Its the details that get you there...

So. I got up at 6:30am on the 27th of May and the travel craziness began. Boarded my British Airway flight at 4:30ish pm and was on my way to London Heathrow airport. It was a 10ish hour flight....yuck! It was cramped, the food was awful, and i had to crawl over to other passengers multiple times to go to the restroom (those of you who know me well, know that i can NOT hold it!). BUT i made a friend, like i always do, with a nice british bloke named Alex, he was courteous enough to not be super annoyed at my constant up and down to the bathroom... (= Oh, and i just have to say how DAZZLING clouds can be. Yes, i've flown countless times, but it just struck me today as we were up in the clouds before reaching England what an artist God is. White vapors conform into a mountain shape that casts its long shadows on a whole field of smaller tufts of could. Then the sun, as it sets, casts a bright yellow silhouette behind the mountain of cloud and you can see streamers of red, orange, and pink fingers of sun breaking through the hollow spots....*sigh*...it was breath taking. BUT on a more gloomy note...i didnt sleep almost at ALL. i think i've only gotten 4 hours of sleep in the last 20 hours of my travels. Finally i arrived in London and waited for four hours to board my next flight to Milan, Linate airport. Its strange how foreign i felt in a ENGLISH speaking country, haha. I expected to not feel out of place among the British but...even though we were speaking the same language, i often had NO idea what they were saying to me, haha. But they sure were nice! Anyway, i got me a snack and a Starbucks (they didnt have half and half, i was appalled), and settled down to wait along with everyone else in the vast terminal 5 (its strange there, they dont let you know/post your departure gate until 50 MINUTES before you board! I swear every American there was freaking out that they couldn't go and wait at their designated gate, haha, oh Americans...we are so used to SPEED, i think Europeans have it right..just relax!).
Anywho, so i get to Milan and a REAL european experience begins..
I felt like a Martian. A complete alien. Everyone i asked about the buss to take to get to central station looked SO annoyed that i was speaking to them in English..people look different, act WAY different..i am the odd one out. But i was loving it, so fascinating. I take my buss, then i find i am completely turned around and dont know which direction to find the street where my hotel was. After many rude looks and many "Non parla inglese!"'s from locals who i had attempted to ask for help, i hailed a taxi. The cab driver was EXTREMELY amused at my "American-ness" and kept laughing at my confused antics and my smiles that were an attempt to be adorable enough that he'd take pity on me...well..it worked. (= 5 euros later, i made it to the hotel! Later that evening after meeting up with some other girls who were in my hotel and in my program, we went lookin' for dinner. We found this odd cafeteria, self serve deal, and once again were the subject for the entertainment and amusement of the employees, they were very nice though. While at the restaurant i had a very VERY new european discovery....squat-toilets. Its basically a porcelain hole in the ground and in order to relieve yourself..you squat over it.......needless to say, i did NOT attempt the squat-toilet.
Thus ends my first leg of travels, tomorrow begins the second...on to Urbania!!!!
Love,
Maren