Week 9

SPRING BREAK!!!!

Have been waiting for this trip basically all semester. An extra day in Paris, trip through Italy, and then finishing in Berlin. What I wasn't planning for, was the sheer amount of exhaustion that this trip would put on me or the level of exercise that I would actually be doing this short period.

The extra day in Paris was very worthwhile. We ended up going to the Musée d'Orsay where we got to see amazing art and original paintings by Van Gogh. It was so cool and we spent a large portion of the day there. We also went to the Eiffel tower one last time because you can honestly never get tired of seeing it. Especially at night with all of the lights. The next day, Claire and I left on a plane for Florence.

Florence was amazing. Quiet and beautiful and everything I expected it to be. It was very typical Italian and I quickly learned that a lot of Italian stereotypes actually have some truth to them. While in Florence I climbed probably around 1000 stairs in the few days we were there and also ate a lot of gelato, pizza, and pasta. All the food and exercise balanced out I think though and so I justified it all.

Next stop was Rome. This was our big stop in Italy and we were so excited. With free housing from one of Claire's friends and riding the public transportation kind of illegally we saved a lot of money on this portion of the trip! We spent our first full day going to the Vatican museum and Sistine Chapel. It was so amazing and so beautiful and I loved every minute of it. That night we went and walked around the central portion of Rome. We climbed up to get an amazing view of the Roman Forum and then climbed the Vittoriano to get an amazing view of Rome. The next morning, we got up early and went to the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. It was so cool and beautiful and I loved it. Afterwards, we met up with more people from our trip and went to see the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, and Roman Senate. It was really nice seeing people since we had all been apart for several days now.

Lastly, we went to Berlin. Berlin was really cool but we unfortunately had very nasty weather. I would really like to go back and actually be able to enjoy it and see all of the monuments and spend a little more time there.

Overall, spring break was amazing. Was in Italy for 6 days and ate gelato 12 times but honestly, no regrets.