Spring Break!

From spending half a week in Colorado last year to visiting 3 separate countries this year, to say my spring break freshman year to sophomore year was different would be a vast understatement. Last week I got to spring break ‘European style’, and it was definitely unforgettable. I saw things that I’ve only dreamed of and experienced some of the most beautiful places an

The highlight of Naples was this staircase

d cultures in the world. Europe has truly left me in awe.

Naples
To start off spring break, Bre and I broke off from the group to head to Naples. We didn’t have any real plans for Naples since the only reason we were heading there was that we wanted to spend a day in the Pompeii ruins and when looking for a place to stay Naples was only a train ride away. Little did we know we were heading to the city with the largest drug cartel in Central Europe, or so our Air B and B host told us during our last night. Needless to say, Bre and I were more than ready to leave when we heard fireworks go off at midnight the night before we took off (that is supposedly the mafia’s way of informing everyone that a new shipment of drugs was in).

Pompeii
On our second day in Naples, we rode a train to Pompeii to tour the famous ruins. The tour was amazing, and I had so much fun learning not only about the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius but also the way of life before the eruption. After our tour, we went to lunch with two retired ladies from our tour group who were from San Diego and spending two weeks traveling Italy together. We had a great time talking to them and hearing about all of their travels and, unwilling to part ways after lunch, we all went souvenir shopping together where a street vendor tried to sell a keychain depicting an “Italian sandwich” (you can use your imagination to figure that one out). After we bought our souvenirs, we headed back to the train to try and find our way to the coast. We picked a random train stop on the way back and walked until we found the water. On our explorations, we found a lookout along the harbor, which offered a beautiful and relaxing place to take in the view. Way too soon we had to leave to make the train back to the city and end the fantastic day.

Iconic Pompeii statue in person

We took this as we were leaving because we
forgot to take one inside

Our view of the harbor

A pizza oven

Split
When I decided to study abroad, Croatia was not one of the places I ever thought of visiting, but I’m so glad Bre wanted to go because it turned out to be my favorite place thus far. Unfortunately, we only had an afternoon (that was cut into a night due to flight delays) and one full day there. When we planned our trip the only thing we wanted to do in Split, Croatia was cliff jumping, but due to Bre’s unfortunate tumble in Vienna, that wasn’t possible. In place of that activity, we impulsively booked an all-day island hopping boat tour starting at 8 am at 12:30 am the night before. In short, best decision I’ve ever made. My family can attest to my inability in telling the short version of any story, so let me recap this incredible day as best as I can.
We left our Air B and B at 7, which is good because we finally found the meeting spot 5 minutes before departure. Once we left, we had two hours until we reached the first island where we had to get off our boat to get onto a smaller one so we could fit through the tiny entrance into the Blue Cave. The entrance was so small that we had to duck to fit in, but once we sat back up I was speechless (shocking I know). The white sand caused the sun to illuminate the water, turning the water and the cave this beautiful shade of aqua blue. The water was so clear that you could see all of the sea life swimming below. Our ship captain explained to us that it was actually jellyfish season, and this became very apparent when we looked down and could easily spot at least three swimming past. After we docked at Komiža for breakfast, (due to the fact that it isn’t tourist season yet a lot of the shops weren’t open), Bre and I found a coffee shop and market for a fresh fruit breakfast. We then boarded the boat to visit some more caves and other picturesque sites. On our way to a swimming spot, the water police pulled us over for a random check. This ended up taking 20 minutes because our guide’s boating license had expired and he hadn’t received his new one yet, so they had to validate his story. Finally, we were cleared to continue our trip, and our next stop was to take a dip in the Adriatic Sea. It took me a little bit to ‘woman-up’ and jump in because of the temperature of the water (12 degrees Celsius) and the jellyfish. I didn’t realize how terrified I was of them until I was about to jump into the water. Luckily, the water was so clear that I could scan for them before I jumped in! Our final stop was Hvar for dinner, and then we embarked on the boat ride back to the mainland (a trip that was supposed to take an hour that turned into 2 because of the size of the waves).

Split at night

The Blue Cave

The island Vis

The island of Hvar

Sunset from the boat

Swimming with the jellies

Athens
Our last stop on spring break was Athens, Greece. We met up with Paige and Nick at the airport and headed to our beachfront Air B and B. Once we got settled, we went out and enjoyed a moonlit walk along the beach before bed. The next day was spent relaxing in the sun (when it showed itself from behind the clouds) reading, listening to music, and swimming. It was a much-needed day of relaxation after almost 2 full weeks of constantly going. We spent Saturday visiting the Agora and Acropolis with our personal tour guide, Nick. I had so much fun walking around the ruins and listening to Nick tell stories and explain everything. It definitely pays to travel with your history buff friends, because I learned so much and it really enriched the experience. Walking through the Agora was very cool, but the view from the Acropolis was breathtaking and the perfect way to end an amazing week.

The beach in Athens

Athena's temple

The view of Athens from the Acropolis

I had a blast traveling with her!

Dinner view of the Acropolis

Gelato fills in the cracks

Best tour guide around

Like all good journeys, one must get home. With the rest of our travel throughout the week going so smoothly, why wouldn’t our last leg of the journey follow suit? Ha, wrong. Saturday night, we tried to check into our flights and we found that our flight from Rome to Prague was scheduled for the following Saturday on an airline that has a no cancelations. So we reluctantly rebooked a 19-hour bus ride from Rome to Olomouc. That was an adventure, to say the least, but we left Rome at 1:15 and rolled into our dorm room 9:30am Monday morning. Despite this final challenge, spring break was a success and an adventure that I will never forget. I’ve always dreamed of traveling the world, and I am happy to report that actually doing it is even better than I imagined it would be.

XO Sheyenne