Interlaken, Switzerland

Whelp. I have the answer. The answer to what I'm sure will be the question I will get the most when I return home. (I'm trying not to think about how soon that really is) And that question would be, "What was your favorite place you visited?" And the answer..."INTERLAKEN, SWITZERLAND!" It is the most beautiful place I've been and I did the coolest thing I've ever done. More on that later...

The past week in Verona has been lovely. Just lovely. I didn't fully appreciate Verona until spring time. Katie and I went to Piazza Erbe a couple of times and just sat and enjoyed. Usually accompanied by a sandwich, or a gelato, or a maybe a spritz. Our first test was the first assignment that was like what I'm used to. I am in for a rude awakening this fall.

After class on Thursday we headed off to Switzerland. The trains were easy, on time, and comfortable. When we arrived in Interlaken, we were all in awe of how beautiful this town was. That lake is the bluest water I've ever seen. The rolling hills are greener than anything else. And add in the springtime flowers and colors. It was perfection. I didn't sleep well Thursday night because I kept thinking about what I had to do in the morning. I had to sign up to go skydiving. Ok, I didn't have to, but I had wanted to for a very long time. And I looked at it as training for the Amazing Race. I woke up, signed up, kept my ticket for a free beer afterwards (in a safe place, duh), and got ready. We were supposed to leave at 8:30. At breakfast, I was the only one of the six of us going. We had exchanged phone numbers so I could meet up with them afterwards. Then when the guide got there to take my group to the airfield, two more decided they wanted to do it too. So with half of us skydiving, the other half wanted to come watch. Then on the ride there, one more decided she was going to give it whirl. As we were gearing up, one more decides to take the plunge. Katie Hardaway was the only one not doing it. Well, we convinced her. Just kidding. She took the pictures. As poorly as I had slept the night before, I wasn't nervous at all watching everyone else go. I wasn't even nervous until right before we were to jump. But the whole process of getting out of the plane went so fast, I didn't have time to dwell on what I was about to do. And it was incredible. It was by far the coolest thing I've ever done and may ever do. There is no feeling like it. We all loved it! And we have pictures and videos to prove it!

After our amazing morning, we rented bikes to explore the town. We rode down by the lake and just had a cruising afternoon. That evening we went to a chocolate show at Shuh chocolate. And we tasted some (and by some I mean a ridiculous amount of) divine Swiss chocolate. We hung out at our hostel, which has the best bar in all of Interlaken, for the rest of the night.

Saturday morning we let ourselves sleep in a little. It was cold and rainy and we were worried we wouldn't be able to go canyoning. We grabbed lunch, walked around town, and even saw a bhaliwood (we think) music video being filmed. We were so cold from the rain that we were considering ditching canyoning. But we stuck to the plan and I'm glad we did. For all you folk that don't know what canyoning is, go to YouTube, type in "Canyoning Interlaken" and watch the first video. And for you that aren't YouTube savvy, canyoning here is going through a glacier river (wetsuit, lifejacket, and helmet of course), and traversing through it. It includes rappelling, jumping off cliffs, taking a rope swing, and sliding down rocks. We were the first group of the entire season so we go to open the canyon up for canyoning! I thought it was scarier than skydiving. I wasn't mad about the way our guides looked either.

It was the best way to end my semester abroad and I loved everything about Interlaken. I could spend a week there and will hopefully get the chance to one day. Side Note: For anyone studying abroad in Europe, you must go here! Hint hint, K!

The Cinque Terre and Mom's Visit!

Now that I was home in Verona, it was Kate's turn to try her luck with European airports and get to Verona. Well, she made it! Almost perfectly. A slight delay from Paris into Verona and she was here! I showed her all around Verona, we got Spritzes in Erbe, and ate a great meal outside next to the Old Roman Gateway into the city. We had planned to visit the Cinque Terre and leave early Friday morning, but because we had missed class earlier in the week, we needed to have a makeup class Friday. So, Mom and I headed out after class let out to the Cinque Terre! We had an extremely easy trip and when we arrived in Monterosso, it felt like no one was in town. We think it was because of the rain, though. We checked into our fabulous hotel and found a great family-run restaurant for dinner. We had the best bruschetta we've both ever tasted. The tomatoes were unlike any others we've ever had.
Saturday was hiking day. We ate breakfast out on the patio of our hotel overlooking the ocean (yes, we realized here how spoiled we were) and then headed to the trail. It turned slightly overcast so it was nice and cool for the toughest part of the hike. We saw a bunch of older people and wondered how they were possibly doing the hike. Oh. And we also saw a cat on a leash...

The first town we came to was Vernazza. The path wound us down through town and was beautiful. It was starting to drizzle so we took a break and had lunch. The Cinque is known for their fresh pesto, so we tried that out. It was also delicious. We almost headed home because of the rain, but it eased up and we ventured on. It didn't rain the rest of the day!
Another tough hike to town #3, Corniglia. Now the sun was shinning bright! Corniglia was our orange soda town as we sat and took in the scenery. Manarola was an easy trek and that was our Gelato town (see the pattern yet?). We wandered around a lot before finding the next trail. It was the easiest and most crowded. It was on this trail that we saw the same cat that was on a leash, now being carried (like a baby) in a cat carrier...
We had to walk quickly through the last town, Riomaggiore, to make the last boat of the day. We decided to boat it back instead of train it for the scenery. After we got back to Monterosso, it was time for a well deserved beer.
We went back to our wonderful hotel to get ready for dinner and check train schedules for the next day. Friday night we had found local cuisine and Saturday night we found our fine dinning! Mom had a steak, I had sea bass ravioli, and we may or may not have split french fries. We also tried the Cinque Terre wine and dessert. I had chocolate mouse that rivals my favorite dessert ever, warm chocolate cake. Sunday morning we took our time eating breakfast, once again on the patio, did some last souvenir shopping, and headed to the train station.

I have really enjoyed the time I've been able to share with my Mom. We are good explorers together and when we checked out of our hotel we said, "We'll be back!" I am so happy she decided to come over and see my home away from home, Verona, and that we were able to go someplace neither one of us had ever been. I will the miss the fine dining...

Barcelona, Spain

I've been putting this blog post off for too long now. It's time to just sit down and write it all down. Barcelona is a really cool, vibrant city, with something always happening. Kari and I decided that we will move to Barcelona when we get bored in the states. We did the whole spanish thing. We stayed out all night and watched the sun rise. It was on Saturday when we woke up and realized our flight the next day had been cancelled. If you don't know why, then you obviously live under a rock and didn't hear about the massive volcano that erupted and closed just about every airport in Europe. We hadn't realized how bad the volcano was. Northern Italy airports were closed. So, we were stuck in Spain. At first, I didn't mind that. But as our options of getting home to Verona were dwindling, I did not enjoy figuring out how to get home. Cameron and Brooke booked a flight to Rome and then on to Verona and when I went to do it, the Verona airport had been closed so I wasn't able to book it. Trains in France happened to go on strike so getting to Italy that way was no longer an option. Then trains in Spain went on strike. We looked into taking a boat. The boat to Genoa, Italy broke down. Really? Was all this actually happening. We went ahead and booked a boat to Rome and decided we could get home to Verona from there somehow. The only problem, we didn't know what this 'ferry' was going to be like and oh yeah, it took 18 hours on a boat. Learning that Italian airports were to open Monday morning, I booked a flight to Milan. As I was at the ticket counter checking in, they closed Milan. I knew of another flight directly into Verona, so I ran, literally ran to the other side of the airport to see if I could get on. I couldn't-the bag I had to check wouldn't have made it in time. So I ran back to the other side of the airport (yes, running again) to see if I could get something-anything. I did not want to be on a boat for 18 hours. I bought a ticket to Rome and then into Verona. Not too bad. Waiting at my gate, I watched the other flight that I had tried to get on get cancelled. So I knew then that the Verona airport had closed and I would be training it up to Verona from Rome. Easy. Or so I thought. After Alitalia 'Misplaced' my bag, I headed to the train station. Only to learn that all the trains to Verona were sold out. I was forced to take regional trains all the way and get into Verona at 12 AM. I could handle that. My first train I was not guaranteed a seat and I stood (with a nun) in between cars for two hours. I made it though. All of my trains were late and I ran through almost every train station to make my connecting train. I was on my way to Prato (from Florence) to connect to Bologna to get to Verona. My train to Prato was so delayed that I didn't get into the station in time to catch my train to Bologna that would allow me to get home to Verona that night. Thankfully, there was a train to Bologna later that night because after being told by a random I should just hop on a bus and watching a cross dresser stroll through the Prato train station, I knew Bologna was way bigger and safer. After learning I wasn't going to make it home that night, I had a mild breakdown. But thanks to my credit card ('preciate it Seany), I checked into a nice hotel in Bologna. The only thing missing was my plush robe and slippers. But TV in the bathroom, check. I slept in and cruised home to Verona Tuesday morning. I was thankful I wasn't on a boat for 18 hours and then on a train for 12. I managed to be the 3rd person back out of the people that were stuck in various places. I had never been happier to be in Verona!
I did not enjoy the makeup work we all were required to do, but all in all, I survived. And I'm even more confident that Seany and I would kick butt on the Amazing Race. Just need to make the application video...I kind of figured this out before, but this whole situation made my realize I have the best parents around. For reals. (how about that for a shout out)

Valencia, Spain

Sorry this has taken forver...I've just been enjoying Springtime Verona waaay too much!

Have you ever seen those people in the airport carrying their belongings through security because their bag was overweight and they didn't want to pay the charge. That was everyone in our group. We had to stuff our carry-ons to the brim. My checked bag was the only one of the girls that didn't go over. Take that one Claire-I made weight. Our flight was delayed two hours but it went by quickly. We got into Valencia and found some lunch before catching a quick nap. That night we found a nice, authentic Valencian meal. I orderd the rice with lobster only to discover a full lobster came out of the kitchen...That night, it may have been the combo of excessive smoke and loud music, but I was a debbie and went to bed early. The next morning we ventured out to grab lunch before heading to the beach. The beach was beautiful! The sand was the softest and finest I've ever felt and the water was sooo clear. At night, we met up with some UGA people (they have a study abroad program there) and we got tapas and drinks with them. It was so nice to hang out with people from home! They only had a week left and they were telling us that they were excited to go home, but will miss Valencia very much. We had a 7 am bus to Barcelona and it was tough to wake up. We were on the Mercedes Bez of buses though (with wifi!) and we snuggled in and went back to sleep. We just arrived in Barcelona and our hostel is in the middle of town! We're headed out now to explore the town!