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