2013: The Best is Yet to Come!

While I sit in my pajamas, eat pizza and wait for Pride & Prejudice to finish downloading, I decided it was a good time to reflect on this year that's ending in one hour. 2012 was by far the best year of my life and a lot of that has to do with the fact that the first half of it was like a fairy tale. I spent it abroad traveling to countries I had only dreamed of seeing, and there were numerous occasions that I felt like I was experiencing heaven on earth. Every day was a new adventure and there was never a dull moment. I met new people that will surely be life long friends and I learned to appreciate more and really value those who are already in my life. Though I saved and worked so hard to spend a semester abroad, the challenge had only just begun once I arrived in London. I still had my every day struggles, but also the test of fitting in with a new culture, learning new languages, navigating a new city every weekend and trying to soak up as much of the experience that I could because, like all good things, I knew it would end. I was absolutely gutted to leave of course, but decided that this hunger for seeing the world wouldn't be just a passing thing. The latter half of this year was just as wonderful, and has made me the proudest I have ever been of myself. My last semester of college was hands down the most difficult, as I worked full-time, had an internship and took 15 hours of classes. Maybe a year ago I couldn't have done it, but this time I could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I finally got to a point where I could count the days until graduation on both of my hands. Walking across that stage was a dream come true, but seeing the joy in my parents' and siblings' faces was the absolute best part of the day. Ever since I began to idealize about my future after college, I knew exactly what I wanted to do and where I wanted to be right now. And it took just one year to completely change that. I don't know exactly where I want to go or what I want to do, but I do know that I want to always be as happy as this year has made me. I'm saying hello to 2013 with even more independence, confidence and determination. I'm thanking God for all that he has blessed me with, and trusting him to lead me to the life that I'm meant to have. I feel like anything is possible! I'm spending this New Year's Eve in a low-key way, and it's appropriate, because this year definitely speaks for itself! :)

Slowly Approaching the End

There’s just no stopping me! Just days after returning from my mega spring break adventures, I set off on a weekend trip to Prague in the Czech Republic. It was another travel company organized trip, this time through Bus2Alps. Once again I found myself rigorously wheeling (well by this time, practically dragging) my suitcase through the streets of Florence. One of the wheels had started to lose its rubber case, so I was trying to be extra careful knowing it still had to accompany me another month of travel.

The buses were full, and unfortunately I had one seat for the long 12 hour ride. This won’t be so bad, I thought. It was probably the most uncomfortable I’ve ever been in my life. No matter what position I tried, I just couldn’t stretch out enough to let sleep run its course. I even found myself in the fetal position, back to the window, scarf tied around my head, trying to fight off the cold air seeping through the glass. Because of course I didn’t bring a blanket or pillow. I bet it was quite hilarious looking. And then, the feeling of a full bladder kicked in. We had already passed our ONLY rest stop and there was no way I was using the bus bathroom. For some unknown reason I just can’t bring myself to use a bus or plane bathroom. I guess I figure I’d be the one in there when we hit a huge pot hole, lose control, and go tumbling down a hill. But I think being splashed by disgusting toilet contents would be the least of my worries then… Needless to say, I held it for the whole trip. Whenever I felt I was about to burst, I just went to sleep. It actually was a successful system, but I DO NOT recommend.

We arrived in Prague around 9am. Much to my delight it had a nice German feel to the city! I was hoping it’d be like Munich, which I loved, but I really didn’t know what to expect from a country that was fairly new in comparison. The Czech Republic peacefully split from Slovakia in the early ‘90s – before they were known together as Czechoslovakia. The city of Prague had that same quirky, dollhouse feel as Munich, and much of the food and atmosphere was quite similar. We czeched in (oh yeah, all sorts of puns were made!) to our hostel and freshened up before eating a delicious breakfast and going on a walking tour.

Another thing I didn’t know much about was the currency. So I ended up spending THOUSANDS! …but in the Czech Crown that’s only like 80 bucks.

After that bus ride, I really had to kick the weariness to the side and turn on my eager-to-learn switch. Luckily we had a very entertaining, cute (she was prego!) guide that kept us intrigued while walking around the beautiful city. I love hearing stories that you wouldn’t find out about just wandering around on your own. Like one church we stopped at still had on display a severed arm from a thief who tried to steal something off of the Virgin Mary. We also passed a graveyard in the old Jewish quarter that had layer upon layer upon layer of graves built up into a misleadingly small hill. We explored Old Town, New Town, and the Jewish Quarter before our guide left us to explore on our own.

My friends and I decided to take advantage of the cheap exchange rates and better worth of our money with manicures, pedicures, haircuts, and shopping. Well, Lizzie and I just went on a search for a good haircut! While tracing our steps back towards the hostel, we popped into several hair salons. All were either fully booked, didn’t speak English, or were just too expensive. I felt bad about not being able to communicate properly and thought maybe that’d pose a problem when describing the cut I want. Finally we found a reasonably priced nail salon that cut hair as well. We were super sketched out at first, but decided to go on with it. And the guy surprisingly did a really good job! Straightest my bangs have ever been!

For dinner that night we tried a Thai food restaurant where I also had my first of several encounters with delicious Prague cheesecake. Also that night was my first ever Pub Crawl. I had been hesitant about going on one because it seemed like the exact kind of thing I didn’t want my European experience to be like. But I was in Prague, with wonderful friends – so why not! It turned out to be a good deal as well – VIP entrance, no cover, and drinks at several top bars and clubs – just for about 15 euro!

The first stop on the Clock Tower Pub Crawl we had free, open bar for 2 hours! Yeah, you can rightly conclude that no one had to drink much more for the rest of the night. By the end of our time there, the bartender was dancing on the bar giving shots straight from the bottle to anyone who opened their mouth. I tried Absinthe for the first time… it was interesting. It was great mingling with people - we ended up making several friends who we hung out with for the rest of the weekend! Walking from bar to bar, the pub crawl group got progressively louder and more…American. At one point we were at a pizza shop, putting our coins together trying to figure out how much a slice cost. The workers were quite humored. We kept coming back. I think someone’s running total was around nine slices. The last crazy place we made it to on the crawl was a church-turned-foam party club. Never thought my first foam party would be in the Lord’s house. Maybe it was meant to be like a final, cleansing experience? Haha!

The next morning we took in some of the most famous sites of Prague, starting with the Charles Bridge. The bridge was and still is one of the most important connections between Prague Castle and Old Town. It has about 30 statues, now replicas, all along the sides, most of which supposedly bring about luck or something if you touch them. After listening to the street music and looking at the arts and crafts, we made our way to the John Lennon Wall. The wall is covered in colorful graffiti – pictures, song lyrics, empowering and positive messages. It started as just a normal wall where young Czechs expressed their dissatisfaction with Communism by drawing pictures of John Lennon and writing Beatles’ song lyrics. Our tour ended here and my friends and I decided to spend the rest of the day exploring Prague Castle – the largest medieval castle in the world. It’s not really what you’d normally imagine a castle to be; it’s more of an enclosed community. Some of the places we visited within the walls were Old Royal Palace, Basilica of St. George, Golden Lane, and St. Vitus’ Cathedral.

For dinner we had traditional Czech food at a famous local beer hall. It wasn’t really too much different than my experiences in the German beer halls. We walked around town for a bit, before stopping at the Clock Tower to watch the Astronomical Clock show at 11. We were approached by the Grimm Reaper who was trying to persuade us to take a ghost tour. It sounded like fun, but none of us could take any more walking.

We left for Florence Sunday afternoon, and the trip back wasn’t as awful as the trip there…except for the part when I had to carry my suitcase from the train station back to my apartment. I bet I looked ridiculous, but one of my wheels basically wasn’t a wheel anymore so rolling it back wasn’t happening!

The following week and weekend was my last full time in Florence. I attended a wine tasting on Thursday after classes, where we tried some delicious dessert wines. I had heard of Moscato before, but wasn’t too familiar with the others – L’Ambrusco, Asti, and Vin Santo. As the session went on, I became more and more intrigued with wine etiquette and ended up taking a full page of notes. I think the alcohol consumption definitely had something to do with my extreme focus – haha.

There was one small day trip planned for Saturday, to a section of the Italian Riviera called Cinque Terre. We took a private bus from Florence to the train station in La Spezia, and from there took a train to Riomaggiore – the first of the five villages. It was nice and breezy, and sunnier than was expected. I was stunned by the beauty of the northern Italian coast as we walked along the Vial dell’amore. The path hugged the hilly cliffs from which a beautiful, calm blue ocean extended into infinity. The cliffs contained colorful, vintage Italian homes that I recognized from googling pictures of Cinque Terre beforehand. “The Path of Love” was definitely a suitable name for the walk. It was the sort of magical, romantic setting perfect for couples. And judging by the amount of love locks everywhere, many couples had taken that walk.

The path led us to Manarola, the second of the five villages. For lunch we had a cheesy focaccia bread that was popular in the area – we were told we had to try it. The path leading out of the village was closed, so we had to take the train to get to the next town, Corniglia. The villages were still dealing with damage and debris from a storm that struck last October, so several of the paths between towns were closed and declared unsafe.

There wasn’t much to Corniglia, but it was not any less beautiful. Much of the seaside land seemed to be used by famers, with olive orchards and vineyards jutting out from the slanting terrain. The road to town was lined with beautiful cacti and flowers, sort of reminding me of Texas hill country… until of course I saw an old Vespa tangled in the plants. From Corniglia we took the train to Vernazza, which was probably the most devastated village among them all. Most of the buildings were still crumbled and unusable. We did, however, find a delicious gelato shop that didn’t seem to be hurting for business. Lizzie and I couldn’t find the entrance to the 2 hour long walking path that led to the last village, Monterosso, so we decided to take the train again.

Monterosso had a beautiful beach and, although it was too cold to get in the water, I did spot several cute families enjoying themselves, running about the sand and from the approaching tide. With not much time left, Lizzie and I headed back to Riomaggiore since we didn’t get to see much of it. We found a cute place for drinks and aperitivo, and thought we left just enough time to catch the train back to La Spezia. We were wrong. We arrived at the station, early even, and I ran to open the train door but it was already locked. The train departed - the 5:51 train that Felicia said we HAD to take in order to make it back on time. So we had to call her and wait for the next one, dreading the walk back on to the bus as those people who make everyone wait for them to depart. Oops!

It wasn’t really hitting me yet that I’d be leaving Florence in just 2 weeks. There was no time to think about it – school was busy and stressful with last minute projects, papers, and studying for finals. I was anxious to be done, just like any other end-of-semester feeling I’ve had. Except this time, I knew I wouldn’t be returning in the fall. For a while I think I denied accepting the fact, just to spare me long-term grief. There were reminders, though, like when Monica, our resident director, took a half hour of our Italian class to explain the post trip depression and reverse culture shock we’d most likely experience. This made me tear up; I still couldn’t fathom going back to my life in America.

Italian class had been one of my favorites, probably because my professor Manuela was such a great person. I loved her random, insightful speeches about life she’d give our class. And she’d always end up apologizing for them, feeling she was getting off topic and a little carried away. I loved having a professor that was so interested in our hopes, dreams and aspirations – she saw something in every one of us. On one of our last days she brought us all homemade tiramisu and also wrote down and read aloud a poem she had written for us:

Spero

che il sapere

il conoscere piú cose

possa imprimervi

nel vostro cuore

e aiutarvi

a diventare felici

e a costruire un mondo

pieno di umanitá e speranza.

It basically translates to say “I hope that knowledge and knowing more things may impress in your heart and help you become happy and build a world full of humanity and hope.” Tears formed in Manuela’s eyes as she read it aloud. She then proceeded to write down her email address so that we may all stay in contact. She was serious. After class she told me to come back and visit her, and that she has an extra room in her house for me to stay when I do. I fully intend to take her up on that – hopefully in the very near future!

My other professors showed interest in staying in touch as well by saying if we’re ever in Florence, give them a call and we’ll meet up to have a cappuccino. Italians really cherish those intimate settings, like local cafes, where often times I felt like I was seeing the truest friendships interacting. I think the idea of “just Facebook friends” would be ridiculous to them.

On Monday (April 23^rd) we had our bittersweet farewell dinner at Teatro della Pergola. It was fabulous, with a cocktail buffet in the foyer before a four course meal in the former ballroom of the historic opera house. I received my certificate of recognition for my contribution to the Florence Newspaper – it was signed by the President of the Tuscany region! It was also the first and last time I wore heels abroad. Haha!

Tuesday had become a highly anticipated day of the week for me, ever since I began going with my friends to Beatles’ night at the club BeBop near the Duomo. For two hours an Italian cover band would play the best Beatles songs. They’d have the place packed with people, and everyone would be dancing when they played “Twist and Shout”! You had to reserve tables in advance if you wanted a seat. They looked, sounded, and acted just like the Beatles – they were probably the best cover band I’ve ever seen. It was nice finding regular live music in Florence. I missed it, and that was definitely more of my idea of fun as opposed to a club. We even became close friends with the band. I just wish we would have found out about the place sooner in the semester!

It still hadn’t gotten as hot as I’d like, but my trip to the Amalfi Coast was on the horizon regardless. I welcomed it after a tough Fashion Marketing & Merchandising final, and was sad but excited that it was my final trip together with my wonderful friends. We planned it through Florence For Fun and met Thursday, April 26^th, to board a bus full of girls. We arrived in Sorrento where we checked in to our hotel, slept a while, then woke bright and early to spend the day on the island of Capri. We walked, descended down numerous steps, and walked some more to the port where our cruise-like-ship was waiting to take us to the island. From the island we took a smaller boat tour around the island. The views were magnificent - everything from the blue ocean spotted with jellyfish, to the colorful, rocky formations extending from the mainland.

At one point we stopped at the Blue Grotto, a famous cave in which the water seems to illuminate the entirety in a bright blue hue. There were four of us in the row boat, practically lying down because the entrance to the cave was only about 3ft. tall from the water’s surface. It was a glorious 5 minutes, just a little expensive – 8.50 euro for the entrance, 4 euro for the boat, and a tip if your rower sang a song. Ours let out a few melodramatic verses of “Volare” right at the end of our tour.

The rest of the day we spent at the beach and exploring Capri. It was the most beautiful beach I had ever been to. The water was calm and sparkling, but still pretty cold - we swam around a bit then made a run for two rocks sitting out several feet from the shore. Since my dreams of cliff jumping were shattered when our tour guide informed us we weren’t going, I thought jumping off these rocks would have to suffice. Unfortunately I forgot my sunglasses were on my head and I lost them forever in the beautiful waters of Capri.

That evening at the hotel, while everyone else was going out, Lizzie and I were camped out in the lobby working on a news article due for the issue of The Florence Newspaper coming out the following week. I guess it was an unusual site – we kept getting weird stares. One Italian guy came closer to us, dropped his orange on the ground in front of our feet, picked it up, and then proceeded to introduce himself. I’m not sure it was on purpose, but it was a hilarious way to meet someone.

Our second day at the Amalfi Coast was spent in the town of Positano at a black sand beach. The drive there was along a road so high up and so near the edge that the entire time I was shifting between admiring the views and fearing for my life. But we reached our destination, no problem. The “black sand” was more like scorching hot black pebbles, painful to walk or lay on. I might as well have been a rotisserie chicken, switching sides with the constant sun beating down on my burnt skin and heat seeping up through the towel. The water was refreshingly cold, but I could only swim around for about 15 minutes before I’d start to shiver.

On the drive back, I began talking to our trip leader. I noticed she had a Scottish accent so I thought I’d ask her about Scotland since I would be going there the following week. She had wonderful advice about food, places to go, things to do, and it made me even more anxious to begin my solo travels. “What about Glasgow?” I said. “I’m thinking of going there.” “Well, I know it’s like one of the murder capitals of Western Europe,” she said. “But it’s a cool place.” It was then that I decided, you know, maybe I don’t need to see EVERY city in Scotland… haha.

Our last day had to be the most epic, of course! We first visited Pompeii, the town that was completely covered in ash from Mount Vesuvius’ eruption in AD 79, killing more than 16,000 people. I never thought I’d make it there, but I felt extremely lucky to see something so historic. Seeing the actual bodies of the people, still covered in ash and shaped in the exact position of their death was astounding. After the walk through the town we went to hike the volcano responsible for the destruction – Mount Vesuvius. It was a long, steep hike up and down, but from the top you could see a gorgeous view of the bay of Naples. The heat and wind stung my blistered skin, but that was a small price to pay for the experience of hiking a still-active volcano.

The Monday of my final week in Florence was an experience I’ll never forget, mostly because it put the icing on the cake – showing me just how amazing Florence is and how much harder it would be to leave it all behind. It was Notte Bianca (White Night), which basically was an all night party, starting at 6pm and ending at 6am. There was music, events, games, at every piazza and ponte in the city, with white lights, clothing, and decorations. I missed the release of white lanterns along the Arno, but started my partying with the city shortly thereafter. We basically roamed from piazza to piazza, letting our ears and eyes guide us to anything interesting. There was a fun classic rock concert at Piazza della Repubblica, tango dancing at Piazza Santa Croce, and eventually we found ourselves in a mosh pit with the young Italian crowd at Piazza Mentana. One of my favorite spots was in Piazza San Firenze, where a dj some four or five stories high played electroswing music from a historic building-turned-backdrop for a funky spotlight show. I made it until about 4am, when a stop for gelato and a little rain storm marked the end of my partying with the entire city of Florence! 

Here are more pictures from my time in Prague, Cinque Terre, Florence, and the Amalfi Coast!

A Real Spring Break

For the past several years, well, since high school pretty much, I’ve never had a real spring break. I could never travel anywhere because there was play rehearsal or work, or I was looking for work – something always interfered. I couldn’t wait to finally travel somewhere for spring break! And the fact that I was in Europe and my 21^st birthday would be right in the middle of it just added to the excitement. You know those final papers I mentioned? Well I had managed to put them off until the very last minute, so I had three to completely write all the night before they were due. I’ve always procrastinated, but this was the absolute worst. Unfortunately, even with working through the night into the morning, I finished all but one before I left for spring break. (Thankfully my professor still accepted it after the break.) So there I was, tired, stressed, stumbling like a zombie, dragging my suitcase to catch a bus to the Pisa airport. I was excited despite it all. I was traveling with two other friends and our first adventure would be Barcelona, Spain.

We arrived at the airport with plenty of time – time to convince Ryanair that my bag met cabin baggage requirements. Ryanair is an extremely cheap airline that goes all around Europe and I am thankful to have found it. Most of my flights have only cost me around 20-30 euro, so you can see how I’ve been able to travel so much. That being said, they have fees for EVERYTHING! So you can also see how they stay in business. You’re allowed one carry-on free of charge as long as it meets size and weight requirements. I made sure to measure mine beforehand. But, when I saw the blue cages and people frantically trying to stuff their suitcases in to show the employee on duty, I got a little nervous. It took me a good ten minutes to finally cram my bag in the cage, only because my wheels stuck out and had to be maneuvered a certain way. I guess I took too long because even though my bag fit perfectly in the cage the Pisa Ryanair employee told me no, I had to check my bag. Oh hellz no. This meant I’d have to pay 50 euro to check it which meant I’d more than likely have to do the same for my next three flights. Oh hellz no. Pissed and nervous, I go to the checked bag area and fit my bag in to their blue cage and asked why there was an issue. They told me my bag was fine and sent me back to check in. Oh lord. Thankfully another worker was there and let me bring my bag through. (And to save trouble of telling about all my nervous, dreading-airport-check-in experiences, I’ll just say I never had to pay and check my bag. Yay!)

Around midnight we reached Barcelona and took a bus then a taxi (complete with a crazy driver) to our hostel in the city. It was located in a square of several trendy clubs and restaurants that all seemed to be barely starting their nights. The hostel was nice, but sharing a huge room with ten or so people can be a little weird. It’s especially awkward being the only girls, waking up to dudes lounging and walking around in their boxer briefs.

Most of the hostels offer pretty long walking tours of the city, which gives you a good idea of what there is to see and do. Our guide in Barcelona was an American who had been living there for a year or so. The city was crawling with Americans, maybe because of its appeal of being such a party city. He was hung over (or still drunk?) but gave us an entertaining time nonetheless. One thing I found odd was the piles of trash on every street of the city. I learned it was because the garbage companies were on strike. That day also happened to be a huge planned protest, as we stumbled upon it walking to the city’s center. There were mobs of people surrounding police-guarded department stores. Others were preparing signs, lining up to march, throwing bags of garbage at the police, and there were a few scattered trash cans on fire. It was quite the experience! And you know I had my camera out. It led one of the protesters to comment on our not belonging there and advise us to leave the area within the hour. Advice taken!

We headed to a food market, just off La Rambla, where we had delicious fresh fruit for lunch and some sangria. It was wonderful being in an area where it was warm enough to wear shorts! Our next adventure took us to the beach and I was excited to see another beautiful ocean. The water was freezing, unfortunately, but we were able to lay out in our swimsuits and soak up a few rays. On our way back we stopped through a few parks, one which had a gorgeous palace looking building. I feel like we saw a lot of the city in our short time there, but I still don’t understand all the hype. Maybe it’s the night life that attracts so many Americans, and since we didn’t go out, that would explain my missing the magnificence. In beauty, I definitely thought Florence had Barcelona beat.

The next day we left for our next city in Spain. Since Ryanair didn’t offer a flight straight to Granada, we took a flight from Barcelona to Malaga and then a bus from Malaga to Granada. I’ve come to absolutely love flying, but traveling by bus is great too. You certainly see much more of the country and having time to gaze at gorgeous scenery makes up for the extra travel time. We arrived in Granada pretty late and were so exhausted. We checked into the White Nest Hostel (which was the cutest and nicest of the whole trip. We had a whole room to ourselves!), then immediately set out for some food! Wandering the streets of the small, historic town, we were having trouble finding our desired eatery. Then we heard somber Spanish music coming up the street from what sounded like a marching band. And that it was! The band marched up the street and people began following them, including us. They weaved through other streets before finishing their tunes, and it just so happens that the ending point was right in front of our bar! So pretty much the marching band was our unofficial guide.

One thing I definitely loved about Spain was the food. I didn’t really know what to expect since all I am used to is Mexican food, but there was such a variety with lots of seafood. Most of our meals out consisted of ordering sangria and getting free tapas, then moving on to the next bar and doing the same. Tapas are basically small plates of appetizers. Some of the best ones I had were fried eggplant strips covered in honey, goat cheese with fruity, spicy syrup on top, and hamburgers – which is literally ham on a bun in Spain. For dessert – churros. So many churros. I could eat those with every meal, and I almost did! They are commonly served with a hot, rich chocolate sauce in which to dip them. Yum!

The next morning we didn’t wake up in time for the first walking tour, so we did a little wandering around and shopping. There were lots of cute shops in alley ways and musicians playing on the streets. The music was either acoustic, classical, or a weird reggae sound that reminded me of Austin. Granada also reminded me of Siena but I liked it much better, probably because we had gorgeous, warm weather. We ate lunch in the park and made our way back for the next walking tour. I really love how easily I feel I fit in with others walking down the streets of the places I travel to. It’s not too much different from the states. Even when an old man out of nowhere flung his arms out and yelled “BOO!” at me as he passed by, it didn’t seem too odd. I just reacted with a “What the hell?”, laughed, and thought stranger things have happened in Austin!

The walking tour took us through winding, up and downhill streets, where we saw the fantastic street art graffiti the city is famous for, as well as beautiful gardens full of orange trees. I had been curious of their taste because I heard they were pretty bitter and used only for making jams, so I picked and tried one. Yep, so bitter! I couldn’t finish it. Before leaving for Seville, we tried to get in and see the Alhambra, a famous royalty palace located at the top of a huge hill. Unfortunately tickets were all sold out, but we did get to wander the grounds and gardens for a bit.

We took a bus from Granada to Seville and admired the beautiful scenery along the way. It reminded me a bit like west Texas except with olive trees everywhere, and larger hills and mountains. We reached the Seville bus station and had to take the main road to the center of town where our hostel was located. Everyone was dressed to the nines like they had all left or were on their way to Sunday church service. I began to wonder if the people of Seville always dressed in that way until we reached a massive amount of people waiting for a parade. We couldn’t go anywhere, so we stayed to watch as the processions unfolded. It was the same music and bands that we had seen in Granada, with the addition of groups of men in different colored robes and pointed hats – kind of like the KKK; there were ones in white too. But obviously these holy week processions had been a tradition long before the KKK adopted the uniform. Who knows if Seville or Spain even knows what that outfit typically means in the U.S.?

Even though it was annoying trying to get though the crowd, I loved being a part of that cultural experience. They just don’t celebrate Easter or the Holy Week that way in the U.S. – with the whole city out celebrating a religious event (I feel like there’d be complaints back home). Seville is supposedly known to be the most beautiful city in Spain, and aside from the rain, it definitely was gorgeous. Our tour guide the next day said it hardly rains in Seville, so lucky us we come on the one day it does! The walking tour we took was around three hours and hit all the major sites of the city, one of the most beautiful being Plaza de Espana.

We took a bus to Madrid on April 2^nd and arrived late at night. Madrid was our last stop in Spain and it reminded me of any other big city, with a glorious, glorious shopping scene. There were also so many gardens to explore and a great food market where I had the best frozen yogurt ever. Our one full day in Madrid was spent mostly in the botanical gardens, running around and taking pictures. We ended the night by going to the best churros place on earth. I think that’s all you can order there; as soon as we walked in he asked how many and chocolate or no chocolate. Within minutes of being seated there’s a heaping pile of fried goodness in front of you!

After Spain we parted ways at the airport. Liz went back to Florence before setting out for Croatia, and Lizzie and I headed for Paris, France, where we met our friend Ryan. I was a bit nervous because I didn’t know anything about French culture or the language. They definitely were a unique bunch. Everyone was so well dressed and looked as if they stepped from the pages of a fashion editorial spread. They seemed to keep to themselves mostly, so I felt more than ever like a tourist. Our first hostel, called Friends (haha), was a bit on the sketchy side – physical description and location. There seemed to be trash gathered just on our corner and dudes trying to sell you knock-off items. One guy crossing the street in front of us turned swiftly because he thought we were trying to mug him or something… Welcome to the neighborhood! But it was a place to sleep and had easy access to the subway so I couldn’t complain too much.

Our first full day in Paris was my 21^st birthday and I can say with a serious face that it was magical! Really, it could not have been any more perfect. We took a train out to Versailles and spent the first six hours of the day exploring Chateau Versailles, the extravagant home of Marie Antoinette and King Louis XIV. I mean, what girl wouldn’t want to wander around a palace on her birthday?! The rooms were amazing and so intricately decorated; one hall (Hall of Mirrors)  was complete with mirrors all along as well as chandeliers in a perfect row. There were several other small palaces on the grounds that had been built for family members, guests, and there was a still-working farm that had been for Marie. Someone said she used to have her sheep dyed pink and perfumed, which I’m not sure is true, but it doesn’t seem uncharacteristic of her! I petted a donkey as well, which was definitely a highlight of my day.

A few times we got lost in the misty, cold gardens, which I didn’t mind at all. It was lovely frolicking and just taking off running for yards and yards! I definitely got my free admission’s worth. Haha (Lots of places in Paris, like Versailles, offer a discount or free admission just by showing your student visa! I also got in free to the Louvre this way.) After our storming Versailles (get it?), we returned to Paris to rest a bit. For dinner we ate at a nice French restaurant in the neighborhood and, as a birthday gift, my friends so generously paid for my meal. I had two courses, French wine, and wished on a flaming crème brulee! We finished around eleven and headed off to see the Eiffel Tower at night.

I had heard that it sparkles, but was a bit skeptical because, I mean, that’s not a typical description for a building. But sure enough, as we were walking with our backs to the tower, we heard gasps all around and turned to see the Eiffel Tower sparkling (its lights were quickly flashing in a random matter). It had just turned midnight and was a fantastic way to end my birthday!

Our next day we had to switch hostels so we dragged our suitcases down to St. Christopher’s Inn. It was much nicer and we ran into a lot of kids from our program that were on a tour around western Europe. We also met an Australian guy who was on vacation before he began his career. Somehow we began discussing soccer and rugby and which was the more preferred sport. He said, “Soccer is a gentleman’s game played by thugs. Rugby is a thug’s game played by gentlemen.”

Before our check-in time we went to the Louvre museum and spent around four hours there – we saw almost everything! Including famous works such as the Mona Lisa, which seems to have a constant crowd of people around taking photos. I honestly think Leonardo da Vinci has much better works. The museum was one of the most beautiful I’ve ever been in, especially the sculptures section that was bright white and composed of several stories with a courtyard in the middle. There were also people camped out around who were doing their own sketches or paintings of the artwork.

Some of the other places we visited were Notre Dame Cathedral; which is right up there with the Duomo on most beautiful cathedrals and churches. We also strolled through Luxembourg gardens (which seemed to be a popular spot for cute couples) and made our way to see the original site of the Bastille jail. Had to get my French Revolution fix!

By the end of the night, we were celebrating the success and overall enjoyment of our spring break travels with dinner at a cute French restaurant. It was gorgeous out, sitting right along the streets, sipping our hot wine… I think I actually mentioned how perfect the setting was when suddenly Lizzie screamed in my direction, “What the heck is that?!” I turned to the left and saw a man wearing an Easter bunny mask, pressed up against the glass, twitching his head side to side in a maniac-like manner. This made me jump then start laughing hysterically as he ran around behind Lizzie. She was petrified, not moving a muscle and uttering, “Is it gone?! Is it gone?!” The bunny man ran down the street with another man carrying a toy gun chasing after him. It was then that I remembered, "Easter’s tomorrow!" Haha

Spring break’s travel adventures got me even more excited about doing my own travels at the end of the program. One subway, taxi, bus, flight, bus, train, and walk later, I was happy to be seated back in my Florence apartment. But just for a few days, until I embarked on my next cross-Europe journey!

Here are more pictures from my time in Barcelona, Granada, Seville, Madrid, and France!

Prost, Germany!

It’s crazy how fast time has flown by. London and Siena seem like years ago and I have only a little over a month left in Florence! I still have a list of other countries I want to see before I leave, so I decided it was time to plan everything out. One of the places at the top of my list was Germany, but it seemed like getting there for a reasonable amount of money was impossible. Train tickets and plane tickets were in the hundred Euros and the organized trip programs only went on certain dates to Munich. I had the weekend before and after spring break open and my only chance to go was with Euroadventures to Munich the weekend before spring break. Despite the fact that I had three research papers due before spring break, I decided to book the trip and tag along with a few friends! I had a feeling it’d be worth it.

The night before departure I received an email saying the tour guide for the trip’s flight got delayed so I’d either have to go to Prague instead or cancel the trip altogether. This was extremely disappointing, but with a few emails and phone calls we convinced Euroadventures to just organize the transportation and hotel for us and drop us off in Munich without a planned schedule and without a tour guide… which I preferred anyway!

Thursday night around 8pm (March 22^nd), I wheeled my suitcase through the cobblestone streets of Florence to the Santa Maria Novella train station across town and snagged a seat on the bus. I’m really surprised by how much my suitcase has been through and that it’s still surviving. Thank God! The bus ride was a long eight hours, driving through northern Italy and part of Austria, to the doorstep of our hotel in downtown Munich. It was 4am when we checked in and we were able to sleep a few hours before starting the day.

Euroadventures bumped us up from hostel accommodations to a hotel, and the breakfast alone definitely showed the difference. It was the best, most unique breakfast I’d ever had! As much as I love Italian food, I was dying to have something different for a while. I didn’t think there was much variety in German food, but I was pleasantly surprised. The breakfast consisted of multiple types of cereals – granola, cornflakes, etc. - dried fruit, yogurts, hams, cheeses, vegetables (including pickles! Italy seems to not know they exist…), pastries, croissants, pretzels… is your mouth watering yet? I certainly ate more than enough and tried everything at least once. One of my goals throughout this trip has been to try as much foreign food as I can from every culture I experience. So far everything has been wonderful!

We had a lot to do in two and a half days and thankfully my friends had done a little planning beforehand. It was also nice that Katherine knows German so we were able to communicate better with everyone. We made our way to the city center first to watch the huge clock tower (called the Glockenspiel) strike 11 o’clock and play music while the figurines rotated and spun around. Apparently it had become a huge tourist attraction as was evident by the crowds of people gathered around to watch. The rest of the city center was gorgeous and extremely clean. I especially liked the large fresh fruit, vegetable and flower markets we found at Viktualienmarket. Again, I was surprised at the variety in German foods – I was honestly expecting a diet of sausage, potatoes and beer for my stay there, which definitely is delicious, but not so healthy. But the market had everything you could think of (more pickles!) and then some. There was also a cute outside café, and with their plate of lunch, I swear EVERYONE had a huge glass of beer – even the little old ladies. It was fantastic!

Next we split up – Katherine went to explore the art museums while Lindsay, Molly and I headed to Dachau concentration camp. It took a while to figure out transportation but with the help of a few nice locals we got our tickets and were on our way. The transportation in Munich was great – our group train ticket was good for the metro, tram and bus as well and could be used the entire day! Everything was prompt as well, so we had no trouble making the best use of our time there.

The concentration camp was a completely different experience compared to the tourists sites I had been visiting, but I felt like it was an important part in history that I had to see. It was located in a huge open space inside a quiet German town. There was a somber feeling throughout and everything looked the same as it had during its use, with a few less buildings and barracks. The gate to the entrance displayed a phrase in German that translated to something like “Work Sets You Free”, which was obviously a misleading message to all who entered. We did an audio guided tour throughout. It was such a weird feeling walking through areas where executions were carried out and marches had been conducted. We also saw what the barracks looked like and walked through the process leading up to the gas showers. I honestly hadn’t heard much about Dachau before I went, but the experience helped me understand so much more than what textbooks could about the Holocaust.

It was nearing the end of our first day when we all met back up for dinner. We decided to eat at the world famous Hoffbrauhaus (I kept thinking my friends were saying “Opera House” all day). It’s a huge beer hall with long tables, live music and the most warm, welcoming atmosphere. I knew as soon as I walked in I would love the place! We found empty spots at a table next to two American couples, right in front of the band. It’s a pretty popular tourist attraction so we expected to see a few more Americans there than we had elsewhere. For dinner I ordered bratwurst and German potato salad, with a huge raddler – which is half lemonade, half beer. German beer may have changed my mind about the beverage I usually disliked. It was delicious! And the largest glass I’d ever had. I finished it all! Even though it technically was only half beer, I’d still like to think my German ancestors would be proud. Haha!

As we finished our dinner and were getting ready to leave, an elderly drunk man grabbed Lindsay’s hand as she passed the table and began to introduce her to his “grandsons”. She called me over and we chatted with them for a bit but were hesitant to stay. We grabbed the other girls and decided to sit a while with the guys. I struck up a conversation with Oliver, a guy who had traveled to Munich from northern Germany just to party a little with his friends. We talked about everything from politics to religion to fashion. I noticed he was wearing a Hollister sweatshirt which I was curious about because I had noticed a lot of European guys wearing the American brand. He said brands like Hollister and Abercrombie are extremely popular in Europe and pretty pricey – he paid 80 euro for his. I thought it was funny that people wait in long lines to buy those brands in Europe, brands that were popular when I was in middle and high school. We talked for around two hours and it was one of the best conversations I’ve had with a European so far. He knew English so well compared to Italians I’ve interacted with and I felt bad for not knowing any German. It also didn’t hurt that he was pretty attractive. I was intrigued, needless to say. :)

Our trip the next day was what I was most excited for. We took a train through the beautiful green and foresty German countryside to Fussen, a small town just outside Munich where Neuschwanstein Castle is tucked away in the mountains. We woke up pretty early and were all tired – poor Lindsay kept falling asleep everywhere. The two little old German ladies next to me on the train thought it was hysterical when I snuck photos of her.

When our train arrived we took a bus up through the mountains and had a better view of the castle. Sadly, part of it was covered by scaffolding so we couldn’t see the beauty in its entirety. But it was magnificent and I can definitely see why Walt Disney was so inspired by it. The castle was built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria and was actually never finished. The colors – oranges, pinks, whites, grays - made it look like a castle straight out of a fairytale! I was deeply saddened that we couldn’t take the horse drawn carriage up the mountain to the castle. Wouldn’t that have been perfect?! But we had to hike instead. And a gorgeous hike it was! We had a great view of the countryside, forest and snow covered mountains. Halfway there it began to rain on us. There was something so thrilling about watching the dark storm clouds roll in and us having to run and take shelter in a castle. Like something out of a fantasy movie – it was one of those happenings you’d only day dream about.

The tour throughout was brief since there were only certain rooms and floors open to the public. Everything was so fairytale like that I kept forgetting an actual king lived there. One room had a Tristan and Isolde theme, another was built to resemble a cave, and another had swans everywhere. Apparently the King was nuts about swans ever since he was a child. Leaving, we caught the bus just in time to miss the next storm and make our way back to the hotel to freshen up before dinner.

To continue with our German beer drinking experiences, we decided to have dinner at Lowenbraukeller, another beer hall that is part of Starkbierfest. It was a huge hall full of tables and a stage, along with a second floor, which is where we sat. It eventually was packed with Germans all in Bavarian costume. The festival isn’t as well known as Oktoberfest, so it was nice to not be around tourists and see what German life was like on a typical night. This time I ordered a full liter of beer and it was just as good without the lemonade! I imagine if I had studied abroad in Germany I’d have ridiculously good arm strength; it was such a struggle lifting my stein for every picture and every sip!

As the night went on there was a German band playing, a beautiful woman contest and a strongest man contest. We eventually joined a group of rowdy English and Irish men who were sitting at the table next to ours. They were in Munich celebrating their friend’s bachelor party. I never would have thought the English to be wild and loud drunks, but they were crazier than some of the Americans and “bros” I’ve seen partying back home. At one point, one of them spilled their beer on a German guy sitting nearby, who then turned around with a glare like he was about to kill someone. But a few drinks later, all was merry and well.

For some reason I was singled out by the groom to be picked on for the night. It was my first encounter with British humor… which basically consists of making fun of someone or trying to get under their skin, in a very slapstick and sarcastic manner. So he kept calling me by a different name, even though he knew it was Carly, or he kept pretending to give me a high five and then pull his hand away. Silly stuff like that, which probably was partially due to his drunkenness as well. It was just sort of… bizarre. If I hadn’t known he was kidding around, I would have been really annoyed. But every now and then he’d say “you know I’m kidding” or “I’m glad you’re taking this in good heart”. And eventually towards the end of the night – after he reappeared from a drunken disappearance caused by several consecutive shots – he bought me a drink and we had a bit of “real talk” on the restaurant’s terrace. I had another cool conversation with one of the guys who lived in London. I was talking about how much I liked the city and that I was excited to return in a few months. He told me places I must go to and wrote down some British slang on a napkin for me so that I’d be a little clued in on the conversation.

By the end of the night, the entire place was so lively. Everyone was dancing – on chairs, tables, the floor – or they were sitting down having conversations with big grins on their faces, still drinking the beer like water. Walking back to the hotel I had such a great feeling and was already starting to think Munich was my favorite trip so far.

Our last day in Munich, we had only half a day to explore before heading back to Florence. We took the subway out to the Olympic Stadium. Unfortunately the stadium was closed to visitors, but we were able to see the swimming, soccer and hockey arenas. We then climbed a huge hill in a nearby park and had a great view into the stadium where the 1972 Olympics were held. We still had time to kill before we had to go back to the hotel, so we decided to go to the BMW factory and museum that was right next door. The museum was massive and so innovative, with touch screen and interactive... everything. There were cars, motorcycles, engines and inventions from the company from all eras. And in the modern part of the museum we were able to sit on several motorcycles and cars. We couldn’t drive them, but it was a great photo opportunity!

We made it back just in time for the bus to pick us up. It was full of students who had gone to Prague for the weekend, and everyone pretended to be asleep so they wouldn’t have to give up their seats for us. Such a familiar atmosphere had returned. Ha. The ride back was beautiful as we drove through Austria and the Alps. Austria was one country I wanted to visit but I figured with seeing Germany and later the Czech Republic, I wasn’t missing much. I tried to keep my mind off the fact that I had three research papers due in the next days. I instead was looking forward to spring break that was a week away, and all the trips I had planned!

Here are more pictures from my time in Germany!

Northern Italy: Place to Place with a Friendly Face

All at once it seemed like everyone in my program was having friends and family coming to Florence to visit them. I felt a little sad that none of my friends or family could come; I wanted so badly to share my experiences with them and let them see in person the beautiful city I called home and praised so often. Then about a week before spring break at UT, my good friend Alyssa told me she was trying to work things out so that she could visit! I was so excited because we had been discussing the possibility before I left and she had worked so hard to save up and travel for spring break. Well it did work out, and she arrived in Florence early Friday morning on the 9^th of March. The poor thing had just finished two days of flying and as soon as she arrived we headed to the Santa Maria Novella train station to go to Milan!

It was my first train ride ever and I was super excited about it. Everything went smoothly and we arrived in Milan around mid-day. It took a while to figure out which form of transportation we should take to find our hostel, but we finally found it. We stayed one night at Hostel Greco; it was super cheap but a bit far from the city center. I had booked it a few nights before on Hostel World and was nervous because it didn’t have the best reviews. It was also my first time staying in a hostel – and this one we shared with about eight other girls and guys. As usual, my worrying was unnecessary because everything worked out fine. We had a place to sleep and a city to explore!

Milan was originally where I wanted to study abroad just because it is Italy’s fashion capital and I thought I’d somehow figure my way into fashion week. But after visiting – we had a short time, unfortunately, just half a day – I’m glad I chose Florence. Milan is very much more of a modern city with not nearly as much to see as Florence. I think I would have grown tired of the city.

We visited the beautiful Duomo and the famous shopping area right next to it – Quadrilatero d’Oro. It was like a fashionista’s heaven! There were beautiful designer stores everywhere and quaint little cafes. I love browsing the window displays because they often have cool themes corresponding to the designer’s fashion line items. It was also funny seeing a McDonald’s planted in the middle of it all. I’m beginning to think our fast food restaurants here are of a higher luxury standard to Italians. I’ll admit, I caved and got a strawberry milkshake and cheeseburger once… so good. After a short time wandering the streets we found a cute but bit pricey restaurant to have a delicious dinner before heading back to the hostel.

The next morning we woke up early and headed back to the train station to visit Verona for the day. I was happily settled on the train waiting for departure, just thinking about how lucky we were to get such cheap tickets and make all of our trips on time. I started reading the back of my ticket and saw it said you must validate your ticket if you don’t have an assigned seat. I mentioned it to Alyssa and remembered seeing someone stick their ticket in a machine before boarding the train. By the time I decided maybe I should run off the train and validate them, it was too late and we began moving. We were just hoping that no one would come around to check. But of course, they did. A man checking tickets looked at ours and began telling us in Italian that we had to pay a fine for no validation. Neither of us fully understood and he asked if we spoke English. We said yes, but he continued on in Italian while another passenger on the train began arguing with him and yelling about how it was unfair. Once the attendant collected our money, he left our car and didn’t return to check anyone else’s tickets. We had to pay around 11 euro (the price of our ticket) and a 45 euro fine on top of that. So much for our cheap tickets! All because we didn’t get a little stamp of the date on our ticket. Everyone else on the train was a lot more helpful trying to explain to us (in Italian and Spanish, since Alyssa knows Spanish pretty well) what we had to do once we got to Verona. Once we arrived there, we were able to get a bit of a refund towards our return ticket to Florence. The man who was arguing with the train attendant went out of his way to show us where to go and he even complained to the station about what happened. Even though this was such an annoying and unfortunate happening that could have been avoided, it changed my views on how Italians just keep to themselves. We were obviously in a dilemma and quite a bit of them went out of their way to help. It was so nice!

That trouble aside, we began our day’s exploration of Verona. We stopped for lunch and I had my first Kebab and a beer. It was a delicious combination – food always seems to make everything better! In total, we spent about six hours in Verona and saw quite a bit of the city and its history. It’s very touristy, but reminded me of Florence on a smaller scale. It was just as beautiful. We visited the Castelvecchio first, which was massive and now houses museums. It was right along the river so once we climbed to the top we had a great view of the city. We also saw a bit of a movie being filmed; someone said it was a new Romeo and Juliet film.

This brings me to the reason I was most excited to visit Verona. It is, of course, the city in which William Shakespeare based the play “Romeo and Juliet”. Because of this, there are a ton of tourist sites pertaining to the story, including Juliet’s house and Juliet’s tomb, both of which my friend and I visited. I don’t know if the Capulets and Montagues actually existed – I’m pretty sure it’s all just made up – but nonetheless it was a thrilling feeling being there and sort of living the story.

I love Shakespeare and am such a hopeless romantic so that sort of thing is definitely my cup of tea. I even stayed up until 5am watching “Letters to Juliet” the night before the trip just to be inspired and excited for when I’d get to write my own letter. If you haven’t seen the movie, it’s about Juliet’s house in Verona where girls go and write to her letters of their love or heartbreak, leave them in the wall, and wait for a response. The main character goes to the wall, finds a letter from years ago, and decides to respond to it as Juliet. She ends up helping the author of the letter find her long lost love and, in the process, finds her own love (who happens to be a cute brit - Totally my kind of movie). Haha

In the film, Juliet’s house is hidden away in a peaceful courtyard of plants, benches, and a statue of herself. It was a bit disappointing that the wall wasn’t like the movie, but I sort of expected that. The courtyard was full of tourists and there were gift shops all around. The walls were covered in signatures and there were no letters. We actually had to go inside and take a tour of the house up to the room where you can either write or email Juliet your letter. SO 2012. I chose to write mine and although I had been contemplating what to say, I still just made it general. I put my address down for a response, but I’m not sure they actually do that. Who knows – it’d be cool if they did! J

Another central site we visited was Verona’s Arena – sort of like the Colosseum but on a much smaller scale. Lastly, we went to Juliet’s tomb, which was on the opposite side of the city and consisted of a small museum that led down to a dark underground tunnel and room that contained an empty tomb. We did a lot in two days and were completely exhausted by the time we returned to Florence Saturday night.

The next day I had been particularly anticipating because it was the day of the Pitti Immagine Taste Festival! Since I’ve been abroad, my affection for food has been growing immensely. I am always hungry and can always eat more. I’m also more open than ever to trying new things. The food festival was fantastic. We paid 15 euro and basically got to eat all kinds of foods from every region of Italy. There were olive oils, breads, pestos, meats, cheeses, wines, cookies, cakes – everything! They were all bite and taste sizes so you really had to make your way around to all the booths to get your money’s worth. I definitely did and I got pretty full and a bit tipsy! haha At the end there was a small market where you could purchase your favorite foods you tried.

The rest of my friend’s stay was spent in Florence doing everything I could think of that would give her a clear picture of what my life had been like there so far. I FINALLY went shopping and we also went to a classical music concert held in the British Library. We also both developed a cannoli addiction that I have yet to rid myself of. I have a feeling it will just be replaced with the next dessert I try!

Alyssa left early Thursday morning before I woke up for class, but she left behind a reminder of how sweet a friend she is. There were fresh flowers on the table and kitchen counter with a note saying they were a “thank you” for letting her stay the week! It was so sweet of her and it’s also inspired me to have fresh flowers in my apartment more often. The wonderful thing about Europe is the open air markets that sell those sorts of things – I’m really going to miss it when I return home. Alyssa had also brought me a present from home when she arrived – American Vogue! She knows me too well. J

I also had another trip on my horizon. The next day I packed and left early, along with other students in my program, for a weekend stay in Venice! We headed towards northeast Italy, where I had just been only a week prior. But this time we’d be on the water and I’d get to see yet another ocean. I’ve been exposed to so many different types of transportation this semester and Venice definitely was quite a new experience. Our bus stopped at a vacant lot near the city and we all had to transfer onto boats to get to our hotels. I snagged a seat on the top deck so I had a great view as we sailed into the city.

Venice didn’t look too different than Florence – colorful, ancient buildings, piazzas, statues… except, of course, it is completely on the water and your only way to get around is by boat or on foot. But it did feel a lot more like a fairytale. One of the school faculty said you haven’t experienced Venice unless you get lost in the city. It’s very easy to. The streets are narrow and curving, many dead end to water and there are bridges everywhere. A friend and I wandered one night to see what being lost in the city felt like. I think the city was meant to be seen that way, not by following a map from point to point.

There were a few things, though, that killed the magic for me. As you can imagine the city is an extremely popular tourist site and that’s pretty much completely what it thrives and survives on. It’s expensive and you pay for everything – public restrooms and even to sit at an outside table to have gelato. Everywhere you turn there are street performers or gondoliers trying to get you to purchase their goods or go for an overpriced ride in a gondola. I remember watching a video in my Italian class back home about the tradition and expertise it takes to become a gondolier and how respected it is. I got a completely different impression, though, because I thought it was the main transportation for all Venetians. Gondolas now are decorated in such a gaudy manner and seem to be for the retired tourists willing to pay the overpriced amount. But I guess I can’t blame a city that’s struggling to survive. It was also sad to learn that many people don’t live there anymore and looking around, most of the buildings did look vacant. I imagine life would be a bit difficult there and it’d also be weird knowing that the city is constantly sinking! It was built atop tree trunks that were driven into the ocean bed and I suppose over the years they’ve begun to give way and shift around.

Through tours with our school, we saw a ton of historic sites and famous churches, including the Basilica di San Marco that had the entire ceiling and walls in mosaic. But I was more excited for our free time on Saturday that I used to visit the islands of Murano and Burano. I took a boat from the main land to Murano, which is the island where most of Venice’s glassblowing takes place. I was able to see a bit of this in action and wandered through shops of gorgeous Venetian glass products, including some of the most amazing chandeliers I’ve ever seen. Afterwards, I island hopped to Burano, which was probably the closest real life experience I’d ever have to the Wizard of Oz. It was a cute island with not much more than residences, all of which were painted in bright colors of the rainbow with contrasting flower pots outside and trim on the houses. Hopefully my friends and I didn’t freak out too many residents with our picture taking and running around their front and back yards!

It was sad leaving Venice because I felt like the city was a whole new experience and a breath of fresh air from the routine I was falling into with school. I also had tons of homework to face back home – but I could only hide from it for so long!

Here are more pictures from my time in Milan, Verona, Florence, and Venice!