Florence, Italy

Did I study in the wrong country?

I’m beginning to wonder…

I mean, okay, I didn’t really have a choice/say in where I would study, because my program chose it for me…but man, I’m really wishing I could have studied in Italy!

It’s something about that Mediterranean air I tell ya, it does wonders for the soul.

And I’m simply too landlocked in France. I need the ocean. I need water within driving distance.

I tend to get a little claustrophobic, ya dig?

However, getting to Italy in the first place was no easy task. And for a few moments I was actually wondering if I would ever make it.

Buses.

There is a time and a place for buses.

Sure.

But I’ve come to realize no matter what the time, or what the place that is, I will always dislike taking a public transportation bus.

Will I drag myself on a bus to save a couple bucks? You bet your bottom dollar I will.

But I won’t like it.

Nope. I won’t like it one bit.

Yet there I was.

The nice thing about this bus ride was that it was a straight shot from Dijon to Florence, with one transfer in Milan…and that sort of convenience and price I just couldn’t say no to it.

Luckily one other girl in my program was traveling to Florence that weekend too to visit one of her friends, so at least this time around I had a travel buddy to keep my marbles in my skull for this 13-hour bus ride.

At least, what I thought was going to be a 13-hour bus ride.

On the way there we were projected to leave Dijon at 11:30 pm on Friday and arrive in Florence at 12:45pm on Saturday, which was fine with me because it would allow me to sleep most of the way.

Well, our bus from Dijon was an hour late. So we didn’t even leave until 12:30 am.

And this bus is PACKED. I’m tellin’ ya, we are a bunch of sardines in this bus, and if you think me being landlocked makes me claustrophobic, just put me in a bus full of foreigners all speaking different languages and then I’ll tell you what it feels like to be claustrophobic.

Luckily there were two aisle seats left next to each other, so Zoe and I took those. However, my neighbor was a not-so-svelte grown man who had trouble understanding boundaries and personal space, and who could potentially hold the Guinness Book of World Records for loudest snore this side of The Atlantic.

I wish I were kidding.

Him and I had a constant struggle with the armrest that separated us. Any chance I got I would wedge it between us so he knew that THAT is his side and THIS is my side, and any chance HE got he would raise it so his beer belly could breathe a little.

Boy, he really picked the wrong girl to have a battle on who could be more stubborn.

Fortunately, out of the grace of God, around 1am I finally was able to get a little sleep, and my headphones reached a loud enough volume to drown out this man’s chronic sleep apnea.

However, I suddenly was woken up by the bus coming to a halt in what appeared to be the middle of a toll-booth area.

“Oh we’re just paying the toll” I thought to myself.

Wrong.

Thirty minutes pass by and we’re still sitting there. I open my eyes a little more and strain them into the darkness that lies beyond the windows of the bus.

Wait a minute…

IS THAT SNOW?!

It IS snow! You’ve got to be kidding me. SNOW? And not just a dusting…no, no, no, it looks like fricken Narnia out there and I was NOT pleased about that. I had a moment of panic then too, “wait a minute…did this bus go north instead of south? What’s happening? I want out! Get me out of here!”

And then I realized storming out of the bus in a middle of a blizzard wouldn’t do much.

Where the hell were we anyway?

The more I try and look out into the window the more I realize…we’re in the Alps at the French/Italian border. And the reason it’s so dark is because of all the massive mountains surrounding us.

Wow.

They were truly breathtaking -- and so humbling to be at the foot of. It was truly remarkable.

However…FOUR HOURS LATER and we haven’t moved any inch. Apparently the snow was too bad for the bus to climb over the mountain into Italy, and we had to wait until the roads were clear.

So at 7am, at the break of dawn, the bus finally starts to make the trek up the mountain.

We’re now 5 hours behind schedule.

Awesome.

Luckily, Zoe’s iPhone was working so I was able to send a Facebook message to my friend Gabby who was meeting me at the bus stop to let her know I was going to be delayed.

At this point I fall asleep pretty hard until we get to Milan for our transfer.

I’m woken up by that weird 6^th sense a lot of humans have when they know they’re near their destination.

And who’s bright and shiny face do I get to wake up to staring at me? None other than the snoring wonder himself.

I give him an uncomfortable smile. And move as far away from him as possible.

“You were tired huh!?” he says to me in broken English.

I literally turn my head so slowly to look back at him that an old, squeaky wooden door would have been the perfect sound bit to match it.

My look I gave him could have turned him to stone if he looked at me long enough.

I let out a, “ha.” and turned around again.

But what I really wanted to say was:

OH, I WAS TIRED? ME? YOU WERE THE ONE SNORING LIKE AN OVER-WEIGHT, HIBERNATING GRIZZLY BEAR IN THE MIDDLE OF JANUARY YOU WEIRDO. NOW STOP LOOKING AT ME AND GO POUND SA---

You get my point.

Buses, man, they really can bring out the worst in people.

Anyway, like I said, we finally got to Milan to make our transfer. And it’s this moment that I knew I had my guardian angels looking out for me.

Being 5 hours behind schedule, Zoe and I knew we missed our connecting bus, and we had no idea where to go or what to do next. And then suddenly, out of nowhere, this nice young woman taps me on the shoulder and asks, “are you girls going to Florence?”

“Um, yeah, we are actually.” I say.

“Okay, great, I am too. I think we go this way.” She says.

And literally this woman brings Zoe and I through the bus terminals to this random bus that apparently the bus company had set up for all the passengers going to Florence. And sure enough, it was the right bus. I thanked this woman so much for getting us here and she said “no problem!” and we boarded the bus.

Yet, I couldn’t help but notice that she got off at the Bologna stop instead of the Florence stop like she had said she was going to get off of…

Angels…they work in mysterious ways…

Anyway, after 4 more hours on the bus we make it to Florence and I couldn’t be happier.

The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the mozzarella was waiting…

And I finally was reunited with my good friend Gabby at the terminal. It was so incredible seeing her and even cooler that we were in a different country. 

There we are!!!

Gab was a fantastic host as always and took me to see a bunch of cool places in Florence.

Like the Duomo!

Okay, like I know it's easy to say "I've seen one Cathedral, I've seen 'em all." But the Duomo is it's own breed of incredibility. This structure is SO huge and SO ornate it truly seems out of this world. It was incredible. I will never get over how ancient, and how massive this structure really is. 

We also went to a bunch of Markets full of Italian goods which was really cool.

And just generally did a whole lot of walking around and talking and catching up on each other's lives. 

That was what was so great about this trip. I was able to get such a taste of home seeing Gabby and talking with her and everything in the world that weekend just seemed normal again. Even though it was anything but normal. I can't get over how much seeing an old friend can boost your morale and make you feel like all is right again in the world within just a few moments of being together again.

And, if seeing Gab wasn't enough I ALSO got to see my roommate and fellow Chi Omega sister Hilary while I was in Florence too!!!!

There we are! Hi Hilly!

Hil brought me to some fantastic places around Florence too. Including Pino's Panini's. My God. What sweet, sweet ambrosia this was. Prosciutto, mozzarella, truffle sauce, pesto, and sun dried tomatoes made up this little beauty and it was seriously one of the yummiest things I've ever eaten.

What was great about this weekend is that everything seemed to work out perfectly. Every time Gabby had something to do, Hilary was free to hang out with me; likewise, every time Hilary was busy, Gab was free to hang out with me.

It was just perfect. 

Just like them. : )

Hil also brought me to the leather market which was SO cool, and had I had a more disposable income, I totally would have boughten everything. It was all so beautiful!

Okay, I seriously wanted to cry when I found out there was a Brandy Melville in Florence. I couldn't believe it! This is one of my all time favorite stores, and it's barely in the States and yet, HERE IT IS -- IN FLORENCE! I was in heaven. I would buy every article of clothing in this store given the opportunity. Every thing is my style and I love it all. 

Did I mention how much I love this store?

Anyway Hilary and I had a great time and I was very sad to say goodbye to both her and Gabby, and leave our magical weekend we had behind. 

There's something about catching up with old friends that is so rejuvenating to the spirit. It was just what I needed! And suddenly this 13 hour bus ride didn't seem so daunting anymore.

But where was our bus?

We were supposed to leave at 3:30 and it was 3:17 and our bus wasn't where it had dropped us off.

Zoe and I looked at each other, and decided that we were in the wrong spot. We both felt it in our guts. So we took out our tickets (which were in Italian, by the way) and were able to decipher that we were on the wrong street for where our bus was supposed to pick us up.

THANK GOODNESS GRACIOUS for iPhones, because Zoe's was working and she was able to map out how far away we had to run, not walk, to where we were supposed to be. 

0.9 km away.

Okay, we could do that if we ran...even with our luggage and in sandals...we could do it. Come Hell or high water I was getting on that bus gosh darnit!

Well we set off as fast as we can following the directions on Zoe's phone. And at first we take a left when we were supposed to take a right...

CRAP.

So we lost about 2 minutes there...

At this moment I had never hoped and prayed so hard that my bus would be delayed like it was in Dijon...

Finally we're back on track again, and we have to run through this dark tunnel of cars. Luckily there is a small sidewalk for pedestrians, but it was still creepy and pretty scary running against traffic (of Italian drivers no less) in this tunnel. 

We get out on to the other side and I'm leading the way as Zoe's yelling out directions on which way to go about 20 feet behind me.

(Poor Zoe just bought a 3 bottles of wine to bring home to her family too, so her bag was about 3x as heavy as mine was.)

I'm weaving in and out of Italians in the hot sun, sprinting by the elderly, stiff arming toddlers (only kidding, but I would have if I needed to! I was a woman on a mission!) 

And finally I'm waiting for some cars to pass so I can cross the street when I look to my right, and I swear to God, I saw our big EUROLINES bus turn out of a street in slow motion. I yell back to Zoe -- "That's our bus! I just know it!"

That's the thing, I had no idea whether this bus was ours or not...but my gut was just telling me it was.

And if there's one thing I've learned in life, it's you follow your gut no matter what.

And here's where I think my Angels came into play again. I swear, I've never seen a light stay red as long as this one did. And I'm so grateful for my years of athletic training, for I'm really beginning to wonder if this was the pinacle of my athletic career. Never have I ever sprinted so hard, in such terrible shoes, with a weekend's worth of luggage over my shoulder...Hell, I could've made it on to the cover of a Wheatie's box with my performance...

Like I said, this light remained red long enough for me to get to the front of the bus.

At first I jumped in front of it so the driver would notice me, then once I caught his eye,  his eyes followed me to the side of the door where I proceed to bang on it for them to let me in.

(a little dramatic, I know, but I had a lot of adrenaline pumping through me...can ya blame me?)

Thankfully the driver took pity on me, rolled his eyes, tapped his watch and opened the door.

"Milano?!?!" I gasped to him, showing him my ticket.

"Si, si, si," He agreed in annoyance. And at this point Zoe had caught up to me and we literally clambered up the stairs and collapsed into the nearest seats we could -- huffing and puffing and sweating and laughing still not believing we had actually made it on to the bus.

Buses man, I'm telling ya' they sometimes can really bring out the best in people.

In any case, it was a dramatic exit out of Florence after a fantastic weekend. And even though we made our bus by the skin of our teeth, the rest of our journey was easy as pie. We made it into Dijon right on time, where our nice, horizontal beds awaited us, and soon dreams of pizza, pasta and panini's filled my mind once more...

Porto, Portugal

I'm so glad I came here...

For many different reasons...but the biggest one being that so far visiting this city in Portugal was different than any other city I have visited in Europe this far.

And I like that.

Variety's the spice of life, ya know?

And also because it was planned on such a whim.

And I like whims. 

And even though I love a good itinerary, I'm also a girl that likes to fly by the seat of her own pants sometimes.

One day in class a of couple weeks ago, during a break in lecture, the topic of Portugal got brought up. A couple of people had already been there and were talking about their great experiences, and a couple more were talking about how they had always wanted to go there.

The wheels in my head started turning...

Portugal, eh?

The thought of visiting Portugal while I studied abroad this semester had never really crossed my mind until that moment. 

And all of a sudden it was all I could think about. 

I had to get there. 

I don't know what it was, I just totally felt this extremely strong pull to go. So obviously I couldn't not look into it.

So I immediately turn to my computer and scramble to look up cheap flights to Portugal. Within seconds I'm brought to this airline that could get me from Paris to Porto for 45 Euro Round-Trip.

You heard me right...45 Euro. 

The only catch was that there were only 2 tickets left on that flight.

So I look at Samantha, and go "you wanna go to Portugal in a few weekends?"

And she said "Sure!" 

And there ya have it. We had booked our flight before our professor had even finished his 20 minute coffee break. 

Going into that class I never would have guessed I would have come out of it with a ticket to Portugal...

Yet there I was...

Anywho, like I mentioned, I went with one other girl, Samantha, who is also in my program in Dijon and also goes to UNH. It was so great just to get away for the weekend, just us two. Traveling with only 1 or 2 people really simplifies things so much and it's a lot of fun. Also, when you have 2 people instead of one, your options open up a little more because you have a buddy -- a partner in crime, if you will -- and it just takes a lot of pressure off your shoulders opposed to if you were only traveling alone. 

The closest place that I have ever been too that was similar to Porto was when I went to St. John/St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands in February 2010. The landscape was so mountainous and lush with vegetation, it was awesome, and such a great change of pace than what I've been seeing for the past 3 months. Take a look!

The majority of these pictures I took while Samantha and I were crossing one of the bridges that crosses the river that runs through the city of Porto. 

There's just something about being really high up in the air that absolutely thrills me and terrifies me all at the same time.

Probably one of the reasons I love roller coasters so much...

I was shocked to see how poverty stricken some areas of the city were. I knew Portugal's economy was one of the one's struggling the most under the Euro, but seeing the physical effects of that was definitely not something I was expecting to see...or at least not see often as I did.

Samantha and I had a great first day in Porto just walking around and enjoying the sights. As you can see from these photos, it was a bit overcast most of the day, which was a bit disappointing, but we were both just so excited to explore a new place we really didn't notice all that much.

We stopped into this one restaurant after the owner spotted us looking at his menu on the outside terrace and he quickly won us over with a great sale's pitch on why we should eat at his restaurant:

"We have great food, and the inside is really nice."

SOLD. To the two starving girls in the front. 

I'm not even kidding. 

That's all he said to us and Samantha and I looked at each other, shrugged, and said, "Ok!" and he led us in.

Luckily this place ended up being really good and we were seated at a great table with a nice view of the water

And I was SO excited because they were serving Butter Soup as the Soup of the Day that day!!!!!

Only kidding.

Except not really because that actually is a lake of butter that is surrounding the Prawns and Shrimp that I ordered.

Who knew that "over a bed of vegetables" actually meant "over a buttery grave of vegetables"...

Anywho, it was pretty damn good and totally hit the spot.

And only clogged a few of my arteries on it's way down...

After lunch Samantha and I were both in need of a walk, so we decided to keep exploring.

I was loving all the red roofs.

By the way, can someone tell me why the plural of roof isn't rooves? 

And we had to try some Port wine!

It was no Burgundy wine, I'll tell ya that much...but the Tawny is a classic and definitely worth trying. 

These flowers were just about everywhere and were SO pretty. 

Samantha and I just continued our little walking tour of the city until it got dark, and then we decided we might as well treat ourselves from our hard days work to a drink our two, and see what Porto's nightlife was all about.

For scientific purposes only of course. 

The next morning we woke up to a brilliant blue sky and warm sunshine and did one of my favorite things to do in a new city:

A guided bus tour.

I know.

It's so touristy.

But I just love them!

It's my one and only vice, okay?! Throw me a bone here...

Anyway, we picked the perfect day to do it because the weather was seriously sublime.

And we got to see a lot of the city in a couple of hours!

And the ocean. Oh the ocean.

How I've missed you so much...

You don't wanna keep this girl land-locked for too long...I go a little stir crazy....

And if Palm Trees don't make you smile then you're doing something wrong. 

Hey look! It's me! In front of a boat!

This trip was so cool, and one I'll always remember. It was so serendipitous, and easy, and beautiful. The colors were so vibrant, and the sun just felt so great on my skin. And the sight of the Atlantic Ocean just does wonders for the soul I tell ya. Samantha and I also met some great people while we were there too, and there's just something about good conversations with good people that makes trips like these all worth while.

That, and delicious seafood slathered in butter.

Copenhagen, Denmark

What an incredible trip this was. 

But before I dive into the details of this excursion, I want to throw out a formal apology to all of you who follow this blog of mine for not being as on top of writing game as I usually am in the past few weeks!

Sicknesses, classes, other trips, and a general aversion to computer screens plagued my psyche last week and I just wasn't able to sit down and write.

But here I am now.

Forgive me?

Pretty please with sugar on top!?

Thanks. You guys rock : )

So Copenhagen was awesome.

Really and truly.

And what made it so great was obviously being in a new place and seeing different things and seeing the sites...

But was the most incredible was being able to spend time with my Aunt and my cousins who I haven't seen in YEARS!

This was a shot my aunt snapped of my 6-year old cousin and I. Both her and her 9 year-old brother absolutely cracked me up they were so funny. And not only that but they were so sweet, and kind, and considerate...all-around just wonderful little angels and all I wanted to do was to continue to play with them! 

It was seriously so neat the connection my two cousins and I made. Because neither of them speak any English, and I certainly don't know any Danish. But that language barrier turned out to not even be the slightest issue. And that was what made it so cool meeting these kiddos because we were able to make this connection and relationship with each other without ever needing to understand a word each other said.

That's love, people, the language of love. 

And smiles.

And playing with hair.

And playing video games.

And making silly faces.

It was a weekend I will never forget, and I cannot WAIT to see both my cousins and my aunt again. 

The two full days I was there I got an incredible tour around the city and was able to eat some absolutely SCRUMPTIOUS food.

Take a look!

The Royal Port where the Royal ship docks while the Royal Family boards.

Panoramic view of the Royal Palace

Traditional Danish Fare consisting of salmon, herring, cod, roast beef, cheese, and olives.

Now that's my kind of meal.

This whole trip was honestly just so neat and wonderful. So many great memories and connections were made with my Danish relatives and I am more anxious than ever to see them all again.

And once again, Mette, if you're reading this, a BIG thank you for being a wonderful host, tour guide, entertainer, listener and more. I had such an incredible time and I can't wait to come back!!! :-)