Buongiorno tutti!

I'm now into my 5th week abroad and I just got back from Ischia on Sunday! It was absolutely beautiful and such a relaxing weekend! But I'll save all that for later, though I haven't even told you about Milan and Venice yet!

Well, last (last) Friday I woke up at 3:30am after about a hour of sleep and got ready for our plane ride to Milan. I went with two other girls from my trip, Linet and Dena. At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to go (Venice was not on my list of "must see's" surprisingly) but I'm so glad I went!

We got to the airport about 2 hours early and anxiously (and tiredly ?) waited for our plane. Once we were on, it only took about a hour to get there.

We took a bus from the airport to the hotel, dropped our bags off and were off exploring Milan before 8:30am.
Our hotel was actually really nice, close to the main piazza and we didn't pay much for it either. Definitely a win, win, win situation.

After walking around for a little bit and taking a few photos, we got breakfast at Cafe' Milan right around the corner from the cathedral (the 5th largest Cathedral in the world). The cappuccino I had there was the best one I had in Italy up until then-- it was so good! I also tried one of the big, sugary donuts that seem to be very popular in Italy and that was delicious too!
I was definitely in love with Milan by this point. Everything was clean, the people were dressed nicely and the shopping was great!
Oh, the shopping! After breakfast we walked around the shops for a little while.

Once we were done shopping we decided to go back to the hotel to check in and relax for a bit. By that point we were pretty exhausted.

After relaxing for a bit we got back up and stopped by this really cute cafe by our hotel. I got a cappuccino freddo (cold) and it came with a little puff pastry and a shot of water-- only 1 euro! It was so yummy and cute! Then we made our way back to the cathedral to go on top of the terraces.

Well, the terraces ended up being the roof and it was awesome! It was way better than I expected and a great way to see all of Milan. The view was absolutely beautiful!
We took countless numbers of pictures and then finally decided to go down and do some [more] shopping.
You'd actually be surprised to know that the only thing I bought that day was a scarf (for very cheap, but very cute) and only because I thought we were going inside the cathedral and would need it.

After [window] shopping to the point of exhaustion we decided that our exciting day in Milan had to come to an end and that our starving stomachs needed dinner. We stopped in a restaurant right next to our hotel and got pizzas. They were actually better than I thought they would be.
We then went back to our hotel and passed out shortly after.

The next morning we were up bright and early [again] and took a taxi to the train station to catch a train from Milan to Venice. I tried to talk to the help desk here about our tickets back to Rome, but unfortunately, nobody was of help there, either.

Once we got on the train to Venice it only took about 3 hours to get there. I [again] tried speaking to a customer service representative who [again] told me that there was nothing she could do to help me and that my only options were to wait until a hour before the train left and ask one of the workers on that train to look up [on their phones!] if I was on that train OR buy another ticket.
By this point I was beyond frustrated with the train company and that lady definitely got a little bit of the wrath of it all (sorry, train lady).
We decided to wait, checked our bags at the train station and then were on our way to the shops (yeah, we did a lot of shopping on this trip)! Venice shopping was unique, though, because they are known for their Merano glass and it's so pretty!

After "shopping" for a little near the station, we took the water ferry over to San Marco's square (the main piazza) where we were meeting the tour guide for our tour of Venice and gondola ride! Once we found the meeting place we got our headsets and were on our way around the city. We even met a guy who's daughter graduated from Florida during our tour!
The tour itself wasn't that fantastic, but I'm glad we did it instead of walking aimlessly around by ourselves. Plus, we got to go on a gondola ride for 35 minutes after the tour was over! (I think the ride ended up being shorter than 35 minutes, but oh well) The ride was awesome! I couldn't get over the fact that I was in a gondola floating around the "streets" of Venice. It was absolutely beautiful! During our tour, we actually found out that the training to become a gondola "driver" is a pretty intense process, and if you fail any part of your tests then you can't do it at all anymore! I'm talking like 5 years + of training that can all go away in an instant. There are also over 200 little pieces of wood that go into making a gondola. Talk about incredible! The art work on them is definitely work to be admired.

After our gondola ride we sadly got off and went on the search for some gelato. I got mint and hazelnut gelato. I was sadly disappointed with the mint, but the hazelnut was delicious! Then, it was time for... you guessed it, more shopping. It was more of just looking at all of the stores and the beautiful glass pieces, but we enjoyed ourselves.
The whole weekend was extremely relaxing since we had no plans (besides our tour) and were able to do exactly what we wanted when we wanted.

After exploring the shops more, our exhaustion started to kick in and we decided to head back on the ferry to the town where the train station was to get some dinner and pick up our bags before the bag check closed. I got gnocchi at the restaurant we went to and it tasted like yummy Mac n' cheese (way better than the gnocchi I had in Pisa).

Once we got our bags we sat on the steps overlooking the water and waited patiently for our train to get in so we could talk to someone to see if they had our names down for that train.
The train finally pulled in and we found someone to talk to. He actually thought we were pretty funny since Linnet and I were talking about him right next to him debating whether he was actually the guy we should talk to. He was very helpful though and was able to find our names on his app (yes, an app on his phone-- unbelievable that no one was able to help us before hand with their computer but this guy was able to help us a hour before our train left with a smartphone app!). We got on the train and were on our way back to Rome in no time.

The train ride was fine (only a little bit sketchy), especially for it being at 12am for 6 and a half hours! Luckily we were in a cabin with nice people that didn't bother or scare us and we were back in Rome before we knew it (I slept most of the way). Once I got home from the station I took a shower and a very long nap-- It felt so good to sleep in my bed after a 6 hour train ride!

Once I got up I realized that all my roommates were gone and I wasn't sure what to do about it-- communication here is nearly impossible since nobody had international phone plans or wifi anywhere we go.
I didn't want to just sit at home waiting for them to get back (even though I didn't really want to go out alone) so I decided to get ready and go out and spend my day enjoying Rome.

I took a bus headed for Piazza Venezia, but had to get off because there were just too many people on it and it was uncomfortable. I walked the rest of the way and then stopped in a [cafe'] bar facing the imperial forum and the capitoline to get a cappuccino. It was so yummy and the view was great!

Afterwards, I didn't have any plans as to where I was going to go so I headed out towards the Colosseum.
I stopped at the Imperial Forum and took some pictures and then made my way down a street I hadn't been down before. I stopped in a few souvenir shops and took my time looking around. I walked down the street and around the corner to the far side of the Colosseum. I was still in just as awe this time as I was the first time I saw it. The architecture is absolutely incredible!

I made my way around the Colosseum to the Arch of Constantine. It looked like it was about to storm, but I wanted to walk down to the aqueduct right next to the Palatine to take a picture for Andrew. As I did, it started pouring rain! Luckily I ran into a guy selling umbrellas on my way over to the aqueduct since I didn't have one (I had to bargain a bit, almost walked away, but I got him down to the price I wanted).

After taking a picture, I decided I should probably start heading back to the tram to go home-- it was pouring like crazy and my dress was getting soaked! As I was walking towards the tram I noticed white stuff falling from the sky. At first I thought nothing of it, but quickly realized that I was getting hailed on when I heard the thumbs of ice on my umbrella! Who would've thought the first time I'd see hail would be in Rome?

I got on the tram with dress completely soaked from the train (and hail) and headed home. Believe it or not I wasn't angry or annoyed at all with the weather. I figured by that point there was nothing I could do about it and I really did enjoy my afternoon out wandering by myself.

After I got home I dried off and relaxed for a bit. A couple of my roommates were finally home and I made plans with one of them to go to a pizzeria Dena told me about that weekend.

We went for dinner and I got bruschetta, a full pizza, wine and a mini Nutella pizza for dessert all for 10 euro! Talk about a good deal! The food was very good too!

After dinner we went back to our apartment, caught up with our roommates and relaxed before going to bed. I wanted to get a good nights sleep so I could enjoy the week ahead of me. I was determined that the fourth week would be better than the third.
And it was!

I will get to that soon, though. Right now I have to go meet my group to go to the Borghese Gallery!

Ciao!

Cassidy