Where soul meets body

Okay, so I pretty failed at updating this big time! I know I have so much to share too! Unfortunately my excuse is schoolwork has been dragging me down. It may not seem like a legit excuse, but seriously, it has really taken a toll on my energy and time management. You may ask, but Erin you seem to have copious amounts of time to talk to me on facebook chat or on the internet...how is this? Well, the thought of sitting down and going through each trip and trying to upload pictures can be a bit of a pain, plus it often takes me over an hour to do a proper update. I do put a lot of time into my entries and I try to make them as beautiful and entertaining as possible.

Enough excuses! Where have I been? What have I been doing? Well, a simpler question may be: what haven't I been doing?

Okay so Amsterdam was a successful trip, even though it was hard to plan an entire week with four people. It was a good learning experience, so I will leave it at that. After Amsterdam I didn't really do a whole lot of major travelling. We had a lot of work the following two and a half weeks following spring break, so I spent most of it focusing on the mountains of work I needed to get done.

Orange trees in Viareggio

The weekend before the Southern Italy trip, Matt, Kelly, & I went to Viareggio Beach in Italy. It was actually Easter weekend, which made travelling on the trains a pain. They were absolutely packed, but we managed to get to Viareggio and spent the next two nights on the beach. The first night we checked into our hotel, which Kelly was not supposed to be in but we managed to sneak her in, and then we walked on the beach at night. It was absolutely amazing. I have been dying to be on a beach for so long since I've been in Switzerland, and now that the weather in getting warmer I have beach fever more than ever. We sat on the beach and drank a beer and stared at the ocean. It was the most rewarding end to travel to be able to stare out at the ocean and just sit in the sand. The smell of the ocean is one of the best in the world. We ended our night watching Italian tv in bed and going to bed early.

Pisa

The next day we did a morning/early afternoon trip to Pisa which was only thirty minutes away. You can't really pass up the Leaning Tower of Pisa when it's so close. So we trekked our way there by train and walked through the town of Pisa until we got to the church complex. Well, as for the tower...there is definitely a lean to it haha. It was such a beautiful day so it was perfect to see a world famous monument.  The church complex was really gorgeous and the Leaning Tower was pretty cool. Other than the church complex, Pisa is pretty small and it's a pretty little town but there isn't a whole lot to see there. So we decided to head back to Viareggio and go straight to the beach, plus we had been craving laying on the beach. We literally got off the train and walked straight to the beach. It was windy but it was rewarding to be able to lay in the sand with the sun out and hear the ocean. I didn't go swimming, but I managed to run in up to my knees/thighs. It wasn't so cold, but I wasn't about to dive in. We stayed on the beach all day and listened to music. It was fantastic. We went back to the hotel to change for dinner and then we watched the sunset over the ocean, which is actually a treat since I live on the east coast in the states so the ocean never sets over the ocean.

We left the next day but we got a bite to eat at a cafe before we jumped on the train.