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Sorry to not update in so long it has been so hectic here with trying to get things arranged in my apartment, school, and even everyday things such as trying to find clothes hangers. I have probably asked 20 people where to get something just to hang my clothes and jackets on and it seems as if it competely foreign to Italians. I believe I have taken Walmart for granted for many years. So the trip has been awesome so far and there is plenty to complain about but I could complain about both Scott City and Hays for days as well. The first night here we recieved a crash course on the town of Vinovo and went into Torino so we could get internet. We had been awake for around 30 hours by the time we got to Torino and all of us were pretty much out of it so most of what we learned the first night was forgotten and had to be relearned in the next few days. I didn't even have my camera on me that night and it was dissapointing but we are going back soon to explore some more. The trip there was interesting we have to get 4 bus passes costing around 1.70 Euro each just to get to town and back. We take the Sadem bus to the outskirts of Torino which is around 20 minutes from Vinovo. The bus drivers are insane and here it is pretty much the bigger vehicle gets the right away and you lay on your horn basically all the time. The roads are very small and when buses pass each other there can't be more than a few inches of clearance in the middle so it gets to be interesting in congested areas. After riding the Sadem you must get off and catch the number 35 GTT. At the front of the buses is a little box that stamps your pass and if you don't do this the police get on at random stops and checks everyone's tickects and if you don't have one or it is not stamped they take you off the bus and follow you to an ATM and demand 25 Euro for your fine. The buses are very crowded and you basically hold on to the closest thing for your life while your other hand is holding on to your wallet. As for now you kind of just guess where to get off and if its the wrong place your ticket is good for 80 minutes so you wait for another 35 bus and try again. When you finally arrive to the main destination in Torino it is basically a giant expensive mall that spreads across probably 5 square miles with everything you could ever ask for but clothes hangers. We walked around for probably 3 hours and finally got our internet key which cost 74 Euro for less than dial up speed only to later learn that there is another company that works better in Vinovo but is still around dial up speed. By the time we caught another bus we were all exhasted and fussy. To get home you have to catch the number 1 GTT and take it to the outskirts of town to where the Sadem bus wil pick you up. The last Sadem bus leaves Torino at 11:00 and if you miss this bus you have to wait until 5:20 in the morning to get back home which thank god has not happened yet. You can also call a taxi but for that you must have a cell phone and none of us have a cell phone so we would be without a paddle. When we got back you would think that since we had been awake for about 38 hours we would go home and go to sleep but that would be logical. So we went to the campus bar which is a great thing to have and Fort Hays could definately triple their revenue if they put one in the union. We stayed there until around 1 in the morning and finally made it home only to realize that Rhiannon had somehow lost her phone on the journey home. So we all went out and looked for it to no avail. Around hour 45 of being awake I finally got to bed for a little sleep with an entire weekend to catch up on my sleep.
The next morning I woke up around 10:30 and only got about 4 hours of sleep. My roomate Aaron and I went to the grocery store because we needed some water because you can't drink the water from the sink (only to find out last night that appearently you can drink the water from the sink). I am off to class now but will try and update more since this only covers the first day and the following morning and I have been here for six days.

Flights

This is the first one. I am new to the whole blogging world but I only assume to get better at it as I see myself updating it a lot. I took off from Kansas City International at 1:52 PM on January 21st, 2010 this flight was only a short one to Chicago but I only had an hour layover and knew that it was possible I could be in a rush to find my next gate. When I arrived my next gate was right next to the one that I flew into so that was a relief. I left Chicago at 4:25 PM headed to Dusseldorf. This flight was awesome the plane that we took was huge with your personal touch screen television in the back of every head rest. The flight was 8 hours and 10 minutes long and I couldn't sleep a wink. They served fabulous chicken teriyaki and the best part open bar the entire flight. I was a little disappointed that we flew in the dark as I didn't get to see a lot out my window. We flew right over Dublin in the dark and could only see the lights but the city was immense. Even miles above it the lights seemed to go forever in every direction. When we finally arrived in Dusseldorf it was 7:35 their time. We had a 50 minute lay over and a fun security check. The security check confused me because I had just gotten off my second plane for the day and obviously couldn't miraculously make a bomb appear in my bag. It never fails everything was good to go but when I went to pick up my book bag the guy looks at me and says "you American" to which I replied "Yes." Wrong response I guess because he then had to look through my book bag by hand. One of the girls traveling with us from FHSU had even more fun when the guy dumped her purse out and had to inspect every crevasse to no avail. Here we got our passports stamped and went to find our next gate. I had been flying all day and my want for a cigarette was getting to me. When I got to my next gate I walked down the stairs and saw that we were taking a little puddle jumper that we had to get bused out to my hopes were high that I could sneak one in while they loaded the plane with luggage. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. So my now grumpy self loaded on this plane and prepared for take off. We headed to Turin at 8:30 AM in the morning and for the first time all day the seat next to me was empty and I had room to relax. On the way I studied up on my Italian phrases which I must say are terrible as of now. There was a thick sheet of clouds underneath us and it looked like an endless snow plain so I paid little attention out my window until I saw the guy in front of me staring intently out of his. I looked out and now all you could see was the top of the Alps sticking out of the clouds it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen and I posted these pictures on my Facebook page. I got a kick out of the guy next to me because he obviously was terrified of flying and was sheet white gripping his arm rests the entire time and every time the plane would jump a little he looked as if his life was over. To make matters worse when we went to land we had to go back down below the clouds and we kept going down, and going down, and going down and still all you could see was the clouds out my window. All of a sudden I see the roof of a house and we are right on top of it and touch down ten seconds later. All I can say is I am glad I wasn't flying the plane because he landed it completely blind. It was now 10:05 AM current time and we were headed to get our luggage. The six FHSU people that went didn't lose one bag which surprised me because of the three switches of planes. We all were going into this blind and only hoping that there was someone waiting at the exit to pick us up. When we got to the "uscita" we were all relieved to see someone holding a sign saying "Welcome SJIU Students." We loaded into two vans packed to the gills with what must of been 20 bags of luggage and off to Vinovo we went.