Then We Explored

Once the initially shock and dread of finding out we were at the wrong station wore off we gathered ourselves and snapped into action. We exited the train station and entered what appeared to be the rougher side of Verona. We tried to find a taxi and thankfully ran into a group of adults who spoke enough English to point us in the right direction. Luck was on our side because Verona has a great taxi system, we found this machine where we push a button and tell the operator where we are and they send a taxi! We got in a taxi and made it to our station in plenty of time, especially since the train got delayed forty minutes…Finally the train starts and we are on our way to Rome!

We got into Rome at 6 am and hit the ground running, well more like walking because Rome has a lot of hills. The first stop was the Trevi Fountain, which was a HUGE disappointment. We walk up and find that they are cleaning the fountain, so the water was off. We were sad but we decided to come back later to see it with water. We leave to find the Spanish Steps and run into the Pantheon instead. There was nobody there since it was so early so we got some good pictures and went inside! From there we worked our way towards the Colosseum, where we also got to see the Roman and Imperial Forums and many other buildings. I opted not to go into the Colosseum because my parentals are coming over to Rome and we are going to go in! We also went back to the Trevi Fountain and it was completely drained AND they were taking all the coins out, we watched everyone’s wishes be swept into bags. I was pretty heartbroken and sad. After that we decided to go find our hostel because we were running off of three hours of sleep.

 

 

The hostel finding attempt was NOT smooth sailing. We go to ask for directions and it turns out the hostel is on the outskirts of town pretty far away so we need to take the subway. So, we buy our tickets and get on. We got off at the stop the guy told us and we were LOST. Tensions were running high. We couldn’t find anyone who spoke English well enough to help us and we have no wifi available. We make it to a McDonalds and ask for directions, the girl looks at us and says that we are very far away from where we need to be. We finally get a guy who was kind enough to help us and we make it to the hostel. The next day we went to the Vatican City and explored that a little. It was beautiful but sadly, I did not get to see the Pope. We went back to the Trevi Fountain and it was up and running with water again. It was completely beautiful and I loved it! It looks so much better with water in it, not quite the letdown we saw earlier. We left for La Spezia Tuesday night and had no problems with the train, but had more problems at 11 pm trying to find our hotel.

 

We finally got a taxi and found the hotel and it felt like paradise compared to the hostels. We had a nice bathroom and a pretty big room, we slept very well. We woke up to a fre continental breakfast and we ate like pigs. After that we set off for the beach where we spent the day sleeping, tanning, and eating gelato! The next day we explored the Cinque Terre area and saw the different towns. This was by far my favorite place. I about cried when I had to leave for Pisa. We made it to Pisa and saw some sort of tower that appeared to be falling over… Just kidding, I know what it was. The Leaning Tower was a sight to see and we got plenty of pictures. We eventually made our way back to Olomouc after the experience of a lifetime. 

 

 

First We Had to Learn

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” 

  

Wow, I finally made it back home after 10 days of basically backpacking through Italy on spring break. I never thought I would be so excited to be back in Olomouc but yesterday when the trained pulled into the station we were all so thrilled. We made it back to familiar places after being in foreign lands for so long.  The adventure all started in Vienna, Austria with a class field trip.

We took a bus for a few hours and crossed the border into Austria. The hills were alive with the sound of music, that’s for sure. Just kidding, the hills made no sounds. We got to our hostel, put our stuff down, and started off. We walked down a main street full of store and shopping and headed towards the museums and all that informational stuff, I mean since we are “studying” abroad. As we were walking it started to down pour. So we took off running as a group, again. We went inside a museum full of the Habsburg’s treasure. The Habsburgs were a family who ruled a lot of central Europe back in the day and they were extremely rich. Now a day anyone with the Habsburg name isn’t allowed back into Austria unless you denounce any claim to the throne. It was quite interesting. We also went to see the St. Stephens church which was beautiful inside. 

 

The second day we had a choice on where we wanted to go for the museums, I picked the Natural History museum! It was huge and there were so many rocks, bones, stuffed animals, and other information. There was a fertility doll there as well, which is apparently a big deal, I did not know that. I also found out that there used to be sloths that were as big as grizzly bears (see picture below)! I would have loved to see those, but obviously they are extinct! We went to see the Sisi museum and apartments; she was a very fascinating person so I liked learning about her. Overall, Vienna was nice but I probably would not want to go back and stay there for a long time. The crew left early Saturday morning for a 7 hour bus ride to Venice.  

 


Venice was amazing and I completely loved it. When we arrived to Venice we found out the trains were on strike though, and we needed to take a train on Sunday, so this worried me a lot. There are so many canals because you either walk or take a boat places. We got there late in the afternoon so our instructor took us to view the Jewish Quarter and then let us explore on our own. We found some food and the gelato there was delicious. Sunday we toured the St. Michael’s church and a museum. We got to see the Bridge of Sighs, where Casanova was jailed, and it is called that because prisoners were able to cross the bridge and see the ocean one last time before going to jail. Then we had more free time, found an amazing pasta place, ate more gelato, and then packed because my group was about to leave for Rome. A group of us were fortunate enough to have time to take a gondola ride! It was so much fun and I felt like it was something I needed to cross off my bucket list. The train strike ended at 9 pm and our train left at 9:12 pm, we were off for an adventure.

On the train ride to Rome we had to make a stop at Verona and catch a different train, we arrived at Verona at 11 pm and the next train left at 11:30… we exited the train in Verona, we looked up and then back at our ticket. As the train pulls away we realize we are at the wrong station, in the middle of the night, four girls, no map or cell service, and we had 30 minutes to catch our train. The first major crisis was upon us…

A Sight to See

Last weekend, as mentioned in the previous post, we went to Dresden, Germany for the day. I really liked Germany, the air felt fresher than in the crowded city of Prague and there seemed to be more space. Don’t get me wrong, there were still a ton of people in Dresden, it just felt different. We caught an early train to Dresden from Prague and so the first thing we did in Germany was find food! As most of you know I love soft pretzels, well Germany had a ton and they were delicious!! It made me very happy except they don’t have a dipping cheese but that’s okay! After we ate we had a choice of either going to an art museum or a castle museum. I chose the castle museum.

I couldn't take pictures inside the castle museum because it was heavily guarded. One person told me that this museum is one of the wealthiest museums because it houses so many diamonds and jewels. I like the part of the castle where there was jousting armor and weapons on display. It was just so fascinating to me that people would do that!

After the castle a group of us crossed over the river to find a restaurant for dinner. We ended up stopping at some little outside café. The menu was all in German so we just pointed to this soup that the guy at a table next to us was eating. It was a potato soup with sausages, and it was very yummy! We tried their beer and it was good as well.

Once we were done eating we met back up with the entire group and we walked up into a church tower. It was quite the climb, but once we got to the top we had an amazing view of the city. It was well worth the climb.

The most entertaining part of the day happened at the end. We were walking back to the train station to catch our train home when one of the accompanying professors comes up behinds us and casually says, I think we need to speed up a little bit… I asked him why and he said, because the train leaves in five minutes. We processed that for a second and then 24 American students and 3 professors took off running for the train station. We ran down a very busy street full of shoppers and street performers. We ran through a circle of break-dancers in the middle of a performance. People on the streets were laughing and making fun of us. A group of students made it to the station right as the train was pulling away, and we ended up completely missing it. We had to wait two hours until the next one back to Prague. So, we found a beer and took a seat and waited. It was quite humorous. We eventually made it home and all was well!