The final "counts" - now there are two!

In addition to my country count, I have started my own currency count as well.  Exchanging currency kind of sucks sometimes - you either get charged an exchange fee, or you have to use your ATM card frequently.  So, for a final count (and yes, I count the Vatican City!):

Country Count: 10.5

Austria

Czech Republic

Germany

Hungary

Poland

Italy

Vatican City

Denmark

Sweden
Croatia
England*

Currency Count: 7

The Euro  

(in Austria, Germany, Italy, and Vatican City)

The Czech Koruna 

(pronounced "Crown?") (In the Czech Republic)

 The Forint

(In Hungary)

The Zloty

(In Poland)

The Danish Krone

(In Denmark)
The Swedish Krona

(In Sweden)
The Croatian Kuna

(In Croatia)
The British Pound
(In England)

Unfortunately, it's not all mine...I was in charge of paying for everyone's Oktoberfest trip, which was 150 Euro each, and I paid for 8 people.  Still, I thought the photo appropriate for the post :)

*England only counts as a half - I stayed the night, ate meals there, etc. but all I saw was the Heathrow Airport, the hotel we stayed at, and the shuttle back and forth from the two 

Something as simple as "Hello" and "Goodbye"

One of the more interesting observations I've made over here is that figuring out how to say "Hello" and "Goodbye" is a process within itself, and varies depending on who is on the receiving end of it.

Case 1: Austrians.  Hello and goodbye is said with a handshake and a kiss(ish) on each cheek - You always start right cheek to right cheek, because it's natural off the handshake?  (Doesn't make sense?  Shake the hand of the air in front of you, and then go to kiss with your left cheek first.  Awkward)

Case 2: Americans.  Hugs are completely acceptable, especially from women.  I'm definitely a hugger, and almost everyone who is remotely close to me knows this.  I'll hug hello, hug goodbye, hug see-you-later with people I've grown close to (obviously not people I'm just introduced to - that's just weird.)  At the end of my ethics class, many of my project group members were leaving and I wouldn't ever see them again.  Irinia, from Russia, and I hugged goodbye, same with Angelica from Italy.  I went to hug Angela from Portugal, and while she gave me a hug back, she said that people in Portugal don't do that - You'll kiss on the cheeks, like Austrians, or just shake hands to say goodbye.  I've gotta be more cautious so as not to make people uncomfortable.

Case 3: Many from Asian origins.  While I didn't have any firsthand experience with this, I definitely noticed that when many Asians acknowledged each others presence, they said "Hello" while bowing - think the beginning of a fight on The Karate Kid.  I feel like if I attempted to do this, I would be a. a poser and may be b. accused of mocking.  Either way, it's different and uncomfortable.

Note to self: Before traveling to a different country after this international experience, google the different greeting gestures and words that are appropriate in that region.  I definitely don't want to come across as an ignorant American.

My World is a Snow Globe

This past weekend, I went home with my Austrian Buddy, Angie, to her small hometown of Ybbs, where I met her family, some of her friends, and got to experience a different, less-touristy world of Austria.  Unfortunately, on the train to her house we both realized that we forgot our cameras in Vienna, so no photos, however, I have great memories and photos in my head, so I guess that counts for something!

Ybbs is only an hour and a half or so outside of Vienna, past Melk.  On our train ride out, I saw the Monastery in Melk, which was beautiful, and some of the Austrian countryside once snow hit.  I felt like I was in one life-sized snow globe.  The houses were quaint and beautiful, roofs covered in snow, and although I know that people have to get from point A to point B somehow, the entire scene looked untouched and serene.  I loved it!

Once in Ybbs, I met Angie’s family.  Her siblings speak English, her parents do not, so Angie had to act as translator between any conversations with me and her folks.  Both of her parents were great; her mother is a fantastic cook, and I got to enjoy some traditional Austrian food over the course of my stay there.  Although I rarely ever knew what she was saying, I absolutely loved Angie’s mom.  Angie and I stopped by the stables so I could meet her horse.  I haven’t seen horses in such a long time, it was a lot of fun getting to pet them and say hi.  The farm kid comes out again when I say the smell of the horses was comforting.

Angie and I went to a Christmas Market in Wieselburg (if you have been to Austria, this is the home of the Wieselburger Beer), where I met two of her friends and sipped on some Gluhwine (hot, spiced wine that is delicious).  After awhile, we headed to the bowling alley in town, which was hoppin’!  We had to make a reservation for a lane there!  The bowling alley featured a red-pin deal, where if you had a red pin placed in a certain area, you hit a buzzer, bowled, and if you bowled a strike on that red pin frame, your entire bowling crew would receive a round of schnapps shots.  Angie earned us two rounds, and I earned us one.  It was a blast!  We headed to Friends, a dance club, where we got the party started and danced until around 12:30 or so.  The DJ there was one of my favorites in Europe so far, mainly because we weren’t only listening to techno remixes, but to songs we could actually yell along to.  To me, it’s much more fun to dance to songs you know.

Sunday morning Angie and I cooked her family an American breakfast, featuring cooked bacon (because they usually don’t fry it, they just eat it), American-style French toast complete with powdered sugar and maple syrup, and scrambled eggs with peppers and, of course, some bacon grease for flavoring.  The sizzling and smell of bacon in the frying pan was something I have MISSED!  Some of Angie’s family were maple syrup first-timers, so that was fun to experience as well. 

The ride back to Vienna was beautiful, again, and confirmed my thoughts that most snow globe scenes can be taken right from Austria.  I can’t imagine a more beautiful place to experience my study abroad, and am so happy that I got to experience it in fall and winter.  The snow on the ground really completes the whole package, and I’m happy to be a part of this snow globe of a world for just a little while longer.

A Tribute to Kai's - Our Usual

Haus Erasmus, my lovely abode here in Vienna, is about 2 blocks away from the Burggasse Stadthalle stop on the U6 Ubahn.  Right across the street from that oh, so familiar Ubahn stop is an oh, so familiar Asian food place that is oh, so familiar with us - Kai's.

Mabs is notorious for ordering Teriyaki Chicken, to the point where when we have our usual waiter, he doesn't even have to ask, and they usually know that we drink litungswasser (tap water) all around.  Julie and I are notorious for ordering the Kai's Maki Mix (Klein (small) or Gross (big) is dependent on our mood) - both are under 5 Euro.  Jill usually orders some form of Sushi, and Scott likes to mix it up.

Kai's is our go-to place to grab a bite, when in doubt. Teriyaki Chicken from there was even our protein at Thanksgiving Dinner.  For all the good laughs, familiarity, and its establishment as our "usual," I wanted to give a quick shout out to Kai's Asian Food here in Vienna.  Not traditional Viennese food, but a place I will always think back with fondness as a staple of my stay here in Austria. 

Oboy! and Marshmallow Fluff

My holiday weekend in Sweden!

My friend Derek is studying abroad in Lund, Sweden this term, and we decided to do an exchange within our exchange - he visited Vienna in October, and I just got back from my visit to Lund!  This past weekend was filled with the holiday spirit, and goes down in my book as probably one of my favorite holiday weekends ever!

Day 1 - Party at the Nation!

The water over the bridge even LOOKED cold

I managed to book a puddle-jumper flight from Vienna to Copenhagen, Denmark at a reasonable rate, considering Vienna is an expensive airport to travel through, and Denmark is just expensive in general.  I found Derek, and we headed off to Lund!  There was snow EVERYWHERE, and I was ridiculously excited about that.  The trek from the Lund train station to Derek's dorm, Sparta, took about a half hour, but we pit-stopped for some free hot cocoa which made the cold less intense.  I dropped my stuff at Sparta, and then we went on an expedition to find me a Nation guest pass, and to eat some delicious pizza.  After dinner, we met up with a few of Derek's friends, and headed to a Nation to, as his Aussie friend Mike would put it, "get a little greasy."  In other words, we wanted to kick back a couple of drinks, and dance!

Delicious Bolognese Pizza!

Nations are to Sweden as Greek Life is to the U.S. - Even Derek couldn't fully explain the Nation system, but basically, it's like a house you have a membership to, they throw parties, and some people live there.  This particular party was a blast!  There's a small dance club in the Nation where we got our groove on, and I was shocked at the amount of tall people surrounding me.  It's true - Swedes are tall, blond, and good-looking!  We decided to head to the city center for some 1 a.m. McD's.  I'm always down for some french fries.  We had to get back early to prepare for a late Thanksgiving dinner the next day!

Day 2 - Celebrating the Holidays

Because Derek's meal on the actual day of Thanksgiving was KFC, and mine was from a Kebab stand, we decided we were going to celebrate Thanksgiving in style, just a few days late.  The turkey went in at noon, and came out at 4:00 looking delicious as ever.  It was quite the finger-crosser, as neither Derek nor I had ever cooked a turkey before.  We are now seasoned pros.

While the turkey was in the oven, we made our way to the center of Lund for a flash mob pillow fight.  As ridiculous as that sounds, it was a BLAST.  Pillows were supposed to be hidden, of course, so we had ours stuffed up our jackets.  I looked either preggers or obese, but either way, the pillow kept me warm on our walk over.  The fight started with someone screaming "Charge!" across the square, pillow raised and ready to hit someone, and then all hell broke loose.  There were probably at least 100 people with hidden pillows who appeared out of nowhere for a gigantic fight under a Christmas tree.  It was epic, I loved it, and Derek's friend Erin got most of it on video. 

Derek showed me more of downtown Lund before we headed back to check the turkey.  The buildings were beautiful, and like none I had ever seen.  It's surprising to me (though it shouldn't be) that almost every country I've been to has a distinct style of buildings, and Lund was no exception - it looked like a little Christmas village out of a book, and I couldn't get enough of it!  The pillow stuffed back into my jacket was keeping me warm, of course, although I'm sure I looked a little ridiculous.

Our Table - Note the tinfoil place-mats.  We're classy.

Arrival back at Sparta, the turkey was smelling great.  I wanted to make Cornbread dressing, a staple of my family's holiday meals, and went on the hunt for some corn meal to make said cornbread.  It was nowhere to be found, although not speaking Swedish, I definitely thought that I was getting some cornmeal - instead, Derek got an addition of corn flour and corn starch in his food cupboard.  I then went on to try and make regular stuffing, which also failed miserably, but I award myself 5 points for effort.  Thanksgiving dinner was WONDERFUL!  Nobody knew how to carve a turkey, so instead we just tore it to shreds, but still - I was stuffed when we were finished.

Derek and I had purchased some Gingerbread House kits to fully turn this into a day of holiday celebration.  The kits, however, came with no icing and no decorations.  We improvised, and bought some Marshmallow Fluff (basically, creamed mallows), M&M's, icing, sprinkles, and gum drops.  We both had an itch for some hot cocoa, too, and so O'Boy Hot Chocolate powder was added to our drag-along shopping carts.  Gingerbread houses were a huge success once we figured out how to get them to stay up, and to complete the whole package, we watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer while building and drinking cocoa.  About 10 minutes after our houses were built, they were destroyed - what can I say, Gingerbread is a fantastic holiday treat for my STOMACH!  Why look at it when you can eat it?  Overall, Saturday was a very memorable celebration of the Holidays!

Shopping Carts in Sweden - Oh, what fun!

Day 3 - Adventure to Copenhagen

Santa is a Pyro

Day 3 started out with yet another cup of O'Boy! and Marshmallow fluff.  I had heard a lot about a falafel place in Lund, so lunch was a falafel wrap.  Oh my goodness, DELICIOUS.  Then, Derek and I made our way to Copenhagen to do some exploring.  Our train there was about an hour delayed while we were on it, lovely, and we arrived around 3:00.  Because it was a Sunday, the tourist  office was closed, but we did manage to get our hands on a map to do some exploring.  First stop: McDonald's.  A hot chocolate sounded good, and once we got in there, fries sounded good too....and, the McD's in Sweden has milkshakes.  I was EXCITED!  We left McDonald's to head towards the town square, which was filled with people surrounding an unlit Christmas Tree.  Stumbling across the Copenhagen Tree Lighting ceremony?  Score! 

The Lighting was awesome!  Santa climbed a crane with a huge flare or something, and when the clock struck 4, the tree lit up, and Santa proceeded to shoot sparks EVERYWHERE, lighting the star on top of the tree.  I was fortunate enough to get it on video, and Derek was fortunate enough to get an insanely sweet photo...which I stole, and have posted here :)

We headed up a huge shopping street, stopping for souvenirs, to check out the street and to make our way to the Round Tower.  In addition to my every-stop spoon that I got, we also slipped into a kid's toy shop to warm up for a few minutes, and I invested in a sweet Santa hat.  We made it to the Round Tower only 10 minutes before it closed, talk about lucky!  Power-walking up the stairs, I couldn't help but notice the fantastic view outside.  Once we got to the top, we could see all of Copenhagen surrounding us!  It was dark, but that made it even more cool.  Snow was everywhere, and all of the houses and buildings were pretty low, 3 stories maximum, with a few steeples and clock towers poking up all over the place.  That's one thing I've noticed about views in Europe: Everything is relatively flat, and classic - you don't really see the skyscrapers that are so prevalent in the U.S., and I appreciate that.

From Left to Right: Derek, Butler, Me, Carl

After the round tower, we found ourselves only a few blocks away from the King's Gardens.  Although they were covered in snow, the garden area was beautiful, and we even found a moat!  We stumbled across a little snowman and decided, what the heck?  The snow in Lund is pretty powdery, and no holiday weekend would be complete without a snowman.  Thus, "The Butler" was built.  We must have been in the King's Gardens playing in the snow for a solid hour, but I was so distracted by our awesome snowman that I didn't even notice.  Between the two of us, The Butler was featured in probably a solid 100 photos...slight exaggeration, but still.  You'd think he were famous and we were the paparazzi.

Neither of us had used a Wok before - I am now a believer.

We decided to hold off on eating, because we were going to make dinner at home anyway, and since the train ride was only an hour, and we were leaving at 7:30, we could wait.  We didn't count on the train being delayed about a half hour, and didn't get back to Lund until 9:00, at which point we missed our bus back to Sparta because we were trying to recover a borrowed book from another OSUer.  With 20 minutes until the grocery store closes and about a 25 minute walk, we powered it back to Sparta to make sure we got some pasta sauce before the store closed!  We made it...and then proceeded to make a great dinner of pasta, peppers, sauce, and Swedish meatballs.  Delicious :) 

Day 4 - Heading back home

And so, my holiday weekend visiting Derek in Sweden must come to a close.  Of course, my send-off started with none other than a mug full of O'Boy and Marshmallow creme.  Between the gingerbread houses and the hot cocoa, we finished off an entire jar of Marshmallow creme, and an entire box of O'Boy! in less than 3 days.  And that, my friends, is how you do it!

My Sweden trip was fantastic!  Derek made an excellent host, and it was fun catching up with him over the weekend, and embracing my obsession for winter holidays.  Thanks, Derek, for a FANTASTIC weekend!  I miss Lund already!! 

My life is in Ruins....

Venice = Amazing.  Off to Roma, Roma, Roma!!

Day 1 - Getting some small sights in by dinner!

 

The Spanish Steps.  PACKED!  But still beautiful. 

Travis and I got an early start so as not to miss our train to Roma Termini from Venezia.  One train ride later, and we were greeted by Carter's smiling face on the platform in Rome.  Rome is probably the place I have been most excited to visit.  Most of my adventures abroad have been to less-traveled locations, ones that I probably wouldn't think to pay $1400 for a round trip ticket from the US and a week.  Rome, however, was the most tourist-y area that I had on my list of places I must see.  And it was soooo worth it.

After checking into our hostel/hotel and dropping our luggage, the three of us headed out for - what else - food.  One plate of Pasta and a delicious bowl of gelato later, we were off to see the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and the Pantheon.  When in Rome - hit the ground running!


The Spanish Steps were PACKED with people, sitting, drinking (at like 1 in the afternoon, gotta love Europe), lounging in the sun -- oh yeah, our first day there I was wishing I had packed some shorts, but coming from Vienna, the thought never crossed my mind -- by the time we reached the top of the steps, I felt I had worked off at least a portion of my gelato.  There is a church at the top of the steps that we went in and checked out.  Beautiful.  I lit a candle for my grandpa.  When in Rome - get some exercise in when you can, because you'll be eating a lot of pasta.

Ahh, Scaffolding.  You'd think I'd be used to you after 3 months.

The Trevi Fountain was huge, and I requested a 10-minute sit to take it all in.  I tossed my coin in, of course (unfortunately photo documentation was eaten by my computer), and made a wish.  Carter had to try his twice.  Fail.  When in Rome - make a wish, and don't miss.  I feel like that's bad luck.

The Pantheon, like many other historically significant European landmarks, was about 75% covered in scaffolding.  Lovely.  The inside was pretty awesome, though.  The walk from the steps to the Pantheon was packed with souvenir shops, too.  Noted for Wednesday, when we will make our shop rounds. When in Rome - accept the fact that scaffolding dominates basically everything, and move on.

Day 2 - The Coliseum, and Kelly gets her fix of Ruins!

Can't express my excitement to visit the Coliseum.  I'm a fan of ruins, I think they're ridiculously awesome, and I needed some ruin action in Rome, of course!   Travis, Carter, and I headed to the Coliseum stop only to be greeted outside the Coliseum by, of course, a tour group selling their tours.  Tour of the Coliseum, ticket price included, skip the line (yes!) and a tour of the Roman Forum area as well.  Worth it!  When in Rome - see some ROMAN RUINS!!

The Coliseum - at NIGHT!  Beauty, ain't she?

The Coliseum was breathtaking, and the tour was great.  The locals in Rome basically call it the "Swiss Cheese" building because of all of the holes in it, which aren't actually erosion - people took apart the Coliseum to harvest the metal rods holding the marble stones together for use in other buildings.  Unsteady base = a collapsing Coliseum.  They've been rebuilding a bit of it out of brick, which kind of distracts from the overall ancient feel of the building itself, but hey, do what you gotta do.  When in Rome - watch out for falling marble.

This was going to be my souvenir.  I don't know if it would have fit in my backpack, but worth a shot, right?!

Our tour guide for the Roman Forum and surrounding area was AWESOME!  His name was Greg, he sounded like an Aussie, but he was actually from Romania.  Great tour, and I couldn't believe some of the ruins I was seeing.  These buildings were huge.  I can only imagine (and not too well, actually) what this area looked like in it's heyday.  When in Rome - find a good tour guide. 

It's like I could take it home with me in my pocket!

I am Reptar, hear me roar.

I don't even want to think what would happen to that poor girl behind me if I accidentally dropped this archway or something....Bad things would happen.  Good thing I have super strength.

I got a little crazy with the camera in terms of perspective pictures.  With all these awesome landmarks surrounding you, how can you not?  Between me crushing the coliseum between my two hands and my holding up a huge, probably-100-foot-tall archway, I would say victorious on the photos.  I'm so thankful my camera ran out of batteries on this day, because Carter took some photos of me on his camera.  (My memory card decided to wipe itself upon my return back to Vienna.)  When in Rome - get creative with the camera.

Irish Beer - Cheersies!

Ruins day was probably my favorite sightseeing day thus far, all trips included.  We concluded our 5-hour walk-around with a few beers and a burger at a local Irish Pub recommended by our tour guide.  The pub was playing football games!!!  So over a couple of Kilkenny's, the three of us got to go back to our roots a bit and find out what we were missing....The Bengals were playing, though, so really, we weren't missing much. When in Rome - well, honestly, you probably shouldn't go back to your comfort zone.  Eat more pasta, and watch 'futbol' (soccer, Americans, soccer) instead.

Day 3 - Saying "Buon Giorno" to the Pope

Our tour guide, Greg, from Ruins day was offering a tour of the Vatican Museum as well.  He was great, the tour was reasonable, so why not?!  Going to the Vatican made me wish I were religious, as do most trips to sweet churches over here.  Please note that my Updated Country Count: 7 - Vatican City is it's own country.  I felt like I was back at the Louvre with all of the art surrounding me.  There were Tapestries that were gigantic and contained silver threading, more marble statues than I care to count (most manhood-less, poor guys), and ceiling paintings that made my neck sore from staring.  We spent about 20 minutes looking around the Sistine Chapel, and it took until about minute 18 for me to fully grasp the fact that I was in the room where the Popes are appointed. (I, of course, got two sets of Rosary beads for my grandparents, who are the most devout Catholics I know.  I'm sending them to Grandma, and even though Grandpa passed almost 3 years ago, I grabbed him a set, too.)  When in Rome - go to another country.

The exit from the museum was a SWEET spiral 'staircase'

St. Peter's Basilica is sweet.  The church itself is like a huge maze, and I could spend an hour in there and still not see everything.  Huge.  HUGE.  We made a trip to the tombs to see the resting places of the former popes.  John P. II has a guard at his tomb, and an area off to the side where people can chill for awhile.  Let me tell you, the Catholics loved JP.  I don't know much about him, but my impression from what little I do know is that he was a pretty awesome Padre.   When we got out of the church, we were fortunate enough to see a pretty kick-ass sunset, and decided to stay out on the front balcony for 20 minutes or so and take in the beauty.

Day 4 - Getting in some chill-time before class requires our departure

With no huge sightseeing sights left on our must-see list, the three of us decided we were going to take a day to peruse some shops and just hang out.  Relatively uneventful, but I did get my brother a pretty sweet Christmas gift.  Obviously, I can't say what it is, because he's 19 and more than capable of accessing the internet himself.  I do have a knack for finding my way into cities during movements and protests and such.  There's a huge protest by the students of universities here over some sort of educational reform.  One of the government buildings was being guarded by armed guards, and my Hunters Safety instructor would be appalled at the natural holding position of their guns - pointed straight out, as opposed to up or down.  This means that in order for us to get past the building without going around, we had to walk in front of 2 guns pointed right at us.  I'm sure safety's on, and fingers are nowhere near the triggers, but I'm not a huge fan of it... When in Rome, watch out for trigger-happy guards.

Guinness Beef Stew with Potatoes - YUM

We ended the day at yet another Irish pub with the intention of just grabbing a beer and jetting.  Instead, we stayed there for 4 hours, ate some great pub food, and watched the end of an American football game, and some NCAA College Hoops.  Yeah, both were on, and we haven't watched American sports in SO long that we couldn't actually peel ourselves away from the screen.  When in Rome - do as the Romans do, not as the Americans do.  We failed at this.

 

Conclusion - ROME WAS AWESOME!  

Easily one of my favorite, if not my favorite, locations in Europe thus far.  The comfortable beds in our sleeper compartment on our night train home were appreciated, and the three of us got a much-needed full night's rest...after watching Angels and Demons on Travis's computer, and pointing out all the places we had seen throughout the film.



Carter's List (I pulled it from his notebook...)
When in Rome....
... eat gelato- lots and lotsa 'lato.
... take some crazy perspective photos.
... avoid the accordion player riding the subway.
...... toss a coin in the Trevi Fountain- just don't miss like a jackass. That was Carter...
... grumble about the scaffolding covering half of the Pantheon.
... avoid running into a pole while reading a map. That was me...
... avoid student protests and demonstrations.
... TRY to avoid... No sir I don't want flowers, thank you... that guy.
... make friends with an Italian small restaurant owner.
... LASAGNA!
... ask the pope "how's it hangin'?"
... enjoy an amazing sunset over the Vatican. 

Sketch times in the Land of Canals

No photos for this one...my memory card dumped them :(

Kim, my bestie at home who always tells me I need to chill, go with the flow, and not freak out over unfamiliar situations, would be very proud of my behavior on my trip to Venice.

Situation 1: Catching the initial train.
Our train left Philadelphiasbruke (Ubahn stop about 5 stops away) at 6:30 a.m.  My thought was that we should have been there at 6:30.  So I became distracted, and wasn't ready to leave Haus Erasmus until 6:15.  It's not like we could just catch the next train: Train 1 led us to some random town on the border of Austria and Italy, where we would catch a bus to Venice.  If we missed Train 1 and took Train 2, we would have a 10 minute timeframe to catch the bus.

Solution: Travis and I kicked our butts into gear and headed to the Meidling train station, and made it with 3 minutes to spare.  I, of course, was trying not to panic.

Situation 2: Figuring out where to stay.
The cheapest hostel/hotel we could find in Venice was called Airmotel.  When we got off of our bus in Venice at 4:30 (thank you, Daylight Savings Time, for making 4:30 the new time it gets dark outside), we headed to the information desk, address in hand, to ask for directions.  The website of the hotel didn't give directions from our bus/train station, just the other one across the pond.  (In case you didn't know, Venice is an island).  Every information desk we went to told us the same thing: We have no idea where this is, this address is not in Venice.  Great....

Solution: We went to the main train station and pulled up the phone number to our accommodations for the night.  Travis canceled our reservations on the grounds of false advertising a location of "Venezia," and we made our way to Tourist Information to ask about hostels and hotels.  We were directed to Hotel Reservations next door, where we found a 2-night hotel across the pond (the area we had no idea how to get to in the first place) right next to a train station for a total of 114 Euro (so like 28.50/person/night).  By this time, it's about 6:00 p.m. and we found out our reservation is only good for 2 hours.  Travis and I had to learn quickly how to navigate the regional trains system.

Situation 3: Finding the hotel
I will just say, after being in Europe for 2 1/2 months, I have become very comfortable asking for help and directions.  So really, this wasn't a big deal.

Solution: We asked, and also had a sweet map that proved to be very handy.  A sweet rainbow fountain on the other side of the train station led the way to our hotel!

Situation 4: Eating some freaking DINNER!
We're not really in a very touristy part of town, so it's a good thing that we have internet access in our hotel.

Solution: Google.  We found a pizza place a few blocks away, where Travis and I enjoyed pizzas from a selection of 80 or so, and a few beers.  Good night!

Situation 5: Exploring Venice, Baby!
Travis and I headed out around 9:30 a.m. to explore the city of Venice.  I was told by my friend Nick that the best way to see Venice is to walk around random side streets for awhile, and when you've had enough, pull out a map and figure out where you actually are.  So that's what we did for a few hours - The side streets were great!  Our map came in handy, because there really is no grid to Venice - there are random-ass canals, random-ass streets, and alleys that are TINY, but are also considered streets, too.  For the most part, there are no cars in Venice, just foot traffic, gondolas, and boats.  It was so much fun to turn a random corner and find a small square to explore.

Travis and I got lunch right on the canal front, and checked out a few shops before heading back to the main station area, where we sat down for a few cups of coffee.  I tried my first  espresso shot, but made it slightly more interesting by getting a shot of espresso and a shot of brandy.  The aftertaste was fantastic, but the sipping of the shot itself was not one of my favorite experiences.  A cafe latte was greatly appreciated.  (I have become a HUGE cafe latte fan over here in Europe.  I look forward to them whenever I go out for coffee with someone).

Solution: Sometimes getting lost is the best way to see the city!  Situation 5 turned out to be a huge success.

Situation 6: Getting back to our hotel
This is where the fun starts.  When we took the regional train back to our Hotel from Venezia last night, the Mestre (where our hotel is) was the first stop.  Naturally, I got off at the first stop again today.  Wrong-o.  We got off, went downstairs to get to the 'road,' and quickly realized that we were in some sketch-ass industrial area.

Solution: I pulled out our trusty map, and we figured out that we were about 1.5 milesish away from our hotel, and about 1 mile into a huge industrial place.  This place was SKETCH.  The entire time, we were talking about how we would react if we were to get approached by a mugger (honestly, not realistic, because nobody except for us and our "TOURIST" arrows above our heads was walking, and those people driving past I'm sure were just going home from work).  After we reached a certain point, we were walking next to these 7-foot walls with signs every 100 feet saying "No Photos."  Best part about these walls: There were huge glass shards in the concrete on top of the walls to prevent anyone getting in.  Travis had seen this before elsewhere, so he wasn't nearly as sketched out as I was.  We finally found the main road we were looking for, which really was a main road, i.e. no cross walks.  Travis and I hopped 2 lanes of traffic to the median, 3 more lanes of traffic, and then guess what we saw?  The rainbow fountain leading us home! 

Kim.  Normally, in this instance especially, you know I would freak the hell out.  But you will be happy to know, that instead of freaking out, I accepted it, said "Meh, we're lost, let's pull out the trusty map," and went on to a Navigational Victory (even though I was the one who got off the train at the wrong stop in the first place).  The navigational blood runs through my veins - Thanks, mom and dad!

Highlights:
Biggest highlight is that I'm pretty sure everyone thinks Travis and I are married.  I guess that's what happens when a guy and a girl travel together.  The reservation for our hotel was definitely listed under MRS. Kelly Fitzpatrick, and we were given a room with a double bed.  Meh, whatever.

Masks.  EVERYWHERE.  Google "Venice Carnivale" and you'll see what I'm talking about.  These were definitely the highlights of the tourist shops.

Pigeons.  EVERYWHERE.  I'd tell you to Google "Pigeons" but if you have to do that, there are larger problems in the world than the swarms that I was worried would poop on my head.  

Conclusion of Venice: SWEETNESS!
I would say from what we saw today, Venice is one of those you-can-see-it-in-a-day cities.  Overall, it was awesome, and not only provided me with my first Italy experience, but also some awesome situational lessons learned.

Please note, my Country Count has now reached 6: Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland and, now, Italy!