Milan, Italy - Frankfurt, Germany - Washington D.C., USA - July 30th

I awoke around 6:30, met Allie and Lisa in the lobby, and together we took a cab to the Linate Airport. I sat at the gate with them until their flight left and then for another hour until mine boarded. I had an amazing view of the Alps and lake region of northern Italy from my window seat to Frankfurt. When we landed, I had to run to the next gate to catch my connection flight to Dulles. The plane to D.C. did not have TVs on the seatbacks so I spent most of the flight attempting to sleep and listening to music. The food, however, was delicious, and they fed us almost constantly. At Dulles, I made my way painlessly through customs and met my Mom and Dad outside, thus concluding my Eurotrip 2011.

Milan, Italy - July 29th

Today is our last day in Italy. We returned to the lecture hall on campus one last time. I, along with a few other students gave presentations. My topic was the painting "Il Bacio" by Francesco Hayez. When it was over, we ate lunch at a European McDonalds for the last time. From there, I went with Arielle, Gary, and Cat through San Babila to get last minute souvenirs. They were tired, so we returned to the dorm and packed our things. In the afternoon, we had our "Last Supper" in Italy. We went to a restaurant calle "Oysteria" where they brought us plate after plate of bread, meat, vegetables, and practically raw steak. For desert we had some lemon sorbet. After dinner, we returned to the dorm and started partying in the kitchen of the building. The Italian dudes didn't want to dance but instead sit outside and chain smoke, so we didn't party for long. The night ended in playing a round of BS with cards, and I tried to go to bed at a decent hour because I knew I would not be able to sleep on the plane.

Como Lago, Italy - July 28th

This morning I awoke with a pretty terrible hangover so it took me a while to get out of bed. Luckily we are done with classes. All that is left is papers for some people and a presentation for me. When I finally did get up, I checked train times to Lake Como. Around noon, Kara, Jessica, and I all left for the lake. Like most train rides, it was pretty uneventful except for a guy about my age who smelled like shit, sat across from us and just stared at us the whole way. He was apparently sick because he kept a napkin to his mouth the whole time. When we got off the train, he followed us while digging through nearby trash cans. We eventually had to stand on a corner and wait for him to leave.

The lake was a very beautiful site. It was pretty large but you could see the other side. There were a lot of boats on the water and mountains surrounded it. We walked down to the side expecting to find a beach cause I wanted to go swimming but there wasn't one. So we walked around the edge until we came to a place with paddle boats. It was cheap to ride, so we hopped on board, and I paddled us out into the lake. We sat there a while and took in the scenery. When it was time to return the boat, we headed back to shore. We got some gelatto and kept walking around the lake. We walked through a park where we found a tiny piece of beach but the water was dirty so I didn't jump in.

A storm was coming along, so we turned around and headed back in the direction of the train station. Along the way we found a restaurant with cheap food. Dr. Wright joined us from her unexpected 8 mile hike. Together we ate under an awning while the rain began to come down. Fortunately it let up just as we finished eating, and we were able to make it back to the station without getting wet.

Back home, most of the people I'm with went out to party it up while we are still in Italy. I choose to stay in since I had partied hard the night before and had schoolwork to do.

Torino, Italy - July 27th

Once again we were forced to wake early. After breakfast, we checked out of the room and went to meet our tour guide for Torino. Unfortunately the day of our walking tour it rained, so cold and wet, we walked to the center of town. Our guide took us through the town showing us it's history from its founding during the Roman period, then gothic influences from the medieval times, and finally to modern additions. We walked through the square where "Deep Red" had taken place and had another bicella. Afterwards, we went to the palace which is built on top of Roman ruins and has a medieval castle attached. Inside, we watched an interesting video which took us through the different eras and showed the growth of the city. Back outside, she led us through a courtyard to a church which holds the "Shroud of Turin". This is supposedly the garment which Jesus was wrapped in after being taken down from the cross. We couldn't see the actual cloth because it is very delicate. The tour was about to come to an end, but our guide wanted to show us a quick peek at what a Gothic style church looked like. When we were done seeing that, she took us to a restaurant called "Soup and Go" which had delicious soups and salads. With the tour over, we were free to leave at any time. A lot of students headed right back to Milan, but I took my time and went through some shops on the way back to the train station.

Back in Milan, some students wanted to go out and convinced me to come along. We went back to the bars at Corso Como and after a while there, headed to the club. There were way too many dudes at the club and were trying to dance with the 4 girls I had brought. Since they did not want to dance with the guys, I spent most of the night intercepting them and rotating between all the girls. On the taxi ride home, the driver told me how tired he was of the high prices for the relatively low standard of living.

Torino, Italy - July 26th

Early this morning, we departed to the train station and headed to Torino. This city was the first capital of Italy when all states were united in 1861. It was also the cinema capital until Facism took over and moved everything to Rome.

Once we arrived, we went to our hotel which was located in a kind of car garage/mall. The rooms were even nicer than the ones back in Milan except the AC did not work as well. We only stayed a few minutes to drop off our bags before heading back to the metro. We had a quick meal at McDonalds then got on a bus to take us to the National Cinema Museum. There, we waited while Dr. Wright got tickets. During that time, Gary called me. He had stayed at the train station with Cat while she used the bathroom, and they did not know what stop to get off the bus. I walked back to the bus stop we had come from and waited for them, hoping their bus would come to the stop I was at. Unfortunately, their bus never came so after a while of trying to explain where the museum was, I head back to the group. They, however, had already gone inside the museum, so I waited in the lobby for Cat and Gary. By some miracle they actually made it before too long. Together, we entered and reunited with the rest of the group.

The museum was very entertaining. First we learned about the history of film, watching a few 10 second videos that were some of the first caught on film. After that we walked through an area that had information on many older actors and actresses as well as some directors. There were also scripts, original costumes, and set designs. We finished the tour by relaxing in the center of the museum which was very open with a very high ceiling. They had very comfortable seats arranged the way theaters have them only you could lay down and watch the movies on massive screens on the walls while listening through speakers built into the seats on both sides of your head. I fell asleep it was so comfortable. After my short nap, a group of us took the elevator to the very top of the museum where we had a view of the entire city. When we had finished taking in the sites, we returned to ground level and walked into the main section of town. There, some of us had a drink native to Turin, I think it was called bicella. This is basically a glass of espresso coated with chocolate and whipped milk. Gary and I went on to shop around the town. I got a great deal on a shirt, pair of shoes, and a hat which only costed me a euro. With our new clothing, we joined up with a couple other members of the group and went to look for apertivo. Along the way we came across many other stores but no apertivo. Eventually we found an Irish Pub which was still serving so we stopped for a drink and snacks. From there we went to another bar for more drinks. Still looking for some fun amongst the otherwise boring night life of Torino, we wondered the streets being loud Americans. Unfortunately, there was not much fun to be had on a Tuesday night and eventually we began walking back to the metro station. We arrived only to find the trains had stopped running, but luckily a night watch guard told us we could take a bus. We made it back to our rooms and watched Jersey Shore, the only show in English until everyone was tired enough to go to bed.

Milan, Italy - July 25th

Our classes have come to an end. Instead, Dr. Wright got us up early and took us to the Basilica of Saint Ambrose. On the way there, we passed through the ruins of one of the Roman gates to the city of Milan. Because during the time of St. Ambrose, there were arguments over Christianity (go figure). So much that the different groups of monks who ran the church had to build two separate bell towers because they did not like the others ringing theirs. Inside we saw the preserved remains of the saint along with two martyrs. Once we had seen everything in the church, we gathered outside and watched a funeral procession about to take place in the church.

From there, we walked to a well-known gelatteria and got gellato. We continued to a bus stop, and rode the bus to San Babila and walked the rest of the way to the Duomo. Outside, Dr. Wright informed us on the history of the Duomo. Since most of the group had not been to the top, they went while Ally and I sat on the front steps and entertained ourselves by people watching, chasing pigeons, and cheering on male pigeons doing an exotic dance to impress female pigeons before jumping on them. I'm glad not to be a pigeon because the whole time we watched, not one was successful in mating.

When the group had finished touring, a few of us made our way to a restaurant referred to one of the girls I was with by her cousin. After eating, I accompanied the girls while they shopped for souvenirs. When they had finished, we headed back to the dorm.

For some reason, no one wanted to go out, so we stayed in the dorm and drank. At one point, we went outside and played soccer until a guy from the dorms told us we were not allowed to play out there. Back inside, we attempted to watch a movie but ended up falling asleep.

Lecco, Italy - July 24th

Again this morning I took my time getting up and ready. We had plans to spend the day at Lake Como just an hour train ride away. I met up with Connie, Frank, Kara, and Chelsea and we set off towards the metro. There was not much chance of us making the 12:40 train, so we took our time and ate lunch at the Kabap restaurant on the way. Kara had met a guy named Carlo a few nights before at the Ramada bar. He was the bartender and did a good job from what Kara said. However, he was yelled out by his boss that night and ended up quitting. He lived in Lecco and was going to meet us at the station there. At the station in Milan, we called him to find out which station to get off at. He grew irritated at us for not knowing which one to get off at, so we got a station worker to tell us. The ride was uninteresting for the most part, aside from a man receiving head in a public park beside the railroad tracks while people played soccer nearby.

At the Lecco station, we met up with Carlo. He expressed how irritated he was with Kara for missing the earlier train. He had wanted to take us the Bellagio on Lake Como but because we arrived an hour or two late, the streets of Lecco had been closed off for a bike race. He became more irritated when all five of us tried to pile into his little car. Apparently he had told Kara only 3 or 4 people could come with her, but she had told him 5 were coming. We eventually reasoned with him to take us to his house, so we could grab a drink to take the edge off.

It was a wild ride with all of us crammed in the back while Carlo navigated the city's narrow streets. The traffic was pretty bad because of the bike race, and Carlo kept saying how he needed to ask Kara something in private. My first impression of him was that he had schemed us into coming to Lecco when we intended on going to Como. Although Lecco was beautiful, there was not a beach we could hang out at. At his house, we stood out on the balcony and had champagne while enjoying the view of the mountains all around. The guy had a really nice bachelor pad for a bartender. He showed us the upstairs where he had a workout room and fairly large bedroom. We waited downstairs while he "changed". When he came back down, he had only put on a different pair of shorts, which were the exact same as his other shorts in every way except they were a slightly different color. By this time, we were all really sketched out about this guy and wanted to get the hell out of Lecco, but he said he would take us to a beach and later on we would go to a bar and pizzeria.

Back in his car, we took a short drive to a nearby town outside Lecco. Carlo blasted his jazz music the whole way to the bar. We parked and walked down to a small section of rocky beach. There, we laid out and relaxed for a few hours.

When it came time for apertivo, we walked back up to the bar and got drinks. Connie and I played Carlo and Chelsea in Foosball, and when they beat us, we had to buy them both drinks. He was way too serious about the rules for us. After apertivo, we went to his friend's pizzeria. It was a really nice, authentic looking Italian pizzeria....except they were playing "Eye of the Tiger", "Ghost Busters", and some Queen. Still, the food was amazing. We had plenty of local wine and talked about Frank being a Colonel in the U.S. Army. Carlo, who prides himself on "breaking balls" claims he breaks more balls than Frank. Of course, Carlo, claiming to have served in the Italian army, only seemed to break the girls' balls. Towards the end of the meal, I began getting nervous about the time. The last train back to Milan left at 10:50, but Carlo kept putting on that he wanted us to stay the night and have us leave at 5 AM the next morning. None of us had any intention of staying at this possibly psychotic man's house for the night. We kept telling him we had to go, and he kept drinking more wine and ordered us a round of Lemon cello. We finally convinced him that we were not going to stay with him and it was imperative that we catch the train home.

We climbed back into the tiny car and with the radio blaring Italian rock music (and Carlo singing along between cursing at Milanese people driving back after vacationing for the weekend), drove to the station. Surprisingly enough, we managed to get to the platform with time to spare. We even got a free ride back because the ticket machines were broken. We said good bye to Carlo and much to our relief boarded the train when it arrived. On the trip back, Kara and Frank bestowed on us their extensive knowledge of the relationships between men and women. Carlo called a few times to drunkenly sing to Chelsea, who he believed to be Kara.

At the dorm, we swapped stories of the weekend with the other students who had returned before going to bed.

Milan, Italy - July 23rd

This morning was pretty relax. I got up and began getting ready. Connie came and got me and together we went with Frank and Kara to the Duomo section of town in search of cheap souvenirs. At the side shops, we picked up a few small gifts. Afterwards, we walked around the Duomo area showing Frank the sights since it was his first time being there. We walked by the shops, occasionally stopping in some to search for clothes. We had lunch at a restaurant on the San Babila shopping strip. It was a little too pricey for the quality of food and service. The waiter was a real dick. We got gelatto and made our way over to the Ferrari store where they were allowing people to test "drive your dream". On the street nearby, they took pictures by the shiny red cars lined up to be driven. A Lamborghini pulled up beside one of the Ferraris and the two got into a revving battle. The engines were so powerful that the air around us vibrated. To our disbelief, the Lambo driver rolled do the passenger window and jokingly sent an empty water bottle out at the Ferrari. I guess people with that kind of money do not worship those cars the way we do. We continued down the road looking for designer stores so Kara, a personal shopper for wealthy people back in the States, could pick out clothing for her clients. I felt underdressed for most of the places we went into. Even when we went into the "clothing garage", the tshirts were at least 50 euro. There, we ran into the most heavily stacked woman I have ever seen. Looked like she had two bowling balls in a harness around her chest. Frank was ballsy enough to get a picture with her. We hopped on the bus which took us to another section of town where the make up store was located. Frank and I chatted about running races while the girls looked at make up. Turns out he had recently run the Fredericksburg Marine Half Marathon. From there we wondered aimlessly back towards the metro and then to the dorm. We pretty much hung out there for the rest of the night.

Milan, Italy - July 22nd

Because of all we did yesterday, we do not have class today. This is good because there is a nation-wide train strike going on which means the metros are closed, so we would have no way of going. The strike has made it a pretty shitty day. Ashlee and I were going to go with Gary and Cat to Cinque Terre for the weekend, but the train was cancelled. We took a taxi to the station. You would think the taxi drivers would make a killing with no public transport, but the roads were so crammed that they actually made less. The train workers must be the stupidest bunch of people. At the train station we ate lunch and found out there was another train to Cinque Terre at 6, so we walked back to the dorm. With no metro, we have been confined mostly to the dorms for the day. A lot of other student's trains were also cancelled so there is a handfull of us still here. Gary and Cat are trying to get the 6 o'clock train, but we are just going to wait until tomorrow morning to leave, so we don't pay two nights at a hotel.

All day I felt like the night before was a disaster. Either because I got too drunk or Ashley and I do not mesh well when intoxicated. Either way, I did not feel that spending the entire weekend together would be a good idea and would be intruding on Cat and Gary's time alone. Because of this, I decided not to go. As far as I know, Ashley caught the last train back to Florence this evening.

All of us who had been forced to stay in Milan decided to make the best of it and go out. After having a few drinks in the dorms, we headed next door to the Ramada. There, we sat at the bar socializing. I ordered a pizza to the dorm and when it arrived, I went back to get it. I took it up to my room and started eating. Next thing I know, I'm fast asleep, and despite the others' best efforts, I could not be roused into going to the club.

Milan, Italy - July 21st

This morning I woke up early so I could have breakfast downstairs for the first time in at least a week. Around 9, we boarded a charter bus outside our dorms which took us to Certova di Pavia, a monastery built in the 15th century located about 20 miles south of Milan. On the way, we had a great view of the snow-covered Alps way off in the distance.

A monk walked us through the ornately, marble-carved church in which no expenses were spared and not a square inch of the walls were not decorated with religious fresco or lapis lazuli. There were a couple tombs for the families which donated the funds used for construction, an alter piece carved entirely out of animal bone/ivory, and, in another section of the monastery, the living quarters of the monks. Each had his own house and was brought breakfast every morning.

After our tour, we returned to the bus which took us into the town of Pavia. There, we ate crepes and had wine followed by coconut gelato in a quaint restaurant. We wondered the streets until it was time to meet up with our Australian tour guide. He took us down to the river where the Romans had constructed the bridge used to invade Carthage during the war against Hannibal. From there, we went through the town to a church built by the Longobards, or "long beards" when they conquered the city after a 3 year siege. We then followed our guide to the main square of the city where a royal family's palace used to stand before it was burned down by the Pavian citizens during the war against the royal family of Milan. Our guide then took us through the Pavia University and ended the tour at a castle much like the one we had been to in Milan, where Vitruvius inspired Leonardo da Vinci to sketch the Vitruvian Man. After a quick bathroom break, we hopped back on the bus and back to Milan.

In Milan, we went to see the "Last Supper". It was in better condition than I thought it would be. We were only allowed 15 minutes to look at it. A guide gave us information on the history of it and how da Vinci studied biblical text to create personalities in the disciples. I was blown away, mostly because this painting is infamous.

After the "Last Supper", I met up Ashlee, and we headed back to the dorm where, once again, we pregamed before going out to karaoke. I did not sing even though I wanted to because the list of songs available was limited in English. Do not remember much after leaving the bar except that we bar hopped to a few other places, and apparently I was a dick for talking to some other girl for a few minutes. I vaguely remember not being able to catch a cab for a while, but eventually we did and managed to get back to the dorm.

Milan, Italy - July 20th

In class today, we had a lecture on Italian music. Basically they make horrible covers of American music, make music similar to ours, or just listen to ours. A few artists such as The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan performed a song or two in Italian themselves.

After the lecture, we walked around and did some shopping until it was time to meet up again to go to Pinacoteca di Brera, an art gallery which Napoleon established as the Louvre of Italy. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside, but we were able to see "The Lamentation over the Dead Christ" by Andrea Mantegna, "The Kiss" by Francesco Hayez, "The Marriage of the Virgin" by Raphael, "Supper at Emmaus" by Caravaggio, and countless others. My only complaint about it was we did not have enough time to go back through and spend more time appreciating the masterpieces.

Back at the dorm we had leftovers from the night before.

Milan, Italy - July 19th

Today's lecture was very informative on Italian Renaissance Art. I was kind of bummed cause a lot of the art he talked about was in Florence, and I would been able to see it had I gone last weekend. Afterwards, we had a few hours before meeting the group again, so I spent it at the dorm napping since it was raining outside. In the early afternoon, we returned to the Galleria to meet the rest of the group. We spun on the bull's balls for good luck and then met our tour guide for the famous La Scala opera house.

After the tour we returned to the dorm where a few of us cooked ourselves a delicious meal and then watched "The Zodiac".

Milan, Italy - July 18th

Today in class we had a lecture on Italian fashion. There are a lot more designer brands based in Milan than I had guessed. The professor seemed very proud that Italy's economy relies heavily on clothing production which I would not consider to be a good thing, although despite the economic downturn, clothing exports are still rising. I was hoping she would tell me what to wear and what not to wear, the whole "fashionable" bit, but unfortunately it never came.

After the lecture, we returned to the dorm and began pregaming before we went out for apertivo at Corso Como again. We met the group in the lobby and set out.

At the familiar street lined with bars and clubs, we checked out one of the most expensive department stores I have ever been in. Earlier this morning, the Fromage Fam decided that we needed to take on accents from other countries to cover up the fact that we were loud Americans, so Gary and I took on Irish accents. Together we wondered several drinks deep through the store making up ridiculous things we thought Irish people would say when they saw some of the outrageous prices on things such as candles or even glass dildos.

To both of us our accents were spot on, but the sober people we were with did not believe so. Outside the store, we sat down for some really great apertivo and I had a liter of delicious beer. Afterwards, we headed over to another bar with happy hour drinks and an outside lounge. The place had been nearly empty before we arrived and were more than happy to let us do basically whatever we wanted, including picking the music from their Macbook. When happy hour was over, we headed over to "Pitbull", the bar we had been at the last Saturday night when the old ladies joined us on the dance floor. The same beautiful bartender served us a round of tequila shots and things got wild.

Starting to drink earlier in the afternoon was a great idea because we were able to still ride the metro for free home at around midnight. Back at the dorm, Gary shaved my head to look like a typical Italian douchebag.

Milan, Italy - July 17th

The group of us were quite hungover this morning and did not get out of bed until around noon. Once we were up, we decided to go get Sunday brunch at a restaurant called "California Bakery", which was said to serve American breakfast food we were craving so much.

We took the metro all the way across town to the canal district and then rode on a "tranny" to the section the restaurant was in. Using Kara's iPad to navigate, we walked several blocks up the road looking for the bakery. We passed by some old cathedrals and Roman-looking ruins. Soon we realized that we had gone way too far. Nearly collapsing from exhaustion and lack of food, a few members of the group stopped to get weiners at a German restaurant. The few of us willing to press on soon came across the bakery after backtracking down the street.

The food was definitely worth our troubles. I had a chicken sandwich which you'll rarely find over here. It was delicious and the service was incredible. We relaxed in the bakery for a few hours enjoying our food before returning to the dorm.

I took my soccer ball out to the park by our dorm and played with a few Italians there. When they left, I began kicking it against a wall but a shard broke off and popped a hole. With my flat ball, I walked back to the dorm and watched the Women's World Cup which was unbelievably exciting but disappointing when the US girls lost in a shootout against Japan.

Milan, Italy - July 16th

This morning most of the group left for Venice. I awoke to a phone call from Ashlee who wanted to come back to Milan to hang out. I went back to sleep and did not get up until around noon. Felt good to be able to sleep in for once. I got ready and went to the train station, which has become my most hated place in Milan at this point, to meet Ashlee.

From there, we went to get lunch. Afterward we happened to run into the rest of the Formaggio Family in the metro station. They were going shopping so we tagged along. We went to a clothing store with some really metro men's clothing, like most of the clothes "men" wear here. Ashlee was not in the mood for shopping, so we disbanded from the group and just walked around the city and talked. By this point, we have become good friends and our personalities are strangely similar. Later that day, she returned to Florence, and I returned to the dorm.

Since it was just the members of the Formaggio Family, along with Martin, at the dorm tonight, we decided to go out. After a few games of flip cup and chandeliers, we were good to go.

Martin led us to a section of town where bars/clubs lined both sides of the street called Corso Como. We bar hoped from one to the other. At each place, we would take over the dance floor with our ridiculous "bernie-ing". One bar seemed to be filled with women twice my age who started dancing on me really hard and put ice cubes down my shirt. Since arriving in Italy weird things like this seem to happen a lot and now not a day goes by where someone in our group doesn't point out that "shit's getting weird" to which another will reply "it's been weird". At the end of the night we were dying for some food. Luckily a pizzeria on the street was still serving. We each got two slices of pizza which tasted unreal. We took taxis back to the dorm and hung out for a little while before going to sleep.

Milan, Italy - July 15th

Today, we did not have class but instead had an online test to take, so I was able to sleep in a bit. After taking the test, I was planning on going to Florence for the weekend but was running low on clean clothes. I decided to run a load of laundry but like an idiot I put the blue "France" shirt I had gotten back in Paris in the bunch on accident. The result was my clothes being tinted blue. I took them upstairs and put them in my shower under hot water which got a lot of the dye out but my clothes were still soaked. The clothes I planned to wear to Florence were my dark polo and jeans which weren't effected by the dye so I put them on, determined to not let the laundry prevent me from getting to Florence, especially since it was Ashlee's birthday, and she had spent a lot of the morning trying to get a hotel reservation for me to stay the night. So in my wet clothes, I headed to the central station.

There, I almost lost it when I had to wait in line for almost an hour at the "fast ticket" machine while the Italians in front of me couldn't figure out their own ticket machine. The people in front of me would spent 15 minutes picking out a ticket and then do something stupid like hit the "cancel" button and have to start over or hit the pay with card instead of cash and instead of hitting "back", they would start over. The whole time I waited in line, the hideous couple in front of me continued to make out in the Italian PDA fashion. Finally at the machine, I couldn't believe it when I found out the tickets to Florence, only an hour and a half train ride away, were over 50 Euro. Hopes crushed, I wondered back to the dorm. There, I changed out of my wet clothes into some dry ones.

Later that night, the group decided to go back to "Old Fashion", the outdoor nightclub we'd been to the week before. This time it was much more crowded than before. It took forever to get a drink and I must have elbowed at least 20 people in the head while dancing. Despite the crowd, we stayed there until it closed at 4:30 AM and took a cab home. While waiting for a taxi, I almost got into a fight with a dumbass Italian guy who would not leave the girls I was with alone. Italian guys are the worst when it comes to their way of hitting on girls. At the dorm, I went straight to bed.

Milan, Italy - July 14th

In class today, we had a lecture on "Pop Politics" in Italy. It focused mainly on the current Prime Minister, Berlusconi. He seem to disapprove of the Prime Minister's juvenile behavior as the leader of a country. A lot of the lecture was spent trying to get the computer and internet working.

After the lecture, we took an hour break in which I went with my roommate, his girlfriend, and two of the other girls on the trip to Luini's for some Pantarotti. The six of us hang out together so much that we've named our group the Formaggio Family.

Back in the classroom, a few students gave presentations.

Instead of going back to the dorm after class, I went to the Duomo to meet up with Ashlee, the girl from the train ride from Germany to Italy. We climbed the stairs to the roof of the Duomo where we had a panoramic view of the city from above. After that, I bought an AC Milan soccer ball which I had been trying to find since getting to Milan. We got some gelato then walked through the Galleria, where there is a painting of a bull missing his balls. Where the balls should be, there is a hole in the ground where it's said if you put your heel in the hole and spin around, you will have good luck. After spinning a few times, we walked from the Galleria to the Sforzando castle. We walked through and then through the park beyond. By this time it was getting time to head back to the central station for her to go back to Florence.

At the train station, all the "fast ticket" electronic machines were not working so the only way to get a ticket was to wait in an hour long line for the people at the information desk. As we neared the front of the line, it was also getting close to time for the last train to Florence to leave. Luckily we asked a station worker about boarding the train without a ticket, who told us that when the machines are down, you can buy your ticket on the train. So we hurried up to the platform and bid one another farewell.

Back at the dorm, I did some more work on my paper before going to bed.

Milan, Italy - July 13th

Worked on my paper until about 2 A.M. Then woke up at 7 and had to hurry to meet the group down in the lobby. Together we rode the metro to the train station where we had breakfast and some much needed espresso in a Chinese noodle restaurant. I waited for Ariel to finish her breakfast before going up to the platform to catch the train. We should not have taken so much time to eat and had to run through the station to get on board before it left.

On the train we all found seats and most either listened to music or slept on the hour and a half trip to Lago Maggiore. When we got there, we were upset to find out that the day we took a trip to the lake, it rained. Despite the weather, we walked through town to the edge of the lake and boarded our boat which took us to the first of two islands, Isola Madre.

The climate of these islands is such that many exotic plants are able to thrive. We were able to witness this first hand as we walked through a luscious garden around a giant mansion. In what I would imagine one would refer to as the back yard of the house, was a large bird coup containing chickens, quail, and a few peacocks. We played with the birds for a while and then entered the house. The house was owned by the Borromeo family during the mid-19th century. The interior of the house was astonishing. It was as you can imagine extremely wealthy homes were in the 19th century, but what stood out most to me was the marionettes. They had all kinds and plenty of them. Back outside, the group gathered in a small coffee shop while the rain continued to come down. Under the cover of our towels, we made our way back down to the dock and boarded our boat.

The next destination was the second island, Isola Bella. The first island was beautiful, but this island put it to shame with an even bigger, more impressive house and garden. Took us at least an hour to just walk through all of it. In the garden, we ate some cal zones and relaxed for a time while the rain held off. When it started back up again, we exited the garden into a shop district where traders used to come to sell to the Borromeo family. Some people bought souvenirs but I just ran for shelter back at the dock. There, I waited until the rest of the group gathered under an awning and watched the rain come down until our boat returned.

Back on the mainland, the rain had stopped and the sun began to come out so we jumped in the lake and swam around for a while. The mandatory part of the journey was over and half the group split off to get lunch in the town while the rest of us, myself included, went back to the train station so we could get back and work on our papers.

The trip back was pretty uneventful except that we got back to Milan at a different train station, but it worked out well because it was even closer to the dorms.

I bought some food at the Penny mart across the street from the dorm so I could have dinner without leaving the room. The rest of the afternoon and on into the night I researched and wrote my paper on Benito Mussolini's rise to power.