Spring Break - 3 countries

I have done so much in the last two weeks.. It its gonna be impossible to make a post that gives you a good idea of everything I’ve done. It even seems like a daunting task for me, to even simply remember everything that I’ve done and everywhere I’ve been in the past two weeks.

The first half of my trip was our “study tour” or field trip to Venice. We were in Venice for two and a half days, not long enough in my opinion. Venice is beautiful. Its like no other city in the world, built completely in a “lagoon”, originally uninhabitable. Its founders built the city out of the swampy conditions and it became one of the most powerful cities in the world. It was its own country for over 1000 years.

Getting around was also cool in Venice, they use boats for their public transportation, which now that I think about it, makes complete sense. It was really fun cruising up and down the Grand Canal on the vaporetto (water bus).

We even got to see some of the high water that now plagues the city. One night, in St Marks Piazza, the water was up around a foot deep in some places. And it doesn’t come in from the ocean, the water comes up from the ground. It was really weird. (I didn’t have my camera with me that night, so no pictures).

After Venice, we went to Vicenza for a few hours and then on to Verona, where we stayed the night. Verona is a really cool city. It felt different from the Italian cities I’m familiar with here in the center of Italy. It felt more modern, more well-to-do. (the north of Italy has more money than other parts, and it was evident in the city’s appearance).

From Verona, three friends and I caught a train back to Venice, where we got our overnight train to Prague. There was a big mix-up with our plans to get to Prague, we were planning on riding a train directly to Prague from Venice, but apparently that service has been discontinued. We ended up having to buy tickets from Venice to Vienna and then catching a train to Prague from Vienna, all for 120 euro per person. (when we were originally planning on the tickets costing 15)

Prague was really cool though, I got to see Lisa (awesome friend from architecture) and I got to hang out with Laura and Gracia (awesome friends from challenge). It was really great. I got to catch up with people, eat fried cheese sandwiches, drink hot wine, and see the main sights of Prague. It’s a really cool-looking city.

This is the Tyn Church in Old Town Square (Staromestkse Namesti)

This is Frank Ghery’s “Dancing House”. Its an office building for AIG. It’s the only piece of modern architecture that I saw in Prague.

Lisa and I went to a Czech church on Sunday. I barely understood anything, because I don’t know Czech, but I did recognize a few words that are the same from Russian. They are both Slavic languages, so they share some words and roots. That got me excited about wanting to study languages again. Knowing a little bit of Russian really helped me in Prague, actually. The numbers are very similar, and sometimes, I would just order my food in Russian and they would understand me. (and then they don’t think I’m an ignorant American tourist, just an ignorant Russian one. Or a weird American trying to speak Russian in Prague)

From Prague, I flew to London, the Capitol of the British Empire. Ha. It was so weird being in a place where English is the only language. In the rest of Europe, things are usually in English, but they’re in the native language first, but in the UK, its only English. So, it was weird to be in a place that wasn’t home, that only spoke English. I could understand people passing by for the first time in Europe. So weird. I think this shows that its gonna be kind of a shock to actually come back to America, where I can communicate with anyone and understand everyone.

Anyway, London was really cool. I was by myself, so I could do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. I saw all the buildings and places I wanted to, and I made sure to spend a good amount of time just chilling out in London’s amazing parks.

London feels different than any other city I’ve been to in Europe, it felt more like Chicago, or any other large Amercian city. There are a few historical things, sure, but most of the city feels newer. I suppose much of the city was bombed in World War II, so it probably makes sense that most of the things feel new.

This is London City Hall. I had studied this building last semester in my environmental systems class, so it was really cool to get to go inside. It is located next to the Tower Bridge, across the Thames from the Tower of London.

Here I am in front of Saint Paul’s Cathedral. On the inside, this cathedral seemed more like a memorial to British war heroes than a church. There were statues and plaques everywhere dedicated to Generals and Admirals of the British military that had served in any of the various wars Britain has fought in the past 300 years.

This is me with the Tower Bridge in the background. I remembered that I had a remote for my camera, so I set it up and I snapped a shot of myself.

This is the Tower Bridge. Now, I realized on this trip that this is not the London Bridge, which is actually about a mile or so west of this one. The real London Bridge looks lame.

This is the House of Parliament, with Big Ben attached. This building is really huge.

Here’s me in front of Buckingham Palace. I didn’t see the queen, but I did see the changing of the guard the next day. (kind of, there were so many people, it was hard to see anything)

My feet hurt after walking a lot. So, when I was hanging out in Hyde Park I took off my shoes. It felt aaaawesome. Hyde Park is big. It also got cold once the sun went down.

Fish & Chips.

What an experience. I’ve never had a meal that made me feel like I was going to die sooner. OH MY GOODNESS. This meal is ridiculous. So much grease. I felt absolutely disgusting after eating it. I felt like my face was going to break out instantly because of the grease. Its an entire boneless cod fish deep fat fried served on top of a mound of greasy French fries. Never again.

And this is where I spent the night on the way back to Orvieto. I overlooked some details as I was planning my flights. My flight landed in Rome at 10:45pm, by the time I got to the main train station in Rome to catch a train back to Orvieto, it was past midnight and there were no more trains running. All the hostels were full, because of the big Marathon in Rome that day, so I had no choice but to spend the night on the platform and wait for the 6am train to Orvieto. It was the longest, coldest night of my life, but I made it. I was really happy to get back to Orvieto Sunday morning.

Spring Break

So, sorry I haven't updated this blog in a while. I have been lazy, I admit. Or, everytime I go to get on the internet, I'm doing something else (like skyping with Sara, or buying airplane tickets or reserving hostels). So, here's some text for you.

I'm leaving bright and early tomorrow morning for Venice. We are traveling there with school. We'll be looking at some very historic buildings and spaces. I've never been to venice before, so I am really looking forward to it.

Then on Friday, some friends and I are going to catch an overnight train from Venice to Prague. I'll hang out in Prague for 3 days and meet with some friends that are studying there. Then the following Tuesday I will fly to London, in the UK!

I'm really excited about going to London, even though no one else that I talked to wanted to go there, so that is why I will be traveling there by myself. I'm looking foward to it though, it will be a cool experience. I'll be in London from Tuesday till the evening of Saturday the 21st, when I fly back to Rome.

It will be a crazy couple of weeks, but I'm looking foward to it. And I'll do my best to post a blog with a good pictoral summary of my travels. Until then, Ciao!