Ciao Roma!

I love Rome!!

Lexi met us at the station when we arrived on Tuesday night and together all walked to our hostel. We planned on coming to Rome, knowing full well that things might be crazy with Holy Week events, but we wanted to be here to experience it all. That meant we had to settle for whatever sort of lodging we could find. The only place that would accomodate the 8 of us was a bed and breakfast called Hotel Vittoria. It's nice because it's located literally 2 blocks from the station, but the neighborhood is pretty rundown and we were all skeptical. After getting inside and checking in, we all felt more comfortable. It's really really simple, just a place to sleep and shower, but the sweet little Asian woman who runs the place is so nice!

After shedding our backpacks, we gathered our clothes to do some much needed laundry. We found a place called Splash Net that is a laundromat with an internet cafe inside of it, and we were able to drop our laundry off and get dinner in the meantime. We ate at a little pizzeria around the corner where I enjoyed penne pasta, and then we returned to Splash Net to pick up our clothes and check e-mail.

By the time we were finished with all of that, it was after 10:00 but we were all eager to go see Rome! Some of us decided to take a late night trip out to the Trevi Fountain, and I am so glad we did. The fountain is BEAUTIFUL! It's even bigger than you'd ever imagine it to be! They say that the Trevi at night is very romantic, and now I can see why! We stood and gawked at the amazingness of it all for a while, taking turns throwing coins into the fountain to ensure our return to Rome. To make the night even better, we went to get gelato and then returned to the fountain to savor it!

This morning we woke up to breakfast in bed which was a really nice surprise. I know it's called a B&B, but I didn't expect the room service to be so nice! The woman who owns the place made us all cappuccinos and brought us crossaints, oranges, and a chocolate pastry. After breakfast we took the metro to the Vatican.

Every Wednesday, the Pope gives a mass audience and it's free for everyone to attend. We got to see him speak this morning and it was so cool! They read scriptures in a bunch of languages including English, but the rest was hard to understand because it was in Latin and Italian. Who can say they've seen the Pope speak during Holy Week? It was such a neat experience!

Okay, I'm running out of time at the Internet Cafe, so I'll make this short and elaborate next time. After seeing the Pope...

-St. Peter's Basilica
-Vatican Museum
-Sistine Chapel
-Spanish Steps
-Trevi Fountain (in the daylight this time)
-Dinner, where I tried a Roman favorite called Saltimbocca
-Back to the Trevi Fountain and to our favorite gelato place (can you tell we really loved the Trevi?)

Tomorrow we are going to see the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Pantheon! I'll try to update again tomorrow night but if I don't get too, just know that I'm out enjoying this amazing city! Ciao from Roma!

It's all Greek to Me

At 6:15 on Sunday morning we left the villa to make sure we were at the port in time to catch the ferry back to Athens. Rain was pouring down and it was really chilly, making it a little bit easier to say goodbye to the island we had all fallen in love with. We joked that Santorini was crying because we were leaving!

After boarding the ship, we were ecstatic to find that the boat was only half full. That meant we were able to claim two tables and enough chairs for all of us in the non-smoking section of the cafe! It was such a small victory but we were ready for a nice, quiet trip as compared to our nightmare of the last ferry. Eight hours of reading, journaling, and hanging out passed so quickly, and though we were exhausted from little sleep we were very excited to go back to Athens and see more of the touristy attractions.

We were climbing up to go inside the Acropolis and we saw the nice man who owned the restaurant we ate at last time. Of course he didn't remember us as customers and was kind of haggling us to come dine at his place. When we said we were going up to see the Acropolis, he told us it was closed, I'm sure just to get some business. He mistook us for fools because we knew not only that it was open later on Sunday nights, but that it was also free. We were determined not to miss it!

Seeing the ancient ruins was really neat and the view of Athens was spectacular! We took a ton of pictures, but our fun was brought to an end with the stern reprimanding of a woman who worked there. In case you are planning your trip to Athens, make note that you're not allowed to take jumping pictures. I was snapping a photo of Joanna and Kathy jumping up in front of the Parthenon, and no sooner had I lowered the camera than the lady was in my face, demanding that I delte the photo at once. "Classical photos only!" she yelled. "It's out of respect." Now, I can understand not taking photos that poke fun of the ruins, but I would think it a huge compliment for someone to express that much excitement over the Parthenon. The security there was just a little bit ridiculous if you ask me. I felt like I was at a public pool, since the guards were constantly blowing their whistles at the tourists.

Seeing the Parthenon was really cool, and after climbing back down we took the metro to see the National Garden and the Temple of Zeus. The gardens were beautiful! Grandma, I thought about you and your garden because they had a bunch of really pretty snap dragons like you always had! There were also a lot of pansies, palm trees, statues, and orange trees. From there we tried to find the Temple, but we couldn't find any signs or directions. We did see a huge archaeology sight though, which very well might have been the Temple.

We were all pretty exhausted and hungry from a day of travel, so we began our hunt for dinner and decided on a place called Quick Pita. They had the best Greek food I've had so far! Kaitlyn and I shared a platter that had pitas, 2 gyros, 3 kebabs, fries, and tsatziki sauce. It was so filling and absolutely delicious!

After dinner we returned to our hostel to continue planning our travels. So far, we've been going by the calendar and the reservations we made ahead of time. A friend of mine who came last semester advised to not make reservations for the entire month because when their plans changed significantly with missed trains. We've been enjoying our travels so much that we almost forgot to finish planning! Luckily we were able to find hostels in both Cinque Terre and Nice, and then afterwards I spent a good hour talking to family and friends back home.

On Monday morning we had planned to get out and see other things in the city, but after the day before we decided there really wasn't much else to see. The museums were all closed on Mondays, and it was raining so the outdoor ruins wouldn't be fun to explore. Plus, the city itself is dirty and not very interesting apart from the ancient sights.

At breakfast we were watching CNN and that's when we heard word of the deadly earthquake in central Italy. We were all a little bit freaked out, especially since it happened just 60 miles northeast of Rome, but after a little bit of research we anticipate that it won't affect our travel plans.

After checking out of the hostel, we went to the Agora market near the Acropolis to do a little bit of shopping. I made my Greccian souvenir purchase - two pairs of sandals which I'm really excited about!

We have heard terrible things about the Greek Trains, I guess some of which we experienced coming in to Greece with the strike. Our train was supposed to leave Athens at 11, but we arrived to find that the train had been cancelled. Luckily there was another one leaving an hour later, so we camped out and took turns going to get food while the others watched the bags. When we finally went to the platform to get on the train, we waited... and waited... until the train showed up 10 minutes late. We've gotten so used to the timeliness of trains in the Netherlands and Germany, so it was a weird and different pace.

Once we were on the train, we got back to Patras without a problem and then got on the ferry back to Bari (Italy). The boat was practically empty and we enjoyed hanging out until we decided to go to bed around 11:00.

If you know me well enough, you know that I am one of the deepest sleepers you may ever meet. I'm known to sleep through alarms, which Alex can attest to. We share a bathroom that connects our bedrooms, and she even told me before I left in January that she was going to miss hearing my alarm for an hour every morning before I finally turn it off. :) Well Monday night was no different, and I slept soundly through all of the excitement. Apparently there were kids running through our section, the ferry staff came over the loudspeaker 5 times, and someone's car alarm went off down in the bottom of the ferry. The boat was supposed to make a stop in the middle of the night, but the port authorities there wouldn't let them dock. At one point, Kathy said that policed boarded the ship and were bounding down the aisle. I woke up to hear everyone complaining about the lack of sleep, but I hadn't heard a thing!

The midnight drama delayed us by 2 hours, so after getting dressed and repacked I napped for a few more hours. We got off in Bari around 11:00, went back to the train station, and then took a 1:45 train to Rome.

Okay, for your sanity I will save Rome for the next update!

A Day in Paradise

Every moment of our frustrating journey was worth it! Oh my goodness, I cannot even begin to describe my love for this beautiful island! I WILL be back, as soon as I can get myself back here. I could literally spend a week just exploring, relaxing, and taking pictures.

We spent the entire day on ATVs (four wheelers), cruising around the island and stopping to see all the beautiful coastlines and beaches. Our first stop was Red Beach, where we had to hike up a huge, rocky hill to a black sand beach. The cliffs and rocks surrounding the beach were red, hence the name, and the water was freezing! We relaxed on the beach for a couple hours, and we even broke out the Mamma Mia soundtrack to sing and dance to all the Abba songs from the movie. There are pictures, don't you worry! It was so fun, and it was nice to be barefoot for a change, soaking up the beautiful sun! The weather was absolutely perfect. My poor skin hasn't seen UV rays in a long long time, but I was sure to lather up with sunscreen all day.

Next stop was Fira, the main town where we're staying, to grab some lunch. We had authentic Greek Gyros which were delicious - so delicious, in fact, that I had one and shared another with Kaitlyn. From the Gryo shop we scooted over to get some ice cream and I added another gelato to my on-going list - Rafaelo. It was vanilla ice cream with coconut and pineapple, the perfect island treat. From there, we hopped back on our ATVs and made the 30 minute drive out to Oia, the more expensive part of town that you see in photographs. You know what I'm talking about... the white houses with blue rooftops, clinging to the cliffs. It was stunning! We stayed on that side of the island for a good 2 hours or so.

We hung out at the highest point we could find, this really cool rock fortress overlooking the ocean and the cliffs. Come to find out, it was private property, but we didn't realize it until we started hiking down. Oops! The views from there were amazing, so we spent most of our time there just talking, laughing, and taking it all in. Oh my goodness, guess what else? We found the house where they filmed the Greece portion of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants!! It was so fun and we took a TON of pictures! There even happened to be a donkey being led down the steps while we were there, just like in the movie. And no, we didn't have time today to ride donkeys... but there's always next time!

Kaitlyn and I switched off who got to drive (we had 2 people per ATV), and I got to drive back to Fira from Oia. Renting the ATVs was probably the best thing we've done so far, besides skiing in the Swiss Alps. The buses here only run every hour or two, so renting a four-wheeler or a motor bike is really the way to go. The drive back from Oia was amazing! It reminded me of the drive to Hana in Maui, with the winding roads and beautiful scenery. I had so much fun, and Kaitlyn kept leaning up to me, saying "hey, we're four-wheeling in Santorini." It was the PERFECT day!!

Well, if I stayed online I would only be procrastinating my packing even longer. None of us want to leave! Santorini is my new favorite place, but there are still so many cities to see! Tomorrow we set sail at 7, bright and early. You could be praying that we have a more enjoyable ride than the last, which I'm sure it will be. Hah, I don't think last time could have gotten any worse. The ferry will take us back to Athens, where we'll spend the afternoon on a hop-on, hop-off bus tour to see all the ancient ruins. On Monday afternoon we will take a train back to Patras to catch the ferry back to Italy, and upon arrival Tuesday morning we will catch a train to Rome!

So long from Santorini!

A Lesson in Patience

Morning came too soon and we were up before dawn in order to catch the ferry to Santorini. Even though we were traveling with the same company as yesterday, we were surprised to find that our tickets were for deck seating, meaning exactly that - on the deck. There were some seats inside near the cafe, but there was so many people smoking that the room was hazy and I could hardly breathe. Kaitlyn and I opted to sit underneath the staircase outside, which ended up being okay because we were out of the way and could spread out a little bit. Not to mention, we were out of the direct wind and cold. The ferry left port and everyone on deck was cheering, whistling, and waving to family on the shore below. Some people even had signs hanging off the sides saying what I imagined to be the Greek equivalent of "Santorini or bust." It was quite a sight to see.

With eight hours ahead of me, I put in my iPod and took some me and God time, which was very refreshing. After journalling about the past few days, I finished my note taking on the book Kaitlyn and I have been reading, Soul Cravings, and then started reading Mere Christianity. I'm loving the time I have to read for fun! With all of the reading we had for classes, I had almost forgotten how much I loved reading. Mom can tell you, I was born a reader. When I was little, our neighbor Mr. Miller used to turn my books upside down as a joke. I'd look at him like he was crazy and turn it right back around. Mom even has pictures of me, asleep with a book open across my chest. Give me a good book and I'm a happy girl.

After about an hour, my blissful time of reading was no longer enough to keep me happy. Just let me tell you how awful the remainder of the ferry was... it gets significantly better, don't worry! I just need a second to vent.

It was freezing outside and I'm convinced that people secretly plotted against us by declaring the stairs as the designated smoking spot. We began our search for seating but were not the first to go against the system. People were sitting on every surface imaginable and there were about 300 screaming teenagers running rampant around the boat. We decided to camp out in a hallway near a stairway, but that plan failed. We were near a heavy metal door that people kept walking through and Kaitlyn got hit six times. I went to the bathroom and stepped in vomit on the way from someone getting sea sick, and that was only the beginning. People were running for the bathrooms left and right, some only making it to the nearest trash can. I was disgusted, claustrophobic, and about at my wit's end. The kids were loud and rude and I was so frustrated. They sat in the stairway, blocking traffic from both directions and didn't even get up to let by an elderly woman with a cane. Thankfully some of the ferry's staff came to the rescue and made them leave the area, but not until halfway through the ferry ride. Needless to say, we could NOT wait to get to the awaiting paradise, the beautiful isle of Santorini.

We're only on Day #8 of our month-long adventure, but I feel like it has been so much longer for what I've learned and experienced. On the train from Maastricht to Venice, I wrote in my journal that "over the next month, I'm bound to feel overwhelmed and frustrated. Use this time to mold me into the person you've created me to be." I have LOVED traveling and I am SO enjoying everything I'm getting to see. That being said, there have been a couple times I've been fatigued, worried, anxious, and frustrated as plans have changed or things have not been so "comfy." But I asked for this, right? :) God follows through on His promise that He is enough, and I am learning to be completely and utterly dependent on Him.

One of the sermon podcasts I listened to recently was about contentment. Josh Patterson from The Village Church in Dallas said, "contentment is a learned experience." God loves to pour blessings on us, and I consider this study abroad program a huge blessing. In Philippians Paul talks about having plenty and being in need, and being content despite the circumstances. Sometimes God gives us times of need purely for the experience so that we will learn to be content. I have everything I could ever want or need, but the times of travel trials remind me that He is sufficient. My favorite thing from the sermon was this: "the more confidence you have that He is who He says He is, He does what He says He does, then circumstances become irrelevant."

We figured the reason why the boat was so crazy was because of the strike. Our boat arriving in Patras yesterday was the last one coming in or going out until this morning, so if anyone had previously made reservations for Thursday, they were most likely put on our boat. It was entirely too crowded but I mean, what can you do? It's just another unpredictable event that will be added to my travel journal, and a memory of true perseverance.

I'm praising God for the fun that I'm having! The joys of traveling far surpass any temporal frustrations we encounter. After all, these stories of traveling mishaps are kind of hilarious after the fact. I'll look back on them and think, "yep, I got through that." As Kaitlyn and I like to say, "do it for the blog." And that, my friends, is the tale of the worst ferry ride of all time. Everyone on the ship was crowded around the door to the exit, just waiting to make a run for it to escape the vessel. There were so many of us that instead of using the escalator exit, they took us through the galleys below where the cars were stowed away, and they lowered the huge ramp for us to exit. It was like something from a movie... when the ramp hit the dock, we all started running and there were cheers echoing from all over the ship. Joanna and I kissed the sweet, Santorini ground and couldn't believe we made it out alive! Haha, oh my goodness... I have videos and pictures of the whole ordeal, so I'll have to share those with you once I get home.

We checked into our hostel - San Giorgio Villas - and we love it! It's right near the Fira main square so we have access to a lot of shops and restaurants. We reunited with Rachel and Brittany who decided to go to Greece a few days earlier, as well as Jazzy, Taylor, and Bri. Together the 11 of us enjoyed a tasty Greek meal at a place called Naoussa, where the waiters constantly said "oopa!" like you hear in all the Greek movies. Oh man, everyone is SO nice here! I love it!

Okay, time to turn in for the night so I can enjoy a day of soaking up the Santorini sun! We're going to get an early start and try to rent a few ATV's to ride around the island. I've heard rumor that we can take a donkey ride down to the beach, and if given the opportunity I'm totally in! I just hope I don't fall off like Tibby did in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. Oh which reminds me, Rachel is taking us to see the house where they filmed the movie! I'm so incredibly excited, and I can't wait to enjoy the beach and this beautiful weather.

Good night from Greece! Love you guys!

Napoli and Athens

Hello from Athens! We arrived this afternoon and I just got back from seeing sunset at the Acropolis!! We'll leave tomorrow morning to catch a ferry to Santorini, but I wanted to update you all on my travels so that I don't forget anything! I'm finding it difficult not having computer access to update regularly. I try and write things in my travel journal as they come to me, but sometimes I think faster than I can write. I'll try and write a brief summary of the last few days, but I can assure you they will not do justice to the amazing things I have experienced!

The rest of our time in Venice was fun, but we didn't get to spend much time on Sunday seeing the city. The rain seemed to keep everyone in doors, so we went to Murano in the morning and then ventured out only to eat lunch, dinner, and gelato. It was nice to have a lazy day since we haven't had one in a while.

Monday morning was an early one! We were out of the apartment by 7:00 and then took a water taxi to the train station to go to Naples (Napoli), where we arrived just after 6:00. After checking into our hostel - Welcome Inn Naples - we ventured out for dinner. David, the guy whose dad owns the place, recommended a restaurant called Gino Sorbello and he said they had the best pizza in town. Now Naples is the birthplace of pizza, so we had pretty high expectations... let me just say, he didn't let us down! The restaurant claims that the Pope has eaten there and they even had pictures; it was kinda crazy! The pizza was absolutely delicious! We heard it was a popular place and we didn't have to wait for a table (we never have in all our time in Europe). However, after they brought us the check they said something in Italian that I think was a nice way of saying, "hey, we need this table," so we took it as our cue to leave. By the time we walked out, there were people standing in the street and we could hear them calling peoples names over the loudspeaker. Needless to say, it was a fun night.

The next morning we were disappointed to wake up to rain, but we were determined to accomplish what we'd come to Naples to see. David said that they may close the Mt. Vesuvius national park if the weather was bad, so we hurried to catch a bus to the volcano in order to climb to the top. It was a tiring hike and it was crowded with bus loads of high schoolers on vacation from France, but the view from the top was so worth it!! It wasn't quite what I expected, but I loved it! I kept imagining looking into the crater and seeing bubbling magma or firey lava, but the crater looked like a big, green valley. We DID see some steam though, coming out of the cracks surrounding the crater, so it made it seem a little more "volcanic." [And for all of you Baylor Highlanders, I made sure to listen to Kyle's "Volcanic" sermon podcast before going!]

We climbed back down and took the bus back to the train station, where we got another short train to go to Pompeii. It was unbelievable, and I'm so glad I got to see it. The weather was not very cooperative and it was pouring on-and-off all afternoon, but we really enjoyed exploring the ruins and taking photos, imagining what the city was like before the infamous eruption. After seeing Mt. Vesuvius earlier in the day, it was neat to walk the city streets and see what damage it had done.

Tuesday night we decided to stay in since we were so exhausted from the day, so we cooked some pasta and relaxed at the hostel. It was one of the best hostels we've stayed in, and the atmosphere was very similar to that of the Chalet Martin in Switzerland (the Chalet is still my #1 though). Everyone hung out in the big common room and we met a lot of really cool people. The two guys we shared a room with were from Germany and they were hilarious. After dinner I was flipping through pictures on my camera, and a guy from Singapore asked about my Nikon and brought his D40 out. We chatted about photography for a good while, and it was just really fun to realize how much I can have in common with people I meet during our month-long journey.

Okay, so my interpretation of Naples, or Napoli as the Italians say... it was probably my least favorite city. We only went to Naples in order to see Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii, so it was totally worthwhile and I don't regret taking the time to go. I just don't think I'll be back in Napoli anytime soon. The city itself was dirty and covered in graffiti and at times it just didn't feel like I was in Italy. However, on the first night we did get to see a little side of Naples that I enjoyed. We got a little lost on the way back from dinner, but our detour took us through a residential part of town where we got to see what I imagine as the typical Italian family life. The streets were narrow, there was laundry hanging everywhere, and from open windows you could hear music and laughter. Looking inside, you could see grandparents, parents, and children all gathered for a meal, and it was a neat to experience a little bit of life off the beaten track.

On Wednesday, we woke up, ate breakfast, and went to the train station to catch our train to Bari. [And yes, for all you Waco people, that IS Bari like our beloved Baris restaurant!] The train left at 9, we arrived at 2, and then we waited around at the train station for Chris who was coming from Milan. When his train arrived, the 5 of us spread out across the platform in order to find him, but our search proved unsuccessful, and with his phone number not working we reluctantly got on the bus to the port. Thankfully not all hope was lost. We finally got a hold of Chris, who did in fact get off of the train we searched through, and once he got to the port we boarded our ferry to Greece!

The ferry was amazing! I expected a dinky little boat but in reality it was a small cruise ship, complete with two restaurants, a cafe, and rooms to sleep in. We didn't want to pay for a room, so we opted for the "airplane" seating which was off to the side from the smoky, loud cafe where the economy seating was. The seats were nice and we had TVs, but I opted to sleep on the floor. The 15+ hours passed quickly, seeing as how I slept for 10 of them! Yeah, that's right - I said 10. I could hardly believe it myself. After eating dinner and playing a few hilarious rounds of pictionary telephone, I pulled out my sleep sack, curled up on the floor, and slept the whole night through.

Smooth sailing turned to bumpy roads when we arrived in the Greek port city of Patras. We discovered that the trains were shut down because of a 24-hour strike. That meant there was only one train to Athens and it wasn't leaving for another 3 hours - a 4 hour train ride to Athens meant we wouldn't get there until after 9. Our only other option was to pay 17 euros for a bus ride to Athens, which we sucked up and did just for time's sake. We went to go get bus tickets and were told that on the next bus there were only 4 seats available... well great, but there are 6 of us. Then magically they had 6 tickets available, but when we got on the bus there were only 5 open seats. It was a squished bus ride, but we arrived in Athens at 5 and then hopped on a bus to find our hostel.

The term "it's all greek to me" seemed very fitting for our afternoon. It was a little difficult to find our hostel, and while on the bus we all were kinda freaking out about where we were supposed to get off... but, we all know how God provides! There was a sweet old man sitting across from Joanna that looked at our directions, tried his very best to communicate to us in Greek, and then motioned for us to follow him from the bus stop. He walked us in the direction of our hostel and we were so thankful for his help!

After checking into the hostel, we hurried out to see some of the city before the sun went down. The afternoon was very frustrating as we tried to find our way to Athens, but one look at the Acropolis and all its glory and the annoyances of travel seemed to fade away! We hiked up through the market to get as high as we could go. The Acropolis was already closed, but we wandered up through a neighborhood and found a BEAUTIFUL lookout point over the city. The sun was setting over the mountains, the ancient ruins below were beginning to light up for their nightly display, and I was completely in love! We climbed back down and found a restaurant called Exapinis where we ate dinner. The owner and his staff were amazing! Kaitlyn and I split a deliciously flaky, lamb-filled pastry for dinner and then our server brought us a free homemade dessert called Halva which was really good. Oh, not to mention the fact that we ate outside, looking up at the Acropolis. It was the best night!

Alright, tomorrow will be another early morning as we set sail for beautiful Santorini, Greece! I am so beyond excited, and I am LOVING every minute of the journey... even when things don't go as planned. Love you and miss you all!

Venice

[Disclaimer - all blog posts in the next month may be riddled with spelling errors and typos. These European keyboards are difficult to navigate, the spell check doesn't seem to work, and I'm pressed for time in Internet cafes. I'll leave my flaws available for your viewing and entertainment, which as you can imagine is hard for me as a journalist. Enjoy! :) ]

May I just begin by saying that I think Italy might be my favorite part of the trip? Venice is ABSOLUTELY amazing!

We got here safely, but only after some minor confusion about train connections. One of our trains left from Munich around 11:45 and we were supposed to get off around 2:30 in the morning to change to our night train. Just before 2, the conductor came to check our tickets and told us that we would not have enough time to change at our scheduled stop. He whipped out his mini computer to check some schedules, jotted down the name of another random Austrian (?) city, and told us to change there. We were to walk to the front of the same train we were on that would continue to Venice and would split from the part of the train we were currently on... are you as confused reading this as I was hearing it? We were so puzzled as to why we didn't get on that part of the train to begin with, but we trusted his judgement and were glad that we did! In the city of our scheduled stop, a group of girls got off to try the forbidden change, and we pulled away and watched them panic as they yelled to the someone on the platform "we're trying to go to Venice!!!" If there's one thing I've learned in all of my travels, it's that you should always trust the system. When the conductor tells you to do something, you do it, no questions asked. I can't imagine being stranded in a random city in the middle of the night, bless their hearts. At 3:52 a.m. we changed to the train going to Venice and I slept soundly until we arrived in Venice at 8:30 on Saturday morning. I flipped out when we walked out of the train station to see the Grand Canal right in front of us! I couldn't believe that we were actually in Italy - it is gorgeous!!

The 7 of us (Kaitlyn, Rachel, Joanna, Kathy, Brittany, Caroline, and me) found a really good deal on an apartment here in Venice. The woman who owns it, Cristina, met us at the boat stop and walked us to the flat which is so nice! The front room has two beds in it, there is another pull-out couch in the kitchen, and there are two bedrooms and a bathroom. We feel completely at home and we love our view the cute little courtyard outside. Cristina was such a blessing; she helped us to get acquainted with the map and told us where to go to eat, shop, and see the sights. After freshening up from 16+ hours on a train, we ventured out to see the city.

The streets and canals are just as beautiful as you see in pictures, if not more, and I wish I could post photos for you to see! It seemed like every corner we turned and every bridge we walked over, we all stopped and took a million pictures - what tourists, right? We went to a little stand called Pronto Pizza and had our first true Italian pizza which was phenomenal. From there, we went to St. Mark's square and had a good time watching the ridiculous display of pigeons that you always hear about. People feed them right out of their hands, and there were a ton of tourists taking photos with the obnoxious birds on their heads... no, thank you. It was enough of a laugh to watch them and see people run in every direction as a flock would swarm in for landing.

What else is Italy known for? That's right - gelato! We went to a shop that supposedly has the best gelato in Venice, a place called La Boutique del Geltato. They weren't lying - it was AMAZING. Next, we did a little bit of shopping and admired all the Murano glass that is sold everywhere, and then took the tour up the Grand Canal to see the rest of the beautiful town.On the way back to St. Mark's square, we were all hit with a wave of exhaustion from the sleep deprivation of finals week. Naturally, our next stop was for coffee. We found a cute little bakery where I drank the best cappuccino of my entire life and ate Italian biscotti, which was equally delicious.

Cristina told us to take advantage of view from the clock tower, and boy am I glad we did! The view was spectacular and it was cool to see how small the city actually is. It seems so big, but when you get a bird's eye view, you can see how close together the buildings are. After taking the elevator back down, we went inside St. Mark's Basilica. Wow wow wow, it was so impressive! The entire ceiling is made of glittering gold mosaic! We finished off our day with dinner at a cute Italian restaurant, run single-handedly by a husband and wife, and then made another gelato run on the way back to our flat.

Today was not nearly as beautiful, but we're grateful we got to see so much yesterday while the weather was nice. It has been raining all day! We slept in a little bit this morning and then took the water taxi to the island of Murano to see the glass factory. It was really neat, but the demonstration of glass blowing didn't last as long as we thought it would. The rain became a little miserable and we were all soaked and freezing, so we decided to return to Venice for a relaxing day. I think Joanna has promised us all pedicures, so after we leave the Internet cafe we might go grab some gelato and head to our little home-away-from-home for some much needed down time.

Tomorrow morning we are leaving early to catch a train to Naples. I really hope this month slows down a little bit, because we are already on day #3 of 29! There is still so much to see and we're already having to eliminate cities from our wish list. Guess that just means I'll have to come back. Miss you all so much! I'll update when I can!

Our Month of Travel

Here is a tentative plan for our month of travel! Things for the first two weeks are already booked so they should go as planned, but we've left some flexibility in the last few weeks in case we run into any bumps in the road. It's kind of crazy, and I can't believe I'm actually going to see all of this... but when I am ever going to have this opportunity again? Rather than spend a lot of time in one place for a relaxing vacation, our group decided we wanted to see and do it all and I cannot wait!

• Friday, March 27 - leave Maastricht at 4:00 p.m. and take a night train to Venice, Italy
  
• Saturday, March 28 - Venice
  
• Sunday, March 29 - Venice
  
• Monday, March 30 - leave Venice and go to Naples, Italy
  
• Tuesday, March 31 - Naples and day trip to see Pompeii
  
• Wednesday, April 1 - train from Naples to Bari to catch an overnight ferry to Greece
  
• Thursday, April 2 - arrive to port in Patras and take 4 hour train to Athens
  
• Friday, April 3 - ferry from Athens to Santorini, Greece
• Saturday, April 4 - Santorini
• Sunday, April 5 - ferry from Santorini back to Athens, afternoon to explore Athens
• Monday, April 6 - spend the day in Athens, then get on ferry back to Bari, Italy
• Tuesday, April 7 - arrive in Bari and take train to Rome
• Wednesday, April 8 - Rome
• Thursday, April 9 - Rome
• Friday, April 10 - Rome for the day, take a train in the afternoon to Florence
• Saturday, April 11 - Florence, day trip to Pisa
• Sunday, April 12 - Easter church service in Florence, train to Cinque Terre
• Monday, April 13 - Cinque Terre (hike in between the 5 cities of the Italian Riviera, right on the coast)
• Tuesday, April 14 - Cinque Terre to Nice, France (maybe hit up Monaco on the way)
• Wednesday, April 15 - Nice to Barcelona, Spain
• Thursday, April 16 - Barcelona
• Friday, April 17 - Barcelona to Madrid
• Saturday, April 18 - Madrid
• Sunday, April 19 - Madrid to Valenica
• Monday, April 20 - Valencia
• Tuesday, April 21 - ?
• Wednesday, April 22 - ?
• Thursday, April 23 - train back to Maastricht
• Friday, April 24 - day in Maastricht, unpack, do laundry, pack to come home!
• Saturday, April 25 - leave Guesthouse at 3:30 a.m.!! 3+ hour drive to Amsterdam, catch a 10:10 a.m. flight to Houston!

We haven't exactly decided what we want to do those last few days... going to Portugal would be awesome, but it would require another full day of traveling on a train to get there. We're talking of maybe going to Grenada or Seville, but we shall see.

Alright, back to packing and getting things ready for tomorrow... expect an update on last weekend's Amsterdam trip soon!

Loving the Dutch Life

I really can't believe my time in Maastricht is coming to an end! The past 8 weeks have been an amazing chance to learn more about myself and about this big, beautiful world we live in. I've seen so many incredible sights, been to 10 countries, experienced joys and frustrations, and have grown in my faith through it all.

I'm sure sometimes it might seem like all I do over here is travel, but I must assure you that I've been busy with school work as well. With our literature class I was required to read eight books, and for my Media Markets class I have written my fair share of press releases, feature stories, news leads, and persuasive pieces. All that being said, this week has kind of been a rude awakening as we've realized that these last few days pretty much count the most towards our grades. We've all been swamped with papers to write, presentations to prepare, and finals to study for. On Monday night I had my Writing for Media Markets final exam and then stayed up until 4:30 the next morning trying to perfect my 10-page paper for my Modernism and Beyond literature class. Three short hours later, I was awake again to face the day! On Tuesday night the Center for European Studies hosted a Farewell Reception for us. It was really nice; we all got dressed up and went to one of the university's little reception halls where we got to relax for a few hours and were given our parting gift - a Maastricht University t-shirt! Wednesday brought more studying, and then I took my last final this afternoon!! Oh sweet bliss, it feels so good to be done with classes... and kind of weird to think that this is technically "summer" for me!

With finals and everything going on, I didn't have a chance to update about my weekend in Amsterdam, but here are some photos to tide you over until I have a chance to write.

Keukenhof Gardens in Holland

It's tulip season!