Italia!

April 06, 2014

Italia!

Last week (24th - 28th March) I was on a history/geography trip to the wonderful country of Italy! It was a marvellous trip with only (quite) a few problems I encountered. I tought that I would be delighful and share some experiences of mine from the trip to you.

1. Food - Italy is supposedly the food capital of the world besides Paris. Something I believed myslef until I went there. The teachers argued that the food is 'much better than other hotels they have been to in the past'. Based on the food I've seen this week, I hate to think of what the food was like before. Let's start at the very begining - a very good place to start. Water - I'm used to it because I drink the water in Turkey all the time, but if you're new to the water, you're in for a bit of a shock. It's new to people and makes them sick.

Next thing: I was put down as a vegetarian because of the simple fact that I hate meat. Day 1 Dinner - Omlette which tasted of vomit (don't ask how I know this) and peas that were rock hard. Not good.

Day 2 - A cheese pancake thing. We (Me and my friends) decided to play a game: How far can we stretch the cheese before it breaks. It stretched to the ceiling. Also a soup - grey hair in it. My hair is very dark brown. Dessert - Ice cream - great! What I've always wanted - Ice cream in Italy...until I found an eyelash in it. It can't have been mine as my eyelashes all get caught on my glasses. Oh and let's not forget the coffee cake - with liquid coming out.

The teachers wondered why everyone went to the supermarket and spent the best part of €40 on food...is it any wonder why?

2. Wifi - sounds silly, but at €5 a week for internet connection, I expect it to be good. I asked around the first night to see if it was worth getting and (most) people said yes. I got it, went to go on Facebook to message my friends and family, and...no wifi reception. I tried several times all week and still no better. I complained at reception, but there was nothing they could do. That's €5 down the drain. To make matters worse, I had no signal all week, so I went a week having a phone with no way of contacting anyone through internet, text or calling. I suppose you could say I was almost cut off from the world. When I got back to England, I had to spend the hour long bus journey to college clearing the 68 internet notifications, 43 missed calls and 36 texts to remind people that, yes, I am still alive.

3. Road safety - sounds strange, I know. Let me explain. A zebra crossing - the place were people can cross a busy road safely without dying, right? Wrong. In Italy, you're lucky to see a zebra crossing to start with as they seem to be as rare as unicorns and mermaids. With cars driving at about 90mph everywhere they go, you have to become a chicken and just cross the road when there's a car far away - that's run across the road, not walk, that's too slow. If by lucky chance you do see a zebra crossing, still run because cars don't stop at them. Coming back to England felt really bizarre in the way that we could cross roads without fear for our lives.

Overall, Italy wasn't a bad country by no means, I'd gladly go back! The weather was (mostly) wonderful and their were great views from the places I went, such as up 2 volcanoes (that are both active) and in the ancient towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum, but this is just a little post to prepare anyone going to Italy any time soon. Much love you all, see you soon, and here's some nice snaps from the trip for you.