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LaurenItaly - Lauren D

I recently just graduated from college and have this wave of new energy taking over my soul. It's fun to think back on all the stages of my life that have gotten me to where I am today. I have shed my adolescent coat and followed my heart to places I could have only dreamed of experiencing, and this is only the beginning. I am a student of life. There is so much beauty this world has to offer out beyond our routine realm it’s time to open our eyes. Don’t question, don’t plan, don’t expect things, just go out and experience them. I’ve learned to introduce myself, not just to people but to new points of view. Eventually we will all come together with great stories to tell on when we lived life on spontaneity and adventure!
I started this blog to keep in touch with family and friends while I was studying abroad in Florence Italy in Fall 2008, but now this travel journalism is taking a whole new turn. NEXT STOP: Thailand, August 3, 2009…..Come fly with me.

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Joined on: August 13th 2008
Last Login: July 29th 2009

Blog Entries: 14
Photos: 114

TB Code: [blogger=86404]
Status: BLOGGER

Blogs & Travel Journals

by LaurenItaly, order by Date newest first.

By LaurenItaly
December 2nd 2008

Siena Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Siena

Campo del Fiore

Luckily I was able to make 2 trips out to Siena over the past couple weeks. Its about an hour and a half away from Florence, still in the Tuscany region. The bus ride there is beautiful in itself of the Toscana countryside, hills of vineyards, olive trees, and old cottages and farms. I was amazed at how much bigger Siena was than I thought. Although it is mostly residential, it still holds many great tourist attractions because it is considered one of the best preserved medieval Italian city. It was amazing to see such a unique city partially still walled [View Full Entry]

By LaurenItaly
November 14th 2008

Barcelona, Spain! Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona

Hola!

THE MOST AMAZING CITY! Did that do this entry justice? Haha :) The next stop on our travels was Spain, which was a total opposite of The Netherlands, Barcelona was a completely Metropolitan city, so diverse and flashy, people everywhere and there was so much to do at any time. Even though the city was very busy with a various mix of people, it was still overflowing with culture. The people were so friendly and I was even able to communicate a little thanks to many years of high school Spanish class. I was so surprised how modern the city was [View Full Entry]

By LaurenItaly
November 13th 2008

Amsterdam! Europe » Netherlands » North Holland » Amsterdam

cute canal streets

First stop on our fall break tour was The Netherlands! My roommate Sajel and I took a 6am flight to Eindhoven where we later connected to Amsterdam, we checked our bags into the hotel and set out to explore. Thankfully we brought heavy jackets because it was FREEZING up there. We spent our first day walking through the city, amazed by all the “coffee shops” and how liberal everything was. These coffee shops in Holland are alowed to sell cannabis, which is bizarre. Amsterdam is known as the "Venice of the North" with canal streets everywhere and cute wooden boats transporting [View Full Entry]

By LaurenItaly
October 24th 2008

Ben visits Italy! Europe » Italy

Us outside the Duomo

Last week Ben came to visit! I picked him up from the Saturday afternoon loaded him with gelato to get over his jet lag and took him all around the city. We walked up Piazza Michelangelo and I showed him the best view of Florence, its a hike but well worth it. Then we wandered around as I pointed out my school, fun cafes, and shops. We visited Piazza Signoria where there are some great Florentine sculptures then stopped at a cute English pub for a glass of wine. Then we walked about the city for a bit and went back [View Full Entry]

By LaurenItaly
October 21st 2008

Venice! Europe » Italy » Veneto » Venice

Gondola! How romantic

2 weeks ago my friends and I took a weekend trip to Venice and it was beautiful! Definitely a very romantic city, adorable canal streets and gondolas everywhere. It was crazy going place to place via water taxi. I visted the main tourist spot of Piazza San Marco and the basilica there. It was full of gorgeous fresco mosaics. It was such a magical city with tons of old little streets and alley ways filled with shops and restaurants. I swear you cant go hungry in this country! I especially loved all the Murano glass. Venice is famous for their glass [View Full Entry]

By LaurenItaly
October 9th 2008

Chianti Wine Tasting Europe » Italy » Tuscany

Winery

Last weekend the group of us from school took a bus trip out to Chianti with our program director, it was an arranged trip, we left early and about 2 hours later pulled up the mountains into this gorgeous castle type building. Immediately after walking off the bus we see this truck pouring grapes into a large basin and in front of us there are fields beyond fields of gorgeous vineyards, its like out of a movie. We went to Castello di Verrazanno, The Castle of Verrazzano, made in 1716, it’s a gorgeous Etruscan building and believe it or not owned [View Full Entry]

By LaurenItaly
October 9th 2008

Prost! OKTOBERFEST! Europe » Germany » Bavaria » Munich

Inside Lowenbrau Tent
PARTY!

What a weekend, took a night train up to Munich with my roommate and that was an experience in itself. We arrived in Munich at 8am and we beyond excited to see a Starbucks for the first time in over a month! (these are the little things you miss from America) So of course we loaded up on lattes and cream cheese bagels. We met up with some of our friends from our language class in Florence that are in Mexico and arrived in Germany a day earlier, put our bags in a train locker, brushed our teeth in the station [View Full Entry]

By LaurenItaly
September 23rd 2008

1 Month in Italia! Europe » Italy » Tuscany

My cute neighbors

Its been a while since I last wrote so just wanted to say hello! I cannot believe an entire month has gone by already, it has honestly felt like a week! Don't worry I've had the occasional homesick feeling missing all my loved ones back home, I just wish you all could come out here and experience this beautiful country with me! Tomorrow I will upload a bunch of new pictures from our recent museum trips, the art here is OUTSTANDING, school is actually exciting learning about a piece of art and then actually going to see this 500+ year old [View Full Entry]

By LaurenItaly
September 13th 2008

Cinque Terre! Europe

climbing through!

Last weekend we adventured to Cinque Terre! Its a gorgeous place with 5 small 'villages' off the coast of the Riviera, about a 2 hour train ride from Florence. Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggio, they were amazing small 'beach' towns full of mountains and considered a 'preserved world heritage site' The ocean was so beautiful-my first time swimming in the Mediterranean! It was so gorgeous walking along the mountains on these small twisty paths looking over cliffs into water, winding through olive orchards and vineyards. The towns were full of old houses, shops, and resta [View Full Entry]

By LaurenItaly
September 4th 2008

Pictures! Europe

Rutgers Football!!
The whole crew came out to represent in firenze!

Rutgers in Florence! We pulled some strings and were able to get the Rutgers football season opening game on at this pub nearby, very fun night!...More pictures to come! [View Full Entry]

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