just a quick summary...
So even tho I was only in Europe for 5 weeks, it seriously seemed like I was there for SO much longer. Looking back on all the things that I have seen and done these past 5 weeks... things that I never thought I´d ever be able to do in my lifetime, makes it seem like I was here forever. I´ll summarize the main aspects of each place...
London - Not going to lie... I fell in love with this place. Being there for 3 weeks, i was able to truly live in the city. I got to see so many wondeful things such as stonehenge, Bath city, castles and churches. I was able to go to Hillsong London not once but twiceee, and I met amazing ppl that i will never forget. Also, the study abroad experience was amazing. I met 24 of the most amazing ppl that i would have never met otherwise!
Scotland - bagpipes. I flippin love bagpipes!! they were everywhere! the ppl of scotland are truly some of the nicest and kindest ppl you will ever meet. The castles are aweosme. my favorite part about scotland tho was when we climbed up that mountain. it was soo amazing at the top and a true experience. Also scotland wasn´t planned at all and it was a spur of the moment thing. So it was more of an adventure if anything and that´s what I loved about it!
Paris - eiffle tower!! haha I coudln´t believe that I actually saw it. My favorite part of paris was the palace of versallis tho. The gardens in that place were just beautiful. To be honest tho, paris was the least favorite for me out of all the places we went to.
Florence - pure beauty. Firenze was less touristy as well which was a nice change actually. This place was soo beautiful and peaceful. I would encourage everyone to go there if you had the chance. I loved the food!! my favorite was seeing the david sculpture by michaelangelo himself. I even snuck a picture of it!
Rome - When in Rome... haha. Rome was by far one of my favorites! There was just soo much to see there and it was an AMAZING time. our hostel was great, and we instantly met awesome ppl! my experiences in rome are ones that i will truly neverforget. I never thought I´d see the vatican, coloseum or the trevi fountain. It was amazing to live in a city with things that were 2000yrs old and with things that are completely new. sooo completely different from the US. our oldest thing is like wat... 250 yrs old??? ahaha
Barcelona - also, one of my favorite places. such a chill and relax city! everyone here seems to be at a slower place, and not in such a hurry all the time. I really enjoyed that and it was extremely eye opening to me. The ppl here were all so nice and friendly as well. I loved lovedd the beach and loved playing volleyball! The night life here is amazing tho. but goes untill the sun comes up! hahah. ppl dont´start going out till 2am and then come home at like 6am or later! soooo crazy, but it was neat to experience it for a few days.LOL
overall, I loveddd this expereince. It truly has opened my eyes to the world around me. I realized how much Inever get to experience other cultures. beingin europe I was able to meet ppl from ALL over the world, it was just awesome. and when traveling ppl are so eager to meet you and get to know you, you make friends instantly. I now have friends from all over the world... and it´s awesome! I honestly encourage everyone to travel. It is an experience you will NEVER forget :)
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Day 33... Last FULL day in Europe :(
So here it is... the last full day I will spend in Europe for quite sometime.
To start... IT WAS A SUNNY SUNNY day!!! you know what that meant.... BEACH DAY!!! woo woo, I was soo stoked. We slept in a bit, which was super nice and then we headed for the beach. It was seriously SUCH amazing weather. Not a cloud in the sky and the hotness was just perfect. We found our spot on the beach, laid out for a bit... took my first swim in the mediteranian sea :D I then spotted some ppl playing volleyball, and of course, if you know me, I def. went up to them and asked to play. hahaha
And...they accepted! Brandon and I played wiht the otherppl 4 on 4, and it was awesome. I loved that I was playing volleybally with ppl from spain, finland and italy. Like, that just doesn´t happen in the states. haha I loved it!! I played for a few hours, then went swimming again and laid out some more. boy was I in heaven.
After that, we went back and cleaned up before going out to dinner. we picked a place where we could watch the world cup! goooo USA. We tied... guess that is better than losing eh? I decided to splurg on my meal tonight and got soup and pasta and then the biggest gelato I was allowed to get. haha. it was awesome! and now im back at our hostel on the computer watching a movie with a bunch of the otherppl staying here :) its gonna be a chill night since we are leaving early tomorrow.
To start... IT WAS A SUNNY SUNNY day!!! you know what that meant.... BEACH DAY!!! woo woo, I was soo stoked. We slept in a bit, which was super nice and then we headed for the beach. It was seriously SUCH amazing weather. Not a cloud in the sky and the hotness was just perfect. We found our spot on the beach, laid out for a bit... took my first swim in the mediteranian sea :D I then spotted some ppl playing volleyball, and of course, if you know me, I def. went up to them and asked to play. hahaha
And...they accepted! Brandon and I played wiht the otherppl 4 on 4, and it was awesome. I loved that I was playing volleybally with ppl from spain, finland and italy. Like, that just doesn´t happen in the states. haha I loved it!! I played for a few hours, then went swimming again and laid out some more. boy was I in heaven.
After that, we went back and cleaned up before going out to dinner. we picked a place where we could watch the world cup! goooo USA. We tied... guess that is better than losing eh? I decided to splurg on my meal tonight and got soup and pasta and then the biggest gelato I was allowed to get. haha. it was awesome! and now im back at our hostel on the computer watching a movie with a bunch of the otherppl staying here :) its gonna be a chill night since we are leaving early tomorrow.
Day 32!
so today was another wondeful day :D
our plan was to go to the beach all day, but when we woke up to rain, we planned otherwise. lol. we decided to see the Sangria familia church, which was super neat and then we went to the Guell Park. This park was AWESOME! It was so massive and it was a very unique park. There were tons of statues and cool architecture buildings to look at within. Also, it was up high, so from the top there was an amazing view. There were entertainers playing their guitars and other instraments all throughout the park which was soo fun! haha i love the live music!
After that, I went back to our place and took a nap before we went out again. Earlier we had met a group of ppl from our hostel and we decided that we would all go out together tonight. so i was pretty excited for that!
We met up in the lobby at like 11pm, and just hung out for a bit, and then we went out on the town. It was really fun! we had a pretty large group turnout from our hostel, so that made it even better! So far, the barcelona night life is just fabulous. I really do enjoy this city!
our plan was to go to the beach all day, but when we woke up to rain, we planned otherwise. lol. we decided to see the Sangria familia church, which was super neat and then we went to the Guell Park. This park was AWESOME! It was so massive and it was a very unique park. There were tons of statues and cool architecture buildings to look at within. Also, it was up high, so from the top there was an amazing view. There were entertainers playing their guitars and other instraments all throughout the park which was soo fun! haha i love the live music!
After that, I went back to our place and took a nap before we went out again. Earlier we had met a group of ppl from our hostel and we decided that we would all go out together tonight. so i was pretty excited for that!
We met up in the lobby at like 11pm, and just hung out for a bit, and then we went out on the town. It was really fun! we had a pretty large group turnout from our hostel, so that made it even better! So far, the barcelona night life is just fabulous. I really do enjoy this city!
Friday, June 11, 2010
Day 31!! Barcelonaaaaaaaa
So today we arrived in Barcelona! I've always loved the spanish culture (I mean it issss my minor) so I was pretty excited to finally arrive in this city!
We took a 1.5 hour plane ride to Barcelona and arrived here around 12pm. We checked into our last hostel of the trip and then grabbed a bite to eat. One thing I noticed about this place is that life is just so laid back here. I love it! They actually have "siesta" time hahaha. And ppl eat dinner around 10pm! And ppl go out until like 5am! It's soo nuts! haha.
So after we had our lunch, we walked around the beach area and watched some SWEET volleyball, these ppl were like pro, it was awesome! And then we headed back to take a nap considering some of us only got 30 min of sleep the previous night. lol
I ended up going on the computer when I should have been sleeping, so I didn't get a nap in whatsoever. haha, but it was all good! We then went to dinner at like 1130pm, which is completely acceptable here, haha and I bought some gelato. yummyyyyyyy!!
For the night, we went to this club called, Opium. It was SOOOO COOOOOL. It was like out of a high class movie! They played great music, and the venue was just super super awesome. I met some girls from Belgium and danced with their group for the night! (it was nice actually hanging out with some females! hahaha) I had a blast tho. we then headed back and I pretty much passed out due to sleep deprivation. haha
And right now, it's currently raining :( my all day beach day is obviously not happening. hahah, but we are going to see all of the sites today, and hopefully we can have our beach day tomorrow! Coming home in 2 days!! :D
We took a 1.5 hour plane ride to Barcelona and arrived here around 12pm. We checked into our last hostel of the trip and then grabbed a bite to eat. One thing I noticed about this place is that life is just so laid back here. I love it! They actually have "siesta" time hahaha. And ppl eat dinner around 10pm! And ppl go out until like 5am! It's soo nuts! haha.
So after we had our lunch, we walked around the beach area and watched some SWEET volleyball, these ppl were like pro, it was awesome! And then we headed back to take a nap considering some of us only got 30 min of sleep the previous night. lol
I ended up going on the computer when I should have been sleeping, so I didn't get a nap in whatsoever. haha, but it was all good! We then went to dinner at like 1130pm, which is completely acceptable here, haha and I bought some gelato. yummyyyyyyy!!
For the night, we went to this club called, Opium. It was SOOOO COOOOOL. It was like out of a high class movie! They played great music, and the venue was just super super awesome. I met some girls from Belgium and danced with their group for the night! (it was nice actually hanging out with some females! hahaha) I had a blast tho. we then headed back and I pretty much passed out due to sleep deprivation. haha
And right now, it's currently raining :( my all day beach day is obviously not happening. hahah, but we are going to see all of the sites today, and hopefully we can have our beach day tomorrow! Coming home in 2 days!! :D
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Day 30! When in Rome... the most ridiculous things can happen :D
so today was definitely an interesting and yet amazing day... hahaha
So we decided to sleep in a bit today since we've been averaging around 4 hours of sleep a night, with walking pretty much all day, so we were uber tired. We woke up around 1030am and decided to go to these gardens in Rome and just walk around in them. We went again with the other guys we met in our hostel, and it was a grand time :D We got to see these Italian children playing in the fountain, so that was pretty neat.
After that,we walked around some more and then we headed back to the hostel which was about 430pm, and decided to take a nap and be ready to go out to dinner at around 7pm. So 10 of us met up and went to eat at this place near the coloseum! it was soooo good, I got some type of sweet pasta. We then went back to our place to meet up with two more girls from our hostel before we went out!
so this is where the interesting/fun part starts happening. haha. The other girls we were meeting didn't get ready until about 1230, so we were debating whether we still wanted to go out or not, and of course we decided.. ughh yesss! haha. so we walked and used our map to try to find this place that we heard was pretty sweet. about 40 min into our walk in Rome, we somehow randomly end up in a commercial set at like 1am in the morning. LOL. It was a beer commercial for FIFA world cup! there were actors, directors, producers, set props, catering and EVERYTHING! it was unreal. haha. we're like ughh, are we aloud to be here?? but no one yelled at us, so we continued to stand there in the middle of the set while they were setting up. some man (he states he was one of the actors... hmm) came up to us and started talking to us about our travels and what not. It was just a really random, funny thing. like who honestly runs into a set in Rome at 1am at night??
So we decided we should better leave and find this place before it closes. So as we are walking more, we run into a guy named Mossimo. haha, we kindly asked him where thsi place was, and he happened to know the owner. so we followed and he got all 10 of us in. let me tell you, this was like the COOLEST club ever!! not too big and trashy, and not small and boring. it was perfect. We were dancing like mad,they played new songs, old songs, italian and american songs. and it was awesome. We danced till about 430am and then took a taxi home. I then got in the shower and took a 30 min nap as the sun began to rise.
It was just a super fun night with our new friends we met in Rome, and it was def. one I'll never forget! Now I'm in Barcelona for our last stop! We are gonna go out tonight and then hit up the beach all day tomorrow. I'm hoping to totally get in on a vball match :)
miss you guys! love you!
So we decided to sleep in a bit today since we've been averaging around 4 hours of sleep a night, with walking pretty much all day, so we were uber tired. We woke up around 1030am and decided to go to these gardens in Rome and just walk around in them. We went again with the other guys we met in our hostel, and it was a grand time :D We got to see these Italian children playing in the fountain, so that was pretty neat.
After that,we walked around some more and then we headed back to the hostel which was about 430pm, and decided to take a nap and be ready to go out to dinner at around 7pm. So 10 of us met up and went to eat at this place near the coloseum! it was soooo good, I got some type of sweet pasta. We then went back to our place to meet up with two more girls from our hostel before we went out!
so this is where the interesting/fun part starts happening. haha. The other girls we were meeting didn't get ready until about 1230, so we were debating whether we still wanted to go out or not, and of course we decided.. ughh yesss! haha. so we walked and used our map to try to find this place that we heard was pretty sweet. about 40 min into our walk in Rome, we somehow randomly end up in a commercial set at like 1am in the morning. LOL. It was a beer commercial for FIFA world cup! there were actors, directors, producers, set props, catering and EVERYTHING! it was unreal. haha. we're like ughh, are we aloud to be here?? but no one yelled at us, so we continued to stand there in the middle of the set while they were setting up. some man (he states he was one of the actors... hmm) came up to us and started talking to us about our travels and what not. It was just a really random, funny thing. like who honestly runs into a set in Rome at 1am at night??
So we decided we should better leave and find this place before it closes. So as we are walking more, we run into a guy named Mossimo. haha, we kindly asked him where thsi place was, and he happened to know the owner. so we followed and he got all 10 of us in. let me tell you, this was like the COOLEST club ever!! not too big and trashy, and not small and boring. it was perfect. We were dancing like mad,they played new songs, old songs, italian and american songs. and it was awesome. We danced till about 430am and then took a taxi home. I then got in the shower and took a 30 min nap as the sun began to rise.
It was just a super fun night with our new friends we met in Rome, and it was def. one I'll never forget! Now I'm in Barcelona for our last stop! We are gonna go out tonight and then hit up the beach all day tomorrow. I'm hoping to totally get in on a vball match :)
miss you guys! love you!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Day 29!!! when in Rome... ?? :)
So today was honestly one of the best days of my eurotrip! it was AWESOME :D
First off, I got about 5 hours of sleep, which was better than the 3 hours I had received the previous night. haha. We headed to the vatican at about 9am. I was super stoked to see the vatican city, and i learned that it's actually its own country??? say whatttt??? anyhow, last night I met some guys while checking my facebook and they decided to go to the vatican with us in the morning as well. So we went with them, and met a few other cool ppl on the tour with us.
The vatican... gosh was it beautiful. I can't even describe to you what the fresco paintings of michaelangelo looked like in the sistine chapel. I even suck a few pics of his artwork of the sistine chapel. Totally didn't get caught, proud of my picture. haha. The Basilica (aka, St. Peter's) was absolutely BEAUTIFUL... oh my word was it HUGE and just soo magnificant. Gold and marble everywhere. it was seriously so crazy gourgeous... The pope is actually coming to the city tomorrow, so that was neat to find out.
After our tour of the vatican,we walked up St. Peter's and went to the top of the dome (aka cupola). It was about 530 steps and it was totally worth the walk being able to see all of Rome from the top!
Then, after that, we decided to go to the Spanish Steps. Saw them, took some pics and then headed back to our hostel and took a 30 min nap to just regather ourselves. lol. We ended up going to this really cute place for dinner, and I had literaly the BEST PASTA EVER! it was soo soooo goood. We then went and saw the colloseum at night and got some sweet pics!
And afterr thattt, we bought some wine and sat on steps of a fountain in front of the pantheon and watched some entertainment. Then we moved to the trevi fountain and just chilled. We found our friend claire from our hostel as well, and hung out with her. it was nice to finally be with another FEMALE. hahaha. tomorrow we are all going to explore Rome again together and then go out at night :D should be a grand grand time! miss you guys!
First off, I got about 5 hours of sleep, which was better than the 3 hours I had received the previous night. haha. We headed to the vatican at about 9am. I was super stoked to see the vatican city, and i learned that it's actually its own country??? say whatttt??? anyhow, last night I met some guys while checking my facebook and they decided to go to the vatican with us in the morning as well. So we went with them, and met a few other cool ppl on the tour with us.
The vatican... gosh was it beautiful. I can't even describe to you what the fresco paintings of michaelangelo looked like in the sistine chapel. I even suck a few pics of his artwork of the sistine chapel. Totally didn't get caught, proud of my picture. haha. The Basilica (aka, St. Peter's) was absolutely BEAUTIFUL... oh my word was it HUGE and just soo magnificant. Gold and marble everywhere. it was seriously so crazy gourgeous... The pope is actually coming to the city tomorrow, so that was neat to find out.
After our tour of the vatican,we walked up St. Peter's and went to the top of the dome (aka cupola). It was about 530 steps and it was totally worth the walk being able to see all of Rome from the top!
Then, after that, we decided to go to the Spanish Steps. Saw them, took some pics and then headed back to our hostel and took a 30 min nap to just regather ourselves. lol. We ended up going to this really cute place for dinner, and I had literaly the BEST PASTA EVER! it was soo soooo goood. We then went and saw the colloseum at night and got some sweet pics!
And afterr thattt, we bought some wine and sat on steps of a fountain in front of the pantheon and watched some entertainment. Then we moved to the trevi fountain and just chilled. We found our friend claire from our hostel as well, and hung out with her. it was nice to finally be with another FEMALE. hahaha. tomorrow we are all going to explore Rome again together and then go out at night :D should be a grand grand time! miss you guys!
Monday, June 7, 2010
Day 28!
When in Rome :D
Today was our first day in Rome, and let me tell you, it was just beautiful! We did soooo much in our first day here, but it was wonderful. First, we checked into our hostel, which is WAY nicer than the last one. haha. We get free breakfast! haha
We then decided to go to the coliseum and it was absolutely magnificant. It was so old and HUGE. We got a guided tour and were able to see the inside. After getting the tour we went to the Roman ruins and had another tour there. This was super interesting because I learned so much about everything!
After the ruins, we walked to the Trevi Fountain... oh mylanta is that HUGE and beautiful. It was soo pretty. and I def. took the picture of me making a wish in the trevi fountain. and somehow I managed to miss the fountain with the first penny I threw in. how did i do that?? i have no idea. Then i almost hit a bird with the next throw that i threw... I did cause many laughs, but it was fun. hahaha! We then went to dinner and back to our hostel for an hour nap. Then headed back to the trevi fountain to see it at night. sooo pretty. it was just a nice calm time. I even looked up and saw the big dipper. pretty neat that halfway across the world we see the same stars :)
tomorrow is the vatican! super stoked!
Today was our first day in Rome, and let me tell you, it was just beautiful! We did soooo much in our first day here, but it was wonderful. First, we checked into our hostel, which is WAY nicer than the last one. haha. We get free breakfast! haha
We then decided to go to the coliseum and it was absolutely magnificant. It was so old and HUGE. We got a guided tour and were able to see the inside. After getting the tour we went to the Roman ruins and had another tour there. This was super interesting because I learned so much about everything!
After the ruins, we walked to the Trevi Fountain... oh mylanta is that HUGE and beautiful. It was soo pretty. and I def. took the picture of me making a wish in the trevi fountain. and somehow I managed to miss the fountain with the first penny I threw in. how did i do that?? i have no idea. Then i almost hit a bird with the next throw that i threw... I did cause many laughs, but it was fun. hahaha! We then went to dinner and back to our hostel for an hour nap. Then headed back to the trevi fountain to see it at night. sooo pretty. it was just a nice calm time. I even looked up and saw the big dipper. pretty neat that halfway across the world we see the same stars :)
tomorrow is the vatican! super stoked!
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