It's called Monday for a reason...

Is it just me or did I just have one of those day???

I woke up this morning with a really sore throat. I could sort of feel it last night before I went to bed but hoped it was nothing. Well, it wasn't nothing. My throat has been getting worse as the day goes on. I popped multiple Advil this morning trying to get rid of my headache and drank a bunch of OJ and water. I then finished getting ready for school, hopped on my bike and away I went. I noticed as soon as I got on it though that the one break wasn't working but chalked it up to just another "quirk" of the bike. I made it a whopping 10blocks and my chain decided to fall off again. I was so pissed, you have no idea! So there I am, 10 blocks from home, about 20 blocks from school and it is 8:40 already. I locked up the bike (even though know one would have stole it anyway) and quickly walked to the bus station that was about 3 blocks away. Hopped on the dreaded bus that took me to the Duomo. Hopped off their because I was smart enough to know this time that it wasn't going to get me anywhere close to the school. I then walked the rest of the way to school. I was only about 5min late today so I thought I was doing pretty good. :D

Made it through my Italian class ok today, had a quick lunch and then went to my photo class where we were having a short test today to see if we remembered anything or not. Apparently my brain wasn't working the best (I'm blaming it on the 2 extra strength Advil) because I didn't seem to remember a darn thing. On a happy note though, the others remembered slightly less so I guess that's a good thing. ;) lol

After class I took the bus back to my bike and started walking it back to the place that I bought it from. By the time I got there I was so mad because I looked like a real winner walking my bike 20 blocks. I decided that I wasn't going to keep the bike. It has caused me nothing but grief in the 4 days that I have had it. I ended up having to argue with this old Italian man. He couldn't speak English, I couldn't speak Italian and we were getting nowhere. I tried to tell him about the bell, the brake and the chain but he wasn't going to give me any money back for this thing because he had to fix it. SERIOUSLY???? Obviously he didn't know who he was talking to. I don't normally back down from a challenge. So I argued for a bit and he finally gave me 20euros back (which was half of what a paid 4 days ago). Another girl during this time also was trying to get her bike fixed. She spoke English so we started talking. I guess I should also add that by this time, I was crying. lol yup! Those of you that know me know that when I am pissed off or am just defeated that's when I cry. At that moment I felt both defeated and pissed off. Anyway, it turns out that this girl (Leana[sp?] from Germany) has had the same problem with her bike that she bought 5 days ago. She has had it fixed from him twice. She ended up taking a different bike but he still was trying to charge her to fix her broken one. Something must be really wrong in this guys head. Where we come from, people wouldn't get away with stuff like that. I guess here you can. :( So we both hassled the guy for a bit and he ended up giving me another 5euros because I tried to explain that I only had it for 4 days and it has broken twice now. She took her new to her bike and we got out of there before he could yell at us in Italian anymore. The best part of my day would have to be meeting her. We are meeting tomorrow after school and going to hang out for a bit. I'm looking forward to it and glad that something good came out of this horrible bike experience.

Ok, I should say that I am planning on getting a different bike. I have been told by a few people now that there is a shop that sells new bikes (or gently used) and does the same sort of buy back program when I am done. They seem pretty good from what I have been told so one day this week I will check them out. They also speak English as that is great! Obviously in my case above, I got what I paid for so this time I will consider spending a bit more for slightly better bike.

It's only about 8:15pm here but I am going to read a little and then go to bed. I am wiped.

Temp High:38
Gelato: n/a (but I did treat myself to McD's if you can call that a treat.) I did also go to the gelateria but it was closed for some reason. sigh... oh well, there is always tomorrow. ;)