On April 23rd, I packed up my things and headed out on a 2-week journey all over Europe. My program in Florence at Villa Corsi-Salviati had ended, but I was not ready to end my time in Europe quite yet. So I left the Villa and headed to the Amalfi Coast, and then to Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam, and finally Southern France. I traveled to each of these places with two friends from my program Andi and Melissa, and we also met up with some other people from the Villa along the way. It would be difficult to describe in detail everything that occurred in each of those places, so I will put up a few of my favorite pictures from each place in order to briefly describe my experience...
 |
Beach in Positano We had one day of absolutely gorgeous weather. Unfortunately, the other couple days were a little bit gray. |
 View from our hostel in Positano, where we spent 3 days.  |
| Friends from our program- Julian, Jackson, Gem, Becca, Kyle, and Ben- joined us in Southern Italy. |
 |
| Stairs down to the beach... they were about 100 of them. Needless to say they were no fun to walk up. |
 |
| The streets of Sorrento (another city on the Amalfi Coast) where we spent two days. |
 |
| Our last meal in Southern Italy. I had bow-tie pasta with parmesan, tomatoes, and spinach. |
Prague
 |
| Easter Festival in Prague. There were tons of fun stands, live music, and great food. |
 |
| We went to the Jewish Quarter in Prague which include 6 different synagogues, all designed in very different ways. This one is the Spanish Synagogue- which had gorgeous architecture on the inside and a history of Czech Jews. |
 |
| This is the John Lennon Wall- which has been filled with Lennon inspired graffiti since the 1980s. John Lennon is used as a symbol of peace in opposition to the old Communist Regime. |
 |
| St. Vitus Cathaeral in the Prague Castle |
 |
| Prague Clock-Tower Bar Crawl. Our hostel advertised this bar crawl, and it was a ton of fun. It was really exciting to be out with students from all over the world. |
 | ||
| View of Prague from one of its beer gardens. We went here after our Prague Walking Tour. It was a great way to relax after all that walking. Berlin  This is Museum Island, where we ended our Berlin walking tour.  Memorial at the Concentration Camp Sachenhausen, which is thought to be one of t he model concentration camps. The tour was grim but also very interesting. We had a great tour guide.  Walking Tour in Berlin. This is the parking lot that was built over the bunker where Hitler killed himself. It is also where many Berlin citizens take their dogs to do their business.  Bar Crawl in Berlin. We were able to meet up with three more Villa friends while in Berlin- Nick, Kelly, & Logan.
|
 | |||||||||
 But because there were no fast trains left for our next destination-Nice, we only had one night there. I'll have to go back one day to see all the touristy stuff, but we were able to walk around and explore the city a little on our own. Southern France
 This is part of the set-up for the Canne film festival. We took a day trip to Canne a few days before the festival began.
 last night together in the main square of Nice called Place Masséna. Now that I am back at my apartment in Madison, WI, these past 4 months and my final 2 week Euro Trip seem like some sort of dream. I will never forget my time in Florence studying abroad. I fell in love with Italy- the food, the people, the culture. I was able to travel to 7 new countries, live in a beautiful historical Villa, and meet an amazing group of people. This was an unforgettable, incredible experience. Arrivederci e Tanti Baci! -Laura |
