I have never been to a city that speaks so many languages! Every single sign is in French, English, German, and Italian. I love it!
I arrived in Geneva late Wednesday night. As usual, I got lost, caught in the rain, and was ridiculously tired after a 12 hour train trip here. However, I guess I'm used to it now because honestly, I just laughed in the rain instead of breaking down crying or freaking out. It's just funny by now, I think I take after my mom (sorry Ma) and just can't follow directions. I have seriously gotten lost everywhere. I arrived in Geneva after leaving Rome early that morning after having to catch a train to Milan, and then Milan to Geneva. It was a long twelve hours and when I got here I had no place to stay. But finally, after almost 3 weeks on the road I kind of like having no idea what I'm doing. I was totally stuck Wednesday night, but I traipsed through the raging thunderstorm in my flip flops and huge backpack with a smile on my face :-D It was great! I found a hotel (no hostels in expensive Geneva) right near the train station and fell into a deep sleep (forget my 12 hours on the train, travel sleep sooo doesn't count).
But what happened to my week in Italy? You can guess from my complete lack of communication that I have been too busy to sit down and write. I think I left you at my dramatic trip into Amalfi. When I woke up the next morning in my grungy hostel, I went straight to the beach. Really gorgeous water, hot hot HOT sand, rocky cliffs, and beautiful Italians and bathing suits... But the town was too small for me and it would take hours to get anywhere more exciting. So I enjoyed my time at the beach but ended up leaving early for Rome to have something better to do. I literally have NO exciting stories of Amalfi, but I'm glad I saw it, and would definitely go again with friends.
Rome on the other hand, was of course exciting - I think I both hated and loved it. I stayed in two different places. I at first got my own room in a hostel (gasp!) cutely named Fawlty Towers but was meeting no one so I switched to this great social/party hostel where I was put in one room with FIVE guys. Thank God they were all sweet because I completely freaked when I first got to my room. But I ended up meeting this nice guy from California who I travelled with during my time in Rome. The hostel offered a pub crawl through all the famous Roman sites so we did that together, as well as ate TONS of pasta with some other lone travelers we met in the hostel. 
I also found the most amazing gelateria in all the world. Seriously. I could die now and be completely happy. I went back three times in two days and got six different flavors: honey almond, sacher torte (remember that Austrian cake I mentioned earlier? Yeah, its also GELATO), green apple, coconut, cappuccino, and pink grapefruit. It was absolutely amazing, especially because I spent all my time in Italy searching for the perfect ice cream. I think I may have stopped at every single gelato place in Rome, and I feel soooo victorious having found the perfect place...
And of course I did the typical touristy things in Rome. 
I saw the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Sistine Chapel.... all amazing and just like I had imagined. When I first stepped out of the Metro stop by the Colosseum my breath was literally taken away. It was kind of like meeting a famous person. And I went through an entire memory card on my camera!
Now that I'm in Geneva I'm slightly bored, but in a good way, I promise. Geneva is the perfect place to recharge my batteries because I'm mostly sitting a lot but I don't feel guilty because it's not like I'm missing out on a lot! After this I head to Nice, to see my lovely friend Alea (hi Pancake!), and from there I go back to Paris so I can take the Chunnel to London and actually do some work ;-) Geneva is great though, I've seen the United Nations, the Red Cross museum, and of course Lake Geneva, which is beautiful when its not raining! Last night though was the Absolut Highlight. My childhood best friend Thana's best friend from high school, Mya, lives here in Geneva (confusing enough?). I've heard everything about Mya but we've never met, so I took the opportunity to meet her here and we clicked automatically. I took her out for dinner, and then we went out to meet some of her friends. Geneva really is the most international city I know. My super-helpful Lonely Planet guidebook says that Geneva belongs less to Switzerland and more to the world, and that really is the case. Mya's friends were from Luxembourg, Germany, Mexico, the States, and the ones who were actually from Switzerland had families originally from places like Finland or Afghanistan. It was a great group of people and I heard lots of stories. I'm meeting people from all over the world, making great connections, and I bet the next time I do a trip like this I won't even need to stay in hostels! At the end of our night Mya and I, along with some of her friends, walked around for a while and we were treated to a performance by her Swiss friends freestyle rapping in French. For those of you who have yet to hear French rap, you immediately need to get on that... hiiiilllaaarious!
I'm sorry for this book of an email, but even with this I can't paint a big or brilliant enough picture of everything I've been doing here. You can tell from the fact that I've been too busy and tired to write until now that too much has been happening for me to sit. Except I kind of like it that way...
Love to all!!! 
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