La Dolce Vida

This spring break was definitely the best spring break of my life.  Two girls, 15 days, 1 country, 3 cities, and countless cups of coffee and glasses of wine...

Courtney and I started traveling at 1 a.m. on Thursday night.  The bus got us to the airport by 4:30 a.m. and we were on the plane to Rome by 6:30.  By the time we arrived in Rome, it was around 10:30 a.m. and we were absolutely famished.  We took a taxi into Vatican city; our driver was our first experience with one of the millions of sweet Italians we were to meet throughout the trip.

The Vatican

My friends Taylor and Jorgi, who were nice enough to let us crash in their apartment for the next three days, met up with us in front of the Vatican around 11 a.m. The four of us walked about 5 minutes to their house to put our stuff down and immediately left again to get our first, real Italian meal. The girls took us to Il Matriciano, which is located right across from their apartment complex.  The two had been their a couple times before and promised us the best spaghetti of our lives.  They weren't lying.  We all ordered the restaurant's specialty dish, bucatini matriciana, which was simply made up of a tomato sauce, basil, and noodles that resemble spaghetti but have a hole in the middle like a straw.  It was probably the best pasta I ate the entire week. 

Me, Jorgi and Taylor on the Spanish Steps

After lunch we began walking toward the Spanish Steps but made a detour for Gelato. Words cannot even describe how delicious it was! Taylor and Jorgi helped Courtney and I order, and I ended up with a cup filled with hazelnut/ chocolate biscuit and banana gelato with a scoop of fresh whipped cream. Yum.  We ate our gelato as we wandered our way over to the Spanish Steps and then to the Trevi Fountain, using the opportunity as a way for Courtney and I to get our bearings.  After a few hours, we went back to Taylor and Jorgi's apartment to rest.

Trevi Fountain with Court

That night, the girls took Courtney and I to a restaurant that serves 'apertivos' in the Trastevere neighborhood.  The concept is really cool - you buy a drink and then get access to an unlimited buffet of little salad-type dishes.  My favorite was a spicy cauliflower and carrot mix! After, we went back to the girls' apartment to get ready for a night full of dancing at a club called Gilda.

At Gilda

The next morning, Court and I explored the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica while Jorgi and Taylor were in class.  We had pre-bought our tickets so we were able to skip the massive line outside of the building. Between our tours of the Vatican and St. Peter's, we climbed over 500 stairs to the top of the dome.  The view was absolutely incredible! After, we got lunch with Taylor and Jorgi at Obika Mozzarella Bar, did a quick tour of the Pantheon, then got what was probably my favorite gelato of the trip - dark chocolate and nutella flavored - and walked around Piazza Navona.

Navigating us around Roma!

Listening to Rick Steves in the Pantheon

Later, we went to the indoor market that is situated right across from Taylor and Jorgi's apartment and bought makings for dinner - fresh gnocchi, rich goat cheese, spinach and the best 2 euro wine I've ever had.  After making our delicious dinner, we wasted time in front of the Trevi Fountain then made our way to a 24-hour bakery.  A perfect night!

Trevi at night

On Sunday, Court and I saw the Colloseum, the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill.  We got 3 euro paninis for lunch at a stand in the Borghese Gardens, then enjoyed the rest of our afternoon people watching from the Spanish Steps. The two of us went to a pizzeria in the Trastevere neighborhood called  Dar Poeta.  Biggest meal I have ever eaten.  We ordered wine, two types of bruschetta - pesto and cheese, and honey and cheese - each got our own pizza, and then split a nutella filled calzone for dessert.  We had been promised the best pizza of our lives, and our expectations fell a short by a little, however, the dessert was absolutely to die for!!

Inside the Colloseum

My half of the delicious nutella calzone

Still in a semi-food coma, we took a train the next morning to Siena.  When we first got on the train, a scrawny, dirty Italian man tried to trick us into giving him money.  I had no idea what he was trying to do and just ended up confused because no one told me I had to pay another fee once we got on the train and was not about to fork over 10 more euro.  He wrote something on our ticket, made us sign a journal that was full of other people's names, then continued to try to tell us why we were supposed to pay him.  Luckily, a nice Italian man who knew a little bit of English heard what was going on and saved the day by shooing him away.

The rest of the train ride was wonderful! I ate the Fage Total greek yogurt that I had been craving since I realized Ireland didn't sell it and fulfilled my longtime dream of listening to the Garden State soundtrack while gazing at the European Countryside.  It took a while for me to get used to the train's calming effects, but the second I could keep my eyes open for more than 5 minutes, I was in love with what my ears and eyes were simultaneously experiencing.  Coldplay's song lyrics 'we live in a beautiful world' flooded my ears, and I couldn't help but smile and agree.

We arrived in Siena at about 4:30 or 5 due to a minor mishap at the train station (we were overly cautious and didn't get on the train that would take us from our middle-man station to Siena). We got our bearings of the city as we ate our second helping of gelato for the day. Then we ate a late dinner (pesto pasta!!) at a restaurant that overlooked the famous Il Campo square.  After dinner, we found a bar that had a cute little balcony in the corner that we could sit at and people watch.

We woke up Tuesday morning, fresh from a full night's sleep. Once presentable to the Italian population, we bought cappuccinos down a street we hadn't toured yet and ate paninis on the balcony of Bar Paninoteca San Paolo. We spent the afternoon strolling the streets of Siena and took a mid-afternoon break with sweets from Savini bakery.

At about 4p.m. Court and I decided to sit down for some wine at one of the restaurants overlooking Il Campo.  We snagged a prime table at Bar Palio and I proceded to accidentally order us a full liter of wine instead of a half.  I did this even though I ordered in English... Freudian Slip? We sat and enjoyed the day, each other's company AND the wine for almost two and a half hours.  For dinner, we ate a small pizzeria we had stumbled upon the day before and both decided it was the best pizza we ate in Italy!!

On Wednesday, we took a train to Florence.  Lindsay and Stephanie, our friends from Chapman who were nice enough to let us stay with them, picked us up and took us back to their apartment, which is RIGHT outside of the Duomo. As we were exploring the city that afternoon, we stumbled upon the 'TRL' music awards in front of the Santa Croce Church.  It was such a cool atmosphere that we hung out and listened to a few bands before breaking for a homemade dinner.  When we went back later that night, it was absolutely packed!! Most of the bands were Italian, but we DID see a group we knew called Dragonette (their most popular song - and the only song of theirs that I know - is called 'Hello'.  Youtube it, I bet you know it!)

With Lindsay on the Ponte Vecchio

TRL Awards during the day

Lindsay and I at the TRL awards

On Thursday, Court and I toured the Uffizi and the Accademia.  We both LOVED seeing the statue of David, but were left unimpressed by the Uffizi.  We actually almost missed our tour of seeing the Accademia though because we were having so much fun shopping for leather outside of the Mercato Centrale.  I ended up with a very cute purse, a matching wallet, and souvenirs for some of my close friends :)

That night, Lindsay and Stephanie and 2 of their roommates took us to Piazza Michelangelo, where we watched the sunset with cheap wine and Gusta pizza.

Piazza Michelangelo

Our plans of sunbathing went a little bit askew on Friday because the Boboli Gardens was more expensive than we had thought.  So, instead of paying 10 euro to sit on grass, we spent it on wine and bruschetta at a restaurant in Piazza della Signoria.

Walking, shopping, eating, drinking, sight-seeing, catching up with friends... All of it came together to make up my favorite trip of the semester!

Barca

I'd like to start this blog post by apologizing for blogging as little as I do. It's hard to keep up with. BUT I am now officially done with classes for junior year and only have a weekend trip to Palma de Mallorca (an island off of Spain), one paper, three finals, and a visit from my parents to distract me until my return to the states on May 21st.

Now back to Barcelona... Where to begin?

Courtney and I arrived at the airport at about 9:50 p.m. and immediately hopped on the aerobus to get to the main city area.  We were surprised at how many places were open so we decided to wander the streets a bit to grab some food before heading to our hostel.  We wandered... and ended up empty-handed and at a metro station one stop further away from our hostel than we had began.  Courtney had printed out pretty easy instructions on how to get to the hostel but we somehow managed to get lost. 

"Ok, we're looking for a petrol station called Ubash."

"A what called what?"

"It's like a gas station... called Ubash... And it's by a big blue building."

"I don't see a blue building..."

So we stopped inside a hotel, used a little Spanglish to try to figure out if we were walking the correct direction. We were, so we walked further. When we finally saw a gas station, Court insisted it was the wrong one because it wasn't called Ubash. I agreed because the sign said something else and there was still no sign of the blue building. About half an hour later, we found our hostel. Turns out we only saw part of the sign. Woops! The blue building is still a mystery... 

We woke up the next morning feeling refreshed after a full night's sleep and were out exploring Barcelona by 9 or 10 a.m.  The combination of the beach, warm sun, palm trees, and the fact that we were wearing shorts and flip flops had me and Courtney sitting contently on Cloud 9.  We walked up and down the vendors that lined the famous street called Las Ramblas.  Jewelers, street performers, souvenir stands and tourists crowded the area.  In the middle of our walk, we discovered the Mercat de La Boqueria which might have been my favorite part of the city.  La Boqueria is a giant market filled with permanent stands that sell fresh fruit, fresh fruit smoothies, chocolate, candies, coffee, meats, fish, nuts, and more! Court and I each ordered smoothies the first morning we were there - I got strawberry coconut, she got strawberry pineapple - and were surprised when we were not only handed our smoothies, but a glass of pure strawberry juice! All for 1.50 euro!! YUM!

Walking down Las Ramblas

We also split something delicious from a little cafe at the front of the market.  I asked the guy what it was called but it's name escapes me... It was something like "chuchu" but it was spelled with x's. Whatever it was, it was heaven.  The pastry was light and flakey and covered in cinnamon sugar.  The inside had a little bit of cream but it was more hollow than full so the texture wasn't overwhelming like it is in a cream-filled donut.  Double yum. 

We spent the rest of the day enjoying the sunshine and getting our bearings of the area. That night, we followed my friend Erika's specific instructions to go to a supermercat, pick up a baguette, a wheel of brie and a box of sangria before going to see the fountain show at Parc de Montejuic.  I am so glad she recommended it because the evening was incredible.  It really goes to show that it's the little things in life that make it so great!

After the fountain show, Court and I met up with some girls we had met earlier in our hostel. Two of them were from Texas and studying abroad in Rome, the other was from Australia.  The night was spent bar hopping and learning about our new friends.  It's weird to think we'll probably never see them again because we had so much fun that night!

The next day, we switched to a hostel that was literally on the beach. We got lunch at Bo de B, which is kind of like a sandwich version of Chipotle, then shopped our way through Barcelona.

On our final day in Barca, we went to Parc Guell because the hippie behind the front desk of our hostel convinced us that Barcelona was three things "sex, drugs, and Parc Guell." We took his word for it, hopped on a metro, and began the trek to the top.  Already panting from the hike up, the view from the top is one that definitely takes your breath away. Not only could we see a majority of the city, but we had an astonishing view of the park's architecture by Antoni Gaudi.  We hiked back down to get a closer look at the unique buildings and took a quick Diet Coke break before heading to the airport.

A majority of our trip was spent wandering through the shops and eateries in Barcelona. Something about the palm trees and warm weather sparked a bit of homesickness for our lives in the West Coast, but the fun jewelry, fresh fruit, falafel, seafood dishes and the warm sun kept Courtney and I smiling! There were so many parts of the trip when I found myself wishing I could bottle up the moment and keep it forever.  The feeling of traveling and experiencing new things is one that is inexplainable.

Dinner on the harbor

Sangria in the sun

Parlez-vous Anglais?

I'm not going to lie, the Irish are pretty loud, and I know their reputation for excessive drinking precedes them, but I was taken aback when I arrived at the Dublin airport to young women shrieking Katy Perry songs and a bar FULL of people. It was 6 p.m. when I arrived at my gate and I felt silly buying a salad (pictured below) instead of a pint.

A legit vegetarian meal - a rarity in Ireland.

The plane ride wasn't much different, only this time I was surrounded by a bunch of French students who insisted on singing "happy birthday" when the cabin lights dimmed and screaming during take off and landing.  Luckily, the rest of my trip was far more similar to what I had initially expected.

After two buses and a plane ride, I arrived in Paris.  My friend Raphael, who I met at Chapman last semester (before he transferred back to Paris for the spring), was nice enough to let me crash with him at his childhood flat.  After staying in hostels, this felt like heaven!  That night, Raph and I caught up on each other's lives and then went to bed so I could wake up early to meet up with my cousin Suzy.

I made my way to the Louvre the next morning courtesy of Suzy's instructions on how to take the metro.  When we met up, I was pleased to find that museums are free for students! Suzy led me through two sections of the museum, which I was very grateful for because without her I would have wandered around aimlessly and known nothing about anything I was looking at.

The Mona Lisa... Way smaller than I expected!

Suzy

Outside of the Louvre

After a couple of hours at the Louvre, we went to a cute cafe for yummy, somewhat bland, French cuisine.

Then we walked through boutiques-galore, a French (and therefore really expensive) version of Ikea, and over toward the Notre Dame.  The line to get inside the cathedral was ridiculous so we enjoyed the outer architecture, then walked to a cool, old bookstore and finally ended at a cafe where we sat and people-watched with glasses of wine.

No sign of Quasimodo outside of The Notre Dame

I got stuck in a freakish downpour after Suzy and I said goodbye but made it back safely to Raphael's looking like a drowned rat.  Hey, I didn't think it rained outside of Ireland...

That night, Raph took me out to his favorite italian restaurant then we walked around the Eiffel Tower.  It is crazy how many vendors station themselves underneath the Eiffle Tower! It was almost impossible to walk around without being offered a touristy key chain or having a rose shoved into my hand!

On Sunday, Raphael and I tried to find a restaurant my friend Lea had recommended called Eggs & Co. but when we finally made it there, it was too full and they sent us out.  We were enjoying our walk, so we continued strolling around the area and finally sat down at a place called Cafe Louise.  Our lunch was amazing!! We left the restaurant as happy campers and walked over to the Musee D'Orsay, which I ended up enjoying a lot more than the Louvre. I recognized a lot more of the paintings and saw some of of my favorite artists' works, such as Van Gogh, Monet and Degas.

Once we were done at the museum, we met up with our mutual friend Hunter, who is studying abroad in Cannes, and one of Raphael's friends from the States.  The four of us went to a cafe and ate crepes that were to dieeee for, mine was filled with nutella and banana, and then walked over to see the Eiffel Tower in the daylight.

Hunter, Raphael and I made dinner at Raph's house that night then ventured into the city for a night out.  Unfortunately, a lot of places close on Sunday's so we ended up spending a majority of our night in a total American-style bar.

Hunter, Raphael and I

I left the next morning with a belly full of chocolate croissant and cappuccino.  It was definitely a weekend to remember!

St. Patrick's Day: Dublin Edition

I woke up on St. Patrick's Day at about the same time as the sun was rising.  Cullen and I began the 4ish hour bus ride to Dublin at 7:30 a.m. and I was about as antsy as a little kid the night before Christmas. Not only was I about to experience the ultimate St. Patrick's Day, I was about to finally be reunited with two of my close friends and future roommates!

Lea, Taylor and I back together again!

As the bus pulled into the city, I couldn't help but gape at the festive people filling the crowded streets.  People weren't just dressed in green... they were in silly hats, glasses and drinking shirts.

Everybody's Irish on March 17th

The trek to the hotel couldn't have seemed longer.  We booked months in advance and could only find a hotel that was about a 30-minute walk from the downtown area. BUT this was the first hotel I've stayed in since being abroad and it was SO nice to have a room with a view, a TV, a shower/towels and a maid. So, minus my initial anxiousness to arrive, the Ballsbridge Inn ended up being great!

By 1 p.m. I found myself in Hard Rock Cafe, drinking with a group of my guy friends.  I know - you can't really get more commercial than Hard Rock, but believe me, we went to our fair share of local pubs throughout the weekend. Eventually the boys and I ventured out onto O'Connell street to see part of what might be the weirdest parade I've ever seen.  Floats ranged anywhere from a talking tennis shoe to giant polar bears.  There was even a man on stilts, covered in fake bird poop, being followed by a pack of Lion King-esque puppet pigeons.

Dave, Cullen and I at Hard Rock

One of many weirdo floats... 

Taylor and I were reunited by 4 p.m. and began happily wandering the Temple Bar district by seven or so.  That night we discovered a fiddle player who could play 'Hotel California' behind his back, found a group of Chapman study abroad kids, and squeezed our way through crowded pubs. (I'm not kidding when I say squeezed. One pub, I think it was The Dubliner, was so crowded that a nice man actually grabbed me around the waist, rotated 180 degrees, then dropped me off on the other side of him so that I could get by.)  Overall, everyone was extremely friendly and overjoyed to be spending the holiday celebrating with strangers.

Temple Bar district on St. Patty's night

The next morning, Taylor and I met up with Lea around lunchtime.  The three of us didn't stop talking the whole 30-minute walk home!  After dropping Lea's stuff in our room, we ventured back into the city, this time with Cullen, and spent the day eating and shopping.  On Sunday, we moved into a hostel - Lea's first! - that was more centralized.  Lea couldn't have had a better 1st-hostel experience; Abigail's was everything we could have asked for and more.  Clean sheets, a private bathroom for our 10-person dorm, friendly staff, a GIANT common area, and a fabulous view of the River Liffey!

Bunkmates!

That night, we met up with Lindsay, my friend from Chapman, and  Anya, Lea's friend from home for sushi! Yamamori emptied my wallet but was totally worth it. This was the first sushi I have had since arriving in Ireland and it was phenomenal! After dinner, we went to some more pubs in the Temple Bar district where we saw live music, Irish dancing, and I experienced my first Irish Car Bomb.  An Irish Car Bomb is when you drop a shot of Baileys into a pint of Guinness and drink it really fast so that it doesn't curdle. Sounds disgusting but tastes like a vanilla milkshake at the end...

Sushi dinner at Yamamori

Lea and Cullen left for the airport at about the times Taylor and I returned from our nights. Sunday morning was a mellow one. Tay and I sipped coffee from a cute stand by the river, while sitting in the sun.  Later, we explored more of the downtown area of Dublin, toured the Guinness Factory, met back up with Lindsay for some mediocre fish and chips, and ended the night sipping Irish coffees at a trendy underground bar.

Overall, Dublin was quite the successful trip.  It's a beautiful, clean city and I highly recommend spending at least a weekend there :)