Celebrating King's Day in Amsterdam!

Hallo from Copenhagen, Denmark!

...And then it was over.

Well the semester is over! My my how fast it went by. Just finished up finals week here in Florence. Tomorrow my friend Amy and I will start our month long ex-travel-ganza, meaning we will be leaving Florence for now and traveling all around Europe. So so sad to leave my friends and Soggiorno Laura, my florentine home, but this past semester has been so wonderful to me. I've made so many new friends and explored places that I had only dreamed of. Taking chances and exploring newfound frontiers, while as well as fitting in a few classes. Overall it was an amazing semester and I wouldn't have changed anything about it. I plan on posting a picture of every place I go in this upcoming month. Tomorrow we leave for our very first destination, Copenhagen, Denmark! I will be reuniting with some old friends. My friend Victoria, who actually lives in Copenhagen. She was my roommate when I went to Cambodia during my gap year. Can't believe I'm getting to see her after two years! It'll be such a great reunion! I will also be meeting up with May and Gretchen, old high school friends who happen to be studying abroad in Europe as well. Pretty excited! So I will definitely keep you guys all posted on all my travels and adventures. Ciao for now and I will talk to you guys soon! Miss you! Next stop: Denmark!

Ciao from Positano, Italy

Greetings from Capri, Italy

Croatian and Bosnian Weekend

Last weekend my friend Amy and I traveled to Split, Croatia with a traveling company called Bus2Alps. Being as indecisive as we are we actually signed up for the trip about a week ago so right before we were scheduled to depart.

Thursday: We left last Thursday night at around 9:30 pm and took a bus all the way to Split. The trip was completely booked with almost 150 kids all traveling on the same trip with the same company. Sleeping on a completely full charter bus is never ideal and the amount of hours of sleep I got that night could have definitely been counted on one hand.

Friday: But we arrived in Split the very next morning at around 10 am. We were assigned various hostels to stay in. Amy and I stayed in a hostel called Siesta Fiesta (catchy I know) with a few other girls in our dorm style room. We met some new friends, Casey and Katelyn, two girls who happened to be studying in Perugia (a smaller Italian town between Florence and Rome). We had all signed up to go river rafting that Friday unknowingly how exhausted we would be from the bus ride. Regardless, as soon as we got to Split we put our bags down and suited up to go white water rafting. Bus2Alps is cool in the way that it allows you to sign up for various activities within the trip that they are conducting granted you do have to pay a little extra for whichever activity you choose to participate in. It was about a 45 minute bus ride (the bus ride was absolutely stunning) to the river and when we arrived we had a full brigade of rafters waiting to assist us with wetsuits, helmets, and rafts. Each raft carried about six people along with a professional guide. Rafting was so much fun! I loved it and the weather was absolutely stunning. While the river was only ranked about 1 or 2 out of 6 on difficulty, it was still tons of fun. We finished rafting at about 4 pm where they then provided dinner for all of us at the end, getting to indulge in a Croatian delicacy of a whole cooked trout fish and vegetables. It was delicious. We got back to Split later that evening and the trip leaders of Bus2Alps had organized a pub crawl people could choose to go on. That was so much fun and we ran into so many other Gonzaga In Florence students as well. Overall a very busy day and safe to say I was completely dead that night. So much fun and such a great first day in Croatia.

Saturday: Not as nice of weather today. A bit more overcast and cloudy than we would have liked. Amy and I just took this day to really explore the city. We went to this tree park we thought was actually a park and it turned out to be an entrance for hiking up this huge hill. Not knowing how long the walk would be or how many stairs were involved, we continued to climb only to eventually reach the top and witness an entire 360 degree view of Split, Croatia. So so beautiful. With the mountains on one side and the Adriatic sea and all the islands on the other it was breathtaking. We also went to basement halls of Diocletian’s (Dee-oh-clee-tions) Palace. That was an interesting tour because apparently a family thought that would be a great place to play tag and they were all running around through all the various hallways and chambers, pretty funny. We walked through the marketplace and climbed the Split clock tower. Great vantage points of the city as well from there. That night we decided to go out to dinner with our new friends as well as meet up with some Gonzaga people as well. We went to this little eatery called Figa. It was so good and everyone pretty much finished their food in about 5 minutes. So good.

Sunday (Easter): We took a day trip to Mostar, Bosnia. Bosnia is beautiful but so different than Croatia. Much smaller and older and not as touristy as Croatia. While we were only in Bosnia for about a total of 2 hours we did take advantage of getting an authentic Bosnian lunch as well as walking through the shops and on the old bridge. We did not mind only staying in Bosnia for a couple hours because it was pouring and freezing and we were eager to get back on the bus and go back to Split.

Monday: Our final day in Croatia, we left Split at about 8:30 am and headed for Krka National Park to see the waterfalls. Luckily the weather was in our favor and so the trip was much more enjoyable. Krka is absolutely breathtaking. The nature and streams and waterfalls all are gorgeous and definitely worth the 3 hour drive. After finishing up in Krka we all got back on the bus and headed back to Florence. We were able to drive through Slovenia on our way back. Mom, you were right, Slovenia is absolutely gorgeous! But definitely the longest bus ride of my life. Leaving Krka at around 12:30 pm and getting into Florence at around 2:00 am. WE. WERE. DEAD. Haha but overall a very enjoyable weekend and Croatia is definitely one of my favorite places I have ever been. Crazy beautiful and so much to see and do. Highly highly recommend Split, Croatia if anyone is looking for a new vacation spot J. Sorry for the incredibly long and overly detailed blog post, but thanks for keeping up with me this far. Hope you’re all doing well at home and I will be sure to update soon! Ciao!

Greetings from Split, Croatia

EFP

Ciao everybody!

Tonight my friend Kayla and I went to our English For Pasta (EFP) family. About once a week we go to a local Italian family's house and we teach the kids a little bit of conversational English. And as you may have guessed it, we do get pasta in return, the family usually feeds us dinner afterwards. We usually go to the house every Monday night and spend about a couple hours teaching English and ending with a nice meal with the family. Our family is awesome. A family of two parents and three awesome little girls, Irene (7), Olivia (5), and Lucia (4). All of them so great and get so excited for us to come. While their English is minimal, all the girls go to a private school in Florence to learn French and Italian and English (that's Europe for ya). Trilingual before they even reach their teens. It is so great getting to spend some time with an authentic Italian family and get my dose of sibling love. Been missing my fam bam recently so this was a nice homey thing to get to experience. Below are some pictures of us and the kiddos. Oh and their pet rabbit, Maya. Heading into this upcoming Easter weekend I will be going to Split, Croatia with my friend Amy. I will be updating after this weekend and will provide too many pictures. Hope everyone is well at home and I miss you all! Sending my love and I'll be seeing you. Ciao for now!

Florentinian Spring Break

Ciao,

Sorry for the inconsistent blog updates, finding time whenever I can to update. Thought I'd make a brief post on what I decided to do for spring break (March 9-13). I actually decided to stay in Florence for spring break. While most of my friends were jetting off to the far reaches of Europe for the week, I decided to stay in Florence and really take the time to see my own city. Believe it or not I had not actually spent a full weekend in Florence since the middle of January and thought spring break would be the perfect time to see Florence on my own time. My friend from Germany was also planning on visiting me in the middle of break as well so that was nice. The beginning of spring break was pretty low key, taking the time to do laundry, update my blog, sight see, FaceTime with family and friends. One day I went to the Uffizi Galleria (home of The Birth of Venus) and that was rather relaxing. That museum is huge, I will admit I did get tired of looking at paintings of Jesus. On Wednesday my friend Yannick came and it was great to show him around the city. Over the course of the week, Florence just exploded with tourists. Tourists EVERYWHERE. In Florence you cannot walk more than 10 feet without someone trying to sell you a selfie stick.... yes that is a very real thing here. It is a stick you can attach to your phone to provide better access to selfie picture taking. It is pretty funny, but pretty obnoxious. I am just waiting for selfie stick obsession to take off in the states haha. But overall my spring break was very relaxing and it was great to just stay in Florence. Hope everyone is doing well at home and sending all my love from Italia! Ciao for now.

Greetings from Venice

Cinque Terre Day Tip

Last Friday, my friend Lauren and I decided to take a day trip to the five beautiful coastal towns called Cinque Terre - pronounced as Chink-qua-tear-eh (direct translation is literally "five lands"). Oh my gosh is was such a gorgeous day to go. The train from Florence was about 2.5 hours and you could take the regional train to any of the towns you wanted to. The towns are Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore, with Riomaggiore being the closest one. We spent a majority of our day in Vernazza and took our time hiking and exploring the city. Definitely a dream destination for any hikers and ocean lovers out there. Overall it was a day well spent and I wish I had spend more time in Cinque Terre.

Corniglia

Not a bad hiking view

Finding time to stop and smell the flowers

Vernazza

Ready to take on the world

Me and Lauren watching the sunset in Vernazza

This panoramic does not even do this place justice.

Balancing act.

Sardegna Pictures!

Tree hugger

Ventuno in Sardegna

It was windy. L-R: Me, Kayla, and Lauren

Life was not meant to be spent in one spot

No, just no.

Me and Kayla watching the sunset

First dinner post haircut.

Birthday Weekend in Sardegna

February 27th - March 1st

This weekend I decided to spend with a couple friends (Lauren and Kayla) in the gorgeous seaside city of Alghero, Sardegna (pronounced as Sard-een-ia). Sardegna is an island off the coast of Italy and considered Italian territory. We left on Friday morning, took a train to Pisa to catch the direct flight to Alghero. The flight on the way there was beautiful. Clear skies allowed us to see the ocean and the bright blue water. Once we reached Alghero we had a transfer from the hotel pick us up. We stayed in the Hotel Angedras Alghero. Very nice hotel for the price that we were able to get it at. I think it was about 129 Euros total for three of us for two nights and we all had our own beds. So yeah pretty sweet set up. Our hotel was only about a five minute walk to the coastline. Oh man Alghero was gorgeous. It used to be an old medieval walled city and much of the remnants of the city reflect its historic period. The city itself was pretty empty since it is still considered the off season for tourism, but in the summer when it is warmer that place must be swamped with people. Friday we just relaxed and walked through much of the town. On Saturday my friend Kayla and I decided to get a haircut and we chopped off all our hair. While none of the hair stylists spoke any English and we were praying that it would go alright, the haircuts actually turned out great. We were both very pleased with the results. Saturday afternoon we spent packing a picnic and biking along the Sardinian coastline. We were able to rent bikes from the hotel for only 5 Euros for the day. We biked to a little sandy private beach and had an amazing picnic on the water. Definitely one of my favorite things I have done since being in Europe so far. It was so much fun. That night we went to a little Italian restaurant in one of the little alleyways and had some bomb seafood. Nothing like the fish and chips we had ordered in Milan (refer to previous blog post). On Sunday (my actual birthday) we sadly had to leave and fly back to Pisa and then get the train back to Florence. But overall it was an awesome weekend and definitely one of the coolest ways to turn 21. Best birthday weekend ever! Cheers to everyone back home. I am currently on spring break and would love to catch up with anyone back home since I have some free time. Let me know! Sending you guys lots of love and I miss you all! I will be updating very soon! Ciao for now.

One In A Milan Chance

February 20th - 22nd

Traveled to Milan for this weekend with a couple of girlfriends. It was great. Got to see the Duomo Milano and went to the Museum of Science and Technology featuring Leonardo Da Vinci. Wow what a swell guy. I swear this guy could do anything and learned everything. He was a physicist, an inventor, an astronomer, an artist, a botanist, and a scientist researching everything from quantum mechanics to the human body. It was so cool to see all the things he discovered and had ideas about. Along with the Da Vinci exhibit, the museum had exhibits on space, energy, flight and aeronautics, and any technological device you could think of. Definitely technology Disneyland for engineers. Overall it was a pretty chill weekend. We stayed in the Hotel Club only about five minutes from Milano Centrale train station. The city was pretty busy from Carnival that had happened a couple weeks ago, and the upcoming time of Italian fashion week, and the preparation for the 2015 Worlds Fair that is suppose to take place in Milan. But it was a fun trip and I am glad that I got to see one of Italy's biggest cities (definitely Italy's most expensive city as well).

When you buy fish and chips in Italy...

Just me and my crew

Prototype of a Leonardo da Vinci Invention

L-R: Lauren, Amy, Emily and Me

Throwin confetti at the Duomo

Main shopping galleria