200th post + belated blog birthday + thoughts

I was 14 when I started this blog. It seems like forever ago, probably because it was. I was only a freshman, I never thought I'd keep this blog for long. A lot can happen in two years, a lot can change. And a lot did happen, and a lot changed. IF you had told me two years ago that from 2011 to 2013 I would travel to Australia, New York, DC, Paris twice, and Italy all in two years, I probably wouldn't have believed you. 

I started this blog as a follower. I dressed the way others dressed because that was the thing to do. I wore almost exclusively J.Crew. I listened to music that was overplayed. I started this blog two years ago and somehow, between then and now, created the person that I am today. 

I can't believe it's 2013, I can't believe I'm a junior, I can't believe I'm going to college in a year and a half. All of these things are so hard to believe, but they're happening. It doesn't feel like I'm going to be seventeen in 4 months, I feel like I should still be a freshman figuring out the ropes of high school. It's strange being this age because you realize that you are the person you looked up to as a child, you're the "big kid now". And that scares me, it really does. But with the fear comes a certain sense of excitement.
And I'm ready to take it on.
After all, teenagers are invincible right?

xxx
Claire

europe part 1 | roma+firenze

Rome was such a cool city! Italians have such a rich culture and it was so fascinating to see all of these amazing sights that I had read about in textbooks and heard about all these years. I think that for me especially, being from the United States, I am always in awe of the amazing architecture of all of the buildings, many of them being older than my own country! The Vatican Museum was really cool, well actually I didn't care much for the main museum part so much as the Sistine Chapel! The Sistine Chapel was amazing, not too shabby for a guy who wasn't a painter! I think that this year was the perfect year for me to go to Italy because I'm in art history so a lot of the things that we saw I had also learned about in art history class. Saint Peters Basilica was pretty cool too, but I'm not catholic so being in the place where the Pope preaches was not really too exciting for me, great architecture though!

I also loved The Forum, which is the ancient Roman ruins. They were amazing! It was so weird to think that I was walking around structures that were there at the time of Jesus! Like W O W. I also think that ruins are just fun to look at and take pictures of.

Oh yeah, and I basically pretended I was Lizzie McGuire when I went to the Trevi fountain. I never got my hot Italian pop star boyfriend though????? Ugh, false advertising... 

things I did in Rome: trevi fountain, vatican, the forum/colosseum, pantheon, shopping (!!) + more

Guys, Florence is so pretty! Florence was definitely my favorite city in Italy that we went to. The last two pictures were from when my dad and I climbed up tons of stairs (like really, a lot) and we got to this overlook from which you could see the entire city of Florence. It was well worth it (I'm not kidding when I say there were a lot of stairs, I was winded!) and I got amazing pictures of the skyline! The best part about going up there? My sister has a hurt knee and it's hard for her to climb a lot of stairs, so she was the one who had to go paper shopping with my mom, HA! Ah I just love European architecture, it really is so sublime. 

things I did in Florence: saw the david(!), went through tons of churches and art museums, shopped more, walked throughout the city + more

xxx 

Claire 

europe through my iphone

1.) the streets of rome 2.) pantheon 3.) just chilling at the trevi fountain 4.) pasta in italy. so typical 5.) all new outfit 6.) sistine chapel (illegal photo oops?) 7.) saint peters basilica 8.) my true love 9.) view from my hotel in florence 

10.) the david (some more illegal photo taking..) 11.) the duomo * 12.) the alps maybe? view out the window from venice to amsterdam 13.) another view out the plane 14.) KLM rocks, way better then the peanuts they throw at you in the United States (yeah europe!) 15.) view out the hotel room in paris 16.) eiffel tower (just in case you couldn't tell) 17.) le bon marché 18.) macaron from ladurée, everyone needs to have one of these before they die

I always feel like I was meant for Europe. Everything there is just so... old. Not to mention everyone dresses amazing, including the guys (no athletic clothes unless, catch this, people are actually working out!!). I love it.  

This trip was definitely interesting. It was a mix of good and bad. The first 24 hours were pure awful however. Bad enough that I wanted to turn right back home and crawl into my bed and forget about the trip altogether. 

First 24 hours (home ✈ rome):

(XXX**✈JFK): There was a snowstorm where I live, we got the the airport a few hours early and were there for a few more than we expected, our plane was delayed, and then delayed and then delayed again. It was iffy if we were going to make our flight out of JFK or not but that was confirmed when we got into New York at exactly the same time our plane was scheduled to leave. We asked the people where to go to get catch our next flight which was now to Amsterdam. They told us we had to run, at this point I wasn't feeling very well and when you have to run through a huge airport under stressful conditions when you cannot run and have bad anxiety at 10:00 pm, the odds are certainly not in your favor, and they most certainly were not in mine. I was in tears at this point I wanted to go home, I felt like I was going to throw up or pass out or both.

(JFK ✈AMS): We ended up making our flight to Amsterdam, barely as we were the last people on our plane and they shut the door directly behind us. Our seats were not anywhere near each other and they were all middle seats. Luckily there were nice people who were willing to switch so my mom and I could be together and my dad and sister could too. The flight while we were in the air was pretty uneventful, besides a screaming baby and a woman whose snoring was so loud I thought the plane was breaking. When we landed however the person across the aisle from me was sick, she wasn't waking up and and she was really out of it and then she started throwing up, I literally climbed past a row of seats and pushed past a few people because I needed to get out of there, I just can't handle that stuff.

(AMS✈FCO):Amsterdam has a very nice airport, like better than any airport in the states that I've been to. Our plane ride to Rome was uneventful and generally good (cookies in economy class? another win for europe). We got to rome and waited for an hour staring at the suitcases circle through the conveyor belt again and again, other peoples suitcases, not ours. After an hour and when we were the last people in the entire baggage claim, my dad went to the service desk and asked them where our suitcases were. Well, they didn't know. Like not at all. They thought mine was in Amsterdam (spoiler alert: it wasn't). Apparently they were in New York still and so they were sent to Rome on the flight the next day. They had to wait in processing in Rome for another day so we didn't end up getting our suitcases until Christmas Eve two days later (best Christmas gift EVER) 

So that was my interesting first 24 hours of my trip accompanied with some instagrams (from my personal account). Moral of the story: DON'T FLY DELTA. the end.

Have any of you guys ever had horrible travel experiences? Tell me in the comments!

*I went to venice in between here but there was not any wifi so I didn't instagram
**for privacy