So here goes an attempt to sum up probably one of the most entertaining and valuable learning experiences of my life, ever. As stated before, I have been on a trip going across what I like to call ‘Eastern-Western Europe’. Leaving from Leeds, I took a National Express bus to Liverpool to catch my flight with Ryanair down to Rome (the bus cost around 5.50 pounds and the flight 26 pounds after all the taxes). How excellent is that?? Well, I arrived in Liverpool and got lost, and I do recommend getting lost in a city since you get to see so much that you wouldn’t think of seeing otherwise. I arrived at my bed and breakfast (Standridge Hotel, I believe), and I think it’s run by a couple that lives on site. It was close to John Lennon airport and came with FREE TEA! (And coffee, but I don’t drink it much) So, the day prior to my flight was spent watching BBC, drinking tea, and writing my final paper for medieval studies. The next day was really nerve wracking since I was going to go to Italy on my own, so thankfully I found the Terravision bus that took me to Termini Station in Rome (think the Victoria station in London, but everything is in Italian…scary). After getting tickets for the metro, I had this awful fear I wouldn’t figure out how to validate my ticket since some tourist websites stress validating your ticket or the tourist police would get you. HEY, SURPRISE, IT’S REALLY OBVIOUS WHERE YOU VALIDATE YOUR TICKET AND IT’S REALLY NOT LIKE THERE ARE SCARY TOURIST POLICE ON THE METRO WAITING TO TAKE YOU TO JAIL. You put your ticket through a machine, and you NEED to so you can get to the platforms of the metro, so if you’re taking it…your ticket will be validated and you don’t need to worry about it. On the buses however, all you have to do is find a little box at the front and stick your ticket in. Not hard at all. I found my hostel, Plus Camping Roma, and it was a really nice (out of the way) campsite. It’s really easy to get to with public transport -- but it just takes awhile. The campsite was definitely more than I expected, it had a computer lab, wi-fi spots, a restaurant and bar, a market, and a swimming pool! So while I was waiting for my Topdeck tour to start, I was definitely not bored. One word of wisdom though- a lot of Italians don’t speak English…so if someone tells you that, they were really lucky or a big fat liar. If anything, most of them can understand Spanish (if you speak slowly), so if you know Spanish from high school or university courses, I would definitely use it over there. I went into the grocery store to try and find contact solution…and then I was too scared to leave the campsite anymore. Later that day I met up with the new additions to the Topdeck tour and our leader, and it was way more than I expected. Our leader Lety, is pretty much the bomb. She’s from Spain and has many similar mannerisms to my mom, so it’s actually really funny sometimes. We went on a walking tour of Rome and came back to the campsite for some yummy wine and Italian food prepared on-site and rested in our super sweet bungalows that were heated and had in-suite bathrooms that were immaculate! So that’s all for Rome…so that leads to VENICE! I had never been to Venice before, so I was quite excited. The drive was longer than I would have hoped, but hey, coach travel (in my opinion) is pretty fun. We spent the majority of the day travelling to our new accommodation which was also another Plus campsite. Like the one in Rome, we got bungalows that were really home-y and luxurious (as far as campsites go). Now, the next day we took a small tour and saw St. Marco’s Basilica, the winding streets of Venice, and went on a looooovely gondola ride! After this action packed morning, we had the chance to get lunch ourselves and we ended up at a restaurant next to a fish market (yuck), and me being me, decided to be daring and get the spaghetti with fish. Surprise! Fish actuallymeans OCTOPUS TENTACLES. It tasted good until those suction cups reared their ugly head in my otherwise beautiful bowl of spaghetti. Me and my friend Kate ended up wandering around the city looking for places to buy souvenirs…and I ended up getting a pretty sweet Venetian mask and some postcards. We tried some gelato, and I’m going to go ahead and say mango and tiramisu are my all time favorite flavors. We had to go back at 16.30 to get back in time for dinner, and much like the night before..it was excellent. Topdeck chefs are kind of the bomb.com, but after dinner…we had a TOGA PARTY. It was pretty cool since it was everyone on our tour, and then another group of training tour guides joined us…a group of really attractive tour guides. Although we called it an early-ish night, it was definitely tons of fun, you know, since togas always mean a good time. The next day we left Italy for Slovenia/Croatia…so a new post will follow including both of those countries. Peace out girl scouts!

I bet you can't guess what this is!

Wooooo main canal in Venice

Close up of St. Marco's Basilica

View of the Alps from my airplane!

Send Me On My Way

Channeling my high school self...you know when I was in AM in love with Rusted Root. 'Send Me On My Way' was the song played in the background of our graduation slideshow..and it was a song in Matilda if I'm not mistaken. I'd be lying if I said I didn't almost cry during our senior slideshow, and this song is definitely one of my favorites ever. Now that I've justified the title...somewhat...I'm being sent on my way to EUROPE! It's weird, in high school I always wanted to study abroad, but now that I'm literally on my way to travel by myself, it's unreal. Looking back at when I was kid, Matilda was one of my favorite movies because I related to Matilda. No, I didn't have vain, self-centered parents...or even another sibling, but I've always had this really awkward love for learning about things, reading, and feeling smart. I love feeling smart. Now that I'm older, I want to be a lot more like Ms. Honey...I want to be that teacher that inspires someone to be the grown up that I wanted to be when I was younger. So, in sum, I am SO glad that I had all the teachers I had, all the good ones and especially the bad ones.


Wait, what?


Yeah, I said it. The bad teachers, too. I hate using the term 'bad' teacher, because who knows, they could have been someone else's favorite..they just did not teach the way I needed them to. Those teachers have helped me realize that it's crucial to be versatile for every student because you never know what impact you could have on their acquisition of related subjects in the future.


Yes, I know this is a travel blog, so I'll get on about that. I'm leaving for London with Jessica and Ebony on Thursday, and we will be spending a few days in London and then a couple in Brighton before we head back into Leeds. After that, I plan on sticking around my dorm for a while before I leave for Liverpool and then..ROME! It's going to be quite the adventure considering I will be camping in Rome, and then head off on my trip of the eastern bit of Western Europe. When I get back expect pictures and fun stories from...
Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium!




Signing off until my return...

Tubthumping

UPDATE: I GOT THE INTERNSHIP!!!!!

London (Part DEUX)

The next day in England was definitely an experience...me and Alex ended up sleeping in too late to go to church services at Westminster Abbey, but we were determined to visit some sites. We started off with the Tower of London (which I just actually read about for my Medieval Studies course...ha!). The tube ride there was interesting to say the least...the stop we had to take to transfer was closed off because of a protest! Not thinking too much of it, we arrived at the Tower Bridge stop and called Charlsie who was apparently surrounded by hippies and there were helicopters everywhere - again, we didn't think too much of it until we put two and two together and got her phone call saying she was literally trapped in the protest and couldn't get out. We continued on to the Tower and found the Yeoman Warders tour (like the little mascot of Beefeater gin) and it turns out that they're old British soldiers, so they really know their military history! If you go to the Tower of London, I definitely recommend it doing one of their tours! You learn all about traitors, Henry VIII, and of course, the history of the fortification itself. After we finished the tour, me and Alex explored the rest of the buildings like the CROWN JEWELS. They were SO amazing, so if you do like sparkly things and tradition- go and see it. They even have the crowns from monarchs from a LONG time ago! Along with a mini-Royal Armouries and torture exhibit, they have a recreation of Edward I's bedroom and 'palace'...it's an old medieval palace so don't expect Buckingham or Kensington Palace! We pretty much spent the majority of the day there...and walked all the way down to the British Museum to see if it was open. It wasn't. However, by getting to the British Museum, we got to see the aftermath of the protests. The couple of pictures I have a really bad quality...but I guess that's what you get for having a camera that's not meant to take pictures in the dark. Anyway, we finally met up with Charlsie and went to a club, and after we left there..it was a really long way back home. I thought we were lost (but Alex was right and we were going the right direction) and two really nice Italian guys pointed us in the right direction. We woke up the next day, checked out, and went hunting for PLATFORM 9 3/4!!!!!!! After a long (and confusing) walk through King's Cross, we finally found it and then headed over to Baker St. for some Sherlock Holmes lovin'. That's about it...besides the coach ride home anyway.

Tower Bridge!

TOPSHOP that was targeted by riotters, there's paint all over it
and the windows are smashed.

I guess they were raving for the government to do something
about budget cuts? Clearly very effective...oh wait. No?

View of Tower Bridge from London Bridge (YES! They are
two different bridges, I promise)

I may not post for awhile (if I do, it will be around April 14th) because I'm going to start my journey across Eastern-Western Europe! The anticipated itinerary is:

Leeds to Liverpool and then Liverpool to ROME, and from Rome to Venice to Pag Island to Ljubljana to the Tyrol to Prague to Berlin to Amsterdam and back to London to Leeds. Prior to that, Jessica is coming to visit me and we're going to explore London and go to the beach in Brighton! So expect AMAZING stories when I get back. Also, I'll know if I get either of the internships I applied for this summer... It's gonna be an exciting next couple of weeks.