you really meet some strange people, whether you're in america or abroad. i've always said that since i started working at boehringer's, i've realized how bizarre the general population is. some people retort that with "well you ARE in lancaster county..." But over the past week i've met some pretty cool, and pretty grouchy people.
2 bartender friends:
at barrone rosso (the bar nextdoor to our apartment and where we villanovans find ourselves pretty often) i heard someone call my name with an accent...someone i didn't know. i turn around and there's joe (from nova) chatting with these 2 guys that he had just met. they wanted to meet more of the americans in the bar. so we're chatting about siena and villanova and then joe was gone to a table with some of our friends. well, i'm a pretty friendly person, and so were these two, but you never know. so i asked who their next friend was going to be...and upon their response that it was random, i suggested tommy, a villanovan male. so tommy and i were just talking and they told us that they both work at the bar, but were off that night. (reminding me of myself, even when i'm not working, i find myself at the big b!) it was getting late, so tommy walked jenna and me to our door (gentleman points!), even if it is no more than a few feet. the next night we saw one of our friends working, and he gave a little deal on pints. what a guy.
celebrity cruise friends:
on a train from naples to siena, we found ourselves on a train that reminded us a little of the hogwarts express! instead of regular seats, there were cabins of 2 seats with a door to the main hallway. however, the harry potter joy left quickly as we realized that we had assigned seats, and those that got their tickets through a machine rather than a person realized that they were not assigned a seat. dun dun dunnnnn...(the ride was 4.5 hours). i had a seat, but a bottle of coke was spilled on it, so guess who found herself in the aisle seats that folded into the wall...good times. that was the ride there, but i met my cruise friends on the way back to siena! my assigned seat was in a cabin with no other villanovans. i sat down with 3 men: an italian and 2 guys that didn't tell me where they're from, but that they're from a cruise ship. we were chatting, then 2 more came in saying that they think that they're not on the right train. our italian friend confirmed it! salerno was south, and they were heading north for rome. again: dun dun dunnnnnn! they had to be on their ship in salerno in 3 hours. scared that they might lose their jobs, each of the 4 had different reactions. one started freaking out and cursing a storm. one kept saying he knew it wasn't right and that we were in the middle of nowhere. and the other 2 were chill about it, not losing their heads. i asked if they could call anyone to let the know. "yeah with what phone?!" i guess they don't have phones? or maybe not an italian sim card. either way, i was like "dudes...use mine! if it means employment or unemployment, do it!" so they looked up the emergency number (stationed in miami) and called. i'm not sure it helped, but the ship was alerted that they were trying their best to get back. i got called a saint and got my picture taken with them. i hope they made it!
italian train-riding friend:
the 5th guy on the train (the other saint helping the cruise guys) was another friend that i made! after the cruise guys got off, we chatted for a little while. he was going from naples to milan (a 9 hour ride)! the first question i asked was "what about dinner?!" you gotta think about the food! he said he had something packed in his bag, so that made me feel better. we talked about siena and the palio that happens in july. then we talked about sevilla and the rest of spain. i told i had a test tomorrow and that i was a little worried about it. he was a good cabin-mate.
the restaurant friends:
on a bus from the train station to our hotel in sorrento, we met a couple from LA that suggested a restaurant near our hotel, ristorante delfino. so after we showered (SUCH a good shower), caroline, jenna, emily, amanda, ashley and i went to ristorante delfino (on a pier along the water). they seated us all together at a table along the water, right behind our new couple friends! we chatted with them again, asking what they'd recommend and what's the best. later, a waitress tried to pour us wine that we didn't order, then we were told that it was from the couple we met! as they walked out later, they bid us goodnight and we thanked them for their kindness and friendliness. i love people like that.
the boat-paddling unfriend:
as we toured capri in our boat, we stopped at the "blue grotto," where you get into small boats (4 people max) and were told we owed 11.50 to go in plus tips for the guy driving the boat. "11.50 and tips for me." it was one of the most expensive 3 minutes of my life, and as beautiful as the blue grotto* is, our boat guy didn't say much, whistled for about 30 seconds, then we went out. he turned around and pointed to himself..."money." uuum...all 4 of us had left everything on the big boat and brought only 11.50. it's not that he deserved a tip, i don't think...but he got pretty upset by it. i felt bad. we definitely didn't make a friend with that guy.
*the blue grotto, located on the coast of capri, is a cave which you enter in a small boat. you can't get in during high tide (unless you swim in). once you're in this dark cavern, the sun comes up from underneath the rocks (which don't go all the way to the floor), illuminating the blue water. i'm not talking just regular water either. this water was BLUE. i felt like someone had dyed it. i was in a constant state of disbelief.
another side note: no more pictures. no worries, i'm taking them. but my hard drive on my computer got totally destroyed, so i'll just be putting them on my computer when i get home. (hooray for giving my laptop back to villanova!)
on our full day in venice, we took a boat to a nearby island called murano where we could see the glass demonstrations. for 2 euro, i watched as they made a vase and a horse statue as if it was no big deal. i took a video of it...so freaking amazing. we got back to venice and wandered around the streets. rick steves (what a guy) told us that we should just expect to get lost, and we did just that. after wandering through different stores and googling at all the glass, we had no clue where we were, until we happened to stumble upon st. mark's square. how lucky. i wasn't feeling a gondola ride. i actually wasn't feeling much of anything in venice because i think i was allergic to something in our hotel room. thursday night, i got in bed around 1:30, but didn't fall asleep until maybe 5...due to sneezing and blowing my nose far too much. i considered for a half-second sleeping outside... but friday morning came (after about 2 non-consecutive hours of sleeping) and we were off to our next town...
which is incredible, just from the outside. i didn't have the opportunity to get inside because my knees weren't covered. but i didn't venture inside mcdonald's...(for the bathroom, and conveniently a "chococrock" mcflurry). our last stop before the bus stop was a horse statue. so the story goes: leonardo da vinci started this statue for the main family in milan. unfortunately he didn't get to finish it before he died. during the war, the unfinished horse was shot at and ruined. another artist came along later (after finding da vinci's drawings and plans for the horse) and finished the statue. too bad the horse was not in the center-ish of this big city like everything else. 
our tram ride was significantly longer than normal, and once we got off, we wandered around until we were right in front of the gigantic horse. very cool, but very stressful getting there. actually, i wasn't stressed out at all. i decided, again, to just follow the crowd. it's been going pretty well since we made it back to the bus station, found the right bus and got on it with only minutes to spare...journeying back to siena. but as for saturday, our journey (of less than an hour) was to...
in 80 degree weather. stunning. and there are the alps too. apparently we could have taken a ferry to switzerland from there, but we explored varenna, the little town by the side of the lake. following a path along the side of the lake, we found lunch, a wedding reception, a pebbly beach where we relaxed/swam, and a taxiboat tour! the boat took 10 of us at a time around a portion of the huge lake, showing us different areas (he told the group i wasn't where they could find george clooney's lake-side 
house). i felt like i could have been honeymoon shopping (sans a honey haha). we also found a rick steves-recommended gelateria where the owner makes the gelato daily. deeeelicious. it really should be a controlled substance. 
