España: Barcelona/Madrid/Valencia

I booked a one way ticket to Barcelona by myself with no plan and no expectations. 

Barcelona                                                                                                                          
I booked my one-way flight to Barcelona with no plans. I figured I would find a hostel and walk around by myself, maybe go to the beach…to my surprise I experienced much more. Enric, a friend I met while he was studying abroad at UF last year, invited me to stay with him.  I didn’t realize when he invited me to stay with him meant that he would be my personal guide for the next 2 days. Enric wanted me to have the best experience possible while in his city and he made sure I saw everything. I was able to experience Barcelona from a local’s point-of-view and that is the best way to do

Day 1: As soon as I arrived Enric pulled up Google Maps and explained to me how the city is set up, we then grabbed 2 helmets and hopped on his moped. Our first stop was up a mountain at beautiful overlook of the city. We then drove to Park Güell, which was designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi. After riding around for a couple hours we went back to his apartment and got ready for dinner. I didn’t realize how late everyone does things in Spain. We met up with his cousin for dinner at 9pm and ate delicious food. After dinner he invited a couple friends over to hangout. I'm used to being a foreigner and not understanding the language, but Enric made sure his friends spoke English around me and if they didn't speak English he would translate everything for me. It's funny how being friends with locals can make for such a difference and amazing experience.

Day 2: We woke up and explored the city for hours. I enjoy getting lost, mostly because I believe it's the best way to see a city. We stumbled upon many beautiful buildings and after the day of exploring I decided Barcelona is my favorite city I have visited in Europe. Don't get me wrong I love Dubrovnik, but Dubrovnik isn't real life. I could see myself raising a family and settling down in Barcelona when I'm older. Fingers crossed! While we were walking around this little man walked up to us and asked for directions. To his surprise we were very nice to him and we were actually heading in his direction so we offered for him to walk with us. He was shocked. He didn't think locals and tourists were that nice so I'm glad we were able to prove him wrong. When we asked him where he was from his respond was "South Korea like the man from Gangnam Style" and he even did a little dance move along with it. Before he left us he asked to take a picture with us because we were his first friends in Spain. You never know whose day you're going to make just by simply giving them directions. For my last night in Barcelona we went back to Enric's cousin's house. She invited a bunch of her friends over and we ordered Domino's...yes, they actually eat Domino's pizza in Barcelona.I was the only American who did not speak Spanish or Catalan and there was a guy from Portugal who spoke Spanish, Portuguese, & English, and everyone else in the room spoke Spanish, Catalan, and English. I used to laugh when foreigners would tell me that they can't hear the difference between and Australian and an America, but I don't laugh anymore because I realized I can't tell the difference between Spanish and Catalan. The entire night everyone would switch between English, Spanish, and Catalan and it was definitional as humorous as it sounds. I learned you just have to laugh at the entire situation.

Madrid:                                                                                                                    
At the end of my journey in Barcelona I planned the rest of my holiday. I was fortunate enough that I was able to visit my friend Natalia who is spending this semester in Madrid.

I didn't think I would like Madrid, mostly because I loved Barcelona so much and I really like cities by the sea. Clearly I was wrong.
Day 1: As soon as I arrived Natalia had our day planned out and it mostly consisted of eating amazing food. We went to a local restaurant for the special of the day which was 2 plates of ham and a pitcher of sangria. What a wonderful way to start my adventure in Spain. After our 2 plates of delicious ham we went and got churros which are basically fried dough that you dip in melted chocolate. After all of the dough was gone we ate the chocolate as if it were soup. I was perfectly content with a day dedicated to eating and relaxing.

Day 2: My second day in Madrid consisted of exploring as usual. I've come to the conclusion that I don't like to do touristy things, especially walking tours or museums. Our first stop was to a really cool street market. After a couple hours of shopping we decided to grab burritos and bring them to a local park to eat. Once we got the burritos it took us about an hour to find the spot in the park that Natalia was dying to sit at. I was in Spain, eating Mexican food, sitting in an Egyptian temple. Yes, Spain is a very cultured country. After we finished out delicious burritos and explored the temple we went to visit the Royal Palace. I definitely wouldn't mind living there.

Madrid definitely exceeded my expectations and it was thanks to Natalia and the amazing food!

Valencia:
This is the first city I have ever stayed in a hostel by myself. Valencia might not have been my favorite city, but I still had an incredible time. The first night in the hostel I met a guy named Lubo. He is originally from Czech, but grew up in Florida and Czech. Coincidentally he graduated from UF! He might be the most interesting and inspiring person I've ever met.

 Day 1: The first night we relied on Yelp for a good restaurant and it was a wonderful decision. We ate the best food I think I've eaten in Spain so far (that says a lot because I ate delicious food everywhere in Spain). Compared to Barcelona or Madrid, Valencia is a pretty quite city. We were sitting at dinner talking and telling stories when all of a sudden a man walks up to us and tells us to be quite. After dinner we wondered the streets of Valencia for a while and we met up with a bunch of travelers from our hostel and just sat outside and talked until it was time to go to sleep.
Day 2: Lubo is also one that doesn't like touristy attractions so we decided to rent bikes and ride to these lakes that were just outside of Valencia. On our way to the lakes we drove through a long park that led to the City of Arts and Sciences. We found a huge rope gym where we climbed to the top and hung on the ropes for a little bit until we continued our bike ride. We stopped at a store that reminded me of a Spanish version of Cosco where we picked up some food for a picnic. What we thought was going to be a13 km ride turned into 23km each way. For us American's that equals approximately 30 miles when we count the time we spent lost. When we finally arrived to what we thought would be beautiful lakes turned out to be a bunch rice fields. On our way back we topped at the beach to relax and swim. Swimming turned into taking a siesta on the beach because there were jelly fish everywhere. When we finally got back to Valencia to return the bikes we were able to sign the wall and represent the Gator Nation. After walking around the city a little more and eating Valencia's famous Paella it was time to go to sleep.

My journey through Spain was everything I could’ve hoped for and much more. Spain was never a country that really appealed to me. I ended up traveling Spain because 1. It was the cheapest flight out of Dubrovnik and 2. I wanted to visit my friends. Growing up around Spanish people my entire life I thought I already knew the Spanish culture, clearly I was wrong. I know for a fact I will return!

I Live in Paradise

Growing up in south Florida I thought I knew what paradise was. I've been on several cruises around the Caribbean and I've even been to Hawaii, but I don't think I ever fully experienced Paradise until I arrived in Dubrovnik.

Picture mountains to the east and the Adriatic Sea to the west, with beautiful terracotta roofs all in between.

I am living in a 3 story flat right outside the city in a little town called Lapad. I live in the bottom flat, the owners live in the middle, and the top flat was turned into a hostel.  The picture below is of the steps from my back porch that leads to the harbor. It is perfect, especially for right now when I don't know anyone. I am able to go up to the hostel whenever I want and meet all of the traveling guests. One night there was an entire turnover of the hostel guests and it couldn't have been a more perfect group. There were 3 Canadians, 3 Germans, 2 Scots, 1 Australian, and 1 American. Everyone was either traveling alone or with 1 friend. They proved to me that traveling alone can be amazing.

Living on the east coast my entire life I was never able to enjoy sunsets. Now I am able to watch the sun set every night over the beautiful ocean. I am going to try to take a picture of the sunset every night and hopefully put together a collage at the end of my journey.

At orientation on September 16th they decided to announce that classes don't start until October 1st. I'm not going to lie, I was really excited for classes to start and to meet everyone, but a 2 week holiday means 2 weeks of traveling!

My travel plans are:Dubrovnik>Barcelona>Madrid>Valencia>Marseille

Pre-Departure: A Mixture of Emotions

When I decided to directly enroll into Dubrovnik International University I thought I knew what I was signing up for. I was wrong. I am leaving in one week and I have no idea what I am getting myself into.

It is difficult for me to describe how I am feeling at this point. Everyone keeps asking me if I am “SO EXCITED?!” and the truth is that I am very nervous. I am traveling to a country without knowing a single person. I’ve heard many times that everyone should travel alone at least once, so here I go!

What I do know is that I arrive in Dubrovnik on September 15th and my classes start September 16th. Which classes am I taking? Good question. The relaxed Croatians like to choose their classes the first day of school. It will be quite a change to go from a huge public university like UF to a small private university like DIU, which has less than 200 students.

I anticipate this experience to be challenging, but that’s what makes it exciting. In order to keep life interesting we all must take risks, enjoy life, and go with the flow.

Putting my nerves aside, I am very anxious to begin my journey. I cannot wait to breathe the fresh ocean air as I walk along the Adriatic Sea on my way to class every morning. I am very excited to take classes that actually interest me and I am even more excited to take these classes with students from all over the world. I can’t wait to get to know a different part of the world and the magnificent people that fill it!

The Adventures Never End

I started to blog to document my study abroad experience, but I've decided to keep the blog updated with all of my adventures abroad. Italy was just the beginning...much more to come! Once you've got wanderlust in your blood, you've got it for life.

Buda or Pest?

Before we left for Budapest I was told that the city was split in half with Buda on one side of the River and Pest on the other side. The entire time I thought it was a joke...it wasn't.

Day 1:
Our flight was out of the Pisa airport so we decided to go to Pisa a couple hours early in order to see the leaning tower. When we arrived in Pisa we took a city bus to the tower. We spent about an hour trying to get a good picture, it was somewhat successful. We wanted to have a nice dinner by the tower, but we realized we spent too much time taking pictures and had to get back to the airport. I am ashamed to admit that we ate McDonald's for dinner. After our wonderful Italian dinner.... we waited at the bus stop for about 10 minutes. A bus came and we all got on it. Good thing one of my friends asked the bus driver if he was headed to the airport and he shoot his finger in front of him saying "no aeroporto". We all jumped off before we got on the wrong bus. We looked at the bus schedule and found out that the bus we needed stopped running. Picture 9 American students with huge carry on bags running through the streets of Pisa trying to catch a plane. We looked ridiculous and got plenty of funny looks. After running about 4 miles we finally made it to the airport. Of course we looked like we just ran a marathon and had sweat dripping down our faces, but that didn't stop Nicole from getting our flight attendants number.

I was told that Ryan Air was one of the worst companies in Europe, but we had a wonderful experience. We paid 70 euro for round trip tickets, which included the extra 5 euro we paid for priority seating (best investment I've made in Europe). They weren't very organized and basically everyone just stands in a jumbled mess fighting to board the plane. They do not have section numbers or assigned seating. They kind of just say "okay, everyone line up to board", you can imagine the mess that makes. We were able to board the plane first and pick any seat we wanted. They opened the door and I expected to walk through a tunnel to the plane...nope we literally walked on the runway right to where the plane was parked and walked up the stairs right onto the plane. Ryan Air was very entertaining... they speak in 3 different languages so everything they say they repeat 3 times, which meant they were talking for the entire flight. They also has many opportunities to shop on board. The sold smokeless cigarettes, perfume, and scratch off cards. We found it quite funny. Before we knew it we were walking off the plane and were in Hungary, a place I never pictured myself visiting on my last free weekend in Europe.

 

We stayed at a hostel named Tiger Tim's. On the website it mentioned that there are no signs advertising that the hostel actually exists so it has a picture of the entrance and it tells you to remember what this door looks like, because that is the only way you will know you are at the right place. It was 1:30am and the shuttle pulled up to the street, let us out, and left. The 9 of us were searching for this mysterious door. One of the boys knocks on a door that he believes is the correct place. This door was located between a kebab store and a sex shop....we were a little nervous to say the least. The door opens and we start walking up a stairs, having no idea what or who we might run into. After 4 flights of stairs a very skinny Australian man greets us in his underwear with a notebook in his hand. We weren't sure if we should be scared or entertained. He started calling out our names and led us to our rooms. The owner of the hostel, Tim a funny Irish man, introduced himself and told us to all meet in the lounge area in the morning and he would go over everything with us. 

Day 2: 

When we woke up we all met upstairs and Tim handed us each a map of Budapest. He told us everything we needed to know about the city from good restaurants to the famous Turkish baths. Budapest is a walking city, even if it's 30 minutes away, you walk. 

We began our adventure exploring the city. We went to the 3 story central market. It had a lot of fruits, vegetables, and meats.. not the market we expected, but it was still cool to explore. We then went to the green bridge and just sat in the sun for a little bit. There wasn't a cloud in the sky! After relaxing we walked on the Pest side along the Danube River and we ran into the shoe memorial. It is 60 pairs of shoes made out of iron that give remembrance to the Jews who were shot into the Danube River by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen in Budapest in World War II. 

 

We followed one of Tim's suggestions and went on one of the free walking tours. As you've already read I do not enjoy tours very much, but this was an exception. The guides were young and energetic. The brought us to both sides of the river showing us famous places in Buda and Pest. They brought us to a statue of a fat police man and told us if you rub his belly you will eat good food while you are in Hungary. We also saw more locks on an iron gate. Our guide told us that couples who are in love come here, write their initials on the lock, lock it on the fence, and throw the keys into the river. Europe really likes this lock tradition. They have it in Florence and Cinque Terre. We ended the tour on Castle Hill on the Buda side. The view was of the entire city and was beautiful.  

We finished our day of sightseeing at the popular Hummus Bar. I guess rubbing the statues tummy worked because our that was the best falafel I've ever had. The made the falafel balls fresh to order. After dinner we had to get ready for our night around Budapest. Tim has organized things each night of the week for anyone in the hostel to participate in if they wish. Saturday night was a cruise along the Danube River that ended on Dream Island, which is an Island known for night life. It was a good time and we met a lot of really cool people. The view of the river at night was awesome.

Day 3:

Our third morning was when I realized how cool staying in a hostel is. We were upstairs sitting at a table full of about 15 people and when you listened around the table you heard accents from England, Australia, Norway, and Ireland. I'm not sure the next time I will be around such a diverse group of people. 

We walked to a local market one of our tour guides told us about. It had about 15 vendors and would take a regular group of people 30 minutes to go through, but it took us group of 6 girls about 2 hours. Everything was so cool and unique. 

After shopping we visited a museum called the House of Terror. The museum contains exhibits related to the fascist and communist dictatorial government in 20th century Hungary. It also a memorial to the victims of the regime. The entire museum is in Hungarian so we had to read the English papers that explained every room. Tim warned us that the museum was very shocking, but we didn't get that feeling until we went to the basement. This is where the memorial is and prison cells that make you feel like you were actually there. It sent shivers down my spine. 

After the House of Terror we were ready for a relaxing couple of hours at the Szechenyi Baths. This Turkish bath was the first of its kind on the Pest side and is the largest medicinal bath in Europe. It has over 15 baths ranging from ice cold to steaming hot. We laid by a pool that had a whirl pool in the middle. It turned on every 10 minutes and once you are in it, it is very hard to get out. The water pushes you in circles, bumping you into the people around you...sounds weird, but it was so much fun!

After the baths we went with the Hostel the the World's 3rd most famous bar, Szimpla. This bar is considered a ruin bar, but it blows all other bars out of the water. You can spend hours exploring the bar. It is full of computer screens and strange junkyard artifacts.

When I booked my flight to Budapest I had no idea what to expect. I couldn't be happier with our decision to travel there. It was a place I'll probably never have the chance to go to again. It was the cleanest city I have been to and not very touristy, which was nice. We ate good food, had a fun time, saw awesome places, and met cool people.

When in Rome...

Roma was not one of my favorite cities in Italy. I enjoyed seeing all of the cool sites, but I'm not sure if I'll ever go back. It was just very crowded and a little dirty. I am also not a tour person. I like to wander around on my own and go at my own pace, which is usually faster than tour guides. Sometimes I get bored staring at a picture for 20 minutes learning about the history. I have to say that the night life in Rome was very alive. Every piazza was full of locals and tourists each night. One night we sat at the Trevi Fountain for a couple of hours just taking pictures and enjoying our surroundings.Those couple of hours were my favorite hours spent in Rome.

Day 1:
We went to Vatican City the first day. We visited the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Square and Basilica. Vatican City felt the Disney world. It was packed! It was cool to visit one of the smallest countries in the world. At one point I took off my sweater because it was so hot and I got yelled at by one of the guards because I was showing my shoulders. I had high expectations for the Sistine Chapel, but once we got inside it was so loud and everyone was taking illegal pictures. The police had to get on the microphone twice to tell everyone to stop being disrespectful. It kind of took away from the experience of seeing one of the prettiest chapels in the world.Walking around St. Peter's Square was very pretty and the Basilica was one of the prettiest churches I have been in (lets be real, all of the churches in Italy are pretty).

 

Day 2:

Another morning full of tours, but I guess that's what you get when you go to a touristy city with a lot of sites that need to be seen. Today we visited the Coliseum, Roman and Imperial Forums, Capitol Hill, and Piazza Venezia. The Coliseum was by far my favorite place of the day. I have seen so many pictures online and in movies and it was so cool to finally see it in real life. It was incredible to think that the gladiators fought in it so long ago. Also, I learned that gladiators were slaves, which I had no idea about. The tour ended around 1:30 and then we had free time for the rest of the day. Free time consisted of wandering Rome, taking a nap, and getting ready for the rest of the night.

Day 3:

My favorite day in Rome! Today was less touristy and more walking around the city and seeing places I really wanted to see. We visited Piazza del Popolo, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Pantheon, and Piazza Navona. The Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain were my favorite places in Rome. The Spanish Steps are so pretty and surrounded by colorful flowers. The Trevi Fountain is an incredible work of art that also grants wishes. If you toss one coin with your right hand over your left shoulder you will return to Rome. The money thrown into the fountain is collected daily and is donated to an Italian charity.

The Tourist In Me Is Finally Coming Out

After being in Florence for the past 4 weeks my friends and I decided it was time to visit the touristy places in town.

Firenze Synagogue
We recently discovered that our apartment is 5 minutes from the only Synagogue in Florence. The Synagogue is only open for services during Shabbat and high holidays, all other times the Synagogue serves as a museum for the traveling Jewish community. When we walked inside we were all amazed. It was one of the most beautiful Synagogues I have been into. The walls and ceilings were all hand painted with such detail. After wandering around by ourselves we got a brief history about the Synagogue and Jewish community in Florence from one of the guides. He pointed out a small but important detail on the walls. He pointed to the wall at about 7 ft high and showed us how from the floor to about 7ft the wall was a little darker than the 10ft mark to the ceiling, all around the Synagogue. He explained to us how there was a flood that ruined the entire city and 7 ft of water sat in the Synagogue for days. He also explained to us how the Nazis tried to blow up the Synagogue by placing 30 bombs in and around the Synagogue, but luckily somehow something went wrong and only 2 of the 30 bombs went off, making very minimal damage.

Gallerie dell'Accademia
The time has come for me to finally see the famous naked masterpiece of Michelangelo, the statue of David. My museum pass makes me feel like VIP. It allows all students to skip the line at most of the museums in Florence. The statue was huge and intricate! The sculpting on his body made him seem like the perfect man. I'm not really a museum person, but I walked around the rest of the museum and appreciated some of the works of art. It was a short visit, but well worth it.

We were not allowed to take pictures of the real David, but here is the David in modern times.

Duomo
The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, otherwise known as the Duomo, is the main church of Florence. It serves as my landmark in Florence and is basically the only reason I know how to get around Florence. When you see the Duomo you know you are headed in the right direction. We decided it was time to finally climb the Duomo. We put on our hiking outfits and Nike shoes and set out to climb the tallest building in Florence. Unfortunately, the Duomo is not on our museum pass so we had to wait in line like ordinary people. While in line we thought of every possible staircase that we might have to climb. Would it be a spiral all the way up? Can we just take a elevator? What if we fall? We walked in an the adventure began. The climb up wasn't too bad (of course we were all out of breath half way through), it just felt like it was never going to end. We finally reached a point that was almost to the top. It was one of the steepest staircases I have ever climbed, and it had no railing. We were a little scared, but then we saw a cute old couple coming down and they gave us motivation. We reached the top and it was magnificent. We were standing on a balcony at the top of the largest building in Florence. We could see everything surrounding Florence. After about 20 minutes of admiring the view we headed back down. The climb down was scarier than the climb up. I consider myself and adventurous person, but these stairs did not seem very trustworthy. The were thin and small. Once we arrived at the bottom we decided to reward ourselves with a refreshing cup of gelato.