1st Weekend Trip to Cinque Terre! :)

Hi everyone!

I hope you’re having a wonderful summer :). My 2nd blog is centered around my first trip outside of my study abroad home base in Florence, Italy. I took a weekend trip to La Spezia and Cinque Terre. It was incredibly beautiful and worth all the train transfers and the 2-hour ride :). I recommend anyone close to Cinque Terre in Italy to visit!

Traveling weekends isn’t necessary to have a great study abroad experience, but I did set aside some time since the beginning to take a trip to Cinque Terre ever since I applied to my program. It was quite nerve-wracking to figure out the train stations with all the transfers but it was well worth the trip! Although I did feel a little bit anxious being out of the city of Florence, which I had just begun to feel comfortable with, I ended up having a great trip. I tend to be a more anxious person when it comes to traveling with all my belongings and just being in new spaces in general but I did my research and prepared myself to help aid some of those anxious feelings. A lot of the time during the trip I felt like I needed to have some alone time from others and have time to recollect and process all these new things which is totally okay but I’m so glad I did the trip because it was beautiful!

I spent all of Saturday at the beach in Monterosso in the Mediterranean Sea swimming from morning until evening and spent all of Sunday exploring Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, and Vernazza. I ate a delicious pesto pasta meal and bathed in the sun all weekend long. It was as beautiful as the pictures I had seen online.

After my trip and arriving at Firenze Santa Maria Novella train station, I had the weirdest feeling. I felt way more comfortable and started to recognize my surroundings and felt 10 times more comfortable. At this moment I realized that I was living in this new city and started to be more comfortable with it! It reminded me that my experience is way different than if I was just living here. I’m so grateful to be able to experience these new things and have these realizations abroad that I never would have thought I’d have if I didn’t come. I look forward to updating with other self-realizations and continue having a great time with others and alone!

Warmly,

Melany C.