July 14th....Bastillle Day!!!

Bastille Day in Paris!!! Bastille Day is France’s national holiday, and there is a huge celebration at the Eiffel Tower at night, and other celebrations throughout the city during the day. We started the day by getting up late…oops. Our intentions were to make it to the Bastille Day parade, which started at 10:30. While we did make it, we didn’t make it earlier enough to get close to the street to actually see the parade, so all we got was hearing it and a little behind the scenes view of where the military boys gathered before and after marching. The crowds were absolutely insane…we walked back to the hotel (about 40 minutes) because they had closed down all of the metros surrounding the parade, which in all honesty was probably a good idea…large groups of people in very tight spaces usually does not work out very well. It was still pretty cool to be there though, regardless of really seeing the parade or not. The whole day was also our free day, so we just planned on going back to the hotel and catching up on homework. When we actually got back to the hotel…our plans fell through a little bit. Kylee and I both got on our computers, and actually checked on some things…then we decided to lay down for an hour…which turned into 4 hours. Oops again. We got absolutely nothing done, but the nap was nice!
When we woke up, it was time to go get some dinner and find a spot to watch the fireworks. It was only about 6 pm, and the fireworks didn’t start until 10pm, but the small amount of space in front of the Eiffel tower fills up quickly with all of the Parisian citizens and hundreds of tourists. We didn’t really do too much for dinner; we just grabbed sandwiches at a shop that was set up on the street. All my sandwich had on it was ham and butter (strange combo I know) but it was substance so it met our requirements. We got to the Eiffel tower with about 3 hours left to wait, but it was worth it because we got a super good spot with Beccah, Whitney, Malory and Jenna. They were more prepared than us and had brought a blanket to sit on, but for Kylee, Michelle, Megan, Susie, Amanda, Julia and I…we got asphalt. It was a little rough to sit on for 4 hours. They had music playing, a guy named Johnny Hallyday, and apparently he’s really big here. Everyone had t-shirts and was shouting his name. It was weird, he was pretty old (he looked about 55ish) and was wearing a black sequin shirt…Kylee compared him to Neil Diamond. Oh…and he sang in French, obviously, so we couldn’t understand anything he was saying. There were a lot of English speaking tourists there though, and plenty of Americans, so he and the others performers did play a couple of American songs. While we were sitting, I started talking with a married couple next to me. They were not American, they were actually from Vancouver, but at least we spoke the same language. We talked about their travels, where they had been and where they were going, my travels, their lives in college, how they met, how long they’d been married, just a lot of small talk stuff. We actually talked for a couple of hours, and I never even got their names. It’s ok though, the conversation was good and it’s always fun to meet different people. It was a lot of fun to talk with them, and it made the waiting time go by much faster. When the fireworks started, it was so incredible. The Eiffel tower lit up, and they did projected images onto it to make it look like it was moving and dancing, they projected pictures up of the different wars throughout French history and little cartoon battles. They shot lights up the tower to make it different colors and put different patterns all over it. It was amazing. And, of course, they had a huge firework show around it. Some fireworks were coming from the bottom, some from the 1st and 2nd levels, and some from the top. It was way better than any other firework show I’ve ever seen…except for the fact that all of the announcements were in French. Overall, it was one of the best things I’ve ever experienced in my entire life. It was just so incredible. While the fireworks were going, these very very drunk French boys were in front of us, and we started chatting with them a little (as much as possible with the language barrier). When we said we were American, they started jumping around declaring how much they loved America. It was really hilarious. When the fireworks ended, we tried to start leaving quickly to beat the masses, but with no such luck. It’s hard to beat the masses when they surround you from all sides, including in front of you. It was literally so smashed that we all held hands in a single file line and waddled through with a group of moving people. If your feet weren’t moving, you would be pushed down. There had to have been hundreds of thousands of people moving through the street. All of the roads were shut down and blocked off, and police were trying to direct the pedestrian traffic. It was crazy. We got separated about half way through, and Susie, Megan, Amanda and Julia ended up behind the rest of us. When we broke free of the crowd that was moving as one, we were just walking with smaller crowds back to our hotel. There was a man that appeared to be following our group, so we walked quite a bit faster to try to lose him in the crowds, which we did. It was a little scary though. Darrin had warned us earlier in the day to not speak English on our way back to the hotel that night, because there have been some problems before with Americans being attacked verbally and sometimes physically on Bastille Day. So we were pretty much silent on the way back. When we got to the hotel, Darrin and our hotel concierge were waiting outside and counting members of the group as we went inside. I lingered around the lobby for a few minutes waiting for Amanda and Julia, because we didn’t know if they were with Susie and Megan or if they were by themselves. All four of them came back in a group though, so everything worked out ok. It was such a crazy night, and a little bit scary to be surrounded by that many French people, some of which really hate you for being American, but at the same time, the experience was so worth it.

July 13th: Arriving in Paris!

Monday July 13th:
Monday morning we woke up in our mobile sardine can (the train bunks) in Paris! A bus took us and our luggage (thank heavens for not having to haul it through town) to our hotel. Our hotel room is quite nice, with one major exception…we have no shower door or curtain…it’s gone. So, when we shower, we have to try to aim the water away from the rest of the bathroom, and we still end up with a pool of water outside the tub. It’s pretty awesome. But…there are no holes in the wall, and there are three mirrors…whoot whoot!! I’m not quite sure if we’re moving up or down in the world…but we’re moving somewhere. We took a few minutes to change out of our train clothes and then headed down to the lobby to meet Darrin for our first Parisian adventure, which consisted of walking to the Eiffel Tower and sketching it multiple times (which, by the way I did not accomplish very well). But what better introduction to Paris can you ask for than walking up to the Eiffel Tower? It was great. We then had a few hours to ourselves to do some stuff around the city. A few of us girls tried to go to the Catacombs, but because it was the day before Bastille Day (France’s national holiday), they were closed…but, of course, we didn’t find that out until AFTER we had walked for an hour and a half to get there. It was pretty annoying. By that time, we only had a couple hours left, so we just decided to skip the tourism and go to Hard Rock Café. It was a fun experience, but not so impressed with the food. I just got a hamburger and fries, but apparently the normal way to eat meat here is very rare, so even though I ordered my meat well done, it was still pink, which was really hard for me to choke down…but I was hungry so I did. Oh well, can’t have the best all the time.
After the Hard Rock, we went back to the hotel to meet the rest of the group for our nighttime boat tour of Paris (sounds great doesn’t it). On the way to the boat dock, we walked by Notre Dame and took a bunch of pictures outside. We did jumping pictures off of the wall in front of the lawn, and when I landed I fell forward a bit, landing on my hands and knees (softly, it didn’t hurt), and then Kylee rolled over me…it was pretty hilarious. We did some group shots and single shots, and just hung out for a while before we started our tour. When we got to the Seine river, we realized that we had lost Nancy, so Darrin and Caroline went back to look for her. Meanwhile, Susie bought tour tickets for us, but we bought tickets for the 10:30 pm ride (we got there about 9:40) so that the others would have time to get back before we got on. We never found Nancy (until we got back to the hotel), so we just got on our 10:30 tour anyway. It was amazing. The boat had stadium type seats with open sides and tops. We had a bilingual tour guide that explained the sites along the way, which looked so incredible at night since they were all lit up. I was surprised to find that some of the most famous architectural features in Paris are bridges rather than buildings. We went under the oldest bridge in Paris, the bridge that was a gift from Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and a bridge that has collapsed more than 10 times. We also passed the Louvre, a bunch of churches, the building where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned for the last days of her life, and, of course, the Eiffel Tower. It was a unique and enjoyable way to get oriented with Paris. We didn’t get back to the hotel until after midnight, so we pretty much just crashed in the hotel. It was a fantastic first day in Paris!!!

July 12th, 2009...Last day in Italia!!!

Sunday was basically a free day in Venice, except for the fact that we had to be at the train station for the overnighter to Paris at 8. But we had most of the day. Amanda, Julia, Michelle and I still had to visit St. Mark’s, so that’s the first thing we planned to do. We just kind hung around town for a couple hours because we couldn’t get into St. Mark’s until 2 pm. We did some shopping, sketched a bridge, took a bunch of pictures…usual time wasting activities. We headed over to the church at around 1 to get in line, and while Michelle, Julia, and Amanda were standing in line, I left to make a phone call. I didn’t think that the line would start moving until 2 because the chapel wasn’t open, but apparently the museum and other sites were, so the other girls went through the line and when I came back, they were nowhere to be found. So, I just got in the back of the line and assumed that I would run into them inside of the church. I was fortunate enough to end up behind three boys from New Zealand, meaning that they spoke English. So at least I had someone to chat with in line rather than just standing there by myself looking like a lost American tourist. And I got to talk to some interesting kids (they were traveling around Europe for slightly less than 2 weeks for free because they had won a film festival together…sweet prize), so that was a plus. While I was in line, right before I got into the building, the other three girls found me and said that the line was only going into the museum and other sites and that the chapel wasn’t open yet (imagine that), so we had to waste the rest of the hour, then check Amanda’s backpack, then we could go in. When we got inside though, it was well worth it! It was so incredibly beautiful. Architecturally, it was nearly as impressive as St. Peter’s in Rome, and in decorative terms it was just as beautiful. The chapel is one of history’s best examples of Byzantine design. It is based on the form of a Greek cross, and there are 5 separate domes. Most of the ceiling is made up of mosaics that are comprised of precious stones, including a lot of gold. It was such an amazing thing to see. We had the opportunity to sit inside and sketch for a few minutes, but no sketch (especially mine J) could ever do the building justice. It was remarkable!
After St. Mark’s we did some more time wasting with shopping, grabbing pizza, etc. until 5 when Michelle and I met Kylee and Megan on top of the Rialto bridge for a Gondola ride. We had already picked out a particular stop, so we headed over to that stop and there happened to be a boat pulling up right then so we could get on right away. It was 20 Euro (about 30 dollars) a piece, but it was definitely worth it. Our Gondolier took us around the Grand Canal and through the smaller canals, the whole time explaining cultural and historical facts and landmarks. We passed by the oldest building in Venice, Marco Polo’s home, the old women’s prison, and many others. When we were in a small canal by ourselves, he sang to us for a moment, but he explained that they are very shy about singing, and that he really did not like his own voice…I thought it was pretty great anyway. He explained to us that Gondoliers have to go through school where they learn multiple languages and a lot of history, as well as driving lessons and how to maintain the boats. He also explained that there can only ever be a certain number of Gondoliers, and so even if you do the training, you generally cannot be an actual Gondolier until somebody, usually a father (in his case, an uncle) passes the license down to the next generation, specifically the oldest boy in the family. He was really excited to talk about his job, and you could just tell that he felt very honored and proud to be able to do what he does. The ride was only about 45 minutes but it was so great, and definitely worth experiencing.
After the Gondola, we headed back to the hotel quickly to grab our luggage (they had stored it all day for us so that we didn’t have to pay for a locker at the train station), and then we made our way to the train station. We had to be there at 7:50 pm, and the train didn’t leave until about 8:30, so we had a little time to just relax and hang around the train station. When we got on the train, we were situated with six girls (some only had 4) to a room. Julia, Amanda, Megan, Michelle, Kylee, and I were all put in a room together. When the seats are folded down, they make two couch-like seats that each seat 3 that are facing each other. The back of the couch fold up to make a bunk, making 2 bottom bunks (the couch seats), 2 middle bunks (the couch backs), and then 2 top bunks are above the seats. We were literally like 6 sardines in a can. I got the bottom bunk, which was the crappiest place, but I’m the shortest so it was easiest. I had the head rests from the bottom of the couch back protruding down over me, in some places only leaving a few inches above me, and there was a huge gap between the back of my bed and the wall, so I kept falling into it. Not to mention, the bed itself was only about 18 inches deep. Come to find out later, we hadn’t finished setting it up and it actually pulls out farther, lies flat, and pushes against the wall. If I’m ever on an overnight train again, I will know how to properly set it up. But for this particular instance, it was an uncomfortable night, but definitely a memorable story!

Saturday, July 11th

Saturday was so amazing. We started out the day by taking a boat out to Murano island. I think that everyday should be started like this. Wouldn’t it be great to say “so I drove out to the island on my boat for work this morning…”? I think so. Anyway, we took our boat ride out to the island so that we could tour the big glass factory. Venice is famous for its glass works, and the factory on Murano is one of the biggest ones in the city. We got to go into the actual factory and watch one of the ‘masters’ make a small vase and a little horse statue. The silica sand (liquid glass) is all sitting in ovens that are kept ridiculously hot. The glass maker sticks a long pole into the stove and wraps some liquid around the end, almost like spaghetti on a fork (it’s the best metaphor I could come up with). He then rolls it across beams and pulls and stretches it with special tools to make whatever design he needs to. It was fascinating. He made a little horse statue in about 10 minutes, and they sell for about 40 Euro, or 60 US dollars. It’s insane. After we watched them make the glass, we got to walk through the showrooms. The building contains 9 showrooms that are all lined with miscellaneous glass works. The ceilings are all lined with chandeliers in all shapes, sizes and colors. They were so beautiful…if I ever get rich I’m putting a red one in my house (they start at about $15,000 for smaller ones, some go up to $200,000 or more). They had everything in glass ranging from small perfume bottles to giant statues of abstract people and shapes. It was honestly one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.
After the showrooms, we took an hour to just wander around the island. I fell asleep in the sun on some stairs while everyone was sitting around me. It was pretty relaxing…until I woke up and felt like my body was 120 degrees. But it was worth it to relax for a little bit. On the way back to the water taxi we stopped at a dessert shop where I bought a weird cookie/roll thing. It was really good. It was shaped kind of like a potato, but it tasted like a sugar cookie mixed with a gingersnap. It was definitely different. We caught the water taxi and headed back to St. Marks, and the taxi ride was about an hour. It was soooo long and I wasn’t feeling well so it was pretty uncomfortable. But eventually we got there, and Michelle, Amanda, and I had decided earlier that we were going to go to the beach, and we’d been told that Lido was the best one around. So we rushed back to the hotel, took 15 minutes to change, and then rushed back to St. Mark’s to catch another water taxi. We were pleasantly surprised by the ride to Lido only being about 15-20 minutes. When we got to the island, we had to walk through the little town, which seemed like a completely different world than Venice. There were actual roads and cars, which after being in Venice seemed really abnormal to see. We walked for about 10 minutes and then we came to a huge building that opened out to the beach. It was so crowded…and much more naked than I’m used to. It wasn’t a nude beach technically, but people aren’t concerned about lying out topless or undressing to change. A little bit of culture shock is good for everyone though. The beach was beautiful. We played in the water for a while, and just relaxed on the sand in the sun. It was such a great vacation day. Visiting museums and sight-seeing is great and I really enjoy, but it was so nice to just take a day off and do a care-free vacation activity. I loved it. We all fell asleep on our backs for about an hour and acquired some pretty interesting tan lines…I have an oval on my chest because of where my necklace was lying. It’s pretty awesome looking. Even though it was a ridiculously shallow tourist activity, going to the beach was one of my favorite adventures in Venice.
The end of the day was not as great as the rest of it though. After the beach, I met Kylee and Megan back at the hotel so that we could go to dinner. It was our last night to eat out in Italy, so we wanted to be a little fancier. We decided to eat down by the Rialto Bridge on the edge of the canal. It was pretty pricey, but we were mostly paying for the experience. Apparently, that wasn’t good enough for the restaurant. I ordered an entrée, Megan wasn’t feeling well so she didn’t order anything, and Kylee ordered an entrée and a bottle of water. The waiter seemed ok while we were ordering, and then he looked a little confused and called the manager over. They chatted in Italian while staring at us, and then the manager started yelling “2 plates, 2 plates!” We couldn’t understand what he was talking about, so we asked him to clarify, and he held up 2 fingers, but them in each of our faces, and repeated “2 plates!”, implying that we had to order 2 plates a piece to be able to eat there. We disagreed, and told him that we would leave. Kylee had already drunk some of the water, so he told her to keep it as a gift and get out. He then continued to tell yell at us to leave, even as we were walking away. We stopped at a payphone a few feet from the restaurant so that I could make a call, and after we had been sitting there for about 10 minutes, he started to walk towards us, so we just turned away and walked down a side street. It was really awkward and uncomfortable. A little bit more cultural disagreement than I would prefer, but I guess he was probably just as insulted as we were. It was a weird experience. After intentionally winding through side streets to get back to the bridge without having to cross him again, we ran into some of the other girls, and just decided to go to a small street café. It actually worked out quite well for me because I got to order the same meal for 4 Euro less. We did get dinner, we just didn’t quite get the dinner experience that we wanted…but we definitely got some kind of experience!

July 10th, 2009

Friday morning we got to sleep in a little bit and didn’t have to meet until 9 am, which was pretty fantastic. After eating breakfast, we met in a group outside to wait for a lady that was going to take us to tour Rubelli, a high end tapestry company in Italy. The tour was so great. The lady was really good in the aspect that she gave us enough information to give more meaning and substance to the things we were looking at, but she didn’t overload us so much that we were oblivious to the things we were looking at. She talked to us about the history and foundations of Rubelli, the company, the design, and a little bit of how the business runs now. She showed us a part of the historical archive that has older Rubelli fabrics that were used for royalty and prestigious people (some of the fabrics date farther back than the 1600’s). The entire historic collection contains over 5000 textile records that date between the end of the 15th century to the beginning of the 20th century. Besides just pieces of fabric there was also a corset made out of their fabric that had been used as an outside corset (worn on the outside of the dress rather than as an undergarment) for fancy dresses. She then let us loose to look through the different collections. Books showing different pieces in application were spread out, as well as actual pieces of the fabrics hanging in the showroom. The different collections are based on different parts of Italy, depending on where the inspirations for the pattern came from. Most of their pieces were a little bit too much on the traditional side for me, but I did really like some of their more modern pieces.
After Rubelli, we took a short lunch break for about an hour and grabbed some pizza by the slice, which was some of the best pizza I’ve had in Italy so far. It was just regular ham pizza, but it was really good…and, honestly, only the second time I’ve eaten meat here. Meat isn’t super common here. After lunch we met back at our hotel to meet another tour guide to take us to Fortuny. Fortuny is another textile company founded by Mariano Fortuny in the early 1900’s. The actual production method of how their textiles are made is kept a secret, so we were not allowed to go into the factory, but we did tour the showroom and gardens. What we were told about Fortuny is that they use all natural dyes, which leaves the result of lighter and darker colors throughout the pattern. Also, the methods and machines that Mariano Fortuny used 100 years ago to make his textiles are the same processes and machines that are still used today. The textiles are only made in the building that we went to on the island of Giudecca. Also, all of the patterns that are in use were originally designed by Mariano. The company is very concerned with its authenticity and traditions. Their patters are absolutely gorgeous. The style is more traditional, like Rubelli, but for some reason, I liked the Fortuny collections so much more. The way their colors are set and the faded, more rugged look draws me in. I loved it. The office workers were so sweet as well, bringing us Coke and chips. It was really nice of them to cater to our American refreshment interests. After the showroom, we also got to tour the grounds and the gardens. They were so beautiful. We walked through a long row of gardens and then it opens up into a large courtyard type area, with little benches and a massive swimming pool. The pool was filling up while we were there, and our guide told us that because of the size of the pool and the lack of water pressure, it will take 3 full days for the pool to fill up. I really liked the steps into the pool. Rather than normal rectangular steps, they were stacked circles alternating in size, almost like Lilly pads. It was just really interesting that they took the time to have something that is so much about function designed in such a unique way. Visiting these two showrooms made this one of my favorite days in Italy.

Welcome to Venice! July 9th

Thursday morning was our last day in Florence, so we just wandered around shopping through the market. It felt like a very genuine foreign country experience. The markets are a little less intense than walking through Mexico, for example, but the street sellers are worse. They lay their little sunglasses and knock-off Prada bags out on white sheets and if you even glance towards the ground they’ll follow you for a good 25 feet. But it’s a lot of fun to barter with the merchants and vendors. We had to be to the train station around noon in order to catch our train to Venice at 12:30. While we were waiting at the train station, we were all huddled in a circle surrounding our luggage and a bunch of us were just sitting on the ground relaxing. Apparently large groups of young American girls (and a few boys) gathered in a train station draws the attention of the Italian police. A few police officers walked over to our group and started demanding to see our passports. Other Americans were coming over to see what was going on, and asking why they were interrogating us. The police said that it was a routine check, which caused the other Americans to argue that the police hadn’t checked any of them. Erica Whitehead pulled me and the rest of our train group away from the main group and we just pretended not to be involved. It was pretty intimidating though. They were writing down the names and passport and social security numbers and messaging over radios. It was a little bit scary. But there was nothing we could do about it except tell them that our train left in twenty minutes, after which they would assure us that they would be done by then. Once the police released everyone in our group we got on the train just fine (much better than the first fiasco from Rome to Florence) and began our 3 hour train ride to Venice. The Italian country side is so beautiful…everything you would dream of and expect to only see in pictures. It was so phenomenal to just stare out through the window. The unearthly beauty continued all the way into and throughout Venice. When we walked out of the train station, we were facing the Grand Canal with the city front across from it. It was a great welcome to the city. We got on a water taxi at the train station (which proved to be another fiasco because 5 of us were not able to get on the first taxi) to take to our hotel stop. Luggage in hand we crowded onto the boat and hiked through Venetian side streets to get to our hotel. Our hotel was a true case and point to never judge a book by its cover. It looked like another shabby Italian building from the outside, but when we got inside, it was spectacular. Our walls are covered in white patterned fabric, our bed is beautiful, and there are dark stained exposed beams across the ceiling. The breakfast room is also incredibly pretty. They chairs and tables are all covered and wrapped with white fabric, all of the food is served on fancy trays (and the food is great, by the way), and the service is excellent. Darrin informed us when we checked in that this is our nicest hotel throughout the whole trip, and I am definitely not disappointed. We took a quick half hour to freshen up, and then met back outside so that Darrin could show us all how to get to the Rialto Bridge, which is the bridge that crosses the Grand Canal, and it serves as sort of the meeting spot of the city. We did some picture taking and shopped around the bridge a little bit (blown glass and ceramic masks are everywhere). Kylee and I and a few other girls were pretty exhausted from the train ride, so we just got some dinner at a cute little outdoor street restaurant and then headed back to the hotel to catch up on some homework and get to bed a little earlier. Overall, I think Venice is my favorite part of Italy that I’ve seen. The infrastructure design is incredibly unique (as I’m sure most people know, there are no cars or main streets, it’s all boats and canals), the city is filled with its own independent culture (the glass blowing and the sea atmosphere), and the overall vibe of the city is just really relaxed, laid back, and care-free!

Monday, July 6th

Monday morning we went to the train station to catch our train to Florence. It was my first time on a train, so I was actually pretty excited. Come to find out, it’s really not that exciting of a thing. It’s kind of like a bus but faster, and the seats suck. They’re the most uncomfortable transportation seats I’ve ever sat in. I think it’s because I’m shorter than average and the pillow is fixed to the top of the seat, so it pushes my head down. But oh well, I have to try things once…or three times on this trip, actually. Oh well. When we got to Florence, we walked from the train station to our hotel, or…rather, what we thought was our hotel. When we got there we were told that there was not room for us because Penn State was still there on their study abroad trip. So we got moved over to their sister hotel…I think it must have been the red-headed step sister hotel. It was pretty gross. The walls in the room were bright yellow, with pieces of plaster missing and brick sticking through. We couldn’t figure out if the exposed brick was decoration or lack of repair…we decided on decoration just to comfort ourselves. We had three single column beds all against one long headboard, on small bed side table, a wardrobe, and a desk. Our bathroom was all blue and laid out in a line. The shower was a single stall on one end, and the whole bathroom was the same width as the shower. The toilet and foot bath were on the wall across from the door, and the sink and mirror (only mirror in the room!) were on the wall across from the shower. We had to shuffle through the bathroom. Also, the only outlet was in the bathroom, and the TV didn’t work…even if it’s in Italian a little TV is good sometimes. It was such a down grade from our hotel in Rome. But it was a bed and a shower (sort of) so it’s better than nothing. We took some time to freshen up, and then met our Florence tour guide, Tanya. She just walked us through Florence to get an idea of the town and become oriented with the common areas and routes. We did a circle through the Piazza de Republica (pretty much a town square), and through popular side and main streets. She also gave us suggestions for food and dessert, which proved to be a successful thing with Antionella (the restaurant she suggested in Rome was amazing!). It was a pretty lax day over all. Most of the group went over to the other hotel (the one we were originally supposed to stay in) because they were allowing us to use their internet for free. My computer was broken, so I stayed behind and just hung around the hotel. The hotel that we were actually staying at had one kiosk that we could use for an hour so I used that to check email and work on some blogging. I basically just relaxed around the hotel. . .took a shower, did some reading, got some hot chocolate…which by the way, was some of the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had in my life, even though the guy had apologized for the quality because it’s made in the morning and I got it at night. It was amazing though. I know it sounds boring, but it really was great to have some time by myself to just relax.