fall break part 5: santorini

wednesday, october 27
literally travelled all day. flew from rome to athens then from athens to santorini. ever been on a propeller plane over the mediterranean sea? well, i have. ellie and tara were super nervous, understandably so, but jess and i were laughing the whole way through the turbulence. we all made it in one piece. a guy from our hostel picked us up from the airport, we got settled a little, then headed out for dinner at el greco restaurant. fried zucchini, tzatziki & bread, greek salad, and baklavah yummmm.

thursday, october 28
the hotel breakfast was bread and butter with warm milk for plain flake cereal and airbone-tasting orange juice. gross. we were moved to a nicer, sister hotel down the road where we unpacked and then set out for the day. we walked up a very long road to fira centre that ended up being a short walk if we make a different turn. anyway, the view once we reached the top of the mountain was incredible. exactly what you imagine greece would look like - a very 'sisterhood of the traveling pants' moment for sure. got another gift then we stopped for lunch at zafora overlooking the sea and the volcano. i had greek penne and it was amaaaazing. we shopped for a while in fira, i got myself a shot glass and another gift. we took a donkey ride down to the old port harbor. mine's name was marcos he was white and gray and it was so much fun, i loved it. we sat in the sun then took the cable car back up to the center for more shopping, i got a few more gifts before the weather quickly changed and it started raining. we had dinner at ladokolla, i got tzatziki and pork kontosouvli, and the restuarant gave us free greek yoghurt panna cotta for dessert. after getting cleaned up a little at the hotel, we went out to find any bars still open this late in the santorini season. 'tropical bar', 'town club', and 'tithora rock club' are all very different but none were that great or that bad. we got cheap chicken souvlaki on our way home to complete the day.

friday, october 29
we decided that weather.com is the devil. it was wrong every day in greece, but we dealt with it. ATVs were first on the agenda for the day. we tooled around the island, first to kamari, a black sand beach, then around and up and down one of the mountains to vlichada beach and harbor. on our way out from there, jess unfortunately crashed. she wasn't hurt, but there were some damages to the ATV so we headed back to the rental place near our hotel. the guy was really rude at first but his boss came and explained everything that needed to be replaced. it was no bueno. dealing with all that for a while made us hungry. lunch at the pelican i had a veggie omelette with feta cheese, then we got gourmet belgian waffles for dessert, mine was topped with chocolate walnut and whipped cream. we all napped for a few hours after that, ellie with her ancient thira blanket lol. and then it was our last night out! we went back to 'town club' for a little because we made friends with one of the bartenders, but were all pretty tired so we didn't stay out super late.

saturday, october 30
the guy from the ATV place knocked on our hotel door because jess owed more money from the crash, he sucks, and the whole situation sucked. so ellie, tara, and i had to go without her on a volcano and hot springs excursion we had been planning to take. a boat took us to the volcano and we hiked around it, none of us in the right kind of shoes. then we went to where we could jump off the boat and swim to hot springs at the bottom of the volcano. i was the only one to do it, and im so glad that i did. the hot springs were weird because the water was brown from the kicked up dirt, but the mediterranean sea right outside the hot springs was so so so refreshing and clear and just unbelievable. i did not want to get back on the boat. when we got back to the port i took a donkey ride by myself back up the mountain on bella while the other two took the cable cars. we all met up again and headed to lunch at stamna garden tavern where we all enjoyed classic gyros. then jess went early to the airport - she just wanted to get out of greece, i don't blame her. the rest of us shopped some more, i found a pair of earrings with lava rock and turquoise for myself, and a city dog named frieda followed us around while we ate pastries and watched one of the most beautiful sunsets i have ever seen. it was a bittersweet goodbye to santorini because we all knew we needed to get back to london, to familiarity, but the vacation time was just beyond amazing. we took a taxi to the airport, flew on a regular plane to athens, flew easyjet (screw easyjet) back to london, took the express train that wasnt so express to central london, a night bus near our flat, and walked the rest of the way to our beds. its strange but good that i can call london home, for now.

fall break parts 2, 3, 4: venice, florence, rome

saturday, october 23

we arrived in venice. and you would think that when arriving to a new country you would have to go through customs and get a stamp in your passport right? well, apparently italy doesnt do customs. according to my passport, i was never there. nope. great security, italy. we took a bus to the island and found our hostel no problem. venice was beautiful, and so interesting. there were few main streets with shops and a few small markets, but mostly 5ft wide alleyways between old old buildings filled with more shops and apartments above. we had our first authentic italian dinner (bread, appetizer, first plate, second plate, salad, dessert, wine) at 'trattoria le campane' then onto the first of so so many gelato stops where i had lime and limoncello. i still do not understand how all italian people are not gigantic. we ventured into the night, failing to find san marco, but succeeding in finding the rialto bridge, which had the most gorgeous view of the grand canal at night. after a few hours out, we made our way back for a good nights sleep.

sunday, october 24.

pizza for breakfast? heck yes. only in italy? nope. better in italy? yep. we started out the day after that with a gondola ride of course and the most precious gondolier who had surprisingly great english for having grown up and lived in venice his whole life. the ride was about an hour of going in and out of little canals seeing cute houses, the rialto bridge again from the water, and a bunch of other cool-looking buildings and important things. gelato stop #2 after that, but i went for the tiramisu this time. walked around the island some more, got another gift, and we finally found san marco. along with the doge palace next to it. turns out we were one turn away from finding it the night before, but we didn't stay long, it wasn't that exciting. we had lunch in one of the several piazzas within the island at 'ristorant s stefano' where i had gnochetti alla s stefano, one of the restaurant's specialty dishes, and it was oh so special, i looooved it. onward we walked, got a few more gifts, stopped for delicious little fruit tarts, and went back to the area around san marco where jess became our official bird lady. this is where you can stand with your arm out and pigeons will land. if you buy seed, however, dozens of pigeons will flock to you, the seed will be gone in a matter of seconds, but the birds will still be flying and landing on and around you. it was hilarious, and just a little gross. we made the trek home after that cause it started raining a little harder and our feet freaking hurt. tagliatelle alfredo for dinner at 'ristorante ai scalzi' and gelato spagnoli for dessert. later we tried to find a group doing a bridge crawl, but that never happened, so we went out for a drink and got a late night pizza to bring back to our room.

monday, october 25

woke up early for breakfast danishes and to catch our 2hour train to florence. we walked to our hostel and dropped off our luggage because our room wouldnt be ready until later in the day. we planned out our day to see everything we wanted to, beginning with food. lunch was penne pomodoro e formaggio at 'birrificio artigianala mostodolce' and who walks by but my flatmate chris and steph. chatted with them for a bit then finished lunch and headed to the san lorenzo market, known for its leather goods. i splurged. i got myself a real leather jacket! its so nice im very excited, and no buyers remorse is a good sign. jess also got leather gloves. we continued to il duomo, but decided against climbing the 463 stairs to the top. our feet had been through enough already with plenty more walking to come. we walked through piazza della repubblica and a carousel with what looked like jesus painted on it. another gelato stop, i had hazelnut, and the boar's head market where tara made her leather purchase, a bright pink purse. jess rubbed the boar's nose for good luck (we're not really sure that it means good luck, but hey why not). then we found neptune's fountain and piazza della signoria, an outside statue gallery, which were both next to the galleria dell'accademia, where the david is. funny story - everything in florence is closed on mondays. why? no one knows. but so we couldn't go into the accademia or the uffizi galleries. instead, we took funny pictures with the david replica outside. good enough for me. we then found ponte vecchio bridge and walked by where people 'lock their love' on cables by the river - adorable. ponte vecchio was stunning, im so glad the weather cleared up when we got there.

after that we trekked up to the highest point in the city, piazzale michelangelo. at first we were on the other side of the mountain at giuseppe poggi, which had the most amazing fairytale view of the city - probably my favorite view of the whole break. i would definitely travel back to florence just for this if and when i ever get the chance. we walked to meet chris and steph as the sun went down and the view became an amazing nightscene. bussed back to the hostel to finally check in and then went out for dinner. emily, brian, and keith saw us on our way and happened to be staying in the same hostel, more small world encounters. we went to nuti antica pizzeria-ristorante where i had florentine steak yummm then met up with another friend taylor for drinks. chilled with emily, brian, and keith back at the hostel for a bit before bedtime.

tuesday, october 26

mcdonalds for breakfast in the train station then an hour and a half ride to rome. our hostel was a short walk away above a little cafe shop near piazza dell'esquilino. we saw another friend brittany from cuse on our way. the metro was useful in rome, we got a daypass and headed first to the vatican. we had a quick lunch, margherita pizza, then tara went into vatican city and the museum while jess, ellie, and i wandered around the entrance for a while then got more gelato because we didn't want to wait in line. we hopped back on the metro to circus maximus, the constantine arch, the colosseum (ellie went in), the acropolis, and other old things. jess and i decided we could see everything and appreciate it from afar rather than paying to see the rocks close up. all four of us met back at the hostel then took the metro to the spanish steps, which were really cool lit up at night. we found a bar crawl that included a tshirt so of course we were in! i think that was my favorite part of rome. dont get me wrong, it was really interesting to think about how old the city was and how people lived back then and everything so im glad i went. im no history buff though, so it just wasn't my cup of tea overall. i dont really need to go back.

wednesday, october 27

travel day. rough, early morning, but the guy from the hostel was so sweet and gave us juice and glazed croissants on our way out. we took a train to the airport, saw a few guys from the bar crawl the night before (luckily they didn't see us still in our tshirts haha). and we were off to greece. ciao, italy!

fall break part 1: barcelona

thursday, october 21

easybus to the airport, and easyjet flight to barcelona. arrived at night, local bus to the city center, wandered for a while before we found our hostel, checked in, changed, and went out for dinner. we found a great little place that opened only a few weeks earlier, so the food was relatively cheap but amaaaazing. i had an avacado, cream cheese, and lettuce sandwich made on fresh bread, but alex and tara won with their simple choice of nachos - the best nachos any of us had ever encountered. so much guac! we headed back to the hostel fairly early but were shhh'd in our fort beds by the other people staying in our 12person room. we laughed.

friday, october 22
breakfast at the hostel and off to the picasso museum around the corner. pretty cool stuff, got myself a unique shot glass and a gift. we then walked through a street market on our way to la rambla, a long street filled with souvenir shops and street performers. found a huge food market that we spent hours in looking at all the different fruits, meats, seafood, bread, peppers, etc. anything you could imagine. i got myself some coconut to snack on, yum. then tara and i split off from the group and walked a long way along the beach, which was beautiful except for the few naked men we saw walking around, awkward. we got lunch in port olympic and another gift. when we got back to the hostel to meet up with everyone, alex, alex, and sam (who were on their way to their cooking class) told us that jess and ellie had hopped on a catamaran jazz cruise leaving in 10 minutes! tara and i literally ran close to a mile to catch this cruise, but it was so worth it. it was an hour and a half during a barcelona sunset, with a guy playing saxophone and €1 euro sangria. perfection. that night we all went out in port olympic - ritzy ritzy bars/clubs (most expensive champagne bottle was €2500). after a while, we left in three groups at different times and all had strange, rough nights in our own ways.

saturday, october 23
breakfast at the hostel again where tara nudges me and goes, 'is that hannah?' sure enough, a girl in our sorority who is studying in strasbourg was staying at the same hostel (the first of many random encounters over break). we headed out to the cathedral - nothing special or different from the ones around london ive seen. then we all had fun in the 'happy pills' store which is literally just a wall of candies that you stuff in what looks like a clear pill bottle, such a great idea. went back to la rambla for another gift and ran into mara, her sister, and izzie. we ate a little something then took a taxi to the airport, and said adios to barcelona!

adios! ciao! (insert greek word for goodbye here)!

leaving for fall break today! SO EXCITED!


Thur - Sat    Barcelona
Sat - Mon    Venice
Mon - Tue   Florence
Tue - Wed   Rome
Wed - Sat    Santorini

midterms already??

this is me not doing my midterm papers or studying for my midterm exams. and realizing that its almost halfway through the semester? what? i leave thursday for fall break - barcelona, venice, florence, rome, athens, and santorini. 10 days and i'll be home on halloween! seriously cannot wait. i've been having a lot of fun in london the past two weekends though. well, lets be honest, weekdays too. here's what has happened in the life of laura since my last post, sorry its a lot...

- sat 2/10: daytrip to greenwich with alex. went to the market, saw the prime meridian line, explored the town a little, and walked around the set of pirates of the caribbean 4 while it was being filmed.

- sat 2/10: went out to find a club in the east end during a torrential downpour
- wed 6/10: saw JERSEY BOYS with alex, jed, and sam. sam and i had seen it before, but we all went crazy the entire show, it was fantastic. we went last minute for student rush tickets and they gave us a box! great view, bottle of wine at intermission, and of course the necessary dance party after the curtain call.
- thur 7/10: lunch in chinatown with the girls + jed. also went back to a store we had found that has a small section of american food you cant find here: jiff peanut butter, marshmallow fluff, poptarts, all sorts of cereal, goldfish, oreos, m&ms, etc etc. it is glorious, but so so expensive. the only thing i spent money on was precious root beer. if only it were ibc.

- thur 7/10: ICE BAR LONDON. sooooo cold, but so worth it. literally a room and bar made of ice, even the glasses for our colorful drinks. the robes were probably the best part though, we need them for syracuse.





- fri 8/10: friday SU trip to dover castle and dungeness. dover castle was fun to explore, with a great view of the city and shoreline below. it was such a beautiful day too. the wartime tunnels were creepy but also fun to explore - i love that kind of stuff. i was obviously the one wandering into dark corridors just to see where it might have gone. also, i was really determined to find a secret passageway. i could only find a few sealed-off doors. after the castle, the bus took us to dungeness, which is england's only desert. really not that exciting, other than the world's smallest public railway.

- fri 8/10: sports cafe for the phillies game. a very touristy, american bar in london. i was one of a few rooting for cinci. gotta rep my state! played and won a game of pool. there was a dance floor too, but there no one else wanted to dance.
- sun 10/10: east end markets with alex for lunch and some vintage shopping.
- tue 12/10: sports cafe again. this time we danced. also had to wake up super early for class the next day. so bad, but oh so good.
- thur 14/10: los locos restaurant in covent garden for emily's birthday! great group of people there were so many of us there splitting cocktail pitchers and conversing over our mexican dinners. most people went out to oneills after, but some of us were a little too tired.

- fri 15/10: friday SU trip to canterbury and leeds castle. the cathedral and town of canterbury were very very similar to salisbury. i feel like once i see one cathedral i've seen them all. however, this one is where king henry IV was buried and where thomas becket was murdered. i felt like i should have known so much more about the town and history from reading canterbury tales but, big surprise, laura doesn't remember anything she reads. oh well. leeds castle is known for its beauty, rightfully so. the castle itself was very different than dover, it was a tour of a home rather than where battles were fought, so it was much more pretty, but less fun. the rest of the area there made up for it though. there was a maze that reminded all of us of harry potter, which ended at a tower in the middle so you can laugh at everyone who is still lost. there was an aviary, which was hilarious because alex hates birds. and to top it all off, there were peacocks wandering around everywhere.

- fri 15/10: out for some quality food and drink with friends. the court never lets us down.
- sat 16/10: pasta dinner and power hour hosted nextdoor with a ton of friends here and some from the madrid program. never again.

which brings us to today. i have 2 exams and 2 papers due all on wednesday. too bad i started watching madmen from the beginning and im already half-way through the second season. also trying to stay caught up on all my other shows (house, lie to me, greys anatomy, desperate housewives, glee), watching everything online serves as great procrastination. so does blogging, obviously. im the biggest (and best) procrastinator i know, but i think it may be time to really get started.

amsterdam

i guess i should write about my amsterdam weekend before i forget! well we got up super early friday to walk, bus, train, shuttle, fly, and train again into amsterdam. we got there and wandered the city for a while, noticing the billions of bikes everywhere. i swear there were SO many it was great, i totally would've rented one to get around if there weren't 9 of us there together. the first day we found dam square, which ended up being our meeting place for the weekend and pretty much central to everywhere we went. coffee shops, bars, souvenir stores, some restaurants, and women in windows lined the streets all packed together. the town was laid out like a checkerboard with old crammed buildings and canals running through every other street. one woman on the metro told us to look up while we walk. it made such a difference, the gray city was actually really pretty.
saturday we went to the I AMsterdam sign and spent a good hour or so climbing on the letters, taking pictures. a few people went to the van gogh museum but the rest of us didn't feel like spending the money so we found the shopping and art districts. we watched a giant chess game outside the hard rock hotel for a while and then met up with everyone again. saturday night there was a squatters protest at dam square with hundreds of people in the rain. half the group stayed and got great pictures of this guy spinning fire, and alex even showed off his fire twirling skills. i was in the tired group that got fries at chipsy king - the best place in the world - and headed back to the hostel.
sunday we all got up at different times to find our last coffee shops and souvenirs before we got to walk, metro, train, fly, shuttle, bus, and walk back home to york street. it's weird calling this home, but hey, it is! for awhile at least.

happy post

this entire past week felt like a vacation with matt here. he got here wednesday, we went out for a great italian dinner and this fun place called zizzi near my flat. thursday we did touristy things allllll day. it was rainy at first just to show matt what real london weather is like of course, so we went to trafalgar square and the national gallery first. then to the london aquarium and the london dungeon - both so much fun, so im actually really happy it rained haha. along the way we saw big ben, houses of parliament, the thames, and the london eye, then made our way through covent garden for the traditional fish and chips at a fun pub called belushi's. early morning friday nine of us left for amsterdam - see next post. we got back sunday and just laid around the rest of the night letting ourselves be lazy after an exciting weekend. monday i had class for a while until matt met me at school and we went to camden market to walk around, shop a little, and grab some dinner. sidenote - while i was at school, matt went and got me flowers, tara almost cried from the cuteness lol. tuesday we slept in a little before going to buckingham palace to watch what we could see of the changing of the guard - so many people. from there we walked around hyde park, had a pizza lunch at the serpentine cafe on the lake, and took the classic telephone booth picture of each other. we stopped by the british museum for a bit, then came home to relax some.

then we saw THE FREAKING LION KING. for anyone who doesn't understand my absolute love for the lion king, it was the first movie i saw in theaters, and for some reason it has always been my favorite favorite favorite show. like my favorite "disney princess" is nala. i love all the music and sing it a lot. i used to roar around the house as a kid. i had the kissing simba and nala dolls - mom where are those i miss them?! haha so anyway, I was beyond happy to be able to finally see the show for the first time in london with matt. i have to be special for him to travel across the world to see me, but he has to be just as special for me to see lion king with him. we had great seats and i was literally smiling the entire show. it was such a great way to end matt's stay here, even though no way is a good way to say bye until christmas.

sad post

matt left this morning
mild drama back home
and its a rainy day

such a tourist

wow its been 10 days since my last post... and ive done so much. here we go.
• stonehenge: rocks. i wish we had gone at a better time in the day so my pictures could've been a little less dull.

• salisbury: cute little town. we had fun taking pictures in and around the cathedral, and also had a fantastic fishnchips lunch.

• east end markets: soooo sweet. first was a flower market that just smelled so marvelous and i wanted every flower i walked by. then we got to brick lane which was a bunch of crammed food shops and people selling trinkets on the sidewalks and so many thrift stores all over. then we walked through a giant clothes market and around the area for a while before heading home.


• thames festival: went at night for the fireworks which were nothing special, but the festival seemed really cool. lots of tents with food, clothes, fun stuff to do, and music throughout. i had a grease-filled cheese&spinach crepe, yum. the way the city lights up at night is fabulous.

• billy elliot the musical: amaaaazing. i mean i love musicals, so of course it was amazing, but seriously that little kid can dance! im very glad it was my first show in london.


• royal opera house: we didnt get to see the actual auditorium because there was a rehearsal going on :( but going on the backstage tour totally made up for it. i got to see four of the primary ballet dancers rehearsing, costume rooms, the entire backstage area the size of a few football fields, and other parts of the building that just made my day. the view from the restaurant terrace was of the covent garden market where the beginning scenes in "my fair lady" were shot, so naturally we went there for lunch.


• bike tour: SO MUCH FUN. i'm so happy i got to do this. it was a 4hr tour around the entire city. we saw everything. it started out on the southbank of the thames where we saw big ben, houses of parliament, the london eye. we went by westminster abbey and buckingham palace, then stopped in hyde park for lunch at the serpentine cafe on the water. the pope spoke in hyde park that afternoon so there were masses of people we had to bike through. we went on to go through covent garden, trafalgar square, leicester square, and china town. when we finally got back home i was so tired but so pleased with the day.

• buckingham palace: wow. its so huge and so intricate, i cant believe i got to walk around inside where so many people have been. it was a self-guided walking tour with a headset which was nice, we could go at our own pace. everything was beautiful, i wish i couldve taken pictures. we have to go back at some point to see the changing of the guard.

well ive done plenty of touristy things so far, but i have an ongoing checklist that needs to be fulfilled! for now though... class presentation and a quiz tomorrow. and two essays and some reading due while matt is here, so tuesday will be work work work cause i have no class. matt will be here in less than 3 days and we're all going to amsterdam this weekend! i am beyond excited :D seriously cannot wait.

"hey, is that big ben?"

alex and i decided to be tourists for the day - go downtown, whip out the cameras, and see the sights. but when it started raining, we thought we'd go to covent garden instead. ended up walking around, stumbled upon trafalgar square with fun statues and fountains just as the sun came out. then all of a sudden alex turns around and goes, "hey, is that big ben?" sure enough, there it was. naturally, we took pictures and walked towards it! ...and found out it was a lot further than it looked. but we made it there, saw the thames river, the london eye, the houses of parliament, westminster abbey, and a ton of random statues. we'll be back plenty of times. still need to see the tower of london and the london bridge and oh, only hundreds of other things around london before i go. i definitely needed this day to feel like i really am in london, living here for the next few months. so cool. but i swear it seems like such a short amount of time now that i'm here and seeing everything there is to be done! i'm starting a checklist for things to do around london. horseback riding in hyde park, classic picture in a telephone booth, find church on sundays (SU students and only SU students should understand). but here are my bigger plans so far for the rest of the semester:

coming soon
this weekend:
friday: stonehenge and salisbury
saturday: thames festival
sunday: east end markets and soho


next weekend (SU love london weekend):
thursday: billy elliot the musical
friday: backstage the royal opera house
saturday: london bike tour
sunday: inside buckingham palace then the turning point festival for jenna's birthday




weekend trips
sept 24-26 AMSTERDAM. nuff said.
with most the flatmates and other cool people we like


nov 5-7 the mandarins do paris!
mara and i are meeting deanna for a marvelous weekend with the girls


nov 26-28 backpacking through england (?)
further planning is in store.




fall break
oct 21-31 spain, italy, greece.
specifically barcelona, florence, tuscany, venice, greek isles, athens.
as of now, tara and jenna are in. plans may change and people may be added, but its a definite tentative plan that i am more than excited about!




also. wait for it... wait for it...
sept 22-29 my boyfriend matt is coming to visit!!
he wanted to surprise me, but obviously had to say something after i booked my flight/hostel for amsterdam haha. so he's coming there too! i never thought in a million years he would fly here to see me with his deathly fear of heights and flying. boy you crazy. and i love you for it! seriously cannot wait.




with the family
dec 16-24 germany, prague, portugal (?)
yep, mom dad and brother are headed overseas at the end of my semester! details to be worked out at a later date. but not too much later... just need to really decide exactly where we're going.




time for bed peeps. night!