Student Blogs - Gonzaga University

The shortest and yet longest weekend trip of my life was the weekend me and my friend Krissy went to Munich, Germany. The reason why it was the shortest weekend trip was because we only really got 1 full day in Munich to explore the city. But, the reason why it was the longest trip of my life was because of our horrible planning. We booked our flight with the cheap airline called “RyanAir.” Our flight flew into the Frankfurt Hahn airport, when our hostel was in Munich, Germany. We knew we would have to take a bus or a train to Munich, but the moment we got into Frankfurt, we realized we flew into one of the smallest airports we have ever seen. It was smaller than Spokane’s airport! So trying to figure out how to get to Munich was interesting. A factor that worked in our favor was that Germans are some of the nicest people on the planet and are willing to go out of their way to help anyone who looks lost. We found a bus, and took the first one we saw into the main Frankfurt airport. Once we got there, we had to take a train from the Main Frankfurt train station into Munich. Our hostel was right around the block from the Munich train station. By the time we got to our hostel, it was around midnight. So we decided to stay in and get a good night’s sleep so we could explore the city the next day.

The next day, we walked around Munich and visited one of their most famous breweries and beer halls, The Augustiner. We had a typical German meal and our first German beer. People don’t lie when they say that Germans like to drink. We saw some men drinking beers at 9:30 AM and they weren’t homeless! It was very weird to see! Even though we had a blast in Germany, and wish we could go back, our journey back to Florence was absolutely HORRIBLE! We had to take a train at around 2 am from Munich to the Main Frankfurt airport, and then catch a bus from the airport back the Frankfurt Hahn airport. So all in all, we pulled an all nighter just travelling… The bus ride back to the Frankfurt Hahn airport was one of the worst experiences of my life. Somebody got sick on the bus, and had puked. We had to sit on the bus for 2 hours while smelling that horrible smell. But we finally got there, and had a few hours until our flight left. So we ended up sleeping on the floor of the Frankfurt Hahn airport.

Even though we were horrible at planning this weekend trip, I will never forget it. It is a memory that I will always remember because looking back on it now, we can only laugh at ourselves. Studying abroad has taught me so much. This trip taught me that sometimes, things don’t go according to plan, but you just have to go with the flow. Sometimes, there is nothing you can do. But hey, that is just fine with me! :]

Ciao!
Savannah

<img src=”” alt=”My first German beer!” />

<img src=”” alt=”Most beautiful Park I have ever seen! ” />

<img src=”” alt=”YUM!” /><img src=”” alt=”Germans Love the Zags too!” />

Even though I was extremely sad to hear about the shipwreck by Giglio Island off the coast of Italy, I was still extremely curious as to how it had happened. I wanted to learn how such a huge ship had crashed into an island. I wanted to know what happened and I really wanted to see it with my own eyes. So me and a few friends decided to make a day trip out to Giglio Island to check out the shipwreck and visit a new part of Italy. To our surprise, it was quite a hectic trip trying to get from Florence to this little island! First we had to take a train to a city called Grosetto, then another train to a city called Orbetello, and then a ferry ride to Giglio Island. Orbetello was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen! The buildings were all a different color and they were all right along the shoreline. The ferry ride made all of us a little bit nauseous, but it was completely worth it once we saw the ship in sight. It was unbelievable! It was HUGE!! I was actually very surprised because the ship was practically on the shoreline of Giglio Island. We were able to get pretty close to the ship and we took a ton of pictures! Even though Giglio Island was struck such a tragic accident, I would love to go back there sometime in the summer. It was beautiful!

<img src=”” alt=”Giglio Island! ” />

<img src=”” alt=”The Ship” />

<img src=”” alt=”So Pretty! ” />

<img src=”” alt=”Orbetello! ” />

Ciao for Now!
Savannah

VENICE!!! Definitely the most unique city I have ever been to! It was so cool! I always had seen Venice in movies and TV shows and stuff, but seeing it in person made me fall in love with it even more! It literally is a city that can only be travelled through with a boat! There are basically a bunch of little islands and you have to take the “city boat” to transport from one little island to the next. Once you get on an island, there are streets like a normal city. It is so cool! We also went to Venice for their famous Carnivale festival! So much fun! It was basically like an Italian Mardi Gras! All of the Venetians spend a huge amount of money getting their costumes together just for Carnivale and then they wear them for hours and pose for the tourists. It is literally like they are celebrities, and the tourists are the paparazzi! All of the tourists also tend to wear masks too! I wore my mask for a few minutes until i realized how annoying they were to wear for long periods of time! When we got to Venice, we took a city boat to San Marco Square, the most famous square in Venice. We walked around for a while and shopped in the little stores on the streets. And I definitely had to buy some more masks! I had to buy a mask in Venice! Venice is a magical place, and I definitely hope to go back someday!!!!

So…. I took a cooking class….in Italy…. SO MUCH FUN! I love cooking at home, so I jumped at the chance when I heard there was a cooking class I could sign up for! It was so much fun to have Italian chefs teach us their ways, and how they cook real Italian food. They taught us how to make stuffed zucchini, pesto lasagna, and tiramisu. SOOO DELICIOUS! We even made our own pasta and used the pasta roller to roll it out. It was such a great experience and I will never forget it! I really want to go back so they can teach me how to make pizza and gelato!!! Hopefully I will have enough time!!!

<img src=”” alt=”My group!” /><img src=”” alt=”Us with the Chefs!” /><img src=”” alt=”Stuffed Zucchini” /><img src=”” alt=”Pesto Lasagna” /><img src=”” alt=”Tiramisu!” />

Ciao for now!
Savannah :]
Class of 2013
Criminal Justice Major

Even though Pompeii was amazing, the whole travelling thing to get there was HORRIBLE. We had to take a train to Sorrento, Italy because we were staying in a bed and breakfast there. We had 2 different addresses for the bed and breakfast so of course we ended up going to the wrong address first…. Oh and of course it had to be raining. It wasn’t just a sprinkle of rain, it was POURING down rain, with lightning, and thunder….Oh yeah and HAIL. 2 hours later we finally made it to our bed and breakfast, soaking wet with our soaking wet backpacks and we finally checked into our room. The hostel was really nice, but our trip was not off to a good start. We took out our clothes from our backpacks only to find that they were soaked as well!! Not good when you only have 3 shirts for the weekend!! The next day, we went to Pompeii and had a blast! The sun was shining, and there was not a cloud in the sky!! We could have spent an entire day there, because there was so much to explore! When we saw the body casts of the people who suffered the eruption of the infamous Mt. Vesuvius, it broke my heart. These poor people did not know what was happening, what to do, or where to go. We went to some other ruins around Pompeii, but they were not nearly as cool. Pompeii was one of the coolest places that I have ever seen. It amazes me how there are still columns standing, that they have been there since 79 AD and survived through one of the most violent volcano eruptions the world has ever seen! That is unbelievable to me! All in all, Pompeii was awesome and I loved it. And now it just makes me laugh to think about our experiences walking through the streets of Sorrento for 2 hours in the rain. :]