Update: Adventure Year

(click to enlarge)

Two weeks from today, I will begin classes for spring term on campus at Dartmouth.

After spending last spring in Barcelona, I enjoyed sophomore summer in Hanover, I traveled from Lake Louise to the Grand Canyon on the Stretch in the fall, and spent the past two months working at Raymond (NH) High School as an intern with the SEAD program. It's easy to get sentimental thinking about all the places I've been, all the people I've met, and all the things that I've learned over the past 12 months. To quote arguably the most famous Dartmouth alum, "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" - Dr. Seuss.

The end of my adventure-filled year means the start of something new. I'm incredibly excited to return to campus, catch up with friends, share stories of my travels, and resume normal college life.

But first, I've got one more adventure before going back to school. On Friday, I'm leaving on the Dartmouth Outing Club/Cabin and Trail spring break trip to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee for 5 days of hiking before heading to Cape Lookout National Seashore in North Carolina. Here's to many more adventures to come.

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” 
- Jawaharlal Nehru

Home!

I love America :)

Check back later this week for photos from my European adventure!

Barcelona for One More Day

I can't believe how fast this term, and my Eurotrip, have gone by! At the same time, I can't believe how much I have seen and done since I arrived here 78 days ago, my first time in Europe.  It is cool to have Nancy in Barcelona today, and I've enjoyed being able to be able to show her my life from the past 10 weeks. We walked around this afternoon, just like Amparo took me around the city on my first day here. Wow. Lots of mixed emotions.

Home tomorrow!

I'm going to miss my host mom, Amparo. I cannot thank her enough for making feel at home for the past 10 weeks.

Last day in Rome

Today we saw the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Palatine, and the Pantheon. We took one awesome guided tour, one pretty boring guided tour, learned a lot of Roman history, walked along the river, took a photo with some gladiators, ate Italian pizza and gelato, made some friends from Tennessee, and got directions to the airport for tomorrow morning.

Back to Barcelona in the A.M.!

Packed Day in Rome

Today in Rome we had a very full day. We visited:

1. The Vatican Museum which includes the Sistine Chapel
2. The Vatican
3. Castell de Sant Angelo
4. Piazza del Popolo
5. The Spanish Steps
6. The Trevi Fountain

I'm wiped out. Going to bed now. More touristy things to do tomorrow on the last real day of our Eurotrip!

Rome

Nancy and I made it to Rome this afternoon after a 3-hour train ride through beautiful Italian countryside. After checking in to our hotel, we walked around and came across a massive old church and all the roads around it were blocked off. Turns out there was a procession from the Vatican where the pope had given a special corpus christi day mass to this church we found. We ended up standing there for more than 2 hours, saw a million nuns go by, and then we saw the pope! He gave a blessing in Latin or Italian. Very cool to see!

Florence!

Ciao! We're in Florence, Italy. Yesterday we saw the Duomo, the fake statue of the David, the Ponto Vecchio, the Pitti palace and the Boboli gardens. We ate pizza, pasta, and gelato, we're doing it all! Today we went on a day trip to Pisa with some other American kids we met at our hostel,and we took about a million photos in front of the leaning tower. It's about an hour from Florence on the train. When we got back to Florence, nancy and I hiked 413 steps up to the top of the bell tower next to the Duomo and we could see the entire city and all the way to the mountains in every direction. I'll have lots of photos when I get home. Now off to dinner! Tomorrow afternoon, we're headed to Rome on the train!