SpRiNg BrEaK 0h NiNe!!!1!

Well, I’ve certainly been the busy one the past couple weeks. Let’s take a little trip down the road that was my life the past few weeks.

It all started right after midterms ended. My lovely parents arrived and it was as joyous as I could have hoped for. It was great seeing them, I obviously missed them loads, but it was more fun to be able to show them around Rome like a true local. I took them to all the tourist hot spots, yet gave them a little taste of the underground Roman life.

After 6 days, they left to tour the rest of Italy while I began my epic spring break trip.

Our plan was to go to the Canary Islands, the island of Tenerife to be exact, for some African sunshine and beaches.

Oddly enough, it was cheaper to fly from Rome.. to Liverpool.. to Tenerifie, so we made a pit stop in the home of The Beatles.

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We arrived around 1pm and our flight was the next morning at 6 am.. so we had around 17 hours to kill and instead of spending them sight seeing, we spent them pretending like we were in America. We ate burgers, had starbucks, went shopping in stores like urban outfitters, and saw a movie (although a british flick, seeing a movie in English was like a dream come true).

Everyone in Liverpool was extremely nice. Right as we got off the plane, the bus man helped us get onto the right bus to the city center and put us on for free because we had to wait so long. He share life stories and we listened. Every time we opened our mouths, people asked where we were from, and when we replied California, our cool points automatically went up like 10 points and everyone wanted to talk to us.

We headed to the airport around 1am to take a nap. There we met fellow early travelers sleeping before their journey. However, one, Charlie Parker, the hippie from England, decided to juggle for us instead.

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We arrived in Tenerifie around 10am and headed to our hotel.. which was more like an apartment complex. It had everything a normal hotel has, front desk, restaurant, pool, etc, however, our room was equipped with a bedroom, balcony, living room, nice bathroom, kitchen, basically, it was nicer than our apartment here in Rome.

Tenerifie is.. well, like the rich man’s Florida.. basically, filled with old foreign people. We were definitely the only Americans, and probably the only 20 something year olds.

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The food was great though. SO CHEAP, a meal wouldn’t cost more than 6 euros and we usually got 3 course meals. So, go economy.

Here too, everyone loved that we were from California. Most of them asked what we were doing all the way over here, most just went “OOOOH, CALIFORNIA GIRLS” (in a Spanish accent of course).

We headed straight to the beach where the sand was white, the sun was hot, and the water was crystal clear and bright blue. We spent most of our time here.

The next day we rented a car after being laughed at by the rental car place for not being able to drive a stick. In fact, his exact words were: “automatic, HAHAHA.”

We embarked on our island road trip, climbing first to the top of Mount Tiede, the volcano and highest point in Europe (apparently). It reminded me of the red woods in Santa Cruz that I miss so much.

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After that, the terrene quickly turned into a desert one. The vast open spaces and tall rocky mountains surrounded us and we explored them like little billy goats.

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Next, it turned into a more greenery scenery (ha), and the mountain lead us down to a small little beach town where we enjoyed lunch.

Then off we were to more mountain towns. It started to rain (dumb rainforest, go figure). The roads were straight up two feet wide and our little trusty steed, big ben, was having a hard time making it up the hills, but the views were certainly worth it.

We ended our journey with a glorious beach sunset.

The rest of our days were spent lounging by the pool or the beach, working on our tans. We got in some extreme water sports though, jet skiing and parasailing but of course.

Oh yeah, there was a parrot show at our hotel.

Sadly, our stay on our tropical island came to an end and we headed back to Liverpool. We got in, starved, and headed to this place called World on a Plate (literally, every kind of food from anywhere you can imagine) where we met Ash and Anthony, a Liverpoolian and a native New Yorker. We became quick friends and they took us around the city. We went with Ash to his band practice at the same school where The Beatles would sit in the courtyard and write most of their songs.

We spent most of the day with them, getting a driving tour of Liverpool, it was actually quite educational. Did you know Liverpool is the cultural capitol of Europe? No? Me either.

We had another 6 am flight where we met a group of Scottish people in kilts and a Scottish boy bought us his country’s version of red bull. It was disgusting but we didn’t have the heart to tell him so, he was so excited for us to try it.

We finally made it home and crashed. Sleep deprivation is not fun.

I will be well rested for the arrival of my sister and cousin tomorrow!

It’s already April. My program ends May 8^th. Where did it go?!?!?! More to come, stay tuned!

* photo credit Melissa Black.

Bonjour Paree!

First of all, I’m sorry I haven’t blogged in a while. I just feel weird blogging with nothing interesting to say! I can give little Rome updates now and then : )

Now for… PARIS!

As we were sitting on the train heading into Paris we made three things known and agreed we wouldn’t let them stop us from appreciating the city and all its glory.

1. Paris will be very, very cold.

2. People in Paris will be rude.

3. Everything will be expensive.

However, with some stroke of luck, none of these things occurred and our trip to Paris turned out to be the best ever! The weather was beautiful and gorgeous, no colder than 50 something, we found cheap, yet delicious places to eat, and everyone spoke English and seemed eager to help and chat.

We arrived late Thursday night and went to sleep in order to prepare ourselves for the big day ahead of us.

We woke up early and headed to the closest site to us, Notre Dam. Let me just say, traveling and living abroad has certainly made me a pro on reading maps and navigating metro systems. I should probably go on the amazing race with these newfound skills.

Anyway, we arrived at Notre Dam. It was pretty cool, a nice gothic cathedral. The art inside was pretty good, although poorly maintained. Some interesting sculptures too. The stained glass was the cool part. There were so many little details within the tiny windows.

Next we headed to the Eiffel Tower. We turned a corner and BAM! There it was. We walked around and then headed in line to go to the top. It only cost 12 euro (less than I expected) and the line wasn’t terribly long (although I felt like I was at Disneyland). I’m not gonna lie, I’m not afraid of heights but it was a little scary up there. However, the views were amazing and it truly was a once in a lifetime experience.

Then it was off to the Arc de Triomphe. It too, was pretty cool, however I was more perplexed by the lack of order in the street in front of it. Cars were just zooming whichever way they wanted. We tried to figure out how to get to the underground passage to get to the arc but we failed.

We headed back to the hostel for a quick shower and then went to the Louvre for Friday free night!

We weren’t prepared for how big and overwhelming it would be. We agreed we’d go see the Mona Lisa to get it out of the way. That place is like a maze/obstacle course. However, we finally found her, and pushed our way to the front.

I must say, after years of studying this painting, I was quite disappointed. Sure, it’s a good painting, but it’s so small and behind so much glass and robes, you can hardly see it! Oh well, it was still cool to be there.

Then we walked around and saw some of the more famous paintings as well as a bunch I’ve seen throughout my studies

(winged victory)

(leonardo's madonna and the rocks)

(venus de milo)

We headed down a small street to find a Parisian restaurant for dinner. The food was good, however, it was the dessert that was superb!

Creme Brule!

The next day we woke up early and headed to the Chateau De Versailles. The palace was huge and every room was filled to the brim with art and sculptures galore! The hall of mirrors was super pretty and the gardens were nice.

We headed home before meeting up with a walking tour of the Montmartre area. It’s a really cool, very hip, Parsian part of town. There our tour guide (James, who actually was on Big Brother 9) walked us around the neighborhood providing us with little stories about everything. It was very, very cool!

Moulin Rouge!

Where Van Gogh lived (3rd floor)

Where little Picasso used to trade paintings for food

Sacre Cur - highest point in Paris, overlooking the whole city!

All around, Paris was a wonderful city and experience. I wish we had more time there and I would not mind going back and walking around all the little neighborhoods!

Merci Paree!!