Not too much new has happened since I last posted. We're already halfway through our first class, and I can't believe it ends next Friday and we start our real classes the following Monday! We had our first test yesterday, basically on the history of Spain. It wasn't too bad and luckily Maggie brought a Spanish-English dictionary because we were allowed to use one on the test.

Earlier this week we finally booked our flight to Italy! We have a long weekend in February so we found a cheap flight into and out of Milan and are going to take the train from Milan to Florence while we're there. We were thinking about maybe also travelling to Tuscany or other nearby towns, but now that we have the flight booked anything is possible. My best friend from home is studying in Florence so I am excited that I will get to see her and that we will have someone to show us around! We are flying with Ryan Air, which typically has the cheapest flights throughout Europe, but they are super strict about luggage. We are only allowed to carry on one book bag that can't weigh over 10 kg and can't be wider than certain dimensions. Our plan is to just wear a lot of layers on the plane or just wear some version of the same outfit every day.

I do have one funny story to tell, although it is also a bit of a disaster. Maggie and I had bought a bottle of wine about a week ago (for 2 euro total) to drink before we went out. Unfortunately, our cheap wine bottle opener got stuck in the cork and broke, so we couldn't ever get it open. Last night we decided we would try to open it  anyway, which in hindsight was an awful idea. Originally, we got a knife from the kitchen and I tried to carve the cork out, but Maggie used some applied physics and used the side of the knife as a lever on the broken cork screw to try to put the cork out. It worked at first and we were really excited, but towards the bottom it got harder and harder. So finally we decided to see if it would be possible to push the cork inside of the bottle...well...it was possible. Next thing I knew there was red wine EVERYWHERE. Mostly all over me (on the day I chose to wear the whitest shirt I own), but also on the walls and my bed and my shoes...everywhere. We sprung into action pretty quick and divided and conquered. I started wiping it off all of the surfaces and went to soak my shirt while Maggie started scrubbing the walls.

I googled how to remove red wine and starting taking some random advice off of the internet. Luckily our host parents weren't home and the kids were in bed, but the babysitter most likely things I am insane. I kept going through the living room where she was sitting and into the kitchen and then returning to our room with random household products. First I tried milk and salt (which did nothing) and then I went back for vinegar (which also did nothing). I finally found some cleaning product that had pictures of both walls and shirts on it. Maggie and I started using it on the wall and my sheets and the stains came right off. I used it on my shirt too, and the stains went from purple to green and then slowly faded. Now the shirt looks 100 times better, although you can still see the spots, they are just a much duller color. The wall looks 100 times better too thankfully, so hopefully this little mishap will never be discovered. I can easily buy a new shirt, but having to repaint the walls in our room might have been a little more difficult.

Lesson learned: Sometimes you just have to cut your losses...especially when the wine costs 2 euro.