What were you grateful for this week?Friends! 

What was the most challenging part of this week?Gathering enough energy to keep me sane during long days. 

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week. I brought my host brother a vintage 101 Dalmatians book and so last night I was able to tuck him into bed and read him the story!

Tell us about your week! This week I took a bike tour of Ravenna led by my amazing host brother on Wednesday where I ran into Dante’s Tomb. On Thursday morning I went out for my daily caffe latte and ended up returning to the Tomb. I stood at there amazed at the fact that I was so close to the remains of THEE Dante, as in the brilliant mastermind who wrote the Divine Comedy. I somehow ended up finding a little hidden museum dedicated to Dante and decided to enter as I had so much free time. For having payed only two euros to enter, I didn’t expect much. The museum overall was amazing (I literally almost cried) and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. Maybe I’m overhyping the place too much or maybe I was just really excited because I’ve studied the Divine Comedy twice in my life and done a paper as well as a presentation on it (shoutout to World History).Sunday morning I took my first (solo) train ride in Europe. I made it to my final destination, Venice, without getting on the wrong train or basically just anything bad happening to me. I know…shocking. I hoped off the train in Venice and I’ve never felt so powerful in my entire life. The early morning breeze skimmed through my hair and the sun shined down kissing my skin.

I met up with several other Rome Abroad kids at the hostel and I was so relieved to find that they were super sweet and incredibly easy to talk to. We had lunch by the side of the water and made our way to St. Marks Square. We walked throughout all of Venice, explored Doges Palace, visited the Museum of Leonardo da Vinci, took a gondola ride, and took a sunset spritz cruise. So much was done in one day and I felt like the girls were lifelong friends.

At St. Marks square I pulled out a cookie and instantly got attacked by pigeons. I let the pigeons eat the cookie crumbs off my hands and soon I had a pigeon on my head, two on my arm, and about 10 by my feet. After a nice little scare from one of the Venetian police men, I learned you can’t feed pigeons in Venice. He let me off with a warning (thank goodness) but the event definitely gave the girls and I a great laugh throughout the rest of the day. We returned to the hostel where we sang and danced all night.On Sunday, L and I walked all of Venice and made our way in and out of the Venetian shops. We had lunch at mcdonald’s (awful I know), had a fish pedicure, and said our final goodbyes at the train station.This week was definitely an unforgettable one. It made me break out of my shell and I genuinely feel so comfortable being able to travel on my own. Meeting up with the Rome Abroad squad definitely was a great experience and I can not wait for my next trip!