Money Well Spent

Writing these blogs brings me back to that place during college. Late at night in my room, staring at my blank word document, overcome with the thought of “where do I begin?” This is by far the strongest reason I have never liked writing papers. The idea of trying to organize all my thoughts across such a vast empty space overwhelms me to no end. The only difference here being, I have no one to answer to. These entries can be as long or short or jumbled and mumbled as I desire and who is going to tell me that I’m wrong or can do better? Just me. So here we go.

I’m currently exhausted. One would think that after a lovely week spent in Italy, I should be refreshed. Au contraire, my friend. My mind is exploding. I’m constantly irritated that I can’t eaves drop on the conversation between the two businessmen on the train or know what that teenage girl is obnoxiously laughing at on the other end of her iPhone. I have all of these ideas of how to improve my comprehension but truth be told, I haven’t even had time to make my apartment feel like home, let alone the town and people around me. My week away was supposed to be a mental vacation before having to rear up for the start of school; however, everywhere I turned, there was someone speaking French. You would think I would just ignore this. This I could not. It purely reminded me of how much further I have to progress.

Don’t get me wrong. I had a great time. So, what did I love best, you ask? Is David as handsome as in pictures? Was the gelato everything you’d hoped it would be? Well let me tell you.

• Day 1, Wednesday (21.09). Claire and I caught the train to Paris then took the bus out to Beauvais, the airport by which RyanAir operates. As we’re waiting in line to check in, I notice everyone around me has papers in their hands. I look down at my fingers and all I seem to be clutching is my hard covered, navy blue passport. Hmmm… After being called next to the desk, we inform the woman we don’t have any papers to which she replies, we must pay €40 each in order to print our boarding passes. No no, ma’am, we’ve already paid for our ticket. You must not have understood us. Non non she says. We are required to pay this additional fee. REALLY? On a ticket that only cost €28, I have to pay another 40?! That’s how they get ya’. Now little did we know what we were getting ourselves into when we chose this budget airline. The usual occurrences take place. The seating of the passengers (well actually, this wasn’t so typical - it’s a free for all - no assigned spots), the hellos from the staff, the putting away of the luggage in the overhead compartment. Naturally, the explanation of the seat belts and life vests comes next. This is where the fun began! Our lovely attendant, dressed in sunflower yellow and royal blue, with a strong Irish accent, buck teeth, and a left eyebrow that just wouldn’t go down, not only explains, but demonstrates. Through three languages of proper procedure in case of an emergency, she is wearing the life vest with a blank stare and that one eyebrow lifted. After removing this accessory, she comes back with a concession cart, wearing an apron! It seemed as though I was at a baseball game, hearing “Snickers? Coke? Sandwich?” as she reaches in her apron making change from her vending sales. Once the apron is gone, next comes the lottery tickets. On a plane?! Through yet another three languages, my favorite attendant is fanning around these cards with the hope that one lucky RyanAir passenger could win one million euros. This hour has flown by with one comedy act after another and as we land, we hear the tune of the champion horse race go off and the entire flight claps and cheers. A fantastic way to end my most entertaining flying experience to date. We leave the airport, smiles on our faces, and find our way through the water to our hostel in Venice. From our window we can see a gorgeous view of what tomorrow will bring us.
  
  
• Day 2, Thursday (22.09). Rick Steves is the man. Claire carries him with her wherever she travels which means I have had the privilege of meeting this wonder. In his book, The Best of Europe, he tells us of all the wonderful sites to see while in each of our cities. His advice for Venice: get lost. The only way to get around in this town is by water taxi and the rest by foot through small alleyways with no real rhyme or reason. We took these words of wisdom to heart. Claire and I took the taxi across the water the next morning and saw a glorious dome. We took off in its direction, certain it was the famous San Marco, but upon arriving after a long winded hour and a half through many unknown paths, and seeing no tourists around, we wondered where we had gone wrong. We had come all this way to find ourselves at a beautiful, yet unknown basilica. Turns out, we were right in front of San Marco Square that morning, but had been so focused on getting to the dome that we didn’t even take the time to look before us. We carried on with the typical tourist attractions (San Marco Basilica, San Marco Square - complete with pigeons – the Bell Tower, the Clock Tower, the Bridge of Sighs, the Doge Palace, and the Rialto Bridge), including gelato at 10:30 in the morning, again at noon, and another serving after our dinner looking out over the water. And of course, what would Venice be without a romantic gondola ride.
  
  
• Day 3, Friday (23.09). On to Florence! We arrived by train that evening and took in the free sights. As we were crossing the bridge to our hostel, we noticed many locals sitting on the dam in the middle of the Arno River. This struck curiosity in me and I became determined to find the path out to join them. With wine in hand, Claire and I successfully made it to the middle of the river and shared our bottle under a wide open sky and clear air, doing as the locals do.
  
  
• Day 4, Saturday (24.09). I came to Florence in search of one thing: my dream man. That is to say, Michelangelo’s David and boy did we find him. Standing in line. Sitting in line. Leaning on the wall in line. This is how we spent our hour waiting to see this work of art. When we finally entered the building, we put our purses through the scanner, walked through the metal detector, and through the curtain. Right there in front of us was what I had come seeking. Wait. That seemed too easy. Weren’t we supposed to pay? Thank you for Cultural Weekend in Florence :)
  
  
• Days 5-7, Sunday-Tuesday (25-27.09). On the road again. This time, the lesser seen Cinque Terre. The colorful and fresh Italian Riviera was only a 10€ train ride away. It was breath taking. Claire and I spent three nights here, relaxing on the beaches, hiking the trails, hopping between the five towns, and doing what we do best: eating pizza margherita and filling up on gelato. Did I mention how great of planners Claire and I are? We couldn’t have done a better job choosing the days to visit each city. On Sunday and Monday, most museums are closed. We just so happened to be in an area with no sightseeing to do on those days. Someone is watching out for us.
  
  
• Day 8, Wednesday (28.09). Goodbye Italy, but not before a stop at the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Being that our flight was taking off from this city, we decided to check out of our hostel a little early that morning and snap some shots of this sight before heading back to France. Literally. We got off the train, had no map, no idea of where to go. We followed the crowd and before we knew it, there was the tower. We took pictures, bought postcards, ate some grapes, smashed some grapes (we were in Tuscany after all), and found the right bus back to the airport. All in a day’s work for these expert travelers.

Thoughts:

• David was honestly an amazing sight to see. It’s sad, though, that his beauty has been sequestered by his penis. Everywhere you turn, there are postcards with close-ups of his junk.
  
• On one of the nights, Claire and I met a group of girls from Germany. Although I don’t know German or Spanish all that well, I’m sure Sidney, the half Peruvian, half German mix, could speak both beautifully, because her English and French were flawless. Really?! Grr. I’m trying to master only my second language and here she is, spitting off four.
  
• It’s quite the thing, how Europeans are so open with their bodies. Women of all ages, shapes, and sizes flaunt around the beach wearing bikinis. Instead of looking for a place to change, everyone just wraps a towel around their waist and does the deed right there. And when it comes time to shower off under one of those beach faucets, be prepared to see it all. I really don’t mind it, but it doesn’t mean I have to participate.
  
• With Italy being only an hour flight from France, it's marveling to see how with such close quarters, each country maintains its own culture. Over this past week, all I wanted was a cheap baguette, but instead found myself munching pizza for lunch. The U.S. seems like one big hodgepodge of people clashed. But somehow, Europe has managed to keep its identities separate.
• Did you know that the Mediterranean Sea is salty?! I wish I would’ve been warned before diving right in.
  
• I’m constantly being asked what’s next in my future. What do I want to do, where do I want to go. I honestly don’t know, but after a week of watching all those tourist groups, perhaps tour guide is my calling.
  
• Coming to France with that huge backpack behind me was not the most pleasant of experiences. Seeing all those travelers doing that for a month seems like an even worse idea. If I were to backpack for an extensive period of time, I would bring a pair of jeans, shorts, a skirt, a dress, four short sleeved tops, one long, a sweater, a swimsuit, tennis shoes, sandals, and a towel. Really. I’ve decided that’s all I’d need. And when it gets a bit too grimy, I’d rather spend 6€ at the Laundromat and save my back the pain.
  
• People always ask how much money I spent when I studied abroad and in all honesty, I have no idea. Money was flying left and right out of my hands. This time around, I’m keeping a consistent record of all my expenses. So for those curious ones, here’s the breakdown of my eight days spent traveling Europe: 
• Airline: €46
• Ground Transportation: €189,90
• Hostels: €195
• Food: €222,85
• Sightseeing: €13
• Souvenirs: €30,2
• Miscellaneous (gondola, internet/printer, RyanAir fee): €90,65

For a grand total of €787,60 averaging €98,45 per day.

So when you ask is it expensive, yeah it is. Should I have spared a few bucks by cutting back from gelato twice a day to once? Never. Would I have opted out of the €50 gondola ride to keep the bank from breaking? Absolutely not. At the end of the day, I wouldn’t have done anything differently. (Except maybe bring a towel!)