In Conclusion...

Well, I think it might be about time I wrapped this baby up (in my usual long, rambling fashion of course). I have only actually been home for one full day, and I thought I might give myself a few more days to settle in, think, and reflect on my time before I wrote my final post. But due to a beautiful thing called jet lag, I woke up at 4am this morning. I dinked around on my computer, I read a bit, I heard my mom get up because she couldn't sleep, I heard my dad get up for work, I tried to sleep but I kept thinking... mostly about Toledo. So I relocated to the living room, where I can sit in the glow of our pretty christmas tree and reminisce.

My last few days in Italy were great: Wandering around Naples (and not getting pick-pocketed, mugged or killed), seeing the ruins of Pompeii (so cool), and eating the best pizza ever.

Then came the long journey home. Naples to Rome to Madrid in one day. I "slept" in the airport. At 7 am I flew to Munich. Then I got on a 9 hr 44 min flight to Chicago, and it was the best flight of my life. If I have gained one thing this semester, I have become a better flier... and that is saying a lot. (I was a mess on the flight to Spain... and all of my life before now.) Then my fam picked me up at the airport and we drove home!

I am so glad to be home. 

There, I said it. Three weeks ago, if I had come home straight from Toledo, I would have had to be dragged out of Spain, kicking and screaming. But being on the move for three weeks straight (even in Italy) is exhausting. I hated putting on the same dirty clothes every day, I hated lugging around my life in a little heavy backpack. Once my mom and the world of nice hotels left me, I hated worrying about where I was going to stay and how I was going to get from place to place. Don't get me wrong, Italy was wonderful, and I loved every minute of my time abroad, but it's so nice to come back to my old, comfortable world. And my bed.

Also there was pie waiting for me when I got home, so....

The Good
Toledo was absolutely the time of my life. Now if I'm ever asked what the most memorable/amazing/life-changing experience in my life was, I actually have a ready-to-go, honest answer. This was the first time I've been out of the USA. I traveled to so many amazing cities, places I've only ever read about. I made life-long friends. I fell in love with a beautiful little Spanish city. I got a crash course in classical art in about one week in Italy. I saw ancient cities, extravagant palaces and awe-inspiring cathedrals. I learned a lot about myself, and I think I have grown as a person... whatever that means. (If nothing else, the plane thing)

Don't worry, I didn't change that much. Example: I still hate coffee.

The Kinda-Bad
While this semester was remarkable overall...there were a few downs amid all of those ups. Well, one really big down. I didn't want to write about it before, because I think I didn't want to mar my perfect blog with the bad stuff. But the bad stuff happened too. And I'm including it now because in the end, it was part of my experience.

In Toledo I lived with a host family. This was supposed to be my gateway into Spanish culture, my chance to really get involved, make connections, etc. But about 3 weeks before the end of the semester I moved out of my house and into the dorms. It's a long, complicated story, but essentially my host mom and I were two very different people, we had some communication issues, things grew very awkward, and I felt I was not respected, but I tried to stick it out. I didn't want to give up. But one day I realized I had to snap out of it and do what was best for me. I was unhappy. I was uncomfortable in what was supposed to be my home. I wouldn't have my last weeks in Toledo ruined just because I had to "make it work." So I packed up, moved into the fundación, and moved on.

Part of me felt like a failure, but mostly I knew that was the best thing for me to do. That was the worst week of my semester, and perhaps one of the worst weeks of my life. But I pulled through (with the help of good friends, a few packages in the mail, lots of chocolate, and Barcelona), and I think I came out stronger.

Wrap it up
Despite that bad thing happening, I didn't let it ruin my experience. I still have so many good memories, and I wouldn't change a thing! I'm sad it's over, but I'm thankful for everything I did and all that I got out of it. And I'm so glad that I made many good friends who I will still get to see back in Minnesota!!!

I had a great time blogging too. I have always wanted to write a blog, but I never had anything important to say. Studying abroad was a great excuse! I kept it partly for me, to thoroughly document EVERYTHING, and also to inform and maybe entertain all of my five readers. It was kind of therapeutic, to keep track of everything and write down my little "story," whether or not it was a good story. It makes me want to keep blogging! Maybe I'll start a separate "real life" blogger blog, or a tumblr... or I'll just go back to tweeting short little Hannah-thoughts.

If you read all of my blog, congratulations , I am very impressed. I went on and on a lot (kind of like right now... I'll be impressed if you've read this entire post, much less all 22 posts), but I tried to include as many pictures as possible. If you only read some of it, or just looked at the pictures, I hope you enjoyed that too!

Thanks for reading!


Signing off,

Hannah Conley - World Traveler and Blogger Extraordinaire

Path of the Gods (and frightening, fantastic fireworks)

Yesterday was truly a New Year’s Eve to remember. An amazing hike followed by the best fireworks I’ve ever seen.

Let me catch you up to speed:

Last week my mom and I finished up our Venice stay with more food and a free choir/orchestra concert in the beautiful church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. Next we went to Milan, to catch our flights to Madrid (and then home for my Mom), and to Rome (for me). We briefly stopped downtown and saw the Duomo and La Scala (awesome opera house), and that was about it. We couldn’t find anywhere to eat, I started feeling really sick, we got to our hotel, and then I started getting homesick… just bad all around. But the next day I made it to Rome, met up with my friend Paige, and we took a few trains to the beautiful seaside town of Sorrento. We spent a day exploring Sorrento, and the next day rain canceled our hiking plans, which brings you up to the last blog post.

Path of the Gods

Yesterday morning (New Year's Eve) we took a bus from Sorrento to the small town of Praiano on the Amalfi coast. There we followed signs and helpful Italians to the beginning of the Sentiero degli Dei, or “Path of the Gods,” a hiking trail on Mount Sant'Angelo a Tre Pizzo. First task, walking straight up a bajillion steps. Killer. Then we reached the actual “Path of the Gods,” about 500m above sea level, a more rugged, but (relatively) level path, from this point above Praiano over to the town of Nocelle. We walked for about an hour or two on this path, and the entire time we had the most amazing views of the sea, the coast, and our destination, Positano. We even ran into a real live goatherd and his goats using the same path. And it was unbelievably warm for December!

Here's a little taste from the top (sorry for all the wind noise):

We left Praiano as women… but we arrived in Nocelle as goddesses. Unfortunately, Nocelle is still very high up the mountain. As a goddess I had expected something like a chariot pulled by flying horses to appear and carry me down to Positano. However, there were 1700 steps I had to walk down instead. My sore goddess legs were very angry at me, and I could barely hobble down those steps. But we made it to the road, walked the last leg to Positano, and reveled in our feat by chilling at the beach.

"Fireworks" 

A few hours later, we took the train to Naples for some of those famous New Year’s Eve fireworks. We got to our hostel and were told that it was too dangerous to go outside (crazy Italians and lots of fireworks)… hmm. We met some other people who were also afraid to go outside, but we decided we had to see these fireworks, so we braved the city! After dodging some street fireworks, we made it to a castle atop a hill overlooking the city. When we got there, quite a few fireworks were going on all over the city already. But at midnight, the city literally exploded.

I don’t think I can accurately convey how awesome (literally “inspiring awe”) this sight was, and of course this was the one time I forgot my camera. There wasn’t just one big fireworks display like we’re used to in the US. Instead, as far as the eye could see… the entire city was lit up with fireworks. You probably have a visual in your head, and that visual is probably not sufficient. There were fireworks everywhere. People shot fireworks off their roofs, in plazas, out of their windows, in the streets. Kids, grown-ups, old men… everyone. It was terrifying and amazing all at the same time. After 15 minutes a haze had set in across the city. After 30 minutes it was still going on with the same gusto. My eyes couldn’t keep up with the constant flicker of lights. I thought I might go deaf in my right ear from the cannon-like fireworks being set off right next to us. And then an old lady offered us some of his champagne! We must have looked pathetic sans-champagne on New Year’s Eve! It was great!

What a way to send out the old year and ring in the new…