30 Day Challenge: Day 5

A picture Pictures of somewhere you've been...

Throughout my life, I've been lucky enough to have opportunities and the means to travel. I've been to 14 of our great states (including Hawaii 4 times), Canada, and Mexico. And if you would have asked me about my ideal vacation slightly over 2 years ago, I would have told you any beach with warm, clear turquoise water and palm trees. Take me to a beach, bring me a beer, and I'm a happy camper.

Then a friend presented me with an opportunity to that I'm so glad I didn't pass up...

Sneak Peak... Yep, that's THE Mona Lisa!

 A couple of the teachers that I worked with had been planning an educational field trip to Europe for 13 of our AP Euro students. The teacher that was in charge of planning got pregnant, and after doing pretty much all of the planning leg work, she had to drop out and stay home. One of my good friends was a chaperone, and he asked me if I wanted to join the trip. At first, I was kind of unsure. It was a 3 week long trip, it was going to be about $2400 (which turns out isn't so bad for 3 weeks in Europe), and I never really had any interest in going to Europe. Why go to Europe when you can go to the beach? Plus, it would be a working trip since we had a bunch of high school kiddos with us.

But I spoke with my parents and my mom was excited, which was kind of a big deal... my mom is over protective. Like, call-when-you-get-there, who-are-you-going-with, I-don't-think-it's-a-good-idea, you-will-not-do-this-because-I-will-guilt-trip-you-into-staying-home-and-boarding-up-your-house-because-I-am-so-paranoid. (Sorry mom, it's true.) But when I told her about this trip, she was basically like, "Yeah, you should totally go!" Wow, okay, then...

So I had about 2 weeks notice and I was off to Europe! In fact, 2 years ago today, we were on our way from Paris to Lucerne, Switzerland.

Needless to say, I fell in love with old churches and crumbling structures. I fell in love with cobblestone streets and crepes. I fell in love with plazas and rivers running through famous cities. I had never seen anything as old, as famous, or as romantic as everything I was seeing on this amazing trip. I felt like I was floating on a cloud throughout the entire trip as we passed through London, then Paris, onto Lucerne. We traveled all through Italy and then rounded out our trip with a cruise though the Greek islands.

*FUN FACT: I met Brian about 4 months after I got back from this trip, and I was still on cloud nine. On one of our first dates, we ended up at a bookstore and I found a book with pictures of Italy. I got so excited and I started pointing out all of the places I had been. Then we saw a calendar with pictures of France and I did the same. This still goes on from time to time. At first he thought it was cute, but I'm pretty sure he's beyond annoyed with it now. :) I just can't wait to go back with him because I know he'll love it just as much- maybe even more- than I do!

The following are some pictures of the places I went to in Europe. They're all from my camera...

I don't usually like talking about the trip because I feel like any words that I could possibly use would just take away from the awe-inspiring and breath-taking beauty and wonder that I saw on this trip. So I'll leave it to the pictures. If you've been to Europe before, you probably understand what I'm talking about. And if you have not been... well, you should go as soon as possible!