Zackberridge’s Weblog

The title is a phrase I had to use quite a bit while in Italy.  It took severl tries and several teachers to finally get it down, but now its etched into my brain forever.  My journey to Italy was started with a beautiful scenic train ride thru the swiss alps and into Milan.  After some transportation confusion, again(by now it was very expected and thus less frustrating…….but only by a little), my host picked me up from the metro station and we went to his flat and ate some pasta, hell ya!  My host Fede was a great guy and we got along really well.  His english was close to an intermediate level, so it was a very educational stay for the both of us.  That night we picked up his friend Nuncio, another great guy, and we met with the couchsurfing group of Milan for some drinks and drunked photos! Every cafe that had happy hour also includes a buffet of really good finger foods and snacks, unlike the typical fried stuff you find in the states.  The next day we woke up really late and relaxed around the house. It was the first time of my trip that I didnt go anywhere during the day and it was wonderful.  When I found out Fede was as big a Pink Floyd fan as I, we watched a Dvd of the band and drank Bacardi drinks, very nice complimented with a cool breeze from outside. And after following up with a Dvd from ‘The Boss” Bruce Springstein, we met up again with the CS Milan group for………….more drinks!  This time there were a lot of new faces, as well as another girl from Houston who lives in Spain. It was a bit refreshing to speak with another American, but I didnt want to spend the whole time talking about back home.  After the cafe we all walked to popular square at a nearby church where the locals hang out and play music and in the summer they project a movie onto a very large screen hanging on the wall. All for free.  The night life was very full of life and happy people.  The next day we woke up late, again, and late afternoon met with Nuncio and the three of us visited an expo at a nearby museum, which had a free display of Italian modern art and design. It was very interesting, some was very appealing, some was horrible (in my opinion), but it was free none-the-less =).  Next we met again with the CS group for my last night in Milan.  Again, there were many new faces in the crowd, so we had another night of cheers and jolly, ha! ( i dont think Ive ever used the word ‘jolly’ in a sentence!) .  The next morning we woke up bright and early, only to get to the train station 5 mins too late, just in time to miss my train.  But it was ok, because there was another the next hour. (the missed train would be the 1st of 3 missed trains, followed by 2 flights while in Italy, grrr). I was stuck in the crossroads of deciding to visit Rome for a few days, or stay with my original plan and visit a small Italian city about 5 hours south of Rome.  I decided to make the long journey because the pictures I saw from the hostels website were absolutely breathtaking, and lets face it, Rome is very beautiful. So I changed my plans that would allow me to arrive in Rome the day I was supposed to fly out, at 6am, which would give me 5-6hours to see the collesium, vatican, and other famous sites.  Unfortunately I would never have the chance due to a string of bad luck trying to make it home, but thats another story for another time.