8/5
Another travel day. we ventured from Riomaggiore to Florence. it was already going to be a long day because we had to carry all our things around the final town of Cinque Terre that we hadn't been to (Manarola). we were basically just killing time because our train was at 3:00. Finally when it was time for the train, we got on the first train, and it was fine because this is only a 5-minute train. we then hop on the second train, and it's fine. We find space where the four of us can be near each other. the only issue was that I really had to pee, and there were still two hours left of this train ride. Suddenly some man said to me in broken English that the train was broken and that we had to get off at the next stop. We didn't believe him, but he wasn't lying. we had to get off at Pisa. it was awesome for me because I really, really had to pee. We waited for the next train for an hour. We finally got on the train, it was packed. Filled to the brim. We secured seats, but we weren't near each other. We were supposed to be on this train for 3 hours, but we were there for 4 hours because at one stop so many people got on that the conductor said that the train was too heavy to keep moving and that if people didn't get off the train, it won't move. no one got off. We sat there for an hour. It was hot, sweaty, and smelly. but finally, we got moving. Not many people got off, though. When we arrived in Florence we got our hostel, it was nice. It was just the four of us in one room. It kind of reminded me of The Shining, though.This hostel was called Ostello Bello Firenze, we arrived around 8:00 p.m. We walked around the city and then called it a night. We had pasta at the hostel for dinner.
8/6
This day in Florence was spent on a wine tour about 40 minutes outside of Florence. The place is called Costello de Verrazano. It was very pretty. The Vineyard was on a hill, so it overlooked the Italian countryside. The actual tour is short we were just shown where they keep the wine to age and how they make it. Then we were taken to a dining area where we were given seven different wines. Alongside the wines, we were given so much food. First bread with prosciutto, cheese, Jam then spaghetti bolognese, which was fire. Then a steak-type thing, then a peach pie for dessert. The food was so good. So is the wine, but my taste buds haven't matured to like wine. We got very drunk off this wine. The Uber home was tough because I was coming down from the alcohol, and I had to listen to Martina and Katie talk about men. When we got back, I took time to myself and just chilled. We got back around 6:00 p.m. I wasn't hungry for dinner we walked around Florence a little.
8/7
Monday around Florence was fun. We just walked around as much as we could and shopped around. I got a pencil case, and nothing too exciting happened we were just checking out stores. For lunch, we got this bomb sandwich, though. The place is called all’antico vinaio. I got a sandwich with ham, mozzarella, lettuce, and this pistachio spread. It was delicious. After completely destroying that sandwich, we walked 25 minutes to Piazzale Michaelangelo. We saw on TikTok that it had good views of the city in a lively atmosphere, so we said, why not? It was a hike to get up there. We had to track up this hill. But once we got there, it was beautiful. There were these steps and everyone was just sitting there waiting for sunset. Martina, Ashley, and I managed to grab a seat on the stairs. We saw three engagements. Ashley bought us some wine and we watched the sun go down. Once the sun went down, everyone clapped. We stayed there for a bit and then we got up because we heard music from behind us. An old man with a guitar is putting on a whole concert for a huge group of people. We squirmed our way to the front and danced along with everyone. it was so much fun. he was even playing Mexican music. I was dancing along with some drunk Aussie. We stayed there dancing for an hour. We then rented some scooters and scooted halfway back to the hostel. I felt so free riding the scooter. Ashley hit a bump and her shirt went down and flashed everyone. It was a really good day.
8/8
Travel day from Florence to Venice. It was a very chill train ride because we had reserved seats. We got there in about 2 hours. We walked 5 minutes from the train station to the hostel, this one was called Anda Venice. This was the nicest hostel we stayed at. It was huge. We are in a six-person dorm, so we had roomies. We immediately dropped off our stuff and took the bus to Venice. We walked around and took a look at the shops. We took a gondola tour. It was fun. I got Isabel a necklace. We went back to the hostel and had dinner there. it was around 8:00 p.m. This is when I was looking at our roomies things, and I was like, her feet are huge. Then it clicked in my mind. We were in a six-person mixed dorm, it was us four and these two dudes from Hong Kong. They were chill, though. That night was so fun. The hostel was having beer pong. Martina, Katie, and I played stack cup with people from so many different places. Aussies, brits, Italians, etc. We met this Brit named Kitty. She was awesome, very funny. we kept ordering hugo spritzes from the bar and playing stack. We then moved outside and chatted more. I had a meeting at 2:30 a.m. Venice time, so I had to stay up. I ended up falling asleep for an hour. I woke up at 2:15 a.m. for my call. That's when I saw the text from Katie. She didn't have her key and forgot our room number. She had been sitting there for half an hour. I took my call and went to bed. We all took shots at the bar before stack cup. Good day.
8/9
Another travel day. But this is a long one. We woke up early to go to Venice before we had to catch our train. We had an awesome breakfast. Katie and I split an avocado toast with a poached egg, hollandaise sauce, and a Nutella fluffy pancake. It was so good. Then we just walked around Venice until 1:30 p.m. Then we headed back to the hostel to get our stuff because our train to Vienna was at 3:52 p.m. We had a four-seater with a table. This was a 9-hour train ride; it was brutal. I got bored when the sun went down because I couldn't just stare out the window. There was a restaurant on board, and I got a schnitzel sandwich for dinner. We arrived in Vienna at 11:45 p.m. As soon as we walked out of the train station, we saw cop cars, an ambulance, and a guy in handcuffs. Someone was screaming bloody murder, too. I think someone was stabbed. I was unsettled after this. We Ubered to the hostel. This hostel is called the Wombat Hostel Vienna. It's fine, it's not the best but it does a job. It's just the four of us in the room, so it's nice.
8/10
Today was a good day. I was tired even though we woke up at 9:00 am, or at least I did. But it makes sense because Katie says that when you don't sleep, it hits you two days later. I woke up early to do laundry before the other three woke up. All my clothes were so gross, they smelled awful. So I got that done. Then I showered. We got out of there by 11:30. We walked to St Stephen's Cathedral but stopped on the way to get breakfast and lunch. I had a ham and cheese sandwich because the place was boujee and it was the cheapest option. We then headed over. The architecture in Vienna is crazy. It's so satisfying. We shopped and walked until 3:30 because we bought tickets inside the Belvedere Palace and museum. On our way, we saw a really cute stationary and paper store so I bought a notebook. When we got there, it was so pretty. The garden was awesome. Oh forgot to mention Ashley got stung by a wasp. It was really funny. Anyway, the museum itself was also super nice. There was a cool section on feminism. There was also a lot of religion-related art. Katie and I love debating religion, so we chatted and admired. We got yelled at because we were standing too close to a painting. Then we finished the upper palace and moved to the lower palace. But between those, we went into a bathroom that needed 50 cents to get in. You need an exact 50 Cent coin. Thankfully, I had one. after, we went to the rest of the museum. As we were leaving I realized I didn't have my notebook. I had left it in the bathroom. The problem was that I had no 50-cent coins left. So I went up to so many people asking to trade one Euro for two 50-cent coins. Until Katie realizes hey, I have 50 cents. We then walk back to the hostel. We grabbed dinner at this place called Thell. I got chicken. Then we came back, and I've just been writing. I'm going to go to bed now, though.
8/11
Today was an eventful day. I got a lot done. I got up at 9:00 a.m. and got ready while the others slept. They had been drinking the night before and I knew they wouldn't get up, so I ventured off alone. I walked to get breakfast, but I found an awesome açai bowl place so I sat down there and enjoyed that. After that, I decided I wanted to see the parliament building so I walked over there. it was so cool. They just renovated it for the first time ever. It was built 140 years ago. it was cool because it was old but modern. it was Greek mythology themed. At the entrance, Athena is leading the way. I ended up joining a tour. I was the only American on the tour. I guess Americans wouldn't do the parliament tour. It was around an hour and I learned a lot about the Austrian government. It's a democracy with two Chambers, like the United States. I like the rooms because most were the same as 140 years ago. The statues in the details were amazing. I also learned that the emperor didn't want a House of Representatives or Parliament but gave it to them anyway because he wanted them to pay more taxes. I can also now say I've taken a poop in the Parliament building of Austria. After the tour, the girls were still getting ready so I rented a scooter and scooted around random parts of Vienna. After 30 minutes, they texted that they were at breakfast so I scooted over there. It's 11:30 a.m. at this point. We met up and walked around the area just to kill time. We ended up finding this garden with so much food because there was a film festival going on. I got to putin schnitzel (turkey schnitzel) with potatoes. It was bomb. We then had a reservation for a tour at the Sigmund Freud Museum at 2:00 p.m. It was super interesting, it was his apartment and where he would meet with patients. I found the part about women's sexuality really interesting. Katie was really interested in all of it. Partly because she took her ADHD meds today, so she was more functional. Katie ended up buying four books. I gave in and bought one about living the life you want to live with no regrets. I'm excited to read it. We then head over to the Shönbrunn palace. It was a huge property with gardens, a maze, playgrounds, cafes, and ice cream. It was awesome. We took the subway to get there. Katie thought the station “Hutteldorf” sounded like an indie song. Anyway, it was really pretty but it was a lot of walking. We had to hike up this massive hill so we could see the view from the top. On the way up Martina noticed a maze and wanted to do it. It was a complete scam. It was a tiny maze. Waste of 5 euro. When we finally got to the top, the view was incredible. Then we got ice cream and kept walking. We found these Roman ruins. That was pretty much it for the Schönbrunn. We hopped on the subway and went back to the film festival to get more food. We scooted from the subway station. It was super fun. I got a bratwurst sausage for dinner. Holy moly. It's the best sausage I’ve ever had. We didn't stay for any films because we were tired. Now we're just chilling. We are going to Munich early tomorrow.
8/12
We woke up early because we were taking a 10:23 train from Vienna to Munich. When we got on the train, we quickly realized that without a seat reservation (which we didn’t have), we would have to sit on the floor between cards. So there we are. on the floor between two first-class cards. It wasn't that bad because we were each sitting on the steps I went to the door. But for 4 hours on a train. It wasn’t ideal. But we made it to Munich around 2:00 p.m. We dropped off our bags and hit Munich. We got lunch at this market with a ton of food stands, it was called Viktualienmarkt. Katie and I got bratwurst, which is a sausage and they put a piece of bread like a hot dog but a different kind of bread. We then got a beer. Very German lunch but it was very good. Then we walked around the center. Katie found a park, it was called Englischer Garten it was so cool. There was a wave that surfers would ride. In the middle of the park, there was a river. We sat there and watched the surfers for a while. Then we walked the rest of the park. It was such a vibe. There were volleyball nets and people just hanging out. People would float down the river. It was very pretty. We sat under a tree for 30 minutes and then decided it was time for dinner. We went to a place in the center of Munich. Katie and I split a salad. It was not enough for both of us but it was good. We got gelato after. I got Rochelle with yogurt. It was bomb. We walked back to the Hostel with our ice creams. This time we stayed at Wombat Hostel Munich. We were in a six-person female dorm. When we walked into the room, it stunk. There was a woman in a bottom bunk. We said hi and quickly realized the scent was coming from her feet. Then another girl walked into the room turns out she was from Chicago. She must have been 26 or 27. She was fine. We found out the other lady was from Argentina. Ashley almost made us get a tattoo with her at 11:30 p.m. at a random place in Munich but we decided against it. We then went to bed. Another good day.
8/13
I woke up to the sound of the Argentinian lady leaving the room. I woke everyone up and then went to take a quick body shower. while in the bathroom, I got a huge nosebleed which was insanely annoying because everyone had to get ready. It was a mess but I ended up taking the toilet paper and trash outside of the bathroom. The plan for the day was to go back to that park from yesterday and just hang out there and swim. We stopped by a random breakfast spot. I got a nice coffee and scrambled eggs. I have mastered public transit to the point that I can figure out bus schedules in German. If that's not the biggest flex, I don't know what is. After breakfast, we took the bus to the park. We put our towels down right next to the stream. There were tons of people swimming and laying. Martina and I decided to go down the stream together while the other two watched our stuff. The water was freezing. It must have been the coldest water I've ever swam in. The current was super strong. We were caught so off guard. Martina was freaking out because she felt like she couldn't breathe from how cold the water was. Once we got over the initial shock, it was so fun there were little rapids and we would float under bridges. At the end, there was this huge rapid that had surfers. That's how big it was. Before you went down into it, there was a rope. You had to hold on to that thing to make sure there were no surfers. The problem is that the tide takes off your whole bathing suit. So all those people saw our boobs. You're welcome, Munich. I went down the rapid four times. I loved it. After, we got lunch at this sit-down place in the center of Munich, right next to where we had gotten dinner the night before. Then we went back to the hostel to pick up our stuff because our train from Munich to Zurich was at 6:53 p.m. We finally figured out how to reserve seeds, so that was awesome. The train was super nice. We even went to the restaurant area and had a nice sit-down dinner together. I got chicken and pasta. 4 hours later, we got to Zurich. We got off at the airport station. We got extremely lost trying to find the “hotel.” Took us a good half an hour. Not to mention Katie was starting to lose her mind. The kid was going crazy. I checked us into the hotel. This is a capsule hotel. it's called Alpine Capsule Garden. I was nervous about being claustrophobic but it was honestly really nice. There are two Vents and two light switches. The bathroom was also very nice. The only issue was that you could hear everything in the room. I enjoyed it a lot, though. we said our goodbyes in a group hug, then closed our capsules.
8/14
Our flight was to take off at 1:00 from Zurich to London. I woke up naturally at 7:30 because my body gets so stressed about making it on this flight. I showered, thank god, because I smelled so so gross. Then Martina showered and we got out of there by 10:00 a.m. We sat down and had Starbucks before checking our bags. Then we wandered around the Zurich Airport until it was time to board. The flight was short. I don't even remember it. We had 2 hours in London, so we got a quick snack and lunch. We boarded. I was next to this Palestinian guy who had never been to the us. and was starting his first week at Colgate. Next to him was Papa Neil, the biggest chatter I've ever met. we chatted for the majority of the plane ride about random stuff. then I watch comedy shows on the plane TV. We arrived in Boston around 6:50 p.m. I had to drive myself home and now I'm just relaxing.
10/4
Looking back and reading all these entries made me miss the experience and process the three weeks. I started the trip as an anxious mess and ended the trip relaxed and more experienced. I’m incredibly grateful for this opportunity and glad I got to spend it with some of my best friends. I learned more in those three weeks than I could have imagined. Not only about the places I visited but about myself. I recommend embarking on a trip like this to anyone thinking about it.
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