Ciao, Bella!

Ah ok so I totally haven't been blogging! It's been really busy here in LLN with some fun (music festival!) and some not-so-fun (writing a paper in French about poetry that is also in French). But I've just finished my first week of spring break where I went to Italy! It was definitely an adventure because I decided to go by myself (first time traveling alone!) and I definitely don't know any Italian. In the end, however, it was a blast!

Luckily, I was not actually by myself for much of the trip because there were a TON of other students on spring break staying in the same hostels as me! First, I went to Milan. Obviously, it was amazing shopping. But they also had a lot of really cool museums and some really beautiful churches. The first night I went to an apertivo. This is an amazing thing that should be brought to the US. An apertivo is like happy hour but way better because you pay around 8 euros to get one cocktail and a buffet of AMAZING Italian food. Of course, if it came to the US, I'm sure the food could not be as good as this. Also, as you could imagine, the gelato is delicious. And everyone eats it, all the time! I did not really expect it but it doesn't matter who you are, old, young, businessman, student; everyone eats gelato at any time of the day. Of course, the pasta and the pizza are absolutely delightful also.

In Rome, it was a lot easier to get around. Milan is not nearly as touristy so not nearly as many people knew English so it was tough to communicate. In Rome, however, they are used to English-speaking tourists and almost everyone knew at least a little bit of English.

Another observation I made was that I think Italy had more people asking me for money or trying to sell me something than any other place I've been. That is one thing I definitely do not miss from Italy. They would automatically start speaking English to me too! I guess it was obvious that I was an American. I tried not to look so obvious but I guess my flip-flops and map gave me anyway. Oh well.

Well, those are my main observations about Italy! I will be going to Paris and Amsterdam with my family next week so I'm sure I'll have a lot to say about that! Ciao!

While it's not the highest quality picture (it was nighttime in the train station), here is something for your advertising pleasure:

I mean, could this ad be more Italian?




Also, on a side note, I broke down and went to a McDonald's (once I realized I had to stop spending 10 euros every time I ate). I tried a new McFlurry flavor: speculose (ok I also don't know if this is spelled right). It was amazing. I would highly recommend it. It's a type of cookie and tasted like cinnamon and brown sugar. Extremely tasty!