Heyyo fellow blog readers,

Today was a learning experience of sorts! We, the 14 people who crazily and weirdly decided to venture together to Pisa and Florence, got up at five in the morning! We all got ready and headed for the metro down the street. We took the metro to our train station where we ran into quite a lot of difficulties trying to print out our tickets. You see, at the time we weren't aware of this but later on a girl from the group-Bobby-informed us that before when they used to make these tickets they would also give out "CP codes". However they don't give out "CP codes" anymore so when the machine asked for a CP code we had nothing to put in meaning we were unable to print out our tickets....as you can imagine for a bunch of young adults in a new country about to miss a train we were all quite frantic and worried. We couldn't even go to the customer service because it wasn't open yet. (It was nearing 6:12am the time of our departure and it didn't open until 6:30am.)

We all finally agreed to take our chances and get on the train regardless of our printed ticket. (Although we all had our email receipts printed out). We ended up having to run to our train though, having spent so much time at the machines we didn't realize how far the train platform was. Although there was one guy though he kept reminding me us we could "get arrested", but like I said we took our chances. I knew everything would work out okay though. And it did! The lady eventually came around and everything was okay.

Upon getting to Pisa, we began our walk to the ever so infamous Leaning Tower of Pisa!





When we finally made it was...not as extraordinary as you might imagine. It is quite funny though. Everyone trying to tip it over, or hold it up. It was a sight to see for sure, but it doesn't lean as much as people claim it does. And anyways it's pretty much the only cool thing to see in Pisa. The rest of our time was spent waiting for our train to come and roaming around. I did help a Chinese man (he told me he was from China, I'm not assuming here people) take a picture of himself. I almost walked away when I saw his struggles of using the timer but I am really so happy I went back to help him, because it would've killed me thinking if he never got his picture. I don't know why I'm really weird about things like that, when I see people struggling on their own. And it's not like he must have a difficult life, he studies in Spain but imagine: he gets back to Spain and tells his friends he went to Pisa but he has no picture to show for it because he couldn't take the picture...how awful! Or when he tells his children the first time he went, he won't be able to show them a photo of himself in it! Ayayay, literally things like that kill my little heart. So I was more than happy when he asked for a couple pictures.









Afterwards we ate a restaurant right in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa and it was...not up to par with the rest of the food I've eaten on this trip. It was pretty icky to be honest. But at least it was cheap? The lady was very rude to my roommates and I. And the man at the register was also rude. They were really unfriendly. We didn't appreciate it.

Our big group had split into two smaller groups and we walked around the stores by the train station and then we waited at the Customer Service to have them print our tickets and again we ended up having to run. But we made it and we rested until our arrival to Florence. This train was about an hour, as opposed to our earlier three-four hour train to Pisa from Rome.




Upon arrival to Florence we headed to the McDonalds in the train station. We ate food, I got a kids meal. It was cheap and just as filling. And I got a yogurt which I saved for later. This guy, Howard, also got these little nugget looking things he described as, "a spinach-y cheesy ball thing" that "kind of tastes like pesto" to him.


















We were very pleased to not have to run to our last train...unfortunately we were waaay earlier. Most people went inside a store to wait or look at things but I sat with this girl named Stephanie, or Steph, outside so we could see what platform our train would be at. We were smart to get the express train back because getting back was such a blessing. I showered quickly and hopped into bed for my 8am class the next day.




Feelings:
This day I was really nervous because everyone had their cliques and I'm still figuring out my spot. I took this opportunity though to make new friends, with people like Kandi and Stephanie for example. But I don't know. I'm just playing it by ear right now. Also, I sort of already talked about this earlier but again I'm really glad I helped that guy take a picture at the Leaning Tower. You should always take the time to help someone out. I kind of hate that I even hesitated, thinking whether I should help him or not. I think I was getting shy, but I overcame it so yay! But this was a good adventurous day. We saw some cool things and it was cool to have been apart of it.

So until next time,

Laytah!!

xxLechuga