From Day 1 : Holiday- otherwise known as Spring Break!

Our holiday adventure started in Naples Italy. It turns out that our airbnb we had booked was a 10 minute drive to the nearest metro station, and then another 20ish minutes into the city center of Naples. This meant that we relied on our host for just about everything transportation wise, as well as making sure we caught the last metro that left at 8:20 from the center. Small fun fact is that when you take the last metro available for the day, the price triples. Anyway, on our first full day in Naples, we tootled on down to the city center and ended up in the Piazza Plebiscite which is one of the largest squares in Naples. On one side of the square was the DOM Francisco de paula and on the other was the Royal Palace that was used by the Bourbon Kings during their rule of the Two Sicilies between 1734 and 1860. We took a tour inside the Palace which had a gorgeous Grand Staircase made of marble. The ceilings of the Palace were magnificent, and there was even a theater that was used for the wedding of Ferdinand IV and Maria Carolina (the daughter of the Hapsburg Empress Maria Theresa, and sister to Marie Antoinette). The rest of the day was spent exploring the coast, eating gelato, and an amazing meat platter for dinner.

Day 2 in Naples was Pompeii! To get there we had to take the metro, and let me tell you, it was VERY crowded. Once we got there we ended up partaking in a 2 hour walking tour. It was really cool to see the rooms, and learn about how advanced their technology was. They had saunas with heated water that was pulled from down below using led pipes. The saunas were for the rich and were separated men and women. The baths were raised up on brick stilts so that a fire could warm the water. We also learned a little bit about what it would have been like to live there. They drank around 3 liters of alcohol, and sat on couches for all their meals (this was considered their dining room). Women were not allowed to drink when they husbands were not home, and were not given true independence as they had to get permission from their guardian (either husband or father). The women also had to sit at the feet of her husband around the dinner "table" while he sat on the couch. Pompeii was a well established city, they collected rain water in what looks like a fountain through a hole in the celling, had a sewage type system, markets, and paintings on the wall. I really enjoyed learning about it, and we even met two ladies from San Diego who were super fun! At the end of the day we took a side stop to Torre De Greco and found a pier that went out into the sea. Very much not a tourist place, but beautiful nonetheless.

After two days in Naples, we headed to Split, Croatia! After a 2 hour flight delay, we finally made it! This was the only place I had in my head as a place I wanted to go before I left for Europe so I was super excited. Due to our flight delay, Sheyenne and I wandered around towards the coast. Split at night felt like a fairy tale. We had a delicious burger at a restaurant called TerminalF. It was decorated like a train terminal and was super cute. It was also nice to find a majority of the people knowing English. They also had an awesome sauce that reminded us of Raising Canes sauce but it was more dense and slightly better. The night scene of Split was beautiful, and it had probably the safest feeling environment I have yet to travel to. Sheyenne and I booked a boat tour for the next day at the last minute, and I am so glad we did. We got to jump into the sea with jelly fish, and the water was super clear, ice cold, but definitely picturesque. We went into a few lagoons and enjoyed the sunset at the end of the day while we headed back to Split. It is probably my favorite day out of two months in Europe. It allowed me a chance to reconnect, relax, and simply enjoy the waves and the day. It didn't hurt that our boat driver was kinda cute. ;) I will for sure come back, I think I could have easily spent a week in Croatia, so a day and a half did not do it justice.

Parthenon!

Last stop on my holiday was Athens, Greece! We met Paige and Nick here and it was nice to add more people to just the two of us. The first night, we stayed in an airbnb three minutes from the beach. We got there really late, but we all wend down to the water and listened to the waves and put our feet in the water. Again, the water is super cold. After some much needed sleep, we enjoyed tea and bread with jam and honey that was left for us by our host on the balcony that overlooked the water. It was quite lovely :) Check out was at noon which was kind of a bummer, but we took all our stuff and headed to a beach. We found some umbrellas and parked it for the day. I didn't have a towel so I sat on my rain coat. Even though it was a little windy and cloudy, it was nice to read and relax for a bit. That evening, we headed into the center of Athens to prepare for a long day of walking the next day. Our hostel was really nice and even included breakfast! Once we arrived, the three os us girls went out to find some dinner. We ate outside and all had gyros for dinner. They were delicious and we paired it with some ouzo. By the way, I will never have ouzo again, it tastes exactly like black licorice and I was not a fan. Of course, we also had dessert. It was overall a really fun night with good conversations, good people, and good food. We went to bed rather late but it was worth it!

Let day 2 in Athens begin :) After breakfast we ventured out to the Agora and saw the Parthenon, Acropolis, and went to the Acropolis museum. We got in free to all of it thanks to our student ID's :) I wish I would have known more about Greek mythology before I saw these places, because I think I missed out on truly understanding what I was seeing. We had our personal tour guide though (Nick-one of the students in our program) to lead us around and answer most of our questions. He is a history major and very interested in Ancient Greece so I learned a lot from him. We also did some shopping, and after walking past a restate about 4 times, we finally sat down for dinner and enjoyed a view of the Parthenon. We shared a pitcher of sangrias and had a fabulous last night of Spring Break.

I am kind of sad that we only have one more week of school, and only a few weeks left of the program. But I know that these experiences and memories will stay with me forever. I have enjoyed every part of my experience so far, and there are still a few more to have! However, with the end in sight, it will be a very bittersweet end to a phenomenal adventure.