Israel in two weeks, St. Louis in Feb., LA in March!

Hello all!

I hope everyone had a very nice few weeks of holidays between Thanksgiving, Chanukah, and Christmas! I have been extremely busy between finals, work, and then coming home to get my wisdom teeth taken out...it was quite a bummer. However I am extremely excited to be going to Israel in TWO WEEKS from tomorrow! It is seriously coming up so fast and I cannot wait to get over there. The itinerary looks great and includes us going to: Golan Heights, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Masada, Negev, and all of these other really cool places. I cannot wait for the experiences, especially riding a camel in the desert! I feel like that will be wild. I also just got a brand new camera so I will be able to take some awesome pics!

After I get back from Israel less than a month later I will be going to St. Louis for the AFLV conference with Panhellenic Exec. I cannot wait to experience the conference and also see a little bit of St. Louis, should be interesting.

Then in March I will be going to LA to visit my cousin Sandy for spring break! That is going to be incredible. I have never to Cali so I think it's about time ago. Also we will be going to Disneyland!! Yay!

Summertime is still to be determined what I am doing...we shall see though! That's it for now, Happy New Years!

<3 Gabbie

P.S I left you with another old personal favorite photo!

Travel Itch

No new updates...just my first trip orientation for Israel is next week! I cannot wait. As for now, I just applied for a few internships for this summer in Italy through the State Department. If I do not get those, I will be applying for the internship in London through Mason! Alexis and Slewis I believe will be applying for it as well. It can be a repeat of last summer and it would be amazing.

Thinking of leaving and traveling is seriously the only thing getting me through the rest of this semester. This semester has seriously been the one from hell and I just want to get out and travel and see things.

Well that's it for now...I'll leave you with a picture once again!

-Gabbie

Israel Updates!

So although we have some ways away till the trip, short update...

Two of my guy friends Alex Howard and Alex Clemente, in addition to my sorority sister Alli Wynn will all be going on this trip together! It has made me 30x more excited! I CANNOT WAIT!

Also, referencing back to Roma...today I commented the Mad for Beer fan page on facebook talking about how I applied for these two internships in Roma (crossing my fingers!) and they told me they are waiting for me. Precious.

I am attaching an old picture from Mad for Beer in honor of my favorite bar ever while abroad with my favorite bar tender Roberto! Stay tuned...

-Gabbie

Next stop...ISRAEL!

Hello friends!

It has been so long since I have updated this travel blog and my life seriously has been turned around since Italy and the rest of Europe.

Yes, I've been more broke than ever...

Yes, my classes have sucked more than ever...

and of course I do crave the occasional gelato or pizza...

but at the end of the day that one trip just gave me the biggest travel itch that has never stopped.

The great news is that today I was accepted to go to Israel for my Birthright Trip through Hillel! I am SO EXCITED FOR THIS TRIP! Thanks to Roberta being Jewish, I get to go for FREE! Being a global affairs major and literally being in the hub of one of the most interesting countries in the world, while getting in touch with my Jewish faith is going to be one of the most incredible things in the world. But that's all for now, I AM BACK!

SHALOM

Gabbie

As of tomorrow...

I will be back officially in the states for a month already

time goes by

and i have a credit card bill due...

life goes on

Almost done...

Since I've posted I went to Oxford and saw Christ's Church and all of the places where Harry Potter was filmed in Oxford...it was incredible! I met up with Dario and Ivan, Mauro's brothers. We went to Pizza Express, where Ivan worked and what Amelia recommended, it was delicious! Then I just walked around Oxford for the day and naturally I bought an Oxford University t-shirt.

The next day I went and saw all the major sites via a Duck Tour. It was interesting and the easiest way to see pretty much everything that needs to be seen. I also went on the Beatles walking tour which was a lot of fun and it ended with us at Abbey Road studios, of course I got my picture crossing Abbey Road!

I left London bright and early the next day for Milano. I have to say I like Rome a lot better than London, maybe because I'm biased, I don't know? But I felt London was very much so Americanized just with people driving on different sides of the road and some bigger sites. I also like Rome because I feel like they have preserved the old-ness of it very well and you really get that feeling when you walk down the road.

But anyhow Milano has been good. I spent the first couple of days hanging with my cousin Chiara and now I am in Varese with all of our good family friends which is really nice. I'm ready to go home though and sad that I am missing the 4th of July. Soon enough though these travels will be done, sure I'll miss it, but I'm ready to get back to the USA and do American things.

My list of things I want in the US:
-Pedicure, my feet are all beat up from walking so much!
-I need my eye brows waxed, enough said
-A slurpee, a granita doesn't cut it these days
-Arnold Palmer, nothing says America like a good ol' AP
-Mexican Food, as in Tinga, my mom is taking me Thursday night when I get back!
-THE GYM-too many carbs + no working out= : |
-Work, I am so broke!
-A day trip to the Jersey Shore, nothing defines summer for anyone from Jersey but trips to the Jersey Shore
-DAVE MATTHEWS BAND CONCERT, cannot wait!
-AIR CONDITIONING AND DRYERS...yup
-My car Mashonda the Honda <3
-And of course my family and friends =)

<3 Gabbie

London Calling

Hello from London!

I hope you all enjoyed my last post on Rome because I truly miss it a lot! London has been fantastic so far though. I arrived on Friday via Austrian Airlines. Let me tell you, I LOVED THAT PLANE. The flight attendants were the most pleasant people I've ever met in that business and when I walked on they were like speaking German. It was great. They had funny all red outfits on though and the food they gave us was interesting...but it was fun.

When I got off the plane I went through customs (yay new passport stamps), collected my luggage, and went on my first tube experience. Now when people say the London metro is the nicest thing ever, they aren't kidding. It is so clean! I feel like I'm on the monorail at Disney, it's great. Also the "Mind the Gap" thing is precious too.

When I finally arrived at my destination I had some difficulty carrying my luggage. Thankfully the Brits are really nice people and helped me carry it up the stairs. I got to my hostel/dorm room place at the University of Westminster. It's actually like really nice here, just a little far out from the city. After I got here I went and met up with Jess which was good.

The next day we went to Oxford Circus. It's really cool a lot of shopping and such, reminded me of Via del Corso in Rome. We ended up getting lunch at Pizza Hut, because it's like a legit restaurant in London (who knew!) and we went to Topshop of course. But I'm broke from these pounds and didn't buy anything. After our day there that night we went to watch the US game...such a disappointment, freaking Ghana! Then we went to Camden Town, which I compared to Trastevere of London, a lot of bars and cool clubs and such. We went to a club called Gilgamesh and met up with her friends. It was a lot of fun, despite the old ass people in the club.

Today I went and explored a little bit. I ended up at Piccadilly Circus and watched the England game. Talk about another disappointment. After that I went to Covent Garden and explored and got some dinner at Marks and Spencer. It was a nice day.
Now I am back at my room. Tomorrow I'll be going to Jess' and Oxford for the day!

Toodeloo!

me