For the past three weeks, I have been almost completely nonstop traveling (I’m currently writing new blog posts on a train to Scotland because my grandma was getting annoyed at my lack of posts). The first week in March, my university was on mid-semester break. Somewhere in between cramming for midterm exams and essays, we were getting excited for two weeks of vacation. I won’t even write about how packing went, because at some point it just becomes redundant to keep writing about how I still can’t figure out this preparing and packing thing.
Spring break was so long and filled with so many adventures and memories that I couldn’t possibly fit it into just one post. So sit back, relax, and enjoy…
The One Where We Were On Spring Break pt 1.
Our first stop on a long trip was to Verona, Italy. The first bit of chaos (after packing) came in the Uber we took. It was late at night (or really early in the morning I guess), so we all decided to take shifts of staying awake while the others slept on the ride to Stansted Airport. The trip was only supposed to take about an hour and a half. Nearly three hours later…everyone woke up to find us on some dirt road east of nowhere. I’ll spare everyone the stress and tell you that we made it in plenty of time, once we drove back to civilization (this was also the day I learned how to give feedback on Uber, needless to say the poor guy did not get 5 stars from me that day). It’s a good thing that we were expecting a bit of turbulence in our plans and left early because unlike previous trips, we had plenty of time to spare (four hours of spare time actually…we were really nervous this time around!). We got to the airport, napped for an hour or so, checked in, had breakfast sandwiches and coffees, and headed to the gates to depart.
I knew that there would be plenty of unavoidable chaos in our trip, other than the Uber ride, but what I didn’t know was that it would be only a few hours later. As we stepped up to the gate and handed over our passports, the woman working the desk (who clearly hadn’t had her morning coffee) told us to put our suitcases in the container next to her to make sure they fit…I bought that suitcase the night before, checked the measurements, and matched them with permitted dimensions listed on the airline’s website, so I said “okay, no problem.” A quick tip for anyone traveling with Ryanair: they lie about the dimensions of luggage on their website. I took one look at this metal container and knew it was never going to fit. My bag was at least double the size, and the container was the size of a laptop case! So I told the woman about how I went out last night to buy the suitcase, how I checked the measurements, and had matched them to the dimensions permitted on the airline’s website. Like I said, I don’t think she had her morning coffee, because in a less than polite tone she said, “Not my problem, if it doesn’t fit, it’s going to be $50.” To which I responded, “So you’re paying for it then?” There was no way I was paying extra for that bag. At this point I was on the ground unpacking my bag and putting on all of the clothes I could, while angrily muttering, “It’s going to fit. I don’t care how long this takes. I am not paying extra.” One way or another, that bag was going to fit. After ten minutes of unpacking, squeezing, and shoving the bag into a metal container clearly not big enough for it, I showed the woman behind the desk and she said it was fine. This would’ve been a victory for me, had my bag not gotten stuck in the metal container, and broken during the shoving and pulling process. But even though I had a broken suitcase for the next two weeks, I still had $50 in my pocket.
Verona
After about a four-hour flight, we landed and were blown away by the immediate beauty of Italy (I mean as beautiful as an airport can be really). We managed to sew together any Italian we knew to get a cab to our Airbnb.
We stayed just outside of the city of Verona in this great little apartment. Our host was around the same age as us, and acted as our tour guide and chauffeur for our time in Verona. But of course, it couldn’t be perfect, and something had to go wrong. One of our last days in Verona, we decided to make breakfast in the apartment to save money. Tip for anyone making breakfast in Italy: glass stovetops really aren’t a “thing” over there. Apparently, on top of most stoves, there is a glass covering that needs to be removed before you cook. I didn’t know this, but let me tell you, you only make that mistake once.
Everyone was getting dressed and putting on makeup for the day. I was already dressed and was trying to heat bread for toast on the stove for everyone to have for breakfast. I yelled up to tell everyone that we were leaving in five minutes, and seconds later, everyone heard a loud boom, glass shattering, and me screaming (it took a few seconds for everyone to register what had happened downstairs, and what I could’ve possibly done). The stove had completely exploded in 
front of me, shattering all the glass. So I completely freaked out, cleaned up the cuts I got, cleaned up the broken glass, and tried to figure out how the heck we were going to find the money to replace a brand new Italian stove. The next morning, we were checking out and our host came over to make sure everything was okay. We told her what had happened, she checked to make sure we weren’t too hurt, and then smiled saying, “No don’t worry about it, you won’t be charged for it at all. My dad was going to call someone to have it that removed anyway!” To which I responded, “Oh. Well you’re welcome then.” I thought I might be pushing my luck to see if she would pay me for my glass stovetop removal, so we said thank you and went on our way.
Verona was absolutely beautiful, and the food was even better. We spent our days walking around the square. We visited Juliet’s house, wrote her a letter, and touched her right boob for good luck.
The highlight of Verona was the next day, when we took a private cooking lesson. We made tagliatelle, ravioli, bruschetta, and tiramisu, drank lots of wine, and had an amazing time.
Florence
The next day, I decided to go to Florence for the day, and I am so glad I did! Florence has to be my favorite Italian city so far. We started our day with brunch on the rooftops over looking the city with my long (really long) time friend, Anna Lonardo. Anna and I met each other in kindergarten, went through Saint Mary’s school until 8th grade, went onto Saint Joe’s together, and you can bet that she was the first call I made when I decided to go to the same college as her at Salve Regina University. So to see her while abroad was a real treat!
We spent the rest of the day eating all of the gelato we could find, and learned the difference between “real” and “fake” gelato (apparently the less you can see of it, the better it is!). The day continued with a visit to Galleria Academia to see Michelangelo’s David, who was so spectacular we couldn’t help but hold up the lines and just stand there for a while. After that, I got to meet up with more friends from Salve Regina, Michelle and Kelsey.
Our day ended with probably the best Panini I’ve ever had and watching the sunset over Piazza De Michelangelo.
Venice
Next, we made our way to Venice. Our group of five turned to four, because one of the girls got sick and decided to head back to London early. The highlight of Venice had to be taking a ride through the canals on the gondolas.
Our guide told us about the history of the city, pointed out landmarks, but told us that he wouldn’t sing to us, which was the only major bummer of the trip. The rest of the day, we wandered around the city, drank wine, ate seafood, and visited the famous glass blowing shops.
The only downside to my time in Venice was how many times the Old Italian grandmothers yelled me at for my ripped jeans (yes, I understand they were a little shocking, but I looked good!) The grandmothers ended up getting their way, because I ended up changing into a different pair half way through the day.
My mom has since then yelled at me for the pants, saying she agrees with the Italian grandmothers, “Those pants are ridiculous!” But the joke is on her, because I got her a matching pair last week.
Rome
The next few days were spent in Rome. We were joined by another friend, bringing our headcount back up to five. I wont write too much about Rome in this post, because only a week later, I would go back with my best friend! Basically the gelato was good and the men were handsome.
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