Planning for Italy

 Hiii!!!
Why so many iiiis and !!!s? Because I got into the Art History and Monument Conservation major in Olomouc. While not my preferred school or subject, I can´t imagine really working in it, It would be a great thing to do for about a year. I´m not sure about other schools, but it´s nice to see that I won´t have to flip burgers in KFC (only fast food in my town) while living in our tiny, crowded apartment. 
My friend, Eliška, got in too, so we will be classmates for another year! 
(Of course, only if I won´t get into Film Studies or the highly specific Egypt and Near East in the Ancient. If I won´t work in the movie industry, I can imagine myself as an academic in the field of Luwian studies.)

Talking about classmates and getting out of my home, I´m going on my first parentless vacation. Me, Ida, Andy (2s, we share a name) and Eliška are visiting Italy. 
Funnily enough, it started with me reading a book about Bosnia and Herzegovina. I wanted to visit Sarajevo so badly, but it would be too expensive right now. Unfortunately, I already sparked an interest in my three friends, so we decided to go to the heart of the Balkan next year, and visit Italy instead. 
I mean, we are art students. What better place could we choose? 

The problem started with our accommodation. We are not dirt poor, by any means, we have enough liberty to choose art and humanity majors, but we are still young and jobless (not me, anymore!), so we needed something on budget. Also, I won´t let my parents pay for this trip. Since I´m head of our planning group (it was me who came up with it, after all), I took it upon myself to find us housing. 
Let´s say, Airbnb wasn´t a way to do it. 
First of all, really? All those fees? They make like one-third of the final price, and there´s no way cleaning up would really be that pricy. 
Second, I´m not a fan of their booking system. If the owner of the housing won´t respond within a few hours (24 I think?), it will expire. 
My weak body with already too high cholesterol stats didn´t handle this waiting too well. The expiration happened twice before I gave up and found us a nice hostel near Termini instead in Rome. 

Now, why am I starting with housing, when I wrote nothing about transport or other destination? That´s because we started with Roman accommodation. It´s not the first town we want to see, but it´s certainly the most popular one, and we could literally see how hotel rooms are vanishing before our eyes. 
Did we panic a little bit? Maybe, but it was worth it. Four people, two nights, in the center of ancient world, all for 160€. That´s 40€ per person, and I can imagine finding something cheaper, but in Rome, in the start of the tourist season, this is magnificent. 
Luckily, we will be able to spend a few nights in the bus, since FlixBus ended up being our preferred form of transportation. 

We are leaving on 21st June. By bus, we are going from Brno to Milan, where we will spend a day. Then, we will hopefully catch another bus from Milan to Rome. It´s an overnight ride, so at least for now, Milan seems to be quite a budget trip. 
In the early morning hours, we will get off in Rome. I suspect we will treat ourselves to McBreakfest or something to that effect. All of us decided to take instant ramen noodles and other food with us, but we will need some energy for rest of the day. 
After Rome, Ida wanted to spend a day by sea, and of course, our first idea was Venetia. It was proved to not be the greatest idea, so instead, we will go to Civitavecchia. We will spend a night here. After days full of walking, this relax will be more than welcomed.
Then, the next day, we will have to get back to Rome and then to Naples. The road from and to Civitavecchia is the only one by train, instead of bus. I like traveling by train, it gives the best sights, so I´m looking forward to this. 
We didn´t want to spend too much time in Naples. We are really here for Pompeii and Herculaneum, but then we would have troubles getting home, so instead, we will be in Naples for two nights. We will come at night, and leave really early in the morning. Most of that one full day will be spent in the area of Ancient cities, so I don´t think we will enjoy too much of the city.
But we will definitely try some pizza here. If I´m not mistaken, it originated here. 
Last time I went to Italy, (last and first, my I add), I have totally forgotten about it and it still makes me cry inside. 
Then, again through Rome, we will head home and on 29th June, we will step outside the bus in Prague. It´s 4 hour ride by train to Karviná, but after all of this, I will probably spend most of it asleep, so it won´t be a problem.

Next time, I will write about our plans, but now, I will try to study. We have "holly week" now, which means that we have time off school to study for our finals. I´m not too nervous, but I think it will come :D. Most people I know already finished them, but since we are art school, we needed more time for our art finals, too. 
When it comes to maturita exams, those finals, I have only the last part before me. It´s oral exams, from Czech (mostly literature), English, history of art and practical theory. I dubbed that because I have no idea how to translate Nauka o materiálech. We have to learn 23 - 26 areas for each (so around 75 total, I don´t thing it´s possible to study for this type of English). 
Then we will draw one number. That´s the number of question we will have to talk about. We will have 10 minutes to prepare for it, then 15 to speak and answer the questions, and during that, another student will prepare. After that, we will have a short break, while another student speaks and another prepares. This way, three people are finished in one four to five hours block and then we will be told our grades. 
My sister got 3 1s (As) in this in her school, I´m super proud of her. 
(And since almost all of my friends/friends of friends that I go drinking with have successfully finished them, I have already celebrated them twice in the last week. Hopefully, I will be able to celebrate too, instead of slowly drinking to forget my failure :). Just joking, I believe I will succeed.)

I´m not sure how this one will turn out, but hopefully not too bad. We will have defenses (or objections?) this Friday so hopefully, I will get my sweet 3 (grade similar to C). 
And I got a summer job in the coffeehouse. I had one shift here. I don´t enjoy working with food, in any way, it´s just too much stress, but at least I will be able to enjoy my vacation without financial anxiety :). 

So long, have a good week!