Spring Break Week

This past week was my spring break week and I was lucky enough to do some traveling! Anticipating this week for so long, I was more than ready to do some traveling and do some exploring. The plan for my friends and I was to spend a fair amount of time in Italy and then the last couple of days in Spain! More specifically Florence and Barcelona. Having never been to these places I was very excited to explore and learn more about these areas.
First stop was Florence, Italy. After spending a week with my dad, I flew out myself a day later than my friends to meet them there. After landing, I was greeted with the best spring weather. As I walked to pick up my bag at the turn belt, I could only think of all the new places I would see, not even realizing my bag never came through. Once I began to pay attention, I noticed the same two bags kept cycling through the turn belt and, it was at that point I knew my bag was missing. Being overjoyed to be in Italy, I was thrown off not having my luggage. I let the airport know my bag did not come through and they said they would contact me when it was found. After that, I made my way outside the airport just to realize I had no clue where I was going and Uber was not available in my area. Nevertheless, I was too happy to be in Italy to be worried. Luckily with the help of a friend, I was able to find my way to where we were staying and the fun began. Over the course of my time in Italy, I was able to explore Florence, visit Rome, and visit San Gimignano. With all of the places being extremely different, it was beautiful to witness them all. Florence was a very compact city with everything situated near each other and the vibe of the city was very comforting and warm. Rome, holding a lot of history, was truly mesmerizing to see including the fact that a lot of the old buildings and structures from Ancient Rome were still up, giving the city its unique style and history. San Gimignano was an old medieval area where not many people stayed but had a very rich sense of culture and was eye opening to walk through. Over all my experience in Italy showed me how amazing life is and how much there is to explore, making it even more special and worthwhile to explore. Not only for this experience but also my experience with the amazing food would make Italy a spot I would recommend many to visit.
Next stop, Barcelona, Spain. With never having been to Barcelona or Spain in general this was something I have been looking forward to doing. When we first landed, the initial vibe I got was that it was similar to Florida. The very warm weather, for February, and long and flat landscape is very reminiscent of Florida. This is another example of how similar place can be regardless of how far away they are to one another. While in Barcelona, experiencing the new culture, architecture and everything the city had to offer, I started to think about how many different cultures and surroundings we have experienced so far along this trip. I feel as if the more I experience, the more I grow an appreciation for life and the opportunities I have. Spain was a beautiful city with a very unique and fun culture. Something I truly appreciated the most from my time over spring break was how nice all the people we met were. Whether it was walking around, at a restaurant, or on the train, many people were very genuine and helpful in all situations. As I go through this journey, I am very grateful for the overall experience I was able to have and wouldn’t change it for the world.