My Summer Adventure

My alarm started blaring at 4:30 in the morning, but I was not going to complain about it! I got ready as fast as I could and hopped into the car. My mom and I were making our way to Orion to meet 11 others that were just as excited as I was. Once everyone had met, we headed off to the O’Hare Airport in Chicago. We made a few pit stops on the way of course, be we finally arrived. As we were boarding the plane, my heart started pounding and I wanted to cry. Airplanes are not my cup of tea. It was time for take-off. We were in the air, and everything was better. We were on our way to Europe!

We arrived in London and were moving right off the bat. Everyone was facing jet-lag, but obviously we didn’t care. We were in London! The hotel we stayed in was a little shabby to say the least. It was in the ghetto outside of London. Our luggage was put in a dungeon-like area. It was dark, cold, and the doors didn’t lock. But we all got over it and put on our smiles for the camera. We headed to the Tube and before we knew it, we were walking out of the station and staring at the London Eye. It is a huge Ferris wheel that allows you to see all of London from an aerial view. Not only did we see all of London, but we saw specific filming areas from the Harry Potter movies! We went down the creepy allies that Harry and his friends did. They were dark and the stone we walked on was uneven and somewhat broken. I developed a new love for the movies because of that trip. And of course, we got to see the royal castle. It was huge and the crowds were ridiculous! But our lovely tour guides kept us together and brought us to areas with great views. The flag that indicates that the queen is in the castle was up, so I basically feel like we should have made the cover of UsWeekly. Those were just a few of the things we did that were on the itinerary. Our lovely tour guide, Gwen, gave us loads of free time. We went shopping at the fancy stores with London fashion, ate at the different little restaurants that you can’t find hear, and yes we had fish and chips. I hate fish, but I actually loved what they served us! But eventually we had to leave. A bullet train was a form of transportation that took us to Paris, France! It was awesome, and Alec Mason was lucky enough to sit with my blabbering self the whole way there.

Paris is one of the most romantic cities in the world, but I was definitely thrown off at first. We arrived in a dirty area, but after a wait, we soon got to see the magic. The first famous landmark we visited was Notre Dame. It was absolutely gorgeous. It was huge with detailed design all over the entire building. One of my favorite things we did was go shopping down the most famous street of fashion in Paris. I didn’t buy much, but it was just awesome knowing all the famous people shop there frequently. Another thing I thoroughly enjoyed was the “Paris by Night” boat ride. It was a boat tour that started when the sun went down, and it just took us along the city. We got back when the sun was down, and the Eiffel Tower was glowing green, yellow, red, and blue. Gwen told us that it has never lit up with those colors before! We were very proud we got to see it like that. Another time we saw the Eiffel Tower, we just took a lot of adorable pictures. The sky was a beautiful color of blue with few clouds, so it made the perfect background when combined with the Eiffel Tower! The crepes in Paris were delicious. They had so many different kinds ranging from sweet with Nutella and bananas to chicken and cheese. My mouth is watering talking about them! But it was time to say goodbye to Paris, and hello to a little cubby that holds six people with enough room for maybe two. It was time for the night train that would be taking us to Italy!

We traveled to a few different cities in Italy: Florence, Assisi, and Rome. My favorite of the three was Florence. We walked around and bargained with the salesmen on the streets all day! But before we went shopping, Alli, Terrah, Haley, Adrienne, Linda, Mrs. Kershaw, Ms. Ashcraft, and I made our way up to a beautiful balcony that gave us the best view of Florence. I have never seen anything so gorgeous in my life, nor have I ever loved water so much. Besides the fact that we were dripping in sweat and extremely tired, that was one of my favorite parts our entire trip. And we got to reward ourselves with gelato, so it was totally worth it! Next we traveled to Assisi and spent our day walking around and viewing its adorable little stores and restaurants. It was a small little city with stone streets, gorgeous fountains, and huge statues everywhere. A group of us girls went to the cutest family restaurant that filled our stomachs to the brim. It was delicious. Although we loved Assisi, we were pumped to go to Rome. I fell in love with the Coliseum. It was so old and falling apart, but it was sturdy enough to walk around and enter the inside. We also got to visit the Trevi Fountain, and throw our coins in. The water was so blue, and there were so many people crowded around trying to get a chance to toss one in, too. All in all, Italy was my absolute favorite. It consisted of my favorite view, land mark, and of course, food!

This trip was an amazing experience for me in so many ways. I learned so many things about the culture and history of different countries. It is definitely something I will never forget. I got to travel the world with four of my best friends, and make new relationships with others. It also gave me an appreciation for America’s traffic laws and ice cold drinks.