Well, I'm back. And I'm not back with something as exciting as walking through the streets in Venice, Italy or drinking sangria in Barcelona, Spain but I did leave for college! That's kind of exciting right?! I finally have a little time to fill you all in on my first month at Illinois Wesleyan and I may or may not be procrastinating once again from doing my homework.
I moved in August 16th officially but was able to start moving stuff into my dorm the Friday before. So, I made several trips throughout the weekend which made it a lot easier than doing it all in a couple hours before we had meetings for volleyball. On Friday, my grandparents surprised me from Chicago to help move things in and rearrange my room! It was super nice to have them there to help and I enjoyed getting to see them. Saturday and Sunday I moved little stuff in and all of my clothes. Then, Sunday we had a quick parent meeting and that was it, I was officially a college student.
We slept over at some of our teammates rooms/houses and talked about our team goals that night. The next morning we woke up and went to the zoo as a team which was super fun. Later that night, we went to my house to have dinner. The next morning we were up and at it early to start our testing. Our testing included running the beep test and getting to a certain level and we had to do 50 burpees in 4 minutes. Everyone passed the burpees on the first try and it was awesome to know we all got them done! Soon, doubles started and all we had time for was sleeping, eating, and playing volleyball. But, I still enjoyed it and I love all the freshman and girls on my team.
School started August 25th I believe and our coach was nice enough to give us a day off of practice. My classes are economics, psychology, friendship (a class I was assigned to that freshman take), and accounting. And for those who don't know, I have decided to major in accounting! My classes have been going good but definitely a lot of homework that is much different than high school. I have my first college tests next Thursday in econ and psych so I'll have to let you guys know how that goes!
Last weekend we went to Texas and I had a blast! It was a competitive tournament and we finished 2-2 but I'm very excited to see what this team accomplishes in the future. We saw the bats fly out from under the bridge in Austin and went to a true BBQ restaurant as well when we were there. Also, a piece of advice: never play bean boozled.
Some exciting things coming up:
-I've decided I'm going to rush and see how I like it so the first night of that starts tonight and I'm super excited!
-I meet next Tuesday with a lady to talk about studying abroad
-We have our first real home game/tournament this weekend!
I hope all of you have a good rest of your week!
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Monday, July 20, 2015
Added bonus
Well I meant to include this in my very last blog from the trip, but I forgot. So, here is what you have all been waiting for...get excited...duh, duh, duh:
TYLER'S OFFICIAL TRIP RANKINGS
1. Positano
2. Venice
3. Barcelona
4. Cinque Terre
5. Rome
6. Milan
Obviously they were all awesome but everyone always asks which place is my favorite so I decided to make a list. Barcelona, Rome, and Milan are all similar since they are big cities but I enjoyed Barcelona's culture more. Cinque Terre and Positano are also similar but Cinque Terre was more tourist oriented and I didn't like how it was spread out through 5 cities. Also, I liked how the town was set up in Positano. Venice is unique and I loved the canals all throughout the city in between houses. But, again they were all amazing and I recommend visiting all of them!
TYLER'S OFFICIAL TRIP RANKINGS
1. Positano
2. Venice
3. Barcelona
4. Cinque Terre
5. Rome
6. Milan
Obviously they were all awesome but everyone always asks which place is my favorite so I decided to make a list. Barcelona, Rome, and Milan are all similar since they are big cities but I enjoyed Barcelona's culture more. Cinque Terre and Positano are also similar but Cinque Terre was more tourist oriented and I didn't like how it was spread out through 5 cities. Also, I liked how the town was set up in Positano. Venice is unique and I loved the canals all throughout the city in between houses. But, again they were all amazing and I recommend visiting all of them!
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Last day!
Our last day started like any other day: we were walking down to the market to grab a cup of fruit for breakfast. Suddenly, my mom realized she had forgotten the beach towels we needed for our trip later to the beach at the hotel. So, we waited for her outside while she ran back to get them. I was innocently standing there when I felt something hit my shirt. I tried to deny it but as I looked down there it was, bird poop. I knew this was bound to happen sometime but not on my last day! I ran back to the hotel to wash it off and after several pictures and laughs we continued on our day.
After breakfast we went to the Pablo Picasso museum. It was amazing to see what he was painting at just 9 years old. Later we went to the Barcelona zoo! There were wild peacocks walking around right next to the people and the zoo was really nice. All the walking became tiring but we dragged our feet all the way down to the beach to have lunch on the beachfront. When we walked down to the water it was pretty cold so we didn't stay too long. So, after spending some time at the beach we walked back to the hotel and my mom and I went up to the terrace in our hotel and laid out. It was so relaxing! Uncle Brad and Rob went to a contemporary art museum while my mom and I walked around. I got a cute little cactus in a small pot with a flower for my dorm room. We met back up for dinner and went to the same Mexican restaurant we had went to the previous night because we liked it so much. In almost every city we went to, if we found a restaurant we really liked we went back the next night. My last day was well spent and a good way to wind down before a crazy traveling day!
And the nightmare begins...Saturday morning we woke up hopeful that in 24 hours we would be landed in Chicago and either sleeping at my grandparents or driving the 2 hours home. Little did we know, this day was going to be never ending. We made it through the long 8 hour flight from Barcelona to Philly where we had a 7 hour layover and then was supposed to board our plane to Chicago. I surprisingly felt pretty good after the 8 hours and it went by fairly quickly. Since we had such a long layover we decided to go see if we could be on standby for one of the earlier flights to Chicago. The earliest one had no room but there was hope for the next flight which was our last chance before our flight. We thought we were going to get on but last minute they said they didn't have room for all 3 of us. So, we went and had dinner together and then hung out for a couple more hours before boarding our plane to Chicago. We boarded first because we were zone 1 and as soon as we got on they had delayed the boarding for an hour because of traffic in Chicago and bad weather. Soon, everyone else began to board and before we knew it, it was 10:30 or so at night. The pilot kept making announcements saying we should be able to take off soon and then we never did. Eventually, he said they had timed out. So, we all got off the plane and there was plenty of yelling from fellow passengers as we found out that the next available flight straight to Chicago that they could fit people on was Monday. We all got put on crazy flights that went to a different destination then flew in to Chicago. So, today we fly to Phoenix then fly to Chicago. A five hour flight just because! Uncle Brad left a little bit ago because he has a flight to Dallas then Chicago then Seattle. Needless to say it's going to be a long day for all of us. We are do in at 6:30 then have to drive two hours to get home. Also, last night there were no hotel rooms close by available so we had to spend the night in the airport which is not something I recommend. The airport is freezing and we each had these weird aluminum blanket things but we managed to get a couple hours of sleep after being up for 24 hours. So, now we are waiting to board our flight to Phoenix, in the opposite direction as our end destination! But, as long as we actually take off this time, I'll be happy. :)
Our trip didn't end as we had planned but it doesn't take away from how awesome the last two weeks have been! I'm so grateful and blessed to have gone on a trip that I will remember forever. It was truly a trip of a lifetime!!! I can never thank you enough Uncle Brad, you rock!
Some of our last day pictures:
After breakfast we went to the Pablo Picasso museum. It was amazing to see what he was painting at just 9 years old. Later we went to the Barcelona zoo! There were wild peacocks walking around right next to the people and the zoo was really nice. All the walking became tiring but we dragged our feet all the way down to the beach to have lunch on the beachfront. When we walked down to the water it was pretty cold so we didn't stay too long. So, after spending some time at the beach we walked back to the hotel and my mom and I went up to the terrace in our hotel and laid out. It was so relaxing! Uncle Brad and Rob went to a contemporary art museum while my mom and I walked around. I got a cute little cactus in a small pot with a flower for my dorm room. We met back up for dinner and went to the same Mexican restaurant we had went to the previous night because we liked it so much. In almost every city we went to, if we found a restaurant we really liked we went back the next night. My last day was well spent and a good way to wind down before a crazy traveling day!
And the nightmare begins...Saturday morning we woke up hopeful that in 24 hours we would be landed in Chicago and either sleeping at my grandparents or driving the 2 hours home. Little did we know, this day was going to be never ending. We made it through the long 8 hour flight from Barcelona to Philly where we had a 7 hour layover and then was supposed to board our plane to Chicago. I surprisingly felt pretty good after the 8 hours and it went by fairly quickly. Since we had such a long layover we decided to go see if we could be on standby for one of the earlier flights to Chicago. The earliest one had no room but there was hope for the next flight which was our last chance before our flight. We thought we were going to get on but last minute they said they didn't have room for all 3 of us. So, we went and had dinner together and then hung out for a couple more hours before boarding our plane to Chicago. We boarded first because we were zone 1 and as soon as we got on they had delayed the boarding for an hour because of traffic in Chicago and bad weather. Soon, everyone else began to board and before we knew it, it was 10:30 or so at night. The pilot kept making announcements saying we should be able to take off soon and then we never did. Eventually, he said they had timed out. So, we all got off the plane and there was plenty of yelling from fellow passengers as we found out that the next available flight straight to Chicago that they could fit people on was Monday. We all got put on crazy flights that went to a different destination then flew in to Chicago. So, today we fly to Phoenix then fly to Chicago. A five hour flight just because! Uncle Brad left a little bit ago because he has a flight to Dallas then Chicago then Seattle. Needless to say it's going to be a long day for all of us. We are do in at 6:30 then have to drive two hours to get home. Also, last night there were no hotel rooms close by available so we had to spend the night in the airport which is not something I recommend. The airport is freezing and we each had these weird aluminum blanket things but we managed to get a couple hours of sleep after being up for 24 hours. So, now we are waiting to board our flight to Phoenix, in the opposite direction as our end destination! But, as long as we actually take off this time, I'll be happy. :)
Our trip didn't end as we had planned but it doesn't take away from how awesome the last two weeks have been! I'm so grateful and blessed to have gone on a trip that I will remember forever. It was truly a trip of a lifetime!!! I can never thank you enough Uncle Brad, you rock!
Some of our last day pictures:
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| The beach |
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| One of the peacocks walking around |
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| Toucan |
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| The penguin was super close to us! |
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| Huge turtle!! He was trying to get through the fence to be with his other turtle friends |
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| The meerkats were watching this super loud annoying peacock |
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| Jaguar |
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| Rhino |
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| Elephant |
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| Zebra |
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| Thank you Uncle Brad for the best two weeks ever!!! |
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| The monkey was sitting right up against the glass and we took this picture. It looks like he's taking a selfie! |
We just got the best news ever as I was typing this! We got moved to a flight that stops in DC but we are going to get into Chicago five hours earlier than we would've!!! Woo hoo!
These last two weeks have been incredible, thank you again Uncle Brad!
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Day 11 & 12
Barcelona, Spain is awesome! We woke up Wednesday morning and walked over to the market to grab breakfast. The market is this huge area with tons of fresh fruit, fruit juices, and a bunch of different food you can buy. After eating breakfast, we walked down to a bus stop for a bus tour around town. We went by the beach which we might go visit tomorrow and also drove by where the 1992 olympics were held! There are different color lines that take you to different places around town so after riding the orange line for awhile we switched over to the green line. Our bus ran into a sign though and it's mirror fell off so we had to switch buses to continue our tour. But, it was nice to see so many parts of the city without having to walk forever. Later my mom and I went shopping at some shops near our hotel. We didn't have any more places we needed to visit so after eating dinner we went to a restaurant that was on the side of La Rambla and had some sangria. I didn't have my own glass of sangria so I walked down to the market by myself and bought fresh pineapple & coconut fruit juice! It was so good!! We sat and talked for awhile then eventually walked back to our hotel.
Today we woke up early to go see Sagrada Familia. It was absolutely beautiful. The outside of the church is actually still in construction to be finished but the detail is unbelievable. Once you walk inside, there are stained glass windows on every wall with a bunch of colors. The sun shines in so the colors reflect throughout the church. There is also so much detail on the ceiling and it's very different than any of the other churches we have been to. It has definitely been my favorite cathedral so far. Gaudi is the guy who designed it and he also has a few houses in Barcelona that he designed. We saw the outside of the houses and after seeing the Sagrada Familia, I really like his artistic style and it's very interesting. Later in the day our hotel offered a cooking class where we got sangria and were taught how to make paella. It was so fun and delicious! After my mom and I went to a terrace in our hotel and laid out until dinner which was very relaxing. Dinner was at a Mexican restaurant that was very good.
Tomorrow is our last full day in Europe before we fly out Saturday!
Today we woke up early to go see Sagrada Familia. It was absolutely beautiful. The outside of the church is actually still in construction to be finished but the detail is unbelievable. Once you walk inside, there are stained glass windows on every wall with a bunch of colors. The sun shines in so the colors reflect throughout the church. There is also so much detail on the ceiling and it's very different than any of the other churches we have been to. It has definitely been my favorite cathedral so far. Gaudi is the guy who designed it and he also has a few houses in Barcelona that he designed. We saw the outside of the houses and after seeing the Sagrada Familia, I really like his artistic style and it's very interesting. Later in the day our hotel offered a cooking class where we got sangria and were taught how to make paella. It was so fun and delicious! After my mom and I went to a terrace in our hotel and laid out until dinner which was very relaxing. Dinner was at a Mexican restaurant that was very good.
Tomorrow is our last full day in Europe before we fly out Saturday!
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| Breakfast! |
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| On our bus tour |
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| Sculpture near the ocean representing the movement of waves |
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| Olympic stadium we could see the track inside |
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| Pretty view |
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| Street |
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| By the beach |
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| Walking to dinner |
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| Pineapple and coconut fruit juice |
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| Drinking sangria |
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| Market |
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| Outside of Sagrada Familia |
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| The outside of the doors entering..there were random bugs on it too |
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| Stained glass |
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| Ceiling |
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| More stained glass |
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| Overlooking Barcelona from the top of Sagrada Familia |
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| The very narrow stairwell we had to walk down afterwards |
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| Door on the way out |
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| I liked this sculpture out back |
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| There were statues all alongside the building..Gaudi was known for more flat rectangular faces |
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| More of the outside of Sagrada Familia |
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| And I found another cat of course!!! |
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Day 7, 8, 9, & 10!
Wow that's a lot of days! I'm sorry for keeping all my loyal blog readers waiting, I know you must have been thinking everyday "I wish Tyler would post a blog". But don't you worry, the day has finally come! (i'm just kidding I know you never thought this but for my confidence sake, let's pretend you did). Anyways in case you don't remember, my last blog ended with us taking a train to Milan, Italy. We actually aren't there anymore but I'll get you caught up to the present.
So, the train ride from Venice to Milan was about 3 hours. When we arrived, we just explored the city and walked around. Milan is very comparable to Rome, but less crowded and filled with shops. So, if any of you have $1,000 to throw around then come on over to Milan and you can buy one dress!!! I'm partially kidding, some stores were so expensive that it was just a joke to walk in but there are some stores that are actually reasonably priced. They had a really nice shopping area with a glass ceiling and it had stores like Prada and Louis Vitton. There was a model getting pictures taken also while we were there which was cool to see. While walking around, we also went and saw the Duomo, Milan's most popular cathedral. It was in the middle of a square, which of course was filled with pigeons *yay*. After walking around for awhile and admiring unreasonably priced clothes, we took the subway to the Canal District part of Milan. It looked like Venice but wasn't nearly as beautiful if that makes sense. So, we walked through there for awhile (it was very hot) and then headed back to eat dinner in Milan.
Fast forward to day 8: Yes, we are still in Milan. We took a big red bus tour around the city and it took us by numerous places. One was a horse racing stadium and outside of it they had invited street artists to come and spray paint on the wall. It was very cool and interesting to see what each artist chose to spray paint. We also drove past AC Milan and Inter Milan's soccer stadium. It was huge! Also, there were several historical buildings we saw and a couple unique sculptures throughout the city.
Day 9: We left for Cinque Terre! Cinque Terre means five towns which bordered the Mediterranean Sea. We had our own personal tour guide that led us throughout the villages: Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. I don't know how to say any of them but they were pretty! We arrived in Monterosso by train, met our guide, then took a boat all the way down to the last town, Riomaggiore. We walked through Riomaggiore then took a train to Manarola, explored and ate lunch, and then took a train to Vernazza. After walking through Vernazza, we took a train back to Monterosso and had to catch our train back to Milan. Whew! It was crazy. But, I had a really fun time and the villages we walked through were gorgeous. It was nice to have our own guide too because she told us about the history behind each town and some of the buildings. For instance, there were some very narrow passageways which was from the time when pirates were invading the town and trying to kidnap women and children. The buildings were so close together through those passageways so they could jump from window to window without having to go down below because it was dangerous. Also, there was a huge flood in 2011 that destroyed many of the towns but the worst was Vernazza. The water was as high as the train tunnel that they had above ground and after four days, the mud was still as high as the ground over the tracks. We walked through a church that had to be completely restored because the whole floor was ruined from the water and some of the walls were still ruined. But anyways, Cinque Terre was very cool and comparable to Positano but it seemed more touristy. The water was beautiful though and people were cliff jumping into it. We eventually left Cinque Terre after walking around for about 4 hours and we were exhausted when we got back to Milan so we just went out to dinner then headed back to our hotel. Dinner was at an Argentine Steakhouse which was so delicious that we may or may not have been there the night before as well. Oh and I also may or may not have had a lemonchillo shot.
Day 10: We are back in the present and in Barcelona, Spain! I had to leave Italy today and I was very reluctant. I absolutely loved it and hope to go back someday. But anyways, we boarded our flight around 1:00 today and arrived in Barcelona, Spain around 3:00. Rob met us here so we now have one more leader to help us navigate throughout the city! Yay!! Barcelona is also comparable to Rome, only slightly more Americanized we decided. I still love it though and enjoy being in a Spanish environment after being in Italy for so many days! For dinner we had tapas which is very popular in Spain and tapas are small dishes that you order for your table and all share. Then later I tried some Sangria! Despite my first opinion of plain red wine: "it tastes like something just died in my mouth", I actually really enjoyed Sangria! Even though I'm sure you all know, Sangria is red wine with fruit in it and it's soooo good. We have 3 more days left in Europe/Spain and then it's back to the real world!
For those of you who aren't friends with my Uncle Brad on Facebook I compiled a list of things I miss from home not in any particular order (no I am not miserable on my trip or unthankful, just pondering what I am grateful for back at home) :
My dogs (Bogey, Bandit, and Gus)
My cat (Tigger)
My dad- hi dad ~i love you & miss you~
My brother- you're alright too and i guess ^
My bed
My grandparents
Uncle Erik, Aunt Kelly, and cousins
Ok here comes the inanimate objects:
My shower
Chargers that don't need adapters so I can charge my phone whenever I want
People and clothes that don't smell
Fanta that actually tastes like Fanta
Netflix that doesn't say "sorry Netflix has not come to this part of the world yet"
Real air conditioning
Food that doesn't contain squid ink or other unusual items
Riding in a car without fearing for my life
And here are some bonus items for only my blog followers that you won't find on Facebook:
People who I don't have to worry constantly whether they are talking about me in a different language
Cab drivers that don't ramble in Italian despite knowing you have no idea what they are saying
Taking trains or subways to get everywhere
Us Americans have it easy! Okay now I will bombard you with millions of pictures from this seriously awesome trip that I'm having lots of fun on:
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| On the way to Milan |
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| Walking in Milan |
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| By some shops |
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| Duomo |
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| Ceiling in shopping area |
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| Uncle Brad and I in Canal District |
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| Louis Vuitton |
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| Old church building in the middle of Milan |
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| Soccer stadium |
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| Weird sculpture #1 |
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| #2 |
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| #3 |
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| Coast of Monterosso |
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| Bunker from World War 2 built by the Germans for the Italians |
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| Random street |
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| Manorola from boat |
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| The water was awesome |
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| Cornelia from boat |
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| Riomaggiore |
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| Pretty tree with pink flowers |
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| I found another cat!!! |
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| Typical Italy buildings |
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| Standing in a square where the children play during school |
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| Overlooking one of the streets |
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| The water was so clear |
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| My favorite picture from Cinque Terre |
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| Panoramic |
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| Manarola |
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| The water was so pretty! |
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| The helicopter transports items to the towns |
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| This is how close the buildings were so they could jump from window to window |
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| Pineapple gelato became my obsession & I had to try peach |
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| Uncle Brad, Mom, and I |
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| The market in Barcelona..fresh fruit juices |
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| Fresh fruit |
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| More fresh fruit.. it was everywhere! I was in heaven |
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| Streets of Barcelona |
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| Barcelona |
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| Popular walkway La Rambla |
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| You know who |
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| Our hotel |
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