First Stop: Venice, Italy

VENICE, ITALY-

Wow, where to begin? I have been meaning to update this blog for such a long time now and I am so happy that I finally have the time to share with you all some of the wonderful experiences that I had over spring break. To recap I was able to travel through Italy for about two weeks. I went to Venice, La Spezia, hiked through Cinque Terre,  and also visited Bologna, Puergia, Rome, Pisa, Florence, Naples, and Capri. I then took a five hour train ride to Ancona, which is on the east coast of Italy and from there an over night ferry, or what seemed more like a smaller cruise ship to Split, Croatia. I got back to London on April 19^th and five days later I was on a plane to Switzerland where I was able to skydive over the Swiss Alps! Anyway, life abroad has been fabulous! I can't believe it's almost May... that means I leave in a month from now! 

I must say that I am extremely proud of myself for only bringing one large backpack and a medium sized duffle bag for two and a half weeks. I remember last summer when I went to New York and Boston for five days I felt as if I brought my whole closet. So I guess studying abroad has made me condense! I hope I can stay like that when I come to the states.

The night before we left for Venice I didn’t get much sleep. I was up correcting a paper on Journalism of Attachment, packing, figuring out internships stuff and what my plans are for the summer. I woke up early the next morning and finished packing, printed/handed my paper in at school, went to the post office to mail my Dad a birthday card, then went back home to pick up my stuff and back to campus again for class at 1 until about 4pm.

Right after class we all got dinner to go at the caf and walked to Strawberry Hill Station to take the train to Gatwick Airport. We didn’t get to Venice until about 11pm that night. We took at taxi to the hotel we booked last minute because we thought sleeping in the airport probably wouldn’t be the best idea.

The next morning we got up early and walked about a mile to the train station with all of our stuff. It was hot and our luggage was incredibly heavy… However, it was only the beginning of having to walk long distances while carrying what feels like 50 pounds on my back and 20 pounds on my shoulder.  

We finally made it to picturesque Venice. It was absolutely beautiful and I’m happy it was our first stop in Italy. Every picture I took on my camera felt like it was post card quality. This was partly to do was my awesome photography skills and high tech camera settings. Haha of course I’m kidding, clearly it was the scenery but I am going to assume you all knew that.

We took a boat taxi to Lido, an Island off of Venice. With all of our stuff we basically walked around the whole island, which took about 20 minutes before we made it to our hostel. Later we found out that had we of just gone straight instead of making a left. The hostel would have only been a five-minute walk down the street!

After we got settled in we headed straight to the beach. It was really nice out, probably about 65 degrees if not warmer. However, this was definitely not hot enough for the locals who all gave us strange looks as we passed them in our flip-flops, carrying our beach towels, and wearing our swim suites.

For dinner we all had pizza for the first time,  it was better than what I had expected and my expectations were high being that we were in Italy of course! Then we got gelato right after and it was wonderful. 

The next day we went to St. Mark’s Square and went to a church that had a ceiling covered in millions of tiny gold squares. It was breathtaking especially when the sun would shine through the windows making all the gold squares shimmer. 

On Sunday we took the water taxi to the train station and made it by literally one minute! Next stop, Bologna and La Spezia! 

-Britt

SHOUT OUT: To my lovely travel buddies who made this the best spring break trip ever!

Spring Break... to be CONTINUED!

ITALY/CROATIA- 

From the past two months I have realized that there comes a time in every college student's study abroad experience when the urge to pick up and travel somewhere fabulous becomes too strong to resist.

Tonight I will be on my way to Italy for about a week and a half and Croatia for four days. While in Italy I will be going to Venice, Bologna, Cinque Terre, Florence, Perugia, spending Easter in Rome, Naples/ Capri. Then I’ll be taking an over night ferry to Coratia! So that’s my Spring Break… in a nutshell, of course I will be filling you on the details later! I'll be back in London April 19th!

The Luck of the Irish

DUBLIN/GALWAY, IRELAND-

This experience can be summed up into a MasterCard commercial: Round trip plane ticket: 45 pounds, three day bus pass: 13 Euro, five night hotel stay: 125 Euro. Spending St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland… PRICELESS!

Since I have strawberry blonde hair and a good amount of freckles many people tend to think I have some Irish blood in me. However, this is not true... unfortunately.

In order to save a buck or two, well, technically it would be called a quid, that’s British slang for pound, we decided to get on the first flight available on Friday morning, which was at 6:15 a.m. So while everyone was fast asleep in their warm cozy beds I walked to the bus stop around 4:30 a.m. To my surprise I happened to see a few early birds getting a fresh start to their day with a morning run, and of course the paper delivery truck was out and about. But, for the most part it was silent to a point where every noise other than a bird chirping, startled me. 

After landing in Ireland and getting cleared through customs we made a pit stop at the currency exchange, bought a three-day buss pass, and headed out to the bus station to go to our hotel. Maybe it’s just me but I swear the more traveling you do, the easier it gets. Things went so smooth it seemed as though we had already been there. Even though our hotel was not in the best area it was still really nice and well secured. It was only a 10 minute bus ride from the city center or (O’Connell Street). We got to our hotel at about 11 a.m. after getting settled in we took a much-needed nap. 

About three hours later we were refreshed and went out do some shopping/ cite seeing. We ended up eating dinner at a local pub and I had traditional Irish strew, it was delicious.

On Saturday, we went to the Guinness Factory. My favorite part was going to the Gravity Bar. As soon as you walked up the stairs you were surrounded by windows, which showed the skyline of the beautiful city. We all enjoyed a pint of Guinness that was free with the purchase of a museum ticket.

That night we went to Temple Bar, and then to another pub where we were actually able to find somewhere to sit. All the pubs were so crowded, but it was a fun atmosphere to be in. All the locals were so friendly!

We spent the afternoon on Sunday taking a day trip to Wicklow Mountains. It was only about an hour and a half drive. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous and our tour guide was fabulous. She was so passionate about Ireland was very knowledgeable, not to mention hilarious! 

We decided to stay in on Sunday because we were so tired but made the most of it by watching a movie. (Picture below shows my computer resting on a trash can so we could see... thought of that myself haha). 

We took about a two-hour train ride to Galway the next morning. I don’t know why but for some reason I liked Galway a little bit more than Dublin. Spending St. Patrick’s in Ireland was something that I will never forget, it was amazing experience, and I couldn’t believe that I was there. The weather was beautiful sunny, about 55 degrees, even though it felt like it was 70 degrees. We missed the parade but ended up going to a pub where we meet a few American guys, New Jersey Police Officers, and this adorable lady who gave my friend and I money to get our faces painted. 

I really enjoyed Ireland and was so happy that I got to stay there for about six days rather then a short weekend. It’s definitely a place where I want to visit again!

Love Britt!

SHOUT OUT: Hey Rach! I miss you so much and when I get back from spring break we are in desperate need for a Skype date! Love you! <3