Athena Blogs

As a part of the program package for our semester abroad, Athena includes two free trips to a variety of locations. Last weekend, I had my first free excursion to the South of France! It seemed a bit surreal at the time that I would be waking up in Italy to find myself only a few hours later off the coast of France but that's what the study abroad life style is all about. I had no idea what to expect from the trip but it was certainly a pleasant surprise and a great way to kick off my international travels.

Our first stop was in Monaco, the second smallest nation in the world (beat out only by Vatican City), Monaco is home to tax-free citizens and some of the most breath-taking views in the region. France provides water, public transportation, and military defense to the little country but Monaco houses one of the most beautiful prisons in the world! Located on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean, I was comforted knowing that the country's financial criminals have a nicer place of residence than I do. After our tour and several hours of exploring the small country we headed to our next location: Nice!

Because of its proximity to Italy and the coast, Nice is a blend of the easy-going coastal lifestyle and proud French tradition. Nice is also quite a young city, so it was no surprise to see old French churches around the bend from beach-front nightclubs. After a walking-tour of the Old Town, my friends and I came across an Irish Disco Pub. The bar was indeed an Irish pub, run by real Irishmen. But it also had Italian soccer and American wrestling on big screen TVs, an Irish cover band covering a wide-array of American melodies (‘Sweet Home Alabama' and Indie music?!) and a downstairs disco bar with French house music and salsa. This was the epitome of culture shock. We hung out, danced for a while, and enjoyed the clash of cultures we had stumbled upon.

The next day we made our way to the small village of St. Paul, which was a nice change of pace from Nice. After soaking in the sun and fresh-air, we made our way to Cannes! Known for its world famous film-festival, Cannes is actually quite mellow during its off-season. While exploring Cannes was beautiful, my favorite part of our visit was lunch. What was my French cuisine of choice? Sea urchins! We came across a seafood bar serving raw sea urchins. How could we not order some? After sitting down, we spent about 30 minutes watching a woman pull the urchins out of a tank, cut them in half, and serve them raw to the bar's patrons before ours arrived. How'd they taste? Pretty good actually, although they were probably the saltiest thing I've ever tasted.

Yummy!

We wrapped up on meal and got back on the bus to finish off our French weekend in Eze. Before making the exhausting climb to the top of the city, we took of a tour of Fragonard, one of the premiere perfume manufacturers in the world. Once the tour wrapped up, I spent the rest of day walking leisurely through the little town with a Nutella crepe in hand. A perfect end to the weekend. Before signing up for the free trip, I had no intention of ever visiting the South of France. And honestly, I'm not the biggest fan of bus tours either. But between the beautiful scenery, our great guides, and fun adventures, I can't think of anything else that would have made this weekend better.

It's been a couple weeks since I first flew into Florence and it's easy for me to forget how much has happened since I first arrived. It seems like years ago that I stepped onto a plane at LAX for my first European excursion. 12 hours, a connecting flight, and one taxi ride later, I landed my new home for the next four months.

The first few days were spent orienting myself amongst the city's narrow streets and odd layout but it didn't take long for Firenze (as they call it here) to feel like home. But Ventura, California can't quite capture the sensation of living in the world's most famed Renaissance city.

I've always loved to travel, so I'm happy to say I've adjusted pretty quickly. I have four great roommates, a conveniently located apartment downtown, and I've have already had a chance to explore the city. My favorite pizza place so? Gusta Pizza. Some of the best gelato in town? Grom's. The best place for a lunchtime feast? Trattoria Mario's. And of course, we've already found one of favorite places to go out on a Friday night: The Lion's Fountain. I'm happy to have discovered some great spots in Florence already and I'm even happier to know that it's just the beginning of city living here.

As much as there is to see in Florence, public transportation in Europe makes exploring the area incredibly convenient. My friends and I have already gone on day-trips to Pisa, Lucca, and a small village near Florence by the name of Fiesole. We even went to Rome last weekend for about 40 Euro roundtrip.

To anybody thinking of making a visit to the ancient city, spend an entire weekend there! While we were visiting, we saw the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, the Spanish Steps, and all of Vatican City. And that's just the tip of it. We even lucked out when we went to the Vatican and heard the Pope speak about 200 feet away from us! Talk about a once and a lifetime experience.

The only difficulty I've experienced so far is balancing my coursework and my traveling. I love my classes (Foods of Italy, Italian Lit, History of Europe, Renaissance Art, Italian) but balancing a full course load can be a bit of a challenge when traveling across Europe almost every weekend. I figure if these are the worst of my problems, life is pretty good. And besides, what better place to take the classes I'm taking than in Italy?

My time in here is only beginning and I'm looking forward to see where this adventure takes me. If there's one thing I do know, it's that I'll be going through Nutella jars much quicker than anticipated. In the mean time, it's just time to buckle up and enjoy the ride. Until next time everyone, ciao!