DeC 19th-27th!!!! WoOt WoOt

December 19^th -27^th , 2009

It was a Saturday and I had spent the whole day putting my stuff away cleaning, packing laundry, basically preparing for the new students.  I knew I was getting 3 new roommates so I wanted them to enjoy this apartment as much as I did or do actually… hahah! This winter break I decided to travel with my friend Kate Macleod her real name is Katherine but she goes by Kate she spells it the same way I spell it, weird right… this girl is a ROCK star! She is a true backpacker, because she traveled to many countries with me with just one long backpack.  Now me on the other hand I packed light but had a duffle… and this duffle was STUFFED it had no room.  The reason I did that was because if I don’t have room then I can shop, and if I don’t shop then I don’t spend money… DING! Good plan!  Now I don’t know if you guys know this but the airlines that fly you from country to country have weight limits and bag size limits… packing I KNEW that my bag was WAY to big for their little cut out models but I was going to “cheat” the system.  Now RyanAir was the first flight we were taking to the Torino Airport… and RyanAir are Nazi’s when it comes to overweight bags as well as too big bags! Hahaah my neon bright green duffle that one of my old roommates had left behind was the bag I was using… it didn’t help that it was glowing!  So I get through security—dad, I don’t know how you travel every week—and everything is working out, get past the ticket checkers everything works out… ahhh one flight down 6 more to go! Hahahah! Now if I were to check my bag it would be like 20 euros for each flight… and I wasn’t about to PAY!  So I got away with it… just have to imagine that my bag is light… light as a feather.  We sit down on the plane and for some reason our flight is being delayed… we sat on the plane for 2 HOURS! Waiting for... I have no idea what!  Kate gets a call from the other Koreans in our program Young Eun and Sequan (I don’t know if I’m spelling that correctly) saying that their flight from this other airport outside of Torino was cancelled due to bad weather conditions, but what the stewardess’s weren’t telling us was that we were WAITING for the people from that flight… So you have an entire flight getting hungry and routy waiting for this plane to leave the freaking gate. The next thing I know more people are boarding the plane and the Koreans cute little asian faces are big smiles getting on the same flight as us.  Now they left Torino at like noon that day… it was 10 at night when they finally got on a plane... they had been traveling for 10 hours and had gone nowhere! Hahaha so sad! Oh and I forgot to mention that Kate the girl I am traveling with is part Korean and Scottish… quite the combo!  But she is American, but she can understand Korean fluently though.  Anyway they finally get on the plane and sit the down and the plane takes off… 2 and a half hours late! Sweet!  We arrive in London at like 12:30am London time (they are an hour behind italy) and Sequan has a cousin that is living in London that met us at the airport.  She was super nice and helped us get to central London.  Now even though the flights to each country are SUPER cheap, the drop you in the boondox and you have to either take a shuttle or a bus to get to the central city anywhere you go… SCAM! But you gotta do what you gotta do.  So we got in line for the train to take us to central London and bought our tickets and had literally 3 minutes to catch it. Now I don’t know if you have ever seen Asians run, but it is something that you need to look into seeing! I don’t think that I have ever laughed so hard at people running before… the most uncoordinated people I know! Hahahahah plus they Young and Sequan had all their luggage because they left for semester, so they are running down this ramp trying to get to the train! I’m screaming at the guy that says, “all aboard!” on the side of the train… picture 2 Koreans, 2 American Koreans and one white girl running and literally JUMPING head first onto this train! Hahaha it was a sight! But we made it! 

            His cousin invited us to stay at her house just for the night because it was late and she didn’t want us roaming the streets in London at 2am, we had a hostel booked and young paid the down payment of like 3 euro, so we just said screw it… we’ll stay with you!  We got back to her flat and Sequan and Young made us Korean food mmmm it was soooooo good! Spicy! We ended up not going to bed until like 3am, but it was ok because we could sleep in and roam the city the next day.  When we woke up Kate and I got packed and went to meet up with her family friend that lives outside the city of London… not that far from the central station.  When we finally found where she was living after me slipping on the ice like a hundred times she had a BIG flat that they are still remodeling and it was beautiful… I looked at Kate and said, “oh ya, we’re ruffing it!!” hahahahah we went into the city for a few hours and Sam and Paul her boyfriend cooked us an amazing british meal with wine from italy. It was a memorable night.  We laughed and shared stories all night.  They are so cute together!  The next day we woke up and went into the city and decided to buy We Will Rock You tickets because my best friend micki is OBESSED with this play and she has been wanting me to see it for so long! So Kate and I grabbed some Thai food and went and saw the show.  IT WAS AMAZING! The songs I already knew because micki sings them all the time, and the whole play is based off rock and roll and Queen songs… needless to say it was INCREDIBLE!! After that Kate and I wandered the streets of London hitting china town, and all these little street vendors.  We wanted to have a drink so we went into this bar named O’neils which is an irish pub and had a few drinks and met some really nice men! Hahah dancing singing! Ahh! Everytime I went to the bathroom this group of Italians would like pull my arm and want to kiss me… soo awkward… the thoughts in my head were, “ok why are you guys so outgoing in other countries that when it comes to your own you just stare??” so I pulled away and went pee. Hahahah !  we didn’t get back to Sam’s till late because the Tube stopped working so we had to take a cab… and met this guy Dominic from Sicily! Hahahah Kate and I talked to him the whole cab ride! He was SUPER sick! Gave us a discount on the cab and said that we were the most entertaining group of American girls he has ever had in his cab! Hahaah ! thanks man!

            The next day we stayed in a watched movies all day… hahah it was snowing and the wind was blowing… not a sight seeing kind of day, it was ugly! So we did laundry cleaned up, watched movies and baked! Hahaha all the things I have been missing in italy.  We left London on the 24^th of December, yes, I spent most of the day on a HOT bus… we left from the station and took a bus from London to Manchester and this coach was SUPER nice, the only problem was that the heater was like broken or something… and it was soooooo sticking hot! And when I’m hot I start to get loud!  This bus ride is like 4 hours and for the first hour and a half it was like dining with the devil! It was sooo freaking hot! So finally I got up and asked the bus driver to turn off the heater and of course he tells me that its off, and then I look at him and say, “ok, its like a hundred degrees back here and I am sweating so is there anyway we can open a window or something??”  so his second hand driver got up and popped open the emergency exit things above our heads and the air whipped through the coach so fast, and you could hear all the people gasp… I turned around and was like why didn’t anyone say anything??? Of course the loud annoying American is going to say something because everyone else is too much of a chicken shit to do it themselves. Ahh makes me so mad! Then this bitch of a lady, sorry, I don’t mean to be mean… but cmon! It was HOT! Like uncomfortable, so it was open long enough for the lady to complain again… and then she made the guy close it.. and then when the other bus guy moved to the back of the coach the people were like NO NO we’re fine! Hahahaha freakin British not speaking up! The Americans have to do everything! Hahah! So we arrived in Manchester, 4 hours later where we met by Kates family (her dad’s friend from the war) and he picked us up by one of his son in-laws and drove us 30 minutes north up to Wigan… small town of Wigan! Such a cute little town.  His wife Norma made us dinner… ahhh so good! Home cooked meal, and we ate every bite, and told us all these stories about when he was in the war (all funny ones) and when he was with Kates dad, and all the women… hahahah cutest little old man!  We finished dinner and made it bed pretty late after catching up with them.  And they had the most COMFORTABLE bed… ya “roughing” it yet again… hahah! And we had tea in bed every morning… as well as English breakfast every morning! Haven’t seen eggs made over easy in a WHILE!  It was Christmas… and they gave us time to get ready and head over to Normas daughters house Ian and his wife, I cant remember her name right now, but they had their grand children there as well, and then Ian and his wifes kids were there too Stacey so what I found out was that Norma and John had great grand children to play with… it was CRAZY to look at their entire family tree.  We had breakfast all together and then hung out at their house and talked about California and where Kate and I had traveled too. It was a lot of fun, not to mention the amount of wine I drank… I was classy but those Brits man they know how to drink… I sware I didn’t see the bottom of my glass! It was great!

            Then it was time to make it over to In and his wifes other daughters house to have dinner… with the whole family.  Her house was BEAUTIFUL! They had just redone it as well, and they had 3 children one that I fell in love with! His name is Brody, and hes like 2 and I seriously laughed at him all night! He brought me pretzels from the appetizer table all night, and was tripping over himself and laughing at every little thing that I did! Hahahh!! He was SOOOOO CUTE!  But Katherine got alittle drunk ladies and gentlemen! I mean, cmon I wasn’t so drunk that I couldn’t walk but at that place of drinking-ness that I was extremely happy! Hahahah … lets just put it this way.. I sang Sweet home Alabama on Karaoke… yes ladies and gentlemen Katherine is from California but somehow she LOVES ALABAMA! Everyone should know that song… and if you don’t then I don’t know how you are still living! I beat my partner at the singing battle, I picked the song because I know all the words so that I would win.. hahah I know I am a cheater… but whatever! Ian Norma and Johns son came up to me and was like you get along with kids really well, do you plan on having kids, and at that moment Kate and I both said at the same time… “more wine!” hahahah Even though Christmas wasn’t spent with my family, I got to spend it with the most amazing most welcoming people in all of England, and I couldn’t have ask for anything more!!  On the 26^th.. BOXING DAY! Now being American… whats boxing day?? Now I guessed and said that it’s a day where you take all your boxes that your presents were in recycle them, and Kate laughed at me… but turns out the dumb blonde was RIGHT! Ha! Stick that in your pipe and smoke it! Hahah! We went to football (soccer) match Wigan vs someone… I forget and had great seats! I was shocked though.. They aren’t allowed to drink in the stadium… and then thinking about it, the British are rowdy people so that doesn’t surprise me!  The game was awesome but cold! I bought a Wigan beanie J and then after the game Wigan tied the other team 1 to 1.  We went back to Norma and Johns house for the boxing day party and ate curry chicken and chilly.. not together and all kinds of stuff! Mm I didn’t eat all day because people told me not too because there was so much food, I didn’t drink because I was still hungover from the other night! Hahahah!  But the same people at the house and it was FUN! Again! They begged me to sing again… and I blushed and politely said no, I couldn’t do the embarrassing thing again!  People were asking me all these questions about my life and the states, and they couldn’t get enough of what I had to say… I know I’m interesting but really that interesting?  The 27^th was the day we were leaving and the whole family owns this bridal shop that they all help run, and they were dying to show us it all week so right before we left we went there and yes, wait for it, tried on wedding dresses.. yes Katherine was in a wedding dress! It was awesome! Then we saod our goodbyes and hopped into the car and drove back to the airport and began our adventure again… IRELAND here we come!... till next time save me a pint!

 

xoxoxo

 

last night in torino!!!!

Last Day/ Night in Torino: December 17^th, 2009

 

First of all I would like to say how happy I am to be back in Torino where I call this place home… Traveling for a month can take a lot out of you, with being on time and early to catch your train, bus, ferry, plane, or donkey… it can get stressful! But before I get into my Christmas break I’m going to tell you alittle bit about my last night in Torino with all my wonderful classmates that shared the whole semester with me in Torino.  Deep breath… hmmmm… okay, so we had all just gone to school for our farewell meeting where USAC had given us cake and drinks (non alcoholic) to say our last thank you’s to our teachers the staff and friends. Now at this point it hasn’t hit me yet that everyone is leaving… to me it is like any other meeting place and then after we all get together drink, go out and dance the night away, so I wasn’t really “sad” at the going away party, but never the less we WERE going out!  The night started out at this Apretivo place that I had NEVER been to… but it turns out that it is one of my favorites now!!! BEST FOOD BEST DRINKS and EVERYONE was there, all the international students and the “USAC-ers” hahaha we had a ball taking up essentially the whole top level of this place and everyone just hugging and laughing about the times that made this semester so spectacular!  After all the food was eaten by the “French” hahah kidding the Americans are the pigs! Hahah oink!  We were all sitting around … I mean yelling across the restaurant deciding where to go to celebrate our last night together.  All the boys of course wanted to go to a pub and of course all the girls FREAKED out and shut them all down and said NO NO NO! we are going dancing!  Now I was in my dancing shoes and my Michael Jackson hat… I was ready for anything!  We end up going to this place down by the river Po but alittle further back and underneath this restaurant was this night club that we had found in the beginning of the semester but went back every now and then. Tonight was a PERFECT night to go back because we had the place to ourselves! Well throw in a couple creepy Italians but other than that it was EPIC! Everytime you turned around it was someone you knew… and it felt great, hugging and kissing and crying and laughing! It was an amazing, amazing night!  Everyone was dancing their hearts out, on the bar on the tables ahh the atmosphere was like ecstasy.  But as we all know great things always have to come to an end.  I remember at one point in like mid sond—mid dance move I like stopped and started crying…OMG! And then everyone threw their arms around me it was sooo HARD!  That night I said good bye to everyone and it was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.  I walked home with Josh and Meghan and we all held hands the whole way home!  Talking about all the crazy things we ran into last semester and how funny this night was and the last! Ahh so many crazy nights to remember.  We finally reached my apartment… and it was time to say goodbye to them, and I couldn’t hold the tears back, and when I started crying I couldn’t stop… it was an ongoing waterfall on my face that I couldn’t control!  When I got upstairs to my apartment my roommates were there and I want going to fall asleep so I took a shower and stayed up and talked to Jessie, Naomi and Jenna till the sun came up.  Their cab showed up around 6am I think... and the tears started again! Ahhh saying goodbye to the people that I had shared my apartment with and essentially my life with for the past 4 months were gone! I cannot describe the pain that throbbed in my chest… it hurt tooo bad.  Mickis roommate Ashley was leaving at the same time my other roommate Kim was so they shared a cab, so when Ashley showed up at my house those tears were tears like I was saying goodbye to a GOOD friend… Ashley had hung out with micki and I everyday and every night… so we had developed a close relationship, so saying goodbye to her was one of the hardest!  When the cab drove away all I could do was hug micki and not look… I couldn’t watch all these people leaving my life, and all at once.  It was SO hard! Even though this was over a month ago the tears still weld up in my eyes as I am typing this out.  After the cab disappeared down Via Madama Christina Micki and her other roommate Taylor came up to my apartment so that they would have to be alone.  We all sat around and cried and cried and cried.  I got internet in my apartment that morning and my dad had sent something to me so inspirational… words from my brilliant father…

            “well, all of this is very emotional and that is the part that is exhausting.  Believe me, once you settle in and catch a good nap or sleep, you'll not only feel better but realize that you are collecting terrific coins of friendship and making the memories that will make u smile when things seem sad. Another adventure awaits in a couple of days.  More stuff to experience and more stories to create.  It all weaves very nicely into this tapestry you are creating; a full-colored and richly appointed fabric that is your life, Angel.  I love you.” 

And he is right, I read this to micki and Taylor and they began to cry again, but he was so right, even though its hard now, your adventure has already begun, your bound to hit bumps in the road but that’s what adventures need… and the adventure that I’m about to embark on is highly dangerous and flammable… kidding… ready? 

i will be getting the next one out tomorrow.... bare with me... i dont want to leave anything out!

xoxoxox