Things I miss

Unrestricted access to hundreds of outfits...I brought with me 5 tee shirts, 3 tank tops, 1 blouse, 2 pairs of shorts, 2 pairs of jeans, and assorted socks and undies. I am SO sick of these 5 stupid tee shirts! Once I get home I am never going to want to wear them again (and I probably won't, considering some are already getting holes!).

Washing machines and driers....we've been doing laundry in the sink, which takes a while to do but the really frustrating part is how long it takes to dry! In Rome we washed our clothes as soon as we got there, and they were dry 3 days later. When we're staying in a hostel for only a night, or even for 2 nights, laundry is a lost cause because it simply won't dry in time. This next week we're probably only staying in hostels for 1-2 nights each, so laundry will probably be impossible D=

Unlimited, easily accessible internet....some of our hostels have wifi, and sometimes it costs and sometimes it's free, but it's almost always slow. When it costs money we try to save by buying just an hour or two, but then it's so slow it's hard to get everything done (answer emails, make hostel reservations, buy ferry tickets, research things to do, call parents, upload photos, upload blogs). At about half our hostels, the wifi has been broken or “broken” for some or all of our stay, and at others there is simply no internet. Sometimes we just need to look up what train to catch, and in CA what would just be a couple seconds on a computer or an iphone turns into a wifi-hunting extravaganza.

The baby! Seriously guys, I need some news here. Has he rolled over yet? Is he still adorable? Is he fatter? Is he driving and applying to colleges yet?

Driving....I'm so lucky to be able to borrow Drex's car when I need to..its so nice to be able to get places on my own & on time. Trains are nice because we can sleep or blog (like RIGHT NOW) and they have bathrooms and dining cars and we have met all sorts of people on trains. But if we are staying in a small town (read: cheaper) and miss the train or bus, it can be an hour or two before the next one! For example, Kim and I are catching a ferry to Croatia tonight, so today is basically just a giant attempt to get from Venice to Bologna to Ancona in time to catch the ferry, and crossing fingers we don't miss any trains or get on the wrong one. We're getting much better at reading & understanding schedules and fares, though, so this is getting easier. Also, I would NEVER want to drive in Italy...drivers here are insane. It's hard enough being a pedestrian in Italy!

Having my own room....dorms in hostels are great because they are so cheap compared to hotels, and without hostels there is no way we could afford this trip. Hostels can be as cheap as 15 euro a night (or as expensive as 35 euro) but thats still cheaper than a 100 euro hotel room. But, dorms do have OTHER PEOPLE in them, and other people always have 5am flights. In dorms I wake up every time an alarm goes off or someone comes in or goes out, and every time I have to go through my locker I feel bad because I know I'm waking someone up! Kim and I have solved this problem by playing a little extra (usually about 5 euro each) to have our own room in a hostel, which makes an AMAZING difference. When its just Kim and me, I don't wake up at all until our alarm goes off. Unfortunately, private rooms haven't been available in Venice and won't be in Split, Croatia, so we'll just have to make sure we're exhausted enough to sleep :D

Texting! It's such an easy, cheap, fast way to communicate! I miss texting :(

Naps...during second semester senior year I became intimately acquainted with naps. Despite the prevalence of the siesta culture, here I have only taken 1 (1!) nap the entire 2-and-a-half weeks I've been here! Maybe I will have recovered from my addiction by the time I have to start working? I doubt KPMG reacts kindly to employees' daytime naps.