Tour de...Italia!

As per usual my week went by very fast. Since I left Naples on Wednesday I visited Rome, Tuscany and Venice – all very beautiful!

I bought a Eurail pass which allows me to get on and off most trains in Europe. It is definitely a great thing to have and it is saving me money but it is very confusing. Without getting too in depth, so far I have gotten scolded by a conductor for not validating my ticket, yelled at by an older Italian woman for putting my feet up on the seats and had the delight of sitting next to some creepy Italian who just stared at me for the entire three hour train ride. Let’s hope for better luck in my next country – Austria!

Rome was such a magical place! I arrived in mid-afternoon and made it to the Coliseum just in time to see the sunset.

I had met a French girl on my train and we explored the city together for the rest of the night. Rome is quite touristy but still manages to maintain its charm and culture. Seeing the Roman ruins at nighttime was amazing. I could have stared at the Fontana Di Trevi or sat in front of the Pantheon for hours.

I am encountering a small problem on my travels. When you see pictures of cities and places that you want to visit, you immediately create an image of what you expect the entire place to look like. For example, in my head I pictured Ireland to be like what it probably looked like 100 years ago – rolling green hills, horses & buggy, no cars, no telephone poles and dirt roads. Although some of this still exists, it’s not realistic to think like this. Obviously there are cars and telephone poles! Despite having my reality check in Ireland, I still created this romantic image of Italy. I was actually surprised and upset when I saw hotdog stands and tourist gift shops next to the Coliseum! All I thought to myself was, “Those aren’t supposed to be there! This is Roma!” After getting over my unjustified disappointment, I mentioned to my new French friend, “Do you wonder what this place would have looked like when Julius Caesar was in power?” By the confused look on her face, I’m pretty sure she didn’t really care what the place looked like 2,000 years ago. After that short conversation I decided to keep to myself and picture what it did look like centuries ago =)

I took a day trip to Cortona, which is part of Tuscany about two hours north of Rome. This is where the movie “Under the Tuscan Sun” was filmed. It was very quiet because most tourists visit during the summertime. I was totally okay with this. I sat in the café, wrote in my travel journal and sipped on a café latte. Take note that a regular “latte” is just warm milk - no coffee! Seriously, who drinks just warm milk?! I wandered around a bit and sat on a stone wall that overlooked the mountains for most of the day.

I left for Venice first thing on Friday morning. Considering Venice is a small city I figured I could do it all in one day and be on to my next destination on Saturday morning. Of course I chose the rainiest day of my trip so far to see this beautiful city. I showed up at the hostel but the owner had to relocate me because there were plumbing problems. After getting settled I set out in the rain with my broken umbrella. I had read in my guidebook of a “restaurant” that offered homemade prosciutto sandwiches for €1 and glasses of wine for €0.60. It was on the other side of town but I figured I would camp out there for the day and enjoy the locals while sipping on some wine. I got lost a few times and by the time I arrived I was soaked. To my surprise this was not a restaurant, it was basically a to-go sandwich shop with no seating. I turned around and headed back in the direction of my hostel in hopes of finding a traditional Italian restaurant. I walked by one that looked decent, walked in and grabbed a seat. The waiter asked “Are you alone?” He looked at me like I had 10 heads when I said “Yup, just me.” I guess I should have expected this kind of response considering I was in one of the most romantic cities in the world! After being seated, Jay-Z started blaring on the radio. The menu consisted of burgers and pizza. Was I in Venice or Applebee’s?! After my quick American dinner I headed back to my hostel for a hot shower and was greeted by my roommate – an American girl from Oregon! We spent the rest of the night getting lost in the city, drinking mulled wine and eating gelato. I suppose Venice wasn’t a complete failure after all ;)

I have three trains to catch today as I make my way to Salzburg, Austria. Happy Saturday!

Grazie!

My European backpacking journey has officially begun! I flew into Naples, Italy early Monday morning and from the second I landed it has been a nonstop adventure. The airport shuttle dropped me off in the middle of this bustling city. I had written down the directions to my hostel but go figure, I still got lost. Naples is a very busy city and the streets all look completely the same. After wandering around for 30 minutes I decided to suck up my pride and ask for help. To my surprise the Italian’s are actually very friendly and helpful. About an hour later I arrived in a back alley with a door that had a small sign that read “6 Small Rooms” (the name of my hostel). Of course my hostel was located on the 6^th floor. I certainly got a workout going up those stairs for the past two days! I quickly learned that the workers at the hostel were also American “HelpXer’s like me! Ironically they had both just spent three months volunteering in Ireland like I had done as well. It’s funny how things work out. Although I hadn’t slept in two days I didn’t want to waste any time so I got settled and went out to explore. Naples is pretty much everything I expected – laundry hanging outside, graffiti all over the place, statues, street vendors and lots of pizzerias!

Considering Naples is the birthplace I pizza, I had to indulge. And if you're wondering...I didn't share =)

I got a good night’s sleep on Monday so I could start fresh on Tuesday. I took a day trip to Sorrento and Positano, which are two stunning towns on the Amalfi Coast.

In order to get there I had to take a metro to the train station, a train to Sorrento, a bus to Positano, a bus back to Sorrento and then the train and metro back to Naples. Figuring out how all of these systems work is confusing to say the least, especially when everything is in a foreign language! Luckily the owner of the hostel brought me to the metro and helped me get my first ticket. After dropping me off and realizing how nervous I was, I’m convinced that he thought he would never see me again. In situations like this you just have to have confidence in yourself. Realistically speaking if worse comes to worse, I spend €60 for a taxi. It wouldn’t be the end of the world.

As you can see Positano and Sorrento were absolutely breathtaking. I can’t even put into words the beauty that I discovered in these two small towns. I could post 1,000 photos and it still wouldn’t do a justice. I felt like I was walking around in a fairy tale.

I feel foolish to admit this, but before coming to Italy I didn’t learn ANY Italian. I think I was just so excited to arrive I didn’t consider the practicalities of being in a foreign country. As I was wandering around yesterday I made it a point to learn the most important words in any country – “thank you”, which is “grazie” in Italian. I immediately got my phrasebook out last night to learn more but for the time being I’m doing a lot of pointing and saying Grazie with every conversation!

Right now I am waiting for my train to Rome. I got lost again this morning on my way to the station. By the time I arrived my shoulders hurt from my backpack, I was sweating, irritable and all I wanted was a coffee! But noooo, they don’t have coffee – they have espresso. After standing in line and getting nowhere I stormed off like a two year-old, found a corner to sit in to cool off, literally and figuratively. I’m learning that travel can definitely bring out the bad side of people, including myself. When I’m starting to feel like this, I find it best to just take a step back, relax and come back down to reality. If you don’t do this you are bound to take out your frustration on the wrong person, which isn’t fair. So after about 30 minutes of writing and relaxing I feel much more fit to order a coffee, without throwing any fists at the barista =)

The next few days I will be in Rome, Tuscany and possible Venice. Lots of pictures to come! I hope everyone enjoys their week, I will eat extra gelato and pizza for you all =)

My Week Volunteering at Buddhist Center in England

This past week went by so quickly! I can’t believe I’m only hours away from beginning my backpacking adventure around Europe! I've been dreaming of this day for what seems like centuries and it has finally arrived =) But first, my week at the Buddhist Center!

This past week was filled with completely new experiences and a whole array of interesting people. My friend Peter dropped me off at the Buddhist Meditation Center on Monday morning and I had no idea what to expect. Okay well actually let’s be real, I expected the Dali Lama to greet me at the front door and begin sharing his insight and wisdom with me. As you can imagine, this didn’t happen! Amanda, the director of the center, welcomed me and showed me to my room. The center was located in Kelmarsh, a small town in the beautiful countryside of England. After getting settled in I made my way to The World Peace Café, where I would be volunteering every day for the duration of my stay.

The café follows Buddhist tradition and only offers vegetarian food. Out of respect for the residents and the center, volunteers are expected to also follow the rules – no eating meat, drinking alcohol or smoking. I was quite skeptical about the whole “not eating meat” thing but to my surprise I really enjoyed the food! (My favorite – Goat cheese, hummus & sundried tomato panini). I ate at the café for lunch and then a group dinner was prepared each evening by the residents. I worked in the café from 9:30-5 each day, dinner was at 6pm and then I had the option of sitting in on the meditation classes/teachings after that if I wanted. I ended up sitting in on three classes and I learned so much! Before I get into my experience please note that I have ZERO intention of converting to Buddhism. With that being said, just because my religion is Christianity and I don’t have any interest in converting, I think it is important to educate ourselves on other cultures and the beliefs of people that we share this world with. So, this brings me to my thoughts on Buddhism: 

• You don’t have to be a Buddhist to practice the basic principles of Buddhism

Buddhism is all about finding inner peace and happiness. It teaches that these two things can only be found by being compassionate to all living things and by treating all people equally. Now, this is just a small part of this religion but shouldn’t we all be doing these things regardless of what our religious beliefs are?

• Buddhism is kind of contradictory

From what I gathered, Buddhism teaches followers to be the best kind of human, while teaching them to not be human at all. As I mentioned above, Buddhism focuses so much on compassion, love and equality – obviously all desirable characteristics. But it also says that in order to have absolute inner peace, one cannot be attached to anything. This includes family, friends, work, education, feelings, etc. It teaches that we must not allow jealousy, anger and other negative feelings into our lives. Although it is safe to say that these types of emotions usually have a negative impact on our life, aren’t emotions -all types -  what make us human beings? And how is it possible to “detach” ourselves from things like our family, friends and our career when these are the main components of who we are? I am by no means an expert on this religion. These are just my own personal conclusions after spending a week at the center.

It was also really nice to meet new people every day. Between the residents and customers I had so many great conversations! I even got a compliment here and there ;) Norpel, one of the ordained Buddhists, is the café manager. As we were closing up one night he says “So, are you a dharma practitioner or are you just this easy going all the time?” Considering I have no idea what “dharma” is, I agreed to the ladder!

 The original plan was to have my own room but on Monday a Polish woman named Anna showed up at the center needing a place to stay. She had been working as a live in aid but the woman she was taking care of died and she was out of a job. The center is very welcoming and as long as people are willing to volunteer every day, they will give you a place to stay and food to eat. So, I got a roommate! Anna is quite an accomplished individual. Before moving to England she was an artist in the US. She holds two master’s degrees and was a professor at a Polish university before moving to America. I sensed that it was a touchy subject so I didn’t press, but I know she wasn’t in England by choice. Getting to know Anna was very humbling for me. As our lives go on I think we all begin to think we “have it all figured out.” As an accomplished adult I am almost 100 percent sure that Anna never once thought she’d find herself at a Buddhist Center in the middle of nowhere asking for a place to live because she had nowhere to go. This is just another reminder that we never know where life is going to take us.

To make this week even more interesting, I’m quite convinced that my room was haunted! I started to have weird dreams every night and then nightmares. I didn’t think much of it at first and then it started to bother me. Without mentioning it to anyone, Anna told me on Thursday that she had been having extremely violent nightmares since she arrived. I’m not quite sure if I believe in ghosts or spirits or whatever BUT I do know that the building was originally a nursing home. As you can imagine, I was so scared by Saturday night I didn’t sleep at all! I was more than happy to be leaving on Sunday!

For my last day in England Anna drove me to a beautiful park outside of Leicester. It wasn’t really a park but more so 850 acres of open land. It was absolutely beautiful!

Right now it is almost 2am and I am sitting in the freezing cold airport. My flight isn't until 7:30 and I tried to sleep but it wasn’t happening. I even put my PJ’s on! I suppose I will relax for now. Italy bright and early =)

Gunpowder & Fireworks!

This post will be short but I find this English tradition so interesting I must share!

At midnight on November 4, 1605 a guy by the name of Guy Fawkes was caught red-handed along with 36 barrels of gunpowder beneath the House of Lords, which is where the parliament was located and where the king would have been the next morning. A group of activists spent over 18 months planning what would be known as the “Gunpowder Plot.” Although Guy did not act alone in his attempt to destroy England’s government, he claimed most of the fame for the incident because he endured two days of torture before admitting his involvement. After being found out, he was tortured even more and then publically hung and burned to death.

So this is where it gets interesting! Every year on November 5^th England celebrates “Bonfire Day.” Communities all over the country gather separately for a larger than life bonfire, live music, food and fireworks. When I was first told of this “holiday” I didn’t quite understand. My first response was, “Wait, so the entire English population gets together to celebrate the fact that some crazy man tried to destroy your entire government!?” It doesn’t really make sense. I guess it’s a celebration that the parliament was in fact saved.

Ironically, I happened to be in England on November 5^th and was invited by one of the residents at the center if I’d like to join her and her family for the event in town. It ended up being very nostalgic. I got to play with sparklers, which I haven’t done since my childhood days on the farm in Iowa! We enjoyed a HUGE bonfire (with a fake Guy Fawkes sitting at the top), hot chocolate and live music. There were fireworks but I can’t really say I enjoyed them. I thought it was kind of odd how close they were setting them off to the people but I didn’t think too much about it. That is until a four-foot wooden support beam from one of the fireworks came flying over a crowd of people and hit ME! Out of everywhere it could have landed…. I will forever be terrified of fireworks.

All in all, a good night =)

Bingo in Birmingham!

Today is my fifth day in the UK and it’s been quite an adventure so far! If London has taught me anything it would be patience! After waiting one hour for my baggage, I waited in line for the bus that would take me to the city center for over two hours (supposed to run every 20 mins!). I then got on the subway (“tube”) which would be taking me to where I was planning to meet my friend. Well, half way through the ride the train broke and everyone had to get off. So here I am in this HUGE city alone and lost. These are the type of situations that make you want to cry but you know you can’t because it’s all a part of traveling. You have to take the good with the bad. I finally made it to the building where my friend was but I had no wifi to call him (my phone only works if I have wifi) so I started walking around the city trying to pick up a signal. Five hours after landing I finally found my friend! I can’t pass much judgment about London because I was only there for about 12 hours but from what I did see it seemed all too similar to NYC for me. I was able to meet up with friends from Herkimer and Oswego, which are the two colleges that I attended!

The next morning I took the first bus to Birmingham at 8:30am. Of course it ended up being more like 9:30 – I don’t think anything is “on time” in London. I stayed with my friend Peter who is from England for the rest of the weekend. I met him two years ago when he was traveling in the US. He brought me to a Premier League Game which was definitely a special experience. You don’t know how crazy sports fans are until you see how passionate Europeans are about football (soccer)!

Peter and his friends showed me a proper night out in Birmingham and we certainly had a blast! The following day I was exhausted to say the least. We did do some sightseeing but we actually spent a majority of the day playing bingo! And I won £10! If winning at bingo isn't the best feeling ever, I don’t know what is! As we were leaving Bingo I said to Peter, “How crazy is it that I’m in England and out of all things we could be doing I just spent the afternoon playing bingo!?” This is just another example of the beauty of travel – when you’re on the road you genuinely have NO idea where you’ll end up or what you’ll be doing. Quite an exhilarating thought if you ask me ;)

Monday morning I made my way to Kelmarsh where I am now volunteering for a week at the Meditation Center Café. I serve food in the café from 9-4 and in return for my work I get my own room and free meals. So far, so good! I have already met some very interesting people. More to come about my experiences here =)

Saying Goodbye to the Emerald Isle

I wasn’t planning on writing a mushy gushy goodbye post but as I sit at the airport waiting for my flight to London, I’m finding myself on the verge of tears as I think back to the past two months that I’ve spent in Ireland. 

When I landed in Dublin on September 5th, I had absolutely NO idea what I was getting myself into. All I knew was that a family of four would be picking me up from the train station. For all I knew, I could have been picked up by the Walton’s and sent to live in the wilderness for two months! Luckily, the lovely McCoy family collected me that day from the train station and one of the best experiences of my life had begun. 

As I’ve written in previous posts, my decision to quit my job and travel had a lot to do with my own insecurities and feelings of confusion about myself and where I belong in this crazy world. Every twentysomething goes through this and everyone handles it differently. I personally chose to follow my passion of travel, which lead me to this beautiful country! I think I secretly hoped that I would wake up one day and have an epiphany – “This is it! I know what I want to do with my life! Finally, I've figured it out!” Well, this didn't happen. In fact, I still have no idea what I want to do with my life! But I can honestly say I am leaving Ireland a very different person. Without getting too personal, I think the major difference is that I wake up every single day feeling incredibly happy and content with life. Not that I was unhappy before, but I felt like something was missing. I know I am not alone here and I think this mindset stems from what our society’s view of success is. Since the beginning of our lives it is instilled in our minds that success = money, promotions, nice cars, beautiful homes, “good” jobs. So, this is what we spend our lives trying to achieve, even if it doesn’t make us happy. Most of us graduate college, get a job we aren’t passionate about and work up the corporate ladder. This is great for the people that believe in it but I don’t buy it. I’m the happiest I think I’ve ever been and I haven’t gotten a paycheck in over two months! But I have spent two amazing months in a new culture with four very special people. I've made friends from all over the world, I've slept on strangers couches, I've found myself in compromising situations and somehow found my way out. I've learned so much about myself and my capabilities. I suppose I could go on and on but simply put, traveling was the absolute best decision I think I've ever made. 

One day I will find my “dream job,” get married and have a bunch of little kiddies. If this happens when I’m 45 and I’m still driving my two-door Honda, so be it. Until then I will continue to do the things that make me feel fulfilled and I hope to inspire many others to 
do the same :)

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