Imagine stepping off the bus on an island and seeing strangers dressed up in Halloween costumes and running around like they were on a jungle gym. This is the best explanation I can give of my experience of Venice, Italy during Carnivale. 

We arrived bright and early to take a 6-hour bus ride to Venice.  I was so excited to go to Carnivale because I really wanted to see Venice. When I think of Italy, gondolas and rivers automatically come to mind. And for Venice being known as the city that runs on water, this is the perfect combination.

After the 6-hour bus ride (after Prague 6 hours is nothing), we hopped off the bus and bought our masks. Carnivale is similar to how Mardi Gras is in the United States. People dress up in costumes, decorative masks and roam around. The celebration last for 2 weeks and each country celebrates it pretty similarly. However, Venice is known for being one of the bigger and more extravagant locations. So obviously, I had to go.  It took me awhile to decide which mask I wanted to buy. They are all so beautiful and different! Finally, I decided on one that is black and gold (Go Panthers!) and had a huge feather coming out on the right-hand side.  When in Venice, go big or go home. 

Once everyone else decided on a mask, it took about a 20-minute walk to actually get to Venice. And from there we wanted to go to Saint Mark’s square, which is the main piazza in Venice.  Because Venice is the city on water, everything is hard to navigate. At certain times, the street signs would be pointing to two opposite directions to get to the same piazza! So confusing! It took us about an hour to finally get there, but we had a lot of entertainment on the way. The streets were filled with wall-to-wall people as a storm of confetti filled the air. There was chanting and cheering, and costumes everywhere. Honestly, words do not even do it justice. I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves…

Once we finally made it to Saint Mark’s square, we explored what it had to offer. It was so packed and crazy costumes everywhere! We decided to take a pizza break (my favorite kind of break) for dinner and regroup.  As soon as our bellies were full, we ventured out to the square again. We snuck into a gated section where it looked like a concert was performing. Later we found out that this was where everyone could watch performances made by people in crazy costumes.  Here, we made new American friends that were serving overseas.  Thank God for them because they helped us find our way on the confusing route back to where our bus dropped us off.  Our bus left at 11 p.m. and we did not get back to Rome until 6 a.m.!! Because I am on buses so much, I feel like every time I hop on a bus I am instantly tired and these buses so uncomfortable. They really make you appreciate the comfort of your own bed.  Although the bus ride is awful, the worse part is dragging yourself from the train station all the way back to your apartment. No fun!

Although I was happy to be back in my apartment, I really enjoyed Venice. It is a gorgeous city and it is amazing that it runs on water.  I was pretty bummed that I did not have time for a gondola ride, but there is always next time. I know I will be back to Venice at some point and I cannot wait. Ciao for now Venezia! You’ll definitely be seeing me again : )

Dear friends and family: Again, I would like to apologize for my lack of keeping up with blog posts. I have been so busy, but better late then never!

Three weekends ago, I ventured off to one of Europe’s hidden treasures: Prague! For whatever ever reason, I really wanted to go to Prague and heard a lot of great things about it.  Ever since I saw the movie EuroTrip, I was hooked.

For this particular trip, we opted for a different way to travel to the Czech Republic.  Not by plane or train, but by bus. Which was…interesting.  It was a 16 hour bus ride and I was not mentally prepared for it. At the beginning, I had a slight panic attack because we were late for our bus. For those of you who know me, I am a fairly timely person and HATE being late. Being in Rome, I have adapted to the European way of taking my time and not looking at the clock (goodbye American habits!).  Luckily our trip leader called us to make sure we were coming and patiently waited for us to arrive. Whew!

Once we arrived at Termini, I was very surprised to see only a couple of Roman students there.  After I realized that there were only about 10 of us, I became really excited because then there would be more room on the bus! Everyone would not be super cramped and would have plenty of room to move about.  Oh boy, I was wrong. Apparently, our group was picking up about 60 students from Florence to equal a completely full bus.  Even though I do not get morning sickness and for the most part enjoy car rides, I have to say that my opinion has completely changed. I did not get more then a couple of hours of sleep at a time and have never been so uncomfortable in my entire life.  At least getting there was a whole lot better then on the way home… (more on that later).

We finally arrived in Prague about 10a.m. the following day. We immediately dropped our stuff off and went down to breakfast. After feasting on granola, cheesy eggs and fruit, we were ready to start our day. Included with the trip was a tour of Prague by a local.  Although she was very entertaining and knowledge, my listening skills were not exactly up to par. I was very tired, crabby and in desire need of a shower. So according to Wikipedia here is what I gathered about the history of Prague, during the Cold War Prague was a city in the territory of military and political control of the Soviet Union. Then the Soviet Union and its allies reacted with the invasion of Czechoslovakia and the capital on August 21, 1968.  In 1989 students of the Velvet Revolution crowded the streets of Prague. And in 1993, after the split of Czechoslovakia, Prague became the capital city of the new Czech Republic and is now an important cultural center of Europe.

I was very surprised how fairy tale-esqe Prague is.   The whole time I felt like I was in a Disney movie. The city is surrounded by castles, clock towers and bridges. Absolutely breathtaking! 

After feasting on a fabulous/traditional Czech meal, we signed up for a pub crawl that took us all around the city. It was nice to go with a big group because I felt very safe in a foreign city.  Our trip leaders were great and showed us all of what Prague night life is about!  Our bar crawl started at a church, I repeat CHURCH. Never in my life have I thought that I would be drinking in a church.  My favorite part of the night was teaching Chileans how to play Flip Cup. Since flippy cup is a regular game that college kids in the states play, they never heard of it before and were eager to learn. Surprisingly, they were actually really good. Whenever they would win, they would chant “CHI-CHI-CHI LE-LE-LE” “VIVE CHILE”. It was absolutely hysterical. Overall, it was a very fun night.

The next morning we were up bright and early to see all the popular sights. Again, we feasted on the free breakfast (seriously cannot explain how good it was) and were off to see Prague’s most popular sights. We saw the Charles Bridge, John Lennon Wall and Prague’s famous castle.

My favorite was the John Lennon wall. It was packed with colorful graffiti and Beatles quotes everywhere (mom, you would definitely love this!).  The wall was dedicated to John Lennon after he died to signify free speech. The people in Prague at that time were trying to get out of Communism and fight for a different form of government. The JL wall demonstrated freedom.  Naturally, I decided to write my name in the “love love love” part on the wall. Now my name will forever be on that section and I could not be more thrilled.

After taking numerous pictures next to the JL wall, we hiked up to Prague’s Castle. We paid for a castle tour, but we were typically running late. The hike was absolutely breath taking and exhausting. Once we finally reached the top, we could see the entire city. I cannot even describe how beautiful the view was. There are so many place in Europe where you can climb up a hill and see the entire city. I am in love!

To end the trip, we went out to an 80’s/90’s dance club. SO MUCH FUN! I am obsessed with the chessy music and loved reminiscing the past.  The club was filled with Michael Jackson, Spice Girls, Bon Jovi and countless other one hit wonders.  My next business venture is to open one of these up in Milwaukee. Let just say that it would make bank.

We woke up the next morning ready to get back to Roma. We left at 11 am and had to mentally prepare ourselves for a 16-hour bus ride. Yes, I repeat 16-hours.  The ride was absolutely miserable. I was so antsy the whole way. To keep us entertained, the bus played movies, but not my favorites. By the time they dropped us off at the train station, it was about 4:45 am. Then I had to drag my carryon back to my apartment and did not reach my comfy bed until 5:30 am. I have never been so happy to see my bed ever.

All and all, no regrets on Prague. I absolutely loved the city and would recommend anyone to go there. It really is one of Europe’s hidden treasures.  Maybe next time, I will fly J

Three weekends ago, I had a mandatory class field trip to Pompei.  I was very excited to go and see what is still standing of the famous city. For those of you who are not aware, Pompei was destroyed and completely buried because of the eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius. The whole city was covered in up to 6 meters of ash and it was lost for many years before its accidental discovery in the 16^th century.  A lot of the city is preserved very well and it is so amazing that people actually lived there.

 We left for the bus at 6:30 a.m. and were on the road by 7:00 a.m..  I slept most of the way there and finally arrived around 2 p.m.. Everyone spilt up with their teachers and off to explore Pompei! My teacher took us to all around the sites. We saw the ruins of Pompei, their houses, a theatre (which is just near the same size of the Colosseum), their version of Michigan Avenue and my favorite spot, which was the Brothel.  It was hilarious to see the beds in there and how small they were!  Next we went to the villa of mysteries. The whole time I was so amazed that people actually use to live there.  It rained almost the entire time, so I wish the weather were better. However, I am happy that I saw Pompei and able to experience that history behind the city.

Houses in Pompei

Theatre

Since we had a mandatory trip to Pompei, a couple of my friends and I decided that we would take the train to Naples and spend a night/day there.  Somehow, we figured out how to take a train to Naples.  Once we got off the train it was about 6 p.m. and had nowhere to stay. We decided that it would be “fun” to explore the city and then pick a hostel to stay in.  I know this sounds a little irresponsible, but we decided to be spontaneous!  Beforehand, we did write a couple names of hostels that received good reviews down just so we had an idea.  One hostel was rated number 1, so we decided to check it out. Very few people in Naples speak English and we had to search for the information desk for directions to get to that hostel. I am very proud of the fact that we somehow figure out how to get on the bus that took us to our hostel and also finding the hostel. We walked around some streets for about a half hour and the hostel was so hard to find! I finally spotted a sign that said “hostel of the sun” and our hostel was located on the highest level of the building. So difficult to see!  We went up to our hostel and thankfully that had one open room left.   It ended up being a private room; therefore, it was a little bit more money than we wanted to spend.  We told them that we would think about it and check out other hostels just to be safe.  We got into a cab and showed the cab driver the next hostel that we wanted to go to.  The cab driver was persistent that we do not go there because “beautiful girls should not be in a dangerous neighborhood”. While riding through the neighborhood, we began to see how dangerous it actually was. The cab driver showed us where the prostitutes and it felt like a real life “Pretty Woman”.  After riding around in the cab, we decided to go back to the original hostel.  This ended up being the best decision ever.

The owners of the hostel were super friendly and very helpful. They sat us down and marked on the map the touristy places to hit up in Naples.  We asked him for a place for dinner and he suggested “Gino Sorbillo”, He said that this was the best pizza in the world and where all the locals go. Since Naples invented the Margarhita Pizza (tomato, mozzarella and basil), we knew our stomachs would be completely satisfied.  Somehow (convinced by luck), we found the restaurant and sat down. I cannot describe how incredible this pizza was. It literally melted in my mouth and my taste buds never experienced anything like this.  It was the best thing that I have ever eaten. Once we finished eating, we took our time walking back to our hostel and decided to call it a night.

Best Margarhita Pizza Ever

We woke up bright and early to explore the sights.  We forked over the 10-euro to enter the castle tour. Although the castle tour was beautiful, everything was in Italian so we could not understand a thing. We ended up creating our own stories and our own fun of the castle. However, the best part was when we reached the top.  The view was beautiful! The water was crystal clear and I wanted to jump right in.  Afterwards, we walked around the different piazzas and went in to random shops. Being in Naples, I got the feeling of how a true Italian lives. It was not touristy at all and saw real Italians in their natural surrounding. We stopped for lunch and went into the archeological museum of Naples. While we were in Pompei, a lot of artifacts and restoration was said to be stored in this museum. We really wanted to check it out! It was so cool to see the different sights and walk around. For dinner we wanted to try Da Michele’s pizzeria. This is the famous pizzeria that Elizabeth Gilbert talks about in Eat, Pray Love and Julia Roberts actually filmed here! This pizza was also amazing. It was different then the other pizza because it had the fire burned taste to it. Italian pizza is a lot different then pizza in the states. It is super thin with a thin layer of sauce and finally topped with fresh mozzarella. TO DIE FOR!  I actually preferred the Gino Sorbillo one just a little bit better, but this pizza was still one of the best things I have ever ate.  After dinner, we walked back the train station and headed back to Roma.

Amanda and I on top of the castle

Pretty Piazza in Napoli

Pizzeria in Eat Pray Love

I was kind of nervous to go to Naples because I did not hear the best reviews. Everyone we talked to said it was dirty and very dangerous. Although Naples was not the cleanest city, people have to keep in mind that it is a city. Not all cities are going to be clean and most of the touristy cities have the money to clean it on a daily basis. 

Therefore, the next time you’re in Italy, ignore the negative comments that people say about Naples. Trust me, it will be an experience that you will never forget.

Peace, love and Pizza <3

I am happy to report that I finally spent a full weekend in Rome.  I cannot express how good it felt not to travel anymore and I have become greatly appreciative of my surroundings. Even though I did not travel to a new city, I explored Rome and did as the Romans do. 

Without worrying about staying up too late and missing my plane or a train, I fully experienced what Roman nightlife has to offer.  As most would guess, it is very different then in the states.  A typical night in Rome is to first go out for apertivo, where you enjoy a drink and a snack before dinner (definitely bringing this back to the states), followed by a long dinner filled with conversation and lots of wine. Once finished with dinner, the night is still young (even at 1 am) and you can do whatever at your leisure.   On Friday night, my friends and I went to la discoteca and danced the night away!  It was one of the best nights in Roma and we met a lot of fun people too. It was such a great start to the weekend.

On Saturday, I had a typical Roman day where I actually felt like a Roman. A couple of friends and I went to check out Vincent Van Gough’s artwork in a museum that was near the Colosseum.  Normally I do not like art museums, but this one was actually really cool.  It was amazing to see his artwork and know exactly where he painted them. I loved hearing about his life and now have a better appreciation for artists.  Once we walked up to the top of the exhibit, we saw the prettiest sight of Rome ever.  It overlooked all of the villas and we could even see the Colosseum in the background. Naturally we took dozens of pictures and soaked it all in. What a perfect Saturday afternoon! 

On Saturday night, I went to my first futbol game! This was one of the things on my Roma Bucket list and I am so happy that I was able to accomplish it. It was the Roma vs. Napoli game and I was super nervous about going. Apparently, Rome and Naples has a huge rivalry and everyone was telling us not to go. It was supposed to be very dangerous and not safe for Americans. Naturally, we decided that this would be the perfect game to go to. When we got there I have never seem anything like that stadium in my entire life. It was huge and so overwhelming.  When we walked in, the place was echoing with cheer (most of which I could not understand because it was in Italian). The entire stadium was moving from people banging the walls non-stop.  Our tickets were located in the curva norde section, which is safe. The south curve was where the hardcore Roman fans sat and directly next to us is where the Napoli fans sat. Apparently, Naples is known for its mafia and not so nice behavior. At first, everyone was so scared to sit near the Roman fans because we did not want anything bad to happen.  Once we sat down for a bit, we realized that it was not as dangerous as everyone made it out to be. Then Napoli scored a goal.  Screaming and kicking began and the whole stadium shook forcefully.  The second time Napoli scored a goal, the fans rushed onto the field and people looked like they were getting trampled over. The score was Napoli 2 and Roma 0. We decided to leave after this because we could tell that things were getting more serious and we did not want to be there in case anything bad happened. Overall, it was a great experience and I am so happy that I was able to be part of it. It is so different because soccer (at least to me) is not a big deal in America where in Europe it is everything. I am looking forward to attending more games!

The next day, my friends and I woke up early to check out an Italian flea market. Now, I know most of you know me and know that a flea market is not really my thing, but in Rome do as the Romans do.   There is a flea market every Sunday morning in Trastevere.  The street was filled with boots, fake designer bags, clothes, and everything else that you can think of.  It was so much fun to walk up and down the streets and see what they had for sale. Although I did not buy anything, I am happy that I went and can’t wait to go back to purchase more items.

During this same week, I was fortunate enough to go into the Colosseum for the first time! It still amazes me that I am only a 20-minute walk away from the Colosseum, Vatican and Trevi Fountain. I feel so fortunate that I am able to have this experience and the opportunity to see these places. For one of my classes, we had a mandatory (my life’s hard right?) class that took us there. Although I have seen the outside of it dozens of times, I have never been inside of it and I waited until my class took us there. This was my Ancient Rome and Monuments class and one great thing about this class is that I really know a lot about the history of Rome.  It is fascinating walking around and knowing about the sites instead of just knowing what they look like. The Colosseum was built in 80 AD and it is amazing that it is still up today. The view is absolutely breathtaking. I could literally live there and never leave.  It blows my mind that there used to be human vs. human, human vs. animal and even animal vs. animal fights. 

Be on the lookout for updates from:

Pompei and Naples

Pragues

And Venice for Carnivale

This past weekend, I grabbed my rain boots and rain jacket and headed to one of the rainiest parts of the world (no, not Forks you Twihards).  I took my second trip to Dublin, Ireland. After the whole Brussels fiasco, I was praying that we did everything right this time and can apply the lessons that we learned.  We had a 10:00 am flight on Friday morning. We slept through most of the plane ride…until our pilot informed us of extreme winds and to expect a bumpy landing.  At first, I thought nothing of this because I could handle a little bumpy ride.  Boy, I was wrong.  I have never experienced a flight that rowdy before! Once we landed, I thought the worst part was over. Again, I was wrong.  Before I could even step foot in Dublin, I almost blew away. I never experienced winds like that before! We all found it very comical as we basically flew inside Dublin’s airport. Welcome to Dublin! 

At the airport, we hopped on a bus that took us to downtown Dublin. Once we got off the bus, it was so refreshing to see our hostel across the bridge. From that point on, I knew the trip was going to be smooth sailing and not to worry about a 240 euro cab ride again.  This was my first hostel experience and I was looked forward to seeing the 10 other “roommates”.  When we entered our room, we were surprised to see an older woman sleeping the afternoon away. We quietly dropped our stuff and went to explore the city!

While walking the streets of Dublin, it was very refreshing to be in a city! Although Rome has an urban atmosphere, it has so much culture and history. Dublin was a really modern city and it reminded me of being in New York or Chicago.  Shops, restaurants and pubs filled the streets of Dublin.  Based on the amount of pubs everywhere, I knew that we were going to have a fun night.  After exploring a little bit, we decided to go back to our hostel and ask the receptionist for a traditional Irish meal.  It was so refreshing to speak English!  I forgot how easy it was to ask for directions and I was relieved to know that people actually understood what I was saying.  The receptionist directed us to this restaurant called The Lotts and I was excited to order my first Irish meal.

I have not heard the best things about Irish food, but I am here to put that rumor to rest. Maybe I have reached my pasta limit, but Irish food is amazing! I ordered a sandwich and had the most amazing roasted vegetable soup ever! I know it may not be the most traditional, but after eating nothing but Italian food for a month it was exactly what I wanted. With our meal, I ordered my very first Guinness!   As most of you know, it is a very dark beer and a little bitter, but very, very smooth!

After dinner, we decided to take place in a pub crawl. It was a good idea because we were there for such a short time and we wanted to explore, as much the city has to offer! For our benefit, we arrived at the starting point late and avoided paying the fee.  It was great way to meet people! Throughout the different bars, we made friends with other study abroad students and locals.  Each bar looked similar on the outside, but they had their own theme on the inside. A couple even played live music! At one of the stops, I found my new favorite beer ever. It was a strawberry beer and it blew OGBH’s Raspberry Wiess away (shout out to all my Milwaukeers!).  As soon as the barcrawl was over, we decided to call it a night and mentally prepare ourselves for a full day of sightseeing.

Like Brussels, we purchased another bus tour to guide us through the city.  Since I was not feeling too good this morning, sightseeing from the bus sounded perfect. It was another hop on and hop off tour, so we decided to ride it once through, then get off at the stops we wanted to spend more time at. Another good reason about being on the bus was that it rained the entire time! The rain did not stop from Friday night and continued till Sunday when we left! Due to the rain, our pictures did not turn out as good as I would of liked, but oh well!

The first stop we jumped off at was the Kimainham Jail. I have never been in a jail before, but I was excited to see what this was like.  Our tour guide was a traditional Irishman with a thick Gallic accent. It was very hard to understand him, but I live in Italy and not understanding people is something that I have acquired to. Even though the jail was really creepy, I am glad that we stopped there. It was so cool to hear all of the different stories about all of the sacrifices individuals made for their family.  However, listening to the tour made me miss being a tour guide!

 The next stop we made was the Jameson Distillery.  On this tour, we learned what it takes to make whisky and even a brief history lesson about the Jameson family.  I learned that Jameson was not made in Dublin anymore. It recently moved to Northern Ireland, but it used to be made at that same location! At the end of the tour, we sampled our very own glass of Jameson.  Each person had the choice to have Jameson and Cranberry (traditional way to drink it in Ireland), Jameson and Gingerale (London’s favorite), or Jameson and Coke (many different countries). Each one of us picked a different flavor and the Jameson and gingerale turned out to be my favorite!

Once we left the distillery, we stopped to take pictures at many of the famous sights including; The Temple Bar, Trinity College, Dublin’s castle (if you can call it that), Guinness Factory and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Despite the non-stop rain, everything Win Dublin was gorgeous! It was a very clean city filled with the nicest people.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral

Dublin’s Castle

Trinity College

The group inside the Guinness Factory

After we were done on the bus tour, we did a little souvenir shopping. My favorite purchase was my gold Claddagh ring. It is absolutely beautiful and I am so happy that I purchased it.  I am sure most of you know the significance behind it, but it is cool to own something that is so traditional and classic.  Now that everyone was wearing their new jewelry, we were ready to eat our last Irish meal.  We walked around for what it seemed like forever and finally decided on a place that was right next to our hostel.  Based on the outer appearance of the restaurant, I was pleasantly surprised to find out how cute it was!  What looked like a little hole in the wall pub was a traditionally decorated Irish restaurant.  I ordered the classic fish and chips and it was seriously amazing! I could eat that every day for the rest of my life!  After we were done eating, I said goodbye to Dublin and was ready for a goodnights sleep. 

Overall, I really liked Dublin.  It is very similar to America, which is so comforting.  It is amazing that most of the stereotypes I had about the Irish were actually true.  Most people do have red hair, talk in a Gallic accent and are ALWAYS drinking beer.  Let it be known that the people in Ireland do like to have a good time and if you leave this country unsatisfied with the nightlife, it is your own fault.  I wish that I could of seen more of the greenery and especially where p.s. I love you was filmed. But I know that I will make sure I come back to see more of Northern Ireland at some point.  For now, the taste of Dublin was just as satisfying (if not more) then as my Guinness.

P.s. (Ireland), I love you.

Cannot believe that I have been in italy for a month! time seriously does fly and I never want to leave

loved my first futbol game roma vs. napoli. Still in shock how crazy it is #goroma #iloverome

As soon as we got settled in our hotel, we all decided to take a nap. We rested for a couple hours then got ready for a night out. Before we left our hotel, we asked the manager where a good place to eat would be. He offered this place called “Asia Grill”.  Especially after eating Italian food for 3 weeks, Chinese food sounded AMAZING.  He gave us directions, but they were very complicated to figure out.  We were headed for downtown Brussels and so excited to explore the new city! 

At this point, we figured out the bus schedule and knew our way to get downtown.  I guess using Milwaukee/Chicago transportation has finally paid off. After getting off the bus, we were looking all over for the restaurant. We asked a couple of people how to get to the Grand Place, which is the main square in Brussels (good thing that we are women and not afraid to ask J).   Thankfully, a couple of different guys spoke English and we made it.  At this point, we gave up on Asia Grill and looked for a nice, inexpensive restaurant.  Little did we know that this would be impossible to find.  The streets were filled with Italian and Greek restaurants, but the lowest price was 20 euro. After our eventful and expensive day, there was no way that we were going to pay that much for dinner. So here we are again, back to wondering around aimlessly like lost puppies searching for a place to eat.  This ended up being a blessing in disguise because our wondering around acquainted us with Brussels. We stumbled upon the Mannequin Pis statue, saw where we can eat authentic Belgian Waffles for 1 euro and the various pubs throughout the area. Finally, we settled on a cute sandwich place to eat. After we were finished eating, we decided to experience what Brussel’s nightlife had to offer.  At 3 a.m., we dragged ourselves back to the hotel and we were all so happy that the day was finally over.

We woke up bright and early on Saturday morning and off to see the sites.  Prior to arriving to Brussels, we purchased tickets for a bus tour around the city.  It was one of those touristy and ridiculously cheesy double Decker buses and I could not be any happier.

I know it sounds like I am complaining about the trip, but I ironically really loved Brussels. It is a gorgeous city!! It is very modern compared to Rome.  It is a gorgeous mix of modern buildings and old churches throughout the city.  The Grand Place is gorgeous with Belgian waffles, fries and chocolate stands everywhere.  The tour was great and I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Brussels.  It was great to see the European Union and where the royal family lived.  The mannequin pis statue is one of the most famous attractions where we took many pictures! The tale goes that the boy completed his “natural desire” on the opposing country’s canon and saved Belgium. It is hysterical walking around and seeing various restaurants portraying this famous statue. We walked all around and experienced my first authentic belgian waffle, chocolate and fries. After taking many pictures of our first experiences with the Belgian classics, we decided to try to find “Asia Grill” again. After an epic fail, we gave up and went to a chinese places. Finding this place really makes you appreciate how lucky I am to live in America. In the states, we have many ethnic places to eat at our leisure and it does not faze you. Eating chinese food in Brussels was like eating filet mignon. So comforting and so rare to see something completely different. As much as I love italian food, it is nice to see variety. Also, I did not realize how close Brussels is to Amsterdam and Paris.  This could have been useful information for future travels.  After a long day of traveling, we decided to go to bed early because we had to be up at 3 a.m. to leave for the airport.

Lesson #4: Look up what there is to do in other countries and see if you can see more then one country in one trip.

At grand place

First Belgian waffle experience, yumm!

The group in front of Mannequin Pis statue!

We had an exceptionally early flight on Sunday morning; our flight left at 6:20 a.m. and the gate closed at 5:50 a.m.. Before we went to bed, we asked at the hotel how long it would take for the cab to get to the airport and how much it would be. The manager said that it would take about a half hour and it would be a fixed rate of averaging to about 5 euro per person. I was very happy to hear this and hoped that going back to the airport would be much smoother then getting from the airport.  I am sad to report that this dream was not the reality.

We went down to the lobby at 4 a.m. and asked the manager to call a taxi for us. The cab arrived at 4:15 and we were on our way to the airport. We told him the destination and a confused look came across his face.

“Do you want to go to the airport or the bus to take you to the airport,” he said.

“We want to go directly to the airport,” all of us replied in unison.

“It is 70 km away and it will take an hour to get there”

At this point, hearing that it is an hour away was the worse news that we heard. Then we looked over to the sheet that listed the rates and immediately went into panic mode.  He was charging about 2 euro per km!!!!! We were trying to ask him how much it would be, but he did not understand what we were saying. At the point, we were stuck. We had very little money, patience and strength to make it back to Rome. The hour cab ride was the longest hour of my life.  I could see the meter increasing 10 cents literally every second and I could do nothing about it.  On top of everything else, the cab driver drove so slow!! I guess I am used to Milwaukee, Chicago and Rome where people drive exceptionally fast.  However, this guy must of taken driving lessons from my dad and drove like we had all of the time in the world. It was the most frustrating experience of my life to sit and watch what was happening, knowing that I could not do anything about it.  An hour later and we finally reached the airport. About half way through, I stopped looking at the meter because it was just way too depressing. When we arrived, the total came to 240 EURO!!!!! I still cannot believe it is even possible for a cab to cost that much. Between the four of us, we only had 150 euro and were clueless about what to do next. After arguing with the guy because he had a wrong turn (which potentially cost us more money), he said that we still owed the money and followed us into the airport to take out money out from the atm.  

Honestly, this was a lesson well learned and I have no regrets of the experience. There was nothing that we can do about the situation and I am very impressed how we handled it. Not once did any of us complain or take it out on one another. It is our first trip and it is safe to say that we all learned many valuable lessons.  Brussels was a beautiful city and I am so lucky that I had the opportunity to experience it.

Although I loved Brussels so much (despite all of the hassle), it was so comforting to come back to Roma.  I loved getting off the plane and seeing the cobble stone streets and vespas everywhere. I really did miss it and appreciate where I am so much more then ever before.  

My skills will be put to the test this weekend because we are headed to Dublin! I am so excited about this trip! I have always wanted to go to Ireland and I can’t wait to see the sites. I have the Murphy’s on my mind (miss you all!) and I am ready to explore the luck of the Irish.  WISH ME LUCK!

I love days like today :) So happy to be in roma

This past weekend, I took my first trip to explore Europe. I went to Brussels, Belgium.  I am sure a lot of you are thinking, why Brussels? What is Brussels? How did you decide to go there? 

Well it all began with trying to find a location to go for our first trip. Once we started to look at prices, most locations were very expensive to fly to.  Some even ranging from 200 euro!!  Everything was pricey because we were booking the trip about a week prior to when we wanted to leave.  Somehow Brussels came into the picture and I got really, really excited to go!! Once we saw the price of the inexpensive flight, we immediately purchased our tickets! BRUSSELS HERE WE COME.

We left our residence at 5 a.m. to catch our flight on Friday morning.  At this point, everything ran so smoothly.  We got there early, had no issues with security and managed to all sit by each other on the plane.  Before I knew it, I was in Belgium.

The night before we left, we discussed travel plans.  Since it was our first trip, we thought that we would just “figure out where to do when we get there”.  Once we arrived, we raced around to find the information desk.  We showed the information desk the address of our hotel and no one knew where it was located.  They suggested that we hop on a bus to the train station. Once we arrived to the train station, the man at the information booth said we needed to take a 2-hour train ride to our hotel.  I repeat, 2-hour train ride! At this point, we really did not see any other option. A concerned came across all of our faces as we thought, what did we get ourselves into?  

Lesson number 1: figure out the distance from the airport to the hotel.

It sounds so simple, doesn’t it?

The man at the information booth said that the price of the ticket would be 8, 50 euro- not bad. So, we went to purchase our ticket at the ticket counter. We handed him the printed information from the information desk guy only to find out that our ticket cost 15 euro, instead of 8, 50!! We were trying to explain to him what the information desk said, but he did not understand.  Little did we know that people in Belgium speak French and very little English. Since Brussels is home of the European Union, I thought that more people would speak English. However, after failing miserably at my attempt to nonverbally communicate, we gave in and purchased the train ticket.  Now, we had to figure out where the train departs.

Lesson #2: pay better attention in my foreign language classes. 

Once we sat on the train, we caught our breath and figured out what our next step was going to be. Luckily, I had a travel book with me and there was a map of Brussels in it.  What we saw in the map was probably one of the most frustrating things that I saw in my entire life.  Turns out, the airport we had just come from was at the southern end of the country, Brussels (the city we wanted to spend the day siteseeing) was in the center of the country, and our hotel location (according to our ticket) was near the top of the country.  At this point, none of us knew what to do.  We thought about canceling our hotel reservations, but no one had a working phone to make a call. So, we decided that we would get off in downtown Brussels and figure it out from there. 

Once we got off the train, someone saw a Subway sandwich joint and smiles immediately came across our faces.  After being lost all day and hungry, the sight of something so American was so comforting.  Our first meal in Brussels: Subway (probably the most healthiest thing we ate all weekend).   We found the information desk at this train station and the guy said that we just needed to hop on the metro and then take a bus to our hotel. Turns out, that our hotel was only 20 minutes away from downtown Brussels.  Once we got off the bus, smiles filled our faces as we see “Hotel Evergreen” light up in bright green letters.  As we grew closer to our destination, someone muttered “interesting” and we immediately broke into a fit of laughter.  It was 3 p.m. and we have finally arrived.

We walk into the hotel and given a key to our room. After walking up 3 flights of cramped and awkward stairs, we reached our room. When we opened the door, we were all surprised to find 7 twin beds, 1 double bed, a sink, and a tiny bathroom.  Again, laughter filled the air.

Lesson #3: research how far your hotel is from the main sites 

To be continued.