Riley Stefano, Author at Life is for Living

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Ciao Bella! Traveling Through Italy

April 12, 2015 No Comments

This past week has been a whirlwind as I explored the beautiful country of Italy for spring break. I visited two regions, three cities, and five villages all in the course of four days. Despite the time crunch, I saw more history than in any other country I have visited; I also ate more pasta, pizza, and gelato than I ever have in my life. The first stop of the trip was an overnight stay in the small city of Pisa. You can’t go to Italy without seeing the infamous leaning tower and taking the cliché picture of pushing it back in to place! The day we went was Easter Sunday and the streets were bustling with people shopping at the local flea market taking place in the city square. There was much more to the city than I had anticipated, and snapping that one picture was definitely worth the overnight…

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The Motherland: Visiting My Roots on the Dingle Peninsula, Ireland

March 24, 2015 No Comments

The month of March has been all about exploring the beautiful country I have been living in for the past two months. I’ve had visitors along the way to go on these adventures with, and this past week I was lucky enough to have my family along with me. I took them to a few places I had already been, the must sees of Ireland, Blarney Castle, the Cliffs of Moher, and Connemara and Kylemore Abbey. But I also was able to travel to new parts of the country I would not have seen otherwise (thanks to Dad’s need to have his own car despite having to drive on the other side of the road). My mom’s family is where my Irish roots are. My Nana is 100% Irish; her parents actually met on the boat coming over to America from Ireland when they were just 16 years old. Griffin…

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Edinburgh: You’re a Wizard, Harry

February 24, 2015 No Comments

I visited Hogwarts this week! I walked up and down the streets of Diagon Alley, I saw the cemetery where the graves of Tom Riddle, McGonagall and Moody can be found, I saw pictures of the Hogwarts Express, and I even saw the school sitting up on the hill! Okay, okay… I saw J.K. Rowling’s inspiration for it all, at least! Edinburgh was a magical city filled with so much history. Walking down The Royal Mile, the main street, you really did feel like you were taking a stroll down Diagon Alley, walking past all the magic wand shops, owl pet stores, and wizarding hat emporiums. I visited the Café where Harry Potter was first born. J.K. Rowling would sit in The Elephant House and write for hours upon hours inventing the story of Harry Potter. A plaque outside of the store marks it as the birthplace of Harry Potter, and…

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Belgium: The Land of Food and Fairytales

February 18, 2015 No Comments

My expectations of Belgium: chocolate, waffles, beer. The reality: chocolate, waffles, beer, mussels, beautiful buildings AND “French” fries. Brussels is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. It is full of importance and possesses an air of regality. You walk into the Grand Place and you feel as though you have stepped back through time. There are buildings towering above you in every direction of the square; but these building aren’t the steel skyscrapers of New York, they are ornate mason structures with gold details and statues of important figures throughout history decorating their outer walls. City hall reaches up towards the sky and 300 of these statues of mayors, politicians, painters and more look down on the square at the hundreds of thousands of visitors who come to visit this majestic city each year. And the best part of all, my hostel was right down one…

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I Amsterdam

February 3, 2015 No Comments

I took a huge step this past week; I made my first international excursion without the aid of my parents! Now, I didn’t say the trip went entirely without a hitch…. I accidentally left my passport at the hostel on the journey back to Ireland and didn’t realize it until an hour and a half later when I was at the airport. Needless to say, I missed my flight and had to pay a hefty price for a new one, but hey, lesson learned. I will now always check to make sure I have that little blue book before I leave. It could have been worse, I could have lost it! In just 3 days, the beautiful city of Amsterdam became my favorite place in the world (I’m sure I’ll say that about every place I go, but for now it’s Amsterdam). The city is shaped like a half moon or…

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Oh, Blarney!

January 25, 2015 No Comments

Do you remember your first kiss? The first kiss I got yesterday gave me more than just butterflies in my stomach; it bestowed on me the gift of eloquence, or as some call it, the gift of talking your way out of anything. Yes folks, I kissed the Blarney Stone! But, it isn’t as simple as leaning over and kissing a rock; you have to be lowered down the side of the very top of Blarney castle and held on to by someone as you cling for dear life onto the iron rails sticking out of the wall above your head. Terrifying, right? But I did it! I conquered one of the world’s 99 things to do before you die and joined the millions of visitors over the past hundred years who have kissed the stone. The term blarney actually means “clever or flattering” as in a way with one’s…

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County Clare

January 18, 2015 No Comments

Guess what; there’s a Boston, Ireland! We passed the sign for it when I went on my first excursion today with my study abroad program, API. The excursions included in my trip to Galway were actually a huge reason why I chose API as my abroad program provider, and I am so glad I did. Not only do I get to go on some incredible excursions around Ireland and even to Edinburgh, Scotland, I also had the chance of meeting Kevin and Finn, my program directors. They are the most wonderful couple and mentors I could have asked for on this trip. Finn refers to herself as our “Irish sister” and she truly lives up to that title. The pair of them are a fountain of information and resources as we plan our own trips around Europe and encounter the day to day challenges of living in a foreign country.…

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Here Comes the Sun

January 13, 2015 No Comments

Well, what do you know, the sun does shine in Ireland! It doesn’t happen often, but when it does you had better take advantage of it! Yesterday was one of these sunshine days; it started off drizzling per usual, but then a miracle happened! The clouds broke and there was sun! For an entire 6 hours it was sunny and beautiful in Galway! I started off exploring where NUIG all began. Pictured here is the Quadrangle and it is the original building on the campus. When the university first opened its doors for teaching in 1849, it was called Queens College, Galway with sister colleges in Cork and Belfast. There were only 37 professors and 91 students whom comprised the college’s 3 faculties, the Arts (including Science and Literature), Law, and Medicine as well as a school of Engineering and Architecture. The story goes that this architecture was nearly used as the building for…

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Exploration

January 11, 2015 No Comments

I made it! I am here in Galway, Ireland. The ride from Boston was easy, no hassle at all! Aer Lingus was a great, inexpensive airline to use with a direct flight into the Shannon airport an hour outside of Galway. On the plane, every passenger got to watch the plane’s course of travel on individual screens on the back of each of the chairs. They even played music, movies and a variety of t.v. shows! It was SO COOL! Getting settled in has been a bit more of a challenge because of the scheduling of classes, finding my bearings, and dealing with phone and bank issues, but I have tried to just keep an open mind and explore in the times that I have felt overwhelmed. I am living in the student apartment complex called Gort na Coiribe which is where a vast majority of the students at the…