Hananas bites it!

I was taking a scenic video and happened to catch Hana falling over. She probably doesn't want this posted...but oh well :) it's funny!

5, 4, 3, 2, 1...BUNGEEEEE!

The Drop

The Plank

Signing my life away...

I made a tentative list of things "to do" before I came to Europe...go to a concert, a list of paintings I wanted to see, try some out there foods, but never did I imagine I would jump off a 280 foot cliff and live to tell about it! Bungee jumping in Interlaken was most likely the craziest thing I have ever done, but I loved it!!!! So when we arrived to our hostel on Friday the first thing we did was start researching things to do. Hikes, mountain biking all seemed cool...but then some other stuff caught our eye. You can river raft, "canyon", rock climb, sky dive, paraglide, or bungee. All my friends got talking about bungee jumping and I literally got sick to my stomach. I told them there was no way I would ever do it.

So the next morning at breakfast, they were booking it at the front desk and out of no where I yelled to them, "SIGN ME UP!" I decided that there is no way I could live with myself if all my friends did it and were talking about how fun it was and I didn't try it. I was scared out of my mind though. So we paid the money and we were locked in...all we had left to do was wait for the van to pick us up at 1pm. So we decided to go for a hike and it was really fun! I kept staring up at the mountains though and wondering "how far is 280 feet???" that was the big joke of the trip when I asked someone if it was as high as one of the nearby hills...which apparently according to my friends was actually over 1000 feet high. I still haven't lived that one down.

Anyways, we were waiting for a train from Lauderbrunnen (where our hike was) back to Interlaken...but the train was late! We got back right at 1 and sprinted from the train station all the way back to our hostel so we wouldn't miss the bus to bungee. Originally I was thinking I would have time to go back, relax, and try to mentally prepare myself for what I was about to do. Instead I sprinted after this van and literally jumped in it as it was driving off and before I knew it I was up in the hills with some crazy New Zealander's who think it's fun to jump off cliffs. It was happening so fast that I actually didn't have much time to think about it. Plus, the humor of the situation really calmed me down.

Our drive to the bungee location was beautiful. We passed by the actual Matterhorn Mountain (way bigger than Disneyland!). Once we got to the top I looked over the edge and my heart started pounding. Before we knew it we were getting harnesses put on us! The guy asked someone to read the risks outloud to the group so I volunteered. It was a really witty speech with lines like "try not to die" and "we hope you didn't tell your mother you are doing this." Not so comforting.

There was a group of 7 of us and I volunteered to go first. After the fact, I'm really surprised I did this...but my logic at the time was that if I watched anyone else go through with it I would realize how crazy I was and back out. When he called me up to the platform that's when it really hit me. My feet were glued to the ground and he kept nodding his head at me and telling me to just take one step at a time. When I finally stepped over that rope and onto the platform, I don't think I have ever been so nervous in my life. Me being the over analyzer that I am, turned to one of the guides and asked for advice. How do I jump? A little to the left, straight out, will the rope get tangled around me? His response was a big grin and "Just don't f*#@ it up!" I couldn't help but laugh, even though it was not the response I was looking for. He started counting down from 5 and at 1 I just went for it! The minute my feet left the platform was like slow motion and for a split second I felt myself suspended in the air and then the rest is history and the next thing I remember is hanging upside down and swinging through this crazy beautiful canyon and looking up at the mountains. The adrenalin was unreal! I couldn't stop laughing for like 20 minutes!

We had some pretty cool guides with us, which helped a lot! There was a guy at the bottom of the canyon with a long pole and we got lowered down to him and he detached us. His name was Izzy and he actually held the world record back in '96 for the longest jump (1000 foot bungee from a helicopter!). He told me he passed out during the jump from severe whiplash. CRAZY! Anyways he lowered me down onto the rocks and I was so excited and disoriented that I could barely stand or walk. I got to watch the other 6 jump from down in the canyon and it was so cool! I still can't believe I did it. I feel like it was such a struggle to overcome my fear of it...and now that I have I feel like I can do anything. Who knows...maybe next time I'll do a 500 foot jump? :) There will definitely be a next time because I loved it!!! So awesome that my trip could have ended at that very moment and I would have been content.

Check out my video! It's really blurry on here and not the best quality, but it you can get the picture. (Especially notice how loud I am screaming! haha)

Interlaken, SWEETzerland

Coffee before the road-trip...chocolate smiley face!

the PUNTO!

SWISS CHOCOLATE HEAVEN!!!

Taking a juice box break. This is for my sister...."Juicy-ca Dickson"

MOOOOOOOOO

Hana, Me, Amanda, and Lauren taking in the view!

(picture by our personal photographer: Lancelot)

I am way behind on this whole blogging thing (as usual) so I will try to remember all the details as well as possible. Last Friday morning, Hana, Lance, Lauren, Amanda, and I rented a car and drove to Interlaken for the weekend. Just when we thought we couldn’t outdo ourselves (because Prague was amazing!)..we did! Hands down my favorite trip and will probably remain so (although we are already thinking up ways to top it!).

So at about 7am we headed down to the parking garage to get in our car. It was a Fiat Punto, probably the definition of a Euro Car. So we all packed into it and Lauren drove because she was the only one of us who could even drive a stick. We knew it would be an interesting drive when we couldn’t even figure out how to get the car out of our apartment parking garage. Soon we were on the road and all paying very careful attention to our directions. Proud to say that we never got lost! It seemed like a miracle. I have been on a lot of long car rides and seen some beautiful scenery, but nothing like this. Switzerland is just a beautiful place and it reminded me of home just because of the fact at it had mountains and greenery, although it didn’t look at all the same. The grass is bright green and the lake water is bright turquoise. Combine that with the snow capped mountains and a sunny blue sky and you just can’t compare it to anything else! Only downfall: the mass amount of tolls you pay every time you switch highways. No wonder Europeans don’t drive very much!

We got to Interlaken and it was a really small town but incredibly beautiful with mountains completely surrounding it. Not much to do within the actual town but walk around and shop. We were hungry so we decided to go out to dinner…that was a rude awakening. The first restaurant we went to had nothing on the menu for less than 17 francs (francs are almost exactly equal to the USD). We thought maybe we just picked too nice of a place so we kept looking but soon realized this was just the standard there; a big mac meal at McDonald’s was even 12 francs…outrageous! So we finally just accepted the fact we would pay a lot and went to a nice looking place. Everyone spent like 30 to 50 francs on their meal, accept me. I ordered Minestrone soup for 8 francs and it was better than all the other food!

Our hostel there was so nice that I would be willing to bet it is top 5 in all of Europe. It was called Backpackers Hostel and we were all a little hesitant before arriving, only because this is the same name as our Florence hostel that was disgusting! It was a typical wood carved/German looking building with a really modern and clean inside, had free breakfast, cappuccino’s, internet, really friendly staff, and best of all…free swiss chocolate! Every time we left and came back we grabbed a piece. Swiss chocolate is better than anything I have ever tasted. Also, we had a deck off of our room with an amazing view of the Alps (it was so cool waking up to that in the morning!). The staff was really friendly about suggesting places to go and things to see. They pointed us in the direction of a fun club the first nigh we were there and also showed us a couple of hikes to go on.

Saturday morning we got up really early and it was a beautiful day. We took a train up to Lauterbrunnen (30 min away) where all the good hiking trails start. It was such a cute little town. Since we had to be back to our hostel by 1 to meet our bungee jumping guides (so cool it gets its own separate entry! J) we decided to just do the easiest/shortest hike which was basically a flat trek along a bunch of waterfalls. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and the air was so fresh up there. (besides when we walked by a huge stable of cows…that wasn’t so fresh! They have cows everywhere). The rest of the day only got better, in fact it was probably one of the most memorable of my life!!

On Sunday we got up early again and went back to Lauterbrunnen to do another hike. This time we did the 2 hour one which took us through some forest and more up in the hills. It was so cool because you would be completely surrounded by trees and then out of nowhere you would round the corner and there was a huge clearing with a view of the Alps so close it felt like you could reach out and touch it. Just as we were about to take the gondola back down to Lauterbrunnen, I found a restaurant that had an amazing view of the mountains and was way cheaper than anything we had seen so far. So we had a really fun lunch in the middle of the Alps and it was a great close to our hike.

The drive home was interesting…we were all pretty tired and Lauren was our only driver so we felt bad for her. We ended up stopping at Lake Como and it was such a tease to only be able to hang out there for a couple hours! It’s so pretty and definitely a different side of Italy we had yet to see. Also, we wanted to go on a hunt for George Clooney’s mansion! Never ran into him L We had high hopes though. Although it was beautiful there, we had a terrible dinner experience that put us all in pretty bad moods. We ordered a couple of pizzas to split and that pissed off our waiter because in Italy you really aren’t supposed to split things. So he brought us 2 pizzas one of which we did not order, and when we tried to send it back he just yelled at us in Italian and walked off. So we called over another waiter who spoke English and was a little nicer. He got us the pizza we actually ordered, but then when it was time to pay and I needed change be brought it to me in 10 and 20 euro cent coins (5 euro worth!!). By this point we were more than ready to get back to Padova where people are actually friendly.

By the time we got back to Padova it was almost 1am and we were leaving for Venice at 9am the next morning. Being sleep deprived has become normal here, so much so that if I get 6 hours of sleep I feel really well rested (unlike at home where I need like 10 hours!). It was worth it though because I can’t imagine not having seen Switzerland. It is definitely on my list along with Paris of places I absolutely must go back to in my lifetime.

CZECH it out...we went to PRAGUE!

View from the tower!

"Where beer is as cheap as water..."

Czech Countryside (on the way to Prague!)

Prague exceeded my already high expectations. I had heard from all of my friends that it was an incredible city and I couldn’t be happier that I got the chance to visit it, even though it was a pretty short stay. Never in my life did I think a volcano in Iceland would affect me personally! Kind of crazy. Basically, all of the airports closed and we were forced to take a 17 hour train ride home. But the good news is that it was worth it…

We left Padova on our 14 hour bus to Prague. It was way better than I thought it would be. The seats reclined really far back and it was really comfortable. I slept all night long. When I woke up we were in Austria somewhere, no clue what city. It was really nice to pass through the Austrian and Czech countryside’s. In the Czech Republic, all of the hills are bright green, and then out of nowhere a tiny little village of maybe 30 houses will spring up and then nothing again. I was just listening to my iPod watching out my window when I see a billboard with the band KISS on it (apparently they are performing in Prague in May) and I wished I could call my dad up and tell him about it!

We arrived in Prague at about noon and headed to our hostel, Sir Toby’s. For once, I volunteered to take the directional lead (I don’t know why they let this happen, but it did). I had gotten directions off of the hostel website and they were really strange…like “if you are standing with your back to the train station and you see a tram going to the left you can get on it.” Everyone thought I was crazy, but sure enough we ended up right where we needed to be. Initially, I was a little uncomfortable in Prague. It definitely felt like a whole new world, way out of my newly developed comfort in Italy. Luckily though, we picked the best hostel in Prague to stay at and the staff was incredible! Right when we arrived they not only let us check in early, they also gave us a really helpful map and suggestions on how to make the most of our weekend. Another plus: our rooms were big, clean, and the bathrooms were actually nice! Hands down the best hostel we have stayed at so far, it will be hard to beat.

The architecture in Prague is gorgeous, and it was a great change of scenery from Italy. We started by walking around Wencesler Square where all the shopping is. I immediately realized what a crazy city Prague is when we saw hash lollipops and absinthe slushies in plain sight in a store window. Then we made our way to “Old Town,” which was my favorite part of the city. We saw the Astronomical Clock and climbed a tower (I feel like I do this in every city, yet it is still always so cool!). We also walked down to the river but it was freakishly cold (coldest we have been all trip, and not at all prepared for it) so we decided to head back to our hostel after a long day of exploring and getting lost in the city.

Something we all agreed on was to try a traditional dish in every country we visit, so sticking to our promise we went to Rustika for dinner and had a Czech meal. Amanda, Lauren, and I shared a platter with roasted duck and pig throat and goulash and dumplings. Not something I would EVER imagine myself ordering, but it was fun to try and tasted pretty good. All the food is really cheap because their currency is the Crown and the Euro/USD is worth way more there (a nice change of pace!). After dinner we were walking around Old Town and came across a cool place to get dessert. We sat out on the sidewalk (under the heat lamp) with an incredible view of the cathedral. By this time it was about 12:30 but the night was still young!

Thanks to our hostels suggestion, we discovered a touristy discotec. It was five stories tall and every floor had a different kind of music! It was so much fun! Something that shocked me though was that the rap music floor was labeled “black music,” something you would never see at home! This was our first time going to an actual club in Europe so we had a blast. Walking home to our hostel through Old Town as the birds were chirping and the sun was rising just added to the experience J Something I will never forget! We definitely got the most out of our day to say the least. We slept for about 4 hours and somehow woke up and did it all over again!

Day 2 we saved for the main attraction: the Prague Castle. It was AWESOME! Gothic style architecture on a hill overlooking all of Prague…nothing else like it. The cathedral was beautiful inside, and surrounding it was an entire village with government buildings and homes of important people. The castle dates back to the 9^th century and has been renovated over time. It was definitely the coolest thing we saw while in Prague. After this we walked down the hill back into town. It was a long walk but well worth it because it is fun just to see all of the little shops and buildings there. We walked over the Charles Bridge, another main tourist attraction. It was really beautiful but almost too crowded to fully enjoy. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping around the city and Hana and I got matching super cheesy/touristy shirts that say “Prague: CZECH ME OUT!”

We had the genius plan of not going to bed that night (since we had a 6 am flight scheduled for Sunday and would have to leave by 3:30 to get to the airport a little after 4). That changed pretty quickly when we learned our flight was cancelled. We thought it was a blessing in disguise and that we would get an extra day there and maybe even miss a day of class…kind of like a snow day, but with volcanic ash. We were mistaken though because our professors basically said under no circumstances, even a volcano, can we miss our class on Monday morning. Our only option: a 17 hour train leaving Prague at 2:30 pm, 3 hour stop in Salzburg Austria, then finally arriving in Venice at 8:30am Monday morning. We got the last 5 seats on the train. The station was a mad house full of people trying to find ways out of Prague. I overheard a lady telling someone that her sister had taken a 2000 euro taxi ride home out of desperation. It was craziness!

So after we got that mess all sorted out we decided to enjoy our last night in Prague and deprive ourselves of even more sleep. We went out to a nice dinner and sat outside again. Then we went to Roxy, a true European club (techno music and all). It was so much fun! We got to the hostel and caught up on some sleep (maybe about 4 more hours) and then got up in time to check out, have lunch, and head to the train station. We made it back to Padova with 20 minutes to spare, just enough time for some coffee. I showed up to class still in my train clothes and completely exhausted. It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but so far my favorite trip just for the pure chaos of it and the experience of a completely different culture than I have seen so far.

St. Antonio's Basilica

Last night Amanda and I hosted a big potluck in our apartment for Profe! Everyone brought a dish and it turned out so good. Amanda and I made chicken parmigian and it was quite the hit. I breaded the chicken, fried it, then baked it with sauce and cheese! The chicken reminded me exactly of my grandmas! She would be so proud :) We had so much food and Profe brought us a huge thing of cookies from a nearby pasteria! He also made a very exciting announcement! That while we are in Rome for the last week of our program we will be spending one of those nights at the beach! I don't know what the beach is called, but I'm really excited for it, I'm sure it will be beautiful and really really hot.

Today we had a site visit to San Antonio's Basilica. It is probably the most famous site in Padova and people make pilgrimages from all over Italy and even the world just to see it. Many believe that visiting the church will heal them because St. Anthony's spirit is still alive within its walls. It was incredible to see. People were surrounding his tomb with their hands pressed against it as if he was embracing them.They don't allow anyone to take pictures inside and at first I was upset about this! I have gone picture crazy and want to capture everything I see. But then I realized that pictures could not do justice. It is indescribable.

Something that really intrigued me there were items called "Ex Votos." They are also referred to as "Per Grazie Ricevuta" (Thanks for the Grace Received). St. Anthony is the saint of miracles, so his followers feel the need to pay thanks to him when something of significance happens in their life. So many gifts have been brought over the years that the church cannot possibly house them all. They have a collection of the items on display in the church museum and it was really interesting to see. Tons of paintings, depicting scenes of bedridden people being healed or of broken bones mended or of car crash survivals are displayed. These people hired painters to portray their story back in the day, and then gave them to the church as proof that St. Anthony saved their life. One of the coolest things I saw was a display of wedding rings. Couples actually came to the tomb of St. Anthony after they had been married and gave up their rings to him to thank him for bringing them together. Pictures of adorable babies are displayed, given by thankful parents. People who don't bring gifts like these may bring money or donate money to the poor in St. Anthony's honor. Our tour guide said that everyone believes that if they receive it only makes sense to give back and this practice is incredibly common. I found it really refreshing to hear. Although I am not of a religious background, all of the cathedral's I have visited (and most especially St. Anthony's today) have really got me thinking about religion and it's influence on peoples lives. I still can't believe the things I have seen in Europe so far and the way it feels to walk into a cathedral. They are so awe inspiring and the level of detail in the architecture is just unreal. St. Anthony's for example is a mix of Gothic, Romanesque, and Baroque all in one! I have never seen anything like it.

Tonight we are feasting on all of our food that will go bad over the weekend. It should be a great dinner :) Then at 10 pm we are off to Prague on an overnight bus!! It will be the longest ride ever for a very short stay of 2 days there....but I know it will be so worth it! I'm about to start researching all the places I want to see there and the best places to eat. I'm so excited to go...I will write next week when I get back! Ciao!

PGR/Ex Voto's: Wedding Rings

Trophies from sporting events...

Ex Voto Painting (one of hundreds on display!)

St. Anthony (I loved this one! It's so rare to see any modern art in churches)

St. Antonio's Basilica from the outside!

Alberto and the Potato Adventure!

Now that I am all caught up on my weekend, I have to tell you what's been up in Padova! Sunday was one of the longest days! We spent most of it planning our future weekend trips and we are so close to being done. Just realizing how incredibly expensive it will be. But thanks to skype and a 30 minute call to my mom, all my worries are going away. I'm realizing I probably won't be back to Europe in a very long time and that I definitely won't be able to experience it the same way I am now ever again...so I'm taking every opportunity I can!

Amanda and I have taken up a new hobby...cooking! We usually stop and buy fresh groceries on our way home from school at the Padova market downtown for so cheap! Today is a great example of this...We got some lettuce, broccoli, green beans, and blood oranges for like 5 euro! I don't know how I will live at home in Seattle without blood oranges :( You should fly to Italy just to try them...so goood!!! We also went to the butchers shop for the first time. He didn't speak a word of english, but was the nicest guy and just smiled at us. We used some of our newly learned Italian but it didn't go too far. We ended up buying some Hungarian Salami (also the best salami I have ever tasted) and then some fresh buffalo mozzarella and some ricotta cheese! We are making lasagna tonight...actually Amanda is prepping it this very minute!

We bought a Basil plant to cook with...I always knew Amanda loved plants since she is a Bio major...but not to this extreme. First, last summer when I lived with her at Pikes we had a pepper plant which she named Hungry (the Hungarian Pepper). Now we have Alberto, our lovely little basil plant. The worst part is that she actually talks to it (today she asked him if he had enough water). But just one of the reasons why I love living with her, so entertaining! We are making a great pair...switching off cooking every night. I even packed her lunch for her this morning when we were running late for class (as usual!).

Last night it was my turn to cook. I was making fried potatoes and chopping up all the ingredients. I chopped open a potato and found a live worm squiggling around in it. I still feel sick thinking about it. I screamed and ran to the bathroom thinking I would get sick...then once I got over this tramatizing experience, I started trying to cook the good potatoes. After putting them in the oven for like 20 min, I went to check on them and our oven was blowing COLD AIR! So it was just a disaster. Almost 2 hours later I FINALLY had dinner ready, but I was not too happy. But to redeem myself, I did make a really good cake the other day! :)

This week we need to buckle down and actually do some school work, imagine that! We have 2 papers due next week that are like 6 pages each. And the fact that we will be gone all weekend doesn't help. Speaking of that...

WE ARE LEAVING FOR PRAGUE THURSDAY!!! I am so excited if you can't tell. We did have a minor setback with the plans...we thought we booked a train there when in fact we booked a BUS! So it will be a very long long long ride. But well worth it. At no other times in our life will we be as patient as to take a 12 hour bus ride just to see a city for 2 days. But it will be an adventure.

Also booked: Alicia Keys in Verona May 2nd; Split, CROATIA on May 6th; Cinque Terre on May 15th! We are still looking in to Southern Italy too! And we finally have all of our transportation booked for our trip after the program to Athens, Mykonos, Santorini, and Barcelona! **One more plus...on the way home from Croatia we have a really long layover in Germany, long enough to leave the airport and check it out for a couple hours! So I am really making my way around Europe. If I take any more trips it will probably just be day trips. There are a few more cities near Padova I would still love to see. Also, the weekend of Alicia Keys we may stay a night at Lago di Garda. Our old Italian instructor Lucca told us that here we will find "more clubs than there are fishies in the sea!" so sounds like it would be fun! :)

Ciao for now! I'll keep writing....hopefully sooner than later!

"In Fair Verona, Where We Lay Our Scene..."

Saturday...yet another spontaneous trip :) Just another reason to love Padova, for its prime proximity to really cool little towns. Just like Bologna, I didn't know what to expect from Verona. Little did I know I was about to have one of the very best days of my trip so far!!!

Amanda, Laura, Anita and I headed to the train station and arrived in Verona around noon. It's only about an hour ride from Padova and cost us only 5 euro one way. I was pretty skeptical at first...the streets near the train station were pretty ghetto. Then about 15 minutes into our walk we arrive at the gates to the city, and my first impressions were immediately wiped away. It's beautiful!!!

We started out by visiting the Roman Arena, which is a mini version of the Colosseum in Rome, but still very large and intact. It was so cool to see the inside passage ways and imagine what it was like back in the days when gladiators were fighting in front of thousands of spectators! Laura and Amanda wanted to search for secret passage ways but we had no luck. Also, we randomly ran into a guy we met in Padova who is studying abroad from Spain! They are in the process of building a stage for the Alicia Keys concert on May 2nd. When we heard she was coming we couldn't believe it! The thought of a concert in the ancient arena setting, especially all lit up at night, was just too much to resist! So we booked tickets and will be going back to Verona on May 2nd to see her in concert. One more thing to check off my list of things to accomplish in Europe (go to a concert).

After this we met up with our friends Hana and Lance for lunch and then began shopping. They had an awesome market and I ended up getting a really cool present for my dad and grandma :) Can't wait to bring home presents!!! Then we went to Giulietta's Balcony (Juliet's balcony). For those of you who are not Shakespeare fans...Romeo and Juliet was set in Verona! So they have this entire house including a balcony and a statue of Juliet dedicated to it. Obviously this is not the real place (since the play is fiction)...but I learned that the house was once home to the Cappuletti family, and there is a myth that this is how the Capulet's (Juliet's Family) were derived. It was fun to see and made me want to read the play all over again! There is also a myth that if you touch Juliet's left breast it will bring you good luck, so there was a pretty long line to do that (funny fact!). Also, the passage way into the courtyard is COVERED with love notes posted up by visitors as well as random phone numbers (maybe guys looking for love?). It was really cool to see this because there are THOUSANDS of them!

Next, Amanda and I decided to climb the Tower de Lombarti, the tallest tower in Verona. We went right at sunset and it was gorgeous...until the bell started ringing literally right in our ears. I think I jumped about 10 feet in the air when this happened! The view was amazing, even better than the tower in Balogna; Verona is just an incredibly beautiful place. Amanda and I decided we had to get a copy of Romeo and Juliet while in Verona...so we left the tower and started searching. We asked a bunch of people and they kept pointing us in different directions. After the 4th bookstore, we finally found it! It is perfect, with scripts in both Italian and English. The book shop owner even let us in after the store was closed. She didn't speak a word of English but we just kind of used hand signals and used the little bit we know. She even put a seal on the inside with the address of the bookshop, proof that we actually bought it in Verona! I'm just a big nerd, but this is probably my favorite purchase of the trip so far, even over my new purse and scarves :)

By this point, we just couldn't bare to leave yet. So we all met up again for dinner and decided rather than catching the 7pm train we would wait for the 1020 one. So we went to this resteraunt and sat outside just about 100 yards from the Roman Arena. It was gorgeous and entirely lit up! We each split a pizza and just sat and relaxed. Probably one of the funniest parts of the day was when these 3 Italian guys approached us during our dinner. Their names were Mateo, Fabbio, and "Fra". We couldn't understand "Fra" and Amanda asked him his name again and he said it was inbetween Frog and France...we were hysterically laughing at this point but felt bad because he didn't understand why anything was funny. Then when they asked where we were from we said Seattle....the Space Needle? And they said "You go to space there?!!" It was great. (Side note: everyone we talked to in Verona knew of Seattle because of the "Supersonics"!!).

So here is the best part of the night...we are sitting there just laughing and having a good time, when we realize it is 10 pm!!!!! Our train left at 10:18. We threw some money on the table and took off running. We got to the station just as the train was pulling up (by some miracle, because it is about a 25 minute walk there). We didn't even have time to stop and buy tickets so we just ran on out of desperation because it was the last train of the night. So I had my first (and hopefully last!) experience as a stow away on an Italian train. Luckily, they randomly check for your tickets and we some how were not checked! It was an adventure to say the least, but loved every minute of it. Can't wait to go back to this amazing city on May 2nd for the concert :)