New City, New Weekend

Life abroad is so much different than life at home. I don’t have class on fridays here which is the most amazing thing because that allows me to be able to travel on the weekends. At home, at the University of Delaware I’ve always had class on fridays. This past semester I didn’t finish class until 4:25pm!

Traveling is one of my favorite things to do. I have a list of all the places I want to go while I’m here and I am realizing that there aren’t enough weekends for me to go to them all. Before coming here the places that I planning on traveling too were:

London, England

Paris, France

Berlin, Germany

Budapest, Hungary

Ibiza, Spain

Lisbon, Portugal

Prague, Czech Republic

Copenhagen, Denmark

Rome, Florence, Venice,  Italy

Madrid, Seville, Granada, Valencia, Mallorca Spain

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Dublin, Ireland

Greek Islands

I have all my trips booked already and I am not making it to all the cities in that list. But I am hitting a fair amount. So far I have gone to Rome, Amsterdam, Berlin, and London. I loved each city so much. Berlin was absolutely freezing when I visited but I still managed to have a great time. I saw all the historic sights and experienced the nightlife that Berlin is known for. Amsterdam was by far the prettiest city out of the bunch, in my opinion. Wandering around the streets in Amsterdam was my favorite thing to do. Everything was so pretty and quaint. I took a canal tour. I got to see so much of the city while floating through the canals in a boat.

People enjoy in front of the Rijksmuseum in Amster

Canal. Amsterdam. Netherland

One picture of Amsterdam would not do the city justice. One major thing about Amsterdam that I noticed is that everyone rides bikes. I couldn’t even tell you the amount of times me and my friend almost got run over by a biker. In Amsterdam, the bikers have the right of way, not the walkers. So if you are walking I recommend you be extra careful and really look both ways. If you have ever seen or read The Fault in Our Stars by John Greene like I have walking through the streets of Amsterdam can get a little emotional. If you’ve read the book or seen the movie you’ll know what I mean.

                                                ‘The Bench’ on Leidegracht 6HS, 1016 CK

This was by far the most emotional scene of the movie for me.

Each city I travel to I truly do fall in love. When I left Amsterdam I could not stop talking about how much I loved it. I told everyone I wanted to move there. But then I go to London the next weekend and say the same exact thing.

Barcelona–>Rome

I have dreamt of going abroad ever since I was 16. I always knew I        wanted to go somewhere in Europe but I wasn’t sure where. My older brother studied abroad in Spain. He came back loving it so much that I knew I had to study there too.

Studying in Barcelona, it is so easy to travel to different cities over the weekends.

My very first trip I took was to Rome, Italy. Trying to see a whole city in 3 days is tough but I can definitely say I saw basically the whole city. Rome is a lot bigger than Barcelona, Rome is 496 miles. Barcelona is only 39 miles.

The very first place I went to when I was in Rome was Vatican City. We went through the whole Vatican museum and it was amazing. The most amazing part about the museum, in my opinion, was the Sistine Chapel. The ceilings were the most incredible thing to look at.

Michael Angelo is one of the most impressive artists of all time. The detail and hard work he must have had to put into the Sistine Chapel is unimaginable.

In Vatican City, we also visited St. Peter’s Basilica. I have to say that the Basilica completely topped the Sistine Chapel. The construction of the Basilica started in 1506 and wasn’t completed until 1626 which is much longer than the construction took for the Sistine Chapel. The construction of the Sistine Chapel began in 1473 and wasn’t finished until 1483. St. Peter’s Basilica is an Italian Renaissance church in Vatican City. The architects who constructed the Basilica were Michele Angelo, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Raphael and a few others.

The inside of the St. Peters Basilica was absolutely breathe taking. I climbed up 551 stairs to get to the top of the Basilica. The view was beyond worth it though.

The food was also so amazing. Two restaurants in particular really stood out. For dinner one night I went to Taverna Trilussa. I had spaghetti carbonara and my friend had ravioli and it was absolutely delicious.

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If you are ever in Rome I definitely recommend going to Taverna Trilussa. I also recommend going to Dar Poeta. I walked inside and did not expect it to be so amazing. But I have to say, I have never had such incredible pizza before. This is the pizza I ordered and it tasted just as good as it looks.

If you are ever in Europe I definitely recommend going to Rome. It is an amazing city. There is so much to see. Once you think you’ve seen it all, you’ll realize you haven’t.