I've Caught the Bug.

“Often when students travel abroad, they get “the bug” or find themselves itching to go somewhere else, because they enjoy taking international journeys so much. While you are probably excited to go back home and see your family and friends, is there more international travel on the horizon for you? If so, where, and in what capacity?”

I think it’s pretty obvious that I’ve caught a bad case of the travel bug. Well, good for me as far as cultural experiences go but very bad for my bank account. Anyway, this semester, I’ve had the privilege of visiting eight different countries and exploring so much of Europe that I may never have seen without having the wonderful opportunity to study abroad. I’m already planning out more countries that I want to visit when I come back someday. In fact, the next time I’ll be back to Europe will be this upcoming January when I go to Italy for three weeks for my intersession class at W&J. I’ll be traveling with my advisor, along with other students, and studying Italian culture and cuisine. I’m so excited because I’ll be able to see more of Italy and revisit some of the cities I saw this semester. 

After Italy, I’m not sure when exactly my next international travel experience will be. There’s been talk within my family about taking another trip to Europe after I graduate next spring (as a graduation gift for me and my sister, since she’ll be graduating high school the same time I’ll be finishing undergrad). The European places that are still on my bucket list are Prague, Amsterdam, Switzerland, and Germany for sure; although I would absolutely love to revisit any of the countries I saw this semester and I'm always open to new suggestions, too! Plus I've already decided that I’m definitely coming back to Sevilla someday very soon as well. It’s my home away from home!

Back to Italy: Amalfi Coast

I never anticipated going to Italy two different times during the semester, but I wasn’t complaining that I was able to return. Katie and I had booked our trip to the Amalfi Coast with Bus2Alps at the very beginning of the semester, and in the meantime, we had decided to see Rome and Florence when we realized we had the entire week off for Feria. Anyway, I was so happy to see more of Italy, and of course, eat more Italian food!

Katie and I flew back into Rome after class on Wednesday evening to meet the bus we were taking with the rest of the group to Amalfi. Traffic outside of the city was so bad that night, and we were very afraid that we were going to miss the bus, but luckily for us they waited, and we made it! It was a long three hour trip on a mini bus, after our two hour flight, but it could have been worse, because there were a lot more students coming from Florence which is a 6-7 hour trip on a bus! When we finally got to our hotel in Sorrento that night, it was almost midnight, so we showered and went straight to bed.

The next morning, we saw that we had two other roommates that had come in during the middle of the night, because both of them had come with the Florence group. Just before our meeting time at noon, Katie and I went out to meet the bus to go into Naples, but there was no one to be found... the bus had left without us. I went into the reception area, and the clerk at the desk had confirmed that the bus had indeed left about 15 minutes prior. Katie and I looked at each other and had no idea what to do; the last thing we wanted to do was stay at the hotel all day. At that point the clerk offered to call our group leader, Monika, and see if they could possibly turn around. He handed me the phone, and it was actually her that apologized, because they had decided to leave 15 minutes early. Apparently they didn’t have a chance to tell everyone (Katie and myself), but she was very sweet and told me that it wasn’t our fault at all and that they weren’t very far away, so they would turn around to come get us. I quickly agreed, but we still felt bad because this is the second time in less than 24 hours that we had delayed the bus; in reality though, neither time was our fault... surprisingly. The bus showed up within 10 minutes, and we quickly got on and took our walk of shame to the back of the bus, as everyone stared at us. However, in no time at all, we were back on the road and almost to Naples. Once we arrived, we first went to get something to eat at a restaurant recommended by one of our leaders. I ordered the traditional margarita pizza, which was SO delicious, considering that we were in the birthplace where the first margarita pizza was invented. :) After lunch, we walked around to see some of the sights and met the group to head back into Sorrento later that afternoon.

That night, there was a barbecue and pool party at our hotel. It was nice to sit outside, enjoy some food from the grill, and sip some piña coladas by the pool. We hung out some of our new friends and got to know everyone a little better. After a couple hours, we called it a night and went to bed since we had to get up decently early the next day... and because we were determined not to make the bus wait again.

6:30am came pretty early, so we quickly got ready, ate some breakfast, and headed to meet the bus, which I’m proud to say that we were actually early. We had to be up so early, because our ferry to Capri was leaving at 8:30am, and it would definitely not be waiting around for anyone. We made it to the ferry with no problems, and I was getting so excited to see what the rest of the day had in store for us. Katie and I quickly found seats on the ferry, and as I was looking around, I thought I saw two familiar faces; and it turned out that our friends Shelby and Chelsea that we had met in Paris were on this trip too! I was even more excited for the rest of the weekend at that point. :) We talked the entire way over to the island and caught up about the rest of our travels since February. It was a pretty quick trip to the island, and in no time at all, we were boarding another boat to go on a cruise around the island. I absolutely loved every second of it! The scenery was so beautiful, the water, the landscape; it truly was paradise. We reached a certain point in the boat tour where we all boarded into other really tiny boats so we could go into the blue grotto. The four of us girls all fit into one boat perfectly, along with our guide for the grotto. He started rowing toward the smallest little hole in the cliffs; it was seriously the size of a basketball backboard. He made us all duck down, and he himself hunched down just enough to pull us into the grotto. I’m not kidding when I say that it was probably the extraordinary sight I have ever seen in my whole entire life. The water inside the dark cave was glowing the most beautiful color of blue that I’ve ever seen. The reason that it glows so well inside the grotto is because the sun from the outside reflects down to the bottom of the ocean, and as a result, it has a “glowing” effect. I could have stayed in there for hours, and I would have loved to have swam inside, but unfortunately we only had about 5-7 minutes to enjoy it. Once we were back outside, we loaded back onto our bigger boat to continue our tour. We viewed some other smaller grottos, the three most famous rocks in Capri used in the Dolce & Gabbana commercials, the mansion on top of the cliffs that the president of Gerber baby products owns, looked for Mariah Carey’s vacation home, and eventually finished our tour. It was such a beautiful day for a boat ride; I didn’t want it to end!

After we were back on dry land, we took a cable car up to another part of Capri. I drank one of the most refreshing drinks of my life; it was called a granita, and it was like a lemon slushy, but so much better! I’m still dreaming about how good it was. Anyway, we walked around that part of the island for a little while, took some pictures, and later, we rode up to a different little town. While we were there, we grabbed lunch, sampled some limoncello, and I even bought some customized sandals made just for me! The older man that was making them was so sweet, not to mention he had a booming business. He even made sandals for Jackie Kennedy! After we visited the sandal shop, we bought tickets for the chair lift to go to the highest point of the island to enjoy some of the best views. Although our friend Chelsea was too scared to go up, Shelby, Katie, and I had the best time. It was basically like a 45 minute photo-shoot for the three of us once we reached the top, but we couldn’t help but take so many pictures because the views were astounding! It was totally worth it to go to the top (even though I was a little scared myself when going up the chairlift). We had perfect timing too because on the way back down, it was just starting to sprinkle and later turned into a heavy rain.

Once we rode back down to the port, we did a little souvenir shopping and boarded the ferry once more to head back to the mainland. It had been a fantastic day! Once we got back to the hotel, we got ready and headed into Sorrento to eat dinner and enjoy the night life. We went to a bar with all of the other students on our trip called the English Tavern and danced the night away. After several hours, a large group of us walked back to the hotel, in order to get some rest for the next day!

Luckily we didn’t have to get up quite as early on Saturday as we did the day before. We quickly got ready and met the bus headed toward Positano for the day. I was pretty bummed out because it was supposed to be our beach day, and the weather wasn’t cooperating at all. It was pretty chilly and drizzling on and off all day, but we were determined to make the most of our last full day in Italy. It was around a 45 minute bus ride there and another 45 minute trek down all the steps on the cliff to reach the city; I only fell about three times walking down all the wet steps in flip flops. When we finally got to the bottom, we walked out onto the black sand beach and took some great pictures of the town. Even in the rain, it was still so beautiful. We decided that our next move would be to get some lunch, because we were all cold, tired, and hungry. I have to say that I ordered one of the best meals I’ve had during my whole time in Europe for lunch that day. The homemade gnocchi was heavenly; I probably could have eaten three more plates.

After lunch, we wandered in and out of some of the little shops for a little while, and our group ended up leaving a few hours sooner than we had expected since the weather was so bad. On our way out, Katie and I stopped at a little sandwich shop that our leaders recommended called Vini and Panini. I bought some ruby red fresh picked strawberries, and we decided to split a panini since we’ve heard everyone rave about how good they were. We ordered ours with chicken, tomatoes, mozzarella, pesto, and a little basil... absolutely scrumptious! I wasn’t even hungry, but I ate every last bite; it put Panera Bread to shame. If it wasn’t for the food in Positano, I wouldn’t have enjoyed the dreary day near as much, but I was so happy we went. I do really want to go back someday though, so I can enjoy the beach with some better weather!

Later that night, we had basically the same game plan as the night before. Katie and I enjoyed another wonderful Italian dinner; I couldn’t help but order the gnocchi again, but it was still so good the second time around, especially when complemented by some tasty red wine. After dinner we went to the same bar and hung out with all of our new friends for the rest of the night.

Unfortunately, the next day was Sunday, which meant that it was our last day. We checked out of our hotel and stopped at our final destination of the trip before heading back to Rome. We spent the afternoon at Pompeii, the ancient city that was covered by an explosion of Mt. Vesuvius in the year 79 A.D. and wasn’t uncovered until the 1700s. There have been intensive excavations since the 18th century, and now it’s one of the biggest tourist attractions in all of Italy. It was incredible to see the remains of the ancient city and to see how advanced this society really was, even in the 1st century. They had irrigation systems, running water, and the fundamental means for plumbing; it was amazing. We walked throughout all of the grounds and saw just how these people lived in the year 79, but one of the most astounding things for me was to see the people who had literally been mummified in the volcanic ash. We saw the body casts of how many people looked in their last moments before they were petrified... so crazy!

After our tour of the ancient city, I enjoyed some delicious margarita pizza for lunch and one last round of gelato before heading back to Rome to catch our flight back to Spain. What an unforgettable weekend it was! I will absolutely visit the Amalfi Coast again someday; it’s too beautiful not to go back!

What I'll Miss Most, from the Other Side

Being in Spain, I’ve made some of the best memories of my whole entire life, which makes it really hard to choose just one thing that I’ll miss upon my return home to the U.S. I’ve made some best friends and had an incredible semester overall; however, if I had to pick one thing that I’ll miss the most, I’d say that it would be the city of Sevilla, in general. I’ve gotten to the point where I actually consider it as my “home”, and I’ll always look back on these four months that I’ve been living in Spain with highest regards. I’ll miss all of the people that I’ve met along the way for sure, but I know that I’ll keep in touch with them. A majority of the friends that I’ve made are from Texas, Ohio, and Maine, but I have family in Texas, PA is a neighboring state to Ohio, and I’ve always wanted to go to New England, so I have great reasons to go visit! Even though it’s going to be one of the most bittersweet days of my life leaving Sevilla at the end of the semester, I know that someday I’ll be back. All good things must to come to an end at some point, but it’ll be nice to be back in Pennsylvania, too. :)

Feria in Sevilla

La feria is one of the most anticipated weeks out of the whole year for Spaniards. Why, you ask? Because it’s a week long festival, where no one works or goes to school, and basically it’s one giant fiesta. This is why Katie and I were able to travel all week because we didn’t have classes either. Anyway, I’m sure you’ve seen the traditional Spanish flamenco dresses before; well, the women wear basically the same style of dress all week during feria, but with much more vibrant colors. Everyone dresses up and heads to the neighborhood of Los Remedios, where all of the action takes place. To signify the start of feria, the Spaniards light up the giant portada, or entrance way, to the festival. There are hundreds of casetas that line the streets which are basically just private tents that the Spanish people rent to have their parties. The “tents” are so elaborately decorated that you would never think they were tents at all. Inside the casetas, the Spanish people dance the Sevillanas, which is the traditional dance of Sevilla. As if the Spaniards don’t stay out late already during any other time of the year, during the week of feria, everyone stays out until 6:00, 7:00, or 8:00 in the morning, just dancing the night away... kids included! There are also so many food stands, games, and carnival rides, making it an even bigger party! Luckily Katie and I were able to catch the last weekend of feria, and even though we didn’t wear a typical Sevillana dress or get invited into any of the casetas, we still had a great time! We took lots of pictures, rode on one of the rides, and ended our evening with some churros con chocolate... so yummy!

The following day was Sunday which meant that the feria would officially be over. Katie, Dan, and I walked down to the Guadalquivir RIver just before midnight to catch the fireworks which signified the end. It was a beautiful ending to a great week, but the following day was Monday which meant back to school for us!

Madrid in 24 Hours

I told myself that I couldn’t leave Spain for the semester and not visit Madrid (since we hadn’t really gotten to see much of the city, other than from the inside of the airport and the train station), so we had planned to explore for the next 24 hours! By this point, after nine days of traveling, I was absolutely exhausted (partly just from lugging our heavy bags all over Europe!), so Katie and I decided to do a bus tour that would take us around to all of the big sights. I saw the Palacio Real, the Cathedral, and the Museo del Prado to name a few; Katie saw the inside of her eyelids. :) However, in her defense, she wasn’t sleeping during the whole bus ride, only a part of it haha! We decided to get off at one of the stops to grab a late lunch, and once I saw the Hard Rock Café, it was game over for me. I couldn’t think of anything that I wanted to eat more than a scrumptious, bacon cheeseburger. (It’s a surprise I don’t weigh 500 pounds.) I had been craving American food for a long time, and I was finally satisfied; it was wonderful. After lunch, we hopped back on the bus and rode around the city for awhile longer. By mid-evening, Katie and I decided to head back to our hotel and rest before doing anything else because we were both exhausted, so much that Katie could hardly hold her head up anymore. We laid down around 7:00, with full intentions of getting up and going to dinner later that night... well, I’m sure you can see where this is going. Five hours later, we accepted the fact that we weren’t going anywhere else that night, changed into our pj’s, and went back to bed. On the plus side, since we had a full night’s rest, we were able to get up and moving decently early the next morning. Our first stop was to one of our new favorite stores, Primark, at one of the malls in Madrid. We did a little shopping before heading back into the center of the city. We wandered through the Plaza del Sol and walked down to the Mercado de San Miguel. The market was ginormous and offered so many different varieties of tapas, fruits, nuts, sweets, and drinks, among many others. After we wandered through the market, we decided it was time for some lunch, so we continued down the street to eat at the Restaurante Sobrino de Botín, the oldest restaurant in the world! We walked in to get a table and eat before heading back to Sevilla, but we were heartbroken when they told us it would be at least a half hour wait, and we knew we would never make our train in an hour and a half if we stayed. Completely disappointed, we eventually found another restaurant that didn’t look nearly as good, and grabbed some lunch before heading south. It was one of the best weeks of my life, but I was happy to be heading back to get some rest after a very tiring week of travels. Plus, we were going to be able to see the end of Feria, which I will blog about next! :)

A Small Taste of Italy: Rome and Florence!

Upon return from our paradise weekend in Santorini, Katie and I still had some more places to explore, starting with Rome! For the next two days we would be sightseeing in Rome, then taking a train to visit my sorority sisters in Florence!

Once we arrived back to Rome, Katie and I headed straight for our hotel near the train station. We got all settled in and then set out to see the sights. We only had two days in Rome, which is not nearly enough, but still better than none! We grabbed lunch at a nearby pizzeria and then headed out for the rest of the day. We met up with Liv after her class, and she showed us around a little. We walked past the Spanish steps and wandered down to the Trevi fountain. Katie and I took our turn tossing a coin into fountain (apparently I was so excited that I forgot to make a wish the first time, so I had to throw another coin in just to be sure). We stopped for gelato and spent our day wandering around the streets of Italy. However, by midday, we were exhausted after our weekend, so we headed back to Liv’s apartment to relax for the night. Liv, Sammy, and Lauren made dinner for the five of us! It was so sweet of them and so delicious. Since Katie and I were anticipating a long day of sightseeing the next day, we headed back to our hotel around 9 so we could shower and get to bed early.

The following day, we met up some friends, Diana and Nicolette, who we met in Morocco earlier in the month! We met them at the Pantheon, and they took us to an amazingly good panini shop for lunch. We ordered our paninis (which were only three euros!) and spent some time catching up with the girls near a beautiful piazza. Afterwards, they took us to one of their favorite gelato places and we said our goodbyes. It was still early at this point and Katie and I had a long “to do” list of places to visit, so we started with the Roman Forum which I absolutely loved. It was unreal to think that I was walking along the same path that Julius Caesar once had. We took some great pictures and wandered up to the Palatine Hill before heading over to the Colosseum. Seeing the Colosseum was such a surreal moment for me too, because I’ve seen it countless times in pictures, but finally it was my turn! Katie and I got some incredible shots and really enjoyed our afternoon together. We could not have asked for better weather; it was absolutely gorgeous that day! Later that afternoon, we took the metro to go see the Vatican before the sunset. We decided that we couldn’t leave Rome without seeing it, even if we couldn’t go inside. It was also a very cool experience not only because one of the cute policeman was checking me out (ha!), but because we were there not long after the new Pope was elected so all of the chairs were still set up outside. We only stayed for a little while because we wanted to go watch the sunset on top of the Poblono, which was one of Liv’s great recommendations. It was so beautiful to watch the sun sinking over the city, even though it was getting very cold at that point. Afterwards, Liv came to meet us after her class and her, Sammy, Katie, and I all went for dinner together one last time at one of Liv’s favorite restaurants, since the next day we would be heading to Florence. It was so nice to spend the evening with the girls, but it was sad to say goodbye after spending all weekend and our few days in Rome with them. Luckily I’ll be seeing Olivia in a few weeks at school! 

The next morning, Katie and I packed up our stuff another time and took the next train to Florence to meet our other friends! We’ve kept in contact with all of my DG sisters, Chelsea, Lindsay, Emma, Kellie, Meredith and Chelsey ever since we first met them in Paris at the beginning of the semester. Our train ride was pretty miserable because it was so stifling hot inside the cars, and some random Italian woman yelled at me whenever I tried to put the window down (still bitter about that). Nonetheless, it made us that more excited to get to Florence! Chelsea was waiting at the train station for us when we got there, and she took us straight to their apartment to put our bags down and relax. I must say that their apartment was HUGE!! It was twice the size of our’s in Sevilla because all six of the girls stay there. Anyway, the girls were still finishing classes for the day so Katie and I decided that it would be a good idea to nap for a little before we did anything; traveling is exhausting! After we got up, we all went out for dinner together to celebrate Lindsay’s birthday at one of their favorite restaurants. It was the first time that I’ve had a balsamic dressing in months, and I must say that it was probably the best that I’ve ever tasted in my life. The mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, pasta, and wine were scrumptious! After dinner, we all got ready and headed to a club called 21 to celebrate Lindsay’s 21st!

The next day, Katie and I slept in a little then finally got up and walked around the city, which was a lot smaller than I was expecting; it was still so charming nonetheless. Upon walking down to the river to see the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge, I had felt like I had walked straight into an Olive Garden menu. Katie laughed at me when I said that, but it was completely true! I absolutely loved the scenery all along the river. The Ponte Vecchio bridge really was one of the coolest things I’d seen since I’d been in Italy... so many jewelry shops!

After walking around for a little, we decided that it was time for some lunch. We stopped at a delightful restaurant, where I ordered the best lasagna that I’ve ever eaten in my life! The trick to finding a good restaurant is not to follow all of the tourists and eat at the unvaried restaurants that aline the popular piazzas but to wander through the streets and find somewhere more hidden, which is exactly what we did. After lunch, we leisurely walked around and took the time to just enjoy the city (and admire all of the leather, too!) Katie and I made sure to see the Duomo, which was one of the prettiest cathedrals I’ve seen since I’ve been in Europe. We had such a wonderful afternoon and enjoyed our last full day in Italy. That night, the girls took us to a delicious pizzeria (I know, what pizza ISN’T delicious in Italy!), but this place truly was phenomenal. We all took our pizzas and ate outside on the steps before seeing some of the city at night. We hiked up to the top of the Michelangelo hill, and let me tell you, the view was exceptional. All of us sat on the steps overlooking the city, talked, and enjoyed each other’s company for the rest of the night. Since Katie and I had such an early flight to Madrid the next morning, we had to go back to the girls’ apartment before it got to be too late. It was really sad saying goodbye to them, but luckily they all go to school in Ohio at Kent State, which means we’ll be visiting a lot next fall since we’re fairly close!

Getting up the next morning before 5am was so hard, but I was still really excited to be moving on to our next city. Ciao Firenze, hola Madrid!

Study Abroad

Study abroad has changed me/has led to my personal growth in so many ways. First of all, it’s really taught me to roll with the punches. I’ve never traveled this much/this often in my life, so naturally there were going to be some inevitable obstacles at different points in my four month journey. Some were more costly than others, but in the end everything worked always worked out. I’ve had to think on my feet more than a few times, in order to make some impulse decisions. I’ve experienced several tense/stressful situations that have helped me to maintain composure better than I ever had in the past. I’m proud to say that I never once cried or lashed out at someone because a situation was too tough for me to handle; and there were indeed a fair amount of upsetting times that it would have been all too easy to lose my cool. I’ve talked my way through some challenging situations in Spanish and practiced my knowledge of the language with people that surpassed the simplicity of a standard conversation like, “Hola, como estás? Como te llamas?” (Hello, how are you? What’s your name?)

Additionally, I’ve grown so much as a person and have become much more globally aware. I’ve picked up on phrases in other languages, perfected my use of travel methods within a wide variety of cities, and have been able to communicate more clearly and effectively with people of different cultures. I’ve been able to connect with people on a deeper level and have made friendships that I know will last, not only with quite a few Europeans, but fellow American students that I’ve grown close to as well. I’ve also learned SO much more about Spain, as well as other European countries, in the past four months than I have in my whole life. As a result, I feel much more confident discussing the history of Spain, in addition to its present situation, than I ever would have in the past.

As my study abroad experience is coming to a close, I can’t help but have the mindset that I feel comfortable enough to take on the world. I’ve always considered myself to be fairly mature, but I definitely think that I’ve matured even further beyond my years after studying abroad, now that I’ve dealt with high tension situations, have been forced to think outside the box, and found commonalities with people that I never would expected. This journey has changed me in the best way possible, and I know that as much as I don’t want my college years to end, I’ll be more prepared for the real world than I ever would have been without this experience.