Breaking Spring

Spring Breaks don't get much better than this.

I had this past week off from school to go traveling for spring break. Initially I knew I wanted to go somewhere exotic and warm because back in the states we are used to typical resorts like Palm Springs and Hawaii, but I wanted to do something different. I started off looking at locations around Europe that were easy and cheap to fly to. Through websites like easyjet.com and ryanair.com students under 25 years old can find flights that are as cheap as 0.01 euro cents through these companies! My friends and I were able to find roundtrip tickets from Milan to Barcelona for 40 euros, so we couldn't pass those by. We wanted to see Spain but we also wanted to go somewhere out of the ordinary...and that led us to AFRICA! Good ol 'Mama Africa' as they call it in Morocco. We found a small flight from Barcelona to Fez, Morocco (The capital of the country/Republic of Africa). So we planned for three nights in Barcelona, three nights in Fez, and then we picked a small costal city north of Gerona, Spain called Callela where we stayed for the last three nights. Now let me begin...

The Saturday Morning of our Spring Break we took a train from Florence to Milan (where our plane was leaving from because the Florence airport is much too small) and spent the day in Milan before we took off that night for Barcelona. We spent the day window shopping (because none of us can ACTUALLY AFFORD any of the clothing ONE because of the euro conversion [which is up to 1.71 dollars now] and TWO we are all poor at this point in the trip). We also took some pictures around the gothic Duomo in the middle of the city. Other than that Milan has a huge name but not much to live up to besides its famous fashion week. We spent a few hours walking around and then got ready for our flight. The flight from Milan was only 2 hours to Barcelona. We arrived at the BCN Hostel in the center of the city which was already so much different from Florence. I was glad I was able to use the Spanish I learned from high school, but I realized I was starting to confuse my Italian and Spanish...which is no good. Our hostel was a very hip and trendy place to stay (for a very reasonable price) and were helpful with suggesting places to visit and sights to see. We took our first day to see a lot of the big sites like Gaudi's Park Guell, Sagradia Familia Cathedral and Gaudi's house in the city. He is truly an amazing artist and architect. He seems to have taken a very avant-guard approach in his designs that are very elaborate, colorful, and full of movement and expression (see pictures). His cathedral was his second big project in Barcelona (his favorite city) and had been in construction for over 120 years and only half way done. It is truly and incredible sight. Barcelona is also known for its nightlife. After we took a short siesta in the middle of the say, we walked around the city for a while and then went to dinner at 11:00 pm. This might seem late, but is actually very normal because most people don't hit the discoteca's until about 1:00 or 1:30am. We went to a couple bars with free shots for US students and then went to one of the most popular discotecas in the city. Lets just say we were out until 8:00am! Definitely and night to remember...or NOT remember in some cases. HA. We spent the rest of our time in Barcelona eating traditional food (including churros con ciocolata) laying on the beach and exploring the Spanish markets. Then before we knew it, we were off to Morocco!

Morocco was only an hour away from Spain with a one hour time difference (because we crossed the equator). Fez welcomed us with beautiful weather and sunny skies. Some of my group that I traveled with were a bit weary about visiting Morocco because of all the terrorist attacks and whatnot in the country, but we really got no feel of that AT ALL...until we got into a taxi cab. haha. We got into the car and there were immediately three very evident bullet holes in the front windshield. My friends and I were kind of scared at first, but when our cab driver offered us all a piece of chocolate...we knew it would be alright. We stayed in Hotel Batha which was one of the nicest hotels in the city. After we checked in we took at 5 hour tour (for only 12 US dollars) and took a tour of the Medina (walled in city). We got to see tanneries where they make leather goods, Muslim spas, mosques, rug markets, spice producers, bakeries, and craft shops. Walking though the medina was like living in the movie Alladin. no joke. Everything was incredibly cheap so I couldn't resist buying a couple things and everyone was so nice. Bargaining is a MUST and really helps develop good relations with those around you. That night we had an amazing three course meal for the equivalent of 7 euros...not so bad! In Morocco it is customary for entire families to own stores so we would always be sure to buy candy bars for the small children that would serve our drinks or clean our plates. The next day we woke up early in the morning and took an 8 hour private van to the desert to ride camels. Along the way we stopped for breakfast and lunch while also visiting a fossil site, traditional family for tea, palace ruins, desert oasis, among other beautiful sites and small towns. We finally arrived in the Sahara desert and rode camels into the sand doons and watch the sun set. The whole thing was absolutely beautiful and I felt like I was living inside of a National Geographic Magazine. It was absolutely amazing and will be something I will always remember. BY FAR the most beautiful place I have ever been. We rode the camels back to a hotel (near the locations where the filmed the movie Babel) and had another huge feast and danced to Moroccan drums. We showed the young people that worked at our hotel our iPODS and they loved our music. We danced some more outside by a campfire with thousands of clear stars shining above us. Truly an amazing experience. We spent the next day saying goodbye to the friends we had made and went back to the airport. On our way we stopped by a forest and fed the monkeys that were there. There was a group of about 30 monkeys that we fed snickers bars and cookies to. It was a surreal experience feeding monkeys and not just looking at them through a cage at the zoo. It was so sad to leave Morocco, and I cant wait to go back and visit!

We then took the last part of our trip to relax and stayed at a small village known for its beautiful beaches and good food--Calella. Calella is like Catalina Island, very quaint and comfortable. We stayed in a nice hotel and took long naps on the beach and hiked up mountains to see the 'tourist postcard' views of the ocean. It was unfortunately overcast during this part of our trip, but it was still really fun. We spent most of our time eating (surprise, surprise) and got some great palella (seafood risotto) and tapas (appetizers).

Overall I had an awesome spring break and am sad to be back at school. I can't believe I am already halfway through the semester and only have 7 weeks left! It seriously seems like I have been on an extended weekend, not a semester. WOW time sure flies when you're having fun, right? Life continues to treat me well on this side of the globe, and I can't wait for my next trip! Capri, Sorrento, and Pompei (Almafi Coast) this weekend!

Spring Break-ing

FINALLY SPRING BREAK and I'm off to Barcelona, Spain and Fez, Morocco for 9 days! Talk to you then!

Under the Tuscan Sun

Siena and Montalcino, Italy

The French Riviera

Bonjour.
Merci.

THIS is the extent of my French. No more, and no less.

This past weekend I went on a trip to the French Riviera through my Study Abroad Program. It was an already planned trip that was included in the price of the program which really helps, and the euro is rapidly creeping up on my bank account (BAH!). Anyways, we took a weekend trip, by bus, to Monaco, Monte Carlo, Nice, St. Paul de Vence, Cannes, and Eze. We covered a lot of ground in only three days and were always on the go-fast paced, just how I like it.

We started out in Monaco with extremely unfortunate weather, but moved on to Monte Carlo as the rain began to slowly fade away. Nevertheless, both places are extremely beautiful and very extravagant with huge casinos and palaces lining the French Coast. We then drove to Nice where we stayed the night. We stayed in a very nice hotel and dined on a three course meal inspired by French cuisine. It was a refreshing and delicious change from Italian food. In nice we were able to take a couple picture on the beach, stroll through the world renowned flower markets, and pretend to play blackjack in the casinos. At this point in the semester none of us can afford to loose any euros. Every penny counts. We ate late night nutella crepes with gelato (healthy, isn't it?) and went to bed for our early bus ride.

On sunday we headed to Cannes (known for the Cannes Film Festival) and lucked out with great weather. We walked along the boardwalk and then went to St. Paul de Vence, one of the worlds most preserved medieval towns. It was a very quaint and beautiful town located on the top of a hill that looked over all of Provence, France. Our final stop was in Eze known for its Perfume production. We went to the Fragonard Perfumerie and learned about how perfume was made. It was a really interesting tour and we got to smell a variety of different perfume samples. A great end to a wonderful trip.

Things are really starting to get busy with midterms approaching and spring break on the way. Final bookings for hostels and planned day trips consume most of my spare time. More updates to come!

The Hills are Alive with the Sound of... Wind, Rain and Snow

This past weekend I went with two friends from Chapman to Salzburg and Vienna, Austria. We lucked out and got 'Friend, Family, and More' discounts for the roundtrip train ticket that was 50% off the original price. Not bad! We left on Thursday night and took an overnight train (11 hours) directly to Vienna. From there we immediately took another train to Salzburg where we had the rest of the day to venture around the old city- home of the famous composer, Mozart, and most commonly known for its scenery and sites seen in The Sound of Music. On Saturday morning we stuffed ourselves with the all you can eat breakfast from our hostel (a great find when you can find breakfast included) and headed out directly for the Sound of Music Tour and Saltmine Tour. We were recommended to take the sound of Music tour because it gave a great overview of the city and took you out of the city to see some of the mountain ranges and other discrete locations that are harder to get to by the local metro system. We met our tour guide who was actually a late descendent of Mr. Von Trapp and told us that most Austrians hate the musical movie and don't understand why so many American tourists come to Salzburg solely for The Sound of Music Tour. (DID YOU KNOW: Mr. Von Trapp actually lived in an Austrian colony in Croatia? Maybe we're related..maybe?!) We saw a lot of familiar sites like the 'sixteen going on seventeen' gazebo, the Von Trap House, the Austrian Alps, and many others. Toward the end of the tour our guide was mentioning the fact that a storm might be coming our way, but we didn't really think twice about it. We were overlooking one of the most beautiful sites in all of Austria (see pictures below) when all of a sudden we hear a loud rumbling from behind us and see water pour our way. We all ran into the tour bus and within 15 minutes Austria had become a winter wonderland, completely covered with snow. There were also incredibly high winds that caused huge trees to fall and block roads. After detouring through the hills, we found our way to the oldest pastry shop in Austria and had pretzels and chocolate cinnamon rolls over candlelight (due to the power-outage in the small city).



After our first tour we were taken into the Bavarian Alps for a Saltmine tour. Salzburg is directly translated as Salt City, and is known for its huge supply of salt. On our way up the mountains (the snow and rain had subsided by now) we could see Hitler's Eagles Nest, his winter home given to him by the Nazi regime for his 50th Birthday, set at the very top of the mountains. We then got into white jumpsuits and took a train deep into the mountains and had a guided tour though the mines that outlined the process of extracting salt from the mountains. They had several wooden slides that would take you even deeper into the mountain. Halfway through the tour we actually passed the border from Austria into Germany. So I guess I got a free trip to Germany with admission. Not bad right?

That night we grabbed some Mozart balls (Mozart's favorite chocolates) and headed to Vienna. Vienna is an architecturally beautiful city with huge buildings and world renowned museums. We went into the Cathedral in the middle of the city and took a tour of the catacombs. We saw huge 'grave rooms' full of skeletons and bones where they would bury victims that had the plague. We went into a couple modern art exhibits and then to the largest Jewish cemetery in Austria. It was miles deep and had gravestones toppling over one another. We went right at twilight which gave the cemetery a very eerie feel. Remind me never to do that again...HA. We then hopped on the train and headed home. We had some complications when getting from Bologna to Firenze, but other than that we have a very worthwhile and successful trip!

Can't wait for the French Riviera next weekend! (oh yeah, and classes are good to. HA)

Paragliding in the Alps

When do you EVER have the opportunity to paraglide over the Swiss Alps?! You only live once...