If you're wondering why I put apostrophes around break in the title, it's because I never really got one. Spring break was one big crazy adventure and I'm still not sure how Paige and I pulled it off. It was a logistical nightmare (one day we traveled by ferry, train, bus, and plane), but somehow everything fell into place and created memories to last us a lifetime.
ROME, ITALY
Paige and I started our adventure in Rome. However, part of it began when we were waiting for our train to Rome in the Venice train station. As we were waiting, a young man completely decked out in Creighton gear sat next to us. Paige and I looked at each other in surprise that there was a fellow Nebraskan college student in Venice and happened to sit by us out of everywhere he could have. We quickly introduced ourselves and made sure he truly did attend Creighton University (which he did). Thomas was originally from Minnesota, so he thought UNK stood for University of Northern Kansas, but it's okay, we forgave him. Thomas explained he was studying in Rome for a semester and he offered to grab dinner and show us around later that evening. So, we exchanged contacts and planned to meet later that day. We arrived in Rome early in the afternoon so Paige and I still had plenty of time to explore before meeting up with him. We just had to find our hostel first. We had it in our Google Maps and were following the directions, but couldn't find it. It kept leading us to a laundromat. We were meeting up with two other students in our study abroad program and they had booked this hostel. I was about to crack a joke that they had booked a laundromat when a guy yelled from inside to us, "Checking in?" Paige and I turned to each other and our eyes said it all-"They booked us a laundromat?!" It took all my willpower while filling out paperwork on dryers to not burst out laughing. After paying, we were showed to our rooms next door to the laundromat, which turned out to be fairly nice. It was just a hilarious they operated out of a laundromat. At least we knew we had clean sheets.
After dropping our stuff off we headed for Trevi Fountain. On the way, we ran into this museum of ruins that was free so we walked through it and enjoyed the fountains, flowers, and, of course, the ruins.
Our next stop was Trevi Fountain. We could tell when we were getting closer to it because the crowds of tourists were unreal. You really had to shove your way through masses of people to even get close to it. When we finally got to the edge of the fountain, we sat on it for a little bit, admired it, took some pictures, and of course, threw a coin in.
Paige and I had our hearts set on seeing a European soccer game and there happened to be an AS Roma game while we were there. So, we began running from ticket shop to ticket shop all over Rome searching for tickets to the game. However, we found out a couple hours later, that the tickets were completely sold out. It's true that Europeans really are hardcore about soccer. We weren't going to let that bring us down though because we still had an amazing spring break ahead of us.
We rushed across town to meet Thomas, and he took us to his favorite restaurant near his university. After dinner, he showed us around the part of town he stuck to for the most part. It was cool to see a less touristy side of Rome that still had a lot of character and was pretty trendy. We made our way to the Colosseum to see it all lit up at night and give us a sneak peak for our next day. I got so incredibly excited seeing it for the first time. It's crazy seeing something that you've only ever seen in your history textbooks. Thomas was a great tour guide and it's just so crazy we met him all the way across the world.
Our next day in Rome was planned to be our big one. We were going to go to both the Vatican and the Colosseum. It was a Sunday so the Vatican museums would be closed, which was kind of a bummer, but the Pope gives an address from a balcony on Sunday and we would be able to go to a mass in the Vatican, which would make up for it. Paige and I were expecting there to be tons of people at the Vatican since we had read everywhere how busy it was, but we got in very quickly and easily and there weren’t that many crowds at all. It was very nice because we could experience everything without pushing and we could move at our own pace. I had read online that there was a mass at 10:30 a.m., but I didn’t know where it was located. We headed for St. Peter’s Basilica because I thought the main church would be a great starting point to look. It was fairly empty in there and I enjoyed that because it was very quiet and serene. I was able to take everything in, appreciate the gorgeous architecture of this building, and just stand in awe of our God. As we made our way towards the back of the church and the main altar, we encountered a large amount of people. I assumed this was the crowd for the mass waiting to be let in. I told Paige I thought we should wait in the large group and try to get in. She told me we didn’t have tickets and it couldn’t possibly be that easy to get into a mass in the Vatican, so we should go to an info desk and try to get tickets. People then started putting fingers up indicating how many were in their party wanting to get in so I put up a two. Paige was starting to back away and leave the crowd right when the gate opened to let people in. I basically grabbed her and shoved her in front of me so we could try to get in. I didn’t see people around us holding tickets so I figured it was just a first come first serve thing. We managed to make it through due to lots of shoving and ended up getting amazing seats. We were about ten rows back in the middle. Paige and I couldn’t believe our luck and she kept exclaiming that we literally just waltzed into the Vatican and somehow got into a mass. She pulled out her phone to take a selfie of us to prove to everyone how close we had gotten to the altar (I know, typical white girls). Just so you know, taking photos in St. Peter’s is very frowned upon. After taking our photo, a security guard approached us.
Well it was nice while it lasted. I thought we were going to get in trouble because we took a selfie or because we didn’t have tickets. He asked us, “English?” We replied, “Yes.” And he said, “Come with me,” and gestured us away from our seats. Paige immediately jumped up and walked towards him, but I remained seated. I wanted to know why we were getting kicked out before going with him in case there was any way we could stay. Since Paige had moved over to him, he asked her, ”Do you want to do the Second Reading?” Paige’s face turned to complete shock, “In English?” she asked. “Of course,” he replied. She turned to me and I was like, “Of course you have to do it, that’s a once in a lifetime opportunity!” So, he brought us up to the front row where we sat next to the other people who had roles in the mass and the nuns. I sat there in complete awe. Who gets to say they got to sit front row at a mass in the Vatican next to the nuns? It was a huge mass too. There were at least 20 priests in the procession and a cardinal presided the mass. Paige did an amazing job reading and I got the okay from the security guard to record it as long as it was discreet. I gave thanks to God for providing not only this experience, but every amazing one I’ve had during this semester. I am just too blessed. Paige and I were in a daze the rest of the day, and we knew this was going to be one amazing spring break if that’s how it was going to start. We then rushed outside to see the Pope give an address, which he does every Sunday. Now the crowds had thickened outside and we had to maneuver around people to get a good view of him. Crazy how the Pope is about to draw crowds of people like this. No one else in the entire world could bring this many people to their venue everyday.
Next we headed over to the Colosseum. It was mind blowing to see this structure and explore it on the inside. It is so impressive the Romans built such an impressive structure such as this one back then. So many people came to the Colosseum in the past to watch gladiator fights and it was just insane how much history this place held. I can’t imagine watching such a cruel “sporting” event back then, but I guess they had to be entertained someway. Just so cool to see this structure in person rather than in a history book.
POSITANO, ITALY
Our next spring break stop was Positano, Italy on the Amalfi Coast. I only found out about the Amalfi Coast because it was listed as a hidden gem of Europe on a website I was browsing when Paige and I were trying to figure out where to go. Man, it truly was a hidden gem and it ended up being my favorite place I have visited so far. We were nervous before getting there though because one of our Czech teachers laughed when he heard we were going there and said all the Italian movie stars had their vacation homes there and he couldn’t believe we were going. Were we out of our league? Yes. Did we care? Absolutely not, we were living for it.
To even get to Positano you have to take a ferry from Salerno, Italy, which is a treat in itself. The whole ferry ride is breathtaking. You sail by lush, green mountains and houses built into cliffs. I had never seen anything like it. Paige and I didn’t talk to each other the whole time because we were so enchanted by what we were seeing and were trying to take it all in. When we landed, we had no idea where our hotel was located except up. We typed it into Paige’s google map and it gave us some directions that looked good enough to us. We followed a trail for a good 15 minutes that was a steady incline and we were already getting tired lugging all of our stuff. We came across a hotel we knew wasn’t ours, but we stopped in to make sure we were headed in the right direction. She told us yes, but said it was going to be tough and didn’t recommend to keep going this way because it was going to be all stairs for the rest of the way up. We didn’t know the other way to get there though and figured it couldn’t be that much higher up.
We were wrong and we knew we had made a fatal mistake when some people in hiking gear encountered us and looked at us like we where crazy. We literally went straight up winding stairs for the next 20 minutes with heavy luggage and backpacks. Don't worry, we took plenty of breaks and were being each other's cheerleaders to keep going. When we reached another hotel we popped our heads in and asked if we were still on the right track and she assured us we were almost there. When we finally got to our destination, we were out of breath. The receptionist took one look at us and asked, "Do you want some water?" which we gladly accepted. They never tell you how much uphill walking is involved visiting places like these, and honestly, I don't know how older people who visit places like these do it. We did see some people struggling later on during our visit, but still, those websites need to put in a little warning or something.
After getting settled in our room, Paige and I headed out to explore the town of Positano. We had already planned that these next two days would be very relaxing and we would take it easy. It was such a nice break from the hectic, crowded Rome. We didn’t plan it to be this way, but our trips went- Rome-busy, Positano-calm, Athens-busy, Santorini- calm- and it was absolutely perfect. As we made our way down, on the main road this time, we explored every shop that came our way and stopped to enjoy the endless views this town had to offer. I absolutely loved the vibe of this coastal town. Every piece of clothing and merchandise was colorful and loud- not afraid to stand out. One of the things I loved most about Positano was their obsession with lemons. Candy, soap, perfume, drinks, clothing, whatever you can think of, were all lemon themed. The whole coast smelled amazing because of all the lemon trees and lavender growing. Just one day there and I could already tell I never wanted to leave.
That night Paige and I made sure we had a dinner with a view. Though it’s not hard to find one because Positano is so beautiful, literally anywhere you look there’s something breathtaking to see. We also hunted down a place where they sold one of their signature deserts. A hollowed out frozen lemon with lemon sorbet inside. We were definitely not disappointed and we had another one the next night. We also bought some of their signature limoncello, which is made there, and used our frozen lemons as cups once we had eaten all the sorbet.
Originally, we were going to take the ferry to Amalfi, which is only 30 minutes away, for a day trip, but we loved Positano so much we decided we would spend our last day there. There was still a lot we wanted to see as well. I also already knew I would be coming back here again in the future, so the next time I could explore the whole Amalfi coast better.
We woke up and enjoyed the free breakfast buffet our hotel had and then packed up our journals and postcards and headed to the beach to lay out and enjoy the sun. The beach in Positano is a pebble beach. I had only ever been to beaches in California and Florida so it was interesting to be on a pebble one rather than a sandy one. We laid out our towel and spent a good chunk of the day switching between writing and napping.
It was amazing to sit back and relax after all the walking we had done in Rome. The water was still a little too cold to swim in so we just stuck our toes in. We explored some more shops- a beautiful pottery store, clothing boutiques, a fish market, an art gallery, and souvenir shops- and before we knew it, it was dark again. Sadly, we started making our way back up to our hotel and went to dinner at a restaurant near it (we had another frozen lemon desert as well).
Positano is my favorite place I have visited in Europe. It has its own unique personality- the colors, people, smells, food, etc.- so I felt completely immersed and a part of the town the second I arrived. It is also so quiet and calm so I can sit back, relax, and just reflect. It truly is a hidden gem I think everyone should visit if they ever have time and find themselves in Italy.