The end of Opening Tour, but just the beginning of Italy.

The moment is finally here.. my first blog post! I have been meaning to update you all about my trip for 2 weeks now but I haven’t had an ounce of downtime or decent internet access until now. Oh goodness where to start, well just so you know ahead of time this is going to be a very long blog post so I will not be offended if you skim :)

Let’s start with my flight, I left on September 4^th with my two pieces of luggage and my giant backpack filled with clothes rolled up into tiny hotdog shapes. Saying goodbye to my family was rather hard and I have to admit I did have a few tears well up in my eyes. Although I am beyond grateful and excited for this experience, being away for three and a half months is going to be a challenge. After giving my hugs and kisses and wiping away my salty wet tears it was time to get ready to go and I was as ready as I ever would be. Now flying was less than a pleasant experience. The flights were overbooked, smelling, hot, uncomfortable, and filled with coughing sneezing crying people. I ended up missing one flight, barely making it on a two hour delayed one and in the end getting on a completely different flight than everyone else. Luckily I had one other girl with me when we arrived in Berlin and were able to track down and find the other 13 Gonzaga kids traveling with us. Unfortunately our luggage was lost and no one seemed to be able to track it down. I was crabby, overwhelmed and extremely stressed at this point. I was thinking to myself am I actually supposed to be here? Is this a sign? But after calming down and finally arriving at my hotel in Berlin with my carryon (that I was luckily prepared enough to have packed all that I would need to 10 days) I remembered how fortunate I was to actually be in Berlin and about to go on this amazing journey. My temper tantrum was over and I was done saying “don’t talka me I crabby!” :) haha.

My roommate in my Berlin hotel was Amanda. Someone I had never met before but we had mutual friends and she is someone I think I will get along with very well. After an amazing German dinner I stuffed my face and passed out in my bed for 9 hours until the next morning when we had a fun busy day! We took a three hour long bus tour of Berlin and made many stops as we saw the Berlin wall, shopping centers, historic buildings, embassy’s, and a holocaust memorial. It was great to learn about Berlin and I was surprised how modern and built up the city was. It definitely took a while for it to sink in that I am actually in a city thousands of miles away from home. Later that day I went on an optional tour to a Jewish museum and walked around town to find a place to eat dinner. We finally came upon a restaurant and ladies and gentleman it was finally time for me to order my first alcoholic drink! I asked the waiter what his sweetest beer was and he looked at me like I was crazy... I hesitated for a moment and he said he would surprise me. He came back with a delicious mango beer. It was really really good! Dinner was delicious, meatballs with buttered potatoes and this cream gravy sauce. Definitely a traditional German meal. We ended up getting lost on our way back but eventually found our way. It seems that in every city I tend to get a little mixed around! Now it was time to check out a local German pub. We found this little hole-in-the-wall a couple blocks from our hotel. It was filled with old German men that barely spoke a word of English. Here the Germans laughed at our pronunciations, the boys ordering girly drinks for the girls, and eventually came out side and gave us 6 Euros for more “girly” drinks and they bought us each a round of these tiny shot drinks in a bottle. This was definitely an experience I will never forget, hanging out with the locals and immersing myself into the culture.

The next day I woke up to a dark and dreary morning. It was actually the perfect environment for the place we were about to see. That day we went to a concentration camp. The sachsenhausen concentration camp. Honestly seeing a concentration camp was one of the most gut-wrenching things I have ever experienced. To this day I can’t even imagine the pain and suffering people went through. It honestly boggles my mind so much and puts me to tears even writing about it right now. It was a sad and earry experience but I am happy that it was something that I got to see. To cheer up the evening we went back to the German pub and hung out with the locals for another fun evening.

Now we are off to Prague, but on the way to Prague we stopped in Dresden, Germany for a few hours. This was a beautiful quaint city. I really wish we would have spent the night there as there were so many museums I would have liked to see! Now Prague... Ohhh Prague, what a beautiful, crazy, and exciting city. The architecture is absolutely beautiful and the city is stunning all around. I would have loved to stay longer to just enjoy the scenery. We went on a tour and learned all about the detailed architecture and history. Amy, Mariah, Jordan and I enjoyed a nice fish, salad, and potatoes for lunch. The fish was incredible probably some of the best fish I have ever had. I definitely felt like I was in Europe when I was walking through the streets of Prague. In Prague around 9pm we left for a pub crawl. Apparently this is the exciting thing to do and so I joined alone with basically the entire Gonzaga-In-Florence student body... Not going to lie, I was a little nervous for this crazy adventure but I tucked my money belt under my shirt and made sure I had close group of at least 7 people that would be looking out for each other at all times. All in all it ended up being surprisingly very organized and fun. I am glad I had the experience of pub crawling and ending up at this crazy 5 story disco but I realized I definitely like my smaller group nights like the ones at the German pub better. Since I didn’t get to bed until 3:30am and we had to wake up at 6:30am the next morning was a bit of a struggle but luckily was had a lot of bus riding ahead of us so I slept the whole way!

We made a stop in Nuremburg for a guided tour and to have some lunch. This was another beautiful city but it was definitely overwhelming with all of the people. That day there was a huge Red Bull sponsored bike race/tricks tournament going on with over 40,000 people crammed into this tiny city. Lunch was absolutely delicious. We stopped off at this tiny bakery/sandwich shop that had amazing bread and fresh cheese. Now it was time for the bus again and our final destination hotel in Bad Kohlgrub, Germany. This is a tiny southern German town. Ahh it was so adorable and definitely my favorite place! My roommate was Mandy and I love her. I have known her well since freshman year and it was nice to finally room with someone I knew. That night I had a relaxing evening with the girls and watched a movie. It was very peaceful.

The first official day in Bad Kohlgrub was a blast! It was September 11^th and the 10^th anniversary of 911. That morning I attended mass in this adorable little church and listened to the homily talk about the tragic day that will go down in history forever. Later that day we went on a hike. Now this wasn’t like any other hike I had ever been on before... this was like one of the hardest hikes I have ever done. It was straight up hill for 9 miles. Extremely steep. My legs were SO out of air by the time I reached the top... or after the first couple miles really haha! But, the views made it so worth it. I could have just stayed up there forever and enjoyed the view.

The next day we left Bad Kohlgrub for the day and went to Salzburg, Austria. We enjoyed a wonderful tour of Salzburg. The gorgeous snow tipped mountains, beaming blue skies, green rolling hills, and colorful flowers growing everywhere mad Salzburg shine. I was also very excited to see all of the main attractions where “The Sound of Music” was filmed. We enjoyed some awesome views of the city and the peace of St. Peters church. That evening Jordan, Gini, Collin, and HI acted all sophisticated talking about nerdy things, listened to classical music and enjoyed some wine on the balcony of the hotel while staring up the gleaming stars. It was a great day.

Our last fun filled day of opening tour we took a tour of the Schlob Neuschwanstein Castle. It you don’t know very much about this castle, it is the one that Disney bases all of its castles on in the movies and in Disneyland. It was incredible! We have already toured a few castles on this trip but nothing like this one. It was a medieval castle surrounded by mountains, green hills, and clear blue water. Our tour guide was fantastic and he filled our brains full of history, made fun sound effects, and rocked out the music jams. It was hilarious. On our bus ride home from the castle we stopped in Garmish where the Olympics were played some years ago and we enjoyed some of the famous 7 layer chocolate cake.
          The next morning we took the 7 hour bus ride to Florence and finally arrived in our Pensione on September 14^th. I am living in 85 Cavour in a triple with Kristie Infantine and Gini Soto. They are adorable girls and I am so excited to live with them! Our room is small and quaint with its own tiny little bathroom. Our Pensione only has 22 students living in it and is run by a sweet little family Ramona, Ricardo, Gaspésie, and Marco. Today was my first day of class. I am excited to finally start learning again! I had Italian 101 and Philosophy 301. I think they are both going to be great classes! Well I am off to go figure out the internet situation and get a few things that I need here.

Thank you for reading Fam Bam!

Love, 

Kayla aka Goggie :)