Two weeks. Four countries. Eighty-nine exchange students.
Are you intrigued yet?
Eurotour, organized every year by our Rotary district, is a trip beginning at the end of April, and lasting midway through May. The destinations include: France (Paris and Versailles), Spain (Barcelona), and Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice, and Pompeii).
After a full night’s rest sleeping on the bus (HAHA) as we drove from the Czech Republic through Germany and to France, we arrived in Versailles. This was where the majority of our day was spent: walking through the Palace, ogling at the ornate and opulent-everything, and then seeing Versailles, sampling our first macarons, etc.
After almost a full day at Versailles, we went to Paris, where our fine accommodation (a hostel in which we spent our first night without heating) awaited us. Dinner that night was delectable…it included my first taste of escargot.
Day two in Paris began with a tour of the Montmartre district, and in the afternoon we climbed the Eiffel Tower.
On our final day in the City of Lights, we had another tour in which we saw more of Paris. This included Place de la Concorde, the love lock bridge (which doesn’t actually have locks on it anymore), the Louvre (closed on Tuesdays, and guess what day we were there? No Mona Lisa for me…), Notre-Dame de Paris, Musee d’Orsay, etc. Yes, I walked about ten miles that day. So, while I was definitely happy about everything I had seen, my feet, on the other hand (or should I say foot?), weren’t.
We reached Barcelona after another night sleeping on the bus. In other words, we weren’t so energized. Nonetheless, the city was beautiful.
That evening, however, most of our energy revitalized itself when we walked to the beach. For many of us, it was the first time seeing a beach in almost nine months, which is particularly exciting especially considering many people come from ocean-adjacent places in South America, Florida, Taiwan, etc.
The next morning we had an hour-long bus tour. About five minutes into it, I felt as though some unseen force (we’ll call it fatigue as a result of inadequate sleep) was pushing my eyelids down. No matter how hard I tried, my eyes simply would not stay open. So, I decided that I would listen with my eyes closed. This plan didn’t exactly succeed; the next thing I remember was the bus stopping, and everyone thanking the tour guide. Oops.
At least I felt slightly more refreshed for the next activity: the Sagrada Familia! Honestly, it was the most beautiful church I’ve ever been in (keep in mind that I hadn’t been to the Vatican City by that point). The architecture was utterly stunning, and the basilica isn’t even finished yet; it is scheduled to be done in the year 2026, after about a century and a half of construction.
I also visited the Palau de la Música, a beautiful concert hall.
Only halfway through our trip, but nonetheless completely exhausted, we were rejuvenated with about ten hours of sleep and a full day of relaxation (even on the top deck, where you couldn’t have worn a skirt unless you wanted to hold it and waddle like a penguin, given that the wind was so strong) aboard the ferry that took us from Barcelona to Italy.
Our first stop in the boot of Europe: Rome and the Vatican City. And, no, it wasn’t as beautiful as the pictures; it was even more gorgeous than any photo could justify.
During our time in Rome, I ate my first real pizza and saw ruins thousands of years old. Sounds like the ideal vacation to Italy, if you ask me.
The next day, we left for Mount Vesuvius. I hadn’t exactly planned very well for this hike, as I only packed my Converse, but I managed. And on the particular day that we were there, not only did fog cover the view of the town and sea below us, but we were not permitted to hike to the very top of the crater.
The following day, we toured Pompeii.
After a few hours for lunch (another pizza) and gelato in Naples, we drove to Florence. I thought that Florence was one of the best places we visited; I particularly liked the city, especially that it didn’t seem so overwhelming in comparison to Rome.
The next stop was a few hours in Verona, where we visited the balcony that was said to inspire Shakespeare when he wrote Romeo and Juliet.
The final place that we saw was probably one of my, if not my number one, favorite city: Venice. We were told before arriving that Venice will be a ghost town in a matter of years, that the population has already dropped to less than 60,000 people, and will continue to decline, in part due to the excessively high cost of living. So, I guess it’s a good thing that I visited while I could, right?
My favorite part about Venice was its uniqueness; the city is unlike any other. And, of course, we had to experience what every tourist should do in Venice: take a gondola ride.
Afterwards, Rotary treated us to free gelato–well, sort of, because technically the money they used was ours…
And then, it was time to admit that Eurotour had ended. A good many tears were shed, and it didn’t help when people played “See You Again,” and everyone hugged each other.
So, how was Eurotour? Well, it was the best two weeks of my entire exchange. If not my entire life…
Ashly's Rotary Youth Exchange 