Yesterday I had class.

This statement wouldn't look strange at first glance. But what if I told you that yesterday was SATURDAY?!? Yes, I had a class on Saturday. Our university has made several "block" courses for exchange students that meet 3 times during the semester. This sounds like a pretty sweet deal! However, each meeting session lasts from 9 in the morning until 5'oclock in the evening on the scheduled days, AND the meeting sessions are on weekends. Not cool. -- I really needed to take Negotiation Management this semester, and this was the only available time that I could take it... so, when 9am rolled around this Saturday, my roommate and I rolled out of bed and headed off to the university. The city was pretty much asleep, and so was I! haha. I really was not looking forward to this day in any way at all.

Nina and I got to class a little early and helped our professor set up the room (good tactic for getting a good grade!). She told us to put all of the desks out of the way, and place chairs in a big circle! There ended up being about 30 people in the class, and they looked as un-excited to be at school on the weekend as I did. BUT, we all ended up being pleasantly surprised! Our teacher gave us breaks every 1.5 hours, and we even got an hour lunch break in the middle of the day! The class ended up being very interactive, and we got into several different groups to do activities. We had to do some role-play activities, where groups would have to go through the steps of the negotiation process and negotiate out a compromise based on several different issues. This made the class seem a lot shorter than 8 hours!

The best part of the class was during the first group task. We were randomly divided up, and I got into a group with several girls that I didn't know. They were from Greece, Norway, Spain, and Austria! The first situation was that each group was competing against eachother for a marketing internship. It was our job to sell our group to the class and convince them why we should be chosen to intern with this company. We had to come up with a USP (Unique Selling Point) for ourselves, too. We had about 20 minutes to prepare our spiel, and then 5 minutes to present. My group was the last to go. -- The first group that got up they had a pretty good show, and were fun to watch. When it was my group's turn, we lined up and presented ourselves. A lot of the other groups' presentations focused on the same things: the valuable characteristics of each person in the group, but my girls decided to take a little twist on it. After we introduced ourselves I (being the unofficial leader) said, "But that is all that we are going to say about us as individuals, because, after all, we are not here for ourselves. This is all about the company!" After that, we talked about the different areas where we could most benefit the company, and what we would be willing to do for them! I thought it turned out great! -- After every group presented, we had to choose a group that we thought was the best and explain why (but we couldn't pick ourselves). At the end, the group with the most votes was the winner........ AND WE WON!!!!! I was really excited! Every group but 1 voted for us! :) That definately set the tone for the rest of the class, and I ended up having a pretty good time.

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Since today is Sunday, Amber and I decided to get up early to attend the International Baptist Church of Vienna again. We have been traveling on most Sundays, and have really missed going to church. We came on a great day! -- The speaker was a guy named Scott Ward, who was originally from California. He used to be a commercial actor in Hollywood, and even grew up knowing Drew Barrymore and Michael J. Fox! WOW! He talked about how he wasn't a Christian growing up in Hollywood, but that for some reason, he knew that he would be unhappy there, so he left. He ended up traveling in Amsterdam and actually stayed at a Christian youth hostel (he didn't know it was Christian, though). He met a guy who was also an actor while he was staying there, and this guy led him to Christ... right there in the hostel! -- Scott's message was centered around miracles. He told some stories of some of the most amazing miracles and answered prayers that he had either seen or had happen directly to him during his 20 years as a missionary in Africa. It was incredible! -- He said that his mission team lives a Life of Faith. He hasn't had a pay check in 20 years, but his ministry continues to get exactly what it needs. Why? Because of prayer. -- Scott said that all of the miracles that have happened to him have all resulted because of earnest prayer. He said that in order for miracles to happen in our lives, we have to first believe that they CAN happen through God. "In order to find God's will, we have to have no will of our own." We must believe in God's power through prayer, and amazing things will happen.

I really got a lot out of his message this morning, and (along with Amber) have decided to write Christmas cards containing Bible verses to our friends here in Austria. We want to try to witness to them before we leave! :) Today was definately great!

I just had a very cool experience! I was worried that I wouldn't get to have much of a Thanksgiving experience today, but BOY was I wrong!!! :)

Tonight ended up being one of the most interesting Thanksgivings yet! I went to the kitchen and joined a mad cooking spree for several hours. Some of my friends had bought a mountain of food at Billa today. I helped bake rolls, make mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey, ham with pineapple glaze, homemade applesauce, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, peas and carrots, salads, gravy, apple strudel, and soooo much more! Me, Christine, Gabby, Amber, Julian, Andy, Judah, and several other people cooked up a storm, and by the time 6 o'clock rolled around.... we had a FEAST that my Meem would be proud of!

Christine had already invited a lot of our Erasmus friends to dinner, and we all just chipped in to pay for the food. In total, we had 28 people of 12 different nationalities around our Thanksgiving table! It was so incredible. We even got to say a little prayer before we ate. :) I just kept thinking, now THIS is what the melting pot that I like to call America is really about! The pilgrims would be proud!!!

The dinner ended up being absolutely wonderful. We explained what the tradition of Thanksgiving actually was all about, and even got to show all of the foreigners a true breaking of a wishbone!!! It was so funny! -- One of the best parts was all of the Non-Americans' reactions to Stove Top Stuffing. Our friend Gabby from Australia just leaned over the stove while Amber was mixing it and said in her Aussie accent, ''So it just.... comes out like that? That is amazing!'' The stove top was probably the biggest hit of the night.

I am very thankful for my first (and very successful) international Thanksgiving meal! I will never forget it.

I did something last night that I have wanted to do for most of my childhood and into my adult life. Check this off of the ''Things to Do While Abroad'' list, because it has been completed! (drumroll please)

I ATE A CRUMPET! My friend Will, from London, had to go back to England for the day yesterday, and upon special request, he brought me some crumpets!!! I had heard about ''tea and crumpets'' for the longest time, but never really knew what a crumpet was. Well, it's nothing like I expected! A crumpet looks like a small, thick pancake. It's about the same size as a flat baseball. You put them in the oven, they get crispy, and then you enjoy! Will said that he'd never seen somebody get so excited over a little ol' crumpet before, but it was marvelous!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!



If I could, I would definately fly home for the day. I know that the Powell side of the family is going to be eating the best food this world's ever seen today, and there are sure to be a few great football games played, too. -- When we mention Thanksgiving, all of the Europeans say something to the effect of ''Wow, Americans eat a lot... we only eat that much at Christmas!'' That's right.... we know how to eat! Not only am I missing the food today, though, but I am also missing my wonderful family and friends back in the States on this holiday. -- As I sat at the hospital today for another eye check-up, I thought about the many things that I have to be thankful for:



-God. How do you really express how thankful you are for salvation? I just know that while I have been here, God has definately watched over me. I could have really been hurt in the car accident, gone blind from this eye infection, gotten lost in Italy, etc.... but I didn't. God has kept His hands firmly on me, and shown me some amazing things. I've seen how vast and beautiful His creation really is, and have come to value my relationship with him so much more. I haven't had other Christians around to talk to, so I've had the chance to have a lot of ''Me and God'' time. I'm very thankful for that!

-A family who really loves me. I don't just have a mom and dad and a bunch of crazy relatives that I just happened to get stuck with (well, maybe the crazy part still applies, haha, kidding), but I honestly consider it a pleasure and a blessing to even know the group of people that I call my family. They have been nothing but supportive of me while I have been over here, and have definately proven to me how wonderful they all are. I love my family so much, and am VERY thankful for them today.

-Right along with family would be my friends back home, too. I am SO blessed to have a group of friends who are actively seeking God, and who have helped me grow in my faith in countless ways. They are not only mature Christians, but they are completely fun and hilarious. Each time I get to talk to Alyssa, Ben, or somebody over Skype, I always end up laughing! I love my friends SO much and can't wait to be able to hang out with them again!

-Bryce. He's definatley one in a really huge number. I've come 1/2 way around the world, met countless random guys, and found not one who even compares to the person that my boyfriend is. I am so thankful to be dating somebody who is the most motivated person I know, halarious, fun, and such a strong godly guy. You rarely find all of those things wrapped up into one person, but I guess that's why God made Bryce so tall -- to fit all of the awesomeness into one guy! I'm definatley thankful for that today!!!

-I thank God for the entire opportunity to be abroad, which has led to me learning how to live and survive on my own. learn about myself, to challenge my faith, to develop an even stronger appreciation for Kentucky, my family, and my friends, to see another wonderful part of the world, to meet new friends, and to grow closer to Him.

--Mom also would want me to say a 'small' something that I am thankful for. This year... it is definately free refills. The Europeans have never learned this concept... and I get awfully thirsty! :)

I AM THANKFUL FOR ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE KEPT UP WITH MY TRAVELS SO FAR. IT'S NOT OVER YET! I WILL BE THANKFUL FOR DECEMBER 22 WHEN I CAN SEE YOU AGAIN. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Amber and I were VERY ambitious this morning. We woke up at 6:45am, got ready, and were out the door by 7:30. Of course, it was snowing VERY heavily, so the city was beautiful. We took the U-bahn to the center of the city and walked through the main arch to the Vienna Court Chapel, where the world-famous Vienna Boys Choir performs during Sunday mass!

You can either buy seats in the chapel, or get a first come-first serve standing spot in the middle of the chapel. We were 2 of the first people there, so we decided that standing for free would be just fine, since we'd be in the front. -- The inside of the chapel was, of course, gorgeous! It was pretty small, which made the environment very intimate and awesome. At 9:30, the priests of the chapel came out and started the mass. Being Southern Baptists at a German-speaking Catholic mass, Amber and I weren't exactly sure what we were supposed to do, so we just watched people. We couldn't see where the boys choir was supposed to be, but we just assumed that they'd march out sooner or later.

After a blessing from the main priest, we heard a small orchestra from somewhere in the top balconies of the church start up, and then we heard them! The boys were up and behind the entire church, so nobody could see them... but oh, boy, could we hear! I've heard a lot of choirs and singing in my day, but NEVER in my life have I heard anything that compared to these boys. Some had very strong, deep voices, and then some put my high soprano voice to complete shame (these must have been the really young ones). They sang several beautiful songs in Latin. I'm not even exhagerating when I say, that after the first few words, I had chills! It was completely breathtaking. Since we couldn't see them, I assumed that there were about 50-60 boys. Their sound was so powerful, and carried throughout the entire chapel.

After the boys had finished singing, the priest came back up, blessed the church, prayed, and then we took communion. Then, all of the sudden, this line of the most adorable little boys that you've ever seen marched out of the side curtain! They were all dressed in these blue outfits that kind of looked like sailor uniforms. They were SOOOO cute! :) -- When they all got out on the stage, I was completely shocked. The incredible sound that we'd been hearing for the duration of the mass had been coming from about 25 little boys. I'd say that the oldest of the boys was no more than 14, and the youngest had to be about 7 or 8 years old. They had come out for one final song, Ave Maria! If I could have anything for Christmas.... I think that it would be one of these little kids. lol. Their voices were so amazing, and most of them weren't even in middle school yet. :)

This morning was definately one of the MOST memorable in Vienna thus far. Today was AMAZING!

It's a winter wonderland in Wien!!! :)
This week has been so exciting, because it's my first Vienna snow! On Tuesday night it started snowing on my way back from class, and by the time that we all woke up on Wednesday morning..... the ground was covered! It had snowed about 5-6 inches overnight! Now, Vienna is an incredibly beautiful city normally, but when it's covered in snow... it's really remarkable. I had a lot of fun just walking around and looking at the city.

On Friday, several of us decided to make a day of the snow-covered Vienna. Alex from Sweeden, England Will, Ricardo from Peru, Laura, Nicole, Amber, and I headed out to Belvedere Castle on the other side of the city. The castle and the grounds surrounding it were so beautiful in all of the snow. They had even begun to set up the season's Christmas trees around the palace! We've already started celebrating!!! :)

While we were walking around outside, the boys thought it would be halarious to get in a snowball fight. The Vienna snow (we soon found out) is EXCELLENT packing snow! Before too long, we were throwing basketball-sized snowballs at eachother, and dodging in and out of the stone figures and gargoyles in the courtyard! I have to hand it to him.... Sweedish Alex really knows how to throw a mean snowball. :)

After playing in the snow for quite a while, we went inside the palace for the art exhibit. Today, there was a big exhibition in the state rooms of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. We got to see a lot of Van Gough and Monet originals, which were incredible! The colors that they used were absolutely amazing. -- One thing made me laugh, though. On the wall, there was a tiny painting of a lemon..... now, I might not be an incredible art genius.... I mean, MAYBE I missed something -- but what is so incredible about a picture of a lemon?!? This little piece of fruit was hanging right next to a glorious Monet landscape! I surely don't know, lol.

On the way back, we discovered that we weren't the only people who decided to engage in some snowball fights. At the end of Kenyongasse, there's an elementary school. On either side of the road, the kids were engaged in some type of gorilla snowball warefare. These kids were RUTHLESS! They were dodging behind cars and drilling eachother in the head w/ snowballs. AND WE WERE IN THE LINE OF FIRE! I think that Alex got pegged in the head by this little Harry Potter-looking kid. I'm not sure, because I kept my head down and hurried out of the war zone as fast as possible!!! lol. We were amatuer snowballers compared to these Snowball Hit Men. They were out for blood, and innocent passerby were not spared.

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Amber and I continued the weekend of winter wonder on Saturday. We got up early and went exploring along the famous Vienna Christmas Markets at the Rathaus. This market has been in existence for over 200 years, so we were very excited. There were tons of booths decorated all in lights and garland, people singing, horse carriages driving around, a HUGE Christmas tree in the middle of the Rathaus square, and the smell of gingerbread wafting through the air. (Mom likes the word "wafting," so I thought it would be appropriate here, lol) It's not even Thanksgiving yet, but Amber and I are completely in the Christmas spirit!!! We got to look at a lot of beautiful hand-painted ornaments, jewelry, nativity scenes, etc. It was seriously like being in the North Pole for a day!!! We were so happy! :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS (almost!)

Eye Update: I'm going to live! :)
I went back to the hospital on Tuesday, and met with another doctor to see how the medicine was working on crazy eye. She said that even though it still looked bad, it was slowly healing up. Thank goodness!!! She told me that for the rest of the day, I was supposed to alternate these medicated eye drops every 30 minutes until I went to sleep (while I slept, I was supposed to put this cream on my eye.... eew). This was intense, but I was ready to do whatever she said to make my eye normal again. ----- So far, it's working very well. My eye doesn't hurt anymore, and it's starting to go white again. Whew! Moral of the story: NEVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, SLEEP IN CONTACTS!

So, I was coming down from the 8th floor, and in front of me, there was this young Turkish guy. He was kind of looking around like he was lost. He saw me, and turned around and started speaking very fast German. I got out of it that he couldn't really find his way out. I told him that I didn't speak much German, but somehow communicated in English/German that he could just follow me out of the hospital. He explained that he had injured himself working in a Kebap (greatest sandwich ever) stand on Alser Strasse, and had to come get patched up at the hospital, but now he was lost. (This is a VERY big hospital, so it's easy to get lost... but I'd been there the day before, so I knew my way around.) -- When we got out of the front door, I started to walk off to the U6 station. He started walking the same direction, and then asked if I wanted to let him buy my lunch, since I helped him. Well, I didn't have the heart to be rude (nor did I know the words to really turn the guy down politely) ... plus, a free meal is hard to come by these days, so I accepted.

We went to a very nice, WELL LIT, place called Kent Restaraunt, and apparently my new friend knew everyone who worked there, so they treated us very well. Turkish friend spoke not much more English than I did German, so communicating with him was going pretty slowly. We managed to find out eachother's names and where we were both from.... that was about it! His name is Taren, and he is 22. Other than that, he couldn't explain a lot to me! lol Luckily, I had a pencil and paper, so we started drawing pictures and writing sentences to eachother to try to better explain what we were trying to say. I drew pictures of mom, dad, and Sara when he asked about my family. He was also very shocked to learn that I have a middle name. He really didn't understand that concept. When I told him that now that Sara is married, she has a 4th name, he said that was crazy! :)

Then the question came up about me having a "freund," which means boyfriend. I said yes, and explained that he was studying to eventually become a doctor. This impressed Taren. He asked if we had children, and I laughed and said no. When I said that Bryce was living in America, Taren said, "oh, good. No problem for me, then!" oops.... bad move, Amanda! lol. From then on, Taren tried to communicate to me that he would love to see me again the next day. He gave me his phone number, but since I don't have a phone, contacting him would be impossible.... this kind of made him sad, lol. Poor guy. :)

Turkish wives lead pretty hard lives, or so I hear, so that probably wouldn't be the greatest idea, lol. -- I don't want to run of with a random Turkish guy that doesn't really speak English, and whose career consists of cutting meat for sandwiches! --Not that it's not a lovely profession..... but I think that I'm better off sticking with my English-speaking, Christian, very smart, (at this point, Bryce would want me to say "tall, muscular, and will not be happy if you try to snatch Amanda back to Turkey") boyfriend, lol.

New European Experience -- A Visit to the Vienna Hospital

When I woke up yesterday morning, my right eye was red and it was hurting. Since I've been on exchange, I have been very lazy about taking my contacts out when I sleep, and have just neglected to take care of my eyes. I've been traveling around a lot, and just not thinking about it. I KNEW that was the cause, since that's what happened last time I went to the eye doctor. It's definately my fault for being lazy!

So, yesterday after class, my Austrian friend Suzie took me to the Apotheke and got me some medicated drops to last me until I could go to the doctor. My market research professor got me the phone number of the hospital, and I went there this afternoon at 3pm. The doctor said that it was definately the same bad infection thing that was back. He gave me 3 new kinds of meds (luckily, medicine over here is cheap - 12 Euro - and the doc visit was free). I have to take these 2 different kinds of eye drops alternating every 30 minutes until I go to bed, and then put the other goo stuff around my eye while I sleep.

He said that I have to wear only my glasses for a month, and then maybe I can wear contacts again. He said that I have to come back to him tomorrow to have a look at it, and when I get home, get an eye appointment there. He said that in 99% of the cases, everything will be fine and in a month or so go back to normal.

Pray for my little eyeball. He's sick right now.

Buddy Network -- Trip to Prague, Czech Republic
november 9-11

Originally, I wasn't going to be able to go on the Prague trip with the Buddy Network because of a class conflict. BUT, Amber and I decided to just take a late-night train to Prague and meet up with the Buddy Network group on our own.

We got on our train at about 10:30 on Friday night, and rode through the night to Prague. While on the train, we were introduced to some very strange people. I think we must has missed the memo about all people who travel on night trains are complete creepers.... because we were 2 of the only normal people on the train. Eek!

We were definately glad to get off the train in Prague, but immediately noticed that it was absolutely freezing at 3:45am in the Czech Republic..... great! To top it all off, the directions that we had to our hotel were by subway..... and the subways shut down a little after midnight. So, we rushed over to the night bus stop and hopped on there, heading in the right direction. Yet again, everybody up at this hour was completely scary, so Amber and I kept to ourselves. Then, when we were a few stops into our journey, the bus driver stopped the bus and told everyone that the ride was "Finito." Now, I don't speak Czech, but I'm pretty sure that comment had something to do with the night bus shutting down, too. So, we got off the bus at 4am, and had absolutely NO idea of where we were. Luckily, we saw a taxi on the side of the street, and this guy took us all the way to our hotel. -- We arrived at the doors at just after 4:30am, found our room, and immediately crashed for what remained of the night!

The next morning, we woke up, had some breakfast, and headed out on a walking tour of the city with our guide. It decided to be cold and rainy this weekend in Prague, but we weren't about to let that stop us from seeing the city!!! First, we got to see the Prague Castle, which is the largest castle in Europe (not based on number of rooms, but on the amount of area that it covered). It was very awesome!

After that, we went into the St. Vitus Cathedral, which was so pretty. The most impressive things about this cathedral were the many stained-glass windows. One of the windows was of stories of the apostles (I think), but was done completely in purple and blue glass. I wanted it! :) Another one of the windows, which was the most special of the cathedral, was unlike most windows. The scenes were not made of tiny pieces of stained-glass, but instead, was painted on the glass, so that the details were incredible! -- We learned that this cathedral, along with the castle and many other buildings in Prague, was only completed w/in the last century. Because of the war, many construction projects had to be stopped for a while. With St. Vitus, the builders had to make a wall sealing off the part that was finished, and then later tore down that wall and completed the rest of the building. We learned that the reason many cathedrals in this style were build with the pointed windows, is because the architects wanted the windows to look like praying hands. The ceilings are made in the arched style to look like the bottom of a boat, which symbolizes sailing on toward paradise, which is what the people said, was the point of the church: to bring people to paradise. -- Another really cool thing that our guide told us was about one certain tomb in St. Vitus. It stood near the back of the cathedral, but was very elaborate. The saint in this tomb had such a cool story. One day, the queen came to this saint and wanted to enter into confession. Of course, the saint heard her confession and prayed with her. Well, the king heard that she had gone to this particular guy, and went to him to find out what the queen had been up to. Like any good man of God, he wouldn't tell one word of the queen's confession.... so, the king tortured him and threw him off of a bridge! :( After the king died, the queen made this man the Patron Saint of ...... what else, but Bridges, I guess to get back at the king. :)

To get to the other part of the city, we had to cross over Charles Bridge. This bridge is the oldest in Prague, and if you rub the statue of Charles, you are supposed to have good luck and have your wish come true. The story goes, that you can only make a wish on this bridge once in your life, so it'd better be a good one!!!!

After our tour around the Old Town Square, a small group of us set out to go to lunch. After that, we went to St. Nicholas's Church, and actually saw a man outside that had a long white beard..... I guess he was Santa in disguise! :) It was very very pretty on the outside. -- By this time, it was pretty dark outside, even though it was only about 4:30 in the afternoon. Patrick, Aaron, Nicole, Laura, Amber, and I decided to hike up this huge mountain/hill thing to the Petrin Tower. This tower is 1/5 the size of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, but since it's on a mountain, actually stands the same height! It was all lit up, so we got to take some awesome pictures and also had a wonderful view of Prague at night. (The walk up that huge hill about killed us all, though, haha)

After that, we met the group and had a great dinner. Later, we found out that today was the anniversary of Crystalnacht, which was a massacre of Jews back in the day in Germany. The Jewish community had a memorial in the Jewish Quarter of Prague, but there ended up being riots, because a group of Neo-Nazis came to protest and fight people. Greg and Paul ended up being down in the square at the time this happened, and saw a bunch of the Nazis get beat up..... serves them right, I guess! -- After dinner, we went to a club called Face to Face. There were some guys rapping when we came in, but we didn't think much about it. Later on, Jay from Canada talked to some locals, and it turns out that those guys were two of the most famous rappers in the Czech Republic. Jay, Amber, and I went and talked to them! :) So, I can say that I met a famous rapper.... even though I had no idea what they were rapping about! lol

The next day, we headed out in the rain again to have a tour of the Jewish Quarter of Prague. We went into one Jewish Temple that had the (close to 80,ooo) names of the Czech people killed in the Holocaust hand-written in red and black w/ their dates of birth and death (if known) on the walls. It was very powerful, because the names went on for several rooms. We also got to see drawings that the childeren in many of the concentration camps, including Terezin, had drawn of everything from their family, to camp conditions, to Biblical figures. -- I actually got a chance to talk a little bit about the Bible with a girl in our group, because one of the drawings was of Cain and Abel, and she didn't know who they were. -- After the temple, we walked around one of the grave yards. At first, it looked completely disorganized. The gravestones were sticking out every-which-way, and it just looked like a mess! We learned, however, that since there wasn't a lot of space, the gravestones that we saw weren't the only ones there. There were many layers of graves burried under the ones that we saw, so you could see the very tops of the stones sticking out! It was wierd! -- Next, we went into the Spanish Synagogue, which was completely different than any that I've ever seen. The wood was very dark, and there was gold decorating the walls. Most synagogues are very simple, but this was done in the reformed style of the Spanish Jews living in Prague, so it had their influence. -- I also learned why the Torah is usually in a scroll form. This way, when you read it, your fingers don't touch the papers and ruin it. You just scroll along! :) I thought that was so neat.


After our tour was over, Amber and I decided to go to the Franz Kafka museum. Not many of our friends really had read Kafka, but Amber and I both had Nancy Tyree for senior AP English, so we were very well-educated in his existentialist writing style! On our way to the museum, we ran into a couple from Miami, who was just traveling through Europe for a few weeks, and who were on their way to Vienna next week! We talked with them for a while about our majors, studying in Vienna, and our travels. We found out that the man used to be a reporter for the Miami Herald, and now the two of them owned and operated a PR firm in Florida. She was wearing Prada glasses, so Amber and I guessed that they'd done pretty well for themselves. They told us that their daughter was just entering college, and was thinking about studying abroad. I think that Amber and I sold them on the idea of letting her go!!!! :) They were SUCH nice people. -- After talking to them for a few minutes, we continued on to the Kafka museum. Prague was the birthplace of Kafka, so we were pretty pumped to see where he lived and wrote all of his amazing stuff. -- In the museum we got to see several original manuscripts (such as his letter to his Father and The Castle), see pictures of all of his family and many failed relationships, read about all the things that inspired him to believe and write the way he did, and also see some picture of his house, school, and friends! I could have stayed in there for the longest time! I learned that Kafka really hated the way that he looked... but to me, he was a pretty good-looking guy! -- I really loved this museum.

For the rest of the day, Amber and I just walked around and looked in the Amber shops! Prague makes a lot of amber jewelry set in sterling silver, so we made sure that Amber got a ring to take back! -- This was again, a wonderful trip!

So, the last few days have been rather uneventful. I've done homework, taken an exam for my online class, and watched a few episodes of LOST (which is a fabulous show, by the way!). I have class tomorrow, so I wasn't going to be able to go with the Austrian Buddy Network on this weekend's Prague trip.... BUT.... it's looking like I will be able to after all! I e-mailed the lady in charge, and Amber and I are just going to take a night train and meet the group in Prague on our own. Then, we will be able to do the tours and everything with them. I'm hoping this all works out, because I hear that Prague is one amazing place!

Also, I just have to share two things that happened today:

1) I think that by being in Europe, the experience is trying to definately teach me patience. -- I'm one of those people who, when it comes most things (sports, school, singing, anything), I have always strived for perfection... or at least as close as I could get. On one hand, this kind of attitude has led me to try my hardest at everything, which, in turn, has led to a lot of success along the way. So, in that respect, I'm thankful for this kind of motivation (that I definately believe comes from having very hard-working parents and family). BUT, sometimes I can take it a little further than "trying hard," and I stress myself out about getting 100% on everything. I took an Operations Management exam today (my online class through UK), and didn't feel like I did very well on it. It was bothering me all afternoon, because I just had that feeling that I failed. I really started to stress myself out about the whole thing. -- Well... that's just not how the Europeans do things. They would just say "what's done is done," and be able to move on and just try harder on the next exam. Even Amber told me that I "stress out too easily." -- I got my grade back later this afternoon, and made a B, which is perfectly awesome for that test! When we looked at my overall grade, I still had a 99%.... and then Amber just looked at me and said, "you have a 99% and you were upset?" We just laughed about it for a while. I had no reason to stress out at all, but I had been all afternoon.... :)
Then, I thought back to some graffiti on a wall in Venice that I saw. It said: "No Work, No Stress!" <-- Now, I don't advocate for no work at all, but the stress part made me laugh. Maybe I can learn something from these Europeans after all..... where does stress really get us? I wasted part of my day being upset at myself for no reason at all. -- I think tonight, I will leave the homework due next week for tomorrow morning.... just relax..... watch Lost..... and not stress.

2) With our very busy schedules, Bryce and I haven't been able to have a spoken conversation in over a week. He has been studying very hard for physics, biology, and all things pre-med related.... and I've been traveling and taking exams as well. -- Well, finally, we caught eachother on Skype this afternoon and got to talk for about an hour! His 21st birthday is in less than a week, so I'm obviously missing that. -- While I'm on my travels, I've been keeping an eye out for cool birthday/Christmas presents, and I've definately stumbled upon a few (I can't tell what they are, because Bryce's little eyes read this blog, too!)... but just know that they're good! :)
So, I was telling Bryce that I had, in fact, gotten him a birthday present. Then, he told me probably the awesomest thing that I've heard in a long time. He said that usually he just asks for money for his birthday and Christmas. He said that he'll put some of it into savings, spend a little, and then with the rest, he sponsors an underprivelaged child for Christmas and shops for them some of life's essentials and then a few fun toys. I haven't been that touched by something in a long time. -- Lately, I've been getting a little down about not having many good Christian people to talk to over here in Austria. There's just a big difference in culture between here and home, and I've been missing some of that goodness from home..... but what Bryce told me was such a boost for me this week. There are definately still wonderful guys out there! :) Thanks for the blessing today, Bryce!

Oh, Wow! Sara and Danny's present just arrived in the mail today, and I'm completely obsessed with it! They sent me the Kentucky Basketball 07-08 Yearbook, so today while I was riding on the U-bahn, I caught up on my Kentucky bball sports history and read up on all of the new players! What a coooool idea, guys! :) Now I can convert everyone here and make them True Blue KY fans! :) THANKS!

THE ITALIAN JOB -- PART FOUR..... GETTING HOME

I had a truly amazing vacation in Italy this week. The hardest part was getting home! There was NO easy way to get from Venice to Vienna (and for Alyssa, to Salamanca). Here's the route that we had to take:

Water boat from hostel to the Santa Lucia train station in Venice
Took train at Santa Lucia to train station at Venice Maestre.
Different train from Venice Maestre to Milan, Italy.
Took bus from Milan train station to Milan-Bergamo airport.
Flew on plane to Bratislava, Slovakia.
Took city bus to the Bratislava train station.
Took train to Vienna Sudbanhof train station.
Took Strassenbahn subway line to Burgasse stop.
Walked home from Burgasse to Haus Erasmus.

**In total, we traveled from 9am until 9pm..... what a day! Boats, Trains, Planes, Buses, Subways, walking. Home sweet home! :)

THE ITALIAN JOB -- PART THREE, VENICE

Alyssa, Amber, and I got to Venice and road a bus to the main boat station. On the bus, we met some ladies from America, who were taking a 2-week Italian vacation. They were so nice, and we enjoyed talking with them for the 40 minute ride.

After getting off the bus, we bought tickets for the "water bus," which would take us to the city of Venice.... out on the water! :) Our hostel was called Ostello Venizia, and was right off of the stop Zitelle on the water bus. -- We got to our hostel after about a 30 minute boat ride, where we passed several huge cruise ships and saw many Venician buildings lit up on the water. It was so pretty at night! :) (and also quite cold! lol) Our hostel ended up being very awesome! Not just students stayed there, but also some families and random vacationers. We got to pay a little bit less, because some machine was messing up.... we didn't complain! :) We were in a room with one other lady. She was from France and was retired, so she decided to take a relaxing 6-day vacation to Venice. She told us of which boat stops to take if we wanted to see the best sites of Venice, and also told us the must-sees of Venice.

The next morning, we got up and had a roll for breakfast (eew! At least it was free). We jumped on the water bus and headed along the grand canal to the center of the city. -- Once we got off the boat, we walked to San Marco Square, which was pigeon-filled, just like I remembered! :) It was pretty funny, though. Amber ran through a big clump of pigeons, just like all of the other little children were doing. :)

We walked around and shopped a little bit. I also ate a piece of pizza that had artichokes, hot dog, sauce, and pepperoni on it.... now, I know this sounds pretty gross, but it was one of the best pieces of pizza that any human has ever eaten!!!! Oh, Italian food! :) Then, based on the directions of a random street artist, we wound our way across the entire city to the other side of the river. We then caught another water bus to the Murano glass island. This glass is very very famous throughout Italy, and I can see why! Some of the designs are so intricate, and the colors are very vibrant! There were Santas, spiders, Shreks, cats, bowls and plates, chandeliers, jewelry, and just about everything made out of glass that you could imagine! We watched one of the main crafstmen make a cat statue in about 10 seconds. It was amazing!!!!! :) I bought several glass things for presents, and then we headed back on the water bus to the middle of the city.

When we got back to San Marco's square, the city was out and alive. We saw several bands playing, and listened to some lovely Italian music for a bit, while Amber played with the pigeons! -- We looked over towards one of the stores, and saw a couple that had just been married!!! They were so cute, and were taking pictures in the square! :) -- I went into a shop and bought some of Italy's famous leather, too. This stuff is of very excellent quality, and is all handmade.

Something that we didn't know about Venice, but that we definately found out, was that Venice is home to a very famous Carnival. There were so many shops that had traditional Venician masks in them. They kind of looked like the Mardi Gras masks that I'd seen in New Orleans, but there were SO many more types, and they were all handmade. My favorite mask was the crab one! -- We even watched a man create and paint some of the masks!

Venice was definately one of the most relaxing cities that I've ever been in. I saw some grafitti on a wall that said, "No Work, No Stress!" <-- maybe the Italians are trying to tell me something! :)

THE ITALIAN JOB -- PART TWO, ROME (continued)

day two
We got up SUPER early today, because on the agenda...... THE VATICAN CITY! We thought that by getting to the Vatican around 8am, that we wouldn't have to wait in TOO huge of a line..... but I think that the rest of the city had the exact same idea. The line to get in the Vatican was about 2-3 hours long by the time we got there. The girls and I got really nervous, because we had to leave Rome around 3pm and catch our flight to Venice. Emily also had to catch a train a little before that, because she had to go ahead back to Spain for class and an exam. We REALLY wanted to see the Vatican City, though......

Luckily, this little Italian woman came up to us, offering a tour by a guy named Luigi (how Italian!) that would bypass the entire 3 hour line, and also get us straight into all of the inside rooms and the Sistine Chapel.... we were in for it! We got to skip the huge line and go straight up to the front. We still had to wait for about an hour, because the city museum doesn't even open until about 9:30 or so. While in line, we met this group of kids who were studying in Milan this semester. Some of them went to USC in California, and another guy (Brandon from Maryland) was an opera major in Connecticut. Brandon actually looked and talked a lot like Brandon Rayford (a guy from my high school). These guys helped us pass the time while we stood in the cold.

The Vatican was incredible, as I expected! We got to go through all of the rooms that Raphael painted, and also saw an amazing room of fresco maps. The detail that artists put into these works is what amazes me so much. Each face, person, even tree, would be impossible for me to paint, and these guys decorated entire ROOMS with their paintings. -- We saw the Pope's rooms, along with a room full of tapestries. Luigi explained to us that one square meter of a tapestry would take around 6 months to complete..... some of the tapestries took a total of 20 years to finish! WOW! --- After touring the Vatican museum, we got to go into the Sistine Chapel!!!! They wouldn't let you talk when you entered the Sistine Chapel, which made the experience even more impressive. What amazed me was that Michelangelo didn't even consider himself a very good painter...... but the ceiling and walls of the chapel were some of the most beautiful frescos that I've ever seen. My favorite painting was the largest in the room, The Last Judgement. When Michelangelo was painting, one of the gardners of the Vatican kept peeking in the chapel. This made Mike mad, so he painted this guy's face on the boat-keeper of Hell...... better not make Michelangelo angry, I say! haha.

When we were walking out of the chapel, through St. Peter's Basillica, Amber was stopped by one of the security guards..... uh oh! eek! -- He took her arm and said, "My name is Michelangelo..... and I love you! I am going to kiss you now!" And that little crazy man kissed Amber's cheek.... right there in front of the thousands of people trying to get into the Basillica!!!!! We died laughing. Amber was looking for an Italian love, and this one just reached out and kissed her!!!! "When in Rome," they say. :)

St. Peter's Square was right up there with the most impressive architectural accomplishments ever. There were hundreds of Roman columns built encircling the square. This week, the Pope had given a speech, so there were still a lot lot lot of people in St. Peter's. Rome just kept getting more and more beautiful, that's for sure!

On our way back to the train station to drop Emily off, we each got a piece of canoli. We'd heard a lot about this cute little dessert, but none of us had ever tried it...... well..... we have now. I take back what I said about tasting the most incredible thing ever put in my mouth, and give the award to canoli...... OH WOW. We all ate in complete silence, because we were so amazed that such a taste could come out of that little treat..... I MUST come back to Roma, if only for the canoli! :)

THE ITALIAN JOB -- PART TWO, ROME

(Today marks being gone for 2 months -- November 1)
day one
We got to our Rome hostel called LEGENDS HOSTEL (located conveniently near the metro station) pretty late (around midnight), and decided to get ready for bed so that we could have an early start to the next day. For some reason, the guy at the front desk was obsessed with the fact that we were from Kentucky, and just wouldn't quit talking about his love for KFC..... lol. We were quite popular.

The next morning, we woke up pretty early, and were pleasantly surprised to have a wonderful selection for breakfast! COCOA PEBBLES!!!!! I was so happy to have some cereal instead of a crusty roll... yum! :) I realized that I had left my curling iron in Milan, so the girls and I were going to have to go for the natural look for the rest of the trip, lol. -- After recounting our amazing fried chicken tales to the desk man for the second time (who knew southern poultry was so interesting?), we headed out the door and to the metro station. This time, we were prepared, and weren't about to let any scamming girls help us buy our tickets! Milan had made us smarter, for sure. I got out my monument map and we decided that we'd like to see the Colesseum first, since lines would probably get pretty long as the day went on..... we were right! The lines were already HUGE! We weren't exactly sure what to do, and then were suddenly approached by this Italian man, who said that he was leading an English-speaking tour in 20 minutes. With this tour, we would be able to hear all about the Colesseum (rather than just walking around in it) and also bypass the huge lines! With this tour, we would recieve a free tour of a few other places in Rome.... sounded good to us!

Our tour guide gave us these little phones so that we could hear him better once we got in the Colesseum. -- We found out that the Colesseum was once-upon-a-time located right beside Rome's red light district (eew), which was kind of interesting. I had been to the Colesseum once before, but it had been about 6 years, so I completely forgot everything, and really didn't remember much of what it even looked like. -- Well, it was INCREDIBLE! This place was absolutely huge, and held 55,000 people. For back in the ancient day, this was a huge architectural accomplishment. These Roman guys were so advanced! We also got to see the underground part of the Colesseum. There were tunnels and rooms where the gladiators waited, and also cages where the lions were held! woo! We learned a lot about how the real gladiators were different than those portrayed in most movies. They weren't slaves, but actually highly-respected member of society... kind of like celebrities, who, apparently got paid a TON! Maybe I should be a Gladiator! :) -- But, back in ancient times, women had to sit at the very top of the Colesseum.... because they weren't as important. So, I doubt they'd let me be a gladiator, either.... shame.

After our Colesseum tour, we went into the Ancient Roman Theatre exhibit, that was located on the top floor. We got to have a look at all of the ancient masks worn by actors, costumes, and theatre designs. All of us had been in musicals or plays in high school, so we loved this part! :) Alyssa and I did a funny imitation of some of the "mood" masks (she made a scary face, and the mask I looked like was just confused, lol)! It was a lot of fun!

After we left the Colesseum, we went on a tour (included with our other one) of Palatine Hill and the old Roman road, where the old Roman soldiers used to march. This is also where a lot of the important people lived and partied. lol. We learned (from our New Zealand tour guide), that Romans used to have feasts that lasted all day long. Since it's impossible for a person to eat that much in one day, they built rooms for the purpose of throwing up their first meals so that they could make room for more of the feast (called a Vomitarium)....... now, as clever as that is..... that's just nasty! The views from the top of the hill were also gorgeous. We got to see the Roman Forum, where all of the business was done in ancient times, and also got to hear about the Vestal Virgins lighting the eternal flame of Rome, and about Romulus und Remus. This tour was so cool!

We left the hill and forum. Outside, we walked beside the Arch of Constantine! I'd actually heard a lot about this guy, so seeing that was amazing, too. (Everything in Italy just seems to amaze me!) We walked along the main street in Rome, where we passed several basillicas and statues of Julius Caesar. Then, we came upon a HUGE white building called L'altare della Patria (translated means the Altar of the Nation), and referred to by Romans as "The White Cake" with horse statues on it, and the Italian flag wafting (you like that word, mom) in the breeze. As we crossed in front of the building, something else caught our eye. There were about 6 or 7 guys in pinstriped suits all walking along together. Now, when I think of Italian super models... this is what I imagine. These guys were just pretty Italians! Amber got really really excited, because she is the single one of the group... we told her she could have them all, lol. She and Emily decided to be brave (since we would never see these guys again) and asked if they would take a picture with the four of us! haha. Not a single one of them spoke English, either, lol. Amber was in heaven! -- When we were lining up to take the picture, one of the Roman Colesseum guards jumped in with us and wanted us to pay him for being in the picture, lol. We told him that he should pay US, since we're all so good-looking.

After leaving our model friends, we consulted the map, and saw that the Pantheon was close. We navigated through the streets, and were approached by these two guys (Max and something... we'll call him Josh) from Illinois. BOARDER PEOPLE! :) They walked with us to the Pantheon, where we crammed in a tiny doorway (along with about a million other people). The Pantheon was soooo cool. It was completely dome-shaped inside, and was also the final resting place of the artist Raphael. Very awesome!

After leaving our Illinois buddies, we stopped in another cool restaraunt for dinner. We got a great deal: Lasagna and wine for 6 Euro! :) We checked off another traditional Italian food from the list. Let me just say, this was an incredible plate of lasagna... yum! Coming to Italy means that you are going to eat some of the most amazing food of your life, apparently! To complete the meal, we ate some more gelato..... I'm really going to have to work out when I get home.... but.... it's a cultural experience! :)

When we finished dinner, it was nighttime. We had a few more must-sees on the list for today, so we kept on going! By this time, we'd been on our feet touring since the sun came up! Next stop was the famous Trevi Fountain, which apparently was also a stop on every other person in Rome's list for the day. There were a TON of people all around the fountain, but that actually made it more fun. Everyone was throwing coins in to make a wish in the gigantic and incredibly beautiful fountain that night. We also made wishes!!! (No, I can't tell what it was!) -- Then, after making our wish on the fountain and taking a million pictures, we headed off to see the Spanish Steps. On the way, you'd better believe that we ran into those suit model guys again..... go figure! They just laughed and waved at us! :) ----

The Spanish Steps were SO HUGE. It's a good thing that Coach Cress doesn't live in Italy, because I could definately see her making our high school soccer team run up these things for conditioning, lol. The view from the top was so beautiful, though. Rome at night was one of the most breath-taking sights ever. At the top of the steps, there was an old artist sitting in a chair drawing scenes of Rome by pen. He wasn't messing up at all, and these pictures were so nice! Amber really wanted one, but her favorite picture was the one that the little artist was currently working on. She told him that she would be fine with taking it as-is (it looked perfect to us), but he insisted on us giving him 10 minutes to finish so that the picture would be "perfecto!" To kill some time, we popped in the big church, called Trinita dei Monti, at the top of the Spanish Steps. Again, we walked in on a mass-in-progress. The women of the church and the main bishop sang, without instruments, in perfect harmony. Emily, Amber, Alyssa, and I just sat there and listened to this amazing mass for several minutes. It was so beautiful!

After we left the church, Amber got her finished picture. The little old man had done a marvelous job on the drawing of the Trevi Fountain. -- By this time it was really late at night, so we headed back to the hostel to get a good night's sleep before tackling the rest of Rome the next day.

Amber and I headed out to the Sudbanhof train station (on the other side of Vienna) at about 1:00pm on Wednesday afternoon. We knew that we had a very long journey ahead of us, but we were Italy-bound! We had our bags packed, and boarded a train for Bratislava, where the majority of RyanAir flights leave from. Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia, and about 1 hour away by train. We arrived safely and boarded our flight at around 5:30pm, and were SO excited to know that the next time we touched down.... we'd be in ITALIA with Alyssa (my best buddy) and Emily, our friends from UK who are studying this semester in Salamanca, Spain!

THE ITALIAN JOB -- PART ONE, MILAN

We landed in the Milan-Bergamo airport, where we then caught a 45 minute shuttle to the Milan train station. The only information that Amber and I had was the name and street address of our hotel in Milan. Alyssa had booked the hotel, so Amber and I really had zero information. So, needless to say, we were a little nervous that we would never be able to find out where we were staying. My mom always taught me that, when in doubt... ask someone! We leaned over to two guys on our bus and asked them if they knew ANYTHING about where THE BEST HOTEL of Milan was located relative to the train station. Not to my surprise, they had no idea, but Marco and his friend from Spain did have a map. We searched for about 10 minutes for our street, and finally found it.... only about a 5 minute walk from the station! YES!

We got off of our bus, thanked the guys for their help, and set out in search of our hostel. We used their little Google map, and finally saw our hotel in the distance. We walked in, and I attempted to communicate with the woman at the front desk, who spoke very little English. Then, all of the sudden, I heard a familiar scream from the bottom of the stairs, and I saw my very best friend in the entire world running out of a room! IT WAS ALYSSA!!!!! I was so excited to see her! We haven't seen eachother in 2 months, and I definately had butterflies when I finally got to see her! Not even Skype can compare to really getting to hug somebody in person. It was such an amazing feeling.

Alyssa and Emily showed us to our room, which was incredible. We had two twin beds and one king-sized bed. This was an actual hotel, not a crummy hostel! We were so pumped, because the price was super cheap, and we had a private, very nice room. Well done, Alyssa! :) After we got all settled in, the four of us headed out to find some dinner. Emily and Alyssa had been in Milan for a few hours and had already eaten, but decided to take Amber and I back to the restaruant that they had eaten in. Both of us were starving, so we each ate small vegetarian pizzas. My first Italian pizza was soooo much better than anything I'd eaten in Austria! We also all four shared a bowl of the famous Italian gelato, which was even better than I remembered. -- By the time we got finished with dinner, it was pretty late (these Euros stay out way past my bedtime!), so we headed back to the hotel to get a good night's sleep. On the way, we recieved several, "Ciao Bella!" comments.... this was going to be an interesting trip! :)

We woke up very early the next morning, got ready, ate our free breakfast in the hotel, and set out to explore the city. I was the official navigator of the map. We went to one of the Metro stops, and took it to the center of the city. The subway in Milan was VERY stressful. We weren't sure how to use the ticket machines, but this little girl came up to us and pushed the English button and navigated us through it. Well, how helpful, I thought.... OH NO. When I put my money in the machine, this girl tried to keep 4 Euros for herself! What a scam artist! Amber pulled her grimey little paws open and snatched my Euros back, and we hurried off. We held all of our bags very closely, just in case the scamming gypsies tried to snatch anything else.

We rode a few stops on the subway, and came out at the central stop. When we emerged out of the tunnels, we were in complete awe of what we found. The Duomo cathedral was smack dab in front of us.... and it was MASSIVE! I was sooooo impressed. I'd only heard about the Duomo before, so it was very awesome to finally see it up close. I guess we could be labled as tourists, because the four of us immediately started taking pictures. Then, this man came up and opened Alyssa's hand, putting corn inside. Immediately, dozens of pigeons swarmed us, and were jumping all around in our hair and fluttering at our feet trying to eat up the corn. The look on our faces was halarious, and Emily started taking pictures. As we tried to scurry away, that man wanted 10 Euros for payment, too.... FOR CORN!!! Milan was just full of these crazy scammers! We threw a Euro at him to just go away, and then ran into the Duomo for sanctuary. -- Randomly, it turned out to be All Saints Day, so the cathedral was full of Italian people, and music from the mass that was going on filled the rafters. Now, I've heard some beautiful choirs before, but this was one of the most beautiful and perfect songs that I've ever heard. The four of us just stood at the back of the cathedral and listened for about 30 minutes.

Off to the side, people were lighting candles in memory of loved ones, so we lit a candle, prayed, and just watched everyone else. This was seriously something that I needed. One of the things that I've missed the most about America is church. Even though this was a Catholic mass in Italian, I really got something out of it. I could just feel God in that building, and just being there watching was a much-needed spiritual experience. I loved it! -- What a great first stop! :)

Outside and to the right of the Duomo is the oldest shopping center called the Galleria. To enter the shopping place, you go through this giant arch! Inside, the ceiling is arched glass, and all of the stores line the inside of this arch. I was thoroughlly impressed, yet again. The stores inside, however, were Prada, Mercedes Benz (who knew that Mercedes made jackets? If having a car isn't enough! lol), etc. We were merely window-shoppers in this fancy-shmancy place.

we walked past the Duomo again, and got to see an awesome statue of Leonardo DaVinci, who lived and did a lot of his masterpieces in Milan. We sat on a bench under the statue to plan out our route for the day on our trusty map. When we got up, Alyssa turned around and had Pigeon Poo on her jeans! The rest of us nervously looked at our pants, and were clean.... so I guess the Pige man wanted revenge on us and told one of his feathered friends to come poo on Alyssa's seat.... gross. -- We went inside a McDonalds (which are located about every 3 feet in Italy!) and cleaned everything up. Nothing gets Champ down, so we just continued on our exploration of the city. :) Stinkin' pigeons!

As we walked along the famous shopping street (with more $$$ shops) of Milan, we saw a lot of boards set up in rows along the sidewalks, which turned out to be a National Geographic photo display of all of the most famous and intense N.G. pictures taken over the years. My favorite was the one of the younger lady in a red robe who just stares at the camera, called "Eyes of Hope." It was really beautiful and VERY interesting.

After walking down the street, we saw a huge castle/fortress, and a great big fountain. We had to check this out! This castle turned out to be the Milano Castello (also called Castello Sforzesco), a seven-century-old castle, that has been a "significant feature of the historical and artistic memory of Milan." (from tour brochure) The castle was very awesome, but the best part was its location. The back of the castello over-looked a massive park with bridges, streams, and trees that had changed colors for Fall. It was absolutely beautiful! We lauged, though, when we saw a spray-painted side of an electrical box that said, "USA" and then had an arrow pointing down... oh well... you win some, you lose some, I guess! :) At the end of the park was the Milanese Arch of Peace, which we walked to. These Italians are all about their arch's of something-or-other. :)

After hitting all of the important monuments, the four of us were getting a little hungry, so we set out in search of a lunch spot. We walked along the outter edges of the castle and along a smaller street, where we saw a glorious sign: PIZZARIA. We wanted to eat as many different kinds of traditional Italian food as possible, so we went inside. It turned out to be another very cute family-owned restaraunt that served all of the traditional dishes for quite cheap. We were pumped. All of us got some different kind of pasta, and I got spaghetti with real tomatoes and olive-oil sauce. I was in HEAVEN! We all split a plate of Bruschetta, which is so so so much tastier in Italy, that's for sure! Right there, we all knew that our bellies would be in trouble if we stayed in Italy for too long, lol. We hadn't had a bad meal yet.

After we finished our lunch, we sat and just talked for a little while... since that's what the Italians do! -- Then, we left the restaraunt and walked along the side streets. We saw a pretty wooden door at the front of this stone building, and decided to duck in to see if anything cool was going on. We found ourselves in the San Maurizio Monestary! The walls inside the monestary were covered with 16th-century Milanese paintings. There were wall frescos of all of the famous stories out of the Bible. My favorite was the entire wall covered with Noah's Ark. It was so nice. There were also several scenes of the life and death of Christ, and those were also very well done. This monestary, we found out, stands in the heart of one of Milan's oldest and most prestigious complexes =the Benedictine convent that they call Monestero Maggiore. It dates back several centuries and was so nice. -- I was glad that the other girls who came were also very interested in ancient churches and art, because I was in constant awe of the beautiful churches that we found ourselves in. :)

We tried to go see The Last Supper painting by DaVinci, but you had to have reservations for several months in advance to even get in... so we all got a picture of the building, waved to Leonardo, and kept on exploring.

A little ways down the street from the church we'd just seen, there was another gelato shop.... well, we hadn't had some in about 15 hours, so it was high-time! I HAD to try a different flavor! This time, I got some Nutella-flavored gelato, which was probably the most amazing ice cream that I've ever tasted in my life.... WOAH, is all I can say. You guys HAVE to try this stuff.

Around 3:00, we turned a corner close to the Duomo and saw an exhibit for an artist called David LaChapelle (sounded like Dave Chapelle to me, the comedian from America.... but it was a different guy). Alyssa and I didn't really like the examples that I saw outside, but Amber and Emily really wanted to go in and check it out. We agreed to meet back up at 4:30. -- So, Alyssa and I grabbed our map and set out to look for some of the other monuments in Milan. We saw that there was a tower located somewhere near the center of the city, so we thought that might be a fun site to see. Along the way, we found a beautiful castle that had a courtyard covered in yellow leaves! The entire walkway under the trees was golden! SO PRETTY! :) Yet again, we had found another random hidden treasure by just walking around. -- We were determined, however, to find this tower. After walking around forever, all we were seeing were tall apt. buildings. We went inside this place that looked like Patterson Office Tower at UK to ask where this ancient tower was located. The guy at the front desk laughed at me, and said, "You are in it!" ARE YOU KIDDING?!? In such a historic and beautiful city, one of the sites located on a city tour map was an office tower? Seriously! Alyssa and I just laughed at eachother! We had been walking around for 30 minutes look for what we thought was going to be some ancient tower of wisdom or something, and it ended up being an office building, lol. Oh well!

We had been out and around the city for the better part of the day, and the it started to get late. Our flight for Rome left at around 7:30 that night, so we started to meander back to the hostel. We walked back down the main shopping street and heard a lot of music. When we got closer to the source, it was a short little Italian man singing like Josh Groban. His voice was incredible, and it filled the plaza. -- Then, a little ways again down the street, I heard an Indian man playing the flute. As I got closer, I immediately realized that he was playing the theme song to Last of the Mohicans -- mine and dad's favorite movie!!!! I was so happy, and videoed the whole thing! :) Dad would have loved this! :)

After a great first day out in Italy, we went back to our hostel, packed our bags, and headed to the airport. While on the bus, we met a guy named Brad from the University of Denver, who was studying in Milan for the semester, but was heading to Prague for the weekend to meet some friends. He was really nice!

Around 7:30ish, we boarded our RyanAir flight without any problems. It was a smoothe airport visit. While standing in line waiting for our flight to arrive, I saw the craziest-looking person EVER. Stacey and Clinton would NOT have been impressed with this man's attire. He was about 25 years old, had bleach-blonde hair, which was formed into a small mohawk. He was wearing a black shirt that was unbuttoned very low, and also unbuttoned to reveal his belly-button (gross). The kicker was that he was wearing a leather coat with a HUGE fur collar... seriously, what was this guy thinking? I snuck a video of him, too, because nobody would ever believe this back home! lol. He kept me entertained, needless to say.

Anyhow...... next stop....... ROMA!