CARNIVAL!

Saturday, 3.8.2014:

Woke up at like 5 in the morning in order to finish packing and get to the airport in time for the flight to Italy for Spring Break. This morning overall was a little stressful since 

       1. there were people sleeping all around the house so we didn't want to wake them, 

       2. people were trying to leave at the same time as us so maneuvering the bathroom was like an intricate ballet, 

       3. Some of the guests were staying after we departed so we had to make sure they knew what to do with keys, locks, food ect. 

This entire morning made me feel like the mother in Home Alone, a feeling I do not want to repeat anytime soon. Once our bags were in the trunk of the taxi and Catie, Becca and I were finally on the way to the airport my nerves started to settle a little. They then boiled back up when we saw the line for check in with Ryanair. For all you non Ryanair users out there, flyers that are not EU citizens have to get a stamp on their boarding pass before going through security. It is basically one of the many little hoops Ryanair makes you jump through in order to board their crappy cramp airplanes. We got into line and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Our friends who had arrived at the airport after us had got through their line before we even got halfway through ours. When we were finally one away from getting to the desk we found out we are behind the slowest, most unnecessarily inquisitive lady. She asked questions about the stairs, about the escalators, about security, and so on. Really lady? Was this necessary? My patience was wearing real thin at this point. After she finally left Becca and I both got stamped no problem, then Catie went up. This was another whole ordeal because Catie had to check her bag. This ended up being a whole other 20 minutes since the guy was being a real jerk to her. Once she was finally paid up and stamped we went through security. This was thankfully no big deal. 

Unfortunately, as soon as I made it through security it dawned on me that I had left my camera charger and battery in my room. This made my nerves spike yet again. After all, how can I go to Italy, such a gorgeous country, and not take pictures? I called Joel, who wasn't on our flight that day, and asked him to go pick it up from my place before he left the next day. He thankfully agreed. My nerves started to settle. While walking to the gate for the flight, I decided to pick up a battery at the camera store there just so I would be able to take pictures until Joel could give me my original charger and battery. We all chilled at the gate before boarding the flight. We then boarded the flight and prepared for our adventures in Italy. We were disappointed to find out that our flight was delayed do to control tower workers in France on strike. So we waited. And then we waited some more. Then the pilot got on and we listened with hopes we were leaving soon, just to find out we had to wait some more. After being delayed for about 2 hours, we finally took off. A two hour, bumpy flight later we landed in Milan. From the Bergamo airport we took a 40 bus ride to the city center. Once there we said goodbye to the 4 girls heading to Verona and walked around attempting to find our hostel. This is still one of the hardest things for us to do in a timely manner. After checking in with our absurdly crabby receptionist we grabbed a little wifi and then decided to head into center of Milan to see the Duomo. On our trip there we kept seeing children and parents in face paint and costumes. We were quite confused by this. We were surprised to find out when we stepped out of the metro station into the main square that everyone in Milan was celebrating Carnival! There was confetti, silly string and balloons 

everywhere. Everyone in the square was having a blast. 

                    

We snapped a couple pictures before heading into the Duomo to look at the inside. The inside was stunning,

but then again there are very few Italian churches out there that are ugly.

Once we were finished there we went to find some food at a place that was recommended by one of Shawn and Angie's friend who studied there last semester. The pizza we ate was delicious but I was a little disappointed when I found out that mine didn't actually have broccoli on it, but instead lots of spinach. I guess the vegetable broccoli got a little lost in translation at some point. After dinner we headed over to this great Geletaria to have the first of MANY cones of gelato. It was, of course, delicious.

Before heading back to the hostel we walked through the shopping district. This mostly consisted of looking at expense clothes, shoes, and bags that we could only dream of owning one day. Back at the hostel everyone kicked up their feet and used some wifi while we tried to figure out if we were gonna go out. The consensus was a short nap was needed before trying to head out that night. When we finally made it out of the hostel we walked around for about 40 minutes trying to see if there was a place to go to that wasn't outrageously expensive. We couldn't find one, and since Shawn, Angie and I had to be up so early the next day we decided to call it a night. My overall personal opinion of my time in Milan is I am glad I made it there but that I am also glad I didn't spend anymore time there.

Cheers,
Jenny