Blog, I have not forgotten about you. Just neglected for a little bit while I got back into the swing of things in Copenhagen.

Caution to Readers: This may be quite the lengthy post since so much as happened since the last time I updated.

I last left of in Rome. Rome was everything I expected and more! I was so amazed at all this history that comes from the early Roman Empires. Susanne and I began our stay in Italy, of course, with some Italian pizza. We then walked from our quite hostel (which was more like a bed and breakfast) to the Coliseum. Immediately, we were approached by an American with information about a package tour. It sounded like a good deal so we took her up on it. We soon found ourselves consumed in all the Roman history that we were taking in. The tour guide was awesome and despite a little more rain we were thoroughly amazed. The Coliseum itself was spectacular but without a tour guide it would have not been the same. After the tour we decided to do a little exploring of our own but ended up getting poured on so we quickly found ourselves in the nearest pasta place and hopped on the bus to call it an early night. All the crazy nights in Barcelona and traveling left us exhausted, but we didn’t head home without our first taste of real Italian gelato J

The next day consisted of a visit to St Peters Basilica and a tour of Palatine Hill. The Basilica was absolutely beautiful and it was a beautiful day to add on to that. It was crowded due to the fact that it was the anniversary of the Pope. Though it was a week away they were already setting up for Easter Mass with chairs everywhere and speakers and sound systems being worked on. You could tell that Easter mass would be huge. We then began to walk back towards the ancient roman city but before we made it back we had been scammed by a rose seller near a fountain. Of course in Denmark we don’t have scammers really, just one who hangs out by the ATM but everyone knows about him. So when we were offered roses by this guy we, of course, took it not knowing that after his story about good luck he would harass us for money. We gave him a few cents and took off… annoying. The tour of Palatine hill and the ancient Roman city was astounding; the history really got me interested. After it was over, I was determined to change my major to ancient Roman history! Realizing that is impractical, I just enjoyed the tour and got all that I could out of the readings and ruins. After enjoying another meal of wine and pasta we headed in for another early night.

The next morning we got up early and checked out one last site in Rome, the Pantheon. Everything in Rome is really incredible, but this building definitely stood out. It is the best preserved of all Roman buildings, and perhaps the best preserved building of its age in the world. The architecture of it was really interested and the inside was beautiful. After our last stop in Rome we hopped on a train to Florence! The hour long train ride though the Italian country side was itself well worth the 47 euros spent to travel from Rome to Florence. And taking the train was much less stressful than flying budget airlines. Susanne and I arrived in Florence and met Ali (best friend of mine from college) at her apartment. Not knowing a lot about Florence I did not have very high expectations. My expectations were far exceeded. Florence was a beautiful small city with a lively, real Italian feel to it. We had amazing food and spend some quality time with friends. My friend Abbey (who is studying in Barcelona) met us there as well. So it was a small “Moose” reunion!

After Florence we all split up, Susanne went to France, Abbey went to London, and I went to meet up with an old friend of my dad’s and his family in Bournemouth, a town on the southern coast of the UK . Though I had only met this family once before in my life when I was about 14 or 15, they took me in and were so welcoming to me. The first day we went to Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral. Stonehenge was something I have wanted to see forever and it’s such a great wonder to see and learn about. Though they are unsure about a lot of the history of it, it is still so fascinating! Salisbury Cathedral wasn’t just another church, but it was unique and beautiful. It was so nice so have some down time and spend some time with a family, a few dogs, and a cat! The next day Dan and I, the oldest of three sons, showed me around the city and took me to see Corfe Castle. We took a short ferry ride to the quite town of Swanage. The Castle situated high on a hill, has beautiful views of the coast. The oldest remaining parts of the castle date as far back as the 11^th century. What is left of it is only ruins but you are able to see the major structure which makes it interesting. Dan and I had a beautiful sunny day to do our visiting and site seeing and it was such a fun day! Bournemouth soon came to an end and it was time to say goodbye because I was on my way to Prague!

I met up with Abbey and her roommate in Prague and the last city of my travel break was about to begin. Because we were at our ends with site seeing and touristy things, we took our time in Prague wondered around a lot and didn’t do the whole “tourist thing” every day. It was a nice change of pace during the day, but the night life in Prague was a very happening scene! We ended up sleeping some of our beautiful days away in Prague but we all needed some extra rest. Though it sounds like I didn’t do much in Prague, we did see all the sites and attended their Easter markets! We saw the astronomical clock chime on the hour, we walked up to the Prague Castle, checked out the John Lennon wall, explored some churches, Stroled the Jewish quarters, peeked into the old Jewish cemetery( which is quoted to be “which is the most remarkable of its kind in Europe.”) and walked up and down the Charles Bridge. Prague had a lot to offer and was unexpectedly, very touristy. It may have been the time of year we were visiting but there were SOOO many tourists throughout the streets of Praha.

The last day of our trip to Prague and the last day of my Three week study tour ended with me becoming extremely ill. I returned to Copenhagen miserable, I missed classes and visited two doctors. In the end we never found out what was wrong but this contributed to my lack of blogs about my trip. Along with a trip to Amsterdam and quite a few papers and projects.

I am not going to add photos to this post, but below are all the links to my albums from each city I visited.

London. Oxford. Barcelona. Rome. Florence. Bournemouth. Prague