EuroTrip

Day One: Monaco

After spending a ridiculously long night on the bus from Bratislava, we arrived in Monaco. Monaco is a principality (and it's own country, I hope I am not the only one who didn't know this...). It's basically the haven for the rich, priviliged, yacht owners of the world and is quite freaking gorgeous. I have never seen so many nice cars in one place in my life. We went to the aquarium and also walked to the Monte Carlo casino, although we were only allowed in the foyer.

Whilst walking to the casino, we got to walk along the track for the Grand Prix. We saw the garages for all the race car drivers. I thought it was pretty snazzy, although (of course) I didn't recognize any of the names...

After that, we hopped on the bus and drove to some random hotel in France.

Day Two:

Drove to Barcelona, wandered about a bit in the evening (ten hour bus ride!)... A few girls and I had Tapas, which was rather fantastic.

Day Three: Barcelona

In the morning, we wandered about with a local tour guide and saw such things as the Olympic stadium, some of Gaudi's buildings, and just a bunch of randomly cool stuff. In the afternoon and evening we had free time and we just sort of wandered about again.

Day Four: Barcelona

In the morning, we went to one of Gaudi's famous buildings in Barcelona and then had a guided tour of all the Gothic sites in Barcelona (which was super interesting). After that, we went to the beach and swam and swam and swam. In the evening, me and a few other girls headed down to the piers to look at the boats and enjoy the evening.

Day Five: Barcelona and Ferry to Rome

In the morning we spent about three hours in a park on a hill above the city that was also designed buy Gaudi. From there, we went to the museum of modern art where there was a huge exhibit about Miro. I loved the stuff there, it was weird and super interesting. After the exhibit, we hopped on a ferry and went to Rome.

Day Six: Ferry

I got seasick, REALLY seasick. One of the Rotex was nice enough to get me some water with lemon and walk around with me while I whined about seasickness and how awful it was. We got into Rome pretty late...

Day Seven: Rome

So, unfortunately, my seasickness affected something else and the first night I was in Rome, I had a really high fever. I don't know exactly how high, but I was completely miserable and the next day I stayed at the hotel and slept, I was simply to exhausted to do all that walking...

Day Eight: Rome

We woke up super early so we could get in line for the Vatican, which was absolutely beautiful. I loved the Sistine chapel and was SO excited when I spotted the two famous men touching fingers! Everything else was also amazing, there were a ton of statues, sculptures, figurines, paintings, etc. The pope gave a noon mass that I heard, although I didn't actually see it... After that, we went and found a decent (although rather overpriced) restuarant and then we wandered for a few hours before buying a TON of Gelato and just chilling in some random square. For dinner the whole group went to a restaurant and then I went to the Trevi fountain and the Spanish Steps with a few friends, it was awesome.

Day Nine: Vesuvius and Sorrento

We took a bus out of Rome and went to Vesuvius, which we hiked to the top of and then went around the crater. It was incredibly interesting and I really enjoyed actually being on the volcano, although it was a little sketchy walking around the crater. From Vesuvius we drove to a little town on the coast called Sorrento where we had dinner and then headed down to the beach during our free time. I actually ended up swimming in my undies, as did several of the other exchange students...

Day Ten: Pompeii and drive to Florence

We also were able to see Pompeii, which was incredibly interesting. The amount of things that were preserved by the ash is ridiculous, and some things are still pristine. We also saw the famous casts of the bodies trapped inside the ash, which honestly gave me the chills a little bit... After exploring Pompeii, we headed for Florence and got in late...

Day Eleven: Florence

We had a bit of a walk around in the morning together, saw David (although it wasn't the original, unfortunately the original is in some museum...) and then were set free for the afternoon and evening. I mainly wandered around in the afternoon, ate some Gelato, and then in the evening went and looked at all the different stalls in the street markets and bought masks and such.

Day Twelve: Venice

So, unfortunately, we woke up late and had a whole lot of trouble getting out of Venice which created a few problems since we arrived late in Venice and were unable to see the churches or anything else. However, we were able to see the main square and the two pillars. I went out for dinner with a few friends, and then we wandered around for a bit... After that, we had to take a water taxi out of Venice and almost missed our bus out of the city. Fortunately everything worked out and we ended up making it on time...

After that, we drove overnight to Bratislava and then I took a train home.

It was absolutely amazing and I am taking a lot of time to process it all...

OH! And some other important news, I will be flying back to America on June 28th! Can't wait to see you all.