MY EUROPEAN ADVENTURE

If you would have asked me a few years ago if I planned to leave the United States, the answer would have been no. I had no desire to see anything outside of these fifty states. However, one year ago that idea changed completely. Maybe my interests were evolving as I grew older, or maybe traveling the world was something I always wanted to do but never allowed myself to dream of. Last summer I did something that came as a shock to myself, and especially to my mom; I decided to apply for a short-term study abroad trip with my university, and I was accepted. I went back and forth for months deciding if this was truly something I wanted to do, and at one point I decided I wasn't going to go. However, after going through a very difficult breakup, I decided I needed to get as far away from home as possible and decided Italy and Greece were the answer.  I was counting down the days until I would depart from the MSP airport, but as the days neared I became terrified. I couldn't sleep and I was wondering what on Earth I got myself into. This was an experience completely out of my comfort zone. I wasn't friends with anybody that was going on the trip, I'd only ever flown on an airplane a couple of times, I was convinced I was going to die while I was away, and not to mention I have an incredible fear of flying  over bodies of water, especially since I had never seen the ocean before. Despite all of these fears, my mom dropped me off at the airport on May 31st and I was on my own for the next two weeks. Little did I know, I was absolutely going to love everything about these thirteen days, and I was going to come home alive.  When our plane landed, we arrived in the beautiful, eternal city of Rome. I had always seen pictures of this place and thought it was one of the most beautiful places I had ever laid eyes on. The vision in person was no disappointment. I also had started to make friends with some amazing and unique girls. We had free time to roam (roaming in Rome ;), sorry I love to make bad jokes and laugh at myself) and we were able to see a handful of sites on our first day such as the Vatican. We would be spending roughly four days here, so we saw the Coloseo, Spanish Steps, Trevvi Fountain, etc. on the days to come. Later that night we had our first Italian meal, pizza of course (and it was amazing) and anxiety started to set in because we had to pick a roommate for the next couple nights. I didn't really know anybody since we had only been there for a few hours, but luckily there was a girl named Kylie sitting right next to me who didn't really know anybody either. We ended up hitting it off and rooming with each other every night of our trip.  Throughout our time in Italy, we were in Rome, Florence, Sorrento, Naples, and Pompeii. All of these cities were beautiful, but Sorrento was my favorite. I met some incredibly personable Italians and created amazing memories with my new friends, but I couldn't help but be excited to leave Italy and head to Greece. Greece had always been a place of interest for me because that's where the Olympics started. Not to mention we were going on a cruise the last few days of the trip.  Greece was incredibly beautiful, and during our time there we went to Delphi, Athens, and the Greek islands of Samos, Patmos, Mykonos, Santorini, and Crete. I was sad that we didn't make it to Olympia, but I hope that I can make it back to Greece one day so I can see the place where the Olympics began. (I keep obsessing over the Olympics because it has always been a dream of mine to work for NBC and cover the games) I did get to see the first modern Olympic stadium in Athens, and that was really cool. While we were on our cruise, I felt myself get closer with the people on the trip, especially my roommates Kylie, Addie and Bailey. I was also starting to get excited to go home and share my experiences with friends and family, but I was also sad because the trip of a lifetime was almost over.  Although I never saw myself as someone who was going to travel the world, I'm so thankful for the opportunity to have gone on this trip because it widened my horizons tremendously. From being the girl who never wanted to leave the states, I now have a list of all the places I need to visit by the end of my lifetime. Never forget, life starts at the end of your comfort zone. Embrace every second of it.