*Taste the Rainbow*'s Journal

iTaLy TrIp 2Oo4! (did this for Tammy)
		05:29pm 20/04/2004
	Thursday, April 8: Departure from Philadelphia. Mom drives me over to the airport and we think we lost my passport and moneybag, so my mom bitches at me for it cause we have to drive 80 mph to get home to get it, and then get back in time for me to catch my plane. I did make it luckily... Doc and the rest of the ppl that were going were standing in line for the check-in. I started crying cause I felt so stressed out from all that went on before I got there. After check-in was the bag checks and metal detector... I didn't have anything metal, but my cameras set the alarm off, so I had to wait 5 minutes before I could move on to the departure gate. So, we went to the departure gate and waited about 10-15 minutes before we boarded our plane... Leufthansa Airlines (German plane). The plane was HUGE. I sat in the center (4 seats in the middle, 2 on each of the sides), next to the Devine sisters, Rebecca and Michelle. They thought I was funny, lol. The flight took 7.5 hours to get to Frankfurt, Germany. Friday, April 9: We didn't have time to get pancakes because we had to board the next flight to Milan right after we got there. The next plane was much smaller than the other one, and the flight attendants freaked me out. Other than that, the turbulence got to the plane and it shook like crazy, so that also scared me. We flew over the Swiss Alps, and I took a picture of it. They were beautiful. As soon as we landed in Milan, it was raining. We met our tour guide, Eliza, who took us to our baggage claims. We then found out that our luggage did not make it to Italy yet, so we were all pissed. So, we were guided to our bus, the Martini, where our driver, Giorgio, didn't speak English. He's funny though. We drove about 5 hours to Verona, but made a quick stop at an Autogrill on the way. It was raining in Verona too. Eliza led us to the famous balcony that Shakespeare used in his play, Romeo and Juliet. It wasn't much, but it was a Kodak moment. We got some free time afterwards. My group consisted of: Tammy, Rel, Me of course, Devin (Hourin), Chris (Madamba), and Will (Boer), a sophmore. We went to a restaurant so Devin could use the bathroom. This is what happened: Devin: Where's your bathroom? Waiter: How many? Devin: Uh... 6. Waiter: Follow me, please. All: ??? Waiter: Would you like to eat? Devin: Uh... No. Waiter: Drink something? Devin: NO! I need to use the bathroom! All: laughs Waiter: Downstairs, to the right. All: walk back downstairs That was the funniest thing I've ever seen or experienced in my life! lol. After that, we went and got gelatos... GOOD ASS ICE CREAM! I got Cafe flavored... AKA coffee for the idiots that don't know, lol. Then we had to go to the meeting point. Eliza led us back to the bus and we drove 2 hours to Venice. When we got to our hotel we were shocked at how horrible it was... The rooms were so small it was hard to move around, the shower was difficult to work with, the beds were small, and other problems persisted. It was a two-star hotel so yeah it was bad. Dinner that night was pasta, of course. NOTE: Italians are accustomed to eating pasta or rice for dinner as their first choice, second choice is the actual meal, which is a vegetable and some kind of meat, then usually dessert. After dinner, Tammy, Rel, and I went to our rooms and we had the boys come over... Well, Tammy did, not me. I had a stye in my eye from lack of sleep, so I was first to go out. Tammy, Rel, and the guys watched Princess Mononoke and ate snacks. Then at like 2 AM the boys left. Saturday, April 10: Wake- up call was at 7:30, which is the latest wake-up call we got the whole trip. Couldn't change clothes cause we didn't have our luggage yet. We went down for breakfast, which was a roll with jam, melba toast, corn flakes, and juice. There was also an X-mas cake, which was really good. After breakfast Tammy, Rel, the boys, and I ran down to the beach and got shells to take home. Then we ran back and got on the bus to go to the seaport to Venice. We arrived at the port 30 mins later. We hung out a little while until the water taxi was ready. The boat ride was cold, but fun. We saw a lot of awesome things, like a lighthouse and an old Roman gate in the middle of the water. It was beautiful. When we docked in San Marco, Eliza led us to our new tourguide, Carlo. He showed us the Doges Palace, which was quite large, but absolutely beautiful on the inside. There were paintings all over. After the tour, we went to the Gondolas. That was a great experience. The Gondola rocked a lot especially getting on and departing. It was great though. The rower sang to us and we saw that other Gondolas had musicians. It was awesome. When we got off we had free time. Will got us lost! lol. We finally found our way with help, and we met Eliza and the others back at the meeting point. We got on the water taxi shortly after, and Devin and I cracked sex jokes. This one was plain weird: Devin: We can do it on the boat. All: look worried Me: Yeah maybe we could... Or we could do it at the hot--OH WAIT NEVERMIND! We were referring to playing asshole, lol. When we arrived at the hotel we finally had our luggage. It was a relief to finally have shampoo, soap, and clean clothes. We all took showers and had dinner, which was pasta, without a doubt. Then we all hung out in our rooms and talked and stuff. Sunday, April 11: Wake-up call was at 7. We all had to pack everything to go to Florence. We had breakfast and then got on the bus. It took about 4 hours to get there. We made a short stop at the basin of Florence to take a group picture. Our photographer took two pictures. The first time he said "Say cheese!" so we did, and then he said "Say sex!" for the other one. That was just plain wrong, and yet extremely funny. Then we drove down into the city. We had another new tourguide, I just cant recall his name. He showed us the Duomo, which was the largest domed church in Florence. We also got to see the two cathedrals, but only went into one the first day. It was gorgeous inside. The ceilings were absolutely fabulous; gold-trimmed and high. After that we had free time as usual... We went to get pizza. I shared a plain pizza with Rel. It was fantabulous... Yes, fantabulous! Then we met up with the group at the meeting point and walked to dinner, which was at a restaurant. They served us rice, so at least we got away from the heavy pasta. After dinner we walked to the bus and went to the hotel. There, Rel and I went to the guys' room... I left early, and Rel stayed in there until Will finally kicked her out. Then we all went to sleep. Monday, April 12: Rainy, nasty day... Our wake-up call was 7... Most of the group went to Pisa, while Tammy, Devin, and I stayed with Doc in Florence. Doc let us go out on our own. Tammy and I went to the cathedral with Michelangelo, Galileo, and Leonardo DeVinci's tombs. We couldn't find them at all... We looked everywhere for them. Devin didn't wanna go with us. He doesn't know what he missed. It was awesome... So big! After that we went shopping and stuff. Didn't get much. Then we went to get gelatos and pizza. After that we went over and sat under the monument, where it was nice and dry, and waited for Doc and the rest of EF to get back. We decided to go to a museum since the rest of the group wasn't there yet, so we did. The museum had pictures painted by an artist named Boticelli... So many naked pics of Jesus! lol. It was a great experience though. Then we went back to the meeting point and met up with Eliza and the others, and got back on the bus to go to dinner at the hotel, which was, once again, pasta. The usual routine went on afterward. Tuesday, April 13: Rainy... Wake-up call was 6:30... Ugh. We went to breakfast, then got on the bus to our next destination: Assisi. Assisi is a little town up in the hills. It's mostly shops and churches. It's most famous for St. Francis Basilica. We went there. Before we went, we had free time. My group and I went shopping and then we hung out at the meeting point for 2 hours. I had fun making movies of Devin portraying his role as Smeagol/Gollum... Let me tell you, it was hilarious, lol. He hates being on camera or even having his picture taken. Tammy, Rel, and I made code names for cute and ugly guys... Cute guys are called churches, and ugly ones are synagogues. Please, we aren't discriminating against any religion, and Rel and I are Jews so it was her idea anyway, lol. After waiting for Eliza and everyone else, we met our Friar, Friar John. He didn't act very religious at all. He told us that they used to call the Basilica "Hell" so he said, "Welcome to Hell, everyone!" That was funny. Then he handed out these walky talky things that we had to wear, and it had an ear plug attachment. We were his little "agents" as he called us. We went into the Basilica and he showed us the worshipping rooms and the prisons and stuff. The best part was the paintings in the "Heaven" portion of the Basilica... There was a very bad earthquake that occured in 1997, and most of the ceiling and wall paintings were destroyed. They still portrayed a good idea of what the Italians believed was their idea of how Christ and Francis lived. After that we went back to the hotel for dinner and so on and so on. Wednesday, April 14: Wake-up call was at 6:30 again... The usual went on. We were on our way to Pompei, my awaited day. The drive was about 6 hours, but it was so worth it. We went to dinner first, where we were entertained by singing and accordion playing. After that we hiked over to the ruins. Pompei is gorgeous. It's not really what I expected it to be at all; just a run-down, old Roman town. It's much more than that. Our tourguide left us with our new tourguide, Antonio. He was pretty funny. I think he's from Marlton or something, lol. He showed us a lot of things, including this stone figure portraying a penis that was on the sidewalk... Eek! Then he showed us the forum, the atrium, the childrens' pool, and the whorehouses. Yes, we went to a god damn whore house, but of course it was in Pompei, the actual ruins. The prostitutes would leave frescos, or small paintings, that was like a "menu" for the next person to choose from to act on the prostitutes. I took pics, lmao. Then we went out of Pompei and got freshly squeezed orange juice... BLOOD RED might I add. It was soooo good! After that we met up with Eliza and the group and went back on the bus to the hotel. Dinner was pasta, well no shit. The usual after that. Thursday, April 15: Wake-up call was at 6... OMG! The usual typical routine went on. Most of the group went to Capri, which I heard was beautiful and the boat ride was rough, but fun. I went to Naples with Will, Devin, and Doc. I wasn't feeling well at all. We went to a museum where Doc made a reservation so we could go to the "Secret Cabinet"... That was the wrongest place ever. So much porn! lol. Seriously, people in Pompei would hang penises (is that a word?) on their door so as others were not to disturb them while they were "getting busy" so to speak. It was so gross. We wanted to run out of there right away. After that we went out for pizza, as usual, and then went to the meeting point. The rest of the group came later than they were supposed to, but Giorgio was on time. As soon as the group came back, we were on our way to Rome, the Holy City. When we arrived at the hotel, we were astonished. It was the first 4-star we stayed at the whole trip. It was a little too much though... I had to lug my suitcases up 3 flights of stairs, and my back was killing me. The rooms were a lot bigger though. Dinner, of course, was pasta. It was delicious though. The bread had more flavor this time, but the water was nasty. Other than that, the hotel was awesome. After dinner we went on the nightly tour of Rome, where we went to the Fountain of the Four Rivers and the Trevi Fountain. I made a wish and threw in 2 cents. Can't tell you my wish though... Lips are sealed! Rel and I also bought flashy stars, and I pinned mine on my boob... So therefore I was "flashing" Italy... lmao. Then we got back on the bus and went to the hotel. Friday, April 16: Toured the Vatican most of the day. The Sistine Chapel is gorgeous. I've never seen so much artwork on a ceiling in my life, lol. We also went to the Colloseum, which was so awesome. I bought an umbrella that day because it was raining, and I was saying weird things like "Back, or you will suffer pushes button and opens umbrella MY UMBRELLA!!!" That was funny as all hell. We got free time afterward, and Rel and I went shopping. We got matching Lupin III shirts! The group didn't wanna stay much longer, but we had to wait until 7:30 because that was the earliest Giorgio could get to us. At 7:30 we met up with Giorgio and went back to the hotel. We slept really good. Saturday, April 17: Sadly, we had to depart our beautiful Italy. I miss it so much! The plane ride back home was very rough, but fun. They showed Cheaper By the Dozen, a funny ass movie. I was so happy to get back home it wasn't even funny. Went out to a Japanese restaurant with my aunts and my brother... I got so sick because I'm still readapting to normal food. At least I'm home! That is the end of my awesomely awesome Italy trip. I missed you guys so much, especially you Eric! ♥
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		07:03am 20/02/2004
	No one ever looks at this anymore, which is why I switched to LiveJournal... If you still wanna read what goes on in my life, go to http://www.livejournal.com/users/mihoko
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New Journal...
		08:14pm 15/02/2004
	I'm gonna be using my livejournal now as of today... So if you still wanna read, go to livejournal.com/~mihoko... Byes.
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DDR Competition

05:24pm 15/02/2004

mood:

amused

music: SSB Melee Sounds

I won! lol.

Song List:
Break Down (Daniel), Tsugaru (Normal), Dream A Dream (Me), Forever Sunshine (Normal), Can't Stop Fallin' In Love (Me), Whistle Song (Daniel), I Need You (Normal), and Hysteria (Me).
FINALS: Burning Heat, Kakumei, and End of Century.

I won score-wise, which was how you had to win anyway... Knia won letter grade-wise... Daniel just totally blew his chance... lol.

The next competition is open house... It'll be at Moorestown Mall (probably). It will be held in April, probably towards the end of the month. Anyone who wishes to compete can talk to me or Knia!
*Mihoko*