Really Long Update!!

WARNING: THIS IS A VERY LONG UPDATE!!! READ IN SEGMENTS IF YOU WISH SO NOT TO WARE YOUR EYES OUT!!!

I am alive!!! I am back!!! I know, it has been quite a while since I've written on here... which was not the plan at the beginning of my travels. But the last few cities I went to had very limited internet and I couldn't get enough time on a computer to actually write on here. So, let me give you a summary of my trip since Budapest.

Budapest: I did not get arrested or fined or anything, but was VERY happy when I successfully made it through the metro to the train station to leave without being stopped by one ticket inspector, though I saw at least 12 of them checking others.

Munich: My hostel was very close to the train station, so I did not have to worry about any sort of metro or bus or ticket inspectors or anything, which was a huge relief. I saw most of the old town on my first full day and visited Olympiapark on my second day. Even though Olympiapark was quite a ways from my hostel, the weather was absolutely beautiful and I decided to walk there so that I could see more of the city. My walk was really great because I had a long talk with God, and it was wonderful. Later on, my last night in the hostel, I began chatting with two Brazilian girls and an Austrailian boy who were traveling together. They told me that I didn't have a choice and that I was going to go out with them. So, I had a really fun time going out and talking with them until about 2 in the morning. I had one beer (the first alcoholic beverage on this entire trip), and it was one that was actually brewed in Munich. I really liked it and would have loved to take or send one home to my parents because I think they would have liked it as well. Anyway, it was just a fun way to end my time in Munich. I got up the next morning and was on my 11 hour train ride to Rome by 9:30.

Rome: What a wonderful city! Well.. sort of. My first impression of Rome was not a really great one because I got there around 8:30 PM and had to walk to my hostel from the train station. It wasn't a really far walk, but I did have a few guys following me and had to step over a few people laying on the ground to get to the door of my hostel. I noticed that there was also a woman there every night sort of working that corner as well... But, my hostel really was in a fantastic location and actually very safe. I ended up having my own room all three nights there because there were only a few of us staying there. One of the other people staying there was a woman named Sheri, who was from Hawaii! She was an artist and getting ready to start studying art for a semester in Florence, but was doing a little traveling before orientation. Because we were both traveling alone and didn't like going out at night by ourselves, we decided to go out together. So, one night she and I cooked ourselves a delicious dinner and then went out and found a place to get desserts. Another night we decided to try and go to the "night spot of the town," which one of the hostel workers had told us about. We got on the right bus, but didn't know which stop to get off at, so we rode all the way to the end of the line and walked around in the middle of nowhere until we found a large grocery store. We went in and walked around for a bit, made a small purchase of chocolate and feminine hygeine products and then got back on the bus and made our way back to the hostel. It was pretty fun to have someone to do something with both nights I was there. Anywho, I did see all the sights and was completely in awe of seeing everything in real life rather than just in pictures. I spent my first full day seeing the ruins, coliseum, pantheon, and a bunch of other amazing buildings that I stumbled upon. My second day was spent entirely in Vatican city visiting the Vatican Museum, Sistene Chapel, and Saint Peter's Basilica. It was an incredibly exciting but also incredibly exhausting day. I climbed to the top of the Basilica and had an amazing view of Rome. I walked through almost the entirety of the Vatican Museums, and was completely emotionally wasted by the time I got to the end and saw the Sistene Chapel. I would definitely love to go back sometime in my life because I know I missed so much, but it is just impossible to experience the entirety of the Vatican City in one day... sort of reminded me of trying to see all of the Louvre in Paris in a couple of hours...

Venice: I left Rome at about 9:00 in the morning on the 24th to head to Venice. The train ride was absolutely beautiful because we went through all of the mountains in Italy. I remembered on the train that I had booked a hostel on Mestre, the mainland, rather than actually on the Venezia island when I made my reservations because of Carnaval (catalan spelling) and the ridiculous prices of the other hostels. So, when I got to the Mestre train station, I got off and began following my directions, which were VERY specific. Finally, after about a 10 minute walk through an underground tunnel, a side street, and an alley behind a gas station, I found my hostel which actually turned out to be a hotel that offered a few "shared" rooms. The first night I had three other people in the room with me who I never met because they got back (and turned on the lights and made a lot of noise) at about 1 in the morning, and then their alarm went off at 5:45 and they again turned on the lights and left by 7. Luckily I didn't have hostelmates like this along all of my travels or else I would have been one frumpy person. Anywho, I only had one whole day in Venice and left around 8:30 to catch the 1 euro, 10 minute train ride into Venice. For the most part, I got completely lost as soon as I tried to follow my map and realized that I saw much more of what Venice actually was this way. So, the entirety of my day was spent walking around looking for nothing in particular and taking a few pictures. I ate some delicious pizza, bought a really beautiful mask from a maskmaker in his shop after talking to him for a long time and watching him work, found an awesome free museum exhibit with classical music and string instruments from hundreds of years ago, bought some gifts for my family and host parents, and realized that it was beginning to get dark and that I didn't want to have to walk down that alleyway when there was no light. It was really a wonderful day, and it was fun to see all of the excitement about the beginning of Carnaval. Later that night I ended up going against what I usually do and walking down scary streets in the dark to find something to eat. I ended up buying a whole pizza for 4.50 euros and taking it back with me. I offered some to the front desk worker, but she didn't want any... so I proceded to eat 5 of the 8 pieces for dinner and the other 3 for breakfast very early in the morning. Nothing better than that!!!

Geneva: Who knew it was so expensive?!?! And why didn't you warn me?!? It all turned out fine, though. Basically, I didn't do a whole lot of touristing in Geneva because a friend met me there and we spent a lot of time just chatting and wandering around. We played checkers on a giant board painted on the ground where we used our feet to hold the checkers to jump eachother. We posed with statues. We went ice skating for 2 and a half hours. It was wonderful!!! So, besides everything being totally expensive in Geneva, I tried my first Toblerone bar ever and fell in love. I got to catch up with a friend, and we met some pretty aweosme girls in our hostel room (one from South Korea and another from Poland). OH!!!! And I saw the most BEAUTIFUL castle in the middle of the Swiss mountains on the train ride from Venice to Geneva.... I couldn't have asked for a better few days!!!

And now I am back here. My friend came back to Barcelona with me and just left this morning, which is why I haven't really had a chance to write until now. We had a good time just talking and spending time together. We did a lot with another one of my friends who studies here with me.. Shopping was one of those things, and now that we are at the end of January, the sales are AMAZING!!! So, my super cute Diesel tennis shoes cost me 19.90 euro. I got a really nice shirt for 1.95 euro, and a wonderfully warm brown sweater for 5.95 euro.... What a successful shopping trip! Now, however, I am totally exhausted and need to catch up on my sleep before classes start on Monday. SO, I am sorry this is so long, but I wanted you to be all updated. I'll try and write again soon, and hopefully it won't be such a novel next time!!!

Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts while I was on my trip. And thank you to those of you who were worried about me when I hadn't updated this for two weeks. I love and miss you all!!!