kidding! But the food was seriously amazing...as you would probably guess!

The view from either side of a bridge!

Kori and I each bought a water color painting from this adorable Italian artist!

The rest of the day was great and the next day was great too. We walked a lot, and ate even more. I figured everyone would be proud. We became addicted to caffe lattes...I think I had three or four in one day.

Coming home was a little easier, still had to run a lot so that we could make all our buses and trains on time, but this time we knew what we were doing. When we were sitting at the train station in Italy, when we were leaving, this old man came up and started talking to us, and then groping me. Apparantly he thought I was a "pretty woman"..."like the cinema." He was pinching my cheek, and holding my hand, and, oh, ya, rubbing my bare leg because I was wearing a skirt. Typical, we are surrounded by young, hot, Italians for two days, and then this man whose old enough to be my grandpa hits on me. It was pretty darn funny. Gave Kori a good chuckle!

Anyway, Italy was a success, as well as Kori's trip. She left today, although, she did miss her flight, she is booked on another one. Good luck to her. After the past couple of days, I will be glad to stay away from public transprotation!

What did I learn while studying abroad today? I need to learn some German and French before we hit those countries, I refuse to get kicked off a bus again!