Reggio Emilia, Italy
Ciao mi amici!
I am writing to tell you I made it home alive! Of course the excitement of my European adventure continued all the way until I landed at PDX. I spent the last couple of days in Italy walking and shopping the streets of Reggio and Bologna. I got to Reggio on Monday afternoon. I checked into my hotel in the city center and stopped at my favorite cafe, Dolce Charlotte, for a mid day snack. I spent the rest of the afternoon walking the main streets, shopping, and of course, eating gelato.
For the last month while I had been traveling, I had left my suitcase at the office of the apartment complex where I was living in Reggio. On Monday afternoon, I had to pick up my bag from them. It was nice of them to let me keep it there; it would have sucked if I had to drag that around with me for the last month. As I was taking my suitcase back to my hotel the skies kept getting darker and darker. As soon as I stepped foot into the hotel, the rain began to pour harder than I have ever seen it rain in my entire life... yes harder than it rains in Portland. The thunder began to crash and the lightening lit up the entire city. It was insane! I spent the rest of the afternoon during the summer storm unpacking and repacking my bags. (I had to make sure my big suitcase was under the 50lb weight limit.)That night for dinner I returned to my favorite pasta place. Emily and I used to go there all the time. It was kind of sad to be eating alone, but I had my favorite waitress friend to talk to, so that was fun.
Tuesday morning I spent time walking around the Reggio market. For lunch that day, I met up with my friend Roberto and we went to my favorite pizza place in the city. It was fun to talk and have someone to hang out with. I always thought traveling alone was something that I needed to do while I studied abroad, just to prove to myself that I could do it. As fun as traveling alone and doing whatever you want, whenever you want, is fun, it gets a little lonely. So it was fun to hang out with Roberto. After having lunch and gelato in the city, Roberto was nice enough to help me take my luggage from my hotel to the train station, where I took the train (and all my crap) to Bologna. It was a little bit of a struggle getting my two backpacks and a suitcase on the train. A homeless man helped me lift my suitcase up the stairs of the train. I thought it was really nice of him... until he asked me for money for helping me... so ya.
I eventually made it to Bologna, and cart all my stuff to the hotel that I was staying at. I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening shopping and soaking up my last little bit of Italy. I watched the sun set over the Italian hillside with a beer in my hand, reflecting on the last 6 months of my life. Where had the time gone? I had been dreaming of studying abroad and exploring Europe for so long, and to see this little piece of my life over, was kind of sad.
The next morning I made my way to the airport. I once again drug all my crap to the train station, where I caught a taxi that would start my adventure home. As I am at the airport and finishing dropping off my suitcase (Yes, it was under 50lbs!!!), I turn to leave the service desk and the woman calls me back, "Um excuse me miss, your backpack looks very heavy. Do you mind if I weigh it?" Ahh crap! First thing you have to know about European airports and travel is that the majority of the time the weight of a carry on is more important than the size of the bag. All semester people in my program had been getting charged extra for overweight bags, while I had slipped by with a backpack and no questions asked. Anyway, this particular woman decided that my bag "looked heavy" and made me weigh my bag. Apparently carry on bags are only allowed to be 8 kg or less (about 15 lbs). Yeah, my bag weighed in at 16 kg (about 30-32 lbs), so double what is allowed. She goes, "That will be 90 euros to check your bag." I tried to give her a sob story about me being a student and how I am just trying to get home to America blah blah blah.. but she wasn't having it. So 90 euros later, my bag was checked and I was sitting at my gate, getting ready to board my flight to Munich, Germany.
The excitement doesn't end there. My flight from Bologna to Munich was a little late getting in, and my flight to Chicago had been boarding for 10 minutes by the time I landed. So I started sprinting through the airport. If I'm honest, part of me wouldn't mind if I missed my flight to the US. That just means I get to stay in Europe a little longer. I knew my mother wouldn't like that very much. Needless to say, I ran through the airport, went through two different border controls that asked me where I had been in the last 6 months... umm everywhere! I eventually made it to the international wing, where I yet again would have to go through security. Luckily one of the desk ladies saw me sprinting and asked which flight I was on. She let me skip security and asked me a few questions before letting me sprint to the gate and board my flight. I was the second to last person to board the flight to Chicago. I did all of that in record time: 25 minutes! Not going to lie, I was pretty proud of myself.
The flight was nice and easy. My goal was to stay awake the entire time, so I would reduce the likelihood of experiencing jet lag. I made a friend on my flight to Chicago. Jen was returning home after 2 weeks in Prague on a family vacation. We got to talking about college and study abroad and all sorts of stuff. It was fun talking to her. When we landed, Jen and I stuck together as we went through customs. After going through customs, I was supposed to pick up my now 2 checked bags, and transfer them. Basically my two bags didn't show up. I assume it is because of my late flight to Munich that they never made it on the plane to Chicago. Needless to say, my bags were having fun in Europe and I was stuck with a 7 hour layover in Chicago. Luckily Jen hung out with me for a little bit, while she waited for her roommate to pick her up.
After spending more time than necessary in the Chicago airport, I boarded my flight to Portland. At this point, I had been awake for more than 24 hours and was fading fast. The flight to Portland felt like the longest flight of my entire life (it was only 4 hours compared to the 11 hours from Munich to Chicago) as I tried to stay awake. When I finally landed in the home land, I was greeted by Joe and my mom. It was so nice to see them. :)
After landing we all headed down to report my lost luggage. I gave the lady my luggage tickets and explained the situation. She looks at me and says, "Both of your bags are on this flight". It's a Christmas miracle! Apparently from the time I left Munich to the time I left Chicago, my bags had made it! That was worth the 90 euros I had to spend in Bologna. That's for sure!
I have been back in Portland for the last couple of weeks now, and it has been crazy around the Shell house. Danny graduated from high school and had a huge party. It has been so much fun to see everyone and be home with my family. It has been a little strange transitioning back to living here instead of Italy, I miss it a ton and constantly wish I was back in Reggio. I have to constantly remind myself that not very many people get to travel the world and live the way I did in Italy. I am so thankful for the experience and the opportunity to see the world. And for that, I will be forever grateful!
My travels and adventures are over for now, but I can't wait to see what my senior year has in store.
Ciao!!
I am writing to tell you I made it home alive! Of course the excitement of my European adventure continued all the way until I landed at PDX. I spent the last couple of days in Italy walking and shopping the streets of Reggio and Bologna. I got to Reggio on Monday afternoon. I checked into my hotel in the city center and stopped at my favorite cafe, Dolce Charlotte, for a mid day snack. I spent the rest of the afternoon walking the main streets, shopping, and of course, eating gelato.
For the last month while I had been traveling, I had left my suitcase at the office of the apartment complex where I was living in Reggio. On Monday afternoon, I had to pick up my bag from them. It was nice of them to let me keep it there; it would have sucked if I had to drag that around with me for the last month. As I was taking my suitcase back to my hotel the skies kept getting darker and darker. As soon as I stepped foot into the hotel, the rain began to pour harder than I have ever seen it rain in my entire life... yes harder than it rains in Portland. The thunder began to crash and the lightening lit up the entire city. It was insane! I spent the rest of the afternoon during the summer storm unpacking and repacking my bags. (I had to make sure my big suitcase was under the 50lb weight limit.)That night for dinner I returned to my favorite pasta place. Emily and I used to go there all the time. It was kind of sad to be eating alone, but I had my favorite waitress friend to talk to, so that was fun.
Tuesday morning I spent time walking around the Reggio market. For lunch that day, I met up with my friend Roberto and we went to my favorite pizza place in the city. It was fun to talk and have someone to hang out with. I always thought traveling alone was something that I needed to do while I studied abroad, just to prove to myself that I could do it. As fun as traveling alone and doing whatever you want, whenever you want, is fun, it gets a little lonely. So it was fun to hang out with Roberto. After having lunch and gelato in the city, Roberto was nice enough to help me take my luggage from my hotel to the train station, where I took the train (and all my crap) to Bologna. It was a little bit of a struggle getting my two backpacks and a suitcase on the train. A homeless man helped me lift my suitcase up the stairs of the train. I thought it was really nice of him... until he asked me for money for helping me... so ya.
I eventually made it to Bologna, and cart all my stuff to the hotel that I was staying at. I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening shopping and soaking up my last little bit of Italy. I watched the sun set over the Italian hillside with a beer in my hand, reflecting on the last 6 months of my life. Where had the time gone? I had been dreaming of studying abroad and exploring Europe for so long, and to see this little piece of my life over, was kind of sad.
The next morning I made my way to the airport. I once again drug all my crap to the train station, where I caught a taxi that would start my adventure home. As I am at the airport and finishing dropping off my suitcase (Yes, it was under 50lbs!!!), I turn to leave the service desk and the woman calls me back, "Um excuse me miss, your backpack looks very heavy. Do you mind if I weigh it?" Ahh crap! First thing you have to know about European airports and travel is that the majority of the time the weight of a carry on is more important than the size of the bag. All semester people in my program had been getting charged extra for overweight bags, while I had slipped by with a backpack and no questions asked. Anyway, this particular woman decided that my bag "looked heavy" and made me weigh my bag. Apparently carry on bags are only allowed to be 8 kg or less (about 15 lbs). Yeah, my bag weighed in at 16 kg (about 30-32 lbs), so double what is allowed. She goes, "That will be 90 euros to check your bag." I tried to give her a sob story about me being a student and how I am just trying to get home to America blah blah blah.. but she wasn't having it. So 90 euros later, my bag was checked and I was sitting at my gate, getting ready to board my flight to Munich, Germany.
The excitement doesn't end there. My flight from Bologna to Munich was a little late getting in, and my flight to Chicago had been boarding for 10 minutes by the time I landed. So I started sprinting through the airport. If I'm honest, part of me wouldn't mind if I missed my flight to the US. That just means I get to stay in Europe a little longer. I knew my mother wouldn't like that very much. Needless to say, I ran through the airport, went through two different border controls that asked me where I had been in the last 6 months... umm everywhere! I eventually made it to the international wing, where I yet again would have to go through security. Luckily one of the desk ladies saw me sprinting and asked which flight I was on. She let me skip security and asked me a few questions before letting me sprint to the gate and board my flight. I was the second to last person to board the flight to Chicago. I did all of that in record time: 25 minutes! Not going to lie, I was pretty proud of myself.
The flight was nice and easy. My goal was to stay awake the entire time, so I would reduce the likelihood of experiencing jet lag. I made a friend on my flight to Chicago. Jen was returning home after 2 weeks in Prague on a family vacation. We got to talking about college and study abroad and all sorts of stuff. It was fun talking to her. When we landed, Jen and I stuck together as we went through customs. After going through customs, I was supposed to pick up my now 2 checked bags, and transfer them. Basically my two bags didn't show up. I assume it is because of my late flight to Munich that they never made it on the plane to Chicago. Needless to say, my bags were having fun in Europe and I was stuck with a 7 hour layover in Chicago. Luckily Jen hung out with me for a little bit, while she waited for her roommate to pick her up.
After spending more time than necessary in the Chicago airport, I boarded my flight to Portland. At this point, I had been awake for more than 24 hours and was fading fast. The flight to Portland felt like the longest flight of my entire life (it was only 4 hours compared to the 11 hours from Munich to Chicago) as I tried to stay awake. When I finally landed in the home land, I was greeted by Joe and my mom. It was so nice to see them. :)
After landing we all headed down to report my lost luggage. I gave the lady my luggage tickets and explained the situation. She looks at me and says, "Both of your bags are on this flight". It's a Christmas miracle! Apparently from the time I left Munich to the time I left Chicago, my bags had made it! That was worth the 90 euros I had to spend in Bologna. That's for sure!
I have been back in Portland for the last couple of weeks now, and it has been crazy around the Shell house. Danny graduated from high school and had a huge party. It has been so much fun to see everyone and be home with my family. It has been a little strange transitioning back to living here instead of Italy, I miss it a ton and constantly wish I was back in Reggio. I have to constantly remind myself that not very many people get to travel the world and live the way I did in Italy. I am so thankful for the experience and the opportunity to see the world. And for that, I will be forever grateful!
My travels and adventures are over for now, but I can't wait to see what my senior year has in store.
Ciao!!
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