Be Jealous!

That is right get ready to be a little bit, scratch that, a lot bit jealous of me and my spring break plans!!! Here is Spain we have a 2 and a half week spring break so of course everyone travels all around Europe. So of course guess what I am doing traveling around Europe and.....wait for it wait for it.....AFRICA!!! So since I am so excited for this trip I thought I would share my itinerary with you all so that you could follow along as I am traveling. Also I am not going to be able to really post pictures and probably very few posts while I am gone because I am not going to bring my laptop.

We have been planning this trip for a very long time and we are all super excited about it coming up so soon! We are leaving in less that a week.....CRAZINESS!!! When I say we have been planning this trip I am that Britta and I have been planning this trip and 7 other people are tagging along. Actually that is not completely true some of the other girls have been helping out too, but Britta and I are the ones who came up with our itinerary and started planning. I have found all the flights, trains and ferries we needed to take and found and booked 4 out of the 8 of the hostels. I am sure you want to know who all is coming so I will tell you, hopefully you can put names to the faces in my pictures. In the beginning it is going to be Britta, Sarah, Alex, Michelle, and myself, then later on Kat, Cameron, Marcos, and Marcos' friend are

It all begins April 1 (oh geez I just realized that is April fools day, I will have to watch my back with the girls I am traveling with) we are heading out of Alicante bright and early in the morning and getting into Madrid at 7:35 am. We are planning on going to the Prado Museum, the Madrid Cathedral (clever name isn't it) and just wonder around the city for the day.

(I am including a picture from each city that I got off of google so you can kind of get a feel for what I am going to be seeing.)

Then on April 2nd we are leaving at 1:40 and flying to Florence, Italy at 3:50 in the afternoon. While we are there we are planning on going to the Il Duomo and the galleria degli Uffizi.

Then next we are leaving Florence at 11:13 am and are taking a train to Rome. Arriving at 3:23 pm. We of course are doing the usual sites like the Pantheon, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Trevi fountain. Sorry this picture is a little small. This where the boys and Kat will join up with us, but Kat is only with us for this portion of the trip.

Oh but wait we are doing one more thing in Rome we are going to the Vatican and we got tickets for the Papal General Audience and we get to see the Pope!!! Haha I think it is hilarious that I am so excited to see the Pope when I am not even Catholic, but I can't help it I am super excited.

After Rome we are heading over to Athens, Greece. We are leaving Rome on the 8th at 11:10 and getting in at 2:10. In Athens we are planning on seeing the Parthenon (not to be confused with the previous Pantheon), the Acropolis, the Temple of Poseidon at Sounin, and teh Agora-Athens Central Market.

Here is where I would start to get extra jealous of myself. On the night on the 9th we are leaving at midnight and taking a night ferry to Santorini. We will be able to sleep on the ferry and we are going to get up and get in at 8:45 am and be set to go for the rest of the day. Just the 5 of us girls are going to Santorini, the boys are staying in Athens for these days. Here we want to relax and just take in the beauty, but we are looking forward to getting to see the red and black sand beaches and the caldera that Santorini is built around.
We are leaving Santorini and taking another night ferry from Santorini to Athens. This time we are arriving in Athens at 5:40 am! Yikes! Then we have to catch a plane at 4:00 and arrive in Cairo, Egypt at 5:00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! While we are there we are hoping to ride a camel, see the Pyramids, Sphinx, Citadel, the Egyptian Museum, and and open air market called Khan Ali-Kalili. I am really excited about going to the market to get all sorts of really cheap cool stuff! I am going to be packing really light so I will have enough room to bring lots of souvenirs back to Alicante.

Then last but definitely not least we are flying back to Athens on the 16th and spending the night there then waking up the next morning and flying out to Barcelona at 8:50 am. We are going to to be there for the day and try and see the Sangrada Familia, the Gaudi park, and maybe a few other things. We will be back in Alicante by 3:00 pm on the 18th and the next day I will be back to school! Woohoo...not.

This spring break is going to be amazing I am SUPER DOOPER excited and so grateful that I am able to do a trip like this. It is definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am so thankful that I get to experience it! Hope you aren't all too jealous though :)

Here is a real quick funny, random story. I am at school the other day and I went down to the vending machines to get a drink and I look and I see this girl that I thought looked like a girl I went to elementary school with and played lacrosse with in 7th and 8th grade. I didn't say anything though cause I didn't want to look like an idiot, so instead being the detective I am, I went back to my class pulled out my iPhone and went straight to facebook. After a little searching I found her on facebook and looked at her wall and saw that is said she was studying in Alicante!!! How weird is that?!?! I mean of all places and people I just happen to run into her at a vending machine at school in Spain. Random. But kinda of cool. Oh yeah by the way for those of you who might know her it was Emily Sullivan.

It has finally gotten nicer here, nice enough to go and hang out on the beach. Friday after class and Saturday afternoon practically every American in Alicante went to the beach and laid out and stuck their feet in the water. Our group had a ton of fun playing volleyball and just hanging out. I am hoping and praying it stays like this and will be even warmer when we get back so we can possibly go in the water!