No words can describe how delicious every single sample of chocolate I tasted today was at the Perugia Chocolate Festival - whether in candy bar form, hot chocolate form or liquor form. I've never consumed so much chocolate in one day but it was well worth the food coma I received during our guided tour of the Perugina Chocolate Factory! One would probably say I'm a Chocoholic!
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Calcio is a big deal here in Europe and I got to witness and experience European soccer in its entirety yesterday at the AS ROMA vs. Chievo Verona game in Rome. One of the perks of living in Viterbo is that I am located approximately an hour and 45 min. away from Rome making day trips an absolute possibility. Risa, Jen and I bought Birg passes because we knew we’d be in Rome all-day! A Birg pass cost 12 Euro and allows you to access the train, metro, tram and bus all day without having to purchase multiple passes for each form of transportation. We thought this was the smartest option because we knew we would be taking a variety of transportation to get to each of our destinations in Rome. Upon arriving in Rome, the first thing we did was head to one of multiple AS ROMA stores to purchase our tickets. We had a lot of trouble purchasing the tickets online so I recommend to anyone who plans on seeing an AS ROMA game – just buy your tickets at the AS ROMA stores. It’s a good thing we got in line when we did too because several people had the same idea as us in terms of purchasing tickets the day of the game. After reserving our seats we grabbed a quick bite for lunch and then headed to Stadio Olimpico for the game! We went to the official AS ROMA tent to buy gear, visited the fan village where we got hearts painted on our faces and then it was game time! AS ROMA has great fans! Very enthusiastic and we were upset we didn’t know the cheers because we wanted to join in! The amount of fans waving their flags was crazy and even colored smoke bombs would go off! These AS ROMA fans definitely have team spirit!
AS ROMA won 3-0 defeating Chievo Verona and I had an absolute blast at my first professional soccer game! The last country Risa, Christine and I traveled to was The Netherlands. My friend Stephen is studying abroad in Amsterdam for a year and I was very excited to hangout with him while on Fall Break. He met us at the Starbucks in Schipol airport when we landed. Stephen showed me the heart of Amsterdam as well as the Red Light District before we headed to various bars to catch up on life and how studying abroad has treated us thus far. The next morning we woke up early and met Risa and Christine at The Anne Frank House. This museum blew my mind. You aren’t allowed to take photos or videos inside and I really appreciated this aspect of the museum. I was absolutely touched by her house and it’s something I recommend everyone go see if you are ever in Amsterdam. The experience made me want to reread her diary. Afterwards, we ate at Sara’s Pancake House where I consumed the largest pancake I’ve ever seen in my life. Then we headed to the Rijksmuseum, something Stephen had mentioned he wanted to check out. This museum is gigantic and the amount of artwork is massive. I definitely wish we had longer to see every exhibit. You definitely need one full day to cover every inch of the museum. We were lucky because on the back side of the Rijksmuseum was the I AMSTERDAM sign. Another site I wanted to cross of my bucket list. It’s pretty much impossible to get a picture of the entire sign without a bunch of other tourists in your shot but eventually you learn to embrace the chaos and try to get a few good shots. Also, thanks to the iPhone’s panoramic feature on its camera I was able to get some pretty good shots of the full sign. We went back to the sign the next morning, on the day we were leaving to head back home, in hopes that there would be less tourists…we got a little lucky! Amsterdam is beautiful and I was really happy to spend time with my friend who I met freshman year at Chico State (Sutter South third floor) in his study abroad host country. Our Fall Break was a crazy 10 day adventure filled with getting lost, buying way too many metro tickets, eating some of the best food we’ve ever tasted and so much more but overall it was about just enjoying every moment we have studying abroad and exploring this beautiful world we live in.
On this trip, I was able to cross off much more on my bucket list than I anticipated and I can definitely say I cured quite a bit of my wanderlust over those 10 days of travel. Next stop in Espana = Madrid! After checking into our hostel on Tuesday evening, we decided it was time for some TAPAS: We started with a platter of eight tapas and ordered a few celebratory cocktails for navigating our travels so well. I ordered one of my favorite drinks - a pina colada! (The tapas were so delicious we had to order one more platter of three!) On Wednesday we dedicated the entire day to exploring the city! We visited... Palacio Real de Madrid: The line was very long and with only one full day to see Madrid we decided to take pictures outside of the gates to save time. We then ran into a beautiful church located very close to Palacio Real called "Catedral Santa Maria La Real de La Almudena." The architecture in this building was absolutely breathtaking and I loved the vibrant colors used throughout the church - especially on the ceiling. While strolling through the streets we heard a band playing... We ended up getting lost trying to find Plaza Mayor, but it was meant to be because we found Mercado de San Miguel. This is one place my friend Yvette, who studied abroad in Madrid for a year, said was a must-see. I Fell in Love with a Supermarket that day. (I also finally got my Churros con chocolate and lemme say I was not disappointed!) Then it was time for lunch. Yvette also recommended that we try 100 Montaditos and we were in luck because every Wednesday everything is ONE EURO. We ran across this beautiful garden... And we couldn't leave Spain without seeing a Flamenco show! Not only was it the best sangria I've ever tasted, but the dancing was well executed. Flamenco is definitely a dance I would love to learn at some point in my life. So much power and strength goes into the dance and the quick footwork is out of this world! To wrap up our adventures in Madrid/Spain we danced all night in a discoteca for FREE because a group of 18-year-olds couldn't get into the club due to their age. They ended up giving us the passes they received which got us in for free and included free sangria! - They are in the first picture with Risa, Christine and I! Spain showed us a good time and there's only one more country we visited while on Fall Break...cue Charli XCX's "Boom Clap."
Last Monday marked the first official day of Fall Break and our first destination was Barcelona, Spain. Since we were traveling to two different countries over break we only spent a day & a half in Barcelona with Tuesday afternoon being another travel day to Madrid. Our first tourist activity included taking the metro to Park Guell. This gigantic park had a lot to offer including a pretty awesome view of Barcelona in the Monumental Zone. You had to buy a ticket to enter the Monumental Zone but in my opinion it was worth every penny. The architecture was stunning and I loved the designs and colors displayed. Gaudi's work is beautiful. Next, we headed to Sagrada Familia and I was very sad to see that its currently under construction. One day when I return to Spain I hope to view the architecture of this church in its entirety. Lastly, after enjoying delicious seafood paella, we decided to relax before our flight to Madrid by soaking up the waves and sunshine on the beach. This beach was located only 7 - 8 minutes away from our hostel! Barcelona is definitely a city I want to return to someday. I'd love to see more of the beaches, eat more delicious paella and explore more of its famous sites!
One side of my purse strap broke. Our train kept stalling because someone cut some wires on one of the tracks. And we barely made it onto our 12-hour bus ride to Munich, Germany…this is how my weekend at Oktoberfest began! Imagine four young women running off of the train and all around Roma Termini train station looking for the Nike Store in order to check-in with our Bus2Alps leader. Not only did we make it at 8:15 p.m., which was 15 minutes after the reported time, (Thank you Italian train system) we were hungry, we needed to use the restroom and we couldn’t even sit together because all the other students were seated. Despite all these hurdles we faced before even leaving Rome for Germany, it was such a relief to finally hit the road to Munich and what an amazing weekend it was with Bus2Alps camping at Oktoberfest! Christine, Jen, Risa and I signed up to travel to Oktoberfest through a tour operator called Bus2Alps. I highly recommend to anyone studying abroad going on a trip with them. Friendly staff, great locations to travel to and you will meet lots of other students studying abroad just like you! Throughout each of the 12-hour bus rides the guides played movies for us including: “Wedding Crashers,” “The Social Network,” “Midnight in Paris,” “Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” “Dumb and Dumber,” “Crash,” and a crowd favorite that even had the guys on the bus cheering…”Mean Girls.” Most of the time on the bus rides everyone was either watching the movies or snoozing. There were no issues staying entertained for the long ride. Also, by signing up with Bus2Alps our package included camping with Stoke Travel. We arrived at the campsite around 8:30 a.m. and were greeted with a hearty, “Goodmorning!” (from the Stoke crew) followed by four cups of beer. When at Oktoberfest! Breakfast was included every morning of the trip and all of us were anxious when we saw eggs and bratwursts served on bread rolls. Germany has the most delicious sausages. I even ran into my friends Karen (who I met at a Rebelution concert this past summer), Amanda (who was one of my first friends at Chico State and a Journalism major like myself) and Cameron (who I went to high school with); it was great to catch-up with each one of them while at the campsite. After buying a wristband that would allow us to have unlimited beer or sangria at the campsite for the entire weekend, we decided to unwind and relax a bit before heading out to do the Bike Tour of Munich! I have never ridden or owned a cruiser and what a way to try one for the first time. All the participants were split into 4-5 groups with a tour guide and after everyone selected their blue or turquoise cruiser we were off and hitting the streets of Munich! Munich is gorgeous and Germany definitely stole my heart. I want to come back and explore more of Germany in the future. After the bike tour we hit the Oktoberfest Festival at night. And early the next morning the shenanigans officially began! Originally, we were going to try and get into the Hofbrau Festzelt tent – which is one of the most popular tents – but it was full by the time we arrived at the festival. Luckily, out of the corner of my eye I noticed people running to the tent next door and I immediately followed after them. We stayed in the Hacker Festzelt tent and apparently this tent had the nicest decoration inside with the clouds on the ceiling and all its color. Not enough words can describe how much beer you drink, how many people you will Prost and cheer with, how many times you will have to stand in line for the bathroom, how many songs everyone sings, how many times someone will stand on their table and chug their stein, etc…in all honesty you have to experience Oktoberfest yourself to truly understand how amazing and memorable this weekend in Germany is. To end our trip in Munich on Sunday Christine, Jen, Risa and I all headed to Englischer Garten Munchen and Chinesischer Turm Biergarten. We had visited these places during the Bike Tour and only had an hour for lunch so we wanted to visit one last time before heading out on another 12-hour bus ride. This place truly made me miss Bidwell back in Chico and if I ever live in Munich I know this is somewhere I will spend my weekends and free time during the day. The garden is absolutely gorgeous with lots of families, couples and friends either sitting on the benches by the water, jogging, drinking coffee while walking their dogs or riding their bikes. The Chinese garden serves delicious food and large pretzels. They even had the huge steins used at Oktoberfest for sale! All in all my weekend at Oktoberfest and in Munich, Germany was an experience of a lifetime. Another item crossed off my bucket list and I cannot wait to return for OKTOBERFEST ROUND 2!
10 DAYS OF TRAVEL BEGINS TODAY! Tonight I leave for OKTOBERFEST in Munich, Germany and starting Monday, October 6, I begin my Fall Break!
Those students who didn't sign up for "The Heart of Italy" field study have a week off...and what a week it will be! During my break, I will be traveling with my friends Risa and Christine and we will start our adventure in Spain (Barcelona and Madrid) and will end in The Netherlands (Amsterdam)! I'm very excited to be traveling to so many places on my bucket list and I cannot wait to share my stories from my travels. That being said, I will not be blogging for the next 10 days. My laptop is too valuable and will add extra weight to my backpacking backpack as I explore Europe. When I return, the week of October 12-18, I will be posting many stories, advice and photos from my adventures during this extended week of travel. Thank you so much for following my blog and reading along! Arrivederci! (Now time to finishing packing and double check all my belongings for CAMPING AT OKTOBERFEST 2K14!) http://thosewhowanderblog.com/2014/09/15/how-to-successfully-pack-for-an-oktoberfest-camping-weekend/ |