Ciao Bello!

Italy was absolutely amazing!  It was so beautiful.  (Words can’t even describe the pasta, pizza, and wine!)  We spent our first night at the CUTEST Italian hostel.  It was called “Bed and Breakfast Tony.”  Uncle Tony, as we liked to call him, picked us up from the airport and literally spoke no English.  He was the sweetest old Italian man ever though; he had breakfast waiting for us in the morning and he even picked us flowers.  He gave us directions on how to venture on to Venice (in Italian!) and we got there with no problem surprisingly. 

At first glance, Venice was obviously too good to be true.   

However, it wouldn’t be normal in the life of Traveling Hannah unless something went wrong!  We wandered forever looking for our hostel only to get there and receive a very pleasant surprise.  First of all, there is absolutely no sign on the door at all that says anything about it being a hostel.  We ring the door bell and an Asian man (wearing no socks) answers the door.  We say hi and ask if this is the hostel.  He waves us in, but rudely shushes us and tells us he is on the phone.  When he gets off the phone he brokenly explains that he speaks no English or Italian.  (Or German)  He proceeds to tell us that the owner of the hostel is on vacation and specifically told him not to bother him.   He then adds that they accidentally overbooked and essentially we can’t stay there.  However he can have a friend come pick us up in his van, take us to his dorm outside the city, and we can stay there. 

ARE YOU JOKING ME?  

We took our bags and ran.

Now no longer having a reservation for a hotel or hostel on Easter Weekend makes things a little difficult.  We finally found a hotel  though and even though we had to pay a lot more, it was pretty nice.  Big couches, cheesy chandeliers, pastel colors; we were basically Italian royalty. 

That was really the only negative, besides a little rain.  

Other than that I have only the best to say about Italy.  I think the beautiful pictures prove that!

St. Mark's Square

 

  

   

  

  

<3

School so far is wonderful; not what I was expecting though.  Since my German competency isn’t that great, (shocking) I’m actually only in class with other Americans/Native English speakers, and Asian kids.  No Germans :(

 So, I am not really as immersed in the culture as I thought I would be.  

But seriously though,  this language is a lot harder than I thought!  Everyone speaks so fast!  Will I improve? Yes, of course.  Will I be fluent? Hahahahahahaha.  I like my classes and teachers though, so overall everything is fabulous. 

I’m leaving for the Netherlands Thursday after class.  Amsterdam to be specific!  Should be another beautiful time. :)   

Oh and…ITS ALMOST MY BIRTHDAY!

Tschüs!

Hannah

Aus nichts wird nichts.

I don't know why I don't just start bringing my pillow to Starbucks since I basically live here.  Other than not having internet still, it was an awesome week.  Spent last weekend in Trier, Germany's oldest city.  All I can is it was BEAUTIFUL.

Karl Marx lived here!

  

Also had a fun night out in Bonn this week enjoying a little karaoke action.

This week I traveled to Bucharest, Romania.  Why?  I have no idea.  There is a German Airline that lets you do “blind booking”.  You pick the dates you want to travel and then you choose a category like party cities, beaches, hiking, und so weiter.  Then you pay for your flight without knowing where you’re going.    Three of my girl friends and I picked the category “Metropolitan/Eastern Europe” and we got sent to Bucharest.  For never have even hearing of this city before, it was an awesome time.  I'm so glad we did it, when would you ever think to travel to Romania?!   Romania is full of beautiful people; it was like looking at art.  Plus, they’re one of the poorest in Europe, so food, shopping, and the castle-like hostel were crazy cheap.

On the balcony of the beautiful parliament!

So inspiring, found my dream job.

Our castle!

Bucharest Park

                                   

Out in the Old City.

We also drove to Transylvania.  The day before in Bucharest we had been walking around in the sun and then the next day in Transylvania it was a horrible blizzard.  I wish we would have checked the weather before that’s for sure.  Even so, it was still awesome.  We saw the most remarkable castle that I’m probably going to live in one day.  We also saw Dracula’s castle only to find out Dracula wasn't real.  Such a letdown! 

Dracula's Castle

Transylvania

The Blizzard!

Shopping in the cheapest shops I've everrrrr been too

The Old City <3 

I guess it was the week for jumping pictures ;)

Bucharest <3

Also, it really is a small world.  We were sitting in our hostel one of the nights and we met Badger Alumni!  So random we were all in the same hostel in Bucharest of all places, but it was really cool to talk to them and hear about the exciting international jobs they have after only graduating last may.

We had a midnight flight home to Cologne/Bonn, but the trains don’t run very often at night so by the time I finally got to bed it was 5:30 am.  So exhausting, but so worth it.  I will be traveling again next weekend to Venice, Italy!  Hopefully internet will be figured out this week since I’ll be getting homework finally now that school started today.

I have my room now though!  It felt so good to unpack, I was sooo sick of living out of a suitcase.

My school!

wie schön!

Leibe von Starbucks,

Hannah