To the Motherland (Beginning to Plan for My European Backpack Trip)

Current Song: "Save the Night" by John Legend
Currently Reading: The Moro Affair by Leonardo Sciascia

As I've already mentioned a few days ago, my friends and I are planning a trip to backpack through Europe. The goal is for this to happen the summer of 2019. Pray that we can save enough money by that time because I'm so excited for this trip I don't think I can wait any longer than two years.

The fact that I want to visit Auschwitz and Pompeii sparked this idea. My roommate has been to Asia but never to Europe. I've only been to Italy (Motherland One. I have a total of three haha). We invited our two neighbors, one neighbor invited her friend, roommate invited three from home, I invited two from home, and I also invited two exchange students I hosted from Italy. My mom is totally against this trip because she's convinced Europe is super super super super super dangerous. My dad is 100% for it but he said safety in numbers. That's why we invited so many people (also because we're preparing ourselves for when those one or two people decide to drop out last minute). I was tired of feeling unaccomplished with my life and feeling like I'm doing absolutely nothing other than wasting away so that's why I want to do this. Plus I need a break from America's scenery and explore new things.

Before I move on, I should say all of these things are tentative. We complied a huge list of everything we could think of and we're all going to sit down later to discuss it what we can and cannot do.

The first stop is Ireland (Motherland Two. Before I move on, I should say I'm half Italian - hey, dad - quarter Polish, and quarter Irish - hey, mom). We don't know too much on Ireland but as of now we want to visit St. Patrick's Cathedral and possibly just take a road trip around because it's a beautiful country.

Next is London, England. We have an entire itinerary because one of my exchange students is getting her masters here so she gave me a bunch of stuff to do. A few ideas as of now are Big Ben, Harry Potter studies, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Churchill War Room, Hyde Park, possibly a show, and a bunch of of the free museums.There was a lot of not-so-touristy stuff on the list but I currently don't have that copy in front of me.

Next, Scotland. We have a few ideas for this country. Victoria (exploding boy.) told me about Loch Lomond which was on the list. My friends and I always want to visit Glasgow and Edinburgh.

I CAN'T FORGET STONEHENGE.

For the next few countries, there's no specific order.

Krakow, Poland. I'm a huge WWII geek and this is a motherland so of course we have to visit. We're planning around 3ish days. The first day will be about the city itself. The second day we'll explore the WWII stuff like Schindler's factory. Then day 3 will be at Auschwitz.

Amsterdam, Netherlands. Right now our plan is Anne Frank's annex and the Van Gogh museum. Victoria (exploding boy.) told me about other towns so I definitely have to look into those!

Italy. We're planning on four cities. We got so excited when naming cities that we just couldn't stop. We want to go to Venice, Rome, Florence, and Pompeii. We still need to discuss what we're going to do in Venice. For Rome, we're going to explore all the religious stuff (Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museums, etc.) and then another day will be spent on the ancient Rome stuff (Colosseum, Roman Forum, etc.). We must go to Florence because I fell in love with that city when I was there. The Dome is free so OFF WE GO. Plus I didn't get to go in last time I was there. We're going to try to get into the Uffizi and Accademia as well. Then there's Pompeii.

Germany. My friend has a list of stuff she wanted to see that I currently don't have in front of me. I know the Berlin Wall was on it and some castles and a zoological garden.

Vienna, Austria. A friend's dad just mentioned this to us so we have to look into it more.

Spain. I personally don't know too much about this country (but I always think of the oranges thanks to Ernest Hemingway's book). My roommate really wants to go so she's going to give me all the info.

Paris, France. Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Louvre, Les Miserables streets. We must.

Greece. Athens and Crete. I read about Crete in sixth grade and I have wanted to visit ever since.

The plan is staying in hostels, eating local, and traveling by train in order to save as much money as we can. When it comes to saving money, we're already planning a larger amount. We'd rather have money left over than not enough. We're also banking on being there for a month and a half at least. We're either going to love each other immensely or despise each other once it's all over but I'm excited anyway.

A friend of mine told me it's too early to start planning now. I want to plan early because I remember for my school's Italy trip we had a year to collect all the money and even then my parent's and I just made it. All the prices I looked up are ballpark and I'm going to have to constantly check prices to see if they change drastically. Prices will also help us eliminate what we don't have time to do. And I already looked into what to pack and how many days I need to set aside just in case something happens and I can't go home in time because I got so excited that I kept doing research.

So right now my life plan is as follows:

Summer 2017: Job back home in Chicago
Fall 2017: School in Wisconsin
Spring 2018: Study abroad in New Zealand
Summer 2018: Job in either Chicago or Madison and then Disney World
Fall 2018: School in Wisconsin
Spring 2019: School in Wisconsin and graduate
Summer 2019: Europe OR Job
Fall 2019: Disney College Program
Spring 2019: Job anywhere I can find one
Summer 2020: Europe OR Job

I still have a lot of depressive episodes in the present day, but for once I'm genuinely excited about the future and don't feel like my life is truly meaningless.

That's all for now!

Ciao a tutti!