Finalmente! Ya he terminado con mis examenes! Y tambien no estoy enferma . La unica cosa que yo quiero hacer es relajar...
Examenes as always are stressful. Art exam analyzing Guernica - yeah cuz that's doable in 1.5hrs. All-nighter finishing cine paper on La Mala Educacion (which coincidentally my professor actually does NOT like). PLUS a so-called "recitation" of a poem for lit, in which our professor started late and kept us for an extra 1hr to finish up. But now I'm done!!
All I have to do now is pack up all my crap, shove it in a locker at the airport and get my but to Italy.
After the crowded early-morning metro ride dragging along a backpack and 2 roller suitcases (a few people actually had some pity on my poor soul and offered to help me up some steps), left my stuff in a locker and headed over to gate. On the way over I realized such a weight, both physical and mental, had been lifted up off of me. I had no hefty luggage, no tests, no hw, no deadlines, no pressure to face from here on out. I was already sick, what's the worst that can happen? I was on my way to the gate, I was way early, I knew how to get from the airport to the city. Whatever happens I can deal with it. I was calm. Plus the vending machine popped out 2 bags of cornnuts for me instead of one - I'm taking that as a good omen. This'll be a good trip. It has to be.
I finally get to Torino and meet Katie for the second time. Again, we get a little lost getting to the hostel but its a-okay. We decided to walk around the city center a bit and grab a bite to eat. We knew little about Torino which I think worked to our advantage. Little to no expectations, letting whatever happens happen can be a very good thing. We learned our lesson from Barcelona.
The city is pretty calm, older but very clean and pretty. No tourists thank god. Very conducive to my want for relaxation. And what a wonderful discovery to find that arab/turkish food is ubiquitous in Italy as well, as we found kebab places all over. Not only that, but they have a peculiar thing called a pizza kebab - PIZZA KEBAB. A wonderful discovery indeed. Seriously, why haven't kebabs and shwarmas caught on in the States?
Next up on our very loosely planned trip is the National Cinema Museum. A.k.a. the best museum everrrrrrrrrr! God I'm a geek, but I don't care. There were no lines, no crowds, and relatively cheap student entrance. Film memorabilia galore, original posters (though they be in italian), set-ups and stages dedicated to different film genres/aspects of film. Showing a few clips of movies, they showed the end scene and the oh so famous speech from Casablanca, which I could probably recite from memory. <3333333333
After my reluctant departure from the cine museum, we decided to walk around the center of town on the way to the Egyptian museum - this time the key to Katie's heart. Torino is actually very beautiful but simple at the same time. Open spaces. Felt like I could breathe better, compared to the hustle and bustle of Madrid, and that of Barcelona even.
Being above ground and using the trams also help, instead of being down underneath the ground in metros. Best part of the tram system? Just about no one checks your ticket nor does anyone validate their ticket, hence basically free tram rides!
Last day we went to the Royal Palace, but the only tours they had were in Italian. Definitely spent too much time in those rooms listening to their histories in Italian. We busted outta there, had a last few walks around town and ate bomb-ass cannolis. We made our way to the train station with time to spare, no running out to the platform for us!
Overall, we liked Torino. We didn't expect much, but got a lot back. Good bye Torino! And Italian, which is close enough to Spanish for me to kinda understand. Onto Paris, second to last leg of my European trip
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