Amy's European Vacation

A trip to Europe in June was an exciting adventure and a nice reward for Amy Russell’s hard work.

Russell’s aunt is a high school French teacher. She takes a group of students to Europe every year. Russell and her cousin were able to accompany her aunt on this 11 day European vacation. She supplemented the money she saved from high school graduation with wages earned by working at a pharmacy.

A 24-hour journey, including a long connecting international flight and a five-hour bus ride, brought Russell to Venice, Italy, where she rode in a gondola steered by a man in a striped shirt. Russell said that the food in Italy was terrible.

“The bread was hard, the water was warm and we ate spaghetti a lot," Russell said. "I don’t do warm beer, so I ordered wine if the water tasted too weird.”

Ice cream, or gelato, was Russell’s favorite treat on the trip. Russell loves ice cream, but she is lactose intolerant. When she discovered gelato agreed with her stomach, she ate it every day.

In Verona, Russell found that Italians have different ideas about personal space. They shoved their ways through crowds without excusing themselves, and they tried their best to take advantage of tourists.

The group only had one-and-a-half hours to see the Louvre in Paris. There was not enough time to see everything, but they saw Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa."

Outside the Louvre, Russell encountered a street vendor who sold her a strawberry crepe.

“It was so much better than one I had at an expensive restaurant that cost 10 Euro," Russell said. "This one only cost three Euro.”

Russell really wanted to see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, she only got to see the lights when she was underneath the Eiffel Tower. Russell still said it was the prettiest part of the trip.

In the French Riviera, Russell’s friends wanted to see a nude beach. It was not a typical beach because it was covered in coarse pebbles.

“Most pretty people were wearing at least some clothes," Russell said. "The only person that was entirely naked was a huge, overweight woman lying down. It was disgusting."

At one French Riviera beach some of Russell’s friends jumped into the cold water. When those people emerged from the water with blue lips, Russell was glad that she did not join them.

Russell said she had a fun-filled trip that she will remember her entire life.

“We didn’t get to do everything we wanted, but we didn’t miss anything important,” Russell said.