Laundry, etc.

I love our hostel in Florence. It's not as good as Interlaken or Prague, but it's pretty damn great. We are in a 4-bed room, no bunks, on a floor with 3 other rooms. I would say there are about 12-15 people on our floor. We have 2 full bathrooms, a big dining room, and a very nice kitchen with 2 fridges. So it is, of course, a great place to take a day off. 

Now believe me... Taking a day off in Florence felt like a crime. But we have been going, going, going for about a week. We desperately needed to do laundry, get more groceries, and rest after the previous days. 

So Thursday we slept in, ate the last of our breakfast food from our last grocery trip, and headed out to do laundry. We found a tiny place that did it for €7 a load, which is apparently cheap for Florence, and finished both washing and drying in 50 minutes total. We did Jeremy's and got lunch while we waited, then walked back to the hostel (15 mins) so he could change. We went back and did my load plus the outfit he changed out of, and got gelato while we waited. It was really a pretty great system. We were done around 3 and headed back to the hostel to fold everything. 

Laundry is one of the things, though, that make long vacations a pain in the ass. If its available in the hostel it's much easier, but if not you have to take your whole backpack for a walk. You have to buy your own detergent most places, or pay way too much for one tiny pack. Then you have to pay for the loads. The laundry itself is then a pain- waiting for a machine, waiting for it to finish, and all the ways that things could go wrong. In Munich I found an unidentifiable sock at the end of the dry cycle and felt like everything was still dirty (all my clothes smelled like salami). In London I dropped some underwear on the floor and just couldn't put them on, so they went back in the dirty pile. In Switzerland I accidentally washed them twice, so they felt a little soapy when they were done. And here in Florence the machines were full of mold and I'm still not sure how I feel about my "clean" clothes. I'm trying to just not think about it. 

The point is, laundry abroad sucks and I can't wait to be back in my house and do it!!!

When we were finally done with that whole process we needed groceries, so we went to a tiny market by the hostel and got stuff for dinner and breakfast. We go through cereal like crazy. 

We also stopped at a pharmacy for soap, tissues, and bug spray. The mosquitos here are eating me UP!

We had easy risotto for dinner. And wine, of course. 

We were gunna go for a walk after dinner with our new friend Victoria from our hostel (she's from Toronto and is very cool). But I didn't feel great- I was just tired and my stomach was a little off- so we stayed in. I was going to finish the Siena blog but I felt so tired. We even have a tv in our room, so I watched Bones (the only thing in English and my best friend Katie's favorite show) and fell asleep before midnight. 

Today (Friday) I am feeling much better and we are doing another day trip- this time to Pisa. But that will be another post. I thought I'd end this one with some lists and statistics. You know how I like those :)

Cities/towns we've seen so far- Siena makes 15

Cities/towns left to see- at least 4

Nights left in Europe including tonight, Friday the 20th- 11

 

Times I've had gelato so far in Italy- at least 4, maybe 5 and we've been in Italy for a week

I put this picture on Facebook but it should go here too... The Italy diet:

Things we are going to miss when we get back to the US (didn't see THAT coming did ya?!)

1. Outdoor cafes

2. Cheap wine/beer depending on the country

3. Great public transportation ad everything in walking distance 

4. Cool old stuff

5. Legally drinking on the street

6. Fast food that's not American fast food (ie baguettes in Paris, paninis, kebabs, bratwurst, leberkesa, etc). 

7. New friends in each new place

8. Beautiful, short train rides (we won't miss the long ones)

9. Eating whatever we want and walking it all off (ie gelato, chocolate muffins, etc.)

10. Having no responsibilities

Speaking of which, I should tell you all what we are planning to do after this grand adventure. We get asked all the time by other travelers, but I haven't even told you! 

Jeremy has a possible job lined up fixing phones/computers. He plans to get this experience and then get an internship or job in some more serious computer field (programming). He's hoping to get straight back to work when we get home. 

I have a very busy next few months. I'm trying to have my law school applications in by the end of November at the absolute latest. I am also working on a paper with some professors at my alma mater (that is so weird to say), so a week after I get home I am headed back to my university to stay and work on that for a couple weeks. But don't worry- I will see most of you before that or when I get back. I have until next August off, and once my law school apps are in my life will feel so much less stressful. I plan to be home for the holidays, and spend the spring seeing friends and family, traveling through some of the US, doing things I've always wanted to do (record an album maybe, relearn Spanish maybe, etc). The summer is up in the air but I can already tell you there will be some SERIOUS beach time. I only saw one beach this summer, and it was great but no where near enough. 

The next 10-11 months feel so full of possibility. I can't wait to get home and take advantage of this time I have given myself. I need to digest this trip- and back up all my pictures!

I guess that's it for now. At the end of the trip I'm going to do another Long statistics post. I will update all the ones I did at halftime and add some new ones. 

As I said, we are doing another day trip today, which will be my next post. Also today my friend Andy, who was in the music program with me in college (my minor), gets to Florence. I'm definitely excited to have a familiar face around for a few days!

Next post coming soon...

<3