My Big, Fat, Greek Adventure

Trains, planes, buses, boats, and cars... I took one of each yesterday. Needless to say, today was a sleeping in day.

We're finally in Greece! Santorini is beautiful! We spent today at the beach. It was a little cold, but as Chicago girls we've had colder. We were the only people on the beach who actually braved the water. Molly did not listen to my many warnings about skin cancer, and now has a sunburn that makes her a lovely lobster color. Me and my SPF 30 worked quite well together. We plan on continuing our relationship for the next four days.

The ship to Santorini was a cruise-type ship. It took us to the island from Athens. They played My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding in English with Greek subtitles. It was strange to see, but it blended Greek with Chicago, so Katie and I were happy to be able to watch it. We both acknowledged while looking at the subtitles that we had no idea really what Greek sounded like... A little like Italian, but not really. I'm not sure what I was expecting. I've just never been in a country without the standard latin alphabet. It's really hard to guess what signs are trying to tell you, but thankfully some of them have English on the bottom.

Venice was just as beautiful as I remembered. Katie, Molly, and I went on a gondola ride and saw Marco Polo and Casanova's houses. I think that says a lot about the city: the famous people from it are an explorer and a man known for sleeping around.

I attempted to find Christine, but it sadly didn't work out. I'll have to wait until I get back to the States to see her.

We're going out tonight, so I have to go. Cross your fingers that Greek guys are less creepy than Italians!

Italians, Italians, Italians

Rome was interesting. Our hostel was somehow a campsite a little ways from Rome. This entertained me greatly, and Molly has taped footage of me singing "Let's Get Togther" from The Parent Trap in the cabin.

Of course, there were guys. It's Italy. You pretty much can't escape them, I've found. (Well, maybe with the exception of Milan where the only worthwhile men are gay.) We were at the Trevi Fountain and a group of Italians started talking to us. They bought all three of us roses, but that was all we allowed for. Southern Italians are kind of a lot creepy. I told them all I had a boyfriend (does it matter whether or not it's true?) which only made them say, "If you're in another country, it doesn't count."

Italian guys have such great morals.

We saw the Pope! It's his birthday soon so everyone was singing to him in different languages. I was happy becuase I understood most of the French, Spanish and English that was spoken, so I got the homily in three languages. Italian might be my next one. We'll see.

Now we're in Venice, my favorite and the prettiest city of all of Europe. We got a surprisingly nice hotel that comes with free internet and breakfast, so I'm pretty excited. They recommended this restaurant that gave us some amazing pasta for not too expensive. We already plan on going back.

The guy at the concierge of the hotel also just asked for my number... Italians are extremely forward. We already had the guys at the restaurant we went to tonight ask if we wanted drinks as well. I think I should just have a sign plastered on my forehead that reads, "I'm married with three kids" or "Being An American Girl Does Not Equal Easy." I think both would keep them away. Giovanni informed me that the guys are less crazy in the North, but Venice so far has not been agreeing with that.

Many people (like Christine) are going to be here this weekend, so I'm really happy that I get to see a bunch of friends before going to Greece.

Although, I just found out I have to write my thesis proposal by next week. I was not informed of this, and I am NOT happy about it. Ah well, I'm in Venice!

In the Land of Nutella

We made it into Rome ok! We just arrived about an hour ago. The traveling hasn't been too bad. I'm already not very fond of my bag, but that was to be expected.

Milan was a ton of fun! We've been walking around a lot. Molly, Katie, and I found Jenee while we were walking through the Milan metro system, so we spent the past two days with her. We haven't gone out yet, so I can't really comment on the Italian nightlife. The food has been amazing, but I already miss pain au chocolat. I'm going through withdrawl.

We did a little bit of shopping. We actually made an Italian friend during our time in Sephora (it's a makeup store for all those who aren't shoppingly-inclined). Jenee had seen Victoria Beckham in there the day before, so we wanted to check it out. We actually met the guy who applied her makeup while she was in there (she got fake eye lashes applied and talked to David on the phone while in the store... I'm better at celebrity gossip than the National Enquirer). His name was Marco, and he felt the need to inform us that he was gay very early into the conversation and that "if we had a cute brother, we should introduce him." I wanted to say, "You work at Sephora, your hair looks nicer than mine, and you're wearing mascara. Don't worry, we were aware." He was fabulous though. He made us come back to see him today, and we took a picture with him.

All four of us really wanted to see Leonardo DaVinici's "Last Supper," so we went to the building where it was housed only to find out that you needed to have an appointment two weeks in advance. This just didn't work for us. We wanted to see that painting, so we told the girl, "We'll be standing right there. If anyone doesn't show up for their appointment, let us know." We all used Oprah's idea of positive thinking and said , "We're getting in. No lies. Someone will cancel." We also prayed for good measure (just in case Oprah didn't work), and someone cancelled! It was perfection. I got to see "Last Supper!" Yay controversal paintings! The androgenous person next to Jesus is totally a woman, in case anyone was wondering. Either that, or it's a man who was taking styling tips from Marco.

Tomorrow we head off to the Vatican for Easter. I'm not sure whether or not we'll make it up for Mass (it's already almost 2am and we're an hour out so we'd have to wake up at the crack of dawn... don't know if I like that idea), but we will GO to the Vatican for Easter, and that's what really counts here.

I hope a chocolate store is open. I want to buy a chocolate bunny.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Meghan's Brain Has Been Fried From Homework

Happy April Fool's Day! I was tempted to write an entry saying I'd gotten engaged/ married/ had been thrown in jail for drug possession, but I resisted. You're all very lucky as one of my friends informed his parents that he wasn't coming back to the States because he'd fallen in love with a French girl and her baker father was giving him an apprenticeship at his bakery. Another girl wrote her parents telling them she hadn't written them in awhile because participating in a protest got her put in jail. I'm being nicer and not lying.

Sarkozy decided to make museums free for all people under 25, so he and I are friends right now. A bunch of people from the Central College group are going to Versailles on Saturday (I'm going to bike in the gardens and I refuse to be held back!) and then Giovanni and I are going to some other museum on Sunday. No idea which one yet.

My Twilight expose (speech) went alright. I got nervous so it's possible that I might have spoken too fast. It's also possible that I might have mentioned that Twilight has both bad writing (the grammar is really poor) and is slightly antifeminist as well as having shallow characters, and when my teacher asked, "Then why is it so popular?" I may or may not have said, "Because it's amazing!!!!!!!!!!"

I'm pretty sure everyone in that class thinks I'm mentally unstable. Ah well, I'll never see most of them after I get back to the States, right?

For some reason, this has been intense homework week. With my expose, projects, test and papers, my brain has been destroyed. It hasn't been used to having this much work since... Loras finals week. It's much harder to concentrate in Paris than it is in Dubuque. I've gotten all my work done, it just takes longer.

I met Giovanni's friends this weekend. They were a bunch of nerds, so we got along really well. One of them was a literature major who only spoke French and Italian... very little English (he's Beligian), so we discussed books and our favorite authors and genres in French. I had no idea I knew that much French, so that was fun. The other two were Italian mathematicians. One of them specialized in Algebra Geometry, which apparently is NOT a mix of algebra and geometry, and should never be thought of as such. I still have no idea what algebra geometry is, but it just SOUNDS unfun and like a class I would have slept through in high school. Both Italians spoke English, but not French. Occasionally, they would forget I didn't speak Italian and attempt to ask me something. Thankfully, most of the time someone would go "MEGHAN DOESN'T SPEAK ITALIAN! ENGLISH, GUYS!" I would usually forget most of them didn't know French and respond in French, so there were a lot of miscommunications. I think we all did well though.

I'm going to a club again on Thursday and I'm really excited. Arnaud and Ben invited me again. They said it was similiar to the one last week, so it should be a good time all around. (Don't worry, Mom. I'll be careful.)

Alright, my friend David and I are seeing the rest of Pere Lachaise (Oscar Wilde!) because our class got cancelled so we have beaucoup de temps.

Disneyland: Meghan's Future Home

I LOVE DISNEYLAND PARIS! If I could live there, I would. At the end of the day, Molly and I were trying to think of places we could hide for the night so that no one would be able to kick us out. Though we had a few promising sleeping places, we did actually end up leaving.

We went on almost every single ride, except "It's A Small World" because I have a great fear of getting stuck on the ride and being forced to listen to that stupid song for hours on end, after which I will go crazy and jump off the boat, smashing in all the heads of those singing dolls.

It's a very detailed fear.

There really aren't words to describe my day, so I'll make one up: funnificent. Yes, it was a very funnificent day. We ran around all through the park and were probably more excited than all the small children when we saw Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip. Of course, they'd only take pictures with the small children (it's prejudice, I tell you), but I still saw them!

We were exhausted but incredibly happy by the time we got back.

This morning I found a note from the Italian I met in the kitchen asking if I wanted to do something. We ended up going to a free museum with Molly, Musée du quai Branly. It was mostly African, Native American, and Indonesian art. Though it had no French stuff, it was still pretty cool. The national museums in Paris are always free the first Sunday of the month. It's quite lovely.

The Italian's name is Giovanni, which is so Italian that it's equal to meeting someone named Pierre in France. I've convinced him to be our guide through Italy for Spring Break. Myriem (Mimi, the Moroccan girl from our foyer) is going to be our guide through Morocco, and we're still attempting to find a Grecian to show us through Greece but Mimi and Molly have a Greek friend here so it shouldn't be too hard.

I think I should be their guide through Disneyland. It's only fair.

I've Just Seen a Face...

Yesterday, Molly and I walked past a GORGEOUS guy in our foyer. We both turned to each other as soon as we turned the corner said "damn" at the same time.

When I was doing laundry this morning, he was in the kitchen by himself, cooking food that smelled really good (I think the guys in our foyer cook better than the girls; except me, the cooking goddess). Of course, I didn't want to be impolite and just ignore the beautiful man, so I began talking to him. He offered me food straight away, so I can already tell we're going to be friends.

He's Italian, speaks English, is very nice, and is going to be a lawyer. Basically, he's going to be featured in one of my romance novels. Except he'll be a count and when he meets the heroine his shirt will be off.

I invited him to come with me and some friends to Père Lachaise on Sunday. What's Père Lachaise you ask? It's a cemetary. I know, I'm such a romantic. I mean, it's a cemetary where a lot of famous people are buried (like Oscar Wilde and Bob Dylan), but still.

Tomorrow I'm going to Disneyland!!!!!!!! My excitement cannot be contained. Molly asked me if it was ok if we left at 8:30 so that we could be there when the gates opened and I said, "We are going from the time it opens until the time it closes. I accept nothing else. Bring food if eating's important to you."

12 hours of pure happiness await! I'm bringing my camera and pictures of me are being taken with the Disney princesses and furry woodland creatures. I hope you're all ready for them.