Returning Home

I have been home now for about 2 weeks and I have never missed a period of my life more than I miss my time in Viterbo, Italy. In just that short amount of time on my own in another country, I have become more confident and comfortable.

The night before I left for the States, I got maybe two hours of sleep because I didn't want that time to pass. Instead, I stayed up talking to my friends and family until about 3 AM, having to wake up at 4:30 AM...it was rough! We took a very crowded bus to the Rome airport and boarded our plane for an 11 hour flight home. Once we landed in Chicago, we hustled our way through customs and security in order to make it onto our respective flights home. Once we were through security, I was headed for the G gates while everyone else in my group was headed to gates J-M; these were of course split up so I had to walk to G alone while everyone else could savor their last few minutes or hours together. I hugged everyone goodbye and practically ran to my Dayton-bound flight. When I made it to the gate, there was already a line to start boarding! I was so stressed. I landed and made my way to baggage claim to see my family for the first time in 6 weeks. They were very excited...I only kind of was! I was happy to see them, but I did not want to be home. We then went home and ate Chinese food (THANK GOD), I handed out their souvenirs, and then I went to bed, MY bed!!!

Reflecting back on this trip, I consider how stupid it was to be so nervous about not knowing anyone or the language. This was the best experience I have ever had! I would definitely encourage everyone to take the opportunity to study abroad if ever given the chance. It may cost more than you want to spend, but it WILL be worth it; I now have friends all over the country and stories to last a lifetime. I can't stop reminiscing. In fact, yesterday was my birthday, and in honor of my trip to Zinzinnati's sister city Munich, my family went to the Hofbrauhaus Cincinnati. More sausage and potatoes!

Travel Bucket List:
Italy
Germany
ALL OTHER COUNTRIES

Munich

Last weekend I went to Munich, Germany with Maggie and Holly; our first and only trip outside of Italy! It was amazing, to say the least. When we got there, we checked into our hostel - The Tent Munich -  which was a fantastic experience in itself. It is just an oversized circus tent with dozens of bunk beds scattered all around inside, a separate building for bathrooms, and an office. We met so many people from various countries here! After checking in here, we went to the English Gardens to watch the river surfers and just hang out for once. There were signs everywhere that told people not to jump into the river, yet all kinds of people were jumping in to ride the tide; Maggie and Holly decided to jump in and swear it was an amazing experience....though it was too cold for me! We had lunch in the biergarten there (sausage and potatoes) then The Tent had a cookout that night that we attended (more sausage and potatoes and cheese). We ate and sat around the bonfire there and met some awesome Irish guys, a British guy, and some Australian people. It was an amazing experience.

The next day, we went to the concentration camp in Dachau, which I feel like I should not even try to describe here. It was amazing. If you ever consider going, please spring for the audio tour! I cried like a baby for 3 solid hours. Afterward, Maggie and I decided to go to a pub and cheer ourselves up with some meat and potatoes.

We also visited Nymphenburg Palace and walked around the city center. Unfortunately, we waited until Sunday to buy our souvenirs and everything was closed! We bought some things in the Hofbrauhaus gift shop and in the train station. And by "some things" I of course mean steins! Because what is a trip to Germany without purchasing your own stein?

It was an amazing weekend and a great break from the heat.

I am going to miss Europe so badly. I leave for the States in just a few hours and cannot imagine how awful parting this country, these people, and this food will be. Oh well, I'll update once I'm back...

Catching Up

Since my last post, I have seen many new cities and towns, including the lake town Bolsena, Rome, Cortona, Caprarola, etc. All the town have been beautiful and so interesting to see. 

One of my favorite days of this entire trip was when we went to the lake at Bolsena. We had tried to go another day but watched the bus pull away as we were buying our tickets, so when we finally had our chance to go, we really enjoyed every minute. We took about a 30 minute bus and then a 10 minute walk to the actual lake, which is not bad at all. Maggie had gotten very, very badly sunburnt the day before so we found a spot with shade, applied our sunscreen, braced ourselves, and ran across the hot sand to the lake. Wow, was that beautiful! The water felt amazing and it was a much needed break from the heat and humidity. After a few hours we decided it was time to head back. As we were packing up our things, thunder started up so we hurried up packing up and walked into town trying to beat the rain. The wind picked up and the temperature dropped dramatically. It felt so amazing! The whole time we have been in Italy it has been about 90-100 degrees every day due to some sort of heat wave coming from Africa; this storm was such a sweet relief! We went back to Bolsena later in the week for the Santa Cristina festival where people from the city reenact the miracles performed by Santa Cristina. It was super cool and crowded! Here are some photos from that day:

Rome was amazing. There honestly isn't much to say about Rome that Andy Williams or Lizzie McGuire can't tell you, but I can try! We saw the Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain (under construction, of course!), and the Vatican. They were all amazing, even the construction on the Trevi Fountain. When we went into the Sistine Chapel, Maggie looked over at me and asked, "Traci, are you okay?" When I entered, I instantly felt my lungs shrink, my tear-ducts fill up, and my heart racing. It was so amazing to be able to see such a beautiful and famous set of paintings. We also watched a man be escorted out for taking photos inside the chapel, which you cannot do. So let that be a lesson for you!

I also went to Florence with Holly, mostly to see the art scene there: David and Venus. When we got there, we immediately went to Accademia to wait in line to see David. We waited only about 2-2.5 hours, which was significantly less than we expected! David was so worth the wait too. He was amazing. The next day we went to Uffizi to see the Birth of Venus. That painting is so cool; her hair glows like there is a light behind it and her posture is beyond possibility. After both of these endeavors, Holly and I went to an organic gelato shop and ate some of the best gelato we have had in our few weeks here (and we eat gelato everyday, so we are essentially gelato masters). We also had the experience of walking through the markets of Florence, which I definitely recommend NOT doing...it was intimidating because everyone is very pushy and forceful. There are no boundaries in the Florence markets. Beware! But overall, Florence was absolutely gorgeous and different from any Italian city we had seen so far. Our hostel was a camping hostel that overlooked the city of Florence, so it was beautiful at nighttime. The next day we took an hour long train to Pisa, naturally! Here are some photos:

Cortona was beautiful and I would love to go back some day. Caprarola holds a gorgeous palace that overlooks the entire city from its balcony. And so many other cities have many other beautiful things! My experience in Italy has been so gorgeous overall; I can't think about how disappointing Cincinnati will look after this, and Cincinnati is gorgeous itself! Only time will tell...