Sun Kissed by the Grecian Sun.

Hello again from London!  These past few weeks have been insane, and it makes me sad knowing I didn't have time to share what was going on.  They have been filled with A LOT of studying and exams, which was then topped off with a Greece holiday to start out the Summer.  Talk about a great way to start the Summer, right?  I got back last Friday, and I have so much to share from this trip!  At the same time, I'm actually kind of sad that my last trip is now over, and I go home in just a few days!  ONLY THREE DAYS.  I'm just as surprised as you, and it crept up on me so quickly.  As sad as I am to go back home, I can't wait to be back with friends and family to tell them everything!

Athens Day 1:
So let me start with the few amazing days in Greece.  To begin the trip, I had to wake up at 2am so I could catch my flight at 6am.  Thank you Ryan air for giving me cheap flights, but I'm so done with these dreadfully early and late flights.  I couldn't really sleep on the flight, but I got a frappe when I landed so that gave me some energy!  The first day in Athens was just so much fun.  To begin, we were really hungry so I ordered my first real Greek salad.  So delicious!  After lunch, we explored the city a bit and just took it all in.  My friends and I found this awesome giant rock that provided us with the most amazing view of the city!  After exploring, we decided to get dinner at a local restaurant by a nearby market.  I got traditional pork souvlaki with pita bread, tomatoes, onions, and tzatziki.  Best meal I had the whole time I was in Greece.  The rest of the nights was spent relaxing at the airbnb and hanging out.

Athens Day 2:
The second day I was in Greece was my favorite.  We got up earlier and caught a ferry to the nearby island of Aegina.  My friend Leah is Greek, and she asked her family that lives in Greece what islands would be good to visit for a day.  We ended up choosing this cute little island, and we were not disappointed.  The ferry took only an hour, where we transported to an island surrounded by water that looked like glass and a tropical paradise.  When we arrived, we got lunch right away where I shared domathes (vine wrapped rice), saganki (fried cheese), and of course a Greek salad with my friend Jodie.  SO GOOD.  Domathes sounded a little interesting to me, but it was so good!  Greek food is my new favorite, and the good thing is that it's healthy for you... Well most of it!

After lunch we decided to walk by the shore and just enjoy the beautiful day!  Literally every five minutes we found a new picture spot, but we couldn't help ourselves.  The whole island is beyond beautiful!  We just enjoyed the sea breeze, I enjoyed getting a nice tan, and the next part was my favorite.  I thought I would bring my bathing suit just in case, so I decided to go swimming.  The water wasn't super warm, but it was the Mediterranean Sea, I was there, therefore I went swimming.  The only bad part about it was dodging all of the sea urchins, but I just doggy paddled over them!  I can't get over this day.  After swimming, we explored the town a bit and got dinner.  Not too long after dinner, we caught the last ferry and got back to Athens.  I love Aegina.

Athens Day 3:
After such a great day in Greece the day before, I knew it would be hard to beat.  Thankfully, we saved a lot of fun things to do for our last day which made it equally as fun!  To begin the day, we slept in.  Thank the Lord.  The day began going to the Parthenon Museum.  We all got in for free since we are "EU" students.  Win.  We looked around a bit, then we had lunch there.  I got saganaki.  That's it.  Just fried feta cheese, and it was delicious.  After lunch, we ventured up to the Parthenon and something amazing happened.  We got in for free again!  Thank you Europe!  The Parthenon was amazing.  Literally the huge hill that it sits atop is just full of ancient ruins.  It kind of reminded me of Rome for that aspect, but it was just so cool to see the things I have only heard about.  After the Parthenon, we just walked around Athens and enjoyed the city.  We might have been harassed by men trying to sell us bracelets, but we didn't let that affect our time there.  The rest of the night was spent getting a delicious gyro and watching the sunset.  Greece has my heart.

   

Ending this trip was bittersweet.  I knew it meant that this was the last time I would travel to a "different" country for awhile, I knew that it meant my study abroad experience was fast approaching the end, and I knew that I definitely learned a lot since my first trip.  Traveling the world has always been a thing I have wanted to do.  Whether it was Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants that made me want to go to Greece or the Lizzie McGuire movie that made me want to go to Rome, all of my dreams came true during these five months.  Oh and the second to last picture was a total joke.  We tried to be models, but clearly I'm not cut out for it. Ha!

I know I haven't mentioned it enough how much I couldn't have done ANY of this without my parents.  They funded me, encouraged me when I needed it, and in a way gave me all of these experiences.  So shout out to the best parents a girl could ask for and making me the luckiest girl in the world.  I hope everyone has a chance to travel to Greece some point in their lifetime.  My life is forever changed by experiencing new cultures, meeting awesome friends, and choosing to push myself and travel.

My next post should be very soon considering I'm almost done with it, so stay tuned!  

Florence is For Me.

The more I think about my Spring Break trip, the more I want to be back.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love London.  There is just something about Italy though that just captured my heart.  The second stop on my trip happened to be Florence.  Florence is known for it's amazing art, it's beautiful clay colored buildings, and well it's gelato.  

When I arrived in Florence, the number one thing on my mind was shopping.  Unlike my normal shopping trips, I was on the hunt for comfortable tennis shoes.  I mentioned before how I made the decision not to bring mine.  THAT was an awful decision, and it eventually led me to limp everywhere thanks to my torn up feet.  After about a good half hour walk, I finally found an athletic store.  Sadly, the shoes I liked weren't in my size.  Literally a minute later I found another athletic store, and that is where I bought my new and overpriced pair of New Balance sneakers.  Hey, at least they were cute.  Once my feet were happy, I was happy.  

The itinerary for the first day included running out of breath going up the bell tower at the Il Grande Museo del Duomo, running out of breath going up to the Piazzele Michaelangelo, and running out of breath walking back to my current place of stay.  I honestly don't think the scoops of gelato or the homemade fettuccine alfredo helped, but when in Rome... I mean Florence.  My first impression of Florence was basically that it exceeded my expectations.  A lot of people I know who go to Italy have said that it wasn't as great or the food wasn't as good, but everything (from my point of view) was incredible.  

Day Two:

To be honest I had to look in my journal to see what I did on day two.  I literally wrote down, "Today was really good, really bad, and interesting all within a few hours."  So this is what happened!  In the morning I got up to go to the Acadamia.  Basically the only reason why people go there is to see the statue of David, I mean that's why I went.  For anyone traveling there, book tickets in advance!  I did, which helped me jump the huge line and get in at a scheduled time.  Everyone knows about David, I mean it's this ginormous statue of a naked man.  Beyond the nakedness, it was actually really cool!  I won't be sharing photos of it in case anyone was wondering.  Ha!

After the Acadamia, my friends and I went to Gusta Pizza.  I read about Gusta when I was researching Florence, and I was not disappointed.  The pizza was made to order and just so fresh!  The pillowy crust, the fresh mozzarella, and amazing chunks of parmisean are just a few things I enjoyed.  I'm making myself hungry just thinking about it!  After lunch, we walked to the Pitti Palace and Bobili Gardens.  In the gardens we found somewhere to sit, and we just enjoyed the sun.  Ahh the Tuscan sun.  After that is when the bad part comes to play.  While walking by the river, I noticed my head started to itch.  Next thing you know I have broken out in hives... again.  That pretty much ended my day excluding dinner.  After today, that now made TWO trips to the pharmacy, and it was only the second city.  On the bright side, my hives didn't cover my whole face like last time.  That would've been even worse!

After only two days in Florence, it was time for me to say goodbye.  Even though I only had two days, I saw everything I wanted to!  I even got some time to sit back and just relax too.  If there is one thing I learned in Florence, it's that the Italians know pasta.  I'm pretty sure I had the best pasta in my entire life here no matter what restaurant I chose.  From fresh fettuccine to fresh ravioli, I had my fill of pasta.  Yay for carbs!

Next stop on my trip was lunch in Pisa and then three days in the region of Cinque Terre.  I am SO excited to share what I did in Cinque Terre because that was my favorite part of Italy.  If you've never heard of it before, just wait.  The next post about Spring break should be up within a week!  I'm trying to organize it so I can share my time in London as well.  Thank you all for your sweet comments, and I can't wait to tell you more!