Twelve days. Four cities. Countless stories to tell. Over April break, 41 Staples students and teachers—including me—took a trip to Italy and France. It was certainly an experience I will never forget, but it may not be an experience I want to repeat.
The trip started with a 30-hour day. On Wednesday, April 11, we went to school, then to the airport and straight to an art exhibit in Rome. It was exhausting to say the least, but most days of the trip were somehow worse. For some reason, whomever designed the trip decided we should try to see all of Rome in 1.5 days, all of Florence in 1.5 days and all of Venice in 1.5 days. Breaks were few and far between.
After such long days, we were always excited to sit down and have a nice dinner. Luckily, EF Tours—the company that designed the trip—had pre-paid for all of our dinners. I think they did this by hunting down all of the worst restaurants in Italy and taking us there, just to give us a more complete look at what Italy is really like.
The first night was the worst; the vegetarian option was a ball of mozzarella and some potatoes. Luckily, after that, the leader of the trip complained to EF tours, and they gave us increasingly better options. Almost as good as the Italian food in America.
Despite these flaws, the trip was one of the highlights of my year. We hit all of the most well-known museums in the cities we went to: the Colosseum, the Vatican, the Uffizi, the Academia, the Guggenheim, the Musée D’Orsay and the Louvre. The artwork in all of these places were gorgeous, but my personal favorite museums were the Uffizi and the Musée D’Orsay.
Additionally, we were given a few hours of free time in each city. It was not quite enough to check everything off my bucket list, but it was enough to enjoy a couple of good meals and to do lots of great shopping. This was my absolute favorite part of the trip. I highly recommend these cities for the next time you travel. They were beautiful and there were lots of fun activities to do in each. However, if you want to truly enjoy your time in these cities, do not go with EF tours.
