The End of an Incredible Journey..

It's crazy to believe that exactly 4 months ago, I was nervously boarding a plane from LA to Florence. I remember how scared I was about this upcoming experience, yet excited at the same time.  Now it's over and I would give anything to re-live each and every moment of this journey.

This past week I was forced to reflect on my time here in Italy as one of my teachers asked us if it is possible for study abroad students to completely immerse themselves into a different culture.  In many ways I feel like the answer to this question is yes.  In the short time I was here, I was able to interact with so many Italians and learn all about their way of living.  At first, it seemed weird for me to go to the grocery store 3 times a week or to cross the street even when the red pedestrian sign was up (with no cars coming of course!), but now it is completely normal.  I am grateful for the friendships I have made with people at the Mercato Centrale where I buy my produce and vegetables weekly, as well as Massimo the leather man and Fillipo from Gustapizza.  If I realized one thing while being in Italy, it is that italians have a sense of loyalty to one another.  There are so many family businesses here that rely on each other for support to make it through each and every day.  My experience here has made me mature in a way that I didn't expect.  I've definitely learned that patience is a virtue and that Americans need to slow down and enjoy every moment of life.  Everything in Italy is at a much slower pace, from their customer service to their meals, but now I have learned to embrace the relaxed style.

At the young age of 20, I feel so lucky to have already traveled to 8 different countries and over 20 cities in Europe.  I wouldn't trade this experience for a lifetime and I know it wouldn't have been nearly as amazing if I wasn't here with my two best friends.

Despite being separated for 2 years in college in 3 different states, we were able to take this semester and live in Florence together.  Not only did we live in the same apartment, but we lived in the same room together for the entire four months here.  At times it got a little crazy, but I know that this experience only made us closer and showed us how special our friendship is.  If it wasn't for them, I'm sure I would have felt homesick at least once during this semester.  Through it all, we were each other's rocks and support systems, which was so great.  I love them so much and I'm so grateful to have the world's most amazing best friends.  

I know that when I come home, most people will ask me what my favorite part of studying abroad was.  Although I loved many things about this experience, the answer to this question will be traveling!  After exploring 8 different countries, I've realized that as I get older, I want travel to be a priority in my life.  The different parts of the world have so much to offer and I want to see it all.  This past semester I was able to go from:

Ireland --> Amalfi Coast --> Germany --> Venice --> London --> Paris --> Prague --> Barcelona --> Rome --> Amsterdam

& many other cities in Italy! 

Here is one thing I loved about each of these places:

IRELAND

My favorite place in Ireland was the Cliffs of Moher.  This was truly one of the most beautiful places in the entire world. I could spend hours here just looking at the scenery.  I must go back here someday!

AMALFI COAST

Swimming in the legendary Blue Grotto was one of the coolest things I have ever done.  The water illuminates this gorgeous aqua blue color and we spent a good half hour just swimming around and enjoying it.  Our little paddle boat man had to practically drag us out of the water because we wanted to stay in here forever.

GERMANY

The Oktoberfest experience in Munich was absolutely unreal.  I have never been in a place with so many people from all over the world who were so happy and friendly.  No matter what language you spoke, someone would come up to you and cheers you with a smile on their face.  This was one of the best weekends by far!

VENICE

I can finally check a gondola ride in Venice off my bucket list!  This was the most beautiful way to see the city of Venice at night.  

LONDON

Whoever said London had terrible food must have eaten at the wrong places because we had a great experience.  I have always wanted to try fish & chips...and what better place to try them than in London? Site seeing and shopping in London was a ton of fun, but I fell in love with the adorable Borough Market.  

PARIS

I would be lying to everyone if I said my favorite part of Paris wasn't visiting the Eiffel Tower.  This was the most exciting part of the trip for me.  The Eiffel Tower was even bigger and more amazing than I could have imagined.  If I hadn't studied abroad in Florence,  I think Paris would have been the place for me.  I loved this city!

PRAGUE

The John Lennon Wall in Prague was absolutely unreal.  So much incredible artwork and talent is displayed all over this wall in honor of the Beatles Legend.  

BARCELONA 

The energy in a Barcelona Soccer game was unlike anything I have ever experienced.  It was so much fun to be here with all my Cal Poly friends decked out in our soccer attire.  This was an abroad experience I will truly cherish forever.

ROME

I never expected to fall in love with Rome the way I did.  The Colosseum was by far my favorite site in this ancient city.  The outside was breathtaking but the inside was even more amazing.  It's crazy to think about all of the history that has taken place here. 

AMSTERDAM

The last trip of the semester couldn't have been better.  I was with my three favorite people in such a fun and beautiful city.  It was really neat finally seeing the famous "I amsterdam" sign and taking a bunch of pictures here!

With all my traveling, you may ask yourself...Did this girl ever stay in Florence?  And the answer is yes.  I feel like I really made Florence my home for the past semester.  Even though I loved traveling, I was always relieved and happy to come back to Florence.  I can't imagine studying abroad anywhere else in the world.  There are so many things I will miss about this beautiful city.  First and foremost, I will miss the delicious food.  More specifically, I will miss my sandwiches from Antico Noe, my pizza from Gustapizza, my gelato from La Carraia, my dried fruit from the Mercato Centrale, my tiramisu from La Giostra, and so much more.  I think I definitely studied abroad in the best country when it comes to amazing food.  I will also miss my school and my teachers.  I am thankful that I was able to learn Italian and Art History this semester from wonderful teachers.  I think at this point I could take just about anyone on a tour through Florence and tell them all about Michelangelo's David in the Academia or Botticelli's Primavera in the Uffizi Gallery.  I have learned so much in my classes and I hope to take at least a little bit of my knowledge back with me to the states. 

Now, I just want to express my gratitude to my wonderful parents who supported me through all of my adventures.  I couldn't ask for two more loving and amazing parents.  I feel so fortunate to have been able to study abroad because I know that not everyone is given this opportunity.  I love my mom and dad so much and this journey has made me gain an even greater appreciation for them.  

So now the time has come, I must go back to the United States.  I can't wait to be back with my family for Christmas and the New Year!  It's hard to say this, but I'm ready to go home.  I know I will always have a special place in my heart for Florence and I will reminisce on my times here often. Although this journey is over, I know that the memories will stay with me forever.  

"Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends...The mind can never break off from the journey." - Pat Conroy  

At Last...Amsterdam!

It's crazy to be writing one of my last blog posts of the semester.  I can't believe I am only two weeks away from going home!  It is definitely bittersweet because I know I will miss Italy, but at the same time I am so ready to go home and be with my family for the holidays!

This past weekend, we took our last trip of the semester to Amsterdam!  I don't think we could have picked a more perfect place for our last trip.  Amsterdam was more beautiful than I could have even imagined.  I think it is a perfect cross between London & Prague!  The streets were adorable and the shopping was amazing!  I never expected to like it as much as I did.

On Friday afternoon, we took a bus to Pisa and then hopped on a flight from there.  The airport process didn't go as smoothly as it normally does unfortunately.    We arrived to the Pisa airport and were informed that we could only have one carry on.  For this trip, we flew with a smaller airline company we hadn't used before, and we found at the airport we could only have one bag.  Of course this was the one trip where I brought my backpack and a carry on because I needed to register for my classes in Amsterdam, so I had more stuff than usual.  I wish someone could have video taped me literally ripping apart my duffle in the middle of the airport and trying to shove my backpack and laptop inside my carry on along with all my clothes for the weekend.  I ended up wearing two puffer jackets over my thick sweater, along with two cashmere scarfs, jeans, and boots.  Meanwhile, I was throwing bits and pieces of my luggage in other peoples' bags in order to make it fit.  That was by far the most stressful time I have ever had at an airport, but somehow I fit everything and made it work!

We arrived in Amsterdam later that night and made our way to our hostel.  Since we booked this trip last minute, we didn't have many options of where to stay.  Let me tell you, after this hostel experience I will be happy to never stay in a hostel again.  The place was clean, which is always a plus, but the management was horrible and the hot water was always off, so we had freezing showers.  Not too fun. For our first night in the city, we found an asian food restaurant called Walk to Wok!  Asian food....Yum!  Living in Italy is amazing, but it's nice to have a break from pizza and pasta when we can.  After dinner, we roamed the streets of Amsterdam and found our way to the Red Light District.  This was definitely one of the more bizarre times of the trip.  I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the legal system in Amsterdam.




During our trip in Amsterdam, we visited the Anne Frank House.  I wish I could have taken pictures inside because this was one of my favorite parts of the trip.  Walking through her home and learning all about her life was such an eye opening experience.  The exhibit had parts of her journal displayed, as well as videos playing with information about her life.  We all really enjoyed the time we spent there!

After the Anne Frank House, we roamed the city.  Amsterdam had the most amazing shopping!  The stores were all so unique and different.  We definitely weren't expecting to find as many cute stores as we did.  Jade and Katie both got adorable leather jackets that they were excited about!  We have all decided that we love European fashion.  We are going to miss the cute stores we have found abroad!  We also found a really cool jewelry store where Jade, Katie, and I got chains to put our keys on from Paris.  We are so excited to go home and make our necklaces!

Being the picture lovers we are, we couldn't come all the way to Amsterdam without finding the "I AMsterdam" sign!  We were told that the letters move around daily so it could be a little bit of a scavenger hunt finding them.  Luckily, we didn't have too much trouble and we located them right behind the Van Gogh museum!  This is a huge tourist spot in the city because everyone wants pictures here, but we waited our turn and got a lot of cute ones.

A is for Alex...oh yeah & Amersterdam!

After a day of shopping and sightseeing, we opted for thai food for dinner.  I got the most amazing red curry chicken dish.  We all appreciated having a little "spice" back in our lives since most italian food is amazing, but lacks that kick of flavor.

The next day, we headed home!  We got up and had a yummy breakfast at a bagel shop in the city, then got on a train to the airport.  The only exciting part of this day was the SNOW!  Although it was terrible to carry our luggage around in the snowy weather, we still had fun!  I loved Amsterdam and would definitely recommend others to make a visit there!  It was a clean city filled with really nice people!  

When in Rome!

This past weekend was extra special because Christy was able to go with us on our weekend excursion to Rome!   On Friday morning, we hopped on a train and got to Rome around 10 am!  After checking into our hotel, we headed to see the Roman Parliament building!  It was absolutely enormous.  It definitely looked quite official.  Our next stop was to the Colosseum and the Forum.  The Forum was much cooler than I expected.  It was crazy to look at all the ancient ruins and try to fathom how old they were.  The amount of history in Rome was just astonishing.  After exploring the Forum for a while, we headed to the Colosseum.  

Us girls in the Forum!

The Colosseum was even more amazing than I imagined.  Surprisingly this was my favorite spot in all of Rome!  The outside was beautiful, but it was even more intriguing on the inside.  I remember watching Gladiator as a kid at my aunt and uncle's, but I never knew I would actually be in the actual Roman Colosseum.  It was crazy to think about all of the history and the battles that occurred there. 

Katie, Me, & Jade in front of the Colosseum

Inside the Roman Colosseum.  This was breath taking.  It definitely took a while to try to take it all in! I can't believe how well everything has been preserved and restored.

Me, Jade, Katie, & Christy

Trying to escape the Colosseum! Help!!!

After going all over the Colosseum, we decided to have lunch at a little cafe called Dante's.  We were having a hard time choosing where to go because we didn't have any recommendations, but we were pleasantly surprised with our food.  

They had chicken salad!  That was a big deal to us because that is extremely uncommon to find in Italy!

After lunch, we headed to the famous Trevi Fountain.  I know it's cheesy, but I have always dreamed of throwing a coin in the Trevi Fountain and making a wish.  We heard that it is usually extremely crowded at the fountain, but we lucked out.  We were able to take a bunch of pictures right in front!  

This was our silly Trevi Fountain picture! 

We threw way too much change into that fountain hoping that one day our wishes would come true.  We shall see!

After the Trevi Fountain, we headed to the gorgeous Pantheon!  

Inside the Pantheon!  The ceiling was spectacular.  The hole in the top is the only source of natural lighting, which is why it was fairly dark inside.  

After a day of sight seeing, we went back to the hotel and freshened up for dinner.  On our way out we found a cute Christmas tree!  It definitely got us in the holiday spirit!

Day 2 in Rome!  We started our day by meeting up with a tour group in Piazza Repubblica.  This was a gorgeous area of Rome.  There was an amazing fountain in front where this picture was taken!  

Me & Katie

For our second day in Rome, we headed to the Vatican City.  Boy was there a lot of history there.  We've learned a little about the Vatican in my art history classes in Florence.  I can't believe they have their own police force and postal service.  It definitely is an important part of Rome, but still separate.  

Inside the Vatican Museum!

View of Rome from a window in the muesum

Some of the amazing artwork!

After hours of touring the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel, we sat out in the courtyard to take a little rest.  We lucked out with a gorgeous day in Rome with beautiful blue skies and great weather.  

After the Vatican, we headed to St. Peter's Basilica.  This was definitely the most touristy part of Rome.  The line to get inside the Basilica was the longest line we had ever seen.  St. Peter's was beautiful!  

Our next stop was to the famous Spanish steps.  Our hotel was conveniently located right near the steps which was nice.  One of my favorite things was watching the beautiful sunset in Rome while just relaxing on the Spanish steps.  After two days of walking all around the city, we were really tired so this was the perfect last stop. It was hard to get a good picture there, but at least we tried!    

Christy, Jade, Me, & Katie

Overall, we loved Rome!  It was so nice to have Christy with us to explore the city.  I had heard from a lot of my friends that Rome was packed with people, but I think we went at the perfect time because we didn't face too many crowds.  I definitely want to come back someday.  I think Rome is one of those places you could visit over and over again and still learn something new.  I don't think I could ever study abroad there because I love that Florence is so small, but it definitely is my second favorite place in Italy!

Barcelona Bliss!

This past weekend I made my first solo trip abroad to visit all my Cal Poly friends in Barcelona, Spain! This trip couldn't have come at a more perfect time because I definitely needed a little time with my friends from SLO!  

On Thursday night, I took a flight from Florence to Barcelona!  Then Friday, the exploring began!  One of the first places, all the Barcelona girls (Kelly, Bianca, Ashley, & Mary) took me was to an amazing sandwich place called Bo De B's!  It reminded me of a better version of Chipotle.  Everything was so fresh and delicious.  They literally grill the meat right in front of you and add all the freshest vegetables to your sandwich!  I also tried Bravas (yummy potato bites) for the first time and I was in heaven! 

Then we went to this amazing indoor market.  It definitely reminded me a little of the Mercato Centrale in Florence, but an even better version!  There was tons of fruit, chocolate, fish, vegetables, meat and sweet treats!  My favorite part of the market was the amazing juices.  Only one euro for basically any fruit combination you could possibly dream of!  I got the strawberry banana and it was delicious!

I'm already craving another one of these!  They were so fresh and tasty! 

After going to the market, Kelly and I headed to the famous Parc Guell in Barcelona! This was such a beautiful place and provided us with the most incredible view of the city! Everything was so green and lush!

So excited to be reunited together!  Once Kelly and I are done with our semester abroad, we will be living together in our cute apartment in SLO!  This will be put up somewhere in our apartment for sure!

After Parc Guell, we headed back to Kelly's apartment, but stopped at the Arc de Trimof!  I didn't even know Spain had one until I saw it on one of the metro stops!  It was definitely not as big as the one in Paris, but still was cool to see.

For my next day in Spain, Kelly, Ashley, & I went to visit La Sagrada Familia!  This was by far the most beautiful place in Barcelona!  My jaw literally dropped.  I was so amazed at how big and detailed it was.  Gaudi is an absolute genius in designing it!

Inside was just as gorgeous as the outside.  It was so white, clean, and open.  The glass windows were spectacular as well!  This place literally took my breath away.

Kelly, Ash, and I decided to climb to the top of La Sagrada Familia!  It was so beautiful and such a great experience to be up so high looking down on the city!

Later that day, I was lucky enough to go with everyone to the Barcelona soccer game!  I never imagined I would get to that, so it was definitely one of the highlights of my trip!  Kelly was nice enough to reserve me a ticket through her school, so I was able to go to the game and be with all my friends!  I can't even explain the energy that was in the stadium.  Spain loves its soccer team and the fans sure know how to roar!  There were thousands and thousands of people out there to support the team, which was so amazing!

Luckily our seats were pretty good!  It was so much fun to watch the Barcelona team play and WIN the game! Woohoo!

Kelly & Me cheering in the stands!

 All of the girls & Grant! Go Barca!

Me, Bianca, & Kelly!

The soccer game was such a blast and definitely an added bonus to my amazing Barcelona trip!  I had so much fun visiting this incredible city.  Besides the crazy and insane nightlife, Barcelona has so much to offer! There is so much history and beauty within the city.  Barcelona is definitely much bigger than I initially anticipated and I'm thankful I had my friends to show me around.  I'm so happy I was able to see so much and spend time with all my SLO friends.  At times, I miss Cal Poly and all my friends there, so it was nice feeling like I had a little piece of home with me. This was definitely a weekend I will never forget!