Riiiva San Vitale!

It's hard to believe it's only been a week so far. On Sunday night we took our first midterm, it was really simple since it was open notes/ open book and we were able to work together. Tonight we have our second midterm and then Friday before we leave for our trip we have the final midterm, then we're finished with the course! Yesterday before dinner I went with a couple of friends to Mendrisso to reserve my train seats for the weekend, it was simple but we had trouble figuring out which train to catch to get back to Riva. Of course we choose the wrong train and it ended up going straight through Riva to Lugano, so then we had to get the train from Lugano back to Riva, by the time we walked into the villa we had completely missed dinner. I need to figure this train thing out soon.

Last night the whole group went out and it was so much fun. We met more of the locals, one guy was a man named Riccardo who hit on every single girl. Huge creeper vibes.

We booked our hostel yesterday in Cinque Terre, Italy, for the weekend of Sept. 3rd, it's supposed to have good beaches so that should be nice while the weather's still warm.

It's beautiful outside today so I'm going to go on a long run now,

Ciao!

First Few Days- Riva, Lugano, Milano

I don't even know where to begin, the past few days since we've arrived have been a blur. The trip here went smoothly over all, although I learned never to try and bring 4 bags onto a train, I wouldn't have been able to manage if it hadn't been for the friendly locals helping me on and off. Once we got to the Villa we got unpacked and I went for a run around the town, it was breathtaking, probably the clearest sky I've ever seen. The villa itself is incredible. Later that night, a bunch of us went to check out the bars. We made friends with the bartender at Mini Bar and got free drinks, then later a few of us went to check out a hockey game and some outdoor bars down the street. The next morning I woke up and went for a run again, I saw a hot air balloon and para gliders above the mountains. Class started on Wednesday, it's not bad so far, just hard to pay attention for so long. A bunch of us bought passes to go to the lake, it's only a 5 minute walk from the villa. It's really pretty but a bit cold, I also almost got attacked by a swan swimming right at me haha. The next couple of nights we just stayed in Riva and went to the mini bar and another hockey game, I practiced my Italian with a couple of the locals. One word I've learned so far is super alcoholico- a shot, haha.

 The Lido, only a 5 minute walk from the Villa

 Villa Maderni- my home :)

On Friday night we didn't have class in the afternoon so we went into Lugano to check it out. It's so much busier than Riva, a lot of shopping which I was happy to see. After checking out H&M and eating dinner, we sat by the water and listened to a band and got a few drinks. We went to a bar called Peter Pan later in the night, it was fun except we were hoping to find a club, apparently they don't open until 1.

 A little blurry, but Lugano at night where we sat and listened to live music

Tons of stores in Lugano

Today we took our first trip outside of Switzerland into Milan. The train ride there was awful because it had no air conditioning. The buildings in Milan were amazing, the city was really dirty though, it kind of reminded me of Manila. We walked around for a while and passed a bunch of stores I could never afford to buy anything in. Also, almost all the stores were closed because it was lunch time, and all stores in Europe close from around 12-3 PM for lunch. After we stopped and got gelato to take a short break. I bought some AC Milan gear that I'll wear when we hopefully get to go to a game. We climbed to the top of the Duomo and it was unbelievable, I can't even imagine how long it took to build. We got some great pictures of the city from the top of the Duomo. The Duomo occupies the most central site in the city, dedicated to Santa Maria Nascente (Saint Mary Nascent), it is the seat of the Archbishop of Milan. The cathedral took five centuries to complete and it is the fourth largest church in the world. There were hundreds of pigeons in the center outside the Duomo, some people were getting seeds to feed the pigeons and letting the pigeons land on them for pictures. There was no way in hell I was going to do that, I'm trying to avoid diseases while I'm here. Overall Milan was fun to visit for the day but it's never somewhere I'd want to live.

 Climbed to the top of the Duomo, absolutely incredible

View of Milano from the top of the Duomo

Tonight we have a review session for our midterm. Tomorrow we're hiking up Monte San Giorgio, we leave at 10 AM and won't get back till 4-5 PM, then we have to take the midterm. It'll be an exhausting day. This coming Friday six of us are heading to Nice and Genova. We're going to day trip to Monaco and Cannes from Nice, I'm pretty excited. Alright, I think that's about all for now.

Ciao!

Oh the places you'll go

Just a few of the places I've visited/lived so far:

 Beijing, China- The Great Wall, unbelievable

Bohol, Philippines- Most beautiful island I've ever seen

Baguio, Philippines- At an orphanage with the sweetest kids

Phuket, Thailand- spring break

Boracay, Philippines- best New Year's Eve to date

KL, Malaysia- IASAS soccer tournament 2007

 Bangkok, Thailand- IASAS soccer tournament 2006

Manila, Philippines- an unforgettable 2 years

Singapore- short but sweet visit

Hawaii- Black sand beaches

“I see my path, but I don't know where it leads. Not knowing where I'm going is what inspires me to travel it.”