Italy
Italy has been such an amazing experience. Out of all countries I’ve been to, I have seen the most cities in Italy, in the past 12 days I have been to 8 cities and loved most. From cliff jumping on the coast to parting all night with new friends, I have had an amazing time. On my way from Switzerland, I had a stop for about 4 hours and was able to walk around the small town of Como, conveniently placed right next to lake Como. It was a beautiful little town right next to the lake. I then made it to Venice to stay for 2 days, I arrived much much later than I was supposed to because my bus there ended up being 3 hours late. Arriving at the edge of the island and being able to see where I needed to get but not knowing how to get there was definitely intimidating, especially because I was the last person on the bus, everyone else had gotten off at earlier stops. After some wandering, I found one of the “Metro stops” but for boats and had no idea how to pick which one I was supposed to get on. I waited at the dock for about 30 min before the boat came and I just hopped on. Looking at google maps we were going the right way so that was a huge relief. It only ended up taking 40 min on the tiny boat at like 11pm to get there. The next 2 days I spent going to art exhibits, Museums and just admiring the city. I definitely would recommend Venice for a day and then moving on. It is very very small. I then went to Bologna for a day at the Lamborghini and Ferrari museums. After that, I was In Florence for a few days. I’ve got a million stories I could tell from here but I made so many amazing people! Probable in Florence alone 20+ I was trying my best to do day trips like a day in Pisa and the following day I went to the most stunning little town 3 hours outside of Florence called Marola, The town is on a cliff. It felt like a hidden Gem, especially because I got there at about 7:30 am and no one else was there. I spent the day hiking, swimming, and Cliff jumping. No matter where I went I ended up meeting more people around my age traveling the world. We all shared stories while sitting on the rock at the edge of the water and it was just such an amazing time. After a fun day in the sun, it was one of our friends’ birthdays the following day. We couldn’t let the day start off boring for him so we gathered up as many people as we could totaling about 30 from our hostel and we all went to a nightclub. There was never a dull moment while here in Florence. That morning we got back at 3:30 and the entire room was flooded. My backpack under my bed had completely absorbed water along with all of my clothes. They all hung dry the next day and I was off the last city of Europe, Rome! I got to the train station at about 8:30 and had to wait in line for my ticket. After 2 hours I bought my ticket and was looking for my platform. It wasn’t there so I asked one of the workers and they informed me that the trains were all on strike and there was a high chance It never came. It came about 45 min later and I was so relieved. I boarded and waited the train continued to fill and we all just sat and waited. I actually ended up falling asleep waiting for the train to leave. I woke up about an hour and a half later to a working telling everyone the train was canceled. By the end of the whole train station ordeal and my waiting for another train, I had basically wasted 6 hours and not gotten anywhere. I was looking for other ways to get to Rome and I found a bus leaving in about 2 hours from this super far bus station. It was a 1 hour and 58 min walk. My stubborn-headed self put my backpack on and started walking. I knew it was super close so I didn’t stop to get lunch. That was by far the worst walk I have ever done 0/10 would not recommend. From having 2 backpacks on my sunburnt shoulders to the 90-degree weather I was overall not having a good time. I missed it, I missed the bus that I just walked two hours for and it was by like five min. That was definitely the first time this entire trip where I felt defeated and basically when I got there. Nothing I could do about it at that point so I started looking for the next bus and it was an hour later. I ended up in Rome at Ten pm which was sooooooo much later than I had planned for. Definitely a struggle of a day and a bit miserable at the end of the day I am in Italy. The next day I woke up at one in the afternoon and felt so sick, I was sweating, my throat, neck, and ankles hurt, and I just felt drained. I took the much-needed rest day to hopefully help my body recover a bit from the beating I had given it the day prior. My throat still hurts but everything else has gone away luckily. I go the airport tomorrow morning for my flight to Jordan. Really sad I only have two more countries left but they’re both going to be incredible and I can’t wait! If you read this far you’re crazy, I hope you enjoyed hearing me ramble on about my experiences.
