I had the amazing opportunity to visit Europe to start out my summer! I spent time fundraising and collecting donation money all year until the time came to travel over seas for my first time! There were 25 kids from my Humanities class that went on the trip. Our Humanities teacher went with us, along with a few of the hippest chaperones alive! No curfew, along with an unlimited amount of trust, this was the greatest trip ever! I was a little nervous going into it because I wasn't close friends with a lot of the people. Coming out of it, I had made about 20 new best friends that I will never forget! During our journey we visited France, Italy, Greece and Switzerland. Our Breakfast and dinner meals were free and we were guided around by some of the best tour guides. We were offered so much free time to go out on the town. The night life was crazy and of course we hit up the best clubs!
I couldn't help but notice the European fashion! Of course, being a fashionista, I loved searching for the most unique clothes! A friend and I would always point out the cutest girls and the most stylish men. Oh how I wish that people would actually try to look presentable like that in Chandler! During the trip we saw all of the tourist attractions and tried to consume all of the famous food that each country had to offer! Words cannot describe the fun that I had in each country but without a doubt, each country had its perks.
Paris, France; Bread, Bread, Bread. There was a patisserie across the street of our hotel and the automatic late night snack was a two foot long baguette. I am afraid to admit that I did consume the whole thing, on my own. The first night we sat under the Eiffel Tower and watched the light show display. This was the first city that we visited so it was our first experience with the Metro. It was very important to have my friend J.J with me at all times because he knew his way around the Metro! Paris was exactly what I thought it would be. Little shops, french speaking people and amazingly dressed women. Although the men were awfully forward about their compliments toward some of us girls, it was a beautiful, artistic city. I promised myself that I would run in every city that we visited and the second day in Paris was the start of it! Running in a different country felt so amazing! the weather was constantly perfect all through out the trip.
Roomies Nicole and LeAnne
Monica and I in front of the Eiffel Tower
Nicole and I in front of the famous Louvre Museum
LeAnne and I eating lunch at the Patisserie across the street! My first time eating a croque-monsieur (a grilled ham and cheese)!
In front of the Paris Gardens
A walk through the park!
The group in front of the Arch de Triumph ( There was underground tunnel access)
Walking down the Champs Elysees with my best buddies :)
Lucern, Switzerland; Chocolate, fondue, the best club and the prettiest view ( I kid you not, the prettiest sight in the world). Not very often can you stop at a truck stop, sit down, eat the best meal of your life and stare out the huge window and look at a mother goat and its cute babies frolicking in a pasture. We took a train to the alps and sang "The Hills Are Alive" while looking over the beautiful city of Lucern. It was the ultimate vacation destination.
Making a wish in the Alps!
A night walk with the girls around town
Our boat ride to the Alps, Chillin' with Jerry!
Monica told me to look indie, It was definitely a fail hahaha
Jumping for joy :)
oh hey there gorgeous view!!
The Swan Pond. This took forever to take, poor Moni was deathly afraid of the birds!
What a beauty hahahaha my cousin Nicole snapped this one
Nicole and I right before the boat ride to the Alps
Jerry and I on our way up to the Alps!
What a beautiful view!
This was the nicest hotel that we stayed in with an amazing view! Well, every view in Switzerland is amazing!
What a great place!
Rob and I were in a High School Musical Play right before freshman year and we were the best of friends! We were reunited on the Europe trip and I am so happy to call him one of my favorite guy friends! Love him so much!
Swiss scenery was amazing! Couldn't pass up a great picture in green grass!
The Swan Pond across from our hotel
This ones for the ladies!!! Club and Red Lip Night!
There is a long story behind this pose and face, all I have to say is that I love my friends in Arizona so much! <3 This picture goes out to my girl Julissa Ruth!
We didn't plan to match but I guess best friends think alike!
Couldn't ask for a better day :)
Love these girls so much!
Tay-Tay, Mon, Madds and Kend
Florence, Rome, Capri and Sorento, ITALY; We went to quite a few cities in Italy but the only thing that I can say, rating wise, is that Rome was my least favorite. Rome did have the best gelato around though! The coconut gelato was to die for! In Florence we relaxed and saw the David and The florence dome. But aside from the gorgeous history, WE SAW JERSEY SHORE. Well, I have no interest in the show at all but we came across the three guys being filmed at a hip restaurant in florence! Maddison and I, Along with a few other girls, were the only ones that saw them! The rest of our friend group had already gone back to the hotel at this time and when we arrived to tell them the news, they were so mad at us and demanded us to take them back! Of course we didn't spend any time walking back but just flaunted our pictures with the celebrities that are famous for no reason. In Rome we shopped and saw The Colosseum, The Pantheon, The Forum, The Vatican, The Trevi Fountain and much more!
Capri felt like a scene from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. It was just outside the borders of Greece so the mediterranean vibe circulated all around the town. It was even prettier that Switzerland! We only spent a couple hours on Capri because we were going to catch a ferry to Sorento. I bought a lunch that cost about 20 american dollars because I had not had good seafood in months! I had a fresh swordfish fillet with shrimp and lobster. It felt so good to be eating healthy fish that was probably caught hours before it entered my mouth. Not too long after, our ferry arrived and we went to the Island of Sorrento. Sorrento felt just like a Miami resort. It was our first hotel that had a pool so you could imagine what we all did the moment we got to the hotel. We went to a few clubs in Sorrento and we definitely picked the wrong night. It was some sort of holiday in Europe so not many people were out on the town that night. The clubbing experience was awful, especially for me, having to deal with all of my drunk friends. I stayed sober through out the whole trip and probably had a better time than most of the kids that drank every night. I enjoyed being the mother figure but at times it was stressful having to deal with all of them! Sorrento had the most amazing cobblestone streets with side markets and fresh fruit. There were restaurants with live opera singers and plenty of unique shops to browse around. This was by far one of the favorite cities on my list. It was small, clean and affordable.
FLORENCE
Waiting in line for a museum....typical!
Enjoying our gelato with the best teacher ever Ms. Dempsey!
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| City street! |
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| More Gelato! Mango and Coconut was the best! |
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| Madds and I in front of Jersey Shore!! |
Getting ready for a fun night!
The Ladies with Shelby another chaperone that I went jogging with
<3
Outside of a museum!
Laocoon and His Sons
Just napping in front of The Primavera
Florence streets!
The bus ride! Most of the time we were sleeping on the bus or unhappy because of a really annoying tour guide that we had! She would talk nonstop over the intercom when we were obviously so tired! it annoyed us so much that it just became a huge joke!
Ready to go dancing!
The hotel room! It took us about an hour to find our room because the hotel was so confusing! There were two elevators and about four different flights of stairs! eventually we found it but there was a rattling air conditioning vent that would not shut up! luckily we found a way to turn it off!
Florence!
Typical Dinner in the dinning hall
The Florence Duomo
Fresh fruit market
Amazing salad! Only because of the amazing balsamic dressing that Florence is famous for!
ROME
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| The Colosseum! |
Nicole and I in front of the Trevi!
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| My ladies in front of the Trevi Fountain! |
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| Rob with the ladies in front of the Trevi! |
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| It had been a good week and we needed to wash clothes! I brought a little bit of laundry detergent so we thought it would be a good idea to do the wash in the tub! we laid everything out to dry outside of our window where we had a roof access. It was a good idea until it poured that night! A couple of us had nothing to wear! It was horrible at the time but it's something to laugh about now! |
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| Party time! |
CAPRI
Riding to the top!
The ride back down, I was the designated back rubber
Boat Ride to Capri!
Capri!
Edward and I met on the trip and instantly became the best of friends!
Waiting for my expensive, yet delicious dinner!
Capri Beach! rockin my new H&M skirt for seven dollars in Rome! Love the pastel!
Trolly Ride
Wonderful Capri!
The Girls! What an amazing view of Capri!
SORRENTO
My best friend and cousin Nicole :)
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| Getting off the ferry to sorrento! |
A night with my besties!
There was a lot of seafood in Sorrento and Octopus was very popular! It wasn't too bad!
View from the Hotel!
Next and last stop, Athens, Greece; We had a tall hotel with a roof top pool that had an amazing view of the Acropolis. Apparently we were in a very bad part of town and a lot of people were afraid to go outside of the hotel. Good thing I had my good friend Edward with me that is fluent in greek and knows his way around the town. We saw the Parthenon and a lot of famous Greek ruins. Our last night was spent in Athens and we partied the whole night and didn't get any sleep at all! Only about ten of us hit the clubs and danced the night away, when it got to be around three in the morning, the amount of people had dwindled down to five. We decided that we would go to a cafe and watch the sunrise. At around nine o'clock we would be heading home on a sixteen hour plane flight including a lay over. We didn't want to sleep because we wanted to save it for the plane ride! The last night was so enjoyable and it was so sad to say that I would have to leave for home.
GREECE
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| Look at the beautiful water! Our pit stop in Greece to try greek food! |
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| Mmmmm Gyros! |
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| Last time listening to Chaperones! |
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| Monica, Rahul and I |
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| Monica, Eddy, J.J and I! |
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| My favorite boy Edward! |
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| Courtney, Alyssa, Cecilia and I |
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| Nicole and I |
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| Nicole, Tyler and I |
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| Shelbs! what an awesome chaperone! |
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| Jer Bear! One of the best!! |
At a rooftop bar hanging out with the besties!
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| Greek Restaurant |
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| Edward and I at the ruins |
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| just a little candid |
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| There were so many stray dogs in Greece! Everyone was playing with them. It took me a while to even touch one because I don't know where they have been! Finally I touched it for the picture, they were adorable:) |
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| The Acropolis view from our hotel! |
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| At the stage by the Parthenon |
What a view!
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| the group at the Acropolis |
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| Moni & I |
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| Edward & I |
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| Club hands!! |
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| Me and My boys!! |
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The Parthenon |
In front of the greek flag!
Ladies!
The group :)
Yummy Greek food!!
I love these girls so much! We had so much fun together!!
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| What a great trip :) |
I told you that it was too much to explain! this isn't even half of it! I know you probably just scrolled to the pictures but I will never forget these two weeks. I met some of my best friends on this trip and saw some of the greatest things. It was such a culture shock to come home to free water, inexpensive food, homemade food, free bathrooms and of course, the hot weather of Arizona. It was a very bittersweet return.
Until next time,
XOXO Kendall
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