"Guys...we're in Italy..." (and the rest of the week since then)

Wow there is so much to catch up on. I guess I left off in Italy on Saturday, the highly anticipated day. We woke up bright and early at like 6:30, because we had to catch our train at the station at 8:30. We were waiting for everyone to come down to the lobby, and Todd and Taylor hadn’t shown up, so we went to make sure they were awake, but they had forgotten to set their clocks ahead an hour from England so they were a little late. We took the metro (instead of walking because it was kinda far) to Milan Centrale train station and got on our train. We had to split up 4 and 4 because the little car things were for 6 people, so Jen, Monica, Todd and I went in one, and Taylor, Amanda, Angie, and Nicole went in the other. There were two American girls who are studying in Rome in our car that were going to the Olympics too. There were actually a bunch of Americans on that train, even a girl who grew up in Oxford and just graduated from Miami, small world. The view from the train was really pretty, and there were mountains all around and stuff. We got into Torino then decided we should buy a map so we knew sort of where to go. We figured we should go pick up our tickets for the hockey game before anything else, then we could walk around later before the game. So, we headed over towards the Olympic stuff, went through a market where there was all kinds of crap, wrenches, clothes, costume stuff, you name it, it was there. The whole time we were laughing because none of us speak Italian, but between the 8 of us, we had Spanish, French and English. A couple times we tried to ask people for directions, and the Spanish was more useful than the English since they are so similar. The whole day, we just kept saying, “We’re in Italy…at the Olympics…” It was just so incredible and we couldn’t believe we were actually there. You might think (like we did) that being the Olympics and everything, there would be a nice, organized building to go pick up your tickets for the games. Quite the opposite. It turned out we had to get them in a trailer-like building, in front of which was an unorganized mass of people. We ended up standing in the line for about an hour and a half just to pick up our tickets that we had already bought. Meanwhile, while Todd, Nicole and I stood there, Jen, Monica, Angie, Amanda, and Taylor went and brought us food. It was frustrating that we had to stand in line for so long since we really didn’t have much time in Torino at all, and we would have preferred to walk around Torino or whatever, but it was ok, and there wasn’t much we could do about it. It was a lot better than coming right before the game, because the line was really long. After we FINALLY got our tickets, we decided to walk around and see the city a little bit since we had some time to kill. We walked towards the main plaza I think it was, and that was where they happen to be filming the Today show with Katie Couric. They were interviewing some American guy, I think he is a skier, and then they had a couple dance the tango. That was pretty cool. We also found a cool Torino 2006 monument and took some pictures of that. We moved on and our goal was to find the Holy Shroud of Turin, which we had been told was amazing. Mom had sent me an address that we mapped out and found, but then we got there and it turned out to be the museum about the Shroud, not the actual Shroud itself. We asked where the actual Shroud was, and it was in the cathedral down the way, so we went and checked that out. It was pretty cool, even though you couldn’t see the actual Shroud because it is in a box type thing. By that point, it was getting late so we had to start heading back for the hockey game!! We got back, went through security and then started down the walk into the rink. The funny thing was that there were Torino 2006 and Olympic logos everywhere and there were volunteers in Torino 2006 gear to direct people, and also people walking around with flags tied around their necks and stuff, but other than that, you probably wouldn’t have known that the Olympics were there. Granted, the Opening Ceremonies were the day before, but still, you would think that there would have been a lot more going on. It could very well be that we just missed the Olympic village (we’re still not sure if there was one, but I hear there is), due to lack of time or whatever. We went into the rink and it was so amazing. We bought a couple of souvenirs at the one little merchandise stand they had set up, and it was a good thing because we didn’t see any other places, which like I said, was kinda weird. We went to see the USA Women’s hockey team play Switzerland, and it was probably one of the coolest experiences ever. They were starting to practice, and we took tons of pictures. Unfortunately, since we bought our tickets in 3 groups, we were a little bit split up, but luckily all of the seats were close. Nicole was by herself, but right in front of us, the Monica, Todd, Jen, and I sat together, and up a little higher were Taylor, Amanda and Angie. The game was absolutely amazing, and I was so excited I thought I was going to cry. First of all, if you know me at all, you know I’m a huge hockey fan. Second, how cool is it to watch your country play at the OLYMPICS?! How many people can say they did that? During the intermission between the first and second periods, Monica, Todd and I went down over by the USA bench (since our seats were in back of the Swiss bench) to take some pictures. We were just kinda standing on the stairs, and one of the ushers said to us, “You can go down there if you want”, meaning into the front row. Then as we were going to head back up to our seats, he told us we could just stay down there if we wanted. We were practically freaking out, I mean how awesome to sit in the front row behind the USA bench?!?!?! We asked if everyone else could come down, but he said no. During the second period, right in front of us, the USA scored a breakaway goal, it was sweet. Also during that period, Laura Bush, that’s right the First Lady, came in to the game followed by her entourage, so that was cool. Apparently Katie Couric was there too, I didn’t see her but some of the others did. We got really lucky because we saw every goal that was scored right in front of us. It is so hard to describe everything besides the fact that is was incredible. It turns out we were even on TV, because the game was televised in the US, and my mom saw us on there, so she is going to send us a copy! After the game was over, we headed back towards the train station to head back to Milan. We stopped on the way for food and had kebobs, a new dining experience but pretty decent actually. We got back to the train station, caught the train back, and got back to Milan around 1am. The metro was closed, so we had to walk back to our hotel, and we were tired and it was cold, but we finally got back and crashed. It was such an amazing day though.
Sunday we got to sleep in a little bit, but we still had to get up early because Jen and the England crew had to leave earlier than us. We went to the Duomo, which is the big cathedral and that was really pretty, too bad they are restoring it and there was a ton of scaffolding on it though. Then we went into the Galeria Vittoria Emanuele I think it was called, which was really cool and pretty too. We did a little shopping, walked around some, and then had to head back towards the hotel to check out and they had to leave. I was sad that Jen had to leave, but it was so good to see her, and hang out with someone from home, and we had a lot of fun. Who would have thought freshman or sophomore year of high school that we would have gone to the Olympics in Italy together?? So anyways, they all left, and then Monica, Nicole and I were hanging out because our plane didn’t leave until later, close to 9. We walked around for a little bit, then found a park and sat there for awhile, enjoying everything. We ate some pasta and then finally decided to head towards the airport since it was far away and we didn’t know how long it would take us, since it took 2 ½ hours to get there. We got on a double decker bus, which was cool, and it only took us 45mins to get there! The flight was fine, we were sad to be leaving Italy, but coming back to Spain isn’t exactly the worst thing ever, haha. Italy was really pretty, like Madrid. Then we got and when I say it was an adventure until the end, I mean it was an adventure until the end. We had been told that the buses go from Avenida de Américas in Madrid to Alcalá until every hour of the morning, so our goal was to get there. We had been planning the whole time to just get the airport bus to the Avenida de Américas station, then come back to Alcalá on the bus from there, because the train that comes to our house doesn’t run past 11:30ish and it is free to ride the bus with our passes. By the time we got in and got our bags it was about 11:30 or 11:45. A guy claimed to us the last airport bus to Avenida de Américas was at 12, but that didn’t come so we decided to get the metro over to the bus station. We got on the metro and got to Avenida de Américas, but then we went up to the buses, and a driver of another bus told us it was closed. Uh oh, what do we do now? So we were like, well the train that goes to Alcalá isn’t running, so we will try to get as close as we can on the metro. We went and got off at Puerta de Arganda, because we thought that we be closest to Alcalá, then take a taxi from there. By this time it is a little after 1am. We go outside and there is barely a soul in sight, let alone a car or taxi to come get us. We walked up this hill towards the main road, and were like maybe we should pray for a taxi. Call it divine intervention, but after we got up there, wouldn’t you know a taxi came by, so we flagged it down. The taxi driver was asking us what we were doing, and how we got there and everything, and we were telling him, and he was like, well you are definitely farther and should have just gotten a taxi from the airport or Avenida de Américas. At the point, we just wanted to get home, and we didn’t care, but the whole thing was funny. We got home a little after 2am, and it was like 30 euros for the taxi for the 3 of us, but oh well. We took lots of pictures with Rainbow Bear, and we are planning on taking him on the rest of our trips with us. It’s kind of a joke now, but it’s kinda funny. It was probably one of the best weekends of my life, and I can’t even describe it, although I did my best, and all the crazyness just made it better. It was so worth it!!!

Monday morning the alarm came way too early since we got home late, and we went to class and whatnot. We had our first exam in our crazy/dumb lit class on Tuesday, so on Monday afternoon a bunch of us got together and studied at our café, which was about the extent of that day.
Tuesday, Valentine’s Day, we had our exam bright and early at 8:30am, and then our other classes. Later in the afternoon, Nicole, Dane, Juanito and I got together because we had to do a project with a newspaper, El Mundo, looking at it and comparing it to American newspapers. Other than that, I kind of forgot that it was Valentine’s Day, and nothing exciting really happened. It is somewhat similar to America, it is mainly a holiday for couples but not really love for family and friends too, and commercialized, like in the US.
Wednesday afternoon class, we took a visit to Cervantes’ house (since it is right here in Alcalá). To be honest, the house wasn’t really that exciting and kind of boring. It was kinda cool to see Don Quijote in all the languages, but other than that it we wanted to get out of there. We started at his house at 4:30, but we have our Sevillana dance class on Wednesdays at 5:30 so we all were mad and wanted to leave. But then we had to go to the Coral Comedia I think its called around the corner. It’s a theater that is still used today, and it was more exciting than Cervantes’ house, but we all just wanted to get out of there. We finally were able to leave, but we didn’t get to school until 6ish, a half an hour late. We learned the rest of feet part of the first dance, and did it to music. It was hard because we had never gone that fast, but it was fun. I also got my shoes, which are basically high heels, and that was fun too. Marta, our teacher, decided we could have dance class again on Thursday since we missed half the class. After we got done with class, Monica and I went over to Araceli’s (our intercambio) house and played with her son Javier for awhile and met her partner Javier (both of them are Javier). The funniest thing was little Javier started watching Shrek, and since it is hard for the Spanish to make the “sh” sound, we were teaching Araceli how to say it properly. I came home, we ate dinner, etc.
On Thursday Nicole and I walked with Araceli to a nearby store and we got a birthday present for our mamá, because it was her birthday this weekend. Then we had our make-up dance class from the day before. We started to learn the hand motions for it, which is hard and takes a lot of concentration and coordination, but it’s fun. We also used the music again and it is so fast, it is funny watching us try to keep up. After dance class, we came home and packed and everything, then after dinner Monica, Juanito, Dane and I went to our café to hang out for a little bit and stuff, it was fun just relaxing and chatting.
This past weekend we went to Cantabria, which was a fun trip, but that is for the next entry!