Day 119

I had an early morning, waking up at 3am and getting out by 4am. I took the taxi to the airport, then had to check my luggage; not only did I have an extra suitcase, but  it was also overweight. Once it all got sorted, I went up to queue for security. I made it through fine, my bag, on the other hand, was searched because of my suspicious amount of electronics. Apparently, 5 charges, 3 adapters, tweezers, and a case of DVDs is reason for concern... and not just a normal person's way of passing time while traveling 20 hours. I sat around the airport for an hour before going to my gate. I boarded with ease and had hoped to fall asleep. Just an hour or so later, I was in Amsterdam, which looked exactly like Newcastle with all the clouds and rain. I had five hours of trying not to pass out in the airport. Going through security, this time the sparklies on my dress meant I needed to be patted down. On my long flight, I talked with the man next to me, who was in Europe on business, and he also gave me his blanket. All bundled up, I wanted to nap, but no luck when food came. I chose the pasta option, shocker, I know. I tried watching the movie Life as We Know It, though my set up was broken, causing the sound to skip out and the screen to blur. Instead, I read my magazine, listened to music and attempted to sleep. Before landing, we were served another meal. In Detroit, I waited in line to go through customs which was quick and easy, then I had to pick up my bags and recheck them. I went to the desk to get my boarding pass printed out, then got in line for security. Once I finally got through, my dress again set it off, requiring a pat down, then I needed a hand swipe because my ring set it off. Everything came out clean and I found my way to my gate. It was so warm I was able to take off my leggings, as I had hoped. It was less than an hour wait before boarding my plane. Sadly, this little girl and her father got split up, so I offered to switch, just moving me across the aisle into the window seat. It was only an hour flight, but it seemed long because I was so close to being home. When I finally got there, I immediately dropped everything and hugged Matt. I gave hugs to everyone and Bob got a high-five. We collected my bags and it was time to part ways. I was sad I had to leave him already, but glad I at least got to see him. I drove home with Mama and we stopped at Allie's to say hi on the way. Once home, we had pickle pizza and I handed out souvenirs and showed them the souvenirs for all of my friends.

Day 118

After my late night saying bye to Jen, I only slept 4 hours until it was time for breakfast. I ate with UVM Jen and some of her friends. I had talked myself out of napping at all today, so I showered and repacked all morning while watching some shows. After the majority of my packing was done, I saw Esther’s door was open so I went in to talk with her for a couple hours. She was leaving later this evening, so her room was all packed up. I left her to go make lunch out of whatever food I had left and was watching White Collar. I started to drift off watching White Collar. When I woke up, I heard Esther’s voice, so I went back to visit her and it turned out her mom was here! They were so cute! And Esther was so excited to go home, it made me a bit jealous. I sat and talked with them; later, we were joined by Kate and Katie, and, eventually, Louise too. We all helped bring a load of stuff to their car. We all hugged Esther and said our goodbyes before going to dinner. Jen and Liz decided to tag along to dinner to socialize. I went back to my room and skyped my lovely boy. When I had finished, I texted Kate asking if I could steal her away; instead, she came in with Jen and Liz. At that moment, I was just thinking, okay, all of you may leave right now. However, once they left I’d have to give them hugs and I really did not want to hug someone I have no respect for. Instead, I stuck it out for over an hour, not talking at all, basically to force the awkwardness. Finally, Liz left to go to the bathroom and I started the goodbyes. Unfortunately, they took longer than it did for Liz to pee, so she came back. She stood awkwardly and approach for a hug, so I made it quick with a “bye” and that was all she got. They left and I was too pissed about it all so I couldn’t fall asleep for a couple of hours, leaving me to only sleep 3 hours after my previous night of only 4 hours.

Day 117

As usual, I went to breakfast with the 2 Jens and Kate. Jen and I showered and got ready for a trip into town. While in my towel and brushing my teeth, I hear a knock on my door. It was Liz, I assured her I wasn't bothered talking while I'm in a towel, but she cowarded out and said she'd come back later. I really couldn't care less. I finished getting ready, then went to Jen's room I helped her pack up her boxes and taped them up. We went into town carrying her three boxes and mailed them out at the post office. After, we made our way to Shake-a-holic for our last shake, and our most delicious shakes yet. I got Toblerone with buttons and Jen got Aero chocolate. We enjoyed these as we journeyed back to our rooms. Jen brought her pillow into my room and I started acquainting her with Psych. We fell asleep in and out of episodes. Eventually, we hit dinner time, so we went knocking on doors. We went to dinner with Kate and Katie. Katie was surprisingly friendly and social today. Dinner itself was disgusting because they have been serving the same thing every day this week. I returned to my room waiting for Matt to skype. He wasn't on, so I asked Tucker if he was sleeping. Tucker ended up reminding Matt to skype me. He was very funny, though I suppose he always is. While skyping, Jen warned me that Liz was here for when I went into her room later. I went in and it was just so awkward. We were talking and laughing and eventually, Jen had us all close our eyes and hold out our hands. She had made bracelets for each of us, though she later told me she really didn't want to give one to Liz. This is when Liz decides to make a public apology for her behaviour, telling us she can't control it... so yeah, she didn't even take responsibility for her actions. Jen and I talked to her about it; Jen told her needed to start acting like an adult, Liz is convinced she does, I rolled my eyes. Then, Liz had the balls to say leaving friends is like a small funeral. I could have punched her; how dare she say that. I would much rather have Super Taylor still alive and living in Iowa than dead, that's not even comparable. Oh, and don't worry, she still couldn't come up with one reason why she doesn't like Obama.. still! I went silent for a bit, just clearing my head. Liz and Jen had left briefly and Jen and I went off; Esther thrived from this bitch session, she is so funny. Lateefah and UVM Jen enjoyed this too. We introduced Lateefah to the best thing she had ever seen, Ms. Swan skits. Jen and Liz came back, Liz mentioning her mom was still on skype so we could skype her whenever to say goodbye. We kind of just shrugged it off; not getting her way, Liz went quiet until she left. We thought people would be staying up to say bye to Jen since she was leaving at 4am, but one by one they left, even Kate. I stuck with Jen, happy to have time for just the two of us; I guess it really just shows who your friends are. We watched Juno and complained more about Liz. We both fell asleep, but woke up when the movie ended. We watched our last Jenna Marbles together, then got her stuff out of her room. She knocked on Kate's door to say a final goodbye, then I walked her down to reception and out to the taxi. She started tearing up as we were hugging, mainly because we were so tired, but we both know we will see a lot more of each other. I waved her off and returned to my bed to sleep for a few hours before breakfast.

Day 116

I had breakfast with Jen, UVM Jen, and Kate. After showering and getting ready, I met up with Jen and Liz to take the tourist sightseeing bus around Newcastle. It was a great thing to get us out of Leazes. For 6 pounds, I saw everything I've already seen, but I also got to actually cross the Tyne Bridge to go to Gateshead. They also had recently put up Olympic rings on the side of the bridge, so it was awesome to get to see that. We got off at the gate to see what movies were playing and the times. I called up Kate and Jen to see if a 4:30 showing of Snow White and the Huntsman would work; Jen was for it, Kate was not, so we bought four tickets. We then went towards the Monument where there was a little market; we stopped at a tent and got crepes and sat down at the Monument to eat them. Then, we headed back to Leazes. I asked Jen to eat peanut butter and watch White Collar with me. We ended up half asleep on my bed for a bit. It got closer to the movie time and Jen H messaged me saying to meet at 4:15 in the lobby. We went to Jen's room to get ready to meet the girls. Liz was convinced we were going to be late (possibly, but only late for 20 minutes of ads). Jen and I still took our sweet time. Our walk to the theatre, Jen and I decided to be obnoxious, walking slow, lunging, crossing far too many crosswalks, taking the elevator, and yet we managed to get to the theatre before them. The movie was alright, it really seemed very long and it probably could have been shortly. After the movie, we went to a bar downstairs because Jen and I had wanted to try a chocolate martini before we left. They didn't quite have it, but they had similar ones, so Jen and I each got a different one an tried each other. The four of us talked about raising babies gender neutral and we somehow got to the topic of Obama. It briefly got a bit heated, but we changed the subject. Liz ended up sitting quiet and upset. When we left, she was charging ahead, refusing to walk a normal pace with us. Annoyed by her behaviour, Jen brought up Obama again. I just asked her for one reason why she didn't like him... just one, how hard can that be? If you have an opinion, you have at least one reason why. Instead of letting me ask my simple question, she made it personal and shoved her hands in my face shushing me, several times. She said "I'm older" so I said "I could beat you up" before I acted, I just walked away to cool down a bit. Seeing this, Jen was pissed and continued the debate; let me remind you, Jen is Canadian and yet she knows more about Obama than Liz or I. Liz's points were all easily refuted. Eventually, she just said "I'm angry." Being my sarcastic, angry self, I not so nicely remarked "So what? Liz announces she's angry so we all stop and baby her?" She said "I don't want to be babied." I replied "I'm angry too! I don't feel the need to announce it.. what does it contribute?" Jen continued with her and eventually she came to tears, claiming she couldn't come up with a reason why she doesn't like Obama because she can't think straight because she's upset about everyone leaving. Jen told her to stop making an excuse and that it doesn't make sense. Eventually, Jen went "okay Liz, it's okay" in a babying tone, which I hope Liz noticed to see that she always gets babied. We finally got back to Leazes, with Liz charged ahead not talking to anyone. Jen and I returned to our kitchen to make dinner and bitch about the argument, updating Kate on what had happened. Jen and I watched White Collar, then I stayed up until 1am to skype Matt since we had made a mess of the timings and schedules. I passed out after that.

Day 115

Happy Monday! We again had 9:30 breakfast, just Jen and I, though it was disappointing when there was only apricot jam. We returned to our rooms and showered. I went into Jen's room fresh out of the shower. Kate asked us if we wanted to go to Costa Coffee for a drink to get us out of Leazes. We met up with Liz in the lobby after getting dressed and headed into town. I got a hot chocolate and a muffin while we sat and talked. Eventually, Liz pulled out a deck of cards so we started a game of Liverpool Rummy. As the first round ended, the other Jen arrived and we dealt her in. Jen and I had not really wanted to play cards to begin with, but were wanting to less and less as the game continued and it felt like rules had changed. The game finally ended without anyone biting anyone's head off. We headed back to Leazes where the Jens and I sat in my room watching White Collar until it came close to dinner time. I helped a friend with a math problem she messaged me, then I went to dinner with Kate and Jen. While at dinner we realised we had forgotten about the others and Kate gave them a ring to let them know we were there. Dinner was gross, all I ended up eating was cucumbers, chips, and chocolate cake, none of it good though. I came back to my room for an earlyish skype date. After skyping Jen came in my room and we watched more White Collar, finishing the season before we went to bed.

Day 114

After sleeping in until 9:30ish, I opened the shades to uncover the dreary, rainy, cloudy, depressing day Newcastle had to offer. I watched an episode of White Collar, then went knocking on Jen's door. She joined me watching another episode, before we went to the kitchen to make our breakfast. I wasn't feeling well, so we spent our afternoon watching White Collar, I was laying down while she was making a bracelet. Eventually, I went to take a shower and set her up to watch something in my room while I was gone. Around 5:30, we made ourselves dinner; I ate whatever can on soup I had left. I kicked her out when it came time to skype Matt. After skype, I ran down to the vending machine for Jen and myself because I wanted gingerale since I wasn't feeling well. They didn't have any, so sprite would have to do. We were chilling in my room when we found out that Louise, Kate, Lateefah, and Esther were watching Lilo & Stitch, naturally, we excited ran to find a seat with them. After the movie, I had fun educating Esther on the world of quidditch and the IQA since she will be starting a team next year. We all went to our rooms around 10:30ish, where I continued to watch White Collar before going to bed.

Day 113

I got to sleep, so I woke up around 10am. I made my way to the kitchen to make toast and hot cocoa for breakfast. I ate my breakfast while watching some White Collar. I got a facebook message from Jen "Forks" asking about watching 27 Dresses. I went to my Jen's room and knocked on her door to see if she was up for it/ready. Turned out, she had still been asleep and I had woken her. Because of the time, she didn't mind at all. She came to my room with her breakfast and we watched White Collar until Jen and Kate came in. We all tried to contact Liz, but just started the movie without her. She came not too far into it. I just laid on the floor this whole time. Once it was over, Kate left for the gym and Jen and Liz left while my Jen and I made lunch, yummm pasta, as usual. We watched White Collar until it was time to skype Matt. Shortly after, our pre-ordered pizzas arrived. Jen and I split a pepperoni feast pizza. Jen and Liz enjoyed their veggie supreme. Kate came back in with us and texted Jen from UVM to join us. We all ate a chocolate cake in just minutes. We started the next movie of choice, How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. We all got comfortable, laughed, and talked; it was a great evening. After the movie, everyone left but Jen and I, so we watched another episode of White Collar before parting ways out of exhaustion.

Day 112

Now that I am finally done with classes and stress free, I had hoped I'd sleep like a baby and catch up on that I had missed. That was not the case; I had the usual 8:30 wake up. I went to a cheery breakfast with the girls. We came back to our rooms and showered, preparing ourselves for a day of errands. Kate and I ended up in Jen's room while we waited for the other Jen to come. She turned up, then we had to wait for 12:30 since that is when she had said she would meet up with Anna. Since it was Antoine's last day, he showed up too, though I think he had hoped for more of a goodbye celebration than just running errands. First stop, Jen and I needed to go to King's Gate and figure out requesting our transcripts. They told us we would have to request over email since our results were not in. Next, we headed to Primark so Jen could get some cute colouring kit for her nieces. Just a sidenote, this day was miserable and raining the whole time. Our next stop was the Newcastle United store, where I wanted to buy a jersey for myself; I got the bright orange away jersey... matches my trainers quite nicely! After this, Antoine decided he needed to go, probably because this wasn't the exciting goodbye he had hoped for, oh well. Our journey neared its end with a trip to Tesco Express. Jen and I decided to get a Koppaberg cider and kinder egg for our ideal Friday night. We all trekked back to Leazes. In Jen's room, Jen, Jen, Anna, and I socialised, napped, and watched White Collar. It neared dinner time and Kate came for us. We all went to dinner, even Anna tagged along to talk. It was a disgusting meal though, I can't wait for my home food. After dinner, I went to my room to skype Matt. Jen came in as soon as I was done. Then, Jen and Liz, back from her daytrip somewhere, joined us. Liz had brought us all back something; she gave me a bracelet with little dangly mushrooms, it was very sweet of her. They left to get ready with Kate, and it was just Jen and I left. Neither of us wanted to go out, so we ate our kinder eggs and ciders. We heard Kate holler for us to come, so we did. We socialised and danced while they pre-drank, then we slipped away with Esther, where she cracked us up with her story-telling skillz and impressions. We asked her to join us in my room where we watched Bridesmaids, laughing hysterically. After the movie ended, Esther left and Jen and I remained watching White Collar. Jen was telling me some stories while playing with my hair, so I started to fall alseep. Once she noticed this, she decided it was time to leave so we could both sleep.

Day 111

Well, it's here, exam day! I went to my usual breakfast with Jen and Kate. I came back to my room and showered. I got dressed and sat down to study. I finished going through all of my cryptography notes, then re-examined my number theory notes. I made myself some lunch and saw Louise in the kitchen, who also had a 2pm exam. I ate, then studied until my alarm went off at 1:30. I got everything together and headed over to the Sports Centre for my exam. I went in and sat at my assigned seat, 147. The test was 2 hours and 15 minutes. It was really quite hard and I had to leave some questions unanswered. When the clock hit 4:15pm, I could not be more relieved. I was finally done with my semester at Newcastle and my sophomore year. I headed towards campus and dropped by to pick up my final essay for Environment and Sustainability. Without knowing what the hell Town Planning is, I managed to pull off a 56 on my essay!!! (the way they grade, passing is above a 40) Then, I stood outside the Student Union building waiting for my friends. I finally text them and then Kate starts calling me. They all decided to meet at Costa Coffee instead, where am I? I'm right where we said we'd meet; you guys could have effing texted me instead of letting me wait here for 10 minutes while you guys were waiting for me to show up at a different place than what we'd agreed on. Anyway, I went over there and we (Jen, Jen, Kate, Liz, Antoine, and Kori) walked towards the Monument to get our "hooray we're done with Uni" shakes. I was going to get cookie dough and maple syrup, but they didn't have with of those flavours; in a quick decision I decided to have twix. It was delicious, probably the best one I've had yet. We all went over to a bit of a park area by the mall. Some kids were playing soccer and the ball was bouncing towards an oldman in a wheelchair, so I ran to intercept it and kicked it back. We sat down on some benches and enjoyed our shakes. Antoine started smoking, which pissed me off, so I moved. Eventually, we all headed back to the dorm. I hung out with Kori, Antoine, and Jen in her room. 6:30 came and neither of us were hungry, but we went to dinner before it closed. After dinner, I skyped my lovely boy and got to hear him sing again. I went to Jen's room and hung out with her, Jen, Liz, and Antoine for a couple hours. Antoine, with his jerkish, know-it-all, woe-is-me, negative Nelly attitude pissed me off with inconsiderate things he said and the way he said them, so I was happy to leave and go to bed. I was so pissed I couldn't fall asleep very easily, but I managed to eventually.

Day 110

I'm a bit behind on my blog, so today I'm writing about Wednesday I believe. I had 9:30 breakfast with the girls, then I returned to my room to shower and begin studying. My studying turned into a bit more packing and I ended up in Jen's room after 30 minutes of studying. Eventually, Jen showed up too, the other Jen. We decided to move to my room and watch White Collar. We did this all afternoon. Kate came in during an episode, then, at the end of it, we left for dinner. Dinner was as always disappointing. After dinner, I returned to my room to skype Matt. I was a bit late, but it was all okay. Since Wednesday was his long chemo day, he skyped me from his phone while receiving chemo. This meant it was only a phone call, so I couldn't see his face. It was still amazing to hear from my strong boy. I didn't get to hear him sing to me, but I, of course, still sang to him. After our call, I went through another week of notes. Then, the Jen's and I hung out watching Say Yes to the Dress Bridesmaids. I was crazy hyper when Jen tried to leave and tackled her a bit, for like 10 minutes. Eventually, I let her go. Jen and I watched another episode, then I kicked her out since my exam was the next day. Off to bed early!

Day 109

I again had 9:30 breakfast, just with Jen, Kate, and Katie this morning. I returned to my room to shower and study. Shortly into my studying, I began to pack a suitcase instead and go through some things. I got back to studying, but just felt really unhappy, not stressed, just unhappy. So, I decided to join Jen and Jen to their movie later, regardless of my upcoming test. After more studying I made lunch and ate with Jen and Jen. We headed into town and bought our tickets for the next showing. Since we had an hour to kill, we walked over to the Monument and got shakes at Shake-a-holic; this time I tried Kit Kat Crunchy Caramel. It was very good. While enjoying our shakes, we sat in the chairs on the Monument and watched the Jubilee on the big flatscreen on the street. We got really cold and went into the mall to warm up. We went from window to window playing the "which one?" game. Eventually, it was time to go to the movie. Our assigned seats were in the very first row, which didn't end up being too much of a neck strain. There were 23 minutes of ads before our showing of "What to Expect When You are Expecting" finally came on. The movie itself was good, very funny with many well-known people in it. We came back to Leazes and met up with Kate to grab dinner. Our usual dining hall was closed down due to the number of students who have gone home for the summer. Dinner was disappointing, but I got to come back to my room and skype my lovely Matthew. After skype, Jen, Liz, Kate and I ended up in Jen's room watching some Say Yes to the Dress Bridesmaids. We parted ways around 10 and went to bed.

Day 108

My plan was to sleep in after staying up until 2am, however, my body had a different plan. I was up around 8 and laid in bed, attempting to sleep, until 9:15ish. I went to breakfast with Jen, Jen, and Liz at 9:30. After breakfast, I took a nice long shower, got dressed, and started my revision for my exam on Thursday. I decided that I was going to do Number Theory on Monday, Cryptography on Tuesday, and old exams on Wednesday. I read through all of my Number Theory notes and wrote down important things and formulas I need to remember. I kept getting myself distracted with thoughts of cleaning my room and starting to pack, I even looked up how much it would cost to move my flight and come home early. I am just so over this exam and would like Thursday to come and go asap. I heard a knock on my door and it was Jen with the loaf of bread I requested from her trip into town with the girls. We met up in the kitchen to make and eat lunch. Kate also came in and we found Esther in there on a cleaning rampage. We hung out in there for about an hour. Eventually, I went back to my room and Jen joined me shortly after. We decided to watch Say Yes to the Dress Bridesmaids until dinner. We went to dinner around 6, Kate, Katie, Jen, and I; of course, Mark found us too. After dinner, I returned to my room and skyped my lovely boy. I had fun helping him look for a job this summer. After skyping, Jen and Liz came to my door and asked if I knew where Jen was. The three of us and Kate began texting, facebooking, and skype messaging her obsessively. We had no idea of where she could be, so we started looking everywhere. We went to laundry, the computer cluster, Antoine's room.. by chance we walked past this lounge we didn't even know existed and we spotted her in there with Mark and Antoine. We played fake angry for scaring us so bad. Eventually, we decided to play some pool... except when we got the equipment we didn't know what to do with it. I didn't even know what English billiards or snooker or whatever was, let alone how to play. Instead, we just tossed the balls towards pockets, climbed on the table, and poked each other with the abnormally large pool sticks. It was time to part and, being his last day, Mark tried to give people hugs. I managed to get out of it and happily went back to my room. Jen, Liz, Kate and I ended up in Jen's room for a short bit before parting again to go to sleep.

Day 107

I woke up around 8am ish, but laid in bed for another hour before my alarm went off. When it did, Jen and I took turns  taking showers, getting dressed and packing up. We were out of our room at 10:26 for our 10:30 check out. The hotel was nice enough to let us leave our big bags and we rode the bus into Venice. We wandered back towards the market on the bridge. On our way, we stopped for gelato for our breakfast; this time I tried caramel cream and cookies, but yesterday's cream is still my favourite flavour so far. We finally got to the market of souvenir stores and finished our souvenir shopping. After shopping we walked around a part of Venice we had yet to see, stopping at all the stores along the way, just looking since we had so much time to kill. Eventually, we sat down for lunch at a cute little Italian place. I had traditional spaghetti al pomodoro. It was delicious. After eating, we continued wandering around window shopping. It started to get really hot, so eventually we stopped to get slushies. Eventually, we sat in the park for 20 minutes or so before deciding to catch the bus back to the hotel. We grabbed our stuff and waited for the bus to the airport. The busride was about 40 minutes and we were still at the airport early, around 5pm. Since we had checked in online, we headed straight for security and made it through easily. We had 3 hours to kill, so we played some "name that song" games then bought some dinner. I had a ham and cheese sandwich and the most delicious cookie type thing filled with nutella. After eating, we went to are gait. On our way we finally got our Italy stamps in our passport. We hung out by our gate for close to an hour before getting on a bus and heading to the plane. I ended up being the first person to get on the plane, and the song Call Me Maybe was playing, so I danced down the aisle to our seats in the back. We were next to each other for this 3 hour flight. The woman on the other side of me had moved to a different seat so she could sit next to her husband, so I laid down across all three seats, including Jen's lap. For a bit, we hit turbulence and I had to sit up and tighten my seat belt. Our plane landed early in Newcastle, then it was time to go through customs. We got to the desk and they told us we needed to fill out landing cards, so we had to go back towards a Jet2 guy to ask for it. After filling it out and being the last people in line, it was our turn. Jen got through easily. I showed the guy my landing card, passport, and student ID. He asked me a million questions and wanted proof of my studying there. So I pulled out the paperwork that got me through the first time. He kept asking me when I got here, when I was leaving, how long I was here for, finally I asked him if he'd like to see my flight information for when I leave in 12 days. He looked it over forever... He was looking for the date, because my word wasn't good enough. The idiot couldn't find it at the top of the information, so I pointed it out. I finally made it through and met up with Jen. We caught a taxi back to Castle Leazes and got our room keys. First thing, we knocked on Kate's door where she was with Jen and Liz. We gave them their presents, which they loved. Jen and I set our stuff in our rooms and we all met back up in Jen's room. We heard some stories, then it hit 11pm, time to skype my boy. He was adorable, as always, and he approved of all my gifts for everyone. I then started taking care of my stuff from emptying my bag. I watched an episode of Say Yes to the Dress, then fell asleep.

Day 106

I woke up at 8am to Jen talking in her sleep. I had thought she was talking to me, so I rolled over to listen to her, but she wasn't even awake. Now awake, I decided to check all my emails and facebook. Jen woke up, then I went to take a shower. I got dressed while Jen was in the shower, but when she came back and put her Greek dress on, she convinced me to wear mine as well. We were out of our room by 9:30 and went to the train station to buy our tickets. We went to the self-service machines and found it would cost 70 Euros for our roundtrip to Milan. We debated shortly, and just decided to go. Jen got her tickets, then we tried to get mine seated next to her. The machine wouldn't take my card, so Jen paid for them, putting me in her debt and her no longer owing me anything from paying for the room. We hurried to the platform and got on our train. We found that our seats were not near each other, but at least we were in the same coach. I sat in the empty seat next to Jen until a man came on and claimed his seat, so I returned to mine down the coach just a bit. The train was about 2-2.5 hours long. When we got to Milan, we reunited and went to Information first for a map. They told us to take the metro yellow line to the fourth stop, Duomo, because that is essentially the center of the city. Coming out of the metro, the vender men came over to us and tied bracelets around our wrists; Jen asked them if they cost anything because we didn't want them. The guy who was tying mine asked me if I was from New York, but I just didn't talk at all, I enjoy pretending to be mute at the moments. With no answer, he asked if I was from Africa. Then, he gave me an extra bracelet for the boyfriend he assumed I had and asked for a small donation. Jen and I just walked away with our free bracelets. We saw some beautiful buildings and walked through an area filled with designer stores. We decided to just wander around aimlessly and eventually found a cute little place to eat. We had pizza for breakfast again! We continued walking and found a strip of stores, still pretty expensive ones, but we also found a gelato vender, naturally, we stopped for some. Since I had tried chocolate in Venice, I decided to try a chocolate chip and cream two scoop. Cream, or Crema, was the most amazing thing to have ever touched my tongue! We walked across the street and ate our gelato sitting on the edge of the fountain in front of the palace. After eating, and being bugged by more venders, we went through the gate of the palace to take a look. Based on the time, we decided to walk over towards the park, and eventually made our way back to the train station. On the way, we stopped at this restaurant and asked if we could take away some pasta. Lucky for us, we could, so we did, and that was the end of what I owed Jen; I had paid it all off! We continued to the train station; inside, our first stop was the bathroom. Unfortunately, they make you pay to get into the bathroom, so we waited for the bathroom on the train. We boarded our train just a few minutes later. On our train, again, we were not seated next to each other, but on either side of the aisle. A happy coincidence, a couple was divided the same as us in the seats next to us, so we just switched with them. Another 2 hour train ride back to Mestre, our train station and we made the walk back to our hotel. As usual, we uploaded our pictures first thing. Hungry, we ate our take away, cold pasta, which we didn't even know what kind it was. It turned out to be eggplant parmesan we believe, and it was delicious, even cold. We watched some Say Yes to the Dress and wrote our blogs, all while I was waiting to skype my lovely boy. I even began to pack my bag. Finally, I got a call from Matt after he had returned from a hike with his mama. The sweetest boy in the world made me continuously smile. Then, Jen and I chilled before falling asleep.

Day 105

Jen and I set an alarm for 9am this morning. The first thing we both said was "Bunny Bunny Rabbit Rabbit," so we are supposed to be lucky this month. I headed to shower first thing, then chose to wear a cute dress for our day trip to Verona. We left the room by 9:45 and headed to the train station, all the way to the other side to get breakfast. The cashiers were very rude to us, but seeing as we were running late and had nowhere else to find food, we bought pastries and hot drinks from there. Then, we ran to our platform. Luckily, our train was still sitting there and we hurried on board. The train ride was about 2 hours long and the ticket master came to see our tickets. Apparently, we were supposed to get our tickets stamped at some machine to validate them, but we did not see any machine nor did the lady who sold us the tickets tell us such a thing. The back of the ticket mentioned it, but it also said he could do it. He was upset with us, a jerk, sarcastic; he even tried to tell us we'd have to buy new tickets. Eventually, he wrote on it to validate it, very annoyed though. Also on the train were more beggers, placing little notes on empty seats asking for money, looking for a handout; you can bet we continued to ignore these. Once we finally got to Verona, we found a map and started walking in what we thought was the right direction. We ran into some woman who told us it'd be too far to walk into the middle of Verona and suggested we buy tickets and take a bus, so we did. We were at Piazza Bra in no time, right in the centre of town. Nearby, we found Information and grabbed a couple of maps. On our way, we passed the Roman Ampitheatre, it was beautiful. We continued to follow the map to lead us right to Casa di Giulietta (Juliet's house, from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet). We found her house easily, as it is a main attraction. The walls were completely grafittied with writing, gum, and bandaids all marked with couples initials. It was not at all as it appeared in my favourite movie, Letters to Juliet. On a gate, many had attached locks with initials, which would be cuter if the store in Juliet's house didn't sell all of those locks for 5Euros. I had decided to tie the first hemp bracelet Matt had made for me on the tree on Juliet's wall. After Juliet's house, we headed towards another city centre area, full of souvenir venders and restaurants. I bought a Verona magnet, we bought sandwiches to bring back for dinner, then we sat down for lunch. We finally got to have pasta!!! I had macaroni with white sauce with meat, then we had dessert. Mine was like a cream inside a bit of cake covered with a chocolate sauce accented with whipped cream. After lunch, we continued our search for Romeo's house. We circled blocks and even found Lamberti Tower and Scaligeri Graves while looking for his house. Finally, we stumbled upon it, only to be disappointed that it was just a sign claiming to be his house and others lived there. We looked at the time and we had less than an hour before our train. Instead of heading to another site, we started walking back to the Piazza Bra. We found a store to buy bus tickets and hopped on the first bus that stopped. We got back to the station, validated our tickets, and went to platform 4 for our train. It was 15 minutes late, which was annoying. On the train, it looked a lot newer and nicer than the other one, so we were wondering if we weren't supposed to be on it. Luckily, no ticket master came through and we made it back to Venice in no time. We headed straight back to our hotel. I took out my computer to put my pictures on iphoto and it magically connected to the internet again! I added the photos to facebook and edited my album that was half on facebook when I lost my internet connection. I ate my Salami and Cheese sandwich while Jen and I watched the season finale of ANTM. We didn't get to the end before Matt skyped me. I'm glad he approved of my tying the bracelet at Juliet's House. I get to see him again in two weeks! After skyping Matt, Jen and I finished ANTM and watched some Doctor Who. I think we are going to Milan tomorrow! so we better get to sleep soon, 8:30 wakeup.

Day 104

I woke up this morning around 9, fooled around on the internet, then showered. Jen and I were out of here by 11am. We asked the woman at the front desk how to get into Venice (since we are on the mainland). We go to the tobacco shop to buy our bus tickets and hop on bus 6/. We made it to Venice very easily. First stop, food. We had pizza for breakfast! And we each got a drink so we would have a waterbottle for the duration of our stay in Italy. Then, we decided to wonder aimlessly through the streets of Venice and not have our noses in maps. On our way, we stop for gelato. Eventually, we had gotten to this huge waterway and a few beautiful buildings across from it, so we decided to try and find where we were. A bit confused by the map, we turned to a woman and asked her to point out our location. It turned out, we were on the other side of Venice and very close to one of the main sightseeing attractions. We went to the first attraction, a huge, beautiful church, St. Maria Salute. Jen sat on the steps, while I went in and took pictures. We sat there for a bit, putting on sunscreen because the weather had lied to us and it was a beautiful day. After relaxing a bit, we aimed for the next attraction, the most gorgeous one at that. We get slushies along the way. We arrived at the Piazza Marco, an amazing architectured church building. We go all the way around to take lots of pictures, then sit on stairs off a canal, near a bunch of parked gondolas. We decide to head back towards the third and final attraction, the P. de Rialto. On the way, we stop at a shop and buy some beautiful things, I got a necklace and magnet and Jen got earrings. We continue on and get to it, a giant bridge with lots of shops on it. We take a few pictures, then continue on. Later on, we find a souvenir for Jen’s dad. Through a very long and confusing winding of pathways, we finally make it back to the busstop and get on our bus. Back near our hotel, we first go to the train station to buy tickets to Verona tomorrow. We get back to the hotel and drink lots of water while uploading our pictures. We lose internet a few times, but one time when we lose it, something messes up on my computer and it refuses to reconnect, with only half of my pictures uploading… I spend a good hour trying to fix it and Jen searches ways on her ipad to help me out, but nothing worked. I am so so pissed and frustrated and upset. We give up to get dinner before dark. We start walking towards where a map says there are restaurants, but all we find are bars and, at the end, a pub that serves sandwiches. We settle for here, so no, I didn’t get my pasta. We order from the menu, unable to read anything, chancing our meals. We each get a hot chocolate and a Panini. Mine turned out to be cheese, lettuce, and tomato (I even ate it with the tomato on it). Jen’s had chicken, cheese, lettuce, and mushrooms. After eating and paying, we try to go another direction, looking for any store with a bit of food and a cashpoint; no luck, anywhere. We are in the middle of gas stations, hotels, and highways. Dissapointed, we head back to the hotel. I fool around on my computer some more, trying to connect, but no luck, so Jen let’s me use her iPad to skype Matt while she takes a shower. Seeing my boy made my day a bit better. After skype, Jen and I struggle trying to shut an electronic shade the maid opened, but it’s stuck. After 10 minutes we give up and I just get pissed again because it’s going to be so hard to sleep; I need pitchblack. I use my ipod to get on facebook and message my Mama and Jen starts playing Sleeping Beauty on Youtube. We got distracted looking for ANTM and end up listening to music and reading tumblrs. I am still not a happy camper.