Shoremen Tour Italy and Ireland
A Journal by Kyle Stem '06

DAY ONE - Saturday, August 14th & Sunday, August 15th

The first day of our overseas trip to Italy and Ireland seemed nothing more than an endless adventure of bus rides, plane flights, and long, uneventful stays in foreign airports.

The day began with a two-hour bus ride from school to Dulles Airport, followed by a six and one-half hour flight to Heathrow Airport in London. By this point of the day, because of the six hour time difference, everyone was extremely tired and evenly cranky to a point. With a five hour wait until our flight to Milan, we all needed sleep badly. And we sure found it! With no shame, everyone on the trip found places to sleep. Scattered throughout the airport we were sleeping on chairs, sometimes laying lengthwise taking up four or five chairs per person, on random couches and lounge chairs, and even on the floor of the airport. It had to be a sight to see for all the locals there...Americans sleeping for hours in the most obscure places. Eventually the time for our second flight of the day came. After this second flight and yet another bus ride, during which we met our "easy on the eyes" tour guide, Marta, and our crazy bus driver, Massimo, we arrived at our first destination in Italy--Lake Como.

Lake Como is an amazing site to see, hard to describe in words. Laying right on the Swiss border, Lake Como was engulfed by small mountains and a surrounding town. Covering the mountain sides were hundreds of homes ranging from townhouses to what seemed to be castles! It was a breathtaking site bringing the claims from many players that one day they would live here. The surrounding town was very friendly and lively as it provided plenty of places for us to enjoy ourselves at night. And as I'm sure you can imagine, we had our fun.

On the bus in Italy

Lake Como

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