Bittersweet Blessings: Czech Republic

Here I am… sitting in my room in Kearney, Nebraska, smack dab in the center of the United States. It is currently thunder storming which pretty much sets the mood with how I am feeling about being back in the grand ol’ USA. I cannot even begin to express my gratitude while reflecting on my illuminating experience abroad. Who knew some town in the Czech Republic which I had only lived in for 3 months would become more of a home to me than my 20 years of life in Kearney, Nebraska.

On the drive home from the airport I couldn’t believe I was actually back and that my adventure was as a matter of fact, over.  No story I share with my loved ones will ever be the same as reminiscing with those who literally shared that moment with me. It felt just like yesterday when we all piled into the bus at the Prague airport, put our headphones in as the sun went down, and made our way to some little town called Olomouc. I distinctly remember listening to James Bay’s album all the way there unsure of what this adventure would bring me, yet thrilled by the uncertainty.

With this I was blessed enough to encounter… 25 Americans who bonded incredibly, 23 different plane rides, 20+ cherished polaroid’s from each city, 12 countries that grasped my entire heart, 7 extra pounds probably from Milka bars, 4 astonishing soul-sisters, 3 months abroad, and 2 intelligent professors Jan and Martin. Last but not least, me: an individual who grew in ways that no other experience could possibly allow me. This one single adventure has changed me in ways that only the deep and dustiest corners of my soul will ever begin to understand. In the end of it all I may have had lack of sleep, an insufficient amount of water, as well as gained a little weight, but what I internally gained from this experience overpowers all of those things. I strongly believe that every little moment that took place during this adventure happened exactly the way it was supposed to.

It’s quite humoring how hard it has been to adjust back to “The Good Life” here in America. I say this because through this experience I learned so much about who I am and the kind of person I want to be, as well as the type of life I want to live. Arriving back to Kearney I began to notice that my surroundings were left unchanged and there was something about that which was very unsettling. It showed me that this little town in Nebraska is uninspired and that nonsense is not allowed anywhere near me. After experiencing the love and culture of 12 different countries I refuse to sit around and live my life just to exist. There is a new kindling fire burning in my soul to go out in this world and make something of myself.

I realized that being born and raised in this average town of 30,000 that there is so much more to life than just going through the motions. Discovering that each and every country and city had different little pieces to offer me that made me whole. Life is not about just doing what you have to do to get by, it’s about finding your souls purpose and thriving unconditionally. After 20 years of life I was able to thrive in a place that is so far from actual home. The Czech Republic will always hold near and dear to my heart, but I know that someday I will return because this wild soul of mine was not meant to stay in one place. It brings me great satisfaction knowing there is a beautifully created world out there yet to be discovered.

 

The crazy thing about life is that you can’t have too high of expectations, because that allows the littlest moments to be extraordinary.

"Be bold and don't settle."

Pure Bliss: Bohemia

Wowza, it is a struggle to even begin to write this blog because I know that this experience is dwindling to a depressing end. I can honestly say that I’m having an episode of utter heartbreak. When we were told by others that the time we spend here would fly by, that is a complete understatement. I have been so lucky to have met such an amazing group to travel through Europe with! We were even able to experience the struggles of so-called ‘finals’ here. Who are we kidding, thanks to Kath the finals were smooth sailing. Monday we all spent the day studying and taking the infamous Czech language final. After that we all hurriedly packed for our next couple days, and we made our way to Southern Bohemia which is a region in the Czech Republic.

The good thing about this field trip is that is was a much more relaxing last week together. During this time, we visited three different small towns called Litomysl, Kutna Hora, and Cesky Krumlov. There was not a whole lot to Litomysl, and I think we could all agree that it would have been better to just taken a daytrip there instead. However, we only stayed there for one-night. The next morning, we got back on the bus and headed to Kutna Hora. This town consisted of visiting a church that was beautiful, but more importantly it brought out the child in about every UNK student there. We spent some time in a playroom meant for children that had multiply interacted games based off of what the church was built upon. One of my favorite or more ‘interesting’ thing we did in Kutna Hora was visiting the salt mine. It was fun being able to wear the fashionable white trench coats and hard hats, it’s fine we all looked like goons.

Physically walking through the mine was the interesting part, you could even say amusing because I got the luxury of watching all the tall people mangle their way through a four/five-foot-tall opening. Finally, what we all had been waiting for, our adventure to the fairytale land of Cesky Krumlov.

This beautiful town had looked as if it had been picked straight out of princess book with a magical, magical land. I could have walked through Cesky Krumlov all day and night, venturing off into little local shops. Some of the girls and I found a cute old fashioned cocktail bar where we ordered unique drinks and listened to classic music. As we all sat there enjoying our drinks, good music, and great company it felt like I was sitting there right on a movie set as it played forward. Since sleep was becoming more and more of a foreign thing, I decided to call it an early night. The next day was the day we had all been waiting for. RAFTING.

Now this was quite the day, soon enough six of us hopped in a raft boat and began paddling down the river without a care in the world. GOT YA. You all thought we would just nicely and calmly float down the river. Alright, rewind really quick! Who would have thought that six Americans in a blow up boat could be more obnoxious, loud, and waving like a bunch of animals at all the other tourist and some locals? Five minutes into this adventure we all gripped each other and to the edges when our raft filled with water going down the rapids and almost capsized. The thing I distinctly remember is that I could barely feel my face because I was all squinty eyed grinning from ear to ear, laughing from the very pit of my belly. Boy oh boy, experiencing pure, ecstatic joy is hard to come by these days, and I am so blessed to have grasped that in Europe with some of my most favorite people. This raft ride was supposed to last 2 ½ hours, however about midway through the journey some of us took a pit stop where we all probably had a little too much fun.

These moments are the moments that made this day in the win for top three best experiences in Europe. After about a 1 ½ hours at our “little” pit stop break we jumped back on the raft and mosied on down the river. Some of us may have taken some battle wounds home with us after that day, but wow the view from the last two hours definitely made up for it. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking with the green as could be trees, bright blue sky, and the sunrays shining down on us.
There are no words that could even justify the details from that epic day, but I will admit that rallying up the whole gang and floating down the river was by far the most memorable day in my life. It is little moments like those that I could get lost in forever and forget about the real world completely. Cesky Krumlov allowed us to all see the real beauty and worth of the Czech Republic. There is no better way I would have wanted to end my experience with my study abroad fam. Pure Bliss and so thankful for all of it.

London

After the chaos and planning, five of us girls were finally able to set out and make it to the marvelous city of London in the United Kingdom. At first I had not really had any high expectations for this trip since it wasn’t necessarily at the top of my bucket list. However, boy oh boy did it exceed to the top three most enjoyable places I have traveled to so far. Spain is still in for the win with Italy and London both tied for second. We left the morning of the Friday the 13^th, I know what you all are thinking, HELLO BAD LUCK. We literally spent almost the entire day traveling which wasn’t pleasant, but somehow we successfully made it to our hostel by 11PM that night. Getting to our hostel consisted of waiting over 30 minutes to get on a bus which then took us to a sketchy area where we got off. On the plus side we met another girl our age who is from Oregon and had been studying abroad in Italy. I was able to bond with her on the 45-minute bus ride, and we each shared our crazy adventures from Europe. We were also able to gave each other future tips from places we have traveled which was really beneficial especially with Dublin and Greece coming up! After we got off the first bus we were dropped off on some type of highway which was pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Luckily Lily spotted some buses from afar and we trotted our way over there. Right as we got over there a bus with the number we needed pulled up and we hopped on in. We were greeted but a very friendly bus driver who gave us one heck of a laugh. We waited for our stop patiently but we were all clearly exhausted in every way possible. After the last bus we then had about a 30-minute walk in this and that direction that lead us to our hostel. The neighborhood we were in was very quiet which freaked some of the girls out, but I found it peaceful and reminded me of the quiet streets back home in Kearney.

At last we arrived to our hostel and let me tell you, we were pretty impressed with ourselves for getting safely to our hostel IN LONDON without any bumps in the road. Of course we were starving (because food duh), so we found some food on a side street near where we were staying and yummmmmmmm it was some good fish and chips for only 4.10 pounds! We called it an early night, even though 1:30am is not early for this girl. We got up at a decent time the next morning because we couldn’t wait to get the heck out of our hostel, and slowly but surely we keep realizing that sometimes cheaper is not always better.

Saturday morning, we started off by having a traditional English breakfast. This consisted of eggs, toast, baked beans, mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, bacon, and finally some sausage. At this café we met yet another American that was from Virginia who had been writing songs in London. Her name was Amy, and that’s important solely because she could become famous someday (and we get to say that we met her). Once we finished eating our breakfast we made our way to the famous “Tube” that is used for transportation in London. We bought our oyster cards and tubed our way to see the Big Ben, the London Eye, and other famous touristy locations.  The atmosphere in these crowded areas were so energetic, I even think I forgot how nice and comforting it was to hear English and see friendly faces that smiled back! Although it was fun being the typical tourist, but the most mind-blowing part of this trip was seeing the Broadway show Wicked.

The traditional English Breakfast

The famous Big Ben

Big Ben in the background

Wicked the Broadway Production

Things I hadn’t preferred in London:

1.         Having to take the Tube almost EVERYWHERE

2.         $$$$$$$$$$

Things I absolutely fell in love with about London:

1.         Free water

2.         You paid as you ordered so you were guaranteed the option to pay separately

3.         People weren’t hounding you to buy stuff off the street

4.         Fish and Chips (and I don’t like seafood so that says something)

5.         Napping in a park

6.         WICKED

--As you can see, the list I have for pro’s in London clearly outweighs the con’s and that is why London is taking a close head-to-head tie with Italy. Don’t worry Spain, you are still my #1.

UNTIL NEXT TIME FOLKS

Poland For The Win

I often get asked by people back in America, “Do you actually go to class or are you just on a three-month vacation?” Surprisingly as it might seem, yes I do indeed attend class! Class here is quite different than it is in the states, I’m still trying to decide which I prefer more. In Olomouc we have to take a tram to get to our classroom. Technically, even though we don’t have class until 3 in the afternoon we still have to leave the dorms around 2:30 at the latest to make it to class on time without having to run (because let’s be honest who likes to run when they don’t have to). Our classes consist of our two main professors, Martin and Jan and then we have one or two guest speakers almost every week. Being a Psychology major sometimes its hard to sit through one history class after another but there is no class more dreadful than our Czech language. Our Czech instructor even said to us one day, “Czech is the most pointless language to learn… but I think it’s fun.” I know, I know, I shouldn’t be complaining about the classes here since I actually only have to attend class 30 out of the 90 days I’m here. On the bright side we get to adventure out on field trips as a class. This past weekend we were lucky enough to experience the wonderful city of Krakow, Poland.

The Square At Night

After our arrival early Friday afternoon, we got off the bus and headed to the Wieliczka Salt Mine. We headed down a little over 50 flights of stairs so that we could get into the mine. I wasn’t really sure what to expect since I wasn’t very educated about it beforehand but ended up having a great time there! We ended up descending 130 meters underground and I even got to lick the salt on the walls! I get a little grossed out when thinking about how many other people’s tongues have also touched that… oh well, it’s the memory that counts right? I was surprised by how big the salt mine was, however within the three hours we were down there we only managed to venture through 1% of it. Crazy! There was even a chapel that was made out of salt, which was absolutely stunning. There were extravagant chandeliers that were made out of salt crystals that lit up the darkened room. After being down there for the time being we made our way to the elevator (much appreciated), and were free for the rest of the night.

"Cauliflower Salt"

Wieliczka Salt Mine

Salt Mine Chandelier

One of my favorite things from this past field trip is that we were all really able to bond as a group. The majority of us decided to head out to do a pub crawl called ‘Krawl Through Krakow’. This was probably one of my favorite pub crawls so far in Europe, but the details are for later.

We all managed to get up the next morning and went to visit the castle. The tour only lasted about and hour and a half and we were all pretty ready to get some lunch after in the town square. Let me tell you, I had the best sausage EVER, and my lanta the mustard is splendid. I have really loved seeing all the different town squares and all the festivities taking place within the square. There were a ton of little shops that were set up that had perfect little gifts. I’m probably going to have to buy another bag just to fill souvenirs with when I go back to America. 

The last day we attended the Schindlers Factory which really topped off an overall great weekend in Poland! The Factory was set up nicely in a way of how things happened chronologically. We had such a big group that the factory was a bit crowded which made it hard to actually look in depth at every plaque like I prefer to do. Overall we kept getting told by our tour guide to make sure we continue to teach younger generations about the Holocaust so that history does not repeat itself.

The weekend went by way to fast I wouldn’t have minded spending a couple more days in Krakow it was truly an amazing city! I really didn’t have any high hopes for Poland, and it turned out being one of the most fun weekends in Europe. I would strongly encourage anyone to go visit Krakow, because it sure is one for the books!

Spring Break: Ma, I'm Broke

Ahhhhh, finally, what you all have been dying to hear about. I know you guys (when I say “you guys” I like to pretend people actually read my blog) have been waiting to hear about my adventurous Spring Break abroad and that’s just what I am going to be talking about. It all started when we made our way to the train station and we began our travels to Rome, Italy. This train ride took about six hours and the whole time I was so excited because Rome has been on my bucket list from day one. I sat there in excitement as the hours passed very slowly, but at last we arrived early that afternoon on April 17^th. 

We were not quite sure where our hostel was and since we don’t have access to our phones without wifi we weren't able to use a GPS. It took us about an hour and a half to find where we were staying. It didn’t help that it was pretty hot out plus we had all our luggage with us, which made the search of our hostel drag even slower. We may have sweated a bit in the process, but at least we were able to get some steps in right?! The hostels were a bit different than what we were used to. When looking for the building we honestly thought we got gipped our money because it was nowhere to be found. Luckily Lily looked closely at a plaque on an apartment building and on the buzz in thing, amongst all the other residents names was displayed the name of our hostel. We pushed the buzzer and were welcomed into our so-called home for the next couple of days.

Shortly after that we dropped off our bags and decided to go explore and grab a bite to eat. Just at the end of the block was a fabulous buffet style restaurant where we ate the closest thing to a home cooked meal. We were even able to see the food and pick what we wanted before we paid and it was only nine euros!

We were all pretty excited and content with our full bellies after that meal. We then made our way to the Trevi Fountain, which we all had really high expectations for thanks to ‘The Lizzie McGuire Movie’. Of course we tossed in our coins, and made our special wishes. The fountain was extremely crowded, but who am I kidding everywhere in Rome is crowded. Even though it was a touristy spot and constantly crowded with people, all five of us sat there watching the sun go down and I felt a peace in my soul around all the chaos.

The Trevi Fountai

We called it an early night with plans to do the Hop On, Hop Off bus tour the next morning. Our morning didn’t start off too well when we were eating breakfast at a pastry shop and the waitress was not kind with us because apparently ‘all Americans are arrogant and stupid.’ We brushed off her rudeness and found our way to the Hop On, Hop Off stop. These bus tours are probably my favorite thing to do when I go to a new city. We get the whole day and can get off at any stop to do our own exploring, but still manage to see the majority of the city! We were able to see many sights starting with the Colosseum which was absolutely breathtaking. As we made our way to the never ending line, we were confronted by many men trying to sell selfie sticks or other stupid gadgets. Unfortunately, we got there around the busiest times to go, so the lines to get tickets would have taken hours. Luckily by the 100^th person who approached us trying to sell us their package deals to get into the Colosseum, we were able to stumble upon a nice gentleman who gave us a great tip. He told us that if we came back the next morning around 8:30am we would be able to get tickets quickly before the crowds showed up. #Blessed. So we put the Colosseum tour on hold and quickly got back on the bus to finish touring the city.

We started our last day in Rome by beginning our ten-minute walk from our hostel to the Colosseum that morning. On our way we stopped at another pastry shop, and we knew it was going to be a good day when we sensed the positive energy flowing from the workers who were genuinely nice to us. As we made our way after breakfast we walked through a beautiful park, and we could see the Colosseum peaking behind some trees. 

Quickly we bought our tickets and entered the Colosseum in awe. It was crazy to think that we learned about this in our history classes, but to step foot inside and actually see the reality of it was amazing. It was also saddening to see how worn down it was becoming, especially when we were at the highest level it was very obvious that slowly but surely it was ruining. There was also remodeling that was easy to pick out but unfortunately the remodeling has to be so delicate in fear that it will demolish it more. Here are some pictures from the inside of the Colosseum.

We left there around noon and decided to make our way to a more local part of Rome with less tourists. This was the most enjoyable experience from the city because we were able to see the worth of Rome and what I had previously imagined it to be like. We found a cute restaurant with outdoor seating and it was a total win!

The food was CHEAP, and by cheap I mean 5 euros (yay), and the food was GOOD. That night we of course stopped to get some gelato and made our way to the Trevi fountain for one last look. It was once again peaceful in a whole lot of chaos.

Although Rome is a place I will cherish forever, in all honesty it probably would have been more enjoyable if we weren’t always being hounded by people who were selling stuff off the street. I can’t complain though, because Italy is still in the running for my top two favorite countries so far.

NOW SPAIN

So Spain pretty much was the cherry on top for Spring Break. The love I have for Italy, and the love I have for Spain are two different kinds of love. But boyyyyy, do I have mad love for them both. We arrived to Barcelona, Spain around 10:30am on April 20^th. We had to take a bus which took about 30 minutes to get to our hostel. Finally, we made it to our hostel and were greeted by very nice girls at the desk. If there is anything I could say that I loved the most about this hostel was that it was clean, and had an all you can eat breakfast for only 4 euros. The breakfast was BOMB.com by the way.

After we got settled into our hostel we all wanted to go to the beach and the ladies at the front desk told us that it was going to be quite of a walk (by this point there is no destination that isn't walkable). Of course the weather was cruddy, but we were all determined to go to ocean. As we walked there we were getting all kinds of stares because we were in our swimming suits/shorts/tanks with our beach towels, while other people were wearing jeans and coats! We also didn’t have any sense of where things were located in this foreign city so we about gave up on finding the ocean. We were taking a break on some steps by the harbor, eating some fresh fruit and we all considered just going back to the hostel to clean up for dinner. Luckily we decided to push through our walk and 10 minutes later we were greeted by the overwhelming beauty of the ocean.

The beach was pretty empty because remember the weather was not the nicest (it was really windy, cloudy, and chilly). At first we sat our stuff down in the sand and ran to the water where just our feet could feel the touch of its bitter coldness. One second we all had our feel in the water dancing around and the next thing we were pulling our clothes off and plunging into the cold ocean. This moment was pure bliss. I wish I could explain this experience so that you all could experience it exactly how I did and the joy I felt. Being able to see and be in the ocean for the first time in my entire life was absolutely mesmerizing.

The next day we had originally planned on doing a Free Walking Tour but it was rainy so we made our way to the Aquarium as an alternative. The good thing about this trip is that we had absolutely nothing planned, so plans could be and were easily changed. It was nice being so care free. On our way to the aquarium we all changed our minds to do the city skyline instead. At the end of the skyline we were in more of the outskirts of the city and were able to go on a spontaneous hike! The sun decided to come out so we spent the afternoon hiking and then later that evening went back to beach. It was overall a great day! By that night we were all tuckered out and called it a night. Here are some pictures from the skyline and our adventure hiking. 

On top of the Skyline

The views from our hike

We had to take a pic with the Fam rock because 'Fab Five Fam'

The next morning, we actually did the Walking tour but throughout the tour we got distracted by a chocolate shop (shocker), and lost the rest of the group on the tour. We did a whole lot of sightseeing on our own for the rest of the day. We walked so so so much that day.

La Sagrada Familia basilica

Parc de la Ciutadella

I think all of us were ready for a day to relax so the following day we were beach bums and literally laid on the beach all day long.

My soul was happy but my skin was fried.

We met a guy from Canada that invited us to go on a Pub Crawl that was called 'You Survived Barcelona Pub Crawl'. I won't go into depth with that, but the name of the Pub Crawl is pretty self-explanatory. All the details for that you’ll have to ask me in person because they sure are entertaining! (hehehe)

P.S. Visiting Spain has literally influenced me and made me rethink a lot of things.

1. I’m either going to double major in Spanish or minor in Spanish

2. I’m going to try to find an internship in Spain

3. I have to live in Spain at some point

(Everyone runs on the beach, it’s very ecofriendly, and it’s freaking Spain)

There are so many little details about the Spain portion of the trip but you will have to ask me about it in person because this blog keeps getting longer and longer! I hope you enjoyed!

Park Güell

More Gelato, Please?

Two weeks ago I packed up what I could fit into a carryon and we began our combined field trips to Vienna, Austria and Venice, Italy. (And the following week our Spring Break)

VIENNA

Beautiful architecture in Vienna

In Vienna we started by touring the main city center area, which we were lucky enough to have some sunshine because when we left Olomouc it was very rainy and cloudy. It was interesting to see the different atmosphere and energy that flowed throughout the city. It is very "ritzy" compared to how cheap Olomouc is! It was obvious that Vienna was a classy city where it seemed like everywhere I turned was a Louis Vuitton or Gucci store. With us being poor college students we had to take a look in all the expensive stores, just to peek of course. When it comes to money I’m typically a budgeter or bargainer, but since I’ve been in Europe I haven’t really paid attention to how much I’m spending or what I’m spending it on. Let’s be honest, I’m in freaking Europe why should I have to? (To an extent though, of course I keep an eye on my bank account.) For some reason when I use the Koruna currency in the Czech Republic I don’t feel like I’m spending as much money but once we switched to Euros I realized how quickly my money was going to dwindle down. 

I was transformed into an Australopithecus afarensis

We had the option to go to three different museums’, and I chose to go to the Natural Science one. It was giant and took about two hours to go through especially if you’re like me and have to look at every detail and read every plaque before moving on to the next exhibit. This museum was a lot of fun because in different sections there were interactive stations where you could incorporate yourself into what you were learning about. Over to the right you can see I have been transformed into an Australopithecus afarensis, and I walked upright more than 3 million years ago. I wish I could say that I had really explored the city to its fullest, but unfortunately since we were only there for about two days I broke into my bank account and did quite a bit of shopping. (You can never have too many dresses apparently, whoops.) We even happened to run into a guy from Omaha, Nebraska that was studying abroad in Vienna after we were able to pick him out from his Nebraska Huskers sweatshirt he was wearing.

VENICE

Adventuring off on a seven-hour bus ride to Venice was absolutely beautiful because we drove through the Appalachian Mountains and once we passed through the Italian border we were welcomed by ice blue rivers that were absolutely breathtaking. 

Outskirts of Italy

I know that Olomouc is my temporary home for now, but Venice captured my heart and soul, and I quickly fell in love. Our hostel was located on the main island and observed that the majority of human beings there were tourist (80% actually). So you could imagine with all these tourists it was definitely a very expensive area. It was almost impossible to eat a meal that was cheaper than 10 euros. We were able to find a "hole in the wall" type of fast food called Dal Moro's which had absolutely splendid pasta for six euros! Other than that the average amount of money I spent on a meal during this time was from 15-25 euros. PER MEAL (yikes). We ate so much pasta within the past two weeks and I don't regret one single noodle! Pasta, pizza, and gelato were the main three foods eaten, very nutritional I know. I needed energy right? It even got to a point where I consumed FOUR gelato cones in one single day. If I wanted to give you all a guesstimate of how much I spent on gelato within the four days I was in Venice, it would be roughly 50-60 euros. I know, I know, you guys are all saying "C'mon Lydia, it can't be THAT good." Yes, yes it can. 

Me and the famous gelato

Venice was so mesmerizing that it would totally be worth it to live there but maybe on a different part of the island that is not so touristy. The last night we were there we crossed a bridge over to an area that was full of locals and I have never felt more welcomed. However, on the way back over the bridge I slipped and fell flat on my bum in front of a large amount of people. Oh well, at least we all got a laugh out of it. Venice is in my top three favorite places I have visited so far besides Barcelona from spring break, but stories from Spring break are for the next blog to come (sorry).

The past two weeks have had the most positive influence on my experience while studying abroad.  It became very obvious that ‘you win some, you lose some’ while we are trying to survive through all the chaos with traveling plans, deadlines, and attempting to not blow through our money completely. Apologies because Spring Break abroad was absolutely phenomenal and unfortunately you won’t hear details about it until next time. 

Although, what I can do is leave you with some key points from Spring break... 

-BARCELONA FAILS (there was a lot)

1. Fountain show x2

2. The Cheetah Girl Strut Park

3. Lack of sunscreen

4. "You survived Barcelona" Pub Crawl (that's a good one)

5. Getting back to Olomouc stress free

Great cliff hanger right? (Hehehe, I try.) No matter how many strikes we had in Barcelona, it was hands down the best time of my entire life. Trust me, my blogs may be boring and very basic but Spring Break is one you won't want to miss.

 

Barcelona, Spain

Adiós amigos 

TO BE CONTINUED; SPRING BREAK: Rome, Italy / Barcelona, Spain