Winter Break in Italy and Ireland

Well this winter break marks the halfway point in my study abroad experience. The semester students have gone home 175 out of 200…only 25 year students left and 130 new spring students coming. I’m nervous for this transition and sad that some of my closest friends are gone. But I also feel so lucky that I have 4 more months in this incredible place and all the incredible relationships I built last semester will be there when I come back in April.

As everyone left and I said my goodbyes the morning of December 17^th and I moved into my new room with Erika right across the hall. The goodbyes were painful, but luckily I had something to distract me. Joey arrived that same afternoon and I went and picked him up at the airport and brought him back to Florence, where we spent the next 4 days before heading off on vacation. Four months is way too long to be apart and I feel so lucky to have gotten to spend 2 weeks traveling with Joey. The first week was spent in Italy and the second in Ireland, we went to over 12 places in that time so bear with me because the stories are endless and I want to share them all.

Florence

View from the top of the Bell Tower

Joey arrived on Saturday and we spent his first evening eating delicious pasta and gelato. Our first day in Florence was spent relaxing in my pensione due to Joey’s jet lag and exhaustion. So we crammed all of Florence into one day and we saw everything from the Ponte Vecchio to my school to my favorite coffee place. That afternoon we climbed the Duomo and watched the sunset from the top.

Assisi

The next day we took a day trip to Assisi. We spent about just as much time on the train as we did in Assisi, but it was so worth it. We just wandered in the small, peaceful town and saw St. Francis’ Basilica and St. Clare’s Basilica. I absolutely love Assisi. It is so different than everywhere I have been and remains my favorite place in Italy. Getting to share this small town with Joey was wonderful and getting to take him around to all my favorite places in Florence made me really happy.

Verona/Venice

After a few days in Florence and our day trip to Assisi we left for Verona, the home of Romeo and Juliet. Before catching the train we made a quick stop into the Accademia to visit the David. Once we got to Verona it finally started to feel like a vacation and getting out of the city into a slightly less busy city was nice. In Verona we wandered and looked at all the Roman ruins and did lots of window-shopping. Joey bought a pocket watch from the market, which he became of obsessed with throughout the rest of the trip. It was absolutely freezing there so we took a hike up to the top of the city that had a beautiful view of all of Verona. Verona was filled with more Christmas lights than any city I’ve been to and Christmas trees around every corner. Walking around the Christmas markets was a lot of fun and Joey tried brule for the first time (hot wine), surprisingly very good on a cold evening. That night we had the most incredible duck sauce pasta for dinner and just enjoyed being in the Christmas season there.

Venice

The next morning we left early for our day trip to Venice. We decided no map was necessary and we spent the day completely lost in all the little side streets and small bridges in Venice. It was perfect and we both fell in love with Venice. It was a beautiful day with no crowds and spending the day lost was the perfect way to experience the city. We saw San Marco Church, which is covered in the most beautiful mosaics, and we watched the sunset on the sea. We were in search of fried calamari because Joey had never had it before. Turns out a dish of Mixed Seafood is not the same thing as fried calamari and we ended up eating the most disgusting raw fish, which included an entire squid. To make up for our rough dinner we stole breadsticks from the restaurant and had a nutella crepe from a stand. It was delicious and we had a wonderful day in Venice.

Ortisei

View from our balcony 

Christmas decorations!

We left Verona and headed north to the Dolomites where we spent Christmas. We stayed in a small little snowy German town in the valley of the mountains called Ortisei. Because we were so far north in Italy and in the mountains most people were German and only spoke German. The town felt like we were in one of those Christmas figurine sets with the snowy houses and the kids that ice skate in a circle. At the place we stayed the lady who ran in only spoke Italian and German, so my Italian was put to the test. Luckily it went well and our stay was relaxing and the most perfect place to spend Christmas in Italy. On Christmas Eve we wandered the small town and went to a Christmas market nearby. We decorated our room with Christmas decorations to make sure it felt a little like home. We listened to Christmas carols (in German) in the town square and had the most amazing Christmas dinner of gnocchi and pasta. That night we went to my first midnight mass! However following along with the flip-flopping between Italian and German was a little difficult and Joey and I had a hard time staying awake.

At the top of the mountain on Christmas

Playing in the snow

Christmas day was spent opening presents and relaxing. We went to the top of the mountain in the gondola and played in the snow for hours. We both fell in love with Ortisei and it was hard to say goodbye to our little winter wonderland. Getting to spend my favorite holiday together was so special and I feel so blessed that he was here.

Ireland

Joey and I in Howth

Our travels to Ireland were long and smooth. We experienced our first hiccup when we arrived in Dublin at 1:00am and our hotel had lost of reservation and was completely full. It was nice to be in a country that spoke English because yelling at an Italian in English is not quite the same when they don’t understand you. The manager heard our angry loud and clear and the price was cut in half. We spent 2 days in Dublin, the first day just exploring the city and taking a tour of the Guinness Storehouse. It was a great tour with a free pint of Guinness at the end in the gravity bar. That night we went to the famous temple bar and listened to live music. One day in Dublin turned out to be plenty so our second day we took a day trip to Howth, a small fishing town just north of Dublin. It was windy beyond belief, but we had a great day eating fried calamari (finally!) and delicious seafood chowder. We then headed to Galway for 4 days where we spent the remainder of our trip. We both absolutely loved Galway, the small college town right on the water. It was very stormy weather, but we went out to the beach anyway and found seashells and got completely drenched by the rain. My favorite thing about Ireland was all the tea and scones! We went to tea each day we were there and treated ourselves to high tea one afternoon.

Tea and Scones!

SHEEP

Cliffs of Moher

We took tours the next 2 days, one day to the Connemara region, where there were beautiful landscapes and lots and lots of sheep! And the other to the Cliffs of Moher, probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in my life. Ireland was amazing, all the sheep, the great accents, and of course the few leprechauns we came across and stunning rainbows. Joey left from Dublin the next day and we said our goodbyes for 4 more months. It was the most amazing vacation and I would do anything to go back to it. When Joey left I met up with 2 of my girlfriends. I spent a few more days with them at one of their grandma’s house in the countryside in Cavan.