Italy - The Mess

So I haven't written in a while for two reasons: I have had limited access to the internet, and I have been so rageful the past few days that if I had written anything this would have been an R-rated blog.

So basically, I spent my third day in Switzerland in Zurich - Alexis and I had a coffee with his aunt in the morning, went to the train to get my ticket to Milan and walked around the city. There were some great views, and even greater stores, most of which I didn't even go into. I did buy myself an authentic blingin Swiss watch, and helped my Swiss host find some business clothes. I left Zurich at 5ish, and got to Milan at 930. As we were entering the Italian "fashion capital" train station, there seemed to be a smell of urine in the air, partnered with graffiti and ghetto train wagons littered around the place. Long story short, my directions to the hostel SUCKED, and the bus they told me to take was apparently one of the most dangerous buses in Milan at night. The nice convenience store girl led me a different way, but her directions were not great. After an hour of being lost in the Metro, I called my hostel and asked for directions - it's hard to communicate when the guy at reception speaks NOT ONE WORD of English. Even I spoke more Italian than he English. After another hour of wandering, and help from a nice gua named Fabio (no resemblance to his namesake which we all love) I found my way, only to be told that my reservation didn't exist. I opened a can of whoopass (second time in my life), got a room, took a cold shower and went to bed.

My plan was to get out of Milan the next day, and as I woke up, imagine my surprise at finding my roomies to be 2 boys. One was leaving for Venice, while the other asked me if I was at all interested in taking a day trip with him. Still in my pj's, I agreed, got ready in 10 mins and we were off. We hit the grocery store to get fruit and bread, and got to the train station. This trip was Italy's saving grace - for the time being. We hit up Cinque Terra, which is a recently discovered cluster of 5 villages on the Mediterranean. Andrew and I LOVED it - we walked around, attempted the cliff walk from the first village to the next, but it would have taken too long. We did work up a sweat with the miles of stairs, and then refreshed ourselves by bathing in the Sea for an hour, getting some local pizza to go and heading back on the train. The 3 hour train back was supposed to get to Milan at 1045, and we ended up being stuck, in the dark, for an additional 3 HOURS. I won't even comment.

The next day, I got my ass out of Milan (having gone to bed at 4, since we had to walk from the train station at 3am). The train from Milan was of course delayed and I missed my train to Innsbruck, being forced to wait for 2 more hours. I am getting mad just thinking about it, but I was also lucky - I got myself a seat in 1st class, and met 2 girls from Toronto who were going to Innsbruck as well. Nahleena and Erin were travelling around Europe too, except they are closer to being done the trip while I'm not even halfway done. We exchanged war stories, and they offered me the chance to stay in Innsbruck with them that night. I looked up a place in my guide and we all found the Gasthof Innbrucke together.

However, Austria deserves itw own entry, so I will end on that. In short, I am definitely not going back to Italy anytime soon - until I am older, and have cash to throw around so I don't have to stay in the ghettos and deal with Italians negative attitudes to students. (You should see them with Americans!! They actually refuse to serve them.)

P.S. No offense to any Italians.