Italy 2.0

This morning was absolutely gorgeous. London was all misty and gray, which made all the green seem...greener! I also heard some of the most amazing birds as I walked to the train station. Sadly, I needed this awesome to begin my recovery from last night. First I went for my Indian food, which the place the hostel recommended...eh. I was really rather disappointed overall. Then there was the lack of awesomeness which came from the other people staying at my hostel. While the place itself was rather nice, the people were rather not.
People hung out underneath the dorm windows being loud and drunk until 3 am. This included people leaning out their windows from many different rooms and telling them to "shut up!" repeatedly. Or the couple that decided coming into the room and beginning packing for the next day at 12:30 in the morning was acceptable, and then turned on lights to read. Or the guy that checked in at 2 am and I swear all his belongings were in plastic bags cause all I could hear was "crinklecrinklecrinkle." So essentially I managed to get another cumulative 2 hours of sleep last night. Just to top off my jetlag you know. So I'm a little sleepy today, but that's just going to be how it is.
My train to Gatwick airport had the final destination of Brighton. Being the literary dork I am, all I could really think was weather I'd find myself a militia man like Lydia. Points if you get the reference! The ride was uneventful though, and while I did not find Wickham, I did see whole fields of daffodils along the way. And tons of fabulous little housing areas with all their laundry hanging in the back yards. I love Europe for stuff like that.
Getting into Italy was a little more interesting though...as I signed in, they told me my backpack was considered excess baggage and seemed sure I was going to pitch a fit that I had to pay to check it. This rather made me laugh, since I saw people with whole trolleys overflowing with ginormous suitcases and all I could think was how much it must cost to travel like that if it cost extra to fly my way. Then came passport control in Florence. She looked at my passport for a good several minutes before telling me I was over my 19 days. First off, what 19 days, since I was here 3 months last time and nothing of the sort was ever mentioned to me, and secondly, she was basing this off my Iceland stamp from December. She said it showed that I left Iceland on the 23rd of December. Which I agreed to, while telling her that I left it to go back to the states. Every time I pointed to my return to the US stamp, or my new ones from Iceland/London in the last two days, she would look at me blankly. Finally she understood this was only my 3rd day in Europe this trip, and that I was nowhere near 19 (still don't understand what she was talking about there as those usually apply country by country and I definitely wasn't in Italy that long).
Oh well, I made it in and that's all that matters. That and how stunningly sunny and wonderful it is here now! I'm just sitting in the hostel waiting for my room to be ready so I can ditch my bags and go wander. I've got some train tickets to buy, a city to wander in, and Martha to hang out with! I already stopped and got a sandwich at my favorite focaccia shop and have begun the culinary awesomeness that the next 24 hours will hold.

Back in the EU!

I am officially back in Europe now. I landed in London several hours ago, and it is already going smoother than my first trip. Mostly because I didn't pass out on my bed instantly and sleep through my first afternoon. My hostel seems nice enough, especially considering how little time I will be spending there. I have to leave by 6:30 in the morning to catch my train to catch my plane... But I am very excited that tomorrow I will be in Florence and hanging out with Martha.
This is going to be one very fast paced week though! One night in London, Florence, and Venice respectively. Likely one night in Vienna and about two in Prague. Then it's on to Copenhagen to meet family familiar and new!
I do have to say too, that I think London is really starting to grow on me. I never disliked it, but I also didn't have an affinity with it either. But I really enjoyed walking down the streets this afternoon and people watching (there are some interesting ones here that's for sure!). I think I like this city a little more every time I come here. I do think that a good deal of that is that I am comfortable in this city now. I've walked it enough times and explored enough areas, that I feel good just being here. It's more familiar than other places here.
Very glad I brought zucchini bread with me though. I just think of it in my bag and it makes me happy. I will be happy to depart of Martha's goodies though. Bagels get heavy after awhile! But I will be dumping them off on her rather suspecting person tomorrow. Hopefully we picked out good flavors for her.
Well, I'm off to chug my coffee and then get some delicious Indian Cuisine for dinner. Then it's an early bed for me! My two combined hours on the flight aren't doing me a lot of good at the moment. That's okay though, I'll just blame it all on jet lag. :)

Catching up!

Once again, I've become a slacker in my writing now that I am home. I have actually done some pretty cool things in the last couple weeks, but have just been to lazy to post anything. I've been working at both Finders Keepers and the Ultimate Bagel lately, and just don't seem to feel like taking the time to write once I get home.

Last weekend, John, Don, and I went to Vegas for the WCC tournament. Always a fun trip to take. We stayed in the New York New York this time, and it was a pretty nice hotel. It's amazing how much you notice the cigarette smoke in the buildings though after spending so much time in a smoke free state. Started to make my eyes sting after awhile.

We wandered amongst the different places on the strip, John played some poker, and ate some very good food. John and I went on the roller coaster too, which was pretty cool. I totally wasn't expecting the barrel roll when it happened. One of the better ones I have been on for sure! I loved the people in line for it too. One guy had one of the down to the ground drinks that you have to strap to your neck on. It was almost empty too. I would think that could lead to trouble on the coasters, but oh well.

Then there were the basketball games, which is the whole reason we were there. GU played really well! Very exciting fun games to see. I wasn't very fond of the St. Mary's fans though I must say. I wanted to tell the guy behind me to stop cussing, and knowing me, that takes awhile to get me to that point. Plus he was just mean and rude to boot, as were all the others I encountered, and my friends later told me they had noticed the exact same situation. Totally unnecessary I think. Sadly we only got to see the semi-finals, but we made it home just in time to hear the girls win and to watch the boys game that evening. I'm glad they are playing so well!

This weekend I am up at Schweitzer with Heather and Alex. It's a pretty low key time, as barely any lifts are working so its not really worth my time and money to go rent gear. Still, last night Tanna came over, and Alex's brother was still here and we hung out in their awesometacious snow fort. It has a really steep slide that runs through the fort and through a tunnel down to the trail. You get some serious speed on that thing! Then somehow we ended up in a massive snowball fight ranging all over the hills. Eventually us girls took shelter in the fort using the sled as a roof. It was amusing how long the boys pelted it with snowballs before they realized what we had done.

Tanna, Heather, and I finished the evening chatting and watching the Little Mermaid. Quite satisfying, overall. Heather was laughing at me because I stopped following the conversation at my favorite points in the movie, and got really excited because it doesn't skip like mine does. Small pleasures. And best of all, Heather asked me to be co-maid of honor for her wedding. :) We spent a lot of time talking wedding and just general ideas for what she's thinking.

Today we've played a lot of games and puzzles. At one point we had to try to move my car so Alex's brother could leave. Not super effective. Took us about 30 minutes to get it shifted enough for him to get out, and then he proceeded to get partially stuck too. Makes me look forward to tomorrow though...I know I'll get out, but I think it's going to be a complete adventure doing as such.