Expectations

I woke up this morning to the sound of rain falling outside. Normally, I would have groaned about this seeing as the weather my first month here was nothing but rain. But today, I am taking full advantage of this weather by enjoying a slow morning away from the abundance of tourists that flock the streets of Florence on the weekends.

With midterms over, my class workload was much lighter this week leaving me with time to simply sit, sip my coffee, and reflect about various lessons I’ve learned from my travels thus far. These past couple weeks, you’ve read all about my adventures to varying cities and what my impressions were of them. I’ve decided to mix it up a bit today and share an important lesson I have learned while being here. 

I’ll be the first to admit that I often hold high expectations in my head about a place I’ll be traveling to. These thoughts often stem from movies I’ve watched, books I’ve read or pictures I’ve seen. I used to be one who would sit for hours pouring over books, websites, and films trying to learn as much as I could about the place I was traveling to. In fact, I would learn so much, that when I actually got to the place, I would get disappointed because it failed to match the image I had created in my head. 

I’m getting better though, I promise you. The more I travel, the more I am beginning to grasp that sometimes things don’t go exactly as planned. You should never rely on your expectations.

Despite this, I do believe one of the best parts of traveling is the expectation. Having something to look forward to. Knowing that you’re going to be confronted by an environment that’s entirely different from your own. The other side of expectation, however, is the risk of prejudging a place you’re visiting without having seen or experienced it yet and putting unrealistic expectations on the experience you hope to have there. When we expect travel destinations to fulfill some fantasy we’ve dreamed up in our minds, it’s easy to feel let down when your vision just simply doesn’t prepare you for the reality.

But here’s the reality: travel isn’t always easy or comfortable. Sometimes, you may not get your own way, but sometimes you will. You’ve just got to learn to roll with the punches and stay flexible so you can adjust your perspective to each new and different situation.

So although it’s sometimes hard to balance travel expectations, I’m learning to wipe my mental slate clean and to approach each travel experience like a blank journal, ready to record each moment as it comes.

Happy Friday!

Going Greek

This past week we had our Spring Break here in Florence. Two of my roommates and I opted to swap the ancient streets and bridges of Florence for the crumbling temples and picturesque beaches of Greece. We set off bright and early to catch a 14 hour ferry ride to the beautiful island of Corfu, Greece! The daunting 14+ hours we were antsy about were quickly diminished with a great view of the turquoise water all around us, a fun night of Uno with new friends, and stargazing on top of the boat.

From the moment we arrived at the Northern Greek island of Corfu, we were greeted with the blue and white stripes of the Greek flag and the illegible Greek alphabet sprawled across every sign.

Bright pink buses were waiting for us at the port and took us to the one and only Pink Palace: a beachside hostel that is (you guessed it) pink. Every building that is part of the massive property is coated in a bright, bubble-gum pink.

 Along with a place to stay that is within hearing distance of the waves, the Pink Palace provided us with plenty to do – everything from sea kayaking and toga parties to ATV and bus tours of the island. But, if you’re anything like me, after the chaos that is midterms and papers, calmly exploring the beachfront and leisurely exploring seemed like a good way to spend our first day!

 The next couple days were spent relaxing on the beach, discovering abandoned ships washed up on the shore, lots of card playing, toga parties, Greek food and sea kayaking on the Ionian Sea.

 Leaving the picturesque quaintness of Corfu, we made the 8-hour trek across Greece to the bustling city of Athens. What struck me most about the famous city is just how industrial it has become. Scattered with shops, busy paved streets, and modernly designed buildings, it felt almost as if I was in Rome again.

It was only after a hike to the edge of the city that you stumbled across the scarce remnants of Athens' past, or climbed the Acropolis to view more scattered columns and crumbling temples.

Our time in Athens was a whirlwind where we only had a mere 24 hours to soak in as much of the culture and gyros as possible. And after getting my phone stolen, I was ready to leave the busyness of Athens behind and board our ferry to the postcard island of Santorini. 

In Santorini, we did a tour of all the island had to offer – starting with the various beaches. We hiked through Santorini’s famous red sand beach, which in reality can barely be called a beach. In order to get to the beach we first had to climb over steep hills and rocks, but the view was worth every second.

On our second night, we made our way to the town of Oia just in time for the sunset – the town most famous for being the face of Santorini postcards and the filming location for Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. It is also a popular spot for tourists from all over the island to gather to watch the sun set, with hundreds of people climbing on railings and rooftops, bottles of wine in hand, to get a perfect view.

After packing together our belongings, we witnessed one last Santorini sunset from the bus as we made our way to the main Ferry port for a 24+ hour ride back to Italy!

As much as I loved the Greek atmosphere, by day 10 I found myself getting Florence-homesick for the first time. I missed the patchwork of the Italian cobblestone, the homemade pasta and gelato, and the familiarity of an alphabet I knew how to pronounce. While nothing may ever top a Santorini sunset, the familiar feeling of my bed in Florence after over 30 hours of travel came pretty darn close!

Prague: A Fairy-Tale City

Studying abroad has many elements of adventure to it. First, there is the actual departure from your home continent. Then, there is the opportunity to venture even further, the opportunity to explore outside of your newly settled foreign land. This past weekend, curiosity and exploration led me to Prague.

 If when you think of Europe you imagine castles, old bridges, historic medieval archways and buildings from centuries gone by, then that is Prague in a nutshell. It really is that fairy-tale place you imagine when dreaming of old European cities. 

I swear to you, magic was in the air. Not the Disney-type where forest creatures break out in song and dance. No, Prague is magical in its own way. The city seems to be torn right from a picture book where fairy dust constantly rains and (somehow) beer is given to you for free at dinner but you have to pay for water. 

And did I mention they have Starbucks...?! 

Enjoy the highlights of my weekend in this enchanting city!

Old Town Square

Astronomical Clock

Charles Bridge

John Lennon Wall

Prague Castle

Trdelnik
A cylindrical pastry sold hot with a dusting of cinnamon and sugar. They are made by wrapping dough around a wooden stick and roasting it over an open flame until it is fully cooked. These are to die for!

And of course...the many stops at Starbucks :)

I find one of the most painful things, as a photographer is feeling like you didn’t document what your eyes saw properly, and not having enough time to capture all that you want to. Prague is one of those cities where its' beauty can simply not entirely be captured on camera. I do however, hope you feel a glimpse of what I did through looking at these images! 

Lost in Venice

Ahh, Venice… The magical sinking city that seems to float on water, where residents still need boats to get around and where visitors unfailingly get lost in its winding maze of alleyways, bridges, and canals.

On Sunday, Meghan and I caught an early train to spend the day in Venice! Once we got into the city we decided to follow the crowd of tourists; all who seemed to be following these yellow signs pointing to main attractions such as the Rialto Bridge and Piazza San Marco. Meg and I quickly grew tired of hordes of people all going in the same direction, so we decided to go off the beaten path. If you look at any website or ask anyone on what to do in Venice I’m sure you’ll receive the response “get lost in Venice.” This is exactly what we did.

We wandered through narrow and sometimes what seemed like “secret” alleyways. Discovered the most picturesque canals (the small canals are the best, they are peaceful, quiet, and so full of character). We crossed bridges over water that looked as though it had been used to clean someone’s paintbrushes. The crowds of tourists we’d passed before were long gone.

 

On one of the many random streets we turned down, we found a quaint little restaurant to grab some lunch. Meg and I each had a flavorful plate of gnocchi with a four-cheese sauce, bread, and free water! 
(A very rare thing to find in Italy.)

After lunch, we decided that we should try to find our way to the Piazza San Marco. We thought this would be easy…wrong we were. After what felt like an hour of wandering, we finally managed to figure it out!

  Just past the Piazza, we found ourselves looking out at the magnificent blue water before us. Taking full advantage of the weather, we bought little bottles of Prosecco, seated ourselves by the edge of the water, took off our shoes and basked in the sun!

Getting lost in a foreign city is an excellent way to step away from the obvious and have a unique and memorable experience. In a city like Venice, you are almost guaranteed to bump into something new and astonishing around every corner. It’s a place of endless discovery!