Travel plans! Starting this weekend!!! Thank you Ryanair!!!

So, since I'm in Europe, I decided with the approval of Rob and Deb of course (and taking my very limited funds into consideration) that I would travel to as many cheap places as possible and make the most of this European experience. Ryanair is officially my most visited website (other than Facebook) here in Rome. There are deals that come from no where I swear! I've booked several weekends away with my friends and can't wait to go and check em all out!

First, to kick off my travelling semester abroad, I'm heading up to Venice this weekend with a JCU sponsored event. There's a group of students heading North, and we leave tomorrow at 6am for our weekend away! We'll be staying in Padua, and training to Venice for a day, touring Verona, and touring Padua. I'm pretty pumped to see Juliet's house in Verona (...from Shakespeare people), and see the gondolas in Venice. Should be a fantastic trip. I was called on Monday; I was on the waiting list and somehow a spot opened up for me! Should be great I am so excited! I'm heading up with my friend Andrea who lives downstairs. I'll be sure to blog as soon as I get back about it all.

I'll be heading to Paris the following weekend -- booked my flights last night with all my roommates for 50Euro roundtrip. NBD, weekend getaway to Paris! We're all totally excited for this as it'll be our first weekend away all together. We were thinking of calling the chefs in advance to prep for the crepes production they will need to supply us with!

Next comes Brussels Feb11-14. The girls from downstairs and I booked this for 43Euro roundtrip. We plan on eating more than our fair share of waffles, and renting bikes to burn off the calories.

March 4-7 I'm heading up to London to stay with Sam's family. He unfortunately won't be there, but I called a rowboat office to see if he could rent one to make the trek across the big blue and come for the weekend -- apparently there was nothing they could do for me... Dangit! Oh well, should be a great time. Sandie is going to tour me around and show me the sights which will be fantastic no doubt.

For Spring Break (March 17-27) the girls and I are going to plan a Greece trip. We're hoping to catch a cruise through the islands. Nothing's been booked, but I will definitely reserve an entire blog section for that excitement. Kern (my best friend and teammate from ODU,  sidenote who just got accepted to PT school!!! Way to go Kerno!) is already jealous, and I plan to totally soak in all the Greek rays and eat a million olives.

The first weekend in April (8-10), I'll be heading to Barcelona for 78Euro to see a soccer game and soak in the European religion they call football. That weekend is already pencilled in as a completely amazing experience I won't forget. And to boot, it'll be another chance to hit a beach and soak in the sunshine.

April 24th is Easter weekend, and the week leading up to that I will most definitely be here in Rome for Holy Week. Hopefully Mom gets a ticket to Rome for that week, as it would be totally unreal to share it with her. That will be a monumental week I'm sure.

Other than that, I have one more trip to definitely plan, up to Amsterdam to visit all the ex-ODU hockey girls I've stayed in touch with. I'm pretty excited to get up there at some point and see that place. It'll be a nice time to reunite with all the ODU girls too, and maybe catch their hockey games for the clubs they all play for.

Great semester of travel ahead. I am so fortunate to be able to experience all of this and I am so grateful. Not a day goes by I don't count my blessings.