Giselle gave me a challenge!

I had kind of given up on writing these but Giselle challenged me to write a couple more:

1) write about how it was travelling from Europe to the USA and a list of everywhere I went
2) take picture of every corner on the block I live on in America.

So here it is, it'll be a long one, but I've been to a few places in between Assisi and Denver.

After finishing work in Assisi, which was easily the best job I've ever had and can't wait to go back next year, most of the crew made the journey to Florence, most for only one night but I stuck around for another couple of nights to check it out properly.

The crew!

Il Duomo!

After my days in Florence it was on the train and up to the beautiful city that is unlike any other, Venice! Spending a couple of nights here, meeting awesome people and getting completely  lost in the labyrinth that is the main island.

Grand Canal!

Then it was time to return to Rome. This time with the influence being on sight seeing, as the last trip was more of a social trip. I ticked off some more must sees but have left the Vatican for my trip there next year!

Trevi Fountain!

This marked the end of my Italian adventure, for now, and was time to head off on the next adventure, America, but of course I needed a few days break in Lisbon, Portugal. 5 days there with a cold meant I didn't do much but did find an awesome town about 40 minutes away, Sintra!

Sintra

So it was time to navigate the Lisbon Airport and figure out how to get some medicine to help me deal with this cold. Managed to find a pharmacy where they spoke enough English to figure out what I needed, and it made my flight a lot better than I expected. I was a little under prepared when I arrived in Newark airport but with a little assistance from mum back in NZ, I made my way to my hostel in New York and got ready to start my American journey.

The journey started the next day with a trip into the heart of New York, Time Square and then on to Grand Central Terminal to meet up with a friend and explore the city.

Time Square

Next on the agenda was a 5 day stay in Washington DC, so hopped on the bus and went off to the Nations Capital to stay with a friend and check out some famous landmarks. Capitol Building, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, The White House and a few others. While I was there just walked across the boarder and into Virginia to check out Arlington National Cemetery and the Pentagon.

The White House!

Then it was time to head back to New York to meet a couple more friends and explore some other parts of the city (Central Park and China town), before meeting some other people for some drinks and a couple of birthday celebrations. After relaxing in the hostel for a day I decided it was time to move on and check out Boston. Exploring the campus's of MIT and Harvard and walking the Freedom Trail.

Freedom Trail!

After exploring Boston it was time to move on from the East Coast and head inland more, and onto Chicago. Had a friend pick me up from the airport and back to his place for a bit before heading into a baseball game with some of his friends and another of mine. The next day walked around the city in the rain. Its a nice place so want to head back on a nice day.

Cubs game with DJ

A very short stay in Chicago but was good fun and was time to move on down to Champaign-Urbana (the town that the University of Illinois is in) for 4 nights. An awesome town and was there as the university was just starting up for the year. Met some awesome people and had a great time. Saw Kansas play live and sweet corn festival, a community dinner at a mutual friends place, 4 great nights out with different people and biking all over town at random hours of the night. Had a great time and hope I can go back there again.

Thats bringing this to the end of the intensive travel part. I caught a plane from Champaign back to Chicago and then on to Denver which has been home for the past month. Living with 3 awesome people. Adam and Jessy who I lived with when they came to Lincoln on exchange and Mike a friend of Jessy's. Having a great time living here. Football on Sundays watching the Denver Broncos win (5 -0 so far), a camping trip into the mountains, kickball on Friday nights, rock climbing every once and a while.

Will be moving out of here in a little over a month and out to the mountains where I will be working as a lift operator at Beaver Creek for the winter . Will be working 4 days a week so I can spend the other 3 on the mountains. The company I;m working for has multiple ski fields and gives me a ski pass to all of them so looking forward to that.

And that's about all. Not sure when I'll do the next challenge but I'll hopefully get it done.

Hope everyone is well :)