Italiano

So after a stressful little morning involving waking up late (I knew I shouldn't have slept) figuring out how to get to the airport, and an intense 40 minutes, I made it to Milan from Berlin. Milan is a very nice city, the most expensive in Italy. It has little to see as far a sight-seeing goes (besides the beautiful church and a castle) and I actually felt pretty satisfied having seen the city in one day. It's much more of a place to live not necessarily visit, but it definitely got me in the mood for the rest of the trip. So after arriving I met up with Nicola and he showed me around the city. His apartment was really nice but already I can tell that my trip in Italy is going to involve some monstrous heat and lots of sweating. Italy can compete with Madrid as far as temperature goes, and adding the humidity to the mix and you feel sticky and gross after just a few minutes of walking around.

The country is beautiful though and that night we watched the big Spain Netherlands game at a row of bars that were floating on the river. Funnily enough they served paella and tapas with our drinks, and while I was very happy that Spain won I was obviously pretty sad not to be partying it up in Madrid. The celebrations in Milan were summed up by a lone couple on a scooter honking their horn and waving a spanish flag as they passed us by. But I can't have everything and I was incredibly excited for the trip ahead of me.

I'm writing this now, on my birthday, having been in Florence for 2 days and it is really REALLY beautiful here. I love how every city in Italy has a gigantic church called a Duomo that provides the main attraction. Milan's was beautiful but I really like Florence's. Not only that but the city is just straight out of a postcard. One bridge is one of the oldest surviving in Italy and has a great view of all the mountains. Last night for my 21st we went out with a group from our hostel to a very popular area with the locals. We also got a famous Italian drink called the Invisible which is a very strong drink and needless to say the night was a blast. Today Nicola and I drove to Pisa and saw the tour (taking the necessary holding up the tower pictures) but besides their Duomo and the tower there was really not much else to see. Pisa is a college town and has one of the best universities in Italy and like all other cities in Tuscany it was gorgeous. It seems as though Italy or at least the places I've gone in Italy are a lot more touristy, or at least I hear more English than I've heard in awhile. There are street vendors everywhere (something I didn't miss much while in Germany) selling fake bags and fake rolex's. But with Nicola being fluent in Italian it definitely makes it a lot easier to get around and get what we want. Tonight for dinner we're going to a restaurant that serves legit Tuscany food and I'm really excited and depending on what the people in our hostel are doing we'll definitely be going out again!

The rest of our trip is looking super exciting Rome is up next but then afterwards what I'm looking forward to most is Salento which is a beach town and it looks beautiful! After all of the tourism and walking it'll be nice to be in a tropical beach with water to swim in and the relaxing lifestyle. Anyways time to go live up the big 21!