lovelovelovelove

Italians are the most hospitable people Ive ever met.
Coming home tomorrow!

Italia bounddd

Erin and I are in Budapest right now. Ali and Caryn just left for Paris for the day, then they're going home. Erin and I are meeting her friend Bayley in Rome tonight! In the beginning of this last excursion, I was really tired and sick and not looking forward to the rest of it. Now I am all rested and have a new energy. Being sick while traveling is possibly the worst thing EVER. No one can take care of you, nothing is familiar, and all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball in my own bed in Vacaville. I have one week left in Europe, and I'm excited it's in Italy!
Amsterdam was awesome, but I was sick for most of it, so I just did a bike tour and went out a couple times. I don't feel like I missed too much.
Prague was BEAUTIFUL. You all need to go at least once in your life. There wasn't a huge agenda of things to do, so it was kind of nice just wandering around. Just walking around was amazing because it's just all so beautiful. The architecture of all the buildings is incredible. And it's cheap! It just kind of blew up as a tourist attraction so food and everything is still really cheap. That helped me out a lot because the bank account is not prettyyy.
After Prague we went to Budapest! Super random, but I'm glad we went. Less and less people speak English as you go more toward eastern Europe I think. We were spoiled, because in Amsterdam and Prague, EVERYONE spoke English. Budapest was kind of the same as Prague in that there weren't certain famous monuments to see; we kind of just walked around and saw the city. Yesterday we did a very Hungarian thing and went to the thermal baths. They were amazing. We just sat in the water for a couple hours and got a massage.
I didn't mention a very important component to our stay in Budapest.. We stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel. It was GORGEOUS. Ali and Caryn work there, and they got three nights there for free, and were sweet enough to let Erin and I stay with them. It was pretty great. Erin and I shared a bed, and it was still really comfortable.
Erin and I are about to go to a fine art museum, get some coffee, and head to the airport in a few hours. Rome, here we come!

3 months later..

So sorry I haven´t updated this as often as I had planned. At least I am writing in it now, I suppose. :]

The semester is over. I have officially left Salamanca and am now onto the last couple weeks of traveling.
Since I went on Spring Break to Sweden, San Sebastian, and Bilbao, a lot has happened. After SB, a bunch of people in the group went to Granada. Easily one of my favorite Spanish cities. After that, I went to my first real Spanish fútbol game in Madrid a few weekends ago. I had so much fun. I really enjoy soccer. Two weekends ago I went to Morocco! It was absolutely incredible. I never thought I would go there, but being so close to it, I decided I had to. It was totally worth it. It was like nothing I´ve experienced. There were ten of us, and we went with a guided tour, so I was extremely safe.

We all left Salamanca on Friday morning and stayed in Madrid for the night. I was having so many mixed emotions about leaving. I was so sad to leave that place. The people in the group are amazing and the Spanish people are phenomenal. I have learned so much during the three months I was there. I feel so connected to the Spanish culture, without knowing nearly enough Spanish. I really feel like I experienced Salamanca to its fullest. I have no regrets of things I didn't see or do. I feel the same about Spain. I didn't want to leave without really experiencing it. I went to every part of Spain, and am happy with how much I saw. A lot of people travelled to a ton of different countries like Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, etc. But I am glad to be able to say I saw as much of Spain as I did.
Grocery shopping, eating out, and traveling is going to be so easy at home now. I am actually going to be able to fully understand what people are saying to me. I am going to miss hearing Spanish everywhere. I am going to miss the fact that there is ALWAYS something to do in Spain. I could have never possibly gotten bored.
I won't miss not having WiFi in my house, everything closing on Sundays, poor customer service, and the same food all of the time. I seriously take for granted all the amazing diverse food we have in California. The moment I get home I'm going straight to get a burrito.

Right now I'm in Amsterdam. I'm here with one of my roommates Ali and her friend, Caryn, from home. We'll be here until Tuesday, when we fly to Prague for a few days. After that we're taking a bus to Budapest where we will meet up with Erin! After Budapest, Ali and Caryn go to Paris for a day then home, and Erin and I will fly to Rome! We're meeting up with a couple girls and staying in Rome for a few days, then going to Cinque Terre until the 31st. The day of the first I fly home! I am taking four flights that day! Milan to Madrid, Madrid to Dallas, Dallas to LA, LA to Sacramento airport. Yuck. But at least I will be home and Jesikah is picking me up from the airport! Yay!

Lately my body has been giving out on me. I am so physically weak from lack of sleep, crazy amounts of airplanes and germs, and just traveling. I got sick awhile ago and never let myself fully recover. I can only hope it doesn't put a damper on the next two weeks. !!

I will be home on June 1st. Will be in Vacaville for two months, and go back down to Azusa in the beginning of August for RA training. I cannot wait to see all of you. I am anxious but also excited to spend the summer in Vacaville. Adjusting back to the US as a whole is going to be an experience.

Well, if you read this whole thing, I probably love you or at least like you a lot. I miss you all. See you soon :]