5 A.M. and there goes my alarm again trying to pull me out of my warm, cozy twin bed.
Who knew traveling could be so exhausting? I’ve always considered it one of my passions, but you never truly understand all that goes into a trip until you are off to a new place every weekend and realize you have to figure out all the plans yourself.
We have currently been in Italy for a full 4 weeks and it has been a whirlwind of activities from day one. However, people keep telling me I am “living the dream” or that I “have it easy” because I’m in school, in Italy. And they are completely right, but I also don’t think they realize how much work we put into school and travel. I’m a bit ambitious and before I even stepped foot in Italy for this trip, I already had planned out 12 different cities I wanted to visit, figured out the cost of each, and organized what weekends it would work out best to visit. What I think most people don’t realize is how much work we as students in JSB put in during the week for our classes and then during the weekends for our trips. As soon as class ends it’s time to work on our journals or study for quizzes all while trying to book our flights for weekend excursions and trying to make sure the airlines don’t cheat us out of good deals. Most of our sleep consists of short naps on trains, planes and the bus.
Although I have been fortunate enough to travel the world with my family, I always took for granted how much work my parents put into those experiences. Trying to book plane tickets for 4 people at one time, along with a place to stay in a safe area, and make a schedule of things to do is very time consuming and more stressful than one would think. I guess I’ve gained more of an appreciation for all the work my parents have put in over the years so I could experience everything without stress. But I know I never could have been so comfortable over here in Italy without them making me try to figure out public transportation and travel ever since I was about eight years old. Even though I am constantly moving or traveling, I wouldn’t change a thing. Definitely can’t stop, and won’t ever stop loving travel.

Picture of me in one of my favorite places in Italy: The Amalfi Coast!