Rotterdam, a city that’s a mere 15 minutes from The Hague by train, is home to the biggest port in Europe and the busiest port in the world until being overtaken by Shanghai in 2004. One of the permanent students at The Hague (who is originally from Germany) decided to sponsor a trip to Rotterdam this past weekend. In total, he was able to put together a package that cost only EU22.30 but that included unlimited trips to the top of the Euromast (a 185 meter tower from the top of which the entire harbor is visible), a boat ride through the harbor at night, and all-you-can-eat pancakes. Needless to say, it didn’t take much to sell me and a few Austrian friends of mine on this trip.

Rotterdam is a very industrialized, modernized city that is distguinishable because of the tall “skyscrapers” that stand next to small, innocuous buildings, the Erasmus Bridge, and of course, the port. The Euromast tower was actually quite impressive – inside (and 95 meters in the air) there was a luxurious restaurant that overlooked the city and at the top of the tower was an elevator with room for 27 people to sit that took visitors to the top of the tower and spun them slowly around so that they were able to see a full panoramic view of Rotterdam. The entire elevator experience lasted about 8 minutes and was absolutely fantastic. We went once while it was still light outside but when it turned dark, we rode the elevator up and down four times…so we spent a good half an hour just looking out over the lights of city and the harbor by night.

After the Euromast, we made our way down to the water to join everyone else for a ride on De Pannenkoekenboot.

I figured I’d drop in and offer up an update as to my whereabouts the past two weeks. Having finally gotten pretty much accustomed to the way things work at The Hague University, I’ve been hitting the books quite a bit harder the past few weeks. The whole “self study” bit is still somewhat of an adjustment, but it’s a good exercise in building discipline.

The city itself is growing on me, too. Surprisingly, the weather has been quite good to date (knock on wood…seriously, do it – rain and I don’t get along too well). One of the things I thought I was going to miss most about Louisville was the fall – it’s by far my favorite time of year. There’s nothing like waking up early on a September morning, stepping outside and breathing the crisp Autumn air on the walk to school, absorbing the electric, fresh feel of campus that first week, and knowing that football season is merely days away. However, since Louisville saw temperatures in the 90s and 100s in September and since football hasn’t quite gone as expected, I don’t really think I’ve missed too much anyway. I actually consider myself fortunate because I’ll be in town for the thrashing (hopefully that’s not putting it too midly) of UK in basketball.

In addition to ramping up the studies, I traveled to Luxembourg City and Antwerp (instead of Oestrich-Winkel) last weekend with a few newfound friends. We were planning on going from Luxembourg to Oestrich-Winkel to see Maria and Kartik but only spending basically one day there wasn’t quite enough to justify spending the EU150 or so it was going to cost us to get there and then back to The Hague from Frankfurt.

Actually getting to Luxembourg turned out to be quite the adventure, though. Within five minutes of leaving Den Haag Central Station, we were already headed the wrong way (we didn’t see that we had to switch trains in Hollands Spoor). A culmination of this and several other train errors, some our fault, some not, led to us spending about nine hours on the train that day en route to Luxembourg. The city was very beautiful and had plenty of history, though. After quite a bit of searching – something important must have been going on in Luxembourg this weekend because all the hostels were booked – we were able to find a nice, affordable hotel within walking distance of the city center and enjoyed a phenominal meal from one of the nearby restaurants. Since this was only a weekend trip, after figuring out that it was going to be too expensive and that we didn’t have enough time to visit Maria and Kartik, we made our way to Antwerp on Saturday night.

Traveling without booking a hotel beforehand, although plenty adventerous, generally isn’t a good idea. Of course, we weren’t aware that we were going to Antwerp until Saturday afternoon so I suppose this one wasn’t our fault. We arrived in Antwerp around 20:00 and tried to take Frommer’s advice about a cheap hotel in town. Unfortunately, it was booked. As was the next one we went to. And the next. And the next. And every other hotel we asked.

Finally, after wandering around for some time, we found a cheap um…”hotel”. It was immediately and painfully obvious that the hotel wasn’t in the best part of town when I noticed that the window of the bar on the ground floor of the hotel had a rock thrown through it. I entered the building and was greeted not by a receptionist at a nice desk with posh lighting, but by a dimly lit hallway leading up the stairs to the left or into the bar on the right, an elderly African woman who was from Kenya, and her son (both of whom, I might add, were as sweet as can be). The place was actually a place of residence that I assume she (or they) bought and turned into a hotel. Unfortunately, the inside left a little to be desired. The light peaking through the door of our second floor room was the only one in the building to light our way up the steps, past the peeling paint, past the make-shift bathroom, and into our not-so-pleasant smelling room with peeling linoleum floors and no way to lock the door. I think the girls I was traveling with were horrified, but I was already relishing both how great of a story it was going to be and the low price. Predictably, we made it out alive and well and have now have a great story out of it.

Anyway, Antwerp was a magical, old-feeling city situated on the Scheldt River with cobblestone streets, guildehouses that date to the 16th century, the obligatory impressive Catholic cathedral, and even a castle. We were fortunate to witness some sort of parade through the city (one of the gentleman in the parade had an amazing handlebar moustache, I might add), drink beer in a bar that has been in operation since the late 1500s or early 1600s, walk through the diamond district, see authentic Belgian lace, and naturally, indulge in some fantastic Belgian waffles. It was great to get back on the road again.

I suppose it’s time to exercise some of that hard-earned discipline and continue studying for my Finance-5 test that’ll be administered tomorrow. My travels during fall break will take me to Geneva, Switerland for about five days where I’ll get to see among other things, the UN, the Alps, and hopefully some quaint Swiss town, and then up to Ireland for about a week where I hope to travel all over the island. Until next time…

I was as Dutch this past Wednesday as I have been since arriving here. Since we’re learning how to pronounce Dutch words (dipthongs, the combining of two or more vowels to form a different sound, have given the Americans trouble), I read some simple Dutch phrases for a hour and a half or so. At one point during class, the professor was talking about how easy ordering drinks at a bar was and he proceeded to go over some of the bar vocabulary. We learned how to ask for, among other things, Coke, coffee, tea, beer, and gin. The professor began to describe some of the alcoholic beverages and when he got to gin, he pulled out a bottle of Dutch gin and a shot glass.

“No freaking way,” I thought.

Sure enough, he poured shots for everyone in class who wanted one. Who am I to refuse a free drink from a professor during class? Although he only served half-shots for us to get a taste of the gin, I can still say that I’ve been served alcohol in class by a professor. Good story. Cool guy. Naturally, he rides a motorcylce to school.

Yikes, I digress. Later that night, I further solidified myself as a psuedo-Dutch individual while riding my bike in the rain to the Centrum to meet a few friends for dinner. Having a foot at most between cars passing me on my left and the parked cars on the right is still somewhat intimidating for me, though. However, my bike skills are somehow such that I was able avoid face planting when writing a text message while riding my bike. Let me not overstate anything though, my bicycle skills still leave quite a bit to be desired.

Anyway, all’s well in Den Haag. Tot ziens!

Paige and I arrived in Den Haag early on the 27th August and made our way to the Haagse Hogeschool (The Hague University) to collect our luggage from Lieke, a very friendly and helpful employee in the International Center who allowed us to store our luggage in her office while we backpacked. She was even kind enough to let the airport deliver my luggage (since it was lost somewhere between Charlotte and Philadelphia) to her house and she subsequently brought it to the school. We made our way to DUWO, the rental agency, and received the keys to our apartments. Our apartments are reminiscent of Betty Johnson at U of L in that each student has his/her own living space with a bed and a desk, but the inhabitants share a bathroom and a kitchen. The quality and proximity to the school of one’s apartment is pretty much luck. After seeing some other student’s apartments, Paige and I have realized that we were fairly lucky in the apartments to which we were assigned despite the 25 or so minute walk to school and the fact that neither one of us has a washing machine (this has left me doing laundry in the sink with a sponge and hanging it outside my window on clothleslines because I refuse to pay the EU5 – EU7 that it costs to do laundry at a laundr-o-mat). I am living with two other students – a 20 year-old Belgian student from the Walloon region (so French is his native tongue, though he does know some Dutch) who is on a one-semester exchange and an 18 year-old Bulgarian student who will be studying at The Hague for the next four years.

Our IBMS orientation of The Hague University was a three day experience in which the school organized a tour of the building, a tour of the city, bought us a Strippenkaart (which is used to take the tram around the city), a trip to the beach (Scheveningen), and dinner at an Italian restaurant the first day. On the second day, the school bought us return tickets to Amsterdam and took us to the Museum of Amsterdam to familiarize us with the most important city in the Netherlands. We were also treated to the Heineken experience, a sort of Heineken museum and explanation of the brewing process. Part of the tour is that three free beers are included, as well as a souvenier bottle opener. We were treated to lunch at a restaurant called the Pancake Factory, taken on a canal tour of Amsterdam, and then allowed to remain in the city to our vices as long as we promised to be back the next morning to determine our courses. I was amazed and appreciative of the fact that all expenses for these two days were covered by the University. The third day, Friday, was a bit hectic. Apparently, the American students’ mentor would be unable to perform this role due to prior obligations as the MBA co-ordinator and ambassador of the IBMS program. We weren’t alone, though; pretty much everyone was in mass confusion over their schedule. Knowing that we had the full support of the Business School put my mind at ease a little bit and I chose classes as best I could, confirming with the Business School as I went. After about a week or week and a half, things ended up working themselves out, despite some early frustration on my part. As warned by Max though, the building is an interesting, massive, and impressive construction that houses the majority of the courses offered by The Hague University, so familiarizing oneself with it is vital – especially since classes tend to switch rooms from time to time for some reason still unknown to me.

I’ve found it very easy to meet people here, especially the exchange students, and I feel like I’m cultivating relationships that will last a lifetime. I’ve been told by various people that studying abroad truly is a life changing experience. I’m happy to report that through three weeks of my actual study abroad, I think this certainly is the case. Sharing this experience with Paige, though her and I have done a remarkable job of separating ourselves and making this a unique experience for each of us, is a blessing that I can’t put into words.

I’ve had quite a bit of time to reflect on myself – who I was, who I am, and who I want to be, both personally and professionally – and have been taking some steps to making these changes come to fruition. In a rare philosophical state of epiphany, I realized something that I will always be grateful for – that one of the most important things my parents ever taught me was how to laugh. After a few minutes of reveling in this realization, I smiled to myself, relived the entire backpacking trip in my mind, flashed through the past three weeks, and realized that I am in the Netherlands and I literally am having the time of my life. This is the pinnacle, the “good ‘ole days”, and I don’t want to forget a second of this experience. Living in constant awareness of this makes it that much sweeter because, to use a cliche that I’ve been trying to put into practice as long I can remember, life is about the journey.

I’ve pretty much been a slacker on the blog due to schoolwork, trying to complete the adjustment to living in Den Haag, and to trying to develop social relationships, so I’m going to wrap up this backpacking trip.

Paige and I spent the 24th through the 26th exploring Prague. What a beautiful city! Prague was not nearly as badly damaged in World War II as some of the other surrounding cities so most of the historical features of the city were preserved. Depending on where one is in the city, the architecture can be distinctly different from Renaissance, to Gothic, to modern – Prague really has quite a variety. Paige and I took the opportunity to rent a Segway (the motorized, stand-up scooters) and take a tour of the town. Once switched from “tourist” mode to “expert” (or whatever the next level was called), these things really moved! I believe our guide told us they got up to almost 20 MPH and their agility was actually quite impressive, as well. Our guide explained to us that students played quite a big role in the fall of communism in the former Czechoslovakia. He didn’t go into too much detail so this is per Wikipedia: ” On November 17, 1989, a peaceful student demonstration in Prague was severely beaten back by the riot police. That event sparked a set of popular demonstrations from November 19 to late December, and a general two-hour strike of the population on November 27. By November 20 the number of peaceful protesters assembled in Prague had swelled from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million…the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announced on November 28 they would give up their monopoly on political power.” Cool story.

Paige and I were able to see the four formerly indepedent citires that currently make up Prague’s historical center, including: the Old Town and Old Town Square (the original place of settlement in Prague in the 9th century), the New Town (founded in the 14th century), the Lesser Town (which was home to a number of noble palaces due to its proximity to Prague Castle), and the Jewish Quarter.

We saw the Astronomical Clock, which hundreds of people gather around each hour to listen to the clock chime and to observe the four animated figures that emerge from the clock every hour, on the hour. Each figure represents something that is (or was) despised – Death (represented by a skeleton), Vanity (represented by a figure holding a mirror), Judaism (a figure holding a bag), and the Turkish (a figure with a turban). Again, this is per Wiki since the square was bustling when we observed this and our guide did not fully explain it.

We also saw the Lennon Wall, the National Museum, the Petřínská rozhledna (a 1:5 copy of the Eiffel Tower), the Žižkov Television Tower (though we didn’t go in it), the Dancing House (an interesting construction that is supposed to represent a man and woman dancing), and of course, the Prague Castle and Charles Bridge.

One morning, we took a guided day trip to a town around 50-70 km outside of Prague called Kutna Hora. Kutna Hora was once the second most important city (behind Prague) in Bohemia due to the discovery of vast silver mines there in the 10th century. However, the city didn’t start rapidly growing until the publication of a legal document by the king outlined specifications of the operation of the mines. Once the silver mines were exhausted around the end of the 18th century, Kutna Hora ceased competing with Prague economically, politically, and culturally. It is a quaint, beautiful little city though and is home to the Saint James Church, the Saint Barbara Church, one of the more famous Gothic churches in Central Europe, and the real reason we elected to go to Kutna Hora, the Ossuary. During the Black Plague in the 14th century, many thousands of people were buried in the Cemetary of All Saints, causing it to be greatly enlarged. When a Gothic church was built on the site around 1400, the lower chapel of the church was used as an ossuary for the mass graves that were dug up during the construction. The bones were subsequently stacked in the chapel in the 1500s. In the late 19th century, the Schwarzenberg family commissioned a wood carver to artistically arrange the approximately 40,000 skeletons as decorations for the chapel. This was unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my life. Among the many bone decorations constructed by this wood carver, was the Schwarzenberg coat of arms and an enormous chandelier made of bones and skulls that greeted us upon descending the stairs into the lower chapel. Various other bone decorations hung from the ceiling and adorned the walls. The lower chapel was not very large, but it was extremely impressive and well worth the trip.

By the end of the 26th, we were excited about flying back to Den Haag and finally having a place to call home for a few months rather than sleeping on people’s couches or in hostels. I can’t overstate though, how incredible of an experience backpacking all around Europe was. It enabled me to experience different people, different cultures, different foods (some good – the Italian food, some not so good – the “traditional Czech meal” I tried in Kutna Hora that was basically uncooked meat and cucumbers drowned in vinegar), see and do things I never would’ve dreamed I’d have the opportunity to do, and forge close friendships with our hosts and with my traveling companion. When we returned to the hostel on the night of the 26th, I was a little depressed that the backpacking was over until I realized that I’d only been in Europe for three and a half weeks and that the adventure was really just beginning.

Paige woke me up at about 4 AM, cold and freaked out to be sleeping on the street. Disoriented, I got up and we decided sleeping in the metro station would be a better, safer idea. Unfortunately, when the metro stopped running (at around midnight) the entrance/exit was blocked by a metal gate. Things were looking bleak, to say the least. Eventually, we flagged down a cab and paid him some inordinant amount to take us back to the train station. It was well worth it, however, because Paige and I were a very long walk away from the train station.

I’ll go ahead and skip over the rest of our stay in Vienna. Suffice it to say that we had a rough go of it pretty much the entire day. We decided to skip the Torture Museum, which was one thing we’d identified as something we really would’ve liked to have done, bought our tickets for Prague, and slept most of the four hours or so that it took to get there.

When we arrived in Prague, we had little difficulty finding our hostel, as they had given us excellent directions. Upon first glance, the hostel was really not in a good area of town at all. It was a little ways outside the center of Prague (a good 10 or 15 minute train ride) and the surrounding buildings appeared to be pretty run down. I reminded myself that this hostel was cheap, offered free internet, free breakfast, had a cheap laundry service, and didn’t have a curfew so it was going to be well worth it. After checking in and meeting one of the six people that we’d be sharing the room with that night, we went out and enjoyed pasta and salad at a local restaurant.

We returned to the hostel for an easy night of surfing on the internet, getting some laundry done, and getting to know a few of the people who were staying in the room. One of the guys, Dustin (an E-5 in the Navy who was stationed in Italy but was taking his leave in Prague), gave us a great tip about a town called Kutna Hora. More on it to follow but suffice it to say, it was a great tip. Paige and I packed it in early for the night since we wanted to get up, take advantage of the free breakfast, and start exploring Prague.

The day took a while to get going. We woke up at 9:00 and ventured down with Brad and Jason to enjoy the complimentary breakfast. What a smorgasbord! Since I do it the “broke college kid way” and stay at Motel 6s, I’m used to getting a small bowl of knock-off Cherios and a cup of four hour old coffee as my complimentary breakfast. The Regina (the hotel) had other plans – there was plentiful and various amounts of sausage, bacon, six or seven different types of cereals, an enormous bowl of all kinds of fruit, several different kinds of yogurt, a dozen different kinds of bread, apple juice, orange juice, coffee, tea…you get the idea. We waited for Brad and Jason to get ready when we’d returned to the room and, after visiting an internet cafe with them so we could take care of booking hostels in our respective next destinations (Munich for them, Prague for us), we said our goodbyes.

The map of the city had around 30 or 40 touristy sites. Paige and I had identified several that we wanted to go to so we started to try and knock them off the list one by one. Choosing what we thought would be the cheapest one first (a hedge maze), we set out on a long walk that eventually led us to some sort of large royal garden. I’m not sure if the maze was supposed to be in there or not but if it was, it was umm…much less cool than it looked on the picture. Fortunately, the garden was quite beautiful so we walked around and took a few pictures.

Trying to find this garden took a significant portion of the day since we had to walk all the way across town so we decided we would save the rest of what we had planned to do for tomorrow. On the way to the train station to buy our tickets, we came across a very cheap internet cafe and decided we’d spend a few hours taking care of some things. After finishing up at the internet cafe and buying our tickets to Prague for the next day, we struggled with what to do next since everything we wanted to do was closed. Paige pulled a flier out of her pocket for a band named KAMIKAZE SPERM that was performing at a bar named the Viper Room – Vienna…the name was interesting and since there was nothing else to do, we figured we’d check it out.

Ah, irresponsibility. That’s all I’ll say about our night with KAMIKAZE SPERM (in which we did end up meeting and hanging out with the band). Long story short, we ended up sleeping in the streets of Vienna – I can elaborate more on this story on a case-by-case basis. What an unexpectedly rough night.

I woke up before we arrived in Vienna and did some catching up on my journal while looking out the window at the beautiful Austrian countryside. A dreary sky had given way to feathery cirrus clouds and a brilliant, piercing sun that danced off the still dewy grass. We passed quaint villages that were inset in lush, green rolling hills. I wanted to stop the train, bypass the rest of my education, and retire in one (a town, not a hill).

After surprisingly receiving a complimentary breakfast on the train, we made plans to meet Brad and Jason (our two new Canadian friends) later that night for dinner or a beer. The train rolled into the station where Paige and I stored our bags in lockers and ventured out into Vienna after procuring a map of the city.

Downtown Vienna seemed very Westernized. It was quite different at first glance the other European cities we’d seen in which old buildings lined narrow streets full of small, typical European cars. Vienna was more of a concrete jungle with large streets, large cars, and several SUVs. One thing we noticed about the Austrians that we found rather strange was the fact that they waited for the green walking light at every intersection that had one. No one in any other city we’d been in did this and no one in any other city that we’ve been in since did, either. As we got deeper into the city, the new concrete buildings gave way to some older-looking buildings, slightly similar in architecture to some of the ones in Amsterdam. However, my guess is that the older-looking buildings actually aren’t quite so old (the ones I’m referencing in Amsterdam were built in the 16th and 17th centuries) but were instead built more recently in such a way that they looked old. They just seemed too new and the architecture too precise to be that old…furthermore, the streets were very wide unlike the narrow streets of some of the older sections of the previous cities we’d visited. This would lead me to believe that the invention and adoption of cars had taken place when the buildings were built. However, I’m far from an expert and could very well be wrong.

Anyhow, Paige and I chose to eat a lunch that would’ve been enjoyed by a native Austrian – beer and bratwurst. The bratwurst was especially interesting because it was filled with cheese and then stuffed into a long, hollowed-out roll of bread into which ketchup and mustard were squirted. The meal was phenominal, albeit messy, and the beer cheap and delicious.

After walking around and seeing some of the more popular sites, Paige and I decided to find a park to take a nap before meeting Brad and Jason for dinner. Along the way, we came across an interesting computerized kiosk that rented bikes to those with a credit card, tourist pass, etc to make it easier to see the city. There were approximately 20 bikes locked into racks that would be released upon paying. The computer was able to display all of the other kiosks in town, tell how many bikes the location could hold, how many bikes were available, the aggregate total time ridden on the current day of all the bikes, and the aggregate total distance ridden on the current day of all the bikes. The bikes were rented by the hour and the first hour was free; however, losing a bike resulted in a EU400 fine. Theft was prevented because, as I mentioned, either a credit card was necessary or before getting a tourist card, one would have to volunteer some sort of credit card information.

After the nap, we met Brad and Jason for dinner. Trying to conserve money, Paige and I had decided to sleep in the train station since there was a shower there. Upon learning this, Brad and Jason selflessly offered to share their room with us…we couldn’t believe that we’d lucked into another couch surfing situation without even meaning to! Their room was very nice and more than large enough to accommodate all four of us. Brad and Jason shared with us a few beers that they’d bought as we played some more uecker and watched some strange music channel that played covers of the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, etc. Jason and I teamed up to win the uecker game, as we’d done on the train (though it took surviving a ferocious comeback from Brad and Paige). Since it took us so long to put the game away, we didn’t get to bed until 3:30 AM.

We woke up at 5 AM and escorted Kali to the train station so we could say our goodbyes. Check-out at the hotel wasn’t until 11 so Paige and I went back and slept for a few hours longer. We subsequently took a train into the center of Venice and after buying a ticket for a couchette on the overnight train to Vienna, we ventured out into the city.

The first goal was to find a supermarket since we hadn’t eaten in a while and were starving. Walking around Venice, I quickly noticed that the city was as advertised: there were canals everywhere. In fact, and I didn’t know this until we got there, boats are the primary mode of transportation for the majority of the city. I saw very few cars in Venice. However, there were police boats, ambulance boats, boat taxis, of course the gondolas, and a wide variety of personal boats ranging from small paddle canoes to speed boats. It was quite an interesting and unique city. I was also delighted to find that I was unable to smell the odor for which Venice is infamous.

Since Venice is a series of islands, running internet cables throughout the islands is very expensive; this is reflected in the outrageously high cost of the internet cafes. Riccardo told us that Venice occassionally floods and the water can get up to several feet high. In this scenario, one needs special water-resistant boots (think fly fishing) to walk around the city because doing so barefoot would put the individual at risk of getting bitten by rats (which are apparently everywhere during these floods).

Venice had a nice feel and I’m sure that if one were to go there with a boatload of money and a sweetheart, it would’ve been an amazing place to visit. However, for poor college students whose sweethearts were elsewhere, there didn’t seem to be much beyond old, poorly maintained-looking buildings, high priced restaurants, and shopping. We walked around the city for several hours but ended up getting to the train station with time to spare, dissatisfied with Venice.

Finally, our train arrived and we made our way to the couchette car specified on our ticket. The couchette cars are slightly more expensive than a regular seat but are well worth the money because they afford one an opportunity to actually lay down, turn off the lights, and get a decent night of sleep. For long train rides, I couldn’t imagine traveling any other way. On the way from Madrid to Barcelona, our couchette slept six – three beds on each side of the car. It was pretty crowded and I felt like we were in the sleeping quarters of a Navy ship. However, we were fortunate on this train – only us and two other guys from Canada would be sharing the room. Before the train even got moving, someone had boarded the train who apparently hadn’t washed his feet in weeks. It smelled absolutely terrible. Naturally, he thought it was quite amusing (as he’d probably refrained from washing his feet for weeks in anticipation of this night). Fortunately for us, he wasn’t in our car but it didn’t matter – the odor crept out from the closed door of his room and filled the entire train car. If we kept our door closed, it was enough to keep the odor from penetrating our room but the smell persisted in the hallway literally the entire trip to Vienna. Going to the bathroom was risky business since the train didn’t keep a supply of gasmasks on hand.

The two Canadian guys were very friendly and we got along with them extremely well. They taught us to play uecker, which we did for a few hours to pass the time before calling it a night.

I woke up a little before the girls, took a shower, got packed and ready, and then cooked breakfast for us all so when they got ready, we’d have nothing left to do. Today we were to go to Venice. Unfortunately, there was no direct train from west coast Cinque Terre (or the surrounding areas) to eastern Venice. We took the train south from Riomaggiore for ten minutes or so to La Spezia. From there, we dealt with a very unfriendly desk attendent at the ticket office who, despite us being as polite as possible, got frustrated with our lack of knowledge of Italian and unwillingness to pay EU162 for three train tickets (when we knew we could get them much cheaper) and began openly cussing us in italian. I decided it best not to ask her to repeat herself in english. After we balked at the EU162 ticket package, she found tickets on a train that left twenty minutes later for EU112 (for three tickets).

Since there were no direct trains to Venice, we’d have to change over in several cities (from La Spezia to Bologna, Bologna to Parma, and Parma to Venice). However, there were stops at various stations along the route between La Spezia and Bologna and between Bologna and Parma. Our train from Parma to Venice however, was to be a direct train (Eurostar) and therefore much shorter.

We boarded a glass enclosed room that had four seats (two on each side facing each other) and a sliding glass door for the ride to Bologna. Somewhere along the way, while Paige, Kali, and I were playing cards, a man opened the sliding glass door and started begging for money in some foreign language (I couldn’t quite hear him because he mumbled but I assume it was Italian). By this time, I’d learned to say “I’m sorry, I don’t speak Italian” and we motioned to him that we didn’t have any spare change. Thinking that took care of the situation, we went back to our card game. However, a few minutes later, he returned and began begging for money again. We politely declined and he was off. Relentless, he returned again and after we (admittedly, a little more agitated at this point) declined his request for money, he began begging for a beer that Kali had opened. Only this time, he wouldn’t quit talking and wouldn’t leave the room. I was closest to the door so I took the door handle and forced the door closed. I hated to do that but I felt that at this point, it was necessary. A few peaceful minutes passed and he returned again only this time, I saw him coming and held the door closed. I assume he got off at one of the stops somewhere along the way because we didn’t see him again.

We got off the train and walked to the platform expecting to see our train bound for Parma arriving shortly. However, we were met with a message that informed us our train was delayed by 15 minutes. Shortly thereafter, 15 turned to 20, and 20 to 25. Apparently, delays are quite common in Italy. This was problemmatic though because we were going to be cutting it very close on making our Eurostar connection in Parma. Finally the train came and we were on the way.

Sure enough, as our train rolled into Parma nearly 30 minutes late, our Eurostar connection was just pulling off en route directly to Venice. The next train wouldn’t come for another 45 minutes and it wasn’t a direct train, therefore an extra hour and a half or so was to be added to our trip. Aggravated, we went out into the town and found some dinner before returning to the train. At one of the stops along the way, the train sat much longer than it had at any of the other stops. Curious, I got up and started looking around. Everyone else was looking out the window of the train at some police officers questioning a few teenage boys. I asked a few people what the fuss was about. Apparently, the boys had gotten into an argument with the conductor and one of them broke one of the glass windows on the train. The train sat and waited for everything to get sorted out before continuing on the way to Venice. This delay was about an hour or hour and a half.

We arrived in Venice much later than expected and without accommodation for the night. Kali had to be in Treviso, which is a small airport about 45 minutes outside of Venice, to catch her flight to Rome, where she would fly back to the United States. Aggravated, tired, and hungry, we tried to decide what to do. Should we see the city at night so Kali had an opportunity to see Venice or should we just find a place to sleep and call it a day? After finding out that we were a good 10 or 15 kilometers from the center of Venice and finding that no trains were running at this time, we decided we’d find some food and then a place to stay.

Hotel after hotel was entirely too expensive for our tastes or they were booked. Finally, after meeting up with a Croatian guy named Ivan who was in a similar situation, we found a hotel at 1:30 AM that agreed with our price range. It was going to be EU18 per person for the four of us to split one room or EU20 per person for us to get two rooms. We decided to take the latter and Ivan and I were able to sleep in our own beds instead of on the floor. What a terrible day. By far the worst of the trip. I think being on a train all day was starting to drive us mad.