http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/RCHAMP/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from RCHAMP en-us Sun, 20 Dec 2009 11:14:43 +0000 Sun, 20 Dec 2009 11:14:43 +0000 Ciao TuttiSooo my time spent in Taormina was awesome. Phoebe and I were picked up in the airport in Catania by a nice italian guy that gave us lots of recommendations for places to go and eat and things to do. We got to our apartment and were so surprised It was so nice. Very spacious.Taormina is a beautiful more resorty slash touristy town on the coast of Sicily. It is situated high up on a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-414532.html Soo here I am back in Europe again already Itinerary goes something like thisParis 4 daysProvence 6 daysSicily 18 daysAmsterdam 4 daysKoln 3 daysFrakfurtMeinz 3 daysBaden Baden 2 daysRothenburg 2 daysRome 5 daysNot too bad eh http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-405236.html FlorenceSO apparently we are all about stairs here in Florence. There is about 8 flights of stairs to get up to my apartment plus 8 flights of stairs to get up to the school. Sooo thats a lot of stairs. And no one uses elevators here because they are small and sketchy. We had also been going to Forte Belvedere a lot at night because there is a bar up there. That involves lots of walking up h http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-303542.html FlorenceWoooow so I am really behind on this I've only been in Florence for two weeks but I have done so much already and been so many places And of course seen lots of art After finally arriving here we had two days of orientation. Extremely boring Luckily I got to get out of some of the most boring parts because I had already done the orientation in Rome. But so many of the people her http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-302712.html AthensSo I made it to Athens fine in one piece I actually met lots of nice people that spoke English on the way there that were Greek and so they told me lots of good stuff to do in Athens and when I got to Mykonos.I took a bus from the airport which was simple but then from the bus station had quite a walk to my apartment...that was fun dragging all my luggage I made the mistake of buying http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/Athens/blog-299657.html Catania Continued...And the last of RomeThe next day Saturday Jenn and I went to Museo dello Sbarco. This is a museum about the U.S. invasion in Sicily during WW2. This museum was very expansive and detailed. Jenn was a little happy that we were up so early but she did want to go. Haha. A guide took us around for a bit after they showed us an introductory movie and he explained a lot of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Sicily/Catania/blog-298002.html CataniaSooo thursday morning was crazzzzzzzzzzy I woke up early to catch my flight to Catania from Rome and I woke up to a text message saying Haley was engaged Crazyness Then I got a phone call from my parents and they started explaining everything and I just started balling What an emotional morning. Ooh I also forgot to note that Tuesday night we went bowling at a Roman bowling http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Sicily/Catania/blog-297433.html RomeSooo after my awesome trip to the Amalfi Coast I had two more weeks left in Rome. I did a tour of the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. These were very cool and I liked hearing the stories that the tour guides had to tell. In my opinion they werent the most impressive monuments slash ruins though The inside of the Colosseum was also not what I expected. It was weird because you didnt see th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-297419.html Naples Mt. Vesuvius Pompei Sorrento Capri Positano Amalfi........An amazing weekendSo we began this weekend excursion leaving Friday morning and went on a four hour bus ride to Pompei. Of course we made a stop halfway... We drove by Naples and Mount Vesuvius. Both were neat to drive by although I have to admit I'm glad we didn't spend much time in Naples. We got to Pompei around no http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Campania/Naples/blog-290837.html Wooo Italian soccer gotta be crazy right Their first game of the UEFA that is happening in AustriaSwitzerland right now was against Holland....and they lost Badly. Oh well. Too bad. But so we went to an Irish pub with lots of Americans to watch it......haha classic right It was really fun though and I've decided I do enjoy watching soccer at this level so I've been following al http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-288113.html Okay so after our hostel in Magione we got dropped off at the train station with these two British guys who were backpacking...they were hilarious cause they didn't really know what they were doing but I guess we were kinda in the same boat with them So we figured out how to get the train to Perugia got there and hopped on a bus. Perugia is a very hilly town and is fairly spread out. We didn http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Umbria/Perugia/blog-288103.html AssisiOn Saturday our group went on a day trip to Assisi. Assisi is famous for St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clare. We took a two and a half hour bus ride there. We had a guided tour of the Basilica of St. Clare and the Basilica of St. Francis. The churces were gorgeous inside and outside. We were also able to see both of their tombs. It was again very nice to have a guide to take us around http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Umbria/blog-285827.html RomeSo last saturday we had our school orientation which was sufficiently boring. A police officer came to talk to us though about safety and what not. The funny thing he asked is what Italy's national sport was. Everyone said soccer. He was like no that's Italy's second national sport. Their first national sport is women Hahaha. And its so true.Then later that day we went on a guided tour http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-284402.html While I'm in italy here is how to contact meemailrchampberkeley.eduremy.gobearsgmail.comitalian cell phone 00393315708553virtual cell phone this is a US phone number but transfers to my italian cell phone its a cheaper rate than calling my italian cell number 6502414596call or send text messages to the above number http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-281884.html Ciao tutti I am back in Rome now after a short trip to Venice and Verona. The flights were not bad. The first part to DC went by fast. But on the atlantic leg I only slept for 1 hour......aaaaaghhh so yeah. Not too fun. But I had a nice woman sitting next to me from Belmont. I got through customs okay it was very quick actually and I was expecting a lot more. The guy didn't even talk t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-281699.html