Athena Blogs

4:45pm (US time)

I am officially back in America. The past couple of days have been a complete whirlwind of events. In the midst of stressing about finals I am glad that I was able to find time to hang out with the amazing friends I have made over the past semester and say some final farewells to the city I have come to love as my own.

During my last few days in Florence I had some quality bonding time with my friends, explored the real Florence, and revisited some of my favorite sites. One the Wednesday night before we all left my friends and I had a farewell/Christmas party where we ate at our regular restaurant, Il Porcospino, and played the game white elephant (or what I like to call Dirty Santa).

I’d say it was a rather successful night considering I got to spend quality time with all of my amazing friends, AND I walked away with a bottle of wine from the present exchange. It was a night full of mixed emotions. On the one hand I was sad that this was one of the last times I would see these people but at the same time I was happy that I had met all of these great people and could hang out with them one more time.

I tried to live it up as much as I could this last week so I went out to eat almost every night and I made it a point to get out and see as much of the city as possible. One of the last afternoons I was in Florence Jessica, Kristen and I went to an antique market near Santa Croce. It was a really cool market and we saw some really cool things.

It did make me realize how much of Florence I still hadn’t explored though. I made a promise to myself that next time I am in Florence I will explore all of these little neighborhoods that I unintentionally ignored these past few months. I had no idea that there was so much outside of the city center.

For my last night in Florence I went to the Christmas market with a couple of my friends and we ended up just drinking hot wine and reminiscing about the amazing semester we had together. After that we went out with a few of our other friends for one of their birthdays and had our last night out on the town.

We went to our favorite club, YAB, and danced the night away. I met up with Jessica after I left the club and we FINALLY made it to a secret bakery! For those of you who don’t know what a secret bakery is, it is when a bakery starts baking in the wee hours of the morning for the next day and crazy people (like us) who are out at 3 or 4am come to the back door and they sell us freshly baked pastries for really cheap. I know it doesn’t sound like much but let me tell you it is totally worth it! The pastries are SO GOOD because they are made fresh AND not to mention they are only like 1 euro each.

We had been intending on going to one for the entire semester but we couldn’t find one for the longest time since they are hidden and not to mention most nights we were grandma’s and went to bed by 1am. For those of you who are going to Florence and are planning on trying to find one, I could tell you all where the one is that I went to but that would ruin the entire experience. You have to follow your nose. I will give you a hint though; it is near Piazza Signoria.

The next day Jessica and I FINALLY made it across the river for some food. I really love it across the river and it is another one of those places where I wish I had explored more. Anyways, we really wanted to try Florence’s famous Bisteca Fiorentina so we found a restaurant that served it called and went in.

This meal turned out to be the best meal I had had all semester. The restaurant staff was super nice and waited on us hand and foot. And the food! Oh my, was the food SPECTACULAR! It was by far the BEST steak I have ever had in my entire life! (Sorry dad.) The waiter suggested that we eat it the traditional Italian way; raw.

We took his word for it and boy am I glad we did. It was the perfect texture and had the perfect amount of flavor with every bite. I HIGHLY recommend this place to anyone who wants a traditional Florence steak and a great dining experience! I couldn’t have chosen a better last real meal in Italy.

Later we made it over to one of Florence’s famous gelaterias, Perche no. On the way though, we had an unusual encounter. As we were walking down the street my friend Libby all of a sudden stops and walks up to this random group of people. She then proceeds to ask one of the guys if he was the guy from Coach Carter. He said yes and then proceeded to introduce himself and his friends to us. His name was Robert Ri’chard and he is the guy who plays Damien Carter in Coach Carter for those of you (like me) who did not know who he was.

We stood there and talked to them for a bit and then were on our way again. It was so strange! I have never met a famous person before so this was a totally new experience for me. It was so cool though. I am actually really proud of all of us for not freaking out and making complete idiots of ourselves. Ha. It was a great way to end the day.

It was so surreal waking up Saturday morning for my 6:35am flight. I honestly never thought this semester would come to an end. I look back on the first few weeks when I remember having nightmares of coming home and realize that that is now my reality. The nightmares resulted from the fear of not experiencing anything I wanted before I returned to America though. I have experienced so much this semester and would not trade any part of it for the world. I have seen places that I only thought I would visit in my dreams and I have met some of the greatest friends anyone could ever have.

This trip has changed me, that’s for sure. It has made me realize how much I love to travel and has given me an entirely different outlook on the world. It made me realize just how massive the world is but also how much I want to see it all. For every place I checked off of my list of places to see it seems that I added 3 more to the list. This trip has provided fuel for my dreams to see the world and I can’t wait to see where they take me.

I have been so blessed to have been able to experience all that I have. I am thankful for everything; from being able to see the beautiful Tuscan countryside from the seat of a vespa, to sleeping in the Brussels airport and having to pay 4 times as much for a flight back to Florence. I don’t regret a single part of my experience. Yea I probably could have done some things more efficiently and gone to a lot of other amazing places but in the end I would not have learned all of the things I have. It was really hard to leave Florence but I know that I will visit there again. Your outlook on things can change everything.

Rather than focusing on the sadness I am feeling that my time in Florence is over I have chosen to look at things in a positive light. Instead of focusing on the fact that this semester can never be recreated I have decided to focus on the fact that it happened. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to create all of the memories that I have and see all the places that I have seen. One adventure must end for another one to begin, so I am looking at every change of scenery as a new adventure. I do not have to wait until I leave the country again for a new adventure to begin. My next adventure is now. It is being home for the holidays and then going to school in a few weeks. Each day is an adventure within itself and it all depends on how you look at it.

I think this new mentality is why I am so happy with being home right now. Instead of focusing on NOT being in Florence I am focusing on BEING home. There is no point focusing on something that is in the past. Yea it is nice to have those memories to reflect on for enjoyment and to remember all of the lessons you learned but in the end if you only focus on them to compare them to the present then there is no point.

I know this is a totally cliché saying but if there is anything I learned from this adventure it is to live each day like it is your last. There is no point waiting around to do what makes you happy. You never know what tomorrow holds so do what you love now. Don’t wait. And make the most of every situation.

Unless I have any massive revelations in the next few weeks in reference to reverse culture shock or something of the sorts this will be my last blog entry. This experience has truly been the most enjoyable experience of my life and while I am sad to see it come to a close I am so thankful that it happened and that I have had the pleasure of sharing all of it with you guys. I will constantly looking to the past to remember this great time in my life but I will also look to the future to see what else God has in store for me.

This is only the beginning for me and my many adventures and I thank all of those who made this experience the best experience of my life thus far. I hope that this blog was both enjoyable and helpful to all of you who are reading it and that it may inspire you to see more of this marvelous world that we have at our finger tips. If there is anything that I want you to take away from this blog it is not, ‘Brittany looks like she had a great time in Europe’, or ‘man those look like some nifty places that she visited’. I want to encourage all of you to take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way and see all that you can see. Live each day without regrets and do what makes you happy. I promise you will not regret it.

Ciao!

Brittany

P.S. For those of you who are looking into studying abroad and have questions you would like to ask me please don’t hesitate to email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . I will be happy to help you out in any way that I can.

7:57pm

So I’m not going to lie, this blog is the production of pure procrastination. Finals are this week and I am in denial that my time here in Italy is almost up so I have decided to compose this blog to help me detach from reality. And so far it is succeeding tremendously. So this past weekend there was a holiday on Thursday so we got a 4 day weekend. I didn’t really want to go anywhere since it was my last weekend in Florence so Libby, Jessica and I decided to go to Siena for the day on Thursday.

It was a very relaxing day and it turned out to be a great way to sort of say goodbye to Italy. We were able to see the countryside one last time before our departure for home. We left in the late morning and basically just spent the day walking around Siena. We walked through the stores and I got a lot of my last minute souvenir shopping done and we just hung out around the main square all day.

We walked through the side streets as well which was really cool because in Siena they have broken up the city into several different ‘neighborhoods’. These ‘neighborhoods’ are the result of the big horse race they have 2 times a year. In this horse race each neighborhood has a rider and they race around the central square until the first person reaches the finish line. Doesn’t sound so bad, right? Well you see, in this horse race anything goes. There are no real rules as to how you get to the finish line; it’s just that you have to.

It has gotten so intense in the past that they began lining the city center with mattress to protect both the crowed and the riders. The winner of the race gets bragging rights and gets to hang their neighborhoods flag throughout the entire city until the next race takes place. All of the neighborhoods flags were flying proudly on this holiday for some reason so we were able to see the pride each person had for their neighborhood. People were even wearing them around their necks. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before.

Overall, Siena was a very cute town surrounded by beautiful countryside. After eating lunch in the central square we decided to tour the duomo, baptistery, and crypts. It was really neat seeing inside everything but the coolest part was climbing to the lookout point. From this point you can see all of Siena and the surrounding countryside.

It was absolutely breathtaking the way the town was encapsulated in the gorgeous Tuscan hills AND it turned out to be a beautifully warm day so when we were on the top it actually felt like summer. It was so strange. We could not have picked a better day to see Siena.

The rest of the weekend was mixed with studying, finishing up art projects and doing things around Florence. Friday Jessica, Kelsey and I climbed the bell tower attached to the duomo in Florence. We had been meaning to do this forever but when you live in a place you actually end up seeing less than if you were just visiting for a little while.

I think it’s because when you live in a place you think you have so much time to see everything, when in all actuality you spend so much time seeing other places near the city that you never really get to see the city.

Climbing to the top of the tower was amazing though because we were able to see all of the streets we walked along every day but from a completely different perspective. Everything seemed so close from up there! It made me wish I would have gotten to explore more of Florence than just the city center. The view was breathtaking though and it allowed me to really soak up the city.

Over the past 3 ½ months Florence had transformed from another pretty European city into my home. Standing on the top of that bell tower made me realize the unity I developed with the city and made me realize that the connection I feel with it will never disappear. It has become my city. La mia città.

I am really excited to see all of my friends and family upon my return to the states but it is going to be really hard for me to leave this place. Florence has become my home and I absolutely love it here. I love the friends I have made, the travel I have done, and the culture I have embraced. I think someone is literally going to have to drag me onto the plane to go back to America because I am telling you right now I will not be getting on that plane on my own free will.

I know going back will be hard but that is why I am trying my hardest to leave each day to its fullest. I don’t want to waste a single day of what I have left. The only thing that is keeping me from the anticipation of total depression is my determination to come back. I am telling you now people, this is not Brittany Reed’s last time in Italy. I WILL be back.

Ciao!

Britt

10:18pm

This past weekend I went on the school trip to Venice. I was a little hesitant to go at first because of all of the school work I had but I had already paid for the trip so I had to go. And I am so glad that I did. I had an absolutely amazing time exploring this wonderful city. It was so great to get to go on a trip and not have to plan anything. I didn’t realize how much I enjoy not making plans until this trip.

Yea it has some disadvantages, moving in a crowd with a huge tourist stamp on your forehead, but at this point in my travels I didn’t even care. I was just happy to not have to think about making the right reservations or moving fast to make sure I get to see everything that I want to. It was a very relaxing trip and I ended up loving the city more than any other city I have visited in Italy.

We got to a town close to Venice early Saturday afternoon where we ditched the bus and hopped on a private boat. In no time we were cruzing down the Grand Canal and after about 15 minutes we found ourselves on the shores of the little island of Murano. Murano is a very popular island in Venice that is known for its glass. We were only on Murano for a couple of hours but it was great because during our time there we were able to watch the masters of the glass work their magic.

It never ceases to amaze me the way they mold that molten hot liquid to form figurines, vases, and all the other little glass things they make. It was really fascinating watching them create such masterpieces in such short amounts of time. The guy literally made a horse in 5 minutes. It was insane. After we were done getting our minds blown we headed into the store where we received 50% off everything in the store.

So naturally I bought a ton of things. None of it was really necessary but it works great for souvenirs. Everything in the store was so beautiful and to be honest I probably would have bought a lot more but I had to consider how I was going to get it all back to the states. It’s a good thing I just stuck with what I got because I am going to be pushing it with my baggage as it is.

After our time at the glassblowing factory we hopped back on the boat and headed over to Burano. Similar to Murano in both name and location, but completely different. We were only on the island of Burano for about an hour. Just long enough to grab lunch, take a quick look around the beautiful waterways, and get back on the boat.

I really enjoyed the town though even if we were only there for a little while. It was very peaceful despite being located in such a touristy place. After our quick break in Burano we were off to the main island of Venice. I really enjoyed the ride over to the main island by way of the Grand Canal though.

I think it is so cool how they created streets out of the water with wooden posts bordering the sides of the street to keep the boats on the right track. It is unlike any road I have ever seen before. Way to think outside of the box Venice.

Murano and Burano were really cool islands but I can definitely see why Venice is the most popular amongst the tourists. The city is so unique. I love the fact that there are no cars there. If you want to get around you either walk, take a boat or swim. Although I think if you chose the latter you would probably get a lot of weird/disgusted looks. Once we arrived and checked into our hotel we went on a walking tour of the city.

This was really cool because, although it did not help me get acquainted with the city streets at all and I had no idea where I was the majority of the time, we were able to see Saint Marks church, a lot of very beautiful Venice landscapes by moonlight and we were able to scope out a lot of the stores that lined the streets. I ended up buying one of Venice’s famous masquerade masks in one of the shops on our way back for dinner. It wasn’t one of the fancy ones because I was worried about its commute back to the states but I did get a simple black one instead that I really like.

We actually ended up getting separated from the group on the tour so we had to find our way back on our own. Luckily we were paying just enough attention to remember key landmarks and we were able to trace our steps back to our hotel. We had dinner at the hotel that night which turned out to be pretty good. I wasn’t a huge fan of their calamari but hey you can’t win them all.

After dinner Kristen, Stephanie and I were exhausted so we were lame and went straight to bed at like 11pm. We tried to stay up and have girl talk but I fell asleep about 10 minutes into it. It was really nice to have an actual good night’s sleep though. I woke up very refreshed the next morning which was good because the next day I had to get up and see more of the beautiful sights Venice had to offer.

We started off the next morning with a visit to the Peggy Guggenheim museum. I never realized how important she was until I saw this collection. For those of you who don’t know the Peggy Guggenheim is she is a very famous art collector who is credited to having discovered artists such as Jackson Pollock. Her collection in Venice is actually displayed in Peggy’s old house and is also where she is buried. It was great getting to learn more about her and her impact on the art scene, and getting to see some of the famous works she collected by artists such as Jackson Pollock and Salvador Dali. It was a very interesting museum and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Venice.

After the museum 6 of us decided to give in to our tourist temptation and we found a guy willing to give us a 30 minute gondola ride for only 60 Euro. Score! As touristy as it may have been I am so glad we did it. We got to see so many sights that we otherwise would not have been able to experience. On our way back to the meet up with one of our friends we got distracted in the central square in front of Saint Marks church. There were these kids feeding the pigeons in the center of the square and I swear it looked like they were going to get carried away by all the birds surrounding them. It was insane the amount of birds that flocked to the food.

I tried walking away one time as the little boy was feeding them and it felt like I was being dive bombed by an army of pigeons. It was terrifying. The thing about these pigeons though is that they are not like normal pigeons. These pigeons don’t move. You can go up to within centimeters of them and they won’t flinch. Sometimes you can even touch them and they won’t even acknowledge your existence. It’s insane.

We grabbed some pizza after getting our fair share of enjoyment out of watching the pigeons attack the people feeding them and then we met up with the group shortly after to walk through the Duke’s Palace. The palace was really sweet inside, complete with a massive courtyard, tons of paintings, an authentic chastity belt, and dungeons. We got lost in the paintings though and ended up having to practically run through the last half of the palace in order to see everything and make it back to our meeting place on time.

Over all the weekend was wonderful. I absolutely loved Venice and could actually see myself living there for part of my life. This weekend was a much needed relaxing vacation and I am so glad that I was able to see this amazing city before my time here in Europe comes to a close. This was my last big trip before I ship back out to America, so while I am sad that there will be no more I am glad I could close my time here in Italy wish such a great trip. It’s Firenze next weekend and then America. Man this semester has flown by.

Ciao!

Brittany

10:11pm

We left right after class on Thursday afternoon. Myself and 4 of my friends we off to Berlin, Germany! I probably should not have left this past weekend due to the immense amount of unfinished projects and homework I have but how can you say no to Germany? We got there kind of late Thursday night so after we found and checked into our hostel we booked it to the world famous Christmas markets. We only had about an hour or so at the markets because it was late and they were closing down but we had a blast anyways.

We were running through there like little kids, cameras poised and ready to click. We spent that whole glorious hour going from booth to booth looking at the little things they had to offer and of could trying samples like nobody’s business. Now if you have not caught on already that day was Thanksgiving. So in light of the American spirit we decided to have a “traditional” Thanksgiving by going to the nearest, open restaurant (which are much more difficult than one would think at 11:00pm) and eating as much as we could fit in our stomachs.

Since we were in Berlin we had to skip out on the turkey and mashed potatoes however we did have a delicious German cuisine that consisted of beef, potatoes and vegetables. It was amazing! Not a bad alternative to Grandma’s home cooking. (Not that your dinners aren’t spectacular Grandma. I just said that for emphasis. ;) ) Although Thanksgiving was a little different this year I am very blessed to have been able to spend this time of thanks in as great a place as Berlin with my family (even if not biological).

The next morning we woke up early to go on a tour of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The tour turned out to be amazing. I was kind of worried at first because it was to last for 6 hours and let’s face it, my attention span does not last beyond 3. It turned out to be great though because we had a really sweet tour guide. He was extremely passionate about the subject and was very knowledgeable. He was spouting off dates left and right as we toured the place that was the last home to thousands and thousands of people.

Having the guide really made the experience for me. Without him it would have still been cool to see but it would not have had the same eerie effect as it did with someone taking you through the camp, place by place telling you the significance of everything. This concentration camp was a hard labor camp so it’s only intent was not to exterminate people however it did host its fair share of killing. In order to get to the camp we took the same path the prisoners would have taken all those years ago.

We walked through the entrance with the gate reading ‘ARBEIT MACHT FREI’, meaning ‘work will set you free’, we saw where they would be stripped of their identity and forced into their roles at the camp, and we saw the places where they would sleep, work, be tortured and die. The part that hit me the most though was the place where they would do the so-called autopsies. Here we were able to go into the basement where they would keep the bodies of the deceased prisoners. They place hit me the hardest. It was a small room with white washed walls and one entrance and exit. I could just imagine the room being full of victims of the Nazi rule. It was a very sobering moment and made me extremely thankful for being able to learn about this history and not having to live through it.

Once we were finished at the concentration camp we headed back to the center of Berlin where we booked it to the largest standing of the Berlin wall. It was starting to get dark so we had to hurry but we were able to catch it just in time to see part of it in the day light. We took our photos and reflected on the meaning of the wall. After this we checked out check point Charlie that connected the East Berlin to the West in the times of the Cold War.

This attraction consisted of a tiny building surrounded by stores and modern life. Not exactly what I was expecting but still cool. The coolest part was the wall just down the street. On it had different stories of people who tried to overthrow the system and cross the wall. It was cool getting to see pictures of all the courageous people and read their stories. They may not have succeeded but they are certainly remembered.

As interesting as everything was, after a while of hearing about death and communism it can kind of start to bring you down. To solve this problem we decided to get some dinner the German way; Kabobs and sausages! We had asked the people at our hostel where the best places to eat were and they directed us to these 2 little booths a little ways from the city center by metro. The Kabob place was called Mustafa and the sausage place was called Curry 36. Both of them were spectacular and succeeded in their mission to stuff me to the point of wanting to burst.

After we put ourselves into a food coma we decided to head back to the hostel. Mickey and I attempted to go out that night but after searching for the clubs for about an hour and failing we decided to just walk around Berlin. The city was beautiful at night and it really made me want to see it during the day. That’s the only regret (if you can call it that) about the trip. I wish we could have been able to spend more time in the city during the day time to see the artists and city life. Regardless, our time in Berlin was absolutely amazing and eye opening. I learned more in that 1 day about the holocaust than I ever did in my history classes. I really hope I will get the chance to revisit this city some day.

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early (with Mickey and I only getting 2 ½ hours of sleep) and left Berlin for Brussels, Belgium. We checked into the hotel after about an hour of searching for it (for anyone traveling to Brussels make sure when you book a hostel is says CITY center. Just because it says center on the website does not mean in the center of the city). Once we dropped our stuff off we headed out to make the most of our day in Belgium. We walked towards Mini-Europe stopping only to grab a quick lunch.

Mickey, Keisha and I went into Mini-Europe while Stephanie and Serena went and did their own thing. Mini-Europe was a blast though! It felt like I was in Disney World! For anyone who does not know what Mini- Europe (like me before I went to Brussels) it is basically just this little park that has tons of miniature monuments from all over Europe. I’m pretty sure they had the most famous monuments from nearly every country in Europe. It had the Eiffel Tower, the Swedish windmills, Big Ben, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and many, many other national icons.

In front of each monument it had a little plaque telling you where the monument was located and a bit about the country’s population and information. Each also had a button you could push where it would play the countries national anthem, and some even had special features. It was a blast! The only lame part was that my camera began to die towards the end and my only charged battery was in my bag back at the hotel, so I had to walk around the rest of Brussels, for the most part, without a camera.

We were supposed to meet Stephanie and Serena in the center at around 4:00 so we decided to head that way. On the way though, we stopped by this Japanese museum park thingy that we saw on our way towards our hotel to take some photos. I still don’t really know what it was but it was SWEET! I was this little park full of ancient oriental buildings and museums.

We did not stay there long but it was so cool to get to see something like that in real life. I really wish I would have put my extra camera battery in my bag so I could have documented more of it. Oh well, sometimes I think it is nice not having my camera because it forces me to take in more of the moment while I am there looking at it.

Once we got into the city center it took us all of about 5 minutes to locate a waffle stand and devour our first Belgian waffle. Trust me, they are even better than people lead on. They were the most delicious waffles I have ever tasted in my entire life. If you ever find yourself in Belgium…..EAT A WAFFLE! You will not regret it.

After indulging our appetites we headed towards the square where we were to meet Stephanie and Serena (40 minutes before…oops). Needless to say we did not find them, but we just decided to walk around the city on our own and meet up with them later and the hotel. While we were standing there taking in the beauty of the Christmas decorated square we met 2 exchange students studying in Brussels for the year. They were really awesome people and ended up showing us around the majority of the city.

The best thing they did for us though was point us in the direction of the Christmas markets. These Christmas markets were the BOMB! I mean Berlin was great but this one had an ice skating rink AND a Ferris wheel! Talk about legit! We walked around there for a few hours looking at the booths, stuffing our faces with Belgian food and churros, and watching people fall on the skating rink. It was the most fun I had had in a long time (well at least since a couple of weeks ago). We ended up meeting 2 women, Valentina and Isabel, living in Belgium from Italy and Argentina at the stand where we got dinner. They were extremely nice people and we talked to them the entire time we ate our dinner.

After saying good bye to our new friends we headed to the McDonalds to get some heat back into our bodies before heading back to the main square for the Christmas light show. We made it to the square just in time to see 3 people performing with glow sticks in front of the massive Christmas tree in the center of the square. This was not ordinary glow stick performance though. These glow sticks were super glow sticks and would change colors to form different pictures as the performers twirled them in fast circles to the beat of the music.

The result was an amazing light show that kicked of the bigger light show of the entire square. The show was set to Christmas music and lit up the entire square. It was the best way I could have imagined kicking off the Christmas season. I will never forget this Thanksgiving/Christmas season. It is definitely one for the record books.

Once the lights show was over we headed back to the hotel to freshen up a bit, grab Stephanie and Serena and head back out for out one night out on the town. We got a name of a good club called Celtica from our new exchange student friends and we were super eager to try it out. Stephanie and Serena ended up just staying in that night because they were both coming down with a bit of a cold and didn’t want to push it, so Mickey, Keisha and I just went out on our own. Not going to lie I was dragging a bit in the beginning given the fact that I had only gotten 2 ½ hours of sleep the night before but I was determined to go and experience the Belgian night life. And boy am I glad I did.

After getting a taxi to the center (the metro stopped running at 12) and getting our pregame waffles we were ready to go. We arrived at Celtica at around 1am and did not leave until about 6:15am. We had not planned on staying out all night but once we hit that dance floor we did not leave it unless it was a bathroom break or an escape attempt from people we did not want to dance with. We ended the night walking down a street through a corridor of Christmas lights reflecting on our wonderful trip and how blessed we were to have the opportunity to do all the things we have been doing.

You have no idea how badly I just want to end this blog here. You see everything went great after this until we got to the airport. We made it back to the hotel, we got our things, we made it to the airport an hour before our flight and then we saw her face drop. As soon as we asked the lady at the airport where the Ryanair desk was she broke the news to us. Apparently there are 2 Brussels airports. One of them (the one we flew into) was the international airport and hosted the majority of airlines. The other one (the one we needed to go to) was the host to the other 5 or 6 airlines and was about an hour away by taxi. This is apparently not a rare thing that people go to the wrong airport looking for Ryanair and get stuck missing their flight.

It’s our own fault for not double checking the departure airport but that didn’t make it suck any less. We accepted that we had missed our flight and spend about 2 hours contemplating what our next move would be. Stephanie and Serena had left about 10 minutes before us and had figured out on the way that they were headed to the wrong airport and had time to just barely make the flight. So this left just me, Mickey, and Keisha with all of our luggage, 2 ½ hours of sleep for the past 2 days AND stuck Belgium for an extra day.

If we had had enough money to pay for another night at a hostel we could have checked in early, freshened up, maybe taken a nap and spent another day roaming the streets of Brussels. Instead, while we still roamed the streets of Brussels, we looked more like homeless travels who had not slept or showered in about 2 days. Ha. I bet we were an attractive sight to see.

We made the most of our day, despite our situation and eventually made our way over to the correct airport. And with the help of Keisha’s amazing gift at making us sound pathetic we were able to get a free bus ride to the airport! This is one of the few silver linings that will come out of this story. Anyways we got to the airport and talked to the people at the Ryanair desk. They said the next flight they had going out was the next day (Monday) at 10:20am for 98 Euros. The price was a little steep compared to what we originally paid but it got us home so we were okay with that.

We went to sit down while Mickey and Keisha moved their funds around so they could pay for the new ticket and ended up falling asleep. We woke up in time to catch the people at the desk as they we leaving to ask if we could just buy the tickets in the morning. The lady said it would be no problem and that we could purchase them in the morning when they opened at 4:30am. So we slept in the airport that night, not able to spend the extra money on a hotel, and woke up at around 5am the next morning to buy our tickets home.

When we go up to the counter though the guy tells us that the flight will now cost us 223 Euros instead of the 98 the lady told us the night before. After we picked our jaws up off of the floor we attempted to reason with the guy telling him that the lady last night had told us that the tickets would be the same price. Nobody at the airport worked for the actual company of Ryanair though so they could do nothing about the price. The airport was really nice to us despite our grumpy attitudes and pitiful faces. I think they genuinely felt bad for us because more than one of them went out of their way to help us in any way they could.

Ryanair is very clever in that sense you know? If you have no one actually there at the airport working nobody can be swayed into feeling bad for someone and giving them a reduced price. Sneaky little boogers.

In the end Keisha and I had to get back as soon as possible because of school work so she had to end up asking a friend for a loan, and I had to suck up my pride and spend the ridiculous amount of money to get home. Mickey still refused to pay that much so she ended up staying in the airport one more night and catching the flight home on Tuesday.

We eventually all made it back to Florence in one piece though so I would say the story ended in success. And despite all of the crap we went through in the end I would still do it all over again. We learned a lot from our mistakes and were able to grow even closer to one another. Every traveler has their horror stories and this is just another one to add to my collection. I had an absolutely amazing time in these two absolutely stunning cities and would not change a thing about the entire trip.

Ciao!

Brittany

11:14pm

After living here for just over 2 ½ months I finally made it to Rome. My friend Kelsey and I left Saturday morning bright and early on the 5:50am train. Or at least that was the plan. It ended up that our train had some sort of trouble so we had to get on a different train. Luckily since it was a train issue and not our own error we were able to use the same ticket as the first train. We good time and got into Rome at around 8:45am. Only 15 minutes later than our first train was supposed to arrive. Once we got to Rome we found our hostel which was conveniently located a couple blocks from the train station.

For anyone traveling to Rome and is in need of a good hostel I highly recommend The Yellow. It was great location and very nice quality wise. We were not able to check in right away but we dropped off our bags and made our game plan for the day. After contemplating the map for a while and planning out our time in Rome we took the metro from the train station to the Vatican to begin our Roman holiday.

We had bought our tickets for the Vatican online before we left, which was a good idea since the line was forever long and the tickets allowed us to skip the line. Walking into the Vatican museum I didn’t really know what to expect. I wasn’t sure if it was a palace with art in it or an actual museum. It ended up being the later which was kind of disappointing to me (you know how I like palaces and castles), but it still ended up being pretty cool. I got kind of bored during part of it but I’m pretty sure that was due to the fact that I had only gotten about 4 hours of sleep the night before and I was already tired before I entered the museum.

The art inside was fantastic though. I wish I would have thought out my sleep schedule a little better before going there because I would have really liked to have been able to appreciate the art as I normally would have. Instead Kelsey and I found ourselves rushing through the museum just to get to the Sistine Chapel and get out. This is when the fatal event occurred… as I was dragging my feet up the stairs on my way to the Sistine chapel I tripped. Yes, in a crowed of dozens and dozens of people I trip and fall on the stairs.

Just you wait…it gets worse. So as I was falling, of course, I stick my hands out in front of me to save my face and various other vital parts of my body. Well the problem with this was as my hands were occupied saving my vitals I watched painfully as my camera (which I often refer to as my baby) swing around my shoulder, crash into the stair and break in half. Yes, you read that last sentence correctly. As I am walking up the stairs to the Sistine Chapel, one of the most famous paintings in the world, my camera breaks. If only I could put into words the depth of my disbelief as I saw my camera laying there, lens hanging onto body by only a thread.

The emotions that followed included the following; rage, disbelief, mourning, anger, shock, and frustration. Surprisingly embarrassed did not make it on this list, which you think would be at the top considering I got completely owned by the stairs but it wasn’t. I was too concerned with my camera and didn’t even realize I looked like a complete idiot until hours afterwards. Ha!

God was watching over me that day though because I was miraculously able to salvage my camera just enough to sneak photos of the Sistine Chapel and get pictures of Saint Peter’s basilica. Mind you, in this case salvaging means holding the lens with one hand, the body with the other and pushing them together to take a photo.

The pictures turned out pretty well regardless and I was in total awe of the Sistine Chapel. It amazes me how larger it is and how much time it must have taken to complete it all. It was kind of difficult to see some things since it is really high up there but it was still very beautiful and completely surreal. The entire time I could not wrap my head around the fact that I was standing in the in the presence of the place that I had studied about in art history class and looked at a million times in photos. It was amazing, broken camera and all!

I walked around holding my camera together until the disbelief wore off and I was able to think consciously enough to call Jessica back at home and have her google where the nearest camera repair shop was. She was very helpful and was able to give me an address and directions to a repair shop right around the corner from the Vatican.

As Kelsey and I were getting ready to go though, we realized that we somehow missed the painting “The School of Athens” by Rafaelo. Luckily we realized it in time and we were able to walk through again and find it. Of course it was in the one section we skipped after my camera fatality in order to get to the Sistine Chapel quicker. So we walked through the whole thing again, Sistine Chapel and all (which I got totally busted taking a photo in this time). It was kind of a good thing though because I was able to appreciate it more this time since the shock of the camera had semi worn off and we got to go out a separate exit that is normally reserved for tourist groups that leads straight into Saint Peter’s basilica. It pays to talk to the security guards.

We took the empty corridor into Saint Peters basilica which turned out to be amazing inside! It was absolutely beautiful with its baroque décor and renaissance art. This is where we saw Michelangelo’s pieta and the tomb of Saint Peter (or at least the entrance to it).

Even though I am protestant and not catholic I went into some of the prayer rooms and prayed. They were each so beautiful and I was in total awe of the splendor of it all. After the basilica we exited through Saint Peter’s square (which had all kinds of stuff in it for a concert or something so it kind of ruined a lot of my photos) and went to the photo shop.

It was kind of a bummer that we had to take out some time in our schedule but I ended up buying a new lens to temporarily replace my other one so it was worth the trip.

After our repair pit stop we took the metro over the villa Borghese and walked around a bit, although since we lost so much time with the camera repair we were not able to go into it too far and we were running out of sunlight. I think that is why the Villa Borghese did not really wow me.

We then made our way over to the Spanish steps. We climbed all the way to the top and it looked really sweet because the sun had already gone down and we were able to catch the last glimpse of light on the horizon from the top of the steps.

We headed back to the hostel after this where we had our free drinks and met some new friends. The two girls we met were from Canada and they were just traveling around Europe for a couple of months. We ended up going to bed really early (lame I know, but hey we were tired) and meeting up with them the day to travel Rome together.

The next morning we all had breakfast together and Laura and Sara (the two Canadians) brought their new friend Tyler along. Shortly after we were finished eating we took the metro to the Colosseum. The line to get in was not too long so we decided to go in, which was totally worth it. I loved climbing to the top and looking out over into the center stage. We stood there for a good while contemplating the lives of the ancient Romans and what it would have been like to live back in their times.

Many people had told me that the Colosseum was not worth going in but I completely disagree with them. If you ever find yourself there, go in! You will not be disappointed if you go in with the right attitude.

Once we were done there we walked across the river a bit near where Kelsey’s brother studied when he was in Rome. We grabbed lunch on the go there and hit up a little market one the way back across the river. We then made our way up to Piazza Navona which had some really cool street artists and a pretty sweet fountain.

I’m not really sure of the significance of the piazza but it was an enjoyable place to walk through. Next we headed down one of the side streets to the Pantheon. This place turned out to be pretty sweet too. The outside looks cool enough but if you go inside (which is free) it gets even cooler. It is basically just a huge circular room with a huge hole in the center of the ceiling.

It used to be a temple for all gods back in the ancient roman times but now serves as a Catholic church and the tomb of Rafaelo. The decorations inside were pretty sweet with sculptures and interesting architecture. I would definitely recommend going in for anyone who finds themselves in Rome.

Before leaving the Pantheon we stopped by this little gelateria called Nice Ice. Laura and Sara heard about this place from one of their other friends and were recommended to try the Pinocchio flavor. So of course we did and it rocked our socks off! It was some of the most delicious gelato I have ever had. I highly recommend it AND it is in the same square as the Pantheon. You can literally see in from the pantheon entrance.

With gelato in hand we headed next to the Trevi Fountain. We walked down another side street that was full of artists and street performers so it was a very entertaining walk. We reached the fountain just as we were finishing our gelato so it was perfect. It ended up being in this tiny little square with buildings all around…not at all what it looks like in the movies. Has that ever happened to you? You go somewhere you have seen in the movies about a million times but once you get there you realize that it is nothing like you thought it would be. That has been happening to me a lot lately. I don’t know if I’m just not paying attention to the scenery in movies enough or if they do something to digitally alter the surroundings but either way it really annoys me when it is nothing like I pictured it. I blame the media.

Anyways, despite my disappointment with the surroundings the fountain itself was spectacular! We threw coins in as every good tourist would do and got the classic tossing the coin photo. We spent a few minutes admiring the fountain and then we were off to the Spanish steps again. They were really close to the fountain and there was nothing else that we planned on seeing so Kelsey and I went again so we could see them in the day. We ended up sitting on the steps for an hour or so just people watching and relaxing after a long day of walking.

Once we got bored here we headed back to the hostel to grab another complimentary drink and then we headed across the street to grab some dinner before our train left. Of course I can’t remember the name of the restaurant we went to but it ended up being delicious! We each got something different and of course that meant we tried everyone’s. I was not disappointed with a single plate. Every last one of them was delicious! It was a great way to end our Roman holiday! I would defiantly recommend visiting there to anyone who finds themselves in Italy (and not just because it is the capital).

Ciao!

12:56pm

So once again I know this entry is a little late but I have been so busy with school work since I have been back that I didn’t have time to write this until now. The ends of semesters always suck. Anyways, enough of me making excuses, you want to hear about PRAGUE!

We left on our 12 hour bus ride (yes I said 12 hours. Not a typo.) at 8pm Thursday night. Jessica, Kelsey and I decided to go to Prague through the group Florence For Fun so we had our own private bus which was extremely nice considering the amount of time we spent in the bus. It was pimped out with DVD players and everything! On the way there it wasn’t too bad because I ended up passing out for the majority of the time (and when I say pass out what I really mean is slept off and on between getting jolted awake by the bus).

We got to Prague the next morning and we had about 30 minutes to wash off the nights grime in our awesome hotel rooms before we headed out on our guided tour of the city. That’s the beauty of traveling though a group…hotels instead of hostels. (Ka-ching!)

The tour was lead by a very knowledgeable guide and she showed us a lot of very interesting about the city. I felt kind of bad because between my lack of an attention span and the fact that I was trying to keep my body from freezing over in the Prague weather it was difficult for me to pay attention and I lost interest in a lot of what she was saying. That’s why I bring Jessica along though. She pays attention during the tour and tells me the information afterwards when I regain interest and want to know the significance of something.

The guide walked us through the main entrance to the city center, past the astronomical clock, down the streets in the Jewish quarter and ended us at Bohemia Bagels where I got the best hummus I have had in a long time and some primo hot chocolate. It was awesome walking through the square at noon because everyone crowds around the astronomical clock to watch the hour change.

I know this sounds kind of strange but it’s really cool to watch the clock change because there is a sort of show that goes on, on the clock face. When the hour changes two doors open at the top of the clock face to display a rotation of faces (that I never really got a good look at to know who they were supposed to be), the characters on the sides of the clock face move in different ways to represent different elements of time, and the whole show is concluded with a person at the very top of the tower playing a tune on the trumpet in each direction of the tower. You can hear this trumpet throughout the entire city and is now the soundtrack to my time in Prague.

After the walking tour was over Kelsey, Jessica and I decided to check out the Jewish quarter. My favorite part of it was the cemetery. From the little information I was able to pay attention to during the walking tour I know that the cemetery has tons and tons of bodies in it. There are up to 12 layers of bodies throughout the entire cemetery and let me tell you it was stuffed to the brim with over 12,000 tombstones.

It was awesome getting to walk through there and see the history. I found myself wondering who all of these people were and what their lives we like. It’s a very surreal feeling walking through an old cemetery that contains so much history and lost lives. Despite all of this it was still an extremely beautiful cemetery with its greenery and tombstones overlapping on every inch.

Once the cemetery closed we made our way over to the central square again to look around. We ended up walking through the little market they had there and finding a Salvador Dali and Mucha exhibit. I was really excited when we found this because these are two artists that I have studied in past art classes and I actually know a lot of their works. It was awesome walking through the exhibit and recognizing the works of art I was staring at.

You know how I was explaining in my Paris blog how once you do a sketch of painting of something you feel particularly attached to it? Well that’s exactly how I felt walking through these exhibits. Especially Mucha’s. I got to see his famous work called “Medee” that I did as a procreation in high school so I was totally stoked! I was running all over that gallery sniping photos! It was great. This exhibit was also really good at making me recognized just how weird Salvador Dali’s style is. That was one twisted man.

Anyways, that night we had a traditional Czech dinner at the restaurant Celnice. It was a delicious meal and I learned that I really like Czech cuisine. Dinner was followed up by passing out in my wonderful bed at the hotel and sleeping straight through the night. The next morning, after a spectacular Czech breakfast, one of our leaders took us on another tour of the city. This one I was actually able to pay attention too because there was little talking and a lot of sightseeing. First stop was the Charles Bridge. The bridge was absolutely gorgeous and it was awesome walking along it, stopping to look at the vendors, artists and to take the occasional ;) photo of course.

Next we went to the John Lennon wall. This is a wall of graffiti dedicated only to John Lennon and the Beatles. It was so cool the way people expressed themselves on the wall. It was full of lyrics, paintings, signatures and designs. It was such an amazing sight to see. The wall is constantly changing so the next time I find myself in Prague that will defiantly be on the top of my list to see. So after leaving the wall, with the Beatles permanently stuck in my head, we made our way to the Prague castle, but not without a pit stop at Starbucks for some chai tea.

The castle, to be completely honest, was a little disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, the view was great and it is totally worth going to, it’s just not what I expected. I was really hoping to see an actual castle with flags, towers and moats but the castle ended up being what I would consider a fort. There was a church inside which was pretty and like I said before the view was great of the city I was just hoping for more of a palace and less of a small town. Next time I come to Prague I will make it a point to get out into the countryside more.

After coming back from the castle we found a classical orchestra concert. The guy gave us a discount so we decided to go for it. It ended up being really good and they played a lot of songs that I knew. We wanted to continue our classy experiences so we decided to go to a restaurant that had live jazz music. This was a blast! It was traditional Czech food with a jazz duo playing in the corner. And they were good too!

We ended the night at a club (which of course I can’t remember the name of) that had 5 different levels. Each level had a different theme and music. We stayed on the top level (the hip-hop floor) for the majority of the night and danced until all hours of the night. It was a great time! This concludes my time in Prague, or Praha as the Czech’s say. It was a great time and I would recommend it to any traveler traveling in Europe!

Ciao!

Britt

10:39pm

So we arrived in Paris Tuesday evening after only 2 hours of sleep the night before. We found our apartment (which turned out to be epic!) and got settled in. We rented an apartment for our stay which turned out to be a great idea because we had full access to a kitchen, great sleeping arrangements, privacy, and awesome location. Not to mention living there made us really feel like we were living in Paris, not just visiting on vacation. The next day we woke up rather early and hit up the Louvre. We did not nearly have enough time inside but we hit the highlights (Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, etc.).

I really love going through Museums with Jessica because since she is an Art History major it’s like I have my own personal tour guide. It’s awesome! The Louvre was massive though and I do kind of wish that we would have scheduled more time to see more of it. There were entire sections in there that we didn’t even hit and we were in there for 2 hours. After the Louvre we had lunch at this famous café called Café de Flore. Apparently back in the day famous philosophers such as Caums used to eat there. It was very cute inside and it made me feel very Parisian.

After lunch we decided to tackle the Eiffel Tower. We waited in line for a good while to get tickets for the stairs but it was totally worth it, and so was the hike up to the top. The view from each level was spectacular and gave you a different vantage point of the city.

We went up at the perfect time because the sun was setting just as we reached the top of the tower so we were able to see the city in the daylight, sunset and at night. It was simply fantastic! I took hundreds of photos but not one of them does justice to the beauty I saw from the top of that tower. I have always looked at the Eiffel Tower as a symbol of travel and admired it from photos so having the opportunity to climb it was a very surreal experience. The entire time I was in Paris I was in complete awe that I had actually made it there. I honestly never thought that day would have come.

The next day we walked down the Champs Elysees to the Arch de Triumph. This is another landmark, along with the Eiffel Tower, that I have always used in my art work and see as a symbol of travel. So seeing this was big for me as well. After getting several dozen photos of the arch we headed towards the river for lunch. We ended up just picking up some sandwiches on the way and we sat on the river next to Notre Dame and had a picnic lunch. It was very relaxing and the sandwiches turned out to be delicious.

We went to see Notre Dame next (another and last symbol of travel that I will be making reference to in this blog). I had always only paid attention to the outside of this building not knowing that the inside was equally as beautiful. There was some sort of choir music playing as we were walking through too so that just made the experience that much more spectacular. After this we headed across the river to the famous bookstore Shakespeare and Co. It was this small little shop with books lining the walls by hundreds of different classic authors. We spent a good hour in there just reading the backs of books by our favorite authors. It was very enjoyable just to relax and indulge in out nerdy past times.

That evening we went to the area of Montmartre. This is where we saw Sacre-Coeur , Moulin Rouge, ate at café le consultd and explored the streets of Paris. The whole time I felt like I had hopped into a time machine and traveled back to old time Paris.

I absolutely loved walking around the streets and eating at the café where so many famous artists spent their youth. It was a very classy evening full of exploring, eating, and admiring. We concluded the day with a walk past the Moulin Rouge which was much different than I expected it to be. I’m not really sure what I was expecting but it was much more modern, if that’s the right word, than I thought it would be. I got my photos though like a cliché tourist so I was happy.

The next day was probably my favorite day. On Friday Jessica and I spent the day in Versailles. Now I had no idea what to expect going into this day. Jessica had told me that it was where Marie Antoinette lived and Nora had told me it was beautiful but besides that I was clueless. I think that’s why it left such a lasting impression on me.

Versailles is basically a royal château in France that holds the estate of Marie Antoinette, the palace of Versailles and many many beautiful gardens. We went at the perfect time of the year too because the leaves were just starting to change but the weather was still warm. The scenery was absolutely stunning. I felt like I should have had on an old period gown and a soundtrack comprised of primarily piano playing in the background.

It was such an awesome place and I wish we had more time there. The only downfall to the day was that all of my camera equipment was turning against me and I ended up shooting all of my photos in black and white. So although the pictures are still beautiful they don’t nearly do the place justice with all of the colors absent. Especially since a main factor that played into the beauty was the color of the leaves changing with the season. I was really bummed about it at first but then I realized that it gives me all the more reason to go back. Right?

Once we returned to Paris we hit up the Latin Quarter to see what it had to offer in terms of night life. We went to this bar called Chez George which turned out to be really cool inside. The bar is split up into 2 floors. On the upstairs it just looks like any other bar but if you go in the side entrance to the cave you find yourself descending a narrow staircase to reveal an underground bar with music blaring and young people (both Parisian and International), sipping on their wine. The place had a very cool atmosphere to it and was unlike anyplace I had ever been.

The next day was our last full day in Paris so we decided to take it kind of easy and just experience the city. We finally got to see the Museo de Orsay which proved to be very enjoyable to walk through. Jessica and I had a great time walking though and admiring the famous pieces of art. The Museo de Orsay is very much known for their Impressionism exhibit which includes many paintings by Monet, Manet, Degas, Van Gogh and many many more famous artists.

It ended up being one of the more enjoyable museums I have walked through. The rest of the day was spent eating at cafes with Jessica and concluded with an evening walk along the river with Nora. It was a simple day but it was one of the more enjoyable days because we were actually able to slow down and let Paris soak in.

Nora’s flight left early the next morning so Jessica and I were on our own until our flight left at 3. We decided to head back to the Eiffel Tower so we could see it from the gardens. I have always sketched the Eiffel Tower from photos off the internet so I felt that I knew the structure pretty well but being able to actually sketch it in person was so much more personal.

For you artists out there reading this blog you will know what I mean when I say once you sketch something you feel a connection to it. After staring at the details of the architecture or the curves of the landscape for so long and replicating it on your page it almost feels like it is your own. So being able to actually sketch this structure in person and being able to see with my own eyes the lines I have always made up my sketches was so comforting to me. I could have stayed there for hours but Jessica and I had to catch our flight. So we stopped by Pierre Herme Paris to try out their famous macaroons and then we were off!

Paris turned out to be everything I hoped for and more. I am so glad I was able to finally see this city and experience the Parisian culture. And, just as a tip for anyone who visits Paris, if you try to speak their language the Parisians are very nice. We didn’t really have any problems with the locals being rude. For the none French speaking people such as myself the phrase Je ne parle pas Francais will really come in handy. Especially if you look French, which apparently I did because everyone would speak French to me, the girl who knows absolutely no French, and would speak English to the two girls who knew a decent amount of French. Go figure. In conclusion, this entire break was awesome.

I am so glad that I was able experience both of these countries that I have always admired and am now able to say that I have lived in each. For anyone visiting Europe I highly recommend both of these cities. This brings my Fall break blog to an end but don’t worry I leave in 5 hours for Prague so there is another interesting blog entry soon to come!

Ciao!

Brittany

P.S. music that defined my time in Paris:

1- Billie Holliday- I’ll be seeing you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXLB32n6lq8&feature=fvst

1:35pm

Let me just start out by saying that I am having way too much fun over here for my own good. We had a week off of school for our fall break so Jessica and I met up with her friend Nora from school and we went to Ireland and Paris for the week. The week was full of so many fun times I don’t even know how I am going to relay them all to you. I guess you will just have to settle for the highlights. I think the best way to do this will be to write a separate entry for each country I was in. Are you ready? Here we go!

Ireland!

Ireland has been by far THE most beautiful place I have ever seen in my entire life. We spent a total of 5 nights there. We started out in Dublin and spent the first couple days there. While in Dublin we took a tour of the Dublin Castle (worth the 5 Euros), walked around Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells (beautiful), toured the Guinness Factory (where I got officially certified to pour Guinness…..yes, I even got a certificate with my name on it), spent half a day at Wicklow Mountain National Park (spectacular!), and of course hit up the pubs!

Now while all of these activities were amazing I know you don’t want to hear the details about all of them so I will just bore you with the details of my favorite. Wicklow Mountain National Park was my favorite thing we did in Dublin. Don’t get me wrong the city was amazing but when I think of Ireland I think more about the countryside so when we were able to see this for the first time on our way to Wicklow I was in high Heaven! Now for those girls out there reading this and don’t know what Wicklow Mountain National Park is let me tell you. You remember the movie P.S. I love you? Yea, this is the park where Gerry and Holly meet.

Doesn’t sound so boring now does it? Ha. I was really afraid that we weren’t going to be able to see it because it is about 45minutes to an hour south of Dublin and we were not having much luck finding cheap and quick transportation there. Long story short we ended up running to catch a bus where we had to stand for the first 30 minutes before transferring to a different bus. We made it though so that’s all that matters. Not to mention the countryside on the way there was beautiful. Once we arrived we grabbed a map and headed out. The scenery was breathtaking! I felt like I was in a dream the entire time! You should have seen me. I probably looked like an idiot running around from place to place with my camera up to my eye and a HUGE grin on my face. The grin did not disappear once the rain started either.

It ended up raining (go figure) the majority of the time we were there and by the end we were all soaked and freezing. I guess it wouldn’t be Ireland though if it didn’t rain and actually it just added to the landscape. Everything was so rich in color and the added contrast was perfect for my pictures. We were only there for a few hours and we didn’t get to see everything but it was still a great way to get a glimpse of the world-renowned countryside. Once we got back into Dublin and dried off a bit we grabbed some dinner and hit up The Quays Pub (pronounced like ‘keys’, in case you were wondering). This is where I discovered my love for Irish cider and pubs.

They had live music and although it wasn’t traditional Irish music like I would have liked it was still really good. They played a lot of song requests, so basically a lot of 90’s music and American music. They band was really talented though and the atmosphere was really enjoyable.

The next day we left Dublin at 7am for a tour to The Cliffs of Mohr and Galway. We decided to use this as our transportation to Galway because we had made arrangements to stay in Galway for our last few nights in Ireland. It worked out perfectly so we would get to see the cliffs and not lose a day due to travel. The group that we went through (MacCoole tours) was a family run business and it was great because not only did we get to go to the Cliffs of Mohr we also got a tour of their family farm.

We stopped by the farm first where they took us to the top of the land and showed us the spectacular view of the town and countryside around the farm. It was so cool because the farm had been in the family for a really long time and there were many historical sites on the land. You could see old remnants of walls and castles from the top of the land and it was awesome to hear all the history from the family who owns the land and who all had history backgrounds.

Next, we headed inside the house for some homemade baked goods and coffee before we headed out for the cliffs. It was a very friendly and warm atmosphere and the people we so nice. We could not have chosen a better group to go through.

After our snack we got back on the bus and began our journey to the Cliffs of Mohr. Our bus driver was great and would tell us the history of the land as we drove through it between bursts of traditional Irish Celtic music. The countryside on the way to and from the cliffs was the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. Our bus driver would stop occasionally and let us out of the bus to take pictures so we wouldn’t have to shoot through the rain streaked windows which was awesome because the view was even more spectacular with nothing to interfere with your view.

The grass was so lush and green and was broken up by massive dark stones. This landscape was unlike any other landscape I had ever seen. All of these landscapes though had nothing on the Cliffs of Mohr. When we arrived at the cliffs it was sprinkling a bit but the visibility was good so we were still able to get great views of the cliffs. I could sit here and try to describe to you the beauty of this place but there is no way I could do it justice.

The way the rich grass combines with the rough surface of the rocks before it drops into the sea is something so magical that it cannot be accurately done justice in any other form than standing right next to it looking out over the edge. By the end of our time there the rain had picked up significantly into a steady rain. It wasn’t until I reached the bus that I realized how drenched I was. It literally looked like I had just gotten out of a pool. Ha!

I loved every second though and got some amazing shots of the cliffs. The country side on the way back was just as beautiful as it was on the way there. I was taking pictures left and right just hoping to get a decent shot of the beauty through the rain streaked windows.

Once we arrived in Galway (pronounced like ‘gulway’) we got settled into out hostel and headed out to find dinner. After we ate we decided to go on the pub crawl offered through the same tour group that took us to the cliffs. We went to 4 different pubs that night and ended up at a night club were we sang some karaoke and having a great time.

The tour guide from the farm, Dara, was our leader for the pub crawl and it was so fun talking to him and getting to know the true Irish culture. The pubs in Galway had a lot more traditional Irish music in them which was nice and they were less crowded than the ones in Dublin so I enjoyed it a lot more. The night was an amazing way to end the perfect day not to mention we made some great friends and got some ideas for pubs the next night.

The next day we slept in a bit, got brunch and then just spent the rest of the day exploring Galway. We walked along the seaside and through the smaller areas of town. It was a very relaxing day and I really enjoyed discovering Galway. That night we actually went back to one of the pubs we went to during the pub crawl and it ended up being the place we met our Irish friends. There were probably about 15 of us by the end of the night pub hopping together. It was so much fun to hang out with actually Irish people and getting experience their culture.

Over all my time in Ireland was wonderful and I can guarantee you that that was not my last time in that country. There is too much beauty in this one place for me not to come back to it. Not to mention the people there. They are so nice and it was great being able to walk down the street and not have to avoid making eye contact with people like I have to do in Italy. They also have amazing accents there which I could totally get used to.

Although it is not as easy to understand as one may think. I would love to live there someday for a few years and work on a family farm or something. It would not be easy to live there year-round but life is all about experiencing new things right?

This brings Ireland to a close.

COMING SOON…..PARIS!

Ciao!

Britt

P.S. Below I have decided to attach the links to several songs that made up the soundtrack to my time in Ireland. To reach the full potential of this blog reading experience I highly suggest that you turn on this music and be jilted by the wonderful songs of Ireland while you read this thrilling entry and observe these jealousy inducing photos.

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1- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TezgCpPuys *this is the main one. Feel free to listen to this one more than once

2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFlfSeh-Ts8 (this is so cliché but I love it, not to mentioned that it is played everywhere!)

3- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHAR32ni1uA&feature=fvwrel

4- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOjYKx4LMkc&NR=1 (this band was recommended to me by our tour guide Dara)

P.S.S. I know that the video that goes along with this entry is a bit hard to hear but I thought it provided a perfect description of what it was actually like to stand on the cliffs.

10:27 pm

This weekend my friends were being very successful at procrastinating. Thursday night a big group of us had a pizza and wine night. We all went to Gusta Pizza just across the river and got out pizzas and then we headed for our destination, which was originally going to be Piazzale Michelangelo but we were too hungry so we just went to the piazza in front of the boboli gardens and ate there. We ended up sitting there for a good 2-3 hours just eating, drinking and talking as only girls can do. It was a blast to get everyone together again and to meet new people. That's one thing I really love about here; I feel like I meet someone new every day. It is awesome.

Friday, Jessica, Libby, Amanda and I all went horseback riding. The morning started off great but we ran into a bit of a problem once we got to the town of San Gimignano. We could not find a taxi to save our lives! We kept asking different people inside the stores of the town and it seemed like they were all telling us something different. We were half an hour late to our appointment because of it and then we had to wait even longer once we got there because the person who was going to take us left because they thought we weren't coming (even though we called once we got to San Gimignano to tell them we were there). Anyways, we finally got on the horses and started our tour a mere hour after our original departure time. The guy was really nice who took us on the tour but I was a little disappointed that the whole tour basically took place in the woods, which wasn't bad, it was just different than I was expecting. I was thinking I was going to see more beautiful country side like I saw last weekend but instead I got to see a different part of the countryside I guess. It was still really fun despite our difficulties getting there and our late departure time. My horse (Rocky), well let's just say he had a lot of character. I am convinced they had not fed him in a while because he was stopping at LITERALLY every bush to tear off a branch to eat. If this were not annoying enough he then proceeded to bushwhack me every time he tore something off to eat. He would grab the branch, bending it back as he walked and then once the branch let go into his mouth the rest of the branch would come back and smack me in the face. THEN once we were finished riding we helped the guide put the horses back in their fields and as I was walking Rocky down he almost knocked me over several times as he continued to try to get food! Needless to say Rocky and I had a love-hate relationship.

After the horse ride the girls and I went back into San Gimignano to grab some lunch and some spectacular gelato. We ended up stopping at a random dinner because everything else was closed due to siesta. The dinner turned out to be DELICIOUS! I was not expecting it at all. It was my first time having minestrone and can I just say; that stuff is AMAZING! My love for it could have come from the fact that I was getting sick, hungry and not to mention freezing, but honestly I think I would have loved it even if all of those factors did not exist.

Saturday the girls and I woke up bright and early in the morning to catch the 8am train to Perugia for the chocolate festival. We went through a program called Florence for Fun and the day turned out pretty well. It took about 2 ½ hours to get to Perugia but once we got there we had a blast. There was so much chocolate everywhere! My mom would have been in heaven! (Don't worry mom, I got you some) We got a chocolate card through the program so we were able to get free samples at many of the booths, so we spent the majority of the day running around trying to get all the free stuff we could get. About half way through the booths though I had to start putting the samples in my bag for later because there was no way I could have eaten it all. Okay so even though we tried TONS of chocolate during our time there, there are a few that really stuck out to me:

1. The Lindor truffles- I know we have these in the states but I had never had one before today and it rocked my world
2. The hot chocolate- it's more like melted chocolate or hot chocolate pudding…so good! Especially on a cold day like today
3. The canary churros- There was a man in a bright yellow jacket in front of this churro stand, he caught our eye and proceeded to tell us that he was the father of the owner of the company and that they were the best churros in Italy. We tried them and he was right! They were amazing! I like to describe them as Italian funnel cakes, but much better.
4. White and milk chocolate bliss- I have no idea what this stuff was but it rocked my socks off! We were waiting for one of our friends outside the bank where she was getting money and there was this little light purple cart with 4 workers around it. One of the workers offered to take our picture (they could see that we were struggling to do it on our own). After the photo he took us over and opened up the cart top to reveal little samples of chocolate. These chocolates were the best I had tasted all day! They had layers of white and milk chocolate with some sort of nut in the center with a dab of caramel. It was pure bliss!

Over all the day was a great success. Although I think it made my sickness worse. Today (Sunday) I have just spent around the apartment preparing for midterms this week and concentrating on feeling better. The only time I left the apartment was for church, and that was only about 3 hours in all. I think I am starting to feel a little better but the next few days are going to kill me because I have midterms all week and then I am leaving for Ireland on Thursday night for fall break. I cannot wait for Ireland! It has always been my dream to go to Ireland and then half way through the week we are flying from Ireland to Paris, France for the last half of the week. So stoked! That being said this will probably be my last blog for a while since I am not sure what my internet access will look like while I am gone. I will keep careful notes though so I will update you all the second I get back!

Ciao!

Britt

9:38pm

Let me start out by saying that if you are ever in Florence for more than 2 days you HAVE to go on a vespa tour of Tuscany! It was the most fun I have had in Tuscany so far! Sunday morning some of my friends and I went on a vespa tour through a company called Fun in Tuscany. This company is so sweet. They do vespa tours, horseback riding, wine tasting and all sorts of fun activities. Not to mention the staff is super nice and very easy going. We met them by the train station at 9:30am where they proceeded to bus us (well I guess technically we rode in vans but you get the point) to the location where we were to begin. We all got fitted with our helmets and headed out back to choose our vespas. One by one they put us on our vespas (after instructing us how to us them of course) and let us practice driving them around the track until we all pretty much got the hang of it. Then we were off!

We drove in a line through the back streets of Tuscany opening us up to amazing views that one would generally not see if driving through the area. It was so much fun to drive a vespa and get this whole new vantage point to the already beautiful landscape. We drove first to a place where they make wine. We stopped here and walked up the driveway to find a small building and a vast panoramic view of the countryside. To be honest I didn’t really pay much attention to what the guide was saying, not that it wasn’t interesting, I was just really distracted by the views around me. Plus it was nice being able to take photos without the risk of crashing a vespa (you should have seen me trying to take photos while I was driving.... it was rather entertaining).

After that we remounted our vespas and were off to have lunch. We ate at this little restaurant by a small lake in the middle of what I call nowhere (this could have to do with the fact that I had no idea where I was the entire time though). Anyways, the lunch was fantastic and left me stuffed. Next we made our way over to a 13th-century castle for wine tasting! The castle was more like a little town in the center of a stone wall but it was still nice. Not to mention it had some great wine. J

Once we were done exploring the castle we headed back to the starting point. The whole experience felt sort of surreal. The sites that I saw while riding on my vespa (who I named Pearl, in case anyone was wondering) were the picture of Italy. You know the images you see on postcards and in calendars? Yea, that’s what it was like around every turn! I was in high heaven! Whenever I think of Italy, these are the sites that I think of, not the city. Not that the small towns or Florence aren’t great it is just that when I think Italy I picture landscapes such as these.

In short this experience was absolutely fantastic and I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity. Here is the company’s website for those of you who are interested,http://www.funintuscany.com/ . It is totally worth the €110. Another item checked off the Italian bucket list!

Ciao!

Britt