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