Days Twenty-Seven and Twenty-Eight and Final Thoughts

So I'm writing this a few days after I've been home because I've been so busy I haven't had a time to do this yet! I know I should probably take more time to write this one but I'm afraid it's probably going to be pretty short because I'm a little "blogged out" (imagine that!)

Anyways, the last two days of the trip we were in Rome, Italy. I'd been to Rome before for a week so thankfully I didn't feel too much pressure to go see things because I'd already seen it all and I'm so thankful for that because I was so exhausted at this point in the trip and honestly so ready to be home that I just didn't have the energy to go go go like I had been!

On day twenty seven, we were pretty much just traveling to Rome then I had to nap because I was absolutely exhausted.

On day twenty eight, a few of us went to The Vatican and coincidentally the pope was speaking that day so we got to hear him speak! How cool is that? Then we went to the Colosseum and to see some of the Ruins, then we went to dinner, and then the Trevvi Fountain that night. The Trevvi Fountain was my favorite place from my former Rome visit so I wanted to make sure I made it back for that.

Then that was that and we flew home on a 10 hour flight the next day and I was welcomed back into America by Austin, Mom, Dad, and Betsy at the airport!

My first meal of choice back in the States? Chick-fil-A of course :)

I cannot describe how amazing of a trip this was. I feel like it grew me as a person so much just in my independence, my appreciation for history, my appreciation for America, my knowledge as a marketing major, my ability to work and deal with people, and so many more ways. I know this was the opportunity of a lifetime and I'm so thankful to Berry and my parents for allowing me to experience it.

It was definitely hard to be away from home for a month, I'm not going to lie, but it was a great feeling to prove to myself that I could do it. There is no doubt in my mind that this trip changed me for the better and I recommend it to anyone who is given the choice to do something like this. Getting to see sights I'd dreamed about my whole life was just the beginning of it.

I will never forget this INCREDIBLE experience but there isn't one part of me that wishes I were still there.

I think Dorothy said it best: there's no place like home.

Day Twenty-Six - Florence, Italy

Day Twenty-Six – Florence, Italy

Before I start on today’s adventures, let me first mention a few things I left out in the last couple of blogs.

First, I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet that our hostel is right in the middle of Florence and is about 200 feet from the Duomo which is the main cathedral of Florence and is one of the major tourist attractions here. All of the wonderful Italian cafes, leather markets, shopping boulevards, and many gelato places are all within walking distance of our hostel. It’s been wonderful not to have to figure out another country’s metro system. I was proud of myself with how well I figured out London and Paris’s metro systems, but Switzerland’s train system overwhelmed me so I never even tried lol. I’m just so tired of riding on trains at this point that I’m willing to walk wherever haha. But tomorrow will be a three hour train ride from Florence to Rome!! I’m pretty sure that’s going to be better than our 12 hour flight home, though. Phew…

Anyways, another thing I neglected to mention was that a couple days ago, in all of our grandeur shopping extravaganzas, Emily and I found a DISNEY STORE! If Italy wasn’t my favorite country beforehand, I think it might be now! The only disappointing thing was that they only had like one Belle thing. Rude.

But now for today’s adventures. Phew. I’m getting tired just thinking about them! Today was a long day but a great day. We had a private tour around some hidden jewels of Tuscany today! It was called the “Off the Beaten Path” tour – so it was some really cool places that not many tourists know about. We met our tour guide, Roberto, here in Florence, then we took a bus to Siena, which is a little town in the Tuscany region. Our first stop was an Etruscan tomb that we got to go inside and see and learn a lot about ancient European history. One of the coolest things about this tour guide is that, throughout the whole day, in telling us all of the history he would explain how we got things we have today from their traditions – little idioms, phrases, ways of doing things, etc.  I really liked that because it makes history so much more relatable. I’ve always enjoyed American history because I like knowing where I come from…and ancient history was always much less interesting to me because it just felt so distant and just like a made up story almost. But hearing how many of these people’s traditions and ways of living we use now made things so much more interesting to me!

After seeing the tomb, we went to a winery that was straight out of a movie I’m pretty sure. Imagine driving through Tuscany and seeing vineyards on both sides of the road and then pulling up to a beautiful country home where an old Italian man walks out with his straw hat on. Haha I loved it. He showed us all around his winery and Roberto acted as a translator for us and having to have someone interpret the Italian made it just that much cooler. This farm/winery was beautiful and it was really cool to learn about all the things they do differently there than in America (not that I knew that much about wineries in America, but still, haha). This is an organic farm/winery and they grow, sell, raise it all. So we got to see all of that and then we got to eat lunch there! This winery/farm has a little restaurant attached to it so we got to have a five course meal where everything we ate from the bread, to the cheese, to the meat, to the dessert – was made from things grown/raised on the farm. Talk about FRESH. It was absolutely delicious. And FILLING. I still have yet to taste something on this trip that I haven’t liked yet!

After lunch, we went to an old Medieval Village that is so elevated you’re supposed to take an elevator up to it…but the elevator was BROKEN! So we walked up the steepest incline haha oh my gosh it was quite the work out. But I was so sleepy at this point that it really woke me up so I liked it! When we got to the top of the village, we could look out over all of Tuscany and it was absolutely beautiful. We toured the city with Roberto and learned a lot about ancient European history so that was pretty cool.

Then it was 4 o’clock at this point so we took the bus back into Florence and I headed straight for bed. After a three hour nap, I felt like I had enough energy to get up haha this trip is draining at times so naps are my friend.

A few of us went out and got calzones and gelatos (a mealtime staple at this point in our Italy journey) and then we all went to pack for Rome!

I’ve been to Rome before and last time I was there I threw three coins over my shoulder into the Trevvi fountain to ensure that I would make it back to Rome someday…it obviously worked so I’m thinking I’ll do it again this time!

Until next time – ciao!

MC 

Day Twenty-Five - Florence, Italy

Day Twenty-Five – Florence, Italy

Well if you’re wondering if today was any different from yesterday….it wasn’t. We shopped. And ate more gelato.  I did buy a purse today – that Drew haggled down from 100 Euros to 30 Euros for me – and some sunglasses and a few other little things. I absolutely love this. It’s so fun and Drew is HILARIOUS when he haggles. He should win an award…he’s researched so much designer stuff that he knows exactly how to tell when things are not real and how much they are sold for in China Town so he can always get them to lower their prices.

One of our favorite experiences today was when we were looking at some Louis Vuitton and Prada bags on the street…and obviously if they’re selling things off a cardboard box and they run when the cops come it’s not real….and this lady came up to Drew and whispered to him “don’t get it, it’s not real!” And we were like um yeah we know but thanks haha…it was just funny because she thought she had this great insider information. Bless her.

We also went to the McDonald’s today. Don’t judge us – it’s expensive to eat here in Florence so we gotta do what we gotta do. They had the really cool ordering machines here too so America needs to jump on that. It’s interesting to see how much McDonald’s localizes their menu to whatever region they’re in and how much smaller the portions are in other countries.

We ate lots more gelato today as always and I’m pretty sure we’re all going to need to take out some loans after the damage we did today – just kidding, I’m actually pretty proud of myself for the amount of things I said no to today tho! I could’ve easily bought every purse there – gosh they were so beautiful! I’m coming back to Florence someday with nothing on my agenda except purse-buying.

How I’m going to get this all home is the real question though…there’s no way my suitcase can fit all of this ahhhh!

Until next time,

MC

Day Twenty-Four - Florence, Italy

Day Twenty-Four – Florence, Italy

Well if you read anything in the news about a sudden upswing in the Italian economy, you can thank our group….because I’m pretty sure combined  we have gotten the Italians out of any recession they might have been in. Haha just kidding…but really all we have done is shop! We were all so tired of riding on trains and killing ourselves to see sights that we decided to take today just to shop. That may sound bad but we have a few days here in Florence and I mean part of the European experience is shopping anyways, right?

So shopping is all we did today. I guess you can say we’ve learned a lot about international marketing by haggling with these street vendors. It’s like China Town on steroids over here…I love it. Florence is known for having the best leather in the world so it’s amazing to walk down the streets and just smell all that real leather. We learned how to tell what’s real and what’s fake leather and so it’s kind of fun to figure that out. And haggling with them is so fun too – I wasn’t very good at it at first but Drew taught me his ways. Drew can get whatever price he wants it’s absolutely HILARIOUS watching him haggle!

It’s really funny too how all of these vendors will tell you the exact same thing…they all want to make you a “special offer” with a “morning discount” or an “evening discount” or a “student discount” and of course the offer is ONLY for you. They will tell you how beautiful and wonderful you are, kiss your hand, promise you nowhere is cheaper, and tell you whatever you want to hear. And you might be tempted to give in to their initial price. But no. Stand firm.  They mark up their stuff so much that you can often times get them to go down less than half of the original price.

I mainly just bought lots of souvenirs for the family today and I didn’t buy anything for myself (except for that beautiful Kate Middleton-like dress that I wanted so badly from last night!) because a good purchase here requires a lot of shopping around…most of the vendors sell the same things so you have to work to find the cheapest one.

Andy, Marley, and Emily and I ate a great little Italian café where the girls and I had some spaghetti – Andy went for the “New Yorker” pizza which had hot dogs and French fries on it…he insisted that it was good haha. And of course we have gelato with every meal. We also went inside H&M for a little bit and I was about to walk into the dressing room with about 10 things on my arm to try on when we overheard a customer telling an employee that her friend’s wallet had just been stolen in the store and she found another empty wallet on the ground so we high-tailed it out of there because we didn’t want to be pick-pocketed!

But that’s pretty much all we did today: shopped and ate gelato. I’m not ashamed, though. I feel like I’m getting the Florence experience!

Until next time,

MC

Day Twenty-Three - Florence, Italy

Day Twenty-Three – Florence, Italy

Well the past 24 hours have been something to remember, that’s for sure.  Last night after I blogged, we did indeed go out to get some more ice cream (it’s pretty much all I crave at this point) and watched the sun set over the Alps. Yep, never gets old.  Hopefully you all are enjoying the sunset pictures – just imagine it being about 100 times more beautiful in person!

Then, we went and played “I Bet You Won’t” around Vevey, Switzerland. This game is basically truth or dare minus the truth element. I loved playing it in Disney World with the five benches Senior year (shout out to Ana, Elizabeth, Jacqueline, and Sydney) so I suggested this game with everyone else… cause it’s much more fun when you do it away from home. And oh what a night it turned out to be…possibly my favorite night on the trip so far! Mom, Dad, and Austin keep laughing at me because I say everything is my “favorite” or the “best one yet” but I just admit that I have a problem deciding when things are my favorite...so sue me. It’s the same way I have multiple best friends…they’re all the best in different ways haha.

But anyways here’s what ended up happening on “I Bet You Won’t”…it started with Caleb swimming out in the freezing cold Lake Geneva water to touch the giant fork that stands up in the middle of it (see pictures) – then I dared Alyssa to say the pledge of allegiance as loud as she could on top of a ledge – then she dared Tyler to do the single ladies dance in front of a hotel – then he dared Caitlin to talk only in song form for the following 15 minutes – then she dared Emily to sing “I’m a little teapot” in the middle of a park – then Emily dared me to profess my love for a trash can Romeo and Juliet style – then I dared Ari to sing Gospel music all the way down a walkway  - then she dared Marley to act like a cat the rest of the way back. Haha I know we sound crazy but these are the funny moments that I love about trips…all the bonding. I know I said a couple of days ago we were all starting to get annoyed with each other but things are coming back around full circle and really getting along great. I guess we’re like a family at this point – we’re going to have our ups and downs but at the end of the day we do love each other. We’re one crazy mix of a family, I’ll tell you that!

And don’t worry, we captured all of the “I Bet You Won’t” moments on video J

After that, we packed up for a long day of travel.

But we had no idea exactly how long this long day would be. First of all, can someone just please explain to me why traveling makes you so tired? Even though you’re just sitting there in a car or a train, it absolutely exhausts you! I’ve yet to figure that one out. But anyways, here’s how it all went down…

We left our hostel at 7:30 AM. Got on a train and headed to another town in Switzerland (and I’m really missing London’s efficient transportation system at this point). From there, we got on a train that we rode all the way to Milan. We’re quite a show with all 21 of us racing through train stations with all of our luggage…and it’s no secret that we’re American. A lot of us were feeling sick and tired this morning and my right eye was swollen and red…a potential style or maybe pink eye? Not sure. Either way I’ve been firmly instructed not to touch it haha….so that was fun to travel with. Well, our train to Milan arrived an hour late so we missed our connecting flight to Florence. We weren’t sure what train we would be able to take from there so we had the most stressful hour of the trip yet trying to figure it out…it was horrible. We literally hopped on one train with all of our luggage, got kicked off, ran down the train station, got put on another train, rode that train to Venice, couldn’t get the door to open on our car, had to travel all the way down to the next car to get off….gosh I can’t even describe it all and I’m not even sure I want to relive it. It was a travel nightmare but it was kind of comical I have to admit haha. Anyways, after all of that we finally arrived in Florence.

Or should I say heaven? Originally, some of us had thought about taking tomorrow to travel to Venice but after spending a couple hours in this dream city I’m kicking Venice to the curb for the time being and spending as much time here as possible! We went out and got pizza and gelatos tonight and walked around the city a little bit and this is by far the best shopping I’ve seen yet. I already found the most beautiful dress that’s like one that Kate Middleton has and I’ve got my little heart set on it. It’s mine. Tomorrow I’m going to shop til I drop!! No holding me back now! Haha.

Anyways, until next time,

MC

Day Twenty-Two - Vevey, Switzerland

Day Twenty-Two – Vevey, Switzerland

I’m not sure I ever want to get on a train again after today. Six hours of train riding. Phew! I attempt to sleep whenever I’m on a train but it’s not super comfortable and the Swiss don’t like for you to prop your feet up on the seats. Rude. :P

But anyways, it’s ok I don’t mind the train rides because of the beautiful views like I mentioned in the last blog posts. The reason we had such a long train ride is because we left at 6:30 A.M. this morning (mom are you proud that I was awake?) to go see The Matterhorn! For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s the most photographed mountain in Europe and if you google it, I’m sure you will recognize it. For all you bachelor fans out there, Ben proposed to Courtney in front of it last season :P

It was beautiful to see it with all the snow on it and even though it was cold where we were this morning, it quickly heated up and we were all shedding layers! We were in a town called Zermatt looking at the Matterhorn but it was obviously way higher than we were so that’s why we weren’t cold.  Some people did a ropes course there that was pretty cool and obviously had an incredible view, but those of who didn’t want to pay for it just sat and observed J I’m holding out for ziplining through the Amazon someday :P

After that, we walked around Zermatt a little bit and window shopped for a while before eating the lunches we packed (we’re getting the hang of this whole eating on a budget thing!) Then after the long train ride back, I took a quick nap and we all got ready for dinner!

The day isn’t over yet but I think some of us are planning on going back out for ice cream to watch the sun set again later. That was just so much fun the other night!

Until next time,

MC