Finally finished packing (the night before) and William weighed my bag, 47 pounds!!

William and Mom dropped us at the airport at the airport and we had time for one (or a couple) drinks!!

Grandma so kindly gave me her seat, but she made some pretty awesome friends along the way.

Lunch from Sac to Dallas was a taco salad but the churro cookie was the best part. Grandpa and I sat front row!

We made it to Dallas and hung out in the American Loungue with free snackies and wine!! (but we had to pay for granpas beer)

Boarded our next flight from Dallas to Madrid !

Free champs before take off!!

Warm nuts, Dear Evan Hansen, and more wine!!

Appetizer with mystery guac/potatoes under the meat and the cutest oil/vinegar bottle (more wine)

Dinner!! Basically the same thing I had for my last meal at home, but it was a little better at home :)

ATM stop in the airport. Customs and heath checks were super easy since it was all done before.

Grandpa protected the luggage.

Our adorable apartment, Grandma is at the door to the bottom left.

Walked around and found this cute restaurant. Lots of locals.

I had bacalao and wine it was so fresh.

Grandpa asked for the small soup… we quickly learned what cocido is.

Grandma and I made it out to dinner after napping for a little too long… we may have had too many glasses of wine. Best first day.

Starbucks for day 1 (but never again).

Largest market in Madrid. SO cool we came back for lunch!

Palace of Madrid. I will definitely be bringing everyone back it is beautiful. We did the audio tour it was perfect.

Couldn’t take pictures in most of the rooms since they were the royal chambers, but the ceilings were my favorite parts along with all the porcelain and silver items. So beautiful and such a great view.

Sacramento street:)

We came back to the market for lunch. It was packed the entire time.

We are obsessed with these little crackers.

Grandma and I for dinner again! We haven’t gone further than a block for dinner, so many options.

Coffee from a local shop.

We got on a hop on/hop off bus and were a little cold… we ended up looping back to our apartment for gloves and an extra pair of socks.

Waited a little too long for the Temple of Debod, but I thought it was pretty cool. An Egyptian temple from almost 2200 years ago!

I chose lunch… I’ve been craving pasta. The spaghetti negro is squid ink pasta. Super tasty.

We all made it to dinner tonight and this sausage was my favorite dish we’ve had to far. (Also my favorite tapas restaurant so far) Very friendly!

Natural Science Museum had an animal section, butterflies and section about extinction were my favs and then a dinosaur section.

Bernabeu was AMAZING. A super cool panoramic view and then the museum inside. Planning on coming back for a few games, the view is great from everywhere. They are currently doing construction on a retractable roof and expansion to seat over 80,000 people.

We were craving hamburgers for lunch. Grandmas was a little raw but we learned that’s how they do it in Spain.

Dinner at El Gallo Canta! Yummy and friendly, only two doors down from our place.

Walk from our Airbnb to my apartment was only 16 min! It’s under construction, but looks like our side of finished. Super excited and the main street is SO cute. So many cafés and restaurants near by.

Lunch at Atocha station with an entire jungle inside. Bathrooms were 1€, but the coolest bathrooms I’ve ever been in. Tickets took us awhile and I let us the wrong way, but we did it.

Campus was amazing. We went into a dorm building, the library, and walked around the rest of the campus.

The Atocha station at night!!

Dinner on the corner adjacent to our airbnb! We met some american ladies who were from chicago and also studied finance:) One of them lives part time in France and gave me some tips about studying abroad.

Not many pictures from the apartment, but our washer dries so that was exciting. Our apartment is fully stocked and Luis (our landlord) gave us lots of reccomendatjons. .

Mercadona is right next door with TONS of butcher shops and much more. We had our morning coffee and looked around.

Went to the Reina Sofia Art Museum and it was HUGE. We only got through 1.5 of the floors, but it was free so I’ll be back. So many cool exhibits.

Lunch across from the museum. Loved my pasta, Grandma and Grandpa loved their pizzas!

POWER OUT! smelled like burnt rubber and we didn’t understand the group of people trying to figure out what to do. We luckily ran into someone that explained things to us, but missed the excitement of the fire trucks.

Dinner at Lamucca! More of a restaurant than Tapas, but very good food.

Ended the night with drinks at the Westin. We got a mini suite and I got a roll-away bed! Moving back into our airbnb in the morning, everything fixed!

Started our morning in the hotel! I had to register for classes and the website went down 2 hours before my time. Grandma and Grandpa took the stuff back to our fixed airbnb and i stayed for the good hotel wifi.

Not too many pictures because we spend around 4 hours at the Museo de Prado. You could probably spend a week here and not see everything. It was amazing! We got through about 3/4 of a floor and there are 3 floors and another building. Definitely going back.

Birthday dinner at the oldest restaurant in the world! I had the lamb and we got cheesecake! So good and such a cool place.

These were meant to go to another table, but we got “lucky” with herbal liqueur. I spilled my first one, but they were happy to give me another. Grandpa helped me drink it, no bueno.

Had lunch around the corner at a ramen/sushi place!

Parted ways with my grandparents.

Unpacked finally.

Got our first roomie dinner down the street at a Mexican place!

Orientation was 1/27!

Atocha station and a walk through the park.

Met some guys who bought us jager shots!

Dinner w Grandma and Grandpa, these sausages with onion were SO good!

Cool drinks with Gaby, Christian (her brother), and Amy (Christian’s gf).

Menú del día with Grandma and Grandpa.

First night out at Kapital. Got McDonalds at 4:30 and home by 5.

Cutest sandwhiches.

All you can eat steak dinner with Grandma and Grandpa.

El Rastro market today with the grandparents! SO many leather jackets. Going back every sunday.

dinner with some friends!!

first grocery trip and homemade meal!

last dinner before grandparents leave! \240

gaby and I tried to go to a club but ended up at a little diner!

first day of school brekkie

went shopping at primark for the first time. got some churros on the way home!

el tigre with kenna and alli!! 5€ drinks and free tapas!

dubliners for international night!! met people that went to tuffs university!!

gaby and i went to the reina sofia museum and then got dinner! realizing how spoiled we are to not have class wednesday or thursday!

first roomie movie night!

this was our first week of classes! I only have class Tuesday/Friday and the campus is so cool.

We had been craving italian!

Gaby and I did some shopping/eating ! Found the cutest stores.

We made it back to El Tigre and got the biggest mojitos we’d ever seen.

Came back to the El Rastro flea market! Planning on coming every week that were in Madrid

chinese food dinner w/gaby sooo good.

Made another grocery run and got some yummy fruit.

Obsessed with Retiro park. Always so many people.

Gaby and I made the famous Kersten Family pasta (@ben and kate) and added fresh shrimp! SO GOOD!!

Gaby and I stopped for sweet pancakes before going out one night they were amazing.

This club is called “Fucking Mondays”… They played a lot of throwbacks and fun dancing songs.

Another day at Retiro park🥰🥰

Dinner with Alli, Kenna, and Gaby. Mussels were amazing. Bone marrow tacos were surprisingly good, so mouth watering. And this veggies were our favorites.

Glowing drinks at Icon! We ran into SO many people that went to Berkeley.

Dinner with Shannon, Gaby, Kenna, and Audrey (from SDSU) near gran via !

Otto store near our apartment!!

First view from the plane!

Shocked to see them drive on the wrong side. We can’t get over it.

Brunch at a super cute cafe. We were starving and the food was SO good. Obsessed with the accents.

We did some exploring after lunch!

SO many cute doors:) It was super windy/we got rained on a few times, but not too cold!

Went into a church on our way back!

Even more cute doors.

We found these crosswalk signs funny. Can never tell where cars are coming from.

Guiness tour!!!!

5-6 floors explaining the process and the history behind Guiness, SO cool! We even got to taste some:)

View from the bar with our complementary Guiness!!

Dinner at a little market. We were used to Spanish meal times so we missed normal dinner by a little bit.

Temple bar is one of the oldest/most popular in Dublin! Crazy to see the age range/difference of culture vs madrid!

Crossing the bridge on the way home!

Little coffee shop for breakfast!

Dublin castle!! So pretty!! under construction but still amazing.

Mini-museum about Ireland’s independence. So interesting!

Cute pics in the castle square!

St. Patrick’s Cathedral!! The oldest church in Ireland, we did an audio tour! Even saw where Jonathan Swift is buried!

Fish & Chips for lunch!

Walked through the Iveagh Gardens with a super pretty waterfall. It started raining !!

Dinner at Gallagher Boxty House! So good.

Walked past the Temple Bar again on our way home!

Walked to the train station and saw the Dublin Spline! It was SO tall and it was super windy and moving around a ton.

The station was HUGE! Similar to the Atocha station near us but more confusing. Got on our train to Malahide.

We had brunch in the little town in Malahide. It reminded me of Carmel and Monterey. The BLT was amazing.

We walked to the beach and it was SO windy but so beautiful. Everything here is so green.

The sky here is so blue and we enjoyed the sun:)

The houses right on the coast were adorable. We agreed we’d move here if it was a little warmer… only $600,000.

Walked to the Malahide Castle Park and there were tons of these cool wooden statues.

This door reminded me of the Secret Garden. \240

The castle was incredible! We didn’t have time to tour but the outside was so cool and we got to peek at the gardens.

We got rained on as we walked back to our hotel from the train station.

Dinner in the Dublin airport and then we made it back on the tram in Madrid!

First lunch on campus… Pretty yummy (and cheap!)

I’ve been craving sushi so Gaby and I got some down the street!!

Gaby and I tried to go see the sunset, but it was a little too windy:) We went to a rooftop bar instead!!

Study session at a cute coffee shop!! And bocadillo !!

1€ tacos!! SOOOO good.

Cooking class!! We made: Russian Salad, Croquettas, Black Paella, and Cod! The chef was amazing and told us so many stories about tapas, olive oil, madrid, and so much more. Learned how to make croquettas from scratch, clean a squid, and how to properly make paella. So cool.

Finally got to a Mexican store for (spicy) salsa and Tajin!

Cute cat in a thrift shop!

We’ve been craving poke and finally found some!

Sunset with some friends at the park near the Temple of Debod!

Best bagel we’ve found yet.

A hike and lunch in Cercedilla! So pretty, reminded of us Tahoe and a super peaceful day.

First dinner with 2Grandparents!!! So excited to have them here:) Rome this weekend!!!

Dropped them off at the hop on/hop off bus.

Saw some matador outfits in the park.

2nd time at the Real Madrid stadium! Just as awesome the second time.

Lunch by the stadium! Yummiest pizza so far.

Dinner location was amazing. El Neru. Definitely taking my family here. The place was HUGE, it just kept going and going.

Grandma and I went for a walk through the park. Went to this exhibit in a glass building. The natural light made it look great.

Lunch in Plaza Mayor! Super warm and sunny day.

Grabbed some cookies on our way to the metro.

Dinner with grandparents, Shannon and Gaby. The fish was super fresh.

Rainy day on campus.

Dinner with grandparents, Shannon, and a Gaby! My first burrito since I’ve been in Europe! !

First past in Italy!!!!! Al dente and delicious. Bruschetta was the best i’ve ever had.

Our Airbnb was just a 10 minute walk from the Colosseum.

Grandma and I walked all around the city! Saw the Roman Forum, a few protests, and so many amazing buildings.

Dinner at Mini & Coco! Recommended by Mom’s coworker. Cacio e pepe, aeperol spritz, and grappa!!

Also found some Ritz!!! My favorite!

Walked past the cutest chess cafe on the way to the Hop on/Hop off bus!

Saw the Pantheon! There was a service going on while we were there!

Made it to the Trevi Fountain! We both tossed coins in!!

Lunch on the way back to the bus! My pasta was with garlic and oil, sooo good.

Tour inside the Colosseum! There is a mini museum inside and it was cool to learn about the history!

Seafood past and HUGE appetizers. More grappa and cookies for desert.

Vatican city was unlike anything I had ever seen before! SO MUCH ART!! We could’ve spent a whole day here. The weather was absolutely perfect!

Even got to see St. Peter’s Square! It was beautiful.

Said bye to 2Grandparents and headed home on my own! Was craving a burger, so sat down at the airport and had the “American” burger. Very worth it.

Salmon here is AMAZING. It was a challenge to order it, but I got my point across and got it deboned and in filets. So so yummy.

Cute otto pizza shop!

Dinner with Shannon, Gaby, and Gaby’s friend Katie. Yummy mini empanadas, beer, and shannon and i shared a meat and fries combo.

Little piece of LB outside of plaza mayor.

Took a late flight out of Madrid after my Friday class. My plane was a little late and the border was sooo busy at midnight. I missed the last train from the airport so got on a bus. The bus had stopped running to Islington so I ended up having to take an Uber to the airbnb. Kennedy and her friends came back from the club and we got McDonalds before going to bed too late!

We explored London all day Saturday! Such a cute city. Also very very cold.

Convent Garden!

Stopped for some big brawts and hot wine!

The market was full of the cutest shops. So much jewelry.

It started raining (shocking in England) and we tried to figure out the tube.

Protests starting about unfair working conditions for tube employees.

Tower of London!! We made it to the Thames!

The tower bridge!!!

Views from the bridge!

The cutest plant store!!

Birthday Dinner at Gordon Ramsay’s Restuarant! Shared the car seat salad and surf&turf along with yummy cocktails!

So lucky to visit Kennedy’s birthday with her! Our 18 year old selves never would’ve thought we would be here as 21 year olds!!

Paddington Station! Can’t believe the architecture here.

Got situated at my hotel/hostel for the night and started my afternoon with a walk to Hyde Park.

Saw Queen Vicortia’s Memorial and made it to Buckinghak Palace for sunset! I chatted with my mom and Grandma and enjoyed the chilly weather.

I headed to Grosvemor Square on my way back across London.

Stopped for a beer before my movie at Le Cock.

Tiny movie theater! I booked my ticket ahead of time, but they didn’t even check! Healthy popcorn from a bag and some water and enjoyed the new Batman movie!

Back to Paddington Station. Left my stuff with a sketchy baggage hold at my hotel.

Westminster Abbey was amazing. The architecture and history was beautiful. I got a free audio guide which are my favorite for learning all about the history.

Parliament square garden and got someone to take a picture of me in front of big ben!!

Borough Market was my favorite stop in London. A huge farmers market with tons of street food. I got the fish and chips that were voted BEST OF LONDON in 2020. Paired it with a cider and enjoyed my last meal here!

2nd best stop of the trip!! Platform 9 and 3/4. So cool. Got to hold Luna’s want and explore the little shop. I got myself a tote bag and was very tempted to get a chocolate frog.

Made it back home to Atocha after a great weekend in London.

One of my favorite nights in Madrid so far! Watching a soccer game in a little restaurant! The fans are so fun to be around:)

Super cute coffee shop!

Got to meet up with 2Grandma again and we walked to get these groceries through an app callled “2good2go”. Her and Grandpa got stuck with covid in Madrid, but we just hung out at the park before going out separate ways.

Made myself a yummy dinner!!

Gaby and I dropped our stuff at the Airbnb and headed to a breakfast spot. Breakfast is so rare in Europe so we were excited for something “American”.

First view of Sagrada Familia! It had started raining so we didn’t walk too much. This building was amazing.

Gaby and I visited a museum with artwork from around the world. Nice to get out of the rain and a really cool museum!

We grabbed a calzone and some coffee. This food was AMAZING!

We visited the Cathedral of Barcelona which was beautiful. It was too windy too go on the roof, but it was so different than any Cathedral in Madrid. Very dark because of the wealthier and cold inside.

Parents got there!! We met them back at the airbnb and rested for a little before going out for dinner. We went to 3/4 different tapa places and walked around Barca! We even saw the ocean!!

Gaby and I ended our night at the Ice bar. It was FREEZING!! We wore big jackets, gloves, and the drinks were served in ice cups. A little underwhelming but still very fun.

The next morning we went to the Picasso museum! It was huge and we didn’t see everything, but had an audio guide and learned so much.

Another yummy “American” breakfast before Gaby headed home. One of my first bagels since being in Europe!

Tons of protests going on here. Huge tension between Nato and the rest of the world!

Stopped by the Barcelona team store before our game:)

Walked all around Barca and stopped for a snack in the middle of the street. Not the best fries, but yummy cider and beer. We watched the waiters run across the street to deliver our food.

Back past the Sagrada Familia and Fort Pienc.

Tapas at this cute restaurant. We got lucky it looked like they were fully booked for dinner! Interesting food and the best sangria i’ve had yet.

Game time!!! No beer inside the park, but we had a few just outside before going in. This field was even more awesome than I thought it would be. The game was a bit of a blowout, but the play was amazing.

Stopped for a drink in Plaza Reial before heading home. Obsessed with the culture here.

Next morning in the Mercado St Joseph. So much different than Madrid, but still so cool. I got some fruit and dad got his jamón y queso.

Yummy lunch just down the street. obviously got some beer also!

Headed towards out next stop with a million stairs😬

Best stop in Barca! Park Guell was amazing! The architecture was like nothing i’d ever seen. We sat down to play some cards, but it was still a little stormy.

Walked back into town.

Ended up at a small Mexican restaurant. I had been craving mexican food for awhile and they had yummy drinks.

Packed up and ended up at a brewery before I headed to the train. Great beer (very american set up).

Train back to Madrid!!

Crazy storm in the Sahara Desert caused this crazy dust to be all over Madrid. The first is outside my apartment and the second pic is at school! Spanish ppl don’t seem to think it is too crazy (it happens often).

Met up with for a drink at Grandma and Grandpas favorite lil place. This is the same waiter that even remembered them!!

Dinner with parents and Kenna! So cool to have them all here.

Big walk around town ending up at the palace! We even got to see a changing of the guards or horses. So silly.

Another stop at the San Miguel Market. Such a fun place to get different snacks each time. I got two different chicken sandwiches.

Only good part of 2grandparents having covid was a dinner with all of us together. We ordered way too much food, but it was all so yummy. This plate of fries came out after our whole meal, but we still managed to eat most of it. We stole whatever euros they had left over before they finally get to go back to the US.

Went to the Bad Company Speakeasy for the first time!! The drinks were sooo interesting. All were based off an artifact such as Picasso pallette. Ford’s camera and many more. The drinks were tasty and such an experience.

Day trip to Segovia! We took the train from Madrid to this little town!

Super yummy lunch full of different plates. I had a tomatoe soup that was sooo garlicky. Peppers filled with cheese and cod. And tempura veggies with different mayos.

Segovia has a bridge that goes all the way around and differs in height by almost 20 feet at some parts. Incredible they were able to build this so long ago.

Alcazar de Segovia! Lots of weapons and history of Segovia. Super cool city to spend a day in!

Back to Madrid!!

Gonzaga game in Madrid with the Earley clan!! We struggled to get the game on TV so ended up watching on Kennedys ipad.

Celebrated St. Pattys at a lil pub. We were all out too late, but had so much fun.

Last dinner in Madrid before William joint us. Dad and I shared this huge paella!! It was sooo yummy and mom even had some without the seafood.

Obsessed with the trains!

First meal in Sevilla and the warmest weather i’ve seen so far!

Hotel where celebrities stay and this area reminded us of Disneyland.

Las Setas! Largest wooden structure in the world. William didnt believe it though.

Walked across the river before dinner. So pretty.

Some art outside of the Sevilla art museum.

Super pretty inside. I loved this piano.

Sevilla soccer game!! It poured and ended up 0-0 but we had so much fun. One of my favorite games I’ve ever seen in person. We sat next to some Americans from the east coast.

Went to the Real Alcazar! It was amazing. So many cool rooms with awesome ceilings.

They even had peacocks walking around!

We got rained on a little, but the gardens were beautiful. We grabbed crossaints and coffee! Part of Game of Thrones was even filmed here!

Next we went to the Cathedral of Sevilla. We climbed the Giralda tower and got to see the amazing view and the bells! We got lucky and made it up pretty quick, but the line lasted all 17 floors on our way down.

The cathedral was beautiful!

Finally found my dress store after Dad and I walked around for an extra hour. It was right around the corner from our Airbnb🤦🏽‍♀️

Grace and Elise came to visit for a quick 24 hours!! Went to our fav market for drinks and dinner! So fun having my fam there with them.

Best breakfast bagel I’ve ever had. SO much pesto, wish i’d taken a pic earlier.

Took a walking tour of Madrid! Got wine, churros, and got rained on a bit.

Yummy dinner with friends and fam. Always order too much food!

Fun night out with William and my friends:)

Second trip to Botín was just as good as the first. We got to sit in basement this time and see a cool wine cellar.

Not always very prepared for the rain.

Hard to keep up with March Madness😋

Jess and Jenna’s first night so we went to a rooftop bar!! Dad and William got the girliest drinks😂

Lots of protests this week!!! Couldn’t figure out what this one was for.

My LB friends are here for spring break:)!!!!

Got to hang out with my family and friends at the same time! best day ever!

Dropped them off at my fav museum! Reina Sofía!!

Another protest on the way to the last dinner with my family.

Super yummy last dinner. Don’t worry I’m coming back for the salmon it was that good.

Fun night out at Kapital with all my friends! We were unaware of the time change that night… Waved goodbye to my parents since they left for the airport at 4 and I was still at the club!

Yummy breakfast at a new cafe.

Best day. Walk through Retiro. Fav park ever.

Our friends went on day trips so gaby and I watched some soccer!

Some sights on the way to my favorite coffee/study place.

Last dinner with all of our visitors from Long Beach. Food was so yummy and we even got some live music.

Cooked for the first time in awhile !!

Walked to Sol and saw these cute flowers on the way back

First haircut in spain!!! Only 10 euros !!

Went to El Rastro again!

Gaby and I played Golf and made dinner. We accidentally made wahoos chicken bowls. It tasted scary similar!

He got here on Monday and we walked to Sol and Plaza Mayor. We got lunch in Plaza Mayor and it was so warm out! (almost 60 degrees)

We went out his first night and had to stop at our favorite diner for some cake.

Tuesday he came to school with me. Then we went back to El Neru for this salmon i’ve been craving since my family left. Luckily we got to watch the Manchester City game! Salmon was worth the wait.

Mimosas and brunch on Wednesday near Gran Via. Andrew did some shopping after this and we got him a spanish sim card.

We walked through the park and even got one of the boats in Retiro! It was so fun but harder than it looked. So excited it’s getting warm in Madrid.

Friday I had school and Andrew explored by himself. He went to the Real Madrid stadium! After school we came to the Brazilian steakhouse! Food coma every time.

Pretty view from the train.

First square we walked through. We were starving, but restaurants weren’t quite open for lunch yet.

We went to the Cathedral of Avila. It was huge and beautiful.The organs are my favorite part of churches.

Found some pretty good hamburgers for lunch! They even had ranch !!!!!

After lunch we walked around the walls of the city. It was so cool to go up and see the mountains. Some even had snow still.

We stopped for drinks near this baptistery before heading back on our train!

This section of the walls you couldn’t walk on. But we walked around 3/4 of the little city.

Our first meal in florence after walking too far with our heavy bags.

After a little nap we went to the Church of Santa Croce! Only Gaby and I went inside and we loved it. This was Galileo’s and he was moved once the church became accepting of science! It was found that someone had buried his daughter with him!

Directly across from Galileo was Michaelangelo. We learned that people believed their spirits were connected.

The church was beautiful! We left at the perfect time and heard the bells as we were leaving.

Beautiful church courtyard. We had to cover our shoulders and knees for the church (I had to go back and change).

Walked all the way to this amazing sunset spot across the river. It was called the Piazzele Michelangelo. We got a few bottles of wine and hung out with the huge crowd!

So beautiful, but we had to head back so I could register for classes!

Registered!!!!! And then had the most amazing pasta, but didn’t get a picture :(

The next morning Gaby and I went to the Academia to see David!!

So many sculptures all slightly different.

David himself!!

We sat learning about this sculpture for almost 20 minutes.

Such a cool sculpture and crazy Michelangelo was only 26 when he sculpted this!

The rest of the Academia had beautiful art, but nothing compared to David!

Met up with Andrew and Shannon for a yummy brunch!

love this city!

Finally did some wine tasting!! The best wine I’ve ever had! We tasted 3 red wines and they were all so different.

Saw a cute window kitty!

This was the best pasta I’ve ever had and the best I had in all of Italy!

Met Gaby and Shannon’s friend from CSULB to watch the Real Madrid game! So cool!

Big day! We got the pass to go in all the cooo buildings near the center of the city.

First up was the Florence Cathedral!

decorated for easter!!

All this was in the basement of the cathedral!

Next was Giotto’s bell tower! This had 398 steps but there were a few platforms so we got to take breaks!

The view from the top was so pretty and we waved at people atop the dome!

Next was the Museum of Opera of Saint Maria of Fiore!

This museum was huge and had so many cool pieces, but we were getting tired!

View of the dome from the the top of the museum.

Walked across the river to get a sandwich.

It was soooo yummy.

Quick stop at the Baptistry of St. John.

Last, but certainly not least, Duomo! This had 463 steps and we were so tired.

All the steps to the top of Brunelleschi’s dome was worth it! Gaby didn’t do too well with the heights but we were sure to get pictures and enjoy the view at the top!

Yummy pizza for our final night before our super early train!! Going to miss Florence.

6 am train from Florence to Naples! Slept almost the entire train, but we are not a fan of early mornings.

Stopped at a little coffee shop in Naples and had the best chocolate crossaint!

Walked into town for lunch and had this sweet beer! It was sooo good.

Walked through a little garden on the way back.

Heard a soccer game going on, but we couldn’t find our way in!

Opted for dinner at home and some golf!!

Took the bus to Positano the next day! Such a cool ride. A poor little girl puked on the bus, but we survived the windy roads. (barely)

Got some pizza on the way to the beach! Perfect beach lunch. We also got some cocktails on the beach!

Walked back from the beach and got ready for our limonchello night!

Our first stop was at this little house. We got to pick our own lemons and take some amazing pictures. The chef was nice and told us all about his life!

We were shocked at our amazing dinner! Made limonchello at our table and then an amazing 4 course meal! He made us limonchello cocktails, with prosecco and soda water. First was this panko shrimp on top of some yummy cheese and also fried pizza! Sooo good. Then was the raviolis, half cheese and half bacalao! Then was fish and potatoes, the potatoes were amazing. Finally some lemon cake and lemon sorbet. Everything was lemon infused which was my favorite! Such an amazing night.

Andrew and I took the ferry. I was a little nervous about getting seasick on the way there, but it was so cool! I didn’t do great on the way there, but the way back was better:) So quick from Sorrento, only 20 minutes.

Quick breakfast and people watching. This lemon cake was AMAZING! We were obsessed with the taxis.

Took the funicular to the other side of the island! It was almost my favorite part of the whole day trip! Only a 4 minute ride up! We did have to wait in a long line for the tickets though.

Famous hotel that all the celebrities stay in while staying on Capri!!

Visiting Carthusia the famous perfume shop in Capri! Tested out a few, but could never pay that much😬

Stopped by the Giardini do Agosto! Beautiful gardens with a view of Via Krupp!! Such a cool area.

This island was unreal! Walking through all the shops was insane!

The most amazing sunset and a quick dinner in town! Can’t get over how good the pasta and wine are!

A beautiful hotel around the corner from us!

Our sunset view was unbeatable.

Finally tried out the restaurant around the corner after the workers talked to us every time we walked by (at least 15 times the nicest people).They weren’t lying it was some of the best food we had!! Gaby got a whole lobster (or half) and some limonchello, pistachio-chelo, and melon-chelo! So yummy.

Stopped at a small bar around the corner to and from dinner! Yummy gin n tonic and mojitos!

Took the most beautiful walk to a nearby beach! It was about an hour from us, but so glad we did! Took a nap in the sun and enjoyed the views.

Lunch at a cute pizza bar on the way back! Finally got my calzone!!

Went back to the restaurant around the corner. I finally got my seafood pasta, but forgot to take a picture of it:( It had SO many mussels and clams it was incredible.

Sad to leave italy, at 3:30 am… Traveling back was not too fun. Wouldn’t change a thing. Italy was such an amazing experience. I will be back!

Flight home:)

Spent the school week in Madrid. Went to the park and got poke!

Then flew to London with Alli and Kenna to meet Kennas sister, Sammy, and Sammys boyfriend, Drew. We got in pretty late so we went to bed and got up the next morning to go to Kensington place.

The rules that the Princess had to follow.

Bedrooms were amazing!

These dresses were crazy. These were examples of very expensive dresses worn when visiting the palace. People would wait hours to see the King.

Some amazing photos and paintings.

Walked through Hyde Park.

Stopped at a pub to watch the Arsenal game. Such a fun game to watch.

Then went on a hop on/hop off bus.

Dinner at a bao restaurants and got some drinks at a bar nearby.

Tour of the Arsenal stadium was the coolest soccer stadium yet.

Their amazing 49 wins in a row.

Time Capsule near the player entrance.

Inside the locker rooms. Home was so much nicer than away.

Tunnel that players walk through before a game.

Sitting in the players seats during the game.

Stadium was amazing.

Inside the media room!! So cool.

Some of the female players. Tobin Heath!!!

Flight back to Madrid.

made dinner and went to bed. Still tired from Italy.

CRAZY hail at school one day.

studying at starbucks down the street.

Gabys friend was in town and we went to El Rastro per usual!

Finally got to try out a Mexican place we had seen before and it was sooo yummy! Even got some frozen margs.

Walk home and got some flowers!

My last few weeks i was OBSESSED with salads. I made one at least every other day. (lettuce, cucumbers, onions, olives, carrots, and garbanzo beans!)

One last time at El Tigre with huge mojitos for 5€ and free tapas!! We even got the yummy (salty) wings.

Drinks after at El Cock! Not quite our scene but we had so much fun and some interesting (strong) drinks.

At this moment Alli had a flight in 8.5 hours.

Another trip to El Rastro! My allergies were SO bad this day.

Going to Retiro as many times as I can!! Love it here.

Set up for the huge San Isidro celebration in Madrid.

found rice crackers!!

Gaby and I had a little krab night. Might have been avoiding school work, but I had so much fun prepping all these veggies.

One last night at Icon (we convinced gaby to come out). They were collecting the trash at midnight right as we were going in!

Got tacos with Kenna and Alli and had this yummy ceviche and tacos! (And frozen margs of course)!

Sushi with Kenna, Gaby and Shannon! Sooo good and we even got a free desert!

back to the speakeasy with Kenna before she went to Barcelona! Love this place and the cool drinks. We did see a cockroach but we ran away.

another study date at starbucks with shannon.

LAST trip to El Rastro. There were definetely some tears and too much money spent. So lucky to have attended this amazing market every Sunday possible!

San Isidro celebration was insane!! Live music at so many locations and so many people in the streets.

Gaby and I went to the main celebration which was a whole fair! It was so cool and we could tell everyone was excited for this event to be back (first time since pre-covid)

made 2 grandmas rice and surprised myself with how well it turned out!

sangria with kenna and gaby!!

finally went to the cute bar around the corner

Brunch with Kenna! Yummy trio of tacos!

Even saw an adorable window cat on our walk home (and got gaby some bday decorations for the upcoming weekend!)

Beautiful view during our cab from the airport!

View from our hotel.

Lunch at a little Mexican place! Yummy margaritas and burrito!

Spent some time by the pool during the first day! Yummy drinks!

Hung out by the pool until dinner! All you can eat, theme the first night was Japanese!

Fun night entertainment! They sang and had a whole 3 outfit changes!

Spent the next day on the beach! We rented these little chairs!

Another good dinner, mexican there’s night!

Got dressed up for the night! The hotel even gifted us a bottle of champagne for Gaby’s birthday.

This strip reminded us all of Vegas. We found cheap drinks and there were so many people.

Spent the next day by the pool, I was super burnt and unfortunately didn’t take any pictures

Dinner our final night! Theme was “Volcanic”

We even got a birthday cake!!

Free bottle of wine from the hotel for Gabys birthday! Perfect way to end her 21st birthday!

Spent the morning by the pool before we had to leave! Saying goodbye to such a fun weekend and our last trip before Gaby and Shannon go home.

Going to miss this BEAUTIFUL city.

saw this adorable parade ! It even ended with fireworks.

LAST time at Retiro. I packed myself a little picnic and we brought alone the last beer and wine:)

Last dinner in Madrid with Gaby, Shannon, and Alli!! Soooo yummy and we’re going to miss this amazing place.

Early flight to Brussels! Left my apartment at 4:45am but got a whole row to myself! I slept almost the whole way.

Packed up all my stuff from the semester. \240

Got to my first homestay. The couple is so sweet (Jorge and Tatiana). They have a 4 floor house, so I got a whole floor to myself with a bathroom and mini kitchen. Only a 20 minute walk from the city.

Walked through Ambiorix Square on my way too lunch and found this cute vegan restaurant.

Cathedral of St. Michael and St.Gudula Cathedral!

Mont des Arts

Walked through the city and a little shopping area!

Manneken Pis 😂

Yummy Belgian waffles. Literally filled with cane sugar.

Walked through town

Dinner for my first night, yummy italian place around the corner. I have a little desk to eat! Lots of walking today. Great first day, and so tired.

It’s not a pipe it’s a painting of a pipe.

Musee Magritte was amazing! Magritte was a famous artist born in Brussels.

Royal Palace!

Back through the Mont des Arts garden.

Toured the Parliament building. It was so interactive. \240

Afternoon beer and listened to a poetry reading all in French.

Really good chicken sandwich from a little stand. So good. Sat in the park in the nice weather.

Walked through Cinquantenaire Park. So many people all around.

Got indian food for dinner the second night. This was one of my favorite days from the trip!

Another Brussels Palace! Near Brussels park.

Toured Cantillon Brewery. It has been in the same family since the brewery began!

This is one of the oldest breweries in Belgium and still uses the same technology.

Their beer sits for 1-4 years depending on the type.

Tried their oldest beer, tasted like a cider. Then a sparkling cider that is a mix of some of the beers. Finally a raspberry beer which was my favorite.

Pretty bottles for the sparkling cider.

Had lunch at a thai restaurant near the popular bar area of town. Everywhere was packed!

Saint Catherine Place!

The black tower.

Walked through the Grand Palace Square and saw some Jazz weekend street performances.

The best music of the day! So fun to watch.

Went back to the same place as the first night for dinner! Had to pack everything up again and had an early train the next morning!

Early train to Frankfurt. Slept the whole way again! A little trouble getting to the homestay, it was a little further than town than I thought.

Yummy lunch once I finally got back into town. Had to take 2 buses and a train!

Cute soap container.

One of my favorite museums so far! Stadel Museum! It had floors with art from 1700-1900, 1900-200 and modern art. Such a cool audio guide along the way.

Walked across the bridge.

Famous square; Romer! Amazing architecture.

The Cathedral of St. Bartholomew was so pretty.

More cool art and cool items.

An interactive section about the history of art!

Goethe and his family lived in these very rooms and they have left most of the decoration from then!

Goethe House and museum!!

Stopped for some sushi! I missed the 5:30 train so I had to wait 2 hours for the next one.

The train ended up being 20 minutes late but the station was beautiful.

I missed my bus so had to wait for almost an hour, but there was a beautiful rainbow.

Once I finally got home (only took 2.5 hours) I was sooo tired. Ate dinner and fell asleep early.

Took the underground for the first time!

Palmegarten was my favorite part of Frankfurt. A beautiful garden with so much to see.

The Tropicarium had sections with differing humidity and temperatures. There were so many different plants!

My favorite part!! The butterfly area! There were so many beautiful butterflies.

Beautiful flowers outside.

Saw some baby birds.

Walked through a little street food fair.

Got a yummy sausage and beer! Mayo and mustard on my sausage.

Beautiful view from the main tower! A whole 200 meters off the ground. Once of the highest buildings in Frankfurt.

Kleinmarkethalle was the cutest farmers market with the biggest blueberries I’ve ever seen!

The huge iron bridge! One of the most famous in Frankfurt. Filled with locks!

Last night in frankfurt! Packed up all my stuff again! Got ready for my train the next morning.

Train from frankfurt to amsterdam (about 4 hours!!)

Met up with siobhan and had the best sandwiches. Just around the corner from our place. “Sandwich Bert” in english.

sat on our balcony!

Pretty walk on our way to dinner.

Went to Foodhallen. Tons of little stands to choose from, I got a pulled pork sandwich.

The next morning we got crossaints on our way to the palace! This is the entrance hall which used to be the Town Hall.

Offices from the former City Hall that have been repurposed for the palace rooms.

Beautiful beds. People still stay today when gathered for royal events.

The room where people would be sentenced to death when this was a Town Hall.

Lunch at a cute italian place! We shared the pizza and I got a tomato soup.

Holland is famous for their tulips so we stopped by the tulip museum!

Dinner at the Burger Bar. Best burger I’ve had while abroad.

Finished the night off at a bar on the way home. They were playing the Argentina final.

So excited to be here with Siobhan. Solo traveling was super fun, but i don’t know if I could do it much longer.

We got crossaints on our way towards the town.

This area was a bunch of museums!

First stop was the Van Gogh Museum!

It included an exhibit from a female painter. Her muse was a mountain from California!

So many amazing self portraits

Infamous sunflowers worth 40 million euros.

Learned all about Van Gogh’s life and struggles.

His final painting.

Next up was a canal tour!!

I had some yummy and very blue juice.

Such a beautiful day. The tour was about an hour and we got to hear all about the city.

Next up was the Rijksmuseum!

Interesting pieces like this prayer nut.

The Night Watch!! By Rembrandt. His most famous painting and the largest in the whole museum. 12 feet by 14.5 feet.

Pianos are always one of my favorite parts of these museums.

library within the museum. people were in here working/studying. We had to be silent in here.

This museum was amazing! We were a little tired out from all of the walking and museums after this! We went back to rest before the rest of our day.

Yummy pasta for dinner.

Walk towards the train station. We took the free ferry across the river to our next stop!

A’dam Lookout! Such a cool building right on the water.

One of the only pictures we took together😋

Cute photo ops around the lookout.

We got some drinks while the sunset before heading back to our hotel for the night!

Sat by the palace and had these amazing bagels.

TK Maxx??

Last visit of our IAmsterdam pass was to visit the Eye Film Museum.

Lots of cool old video cameras. Some of which you could even look at some old film through.

We even got to try out the green screen.

Took the ferry across the river again this day.

Good luck for the day… a ladybug landed on siobhan and then another on me later.

Walked through the Albert Cuyp market. Too bad I don’t have any space in my suitcases.

Stopped for lunch and had this “sandwich” and a yummy beer.

The canals are so beautiful.

Met up with Siobhans friend (Dylan) and spent the afternoon in Vondelpark! The weather was perfect and we just hung out for hours chatting.

We walked around the park on our way out and it was so pretty.

Sun was setting on our way to dinner.

Came back to the foodhallen for dinner and I got some yummy dumplings and crispy shrimp bites.

Ended the night at a bar!

Walked past the Anne Frank house, but it sells out weeks in advance so I didn’t get the chance to go in.

Noordermarkt! Such a yummy sandwich.

Obsessed with the buildings here.

Next stop was the Rembrandt House!

Box beds were very common during this time. People slept sitting up because they were worried they would die in their sleep. weird.

Rembrandt sold art from his own home so he hung paintings all over for people to see.

Got to see how they would make paints. The process was long and they would have to either repeat this every day or store the paint in pig bladders.

He also had a huge art collection of his own that he used as inspiration for his paintings.