Well the obvious reason is that we had 3 weeks off for Spring break!
Now, classes are important, but so is travel. Three weeks off allows us to choose places outside of the UK and truly taste that traveling bug that has been fluttering around us since we initially decided to study abroad.
PLANNING-
Planning 3 weeks of spring break is tough. There is so many places to go. Out of the 9 Americans here, only one knew where she was going.
Meg had her trips planned early. Malta, Barcelona, and Ireland. She had a friend in Malta and Barcelona, and her mom would be flying in for some quality time in Ireland. Everyone was welcomed to join her.
and most people did.
Christine, Maggie, Justine, and Meg spend their first week in Malta; a small island south of Sicily.
As for me, it took me a while to decide. It went from Italy to Greece, to Croatia, to Malta, to specifically Venice, and then back to the drawing board.
Nina was originally going to spend the week with Marissa and myself in Italy for the first week, but then decided to go the independent route. She ended up having a great time in Amsterdam with the psych club.
Garrett was planning on skiing the alps, and Elysse was set on Italy. She had a friend in Italy, which always helps travel. Having friends around the areas makes it easier to plan the days, since one city is more probable to match with the dates that the friend is available.
The problem was that there was so many places to go. How do we get there? How do we get around once we are there? Some of us were considering meeting others inbetween their travels. How could we assure we would meet up?
After a lot of planning, we finally set an itinerary. Everybody had a place to go, hostels/hotels were booked, and flights there and back had been arranged.
The first week was to start off like this:
From Cardiff- to London.
Fly from London, England to Venice, Italy via RyanAir.
One night in Venice.
Spend most of the next day in Venice, then
take the train to Piacenza where Marissa’s family lives.
2 nights with her lovely italian family.
back to Venice via train for one more night.
head to San Marino via train.
2 nights in San Marino
head to Rome via train to meet Maggie and Justine (who were in Malta with Meg and Christine for week 1)
Week 2:
Rome
Naples
Florence
Venice
Week three:
Originally I was determined to spend all 3 weeks out, but as expences greatened- and laundry dirtied…. being back on campus for the third week sounded better and better. Original plans included more of Italy, Romania, and random Welsh adventures. We ended up just relaxing and doing laundry, but more about that later.
I packed my favorite suitcase (15 days worth into a carryon!!) and was ready to go!
My suitcase fit 15 days of travel, and can be used as a backpack or with wheels! 🙂
We (Maggie, Justine, and myself) also purchased EURAIL passes from eurail.com. This way all our tickets for local trains were taken care of. We only needed to purchase a seat reservation if it was a high speed train.
Why Wales? Entry #8: The Italian Adventure “Planning”
Why Wales?
Well the obvious reason is that we had 3 weeks off for Spring break!
Now, classes are important, but so is travel. Three weeks off allows us to choose places outside of the UK and truly taste that traveling bug that has been fluttering around us since we initially decided to study abroad.
PLANNING-
Planning 3 weeks of spring break is tough. There is so many places to go. Out of the 9 Americans here, only one knew where she was going.
Meg had her trips planned early. Malta, Barcelona, and Ireland. She had a friend in Malta and Barcelona, and her mom would be flying in for some quality time in Ireland. Everyone was welcomed to join her.
and most people did.
Christine, Maggie, Justine, and Meg spend their first week in Malta; a small island south of Sicily.
As for me, it took me a while to decide. It went from Italy to Greece, to Croatia, to Malta, to specifically Venice, and then back to the drawing board.
Nina was originally going to spend the week with Marissa and myself in Italy for the first week, but then decided to go the independent route. She ended up having a great time in Amsterdam with the psych club.
Garrett was planning on skiing the alps, and Elysse was set on Italy. She had a friend in Italy, which always helps travel. Having friends around the areas makes it easier to plan the days, since one city is more probable to match with the dates that the friend is available.
The problem was that there was so many places to go. How do we get there? How do we get around once we are there? Some of us were considering meeting others inbetween their travels. How could we assure we would meet up?
After a lot of planning, we finally set an itinerary. Everybody had a place to go, hostels/hotels were booked, and flights there and back had been arranged.
The first week was to start off like this:
Week 2:
Week three:
Originally I was determined to spend all 3 weeks out, but as expences greatened- and laundry dirtied…. being back on campus for the third week sounded better and better. Original plans included more of Italy, Romania, and random Welsh adventures. We ended up just relaxing and doing laundry, but more about that later.
I packed my favorite suitcase (15 days worth into a carryon!!) and was ready to go!
My suitcase fit 15 days of travel, and can be used as a backpack or with wheels! 🙂
We (Maggie, Justine, and myself) also purchased EURAIL passes from eurail.com. This way all our tickets for local trains were taken care of. We only needed to purchase a seat reservation if it was a high speed train.
More on its way: from day 1 to day 15!
🙂
defabbias
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