To start off this travel page, I want to tell you guys about an amazing trip that I took to Italy in May, 2018. I was studying abroad in Dublin, Ireland at the time and took a two-week trip around Italy. I spent the first portion of the trip with my roommate traveling to Milan and Rome and then met up with my mom and my best friend from home in Venice for the rest.

My first stop was Milan. I did’t realy know much about Milan aside from hearing the name mentioned in movies when referring to fashion or designers. The 4 days that I spent in the fashion capital of the world opened my eyes up to just how much the city has to offer.

In Milan, we stayed in an AirBnB that was a 30 minute metro ride from the city centre. This was really nice because it gave us the opportunity to eat at some amazing, family owned restraunts that were local favorites. It was also easy for us to get into the city center to see the main tourist attractions like the Gothic Duomo di Milano which was absolutlely breathtaking. My friend and I were lucky enough to get a table at a rooftop bar beside the Duomo and watch the sun set on the magnificent building.

After an amazing trip in Milan, we headed to Rome. In Rome, we stayed in an old mansioned that had been transformed into an ideal space for travelers. It was called Together Mansion and it was a residence that had many travelers from all over the world. We met some people from Austria that had been staying in the mansion for months, and a few other American travellers who were staying for a few days. There were comedy shows and art galleries set up in the mansion during our stay and we got to connect with some really cool people from all over the world. The highlight might have been cooking a traditional Italian pasta dinner with many of our new friends and having the owner of a prestigious winery join us (with free samples).

Aside from where we were staying, Rome itself was absolutely breathtaking. The architecture and the history behind the city was like nothing I had ever experienced. I was lucky to be traveling with an archeology majoy so I basically had a free tour guide to explain everything that we saw and plan out which sites to visit. We saw the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Forum and much more. Not to mention we accidentaly saw the Pope.

We went to the Vatican on day to see the churches and visit the museums and were really surprised at how many people were there. After walking around for awhile we ran into some people speaking English and we asked them why there were so many people there. They seemed extremely shocked that we didn’t know that the Pope would be speaking in the next 15 minutes! We were ecstatic and couldn’t believe that we just happened to be there on the right day and at the right time to see the Pope.