My traveling adventure continued in Rome. Although the city was really big and slightly overwhelming, one of the girls I was traveling with luckily had a friend there who was able to show us around. I had never been to such an old city and I found myself constantly being amazed with the architecture and history. This was also my introduction to the demise of Italian food. While I ate about 14 "best meals of my life," I don't know how well my clothes would have fit had they not been stretched out and dirty from three weeks of not doing laundry.

From Rome we took the train to Venice. I have never really had a problem with planes, and love road trips, but I have determined that the train is worlds better than any other form of travel. Not only were they quite nice with comfy and spacious seats, but I was able to see a huge span of Italian countryside that I am extremely glad I didn't miss. As nearly my entire semester has been spent in cities, it was refreshing to be reminded that grass and trees really do still exist.

Anyway, Venice was unlike any place I have ever seen before. Water is everywhere and I didn't see a car the entire time I was there; we even took a water metro from the train station to our hostel. While that seems like a cool idea, it actually was absurdly crowded and slow and one of my friends got stuck on the boat because she couldn't get off with her bag on time. I think I'll stick to the bus.

The only real big site was the Basillica de San Marco, which was amazing enough it almost made the whole trip to the city worth it on its own. The entire inside is covered in the most magnificent and elaborate mosaic tiles. They don't allow pictures to be taken inside and even if they did I don't think I would have been able to do it justice. However, other than the Basillica and its surrounding plaza, the city was pretty quiet and eerie. My general thought about Venice is that I'm really glad I went, but it is definitely the type of city you can do in a day or two and don't really need to visit more than once.

After Venice we went to Florence, which was a huge contrast as there were tons of things to see there and lots going on. Somewhat like Copenhagen, and in stark contrast to Rome, Florence was pretty small and in the few days we were there I already began to feel that I knew my way around, which I liked. A friend's sister had studied in Florence and wrote her a detailed list of restaurants to go to and things to see, so I felt like we really got the most out of our visit.

While we intentionally saw things such as the statute of David and climbed to the top of the Duomo, we also unintentionally made a few turns and ended up walking aimlessly for a few hours seeing the entire city. I learned that while a plan is a nice guide, sometimes you can really get the most out of a trip by winging it.

The Italy portion of my break ended in Cinque Terre, a small area on the western coast and quite possibly the most gorgeous place I have ever seen. This was probably my favorite portion of the trip, as I desperately wanted a chance to simply relax and enjoy something other than a bustling city. While the rest of the trip was spent in (pretty nice) hostels, our room in Cinque Terre was an amazing little apartment, complete with our own kitchen, bathroom, and balcony overlooking the water. Due to the less than perfect weather we encountered, we spent a fair amount of time hanging out and reading and such in the room. However, one of the days was really nice and we were able to take a five-hour hike across the five towns. Not only was it a great way to see the whole area, but it was also great to get some real exercise and take advantage of the sun.

We ended the weekend with a pretty entertaining Easter egg hunt followed by a makeshift Eastern brunch of bread, cheese, fruit, and wine on a blanket in our humble abode. Not quite the typical church and lamb holiday I'm used to, but a great end to the week nonetheless.