Winter Break 2018
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(This section will be very casual! It's just for fun.)
Over winter break my partner, Robin, and I decided to visit a few European countries before he moved into an apartment in Rome to study with a UW program during winter quarter. We flew into Rome, then visited Venice, bused into Slovenia's capital Ljubljana, then up to Hungary. We flew back to Rome, spent a little more time getting used to the city, and then I flew home. During our trip, we visited a *ton* of museums. It ended up being a really great time for us to go academically, as we'd just finished taking a world history course, so we got to visit some of the artifacts and sites we'd just learned so much about. We tried to travel very cheaply, and made some great friends in hostels along the way as well as a few incredibly kind strangers. I (re)learned that it's really easy to get really cold, that you want to have a hefty budget if you want to do a good job experiencing the cuisine of Italy, and that getting enough sleep is truly wonderful and should not be underestimated. I am Not a photographer, but I've included a few shots from cool spots, meals and moments I'll want to remember and share with people who are close to me. Robin and I had a lot of really fun moments, and found ways to laugh and enjoy each other's company especially when our traveling was uncomfortable, (again) cold, disorienting or made us homesick. We were away from our families at the holidays and got a lot of practice staying positive when it didn't feel easy to do so. My photos may contribute to the classic over-romanticization of travel, but it's important to remember that they don't tell the full story. Understandably we ran into + struggled with language barriers. I have a fair amount of experience of traveling to and communicating in Spanish-speaking and other communities that don't have English as a dominant language. However, as somebody who deeply enjoys learning from others while traveling, I find myself yearning to default to Spanish, especially when surrounded by other Romance languages. Occasionally struggling to communicate facilitated another powerful lesson in humility! |