Spring Break Etc.
Hi everyone, sorry to keep you waiting so long. But here’s everything!
Spring break came and went. I would say I can’t believe this is halfway over, but now it’s even less than that. I studied my butt off for midterms, did really well, and saw some incredible places. Now I’m back in Florence and I can feel the time running away from me. I’m sure you don’t want to hear me complain, so I’ll get to the goods. Here’s a recap of every city I’ve seen in the past few weeks, as succinct as I can possibly force myself to make it.
Amsterdam: We spent 6 days here. We planned for extra time because we wanted to make our way to Belgium, but it didn’t work out. It ended up being the perfect amount of time to fit in a good mix of craziness and relaxation. The city is huge, but since we were there for so long it wasn’t overwhelming at all.
Colleen, Caroline (Colleen’s best friend from home) and I stayed with Keith (Colleen’s boyfriend) and saw lots of our other Loyola friends. Each day we did a little exploring. We saw the Red Light district, Dam Square, Centraal Station, the Ann Frank house, and the new ‘I Am Amsterdam’ sign. We also went to the Heineken factory, the Holland Casino, and the coffeehouse where part of Ocean’s 12 was filmed. Lauren was in town for the weekend too, and we met up to do a canal cruise together.
The city was so much bigger and so much more beautiful than I had expected it to be. It was a lot of fun but it’s so historically rich too. It really has something for everyone. It sounds cheesy (like a nosedive into the old gorgonzola, as my crazy British writing teacher would say) but it’s really true!
Cork: This was the perfect pit stop between two major cities. There isn’t a whole lot to see or do in Cork, but I was just thrilled to be in Ireland. 3 days mid-week was just enough time to get a feel for the lifestyle and experience the country without an itinerary. One of Loyola’s biggest study abroad programs is in Cork, so it felt more like a regular visit to a friend’s school than a tourist stop. It was really great to see so many familiar faces. The first day we got there, we sat in MB’s (my roommate next year!) living room for 3 hours just talking and catching up – it was perfect! That night we took advantage of the kitchen in her adorable apartment. We bought chicken, potatoes, and veggies from the local market and cooked a nice feast for ourselves! The next night we had a big (American) pancake party for dinner with everyone. I hadn’t realized how much I missed them!!
During the day we walked around the tiny town, saw MB’s GORGEOUS campus, and took a trip to kiss the Blarney stone! Do I seem extra eloquent lately? ;)
London: I always knew this would be one of my favorite cities in the world, and it absolutely was. The long weekend there with Morgan (Loyola friend) was the perfect way to end Spring Break. Colleen and I did a double-decker bus tour and a cruise on the Thames, so we saw absolutely everything there was to see! We also saw a musical on the West End (Billy Elliot) and went to Harrods …. three times. If a sunny beach is my outdoor heaven, Harrods is its indoor counterpart. It’s a giant department store that has anything you could ever want. I LOVED IT. Some other highlights were going out for fish&chips&pints, and meeting J-Vill (Bloomfield friend) for teatime!
One of the days we went to Notting Hill in hopes of recognizing scenery from one of my favorite movies. We didn’t find anything familiar, but I loved it anyway. We found some adorable antique shops and an amazing hole-in-the-wall café where we had farm-fresh bacon and eggs for breakfast. I also loved Hyde Park – we spent 2 hours under the sun on our last day. I didn’t see any royalty, but the abundance of English people was more than enough to hold me over for the whole weekend.
Paris: Even though we were exhausted from traveling, we had to take advantage of a $30 roundtrip flight we found to Paris for the weekend after Spring Break. We stayed with Alyssa and Molly (Loyola friends) even though they were spending most of the weekend in Amsterdam. The very first night, on the way to their apartment, I caught a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. I was never the biggest fan of the thing because, compared to all of the other world-famous important structures, I just didn’t think it was pretty. But I never knew it sparkled! At night, every hour, it glitters for 5 minutes. Even from the cab window I was absolutely amazed. It was gorgeous.
On Thursday night we met lots more French people. I think I’ve decided that French people are my favorite of the non-English-speaking European variety. And all in all, that makes France the most surprising and underestimated country of this trip, I think.
Anyway, it was a quick visit. We walked around the whole city and saw everything we wanted to see in 2 days. We saw all the sites and shops and even found Harry’s Bar – owned by four generations of MacElhones!
The food was great, obviously. The nutella+banana crepe I had for breakfast on the last morning was one the most incredible things I’ve tasted in a while, in terms of sweets anyway. We also went to a fondue restaurant that serves wine in baby bottles! The food was mediocre and the service was terrible, but we think it was an odd intentional thing.
Florence: Back at ‘home’ the weather has been tricky. After spring break I thought it would be ‘fa bel tempo’ for good, but I was so so wrong. It lasted a week and then it went back to being rainy and cold. But other than that, what’s been up? Lauren came over for dinner one night. I’m so glad she finally got to meet the fam! I learned that I like eggplant and I learned how to sew (sort of). I went to a crazy Fiorentina game. In Italian, soccer = calcio and team = squadra. I finally stumbled across some decent Italian music. Also, I think I’m making some progress with the internship thing, and I’ve been doing lots of planning for the big parental visit in TWO WEEKS! Colleen’s parents are in town this week, we went out to dinner on Friday which was nice. That day I also walked up to Fiesole – up being the operative word. It was one hour uphill!!! The view was absolutely phenomenal; I felt like I could see all of Tuscany! Florence looked so tiny surrounded by the gigantic hills.
This weekend was otherwise fairly uneventful – I’ll never say boring, but I really didn’t do much. On Saturday night I went out with some friends to celebrate the fact that Tijuana didn’t burn down. Affectionately dubbed TJ’s, it’s the restaurant across the street from my friends house that caught on fire the other day. We rushed there for dinner as soon as it was back open for business. If the fact that my favorite restaurant in Italy serves Mexican food is wrong, then I don’t wanna be right.
Heading to the Amalfi coast this weekend!!! Sorrento, Positano, Capri, Pompeii, and whatever else I have time for. That was my favorite part of Italy back in high school, and hopefully I’ll love it just as much even if the weather doesn’t hold out. I’ll let you know how it is!!!
*Note – I was all ready to post this Sunday night but I lost the wireless connection that I was stealing from across the street. I realized that blogging via unreliable internet is a little bit like writing by candlelight when it’s windy ……..
Anyway, I’m posting this Monday morning before Italian class and I do apologize that it took so long!!! Miss you more than words can say!!!
Baci.
