Croatia >>>>>

This past weekend I went to Split, Croatia and Krka National Park with my roommate Nicole. Croatia was my favorite place so far; it is absolutely beautiful and not quite so touristy yet.

We got there Friday morning after a long bus ride, breakfast and settling in to our super nice hostel (each room got its own bathroom and the beds and pillows were memory foam) Nicole and I headed straight to the beach before canyoning. The beach was really nice, it wasn't super crowded and in the water you could see straight to the bottom about 20 feet out.

Also on Friday I went canyoning. Canyoning is basically where you get in a full length wet suit, life jacket and helmet and hike for a few miles into and down a river thats in a canyon. In Croatia we went canyoning in the Cetina river. It was gorgeous, the water was fresh, blue and safe to drink, we got to walk through a tunnel under a waterfall, jump off huge rocks and drift through tons of rapids. Canyoning was difficult and I'm disappointed that I don't have a GoPro so I couldn't take pictures but amazing all the same. Being me, I fell and slipped between rocks often and canyoning puts a lot of strain on muscles your not used to and your knees because your climbing from way up high into a canyon and trying to stay upright and not trip on slippery rocks and fast rapids but it was awesome. I definitely felt my legs for a few days afterwards, it was a workout.

Canyoning is something I had never heard of before this trip to Europe and i'm so glad I got to do it no matter how much it freaked out Mom :)

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On Saturday, I went on a 7 hour boat cruise to tour two islands and jump into the Blue Lagoon, it was wonderful, though it did come with some complications...

We first went to the Blue Lagoon to jump into the water because it was so hot outside and our captains dropped the anchor... as in the anchor wasn't attached to the boat and they dropped the anchor.

So the created a make- shift anchor out of a rock and a rope... it wasn't very effective but we all got to jump out and swim anyway :)

Then after we were all done swimming WE SAT ON THE BOAT FOR 2 HOURS AND DRIFTED AROUND while the captain called up his buddy and he and his 14 year old grandson came in a little skipper and searched for the anchor. He had flippers and an air tank on and everything, never mind the fact that we were swimming for about two hours so he could of came and looked for the anchor earlier.

The never found the anchor, after 2 hours of floating around our group leader had to call the boss to get the captain to move the boat on to the next island.

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After that we went to Trogir Island to get lunch and relax for two hours before we headed back to Split, we weren't going to have time to go to the third island after searching for the anchor for 2 hours.

Overall the boat tour was nice and the Blue Lagoon was awesome, I suppose I'll never know what I missed on that third island.

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On Sunday we headed out early to go to Krka National Park and explore the waterfalls, they were beautiful, I even got to swim out pretty close to them in the fresh water. The national park was really pretty and amazing for a little day trip on Sunday before our long bus trip back to Florence.

Things I Learned about Croatia:

1. Dalmatians were first bred there

2. Game of Thrones Season 5 was filmed there (awesome right!!)

3. Croatian limestone is everywhere and really easy to walk on (YAY! no cobblestones)

4. Everyone I talked to was really nice

5. Their currency sucks :(

6. I was surprised by how many stupid people on our trip asked the Croatians what language they spoke... Croatian... they speak Croatian.

7. Its not very touristy (thank goodness)

8. The guys there are really attractive and SUPER tall (YES!)

Rome, Naples, Sorrento, Capri and Pompeii

This past weekend was an eventful one, I went on a class field trip to Rome, Naples, Sorrento, Capri and Pompeii with both my classmates and my roommate Nicole.
I have been in Italy for quite a few weeks now but never before have I felt like such a tourist, I mean we carried around those stupid earphone tour guide systems ALL weekend.

Rome:

We took a train to Rome on Thursday night and had a wonderful 3 course meal at a restaurant near our Hotel after arriving there, I'm still not quite used to Italian dinner time but I'm working on it. It is normal for Italian's to not start eating dinner until about 8:30pm and then sit there for 3 hours and I'm just not used to that, its an interesting change.

On Friday we explored The Vatican, which was absolutely amazing. I could stare at the walls of the Sistine chapel and the inside of St. Peter's Basilica for ages. We had a pretty good tour guide that explained everything about the Vatican very well and I found it all interesting. After exploring the Vatican we visited the Spanish Steps, The Pantheon, The Trevi Fountain (which is disappointingly under construction until the end of 2015), Piazza Navona and Castel Sant'Angelo.

On Saturday we toured the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. I have always love Greek and Roman mythology so these tours were awesome, I just wish we would have had more time to explore a little bit on our own. We were on a time crunch because we had a train to Naples later that day so the tour was a nit rushed. I'm really glad I get to go back with my family when I meet them in Rome after my program ends, hopefully I will get to explore a bit more, Rome is HUGE.

Naples:

On Saturday after the Colosseum we took a two hour train to Naples to check in to our hotel, do a quick tour around the top of the city and eat some pizza for dinner in the city where pizza was born. All of us were completely exhausted at this point and though our tour guide for Naples was really cool and the views were fantastic, I wish we wouldn't have had to fit so much in one day. At this point we walked over 50,000 steps in just 2 days, crazy right!

On another note Naples definitely had the best pizza I have ever had, it was delicious and having a nice casual dinner was great.

Capri:

On Sunday, we got up really early at our hotel in Naples and ran to catch a ferry boat to Capri where we would be spending most of the day. Capri was probably my favorite place so far on this whole trip, it was absolutely beautiful!

Right when we got there we took a private boat tour to the Blue Grotto, the water was so blue it looked like blue kool- aid, it was awesome. From there we tour our boat on a little tour around most of the island to see the cliffs and look for mountain goats :)
The boat tour was lovely, I missed being out on the water, Florence doesn't really have any lakes or beaches.

After our boat tour we headed up to the main piazza of Capri, Piazza Umberto and took a bus to Anacapri to get on the chair lift that goes over most of Anacapri, the views were awesome and the 15 minute ride was really relaxing.

For the rest of the day we pretty much just got to explore Capri, it was relaxing and really beautiful. Just like most of the places I've been to so far I want to go back.

Sorrento:

After Capri we stood in line to get on a ferry boat to Sorrento... and we got poured on. Bythe time we all got on the ferry boat my whole outfit was soaked!

In Sorrento we had a lovely seafood dinner, I even had clams (which is a new one for me). Sorrento was pretty but we didn't have much time there so I didn't get to see much.

Pompeii:

On Monday we headed to Pompeii for a tour of the ancient city, the tour was super interesting and it was really cool to see Mount Vesuvius from so close, I hope someday I get to go back and climb into the crater.
I feel like I learned a lot in Pompeii, it was interesting to see how people lived back then and the aqueduct system that is all over Italy is insane. With some of the amazing innovations I saw I almost wonder if society has gone backwards slightly.

It was an exhausting but incredible weekend! I learned a ton and walks at least 35 miles in like 3 and a half days. I'm sorry if this post is rather boring in comparison to some of my others, we just fit so much in to so little time that there was a lot to talk about!

This weekend I am off to Split, Croatia and Krka National Park with my roommate Nicole. I plan on going white water rafting, on a boat tour and exploring the city of Split and some of the sites that Game of Thrones was filmed at, can't wait!!!

#PeaceOutPisa and the rest of the week

On Monday my roommates Nicole, Miranda and our friend Christina and I all took a day trip to Pisa to see the leaning tower. We got train tickets for 16 Euro and I honestly think this was the first time I have wasted money since I got to Italy.

It was great to go to Pisa and take the infamous leaning tower picture but the tower itself is rather unimpressive. It's actually not really that tall and its randomly in a the middle of a courtyard next to Pisa's church and that's basically all of Pisa. 

There is a church, the tower, some touristy shops and that's it. The town is not very clean and is infamous for pickpockets, you can pretty much see all of Pisa in an hour.

All and all i'm glad I took the day to go do something but I don't recommend Pisa to other travelers!

On the plus side once we got back to Florence (home sweet home!) I found a flower shop with my name :) you wish you were cool enough to have your own flower shop!

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The rest of the week was pretty relaxing, on Sunday Nicole and I randomly stumbled across a Fiat parade and a flea market and then went to the beach and then on Wednesday Nicole and I found a local community pool that's about a 40 minute walk from our apartment so we ventured out after class and swam in the pool for a few hours. The beach here backs up to the Arno River which is not swimmable so we were both eager to get in the water and swim.

Plus we met a guy who went to University of Michigan at the pool, how random I know! He saw my Saline Stingrays Swim Team beach towel and asked if I was from Saline, Michigan. Small world right?

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Tonight Nicole and I head to Rome for our huge weekend class trip to Rome, Naples, Sorrento, Capri and Pompeii. I can't wait to sleep in a comfy bed (yay were staying in a hotel!) and explore Rome and part of the Amalfi Coast. Hopefully I get to chairlift over Capri and explore the Blue Grotto. I'll post all about it when I get back :)

Cinque Terre

I went to Cinque Terre this past weekend on a bus2alps day trip, it was amazing!

We hiked over 84 flights of stairs (according to my phone) from Vernazza to Monterosso which was absolutely brutal but the view was totally worth it and when we got to Monterosso we got to go to the beach and jump in the water. 

The beach was pretty nice but the best part was the water, it was super blue and refreshing; exactly what I needed after a long hike.

Things I learned about Cinque Terre:

1. They have the best seafood ever. I ate the best calamari I have ever had from a paper cone...

2. The hike was brutal but necessary

3. Cinque Terre is probably the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life thus far.

Overall, the day was exhausting but like so many of the other places I have been on this trip I hope someday I get to go back to Cinque Terre :)