DarkGrey Heroine

After you revealed what it's like in Romania i don't know which is the worse scenario, be Romanian and be branded as someone lower in society (or a vampire), or be American and given high expectations because you supposedly are loaded with cash. I do wish i could have received a little warning of what these places think of Americans (though given the fact it would have been my tour guide, who already has a biased opinion of the place, i don't think i would hear the truth) just so i would be a bit more prepared). As for people eventually calling you a vampire, i can actually kind of relate to that, my pale skin, brown hair and light eyes give off that impression. And with the hard rock cafe, i just assumed they had them in most touristy areas, i know there are some in New York and Florida, so maybe that's why.

After resting in the Hard Rock Cafe, we looked around the city for a bit, finding a few churches that charged money to get in, which didn't make any sense to me then boarded the bus again. We went to a slightly improved hotel with better beds and only had an hour to lay down our things, as Emmett had to keep our group moving all the time until 11 or 12 at night, when we finally got rest. The reasoning for this was likely to prevent any "magic" from occurring between the unsupervised teenagers, so they didn't do anything stupid during the night. However, Emmett forgot one major issue with this plan, that every single hotel we stayed at had vending machines chock full of red bull, meaning all they had to do was fork over 3 euros for instant energy. Since i didn't drink the stuff and wouldn't start drinking coffee until winter 2017, my energy was finite and used up quite frequently. But as it turns out, my peers didn't think their plan of instant energy thoroughly enough, as this led to a lot of people getting sick during the trip. It turned into a game of who has what, the common cold, sore throat, ear infections, you name it. With our group looking worse for wear, we were taken to Rome.

Now, if anyone tells you you can't see Rome in a day, BELIEVE THEM, as it took us around 5 hours to see barely even a quarter of it, but Emmett needed to keep us on a tight schedule so it was time to march through the streets of Rome, dodging cars in the narrow cobblestone streets. We were also taken to a leather shop that hosted a mini fashion show using the customers as models. While an Australian woman narrated the show with clever names for the group like "Calvin the Italian stallion" we were also shown a few pieces of gold jewelry , which was ridiculously overpriced at 5,000+ euro. One of the items included a ring that you could outstretch into a bracelet, made of 14 karat gold, priced at 10,000 euros. I watched my worst enemy use up his last 30 euros for an expensive belt. This event made me lose more respect for the country, as preying upon gullible teenagers was a low blow in my eyes. We then went to the infamous Roman coliseum, then searched for the bus (since the streets were too narrow for a large tour bus to fit through).One redeeming part of this city was the dessert we had (i forget where this was), we were served a chocolate sausage, which was actually pretty tasty and reasonably priced.

After returning to our hotel and packing our things to leave, we began to head off to a gelato factory in the middle of nowhere, where i was given the experience of making strawberry gelato. At the end, i tasted my creation, which tasted like bitter nothingness (why this happened, i have no clue) but that wasn't the final stop for the day, onto another pointless shop! This shop sold seashells engraved with images of kings and queens carved into them, beautifully crafted. Their pricing here? 500 euro for a the smallest shell, 1,000 euro and up for the largest ones. All we could do was look at the displays, paying anything would result in a loan we could never work off. With another example of greedy shopkeepers, it was off to mount Vesuvius and Pompeii, where things started to mellow out. After climbing countless crumbling staircases, and herded around by a rude tour guide, we rested at a small cafe near the site, where my italian teacher introduced her family, who spoke no English. But that didn't stop me from breaking the language barrier by using the italian expression of "manache" which is accompanied with the shaking of a clasped hand to indicate displeasure. After getting to perform the gesture and drinking frozen lemonade, it was off to another nameless town.

This town was unique in the sense that we had to use a tram to get there, which took us past hills and trees to the top of a mountain. On the peak sat a massive European castle with a multitude of winding pathways cut inside of the mountains core. In the tunnels beneath the castle, it was cool and refreshing, almost peaceful. But on the outside, greed waited outside to ambush us, with more expensive shops and crooks waiting to take advantage of us. While walking around, the frozen lemonade i drank earlier caught up to me, forcing me to seek out a public restroom, but when i went in, a guy followed, saying it was 5 euros to use it. Knowing the guy didn't work there,i ran out and waited until i knew i could go. My time finally came when we went to our new hotel, which had comfortable beds, a plug that could charge my 3DS, and other amenities. Unfortunately, this comfort wouldn't last long, as it was an expensive hotel, which meant by morning we had to be out by 6:00, again.....

The final part of this journey ended with the trip to the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican and what i think was Cagliari (some type of island off the coast of italy) at the Vatican we walked around the spacious church, adorned with decadent architecture and preserved bodies of previous popes (I didn't ask who they were or why they were there, all you needed to know was that they were clothed in the classic garments of their times) and the Swiss guards and their halberds, which i found to be an interesting weapon to still use in modern day. Then in the Sistine chapel we were herded through the halls to the famous ceiling, where the grand space was often filled with the shouts of the guards kicking foolish tourists out for using cameras, despite being warned not to beforehand. Following these events was our final hotel, a former cathedral turned into a hotel, and the worst one of the trip. The rooms were decently sized, but the beds were solid as stone again, and our room had a dripping faucet that leaked all night long for the duration of the trip. Some of our group were unlucky to get the A-floors (or the basement), where they received no power and slept in darkness that made the entirety of the ROD in kingdom hearts look minuscule. Even traversing the hotel was a trip of its own, with staircases forcing you to take various turns to get to the front of the building. With one last stop on our itinerary, we boarded the bus to head there.

The island we went to wasn't that different than the earlier place we couldnt take the bus with the trams, we still needed to use gondolas to reach the summit, and to get down to sea level to take a ride around the island, showing impressive cliffs, houses in the middle of a dense forest, and eroded caves into the rockwalls, exposed during low tide. It wasn't that bad compared to other places that we went, and i found some time to relax while on the island. With everything completed, it was finally time to return to the east coast and end the trip.

Heading into a different airport that was surrounded by feral cats, we learned that our flight would be delayed by 1 hour, so we had to sit in a gloomy waiting area for it to come. While resting for the events to follow, i thought about the trip as a whole, and how we all looked, The 7 days of marching and being swindled made us look like an army that was worn out from marching (hence the term, Italian boot camp) the coughing and sneezing only solidified our exhausted appearance. When our flight entered the terminal, we wasted no time in boarding it. On the ride back, i watched a few movies until we approached the east coast, where i eagerly awaited the time to leave my seat. After getting into another bus to take us back to the high school, my mother and i waited until my father came to pick us up. The moment i entered the door i immediately took a shower and went to bed, where i fell asleep within minutes, comforted with the feeling of rest.

Thank you. The ankle was the result of helping sis (who has a bad knee atm) do thanksgiving dinner. Ow ow. Standing up too long always does it.

Wish the government insurance would cover orthodontic inserts, then I might not have this problem! If things get better, I'm saving for a trip to a GOOD foot doctor and asking for some. The ankle problem is b/c of a flat foot on the left side..

If the Italian bootcamp story does bring back negative emotions, they wouldn't impact me anyways, I've got a negative personality, so the memories won't depress me or anything serious. Alright, get comfy grey, this will be the accumulation of my trip to Italy that I took over spring break 2016.

So it's worth noting right from the start the stigma that I faced during the trip. Since I am an American going to a land foreign to my own, every single Italian there thought I was a rich boy coming here on "mommy and daddy's dime". As you've no doubt heard from other American members on Khi, this is not true in the slightest, as the east coast (especially my state) has a history of unemployment and high taxes to pay, so what money we would have would be spent on taxes instead. This posed an issue I couldn't ignore, as everyone wanted a piece of us, and that comes into play. I'll end off this paragraph saying how envious I am of you, since your nationality is Romanian, they're not after you. You can blend in seamlessly and attract as little attention as possible. Me on the other hand, was branded as a walking bag of euro the moment I set foot in the country.

So the trip was a biannual event hosted by the only Italian teacher at my high school, and it would come at a discount price since we were going as a group. I figured since my mother always wanted to see Italy (we're of Italian descent, but we don't LOOK Italian), we should take this opportunity while we have it. We helped fund the trip when we could, attended every meeting even though we didn't necessarily have to, and worked hard to make sure it could happen. When the day finally came, we went to JFK airport and boarded a flight to Milan (I think). And this led to what I will always call, the 8-hour hell. On the plane, we were sandwiched in the dead center of the isle, people on the outside of us. This left us in an upright position for an 8 hour flight where sleep is impossible. We had access to a wide array of movies and music from the televisions in front of our seats, but that does little to curb the exhaustion that I felt. When the plane landed, we came into a dusty airport that looks like it might as well be in the desert. And it is here where we met our personal tour guide and bus driver.

Our tour guide was a British man, but he spoke Italian fluently, as well as English. Hearing him say Italian words and sentences was jarring at first, but that grew to become the least of my worries. Our bus driver on the other hand, spoke little English but he was A-OK in my book as he sold cold bottled water for 1 euro (very cheap compared to other places). Upon entering the bus, we were told that we would have to visit a few Italian rest stops on the way before going into Milan, which didn't help my exhaustion. After visiting a market place and going out to eat at some restaurant (I forget what we ate) it was time to check into the B&B hotel. And this is where I will warn you grey, If you ever see a B&B hotel in Italy, do NOT sleep there. As it turns out, the company we were partnered with decided to cut corners whenever possible, and the B&B hotel was one of them. The beds felt as solid as the cobblestone we walked on earlier. After waking up at 4:00 in the morning, it was time to get everything and go.

Now this is the point where my memory of the events that followed become a blur, as small cities and towns just became "Italy" to me, if I was able to rest properly, my mind would have picked up on their names, but that didn't happen, so on with the story, on to Venice. Going to Venice wasn't so bad, we were near the water which felt like home. After going into a glass shop where they showed us how they make the glass, we were shown the ugly side of Italy from the get-go, as nearly everything in the shop (save for small glass figurines of about 80 euros) exceeded 200 euros. This astronomical amount of money filled me with disgust at the shopowners and our tour guide, who provided us with the option of expensive gifts none of us (save for the adults) could afford. Afterwards, we walked around Venice a bit, then went onto our next destination.

Our next destination I forget the name of, but the local geography consisted of a mostly empty town on a tall hill, with a church at it's peak. What the significance of this church was I forget, but it didn't look that important, there were only 3 heavily armed guards decadent with weaponry in front of it. Whatever it was, it was important enough to have a gift shop (with reasonably priced items surprisingly) filled with religious merchandise. When we were allowed to walk free of the group and explore the shops, we went to a small Italian café for some calzones, a olive oil shop where the shop owner was very friendly and was even from our own state (what are the odds?) and a weapon shop with a roman gladiator style helmet that caught my eye. Unfortunately, despite the epic appearance of the helmet I didn't buy it, and I regret that. When 6:00 rolled around, it was time to board the bus and go to a new hotel for the night, with passable beds.

The next stop was some place with weird architecture for the churches (they were black and white, looked like something Tim burton would make) and a bridge over a small river I could have just walked across. This place was one of few places our tour guide (let's call him Emmett for the rest of this) couldn't be a tour guide, as he didn't have the license for the area. Instead, we had a curly haired Italian with a different dialect than our teacher, I think his "h's made m sounds? or something like that. After marching all over the city for 2 whole hours, we were let go in the middle of the city. It was at this point where we were exhausted and tired so my mother and I had the genius idea of asking our guide where the hard rock café was (as we learned it was nearby). the face of this man when we said this will be burned into my eyelids for the rest of my life, his eyebrows were raised in shock, his mouth agape, his nose wrinkled in disgust. But in our defense, we were tired Americans looking for a familiar place and we got it out of him, and it was delicious. cheeseburgers, fries and a strawberry milkshake rejuvenated me

I'm going to cut the story off right here and start up another message, this one has gone on long enough.

mrraw meow meow?

*massages a VERY sore ankle*

Well, I figure I should warn you that the "Italian bootcamp" story is very long, as every minute detail contributes to my viewpoint on the country. I'll try to condense it best I can by leaving out a few unimportant facts, but it will still be a long wall to read. Finally, it's worth noting that I am an American, (something you already knew) and that's crucial to keep in mind when reading it, as I would have a very different experience of Italy than you when I go, because of my country's notoriety to the penninsula.

Jeez, two institutions at once? i doubt i would be able to put up with that much mayhem. It's a struggle putting up with just one college, let alone two, more credit to you honey. I'm already well aware of your love for Italy, i saw your photos of Venice in the attack of the selfies thread. Admittedly, while i am neutral on the italian language, the country itself wasn't very kind to me when i was there for a high school trip, (which led to me dubbing the trip, "Italian boot camp") So i can't share that viewpoint. I can only imagine what you're going through with two universities, and i know you'll get through it.

It's fine grey, i understand, do what you have to do. I'm a patient man after all.

Well, the thing is, at my university we have to choose our classes online like you have to, except you need to remember a 5 digit code (course credit number) and input that number into the classes you want to add. They're all divided into different times organized by sections (for example, if you wanted to take a bio 102 class (which is general zoology by the way) in the morning you have to choose a section. section 3 has lecture Monday and Wednesday from 9:10 to 10:00, and 10:10 to 12:00 pm on Tuesday's and Thursdays for lab) it's confusing, but everybody swears by it, and it will supposedly get easier the higher up i go.

Over in my university (and i presume other colleges across my state) the board of education decided to crack down on making the next generations of Americans bilingual to an extent. It starts in high school, where you're required to take 2 years of a language (romance languages were the only ones taught at my school, Italian, French and Spanish). After 2 years, you don't have to take it again for the 3rd and 4th years, but i wound up taking up to Italian 3 in high school because i had nothing better to do (that and the Italian teacher is really nice, i was one of her best students). I could have taken a 4th year which supposedly would count as college credit, but i opted out of it in favor of Marine Biology (and i regret that choice to this day). Now that i am going for a bachelors in Science, i HAVE to take up to Italian 3 in college, otherwise i won't get my degree. Right now i'm at the tail end of Italian 2 college level, and i couldn't choose 3 because the last two slots were filled, which means 1 of 3 things,
1: I wait for an opening to present itself in the class i want, and go for it. I have to get a certain professor though, as one of them is an absolute nightmare to deal with (When the professor in question took over for my current one for 2 weeks, on the first day, she spoke only 13 words of English to our class 13!)

2: Take the STAMP test, which if i earn a score of 4 in the fundamentals of the language (reading, writing, hearing and speaking), i am instantly absolved of having to take the classes again, i get the credits, and i never have to take it again for the rest of my life (after 5 business days). The major issue with this is the test is long and difficult to some, and requires a lot of study and preparation for (something i didn't get this year). But if i do succeed, it will be less money i have to pay.

3: Wait ALL the way to the 3rd semester in the fall of next year to take italian 3, where i will no doubt be either rusty or sick of the language. It will be arduous, but this will be the last time i'll have to deal with most of my prerequisites (like english, math and history) so i might as well get it over with now.

It's not that i necessarily hate the language (though i have some beef, no, an entire sirloin steak over the country of Italy), i just find my classes easier to deal with when i don't have to memorize verbs, past tenses, conjugations and the other hassles of learning a language that is different than the one i spent the last 18 years perfecting.

Yes, now a days they are that rare. Infection's the easiest to find (and of course the new G.U remake collection that just came out is easy to find) but the others weren't so popular, so they are expensive on the used market. Especially if you go trolling Ebay for them (Don't do that.).

That's why I'm pouncing now on the first collection, since my brother has them in very good shape. I may never ever get another chance to play those PS2 games if I finally can move out. So might as well pounce now! And get the G.U. collection for my PS4 a bit later.

Hey Grey, how are things at your university? did you get to choose your classes for next semester yet? i imagine you did since you're much further into college than i am at this rate. Today i had to get up at 5:30 AM EST to register for mine, and i nearly got what i wanted. I got the Bio class i need, a few history pre-requisites and an English class, but couldn't get into Italian 3 to get rid of that irritating language requirement next semester. It's frustrating having to learn a language on top of juggling other classes, it's not like i'll ever use the skills over here, or go over to Italy and practice it first hand (been there, done that). But i guess that's how these things go when you're a college freshman, you get the scraps of what the upperclassmen don't get, and you have to be fast to get what you need.

Well, the original .hack was billed as a "offline MMO"; for that, it has decent gameplay (kinda action rpg'ish) and good AI for your companions you call. It also has a pretty good story; if you can find the anime in your language (there are several) go for it to get acquainted; luckily the lore isn't as interconnected as KH, but it'll be a good way to start.

And wow. I actually have access to Undertale b/c 'neko bought it (and we share steam accounts; I wouldn't do that with anyone but family b/c of security.) Maybe once I get the backlog down I might think about it; I just started on the first series of .hack games b/c at least here in the US, they are rare and hard to get; copies of the ones after Infection can be worth hundreds of USD if you can find one since they are a little rare. More if they have the anime disks (each game came with a anime disk) since some people got rid of that somehow. I'm just lucky that 'Neko bought them new when they first came out!

Hanging in there; was about to do my daily workout. Still waiting on Noscript, as you prolly saw.

Prolly going to play some more .hack Infection after lunch. And I guess he's just that good a enemy that you feel sorry for besting him?

Mrraw meow meow?
How's things?

Yeah, it did. For now. No problems for a few days at least.

Oh and my blood pressure is also def under control now, so starting donating plasma again. My brother who had been taking me can't reliably anymore, so I'm having to make some arrangements to get there.

Also made the appointment for the mammogram; NO, I do not want cancer! If I do get that family curse, I want to catch it early! *flips the bird at cancer*

mrraw meow meow? How's things?

It has been! Last night I didn't disconnect tho I did get distracted (not good for a white mage!) maybe they finally managed to fix it. *knock on wood* Not going to say it's fixed though until I don't have lag or disconnects for 3-4 days. I assume that division of Square's mad though since someone was messing with the JP servers too. (FFXIV, unlike XI, has separate servers for JP, EU and USA)

That sounds like you're having a good time! I admit I'd be in the non-coffee-drinkers if I was in that, but that sounds really splendid ^^.

Pretty good. It's been pretty quiet over here really.

Only really bad thing is someone's been DDOS'ing the XIV servers in such a way, it's been causing a lot of lag. I've been d/cing in a lot of dungeons, and believe me that does not make me a happy white mage at the moment..

Pretty much. sorry about the late reply! Seems I accidentally posted on my own profile again.

Anyway doc finally got my blood pressure normalized so *whew whew*. And since breast cancer runs in the family, I'm going to have to get a mammogram (think breast x-ray); it's just "keeping a eye on it" so I'm not worried. ^^

+ spoiler-free
+ vanitas-fangirling
+ supports the gameplay

What more could a Void possibly ask of a fairy?