Italy

On my trip to Italy I got to travel around to many different cities. I visited Firenze and Roma as well as the coastal cities of Chiqua Terre. Everything in Rome is incredibly beautiful. The architecture is amazing and the fact that they built some of these elaborate churches hundreds and hundreds of years ago with hammers and nails is mindblowing. Firenze was my favorite place that I visited. The city layout is remarkable. You feel like you are just walking down a normal steet and then boom, theres the biggest church you have ever seen. Never would I have expected that. The bridges across the river in Firenze are incredible as well. Roma is a very different city than Firenze. Everyone is zooming around on their bikes and in their cars compared to people walking everywhere. Vatican City was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. To me it shows a major flaw in the catholic church though. I am a devoted Catholic and I always have been, but the fact that I go to mass every sunday and am asked for money to help the church is hard to understand. From what I have seen at the Vatican they do not need much money. Everything there is extremely elaborate and they have what looks to be millions and millions of dollars worth of jewels and elaborate robes sitting in the city. Why does a church need these things? The point of the church is to be modest not to show off how powerful you are. I think that if these things were to be sold off and that money given to help the needy then it would make me feel much more comfortable giving my money away to the church every week. These cities are very different from American cities. America does not have nearly the amount of history that Italy has due to the short existence. Seeing all of these places that have such an elaborate, diversified history is mindblowing to me. I want to go back to Italy someday and I give it an 8/10.

Ryan Air

America needs to find a way to bring Ryan Air to them. This is quite possible the smartest business idea I have ever heard of. Before coming to Europe I had not even heard of Ryan Air, but after being here for 3 months I know that whoever created this company is a genius. Flights for less than 50 euro is a steal. Why would you ever fly with another company when the price is 1/5 of the competitor. They typically fly for 1-2 hours and the maximum price I have had to pay is about 50 euro which is completely reasonable. A flight the same length in America would cost me $300 even if I booked it months in advance. By no means does it cost an airline $300 a person to fly from Cincinnati to Florida. These airlines are also charging for extra bags. Sure on Ryan Air you have to listen to commercials or advertisements for an hour or so, but for the price that I have to pay I will gladly do this. People have become spoiled because they complain about the size of the seats or the lack of comfort. You are flying on an airplane, something that one hundred years ago would be ridiculous, by no means can you expect to be comfortable 40,000 feet in the air going 500 mph. I am just happy that I am not in a compact car or on a boat where it would take so much more time. If no one else beats me to it I want to create a company like Ryan Air in America someday because I think it is the most genius idea ever!

Dublin Weather

Where I am from in America the weather is pretty average. It rains in the spring, snows in the winter, and gets moderately hot in the summer. I love this wide range of weather especially the snow. Everyone has been telling me that in Dublin it is rare for it to snow in the winter. The past few days it has been resembling my hometown in the winter for snow, which I love. The difference between Dublin and my hometown in this weather is the way that they treat it. The roads here are miserable and to me it has not even snowed a ridiculous amount. Where I come from this is a normal winter and the roads would be clear. Dublin is simply unprepared for snow and even now after a few days they still have barely done anything to change it. I have not seen a single plow or salt truck on the road and it has been negative degrees with rain, sleet, and snow coming down for awhile. My city would have had salt on the ground before it even began snowing. Snow plows would be running the streets all day making sure that the roads are clear and there is not ice all over the place. The thing I find hard to believe is that my city is not, by any means, known for its snow. So I find it hard to believe that a major city in Europe cannot handle a little bit of ice and snow. Maybe in the next few days they will change my mind, but right now I think the treatment of the weather has been pretty bad.

Paris

Paris

Ever since I took French in high school I have wanted to visit France. I have learned a lot about French history as well as famous places to visit. Before a week ago these were just pictures that I had in my head. Luckily during my time in Europe I got to visit Paris for six days. Every French person will tell you that you cannot see Paris in only six days, but I definitely gave it my best shot. I saw nearly every name brand item in Paris possible. The Eiffel Tower, Versailles, Sacre-Couer, the Louvre, Centre-Pompidou, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, l'opera, Moulin Rouge, and of course the Champs-Elysees. I had the pleasure of staying at a French's friends house in Paris which was a significant benefit. He could speak the language for me as well as drive me around to all of these places in half the time. The city is beautiful. Everything was incredible except I found some of the French to be very pompous. Not that a person should not be proud of their city and country, but there is a certain limit before it gets to the point of annoying, According to the French everything in Paris is an extremely famous place. Many of the places we went to I had never even heard of and I have studied French. So it cannot be that famous. Also, everything in Paris has a ridiculous price tag on it. We visited a shopping center where every store for the first 3 floors was named something along the lines of Gucci or Armani. Everything in this place cost over 100 euro, most of them running into the tens of thousands of euro. I cannot believe that people will actually pay that kind of money for CLOTHES. I saw a 100,000 euro watch...by no means is that necessary, but there are people in this store legitimately wanting to buy these things. Where I am from in America things are definitely different. Once something costs into the hundreds of dollars it is a big decision on whether or not to buy it and if it is bought it is taken good care of. The French were throwing their money around on these things like it grows on trees. There are much more important things in life than 300 euro shoes. Maybe it is just my short perspective from only being there a few days, but it is how I felt. Overall, Paris was incredible besides the materialistic side of the city. I give it a 9/10 and I hope to come back someday!