As the summer approaches, my friend and I will be preparing for the trip of a lifetime. Both of us are students at the University of Arizona, and are going to be participating in their study abroad program in Italy. But the more we thought about, we decided why stop there? We're already in Europe, why would we just go back to Tucson? Our plan was hatched and now there is no stopping it.
The first stop on our adventure is to Washington D.C. to stay with my lovely and hospitable cousin Jenifer. We're going to get pumped up on A-mur-ican history before we cross the water. Two days later we jet off to Rome. A city with so much history it's almost unreal. Here we will be staying at the flat of a friend of mine. This young man, Dillon, is beyond talented. He is studying fashion design in Rome, and is gonna be famous some day (so we're getting a sneak peak of what the world will see on the runway!). He is going to show us around the city like a true Italian!
Our program begins on May the 19th, so after a few days in Rome we will board a train for the little town of Orvieto. Here we will be put up in an apartment with other students and begin our classes. Part of our tuition costs cover them taking us to museums, different cities, and trips all over the country. But we definitely have some plans of our own...
My family is from Italy, my great grandfather came over in the 20's with his wife and baby and over time they lost contact. One of the things I intend to do while there is to find our lost relatives. It would be crazy for me to be so close and not try. I'm hoping that with enough research and a decent understanding of the language I will be successful. Even if I'm not, I intend to put together a memorial for my great aunt who just passed in the city where she was born. My heritage is important to me and I intend to honor it.
After 5 weeks of class our studying will be at an end, and this is where the fun will begin. My mother lived in Spain in her 20's and still has friends there who have visited us in Arizona before. I got in contact with them and they have invited us to come on over and visit! Hania (my travel buddy) and I will take a journey to the city of Alcala, about 30km outside of Madrid. These friends want to not only show us the sights but also their culture. It is so different than other places even in Europe and it will definitely be fun!
After Spain, we will be taking a train up the romantic city of Paris. Going here has been a dream of mine since I was little, so even several months away I can hardly wait. This is the only city on our trip so far where we don't have personal connection, so we will be brave and spend our nights in a Paris hostel. We want to be as lame as tourists can be, where barret's, eat croissants, take pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower. But hey, when in Rome right? I can't wait to see the Louvre, and famous buildings. Not to mention Chanel and Louis Vuitton...
After a few days in Paris we will take a ferry into England and journey up to London. Here we will be staying with the aunt of a mutual friend so we could not be more thankful! As an english major, I can hardly wait to see the theater in the round, and all of the sights from Shakespeare's history plays. As a Harry Potter fan, I WILL go and take a picture on Diagon Alley. And as a Downton Abbey fan we plan to take a train to Highclere Castle (about an hour and a half outside of London) to see where the show is filmed. And if we just so happen to meet any one from the cast believe me when I say I might faint.
We fly out of London and into Iceland, the final stop on our journey. Here we have a verrrrryyyyy long lay over, so we intend to do some exploring! Why not? We're gonna be there, so we might as well check it out! A fun fact about Iceland, is that because they are so isolated they do not speak modern english. They speak what sounds mostly like Middle English, so let's hope we can communicate!
In each place we hope to absorb the culture, learn the history, try the food, and grow as people. Everyone has said that I will come back change, and so to that I say bring it on! Seeing as we are both paying our own ways, we will both appreciate this adventure in a way that others may not. I hope to grow and learn and change. I hope to come back a better version of myself, and if I find a rich european man along the way, even better! ;)
