Italy!

Cow!

So today I was picked up at about 9:50, with my one suitcase (amazing, right?).  We (me, Barca, her parents) drove to Bratislava, where we stopped at Marian’s friend’s house. We rearranged some luggage, stayed and talked for a bit, and then hit the road again. (All six of us in two cars.) We drove through Austria until about 3 pm. We stopped for lunch somewhere…I’m not sure the name of the place we stopped at. But, for the first time in about six months, I ate COW! I was super happy. And it was delicious, although I think it was cooked a bit too long (it was about medium-rare).  But very good. Then we drove some more…somehow we went through Germany. And I know I don’t have the best geography, but I still don’t see how we had to go through Germany to get to Italy…ah well. Germany was fun because there are no speed limits in certain areas…hahaha! (Good thing no one here lets me drive.) And then somehow we were back in Austria. And we spent a LONG time in Austria…in reality, only about 3 hours, but it felt like forever because I was so excited to be in Italy. When we finally crossed into Italy, I couldn’t stop smiling.

Side note – Italy is the reason I became an exchange student. I have wanted to go to Italy as long as I can remember. Originally, I didn’t want to go through Rotary because you can’t pick your exact country, and in other programs you can. But I ended up going through Rotary (duh.) and I’m glad I did, because we have awesome conferences. But back to my point. I originally decided to be an exchange in the hope that I could see Italy someday.  Once I found out I was going to Slovakia, I wasn’t disappointed. I’m still in Europe for a year, which not many people get to do. But I have always been interested in Italy (I’m half Italian), and so this is to explain why I was (and am) so excited to be in Italy.

Once in Italy, I just spent the rest of the ride smiling and looking at how gorgeous it is here. We drove for about an hour to get here, I believe. When we were about ten minutes from our hotel, we got a call from Marian’s friends, that they were in a car accident. They are fine, but we went back to where they were (about 3 minutes behind us).  They got rear-ended, so it wasn’t a super big deal, but they still had to do the whole trading-insurance thing. And they speak Slovak and English, and the guy that hit them spoke Italian, a very little English, and German. So we had to go back so Marian and Barca could help with translating. But Barca and I mostly spent the time, instead of waiting, in eyeing the guy that hit them. Because, let me tell you, those stereotypes are right. Italian guys are very cute. Like, really really really cute. But we didn’t talk to him, we went on our way.

We arrived at our hotel at about 7 pm. It’s a 4-star hotel, and I love it(: Sadly, I have actually been paying attention to how expensive everything is. Sigh. I’m so used to just letting Mom and Dad take care of the little things, like, ya know, PAYING, and I don’t like this…because now I feel a little guilty bout spending money here. Not guilty enough to not buy stuff, but enough to hesitate first. So we had a delicious dinner (cow again, I’m so happy!), and then got our bags and went to our rooms. And I read the brochure that explained everything. Like how it costs 5 euros an hour for internet…crazy! So if this isn’t posted until way later, that’s why. But Barca is fluffing her pillow, which I will take as my hint to sign off(: