For my spring break two weeks ago, my friends and I planned out a trip to the UK. We spent two days in London, two days in Edinburgh, and two days in Dublin.

It was fantastic. If you’ve been keeping up with my blogs at all, you’ll notice that I’ve been constantly complaining about cold weather (which is very strange, considering I go to school in State College, and I should be well used to negative ten degree weather) Our UK loop was no different, but for the first time since I’ve been in Europe, I really hardly noticed it. There is no greater feeling than being able to speak and understand English when you’ve been in Italy for two months, let me tell ya.

This was also the first trip I took where I went by plane, versus on a bus, and it was a desperately needed change after the twelve hour ride to and from Prague. I’ve been to London at least once every year for the past few years, so there wasn’t much the city held for me, sight seeing wise. I mostly just followed along my roommates who wanted to sight see, since I’ve already done most of it. Still, this was highly enjoyable for me and I still maintain that (besides Florence), London is my favorite city.

We had to get back in the habit of tipping again, which hurt our hearts as well as our wallets. The pound is ridiculously more expensive than the euro and the dollar, and then London itself is just very expensive. Double whammy.

After London, we took Scotrail over to Edinburgh. I felt like I was in Harry Potter, what with a compartment on the train and all. It was a smooth ride, definitely enforcing that train is my favorite mode of transportation.

Edinburgh, which I’ve already already been to, was a really unique walking city. It was so hill-y, with so many slopes that I know the Scots there must have great legs from walking. Imagine Florence, except windier, with more slopes, and a bit more trash. I never really appreciated how clean Florence was until I went to Edinburgh.

In Scotland, we toured the Edinburgh Castle and learned some history about it. We also got to eat some hearty Scottish food, which my one Irish roommate was very pleased about. After that, we did a bit of shopping on the Royal Mile, famous for its plaid cashmere (which I happily picked up some samples of, of course.)

The last leg of spring break was Dublin, Ireland. We flew from Edinburgh to Dublin, and it was the most beautiful landing of my life. It was the first time my plane has landed near a coast, and it was breathtaking.

In Dublin, we spent a day doing the Guinness Brewery tour, which I highly recommend to anyone. But it was the trip to the Cliffs of Moher that was the big highlight of Ireland. They were absolutely gorgeous, and I thought it was so cool that I actually recognized the spot they used to film Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince before our guide even said anything! Also fun fact for anyone who’s interested-they also offer a Game of Thrones tour in Dublin, since much of the series was filmed around the area as well.

The best part of the UK was definitely being able to speak English again. It was so nice and stress-relieving, that we didn’t need to worry if we were going to be able to find our way around, since we knew we could read signs or ask people without a problem. However, as challenging as being in Italy is, I wouldn’t change it if I could. I definitely love that I forced myself to step out of my comfort zone, and Italian culture is much more different than the culture in the UK, which isn’t too far from American culture. I might miss being able to communicate fluently at times, but I wouldn’t give this experience up for the world-that’s sort of what it is, isn’t it, anyway?