Thursday, April 8 We hit the road early again, hoping to reach Murcia by late afternoon. All in all we would be driving almost 950 miles from Besancon, France to Murcia, Spain. By late morning we crossed the Spanish border--yipee! Immediately the landscape seemed different. There were rolling hills covered in coarse vegetation, there were yellow flowers dotting the grass patches, there were mountains in the distance (the Pyrenees) and of course: there were orange trees! Orange trees and olive trees as far as the eye could see! We stopped at a cafe along the road for breakfast. I had a pastry, coffee, and fresh squeezed orange juice that was out of this world. The coffee, however, was terrible (Spanish coffee is said to be very low in quality, but then again I was with ... read more

Time passed. Around 5am, things started coming alive and then around 6am, Cyntia and I went through security and boarded the plane. We were in Paris before 9am! Then we took the RER to the TGV and returned to Besancon. At Christine's house I met PJ for the first time, and he drove us back to the CROUS. Cyntia and I had about 5 hours between the time we arrived at the CROUS to the time PJ came to take us to St. Lupicin to meet up with everyone to go to Spain. I repacked my bag, choosing to take my larger backpack for the next trip, and posted pictures on Facebook. It was nice to have a few hours to relax because it had been a whirlwind getting back and our vacation was only ... read more

Sunday, April 4, Easter We rose and took the water bus to San Marco, the famous square in Venice. We waited in line for a long time to get into the Basilica di San Marco--after all it was Easter! We couldn't enter the basilica proper because of the Easter mass, but we were able to enter the museum and climb the tower. From the museum, it was possible to look over in the basilica from the balcony, and wow! The whole interior is done is golden mosaic! it was completely breathtaking. The strong smell of incense, mixed with the angelic singing of the choir below and the overwhelming luminosity of the space was incredible. Cyntia gets antsy when she is anywhere for too long, so she went ahead, and I stayed for a while just ... read more

Friday, April 2 Our flight landed in Milan around 8:00am. We then found a shuttle company that would take us into downtown Milan where we could catch a train to Venice. After a ride of about 40 minutes, we were at Milan's Stazione Centrale. We waited in line to buy our ticket, but unfortunately, we had just missed one train, and the next one was full. So we had to take the 12:30 train. With some time to kill, we decided to grab a bite the eat. There didn't seem to be much around, so we decided to go the the Milanese McDonalds--my first Mickie D's experience in Europe. An interesting note: McDonald's in Milan have bouncers! There was this big guy in a suit, and his only job was the straighten the chairs and ... read more

E.A.T. ? You might be wondering what this puzzling, food-thought-inspiring anagram means. Though I will be elaborating on delicious dishes and placating plates of foreign food, that is by no means ALL that I have to tell you about. E.A.T., or "Epic April Trip", is the story of the last 3 weeks of my life, spent between northern Italy, Spain, and Portugal. During my spring break respite from French university life, I went on a quest to visit some of the most beautiful places on Earth, and some incredible times were had with friends both old and new. This story will be broken in four entries, as my experience of trip was of four very distinct parts. So why not begin now with Part I? Ok, if you insist! *note: if you are on "Italian time" ... read more