Weeks of Chaos

The last few weeks have been insane, and I was on the verge of a catastrophic mental breakdown, but I made it through. I had midterms I didn't feel prepared for, a presentation in French, and I had to pack for my 10 day trip for fall break. The weekend before I didn't get as much work done as I wanted to because I got rather shaken up by Luke's death. Then I find out on Tuesday that my flight to Venice is cancelled because of the strikes, so I spent time figuring out my travels instead of studying. After much stress, I bought a new plane ticket and changed my original travel plans.

Wednesday night was a crepe dinner organized by Accent followed by a night view of Paris from the top of the Montparnasse Tower. I would have enjoyed the evening more if I hadn't had to go home and frantically study, but it was a good view.

I got up at 5 Friday morning, left the house at 6 to get to the airport for my flight. I was flying on Lufthansa so I had a connection in Munich. Then I flew from Munich to Milan, which meant I got to fly over the Alps. I listened to the Sound of Music while watching the mountains out the window. It was magical.



I took a bus from the Milan airport to Milan, then met Stefana at a metro stop. We had pizza for lunch then walked around Milan after I dropped off my bags. I saw Milan's cathedral, which is very large and made of marble compared to France's limestone, so it was in better condition. For dinner we had appertivo, where you buy a drink then have an all you can eat appetizer buffet.

The next morning I left and took a train to Florence (Firenze). I used my pass and didn't have a reservation, so I stole seats when I could but had to get up when the person with that ticket showed up. I checked into my hostel, at which I was in a 5 girl room and the room was huge. It was very nice. I walked around the city that night and had mushroom risotto and wine for dinner. There was a massive market selling mostly all kinds of leather goods. Everything was beautiful, I bought myself a wallet and some gifts for other people. That night the clock changed and I slept for the longest I had in a week.

The next day Caroline was there, so she and I walked around the city all day seeing the sights. We could have seen more if it hadn't been raining all day. We waited in line for an hour to see Michelangelo's David, and then found out you couldn't take pictures. I tried to be sneaky and take one, but the security people caught me and yelled at me, however I still snagged the photo. You can see their suspicious and angry faces. In Florence we also saw the tombs of Michelangelo, and more importantly Galileo, which was awesome because he has had such an impact on history.


Monday morning I took the train from Florence to Rome, then another train from the train station to the airport. I did pass by some aqueducts, but that's all of Rome that I got to see. =( I had a 3 hour flight to Cairo, and it was horrible. Between turbulence and other anxieties I couldn't wait to land. Luckily, Twilight: Eclipse was playing so I watched that as it gave me something to do. Okay, I hadn't seen it yet and was wanting to watch it sometime, so it was the perfect opportunity. We also flew over large lightning storms. Although this caused the turbulence, I was able to see some incredible lightning from above. I finally landed in Cairo and found both Elise and my bag, went back to the island her dorm is on in a taxi and went to sleep.


Today, Elise and I slept in, had bagels for brunch, then went to the grocery store. After an internet break at home, we headed to the Giza pyramids. I went inside the biggest one, which included crouching and climbing up a ways in stuffy air. I had a little trouble breathing but it wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, I couldn't take my camera inside. We passed the afternoon walking around the pyramids and the Sphinx. We also saw the "solar boat" that was discovered next to the pyramids. Elise was definitely right in warning me that people here try to sell you literally everything. I spent a lot of time trying to sneak pictures of camels, because normally the camel owner will charge you for a picture.

We then ate dinner at classy Pizza Hut, but we could see the sun set behind the pyramids from the restaurant so it was worth it. After some gelato we returned home, I washed all the dust off of myself, and here I am.

A bientot!
Sarah