Day 100: Live for 32

Today we got up and had our group project meeting in the morning and then Amanda and I prepared for our oral presentation for Italian. We had to create a conversation for five minutes as part of our final that included the different verbs, phrases, and vocabulary we have learned throughout the semester. We then headed to Franklin to present; we ended up getting stuck at the end of the line of groups to go, so we had to listen to everyone's reactions when they came out. Most people felt confident, but some came out saying she asked them extra questions to supplement their conversations which was a little nerve-racking, but once we finished ours she said we sounded like we were very prepared and told us she'd see us on Monday so that was a huge relief. After Italian, we came back and met with our group again and then hung out before heading to dinner. Dinner tonight was a spatzle with beef/veggies/red sauce dish we'd never had before, but it was very good and actually filled me up for once! And then for desert... tiramisu! After dinner, we all gathered out around in front of the Montarina to have a memorial and remembrance for the April 16th tragedy. It was really an awesome feeling for us to not only come together as a group, but also to feel we could be there in spirit for our hokie family back in Blacksburg. Later that evening, I facetimed mom and then headed to bed.

Days 97, 98, 99: Last full week...?!

These three days of our last full week of this trip (hard to believe!) were full of working on our field practicum project. On Monday we met in our normal classroom and Franklin so Brinberg could explain the projects to us and divide the groups up. My group for this one was Loren, Amanda, Amy, Jess, Leighton, and Kellsie. Because he had so much frustration trying to split up all the groups from the beginning, he decided to put us with the people we hang out with and travel with the most, which I was completely fine with.After class Monday, I went to the gym with Amanda and then went back for Italian. We had a normal class of just going over old quizzes and the midterm to prepare for our final. After class, we met with our group again for the field practicum and then I went to the grocery store. We then went to dinner, which was bowtie pasta with red sauce with the ice cream block, but this time it was a pineapple flavor, which was much better than the normal strawberry one. After dinner, I worked on some Italian stuff with Amanda and then went to bed.Tuesday I woke up, did a little yoga because I was pretty sore from the gym Monday and then my group met in my room to work on our project. After we met, Amanda and I went to the gym and then when we got back, I grabbed some lunch, worked on some things and then we met with our group again. After our second meeting, we went to dinner which was the chicken on a bone with sauteed veggies and the apple pie for desert, so I was pretty happy. After dinner I had plans to facetime Mom, but I fell asleep with all my lights on so we had to postpone.Wednesday I got up and did the same thing as Tuesday. After meeting with my group, though, Amanda, Loren, and I went to the pool and laid out for a while with some of the other girls. Once we came back in, I ate lunch and did a little exercise in my room before meeting with my group again. Just as the other two nights, after we met, we went to dinner which was mystery meet with potatoes and carrots and strawberry sorbet for desert. While the mystery meat isn't my favorite, a lot of other girls like it even less so there's always extra which is always a plus since these dinners never seem to fill me up. After dinner, we met with my group again and then I facetimed Mom before heading to bed.

Day 96: So. Much. Transportation.

This morning we got up and checked out of the apartment and then walked to the train station to catch the shuttle that would take us to the airport. If you're already confused by the amount of transportation, just wait... it gets better. Today we take this shuttle to the airport. Fly from Split to Rome. Take another shuttle from the Rome airport to the Rome train station. Train from Rome to Milan Centrale. Then we have to taxi to a different train station in Milan because the trains from Centrale stop too early for us to get one home. So we taxi from Centrale to Garabaldi, and then train from there to Chiasso, and then switch to catch a train to Lugano. Luckily enough, all those things went as planned. We were with the other set of girls in Croatia, but they caught a different train home from Rome than us so we separated after getting off the plane. Before flying out of Split, we all spent time trying to figure out what to buy from the duty free store to spend the extra Croatian money we had left over. The plane ride went smoothly, and I had a window seat which is always a plus. Then my travel group plus Jackie grabbed a shuttle to the train station. We had a little time before our train so we grabbed dinner at the doner place across the street we had eaten at when we went to Rome two weeks ago. We then caught the train, stood in line for a taxi and managed to get a big van so we could all ride together and split the cost a lot easier. From then on, it was a smooth ride as our last train back to Lugano. Very bittersweet feeling, but I was overjoyed to be done with traveling for that day to say the least once we finally got in just before midnight.

Day 95: Don't make me SPLIT

This morning we got up and went to a place for breakfast Amy found as a recommendation from Rick Steve’s in her traveler’s book. It was a small restaurant attached to a hotel in the middle of square located just beside the palace. There, we essentially had unlimited varieties of homemade bread, meats and cheeses, jams and butters, fruit, yogurt, teas, coffees, juices, and eggs cooked the way we liked.
After breakfast, we headed to the harbor to and walked along the water for a while. We then stumbled upon some fried donut ball type things to have for a snack and sat by the water and enjoyed them. We then walked down along the harbor to check out the boats and restaurants down that way. I was really glad we decided to do so because the view of the water, harbor, and mountains was absolutely stunning.
We then headed back into town and grabbed some homemade ice cream from a little mom and pop shop we stumbled upon. I got the mixed berry yogurt in a cone dipped in chocolate and it was very tasty. We then headed back through the markets to see if there were any other souvenirs any of us wanted before heading towards the beach again.
Once we arrived at the beach, we headed to the opposite side of the day before where we could sit on the rocks. We were all having a great time listening to the waves crash on the rocks and soaking in the sun when suddenly we had a visitor… a man who decided to come lie down right next to us and tan… completely naked. While I luckily spared my eyes from this site because the view of him was blocked by the rocks at the angle I was at, some of my group was not quite so lucky. Thankfully he didn't stay too long and we continued to relax for a bit before heading back to the apartment.
After getting ready at the apartment, we headed to dinner at Chops Grill that we found the coupons for earlier. It was a really nice restaurant that we all could spend our leftover money on because we over-estimated how expensive Croatia was going to be. It was nice, though, because we could all relax and not worry about expenses for our last night out as a group. I ordered a caprese salad, surf and turf with baked potatoes and grilled veggies, with lemon sorbet for desert. We had a nice dinner, concluded with a free shot from our sassy (and flirty with Amanda) waiter and then headed back to the apartment to pack up to head back to Lugano for the last time :(

Day 94: Last time waking up in a new place..

Today we woke up and grabbed early brunch in the town square at a place called Bepa. There, a lot of the girls got seafood and different things, but I chose the avocado, roasted red pepper, hummus and feta cheese sandwich and fries on the side (which resembled buffalo chips from Bdubbs... miss that place so much) and it was AMAZING. I could probably eat the meal a million times and be content with life. After brunch, we headed to Diocletian's palace and went up the bell tower, in the sphinx, in the basilica and explored all around the different parts of it. After spending a couple hours there, we headed to the markets in town and then ventured to the beach. While some people were laying out and swimming in their bathing suits, we weren't feeling it was quite warm enough for that yet so we just walked in to our ankles and hung out around the water there.

We spent a good amount of time relaxing at the beach before heading back to the apartment to get ready for our evening. We first at dinner at a really good restaurant near our hostel, where I got seafood risotto that was probably some of the best I've had on this whole trip.Following dinner, we walked into town in hopes to meet with a pub craw, but unfortunately found out it wasn't running because the summer season had not quite yet begun, so we decided to just get some wine and have a girls night in instead. Amanda, Loren, Amy and I sat around in Amanda and Loren's room talking about any and everything, watching dumb movies and music videos, and had a great time before heading to bed.

Day 93: Budapest --> Croatia

Today we had to wake up extremely early and metro from our hostel to the train station to catch our train at 6 am to Croatia. Unfortunately, upon getting on the train, we were advised by one of the workers and some fellow passengers that we would have to be switching stations with some buses along the way. We trained for a while, got off and bused for a while, got back on another train, got back on another bus, then finally got on another train that took us all the way to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. When we got to Zagreb, we decided to grab food at McDonalds so we could have wifi and somewhere to hang out for our two hour layover. After looking at the menu, I decided to go with their grilled chicken wraps, which took me back to this summer when I would always grab them on my way home from working at Coopers. Once we finished and our time was up, we then had a straight shot train from Zagreb to Split. We got in around 10 p.m. where we met the lady who was renting the apartment to us. Her and her mother drove us to the apartment from the station and there Sheley and I decided to stay in the Lavender room. We got settled and then all went to bed.

Day 92: LOVE THE BATHS

This morning we slept in some and then grabbed a late breakfast/early lunch at a Wok 2 Go place just down by our hostel that we had seen the day before. Very similar concept to Wok to Walk that we've had a couple times on this trip, so I was very pleased. After finishing eating, it began to rain so we headed back to the hostel to wait it out. We waited and waited and finally decided to suck it up and go anyway. We headed to a gelato shop just beside the Basilica where I got a beautiful masterpiece of mango, raspberry and chocolate with orange flavors. As soon as we were leaving the gelato place, the sun came out and we had blue skies, which was a great surprise as we were worried the entire day was going to be yucky.
After gelato, we headed back to the hostel to get ready to go to the famous Budapest baths we have heard everyone raving about. We decided to try out the baths that our pub crawl guide had recommended for us and we all were very pleased with our decision. While the one a lot of people have told us about was out doors and much larger than the one we went to, this was very cool because it was not only the oldest baths still standing in Budapest, but it also had been recently renovated and was absolutely beautiful. We most definitely stuck out as some of the very few tourists there, so we knew we were in a good spot. We all hung out in the different baths and saunas for a while, and Amy and Amanda got massages. After spending a few hours there, we headed back to the hostel, changed, and then all just went and grabbed snacks for the train tomorrow and  quick dinners. Sheley and I went back to Wok 2 Go again because we loved it way too much, while the other girls tried a really good burger place just down the street. Once we ate, we all packed and got ready to get up very early for our train to Croatia the next morning.

Day 91: Hummus Bars and Ruin Pubs

Today we woke up, ate breakfast at the hostel (which had a panini maker so that was pretty cool) and then we planned on doing the walking tour done by the hostel, but when we asked, they told us they only do it on weekends during the slower seasons, so we decided to just walk around ourselves. First, we headed to see the Basilica and then we headed across to Chain Bridge that took us over to BudaCastle and where we got a beautiful view of the city and Parliament.

After seeing all the different areas of the castle, we headed back down and ran into the other group that was in Budapest (Colleen, Morgan M, Monica, Halee, Claudia, Jackie, Alle, Kate and Erin) and they gave us a recommendation to a restaurant called Spiler near our hostel they ate at the night before, and we exchanged our recommendation of the buffet we had loved to much as well.After meeting with them, we headed back to our hostel area and ate at hummus bar... and I'm not going to lie... it was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I got homemade lemonade with the "complete hummus bowl" which was hummus with roasted chick peas, falafel and mushrooms with pita on the side... aka my dream food. Once we all ate our weight in hummus (except Amanda who doesn't like hummus....) we headed back to the hostel and took a little nap before going to dinner.

Dinner we went to Spiler as recommended and it was pretty good. Not one of our favorite places, but that could also be because we had eaten so great in Prague and the night before, it was hard to compare. At Spiler I got a salmon burger which was really good, but the fries were like McDonalds fries... except not even that good, so that was a slight disappointment. 

After dinner, we did our final pub crawl (assuming we can't find one in Split) where we met in the square. The pub crawl was through a lot of the ruin pubs throughout Budapest and it was a really fun experience not only to see all the history and different set ups of these places, but we also got to meet a group from Australia that were traveling all throughout Europe as well. We hung out with them for the majority of the night and the other girls headed back around 2, but Sheley and I stayed out because the Australians were so much fun. Finally at about almost 5 am we headed back to the hostel... where we saw the other group leaving for the train... new low, but so worth it. After chatting with them for a bit, we headed to bed to sleep for what little time we could  before the other girls were ready to head out for the day.

Day 90: Prague --> Budapest

Today we got up decently early, ate our last free hostel breakfast, checked out of our hostel and got to the train station to catch our train around 9. There, we all had a little bit of cash leftover that we can't use anymore, so we got snacks a souvenirs for the train. The train was a straight shot to Budapest and once we got there, we took the metro to our hostel, which was Wombats as recommended by Emily (my roommate). We thought we were going to have a 6-bed mixed dorm (meaning we would have a random roommate we didn't know), but it actually worked out that the room we were put in only had 5 beds so we ended up with the room and bathroom to ourselves, which was really nice. 

After settling in and getting ready, we headed to a place Loren had found on trip adviser that was also advertised by the front desk of the hostel. It was a buffet with unlimited food and drink just down the street from our hostel with traditional Hungarian food. I tried everything from shark to African catfish and every side and desert you could think of. After dinner, we went back to the hostel and the other girls headed out to a ruin pub we had heard was really cool and I just stayed in to get some sleep.

Day 89: Happy Easter from Prague!

Today we got up and all grabbed our free hostel breakfast. Alle left to head with the other girls to Budapest because they flew to Prague and would be an extra day ahead of us for the 10-day. We then headed to the John Lennon Wall, which was really cool to see. While it was smaller than I was expecting, it was really beautiful to see all the artwork done there. And surprisingly enough, while there was some graffiti, it wasn't nearly as much as the East Side Gallery in Berlin.After spending some time at the Wall, we headed to Prague Castle. We paid for the extra ticket to see all the different parts. It was pretty and I'm glad we did it, but compared to other castles we've been to, it wasn't my favorite (as bratty as that sounds). There just wasn't that much to the different areas and very little history or explanations posted, so if you didn't know much about everything before going, there wasn't much to learn either. 

We then headed back to the Easter Market again where Sheley and I sorta pigged out on all the special Prague snacks we had been seeing around. We started out with these fried dough type things that were topped with garlic sauce, cheese and ketchup. We were a tad hesitant about the combination, but were not let down once we tried it. We then headed over for chip cones round 2... where the guy recognized us... for each getting our own chip cones... because apparently most people split them... and we each got our own... two days in a row... whoops. We then tried the cinnamon cylinder dough things we had all been raving about... and I could have eaten a million of those. The outside was crunchy with caramelized cinnamon and sugar while the inside was warm and gooey goodness. Just great all around. 

Once we ate our weight in snacks, we headed back to the hostel and hung out for a bit before heading to dinner. We asked the hostel for a recommendation for a traditional Czech restaurant and she sent us to a place just down the road from us. When we got there, we were definitely the only tourists in the place, but it was well worth it. We all had a little extra money to spend, so I got garlic soup to start with, then cheese battered fried chicken pieces with green beans with bacon and potato pancakes. After we all ordered, the waitress informed us we all ordered way too much food, but we ate most of it anyway... oops. Everything was aaamazing and my mouth is watering now just thinking about it. We then all went back to the hostel, packed, and passed out into our food comas.

Day 88: Czechin' Prague out

Today we woke up and had our free hostel breakfast and then headed out for the day. Although we nearly missed it, we jumped onto a sandman's tour just in time being done by a really, tall, dorky, and hilarious guide who wasn't Czech but knew everything we could possibly want to know about it. As every walking tour, we got to hear about fun facts and see all the main monuments throughout the city.

After the tour, we headed to the Easter markets throughout the main square, where I bought some souvenirs and Sheley and I tried the most delicious chips I've ever had in my life. We then headed back to the hostel to get ready for dinner where we would be meeting up with the other girls (Jackie, Kate, Erin, Halee, and Colleen) at a Mexican restaurant recommended to us by Kellsie and Leighton called Agave. There, we all took advantage of happy hour with their margaritas and I also tried the cucumber mint julep, which was very good as well.

For dinner, I ordered the bean burrito with a side of guacamole and it was by far the best burrito I've ever had (and I've had lots of burritos..). After hanging out there for a while, we all headed to the square to meet for our pub crawl.

This pub crawl in Prague is known to be one of the largest in the world, and that it was. There were several groups going around that night, and just in our group alone, there were over 100 people. The first bar consisted of unlimited beer, wine, vodka shots and absinthe shots. It was my first time (and now my last) with absinthe. While it was cool to say I'd had it, it made my stomach angry for the rest of the evening.

On the pub crawl, we went to several different clubs, ending in the largest club in central Europe. It had six floors, each floor consisting of a different theme of music (dance, hip-hop, 80s, etc.) We all had a blast and left around 2. On the way home, some of the girls stopped and got doner and such from the place across the street, and then Alle, Amy and I caught a taxi back because we were didn't want to walk. We then headed to bed with the other girls coming home soon after us.

Day 87: Off to Prague!

This morning we got up and caught the 8:11 train to start our journey to Prague. My travel group for this 10-day is Amanda, Loren, Sheley and Amy, but Alle is also traveling with us and staying with us while she is in Prague. We first took the train to Zurich, then switched to a train to Stuttgart, then switched to a train to take us to Munich. In Munich, we had a short layover that allowed us time to grab lunch and snacks for the rest of the day. I got curry worst and my ever beloved brie pretzel I had missed to much since the second weekend.
After grabbing snacks, we got on the train to Prague; however, in the middle, the entire train had to switch and catch a shuttle to take us to another train station to get us all the way to Prague. We got in fairly late and walked from the station to our hostel. We are staying in Advantage hostel and while we thought we would be sharing beds because Alle joined in with us for Prague after we booked our 5-bed room, we lucked up and got put into a 6-bed instead so she had a bed to herself. Once we put our things down, we went to an atm and then headed to bed after an exhausting day of travel.

Days 85 & 86: Presentations and last days at Franklin

These were our last two days of class, which meant group presentations all morning long... fun. My group was lucky enough to get picked to go first and get it out of the way. After presenting, we watched four other groups go and then I headed to the gym. After the gym, I came back and felt such a relief to be done with the semester (other than the final class of Italian and field practicum). I worked on my Italian homework, straightened up my room, and then headed to dinner. For dinner we had the pesto/spinach pasta with apple pie for desert. A couple girls at my table didn't eat their desert, so naturally, I split one of those with Michael. After dinner, I showered and just relaxed before heading to bed.
Thursday I watched group presentations and we got out of class early so I had extra time in the gym before going to Italian, which was really nice. Before Italian, I looked up things to do in Prague and Budapest. In Italian we got back our quizzes, and as expected, I didn't do so hot. Leaving Italian, I realized this would be one of my last times in Franklin, besides coming for Italian, so I took a second to admire the beauty of the campus and then headed home. We had beef with sauce, rice, and peas and mango sorbet for desert. After dinner, I finished packing and the Kelsey slept over in our room because her roommates were waking up super early to leave for their 10-day.

Days 83 & 84: So done with group projects.

This Monday and Tuesday were normal "its the third week of class, so finish up your group projects" days. Monday I did my normal class, gym, Italian routine. Came home and worked on group project stuff and then went to dinner. Dinner was bowtie pasta with red sauce and the cake batter kinda mouse thing for desert. After dinner I met with my group to finish up our paper and then headed to bed.
Tuesday we did a small group presentation on outlets of social media and then worked on our final projects all class. After class, I went to the library and caught up on all the millions of pictures I needed to upload and then went to the gym. On the way, Amanda and I tried a "shortcut" she thought she knew which ended us in a school neighborhood, but was absolutely stunning so it wasn't all that. Eventually we just backtracked and headed our normal way. Once I got back from the gym, I met with my group again before dinner to practice our presentation and then went to dinner, which was the chicken patty with corn and potatoes and chocolate pudding thing for desert. After dinner, I had free time for once so I watched Eurotrip and then headed to bed.

Day 82: Food Truck Festivals are my new fave.

Today we got up, checked out of the hostel and headed to try and see the inside of the Pantheon, but unfortunately it was closed again. So we headed back to the metro and there we randomly found Rachel who gave us directions she had gotten from a lady at the train station on how to find the food truck festival our friend from the pub crawl had told us to check out. We eventually found it and were blown away by how cool it was. Obviously were were some of the very few tourists there, which was a nice change from the past couple days.
We walked around for a bit and eventually I tried to try a stations "Fish & Chips" which was calamari and fries that I was a little skeptical about because it came with no sauce, but it didn't need it at all. Sheley and I then tried to fried olives that seemed to be a huge thing at the festival, but we realized they had meat in the them so I ended up just eating them all myself... oops. As we were leaving, we stopped at a gelato place where we got huge waffle cones with strawberries, gelato, and whipped cream... and I loved every single bite. Once we left, we headed back to the hostel and just hung out before heading to the train station. We then trained from Rome to Milan and then to Lugano. Once we got back, I unpacked, did some homework, facetimed mom, and then headed to bed.

Day 81: Lovin Roma!

Today we were a little slow moving from having so much fun from the night before, but we put our big girl panties on and headed out. First we stopped at Chicken Hut and a greek place right by the train station to get our feel better food and then headed to the Colosseum.
It was really an overwhelming feeling to be in such a huge place with so much history. We spent some time looking at the different levels and parts of the Colosseum and then headed to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Both of these were places I didn't know much about other than their names, but the Forum especially was really beautiful and really interesting to see all the ruins and whatnot.
We then headed to see Trevi Fountain, which was a definite disappointment because its under construction, but it was still cool to see. We then headed to see the Pantheon, which was again really stunning but was closed so we decided to head back Sunday to try and hope it would be open.
After seeing the Pantheon, we got gelato at Della Palma, which had over 150 flavors... so of course I got a large cone and tried strawberry cheesecake, mint chocolate chip, kinder something, and mango... all were to die for. After gelato, we headed to see the Spanish steps, but they weren't all that great because they were so crowded, we couldn't really see much.
We then headed back to the hostel to get ready for dinner. We tried going to the endless pasta place again, but realized we needed a reservation after going there, so we walked back towards the hostel and found a place that ended up being really good. We all got really good bruschetta for appetizer, lots of wine, and then a pasta with shrimp, zucchini, and tomatoes. After dinner, we were all pretty tired so we just headed to bed.

Day 80: Vatican City!

Today we got up pretty early and took the metro to Vatican City. There, we decided to first head to the Museum and Sistine Chapel because the line for St. Peter's Basilica was very long. Unfortunately, that line was quite long too but we waited it out, bought some umbrellas in line from the pests when it was raining, and finally made it in, but it was well worth it.
Once we were there, a couple people grabbed snacks and then we headed to the Basilica line, which was slightly shorter than before, but again wayyyy beyond worth the line wait. Both places were absolutely breathtaking that pictures cannot do it justice.
Once we finished up everything in Vatican City, we planned to head to a recommended endless pasta place, but it was closed until too late than we wanted so we headed back to our hostel and ate at a place I found on trip adviser. There a couple of us got the "super meal deal" plates, which was a huge mistake. It was unlimited bread, a full plate of gnocchi as an APPETIZER, then a meal with chicken, salad and potatoes, but then desert. We were in food comas to the max and I couldn't finish a single part of meal. We got lots of food for a little amount of money, but we were all STUFFED.
After dinner, we headed back to the hostel and got ready to go out for our Rome Pub Crawl that met at the Colosseum...casual. This one we found online that included unlimited bar for a certain time, free t-shirt, and FREE PIZZA! It was so much fun.. we played games and got to meet lots of new people. Loren and I headed back first, and Sheley, Kelsey, and Rachel came home later and then we all headed to bed.

Day 79: Off to Rome!

Today I got up and went to class, as per usual. In between class and Italian, we booked our hostels for Prague and Budapest on the last 10-day and I studied for my Italian quiz, which I know I've said every time that I think I did poorly, but this one might have actually been awful... oops. Anyway, after Italian I came back to the Montarina and grabbed my stuff and we got on the train to head to Rome because we had Friday off of class this week. My group this time was Sheley, Loren, Rachel and Kelsey who I haven't been able to travel with yet, so I'm very excited for it! We trained from Lugano to Milan then to Rome and checked into our hostel, which was Four Seasons Hostel located right near the train station. After checking in, we asked the front desk for a close recommendation for dinner and went there. I got a special with water, pasta, and desert. I got noodles with a tomato chili sauce and a fruity jello kinda desert. After dinner, we headed to bed to get ready for tomorrow at the Vatican!