The Foreign Looking One: March 2013

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Florence

Well then it was on to Florence. Florence was cool. I mean it was cold and it was smaller. And really it’s a place for artists. I, Ladies and Gentlemen, am not an artist. So, I tried my best to really love this place. I think it was also because I was actually on my own this time, and because I can’t stare at artwork too long.

Florence, like I said, is cool. But it’s small. And I know Rome. Everyone knows what to do in Rome, but I didn’t know what I was supposed to do in Florence. So I did what my good friend, Rick Steve’s, told me to do. And he told me to go to the Duomo and art museums. So I did.

Duomo is nice. Really the outside is pretty awesome and very different, but then you expect the inside to be even more awesome right? Well it kind of was. The dome is what’s interesting…the rest is bare. The walls don’t have artwork, only the dome. So look at that and then I guess go on your merry way.

I then tried to pass the time with gelato and other forms of food, but soon I just wanted to go back to my hostel. When I was there I met a few of the other guys staying in the hostel and they invited me to go out with them that night. I did and it was fun. But this has been my whole mindset with Florence, just ok.

I started to like Florence once I found a scarf that I ended up wearing the whole rest of my Eurotrip. Yep shopping, that’s what did it for me. I got happier about leaving Rome because I like shopping.

The next day I found myself going to the Academia Museum to take yet another not-approved picture of the real statue of David (there are two replicas in the city) and essentially reading my book. Yep, strange world we live in now, folks, I chose to read a book. And it was a good one too, 800 pages long so it lasted me the whole trip.

Well the second museum I went to that day was the Ufizi Museum. It was big and interesting. But it was again, a lot of paintings. And I feel like I sound completely uneducated when I say this…but there are only so many pictures of Mary and Jesus that I can look at…so I again read my book. But I didn’t just casually want to leave a museum with no where else to go, so I put in my headphones, turned to my kindle and read for 5 hours straights while making my way through the museum. I looked at everything on my way, no worries, but I paid for museum time and I was going to use it.

And then after the Museum closed on me, I had to wait for my night train to Munich. That was just one heart attack after another. I had gone to the train station earlier in my trip and they said that all night train tickets couldn’t be booked on the computer because of some technical difficult. Ok fine, I didn’t know that was a way of saying, “sucks to suck suckah!” but I was sure going to find out.

While waiting in McDonald’s for my 23:00 train (yes I got a cheeseburger), this lady was sitting at a table with a dog. Well she has some mental issues that resulted in her scream like mad and the security and police had to get her out of the McDonald’s. So solo-Mary was starting to freak out. And if I didn’t already take that as sign 2, well I guess I’d have to learn the hard way.

I didn’t have my Eurail pass yet. I had called Chase/Visa, Eurail and many other places over 15 times in a week trying to figure out how to buy my pass and where to send it. I now have all my credit card information memorized and many telephone people that hate my sass. (See what I did there?)

So not only do I not have a reservation, I also do not have a ticket. Just hope that I can buy one on the train. As the train arrived, people rushed for the doors. I tried to talk to many different conductors (the train was going to split on the ride) about my situation. I talked to each conductor 2 times before they finally let me on the train to Vienna. That’s right, Vienna, and I needed to go to Munich. I was going to be taking the train to Vienna and then a train from Vienna to Munich to meet my cousin. Thank God she was coming around 6pm. Luckily the ladies I sat down next to urged me to talk to every single worker and push my way for a seat to Munich. Not one person told me the truth until I started getting frantic. Every single one told me that there were no seats at all and not nicely either, LIES. Eventually I got a sleeper car bunk to Munich. And after one interesting day of reading and cheeseburgers, I was off to meet Katie.

Rome...take 1

Well the start of my adventure begins on the night of February 21^st because my plane wasn’t going to take off until 6am February 22^nd. Knowing me, the only thing to make this possible was to pull an all nighter with a cab ride at 3am. And to say I was nervous was an understatement, which many might think is strange. In a matter of 7 months I have lived in Israel during a crisis period, traveled into the West Bank, gone on a spontaneous trip to Greece, and taken many a Megabuses to various colleges around the United States. But, this time, I was going to be alone. Only for a week, I know, but like I said earlier, it’s not like Katie and I actually knew each other. And I really don’t like being alone.

And on top of that, 3am was rapidly approaching. I was packed, I was dressed and all I was doing was listening to my high school’s acapella music to calm my nerves. OK and a little One Direction too. I was texting my friends from home for a pseudo-send off since none of my friends from Israel were awake or around, and before I knew it, the cab driver was calling my cell phone to tell me he had arrived. I rushed out of my room, forgetting to lock my personal bedroom door, said goodbye to the guards and hopped in the cab. And for the whole car ride I wanted to tell him to turn back and drop me back off at the dorms. But obviously, I made the right choice in staying put with my decision to travel.

But, it wasn’t just the lack of knowing anyone that made me nervous, but also that my layover for my connecting flight to Rome was only 45 minutes. And when you grow up thinking all and most airports function like O’Hare in Chicago, I almost had a heart attack. 45 minutes wasn’t going to be enough and I got myself ready to run once I got off that plane.

So there I was, completely flustered and running through out the Athens airport. I was so anxious about getting there in time that I almost breached security by trying to get through a door clearly marked for personnel only. And then after making a fool of myself in more ways than one, my plane was delayed and had to wait at the gate for 15 more minutes…couldn’t just get on the plane and not deal with stares…lovely.

But from that point on, everything was perfect and everything went perfectly. And here’s the update about staying with the nuns a couple posts ago. It shouldn’t surprise you to know that my mom is very good friends with a priest. And that priest knows a nun. Well that nun, has a twin sister…who is also a nun. And she lives in Rome. So who did I stay with, nun #2 in Rome. Sister Joan to be more specific. Her order’s headquarters is in Rome and the majority of them were American…and two had the name Mary. I had never felt more at home. They gave me my own room with a bathroom, towels and even a wifi password. This was the perfect transition.

These nuns are some of the sweetest people I have ever met. They all genuinely cared about what I was going to do during the day and that I got back on time. And they all cared about each other. They made sure everyone was home and got to the airport ok. They welcomed every new guest and had nice send offs. They even put my name on the sign in front of my room. And thank goodness I went straight to them and not all of a sudden on my own. I felt like I always had 15 people watching over me.

And then things just got better because well…I was in ROME! Day one of being there I went to the Vatican and overlooked St. Peter’s square in more ways then one. Something that I will say until the end of time, there is just something about the sky over St. Peter’s. No matter the weather, it’s always gorgeous. The best part was I had to walk through St. Peter’s every night to get back to the Nun’s house, no matter where I was, it was the only way to get back. The Christmas tree plus the dome lit up at night just adds up to one beautiful place. And you don’t even have to be Christian to appreciate how beautiful it is, it just is.

Through out the week I walked a cumulative 5 hours a day, in the rain and sunshine. I saw the Spanish Steps, snuck a picture of the Sistine Chapel, threw back a wish/coin at the Trevi and had me some damn good gelato. But my favorite part of any city, but specifically Rome, was the views.

Stupid Mary went a whole day without cash…but in the process got to go up on the Cupola for free because of it. And one day while walking, I somewhat stumbled upon a side view of Rome. To see all that Roman history from almost a bird’s eye view is something in it of itself. Not only is Rome just casually scattered with thousands of years of history, but it’s beautiful too. It is.

And at this moment, I didn’t know I was going to be coming back, so I was sad to leave. Sad to leave the wonderful nuns and sad to go somewhere that I didn’t know what to expect. But luckily I came back, and well more on that later.

Friday, March 1, 2013

Oh God, we smell...

Ahh to type on a real keyboard again! After roughly 6 weeks of solely my "Steve Jobs" phone for communication and updates, it feels good to sit down in my own place and stare a screen much larger than a couple inches.
For those of you not up to date on my doings, I just returned from a completely life-changing and amazing EuroTrip with my cousin Katie. I had winter break here in Israel and because I was so close to the world around me a EuroTrip seemed like the best and smartest option for this gap year I am on. 6 weeks is a long time, so I'll try my best to chug out all I can about this trip in separate posts. I won't publish all of them on my Facebook wall or twitter, so just look back here for the updates.
With logistics out of the way, I guess it's time to delve into as much as I can. And this one will be my overview post. Ps for all the pics in this post, if you click on them, they will enlarge.

6 weeks and I wore the same 3 leggings, 5 shirts and 3 pairs of socks. 6 weeks and I was blessed to see 16 different cities in 9 different countries. 6 weeks and numerous amazing memories. But it was 6 weeks with one amazing person! It's Katie time everybody!

Katie knew that after she graduated from Paramedic school, she would have some flux time before her license was set to come in and before she was going to test for the Fire Department (good luck girl fran!). I had winter break and worried parents about their 18 year old traveling alone, so they got us connected to plan this little excursion. And thank God they did. Katie, here's my public note to you. I was accompanied by one heck of a girl. Take note that the first day we spent together, was the most time we'd ever spent together cumulatively up until that point. So admittedly we were both nervous if we were even going to like each other. But I'd like to say that separation anxiety is an understatement right now.
Lady, you gots one heck of a personality. I never thought I'd feel so open and welcomed by a relative stranger. We were quick to laugh and both had similar interests in what we wanted to see and experience. But I think the best thing about us is that even though we had some spats and disagreements, it didn't stop the fun we had. I mean world, if you want to know what it'd be like to be married to me...just ask her! But I think the moment we knew we were in for a wild ride was when Katie fell asleep in the lobby of the hostel and I decided to videotape her. This broke all barriers of inhibition and from that moment we were a site to be seen. I couldn't have asked for a better travel bud, photographer, reality check and jokester. Sad thing is, all our pictures together are roughly tamed and normal, but that is anything but us. I love you cuz and I couldn't have asked for anyone else to travel with these weeks! The picture on the right is what the world sees, but the one on the left is what we're really like.

But like I said, traveling with her wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for my parents. Mommy Dearest and Wanyay really helped when it came to figuring out how to get smallz here out to me and urging us to soak in everything we could. I mean heck, they encouraged me to miss the first week of classes so I could see all the Pope stuff! So you two, as you'll see in upcoming posts, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to see the world and experience the best aspects of life around the world. Truly one of the best months of my life.

Katie and I would frequently have moments where we would go through pictures and really realize that we had seen so many things. Before we knew it, it was the end of the trip and we had to say goodbye. And I wouldn't change a thing about it. No running for the train moment, slipping on ice, or rainy day would make me want to do something different. Everything was perfect! And with that I'll leave some of pictures so you all know what's coming up! More details and memories for specific posts!

Again, if you click on all the pictures, they enlarge.