Classes have begun. I am taking Greek 101, History of Thessaloniki, Greek Art History, English Composition and Stats. All of them have under 20 students, the professors take attendance at the beginning of every class and all the classes are in the same building...definitely not at Brown anymore. I am allowed to miss 6 days of each class, if I miss more I will automatically fail the class. After the first week of school I will already be down to 4 days. To celebrate Brown's 250th anniversary the US ambassador has invited any students studying in Eurpoe to Rome for a dinner reception Thursday night. Anna has decided to stay in Greece and climb Mt Olympus on Saturday and Sunday as part of a planned optional trip through ACT. It was a hard choice, but I am using 2 of my skip days and meeting Carolyn, who is studying in Barcelona, and Chris, who is studying in Scotland, in Rome. Then on Friday we are taking a train to Pisa and staying there for a night. For now, Italy > Mt. Olympus.
I don't know why I bother to arrive at the airport 2 hours early. Just like when we flew to Crete, it took 10 min to go through security and then they don't start boarding the plane until the sceduled depart time. For security, they don't require you to put all your 3 oz liquids in a quart size bag, nor do they even check your liquids. Shoes don't have to come off and computers don't have to be taken out of your bag and put in a separate bin. But I found all that is nothing compared to what they do when you have a full water bottle. I always forget to drink my water or pour it out before I go through security. When they found my full water bottle when we flew to Crete, they held it up and told me to drink it. They stood there watching me at first and then just walked away before I even finished. When they found it in my water bottle holder on the outside of my backpack today, I thought they were going to make me chug it again. Instead, they gestered to pour it out but then just shrugged their shoulders and put it inside my backpack.
I guess I should expect the unexpected when flying cheap airlines. After waiting to take off for 40 minutes the pilot announces that they have found a broken piece on the plane that needs to be replaced and it will take another 4 hours to do so. I finally arrive in Rome at 4:45, take a shuttle to the train station to take a bus to our apartment. Walk into the apartment at 8:00, just as the reception is ending. Carolyn walks in 30 minutes later, she got lost on the way to the reception and missed it as well. We meet up with Chris and Alex, who is studying with Chris in Scotland and will be a transfer student at Brown this Spring. They actually made it and were just getting back! However, the ambassador had already left when they arrived there...meeting him just wasn't meant to be.
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| The next day Carolyn and I wake up early to visit the Collosuem. We arrive and find out that I am not allowed to enter with my suitcase, just our luck. We are about to leave but then decide we will just take turns going in, and are we glad we did. |
Next stop, Pisa. We try to make the 10:12 train but of course, after sprinting through the station, we miss it by seconds. Maybe a blessing in disguise though, we were able to relax and have a little more time in Rome and have our first Italian meal...pasta, bread and gelato. Still don't know the real difference between ice cream and gelato, but gelato is 10x better.
We hop on the 12:12 train with Chris, Alex and two of their other friends from Scotland and arrive in Pisa around 4. Once we drop off our luggage in our apartment we head out to find some Pisa pizza. Chris came down with a bad fever so he stays behind, and to continue with our streak of great luck, the food is terrible. Carolyn's pasta was cold, Megan described her's as "good but tasteless", and for the pizza, one never came and the other two were just plain bad.
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| leaning on the tower |
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| Arno River |
We remain optimistic and decide to walk around. Other than the leaning tower of Pisa, there really isn't much to see in Pisa. However, the night we were there marked the 950th anniversary of the day the first stone was laid down to build the tower. There was a festival to celebrate and an open market too. The streets were absolutely beautiful, just how I would imagine Italian streets, but better then I could picture in my head.
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| gelato round 2 |
Classes have begun. I am taking Greek 101, History of Thessaloniki, Greek Art History, English Composition and Stats. All of them have under 20 students, the professors take attendance at the beginning of every class and all the classes are in the same building...definitely not at Brown anymore. I am allowed to miss 6 days of each class, if I miss more I will automatically fail the class. After the first week of school I will already be down to 4 days. To celebrate Brown's 250th anniversary the US ambassador has invited any students studying in Eurpoe to Rome for a dinner reception Thursday night. Anna has decided to stay in Greece and climb Mt Olympus on Saturday and Sunday as part of a planned optional trip through ACT. It was a hard choice, but I am using 2 of my skip days and meeting Carolyn, who is studying in Barcelona, and Chris, who is studying in Scotland, in Rome. Then on Friday we are taking a train to Pisa and staying there for a night. For now, Italy > Mt. Olympus.
I don't know why I bother to arrive at the airport 2 hours early. Just like when we flew to Crete, it took 10 min to go through security and then they don't start boarding the plane until the sceduled depart time. For security, they don't require you to put all your 3 oz liquids in a quart size bag, nor do they even check your liquids. Shoes don't have to come off and computers don't have to be taken out of your bag and put in a separate bin. But I found all that is nothing compared to what they do when you have a full water bottle. I always forget to drink my water or pour it out before I go through security. When they found my full water bottle when we flew to Crete, they held it up and told me to drink it. They stood there watching me at first and then just walked away before I even finished. When they found it in my water bottle holder on the outside of my backpack today, I thought they were going to make me chug it again. Instead, they gestered to pour it out but then just shrugged their shoulders and put it inside my backpack. 
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