The Adventures of Studying Abroad: Pisa/Tirrenia

March 20th- Pisa/Tirrenia Italy

Jacob and I took our first metro ride in Rome to Rome's Termini Station. We left rome at 10:09 for a 3.5 hour train ride to Pisa. Once arriving in Pisa we had no idea how to get to our hotel since it was technically in the next town over called Tirrenia. Probably a good 10-15 miles. We asked around and someone pointed us to the bus station so we decided to see if there was a bus that went to Tirrenia. Sure enough there was so we took the bus which costed us 4.60 euros for two tickets. Their buses are nothing like our buses here in Dalkeith. Their buses have 3 doors in which we could enter or exit and we never had to show our tickets to the bus driver. We were supposed to stamp them in these little boxes upon entering the bus but I would say about 95% of the people did not. Therefore the bus rides were basically free. The buses there were also very packed and it got extremely annoying. But hey, it was better than pay 100 euro for a taxi right?

We arrived at our hotel called Grand Hotel Golf Hotel, and the staff was great. We checked right in and to our delight there was a huge balcony that was perfect for watching the sunset. We watched it every night we were there. We could also see the Mediterranean Sea from the balcony. There was this cute little carnival by the hotel as well which was there every day of the week. It wasn't like a travelling one like the one's that come to Clintonville. It was there all year round which seemed odd and unprofitable.

We had our first Italian Pizza at a small restaurant called Alan's Pizzeria. The 2 pizzas costed us 19 euros along with two sodas. We both loved the pizza and of course Jacob got gelato again. This time he got Stracciella. I was to full to get any.

March 21st - Pisa/Tirrenia

We woke up around 8:00 a.m. to attend the "American" breakfast provided by the hotel. Jacob had peach yogurt, toast, cocoa crisps and biscuits. I had toast and rice krispies. I also attempted to eat what i thought was a hard boiled egg, but it definitely wasn't. It was still orange and gooey in the inside and definitely not hard boiled.

Next we took the bus into Pisa and stopped to get some gelato on the way to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Jacob got biscotti and I got peach and strawberry. They were so good and so huge that I couldn't even finish mine in the end. We finally made it to the Tower where we both payed 15 euros to climb to the top. The price was ridiculous in my opinion but it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I was scared to death climbing to the top since the staircases were spiral and obviously tilting one way. Also very clastraphobic. When we made it to the very top I was hugging the wall so tight that Jacob kept laughing at me. I hate heights and falling off a tower that was leaning seemed very realistic to me. When we finally reached ground I was relieved that I had not died, and had to let my legs readjust from being jelly.

We then walked all of the street markets which was a blast. I love walking through markets and seeing all of the different products. We bought a lot of souveniers and then returned to the hotel in search of some dinner. I don't know what's up with these countries but everything closes early. 3 restaurants we tried were closed, but we finally found one that was open to my surprise. I had spaghetti and Jacob has lasagna, both were delicious. Again we watched the sunset that night from our balcony. We watched a lot of news that night on our T.V. which consisted of CNN and BBC for English channels. The interesting part was that on the news they were talking about Wisconsin and the education riots, etc. I never thought I would be in Italy, and watching the news about my home.

March 22nd - Pisa/Tirrenia

This day we spent the day taking many pictures on beach. Although it wasn't warm enough to swim we still had a great time. We went into Pisa again and found Cafe Miami to eat lunch. We had spaghetti and lasagna again. Jacob and I also returned to the gelato shop where he got mint and chocolate cherry and I just got chocolate cherry. Reminded me of my Dad because he loves black forest cake and this was exactly the same except in gelato form. We again walked through the markets and then headed back to Tirrenia. The one thing we noticed is that portion sizes are much smaller in Europe than in the United States unless you order pizza. Also, their cars are all basically the size of Smart cars.

The next day we left for Florence. And that concludes Part 2 of Spring Break.

Love and Miss you all,

Jacob and Hayley