When in Roma!

This semester I am fortunate enough to spend it in Roma, Italia! I am very excited and will be posting much more frequently (I actually promise this time!).

I'm excited to live in Roma for a semester and be fully immersed into the culture.  It will be an adventure and I am happy to have amazing friends (both old and new) to share this adventure with!

Tonight was our first night I was able to explore the eternal city.  It is finally starting to sink in that I am here for four months.  They organized a scavenger hunt for us explore (aka get lost on) the streets of Rome.

We made our way to the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and Piazza Navono among a few other piazzas and many impressive fountains.  

I had to add a picture of my first gelato on the trip.  Many more to come! 

Trevi Fountain

Fountain and Pantheon 

Just a tip, if you are ever on a scavenger hunt and want to win, download the offline Google Maps app to try and make your way around a little easier!

More orientation events coming up and Saturday we make our way to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum!

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM @C_SCHULTZ19 for a more up to date adventure of my time abroad!

theSkimm

Today we are celebrating many great things.  It is October 1st, so we start a new month, it is World Ballet Day, and theSkimm Day! 

First off, I have been taking ballet classes for 16 years.  Dance has always been a passion of mine and something that I cannot give up.  Celebrate World Ballet Day today by watching some of the great companies live or just dance to some of your favorite songs!

It is also theSkimm Day!  You might ask, What is theSkimm?  Well I am here to tell you!

theSkimm is a fast 5 minute email newsletter that is delivered to your inbox every morning Monday through Friday.  It is a great way to stay up to date on the most important news with some fresh editorial content.  I can't imagine my day without theSkimm.

As a college student, I do not stay as up-to-date with current issues as I would like.  However with theSkimm, I am able to know what is happening in the world.  How much do you know about the presidential candidates?  Well theSkimm has given all the candidates a chance to be part of a Skimmguide.  

"Basically theSkimm is top news with some wit" 

Do yourself a favor and sign up here!

This article is specifically for college students but it applies to everyone.  Check it out if you need more convincing.  

Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone

The next series of posts will be about my time in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam this summer. 

Traveling to Vietnam, much less Asia, was not something that I expected to be doing before I graduated from college. Once the opportunity arose for me to go to Ho Chi Minh City, I knew that I had to take the opportunity. I have been out of the country many times before, but I knew that this trip would be nothing like anything I have experienced thus far. 

Traveling is freeing. Leaving everything you know and going to a new city, experiencing a new culture, learning a new language, meeting new people, and learning how to "fit in with the locals" is freeing. Even though I had wifi at the hotel, I loved being able to disconnect from technology and really connect with the other dancers I was with. We "lived in the moment" (no matter how cheesy that sounds) and enjoyed our short time in Vietnam. 

Did I take a Vespa tour around the city? Yes!  Did I try new food? Yes.  Did I meet some incredible people?  Did I learn about a new culture?  Yes.  There is no easy way to describe the number of experiences that I had but one thing is for sure, I was way out of my comfort zone. 

I had learned so much about myself because I was not comfortable. I pushed myself and realized that I am capable for much more.  

So traveling to a foregin place might not be the easiest thing for everyone.  So how can you get out of your comfort zone on an everyday basis? 

1. Put down your phones! 

So much is happening, and you can experience it if you first acknowledge it! Take the opportunity to look around you and see what else is going on. 

2. Talk to strangers. 

I know, I know.  Mom always said stay away from strangers.  However, something I learned while in Vietnam is that personal space is very Americanizd. Yes it is nice to have time to ourselves, but everyone is in their own bubble. Talk to people around you, especially when traveling. We met people from all around the world by starting conversations. 

3. Don't be afraid.

There are so many wonderful opportunites available if people would say yes.  It may be scary, but like my trip to Vietnam, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I wouldn't change for the world.  Sometimes the best things are the ones that we were once afraid to do.  

Here are some of the picturest that I took while in Vietnam. My next post will be all about Ho Chi Minh City, so look for that soon! 

What do you do to get out of your comfort zone?

Working!

I am currently working on the blog!  I have a lot of exciting things coming so check back in the next few days.  Follow me on Instagram for the latest things happening!  Great posts coming about Vietnam!

South Beath Miami Culinary Food Tours

One of my favorite things my family did while in Florida was the South Beach Miami Culinary Food Tours. I didn't know what to expect when my mom told me she signed us up. 

Surprisingly, it was so much fun!  The tour lasted 2.5 hours and took us to 6 different restaurants.  I didn't know how much food we would be getting, there were 3 full sized meals, 1 flat bread sandwich, and 2 desserts!  If you don't leave full, then you didn't eat enough of what was in front of you!

We walked a little over a mile over the 2.5 hour course.  There was great commentary along the way, both historical, cultural and just interesting comments! 

Here are the 6 restaurants we went to:

Bolivar

A Colombian restaurant that served Ceviche (a seafood dish typically made from fresh raw fish marinated in citrus juices) and empanadas.  Honestly, the raw fish wasn't my favorite, but I think that was more of a texture thing.  The atmosphere was great and truly felt like a South American restaurant.

Manolo

If you haven't tried a churro yet, you are missing out! A churro is crispy on the outside with a sweet and salty coating with a dulce de leche filling.  It was delicious and one of my favorite things I ate on the tour!

Larios (On the Beach)

Larios is run by the Estefan family and served my favorite main dish of the night.  With the atmosphere of old Havana, they served a Cuban classic of beef ropa vieja and sweet plantains mariquitas.  Basically, pulled pork in a barbecue-ish sauce.  Not barbecue, but similar.  That was served with plantain "chips" which were also very good.  

The Tides South Beach Hotel Restaurant

I was starting to hit a food coma here.  Everything was prepared very well, but there was a lot of food! I don't remember what I ate, but it was some sort of chicken dish.  The chocolate truffles were excellent though!

Blocks Pizza Deli

This restaurant is all-organic!  Here we had the Sun Dried Hippie Pocket, which had sun dried tomatoes, feta, baby spinach, basil pesto, and olives.  

Milani Gelateria

Delicious gelato! Traditional Italian style gelato with many flavors to choose from.  Definitely check it out.  

Has anyone else done a food tour?  I know I will be doing another one in the future!

Sunny Fort Lauderdale!

It has now been a month since my last post...sorry it has been awhile!  It has been a crazy past few weeks.  I recently went to Fort Lauderdale, FL and it was nice to escape the cold weather!

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Pier 66.  It was a nice hotel and had great views.  The reason we chose this hotel was because it was near one of the WaterTaxi stops.  Unfortunately, they recently redid the pier and the stop had not opened up yet.  In order to get to another stop, we had to walk across the draw bridge- which was not a short walk!

We actually got caught walking over the bridge when we heard that we had to get to the other side before it went up.  We sprinted across- what a sight!

We hopped on the WaterTaxi and took in the sights.  Fort Lauderdale calls itself the "Venice of America" because of all the canals.  It was nice to just sit on the WaterTaxi and look at all of the beautiful houses and yachts- and there were so many of them!

So if you are going to Fort Lauderdale, here are some things I recommend.

Dining:

YOLO: 

on Las Olas Blvd.  We went here for NYE and it was good! Definitely try the cornbread!

Flip Flops, Shooters, or the Chart House:

all on the water.  Flip Flops and Shooters are more casual.  We went to Flip Flops and it was delicious!

Pan'e Dolci: Italian Bakery

This bakery is also on Las Olas and serves delicious gelato, cannolis, pastries, and coffee.  I definitely recommend trying this place!

We also went to places like The Cheesecake Factory and Panera, which are always good.  

Shopping: 

Sawgrass Mills and Colonnade Outlets:

If you love to shop like I do, I definitely would recommend checking out Sawgrass Mills and the Colonnade Outlets (same location- map found here).  There are so many great outlet stores like: Kate Spade Outlet, Tory Burch Outlet, Burberry, Michael Kohrs Outlet, Barneys New York Outlet, Prada and Valentino- just to name a few.  Of course there are the normal stores as well in Sawgrass Mills.  Definitely a nice place to check out!

Galleria Mall

This mall is smaller than Sawgrass mills, but it is closer to downtown Fort Lauderdale.  They also have a number of restaurants like P.F. Changs, Seasons 52, and the Capital Grille.  There is a cafe, Piazza di Giorgio Cafe, which has a number of different options to choose from.  A great place for lunch.  

Sight Seeing:

WaterTaxi

This is a great way to see everything on the water.  I wouldn't necessarily recommend it if you need to get somewhere quickly, but if you are just enjoying the ride and taking in the sights it is a great way to get around! 

Everglades Holiday Park

The Everglades are very interesting to see.  I would recommend taking an AirBoat tour.  These boats take you around the Everglades and last about an hour.  We saw many alligators and other wildlife. It is also the home of the Gator Boys Alligator Rescue, a show on Animal Planet.  It was kind of frightening to see them interact with the alligators in the way he did, but it was also very fascinating.  

Can you spot the alligator?

We only had 4 days in Florida, and one was spent in Miami, where we took an excellent Culinary Tour.  That post will come out tomorrow.  

Have you done anything amazing in Fort Lauderdale? 

Pompeii: See It Before It's Gone

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and took some time out of their busy schedules to enjoy the time with their family and friends.  I know that the holidays are a crazy time for everyone, so I also took a bit of a break. But now I'm back at it!  There are so many great sales going on right now, so make sure to check that post out later tonight! 

--------------------------------------------------------------------

I love the Almalfi Coast.  It is seriously breathtaking.  Since we were on a cruise, I spent a lot of time just sitting and looking at the towns we were passing.

The cruise was originally supposed to stop in Capri.  However, due to unseasonably high and rough waves, Azamara decided to change the port to Sorrento for the rest of the summer.  

My family and I took one of Azamara's excursions to Pompeii, which is about an hour bus ride away.  First off, I wasn't really looking forward to the bus ride.  I know it isn't that long, but being in a bus did not sound very fun.  Thankfully, the trip was very scenic.  We drove along the ocean side, so we had a great view of the water and the colorful towns. 

Pompeii was nothing like I thought it was going to be.  When I thought of Pompeii, I thought of how Mount Vesuvius covered the town in volcanic ash, destroying the town and killing thousands of people. I know that this happened almost 2000 years ago, but for some reason I thought things wouldn't look as "uncovered" as they did.  However, there are still parts of Pompeii that are still being excavated.  

It is an interesting part of history that people should see.  There are casts of bodies from 79 AD: lovers, pregnant women, children, men and women and even some animals.  The thousands of people died in an instant from the eruption.  

Walking down the "streets" of the town and into some of the homes was so interesting.  This is how people lived in the first century.  There are many similarities to today's life, however.  People still need to eat, sleep, and come together socially. 

Click here for the link to the official Pompeii visitor's guide.  Also, if you can't visit Pompeii, check out Google Maps to get a close up view of the ruins.  

  

Has anyone been to Pompeii before?  Would you recommend it?

MegaBus

It's been awhile since I posted... sorry! Blame finals.  But I'm taking a break from studying to write this post.

One of the great things about going to school in Chicago is that I can take the MegaBus to get home.  I know what you are thinking- who wants to spend 6 hours on a bus with a bunch of strangers?  However, from all of my experiences, it is pretty good.

The MegaBus offers low prices for travel and they take people to many places in the United States, Canada, and even Europe!  Fares start at $1 and go up from there based on demand.  

For students studying abroad or travelers who want to save some money, this is an easy way to travel around Europe.  I'm not sure how it compares to the trains (I assume those would be faster) but it is something to look into.  

Image from Google Images

I always use MegaBus to get home to Cincinnati, especially in the winter months, because I don't want to risk being stranded in an airport due to the weather.  Whenever I am using the bus, there are so many students traveling home for the holidays so I usually know at least 1 or 2 people on it with me.  

One of my favorite parts about the bus is the (Free!) wifi.  I can get all of my work done because of it.  Unfortunately, they do block streaming sites such as Netflix, so if you want to watch a movie, I would suggest renting/buying it on iTunes.  

In the long run, it is only about an hour to an hour and a half longer than it would be for me to fly. When you think about the time traveling to the airport, arriving early enough to get through security and then waiting for the plane to take off, to waiting for your luggage, it pretty much balances the time you are sitting on the bus.  

What have your experiences been with the MegaBus? 

Porto Cervo, Italy

I am so thankful for Thanksgiving and this time to rest.  There has been so much going on and the break was much needed to help me through the next 2 weeks.  

The next port of call was our first stop in Italy, which was Porto Cervo.   This port was more of a stop on our way to Sorrento.  We were only there for a few hours.  Once again, there really wasn’t much to do.  Lots of shopping and gelato (yummm) and there were nice beaches here.  Most people spent their day at the beach. 

In the morning we took a tour of the bridge.  It was really interesting to see! Two of the officers showed us around and told us what the different instruments did.  I was surprised with how small it was.  We did get to go out on the side, the part that they use to “park” the boat and then leave the port. 

Once we left the bridge tour, we grabbed lunch at the buffet and then headed out.  We were walking around the town at kind of a strange time.  Many of the stores were preparing to close for their afternoon siestas.  We walked to an archeology site and saw an ancient wall.  

Ancient wall

We got some gelato (of course) before heading back to the ship.

One of my favorite pictures my sister took

I always thought how interesting it was to watch the harbor pilots go from the cruise ship to their smaller boats. 

  That night there was a gorgeous sunset.  It couldn’t have been more beautiful while we were cruising to Sorrento. 

The next two stops on the cruise were my favorite ports, so until next time about Sorrento/Pompeii! 

Porto Vecchio, Corsica, France

One of the things I loved about Azamara is that they were always trying to go above and beyond with the relationships between the passengers and the staff.  They also want to provide a unique experience- longer stays and amazing nights.  

Honestly, Corsica was not my favorite place to be.  There was really not much to do in the ports besides the beach and shopping.  But if that is what you want, then you are set!  We walked around and shopped a bit, I found a really great dress, but other than that, not much to see.  

Thankfully that night, Azamara had the Azamazing night planned.  The Azamazing nights are "free" and only for guests on the ship,  For our Corsican adventure, they took us on buses from the ship to a private country clubish type venue.  The  greeted us with their music as we walked in and once inside the grounds, there were stations to try Corsican desserts, cheese fritters (which were delicious) and local wines.  

Making Cheese Fritters

 

After that, the Napoleonic Imperial Guard did their ceremonial march and then a famous Corsican band played for us.  I don't remember who they were but they sang in Corsican.  They were really good I just wish I could have understood them.  

Not a good picture, but you get the idea

Once the night was over, we were bussed back to the ship.  And of course, what was waiting for us there?  The cruise ship's band as well as more desserts!  The cruise really wanted to make you feel at home (and maybe help you gain a few pounds from all of the delicious food!).  

To be completely honest, I expected more out of the night from what they were telling us before we left.  However, I love the idea of having a special night in port for the guests,  Many of the crew members were also able to go to the event so it was cool talking to them and seeing them while they were not working. 

Overall, it was a fun experience and something I look forward to next time I cruise with Azamara.  Coming up is another special event Azamara has for its guests! Until next time.