Submitted by Haley Cohen on the 2014 spring semester study abroad program in London, England…
The past week and a half has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life, filled with food, laughs, adventures, and travels with my new friends. We started our journey in Venice, Italy to celebrate Carnival, a lively festival celebrated throughout the major cities of Italy. Although the weather was dreary and rainy, we still made the most of our short time there. We stayed in a hotel outside of Venice, in a little town called Mestre, which was a quick 10 minute train ride into the center of the city. From there, we took a boat to the main plaza, San Marco, which is where we were told all of the Carnival festivities would take place. Unfortunately, because of the rain, we did not get to experience Carnival the way it usually would be, but we still enjoyed marveling at the embellished costumes and masks that most of the locals were wearing. Venice is very small and narrow, and with the rain there was sadly not much we could do. We waited to see if it would clear up before we took a gondola ride, but of course as soon as we sat on the gondola, the torrential downpour started again. We can laugh about it now, but at the time it was a little upsetting to be in Venice on such a nasty day!
From Venice, we headed to Florence on a high speed train and we were thrilled to be greeted with clear blue sunny skies. It was already late afternoon by the time we arrived in Florence and got situated, but we explored a bit then grabbed a quick bite to eat with friends from Delaware. From dinner, we headed to the Firenze football game, which was an incredible experience. The fans are so unbelievably passionate about the game, it’s crazy! They paint massive banners and chant and sing the whole time. I can’t tell which I watched more: the fans or the game. The next day, we did some more exploring. We saw the Duomo, shopped at the leather market, climbed Piazza Michelangelo, and we got to see breathtaking views of the city. Florence is rather small compared to London, but it was nice to walk around and explore the entire city by foot. And the food in Florence was incredible! We were told by our friends that we had to go to Gusta Pizza, which was hands down the best pizza I have ever had in my entire life. It was so good that we went back twice in one day! We also found this amazing gelato place, Il Gelato Filo, next to the Piazza Michelangelo that we went to everyday, despite there being a gelato shop at every corner. We had to walk the 20 minutes to this specific one, because it was THAT good. Before we knew it, it was time to leave Italy and head to our next stop. Our hearts were sad to leave Italy, but my stomach was definitely thanking me because I don’t think it could handle any more pizza, gelato, or pasta!
We arrived in Barcelona late on Wednesday night so we didn’t do any exploring, but on Thursday we had a great first day. We started off our day with an amazing brunch at a place called Milk, which we were told to go to. From there, we walked over to the Arc de Triomf, which is like the one in Paris. Beyond the Arc, there is a beautiful park lined with palm trees. We walked through the park and then headed to Las Ramblas, which is a busy street filled with shops that leads up to the beach. Right off of Las Ramblas is a market called La Boqueria, where we stopped for lunch. It is similar to London’s Borough Market, with fresh, homemade food. After that, we walked to Barceloneta, which is right on the beach. It was absolutely beautiful! Two of the other main things we saw in Barcelona were Parc Guell and Casa Batlló, which were both designed by Gaudi. Barcelona was definitely one of my favorite cities, because it is the perfect combination of a metropolitan atmosphere with a tropical beach setting. I love how in some areas, I felt like I was in Los Angeles or New York, while in other areas I felt like I was in Florida or on an island! Overall, I had an incredible experience traveling throughout Venice, Florence, and Barcelona and I hope that one day I will be able to go back to each of those beautiful cities!
