LONDON CALLING!!!!

hellloooo party people!!!

OKay i am going to describe one of the best, funniest weekends of my life!!! hahah are you ready here we gooooooo...!! 

London is by far one of my favorite places, i went to london last summer coming home from my second european adventure micki and i made our layover in london worth while and went into the city for the opening ceremony, 08-08-08!! they had it broadcasted around the whole city! it was epic! but anywayssss back to this years LONDON! i left for the porta nuova station to get to my bus to take my friend meghan josh and i to the torino airport at 8am... the night before wasnt an early night either... but we all made it. after taking the hour bus ride to the airport, josh and i talked about last night (thursday) and of course the usual.. "i did what??" "you ate what??" haahha we arrived at the airport and checked in and then went up to the top of the airport and had a coffee and breakfast (mom i had toast and latte... hahah at our SAME table!!) then we went to our gate and took our 2 hour plane flight to LONDON!!! the three of us we PASSED OUT! josh and i had a late night and meghan i think got bored and just fell asleep. We landed and it took us longer than we thought to get through customs... the line regulator guy was on our butts about the address of the people we were staying with... we had NO IDEA! we were staying with joshs friend back from Pitt, Penn and we didnt know our address, the UK border lady looked at us as she threw our passports back at us.. "NEXT" ummm ok?!?! so we called and figured it out and got our stamps and MOVED out!

after finding a shuttle to take us to the inner city, we were too excited to fall asleep, it was outside of london, the countryside and it was rainy and cloudy.. but welcome to LONDON! hahah we finally arrived in london and we were hungry... so we walked alittle bit down the road and Right after i was saying to meghan and josh.."i could really use some noodles from an asian restaurant!" we then came across the The Drunken Monkey!! hahah DOWN! we went inside and people watched! they had NOOODLESS!! hahah the three of us sat there and ate and drank and sobered up! hahah then Joshs friend Leah had work and came and met us at the restaurant adn we sat there alittle longer and then left.  

After we went down to the "Tube" which is what they called the subway... and bought our Oyster cards.. which is a card that holds your money for all public transportation, buses and the tube! it was fabulous, we only had to put more money on our cards 1 other time.. and it was easy and very efficient!!! and the english on the signs helped too.. hahaha.  then we took the tube to her apartment which was SOOOO NICE! yes they have a cleaning service, I dont want to talk about it... and she shares a room with one other girl and they had an extra bed in the room. all of us had our own beds and she provided us with towels.... UM INCREDIBLE! we got ready and went out!! and we danced until the sun came up! everytime we wanted to leave a bigger better song would come on!!! they played oldies, grease MEDLY!! haha and all the songs you dont hear on repeat in Italy!! hahah it was so great! the girls and i .. yes.. came across a group of cuties that basically followed meghan leah josh and i around the club all night, but towards the end leah came to the conclusion that she thought that they were gay, dont you hate it when that happens...?? we got home LATE but it was funnn walking in the rain and running after the red bus!! haha

the next day we slept until 9am, and leah, joshs friend woke up early and mapped out what we shoudl do for our day in London, walking tour!! it was detailed and idiot proof! even i couldnt mess it up. after we woke up we went and got a Starbucks... UM YES I KNOW!!! and then she explained to us how she mapped it out and what we were going ot expect.. she was FABULOUS!!!! we conquered it ALLL!!! big ben, the palace, where princess diana lived, the gardens, the big park, the guards, abby road, platform 9 3/4.. harry potter!! and soo soo sooo much more! oh notting hill, yes i took a picture in front of a blue door hahah! we did it all!!!! josh and i threw leaves in the park... and for lunch we ate fish n chips... DUHH and had a beer.. yes a REAL british person! hahha we were out from 11am-6pm... we got a text from leah.. are you guys still alive??

we got back to her apartment and she was SO SO SOOOO proud of us that we completed the list! and we were too! the whole day was full of laughing and and jumping around, and having funn! i seriously have not had that much fun and laughed that much in such a short span of time... it was so so sooo much fun! we got back and flopped, we rested our feet and then an hour later we went out to dinner to this INCREDIBLE lebanese food... sooooo good!!!! and then we went back and got ready to go ut.. it was weird to me because the british go out early at like 5 or 6 to start the night and go home at like 2... we arent use to that.. we are used to not going out until like 11pm... so it was harder for us to get ready so early but we did! that night after dinner we went back and got ready to go out... yes to a gay club/bar. and YEs the club is called G-A-Y! hhahah and there were PLENTY of them! hahah we waited in line for like 35 minutes and i couldnt use my "sono americana!" they would literally slap me.. because yes they speak english too... hahah so we had to wait just like everyone else... but we got close to the front and the cover charge was like 10 pounds and we had to catch our bus at like 3 and it was already like 12:30 so we decided not to go in because it wouldnt be worth the money to be in there for an hour, but the people watching was worth the wait!! hahahah! the game we played all day was "is he gay or just british??" what a game!!!

so we got back to her apartment and got packed and ready to go, i slept for like an hour and then had to get up and take a cab at 3am to our shuttle service to take us to the airport... we slept, got on the plane, and slept... that ride was alittle more painful because i woke up with a huge Kink in my neck.. ouch! and then when we got to torino we got some breakfast and waited for another shuttle to take us back to porta nuova train station... 3am till noon... of traveling... i got back to my apartment and slept till 10pm.. my roomate literally thought i was DEAD!! hahahahaha woke up showered unpacked and went back to bed, had 2 of yia yias cookies and went back to bed! hahahh mondays are catch up days..... i have been here since 12pm today and it is 6pm.... yaaaaa this week i am excited for because Nicole Talisse and Bryanna Burhart are coming and micki and i are going to show them a good time!!!!! next week i am off to AMSTERDAM!!!!!!.... :)

till then! thank you all for following my blooooggg! and i hope you enjoy them! facebook pictures are being put up as we speak, so check them ouuuttt!!! I love you ALL!!

ciao ciao!

Katherine

xoxoxox

helllloooo everyone!!! i hope you enjoyed the last BLOG! forgive me for all the spelling errors and the grammar.. i barely have time to write these so they are written really fast! hahah! at this very moment i am in italian trying to pay attention and i cant, because i am leaving for london in a day.. how can anyone concentrate!?!? anyway... as you all know my MOM came to europe for her first time ever and we shared a living space the size of my closet together for three weeks, and no my closet back home isnt a walk in closet... :)! but i was happy to share and retain the body heat.. it is now FREEZING in torino! haha GRRREEEAAATT! So when my mom arrived in the torino airport i ran up to her and wrapped my arms around her and began to cry.... 20 minutes later i let go and wiped the tears away from my face and took a deep breath and embraced that she was actually here... in the flesh... no more emailing for a week!!! she brought the other half of my closet with her as i unpacked when i got back to my apartment, it was like Christmas Morning... not new clothes just different! hahah so after i unpacked i wanted to show her around MY town! and off we went! down to the River Po where the night life was, and then stroll in the park and then to my FAVORITE square Piazza San Carlo! ahhhh one of the biggest squares in italy... so my mom told me.. hahah she knows more about italy than i do... hahah funny! then we sat and had apretivo (mom wasnt a fan but it wasnt my favorite place either) then we came back and went to bed...  she was tried and recovering from my sickness i was in no way complaining.  One swig of my mom magic cough syrup and i was OUT! thanks mom! the next day was HALLOWEEN!!!! and yes the costume of choice in torino was a witch... original! mom and i ate at a CUTE hole in the wall place that i didnt know about and had the best dinner.. what mom was looking for to eat and me as well!! PASTA! its funny though because all i eat is pasta and pizza, and i get sick of it, but when i go to sit down and eat thats all i want is pasta... weird! then after dinner mom and i walked around and people watched... hahah all the funny people in their costumes. Then when we got back to the apartment we changed into our pj's and said it almost at the same time... "i hate halloween!" hahah we were in bed by 8pm, with her jet lag and me just wanted to catch up on my sleep my roomates were SHOCKED that i wasnt going out.. after that my mom had to ask my roomates what time i usually get in. they all said, "way after us!" hhahah i laughed and tried to brush it off, mom found it funny! thank god! the next day we took a train to ALBA! its the wine town... and they had their annual truffle fair, and wine tasting, i wanted to take her there! nothing of what we had expected but still SUPER fun to spend the day with my mom outside the city!the whole next week i had school, coming back and fourth from school and going out and doing stuff together.  thursday came and we bought our tickets for the night train for our destination for ROMA! mom spent the day at home all day because things just kept coming up and i didnt get home till 5pm.. had been gone since 8:30am... SORRYYYY!!! we packed and headed for the train...We had a cabin with 3 other italian women and i had the best seat in the cabin, and my mom had the lady next to her with breath that could kill someone... and ashley sat across from her and this lady had her feet up her butt.. this lady was just horrible! but it was great because the 5 boys from our program kept us laughing until we decided to go to bed, so that was the only upside! 8 hours later we arrived in ROME! 6 in the morning.... we found our hotel and passed out till noon, then we went out and saw the town! that night we enjoyed an amazing dinner with all our waiters loving us! after that mom ashley and i went to trinity college!!! its a PUB that i went to when i was in Rome 2 years ago, and the bar tender remembered me.... must have made an impression dancing on the bar...! hahha good times! it hasnt changed one bit! filled with men almost to a 20 to 1 ratio... good for girls bad for men! hahah mom decided to go home because she felt awkward... i was upset! we could have ROCKED IT! (dont worry dad... there were some silver foxes looking our way... but she left :) ) Ashley and i lived it up.. we got men coming up to us wanting to buy us dinner, and buying drinks, shots.. ahhh! so fun! 4am... hahah we arrived at the hotel, mom let us in and heard us from down the street.. (i am so loud!!) we went to bed and hopefully was able to cite see...  hahahha! the next day we went to the colosseum and the old roman ruins, and the old city and all the information you could know about how Rome first started.  SOme of the stories i couldnt help but laugh because tey just seemed to ridiculous to make sense, but i'll believe it. that night we had dinner at the Pantheon which was BEAUTIFUL after circling it and looking for it for like an hour, when we got there it was closed.... of course! but we went to a famous coffee shop and had coffee! mmmm it was so yummy! and then we went and had dinner starring out into the square with the Pantheon as our view and a music playing in the back ground, it was a picture perfect moment! ah we all had AMAZING pasta again... hahha and after dinner the Pantheon had opened and we toured the Michelangelo masterpiece! ah what a site! then back to the hotel to shower and get ready for the pub crawl..... Spanish Steps is where we met and we walked 5 miles that night... no lie!!! had A LOT OF FUN! but i wont do another pub crawl again! hahah the next day sunday we got a ticket to FLORENCE and checked into our hostel that upgraded us to a 3 star hotel which was fabulous and we had free dinner and free breakfast and yes it was YUMMY! we woke up sunday and went sight seeing all day and then shopping... alittle... and then got on a train and headed to PISA! literally took 20 pictures and only had an hour to get there and get back before our train left.. made it JUST in time to take pictures before the sun went down, ANNNDDD buy a postcard and bolt on the bus (no we didnt have bus passes) and went back to the station with 10 minutes to spare.... AWESOME! check off my list!! yes i pushed the PISA tower over.. hahah you will see the pictures soon!--via facebook

the train ride back from PISA was 2 hours, we laughed and snuck into first class and got kicked out... and the train was alittle rocky so i found myself in those SMALL hallways in the train lugging my suitcase, and clinging to the windows because of the sharp turns... mom had a good wheezing laugh... hahah me too!! hahah we had some funny times in Rome! mom will always remember and i am so happy to have been there for her first european adventure! Home in Torino flew, i had to get back in the grove of school and mom was getting all her stuff together to go home.... sad!!!!!! today i took her to the airport (thursday 4:30am) we woke up and it was unreal for me... has 2 weeks really just flown by??? why is time flying??? but when i am in class it couldnt go by any slower!!! ahhh! but we woke up this morning and took the shuttle to the airport and arrived early... and sat and had a coffee and toast.. mom you can decode what toast means in the states... :) and we sat and talked about life and everything i miss talking about... then it was time to part ways.... the tears rushed down my face faster than i could wipe them away...! ahhh i hate saying goodbye! but she will be home tonight and dad YOU MISSED HER A LOT!!!! hahah its ok... i miss MY WHOLE FAMILY!!!!!! but time will still continue to fly and i will be home before you know it!

this weekend i am off to LONDON... London calling... (sing with me!!) hahaha Mom i LOVE LOVE LOVE you! and i had the time of my life with you! the memories i have with you here will be in my heart forever... but on my way home from the airport everything reminded me of you.... ya more tears! ah! i LOVe everyone that follows my blog! and i will be writing after LONDON!!!!! caiooooo for now

xoxoxoxoxo

Family forever :) 

PARIS!!!!... Rome is coming!

Hello to ALL!!

It is Thursday night and I am packing for Paris… the question iss… what in the WORLD do I pack that is going to keep up with the French womens style?? Haha I packed nothing of the sort, well I guess I am going to have to win them over with my personality again.. hahah! 2am  rolled around Friday morning and Micki and I caught a cab to the shuttle station to take us from Torino to the Milano airport.  It arrived at 3am and we took the shuttle for 2 hours to Milan.  Arrived in Milan at 5am to prepare us for our 6:30 flight. We flew this airline that is called Easyjet.. its an inexpensive way to fly when you are already here in Europe.  But they are STRICKED with the luggage that you bring on the flight, I has to not only weigh a certain amount but it has to be a certain size… hahah thank god I packed light, I was nervous about my backpack but it fit.. like a glove! We boarded and PASSED out for the hour and five minute flight, next thing we knew we were in Paris…

I cant describe the feeling I had when I got off the plane that morning, but the people around me were speaking French!! It was a trip coming from a country that speaks only Italian and then an hour plane ride you are in a different country with a whole new language.  I kept looking at Micki and saying... “We’re in Paris! We’re in Paris!!” it was soooo cool! We took this underground into the city which wasn’t so hard to figure out, when we had to get off and figure out where to next… that was that was the challenging part! Hahah you should have seen Micki and I, we were going back and fourth back and fourth on those stupid metro stops because it wasn’t stopping where we wanted it to stop… it took us a good 2 hours!! Hahhaah everytime we got back on the numbers would go up.. 5^th times a charm.. 9^th times a charm! Hahahah so funny!

We reached our hotel! And of course our room wasn’t ready… naturally so we sat and had breakfast and looked at our paris guide book that the hotel had from previous travelers and mapped out our weekend.  Since it was early we wanted to get some sight seeing done because we KNEW we didn’t want to cram it into one day! We walked to the Notre Dame and the Saint Chapelle, when we got the Notre Dame the hunchback from the movie was outside taking pictures with the tourists… charging them of course, I got a picture without paying! Haha but looking at this amazing church from the bottom you just cant help but look at it in awe and think how?? How did they do this? Without the modern technology that we have today… how?? The church was built for Mary and the town got together and built it for her, without being paid for their work, only to show her that she was loved… chills!

As we got inside I read to Micki as she fell asleep on my shoulder… aww tired little nurdle! And then she insisted that we get something else out of the way… hahah so we went to the Saint Chapelle where they have 15 stain glass hand crafted windows that tell the stories from the beginning of time till Jesus’s death.  These windows were HUGE! And so detailed! I forget the mans name that painted them, but it was a sight to see, it was a church for the king and his closest family to go and pray, and it sat ontop of another church that other people of the city would go and pray.  It was incredible. As Micki read to me I dozed off myself… hahah you have to read to stay awake for these things! Hahah

After that we walked around and got lost and slowly made our way back to the hotel.  We stumbled across a Greek place with take away greek food.. MMMmmMMM! Of course we stopped in and grabbed some food to go, and not only did it look so good, we couldn’t wait to eat it so we eat as we walked back to the hotel… IT WAS SOOOOOOO GOOD! Reminded me of home! That night Mickis uncle was playing at this really primo primo party and we were on the “list!” Micki and I had NO idea what to expect but we were excited! We met her uncle at his hotel and headed over.  There was a before party that was so artsy and funky that I was just looked at the art and found myself with the weirdest look on my face… haahha I think I might have offended some people.. oops! I thought the art was really cool, but not my style.  The party was so chic and full of artsy people.. ahh it was a different atmosphere that’s for sure! After tat we left to go to the party party, and when we walked up to the door they weren’t letting us in because they couldn’t find our names… sweet! Then her uncle came over and got us in and Micki and I yet again were starstruck and just starring at people! Hahah the place was packed with important people, I didn’t know who any the hell they were! I could have been talking to one of the most successful richest person in Paris and wouldn’t have a clue! Mickis Uncle played AWESOME and we definitely enjoyed all the interesting weird people! Hahah the next day our friend Maggie Micki and I woke up had breakfast and headed out to site see! I wasn’t feeling good at all but I wasn’t going to let it stop me from seeing Paris!  We started off at the Eiffel Tower and took it to the top! That was SOOOOOO cool! Omg the tower is HUGE! You see it in movies but never think its that BIG! Ahh it was incredible! I couldn’t fit the whole thing into my camera lends! That was a shame!  But we got the top and it was a sight! Everything looked fake, and small, like a doll house! After that we made our way to the Arc De Triomphe which was another HUGE monument that I had no idea was so big it was surrounded by one of the biggest round-a-bouts I have EVER seen! Then Micki wanted to go to this museum and Maggie and I went on what I like to call the never ending walking tour! My feet were RAW that night! But she took me everywhere! The house of chanel, and the famous Ritz that was across the street, and then to the Opera that was one of the most beautiful opera buildings I have ever seen! And then through gardens and to the square called Place De La Concorde which is one of the most famous squares during the French Revolution.  It was the square where Marie Anttanett head was cut off… she had a monument.  And the famous Tile garden, ahh just too much! After walking all day we got back and passed out!!!! Woke up and went out at 10pm, to this cute bassierie in a square in the Latin Quarter, it was expensive but a wonderful view! The French men are gorgeous!!! Let me say that again… gorgeous! They are sooooo pretty! I found myself starring a lot… hahah it was so hard not too! I was feeling sick at dinner and decided to call it a night, but micki and Maggie went out and had fun! I cried because I didn’t want to feel like this anymore, but I wasn’t going to force myself to go out when I knew that I shouldn’t.  The next day was HELL! I literally couldn’t get out of bed, the world was spinning so fast and I couldn’t seem to get it slow down!! I was not ok! I got dressed (that was A LOT of work) and went to the Pantheon with Maggie and toured the inside.. beautiful, and then went back to the hotel and took a nap, I was planning on going to the Louvre but I was feeling so sick I couldn’t! I was happy that yesterday Maggie took me to the outside to see it. We sat there and people watched and talked for like an hour! So nice! That night I was feeling BETTER! Ah so much better! Micki Maggie and I walked down to the rive by the Notre Dame and got some food people watched and hung out before Maggie had to leave to go back to Lyon.  It was sad but all good things have to come to an end.  L then micki and I made our way tot the Sacre Coeur, it sits ontop of a hill that over looks all of Paris! It was soooooo beautiful!! And of course there was a guy playing his guitar singing and playing for all the people sitting on the steps… ahhh he was so Hot and beautiful! Oh man! He set up amps and a microphone and sang all the oldies slow music! Micki and I were in heaven! Having Paris behind him and singing all the songs that bring back memories from home.. it was the cherry ontop of a GREAT weekend!  Even though I was under the weather and Mickis teeth cracked and was hurting her… we still managed to find a grat way to end the trip with alittle music! SO FUN! 

Well got back from Paris on Monday afternoon, after waking up at 5am Paris time, catching a shuttle to the airport from our hotel, taking our 6:45am flight home to Milano. Unfortunately the torino airport doesn’t fly to very many far destinations so I have to take a shuttle to the Milan airport and then fly out of there, so when we landed we had to wait an hour for our shuttle to arrive at the airport Micki and I grabbed a quick bite. We arrived back in Torino and I have never been so happy! I love coming home unpacking and taking a shower! Ahhh theres no place like home! This week was bad.. I had 2 midterms and I was sick..YUCK! but my MOM is on a plane right now on her way to see me for her first time in Europe! I cant wait till she gets here!!

 

Till next week….! I love you all!

Caio caio

Katherine Ossipoff

xoxoxoxoxo