Last weekend we took a school trip to Athens, and tomorrow I am leaving for Cairo, Egypt. I’m traveling to Egypt with my friends Dave, Jenna and Jackie (who was on spring break with me), and I’m incredibly excited! We spending our time in Cairo doing pyramid tours, and then we are also going on a desert tour where we . I will have detailed updates about the Athens trip and Cairo upon my return. Have a fantastic weekend!

Although it’s hard to choose because we went so many wonderful places during spring break, I think Italy was my favorite of all. We flew into Bergamo, which is right outside of Milan. We spent our first night there because we were meeting some other friends there who flew in at a later time. Immediately after checking into our hostel, we went on a hunt for some fabulous Italian food. We spotted a great little pizza place, and we each ordered a whole pizza to ourselves. We each passed our pizzas around the table so we could try everybody’s, but by the time it was all said and done, I definitely ate almost a whole entire pizza by myself! It was sooo yummy! We spent the rest of the day exploring the city and the market, and we spent our night drinking some amazing wine. Salute!

The next morning, we took the train to Florence. The city is beautiful! We even had our own Florence expert to show us around because Jackie and Meagan have a friend studying there for the semester. Dan was great, and he took us to all of the main sights and some really fantastic restaurants and gelato places. (My favorite was balsamic steak… mmmmmm) We visited the Basilica di Santa Maria which is a famous cathedral in Florence. It is one of Italy’s largest churches, and has the largest brick dome ever made. We also saw the Statue of David in person, which was actually really impressive. We stayed close to the Ponte Vechhio, which is a famous, medieval bridge that goes across the Arno river. According to Dan, during the German retreat in the 1940′s all of the bridges across the Arno were destroyed except the Ponte Vecchio because Hitler thought it was too beautiful.

After two days in Florence, we took the train to Milan. Unfortunately, we were only in Milan on a Sunday, so a lot of places were closed. However, we did visit the Milan cathedral. The gothic cathedral is the fourth largest church in the world. It was stunning. The size alone, with the beautiful stained glass windows and architecture was amazing. While we were in Milan, we also visited a castle and its museum.

There was sooo much in Italy that I wanted to do and see, and unfortunately we didn’t have nearly enough time to do it all. I’m excited to travel to Venice with my parents in June, but I definitely hope to go back someday and spend a considerable amount of time in the country.

On our drive we passed many small villages with clay houses that likely had no electricity or even running water. Women were doing laundry in nearby streams, and children were tending to their flocks of sheep or goats. They used donkeys to get around and to haul produce from the fields. Our tour guide told us that outside of the cities in Morocco, most of the people are just struggling to survive, and get by from day to day. Coming from the United States, where we are so modernized, it seemed like a step back in time, and made me really thankful for all that I have.

After traveling for hours across Morocco, we reached our camp that was on the edge of the Sahara Desert. That night we camped with the Bedouin, who are a group of nomadic, Arab people who primarily live in the desert. We ate dinner with them, and some other tour groups who were there. At night, they held a bonfire and played traditional Moroccan music. The next morning we woke up early for a camel ride back into town, and headed back to Marrakesh. Once we reached the city, we went to the medina, which is the “old city.” In the old city square, there is one of the largest and oldest markets. It was really overwhelming. There were snake charmers, and shops, and food vendors. I would’ve enjoyed spending time there, but it was almost exhausting fighting off all of the people who were trying to get you buy something. However, it was definitely an experience worth having. Later that night, we hopped back on an overnight train back to Tangier. The next morning once we reached Tangier, we explored the city on foot for awhile, and also checked out their market. This market was a lot less stressful, but still very busy. I even bought some Moroccan spices and some really neat jewelry to take home! Since we had an early flight to Italy the next day, we spent the rest of the afternoon sun bathing by the pool at our hotel, which was definitely some much needed relaxation. Especially since with our overnight trains and camping in the desert, it had been close to four days since we had showered!

Morocco was an incredible experience. Even though we spent most of our time traveling, I’m glad that we were able to see so many different areas, and I think we really got a taste of the true Moroccan culture.

**Be sure to check out my Flickr site that is linked on my page. Here you can look at all of my pictures, and I even uploaded a video of the beduin at our bonfire.

We had a blast in France! We stayed in Marseille for about four nights, and we absolutely ate as much cheese and drank as much wine as we could get our hands on. We stayed close to the Vieux Port, which means “old port” in French, which was a pleasant area of the city with lots of shops, restaurants and bars near it. Southern France is incredibly beautiful, and the country side is everything you’d expect with rolling hills and vineyards. However, I wouldn’t recommend staying in Marseille. Marseille is basically just a really dirty, large city, and was actually kind of scary at night. Instead, I would suggest only spending one or two days in the city, and spending more time in the smaller towns around Marseille.

The first night we were there, we went to a fantastic little seafood restaurant near the port. It was so yummy! The next day, we did a lot of walking in the city. We visited a couple churches, and the Palais de Longchamp. The Palais de Longchamp is an elaborate fountain dedicated to the city’s completion of a canal system that brought water to the city.  Each wing houses a museum, and there is a lovely city park behind it. We also went on a boat tour to visit an island off of the coast of Marseille. The island was sooooo beautiful, and it was also a gorgeous day out. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring on the island, and then sat down for drinks at an outdoor cafe.

While we were in France we took two day trips to towns outside of the city, Avignon and Cassis. The day trips were easily my favorite part because it was a nice break from the city. In Avignon, we visited the Palais des Popes, which is one of the largest medieval buildings in Europe. For close to 100 years during the 14th century, the popes of the Catholic church resided in Avignon instead of Rome. It was really interesting to learn about the building and the history surrounding it. Another attraction that Avignon is known for is the Pont d’Avignon, which is a bridge that crosses the Rhone river.

The second day trip that we took was to Cassis, which is a smaller fisherman’s town in southern France. Out of the all of the places we visited in France, I would definitely recommend staying in the town! When we arrived we checked out the market, sat on the beach and ate lunch on the port. We also took a boat tour of the calanques, which are limestone formations around the coast of Cassis.So beautiful! From there, we also toured a vineyard on a cliff that overlooked the Mediterranean.I felt so spoiled to have the opportunity to spend the day there!

Our final day in France we visited the Cathédrale Sainte-Marie-Majeure de Marseille, which sits on the top of a hill in Marseille, overlooking the city. This Catholic cathedral is breathtaking, and very elaborately decorated. It also happened that we visited this church the day before Easter, and we had the chance to see the church preparing for mass with beautiful floral arrangements, setting up chairs, etc. Even though we couldn’t be there for Easter mass, it felt extra special to be in such a beautiful church at such a special time.

Our first full day in Amsterdam was a blast. We were very fortunate to have Chrissie and Meagan’s aunt, Lisa, with us. She had the whole day planned out for us, and she even hired a private tour guide to take us around the city. We spent the morning on a walking tour of the city, where we learned about the buildings and the architecture. All of the buildings are very tall and very narrow, and are almost like row houses. We also went to a “secret” Catholic chuch called “Our Lord in the Attic.” During the time when Amsterdam was under protestant rule, the Catholics weren’t allowed to practice their religion, so one man converted the upstairs of his house into a church. However, even though the church was supposed to be secret, apparently almost everyone knew of its existence.

For lunch, Geerten (our tour guide) took us to the “Upstairs” pancake house. The restaurant was so tiny and cute! We had to walk up an incredibly steep staircase to get the restaurant part, and even then there were only about four tables. After lunch, we visited the Royal Palace in Amsterdam, which is where the queen stays when she visits. The building was so elaborate and magnificent. There were countless rooms, and almost every inch of the building was decorated with paintings, murals, marble, sculptures and designs.

Following the palace, we went on a private boat tour of the city, which was definitely my favorite part of Amsterdam trip. Aunt Lisa even had champagne waiting for us when we got on board! We spent the afternoon trolling around the city’s canal system  and toasting our champagne glasses to random people who were on the sidewalks. We felt like celebrities. haha. One unique thing that us girls tried to learn in every country was how to say “cheers” in the different languages. In Greece, everyone shouts “Yemas!” In Dutch, Geerten explained that you say “Prost!”

While we were in Amsterdam we also visited two art museums, including the Van Gogh museum. Both of the museums were fascinating, and it was incredible to actually see the original pieces from famous artists who we’ve all heard so much about. Even though the art museums were interesting, nothing really beat how much fun we had at the Heineken museum. (especially because we got free beer on our tour )  This is where the advertising major comes out in me… My favorite part of the museum was the section dedicated to Heineken’s different advertisements throughout the years. They even had these funny little chairs where you could sit back, relax and choose commercials to watch from the different years.  Another part of the museum that I thought was really well done was the “Brew You Ride–Be the Beer.” As part of the tour, we were shuffled into this tiny theater room where had to stand “straight like a bottle.” From there, we watched a video from the beer’s point of view, where we had to pretend that we were the beer. The video took us through the whole brewing process from start to finish. In the theater the stands shook and moved back and forth to simulate the brewing process. The theater even rained on us, and at one point blew bubbles. This was such a unique and interactive element that I think definitely grabbed a lot of attention and created a lot of buzz.

After many weeks in the making, lots of planning and some very frustrating, last-minute packing we are ready to take off!

The group: Chrissie, Meagan, Jaclyn, Reed and Matt.

The Itinerary:

Amsterdam: March 26-30
Marseilles in France: March 30-April 3
Morocco: April 3-April 8
Florence and Milan in Italy: April 8-April 12

A brief run-down:

Today we are meeting Meagan and Chrissie’s aunt in Amsterdam, and we are very thankful for her because she booked us a couple different tours of the city, including a walking tour and boat tour.

In Marseilles, we are viewing it as our relaxing spot, where we plan to take in the city, some museums and hopefully a vineyard tour with some wine tasting. We also have a day trip planned to Avignon to visit one of the largest gothic castles in Europe. However, my adventurous streak might come to life because Matt really wants to go kayaking while we’re there. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.

From France we fly to Morocco, which I’m really excited for, but also the most nervous for. We plan on spending our first day taking in Tangier, and maybe a beach. Fortunately for us, the weather is supposed to be beautiful, but unfortunately since it is a muslim country, us girls are not going to have much of a chance to soak up the sun. Days two and three of Morocco will be spent riding camels and camping in the desert as part of a guided tour.

Finally, we conclude our trip in Italy. We are spending a couple of days in Florence, and then a couple in Milan. Italy will be jam-packed with museums, churches and art. Hopefully when we’re in Milan we can even squeeze in a little shopping, but we’ll see if we can convince the boys.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure how much computer access I will have while traveling. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to upload a few photos here and there to keep everyone updated. If not, I will have one monstrous-sized blog post upon my return, so be ready to get out your reading glasses.

Two weekends ago, I went on a school trip to Kastoria, Greece. Kastoria is built around a lake, and is absolutely beautiful! The first day we were there we visited a reconstructed neolithic settlement, where we saw artifacts that were thousands of years old. It was pretty cool. After that we toured an old house in the town that had been turned into a museum. The house was in its glory days during the Ottoman empire, and even had secret spots for the Greeks to hide their children so they wouldn’t be taken by the Turkish army.

Kastoria is known for their amazing furs and leather products. So of course, we all bought some amazing, comfy slippers to take home as souvenirs. It worked out well because I had been meaning to buy some any ways to wear around our dorms.

On Sunday, we went to a Byzantine art museum and a small church in the city. The church that we went to was really quaint, but had beautiful artwork. One of the paintings depicts the holy trinity with God being the outermost, Jesus and then the Holy Spirit. Supposedly this painting is really unique, because it is one of the only pieces of art that actually depicts God as a subject.

Since our trip to Kastoria, I’ve mostly been hanging out and preparing for our spring break trip! Of course I can’t forget to mention that almost all of us study abroad students went out to celebrate St. Patty’s day. Even though the holiday is not big in Greece, we found a bar downtown that had a celebration. Us “Americans” basically took over the whole bar, but we definitely had a blast. (We also had some shiny leprechaun hats to show for it the next day )

But now I am off to study for my Psychology midterm that I have tomorrow… wish me luck! Although with spring break right around the corner, I might need some extra motivation to keep my mind on homework. Hope all is well back in the states!

The list: (drum roll please)

1. Being the constant connector I am, the absolute thing I miss the most is the convenience of  Wireless internet (Actually at this point I’d even settle for working internet. ). Oh the days when I could roam around my house without any cords tying me down!

2. In a very close second comes… my blackberry. Even though I really don’t enjoy texting that much, I really miss having e-mail access at the tip of my fingers, and being able to send the occasional tweet from my phone.

3. Steak. Don’t get me wrong, the food here is incredibly delicious, and I enjoy eating it so very much. However, there is not much variety in Greek food, and you tend to always eat the same thing: Greek salad, Souvlaki, Gyros, etc. Nothing really beats sinking your teeth into a giant pice of meat.

4. One thing that I think a lot of us take for granted in the States is plain old stability and reliability. As many of you are aware, Greece managed to dig its way into one giant financial mess. As a result, almost every other day people in the public sector are on strike for something. Usually it’s the busses or the taxis, but that always leaves you wondering how you’re ever going to get home.

5. My car. This one comes mostly as a result of number four, but it takes a lot planning ahead in order to go anywhere here. Although, I would never even consider driving in this city… yikes! People park in the middle of road, on the sidewalks, and there are always people on scooters zooming by you.

6. Something that might surprise you– Peanut Butter. I must admit that I’m a little surprised at this one too. I was even forewarned to bring my own jar of peanut butter, but I thought it would be relatively easy to live without it. Unfortunately, I think I gave myself a little too much credit. (But Nutella does come in as a close second.)

7. And of course, last, but not least… all of my friends and family back home. I can’t wait to see you all when I get back!  ♥♥♥